Happy Samhain!

Planet Earth Essential Oils Review & Giveaway

I have always been interested in aromatherapy and I know that different scents can really enhance your moods. For example, lavender is great for relaxation. Because of my love of aromatherapy, I have become much more picky when I am choosing perfumes. Things with heavy, flowery scents just aren't right for me. And I am always more inclined to choose perfumes that are made from pure essential oils and other natural ingredients, like the organic perfumes you can find at Planet Earth Essential Oils.

For my review, I received the Osmanthus Perfume Balm and I was very impressed with the quality. This is a cream perfume which can be worn on the neck and wrists. It goes on smoothly and lasts all day.  The scents are strong enough to make a statement without suffocating you or the people around you.  It comes in a silver tone circle container that is embellished with multi-colored glass beads.  It is made from only natural ingredients like bees wax, organic jojoba oil, and of course, their wonderful essential oils. At only $25 a piece, this perfume would make a wonderful stocking stuffer for the upcoming holiday season, especially since shipping is always free on all their perfume orders in the USA.

In addition to the Osmanthus Perfume Balm, Planet Earth Essential Oils has a large selection of roll on perfumes. I love the beautiful designs of their bottles and applicators. I especially love the line of Zodiac  Perfume Oils. They come in thick glass bottles with roll on applicators and beautiful artwork for each sign. They also make moisturizers, body scrubs, healing salves, masques, toners and so much more. All of their products are chemical free, and contain no synthetic fragrances or chemical preservatives. Keep your beauty regimen pure and natural. Try the organic perfumes and bath and body products from Planet Earth Essential Oils today.

One lucky winner is going to receive the same Osmanthus Perfume Balm that I received to review. To enter, just complete the Rafflecopter form below. You will be able to enter this giveaway at both the New Age Mama and Author Laura DeLuca blogs. You only need to enter ONCE. Please do not enter on both blogs. Entries will be merged and one winner will be chosen.  Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Planet Earth Essential Oils for offering this great prize.










***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a sample of the product to try in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way.  Please note that I  am not responsible for the delivery of this prize and can not be held accountable if, for any reason, is it not received. Furthermore, I am in no way liable for any injuries that may result from the use or misuse of this product. ** 

Artlandish Creations Ear Winner!

The winner of the Artlandish Giveaway is #90

• Name: Sherrie Cruson
• Email: grannylovesgiftbaskets@
• Option: Tweet About the Giveaway
• Extra Info: https://twitter.com/#!/Grannylove38/status/121078246380027905

Get Some Voodoo Magic this Halloween with Beatrixbell Handcrafted Jewelry (Review & Giveaway)

I have always been fascinated with New Orleans. It is one of the only cities in the world that combines modern day fun with old world  mystery. Whether you love the sounds of Smooth Jazz, french cuisine, or a little voodoo magic, its all right there on the bayou. Beatrixbell Handcrafted Jewelry captures the essence of New Orleans with their beautiful and ornate handcrafted jewelry. They are the perfect way to add a little magic to your Halloween apparel or the great way to get a head start of your holiday shopping.

For my review, I picked out the Gris Gris Necklace. While I am a Celtic Wiccan, there are many aspects of Voodoo that I still find intriguing.  If you have ever studied magic, you will find a lot of the different faiths interconnect in many ways.   The Gris Gris bag is a perfect example of that. Its is usually a bag that combines stones, herbs, oils, and other magical items to create a uniquely personal talisman that can attract love, money, health, protection etc. While the Gris Gris bag is a Voodoo tradition, many other paths have similar rituals, like the medicine bag of the Native Americans. The Gris Gris Necklace is the perfect talisman for protection. It includes a clear crystal, chicken claw charm, and a skull bead that is carved from genuine bone. It comes on a long 38" inch chain in antique style brass. I couldn't ask for a more beautiful or powerful piece to wear this Samhaim (Halloween) night.

The Gris Gris necklace is only one example of dozens of beautiful pieces you can find at Beatrixbell Handcrafted Jewelry. In addition to necklaces, they also offer earrings, bridal pieces and so much more. Every piece is made by hand in New Orleans. Their prices are reasonable and shipping is quick.  If you are looking for something unique for a gift or a maybe a little something special for yourself, Beatrixbell is a wonderful place to start shopping.

