10 Days and counting...

I had wanted to start posting more but getting ready for my trip has really taken all of my time!  10 days and counting until I fly off to Sicily for a month.

I have my Euro cash, my bills paid, lodging and other arrangements made.  I have to pack and get a phone when I arrive.  I am pretty sure that I've taken care of most everything.

Each day, I'm doing 1/2 - 1 hour of Rosetta Stone. It's really a great course. If you're thinking of learning a language, it's worth the money especially when you compare it to the price of more traditional courses for language.

Stregacrafts is up and running.  since I hand create most items that we carry,  but we're not going to be taking any new orders until I return. Note - I was just informed that I accidentally crashed the site. It's off line as of this writing my Mike is going to fix it as soon as he gets back from lunch.  Sorry!

OneStopOccultshop is up and running. We'll still be taking orders through the site. I've arranged it so our suppliers will drop ship orders directly to our customers and I'll be staying in touch with them while I'm gone.

Streghe.us is up and running and we've got some surprises planned. I'm working with a friend to convert the site to a WordPress UI including forums. The goal is to make it a real community site focused around resources and intelligent (and respectful) discussion regarding Pagan religious Witchcraft with origins in Italy/Sicily, Europe, & the USA.

http://www.vinnierusso.com/TarotReadings is up and running. Although I am still taking phone readings until I leave, I am not able to do any in-person readings at this time.  While gone in September, I will not be available for phone or in-person readings.  When I return in October, I will be available for both and will be sure to post a notice.

The Sheaves of Demeter Coven is busy as well. In addition to the Chthonioi-Alexandrian and Italic material, we're currently doing 4 - 6 weeks of elemental workings. Each week is devoted to meditations on a particular element and how that element appears and interacts in our daily lives. The goal is both become familiar with the more traditional associations with the elements as well as forge our own personal associations with them and recognize when and how they appear in our daily lives.  By recognizing their appearance and interaction, we can better use our knowledge of them to steer our course more positively.

If you're thinking of doing some of your own elemental work, I highly recommend The Way of Four by Deborah Lipp. It's an excellent book written by an amazing Witch.

OK, back to work.

Ciao a tutti,

Vincenzo

StregaCrafts/Arsenic.com to donate auction items for the Society of Elder Faiths Coffeehouse

Ciao a tutti,


The Society of Elder Faiths is having their annual Coffeehouse on Saturday, November 17th.  As an active member of the Pagan community and as a (board-) member of the SEF, I think that it's very important that we support our local organizations. Any organization is only as strong and vibrant as the members who participate and support it so let's do this!

StregaCrafts/Arsenic.com is going to donate 3 gift-baskets for the auction.

I'll be making gift baskets of our new Rituali Saponi (pictures at the link)!

Our all natural soaps are custom made for us and come in a bar of approximately 5 oz.

• We carefully choose ingredients and colors to me magically correct and then charge and dedicated each one to its specific magical purpose. 
• Basic ingredients for all cold processed handmade soap are as follows: Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Soybean Oil, Hemp Oil , Organic Shea Butter , Water, Lye*, and Natural Fragrance. 
• Our soap contains: NO Preservatives! NO Animal Products! NO Petroleum Products! NO Parabens! NO Lauryl Sulfate! 
• Colors may vary in shade/tone as our soaps are made made and blended.

Gift Basket #1 -

• Diana - Dedicated to Diana/Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon, and Queen of the Faeries. Color: This 5 oz bar is a white (yellow/white) in color. Scent: Clean scent of sandalwood and trees and misty moonlight. Ritual uses: Perfect for all ritual uses such as purifying baths to prepare for magic and ritual. Also used for wishes, healing, exorcism, spirituality, hidden Mysteries, intuition and insight, and to honor the Queen of Faeries.
• Apollo - Dedicated to Phoebus Apollo, variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, music, poetry, and more. Color: This 5 oz bar is a light brown/orange and yellow blend. Scent: Medium scent of fresh berries and sunlight. Ritual uses: Energy, skill (athletic and artistic), vibrancy, healing, music, divination, luck, money.
• Hermes - Dedicated to Hermes, God of Merchants, messengers, and travelers. He is also a Psychopomp and patron of those who work with their mind. Color: This 5 oz bar is burnt orange/yellow.  Scent: Orange and cinnamon. Ritual uses: Communication, commerce, creativity, clear thought, cleverness, dispel glamour, the descending Muse, travel, divination.

