Jeweled Vixen

On Saturday, I drove to Albany to celebrate Samhain, the Witches New Year and the time to honor the ancestors. I got an idea from my therapist several months ago to make what is called a bottle tree for one of our rituals. My therapist has a bottle tree in her office that a friend made for her. She told me the history behind the trees. What a bottle tree was originally for in ancient Europe was to send messages to ones ancestors by putting messages in the bottles, then putting the bottles outside on tree branches so the wind and the spirits could carry the messages to the ancestors. Our high priestess loved the idea and wanted to do it for Samhain this year. Things didn't go exactly as planned. They never do, of course. But we ended up writing our messages and putting them in the bottles. Then to make it a tree, we put one or more small branches in our bottle and decorated the branch with Spanish moss. Then we took our bottles outside and lined them up so the wind and the spirits and the deities we had asked to attend our ritual (Hecate and Hades, who both commune with the dead) could carry the messages to our ancestors. Everyone loved it and they really got into making their own little bottle tree, which they got to take home with them afterward. All of the bottles are glass. Below are three pictures of the finished bottles - two close ups and one of the whole line. Mine is the small yellow one that is the third from the right.

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We had our Yuletide celebration this afternoon/evening. We had a great time. The ritual was uplifting and energizing. Then we had lasagna and subs. An odd combo, I know, but our fearless leader's boyfriend decided to make lasagna at the last minute, and she had already ordered the subs, so there you go. The lasagna was amazing. Cary is a fantastic cook.

After that, most of us stayed around the kitchen table and talked and laughed, while the men folk watched the Giants/Ravens game. The Giants lost, so they are out of the play-offs this year. >:(

After the game was over, we had tiramisu, which was also fantastic. Then we exchanged gifts. I got the softest blanket ever. It has a winter scene on it with a fox. It's gorgeous.

I was a little upset all day, though because after I stopped at the toll booth to get my ticket, my cruise control light started flashing and the cruise control wouldn't work. Then the "check engine" light came on. Bugger! It did the same thing all the way home, too. Now I have to wait until next week to get it looked at and see what is wrong. I hope it's nothing major. It's always an adventure going to Albany, one way or another.