The Halloween Witch

The Halloween Witch


Each year they parade her about ... the traditional Halloween witch. Misshapen green face, stringy scraps of hair and a toothless mouth beneath her disfigured nose. Gnarled, knobby fingers twisted into a claw, protracting from a bent and twisted torso that lurches about on wobbly legs.

Most think this abject image to be the creation of a prejudiced mind or merely a Halloween caricature. I disagree. I believe this to be how witches were really seen.

Consider that most witches: were women, were abducted in the night and smuggled into dungeons or prisons under the secrecy of darkness, to be presented by the light of day as a confessed witch.

Few, if any, saw a frightened, normal looking woman being dragged into a secret room filled with instruments of torture. To be questioned until she confessed to anything that was suggested to her and to give names or whatever would stop the questions. Crowds saw the aberration denounced to the world as a self-proclaimed witch.

As the witch was paraded through the town, en route to be burned, hanged, drowned, stoned, or disposed of in various other forms of Christian love ... all created to free and save her soul from her depraved body. The jeering crowds viewed the results of hours of torture. The face, bruised and broken by countless blows, bore a hue of sickly green. The once warm and loving smile gone. Replaced by a grimace of broken teeth and torn gums that leers beneath a battered, disfigured nose. The disheveled hair conceals bleeding gaps of torn scalp from whence cruel hands had torn away the lovely tresses. Broken, twisted hands clutched the wagon for support. Fractured fingers locked like groping claws to steady her broken body. All semblance of humanity gone. This was truly a demon, a bride of Satan, a witch.

I revere this Halloween crone and hold her sacred above all. I honor her courage and listen to her warnings of the dark side of humanity. Each year I shed tears of respect and remember her involuntary sacrifice in the name of religion.

Written by Angel, 6/99

This poem that reminds us of those who were persecuted as witches, though many were healers and midwives, women who owned land, and those who spoke out against the rules of the time. I don't know the name of the author, other than the name Angel. Other places may credit it to anonymous. If anyone who reads this happens to know who the author is I would love to know.

This poem is not in any way intended to "bash" Christianity, it is simply a reference to the history that is fact based.

With these things in mind I hope you will remember the Halloween Witch, along with all of the others who have gone before you.

Skywatch Friday: 16

We took this photo in Cleveland outside the Hard Rock Cafe when we were there yesterday. I'll post more about the visit to the Cleveland Clinic, but wanted to get this up before Friday was over. :) Hope everyone is having a Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain!

Want to take part? Stop over at Sky Watch Friday central and get all the details.

Received today

I just got home from Cleveland and found this sweet award notice. I received this sweet award from Kathy over at My Life Goes On. Thank you so much, Kathy!

To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means: "This blog invests and believes, the proximity" [meaning, that blogging makes us "close" - being close through proxy]. "They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut or that they propagate?"

Once you receive this award then you are to pass it on to 8 others. Today I am going to pass this along to......

1. The Zen of Motherhood
2. Three Sides of Crazy
3. Tossing Pebbles
4. Sassy Frazz
5. Sounding Forth
6. Six Golden Coins
7. Ramblings of a Villas Girl

My World Tuesday

These photos were taken at a local State park called Parker Dam. We go there quite often during the summer because it's close and you can hike, canoe, fish, picnic and more. Since it's snowing, I wanted to remember the fun and sun!



This is a new photo meme I want to give a try. It shows off our local part of the world. If you want to take part, stop over at That's My World and see all the details!

Cleveland Clinic

We leave first thing in the morning for Cleveland. We'll put the kids on the bus and head out. The pain is pretty bad today, just moving around enough to write up the article from last night. I covered the Republican annual fall meeting. It was a good bye for a retiring Congressman (John Peterson). I've known him for years and he's always been very good to me, so it's hard to see him leave.

Our family doctor gave me some stronger pain meds when I was there yesterday. Just took it, so that will ease it up enough to write the article. My arm is still all bruised from the IV last week. It's no fun having this.

I hope Cleveland holds the answers for me. My blog is getting pretty bad. I couldn't get out of bed all weekend, so I missed all the fun photo memes. SIGH! This has to work, life is too short as it is to always be in pain.

I'll try and update while we're there. Hope everyone is going to have a wonderful Halloween!! We should be driving back that day.