Gift Basket #2 -

• Demeter - Dedicated to Demeter/Ceres, the Goddess of Abundance, Fertility, and Harvest. Color: This 5 oz bar is a golden brown. Scent: Medium scent of rich oatmeal. Ritual uses: Fertility, agriculture, nature, prosperity, health, motherly interests, abundance, growth, new ventures.
• Persephone - Dedicated to Persephone/Proserpina, the Queen of the Dead and Eternal Spring. Color: This is a 5 oz red striped bar. Scent: Pomegranate and cherry. Ritual uses: Evoke eternal spring, beginnings and endings (death and rebirth), the Underworld, comfort to the dead and those left behind, the Mysteries, prosperity and abundance.
• Hades - Dedicated to Hades/Pluto, God of the Dead and King of the Wealth of the Hidden Earth. Color: This 5 oz bar is charcoal colored. Scent: A blend of aloes and earthly garden fragrances. Ritual uses: Riches and prosperity, the Afterlife, endings and death, work with the Dead and the Underworld, purification, psychic powers.

Gift Basket #3 -

• Zeus - Dedicated to Zeus/Jupiter, Father of the Gods and Wisdom. Color: This 5 oz bar is yellow with green/blue swirls. Scent: Crisp mountain air and hints of purifying sage. Ritual uses: Conquering all things, wisdom, judgment, law and the courts, immortality, protection.
• Hera - Dedicated to Hera/Juno, mother of the Gods and Patron of the Family and domestic life. Color: This 5 oz bar is a an off-white/purple color. Scent: Fresh lilac with a hint of wisteria. Ritual uses: Motherhood, marriage, spiritual alignment, wisdom, blessings, centering, balance, peace, healing, happiness, release, purification, garden magic, immortality.
• Hestia - Dedicated to Hestia/Vesta, the Goddess of the Hearth and eternal flame. Color: This 5 oz bar is lavendar in color with lavendar buds. Scent: Lavendar and ylang-ylang. Ritual uses: Hearth, home, health, protection, family, domesticity, right order.

I hope to see you there!


Benedizioni,


---Vincenzo

We're back on line...

We're back on line with the new redesign of all our websites!

Now you can get to any of our sites by visiting http://www.arsenic.com.

We have a few bugs to knock out so please let us know if you see one and please give us your feedback!

Our newest site, http://www.Streghe.US is going to be our resource center for information on Witchcraft, specifically Pagan religious Witchcraft with origins in Italy/Sicily, Europe, & the USA.  We have a variety of articles, book reviews by Mike Gleason, blogs, and other references.  Please let us know if you have written an article that you would like to see at Streghe.US.  If you know of a good article that you think would be appropriate for our site, let us know its URL.  We'll track down the author and see if they will let us repost it.

For those of you on Facebook, we are going to be changing how we use FACEBOOK:

LIKE OneStopOccultShop
https://www.facebook.com/OneStopOccultShop
for Store info, discount coupons, new products, blog updates, article updates, and things of interest to general paganism.

LIKE StregaCrafts
https://www.facebook.com/StregaCrafts

for updates of interest to Italian Craft, handmade items, blog updates, article updates, and things "Strega", then please like this page:

Like Arsenic & Old Lace
https://www.facebook.com/ArsenicAndOldLace
if you want to see my "catch all" posts, blog updates, general reposts, etc.

Fair warning on my personal page
https://www.facebook.com/nivho
- it is going to be used for my personal posts, politics, humor, and general thoughts that creep out of my head. It will also be receiving reposts from my Twitter account and likely to have duplicate posts. If you don't like my politics or my humor, then you probably shouldn't friend it.

Ciao for now!

---Vincenzo

News for our customers!

