open minded engineers and grey witches

We had to have our electricity fuse box checked this morning and on my return from the school run I was greeted by two very cheerful engineers.

Whilst one worked away in the cupboard under the stairs (no Harry Potter wasn't in there...) the other one held the torch LOL  The torch holder looking around my house (the broom stick on the kitchen wall being a bit of a giveaway) asked "are you into witches?".  My reply was "I am one".

It always makes me laugh to see the reaction in people's faces when I say that, he was a bit taken aback but then started asking me questions.  The first one after 'are you a witch' is nearly always "are you a white witch?".  I don't use the term white or black when I think of being a witch, I never have, probably I should have answered "well sort of greyish really" ...  I did promise him that I was a good witch ... images of Glenda the good fairy pop into my head...and that they wouldn't have to hop out of the house after being turned into toads.

What followed then (the other engineer still busy working in the cupboard) was a 20 minute conversation where he asked all sorts of questions and genuinely seemed interested - hurrah!    When they had finished, as they left he said "I can tell people now that I have met a real witch".

How fantastic to meet such open minded people, willing to listen to the truth (albeit squished into a short 20 minute conversation) and to not judge.

Expanding, workshops and money

2013 is fast becoming the year I thought it would, continually pushing me out of my box perhaps not of comfort but expanding my experiences and it's all a bit exciting.

Interviews and invites to speak to groups of pagans - eep!  How fantabulous!

And at Kitchen Witch we are looking at running some workshops this year too, the lovely Chi Cafe in North End is going to supply the workspace for us and we are currently writing, designing and putting together our first one - more details to follow!

The question that has arisen today is what to charge for a workshop?

It is an age old query - should pagans/witches/mediums/tarot readers charge for their services, shouldn't it all be free?

Well in an ideal world it would be lovely to have everything for free or even on a barter system, but honey it's the real world and that just ain't feasible.

Everyone has to make a living, everyone's time is valuable and for the workshops we are looking at holding refreshments and all materials needed will be supplied - so we do have costs that need covering otherwise we will be out of pocket.

I posed the question on the Kitchen Witch facebook page - what would people expect/be happy to pay and the responses (thank you everyone) were incredibly varied from "why would you have to charge" right up to $150/£98 - wow!!

So I will sit and work out all our costs of materials and refreshments and take it from there, we want to make it as accessible to people as possible.

So it won't be free...because we have to feed and clothe the witchlets but it will be fair!

Cold, snow flurries and birds

Saturday was cold, very cold but the sky was clear and there was no sign of rain...for once!

We had a wonderful Kitchen Witch Ash Moon ritual at the QE Country Park, thank you to all the lovely people that turned out to brave the weather.

Part way through the ritual we were given a snow flurry, not enough to be annoying but just enough to be beautiful.

As we released the energy we had raised in the circle a huge flock of birds swirled over head - magical!

It was wonderful to see familiar faces and new ones too, it is the people that join us that make the ritual what it is, all our energies adding together to make is special, very much looking forward to the next one.

Comfort zones, giggles and interviews

Yesterday I was pushed right out of my personal comfort zone by being invited to participate in an interview on digital radio - eeek!

My publisher got me 'the gig' to help promote my first book Pagan Portals Kitchen Witchcraft, which is the main theme of the interview.

I have done public speaking in the past (waaay back in the past I debated and spoke publicly in front of audiences of Young Farmers!) and of course I stand in the middle of a circle at our rituals but this seemed different somehow, scared of unknown territory perhaps?

The interviewer and host of the Mystical Worlds show on www.myspiritradio.com is the lovely Cas Lake who immediately put me at ease and we began...

My laptop Skype is a bit unpredictable so I decided to do the interview using the Skype on my daughter's Kindle Fire - it was a bit bizarre talking to a Kindle LOL

An hour later we had the show 'in the bag', I made a few fluff ups (like getting my website address wrong LOL) and I am pretty sure I giggled through a lot of it...but it's done.

The interview will be aired sometime in May, I will keep everyone posted on the date when I know it.

These past few months have been full of new experiences for me...I wonder what will be next?

No power...eeeek!

We had a power cut yesterday evening, hubby and I were sitting watching TV and the children were playing on the computer/Wii - when all of a sudden it went black - no electricity whatsoever.

