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 Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:17 pm
 Mythical Creatures - Shen-LungBy Arthela
Shen-Lung is a Chinese spiritual dragon who is responsible for the weather and is the mightiest in power of the eight orders of Chinese Dragonhood. His realm is the sea, sky, sun, moon, and all of earth’s soil. His power over rain gives Shen-Lung the authority over life and death in China because the right amount of rain helps in producing healthy crops needed for China’s survival. When he feels ill, the rain has a distinct fishy smell. If he feels neglected, he becomes angry and will cause either a flood or a drought. When Shen-Lung exhales a breath of clouds comes out that can become either fire or rain.
He will bask in the Sun with his whiskered jaws hanging open hoping a bird will land in his mouth for a delicious meal. His voice is said to be the sounds of Hurricanes. Shen-Lung has the head of a camel, eyes of a rabbit, horns of a stag, and ears of a bull when in his dragon form. He is a shape-shifter who will become a mouse to avoid work, every few years.
If lightning strikes a house or tree, that is said to mean that the thunder god has sent out his servant in search of Shen-Lung. Shen-Lung has the paws of a tiger with the claws of an eagle. His claws are seen in flashes of lightening as they light up the sky. When in midair battle with another dragon, Shen-Lung rakes his claws across the other dragon resulting in storms. Shen-Lung is the Chinese New Year Good Luck Dragon that appears in festivals and parades in vast assortments of color.
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Sources:
http://members.tripod.com/~waterdragon/famous.html
"Dragons" by Unknown Author| Introduction | Letters to the Editor | Guild Happenings | Members Section | Animal Totems | Book Review | Crystals and Gemstones | Divination | The Elements | Gods and Goddesses | The Herb Garden | Imbolc | Kitchen Witches | Lammas | Meditation | Mythical Creatures | Spells | St. Valentine's Day | Game Room | Classified Ads | Feedback Thread |
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:17 pm
Here are some winning spells from Choir-Angel that she submitted to our Spell of the Month Contest.
"Rose Beauty Spray"
(This makes a perfume type of thing. But I don't advise making it in large quantities, it could go rancid. )
Used for:
Making you feel better about yourself, improve confidence, inner beauty is brought out.
Ingredients:
1 white or pink candle
1 spray/perfume bottle
Sweet smelling incense
Rose petals
Best done on a Friday, during the waxing moon.
Directions:
Light the sweet smelling incense and candle. Relax for a bit and feel the energy within you. Know that there's beauty in everyone. Ask your Gods (whoever they may be, ruler of beauty, etc.) for their help/aid/blessing.
Consecrate the perfume bottle with the elements (so all lingering negativity is banished). After this is done, charge the rose petals saying something along the lines of:
Roses divine
give beauty sublime
outside and inside
may this harm none
so mote it be
After the roses are fully charged, add them to the previously consecrated perfume bottle. Now add clean cold water (not to much of course).
Allow to sit for 3 moons. Once infused, spritz yourself with the perfume and feel your confidence grow.
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Spell For Healing Of Past Pains
Gather 3 black candles and place them in a triangular pattern around yourself.
Sit in the middle of them and have them all lit.
Burn 3 sticks of Dragon's Blood incense and place them beside the three candles.
Take a piece of paper and write everything that has happened in the past down and fold it up.
Get a white candle and light it, then light the folded piece of paper.
Say out loud:
Goddess I pray, take this pain away. Into the light, away from the dark.
God I pray, bury this pain. Cradle it in the eternal dark.
From the sun, to the moon. From the earth, to the stars.
From the fires, to the waters. Into the carefree wind.
Bring me into the light, away from the dark. Make me pure, make me free.
By the grace of the heavens. So mote it be.
Channel all negative energy that is left into the three black candles and let the positive energy from the white candle fill you up. Have the black candles burn all the way out and bury them at three points on your property in a triangle pattern.
Gather the ashes and set them in the middle of the triangle.
| Introduction | Letters to the Editor | Guild Happenings | Members Section | Animal Totems | Book Review | Crystals and Gemstones | Divination | The Elements | Gods and Goddesses | The Herb Garden | Imbolc | Kitchen Witches | Lammas | Meditation | Mythical Creatures | Spells | St. Valentine's Day | Game Room | Classified Ads | Feedback Thread |
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:21 pm
The History behind St. Valentine’s Day
For some people, Valentine’s Day is a wonderful day. For others, it’s just a day like any other. But what is the history behind this overly commercialized holiday, who exactly was St. Valentine, and why is this day celebrated by many people?
So, who was St. Valentine? There are countless legends of St. Valentine. Some people say that he was a priest in Rome during the third century who was put to death after defying Emperor Claudius II. Claudius had decided to outlaw the marriage of young men because single men made better soldiers. Valentine didn’t agree with this, and so he continued to marry young couples in secret. Another legend says that St. Valentine was the first person to ever send a Valentine greeting. Supposedly, when he was in prison he fell in love with a girl (who is said to have been the jailor’s daughter). Before he was put to death, he sent her a letter and signed it “From your Valentine”.