News for our customers -

Mike and I have been extremely busy redesigning our business model, improving the technical specs of our various website projects, and giving the sites a "makeover". Our goal is to have the redesigns up and running by the beginning of October. I can't guarantee that it will be up for October 1st, but it should be live sometime during the first week of October.

Currently we have Arsenic & Old Lace for our main commerce site, tarot readings, and resources. Unfortunately, at a commerce focused site, the Tarot Readings and Resource Section tended to get lost. To add to that, we have StregaCrafts as our "boutique shop", what seems like dozens (!) of "homepages" on various Pagan Community and forum sites, and finally, Vinnie's blog (of occasionally interesting things) at blogspot.com.

Until now, we've felt like we were spread all over the place with no real connection between our various projects: go to blogspot for Vinnie's blog, go to X Community Site for discussions, go to Arsenic & Old Lace for occult supplies, go to StregaCrafts for custom products, go a subsection of Arsenic & Old Lace for resources (book reviews, blogs, etc.), go to yet another subsection of Arsenic & Old Lace for Tarot Readings, etc.

Rather than have one or two really "busy" sites, we're breaking things down into several discrete and less busy sites that will be dedicated to specific purposes:

Arsenic & Old Lace (http://www.arsenic.com) will become our main "portal" site to all of our other activities and products with a "universal menu bar" to help folks navigate our offerings. From here, folks will be able to find links to whatever we're working on.

http://www.OneStopOccultShop.com will become our main Occult and Witchcraft commerce site carrying over 7500 products of major brands like Anna Riva, AzureGreen, 1618Gold, etc.

http://www.StregaCrafts.com will be for our hand-made crafts and custom magic products;

http://www.VinnieRusso.com will focus on Vinnie and his Tarot Consulting;

and http://www.Streghe.US will be dedicated to resources, book reviews, blogs, and article with future plans to integrate forums and members' pages. If you have suggestions for content, or would like to contribute content, then please let us know!

This will be a long-term, ongoing project and we're open to your suggestions!

Ciao,

---Vincenzo

What's up for December?

Happy December, everyone!

We've been very busy trying to get ready for the holidays. Since most of our customers tend to shop with us all year round rather than just at the holidays, we've been trying to figure out how to provide them with something new during this season. (Have I recently mentioned just what an amazing programmer Mike is?)

Mike came up with a fantastic idea. We had been talking about putting some sort of a wish list for our customers who wanted an item but were yet ready to make the purchase. Aside from the technical problem of figuring out how to program a wish list into an existing website, we didn't want people to have to set up a profile at our website just to let your friends know what items they would like for the holidays. I pulled a few customers about a wish list and many of them said that they already had an Amazon Wish List and would love to be able to put products from our site on their Amazon list for the friends and family to see.

Now, I know that Amazon does provide plug-ins for some browsers but folks tend to be picky about what plug-ins they install on your computer. Mike did a little bit of research into the Amazon "add to Wish List" button. With some technical tweaking he was able to integrate the technology for the Amazon Wish List button directly into our individual product pages.

Each one of our product pages has two buttons on it: our normal “add to cart” button, and new a new “Amazon Wish List” button! If you already have an Amazon Wish List, all you need to do is click on the new Amazon Wish List button and you'll get a small public by prompting you to add the product to your wish list. The best part is that if you have more than one Amazon Wish List, you can even select which list the product will go to!

If that's not enough, might even rewrote our inventory tracking system so we can keep even closer watch on our stock levels.

As always, if there's something that you are looking for but can’t find on the website, just let me know. Speaking of which, you may be wondering where our StregaCrafts products (potions, incense, and anointing oils) and Dryad Designs jewelry and statuary have gone. We've moved both lines of products (StregaCrafts & Dryad Designs) to our newest website HTTP://www.stregacrafts.com. Come on over and give it a look. We'd love your feedback.

That's all we have for now. I've got to get myself ready to dash off to a weekend workshop with Alessandra Belloni.

Ciao bello!

Vincenzo

New ventures

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've written a blog.  It's not that I haven't been inspired to say something (Gods know!).  It's that I've been very, very busy.

