Wow!

I have just found out that 'Moonroot' is listed as no. 23 in the '50 Best Blogs for Wiccans' at this site.


They say, 'Many Witches and Wiccans embrace environmental, sustainable political causes, and moonroot dishes out valuable advice on spells, meditations and other ways for the community to protect the planet.'

I am amazed and flattered. Wow. Thanks!  

A Blog With Substance Award

I am absolutely thrilled to find I have been awarded this blogging award. The most recent rules for the award are:

1. Thank the blogger that gave you the award. Thankyou to Jill over at Path of the Moon Daughter, I am truly delighted that you've chosen my blog for this award.
   
2. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, experience, using 5 words. Mine are *enjoy *express *experiment *dare and *share.


3. Pass the award on to 5 fabulous bloggers with substance. I'm happy to bestow this award (in no particular order) on the following fabulous blogs which always have something worth saying, and say it well:

• Secret Garden
• The Awakened Heart
• Big Blue Barn West
• Blog O'Gnosis
• Earthenwitch

Thank you and goodnight!

Honest Blogger Award

I am honestly honoured to find I have been awarded The Honest Blogger Award by Sue (aka The Purple Pixie) at her wonderful blog, The Creative Spirit. The award was ceated in response to Sue's post 'Telling It Like It Is'.

The Award states:

WE ARE Honest Bloggers!



the Sisterhood of SHIfT HAPPENS!



As honest bloggers we: (Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Add To... As You Wish)

• Speak our truth from the heart and tell it like it is.


• Share openly and honestly our true feelings without fear of judgement, blame or shame.


• We write to share our achievements so others can also share our joy.


• We write about our bad times too, knowing that the love and support of others is around us and perhaps heal another’s pain in the process...


• We are human beings with real feelings and emotions and REFUSE to hide behind a mask.


• We dare to be different.


• We are Free Spirits.


• We realise that by spilling out, we lighten our load.


• We acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses and don't see them in terms of success or failure.


• We laugh together and cry together.


• We are all following our own journey in our own unique way.


• Above all else, we may lie on the floor, screaming and kicking, or feel like life is collapsing around us once in a while… but at the end of the day, we drag ourselves up, dust ourselves off and rise to fight another day.

For we are Warrior Women and we write not to please others, stroke our own egos or be judged, we blog because we care! Our blogs are our therapy, and through sharing SHIfT HAPPENS!

*********

I haven't Cut, Copied, Pasted, Deleted, or Added To Sue's words as I love them just as they are. I feel truly honoured to be included in such august company! Apparently I now also have the right to bestow the award, so I plan to be passing the baton very soon...

Tagged!

The wonderful and inspiring Boho Mom has been kind enough to give me this award (thanks Boho!).

Actually [drops voice to a whisper] I got given this once before, by Livia Indica. But in the six months that have passed since then, it seems to have morphed a bit - then I had to nominate six others and list six things I like. Now it's seven others and seven favourite things. Yes I know, I'm splitting hairs... trying to justify doing it again! But it's a bit of fun and there are always so many great bloggers to nominate so, what the heck!

Anyhow, here are the rules:

• Copy and paste this award to your blog.
• List seven of your favourite things and pass it along to at least seven others.

And here are my seven favourites...

1. The month of May - so bursting with life, so green, so tender, so beautiful...
2. Lunch at The Owl and The Pussycat cafe in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. The food is all lovingly home made and the soups and cakes in particular are to die for! The hot bakewell tart with cream is out of this world...
3. The smell of blackcurrant leaves - takes me back to picking blackcurrants on a hot summer day in my grandparents' garden.
4. Chalice Well Gardens in Glastonbury - an oasis of calm, and a truly magical place.
5. Unlimited time browsing in a bookshop.
6. Little Miss Sunshine - my new favourite film!
7. Listening to my brother and sister playing music and singing together.

And now I tag....

1. Bret at This Guy's Journey (good to have you back blogging again!),
2. Andy at The Spiritual Journey of a Somerset Pagan (always a good, though-provoking read),
3. The deeply cool and effortlessly funny Earthenwitch,
4. Also deeply cool and effortlessly funny, Good King Hal (plus a spot of nepotism never hurts),
5. Willow at Contemplating Change, who is the very essence of Kreativ - ahem, sorry Creative! (I love her gorgeous knitting projects),
6. My good and very talented friend Dragonfly at The Secret Garden,
7. Another good friend and man of many talents, Paul at Moon and Raven.

One Sweet Blog Award

And my final blog catch-up...

Thank you so much to Lee at Solstice Dreamer for nominating me for this award. I'm late picking up on it but hugely grateful!

I have to list seven things in a number of different categories.

