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C A U L D R O N A N D C A N D L E #79-H -- Holidays 2006 A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum website: http://www.ecauldron.com/ message board: http://www.ecauldron.net/mb/ newsletter: http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/ shopping: http://www.ecauldron.com/mall.php http://www.ecauldron.com/doxysbazaar.php In this Issue: [00] Editorial Notes: Special Holidays Issue [01] Cauldron News * Message Board Rules Revision Real Soon Now * No Message Board Software Update * Shop Amazon this Holiday Season and Help The Cauldron * Great Hosting Deal from Dreamhost * Buy Holiday Gifts at our Pagan Supply Store * Holiday Shopping at eBay [02] Articles * How to Meditate * Wild-Flower Garden [03] Flamekeeping: Submission and the Divine [04] Software Gadgets: The Column * ClipMagic -- Freeware Clipboard Extender * TaskSwitchXP -- Replacement Alt-Tab Manager * Tame 5.0 Makes Using Old DOS Apps a Pleasure [05] Grimoire: Pet Protection Spell [06] Recipe: Peach Sauce Wild Boar [07] Support The Cauldron [08] Newsletter Information (Including How To Subscribe/Unsubscribe) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ LOOKING FOR PAGAN SUPPLIES? Visit The Cauldron's Pagan Supply Store (An Affiliate of Pagan Shopping Online) http://www.ecauldron.com/esesf.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [00] ========= ========= EDITORIAL NOTES ========= Welcome to the special Holiday issue of Cauldron and Candle for 2006. You are receiving this issue because you subscribed. To learn how to unsubscribe, see the last section of this newsletter. I'll be honest, the major purpose of this mini-issue is to reminder you of ways to can help support The Cauldron while doing holiday shopping online. However, we do have a few columns to make this mini-issue interesting even if you aren't interested in holiday shopping. Randall Sapphire Editor and Publisher, Cauldron and Candle Co-Host, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum [01] ========= ========= CAULDRON NEWS ========= by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum Staff ========= ===== ===== Message Board Rules Revision Real Soon Now ===== The Cauldron's message board rules will be undergoing a minor revision in the near future. This is just a warning so you can be watching for the new rules. No changes we consider major are planned. ===== ===== No Message Board Software Update ===== We announced in the November issue of the newsletter that we hoped to be able to upgrade the software used to run the forum from the ancient but fast version we are currently running to the new and improved version that was recently released. Unfortunately, this will not be happening. Our tests showed that version 0.7x would probably be fast enough (unlike the version 0.6x running out archive board which was too slow for use), but an attempt to upgrade the archive board from 0.62 to 0.71 so we could test 0.71 under the load of a large board failed miserably, so we dropped the whole idea of upgrading our current active message board from version 0.5. ===== ===== Shop Amazon this Holiday Season and Help The Cauldron ===== ===== ===== Amazon Purchases ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum also receives a small percentage (usually 5%) from most items purchased from Amazon.com when you go to Amazon.com from one of the links to Amazon on our web site. Amazon.com is a great place to shop for gifts. If you shop at Amazon.com as many Cauldron members do, going to Amazon.com through one of our links when you are going to make a purchase there is a painless way to help fund The Cauldron. http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazon.php If you use Amazon UK, you can use this address http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazonuk.php If you use Amazon Canada, you can use this addess: http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazonca.php Need a last minute gift, Amazon Gift Certificates are great! ===== ===== Great Hosting Deal From Dreamhost ===== Are you looking for a web host for your web site, your family's web site, or maybe just email addresses for you and your family that you can take from ISP to ISP and never have to worry about small mailbox size limits? Dreamhost has always been one of the best deals in low cost web hosting. However, they've just got to be a fantastic deal. Disk space on their lowest cost account ($9.95/month, $7,95 a month if paid two years in advance) has just gone from 20 gigabytes to 200 gigabytes. To put this in perspective, my hard drive is only 120 gigabytes. Monthly bandwidth has doubled from 1000 gigabytes to 2000 gigabytes. You can still have up to 3000 mailboxes (POP or IMAP). What is means is that most people will never need to worry about running out of space or bandwidth with a Dreamhost account. Best of all, Dreamhost is free speech friendly. Unlike many web hosting companies who try to limit what you can say on your web page with "we don't want to offend anyone" fine print in their terms of service, Dreamhost's position is that if it is legal in California, they will host it. Heck, they will host porn sites (although this isn't something they plug on their home page), so they aren't going to care that the fundies are complaining about your Pagan site and demanding it be removed. Follow this link when you sign up with Dreamhost and you will help fund The Cauldron: http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php To be sure The Cauldron gets credit, use the following code when you sign up: THECAULDRON and not only will you be sure The