Màiri Campbell ~ Seanachaidh
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Happy Samhain Everyone

31/10/2013

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Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween whatever name you want to use, it is all the same holiday. October 31st for most people is the day that children dress up and go out gathering up candy. Some adults also dress up either for work parties or just fun social gathering. 


For others it is a celebration of the coming New Year.

The earliest traces of this holiday are based in the Celtic festival called Samhain (SOW-win, SAM-hayne, and SAH-vin) meaning ‘summers end’, the third and final harvest, and is also the start of the Celtic New Year. The one night of the year where the veil between the worlds is thinnest and the souls of the ancestors that have gone before us are available to contact.

Some cultures leave food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the ‘wandering dead’. Some will light candles placing them in windows to help the souls of family members find their way home and some will place extra chairs at the table for the visiting ancestors. Any items that had not yet been pulled in through harvesting were left in the fields as offerings for the wandering spirits. It is also thought to be the time for slaughtering livestock to get it stored for the coming winter.

It was through European immigrants that brought their varied ‘Halloween’ customs with them. In the second half of the 19th century many of the new immigrants were of Irish decent because they were fleeing the potato famine of Ireland in 1846. By combining the Irish and the English traditions the Americans began their own ‘trick-or-treat’ tradition. In the late 1800’s the holiday became more focused on community and in the ‘20’s and ‘30’s it became a ‘secular but community centered holiday’. Those in power during the 1950’s changed it yet again to Halloween being a holiday aimed more at young children in hopes of limiting vandalism. All of this has led to what we know of Halloween today.

Some believe devils and demons have always been involved in this holiday. However, the Celts do not have these beings in their belief system. Fairies on the other hand are a whole other story. Some are considered to be hostile even dangerous to humans because they believe humans took over their lands. This was a night thought to be when fairies would lure humans into their fairy mounds and trap them forever. After the coming of Christianity to the Celtic lands so came the thought of devils and demons.

Since the fairies are out roaming the night one never knew just who or what the being was that would come to their door. To appease the spirits an offering of food would be given to help bring blessings to the house and those that lived there. Failure to provide these offerings could result in practical jokes and/or ill will to be visited upon the house. The folks would go abroad on this night would often carry turnips that were carved to look like faces thus resulting in what we now have as our modern Jack-o-lanterns.

While animals were sacrificed at this time of the year for food as well as to ‘cull the herd’ so that the healthiest would make it through the harsh winter months. It depends upon whose research you believe as to whether or not there was actual human sacrifice; this is a debate that has scholars very divided.

Despite what Hollywood brings to their movies the practice of blood sacrifice is NOT something that Pagans, Druids, Wiccans or any of the other Earth-based religions participate in. Nor do they believe in let alone worship devils or demons. These are NOT something that is within their religious beliefs. Those that combine any form of Paganism with blood sacrifice, devils or demons have not done their research on the religion.

There are many that thing those who practice Earth-based religions are either Atheists or Satanists. Again they need to enlighten themselves as to what each religion as they are not one and the same. For many it is just easier to paint everything with one brush instead of educating oneself.

An important thing to remember this time of the year, your beliefs may not be the same as your neighbors, co-workers or anyone else. That does not make them or you wrong. Everyone has their own path to walk in this life. As long as you walk the path that makes sense to you and you honour it properly WITHOUT causing harm to others, then you are on the correct path for you. Honouring others in their beliefs instead of judging and disparaging them is a wonderful way to honour your own beliefs.

 Blessed Be everyone and have a wonderful New Year.


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Angel in Stone

21/10/2013

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Coming out later this month just in time for Samhain/Halloween. Here is a sneak peek about Angel in Stone.
Do any of you know where this particular statue is located?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wind howled as the lightning danced to the song of thunder. Rain poured from the dark clouds driving man and beast to seek what shelter they could. A lone man made his way carefully along the paths of the cemetery that he cared for.

He knew he had to get back to the maintenance shed but his ability to see where he drove was hindered by the driving rain. The last thing he wanted was to drive off the path and over someone’s grave. Swearing, he stomped on the brakes as lightning struck the pavement in front of his truck.

“Maybe just a little faster,” he muttered.

As he followed the path around a slight bend he heard what sounded like the boom of a cannon off to his right. Slamming on the brakes once again, he looked around, eyes bulging. He inched the truck forward as he peered through the torrent of rain.

Finally, he saw it. Off to his right. He stopped the truck and dropped his head to rest against the steering wheel.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

Raising his head for one last troubled look, he continued along the path, his current goal… safety.

Lightning flashed in the sky as he drove away, throwing into stark relief the view the man had only glimpsed.

A five foot angel statue lay upon the ground, her left wing torn from her body. She lay looking up at the heavens, her wing buried beneath the branch shorn from a nearby tree.



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Get the creative juices flowing...