7 things to do before I die

1. Watch a tennis match at Wimbledon
2. See the Rubinoos live
3. Learn to crochet
4. Get Herbert to let me stroke him (he now comes in the house to visit but is still too wary to let me get close enough to touch)
5. Visit the amazing Goddess temples in Malta
6. Write and publish a book
7. Plant more trees

7 things I do now

1. Sing along with the radio
2. Luxuriate in the bath
3. Make jam
4. Blow a kiss to the New Moon when I first see Her
5. Make my own compost
6. Make soup
7. Enjoy Sudoku

7 things I can't do

1. Play a musical instrument
2. Tango
3. Make a souffle
4. Abide Jeremy Clarkson
5. Ice skate
6. Sneeze quietly
7. Understand cricket

7 things I find attractive in the opposite sex

1. Kindness
2. Nice eyes
3. A sense of humour
4. Intelligence
5. A social conscience
6. A nice smile
7. Honesty

7 things I say most often

1. "S***!"
2. "C'mon girls!" (to the cats)
3. "Take care!" (when parting from someone or finishing up a telephone call)
4. A vast selection of expletives other than "s***!" - I am someone who does believe in swearing
5. "D'you know what I mean?"
6. "Brilliant!!!!"
7. "Hiya!"

7 celebs I most admire

1. Joss Whedon
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Maya Angelou
4. Stephen Fry
5. Susan Sarandon
6. Errr....

7 favourite foods

1. Prawns
2. Spaghetti & home made tomato sauce
3. Cashew Nuts
4. Moules Mariniere with crusty bread
5. Chocolate
6. Hot Bakewell Tart & Cream at the Owl & the Pussycat Tearooms in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire
7. Lemon tart or my Mum's Lemon Flummery (like a tangy lemon mousse - to die for!)

As I've already done a lot of nominating in the last couple of posts, for this one I'm going to just say I nominate everyone on my 'Family, Friends and Favourites' blog roll, and if you read this and would like to join in - well, consider yourself nominated too!

Tree of Happiness Award

Continuing to play catch up on the blog, I find I have been tagged by the lovely aromatic at Winds of Change, who has awarded me the Tree of Happiness. Thank you!

The rules of the award are:

• Link to the person who gave the award to you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• List six things that make you happy.
• Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
• Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
• Let the person who awarded you know when your entry is up.

It's always a good exercise to focus on the positives in life, so with no further ado, my six happy-making things are:

1. Spending time with my loved ones - blood family, chosen family and friends. I am especially looking forward to spending Christmas with my loved ones this year.
2. Going to Witchcamp! Next year's will be Avalon Spring in late May, a beautiful time of year. We will be working with the Charge of the Goddess back at our old familiar venue, the lovely Earthspirit, near Glastonbury. Can't wait!
3. Watching my chickens. They are so interesting and so entertaining as they eat and drink and scratch and socialise and explore. And it has been wonderful watching the ex-battery hens blossom and thrive.
4. Tai Chi. I have mentioned before the positive effect it has on my mood. I've noticed that even if I'm feeling really depressed and sad, my weekly lesson never fails to pick me up. It's strange as I'm really not an exercise lover - I loathed PE at school and spent a great deal of time evading it whenever possible. Later, I went dutifully to aerobics classes but never enjoyed them and always left feeling exhausted - I thought I was immune to the 'exercise high' that others seem to get. But after a Tai Chi class I feel stretched (literally and metaphorically), energetic and positive.
5. Craft activities. I love getting totally immersed in the creative process, and I especially love recycling something old/broken/tatty/useless into something new and beautiful.
6. Harvesting food I have grown and making it into a tasty meal for my loved ones. I often say I don't like cooking - by which I really mean cooking and eating alone is not something I find pleasurable, it feels like a chore. And frankly, I get sick of my own cooking. Yet harvesting food I've grown feels like a real achievement, and preparing food for others is a different matter, a pleasure indeed. And when the garden suddenly throws up something unexpected - say a glut of broad beans or courgettes - then by necessity my cooking becomes inventive and suddenly it's fun again!

My six nominations are:

1. Brett at This Guy's Journey
2. Boho Mom at Words from a Bohemian Mom
3. The Awakened Heart - if she has time to do it, having just moved home
4. Sleepy Kitty at From the Windowsill also sounds very busy, but I hope she'll find time to do it too
5. Breezy at Breezy Break Blog because she liked the last meme I passed on to her, and she's been quiet of late...
6. The Kitten's Mother

Kreativ Blogger Award

Livia Indica has nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award on her NeoPagan Ink blog. Wow, thank you! I'm so flattered to be awarded this.

Now I've got to nominate 6 others and list 6 things I like.

In no particular order I nominate:

• mccabe at Dancing Mermaid for her amazing photos, poetry and joyously creative spirit
• Jackie and the Gingers at We Three, Ginger Cats Tales - stunning photography and a poetic telling of what it is to be a cat
• Snapper and the Griffin, for quirky photos and gorgeous tales
• Fiona at The Cottage Smallholder for writing like a dream and managing to make even me, who really doesn't enjoy cooking a whole lot, want to take up my garlic press and wooden spoon and get creating deliciousness
• Mike at Team Spirit for sharing his funny and intriguing novel with us, and
• Juliet at Crafty Green Poet - truly creative and lovely poetry to boot!

