What is Carnation?

Scientific and medicinal info
Carnation flowers are as popular as roses in cut bouquets, but they can last for weeks once cut. Carnations grow in low shrubs, and are native to the Mediterranean area. These plants are quite hardy and have a clove-like aroma when fresh and growing. Colours range from white to many shades of pink, red and yellow.

Prayer for a First Pregnancy

Each moment you experience this,
you who bring each moment through to its proper time.
This is my first pregnancy, however,
and I lean on you, asking for strength.
During the time of growing, give me strength.
Guide the baby in the way it is to grow,
bring it to health and strength.
During the time of waiting, give me patience,
so that my pregnancy might reach its fulfillment in its proper time.
You are my model, Mater Dea,
and I look to you for help.

Witches Herbal Chant

“Herb and root seed and flower, bring to me your ancient power.
Growing deep from moon to moon, mother hear my ancient tune.
A pinch of this, a pinch of that, make magic in my witch’s vat.”

Baba Yaga: A Demon or A Goddess?

by Freya

 
Growing up in Kiev, Ukraine, I loved reading and listening to fairy tales. These stories, filled with Slavic flavor, were opening up a new world for me, a world where one is to learn lessons and always to succeed, a world in which no matter how many hardships and terror a good character goes through, he or she always succeeds, a world in which a goodness always defeats an evil. Being my hide-away from the harshness of reality, that world was very much sought by me at all the times. Yet, this world absolutely needed to have a few definite characteristics to serve its purpose: the fairy tales I loved to read and re-read had to have Baba Yaga as one of its evil characters. The more evil this character was, the scarier her description, the more vicious her behavior, the better I liked the fairy tale. So who was this Baba Yaga character and what was it in this evil creature that drew me to read and re-read multiple fairy tales, in which I was seeking a camouflage from reality?

Brujeria

Brujeria. For many, it is nothing more than the Spanish word for witchcraft. But for a growing number of North Americans, Brujeria is something much more complex–it is a religion, not unlike Wicca.

Opheltes

by Dr Alena Trckova-Flamee Ph.D.

 
Opheltes was the son of the Nemean king Lycurgus and his wife Eurydice. He became a well-known hero for his tragic fate, which was caused by his nurse Hypsipyle.
Hypsipyle, who was previously the queen of the island Lemnos, was a slave of Lycurgus in charge of his son Opheltes. One day, when she was walking in the meadows with Opheltes in her arms, she met the seven Argive generals in their march against Thebes. They asked her to show a water-spring for lest their thirst. Hypsipyle put the child in the grass where wild celery was growing, and guided them to a spring hidden in the forest. During her absence a large snake came out from the brushes and crawled around Opheltes neck, strangling him. The soldiers and Hypsipyle returned too late, and found the boy already dead. Lycurgus wanted to kill Hypsipyle but one of the soldiers protected her against his anger.