Funnily enough I had plenty of candles to hand ;-) so those were quickly lit and a torch found to check under the stairs for the fuses - all looked fine.  We phoned an electrician friend who very kindly came straight over to check, seems that there was a main fuse gone at the local power station (but he also noted that our fuse box was very old and looked slightly iffy so would need changing very soon).

The power was off for about an hour or so, the children came and sat down with their books and little book lamps (they are little torches that clip onto the top of the book to light the pages) and we sat in semi darkness...waiting...

It was a strange experience and got me to thinking about how much we just rely on these things, everything in the house is powered by electricity, even the gas cooker and gas central heating won't work without the electricity.

Whilst we do as a household, spend a lot of time using computers of one kind or another (laptops, Kindles, Wii etc) we all read a lot of books too, and play board games as a family but even those require some kind of light to actually see what you are doing.

I can't even begin to imagine how people coped before electricity, no lights, no power, no heating (although the first house I lived in after leaving home had no central heating, it was a bit chilly but we managed we did at least have a log burning Aga to heat the water and keep one of the rooms warm!).

Candle light is lovely  but not really useful enough for reading or seeing anything, how to cook when the oven and hob don't work?  The thought of waking up with no electricity and not being able to have a shower concerned me greatly too!

We do take things very much for granted, it was a real 'aha' moment last night, to be thankful for those things that we have to make our lives easier (yes I know we pay for the electricity but after last night I was very happy to do so LOL).

Mother Nature is beautiful and I love to spend time outside, I love to sit and read or draw but I also love to sit and watch TV snuggled up with hubby, to have a film night with the children, to use my gas cooker to make lovely food on and to be able to step into the shower and with one flip of a switch have hot water...I am very thankful for all these things.

Woodlands in the city...

The weather this past weekend was glorious, a sign that Spring may well actually be on its way...

We headed out yesterday morning (pulled pork roasting slowly in the oven whilst we were gone) for a walk. Now I have mentioned it before but I live on the outskirts of a city, however the beach is only 10 minutes drive away and we also have a woodland only 3 minutes away...so we headed for the woods.

Hilsea Lines (as the area is called) covers an area of over 80 Hectares, it is one of the most varied wildlife havens in Portsmouth, containing woodland, hedgerows, meadows, both fresh and brackish water areas, marshland and coastal habitats.  

This site was developed on what used to be a military base, the first defences being put in place there back in 1544 and then added to in 1757.  They stayed the same for well over 100 years until in 1871 they were added to.

The defences consist of a 2 mile chalk and earth rampart structure including six bomb proof Bastions and a moat.  Although some changes took place during the early 20th Century most of it remains unaltered.

The Lines were designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1964 and the site was given Conservation Area status in 1994.

On one side you can see the Bastions, in fact part of it is used as a rehearsal/recording studio for local bands, but it is surrounded by beautiful woodland and waterways.

You can unfortunately hear the motorway in some parts, but other than that it is a beautiful setting and packed with all varieties of trees.  The waterway also plays host to ducks, moor hens and swans.

We also found a gnome hole ;-)

More information on Hilsea Lines can be found at http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/living/3643.html

Surprising sacred spaces...and green lizards...

A lot of people that meditate will have a 'sacred space' that they have created in their heads, a safe and relaxing scenario that they go to when they meditate, to connect with the divine, to meet their spirit guides or just to relax and I am no different.

For a long time I have had the same sacred place, it is actually an image of a real place, a field and river from behind the house I lived in for a large part of my childhood, it even has the brightly coloured houseboats that were on the real river.

I also have a scene that I visit in my mind when I connect with the Cailleach, hers is rolling green pastures strewn with rocks lying between high mountains and during the winter it is usually covered with snow.

But recently my mind has taken me to a new sacred place...it is a wooden shack situated right on the beach in the Caribbean.  It is a basic hut with one main room housing a bed, a desk and a chair, with a small shower room and a kitchen leading off from the central room.  The main room also has two sets of double doors that open out onto a long veranda that looks over the sand.   For anyone that watches the BBC series 'Death in Paradise' this might sound terribly familiar and it is...straight from that TV programme to my head, complete with the green lizard that appears regularly in the show too - he is in my sacred space as well.

Now a TV show is possibly one of the last places I would look to for a sacred space scenario, but there it is, stuck quite firmly in my head and it is one of the most beautiful and relaxing meditation places I have ever visited, and I love the lizard too.

