**“Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for only one feeling at a time.”**
~J.M. Barrie

**“There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies?”**
~Richard Dawkins

I have always spoken the truth.  I believe in fairies and I think they take and hide my things!  Before you judge however, fairy legend has been around for hundreds of years.  And not all fairies are as sweet as Tinkerbell.

A fairy ring is the occurrence of a complete circle of mushrooms.  Fairy rings are most prominent in European folklore.  They are considered gateways into fairy kingdoms.  According to lore, a fairy ring appears when a fairy does and will disappear in less than five days.  However, the lore states that if you wait for the fairy to return to their ring, you have a chance of capturing it.

Although some legends vary, most believe that to enter a fairy ring is quite dangerous.  Fairies themselves can be mischievous and cruel.  Superstition calls fairy circles sacred and warns against violating them out of fear the fae would retaliate with a curse.  Some say that to enter a fairy circle will cause you to die at a young age; others claim that once you’ve entered the circle and thus the fairy realm, you can never leave.  A particular piece of knowledge seems to be universal.  Do not eat anything a fairy offers you, or you become theirs forever.

It is especially dangerous to enter a fairy ring on Halloween. 

Normally to become free of the fairies and their realm you need help from the mortal one.  One defense is to touch the captive human with iron.  Fairies, as well as many other supernatural creatures often shy away from iron.  Iron is seen as a pertinent piece of our human life force, as our blood contains iron.  In myth iron itself is somewhat sacred.

Although they have strong associations with doom, some legends paint fairy circles as places of fertility and fortune. Welsh folk belief is that mountain sheep that eat the grass of a fairy ring flourish, and that crops sown from such a place will prove more bountiful that those from normal land.

No matter what you believe be cautious where you’re walking, the fae are very particular about their choice of friends. 

Egg Custard Pie

You will need:

2 cups Milk

3 Tbsp. Butter

4 Eggs

Pinch of Salt

½ Cup Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 Pillsbury Pie Crust

In a saucepan melt the butter and simmer with the milk until combined.

In bowl, combine eggs, salt, sugar, and vanilla.  Wisk together.

SLOWLY and while STIRRING add the saucepan contents to the bowl. 

Wisk until combined.

This can be made in a baking dish (it will turn out a bit like flan) or I recommend Pillsbury pie crust.  It’s already prepared and tastes just as delicious as homemade!

Bake for 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven (or until knife in center comes out clean) 

Enjoy!

Death is a fickle thing.  Some people fear it, others worship it, and some welcome it.  Many have faith that there is an entire world waiting after death.  Others think that death is all she wrote.

Whatever you believe, I’ve always wondered if death and fate were intertwined.  Could I avoid my death longer if I made different choices?  Or did any path I chose lead directly to the same place, my ending? 

I heard this story years ago, and it has always stuck with me.  When you think you are outrunning death, you may be running directly into its arms.

"The Appointment in Samarra"
(as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])

The speaker is Death

There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me.  She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate.  I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. 

The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop, he went.  Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said,

“Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?”

That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

The Castus (Latin for pure, pious) are a group of antagonists in my book series The Sin Collector.  Sin Collectors have the gift of immortality and the ability to absorb a person’s sins thus granting them access to heaven.  The Castus are trying to eradicate the Collectors because they believe what they do is the work of the devil.  The Castus are human and devout believers that killing the Collectors is their duty to God. 

To find out more about the first book in my Sin Collector trilogy you can go here or explore this site further.

In book two, the origin of the Castus will be made known.  Including the introduction of someone very important to their cause.  Here is a brief snippet from book two in the series, sounds like someone bad is coming!

    “The Castus did not become powerful under weak leadership.  She has united our enemies, she has slain our friends both human and Collector alike.  The Castus is more than a following, more than a cult. It is a religion.  You have lived hundreds of years. You have seen religion shed more blood than any single sin.  Do what you will with my information, but do not underestimate the power of faith and do not underestimate Ariadne.” 

