I Have lived in the São Miguel Island, in the Azores Archipelago (Portugal) for 21 years before Moving to Lisbon and I still dream about it!

THE AZORES ARCHIPELAGO

   The Azores are one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal, composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the North Atlantic Ocean.

     S. Miguel's diverse scenery is a pleasant awakening to visitors, with beautiful lakes, sandy beaches, rolling hills, high mountains, green plains and blue ocean.
There are some hot springs, generally located in the center of the island.

     Activities in S. Miguel include whale watching, swimming with dolphins, walking and trekking, diving, fishing, jeep safaris, bird watching, sailing, snorkeling, swimming, golf and many other outdoor and indoor activities.
The weather is best between June and October with the hottest months being July, August and September. November to January is also pleasant but temperatures dip slightly. February through May tend to be on the rainy side.
     
     Its main industries are agriculture, dairy farming (for cheese and butter products primarily), livestock ranching, fishing, and tourism, which is becoming the major service activity in the region.  

SÃO MIGUEL ISLAND

São Miguel Island (named for the Archangel Michael), is also referred to locally as "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The largest city in the archipelago is Ponta Delgada.

     S. Miguel is also the island in the Azores with the most to offer. Its cosmopolitan town of Ponta Delgada offers the visitor a blend of contemporary life with historic flavor. S. Miguel monuments, turn of the century architecture, parks and cobble stone streets are interlaced with a modern marina, nice restaurants, shopping, bars, night-clubs, and ocean-front cafes.

A Beautiful Grey Wolf  Howling

     Wolves howl for a variety of reasons. Pack members will chorus howl to defend their territory and rally the pack together. Most howls heard in the pack are chorus howls (involving three or more wolves). These group “sing-a-longs” may be started by any pack member, or they may be a response to the howling of a neighboring pack of wolves or a coyote. Wolves will even howl in response to something that just sounds similar to a howl, like a train whistle, fire or police car siren or even a human howling! Such howls, though social in nature, also serve to defend the pack’s territory against other wolves.

     Wolves can recognize the voices of others. The howl of a packmate, of a known neighboring pack or a complete stranger will all solicit different responses.

     Contrary to popular belief, wolves do not howl at the full moon any more often than at any other time of month. They also do not howl just at night. They do howl more frequently during the hours around sunrise and sunset, for they are more active in general then. Wolves also howl more often in the winter months than in the summer. However they can be heard howling any time of day any time of the year.

Here's a small compilation so you can hear how amazing and magic a wolf's howl is! 

 
Why the hell would you want to howl like a wolf?

Whether it's just for fun or because you really get that irresistible urge to howl at the full moon.
Here's the best tutorials I could find. And the ones that helped me the most.

This last one is really helpful, but the quality (specially the audio) isn't the best, so please take breaks while watching it and keep the volume down. Headphone Warning!

Hope you enjoyed!
Would love to know what you think about the subject!

Also, keep practicing, and comment your results/progress bellow!

Happy Howling!

Hugs and kisses,

Reny

Hello, beautiful one!

Hope you have had a wonderful Yuletide and New Year. And I wish your 2016 is filled with peace, happiness, health, love and prosperity!

     January is the month of the Full Wolf Moon.
 It first appeared when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages. It is also known as the Old Moon.
     To some Native American tribes, this was the Snow Moon, but most applied that name to the next full Moon, in February.

It will be on January, 23rd

Moon Folklore:

It is said that a bright first Moon promises rain and a bountiful harvest.

Here's the spell I'll be casting on this full moon and a great suggestion!

Do you struggle with anxiety, impatience, a little bit of stress growing in you? Do you find yourself too often easily losing your nerve with people and life situations?

If so, try this spell to help you increase your patience and relieve all of those unhealthy bad stuff out of you.

      I find this one a big tool dealing with all of that, plus telling my social anxiety to shut up!

What better way to bless this year?

You will need: 

-A cup or bowl filled with water;
-A blue candle;
-Essential oil – lavender, palmarosa or jasmine.

1.  Cast your circle and light the candle. 

2.  Take ten deep breaths while gazing at the candle flame.  For each in-breath, imagine that you are inhaling the peaceful blue colour of the candle as it was smoke, and for each out-breath, imagine all your frustrations leaving your body. 

3.  Now take the bowl of water, and put three drops of your chosen essential oil in it.  Dip your fingers in the water, stirring slightly, and recite the following:

Blessed waters cool my spirit, 

Fill me with your soothing peace.

Like the river I shall flow Patiently,

with joy and ease Now 

4.  Blow out the candle and close your circle. 

If you like, you can keep a bowl of water with the essential oil in it on your altar – if you feel impatient again, inhale the scent of the essential oil while repeating the incantation.

Hope you found this useful!

Hugs and Kisses!

Reny

Good Morning Sweeties! 

Mondays are awesome!

 This weekend I finally had some time and finished all of the changes I said I would be making on the previous post. Will make a Guest Blogging page too!

      I have some artsy projects on my mind, but will update you on that when I hopefully start working on them ;)

Geez! Sometimes it gets hard enough to make time for all the things on my daily goals list, I need to work on my time-management skills!

Now lets get into it!

       Being today December 21st, 2015 and the day of the Winter Solstice and the start of a very special time of the yearly life cycle, I wanted to take the time to just search and learn a little more about it!
       Knowing the Wheel of Time phases and how it can help us understand the influence of the Gods and Mother Earth in our spiritual path is something every Pagan should make an effort!
       