Skywatch Friday 15

This is formerly the town of Instanter, PA. It was flooded and turned into East Branch Lake. The level is now so low that you can see the foundations of the former homes and businesses that were located there. The water level at the lake has been reduced because of concerns that the dam will fail. They are currently drilling to see if that fear is happening.

Just an update: I went to the pain clinic on Tuesday and the doc said he couldn't help me and sent me right to the ER. They collapsed a vein trying to get an IV started. Finally got one going in the back of my hand to get the pain meds pushed in. OUCH!

I'll be leaving for the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday morning and have no idea how long we'll be there or what they'll do. My laptop is dying, so I might not be able to update while we're there. I'll try though. :)



If you want to take part in the fun, check out Skywatch Friday central and get all the details.

Pain

I haven't been able do a thing for days. The pain never stops, it never eases up, it's there, like a living, breathing monster inside my head. Along with the pain is the nausea that keeps me from eating. Then to round out the party, the insomnia keeps me from even a little slice of relief.

I miss out of life and really have no life, unless lying in bed crying counts. Then I have a wonderful one

I don't know if I'll survive 10 more days until I get to the Cleveland Clinic.

Skywatch Friday 14

Took this Monday night on our way for wings. Now that Pennsylvania has gone smoke free, I'm able to go out for wings at night with the rest of the family! I'm very allergic to that noxious stench and it kept me away from a lot of great restaurants.



Want to take part in the fun? Stop over at Skywatch Central and learn all about it!

Just a quick update

I'll be going to the near-by pain clinic next week for the initial consultation, then they'll set me up for weekly injections. Not sure what. Guess we'll find out everything then. I HATE NEEDLES, so I'm not thrilled about it at all, but at this point, I'll do anything to stop the pain.

Then I go to Cleveland Clinic the following week. We're going a day early since it's an early appointment on Thursday. It's the initial consult. I don't know what all will happen or what will be done.

So, what I am saying is I have the appointments set up, but have no idea what will happen. I don't like to not know things, but I guess this is time to just go with the flow and see what happens.

Denise is home now. They still have no idea what is wrong, but no insurance, so ...

Wordless Wednesday

Scenic Sunday

I took this on our trip to Olean, NY, this morning for my great-aunt's memorial service. The fall foliage is out and is absolutely stunning this time of the year.

Please remember Denise in your prayers. Just talked to her and she's so weak. :(


Scenic Sunday

Please say a prayer to your chosen deity

I rarely do things like this, but I'm pretty scared right now. My cousin is in the hospital and they have no idea what's wrong with her. She's on oxygen and morphine and they're doing tons of blood tests. They think she might have an infection around her heart or maybe some unknown viral infection or who knows? The docs sure haven't got a clue.

If you have a minute, please say a prayer to your chosen deity for Denise. She has three daughters and a grandchild on the way. She's worried it's something contagious and has passed it on to the baby to be.

Here she is during A's Sweet 16 party dancing with her youngest daughter.

Camera Critters #27

Thought I'd post a bit smaller hoofed animal today and used a Pennsylvania white tailed deer. It amazes me how every hunting season, some Yahoo will shoot a bull elk (you've seen how massive those things are) and claim they thought it was a deer. Said Yahoo will still lose his license, gun and the elk as well as get a MASSIVE fine, but it still happens. Always drives me crazy to see.



If you want to join the in the fun, stop over at Camera Critters homepage and learn all about it.

Photo Hunt: Lazy

This week's theme is lazy. I think this fits. :) It was taken in Benezette, PA, Janie. :) I had to drive through there, well, ride through since I rarely drive anymore, on my way to work last week.






To take part in the fun, stop over at Photo Hunter Central and join in the fun!

Skywatch Friday 13

Took this photo on one of our trips to Parker Dam over the summer. With the furnace turned on and the sweaters out, I need a nice reminder of summer.



If you want to take part in the fun, stop over at Skywatch Friday and learn all the details.

Cleveland Clinic

I finally got the appointment! I see the neurologist there on October 30. I have no idea yet what they're going to do, but at least it's a step in the right direction!!! Maybe now somebody will be able to help stop or even ease the pain. The Cleveland Clinic is supposed to be one of the best places in the world, so if they can't help me, nobody can.

