Looking Skyward for Momentary Meditations
I’ve been taking photos of sunrises and sunsets from my car these past six or so months. A car isn’t the ideal vantage point for a beautiful photograph, but it’s where I find myself when I’m gazing skyward these days. I don’t spend a lot of time in my car, mind you. It just so...
Understanding the Ingredients on a Soap Label
If you haven’t read last week’s distinction between soap and detergent, you might want to do that first  as this will make more sense! Before I get started explaining the ingredients, here are three important but not related things. I’m not a chemist or a doctor. I’m a romance novelist who runs a Pagan blog...
Soap Labels: The Good, the Bad and the Dirty
Before soap labels can make sense, the distinction between soap and detergent must be made. Soap and detergent are the two main category of cleaners we use, both in home cleaning products and on our bodies. I have a natural “soap good, detergent bad!†prejudice when it comes to my skin. I decided to do...
Introduction to Label Reading on Cosmetics and Food
One of the things I’ve had to learn how to do over the past few years is read ingredients labels, and I started with packaged food. For people with sensitive systems (like me) it’s important to monitor what we consume. I’ve also had to accept that the things I put onto my body, like lotion,...
Valentine’s Day and the Feast of Váli
Last week I wrote about the overlap and differences between the Wicca (and all-around “generally Paganâ€) Wheel of the Year and Heathen holidays. In the course of writing that article, I learned a bit about Heathen holidays myself – as is often (and happily) the case when we write articles for the Realm. I learned...
The Naming of Norse Folk
The naming of kids is a difficult matter. It isn’t just one of your holiday games… ~ T.S. Eliot’s A Practical Book of Cats (sort of) I’m so excited! Our illustrious webmistress and esteemed friend had a baby this weekend! Pass the Topo Chico! Mom and son are in perfect health and everything is looking...
A Heathen to Wicca Holiday Crosswalk
I try to be a good Heathen, but as a Wiccan convert I am sometimes confused about when I should observe my faith according to Heathen holy days (henceforth “holidaysâ€). When I first chose Heathenry over Wicca, just because it is a better fit for me, I figured the Wheel of the Year was a...
Homeopathy: What Is It and Where Does It Come From?
Last week I mentioned that stress caused my skin to go crazy. Not fun! I was itching SO BADLY that I spent an entire day surfing the net for potential remedies. I found several sites on homeopathy and how apis (bee poison) and urens urtica (stinging nettle) can be used to cure it, so when...
Where Does the Time Go?
My article this week was going to be a current events topic. One of those posts where I try to look a mainstream media sideways and see what else there is to see. It has turned out to be a rather large project and will have wait until next week where I’ll have more time...
