Three NEW Teas!

 Three NEW Teas!

     Just in time for my blog post to go LIVE on Samhain Sirens today I'd like to introduce you to some NEW members of the Blackthorn Hoodoo Blends Family!

Adam and Eve's Affair

This torrid affair in black tea blend is perfect for all matters of love, faithful partnership and attraction. 

http://blackthornhoodooblends.com/products/adam-and-eve-tea

Ingredients:
4 tsp Adam and Eve tea
6 ounces gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 cup sugar
5 dashes orange bitters
Orange and/or lemon twists, for garnish

Directions:
Place a saucepan over medium heat, add 3 cups water and sugar. Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture is reduced to 2 cups, about 10 minutes. Strain the syrup into a glass measuring cup; if you have less than 2 cups syrup, add hot water. Add the tea and steep, about 3 minutes. Gently strain the tea and cool the syrup to room temperature. Combine the syrup, gin, vermouth and bitters in a large cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, about 20 seconds, then pour into a pitcher filled with ice. Garnish with orange and/or lemon twists.

A Snake in the (Lemon) Grass

Van Van Tea's lemongrass, blood orange and ginger create a dark red tea that dances with citrus. Paired with a flavor profile of Glen Morangie,  orange and vanilla.  Bring that our with some delightful friends and you have a mildly citrus refreshment with character.

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 3 minutes
Yield: 1 Cocktail

http://blackthornhoodooblends.com/collections/frontpage/products/van-van-tea

Ingredients:
4 oz hot, fresh brewed Van Van tea
2 oz  Glen Morangie The Original Scotch whisky
1/2 oz Orange Blossom honey
1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 dash Angostura bitters
Juice of one lemon wedge
Orange slice for garnish

Pagan Festival season approaches: Safety Concerns

Trigger Warning: This article discusses the topic of sexual assault and rape.

Here's another excerpt from my old Pagan advice column, originally appearing in Thorn Magazine. Reposted for Festival season. -Amy Blackthorn

Of Green and Glass: Where Down to Earth Solutions and a Glass Edge Meet. By Goewin GreenWitch

Dear Goewin,

         The pagan festival season is fast approaching, and I’ve had a group of friends ask me to go with them.  I’m able to take the time off of work, and I’ve saved what I need.  I’m kind of worried, though: I heard from a friend that a dear friend of hers was raped at a festival last year. I want to go, but I’m worried about my safety. Is there a way I can be safe?  Are my fears grounded in reality, or am I just being paranoid as my friends have suggested?

                             Signed, Safe Camper

Dear Safe,

        According to a study reported by womenshealth.about.com, sexual assault is the most rapidly growing violent crime in the US, with fewer than 50% of rapes reported.  Many victims are ashamed of what happens, and may believe they are at fault in some way. This is not the case.  Rape is about power, not sex.  Eighty percent of rapes are committed by someone who knows the victim, and 61% of female victims are under 18 years old. Although the majority involves male perpetrators and female victims, 5% of reported rapes happen to male victims.

Unfortunately, there have been recorded cases of sexual assault at festivals, and not just pagan ones.  Mainstream festivals, campouts and concerts, as well as many other public events, have been known to attract predators.  But don’t let this keep you home and afraid-- then they will have won. 

Just because they walk around hearing “Harm None,” people think that nothing bad could ever happen in a pagan community event. Pagan campouts involve just as much common sense as every other camping event. I have a black belt, I've taken Tae Kwon Do, Judo and Aikido, but I don't go walking down dark alleys, with iPod headphones in my ears.  

Any good friend would be worried about your safety no matter where you’re going, so use that to your advantage and remember the buddy system.  I don’t care if you have to use the Spot-a-Pot at three AM, take a friend with you!  Make a habit of walking with others and stick to paths with good lighting, in public view whenever possible.

Get to know the security at the event you're attending.  You're paying to be here, know what you are paying for.  Ask registration how to contact security in case of an emergency.  What protocols are in place for someone's violation of laws? 