We'll drive in the day before since the appointment is at 9:30 a.m. and get to see my best friend Kim while we're there. She's so awesome, she plans to take off on Thursday and spend the entire day at the hospital with us. Only a true friend would do something like that. Can't thank you enough, Kim!

Wordless Wednesday

Want to take part in the fun? Stop over at Wordless Wednesday central and learn all about it.

DuBois Scare Fair

The annual scare fair was held on Saturday and it gets bigger every year. This year, they added a movie star and a horror author as well as the man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Yes, you'll be a dentist! That probably makes no sense to anyone who doesn't know the movie and/or Broadway play, but to those that have seen it, you understand. :)

The TV stars were Erin Murphy "Tabitha" from Bewitched and Butch Patrick "Eddie" from The Munsters. I grew up watching them, so I had to go. The kids had no idea who they were, but trudged along because it made me happy. Then the movie star was Lenny Lies who played the "Machete Zombie" from the original Dawn of the Dead. He was also the zombie on the book cover in my previous post. Of course, the author, I've already written about, Len Barnhart.







Everyone there had a free page to autograph or were selling their own photos or other items. Lenny even had a machete. They were all happy to take photos with the fans. More conventions should be run like this. There were no problems. Everyone was friendly, including security. Looking forward to seeing who will be there next year. Time to bring in Grant and Jason. :)

Reign of the Dead and a quick health update

I just finished reading Len Barnhart's Reign of the Dead on Saturday. WOW! It was an awesome book. It wasn't just about zombies eating the world, but added how people worked together to survive and threw in a little romance.

I met him at a horror "Scare Fair" in DuBois and picked up the book, mainly just to get the autograph. I like to try new authors and horror is one of my favorite genres. I started reading it on the drive home and had to call hubby at work to go get the second in the series Apocalypse End: Reign of the Dead because I had finished the first one already. I'll have the second one done tonight. Sitting up that long and concentrating on the words make me sorry yesterday. I literally couldn't get out of bed because of the pain, but it was well worth it for the well-written novel.

He has a third book in the series coming out soon and I'll have to have it, too.

If you have a chance to meet Len, take the time to do so. He's very friendly and by all means get his books. He grew up watching George Romero's Dead movies and it shows. That's not a bad thing at all though. Romero is the father of the zombie movie and a hero of mine. I met him many years ago and he's very down to earth, too.

So what is everyone reading?

As a quick update for those who asked, I'll be getting the MRI results this morning, so hopefully, we'll be able to find out what is causing all the pain and get rid of all the medicine. I want to get back to normal. It's not fair for the kids to have to take care of their mother. When we get to steps, they automatically hold onto my arms and help me down. A drives everywhere because my meds are pretty strong. She also cooks, but always did love to do that. I'm sick of being sick. I can't even take the dog for a walk because if she pulls the wrong way, I'll be on the ground and could break my hip. I'm too young to have to worry about this. :(

Camera Critters

Want to take part in the fun, stop by Camera Critters' home page and learn all about it!

Photo Hunt: Sad

The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is "Sad". I'll use one of our dog Aphrodite. She is always sad when the kid leave for school. She'll just stay in the chair with one of her stuffed toys or lay on the floor with her ball, then mope around until the kids get home from school at 3 p.m. When theme for General Hospital comes on, her ears prick up and she runs to the door to great them. It's a riot to see her. She knows exactly when to go to the door based on a song. As soon as the first chord of the theme plays, she goes right there to wait.




If you want to take part in the fun, check out Photo Hunt home page for all the details and this week's theme.

Sky Watch Friday 12

I took this our last day in Virginia Beach. A and I went down to the beach early in the morning for a few photos. The sun rising over the Atlantic ocean is a sight everyone should experience once in their life time.




If you'd like to take part in the fun, stop over at Sky Watch Friday page and get all the details.

MRIs

Today's the day of the MRIs. Not sure what they'll find. The doc said the last x-rays showed something wrong with my spine. Always what a person wants to hear. He's still trying to get insurance (blood sucking leeches) to allow me to go to the Cleveland Clinic. Heaven forbid they spend a little money to cure me. Their CEO has a lifestyle to support. So greedy of me to want to be pain free!

Anyhow, they're doing a regular and one with contrast. I'm allergic to the contrast material, so I might end up admitted again. I'm so tired of hospitals and needles and pain. What I wouldn't give for just one day, hell, one hour free of pain.

Hope everyone has a good day!