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I spoke recently with a friend's young daughter concerning the well-known phenomenon of the Witch Eye. Like many of us, she's got one, too.

The stories all agree that we only get one Witch Eye each. Why only one? The answer is not far to seek.

A witch has one Witch Eye, not two, because you have to be able to see into both worlds: both this world, and the other. Otherwise, you couldn't function in both. Even witches need to take care of practical matters, too.

“What if we had two?” I ask her, posing a hypothetical that I've long wondered about.

Not missing a beat, she tells me. Her response takes me between the eyes.

Birthstones are very special stones that have traditionally been correlated with every month of the year. Hallmark didn’t invent the concept of birthstones, however; it came from the Bible! In Exodus chapters 28 and 39, there is much discussion about a burnished and stone-set breastplate of the High Priest of the Hebrews. Here is the biblical description of the breastplate: 

And he made the breastplate, artistically woven like the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen. They made the breastplate square by doubling it; a span was its length and a span its width when doubled. And they set in it four rows of stones: a row with a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald was the first row; the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in settings of gold in their mountings. There were twelve stones according to the names of the sons of Israel: according to their names, engraved like a signet, each one with its own name according to the twelve tribes. (NKJV, Exod. 39:8-14) 

"When she arrived at her building, she noticed a beam of silvery light shining down on the front stoop. Even after all those years, the moon still knew where she lived."

--Elizabeth A. Gould (The Well of Truth)

I’ve begun training as a cremationist, and while it can feel overwhelming at times when faced with all the things I have to learn, I really enjoy it. I like how hands-on it is, and how the steps in the process utilize different skills and actions. Cremation is a deeply spiritual act to me. I physically care for the dead and participate in their transformation, assisting the Fire in releasing their spirits from their physical forms.

A Tale of Connory Mór

This is a tale of Connory Mór, the greatest of all Ireland's kings. Listen well, you.

Though he had not one gray hair in his beard, Bresal son of Brosnas was accounted the wisest Druid in all of Ireland, so that when King Eterscélae came to die, it was he who partook of the Bull Feast in order to divine his successor.

The Bull duly sacrificed, Bresal ate and drank his fill of the meat and broth and, wrapped in the bull's hide, lay down beneath the apple trees of the royal dún to dream of the next king. All night druids chanted over him incantations of truth.

In the morning, he arose and told the assembled men of Ireland: He who is to be king will come to Tara stark naked, at daybreak, bearing a stone in his sling.

Men were accordingly dispatched to each of the four roads that led into Tara to await his coming.

Young Connory—not yet called Mór, the great—was out hunting with his three foster-brothers when word came to them that the king had died, and that all men were to gather to Tara for the Bull Feast.

Come with us to Tara, his foster-brothers said to Connory, but Connory had spied a number of large, white-speckled birds, of unusual size and color, which he felt inclined to hunt, so he told them: Go on, and I will meet you there.

So they went, and he followed the birds in his chariot, sling in hand: but always the birds preceded him, out of range by the length of a spear cast. All day he followed them, until his horses began to tire. So he jumped from the chariot to follow on foot, and bade his charioteer return home when the horses were rested.

He followed the birds, always a spear-cast beyond him, until at sunset they came to the ocean. Here the birds turned, did off their bird-skins, and stood before him as warriors, with sword and spear.

I am Nemglan, said their chief, king of your father's bird-troops. I hereby lay upon you this geis: that henceforth you kill no birds, for they are your kin by birth.

This I did not know, said Connory. (His father, in fact, was a man of the West who had come in to his mother through the smoke hole in the shape of a bird; but Connory did not know this.) This geis I receive upon me.

This also I lay upon you, said Nemglan: that you lay aside all your clothing, and go this night to Tara, with a stone in your sling; for there your fate awaits you.

This also I receive, said Connory, and did as the man of the waves had bade.

Here are some tips about stones not mixing together in jewelry, as their energies cancel each other out:

• Carnelian counteracts amethyst, as it connects more strongly with the body. 
• Lapis lazuli stimulates the mind, and blue lace agate relaxes it. 
• Lapis lazuli and turquoise are also opposites, although I can’t help but notice that this didn’t stop the Egyptians from using them together! 
• Turquoise dampens the energy of malachite.
• Diamonds and turquoise have such different energies that they conflict.