And I like:

• The smell of lemons (I use lemon essential oil to clean my kitchen!)
• The art of Andy Goldsworthy
• Snuggling up in front of the wood burning stove with the cats on a chilly evening
• This song (which I never get tired of)
• Earl Grey tea - something about the scent always gives me a little lift
• The Tai Chi class I've just started taking. I'm not a great fan of exercise - never have been - but Tai Chi makes me feel really energised yet calm.

Have a nice weekend!

A Long Overdue Thank You!

Rather belatedly, I'd like to thank Andy at The Spiritual Journey of a Somerset Pagan, and Livia Indica at Magic in These Hills for nominating me for the 'I love your blog' award.


Many, many thanks to both of you for the honour! I love your blogs too, so it means a lot that you would pick me.

The Rules for those receiving an award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received the award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blogs nominated

My nominations include some lovely blogs I've discovered in recent months. I send awards showering down on:

1. Mitchell Mutt at The Book Rant, whose posts are unfailingly short, to the point and hilarious;
2. Mimi at Little Sips of Tea, a delicious comfort-blanket of a blog;
3. Rima at The Hermitage, a magical wonderland of quirky creativity;
4. Mike at Team Spirit because I am so enjoying Drood's adventures and can't wait for Chapter 8;
5. The Awakened Heart, down to earth, spiritual and often downright funny - lovely!;
6. Aims at Big Blue Barn West - Aims' moving story is so beautifully and honestly told I am quite addicted;
7. Paul at Moon and Raven, because it's always well-written, thought-provoking and he covers such a diverse range of subjects.

I'm really surprised how easy it was to pick seven - how hard to stop at seven, in fact. It goes to prove that there really are a lot of wonderful blogs out there to enjoy. I recommend all of the above for your viewing/reading pleasure.

Thank You, Thank You Very Much...

Many thanks to Lee at Solstice Dreamer for giving me an Excellent Blog Award. Thank you Lee!

I will pass it on to ten deserving blogs shortly. Watch this space...

Arte y Pico Award

Catching up with Blogland after my visit to Avalon Spring, I'm flattered to find I have been given an award by the lovely Moncha over at Dreaming of Avalon.

It is called the Arte y Pico award, given for 'Creativity, Design, Interesting material, and Contribution to the blogging community', and it originated here. Thank you so much, I'm deeply honoured to have been chosen and feeling very flattered that Moncha thinks I fit the bill!

Firstly I must share the rules, which are:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you feel are deserving of this award, based on their Creativity, Design, Interesting material, and Contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language
2. For each award giver: include the name of the author and a link to their blog, so they can be visited.
3. For each recipient: show the award with the name and link to the blogger from whom it was received.
4. For both giver and receiver: show the link (http://arteypico.blogspot.com/)
5. Publish these rules.

And now I get to pass the award on!

I choose:

Dancing Mermaid: mccabe's blog is a delight - I am in awe of her words, her art and her photos all of which always lift me up and make me feel better about the world.

At Brigid's Forge: Because I love Lunaea's words and photos - and I love to see the pretty Goddess rosaries she produces.

The Gold Puppy: Reya is a friend from real life as well as the blogosphere - unfortunately the Atlantic separates us! She always has such an unusual slant on life (I call it Reyavision) which makes me think, and her photos are just fabulous!

Jackie Morris's Blog: Jackie is an amazing and talented artist and writer. I love her 'Three Ginger Cats' blog, but she also has this blog which showcases her gorgeous artwork and photos. If I could afford them I would have her paintings hung all round my house - until that day comes I content myself with sighing over her blog.

It's The Journey, Not the Destination: Donald is another dear friend across the pond. He too is a talented artist, photographer and writer. He's only been blogging a short while but I'm so glad he decided to join us so I can enjoy his work!

If you haven't visited any of these wonderful blogs before I recommend them all heartily. Have fun browsing!

Hallowe'en Sweet Treat Award

Wow! I've been given a Hallowe'en Sweet Treat Award by The Cottage Smallholder for my Samhain post. Thank you!! I'm very excited as this is my first blogging award!

[clears throat and speaks tearfully into microphone] I'd like to thank everyone who supported me - my Agent, my Mum and Dad, Blogspot.com, Gerald Gardner, Samantha from 'Bewitched', the Goddess, God....[fill in the tearstained waffle of your choice here] ;-)

Actually what I'd really like to do is pass on the award to some other bloggers who've written about Hallowe'en/Samhain.

I pass the award to: Hope Springs at Spring Dawn, Reya at The Gold Puppy, Miss R at Tales of Inglewood and Deborah Oak at Roots Down, Branches Up.

This award was created by Anni at http://www.hootin--anni.blogspot.com/