So...don't dismiss any sources for sacred spaces...you might just be surprised...

Elen of the Ways, ritual and pine cones

I stumbled upon a book recently whilst doing some research on Elen of the Ways, it is called Ritual Journeys with Great British Goddesses and is written by Susie Fox.

It takes you on a journey with 13 different British Goddesses, ones that were worshipped in pre Roman Britain and includes rituals and meditations - full book review on the Pagan Book Blog

I preformed the Elen ritual yesterday that is included in the book, it is a ritual for blessing new resolutions, and although probably better suited for the beginning of January I felt it was close enough to the beginning of the year.  It incorporated writing down your goals, plans and wishes for this year and burning them along with a pine cone (a symbol of Elen).

It was a lovely ritual and allowed me to play around with fire which is always a good thing (or should that be bad thing? ...).

I have lots of plans for 2013, I think it will be an interesting and enlightening year...

Interviews, explanations and insecurities

I had a feeling that 2013 was going to be a year of discoveries, uncovering mysteries, new experiences and 'getting out there'.

It has started off with not one but three interviews - eep!

I have completed one interview with the lovely Nimue Brown which will be posted on the Moon Books blog in the very near future, then next week I have an on line chat interview scheduled with Caroline Lake of www.myspiritradio.com - more of those closer to the time of publication.

And today I am working on an interview with Christopher Blackwell, Editor of ACTION, the official newsletter and e-zine of Alternate Religions Educational Network, a Pagan and Heathen Religious rights organization. http://aren.org/

The interviews all have questions about me personally but also cover my books and the Kitchen Witch School.  All the questions have prompted me to stop and think and have been extremely interesting to answer.

I was very excited and very humbled to be asked to do each of these interviews.  I am not a 'celebrity' by any stretch of the imagination, I am just 'me' doing what I do and I have been overwhelmed with the support for my first book.

I was asked a long time ago by several people to start an on line witchcraft school, and I giggled (as I do when I get asked a question that I don't know the answer to) and didn't do anything about it, I knew I could not do it on my own.   Then last year the lovely Raven asked me again and we chatted and we decided that if we got together the right people as a team we could make it happen, and together with Sunchylde and Tintagel, with team work, with the luck of the Goddess (and a fair amount of hard work and effort) we have done it, and we are so very proud of each and every student that is part of our family.

As for the book writing, I am blessed that I don't need to write to make a living, I think that is an extremely hard thing to do.  I saw a request for people to put forward ideas for the Pagan Portals books, I suggested Kitchen Witchcraft and was then asked to write it...filled with complete shock and disbelief my first draft was accepted...

The School is in place so that we as a team can share our knowledge and experience with others, it also allows us to network and meet fabulous like minded people and give support to anyone that needs it.  We have in turn also learnt a great deal from our students.

My books are there for anyone that wants to read about my path, they are not hard and fast 'you must do this' books, they are to share my experiences for anyone that wishes to read them.

My blogs are again to share whatever is on my mind on a particular day, a place to post about things I have learnt or experienced, in case anyone is interested, in the hope that it might resonate with even just one person and help them or make them smile.

Yes, with the books I do have to 'pimp myself' a bit, what would be the point of writing a book and not telling anyone about it?

It was suggested recently that I am, and I quote:

"a very insecure person, who has to keep telling people what she is doing to prove how good she is"

The sad thing about this is that it came from supposedly enlightened pagans who I have only met on a handful of occasions and whom haven't really gotten to know me past "hello, how are you"...

Insecure?  Isn't everyone a bit insecure?  I admit it, my first book was sent out to people this week, people that had paid money for it, did I feel insecure that they might  not like it?  Of course I did, if I didn't would I have then been accused of being arrogant and having a huge ego?  (Probably LOL).  I would have to assume that the Publisher would not have agreed to print and sell my books if he didn't think they were any good.

I 'tell people what I am doing' via facebook and my blog (like thousands of other people do) as I have said above, in the hope that it may help someone or make someone smile, I make no apologies for wishing to help people, to support people and/or to make them happy.

Do I feel the need to 'prove how good I am'...um?...everyone likes to feel wanted and needed, everyone likes to feel that they are important in some small way don't they?  Am I good?  At what I wonder?  I have travelled this path for many years, I have done lots of study, I have been out there 'walking the talk' and still continue to do so, hopefully that means I am fairly good at being a witch.  I don't believe that I know everything, I don't believe that I am better than the next person, all I can do is try to the best person that I can be.