Cauldron gets credit by using this code, but you will get a small discount off your hosting price. You can't beat this deal -- you help The Cauldron, save a few bucks, and get great low cost web and email hosting. The Cauldron's main web site (http://www.ecauldron.com/) is hosted on Dreamhost and has been for three years now. ===== ===== Buy Holiday Gifts at our Pagan Supply Store ===== As many of you know, The Cauldron has partnered with Paganshopping.com to provide our members with a large selection of Pagan supplies at reasonable prices. Here are some of the product departments in our Paganshopping store: Apothecary, Art Gallery, Candles, Clothing, Crystal Cave, Divination & Scrying, Exotic Fragrances, Express Yourself!, GLTB Products, Got Goth?, Health & Wellness, Home & Hearth, Jewelry, Left Hand Path, Magical Recordings, Miscellania Gifts, Outdoor Sporting Shop, Pagan Kids & Teens, Reading Room, Ritual Blades, Ritual Tools, Sabbat Supplies, Spell Work, and Textiles. Paganshopping.com stocks about 8000 items. When you visit our store at: http://www.ecauldron.com/esesf.php and buy something, your purchases help keep TC "on the net" at no additional cost to you. The holiday season is coming soon, so now is a great time to visit our store and shop for presents for your Pagan friends. ===== ===== Holiday Shopping at eBay ===== Are you an Ebay user? Ebay is a wonderful place to shop for bargain presents and collectible presents. Ebay has a new program that pays affiliates a small percent of the winning bid if the winning bidder enters ebay from an affiliate link (some like how our Amazon.com affiliate program works). So if you visit the US version ebay via the following link, the Cauldron will get credit for your bids: http://www.ecauldron.com/zebay.php ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ PAGAN-FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING * * Now with 200 GB Web Space & 2000 GB Bandwidth * * http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php Dreamhost offers high-quality, low cost web hosting with a dedication to free speech. Pagan sites are welcome! Read why we use Dreamhost for The Cauldron's web site: http://www.ecauldron.com/web/whydreamhost.php Starter Plan Features * 200 gigabytes web space * 2000 gigabytes/month bandwidth * 3000 email boxes (POP3/IMAP) * 75 ftp/shell accounts * host unlimited domains/subdomains * php4, php5, cgi, fastcgi, ssi * zend optimizer, ruby on rails * unlimited MySQL databases * announcement lists * discussion (aka mailing) lists * Jabber server * Crontab and Shell access * Web-based Control Panel * One-Click installs of the Wordpress blog & PhpBB forum * 1 free domain name * helpful tech support * and much more! All for $9.95 a month with a $49.95 setup fee. Pay for a year in advance and there is no setup fee. Pay two years in advance and the price drops to $7.95 a month. (And there is a 97 day money back guarantee!) Visit Dreamhost for Affordable, Pagan-Friendly Hosting http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [02] ========= ========= ARTICLES ========= ===== ===== HOW TO MEDITATE ===== by by Charles Hamel ===== === What is meditation? Meditation can be defined as the practice of focusing your mind to help you feel calm and give you awareness about your life. Eastern religions have practiced the health benefits of meditation for thousands of years. Meditation is now widely practiced all over the world, with the belief that it has positive effects on health. === Proof is in the Pudding An article published in the American Heart Association journal recently reported that meditation can reduce cholesterol buildup and the associated risk of heart attack and stroke, and another study found that meditation reduces the death rate among the elderly. The National Institute of Health reports that regular meditation reduces chronic pain, anxiety, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and cortisol (stress hormones) production. A University of Wisconsin-Madison study discovered meditation boosts part of the immune system. A recent issue of the American Journal of Hypertension featured the results of a study showing a significant lowering of blood pressure in a group of meditators compared to a control group of people who didn't meditate. The study also reported a 23% decrease in usage of anti hypertensive drugs between the group of meditators and the other group. A Harvard study also concluded that regular meditation can reduce pain, blood pressure, and cut production of the stress hormone cortisol. The most recent study by The American Heart Association shows heart and artery health improved 69% in test groups practicing meditation. === Types of Meditation It is not my intention to confuse the beginner by giving them different types of meditation, but just to show that there is not just one way to meditate, therefore giving the beginner different options, because one way that is good for me, may not work for another person very well. Breath Watching - Breath watching is just simply paying attention to your breath for a few minutes. When your mind starts to wander, just re-focus your mind on the breath. Mantra Meditation - Some people find it easier to keep their mind from wandering by concentrating on a specific thing, or in this case a word or phrase. Pick a word or phrase that works for you. You can then repeat the mantra aloud or in your mind as you meditate. Walking Meditation - Walking meditation gets the body involved. It can be done inside or outside. The idea is to pay attention to the movement of your legs and breathing and body as you walk. When your mind starts