Editress Ginger Strivelli PPD report/LNO report Well it started with a wonder PPD festival. We had a fab time, by we I mean Brandy and I. We bought, we ate, and we schmoozed. Again I say that we had a fabulous time. We concluded the evening with LNO at Atlanta Bread Company. Lyric, Brandy and I were early, very early. Brandy and I bored Lyric to tears with our life stories and scared her a bit I think. We sat forever and ever until I finally called Ginger on Lyric's cell phone, just to watch her talk on her cell phone heading for the door. When Ginger arrived, we then proceeded to catch Ginger up on what we had been discussing and ordered some food. (Their food is really good, BTW.) Of course, in true APA LNO fashion, we closed the place down. Well we stayed until close. Then we all went home and some of us got online and posted on the board. Brightest Blessings, Amber. (Ginger’s note…for a change –not so good a one- there was no table of firefighters, cops or soldiers seated right beside us like most other APA Ladies’ night out’s events….sigh...can’t win all the time.) From our Book of Shadows; Wise words to ponder: Ginger asked in jest: Will someone kindly explain the term 'forgiveness' to me? Diotima answers with wise seriousness: “It means not letting people who have already taken up too much of your time and energy continue to do so by keeping your mind occupied with how awful they are and how they done you wrong. It means being able to shrug and get on with your life. Sometimes it means realizing we are all just human and can screw up pretty badly, but that doesn't mean we are bad. Sometimes it means accepting an apology. It is possible to forgive someone without in any way diminishing the seriousness of their transgression, whatever it might have been. It is also possible, and generally highly recommended, to occasionally apply forgiveness to oneself. I find it's a handy thing to have in your spiritual toolkit, and great for stress relief. I tend to agree with the Christians and Buddhists that it's a worthy thing to pursue. Too bad that the people who usually espouse it most vociferously seem to practice it so infrequently. B*B, Diotima Mantineia ------------- Stitch A Wish (Submitted by Joy Joza) To bring any positive wish you desire, take a sewing needle and read thread, a white handkerchief, a white candle, and your favorite incense. On the night of a Full Moon, as close to midnight as possible, light the candle and incense. Pass the handkerchief through the smoke of the incense and think of your wish. Sew the thread through the handkerchief in any shape you desire, while saying: "With each stitch this spell I fix, with this thread the spell is fed. What I want will come to me, this is the way it must be!" Repeat the charm three times. Extinguish the candle and incense. Place the handkerchief beneath your pillow and expect a prophetic dream concerning your wish. In the morning, hide the handkerchief and repeat the spell in one lunar month, IF NEEDED! ------------- Sacred Sites Sections: Sacred Site, A Mirror--Self Reflections Meeting the Crone in the Early Morning, by Geraldine Cannon I bow to this wise old woman because I must. Seeing something familiar in her knowing reach into the unknown. It is stored within the marrow. It is ossified in bone. I bow to this wise old woman with winter's face, her eyes squinched tight in this half light, she walks, an ancient gnarly limb she holds to rhythmically extend her own. I bow to this wise old woman out of respect. Secretly treasuring the knowledge that my breasts will produce milk, and my blood still flows well from the hidden mother zone. I bow to this wise old woman who is coming slowly and surely down this road, and she is no more a stranger to me than the face I see in the mirror in the wavy light of dawn.