Parties are often found at festivals.  Observe the same rules you would at a bar.  Don’t leave your drinks unattended.  If you MUST, go get a new one.  Don’t take the chance that something went into your drink while you weren’t around. Don’t drink to excess, you want to be in control of your faculties to be able to say “No” if you need to!  If you are too drunk to walk back to your tent, then you are too drunk to fend off an attacker. 

Many police agencies suggest carrying pepper spray with you, but since every state has their own restrictions, please check with local law enforcement.  The states with the stricter restrictions include New York, Michigan, Hawaii and Wisconsin. Also, don’t just throw it in your purse, as it is unlikely that you will be able to find it in the bottom of a bag if you need it.  If you have a belt, many spray canisters come with holsters.  It’s a lot less recognizable in a holster than carried in hand.  A few rules to remember when buying pepper spray: When you buy, but two.  Take one outside away from people and pets.  Spray it until it's empty.  You need to know whether it is a stream or fog, how long it sprays, how far the spray will reach, and how long before it is empty.  If you are going to use it on someone, empty that thing.  It's cheap, you can buy another.  You cannot buy another you.  Always buy pepper spray with an expiration date.  That tiny, pink, pen sized canister may be cute, but you need safety, not another accessory.  If it doesn't have an expiration date, it's not worth your life.  Re-purchase yearly.  The propellant that forces the spray out of the can will dissipate over time.  You want to know it'll be there if you need it.  Some brands come with UV dye.  This means that if your attacker escapes and washes their spray soaked face, and the police locate them a few days later, they may still have UV dye on their skin they didn't scrub off. 

Make sure to avoid areas that seem deserted, and stay aware of your surroundings!  It’s harder to sneak up on someone who knows where she is and where she’s going.  An aware and confident stance makes you less desirable as a potential victim.

Just because this is a pagan gathering, don’t fall into the thinking that everyone there thinks the same way you do.  Just because “Harm None” is your motto doesn’t mean that the creepy guy on the other side of the fire circle thinks so too.  Don’t go off with strangers, don’t let them into your camps, and don’t go back to a stranger’s tent. 

What to do if you are assaulted while at festival:

• Get to a safe place, away from your attacker! Many rapists will threaten to hurt you if you report them. They are trying to command power over you. After all, that is why they forced themselves on you to begin with: to command power. Take your power back by taking control of the situation.
• If you are raped, your first instinct might be to take a shower or bath to wash away what has happened to you.  DO NOT bathe, change your clothes, or wash your hands or face! Valuable forensic evidence can and will be lost! If you’re able, you can bring a change of clothes for after your discussion with hospital personnel or doctors. 
• Do not alter the scene, straighten anything, or remove items. If the scene is your tent, zip it up and get out as soon as possible.  The police will want to examine the scene to determine if there is any additional evidence they can use to prosecute.  Fingerprints, fibers and the like can be lost or destroyed, so it’s best to let the forensic team do their job.
• If you are there with friends, find one you trust to come with you to report. You are allowed to have someone support you at the hospital and with police. Witness statements have been proven to be the most reliable within the first twenty minutes of any traumatic event, so you need to get help. If your cell phone has a voice memo feature record your voice relating details of what happened as soon as possible so you don't lose any details with time.
• Every festival has someone in charge. Go to a registration area or find security-- usually, those in charge will have radios. If there isn’t a phone available, get someone you trust or someone in charge to get you a ride to the hospital as soon as possible.  This is very important due to the number of diseases that are spread through sexual contact. In most states, the hospital will have to report the rape to the police.  If no one is available to go to the hospital with you, or you feel shame or fear, victim's advocates are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week in most states to go to the process with you.
• Some victims choose not to press charges because they “just want it to go away.”  Immediate medical attention helps when deciding to report the crime, providing evidence needed to prosecute the rapist if a criminal case is pursued. If you've been raped and think you don't want to report it, you could change your mind later — this often happens — and having the results of a medical exam can help you do this. If evidence is collected, then you are protected no matter what you decide to do.  At any time during the medical exam, you can say if you don't want a certain test performed or evidence collected. Your body is your own, the hospital just wants to help catch the person who assaulted you and make everyone safer.
• If you think you've been given a rape drug, a doctor or technician can test for this, too. Be aware that this toxicology test covers any and all illegal drugs.  If you have used illegal drugs, this does not mean you are at fault for what happened to you, police and hospitals ask this so that they can better understand the timeline of events and possible interactions.
• Lastly, seek professional counseling. Make sure you allow yourself to talk to those around you. Your friends and family are there for you. If you feel you can’t talk to them and don’t have the ability to talk to a therapist, there are many free and anonymous help lines you call to talk to someone who knows what you are going through.  Please, if you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual violence or rape, talk to someone.  Don't deal with this by yourself. 