to wander, just bring it back to the legs and breathing. Other forms of walking meditation can be martial arts, or Tai Chi. Mindfulness Meditation - Mindfulness meditation a practice Buddhists call vipassana which means insight meditation. This is a good meditation to perform in the forest or next to a bubbling stream. This meditation is the art of becoming deeply aware of what is here right now. You focus on what's happening in and around you at this very moment, and become aware of all the thoughts and feelings that are taking your energy from moment to moment. The key is to watch without judging or analyzing. Empty Mind Meditation - This is the act of emptying your mind of all thoughts, it involves just sitting quiet and letting the mind go silent on it's own accord. This meditation can be difficult for the beginner, because any effort to remain silent seems to just cause more business in the mind. Meditating on an Idea - Meditating on an idea is usually used to receive answers or insight into a certain subject or theme that you desire. It involves sitting quiet and focusing your attention on the subject that you have chosen to explore. There are other types of meditation also, but beginners seem to have the most luck trying the "Breath Watching" or the "Walking Meditation". Try the different types until you find the one that best suits you. === How to Meditate For the first step I would like for you to choose a place to meditate. A place that you designate will put you in the mind frame that you are there for a certain purpose, you can also choose to use soft music and incense to set the frame of mind. Next pick a time that you can commit to, and try and practice your meditation at that same time everyday. Also don't get caught up in the "I don't have time in my busy schedule to meditate" If you are truly dedicated to learning the meditative process, you will find the time, it doesn't have to be an hour, simply 15 minutes is sufficient and it is much better than nothing at all. Ideal is to try and do 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening and work your way up to 30 minutes. Ok now that we have our time and place set up lets get down to the nitty gritty, the actual art of meditating. Sit in a comfortable chair or on the floor on some comfortable pillows, you never want to meditate lying down, it causes a lot of us to doze off or sleep, which will negate all of our preparations. Most of all you want to keep the back, spine and neck straight, and not be hunched over or slump your shoulders, place your hands comfortably in your lap. Let your eyes close comfortably and not squint them, there should be no tension in your body at all so once your still and you feel a portion of your body is not comfortable re-position yourself to be relaxed and comfortable. Now we want to focus in on our breathing. Learn to breathe rhythmically and gently. Breathe normally, feel the breath come in through your nostrils and out through your mouth. If random thoughts start entering your mind do not focus on them, just let them come in and flow out and re-focus your mind back on your breath. As the time comes to a close, continue to be aware of your breathing but sit quietly. Becoming aware of where you are, slowly open your eyes and get up gradually. So summing up this article on meditation, I would encourage approaching meditation with an adventurous spirit and seek out the best ways for you, individually, to center down and go into the still space. Blessed Be! === === About the Author === Charles Hamel is a Husband, a Father, a Chef, a Vegetarian and a Environmentalist. A spiritual being on a journey of self discovery and awakening. I am a writer, a computer nerd, a musician, a meditation practicing, music aficionado. I am a Blogger, entrepreneur, non-follower, always marching to the beat of my own drum, intuitive, easy going, technology geek. If this article has helped you. Please consider going to CharlesHamel.com for more free inspirational articles. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ PAGAN FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING AT DREAMHOST http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php Dreamhost offers high-quality, low cost web hosting with a dedication to free speech. Pagan sites are welcome! Read why we use Dreamhost for The Cauldron's web site: http://www.ecauldron.com/web/whydreamhost.php $9.95/Month Plan Features: 200 gigs web space -- 2000 gigs/month bandwidth -- 3000 email boxes (POP3/IMAP) -- 75 ftp/shell accounts -- host unlimited domains/subdomains -- php4, php5, cgi, fastcgi, ssi, zend optimizer, ruby on rails -- unlimited MySQL databases -- announcement lists -- discussion lists -- Jabber server -- Crontab and Shell access -- Web-based Control Panel -- One-Click installs of the Wordpress, PhpBB, and many more -- One FREE domain name -- 1 free domain name -- helpful tech support -- much more! Visit Dreamhost for Affordable, Pagan-Friendly Hosting http://www.ecauldron.com/web/zdreamhost.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ===== ===== WILD-FLOWER GARDEN ===== by Brian Varga ===== A wild-flower garden has a most attractive sound. One thinks of long tramps in the woods, collecting material, and then of the fun in fixing up a real for sure wild garden. Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding, for wild flowers are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies. That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbours. Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then place them so in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point, do you not? If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts. Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant's own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted. The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods. Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there. I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon's seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne's lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost. Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. After you are once started you'll keep on adding to this wild- flower list. There is no one who doesn't love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves, started to be sure before this, have a chance. These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil conditions. If planted with other woods specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You'll find the hepatica blossoms all ready to poke up their heads. The spring beauty hardly allows the hepatica to get ahead of her. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. You will find spring beauties growing in great patches in rather open places. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them. For this plant loves the sun. The other March flower mentioned is the saxifrage. This belongs in quite a different sort of environment. It is a plant which grows in dry and rocky places. Often one will find it in chinks of rock. There is an old tale to the effect that the saxifrage roots twine about rocks and work their way into them so that the rock itself splits. Anyway, it is a rock garden plant. I have found it in dry, sandy places right on the borders of a big rock. It has white flower clusters borne on hairy stems. The columbine is another plant that is quite likely to be found in rocky places. Standing below a ledge and looking up, one sees nestled here and there in rocky crevices one plant or more of columbine. The nodding red heads bob on wiry, slender stems. The roots do not strike deeply into the soil; in fact, often the soil hardly covers them. Now, just because the columbine has little soil, it does not signify that it is indifferent to the soil conditions. For it always has lived, and always should live, under good drainage conditions. I wonder if it has struck you, how really hygienic plants are? Plenty of fresh air, proper drainage, and good food are fundamentals with plants. It is evident from study of these plants how easy it is to find out what plants like. After studying their feelings, then do not make the mistake of huddling them all together under poor drainage conditions. I always have a feeling of personal affection for the bluets. When they come I always feel that now things are beginning to settle down outdoors. They start with rich, lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. As June gets hotter and hotter their colour fades a bit, until at times they look quite worn and white. Some people call them Quaker ladies, others innocence. Under any name they are charming. They grow in colonies, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. From this we learn that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil. If you desire a flower to pick and use for bouquets, then the wild geranium is not your flower. It droops very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. But the purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves, while rather coarse, are deeply cut. This latter effect gives a certain boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. The plant is found in rather moist, partly shaded portions of the woods. I like this plant in the garden. It adds good colour and permanent colour as long as blooming time lasts, since there is no object in picking it. There are numbers and numbers of wild flowers I might have suggested. These I have mentioned were not given for the purpose of a flower guide, but with just one end in view your understanding of how to study soil conditions for the work of starting a wild-flower garden. If you fear results, take but one or two flowers and study just what you select. Having mastered, or better, become acquainted with a few, add more another year to your garden. I think you will love your wild garden best of all before you are through with it. It is a real study, you see. About the Author Brian Varga writes articles. His articles can be found on Lawn Garden Tips ( http://lawn-garden-tips.blogspot.com/ ) and Gardener Guide ( http://gardener-guide.blogspot.com/ ). [03] ========= ========= FLAMEKEEPING ========= Submission and the Divine ========= by HeartShadow ========= HeartShadow is following her own religious path. She calls it FlameKeeping. This regular column will present articles on FlameKeeping, many taken from HeartShadow's FlameKeeping blog at: http://flamekeeping.blogspot.com/ ===== ===== Submission and the Divine ===== Submission is a scary concept. It involves giving up control, perhaps for just a moment, perhaps longer. We like to believe we're in control, that we choose what we allow to happen to us. Or we go to the other extreme, believing we have no control, that everything is out of our hands, and that some other agency, either mortal or divine, has control. As in most things, the truth is somewhere in between. We have total control over ourselves, although not all of that control is conscious. No one else can truly take away our ability to choose how and if to act at any given point, although the world around us does limit the choices we have, and limits even more our appearance of choices. The choices we make, and the consequences that