The Witch's Broom and a Magickal Broom Giveaway

We're rapidly approaching the most magical holiday of them all, Halloween--or as many Witches refer to it, Samhain. This day is often referred to as the Witch's New Year, when we say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new.

So what better time to welcome in a new cover for one of my favorite books, THE WITCH'S BROOM? Llewellyn has decided to give the entire series new, matching covers, and while I loved the old one (sniffle) I think the new one is very cool too.

As it happens, my pal Robert Skinner, of Blue Moon Broom, Brush, and Besom, just sent me some very cool magickal brooms to give away as I chose. (Isn't he sweet?) So one lucky winner will get a copy of the book with its new cover, and a fun broom to go with it, just in time for the holiday (you know, or close).

As always, just fill in the Rafflecopter form to enter, and you get credit for things you've already done, like following me on Twitter or following the blog here. (You do that, right?) No purchase necessary, but feel free to buy a book, leave a review of one you read and liked, or otherwise spread the word about how fun my books are. You know, unless you don't think they are!

So, do you like the new cover?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Garden's End

My plans for the weekend had been to do some cleaning, make a dump run on Saturday, go to the last farmer's market, and then spend Sunday writing. The Saturday schedule went about as expected, and I had a lovely time walking around the market, eventually coming home with these goodies:

Purple cauliflower, the last of the corn, fresh local apples, a pot of basil, organic bacon & sausage from local farmers

I came to find a large, fun box on my doorstep. Gods only know what my mail carrier thought when she delivered it. The lovely Robert Skinner, who made a special broom for me earlier in the year The Broom sent me a box full of broom-making supplies, so Blue Moon Circle could make one of our own together. He's even going to make me a "how to" video. We'll probably bless and consecrate the supplies at Samhain, even if we don't have a chance to make the broom itself until later.

Acme Broom Company--Contains 1 Flying Broom Kit

 My plans for Sunday changed when I woke up to this:

Kale with frost. Luckily, kale is hearty, and once the day warmed, it was just fine.

That's the kale, which is one of the few things left in the garden, covered with frost. It was the second serious frost of the season (and the second morning when the temps hit below 29 degrees), but it got really nice in the afternoon, so that made it Time to Put the Garden to Sleep for the Winter. I called my stalwart pal Ellen, and we spend a sunny afternoon clearing the remaining beds of debris, planting next year's garlic, and harvesting the herbs. (Plus the less appealing chores like rolling up and putting away hoses and such.) The lovely weather and good company made the work go quickly, and there is always something satisfying about having the garden all neat and tidy. The end of the season is bittersweet, but this too is part of the Wheel of the Year.

You can't see it now, but this is where the garlic will come up next year. And there's the kale, looking fine.

The fish pond, with the filter & fountain removed. A heater will keep it from freezing over later.

Lemon balm, chocolate mint, thyme, and rosemary for drying.

Miraculously, I even managed to get 2,100 words written later in the day, but boy, was I tired.

Still, it was a very satisfying weekend, for the most part. What did you do with yours? Did you put anything away for winter? Harvest anything good?

The Witch's Broom: Magical or Mundane?

As some of you may know, I wrote a book called The Witch's Broom. Recently, as a result of that, I got a message from a lovely man named Robert Skinner, who has a business called Blue Moon Brooms. (Yes, my group is called Blue Moon Circle, so how fun is this?) He said he loved my book (yay) and very kindly offered to make me my own broom for the price of one penny plus shipping (double yay). These are some gorgeous brooms, people.

And then he asked me a very interesting question: did I want a magical broom, or a mundane one?

I actually had an easy answer, because I got two magical brooms in the last year (I bought myself one from a fabulous broom maker on Etsy, and got one as a gift from a former member of Blue Moon Circle) and my favorite handmade mundane broom had in fact kicked the bucket after twelve years of use, and I hadn’t been able to find an affordable one to replace it locally. I hated the crappy mass-made one I’d had to buy from the grocery store. It didn’t sweep well, and the handle didn’t feel right in my hands. So I told Robert that I would love to have him make me a mundane broom.

Generally speaking, for witches at least, brooms are either one or the other. A mundane broom is used for regular day-to-day housecleaning. A magical broom, on the other hand, is saved for ritual use only, and never used to actually sweep a floor. (Any sweeping done with it is usually energetic, not of physical dust or dirt.) I definitely believe that it is a good thing to have a broom that is reserved as a magical tool, if you are going to use one in rituals.

On the other hand, it suddenly occurred to me that there was no reason not to incorporate magical elements into an everyday mundane broom, especially if you were having one made for you by someone who specialized in making the magical sort too. After all, much of the power of our ritual/magical tools comes from our intent when using them, as well as the focus of our energy. So why not take advantage of that and add a little extra magical spark to the broom I was going to use every day?

Robert and I talked about this, and he carefully chose a handle that felt just right (he thinks it is maple, which is a great magical wood) and added a few special touches while he was creating it, including some beautiful feathers hanging from the top, some runes carved into the handle, and binding in the colors I asked for. When it arrived, I blessed and consecrated it to cleanse the energy of my home as it sweeps up dirt (and mounds of cat fur large enough to make another cat out of) and my new broom is now the perfect hybrid of mundane and magical.

I will still keep my purely magical brooms for ritual use only, like clearing the energy of the ritual space before casting the circle, or cleansing energy as part of the ritual itself. But my new broom will add a little magical boost to my everyday housecleaning, adding a little class and beauty to a task that otherwise can be a bit of a drag.

And what could be more magical than that?