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Happiness & Joy

Samhain 2012

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, PaganismNo Comments

This year Samhain was a two day event! It started on Tuesday (30th) night when Sye and I carved pumpkins (for how to carve pumpkins see Making a pumpkin lantern for Samhain). Here’a our finished pumpkins:



Left: Jill – looking shocked (mine),
Right: Jacko Sye’s piece of artwork.
(Click on image for full size.)

Sye & I also used the pumpkin insides to make some Pumpkin Cookies after I found a recipe on the Facebook of Pagan Magic, here’s a photo of the cookies:



They look fantastic and were so delicious.
(Click on image for full size.)

Sye & I had a cookie (or two), a brew (or Milk in Sye’s case) and I wished him happy Samhain as by the time we’d finished it was the early hours of the morning.

In the evening of Samhain (31st) I went round to do ritual with Jayne & Joan. We wrote letters to ancestors which was a brilliant idea of Jayne’s that I have never thought of doing. Then we burned the letters to release the messages into the cosmos in Jayne’s fire pit:



The Fire Pit lit, despite the rain.
We even had some green flames,
I’ve only ever seen them on Samhain.
(Click on image for full size.)



Me tending to the fire in my ritual robe.
(Click on image for full size.)

By the fire we discussed what we were thankful for over the last twelve months; we also burnt slips of paper with things we wanted to banish over the next twelve months. To finish the ritual we went inside, relaxed and asked any spirits that wish to communicate with us to do so. I didn’t get any spirit communication unless you count the cat that uncharacteristically came up to me and started purring.

That’s how I celebrated Samhain.

Write soon,

Antony

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Sunday 4 November 2012

Levitation

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, PaganismNo Comments

On a cold, dark Friday night in October a few weeks ago, Simon and I headed to Chrys’ for a psychic party. From the outside the glow of the house looked warm and inviting, as it always does. Chrys put on a spread and guests were already chatting with one another as we entered, greeted by a massive hug and kiss from the lovely lady herself.

The psychic who was suppose to be giving a few people readings had to cancel last minute due to a family emergency; but with three pagans in the room we did a few activities amongst the socialising, story telling and the general relaxing. Activities included Numerology, Dowsing Rods and Levitation.

I’ve never done Levitation before but we got our victim…ahem…volunteer to sit in an armless chair and began. Four of us took positions two at each side of the volunteer.

We started with each of us joining our own hands together with the two index fingers sticking out and trying to lift the volunteer. The two nearest the back of the chair trying to lift under the armpits and the two nearest the volunteers legs lifting under the bend. Unsurprisingly, even attempting to lift the volunteer with our coordinated efforts was unsuccessful. That was just to prove we couldn’t lift the volunteer.

Then the four of us put our left hand over the volunteers head; hovering the hands slightly so that we weren’t touching the volunteers head or others hands. One each us had put their left hand into position, we did the same with the right. We closed our eyes and visualised what we were about to do and then took a few deep breaths.

We quickly removed our hands in the order we’d put them above the volunteers head and put them (joined together index fingers sticking out) back under the armpits and the bend under the leg; lightly touching the volunteer before she rose up and levitated for a few seconds. Then her body seemed to regain weight and her bum came crashing down on to the chair.

It was an amazing sight to see and I bet we could have levitated the volunteer for much longer if we had wanted too. So that’s how I learned to levitate. Thank you Chrys for the fantastic evening (as always) and for teaching me something new.

Write soon,

Antony



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Thursday 1 November 2012

Day Trip: Liverpool

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & JoyNo Comments

(A photo of one of the famous
Liver Birds.) 		One weekend a few weeks ago on a gorgeous, bright sunny day Chrys, Simon, two of Chrys’ visiting foreign friends and I went for a day trip to Liverpool. I’ve not been to Liverpool in years and don’t know the city well. So we were really lucky to have a proper scouser in Chrys. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide to show us around her lovely city.

