DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

    It's unbelievable at the number of names witches are called from different countries and at different centuries in our history. Plus let me not forget the types of "witchcraft" each one may practice compared to another one. Good or bad witch, male or female and even what kind of heritage you come from. So here's a list of the different ones, all in alphabetical order. Alexandrian - This tradition was begun in the 1960's by Alex Sanders. Alex Sanders lived in England. He used what are known to be slightly changed Gardnarian traditions and calls himself the "King of Witches." Covens involve both men and women. British Traditional -This is, according to Silver RavenWolf a "mix of Celtic and Gardnarian beliefs." Covens involve both men and women. One can study a course and receive a degree in British Traditional Witchcraft. Celtic Wicca -Celtic Wicca focuses mainly on Celtic and Druidic gods and goddesses (along with a few o...

   This recipe comes from smittenkitchen .  Who doesn't love/like chocolate pudding, my teenage kids love the stuff. Good luck and happy eating! More often than not, after such an evening I find myself too full for even a nightcap, quite tired and, while we are being honest, like I need to spend an hour on the treadmill. And I hate the treadmill. But chocolate pudding is none of these things. The perfect recipe–the one I sifted through dozens and dozens to find–would be chocolaty but not overly heavy, indulgent but not too rich. In short, the kind of thing you’d want to eat with the love of your life without the risk of shortening the length of it. As a bonus, it would be a reasonable recipe to tackle on a weekday night. This turned out to be a surprisingly complicated feat. You see, chocolate pudding has lost its way. Over the years, as chocolate desserts have gotten more and more decadent, so-called “puddings” have followed suit. Sudde...

    The Takayama Festivals in Takayama, Japan, started in the 16th to 17th century. The origins of the festivals are unknown; however they are believed to have been started during the rule of the Kanamori family . Correspondence dated 1692, place the origin to 40 years prior to that date. One of the festivals is held on the 14th and 15th of April and the other on the 9th ad 10th of October.     The Spring Takayama Festival is centered on the Hie Shrine . The shrine is also known as the Sanno Shrine , and the spring festival is also known as the Sanno Festival. The Sanno Festival is held to pray for a good harvest and the Autumn Festival is for giving thanks.     The Autumn festival is centered on the Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine and is referred to as the Hachiman Festival . It is held after the crops are harvested. The fall festival is one of the three largest festivals in Japan. The other two are Kyoto's Gion Matsu...

   This  diy comes from www.dollarstorecrafts.com .  These look quite cool.  They can be used all year round.  Enjoy! Dollar Barn DIY: Robin’s Egg Vase Morning, everyone! Your very own crazy crafter, Jess from Mad in Crafts, here. Are you cheap? I am. I have a little panic attack anytime I see a price tag in the triple digits. Do you like pretty things? I do. When my house is clean and decorated, sometime I just sit and look around at it all. Partly because I know it will be many moons until it's actually clean again. Anyway, because of my remarkable cheapness and love of pretties, you can imagine the internal torment that overtakes me when I visit the Pottery Barn website. ((shudder)) A few months back I wrote a couple of posts called A Dollar Barn Christmas where I took items I found at my local Dollar Tree and turned them into home decor that was inspired by all the goodies at Pottery Barn. I was browsing on the PB website a few we...

    Omizutori , or the annual, sacred Water Drawing Festival , is a Japanese Buddhist festival that takes place in the NIgatsu-do of Todai-ji, Nara, Japan. The festival is the final rite in observance of the two week long Shuni-e ceremony. This ceremony is to cleanse the people of their sins as well as to usher in spring of the New Year. Once the Omizutori is completed, the cherry blossoms have started blooming and spring has arrived.     The rite occurs on the last night of the Shuni-e ceremony, when monks bearing torches come to the Wakasa Well , underneath the Nigatsu-do Hall, which according to legend only springs forth water once a year. The ceremony has occurred in the Nigatsu-do of the imperial temple at Nara, of the Todai-ji, since it was first founded. These annual festivals have been dated back to the year of 752. The earliest known records of the use of an incense seal during the religious rites in Japan were actually used dur...

   The world we live in is a colorful place (except in our dreams, which are mostly black and white, which is odd when you stop to think about it). Though we are surrounded by color and new colors are invented all the time, some colors have completely disappeared from our lives, or are very rare, or are becoming extinct. This list is a sampling of some of those pigments or colors once found in nature, in consumer products, manufactured goods, building construction, etc. 10. Automobile Colors    Ever drive down the road and notice most of the cars you see are colored in four colors (mostly black, white, silver, or gray)? Part of the reason why is resale value – people who want to resell their car later know they are far more likely to find a buyer if the car is one of these common colors. Though other colors are out there, (mostly brightly colored new small cars and new muscle cars), we have lost some of the variety of colors we used to see on cars.  ...

   In fiction, it always seemed the adults were the evil ones, murdering and abusing while the helpless, innocent children just watch. However, it is a theme to have a child as the villain and make him or her much more black-hearted than any of the adults in the movie. This ranges from bone chilling and well-done to cliche and gimmicky. But in this list, we will see the most despicable fictional child villains of all time. 10. Tetsuo/Akira    Tetsuo is one of my personal favorite villains. He began as a member of a biker gang with his close friends, when suddenly he got strange and cosmic powers that made him a living god. Tetsuo went mad with power and was angry at his old and closest friend, Kanada, for treating Tetsuo as inferior and younger than himself. This neglect however, was just a conception caused by Tetsuo unable to control his new-found powers and having scientists run experiments on his brain. At the climactic end of Akira, Tetsuo horribly mut...