Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Reaping of Lammas

In order to figure out how to get what I want, I need to know what I have to work with. Sometimes what I think is a problem turns out not to be an issue at all after I take a closer look. For example- Kevin's hats. He has ball caps he doesn't even wear, but he won't get rid of them because they're 'special' like the Cow College on the Plains 2010 National Championship Hat. His mother gave it to him. He won't toss the RMF Heavy Equipment Rental Hat either because the service rep over there is a nice guy. The service rep is never ever going to come to our house, so he won't know if Kevin kept the damn thing or not, but in Kevin's mind throwing out the hat is a bad thing.

Kevin had all these hats hanging on the bedpost which seriously annoyed me. I have a nice, antique, feather bed, handmade by my great-grandfather. It lends a touch of elegance and luxury to the house and hanging a baseball cap (or 10) on the posts is just so Redneck and cheap. I'd put on the best sheets, my nicest quilt, and my biggest, fluffiest pillows, oh my, doesn't it look so romantic...wait, don't put that greasy, smelly cap up... aaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh. Every morning before work, Kevin took all the hats off in an attempt to figure out which one he should wear. As he decided, he'd toss them on the bed and smell of sweat and grease would form a cloud of funk around my nice quilted nest. I could still smell it even after pouring a strong cup of coffee. Sometimes, half asleep, I'd roll over on the pillow and WHEW! Then I was awake.

I got him to throw out the really nasty ones. That got us down to five, but alas, he brought more home. Then we had 8. I thought I needed a hat rack but I couldn't find what I wanted. It suddenly dawned me that I have push pins. I hung all the hats on the closet wall. Now Kevin can see them, we can add more push pins if necessary (hopefully not) and my bed is funk free with no money spent.

Compost is a big issue for me right now. I want to compost more, put less in the trash. The problem is if I pile it up, it doesn't rot fast enough. I end up with the pile over-flowing the wire bin and then what? Start another pile? Turn the current pile? The kitchen trash has become an issue as well. I don't want to run outside every time I chop veggies to dispose of peels so I was leaving them in a bag and throwing it on the pile at the end of the day. Unless Kevin came in, then he'd promptly throw my future compost in the garbage where it is just smelly trash and of little benefit to my garden.

When I try to spread the compost around, I either don't have enough or I have too much. Case in point- dog shit. I have a never-ending supply. Every day I clean out the pen and all that poop has to go somewhere. I don't want to put it around food plants, but it's fine fertilizer for roses and trees. I have three rose bushes. Every day I get about half a bucket of poop. I don't want to see it or smell it. I can't keep piling it up. Sure, the roses love it, but they don't use it very fast. I try to cover the shit with pine straw. I have pine trees in my yard so buying bales of pine straw just seems stupid. But the trees aren't dropping needles fast enough to cover everything.

What I would like are those turning barrel composters. This costs money. I've heard of people using regular 50 gallon drums and just rolling the drum back and forth, but this seems like a lot of work and I need space to roll it. 

A filing cabinet would also be a nice thing to have. I have drawings of quilts, designs for fabric, journals, poetry, recipes, lists, pictures, art, patterns, instructions, notebooks, letters, and all the other normal household paperwork like taxes, bills, and check stubs. And then I have a big collection of witchy stuff on my bookshelves- book of shadows, spells, notes, and herbal lists. Every once in a while, I fool myself into thinking I can organize it all. I buy binders and folders and tabs. I sort, resort, stack, realize I need more binders, think I can combine a few folders, say quilt blocks with quilting designs, then get confused when I can't find what I'm looking for. Heck, I might need two or three filing cabinets.

Some rugs would be nice. I want handwoven, colorful throw rugs. I need another vacuum cleaner, mine stopped sucking. And I want another steam mop. I really loved my steam mop, but it was so cheaply made it stopped heating up.  I still want a big hutch for witchcraft supplies. My landlord and I are arguing about the ceiling fan in the kitchen which I do believe he bought new in 1980. The light doesn't come on anymore and it wobbles horribly. I can't get the dirt off. Ugly! OMG, it's ugly. But it's still 'working' so he won't replace it.