One very lucky winner is going to receive the same Gris Gris Necklace that I received to review! To enter, just complete the Rafflecopter form below. You will be able to enter this giveaway at both the New Age Mama and Author Laura DeLuca blogs. You only need to enter ONCE. Please do not enter on both blogs. Entries will be merged and one winner will be chosen.  Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Beatrixbell for offering this great prize.








***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a sample of the product to try in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way.  Please note that I  am not responsible for the delivery of this prize and can not be held accountable if, for any reason, is it not received. Furthermore, I am in no way liable for any injuries that may result from the use or misuse of this product. ***

Excerpt from My Young Adult Novel Morrigan - Still in Progress

"Morrigan" by Jessica Galbreth

***The tarot card giveaway gave me an itch to share a new project I am working on. My newest novel, Morrigan, is still a work in progress. I am about half way done. Below is just a small sample, from the very beginning of the book. The main character, Morrigan, is named after one of my favorite Celtic Goddesses (shown in the pic above).  Morrigan is a teenage witch who has been shuffled from one foster home to another all her life.  Now she is about to discover she is a princess from the mystical land of Tir Na Nog. The handsome werewolf Philtairn  guides her through countless perils to find her mother, Cerridwen, and grandmother, Hecate. Only together can they complete the magical triad and save their world.***



Morrigan closed her eyes and began to shuffle the cards. As she did, she allowed her breathing to become more even. A silence filled the room as the rest of the mortal world fell away. Soon the only sound she heard was the light thump of her own heartbeat, echoed by the quicker, fast paced beat of the hearts of the cats. She wasn't sure how much time passed as the cards slipped through her fingers. It might have minutes. It might have been hours. When she was in a trace, as she was, time became insubstantial, irrelevant.


The tarot cards were so old; she had to shuffle gently to keep them from crumbling to pieces in her hands. Yet they held a power that she knew no newer cards could ever offer her. As she shuffled them, she focused her energy into them, silently requesting to be given the answers she was seeking. She allowed the image of her mother to fill her mind. When she finally felt the cards had fallen into the order they were meant to be in, she placed the deck face down on the floor, and cut them with her right hand. Then, taking one last, calming breath, she lifted the top card from the pile. With a trembling hand, she laid it down and read it.

"Wheel of Fortune," she said aloud.

In the center of card was a wheel. As she stared at the picture, that wheel seemed to start turning clockwise. The movements made her feel slightly dizzy. The bedroom around her began more and more surreal. Te scenes on the cards became her reality. The figure of the sphinx that on top of the turning wheel looked so very real. It might have turned its head to look at her. Its lips may or may not have moved. But Morrigan swore she heard a deep, resonating voice whispering in her ear the meaning of the card. Destiny approaching. An unexpected and sudden change was coming—change that could lead to good fortune.

It was the card of fate and karma returned. It meant that she needed to be prepared—to expect the unexpected. Morrigan knew the cards were telling her something was going to happen—and soon. Her destiny, whatever it was, was about to be realized. And even if it brought with it fortune of some kind, it still scared her to death. So much so that she considered packing up the cards right then and there. Her rational mind had every intention of doing just that. The problem was her hands didn't get the message her brain was sending them. Before she knew what she was doing, she had already flipped over the second card.

"The Empress," she whispered. She exhaled deeply. "My…mother."

It was the only interpretation imaginable. And even as she said it, the pregnant woman, crowed with stars and adorned in a gown decorated with pomegranates, turned to her and smiled. No longer the vague featureless face of a stranger that was there just a moment ago, but the same face she had sketched earlier that day—a face that mirrored her own. It was an older version of her own face, which she saw in the reflection in the nearby full length mirror, had turned chalk white.

The Empress was a symbol of maternal power—of a strong feminine influence. But could it mean…did she even dare to hope that it might mean her mother was returning? The mother who had deserted her so long ago was going to return? She had never allowed herself to even consider such a possibility. To dwell on something so unlikely would have been too painful. But now, with just the flip of a card, she found herself daring to dream it might be. There was only one way to find out if it could be true. She had to keep going with the reading.

"Six of Cups."

