Samhain’s Sirens are back and the fun has begun! Follow them through the month as they provide blog posts, remembrances, recipes, music and lots of giveaways!
The giveaway today is a whole pile of stuff provided by Participating Businesses in the Pagan Business Network.
Click HERE to join the fun.
“Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into the water, the actions of individuals can have far reaching effects.” Dalai Lama
Community Wreath after ritual in Alabama
Many of you may remember the Community Wreath Project I started a few years ago. It was started at Atlanta Pagan Marketplace in a ritual I put on to represent my group, North Georgia Solitaries.
We only had a few people in ritual that day. We took a grapevine wreath and each tied a ribbon representing us and our connection to the community to the wreath. Some of the ribbons were tied around the wreath. Some connected directly to other ribbons. Some wove theirs in and out directly touching many ribbons, some preferred to keep their ribbon tied to just one other.
Dorothy Morrison adds her ribbon to the wreath at Pagan Unity Festival
During the ritual I invited other groups to host the wreath in their circle and add their connections and help build community energy. My phone was ringing by the time I was heading home from the event. The ritual made its way through the local community and even crossed state lines to get to Alabama and Tennessee. The Wild Hunt picked up the story and published it. A group in France read about it and decided to add their energy to the community wreath project. They started a wreath and sent a ribbon to Georgia to be tied onto the original wreath.
Aureole Paienne – Community Wreath in France
Now, several years later Rev. Terrie Brookins has started a community wreath in Canada. It made its debut at Durham Pagan Pride in their ritual. I was so excited when she told me she was going to pick up that idea and let it grow in Canada. You can read her story on her blog Create Train Love Pray.
Canada Community Wreath at Durham Pagan Pride
Consider hosting one of these wreaths and adding the energy of your local community to the project.
If you would like to host the wreath started in Georgia, please contact me at info@ladycharissa.com.
If you would like to host the wreath started in Canada, please contact Rev. Terrie Brookins at terriebrookins13@gmail.com.
Here are some contests and giveaways from around the community to enter. Who doesn’t like free stuff?
Mystic Echoes – This is a drawing on the Mystic Echoes Facebook page. If you hurry you can still enter to get in on it. Make sure you are on the original post to enter.
Contest runs through August 15th.
The grand prize is your selection of an incense, an oil, a tincture, a powder, and herb, and a bath salt.
Second place is your choice of $30 in products
Third place is an incense and a tincture of your choice
To enter: Like and comment on the post
Tag a friend
The winner will be chosen by drawing a name from a hat.
You can only enter once.
Please note Facebook is not responsible for this contest.
Celia – Who doesn’t love free music? You can go to this link and get three free songs.
Help this business decide what photo to use on their business card and they will send you a free gift for your opinion. Like and comment on the photos in the Album called Business Card Mock Ups. Here is their post:
I would love your input on my business cards! I have set up an album of photo choices at Facebook and I want to choose at least four to represent the variety of items I offer such as black #scrying #mirrors, #smudging #feathers, #incense burners, #vintage #bohodecor etc.. I’m on Facebook under my business name #Cinnabarys. Like and comment and come here and say done. Each helper will receive a small sincere thank you gift via snail mail! #supportsmallbusiness #shopsmall #etsysellers #businesscard
AZ Stained Glass, LLC
Sale for the month of August. Coupon code is good until August 31st. Save10 for 10% off orders over $50. Save20 for 20% off orders over $100. Be sure to check the dollar deals section as well. Azstainedglassllc.weebly.com
Kaimera Orion – Wings Over the Hedge
I am happy to announce that I am doing an August GIVEAWAY! It will run until the end of August. I will select three winners. First prize will be an autographed hard copy of my book “The Paranormal Enigma Collection”. The second and third winners will receive a 20% off coupon for my etsy store that can be used on any product available. I will also throw in a surprise at the end of the giveaway.
In order to be selected you must be a liker of this page https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKaimeraOrion.
For an extra chance to win, share this post from my page and comment below that you shared. Good Luck!
Phoenix Rising Apothecary
Coupon – PBN10 for 10% off $25 or more
Mystic Echoes
From August 9 2015-August 23 2015 take 20% off an order at Mystic Echoes with coupon code: MYSTIC3RDBDAY
Sage’s Aromatherapy
Now through end of August, use coupon code DOGDAYSOFSUMMER and get 20% off no minimum order!! https://www.etsy.com/shop/SagesAromatherapy
Conjured Cardea
FREE shipping on domestic orders of $100 or more.
http://www.shop.conjuredcardea.com/
Sleeping Gryphon
Free shipping over $30.00 for domestic US shipping! Just enter FREESHIP for the Coupon Code at checkout! www.etsy.com/shop/sleepinggryphon
There was a status post on a dear friend’s Facebook page a few days ago that I just can’t shake. My friend is like so many of us and works very hard along with her husband to support her family and pay their bills. And like so many of us those ends that are supposed to meet more often than not are way too far apart to ever touch. She doesn’t have a “job” working at ridiculously low hourly wages at a grocery store or fast food restaurant. She runs her own business from home.
The status post I can’t wrap my head around involves an insensitive and probably well meaning comment when another financial crisis hit (you know what those feel like, right?) The car breaks down and you don’t have money to fix it. The roof needs repairs you can’t afford. Someone gets injured or sick and there are medical bills you can’t pay. I could go on and on with examples.
The comment that hurt so much was that she should get a “real job”.
So what is a “real job”? Would you not say that someone that farms for a living growing food to sell to pay for their land and feed their family doesn’t have a real job? Would you say that someone that makes jewelry twelve hours a day to sell online and at festivals doesn’t have a real job? Does a real job really mean that you have to work for someone else doing tasks to put money in their pockets? I have done that “work for someone else” thing and I have to say that it doesn’t mean you are more financially stable than when you are working for yourself.
I can’t say for sure what my friend’s day looks like on an hourly basis. I don’t follow her around. But knowing what her results are I know she puts in long sweaty hard hours. All I can really talk about here is my experience without a “real job”.
My work day looks something like this:
Sometime between 5-6 AM getting up and sucking down the coffee. The computer is open as soon as I can see straight. Usually by the time I’ve downed my first cup of coffee. I’m checking business pages, checking on my shops online and then starting one of the day’s tasks while chugging some more coffee. Today is Sunday. My day started the same. Today I worked on adding some listings to my store. I took photos, wrote listings, tagged items, took a 15 minute lunch break and then back to it. I kept this pace up until around 7:30PM. I periodically checked in on Facebook on a networking group I run, took about 30 minutes to help one of my network get an ad created and took the dogs out several times so they could…well…you know what dogs do.
All total, I would have to say that I may have spent 45 minutes throughout the day not working. This is what my week looks like 7 out of 7 days most weeks.
I never worked this hard for any of my past employers and I was a dedicated hard worker. The joy wasn’t there. I was not working for my own dream or my own business. I was working to fulfill someone else’s dream. And in case you think that hourly wage jobs are going to keep you from having your life spin out of control the first time your transmission needs to be replaced, think again. Without your vehicle you can’t get to work to make the little bit of money they pay you for your time and without getting to work to make that money you aren’t going to be able to get the transmission.
If you have a friend that is having a hard time with one of life’s bills, do not tell them to get a “real job”. Listen, empathize and give them a safe place to vent. Let her make her decide what her “real job” is in this world. If she is working at her own business she is more than likely working harder than any one person should already.
This is probably a rant train that is hard to follow. For those of you that stayed on it, thank you.