One of Chrys foreign friends has a love of architecture and photography and Liverpool is full of beautiful architecture. The foreign friend pointed out many grand architectural features at high points on the buildings. I’m not normally one to notice architecture, so her pointing it made me notice the detailed carvings in the stone.

Here’s a man holding a torch which is an example of the architecture I’m talking about along with a fountain that caught my eye (click on any of the photos on this blog post to see a full size image):



Next Chrys showed us where The Beatles started off at The Cavern Club:

Opposite The Cavern Club is ‘Liverpool Wall Of Fame’ (photo right). It’s got a gold disk for every liverpudlian whose had a Number 1 Single in the charts.

As I was taking in the graffiti people from seemingly all over the world had written, I noticed this:

It was a statement somebody had written that read:
“Everyone and everything in this universe is interconnected
Stay true to your heart and you’ll see the signs
Follow the signs to uncover your destiny”

I was shocked to see something so deep written. It reminded me to keep listening to my heart and to keep an eye out for signs from the universe in my daily life.

Chrys treated us to a cruise on the ferry across the Mersey. The sun was hot but it was cooled by the breeze. As the ferry sailed along I found the combination of the sunshine, breeze and movement very relaxing. I got to see the fantastic Liverpool skyline and found the history of the Mersey, Liverpool and the docks coming over the tannoy really interesting.

We did a full circle on the ferry getting off where we’d started. Then we decided to walk along the Mersey on the way to the docks.


(Waiting to get on the ferry.)

Along the Mersey front we saw these:


There was some debate as to whether they were sheep, dogs or some other animal. They reminded me of The CowParade in Manchester (see CowParade Gallery for photos). Simon explained to me that these pieces of art work had at one time been dotted around Liverpool like the CowParade. I was pleased that Liverpool had kept these and displayed them on the Mersey front.

We approached the docks with the various bars, shops and resturants. I really wanted to get a photo of the dry docks, but unfortunately they were carrying out work on them. So here’s a photo of a “wet” dock:

After having a look around a few shops, we decided to head to a traditional pub as Chrys and Simon wanted to show the rest of us the immaculate toilets. Before jumping in the taxi I saw this yellow submarine and just had to take a photo:

We reached the pub and all enjoyed a drink before realising just how late it was, just after six. Chrys’ two foreign friends had really enjoyed themselves and informed us that as a thank you they would cook tea when we get home to Chrys’. Chrys wanted to show them one last place on route to the train station, the Catholic Church:



(Above Left: The Catholic Church, Right: Architecture on the Catholic Church.)

Apparently Jesus goes home at six, back to Chrys’ cellar as does the Catholic priests as the Church was closed. So we didn’t get to see the inside which is apparently beautiful. We headed back to Chrys’ on the train.

When we arrived at Chrys’ Simon got the fire going, Chrys and I made the garden look pretty with candles and Chrys’ two foreign friends got busy in the kitchen. I started to flag at this point as I’d only had about three hours sleep the night before. By the time we all sat down to eat my stomach was churning due to tiredness and I wasn’t able to eat anything. But it smelt delicious and I thanked them for their culinary efforts after I explained why I wasn’t eating. We said our goodbyes and I headed for home.

It was a wonderful day and I’d just like to thank Chrys, Simon and Chrys’ two foreign friends for a great day trip.

Blog soon,

Antony



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Thursday 30 August 2012

Good Times

By Friends & Family, Happiness & JoyNo Comments

I’ve just had two weeks off work on annual leave. It gave me the opportunity to spend some precious time with family & friends and take some much needed time for rest & relaxation. The time off has been full of good times including:

Alton Towers – For My Birthday
For my Birthday Mum, Ian, Steve and myself went to Alton Towers for a day of thrills, frights and fun. I wanted to go as I’d never been.The weather remained dry all day, but had dark grey clouds in the sky and the temperature dropped in the afternoon. Steve and I managed to get on:

  • Th13Teen, my favourite ride. It was a thrill and fright ride. Loved it and would have liked the time to go on it again…and again.
  • Air, is a fast hurtling-towards-the-ground-to-your-death before quickly turning away type ride. I had this image of test dummies coming back without legs, arms and a head from some rollercoaster that I saw in the News ages ago. I didn’t like it.
  • Nemesis, a complete thrill ride. Loved it and would go on again.
  • Nemesis Sub-Terra (new for 2012) – really disappointing. If I’d have known it would be like that, I wouldn’t have bothered.