Now, I hope you understand that I’m not telling you this to keep you away from festival; I want you, all of you, to be safe.  Unfortunately, it seems our society believes that it is more socially acceptable to gossip about who is in what coven now than how to protect oneself in the real world. Discussing protection and pagans doesn’t have to be about which herbs to place around your tent: the real world belongs here, too!  

National Sexual Assault Hotline | 1.800.656.HOPE

For more information please visit:

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/azhealthtopics/a/rapehealsurvive.htm 

http://www.rainn.org/  The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network
http://rapecrisis.com/ The Rape crisis hotline 24hrs

http://www.malesurvivor.org/

About:  Amy Blackthorn has been Greening her magical world for 22 years.  When she isn’t writing, she can be found teaching classes on Tasseomancy, Floriography, Hoodoo, Magical Perfumery, Herbal Wisdom, Astrology, and a variety of other topics.  She also enjoys reading (with her Tarot Cards, her gardening books or a good Paranormal Romance), cooking for her husband and friends, and walking her dogs. 

Her new Tea Store Blackthorn Hoodoo Blends is now online. 

Of Green and Glass: Where are all the Pagans?

Of Green and Glass:

Where Down to Earth Solutions and a Glass Edge Meet

By Goewin GreenWitch

Dear Goewin,

            This may seem like a silly question, but where is the “pagan community”?

Is there a secret handshake or a hidden sign I’m missing?  No matter where I go, or how hard I look I’m not seeing it / them.  I’m not vain enough to think I’m the only Pagan in my area, where are they hiding, and why doesn’t my area have an easier way of finding them?  I’m new to the Craft, and eager to learn, but how do I learn if I can’t even find others like me? Thanks!

-Lonely Pagan

Dear Lonely,

            No, there isn’t a secret handshake or sign.  It does however take a lot of legwork.  By now I’m sure you’ve googled, “My town” and “pagan groups” or the like.   Have you tried looking at email lists and groups on The Witches Voice or Yahoo Groups?  There are always places like Meetup that offer you a chance to meet other people interested in the same topics as you, whether it be Paganism, scrapbooking or gardening. 

            Here’s a question for you.  If meeting others in person is that important to you, why not start your own meeting or group.  I’m not saying you become that person in every community who reads one book and decides to start their own tradition.  Just put a notice up in area coffee shops, pagan stores and the like that you are creating a safe place for people to discuss similar belief structures, and then you can all learn from each other.  No matter how many years in the Craft, everyone has something that they are better at than everyone else.  There are free and low cost promotional materials available via websites like VistaPrint. 

            All in all, it really takes people that care to get something really good going.  Once you have a core group established, you can take that meeting to free places like The Witches Voice, Facebook, and Yahoo. 

Of Green and Glass: After the 101 phase

Of Green and Glass:

Where Down to Earth Solutions and a Glass Edge Meet

By Goewin GreenWitch

Dear Goewin,

            I feel like I’m drowning.  I go to the bookstore and all I see are Wicca 101 books!  I’ve read most of them and own about half.  I get it already.  Earth is green, Air in the East, think before you cast a spell.  Where are the books for the “next step”?  I think I’m interested in Green Magic, but how do I know what’s good and what’s crap?  Seeing as you use GreenWitch as your last name, I figured I could ask you.    How do I know if this is really for me if I can’t find the right books?