come along with that, are our own, though. So where does submission enter the picture? Part of submission to the Divine is the knowledge that we can't control all variables in our lives, that we must know what we do and do not have control over. We must let go of those things we do not control, and realize our limits. We must control ourselves, but the rest is left up to the Divine in the shape of other people and the world in general. The other part of submission to the Divine is realizing that no matter how we may try, we will never be and have never been perfect. We must transcend our limited, daily selves, and see ourselves as part of the Divine exploring itself. We are individual, but we are also a piece of the Divine, and we must accept that duality of existence and submit to the fact that our ego, our *I*-ness, will someday pass, leaving us once again one with the Divine without artificial division. What of submission to mortal agencies? Clergy, spouses, bosses, friends? Do we submit to them, and if so, how? All I can say here is that the choices we make are still our own, no matter whether another person ordered it or not. We are each the center of our own universe, and no one has the right to attempt to change that fact. To attempt to completely submit to another, or to require or allow someone else to completely submit to you, is both immoral and impossible. This does not mean we should ignore authority, for authority exists for good reasons. However, the moral culpability rests in each person’s hands that does (or doesn’t do) the act in question. In short, we must submit to reality, to our lack of control over anything not ourselves. However, we must also realize that each person has control over their own selves, that there is never anyone but ourselves able to have control over our actions. When we submit to the Divine, it is a freeing submission to ourselves, allowing us to blossom to the extent of our potential. ===== ===== Questions: ===== * On what issues must we submit? What does that entail? * What does moral culpability mean to you? * Why must we accept a lack of control in our lives? The existence of control in our lives? [04] ========= ========= SOFTWARE GADGETS: THE COLUMN ========= Interesting Items From The Software Gadgets Blog ========= http://softwaregadgets.gridspace.net/ ========= The Software Gadgets Blog aims to present a different "software gadget" every weekday. A software gadget is a program or addon that is both interesting and useful -- and often free. This column highlights three of the programs listed recently. Many more were listed and you'll find more gadgets like these added every week at the Software Gadgets Blog at: http://softwaregadgets.gridspace.net/ ===== ===== CLIPMAGIC -- FREEWARE CLIPBOARD EXTENDER ===== While I personally prefer Clipmate, I've used ClipMagic before and now that it is freeware it is definitely the best of the free clipboard extender programs. A clipboard extender saves copies of everything you put in your clipboard so you can use it later. This makes Windows programs much more convenient to use. You can copy a number of things from various sources and then paste them into another document in any order. Most free clipboard extenders can only hold a few old clips and most can only handle text clips. ClipMagic does not suffer from these limitations. As I said, I prefer the commercial Clipmate but only because I've been using it for many years. Here is how the ClipMagic web site describes this program: ClipMagic is a powerful Clipboard Extender and Information Manager for storing Images and Text, either automatically or manually in a categorised format, with details of the URL if the text is from an Internet site. To save something simply copy it to the Windows Clipboard by pressing CTRL-C or right click on the mouse and select Copy. ClipMagic then automatically stores it and if you have set up Rules & Filters the clip will be moved into a particular category. Clips can easily be retrieved either by copying from ClipMagic and pasting into your application or by using HotKeys or using the new PastePicker. While ClipMagic does not have quite as many fancy features as current versions of Clipmate, it has all the features most people will ever need. After a few days of using ClipMagic, you will wonder how you ever got along without it. It runs circles around just every other free (and most commercial) clipboard extender program I've seen, so even if you currently use another free clipboard extender, you may want to give ClipMagic a try. Rating: 5.0 Operating System: Windows 95+ License: Freeware Price: Free Version: 3.2.1 Web Site: http://www.clipmagic.com/ ===== ===== TASKSWITCHXP -- REPLACEMENT ALT-TAB MANAGER ===== You can press Alt-Tab in Windows to easily select from your open windows, but to use it effectively, you have to remember which icon goes with which window. This can be hard if you have multiple copies of the same window open. TaskSwitchXP is a replacement for the builtin Alt-Tab function. It adds a number of new features -- including a thumbnail preview of the program that will be switched to. Here is how the TaskSwitchXP web site describes the program: TaskSwitchXP is an advanced task management utility that picks up where the standard Windows Alt+Tab switcher leaves off. It provides the same functionality, and adds visual styles to the dialog and also enhances it by displaying thumbnail preview of the application that will be switched to. TaskSwitchXP also has a powerful process and window management capability that allows you quickly to close/minimize applications and their groups. The