Hello All Week two of the farmer’s market even though last week I didn’t do super great, I am hoping I do better this time. I told the girls they could take their hand held games this time. Last week they hovered around a bit too much. It was ok actually until they started bickering and I had to banish them to a picnic nearby picnic table. I love my kids but they had a tendency not to let anyone near the stand or swarmed them as soon as they stepped close. I have been taking things a bit easy this last week. I think I needed to recharge a bit or something. I am planning on doing a bit of camping here soon and I asked a friend for advice on what to bring since I haven’t been camping since I was 14, although I have put up a tent in the last couple of years. He listed duct tape 3-4 times. Now I might not know a lot but I think that much tape is a bit excessive. (Last time I checked, I was not Red Green.) I am also a bit scared to find out “why” I would need that much duct tape for camping two days. (Duct tape all the tents other then mine in the camp ground closed as well as wrapping every trailer with it? Duct tape anyone I find annoying to a tree?) And Happy Early Father's Day to all the Dad's out there. Anyway that is it for Central Iowa today. So until next time, Sheila K. Watkins Editor: Whispers of a Stone Circle See last page of this newsletter for submission guidelines, forwarding guidelines, where you can subscribe to Whispers and copyright information. ~*~*~*~ Full Moon Blessings May full moon 2002 By Errolwolf Smoke follows Airwaves.. lifting The fire calls The warmth glows within I enter the smells Sage, cedar, sweet grass Gentle night lady I humble myself Turning to East GrandMother Please! Open my eyes Clear my vision Turn to South GrandMother Please! Open my heart Light my passion Turning to West GrandMother Please! Open my mind Let new images flow Turning to North GrandMother Please! Open my soul Expand my horizons I begin to hum Gathering more twigs Feeding the fire Around the den Birds sing from Low hanging branches Song twisted with smoke Muted---strong My prayers Personal and more Please GrandMothers Guide us all Through the tunnels To the new vision The oneness, the sameness Open us to embrace Without fear Without hatred The fire glows Warmth expanding outward Bird chorus strong I begin a spiral dance Inward, then back Weaving the images Stretching the vision Colors and textures Meld into another The song bursts Among the chorus My voice...their song Our song As I bend to ground A cloth spreads Filling the den A cloth of many colors As it opens Sweet salt tears Freely flow Oh Thank You GrandMothers all The gift Received with love A single dove Escapes Her flight of freedom Carrying forth Across the lines GrandMother's message "Remember.... One you are You are one..." ~*~*~*~ Cool Link(s) of the week: (I get sent the neatest links.) The Cook's Thesaurus is a cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions http://www.foodsubs.com/ A food timeline (suggest you look up salt. It has a theory about how it became used magically, which I found rather neat.) http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/food.html Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/index.html There's lots of information about vanilla, its culture, the people who grow it, and so on--it does not exist in a vacuum, nor is it plain! http://www.vanilla.com/ ~*~*~*~ Meditation: Earth By Sheila K. Watkins As always dress in a comfortable manner and find a comfortable place to sit. It would be a good idea to cast a circle of protection around you as you will be dealing with the spirit realm at this time. (Information on how can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhispersOfAStoneCircle/message/67 ) Close your eyes and run through the colors, seeing each one as you do so. It doesn’t matter how long you see them but make sure you do see them. Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet or purple See yourself step out of the purple and into a white hallway. As you walk the hall turns from a white to chiseled rough stone. You see some rough stone steps leading slowly gradually downward. The hall has now turned into a cave barely light enough for you to see but you can still see the steps. You start counting backwards as you place your foot on each one. 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The darkness around you is now complete yet comforting. Ahead of you appears a light. You step forward knowing your way is safe. As you walk the way gets narrower and narrower and the light brighter and brighter. Finally you reach the opening and you squeeze your way out into the light. You see no sun in the sky above or stars either for that matter. The light seems to come from the very ground, each rock, and every grain of sand. The land seems barren with no plants or animals to be seen but it is not dead because you feel the pulse of life coming from the earth herself. You start walking forward looking over these lands until you hear hoof beats on the ridge to your right. You look up and you see a pure white hart (deer) running parallel to you, he turns as he sees you and starts to move at a diagonal away from you. He stops once before he heads down the ridge as if to see are you following. It is not easy, but you climb the ridge. As you reach the top you see a “tree” in the distance. The hart has disappeared. You walk towards the tree and are there much sooner then you would have imagined. You find it is not a tree but a white sage plant of enormous size, it’s roots deep in the ground although it’s height is not too much taller then you are. As you study it, it starts to give you information. When it is done speaking, thank it for it’s teaching. As you turn to walk ba ck, you see steps you know were not there when you looked before. You start going up them counting as you do. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 The steps enter a familiar hallway and you continue walking until you enter the purple (or violet) light. You see the colors once more. Purple Blue Green Yellow Orange Red As the red fades away open your eyes and you are awake. ~*~*~*~ Announcement(s): this place reserved for announcements and press releases I find of interest. I’m pretty lenient about what I place in here but please no Spam that’s been around the world so many times everyone has it memorized. I will consider books release announcements, local and national event announcements, and noteworthy news applicable to those in the pagan community among other things. Thank you. Sheila ~*~*~*~ Writer's Biographies: Errolwolf: A hermit crone residing in a serene coastal valley of Oregon, Errolwolf writes rituals and poems for the spirit. Sheila K. Watkins knew from the time she was 15 that she wanted to be a writer but did not really start writing until she entered college where she worked on her college newspaper and also worked as the editor of the feature section for one semester. She was also introduced to the love of writing poetry at this time. Fortunately for all of us most of the poems have been lost to the world of men. After college she worked several jobs during the next few years but none included writing. It wasn’t until after both of her children had started school in 1998 that she went back to her love of putting words on a computer screen. Her first submission was accepted by publication by the IOWAN newsletter and it started her on the path of truly honing her work. In October of 2000, she founded and became editor of Whispers of a Stone Circle. ~*~*~*~ Submissions are always welcomed and can be made to: Zeliziw@netins.net In submitting materials writers are agreeing that if accepted I may post them in the newsletter and on the web page (whenever I finally get back to work on it.) Works submitted must be the writer’s own work and they must still retain the copyright OR it must be verifiably public domain. Works can have been published before but please nothing that has been around over and over again. Copyright remains in the author’s possession. The Author also realizes that they will not be paid. (If I had money I would be hosting this on something other then Yahoo.) If a submission is accepted, I will check for punctuation, capitalization and spelling in submitted articles. I will fix minor errors if they are present. I will NOT reword things (except for an occasional “an” for “a” and vice versa.) Poems are published as submitted. Forwarding information: If you chose to forward this newsletter, do so in its entirety, including copyright and contact information. People may subscribe to Whispers of A Stone Circle at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhispersOfAStoneCircle/ All articles, poems, etc, except where noted are copyrighted by the writers and are used with permission. They are not to be republished without the express permission of the writers. Contact information may be obtained by contacting the editor of Whispers of A Stone Circle at Zeliziw@netins.net Copyright (c) 2002 Sheila K. Watson. All Rights Reserved