For the past several months, Mike and I have been working to get a new retail website up and running.  The focus of the site is/will be Witchcraft derived from the Mediterranean cultures and religious traditions.  Our new venture is called Strega Crafts and we'll be going live in October.  Our goal is a full site publish for the Monday, October 3, 2011.

We'll be offering handmade items and accessories and we'll be starting with my own incense, anointing oils, and potions.  We are in the works to get hand crafted chalices, jewelry and statuary, and strega-rosaries. 

Any other items that you would like to see us offer?

Benedizioni,

---Vinnie

Happy New Year & Sale at Arsenic & Old Lace

Happy New Year!

We just wanted to send you our Happy New Year's wishes and thank you for being a customer. You've helped us make the last decade a memorable one. As we enter a new decade, 2010 promises to be an exciting year and we can't wait to get started!

We'd like to offer you 10%* off everything in the store for the entire month of January. Just enter this coupon code (without the quotes) during checkout:
"QCCZBJHRJ6GAP"

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

- Vinnie, Arsenic & Old Lace


*Multiple discounts may not be combined. Only one discount per item. If you qualify for multiple discounts, we will apply the most favorable discount to your items, where applicable.

Rev. Vincent Russo, Proprietor * Arsenic & Old Lace
PO Box 448 * Malden, Massachusetts 02148 * Tel: 617-381-4369

December 2009 Newsletter

Your One-Stop Occult Shop   December 2009 Newsletter

Arsenic & Old Lace Happy December!  Happy Yule! Happy December! Snow, chilly weather, decorations, family gatherings, good homemade food, the good witch Befana, the rebirth of the Sun King, and an all night Solstice vigil.  All of those things and more are part of our family traditions during this time of year. However you and your family celebrate the holiday(s) of this season, we would like to wish you the very best and safest of times. "Our Christian friends are often quite surprised at how enthusiastically we Pagans celebrate the 'Christmas' season. Even though we prefer to use the word "Yule", and our celebrations may peak a few days before the twenty-fifth, we nonetheless follow many of the traditional customs of the season: decorated trees, caroling, presents, Yule logs, and mistletoe. We might even go so far as putting up a 'Nativity set', though for us the three central characters are likely to be interpreted as Mother Nature, Father Time, and the baby Sun God. None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who knows the true history of the holiday, of course." The above paragraph comes from a great Yule article by Mike Nichols.  We are lucky enough to have him permission to repost the entire article on our site: Yule/Midwinter's Eve. Since this is such a wonderful solar-centered time of year, we'd like to offer you a special gift.  For December, we're going to put all of our "sun themed items" on sale for our members! Save 15% on sun-themed merchandise!  We've neatly gathered them all into one spot for you:  December Featured Products. New & Noteworthy - New Collections, Networking Pages, & Blogging Our blog is going to be moving!  We'll still have links to it from our site, but the new blog will have it's own special address: http://stregonemago.blogspot.com/. Because we send out a monthly newsletter, the blog will become more focused on Vinnie's personal musings rather than specifically store-centric stuff.  However, it will also contain events that we are planning or attending.  Over the next few months, we will also be duplicating some articles over there. Featured Products for December:  In honor of the turning of the Wheel and the Yule rebirth of the Sun, we've gathered all of our sun-themed products in one convenient space.  Members save 15%. For the New Witch Collection:  What's a new Witch to stock their cupboards with? We know the choices can be difficult so here are our suggestions!  We've picked a few items from each of our most popular categories to help the new Witch start out! You'll find all the essentials such as elemental Tools, devotional Statues, Jewelry, and more. Join us on Facebook at our own FanPage!  Come on by and start a discussion on our Fan Page or even review a product.  We also post upcoming event that we sponsor or attend. Come by and let us know what you think! Upcoming Events - A Befana Yule   Join Vinnie and the Society of Elder Faiths in celebrating the Winter Solstice - Yule, the Return of the Sun!  This year we will be presenting a "Befana Yule" ritual. Date: Friday, December 11th Time: Doors open at 6 PM Orientation at 7 PM Place: Brigham Hill Community Farm Befana is the Italian "good witch" who brings gifts of the season to the children.  She represents the Goddess of the Hearth who gives renewal to the Sun.  She is also the old crone who connects us to our Ancestors and the cycle of life, growth, and renewal. As this a community Sabbat ritual and celebration, attendees are asked to bring a fully prepared dish to share for the feast afterwards.  More information can be found: http://www.elderfaiths.org/yule09.html. About Arsenic & Old Lace Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1981 and now exclusively on the web, Arsenic & Old Lace is dedicated to providing quality products and advice to the Pagan and Wiccan communities. We have become one of the best known occult supply shops in New England and one of the most trusted places to get quality supplies and gifts.  We strive to provide the best possible service for our customers.    You can choose from over 6000 products and save 5% or more off retail prices. Arsenic & Old Lace Rev. Vincent Russo Proprietor Web: http://www.arsenic.com Tel: 617-381-4369 Blog: http://stregonemago.blogspot.com Become a Facebook Fan - click here!

