Deborah J. Martin's Blog, page 8
March 31, 2016
Witchcraft Rant
/begin rant
In my never-ending quest for information, I stumbled across a pdf of A Practical Guide to Witchcraft and Magic Spells by Cassandra Eason (Foulsom Press, 2001). I’m fairly certain it’s a pirated copy and for that, my apologies to Ms. Eason. However, had I purchased the book, it would have been returned.
The title of the book is really, really a misnomer. It should read, “A Practical Guide to Wicca…”.
Some errors from just the first chapter:
“Witchcraft is said to be the oldest reli...
A Familiar’s Tale – Part XIV
Life returned to normal. That is to say, exacting tribute of cattle from lesser kings, attempting to exact tribute by force from those who did not wish to pay it, and the quarterly gatherings at Tara.
It was at one of these gatherings that Loégaire decided it was time Leinster came under his dominion once and for all. After the religious ceremonies and celebrations were over, he called his battle chiefs to his side and devised a plan he thought would finally bring that pesky place under contr...
March 4, 2016
A Familiar’s Tale – Part XIII
At the age of thirty, Aoife was declared a fully-trained seeress and given her choice of life: either travel, as did Dalaigh, to find the exceptional children; or be assigned to a nobleman as his personal diviner. She chose the latter, for which I was glad. Wolfhounds may be able to run fast but we are sprinters, not marathoners.
Aoife found a place with Tierney, a Brehon, or judge. Unfortunately, he was the traveling sort, unattached to any king or tribal chieftain. Some forty years older th...
February 4, 2016
Almost Paradise
As most of you know, husband and I took a vacation last week – the first in nearly 5 years. (Long overdue, it was…) When I decided I wanted beach, I also decided I wanted to go somewhere I didn’t have to lift a finger for a week. I found an all-inclusive resort on Saint Martin that fit the bill.
If you’ve never been to Saint Martin (French side) or Sint Maarten (Dutch side), you really need to put it on your bucket list. Only 37 square miles, it’s beautiful. And … take a camera. A real one....
December 21, 2015
Solstice Thoughts
Like many, the Winter Solstice is my New Year. (That’s not to say I don’t celebrate January first!) As a person who needs light, I embrace the return of the Sun like a parched person welcomes a sip of water.
I do a lot of thinking at the Solstice. What happened during the last year, plans for the new year, etc. For a change, I’m going to share my thoughts with you:
It has been a rough few years. As an only child, my mother was my primary focus for nearly six years. (My husband has a halo and...
December 4, 2015
City Mouse Builds a Country Garden, Part Deux
Over a year and a half ago, I said I was going to replace all the mulch in the garden paths with rocks garnered from our property. And I did start picking up stones and rocks. Then, once again, logic finally kicked in. Do you know how many rocks it would take to fill those paths? I could fill a 5-gallon bucket every day and still not live to see the paths covered in rocks.
So, after some searching on the net, I decided on rocks that come in bags from a local home improvement store. Two differ...
November 30, 2015
Book Birth Day!
A Green Witch’s Cupboard is LIVE!
You can find it in paperback at Amazon US or Amazon UK. It will take a few days for it to reach other Amazon outlets and what they call “expanded distribution” (competitors).
After looking at the sales numbers from other books, for the moment, it’s only available electronically on Kindle US and Kindle UK. If I get enough bitching, I’ll put it in other outlets, too. (But I have to wait 90 days to do so.)
If you want an autographed copy, give me a week or so t...
November 16, 2015
Cover Reveal!
Phew! After many trials and tribulations, A Green Witch’s Cupboard is nearing completion!
Here’s the cover:
Do you love it as much as I do?
If everything goes as planned (cough) it should be available in paperback and e-book by the end of the month – just in time for the holiday season – and all those witches on your shopping list! 
November 9, 2015
OMG- Fleas!
I can’t believe it. All four cats are indoor cats (their only “outside” is the deck, which has no egress), yet we got fleas. Obviously, they came in with the humans – or maybe that bat Maks caught about a month ago…
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a flea on Maks in the sparse hair in front of his ears. Shudder. Where there’s one, there are many. As much as I deplore chemical remedies, I know my cats well and attempting anything herbal on them would have disastrous effects – as in, I’d look like...
November 5, 2015
New Orleans Travelogue
Bear with me…this is going to be a long one because I have so much to share!
As many of you are aware, friends of mine host the New Orleans Witches Ball. I went to the first one in 2011 and hadn’t been back until a chum of mine (from junior high – yes, we’ve been friends that long) said she wanted to go this year. And go we did!
We flew in on Friday, dropped our bags at the hotel and wandered the Quarter,shopping. My friend hadn’t closely looked at the forecast and had packed for temperatures...