The third card in the spread represented her past, and to a point even her immediate present. The six of cups specifically symbolized childhood, and she was after all, still technically a child. But she had a feeling that her childhood was about to end quite abruptly. The cups in the picture were lined up across a high, stone wall, each cup holding the memories of her past.

Her past. It was nothing but a childhood filled with longing—longings which were perhaps about to be fulfilled. She visualized herself taking each cup down from the wall, and pouring the troubling memories away. It was time to start fresh. A new world was about to open up for her. She had known it as soon as she had seen the image of her mother's face. But what would that world be like? What was waiting for her in the future?

Morrigan turned over the fourth card.

"The Knight of Wands."

The man on the horse carrying the staff had her baffled. Not because she didn't know it's normal meaning, but because as she stared at the card, it began to take on the physical attributes of the knight in her drawing. The same long dreadlocks, the same bewitching stare, the same cocky smile. Not at all the blank face that was nearly worn away from time that should been staring back at her. But the knight of wands was representative of a dark man, a man filled with a kind of honey-tongued charm. But he was also fiery and arrogant, a man with a definite possibility of a dark side. If this man was coming into her life, she knew she needed to proceed with caution.

She thought she was done with the fourth card and was preparing to move on to the next, when once again, she found she had lost control of her own body's functions. This time, her hands refused to move, while her eyes forced their way back to the knight in the card. She watched as the long haired stranger began to move forward—wondering over various landscapes—some high mountains, some meadows and fields ripe for the harvest. He kept looking back over his shoulder, as though he were speaking to someone. So he was on a journey, and he wasn't alone. Morrigan didn't need to see his companion to know who it must be.

So, her journey would soon begin, and she wouldn't be traveling alone. Whether or not that would be a good thing was another question best left to the cards to answer. However, the next card told her nothing she didn't already know

"The Moon," she said. "Caution."

It was a scary card. It warned of tricks and illusions. The two howling wolves that stood under the moon, looked back at her menacingly, growling, showing their pointed fangs in a snarl. And for the first time since she began the reading, Frick & Frack made their presence known by lifting their heads and hissing threateningly in the direction of the beasts.

So even the cats sensed it. This journey she was about to embark on wouldn't be all fun and family reunions. There would be obstacles and deceit, most likely from people she would think could be trusted. The moon was a sign that danger was certainly awaiting her. In was an ominous omen.

"Shhhh."

She hushed the still hissing cats, and gave them each a gentle stroke to try to settle them down, though she was far from settled herself. Again she felt the urge to stop the spread. Her instincts were telling her that no good was going to come out of this reading. That she was only going to scare herself. She should never have done it in the first place. When would she learn that sometimes it was best to just let life play out without interference or prophetic warnings? But then again, she knew that to be forewarned might be her only advantage on this bumpy road she was apparently going to travel. So with more bravery than she felt, Morrigan flipped over the final card.

"No…" she gasped when she looked down at the terrible, skeletal face. "Oh no…"

She should have known. She thought perhaps a part of her did know even before she had even glanced down at the gruesome scene—a skeleton with a scythe in a field of body parts. With the divination going in the direction it had been, what else could be the final outcome?

"Death," she whispered. "Death."

She knew that in most cases, the death card was more a symbol of personal transformation than literal death. But a deeper sense of understanding told her that this time the card was supposed to be taken literally. She saw only glimpses and shadows in her mind. Brief flashes of faces, some familiar, like her mother and the knight—some still strangers, like a beautiful, almost angelic blonde woman in a flowing white gown. But around them all, including herself, she saw the shadows of death. Someone would die. That was certain. Whether that person was Morrigan or someone else, neither the cards nor her sixth sense was willing to reveal.

Morrigan felt decidedly shaky as she gathered up her tarot cards. She placed them securely in the bottom of her bag just as she heard the door downstairs slam shut. The reading hadn't made everything as crystal clear as she had hoped, but one thing was certain. She would very soon be leaving on a journey—a journey that would undoubtedly lead to death.

Peter Pauper Press: Tarot To Go Review & Giveaway

Like most Wiccans, I love my Tarot Cards. I have a set that are so old and worn, you can barely read them anymore. But they are like an extension of myself, and I use them almost daily, even if its just to pick one at random to see what magic the day will hold. Back when I was working, my co workers always begged me to do readings for them. But I like to keep my special deck to myself.  The perfect solution for me is the Tarot to Go Book and Card Set from Peter Pauper Press. The set comes with mini Tarot cards and an instruction manual for any beginners out there, so that you can take your Tarot cards with you anywhere you go.