Members Specials

In honor of Yule, Members receive 15% off all of our sun-themed products! Come by and browse our selection.

2009 November 01, November Newsletter

(http://www.arsenic.com/resourcepages/newsletters/nov2009.aspx) (Still not properly importing from the old blog site.  Please use the link if needed.)  Arsenic & Old Lace

Your One-Stop Occult Shop   November 2009 Newsletter

Arsenic & Old Lace Happy November! Happy November! Ah, November.  It's one of my favorite times of the year, and not just for Thanksgiving!  For me, this time of year marks the change to when I am more focused on the home, family, and friends.  November seems to be a bit scarce on holidays.  On a secular level in the USA, we celebrate Thanksgiving.  For modern Paganism, most of us have already celebrated 3 harvest festivals but one more never hurts!  Even so, you don't find many modern Pagan celebrations during this month. Most of the regular Sabbats or celebrations in modern Paganism are fairly solar focused in their emphasis.  Being without a formal holiday this month lets me focus on more personal aspects of my practice such as my devotional work with regards to the importance of friends and family. This often takes the form of meditations and ritual designed around, not the solar myths but instead around the lunar cycle.  As they occur this month, their order is Full, Waning, New, and Waxing.  I find it particularly empowering to prepare myself with a ritual bath prior to starting my devotions, whether I have a full ritual planned or just a simple meditation.  Ritual baths work by bringing the mind and body into alignment with your intention. To encourage you to try this wonderful and easy way to focus, we're giving our members special discounts on our entire selection of AG Ritual Baths.  Save 15%! Upcoming Events - A Befana Yule   Join Vinnie and the Society of Elder Faiths in celebrating the Winter Solstice - Yule, the Return of the Sun!  This year we will be presenting a "Befana Yule" ritual. Date: Friday, December 11th Time: Doors open at 6 PM Orientation at 7 PM Place: Brigham Hill Community Farm Befana is the Italian "good witch" who brings gifts of the season to the children.  She represents the Goddess of the Hearth who gives renewal to the Sun.  She is also the old crone who connects us to our Ancestors and the cycle of life, growth, and renewal. New & Noteworthy - Spell Casting Shop and improved Site Navigation We're going to be instituting several new "collections".  These collections will be groupings of products by a common theme.  We'll still have all of our old "departments" like books, music, and candles but we thought that since we do have over 6000 items, designing collections would make it even easier for you to find what you need.  Our newest collection is our Spell Casting Shop where we've assembled everything from full ritual kits to those hard to find ingredients like coffin nails. Site navigation has been improved!  Come by the site and see the marvelous job that Mike did with redesigning our UI for more intuitive menus.  We have added menus on the homepage, search, and product listing pages to make it easier to navigate to specific categories or subcategories. You can always find where you want no matter where it appears at the site. Come by and let us know what you think! About Arsenic & Old Lace Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1981 and now exclusively on the web, Arsenic & Old Lace is dedicated to providing quality products and advice to the Pagan and Wiccan communities. We have become one of the best known occult supply shops in New England and one of the most trusted places to get quality supplies and gifts.  We strive to provide the best possible service for our customers.    You can choose from over 6000 products and save 5% or more off retail prices. Arsenic & Old Lace Rev. Vincent Russo, Proprietor Web: http://www.arsenic.com Tel: 617-381-4369 Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/nivho Become a Facebook Fan - click here!

