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Hearthstone is a place where we hope you feel like pulling up your favourite chair, a mug of something warm cupped in your hands, as we take you through the seasons, full of myth and magic...
We hope to bring to your hearth and home inspiring tales and legends from all around the world.
Inside you'll find a growing source of information on the Celtic year, from Brighid's day to Yule, the lunar months and sacred trees, the Green Man, tales of Cerridwen and Taliesin and more things besides...
In short we hope you will find something to please you whether you are the most gentle domestic goddess (or god), or the most extrovert kitchen witch (or wizard)!
So please come in and look around
Scott and Sandy |
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Written by scott
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 An apple a day keeps the doctor away, one of those old wives tales that just might be true, but in this case cider vinegar may be better than the apple.
Apples are one of those health giving fruits that have been used by people forever, they contain a host of nutritious properties and over forty vitamins, minerals and enzymes and all of these are found in apple cider vinegar.
What Does it Do?
Cider vinegar has been used all over the world for thousands of years to detoxify the body, improve digestion and encourage a healthy body. Cider vinegar has several health protective properties whether taken internally or used topically.
Apple cider has been used for:
A general tonic
To aid digestion
Washing and improving the condition of the hair
The prevention of hay fever
The treatment of burns
The treatment of skin infections
Eases joint and body stiffness
Treatment of insect bites and stings
It can be on animals to prevent fleas, ticks and treat skin conditions
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Read more...
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Written by scott
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Sunday, 12 July 2009 13:56 |
Ostara, Spring Equinox
March 20th-21st
This is the time of year when the days and nights are of equal length, with the daylight on the increase. By now many birds are nesting and many early flowers are in bloom, the earliest trees are coming into bud and the weather, though unpredictable is less inclined towards being cold as the stronger sunshine shifts the frosts and snows faster. It has many associations now with fertility, birth and joyous celebration. A time when a little luxury creeps back into life after the hardest winter months have passed. What can we say of it's history?
It seems that in Britain once again there is no certain evidence of pre-Christian festivals. Nothing is documented and the name for the Christian festival is the surviving name in both the Welsh and Irish languages. Easter is from the Anglo-Saxon influence and can either be from a possible British based dawn goddess type cult or simply that the month may have had the title of 'month of beginnings'.
The egg has become a symbol of this time because it is almost universally recognised as a symbol of birth and life, and as an excellent food source their availability to eat again was definitely something to celebrate. This may well stretch way back in time but we cannot know for sure.
The hare, an animal sacred to the Celts, with it's Spring-time antics was certainly part of later European Easter celebrations and may be far older, but in Britain it appears to have arrived from across the Atlantic as part of a much more modern Easter tradition.
So it would seem that prior to the arrival of Christianity our ancestors were probably far to busy to make much of this season preferring the later Beltane when the weather was far more settled.
Eostara today then is certainly from a very mixed background, yet even with removing it's definite Christian connections it remains a very important date. Today we know when the day and night are equally balanced and we can still celebrate the gift of more a plentiful food supply. Despite the still inclement weather, the fact that summer is on it's way is undeniable. We can plan ahead for outdoor work and play. Seeds can be sown in earnest. We can relax over the ordering of fuel, air the house and let fresh energy in, and leave the curtains open a bit longer at night.
At this time we can see Nature's regeneration, we can feel refreshed and renewed too. With the energy of youth we can step into the tasks of summer, getting things ready for the fast growth of the coming season and the responsibility it will bring. Internally we can use this energy to give youthful impetus to flagging ideas, renew our spiritual practices after the stillness of winter and adapt them to suit the lighter days.
Date
March 20th-21st
Foods
Eggs, honey, bread,seeds, sprouts and green leafy vegetables
Herbs
Daffodil, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, iris, and spring flowers generally
Colours
all pastels, yellow, pink, green, blue
Gods & Goddesses
Virgin Goddesses, Moon Goddesses/Gods, Goddesses/Gods of Love. Some Ostara Goddesses are: Aphrodite (Greek), Eostre (Teutonic), Lady of the Lake (Welsh), Minerva (Roman), Isis (Egyptian), Rheda (Anglo-Saxon)
Incense and oils
Frankincense, Rose, Sage, Violet , Orange peel, benzoin, blossoms of any type
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 February 2010 19:18 |
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