 The Tarot to Go is the perfect size deck to carry in your purse. The cards are each beautifully illustrated with gorgeous Celtic designs on the back and detailed renaissance artwork on the front.  The book provides simple instructions for a few basic spreads including the Celtic Cross and the Ten Card Spread. It also tells you the symbolic meaning behind each card in the upright as well as the reversed positions. With this set, anyone can give themselves an accurate reading. At only $8.95, its affordable and fun. Its a great choice for Halloween/Samhain and would make a great Yule gift this holiday season.

The Tarot to Go is only on example of the books and gifts available at Peter Pauper Press. You can also find lovely journals, bookmarks, calenders, stationary, children's books and so much more.  Check out their sale section for savings on already low prices. They also have some cute Halloween ideas like their Halloween Cupcake Kit.  If you love unique gifts or novelty books, then check out Peter Pauper Press today.

One lucky winner is going to receive a copy of Tarot to Go for themselves. To enter, just complete the Rafflecopter form below. You will be able to enter this giveaway at both the New Age Mama and Author Laura DeLuca blogs. You only need to enter ONCE. Please do not enter on both blogs. Entries will be merged and one winner will be chosen.  Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Peter Pauper Press for offering this great prize.








***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a sample of the product to try in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way.  Please note that I  am not responsible for the delivery of this prize and can not be held accountable if, for any reason, is it not received. Furthermore, I am in no way liable for any injuries that may result from the use or misuse of this product. ** 

Winners!

The winner of the Secret Window Giveaway is #23

Ladytink_534 said... 23

I LIKE you on FB~ Jen Tink
September 17, 2011 5:09 PM

Nano Style Winner

The winner of the Nano Style Giveaway is #30

* Name: Susan Franklin


* Email: sallsue@
* Option: "Like" New-Age-Mama on Facebook

* Extra Info: Susan Franklin

Artlandish Creations Ear Wings Review & Giveaway

Fairies are magical and whimsical creatures. I think when I am playing with my girls and we are pretending that we are in a mystical land where unicorns and fairies live, I enjoy it even more than they do. Of course I know that fairies aren't just make believe. Every time I see a dragonfly or a butterfly, I tell them my wishes to carry back to the magical world of the fairies. Its there, somewhere behind the parted mists. You just need to believe in it. With Artlandish Creations' beautiful Fairy Ear Wings, you can bring a little of that fairy magic into your lives every day.

For my review, I received a set of the beautiful Pink Butterfly Fairy Ear Wings. My kids thought they were amazing and a great addition to dress up time. Wearing the earrings makes them feel like a fairy princess. The detail on the wings is amazing. They look just like real butterfly wings when you look at them, but they are made from soft material looped around a silver base. The base can be adjusted to fit any size ear. I was able to use them on myself, as well as my two year old and eleven year old children.  They are not only cute, but work as a headband to help keep your hair out of your eyes. For all my pagan friends out there, I also thought they would make a unique addition to ritual wear, especially Beltane.  

In addition to the fairy ear wings, you can also choose from enchanting creations like dragons, praying skeletons, sea horses and more. They are the perfect choice for Halloween, but also great for pretend play or special occasions like birthdays and holidays. You can order your own ear wings on the Artlandish Creations Etsy Shop for only $12.50. They are also available online in an Australian shop called Making Faces Australia. Check them out today and bring a little magic into your life.

One lucky winner is going to receive the beautiful Fairy Ear Wings shown in the photo above. To enter, just complete the Rafflecopter form below. You will be able to enter this giveaway at both the New Age Mama and Author Laura DeLuca blogs. You only need to enter ONCE. Please do not enter on both blogs. Entries will be merged and one winner will be chosen.  Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Artlandish Creations for offering this great prize.







***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a sample of the product to try in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way.  Please note that I  am not responsible for the delivery of this prize and can not be held accountable if, for any reason, is it not received. Furthermore, I am in no way liable for any injuries that may result from the use or misuse of this product. **