Members Specials In honor of November devotionals, Members receive special discounts on our entire selection of AG Bath Salts!  Come by and browse our selection.

2009 August 06, August Newsletter

Thursday, August 06, 2009 

(Links disabled or in MySpace format) August Newsletter for Arsenic & Old Lace Current mood:  busy Arsenic & Old Lace Happy Summer! Happy Summer and Happy Lammas! As our good friend Jonathan said in a recent email to us: "Whether we call it La Cornucopia, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Festa di Demeter Malophoros, Green Corn & Dance, First Harvest, Time of the Scythe, Lunasa, Feast of St Peter's Chains, or that magical moment when the stars align into just 5' Leo...  Wishing you a wonderful celebration of First Fruits in this season of summer's bounty." Lammas is often called "The First Fruits" and is the first of the 3 harvest festivals in modern Paganism (Autumnal Equinox and Samhain are the other two) and is usually celebrated on August 1.  A nice entry at Wikipedia is located here. To help celebrate, we're giving our members special discounts on our selection of Altar Cloths and our Tote/Messenger Bags.  Save 15% here! Upcoming Events Where we will be and when... We have several events that we will be attending in the near future and would love to see you at them! Annual Society of Elder Faiths Lammas Faire! Join us for a great day of fun and fellowship. The beginning of the Harvest Season has long been marked by fairs, games, and gatherings. Our Faire is held in celebration of the ancient festival of Lammas, in the tradition of the summer gathering of the tribes. Sunday, August 9th, 2009 Metro West YMCA at Hopkinton Gather at the Camp Carol Pavilion at 1:00 PM Closing ritual at 4:00 PM Admission: $5 SEF Members, kids under 12 free, $10 all others Drum Circle! Belly Dance Workshop! Games for All Ages! Sun Shield Workshop for Kids and Their Families! Cookie Bake-off (be a judge!) {http://www.elderfaiths.org/LF09} Southern New Hampshire Pagan Pride Day - Save the date! NH Pagans of all traditions and paths are welcome at NH Pagan Pride Day 2009 10am - 6pm UU Church in Manchester, NH We will have a variety of workshops, performances, vendors and craftspeople, as well as opportunities for the kids! Come and celebrate the Harvest season with us and show your Pride in your traditions and beliefs! {http://snhpaganpride.org/} If you find yourself attending either of these wonderful events, look us up! New and Noteworthy - Specialty Collections ·        Fairy Collection - We've added a new "Specialty Category" where we've collected all of our Fairy related items in one convenient place. ·          ·        Our Dryad Design Collection and our Witches' Alchemy Potions are back! ·          As always, we're very interested in getting feedback from you!  Please send us your suggestions and comments so we can improve our service. About Arsenic & Old Lace Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1981 and now exclusively on the web, Arsenic & Old Lace is dedicated to providing quality products and advice to the Pagan and Wiccan communities. We have become one of the best known occult supply shops in New England and one of the most trusted places to get quality supplies and gifts.  We strive to provide the best possible service for our customers.    You can choose from over 5000 products and save 5% or more off retail prices.  Save 10%  on all purchases of $50 or more. Arsenic & Old Lace Rev. Vincent Russo,Proprietor Web: http://www.arsenic.com Tel: 617-381-4369 Blog: http://www.myspace.com/nivho Become a Facebook Fan - click here! Members Specials In honor of Lammas, Members receive special discounts on a selection of incense and incense accessories! Come by and browse our selection. Whoops!  This month's special is actually on Altar Cloths and Tote/Messenger Bags.   Posted by Arsenic & Old Lace (Vinnie Russo) on Thursday, August 06, 2009 - 9:56 AM