Picky Pagan Store Review: Dragon Marsh

A while ago I was searching for a candle and herb shop in the Inland Empire. I came across Dragon Marsh's website on Google. Located in downtown Riverside, it is pretty easily accessible. I was not sure of what to expect when I first pulled up and parked outside. It is on the corner of a large building with a Mexican restaurant right next to it. It looks somewhat small from the outside, but do not let the appearance fool you. They have a relatively small selection of books for sale, but everything thing else witchy is in abundance. The most impressive part of this store is their selection of herbs, oils and perfumes. There is a professional herbalist on staff that is very knowledgeable about various medical and spiritual uses of everything available. They have an entire room devoted to this subject with hundreds of herbs and oils available, most of which are made by the proprietors themselves. They also have a large supply of any tools you might need for your rituals. Another cool aspect of this shop is that they have many fabrics and items that any ren-faire attendee would be happy to stumble upon. The few times that I have been inside, the staff has been extremely helpful and friendly. You will not encounter any pushy sales tactics or items offered that have nothing to do with what you are looking for. Overall I think this probably the best candle and herb shop that I have been to in southern California. I highly recommend stopping by here if you are looking for something or just want to browse for fun.

Rating: 4.5 broomsticks out of 5

Dian Cecht

Pronounced "Dye-in-ket", he is a Celtic god of healers and physicians. Dian Cecht was known to have been at several famous battles, presiding over the Tuatha De Danann. His approaches were surgical in nature. One story tells of him fitting a prosthetic silver arm for the King Nuada (his brother) after having had it chopped off in battle. He has several children, one of which was Miach, who was also a healer but focused more on herbs and direct-touch healing. Miach was in rivalry with Dian Cecht. After Dian Cecht had attached the silver arm, Miach used herbs to restore Nuada real hand. Legend has it that Dian Cecht stuck Miach on the head with his sword three times, and each time Miach was able to heal himself. On the fourth strike Dian Cecht cleaved Miach's head in two and killed him. I find this story particularly interesting as a possible metaphor for modern time's struggle between allopathic medicine and naturopathic medicine. Dian Cecht is a god of healing, medicine, regeneration, magic and silver-working. 

Danu - Celtic Mother Godess

Danu is the mother of the tribe of beings known as Tuatha De Nanann, that reside in the realm of Tir Na nOg. Danu's Consort was Bile (the god of death), and their child was Dagda, who became the Chief of the Tuatha De Nanann. There are many different names and pronunciations of Danu depending on which part of the British Isles you refer to and Irish mythology knows Danu as Anu and Bilé as Belenos. Danu is revered as a Gaia-type figure and is often associated with water. The Danube river is reported to be named for her. Being the mother-goddess figure of the Celtic people, she is worshiped by them as a protector, fertility figure, and provider of abundance, wind and wisdom.

Summer in California

New classes, new subjects, old friends, warm weather and a great Litha celebration have put me in good spirits lately. I am readying a ritual for a good friend of mine who is about to enter a new phase in his professional career. He is not necessarily a pagan, but appeals to me when he needs help or is uncertain about the outcome of a future decision. It makes me happy that my spiritual practice can help those around me.

I recently made a trip up to the Humboldt National and State Forests. The rhododendron were in bloom and everything seemed to pop with life. I had been to the Sequoia National Forest as a child, and that was my first experience with redwood giants. I can tell you that I truly had no recollection of how awesome they are. These are the largest trees in the world, and their canopy blocks out most of the sun so there is not much undergrowth, which makes it easy to walk around. The forest floor is blanketed with clovers and there are patches of fern littered throughout the surroundings. Strange mushrooms grow on gigantic fallen trees and form wonderful patterns. I felt as if there were faeries behind every corner, just out of sight. Each thousand-year-old giant seemed to have its own personality. It is no wonder why the scientists that study these trees name them. Every time I stopped and closed my eyes, I could feel an ancient overpowering calm come over me. It was as if the trees seemed to say, "You are not the first we've seen, and you won't be the last, but we are glad you are here to share this beauty with us." It is truly a magical experience and I highly recommend going if you ever have the chance to travel to Northern California.

www.thevaporgirl.com review

I came to the realization a couple months ago that I am not getting any younger. I started exercising every day, I cut processed foods out of my diet, I stopped drinking soda and cut down on my alcohol intake (*sigh*). I immediately started to feel healthier and my energy levels and mood improved significantly. There was just one thing in my life that I was struggling with that I could not seem to get under control: smoking cigarettes. I have been smoking several packs a week for about 7 years and have desired to quit for the last 3. My main issue, besides nicotine withdrawal, was that I just enjoyed the act of smoking.

