Italian in the new year

Well, with the new year in full swing, I'm trying to learn a phrase or word a day in Italian. This is in addition to my restarting my Rosetta Stone lessons.  I am hoping to plan a trip this year that will be one week in Sicily and one week in Italy.  My goal is to be able to understand and be understood without unduly embarrassing myself.  Wish me luck!

This week's phrases - They're a hoot.  Of course, they start with the month and the days of the week.

January - Gennaio
Venerdì - Friday
Sabato - Saturday
Domenica - Sunday
Lunedì - Monday
Martedì - Tuesday
Mercoledì - Wednesday
Giovedì - Thursday




Felice Anno Nuovo!     Happy New Year!
La Vita è bella!     Life is good.
Guida con attenzione.     Drive safely.
È una femmina!     It's a girl!
Ho bisogno di un riposino.     I need a nap.
Il difficile sta nel cominciare.     The first step is the hardest.
I tuoi figli sono adorabili.     Your children are adorable.
Anchi'io!     Me too!
Che genre di musica ti piache?     What kind of music do you like?

Pretty standard stuff but I'm hoping it's basic enough to get me re-motivated to start lessons again.  I've been lazy and only learning isolated words and phrases.  That's only useful to a point.  I really need someone in the area who wants to take lessons with me and be my buddy.

:-)



Ciao,

---Vincenzo

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 23, Moving over to blogger

As you can see, I'm in the process of trying to get all of my old blogs transferred over to blogger.  Unfortunately, since I have my blog archives in several different places, they're not importing quite right.  :-)  Oh well.

I've posted some of the important or interesting blogs from the past year and I will be posting more as we move forward into the holiday season and 2010.

Benedizioni,

---Vinnie

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.