Full Moon Thoughts on Prosperity Magic

Some of you know that I host the Pagan Team coffee chat on etsy, monday and wednesday mornings. Now, the rest of you also know :) Monday and Wednesday morning, 9 AM Central time (10 Eastern, 8 Mountain, and 7 Pacific) in the etsy chat room. You do not have to be a team member to attend, you just have to have an etsy account.

Anyway, the actual point is that the topic of prosperity magic came up today. I mentioned that I ought to add leaving some etsy feedback into my prosperity magic for today, and one of my friends asked if I do prosperity magic every day. I answered that I don't, but I should. Another friend said that she had heard that doing prosperity magic every day makes the Universe angry.

No, no, and no! It's not true! For one thing, the Universe has much better things to do than wandering around looking for people to be angry with. For another thing, even if the Universe WERE so inclined, doing prosperity magic every day is not going to make the Universe angry.

The Universe is not going to become angry with someone eating healthful and nourishing food every day, or taking care of their family, friends, and belongings every day, or delighting in the beauty of creation every day. Add the proper mindfulness, and those things are all prosperity magic.

I call myself a kitchen witch because I am far more inclined to quiet, practical magic instead of the more familiar rituals with scripts, candles, and wand waving. So, some of my most effective prosperity magic is the same sort of things that needs to be done, done MINDFULLY.

My sales tax return is due. I could sigh and whine and be angry while I fill out the paperwork, because the government is stealing my money. That would not be prosperity magic. I could gather my form, my pen, and my checkbook, and be joyful about the sales that I made, and envision the good things that those taxes will be used for in my community, and KNOW that I am doing what I need to do, and that there will be more sales, and more opportunities to help my community in the future as I write that check, and it becomes powerful prosperity magic.

I can be mindful of how and when and where I spend my money. I can support people and businesses and causes that are important to me with the money I spend, and that's prosperity magic shared.

The kinds of mindful prosperity magic that are possible are practically endless. Appreciating what you have, taking care of things that need to be done, community volunteer work, and any sort of creating, nurturing, and supporting.

Of course, just like eating the exact same healthful and nourishing food every day eventually will do harm, doing exactly the same sort of prosperity magic every day will do harm--possibly by becoming greed, possibly by wearing yourself and your resources too thin--but truly working prosperity magic is never going to make the Universe angry with you.

One Card Draw, going on now!

miintikwa is doing one card draws on her blog today, until 4 PM EST. She does these for free, although donations/tips are highly appreciated. If you've got a question for her, head on over!

Good People and Good News

When was the last time that you read a news article that brought tears of awe to your eyes? For me, it was just a few minutes ago.

Read this article, and feel a little better about the world!

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

Tikka Masala

A long time ago, I promised to post about my tikka masala. Since I'm in a mood to do some corrupting, now seems like a good time!

Chicken Tikka Masala

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs

1 cup yogurt
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp Tikka Masala spice (I get mine from http://worldspice.com)
2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 medium chopped onion
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup tomato puree
1-2 Tbsp ginger paste
1-2 Tbsp fresh crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
2 tsp honey
1 tsp curry powder

Cut chicken into chunks.
Mix yogurt, lemon juice, tikka masala and curry powder. Add the chicken and marinate overnight.

Next day, saute the onion in the oil until it starts to caramelize.

 Scoop the chicken out of the marinade, and into the pan with the onions.  A decent amount of the marinade will come with the chicken, but leave what you can in the bowl. Set the marinade aside, and cook the chicken until there is no pink showing on the outside.

 With a slotted spoon, scoop the chicken out and put it in the bottom of a casserole dish. Most of the juices and onions will stay in the pan. Sprinkle the salt over the chicken.

And you're left with this in the pan.

Add the ginger, garlic, honey, curry powder and salt to the pan the chicken was cooked in. stir it together. Once it's mixed, add the tomato puree. Cook it all together until it starts to thicken and hold together as a sauce--about 5 minutes.

Pour the tomato sauce over the chicken. Spread it around so the chicken is covered, more or less.

Pour the leftover marinade over the top and spread it around so it's all in a fairly even layer.

Bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Start rice cooking just before you out it in the oven, and they should be done at the same time. Some steamed green beans go with it really well, although it's not exactly traditional.

I have made this with tofu instead of chicken, and it worked well. I would add some extra yogurt to the leftover marinade, because the tofu will definitely soak up a lot of moisture. Use extra firm tofu, and press it for several hours/overnight before putting it in the marinade, then follow the same procedure.

Happy 2011!

Happy new year, and I hope that 2011 is a happy and prosperous year for all of you! It's a prime number, which starts it off as interesting at the very least.

Yule and Christmas were lovely. The lead-up was hectic, as usual, and we spent Christmas weekend at home. There was enough snow on the ground to provide a good excuse for not leaving the house at all, and it was perfect.

My embroidery machine finally managed to let me know what her name is, so I can finally post a picture of my workspace and introduce you to everyone.

On the desk, you can see my laptop, Matilda (after Empress Matilda) and my Husqvarna/Viking sewing/embroidery machine, Aelfgigu. The big embroidery machine is Mama Ocllo, and you can see my new serger on the table. Her name is Elizabeth, after Elizabeth of York. Katherine (after Katherine Swynford) is my older Singer sewing machine, and you can see her case under the table.

You can't see the other computers, because they're in other rooms, but I'll introduce you anyway. Eleanor is my desktop, and she'll be moving down into the work room soon. Jane is my netbook, and she goes with me to shows/events. Anne is new to me, and will be taking over in my office, in Eleanor's current space.

In the event of a machine uprising, I'll definitely be one of the first to die. My machines and I get along well, everyone is treated well, but if it came down to an uprising, they'd really have no choice, right? Especially considering that my husband's computers are not included in that list.