YULE (Winter Solstice)

Also called: Yule, Yuletide, Jul, Saturnalia, Christmas, solar/secular New Year;

Dates: Around December 21;

Colors: Red, green, white;

Tools/Symbols: Mistletoe, evergreen wreath, lights, gifts, holly, Yule log, Yule tree;

Energy: Regeneration & renewal;

Goddesses: Great Mother, Isis, Mary, Tonazin, Lucina, Bona Dea;

Gods: Sun Child, Horus, Jesus, Mithras, Santa/Odin, Saturn, Holly King;

Rituals: Personal renewal, world peace, honoring family & friends;

Customs: Wreaths, lights, gift-giving, singing, feasting, resolutions.

      December may be marked by Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but for pagans it’s the time to celebrate Yule. The holiday marks the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (Sunday, Dec. 21, this year) and celebrates the rebirth of the sun and beginning of winter. It is one of the oldest winter celebrations known.

      The celebration of the Winter Solstice, as often as not referred to as Yule, is common to almost every culture. For this reason, although the Christian Church has long since adopted it as the birth date of Jesus, it has retained more of the ancient Pagan tradition then any other holiday or festival. In early times, December 25th (the date now recognized as Christmas) was commemorated as the Birth of the Sun God.

Christmas is an adaptation of the Pagan Winter solstice or Yule.

Whatever Jesus was, he was definitely not born in December.

      Yule is deeply rooted in the cycle of the year, it is the seed time of year, the longest night and the shortest day, where the Goddess once again becomes the Great Mother and gives birth to the new Sun King. In a poetic sense it is on this the longest night of the winter, 'the dark night of our souls', that there springs the new spark of hope, the Sacred Fire, the Light of the World, the Coel Coeth.

       For all it's inputs and influences, Yule is still an important time of the year to pagans around the world. In the most direct terms it is still a festival that honors the cycle of nature and the Wheel of the Year. It is not just about the rebirth of the God figure in pagan lore.

       For Celtic pagans, Yule is the time when the Sun God Lugh is reborn in human form to rejoin his beloved wife Eriu. She is described as a hag, who transformed into a beautiful Goddess by the marriage and personifies the land of Ireland in her every feature and character. She becomes known in legend as the "Sovereignty of Ireland". Yule is also the celebration of the cycle of life through Eriu and all her incarnations as the Maiden, Mother and Crone Goddess.

Thank you so much for reading!

Hope you have a blessed Yule!  

Hugs and Kisses!

Reny

References/Sources:
1. www.circlesanctuary.org/index.php/celebrating-the-seasons/celebrating-the-seasons
2. www.ibtimes.com/winter-solstice-2014-3-things-know-about-pagan-yule-celebrations-1763756
3. www.cyberwitch.com/Wychwood/Temple/yule.htm

4. www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_wheel_of_the_year/yule_-_winter_solstice.asp

In the island I live in there is a legend about the origin of two lakes that were formed at the crater of a sleeping volcano. It is called The "Lagoa das Sete Cidades" (The Seven Cities's lake).

 The legend says there was once a blue eyed princess, and the princess hated being inside the castle walls feeling like a caged bird...

So she would run and dance everyday in the meadows and woods. She just loved the green, the birds's songs, the sea in the horizon...

One day she met a humble green-eyed Sheppard boy, and they talked all evening and even found out they had many common interests.

And so they would meet and talk everyday and eventually they fell on love.

But the princess destiny had been decided many years ago, for she was promised to a prince of another kingdom, in arranged marriage.

And as her father, the king, found out she had been seeing a Sheppard boy he immediately and totally forbid  her of ever again talking to him, because he was just a Sheppard from a poor family.

But he granted them one last date, so they could say goodbye, forever.

So they met one last time, they hugged and they cried. 

And they cried so much their tears formed puddles, and as they cried the puddles later turned into two lakes.

One of these, the blue lake, had it's color due to the princess blue eyes.

The other one had it's color from the Sheppard's green eyes.

And now they are forever side by side ...

If you would like to one day get to know this wonderful making of nature you must visit "São Miguel" island, In the Azores Archipelago, Portugal.

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Hugs and kisses,

Reny 

Hey there, my sweet little princes and princesses! :D

A few weeks ago a precious friend of mine sent me a beautiful amethyst pendant, first of many in my inventory, indeed!

  I'm already starting to get affectionate with it and feeling it's special proprieties changing my life!

       When I'm not wearing it or meditating with it, I can still feel it cleansing the air of  any negative energies. ^-^

       Amethyst has been known as one the most highly prized forms of quartz. It is the presence of manganese in quartz that produces the purple color, and iron content varies the coloration. 

=Mythology=

"Bacchus", by Anna Dorothea Therbusch

 Bacchus, the god of wine, declared in a rage, that the first person he passes would be eaten by tigers. This turns out to be a beautiful maiden named Amethyst. The goddess Diana quickly turned Amethyst into a white stone to save her from the tigers. Regretting his anger, Bacchus poured red wine over the stone as an offering to Diana, so turning the stone purple. Amethyst has long been associated with relieving hangovers, or curing drunkenness, probably as a result of its wine-like color and the Bacchus tale.

=Healing properties of Amethyst=

      Amethyst is a gemstone often worn by healers, as it has the power to focus energy. A healer will usually wear several pieces of jewelry with amethysts set in silver, especially an amethyst necklace. The person to be healed will have an Amethyst to hold while the healing is being done. The healer will place another piece of Amethyst on the area of the body in need of healing, the heart or lungs usually.

      Amethyst as been also used for problems in the blood and in breathing problems.

Amethyst crystal clusters are used to keep the air and life force in the home clean and positive.

Me and my Amethyst Pendant ^-^

Earth teach me stillness

as the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering

as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility

as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth teach me caring

as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage

as the tree which stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation

as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom

as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation 

as the leaves which die in the fall.

Earth teach me regeneration

as the seed which rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself

as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness

as dry fields weep in the rain...