-Next Not New

Dear Next,

            It’s okay, it’s not just you.  I’m pretty sure many people have a bone to pick with the publishing industry.  Authors get paid squat, and publishing companies can only produce what has already sold.  This is especially true when you are talking about a “specialty” topic like a non-mainstream religion.  They need to publish books on advanced topics, but they have to concentrate on what sells to make money.  Wicca, Witchcraft and Paganism are a small enough minority, and when you factor the number of newbies versus the number of experienced practitioners of any given form or Tradition, the seekers are going to outnumber us at any given point.  Is it fair?  No, but I never promised things would be fair, just correct.

 So, how do you know if a book is right for you?  Just because a book calls itself “everything you could ever want to know”, doesn’t mean it is.  Progressing past “101” to individual paths, practices and traditions is just natural.  Some great Authors of Green Magic themed books are Ann Murphy–Hiscock,  Judika Illes (Judika doesn’t get billed as “green magic” but she has a fantastic connection with plants and their uses, Ellen Dugan (who also happens to be a Master Gardener, by the way),  Scott Cunningham, Lexa Rosean, and Poppy Palin also have several books on Herb uses, in spell work.

Keep in mind, that no matter how much you read, nothing will take the place of real world experience.  Jump online and see if there are any shops around you, check out some Open circles!  If you’re out in the middle of nowhere, there are plenty of correspondence courses for things you can learn from home.  Susun Weed offers correspondence courses as do many other famous, ‘green’ authors.  I would however caution you against joining ‘online schools’ because there is no real way of checking credentials, much of that information is available in books.  You need to be able to see what you’re paying for.

            I know it can be hard to find the next step in your faith and your practice, but please don’t let this frustration take you away from your true purpose.  Besides, let’s face it.  If you can be pulled away from a religion by one bump in the road, it must not really be for you.

Of Green and Glass: Dealing with Loss

Of Green and Glass:

Where Down to Earth Solutions and a Glass Edge Meet

By Goewin GreenWitch

Dear Goewin,

            It’s Samhain, and I’m conflicted.  I have always adored this holiday, and have since I was a child.  It was always more than the candy, and the chance to be someone else for the night.  I truly believed, even as a child that the Spirits I saw during my daily life were more easily understood at “Hallowe’en”. 

            My conflict comes from the series of events from the last year.  You see, my brother died this past spring, and it’s not clear as to whether his death was accidental or a suicide.  The police say there were drugs in his system and he stumbled onto the train tracks in his back yard.  Since no one knows for sure if it was an accident or not, it’s causing a lot of problems in our family. 

            My other brother makes things worse, by announcing that because he is recently “saved” he believes that our brother is burning in hell for having committed suicide.  Apparently he found Jesus last month in jail and that makes him an expert. 

            I’d love to celebrate Samhain and Honor him as I would any of my beloved dead, but I don’t feel his is “really” dead.  I’ve seen him, his spirit, a few months after his death, not in passing but for extended periods.  He asked me to tell our father that he was okay.  My dad has just now started to seem like his old self and I don’t want to hurt him further by mentioning it.

Do I know if he committed suicide?  No. I was too mad at my brother for dying to speak to him when he appeared to me. So all I know is that he says he’s okay.  Obviously (to me) if he can pop in to say he’s okay, then he’s not burning in hell.  Some might say that this was just my imagination brought on by grief, but I really believe it was him. 

            I feel bad that I wouldn’t talk to him when he showed up so unexpectedly, and he hasn’t come back.  How do I go about my Samhain plans feeling like I’ve abandoned my brother when he needed me?  I can’t tell my father he’s okay.  My mother and other family members have seen ghosts and communicated with them, so I know he would believe me, but I don’t want to remind him of his pain, either.  Do I mourn a suicide victim, or just the victim of an accident?

-Sad at Samhain

           

Dear Sad,

            That’s an awful lot to process for one person.  Any one part of that is enough to upset someone, and for you to be dealing with it at once can be hard.  I know you got dealt a crap hand in all of this, but you’re going to have to figure out a way to deal.  Life isn’t always fair, but I can tell you are a tough cookie, and you’ll do fine.  Let’s take this piece by piece. 