Hair cuts and colours...

On my way home from the school run this morning on a whim...I popped into a hairdressers.   I haven't been in one for about a year.  My hair being very long I haven't felt the need until now.

I haven't used this particular hairdresser before (Hair Ott in North End), but I popped in just to ask for advice and suggestions for a bit of a revamp.  What I received was a very warm welcome in an extremely busy shop, especially as it was only 9am and on a Monday morning.

I got sat down with one of the senior stylists (who had beautiful hair herself) for a free consultation, she did my skin colour tone for advice on hair colours and she did a face shape consultation to advise what hair styles would suit me, she gave me suggestions for a cut but surprised me as there was absolutely no sales pressure at all.

Consultation over I asked to make an appointment as I was very pleased with the friendliness and professionalism and any place that is packed at that time on a Monday morning must be good!

One of the staff had a cancellation so I got an appointment straight away...must be fate ;-)

The lady that cut my hair was 50s styley looking with amazing scarlet hair, she chatted as she cut my hair but not too much and no 'are you going on holiday' questions LOL.

I had about four inches cut off the bottom of my hair - eeep!  And had some long layers put in to give it shape and I am very pleased with it.  There was no pressure when it came time to pay to purchase all sorts of products and no pressure to make another appointment straight away.   I did come away with a booklet of vouchers for money off my next cut and money off a colour.

She also sent me away to research what colours I would like for my hair and to collect some photos to bring in at a later date if I wanted her to colour it for me.

What an enjoyable and relaxing experience.

Over the years I have had pretty much every hair cut, style and colour from crew cuts to perms and through the whole colour spectrum...the question now is...what colour next? ;-)

I have blogged about the power of hair before - Hair Power blog post - and it is true, how our hair feels and looks does affect how we feel.

And now I feel like a Harmony hairspray add *swishes hair*

Spirit central and leaping crystals

Last night myself and some lovely friends got together for a spirit evening  (and lots of food and cake as well of course!).

My house has a hallway that is 'spirit central' with lots of activity so we thought we would tap into it and see what we could find out.

We found two spirits that needed help crossing over...and who are now happy 'on the other side' and we also discovered that there must have been a through fare of some sort crossing where my house is, a main road that carried lots of foot traffic and carts - no wonder my hallway is so busy with spirits!

After the spirit work we grounded with the help of some hematite crystals which it seems did not want to stay in my hands, one leapt out and hid behind the TV and another jumped across the room and now sits right under the sofa...they are obviously meant to be there.

We followed up with some crafting - witches bottles, faery bottles and medicine pouches.

A lovely evening with very wonderful people that I am blessed to have in my life.





Note: I want to just state here that we are all experienced witches and one amongst us in particular is a talented medium, all safety precautions were taken so that negative spirits were not allowed in :-)

Spiritual Coffee Shop

I had to pop into town this morning to run some errands and on the way back I popped into a new cafe that has just opened around the corner from me.

Chi Coffee Shop is on the London Road in North End, Portsmouth.

It is a coffee shop serving hot drinks, cake, baguettes and sandwiches but also has a spiritual element.  At the back of the shop is a large sofa next to a bookshelf full of spiritual books for customers to sit and read whilst having a latte, they also sell a small range of spiritual items including crystals.

What a lovely atmosphere and an even lovelier welcome, such friendly people.

The coffee was great and the fruit cake I had was delicious.

They are also open to the idea of local groups meeting there for spiritual events.

There is even a text delivery service for local businesses for lunch.

A range of chutneys, jams and dressings is also available for purchase.

I think it may very well become my second home...

COMPETITION TIME

Well...it seems some suppliers have started to despatch copies of the Pagan Portals Kitchen Witchcraft book (Amazon etc) so...time for a competition...

In the world of marketing and sales Amazon reviews are King :-)

For the chance to win a selection of hand crafted Kitchen Witch & Button Fae goodies:

Read my book (obviously) and post a review on Amazon 

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

for a chance of two entries into the competition also post a review on Good Reads as well

Good Reads

The official release date for the book is 16th February 2013, I assume Amazon won't open it up for review posting until then so closing date for the competition will be 21st March 2013.

