Book Haul Video

Got a new book haul video out guys and dolls!

I've got a few non-book related vlogs in the pipeline, but for now, enjoy the book talk my beauties.

Enjoy the weekend.

Tarot Thursday!

Welcome one and all.

So, I decided on Tarot Thursday instead of Tarot Tuesday.

This week I did a reading, trying to channel anyone who would visit this blog.
 (I have already posted the reading on other social media...so if you follow me anywhere this reading involves you.)


The Card 

The Ancestor 

(Traditionally The Hierophant)

(Wild Wood Tarot Deck)

Trust your inner guide. A mentor or teacher is leading you into a new path. Listen to your inner voice, and follow your instinctual spirit. Inspire others.

Strawberry Jam

Hello wonderful people. I'm here today with a wonderfully simple, and fairly quick jam recipe!

 So obviously, you need to start with some beautiful fruit. Here is two pounds of hand-picked, fresh strawberries.

 Hull your strawberries, and then wash them in cold water. DRY THEM OFF!

This is super important. Strawberry Jam is one of the hardest jams to set...additional water makes the process 10x harder.

 Prepare the juice of one and a half lemons. Add this to your dry, chopped strawberries, in your pan.

 Now this is the slightly boring part. You need to boil your strawberries and lemon juice, until you have nearly no full strawberries left, and everything's boiled right down.

For me this took about 40 minutes. Then you need to add your sugar. You add a pound of sugar for every pound of fruit.

I had 2 pounds of strawberries, so 2 pounds of sugar. 

Bring this to the boil.

By boiling, you are dissolving the sugar, but also forcing all the (in this case) pink scum to the edge of your pan.

Carefully get in there with a spoon, and remove what you can.

Then return your jam to a simmer.

Whilst waiting now is a good time to right out your labels...

And prepare your jam jars.

Test a small sample of jam, by putting it on a saucer and placing it in the fridge.

If it starts to set, you're good to go. If not, let your jam simmer for a little longer.

Using a funnel and jug, pour the jam into your PREHEATED jars.

Do this carefully, the jam is scolding hot.

And there you have it.

Glorious, homemade jam from your own hands.
Bare in mind that in this hot weather the jam is going to take ages to set. It's best simply left, with the lids off but covered, overnight.

New Video!

So I've got a new video up on Youtube...finally.

This one is all about witchy reading! Watch it here, or on youtube now.

Let me know what you think?

Do you have any suggestions for reading in this area?

Solstice blessings

The sun is shining, and I'm drinking in the summer solstice, with homemade elderflower cordial! This is truly the nectar of goddesses.

I'm now deciding how to spend this wonderful day. I think any plans I have have gone out of the window.

Clyde

The last few days have been very hard.
This morning I had to put my old baby rat Clyde down. 4 years old, he'd lived to a ripe old age, but that didn't make the choice any easier.
I got Clyde and his brother, Bonnie (yes, brother) when they were a few months old. They were right characters, a great pair.

About 6 months ago Bonnie became paralyzed. A tumour was affecting his rear mobility, but it was spreading. I had to put him down first.
 I thought this would be the end of Clyde, they were such wonderful brothers, I thought he'd die of heartbreak.

But he fought. He came back from a bought of depression kicking. He wasn't overly friendly to me afterwards, but him and my kitten, Socks were now the best of friends.

And then this week, everything went down hill.
My old man, got lice from some contaminated bedding. This led to medicated baths daily. Through these baths I felt how much weight Clyde had lost.
He was losing fur, through old age, and because of the lice.

He was blind in one eye, verging on painful for him.
His co-ordination started to slip, he was falling over alot. He was jumping, and falling rather than landing.
He'd stopped eating...and barely drank.


I took him to the vet, I knew what was going to be said.
He was too old and too weak to put through the stress of any treatment.
I loved him.
The vets were shutting, and I offered to bring him back home for one last night, instead of leaving him there overnight.
 On my way home, I detoured and took Clyde out into a field. We sat in a crossroad in the corn, and just took in the sun and the wind...

^^This photo was taken last night. Our last night together. He was in his cage beside my bed.
I read to him from 'The Night Circus'.
I cried tears of pain into his cage.
I told him about the summerlands.

And then he started throwing himself into the bars of his cage. I opened the roof, and he hobbled out.
He crawled up the bedside, over the duvet, and snuggled down on my leg. And there he stayed.
I stroked him, and we were there for hours, until I could see dawn breaking through the window.

And then the moment came this morning, and there was no turning back.
With a heavy heart, tears in my eyes, and sobs stuck in my throat, I handed him over to the vet.

Goodbye my beautiful boy.
You will be missed.
I will never forget you, just as I will never forget Bonnie...or any that came and went before you.
I love you always...

We will meet again.

Hello June

I've been super busy getting my 'magic'on!
I'm currently working on a Neroli blog for you gorgeous people. I just need to take some photos for it.

And as of next week, I will be starting a TAROT TUESDAY!
Exciting stuff.

Hopefully I'll be back soon.