unique capabilities of TaskSwitchXP make it useful for tracking down multitudinous windows, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work. TaskSwitchXP has one drawback, it will only work with Windows XP and Windows 2003. Older versions of Windows do not have the Windows API functions that TaskSwitchXP needs to function. Give TaskSwitchXP a try if you can. It's one of those rare programs that adds both flashy looks and powerful functionality to your desktop. Rating: 4.5 Operating System: Windows AP or 2003 License: Freeware Price: Free Web Site: http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp.html ===== ===== TAME 5.0 MAKES USING OLD DOS APPS A PLEASURE ===== If you've been using a computer for many years, you probably remember DOS and probably have an old DOS application or two that you really miss, but just does not run well under Windows XP. Your old DOS program just does not play well with Windows XP. It polls the keyboard constantly and never releases control to Windows when it idles, bringing every other application on your system to a crawl. The latest version of Tame from TameDOS solves this problem with most old DOS programs while greatly enhancing the look and feel of text-based DOS applications, bringing them into the modern world. Tame replaces the lame DOS window that XP uses with one of its own that not only matches your Windows XP visual style, but adds features to many old DOS programs: * Customize text display with rule based mapping. If your program can display text in different colors, you can display each color in a selected font. For example, if your DOS word processor displays blod text in red, you can make it display red text as bold. * Resize the Tame DOS window, the font size changes as needed or, with some programs, the actual number of rows and columns visible can be made to change as you resize the window * Advanced International character support breaks the codepage barrier * With many DOS programs, Tame will allow access Windows clipboard, to drag and drop and other windows features. While most people don't need to run old DOS applications, a surprising number of people do either because their business has an old DOS application or two that still perform mission critical duties or because they have an old DOS application that they know well and would still like to use (XYWrite, for example). If you have to use a DOS application and it does not work well in Windows XP, give Tame a try. Tame is commercial software but it is low priced ($20 for a single user license) and is well worth the money if it makes your old "must have" DOS application functional again. You can download Tame and try it with your DOS applications for 30 days at no cost. Tame has restored several of my favorite DOS applications to usefulness. I'm really impressed with it. The only thing I'm not impressed with is its documentation. Tame can do many things, but few of those things are well-explained by the docs. Rating: 5.0 Operating System: Windows XP License: Commercial (30 Day Demo) Price: $20 Version: 5.0 Web Site: http://www.tamedos.com/ [05] ========= ========= From the Spell Grimoire: ========= PET PROTECTION SPELL ========= For EACH animal you will need: 1 six-inch square piece of black felt fabric paints a clipping of hair or stray feathers from your pet 2 teaspoons dried cedar 1 bay leaf 2 teaspoons catnip (even if you have a dog) 1 teaspoon comfrey 1/4 teaspoon dried garlic 1 teaspoon heather Protection or guardian oil cotton needle and thread On what will be the outside of the charm bag paint your pet's name and these runes: Algiz, Koad; the forest rune; the pentacle and the goddess rune. Let dry. Fold the felt in half (painted side in) and sew two sides of it, leaving one open. Reverse the bag so the painted side is facing out. Raise energy on the herbs then powder and pour into the pouch. Add the clipping of pet hair, then stuff the rest with cotton to which you have added a few drops of the oil. Finish sewing the pouch. Cast a circle, invoke the elements and the lord and lady. say: O gracious Lord and Lady, Protector of all creatures who walk upon this earth. Guard my (pet's species and name) against harm and illness. Watch over him(her) with every step he(she) takes. Help me protect him(her) and strengthen the connection of love between us. Let this charm be blessed, to hold the energy of protection. Blessed be. Keep the charm bags in a safe place, perhaps on your altar, where the animal can't get to it. Renew this charm every six months. === === About This Spell === This spell is taken from The Cauldron's Spell Grimoire, a collection of basic spells available on The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's web site. You'll find more spells at: http://www.ecauldron.com/spells/index.php [06] ========= ========= From the Cauldron Cookbook: ========= Peach Sauce Wild Boar ========= submitted by Star ========= === Ingredients 12 oz wild boar loin 1 16-oz can peach slices in light syrup 1/4 C cold water 1 1/2 t. corn starch 1/4 t. salt 1/8 t. ground allspice cooked parslied rice (optional) === Procedures 1. Trim any fat from meat. Cut meat crosswise into about sixteen 1/2-inch slices. Place each slice of meat between two pieces of plastic wrap. Working from the center to edges, lb lightly with the flat side of a meat mallet to 1/4-inch thickness. Remove plastic wrap. 2. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium heat. Cook meat slices, half at a time, in hot skillet for 3 to 4 minutes or until meat is slightly pink in center, turning once. Remove meat from skillet; cover and keep warm. Carefully wipe skillet with a paper towel. 