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

Community is important

The title of this blog might be self-explanatory to most of us, at least is it for most of my friends and immediate community.

As Pagans, Witches and Wiccans, part of our religion or spirituality (indeed, a major part) is serving the Gods.  That means different things to different people.  Generally speaking, for someone who is Wiccan it means that we hold to the Rites of our particular Tradition.  Our Rites honor the Goddess and the God, turn the Wheel of the Year, and connect us with Them through aligning ourselves with what is happening in the world around us.  This might take the form of Sabbat and Esbat celebrations or other devotional Rites.

However, a big part of my personal spiritual practice is community.  Specifically, service to the community.  I don't understand Witches who say that community service (at least community interaction) is not a part of their practice.  Yes, our Rites let us connect with Them but the easiest and most effective way of seeing Them manifest in the world around us to to see Them in the very faces of the like-minded folks in our community.  If I can see Them in the people with whom I interact, how could I not serve Them?  Seems like a no-brainer for me.

For a number of years, I've been in a state of semi-retirement from teaching the Craft and from actively participating in community events within the greater Boston community.  Mostly because I was burnt out due to my perception of "entitled Pagans", bickering about definitions, witch-wars and flame fests.  Last year, that began to change with my involvement in the Society of Elder Faiths (the SEF).

Over the past year, I've had the opportunity to attend social events, open Sabbat celebrations, and network with folk who I might not otherwise have met. What was surprising to me was that I was enjoying myself. Through attending the SEF open events, being encouraged to actively participate, and offering
to coordinate the Befana Yule event, I gained a valuable and renewed perspective and appreciation in regards to community.  What I came to realize is that community is more important than I was letting myself believe and experience.

As a direct result of interacting with the SEF community, I have come out of my semi-retirement and am once again participating in community. It was a direct result of positive community interaction that prompted me to start the Sheaves of Demeter and, once again, begin teaching.  It was a direct result of positive community interaction that prompted me to attend the Feast of Lights and reconnect with some old friends that I hadn't seen in far too long.  It was a direct result of positive community interaction that prompted me to offer my serviced to the SEF as a potential board member to nurture community and grow positive connections with others.

Recently, I was appointed to the Board of the SEF and I am happy to say that I look forward to the coming year (and longer!) where I can offer my services to help nurture such a wonderful community.

If you can afford the time and effort, I would encourage you to become more active in your local community especially if your local community isn't doing what you'd like to see it do or if it is not quite as positive as you would like it to be.  Remember, if you want change and a more positive community, YOU need to change it.

Benedizioni,

---Vinnie

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.