In the afternoon we all visited Hex and illusion type ride which left me with a head ache. We also visited the aquarium, which I was personally disappointed by as it was too small and people were touching the fish even though there were signs asking them not too. Alton Towers is a massive place and we didn’t manage to get to see everything, even using the Sky Ride. So I’ve put together some tips if you’re planning a visit to Alton Towers…

Alton Towers Top Tips:

  • When buying tickets, buy online. There are two reasons for this. Firstly you wont have to que when you get there. Secondly we saved loads of money by buying them a week before.
  • Download the Alton Towers app as it’s really useful for a map, live wait times and other info.
  • Take an extra £6 for parking. I was surprised to see they charged for parking.
  • Go on the ‘big’ rides in the morning. It will save a load of time queuing in the afternoon.
  • Take packed lunches, otherwise you’re going to spend about £20 each on lunch.
  • If you’ve got someone whose not going on the rides then they can hold your bags. If you’re all riding, the rides have luggage storage for while you ride. Plus there are some lockers near the Air ride.
  • We didn’t get to see everything, so consider two days at the theme park. You can buy a ticket for another day at a reduced price both online and on site.

Baby Ethan’s Christening
Baby Ethan is my Nephew and I was honoured to be asked to be his god parent at his Christening. Although I’m Pagan and it was a Roman Catholic Christening I like the concept of a god parent. Someone whose there to support the parents and be there for the child. Ethan was christened, sleeping through most of the service and then there was a celebratory party. It was a great day and although being a god father is a big responsibility, I hope to do Ethan and his parents proud.

Chester Zoo & Tea in Chester – For Steve’s Birthday
Steve, two of his friends and myself went to Chester Zoo for his birthday. Click on any photo for full size image. We had loads of fun:

In the giftshop,
we found masks :).
Steve’s a Giant Turtle.
I’m a Giant Turtle.

I noticed a significant reduction of the animals in Chester Zoo, we started in the side of the park with the Zebra’s (all three of them) and there were a lot of empty enclosures. The enclosures were of a high quality (as always), even if we couldn’t see the animals because of poor design:



(Spirit of the Jaguar Enclosure. Bushes made it difficult to see the Jaguar’s.)

However here’s some photos of the animals we did see:

Elephants.
Zebra.
Rhinos.
Cheetahs.
Flamingos.
Tigers – sun bathing.
Penguins.
Mother and Baby Chimp.
Giraffe’s.
Ducks.
We saw a lot of them,
some exotic, some not.
These Dinosaurs
looked….plastic.
Flying Bird Dinosaur.
T-Rex Dinosaur and baby.

We went for tea afterwards in The Slug and Lettuce in Chester town centre. We all had a great day, made more special because it’s was celebrating Steve’s birthday.

Visiting Steve’s Family in Hastings
For my last weekend off Steve and I went to visit his family in Hastings. It was lovely to see them all, and I would like to thank them for giving me somewhere to stay. We had a day out in town and I got to spend some time on the sea front. It was glorious weather and I had to walk up and down the entire sea front repeatedly to get a photo with no people on the beach, but I managed it:



Lots of Sunbathing
Throughout my two weeks, we’ve had some fantastic weather and I’ve used every opportunity I can to bask in the sun. The result: my face, neck and arms are lobster red. In a few days they’ll turn into tanned skin.

Well that’s about it for my Summer Holidays.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Monday 28 May 2012
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