            Your brother’s death is a hard enough problem to deal with by itself.  It’s hard to have closure when you know the how of his death, but not the why.  I know it’s hard to talk about; suicide is almost as much a taboo in the Pagan community as it is in the mundane. 

Not many people know that there is a Goddess just for suicide victims.  Ixtab is a Mayan Goddess, who is believed to carry the souls of suicide victims in her heart to Paradise.  I’m sure if suicide were involved, she carried your brother in her heart to a place where he could rest and deal with what happened before moving on. 

I know you want to honor your brother’s memory by letting your father know he is okay, but I think the time for this is down the way, after he has had time to overcome his grief at his loss.  

With the common belief in reincarnation and the Summerland as a part of Wiccan and some Pagan beliefs it’s common to hear that victims of suicide weren’t capable of dealing with the lessons they chose for this lifetime and that they’ll need to repeat them in the next.  Whether or not he was an accident victim or not, I firmly believe that his coming to you to let you know he was okay was the important part. 

            Your brother’s assertions about heaven and hell come from his desire to exert some control over his loss and his own feelings.  Even though it is hurtful to you to hear him say these things, it’s merely his way of dealing.  It doesn’t make it right, but I hope that helps you understand where he’s coming from. 

            Samhain is the perfect time to let him know that you love him and miss him.  You can set up a special ancestral altar, and give photos of him prominence. Talk to him as if he were standing in front of you.  I’m sure wherever he is, he will hear you.  Don’t muddy your celebration with feelings of guilt.  You responded as many people would.  Samhain is the time to celebrate the times you enjoyed with your loved ones, not to concentrate on their death.  On this day he is not an accident victim, or a suicide victim, he’s your brother.

Of Green and Glass: Make (Martial) Arts, not War

Dear Goewin,

            I’ve been on the Wiccan path for quite a few years now, and recently started attending Tae Kwon Do classes with my kids.  It’s fun for us, and I like being able to do something with them, instead of dropping them off somewhere.  How do I reconcile my enjoyment of martial arts with what I have been taught about the Rede and rules governing “harm none”?
                                                                                                            -Martial, not Mean

Dear Martial,

            Doing things with your kids is not wrong.  Enjoying activities that get them out of the house, away from TV and video games is not wrong.  While we’re at it, protecting yourself is not wrong!  

What is wrong is the people in the world that think it’s  okay to get what they want in the world by taking it from other people.  Every day I see it.  Even in this “small town”.  On the news each night, I see people kicking in doors on other people’s homes, to steal and do whatever they like to get whatever they like.  

That does not mean that you are somehow a “bad” person for wanting to protect you and yours!  The Rede may say “Harm None” but allowing someone to come into your home to hurt you, or your family, steal from you and abuse you and then to walk away unscathed?  That’s harm.  That person is going to go do it to someone else, and then their harm is on you as well because you allowed this person to continue harming others.  Let's not forget, there are plenty of Wiccans who don't even follow the Rede, but that's a topic for another day.

Does this make you a “mean” person?  No.  You are not going around kicking puppies, right?  Then to Tartarus with them.  Does this mean that you are looking to get into a fight “just so you can use what you know”?  Absolutely not.  I’m sure that by now you have gotten that from your instructor. The aim of martial arts is not to start fights, but to be able to avoid them. 

            

            I’m sure you have no moral objection to carrying an umbrella in case of rain, am I right?  I look at martial arts in the same way. What you learn in the dojo and its real world application is a tool.  You have it in case you need it, not so you can use it every day.  I feel the same way about responsible gun ownership, but that’s a different topic.  

The bottom line here is, don’t ever let anyone tell you that it is not okay to protect your family in the way you see fit, as long as it is responsible and legally protected.  They don’t have to live your life, or protect your family, that’s your job.  If it feels right to you, go for it. If it bothers them that much, they don’t need to be your friend.