And if you really want to make me a happy witch I would love for you to like my official facebook page too...sheesh I am so demanding ;-)


Thank you all for your overwhelming support with my first venture into the world of book writing, I can't thank you enough ♥


For details of where to purchase the book see my website www.rachelpatterson.co.uk



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Retreats...blogging...and more blogging...

Well it's been a pretty good week so far in my little witchy world...

VERY excited that myself and two of my lovely Kitchen Witch sisters have booked to go on a retreat in May, we are off to discover Elen of the Ways and are very much looking forward to it.

Yesterday I created two new blogs - can we never shut this woman up? I hear you cry ;-)

For the past few months I have had the honour of reviewing books for John Hunt Publishing, my reviews get published on their site and I have also been posting them on the Kitchen Witch blog.  The idea came to me to separate them and keep them all on one specific blog.  Rachel's Pagan Book blog will have reviews of not only the JHP books but also books from my own collection that I have read and would recommend:

www.rachelspaganbookblog.blogspot.co.uk

My second blog inspiration was one about food...ah yes..one of my very favourite subjects.  I own a huge amount of cook books that I use regularly, each of the cook books has post it notes and bits of paper marking pages of recipes that I have tried or want to try, along with lots of recipes I have printed from the internet folded and stuffed inside their covers.  What I needed was an organised way of collating all the recipes that I have tried, that worked and that I liked - et voila the Cook Book Cauldron blog was born.

www.thecookbookcauldron.blogspot.co.uk

Today I might go for world domination...or as I am a bit tired...probably a nap...;-)





The image used on this page is from www.paintingdreams.co.uk

As bird is known by its note...

A rant...

Now I am not a prude but I realise, sadly that this blog post is probably coming from the perspective of one of a dwindling minority.

And yes I know I have blogged about this before but I feel very strongly about it, I do not like profanities.  I am not so naive as to think that they are never used in certain situations.  My husband is in a rock band and I am pretty sure he swears when he is with the lads, but he would never dream of swearing in front of a lady.

I was reviewing a book yesterday on tarot, it was from a slightly different perspective than normal which sounded interesting but a few pages in the 'f' word was used...in a tarot book?? Seriously?? Why??  Any amount of intelligent and equally descriptive words could have been used in its place.  Very disappointed.

This morning I was going to blog about a 2013 workbook that I purchased recently (downloadable pdf format).  I was going to recommend it...

It isn't the sort of thing I would normally be drawn to, it is very 'pink and fluffy' but is full of useful prompts and suggestions for making things happen, for self esteem and setting life goals.  So I purchased it, downloaded it, printed it off, signed up for the regular email newsletter and was going to promote it...

However this morning the first newsletter arrived via email...it was encouraging me to make my dreams happen...but the header and the text both included profanities!  Why??  I ask again why??  Why was it necessary to include profanities in a love and light/boost your self esteem/positive newsletter?

I have today un-subscribed from the newsletter and will not be promoting the workbook.

I know in today's modern society profanities are found everywhere, I see them every day on facebook...but I shall desperately cling on to my own personal values and standards...I may be the 'last man standing' but I won't be pressured into changing my views.

Rant over...normal service will now be resumed ;-)

Must read those books...

I LOVE books...

I have a Kindle that has 645 books on it...most of which I have downloaded for free - some have been excellent, some not so much and no I haven't read all 645 yet...

But I do love 'real' books especially and I do have a LOT.  Probably split equally between  witchcraft/pagan non fiction books and fantasy fiction with a few classics thrown in for good measure (Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland and all the Roald Dahl to name a few).   I always buy a real book if one of my favourite authors has a new book out, I have a paperback copy and a hardback copy of every single Terry Pratchett book for instance :-)

With the fiction books I tend to read them straight away (especially if it is a Pratchett one which usually gets read cover to cover in one sitting) but I find with the non fiction books I buy them because they look interesting or because I am researching a particular subject, it arrives, I have a flick through it and maybe read the odd page or two then it often gets put on the shelf and left there...looking pretty.

I am also a bit of a book Nazi...folding over corners of pages is a serious crime in our house ;-)  Books are meant to be cared for, cherished and looked after.

One of the challenges I have set myself for this year is to actually read, cover to cover, all of the non fiction Craft books that I have, I am sure there must be some amazing information inside those covers that I am missing out on.

So wish me luck...I've made a list...and I am on a mission...

You don't have to be perfect...