3. Drain peaches, reserving 1/2 C of the syrup. Set peaches aside. In a small bowl stir together the reserved syrup, water, cornstarch, salt, and allspice. Add mixture to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for two minutes more. Add the meat and peaches to skillet; heat through. 4. If desired, serve with hot parslied rice. === Comments Meat can easily be halved, but if you do, make a full recipe of the sauce. Pork loin may be substituted for the boar meat–in fact, the recipe was originally written for pork. === Source Adapted from Betty Crocker === === About This Recipe === This recipe is taken from the Cauldron Cookbook, a growing collection of recipes submitted by members of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. You'll find more recipes at: http://www.ecauldron.com/cookbook/index.php [07] ========= ========= Cauldron Info ========= SUPPORT THE CAULDRON BY VOLUNTEERING TO HELP ========= The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum was founded in December 1997 to provide a friendly but serious discussion area for Pagans on the Internet. We've grown a bit over the years. We now have an active message area, a large web site with around 700 pages of information (including over 300 book and divination deck reviews), and a monthly email newsletter. To continue to provide and expand these services, The Cauldron needs lots of volunteer help from our members and supporters. Here are some of the things members and supporters can do to help The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum thrive: ===== ===== Actively Participate In Our Message Board ===== While our new message board welcomes readers, we encourage members to actively participate by posting their comments and views in our discussions. One of the easiest ways to help The Cauldron is to actively participate in our message board. The staff especially appreciates members who start new topics for discussion based on their own questions, opinions, or interests. http://www.ecauldron.net/mb/ ===== ===== Articles! Essays! Tutorials! ===== We are in constant need of original, well-written and accurate articles, essays, tutorials, and other written items for both our web site and for our Cauldron and Candle newsletter. There's no real limit on length for web site articles. Here are a few areas in which we always need articles: * information on the beliefs and theology of the various Pagan religions, especially non-Wiccan religions * information on holidays and festivals of the various Pagan religions, especially non-Wiccan religions * recipes for oils, incenses, and food for the various Pagan holidays * magick, spells, and ritual information * herbal information * positive articles on dealing with other faiths * information on historical pagan cultures * editorial/opinion pieces Non-Wiccan material is stressed not because we don't want Wiccan material but because good non-Wiccan material has been hard to find. We have a web form you can use to submit an article for consideration: http://www.ecauldron.com/bnbarticleform.php ===== ===== Book Reviews ===== While The Cauldron receives some review copies from a couple of Pagan publishers, there are many books that can only be reviewed on our web site if a member has a copy and writes a good, objective review. The Cauldron is interested in reviews on the more academic books used by reconstructionist Pagan religions as well as on the books one finds on the Pagan/New Age shelf in the bookstore. We have a web form you can use to submit a book review for consideration: http://www.ecauldron.com/bnbbkreviewform.php ===== ===== Graphic Assistance ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum is purposely a low graphics site as we value page download speed over flashy graphics. However, we are always willing to talk with artists who have ideas for well-designed small graphics (small in both physical dimensions and file size) that might enhance a specific article or page. ===== ===== Invite Your Friends ===== If you have friends or acquaintances who you believe would find The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum useful, please tell them about our site. If you are active in our message board and have friends who might enjoy them or have information to contribute, please invite them. ===== ===== Link To The Cauldron ===== If you have a web site where linking to The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum would be appropriate, simply providing a link to this web site is a big help. Our Link to this Site page explains how you can do this if you need help or want some simple graphic buttons to use: http://www.ecauldron.com/linktous.php ===== ===== Donations ===== As The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum uses as many free services as possible, our need for money to operate our site is currently lower than our need for the many items we list above. However, if you have a few dollars to spare, we would be honored to have your help in paying for our web site. You can donate by using either PayPal or the Amazon Honor System links below (we get about 85% of what you donate). Donate via PayPal http://www.ecauldron.com/donatepaypal.php Donate via Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P3903JRFVQVDN ===== ===== Amazon Purchases ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum also receives a small percentage (usually 5%) from most items purchased from Amazon.com when you go to Amazon.com from one of the links to Amazon on our web site. If you purchase a lot of books, CDs, and other items from Amazon.com as many members do, going to Amazon.com