That's a problem, I don't own this house. I'd like to repaint and replace the ugly, torn linoleum with real hardwood, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on a house I'll have to leave someday. I love this little house, but it needs a good bit of TLC. My landlord just replaced all the windows. The old windows were in such bad shape every one broke as the workmen removed them. One good storm and my house would have been ruined.

I'd like to expand the garden. The problem here is time- I never get the chance to do everything I want to do because I'm always at work. There's also the issue of what to plant- how much am I willing to dig up when I move? I planted a willow tree at my old house. I intended to take it but it had grown so much I needed a backhoe to get it out of the ground. I left it, and the house looks great with that beautiful tree shading it, but damn it, I paid for that weeping willow.

I have more things I want, like books, clothes, and cds. And there's things I'd like to do more often, like go to the river, catch a movie, host a few parties, and maybe find a witchcraft circle so I can associate with like minds. I have lots of changes I want to make.

I think of the things I have as seeds. If I cultivate some things, they will grow into what I want. The trick is seeing what I have manifest into what I want. In order to make it happen, I'm doing a little cauldron work.

The cauldron is a symbol or transformation and change. I suppose you could use a regular box or basket, but I would try to use something dealing with harvest, like a bread basket or a seed storage box. I am using a cheap, plastic Halloween decoration because I love those things. Yeah, I bought it at the dollar store. A plastic pumpkin would also work. If you like cooking, you could use an old stew pot.

Write each desire on a separate piece of paper, then fold the paper so you can't read the words, and drop it in the cauldron. You can sprinkle some herbs in, maybe salt to cleanse so the path is open for new things, dried mint for money, or ground pepper to protect your wishes. You could also toss in crystals- little chips of quartz would be great.

Offer the cauldron to your choice of deity- Goddess, ancestors, totem animal, local spirits, whatever you like. Ask for help in obtaining your goals. Every day pull one slip of paper and work on that item. If I pulled the paper with the hutch, I might clear out a space where I could put the hutch. I might check prices. I could look at used furniture. If I can't get the item, I'll put it back in the cauldron to try again later. When I get what I want, I'll burn the paper and give thanks to deity for helping me. Drawing the same slip of paper over and over means something is blocked and that area of your life needs attention. When all the goals have been reached, give anything left in the cauldron (herbs, stones) as an offering. You can bury it, burn it, toss it into the wind, or pour it into a body of water. Do whatever feels right, but do it with intent.

This spell sounds easy, but be aware it could take a long time. You might be working from one harvest to the next. Along the way, you might discover you don't want some of these things. You might want to refocus on something you think is more important. That's fine, just read all the papers, burn the ones that don't matter and re-offer the cauldron. Also know that whenever you ask for change, your personal life changes too. Be prepared for relationships to end. Don't be sad, anyone who leaves your life while you are working this rite was hindering you in some way. Acknowledge the relationship for what it was, then move on.

3 comments:

Alexis Kennedy said...

I loved this post! I totally relate to the whole 'pack-ratting' problem. My daughter was like that when she lived with me.. wouldn't throw anything out. I highly recommend Febreeze for those hats ;)
I rent too.. my landlord is really good about letting me paint, fix things (send him receipts and he takes it off the rent) and plant what I want. I do a lot of container gardening (big laundry tubs like you get a walmart work wonders). Hugs and Happy First Harvest!

Dreaming of Jeanie said...

Yep, great post indeed! I have a hard time asking the Universe for the smaller things when all I seem to think about are my huge debts. What a mistake! I need what I need. The Universe has it to give so I need to just ask. I will be doing this tomorrow to add to my Lughnasah celebration. Thanks, babe!

FreeDragon said...

Kallan- He doesn't want his hats to smell 'girly' Maybe I could spray them when he's at work :p

Dreaming- Good luck! Maybe after you get some the smaller things, larger needs will be met.