Election Day

I exercised my civil right to vote today and was privileged to witness my 19 year old daughter register and cast her first vote today.

I woke up this morning with only a few hours of sleep and threw on some clothes. I then called my son-in-law so he and my daughter could ride with Parker and I down to the polling location. They both had to register so they could vote and I'm happy this state is one that allows registering at the polling location on election day.

So even though I do not at all expect Wyoming's 3 electoral votes to go to Obama all four of us did cast our votes for Obama... and every other democrat on the ballot. I left the one where only republicans were on there blank just to make a statement.

Remember, voting is a RIGHT so if you haven't voted yet please do.

Blessed Samhain to all!

Witch?
Yes, I'm a witch. I've stood before
The Lord of Death and found him not unkind.
I've practiced well the sacred hidden lore
The words of power and the spells that bind
And loosen; culled from nature's trove
The herbs that heal - But most of all have I
Danced naked, free and proud beneath the sky
Unto the Goddess, She who shines above.

Witch?
Yes, I'm a witch for I am free
From hope of Heaven and the fear of Hell.
No solemn vale of tears is this to me.
Earth is my cup of joy. I love her well.
Seek not to turn me from my destined fate.
Earth is enough for me, and if I burn
I shall not leave her but to earth return
To live again a witch -- Re-in-carnate.

For 'tis our promise and our firm belief
That She who loves us brings us back again
As seeds once buried rise again in leaf,
Stem, branch an blossom in the Summer rain.
And are we less than seeds? But should it be
That one life only was our metered span
And Power comes but once to any man
I'll live it lusty, joyfully and free
And be a Witch!

Author -- Sea, of the Gardnerian Coven of Deepstar- October 27, 1971

What?? Are you serious?

Why do otherwise intelligent people believe outlandish bullshit when election season comes around???

I mean come on, if Obama wasn't born in Hawaii don't you think Fox News would have been all over that already? Don't you think Hillary would have jumped on that? Do you honestly believe he would have gotten this far? Smarter, sneakier people have already vetted all that shit and if there were anything there it would have already blown up all over the place.

Who gives a shit about how much the RNC spent to put clothes on Palin!!!! Do we talk about how much the suits the guys wear cost??? Think they wear the same suit everyday?

What I care about is that eight years ago we had a projected surplus and now we are borrowing money from CHINA!

We're supposed to be the greatest nation on Earth! What the hell are we doing watching our middle class become the poverty class while job after job is outsourced to another country and the corporation doing it gets a big fat tax cut in reward? And why does anyone believe it's a good idea???

I think it's crap so I will not vote Republican thank you very much. Oh, and yes, I have voted for Republicans before. I vote issues not party and I diligently research before I make up my mind. I do lean a bit left of center but I'm not a left wing liberal by no means. I actually wish there weren't such a thing as big political parties. I wish more people could think for themselves instead of needing a party to tell them what to think.

-Wendy The Webcrafter

Witches High Tea

Witches High Tea
Originally uploaded by Gwen Wolfrose

Today was The Utah Black Hat Society's Third Annual Witches High Tea event. It was held at the Grand America Hotel in down town Salt Lake City this afternoon from 2pm till 5pm. Don't ever tell any of the fifty attendees that real witches don't wear pointy hats because obviously, they do.

The Black Hat Society is a pagan social group founded in 2006 by Chrissy Johnson, a Salt Lake City denizen. The high tea event held each year in October is the pinnacle event for the society where one gets to dress to the nines in their finest witch attire, don their best pointy hat and enjoy a grand afternoon of tea and conversation. The society also hosts an afternoon tea in the spring and have been seen caroling on the streets of Salt Lake in December for the annual Witches Wassail. Chrissy, along with TaMara and Kayote, the organizers of the society's events, have stated that early next summer they intend to add another exciting event to the society's calendar.

If you do not live in the Salt Lake area and think The Black Hat Society sounds like your kind of party please do consider starting up a Black Hat Society in your area.

The Salt Lake NBC affiliate, KSL5, covered the event held today and ran the following clip on the six o'clock news:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yekJcWZwxLQ

SLC Pagan Pride Day 2008

SLC Pagan Pride 2008
Originally uploaded by Gwen Wolfrose

It has taken me most of a week to get to a point where I feel like typing. This is when having fibro gets on my last nerve. I also over do it at PPD. I like to take photos which means I'm not going to sit around and just take it easy. I'm up all day wandering around taking pictures the whole day. I do this to myself and then pay for it after. Will do it again next year too. lol

This year we decided to try something a little different. We took it back to the roots and decided to not have vendors. We did have a food booth run by SLCPP and that was a phenomenal success. Not having vendors turned out to be a good thing too. People actually congregated at the information tables and all the workshops were very well attended. The day flowed well.

Our workshops this year were:
Paganism 101 by Parker J. Torrence Draig Sidhe priest and author of Sea, Land, Sky: a Dragon Magick Grimoire.
Queer Mysteries by Duirin High Priest of Draco Lupa Luna.
Myths and Legends by Daniel Halacy.
Essences of Magick by Talea.
The Circle and the Staff by Aisling DreamRange High Priestess of DreamRange Dynamic.
Pagan Drumming by Panthea.

The Kids Zone this year was a hit and there were children there all day long except for the two times that they were all sitting around Mother Goose listening to her spin tales of wonder and delight. The children just adore Mother Goose.

Altarscapes was beautiful. I hope next year we get more people volunteering to display an altar. The year we had seven and each was just beautiful and inspiring.

We also had a concert by a local duo called Hidden Truth. They are an acoustic band of a guitar and a wooden flute. Their music is just beautiful. Visit their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hiddentruth5040

Our closing ritual this year was presented by The Mountain Shadow Clan of the Toteg Tribe sponsored by Aspen Grove. There was a great litany involved in the ritual where all the groups past and present in the valley were named and honored. We truly did Celebrate our Roots this year.

Over all we had 370 attendees, collected 412 pounds of food for the Utah Aids Foundation, raised enough money to pay for our space for NEXT year and educated some people about what Pagans are.