2 years ago I came across e-cigarettes at my local convenience store and decided to try it out. I spent 20 dollars on the device and 5 dollars on some pre-loaded cartridges. To be honest with you, it flat out sucked. I got like maybe 5 good drags off each cartridge, and it was nothing like actually smoking. I gave up the idea for a long time until I saw my friend take a hit off his e-cigarette and blow out a large cloud of vapor (it isn't smoke, the companies claim its just water vapor). I asked him what brand of e-cigarette he was using and he told me it was just a random one. I asked him why it worked so well. He pulled out a bottle of e-juice (mixture of nicotine, vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol and flavoring) and told me that he just added it to his cartridge whenever it ran out. I had to try it for myself.

I began researching e-cigarettes on line, and found that they are more commonly referred to as vaporizers by a rather large community that makes them and mixes their own e-juice. I saved up a little extra money and began to search for the best deal from the most reputable dealer I could find. I came across recommendations in a couple forums to buy from thevaporgirl.com. After browsing her website, I discovered she had pretty good prices and sold what seemed to be some of the top of the market devices for pretty cheap. I ordered a vaporizer and a 30 mL bottle of e-juice (which she makes herself at home). Within about an hour of my order placement, I get an email telling me that she does not have the vaporizer in stock at the moment. She offered to give me a slightly more expensive model at the same price. I very much appreciated this gesture of customer service. She runs her business out of her home in North Carolina, and I live in Southern California, so I was expecting the order to take a while. It came in two days after it was shipped. I was not expecting it but the eGo-T vaporizer set actually comes with two vaporizers so you can charge one while you use the other. I charged one up, injected her vanilla tobacco e-juice in to the cartridge and took a hit. What I blew out I can really only compare to the consistency of a hookah hit, and it tasted great. I have smoked one cigarette since and it was a few days after I first got the vaporizer. It did not taste the same and I could noticeably smell the residual cigarette smoke on my clothes, and I did not like it at all. I actually gave my pack of 19 cigarettes away to a homeless gentleman who was very appreciative, and have not smoked since. Victoria "The Vapor Girl" runs a solid business with quality products and great customer service. I have recommended her to many of my friends, and she will continue to have my business for a long time.

Picky Pagan #3: Pho Tay Bac in Brea, CA

In the past couple years, Pho has exploded as a popular food among carnivores. It used to be that you would have to go to an ethnic Vietnamese part of a major city to find a pho restaurant. Now there is there is practically one pho restaurant in every city, and sometimes a lot more. Being a fan myself, since I was young, I have always looked for a good pho restaurant in every new place I live in. Being picky in your selection pays off because, often, these restaurants will attempt to use cheap ingredients, powdered stock and poor cuts of meat. For a while, I lived in the Fullerton/Anaheim area of Orange County, which is right next to Westminister. Westminister is contains probably the largest population of Vietnamese in the Southern California area. Along with this comes great pho restaurants. However, sometimes I would not want to drive the 50 minute round trip down the 22. Eventually I started looking in to possible locations to satiate my pho lust in town. I quickly discovered that the majority of the spots in Fullerton were of pretty poor quality. To the north of Fullerton lies the city of Brea (not to be confused with La Brea in Los Angeles). On the border of the two towns there is a small shop situated in a tiny strip mall off of Imperial and Arrow Drive called Pho Tay Bac. They make their pho broth nightly from scratch, using real bones and fresh ingredients. All pho places put MSG in their pho, so the trick is to find the ones that rely more on quality ingredients than the flavor enhancer. Pho Tay Bac has been able to minimalize their use of this product. Their cuts of meat are always decent and their vegetables are always fresh. The staff is also very friendly and helpful. Their other food items are also very tasty. I suggest trying everything that catches your eye, their banh mi is pretty decent. It is not my favorite place (I'm partial to Pho Hoa in San Diego), but as far as Fullerton/Anaheim/Brea goes, its my choice. It is Korean owned though and some of the food could be considered to not be made in the authentic Vietnamese style. Nevertheless, you can always depend on a fresh, clean and tasty meal.

Rating: 4.4 broomsticks out of 5

YouTube Review: Aiden Gallway

While perusing various occult chat rooms, I stumbled upon a link to this Wiccan's YouTube channel. Through this channel, Aiden attempts to explain Wicca to beginners, outsiders and non-practitioners. If you have ever been curious about what Wiccans believe and practice, this is a good place to start. Aiden is young and comes off a little nervous in the first video, but his heart is definitely in the right place and he puts forth an honest and well researched opinion. If you think we worship the devil and run around hexing everyone we do not like, you should really take a look at Aiden's videos. You can find them here:


http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJakerz18?feature=mhee#p/u/3/LoVqfoREO04