13/10/2013

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So here is a fun little exercise to try when you find yourself blocked or just unable to write. Write a sentence that uses every letter in the alphabet in order.  So you will have a twenty-six word sentence, it does not have to make sense and more than likely only part of it will. You might even find that the mood you are in comes through in the words that you choose to use for this exercise. You can even try to use certain groupings of words even for this. It is rather entertaining and who knows you might end up with a story or blog idea from doing this…

Acoustic banging creating damaging echoes facing gargantuan headaches inside jayhawkers killing leniency migraines never okay pain quickly returns stress tension uniting virtually whole xiphoidal yearning zombies.

Amber burrows carefully down embracing fallen game holding inside jewels keeping lovely memories new oblivious prophets quickening ripples straining thirstily under virtually wholesome xenoliths  zaffre

Asshats bring craziness down effortlessly to giant hazardous Italians just keeping lazy minions naughtily opening packages quickly ripping strips to undo very wonderful x-raying young zebras.

Amber brown carnelian dun emerald flax goldenrod heliotrope indigo jade khaki lemon magenta navy olive periwinkle quartz russet saffron tangerine ultramarine viridian wheat xanthic yellow zucchini.

Appaloosa Brumby Clydesdale Dartmoor Eriskay Friesian Garrano Hackney Icelandic Jutland Konic Lipizzan Mustang Nokota Oldenburg Percheron Quarterhorse Roan Shire Tori Umber Vyatka Welsh Yonaguni Zhemaichu

Affenpinscher Beagle Collie Deerhound Elkhound Fila Greyhound Havanese Ibizan Jindo Keeshond Labrador Maltese Newfoundland Otterhound Pomeranian Rottweiler Sarplaninac Terrier underdog Vizsla Weimaraner Xoloitzcuintli Yorkie Zythum 

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Shelf Talkers by Terry Persun

7/10/2013

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Terry Persun is a prolific writer in various genres. He was kind enough to write a guest blog post for me to share with all of you.  I hope you love his thoughts on Shelf Talkers as much as I do.


I love going into independent bookstores. Not only do the employees read a lot of books, but they also like to recommend the books they enjoy. While walking through the shelves, I read the shelf talkers (the notes that recommend a book and have the employee's name on it) like I would read plaques in a museum. I love how some readers are as creative as the books they recommend, while others compare one author to another as in: if you like Jim Harrison, you'll enjoy Terry Persun, too. (Sorry about being self-serving, but I actually saw this once and it's one of my favorite quotes.)

Shelf talkers have been used for years, particularly in bookstores where the employees work there so that they can feed their own reading habits. The chain stores don't tend to recommend books unless they are paid for by the big publishers and, therefore, have a place in the front of the store. I worry that online bookstores have taken away some of the wandering that goes on in a bricks and mortar store. I know that I used to go into sections I wouldn't normally visit just to read the shelf talkers. Sometimes, I'd get so intrigued that I'd buy a book from the section that I normally wouldn't have searched for. I miss that.

I note that online bookstores do try to help customers make their next selection by letting them know what books had been bought together, such as "people who bought ____ also bought ___", but that's not quite the same as a shelf talker. And book reviews seldom help a lot either, in my opinion. Most of the people doing reviews are unfamiliar with the nuances of reviewing a book (perhaps they should study the reviews in Publishers Weekly or Library Journal), or they rate a book based solely on their own likes and dislikes and not on the quality or lack of quality of the writing. Hell, give me the plot and character details and all I need to know is if the person can write coherently. I'll make my own decision from there, thank you. A case in point: I've actually read where a reviewer gave a bad review to a thriller novel by starting out saying, "I usually only read romance, but a friend recommended..." The review went on to say that the person didn't like the concept of the novel, but said nothing about the writing quality, characters, or plot. Not helpful. Besides, why review a book you don't like, anyway? Is a bad review aimed at hurting an author from getting sales?

So, my suggestion is for Twitter and Facebook users, as well as book reviewers: start treating your comments like shelf talkers. This would keep reviews to a few sentences, it would force reviewers to get to the heart of the novel, and it would provide just enough information for another reader to make a decision whether to open the book and read a few pages or not. And, think about what my grandmother used to say: "If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all."

Since independent bookstores are slowly disappearing, let's all start our own form of shelf talkers. Let's help our fellow readers out. Recommend books you enjoy.


To see more from Terry visit his Website or follow him on Twitter.


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Posting from Home page on 9/11/2013

6/10/2013

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This was something that I had posted on the home page but I did not want to lose it so I saved it as a blog post. I truly think this is something that needs to be remembered every single day. These men, women and their families lives are always in the balance for us all each and every day.
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May we never forget the men, women and their families whose lives were cut short and changed forever on this day twelve years ago. Though I do not think that one day is ever enough to remember these people, the military personnel, police, fire fighters and the others that place their lives in danger ever single day for all us. To many they are just nameless faces but to others they are loved ones... fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. Bless each and everyone of you and your families. You do not get told near often enough that we are thankful for you and your commitment each and every day.

The 9/11 Budweiser Commercial


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    Màiri Campbell lives in WA with her husband and their three dogs

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