through one of our links when you are going to make a purchase there is a painless way to help fund this web site. http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazon.php If you are a regular user of the US version of Amazon, you can help The Cauldron by replacing the URL of your ebay bookmark in your browser with the above link so that TC gets credit every time you visit Amazon.com. To do this in Internet Explorer or Firefox, find Amazon in your bookmark list. RIGHT click on it and select Properties from the popup menu which will appear. A dialog box describing your bookmark will appear. You'll see the standard Amazon url -- probably http://www.amazon.com/ -- in an edit box (labeled "Location" in FireFox and "URL" in IE). Erase that url completely and replace with one listed above, then click on OK. If you use Amazon UK, you can use this address http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazonuk.php If you use Amazon Canada, you can use this addess: http://www.ecauldron.com/zamazonca.php ===== ===== Ebay Purchases ===== Are you an Ebay user? Ebay has a new program that pays affiliates a small percent of the winning bid if the winning bidder enters ebay from an affiliate link (some like how our Amazon.com affiliate program works). So if you visit the US version ebay via the following link, the Cauldron will get credit for your bids: http://www.ecauldron.com/zebay.php If you are a regular user of the US version of ebay, you can help The Cauldron by replacing the URL of your ebay bookmark in your browser with the above link so that TC gets credit every time you visit ebay. To do this in Internet Explorer or Firefox, find ebay in your bookmark list. RIGHT click on it and select Properties from the popup menu which will appear. A dialog box describing your bookmark will appear. You'll see the standard ebay url -- probably http://www.ebay.com/ -- in an edit box (labeled "Location" in FireFox and "URL" in IE). Erase that url completely and replace with one listed above, then click on OK. ===== ===== Have Questions or Suggestions? ===== If you have specific questions, proposals or other ideas we haven't mentioned here, please email them to rssapphire00@ecauldron.GETRIDOFEME.com. (Unfortunately, Randall has to answer general "Tell me more?" type questions with a request for a more specific question. He's not trying to be rude, he just can't think of anything general and useful to say that isn't said here.) [08] ========= ========= NEWSLETTER INFORMATION ========= (Including how to subscribe and unsubscribe) ========= Cauldron and Candle is a free publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. The Cauldron intends to publish this newsletter once a month and often actually succeeds in doing so. We tried to publish it twice a month for a while, but real life interfered too often. This issue of Cauldron and Candle as a whole is copyright (c) 2006 by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Copyrights on individual items in this newsletter are retained by their author, please contact the editors if you need to contact an author for permission to reprint an article and the editors will do their best to put you in touch with him or her. The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of newsletter, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum, or its staff. Publication of an article in this newsletter is not an endorsement of the authors position or any products and companies mentioned therein. No one involved in producing this newsletter has any money to speak of so suing us if you don't like something we do is a waste of time and money. ===== ===== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE EMAIL ADDRESS ===== You are receiving a copy of this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter via your web browser at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cauldronandcandle/join Or you can unsubscribe via email by sending a blank message to cauldronandcandle-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Be sure to send this message from the email account actually subscribed to the newsletter. If you have trouble unsubscribing by email, please use the web browser method mentioned above. If you need to change your subscription to a new email address, unsubscribe your old email address and subscribe your new email address. Note that you have to make these changes yourself. Yahoo Groups does not allow the list owner to make them for you. ===== ===== NEWSLETTER WEB SITE AND BACK ISSUE ARCHIVE ===== The Cauldron and Candle web site contains information on this newsletter and an archive of back issues. http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/ ===== ===== PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO SUBSCRIBE ===== If you have Pagan friends who you believe would be interested in Cauldron and Candle please invite them to subscribe. You can either drop them a note yourself or -- better yet -- send them one of The Cauldron's email postcards with the information. You are also welcome to forward a copies of this newsletter to interested friends and associates provided you forward the entire newsletter. ===== ===== SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME ===== Don't forget that your suggestions for this newsletter are always welcome, either posted on the message board or via email to LyricFox (lyricfox@ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com) or Randall Sapphire (rssapphire00@ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com). Typos are, as usual, courtesy of the Goddess Eris.

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