In July, amongst the chaos of my sister’s accident and her home care, we found ourselves taking in more responsibility in the form of an orphaned black kitten.  For two weeks, we thought the kitten was a girl, and called her Lilith.  After the first vet visit however, we came to learn that Lilith was in fact a boy. (Damnit Google!) He grew accustomed to his new name, Sammy, after only a few days.  He was a bright patch in a dark and hard time. 

The folklore surrounding black cats varies from culture to culture. In Great Britain, black cats are seen as lucky. The Scottish believe that a strange black cat's arrival to the home signifies prosperity. In Celtic mythology, a fairy known as the Cat Sìth takes the form of a black cat. Black cats are also considered good luck in Japan.  Furthermore, it is believed that a lady who owns a black cat will have many suitors. (I wish) However, in Western history, black cats have often been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens.  Most of western and southern Europe considers the black cat as a symbol of bad luck, especially if one crosses paths with a person, which is believed to be an omen of misfortune and death. In Germany, some believe that black cats crossing a person's path from left to right, is a bad omen. But from right to left, the cat is granting favorable times.

When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, they brought with them a devout faith in the Bible. They also brought a deepening suspicion of anything deemed of the devil. They viewed the black cat as a companion, or a familiar to witches. Anyone caught with a black cat would be severely punished or even killed. They viewed the black cat as part demon and part sorcery.  During the Middle Ages, these superstitions led people to kill black cats. This had the unintended consequence of increasing the rat population and the spread of the Black Death. (Iiiiiirony!)

Black cats have been found to have lower odds of adoption in American shelters compared to other colors.  Some shelters also suspend or limit adoptions of black cats around Halloween for fear they will be tortured, or used as "living decorations" for the holiday and then abandoned.

So next time you are in the market for a new cat, give your heart to the often ignored black kitten.  You won't regret it!

August 17 is Black Cat Appreciation Day

“It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful.”
― Anton Szandor LaVey

“There are many who would like my time. I shun them. There are some who share my time. I am entertained by them. There are precious few who contribute to my time. I cherish them.”
― Anton Szandor LaVey

“Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!”
― Anton Szandor LaVey

Anton Szandor LaVey (born April 11, 1930 – October 29, 1997) was the founder of the Church of Satan as well as a writer and occultist. He was the author of The Satanic Bible and the founder of LaVeyan Satanism, a combined system of his understanding of human nature and the insights of philosophers who advocated materialism, for which he claimed no supernatural or theistic inspiration.

Sound creepy?  Think he’s crazy?  You’d be surprised to find out his life was not only interesting but full.  He ran away when he was sixteen years old and joined up with circus and carnivals.  He participated in many acts with the large cats and was especially valuable as a musician.

He held the church in low regard due to the fact that he would often see the “upstanding” men of the cloth frequenting the brothel side of the carnival the evenings before and after mass.

LaVey was in love with the occult and paranormal and made a name for himself investigating claims of such phenomenon. 

LaVey dreamed of starting his own religion and created The Church of Satan.  Despite popular belief The Church of Satan does not "worship" or believe in Satan, nor do they believe in Gods. LaVeyan Satanism follows the belief that oneself is their own "God". They do not believe in suppression of desire and human nature.

Similar to The Ten Commandments of Christianity, The Church has Nine Satanic Statements, Eleven Satanic Rituals of the Earth, and Nine Satanic Sins.

Still think this is crazy and evil?  Look below for the Nine Satanic Sins…see how many you agree with.

1.      Stupidity

2.      Pretentiousness

3.      Solipsism (Solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure)

4.      Self-Deceit

5.      Herd Conformity

6.      Lack of Perspective

7.      Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies

8.      Counterproductive Pride

9.      Lack of Aesthetics (a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty)

And the church has thousands of followers all around the world.  Would you like to know more about LaVey and his church?  Visit their official site here.

Catch you tomorrow with B!