Practical Witches

2008-12-31T15:19:00.000-08:00

You are cordially invited to attend a Masked Ball honouring the Twelfth Night

Saturday, January 3rd

at 6 p.m. (SLT)

on Serenite

Hosted by

Keith Extraordinaire of KX Designs,

Claire Richelieu of Practical Magic

and

Robin Sojourner of Yummy Skins and Livingtree

The Lord of Misrule and his Lady will be choosen from the attendees.

Winter Solstice 2008

2008-12-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Meet to All of You,

Happy Solstice! Happy Yule! Joyous Winter!

I hope this finds you and all that you love, well and content.

As the best way of celebrating is to share with others, I have choosen one of you, Allison David, to receive a special gift. Allison has been sent the Robin Wood Yule Log pictured in the Happy Solstice card.

We here at Practical Magic want to wish you all a wonderful celebration.

Blessings and joys of the season.

Blessed Be,

Claire

Late Autumn Update 11-15-2008

2008-11-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

November 15, 2008

Merry Meet, everyone.

I hope you are all enjoying a crisp Autumn filled with wonderful things as we move towards Yule. I am pleased to announce that we have some beautiful new items available and a few more surprises as well in the coming weeks.

Thank you all for your thoughts and comments on the newsletter and the Practical Witches blog. In keeping with your suggestions, I have created a personal flickr account and an account for Practical Witches, feel free to add both myself and the group to your flickrs.

Claire Richelieu's Flickr

and

Practical Witches Flickr

As time rushes away from us during this season, we all need to be reminded to take a breather and relax and reconnect. Gwen Carillon, someone who I am honored to call my spiritual sister, is sharing her art and poetry in an unique journey. I invite you to come along on this magical adventure.

The opening is this evening, 11-15-2008, at 6 pm SLT and features Gwen's art and poetry as well as live music and then dancing to the wee hours.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elements%20in%20Design/69/173/28/

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Practical Magic is pleased to offer a selection from Gwen's latest jewelry line, La Boheme, powerful and beautiful these chokers represent the elements and a personal journey. Each texture was created personally by Gwen and forged in her memories, dreams and mind.

On a personal note, my RL cousin, Sereine Bard, loves these pieces so much that she called me laughing to tell me she had been trying to find her Terra choker before she walked out her RL door. ;)

Enjoy these offering and your beloveds this Thanksgiving (you Yanks) and until we meet again,

Walk lightly and Blessed Be-

Claire

Autumn Update - Samhain 2008

2008-10-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Merry Meet everyone!

I hope you are all keeping well during this Autumn season. I thought to take a moment and thank you all for joining the Practical Witches group. SL groups are terribly limited and I appreciate that you choose to join us.

I shall endeavor to communicate with you all a bit more often, we all are busy but keeping in touch is essential. ;) . This post is filled with a few things I enjoy and I hope you will as well.

You are all welcome to notecard me with links, recipes and other interesting bits you think we would all enjoy. Not everything may end up on a Practical Witches notecard or on the blog, but sharing is part of our community.

So we shall get started?

Firstly, There is this blog here at blogger. I decided to place it under the name of our little group, Practical Witches, so you are all a part of it as well. As you can see, it is in its' infancy, but beginning to grow.

All of my little notes shall be placed on the blog as well, so if you miss a notecard, you can refer back to the blog.

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Our dear friend, Keith Extraordinaire, was invited to take part in the Prim Perfect Halloween charity event, Caer Blanco. The event, which hosted by Prim Perfect and sponsored by Reacher Rau, features pieces from all across SL and include a haunted house decorated by some of SL top designers.

Keith was asked to decorate the master bedroom. It is no surprise that it turned out to be the most inviting and comfortable room in the castle. Keith included a some of his newest pieces, a few of his soon to be released pieces, as well as a few items from Practical Magic, including some of Robin's alter set and, yes, my rose petals.

I encourage you all to visit the sim and look around. There are some wonderful things to see.

http://primperfectblog.wordpress.com/

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Practical Magic is filled with some returning seasonal items, including Keith's pumpkins, gourds, and his good friend Yorrick. The store is cradled by some new trees, Keith used a bit of his special magic to landscape Practical Magic and Serenite with gorgeous new low-prim Autumn maple trees.

We are also honoured to offer you one of Robin's latest items, one that many of us will enjoy year round, 'traditional' Witches hats. It is a beautifully textured 1 prim sculpty witch hat, in 6 brim shades. Since it is modify/copy (no transfer) you can add wear it as it is or add shades of colours to create a unique look. $100L

Robin will be selling them at Practical Magic year round, as well as on her own sim, LivingTree.

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I was able to attend a meeting of the SL group, Practical Tarot. While not affiliated witih Practical Magic or Practical Witches, it was founded by Morgana Fillion. I found the group to have a lively, open and passionate discussions on the Tarot cards and their meetings.

Each session a new card is discussed. Feel free to check out the group.

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Food is essential and we honour the Lady and Lord and our friends by sharing with them.

Ski House Pasta in Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

Ingredients:

8 to 10 ounces multigrain angel-hair pasta, such as Barilla brand

1 medium shallot

3 medium cloves garlic

2 sprigs sage leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree

3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions (6 to 7 minutes).

Meanwhile, mince the shallot and garlic; finely chop the sage.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic; cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until they have softened. Add the pumpkin puree, chicken broth, milk and half of the sage. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce is slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste; keep warm on the lowest setting.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, then add 2 tablespoons of the cheese and mix well. Divide among individual plates and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheese and the remaining sage.

From the Washington Post, modified by their staff from "The Ski House Cookbook," by Tina Anderson and Sarah Pinneo (Clarkson Potter, 2007).

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I wished to share some of my personal pleasures as well, so from my private library and music collection, I recommend these small joys.

Books:

Fiction: The Eyre Affaire by Jasper Fforde

Non Fiction: The Truth about Beauty by Kat James

Wiccan: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic by Scott Cunningham.

Music:

✰ Derek Bell: Carolan's Receipt: The Music of Carolan, Vol. 1

Now deceased, Mr. Bell was a member of Irish group, The Chieftans. He helped reintroduce Turlough O'Carolan's works to the modern age.

✰ Wicked Tinkers: Banger for Breakfast

A toe-tapping wonderful group using traditional instruments in somewhat less than traditional ways at times. Keith re-introduced me to Wicked Tinker's music and I am so pleased he did. It is a welcomed change of pace.

Enjoy!

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As I curl up with my pumpkin pasta, and a fire in the fireplace, I wish you well until we meet again.

Walk lightly and Blessed Be-

-Claire

Welcome

2008-08-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

or as some prefer to say, Merry Meet!

I have enjoyed reading SL blogs even when I haven't been able to be active in SL, as such decided to start one that will hopefully link SL interests with RL interests as well.

My home in SL is actually my store in SL as well, a lovely cottage on Serenite filled with traditional Wiccan supplies and other fabulous things.

Please, come take a seat by the fire, and have some tea while we discuss all manners of things.