Quite often I hear people say..."I don't have time to do my witchcraft"  and I totally understand, I have been in that mindset myself.

Early on in my journey I was struggling, I was trying to be a perfect wife, friend, housewife, personal assistant working four days a week in an office and a perfect mother to a new baby and later on another new baby...it does take a bit of juggling.

I also realised (eventually) that you can't be perfect in all of those things and have time for yourself, and having time for yourself is just as important.  I also realised that it actually doesn't matter if you aren't perfect in all those things - we are all human and by nature we make mistakes, sometimes they are little errors and occasionally we fail spectacularly.  Any and all of the mistakes we make in life are lessons, we just need to be aware of them and learn from them, it isn't easy and sometimes we make the same mistake over and over (speaking from personal experience here) until we have learnt the lesson.

And as for fitting the Craft into my life?  Well it took a while but I then realised that although it would be wonderful to have a life where you could get up in the morning, do an hour of yoga out on the veranda then spend some time in meditation followed by some totem work or candle magic before you get on with the rest  of your day - that doesn't happen very often (if at all).  In reality you get up, get the children washed, dressed and off to school, clean up the weetabix from the walls, pick up all the toys and discarded pyjamas, hoover and before you know it the time for school pick up is upon you.  The evening is spent helping with homework, making and eating dinner then washing up before you collapse in a worn out heap on the sofa.

But...you can work it into your everyday life, it just takes a bit of getting used to.   Before you hoover (vacuum) add a couple of drops of lavender and rosemary essential oil to a cotton wool ball and pop it into the cylinder of your vacuum, then as you hoover around the house the scent will smudge for you, you might want to say a little chant as you go around.

When you do the washing up, visualise negative energy being washed away with the water.  You can use the same visualisation as you peel the vegetables, the negative vibes being peeled away.

If you are making a stew, soup or sauce remember to stir the saucepan deosil (clockwise) and visualise happiness and hope being added to your household.

Add herbs to your food, use their magical energies within your meals.

And even if you can only set aside five minutes a day, try to take that whole five minutes for YOU, take a moment to ground and centre and clear your mind from clutter, a few deep breathes and draw upon the energy of Mother Earth.   And if you don't manage to connect with the Craft for a while, don't beat yourself up about it, the Goddess is still with you she will be there when you are ready.

It all takes a bit of effort, it will come with experience but you can make it all work, just remember:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT

Paaaarrty...dancing...cake and Imbolc

Well it has been a hectic busy weekend but a good one :-)

Yesterday we had a big family party hosted by my parents, a delayed Yule party and a celebration for both my mum's and my daughter's birthdays too.

Family arrived from Dorset to stay, my brother joined us along with special family friends as well.

Loads of delicious food, enormous amounts of cake, copious amounts of wine along with some very suspicious looking rum and even more dubious dancing...and so much laughter :-)

It is also the celebration of Imbolc and after the Kitchen Witch ritual had to be cancelled due to snow I haven't had a chance yet to do my own celebration.  However I will be joining my Kitchen Witch family this evening for an on line celebration, I've seen the script and it is BEAUTIFUL ♥

Having a chilling Sunday afternoon now, just what Sunday afternoons should be...and we have left over cake which just has to be eaten up...I know it's a tough job...;-)

Bin bags...cats...and books...

This may end up being a fairly random blog post LOL

Had a lovely lunch date with hubby yesterday, yep even after twenty one years together we still go on dates. ♥

We also had to purchase some proper dustbins (not so romantic).  

We have a wheelie bin at our house but it is only for recycling.  All our refuse has to be put into black bin liners and left on the front forecourt of our house, then put out on the pavement once a week for collection.  Not so much of a problem as we do have space on the forecourt but...every night our bin bags get visited by a cat...or cats...or a posse of cats...who tear holes in the bags and spread the rubbish all over the forecourt - yuck :-(

I can actually visualise the cats now...sitting sniggering..."well what does she expect?  What kind of Witch is allergic to cats?"  ;-)

So hopefully having the rubbish in proper bins will deter them...hopefully.

And on other news, excitement as the postman (well post lady actually) arrived today with a box of books...my book...Pagan Portals Kitchen Witchcraft copies have arrived chez Patterson - so anyone that ordered direct from me via my website, your copies will be in the post to you shortly :-)

The rest of today will be spent doing house work and baking a coconut cake.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.