Why is St. Valentine’s Day celebrated on February 14th? Well, that depends on who you ask. Some people will tell you that it’s celebrated on the 14th to commemorate the death and burial of St. Valentine. Yet, other people will tell you that it was an effort by the Christian church to Christianize the Pagan Lupercalia Festival (a fertility festival).
The Lupercalia Festival would start in the sacred cave where the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were said to have been raised and cared for by a lupa (she-wolf). The Luperci (an order of Roman priests) would sacrifice a goat (for fertility) and a dog (for purification). The goats hide was then sliced into strips and dipped into the sacrificial blood. These bloody strips of goat hide were then taken out into the street and slapped onto crops and women. This was done because it was believed that it would make them more fertile in the coming year. At some point later in the day, the young women would all write down their names and place them inside a big urn. Then, the young (single) men would draw a name out of the urn and in turn become paired with the women whose name he drew; often leading to marriage. Pope Gelasius, later decided that this was ‘unchristian’ and then followed to outlaw it.
So, why do so many people celebrate St. Valentine’s Day? Well, I guess it just depends on the person really. Some couples feel like they’re suppose to to show each other how much they love each other (shouldn’t they do that every day though?). Some people just like to receive gifts and this gives them an excuse to give/receive said gifts. Or maybe it’s just fun.
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Random FactsQuote: The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England. Quote: According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Quote: Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages (written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". Quote: Cupid, the child-like, winged deity often associated with our modern Valentine’s Day, is the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. In Greek mythology, Cupid is known as Aphrodite’s son, Eros. Quote: Over 50 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the observance, making Valentine's Day a procrastinator's delight. Quote: 904: The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.
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Heart-shaped Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup water
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces melted unsweetened baking chocolate
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line heart-shaped cupcake pans with paper liners (it’d be better if you buy the type of pan that doesn’t need liners).
Combine all ingredients into large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds, and scrape bowl. Mix at high speed for 3 minutes.
Fill liners 1/2 to 2/3 full of batter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove from pan, and place on wire racks to cool completely.
Frost when chocolate cupcakes are completely cool.
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Sources:
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=882&display_order=1&mini_id=1084
]http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=892&display_order=8&mini_id=1084| Introduction | Letters to the Editor | Guild Happenings | Members Section | Animal Totems | Book Review | Crystals and Gemstones | Divination | The Elements | Gods and Goddesses | The Herb Garden | Imbolc | Kitchen Witches | Lammas | Meditation | Mythical Creatures | Spells | St. Valentine's Day | Game Room | Classified Ads | Feedback Thread |
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:22 pm
Word Search
(Clues are separate from crossword image)
Across
2. The process of repeated incarnations in human form to allow evolution of the soul.
4. A stone arch made from two upright slabs with one lying atop these.
5. That which destroys life, which is poisonous, destructive, evil, dangerous.
7. Counterclockwise, usually used in the Northern Hemisphere for negative magical purposes or for dispersing negative energies or conditions such as disease.
9. Hand The hand that is normally used for manual activities (two words).
11. A group of Wiccans led by one or two leaders.
12. A man or woman who has obtained knowledge of the subtler dimensions of the earth, usually through periods of alternate states of consciousness.
13. The movement of natural energies (such as personal power) to create needed change.
14. Used as a general term for followers of Wicca and other magical, shamanistic, and polytheistic religions.
Down
1. A magickal workbook containing ritual information, formulae, magical properties of natural objects, and preparation of ritual equipment.
3. Calling up spirits or other nonphysical entities.
6. Anciently, a European practitioner of the remnants of pre-Christian folk magic.
8. An appeal or petition to a higher power(s), such as the Goddess and God.
10. Clockwise; the direction of the sun's apparent motion in the sky.
15. Used to direct personal power during ritual workings
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I suggest that you save the puzzles to your computer (it won't let me copy them for some reason) and then open them in paint (or some other program like that) and mark where the words are (for the crossword you can just type out the word next to the number. ex: 5. answer).
Once you've completed all of the ones that you want to do send me your completed word search(es) or crossword puzzle. You will receive 250 gold for each completed puzzle you do.
The Rules
- Be sure to title the PM "Newspaper Games", please.
- You cannot post your answers for others to see. Doing so will forfeit your prize.
- No cheating, don't ask other where the answers are .
- We will only accept the answers to these puzzles during the month of February 2008.
- Have fun!| Introduction | Letters to the Editor | Guild Happenings | Members Section | Animal Totems | Book Review | Crystals and Gemstones | Divination | The Elements | Gods and Goddesses | The Herb Garden | Imbolc | Kitchen Witches | Lammas | Meditation | Mythical Creatures | Spells | St. Valentine's Day | Game Room | Classified Ads | Feedback Thread |
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:42 pm
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Reply
