Lovely Bones

I've been asked to show my bone collection:

This is what most people think when they hear 'bone collection'- deer antlers. In Alabama, men do stupid things to get their hands on a nice rack (pun intended). My antlers are found, meaning nothing died so I could have them, and they're a bit chewed up because deer eat fallen antlers for the calcium. I used to have 3 but I gave one to Bob, who wanted to make an antler handle knife. What's in the round box you ask? My crystal ball.

Trickster Coyote. I tried to edit the photo, to flip it upright, but alas, not happening. You'll just have tilt your head.

Feathers, mostly turkey.

Buzzard skull and shells.

Very large shell I found on Maddwind Point, along with a piece of another shell and a rock which MAY contain gold flakes. Gold was once panned here, but they stopped because there was little to be found.

Crate with potential. This will go into the wash pot cauldron and will house more treasures like the ones in this post.

Twitch, twitch, twitch

My nose itched for three days. It was only the left side. My co-workers informed me that a man wanted to come see me. The weekend of February 15th passed without a single visitor. My nosed itched some more. 'He wants to come' my co-workers said.

On Wednesday the 20th, I awoke to the sound of heavy machinery. My landlord had decided to knock down the shed. He told me that he wanted to come for over a week but kept putting it off because he knew the shed was a mess and there was no telling what he'd find.

Well. My nose stopped itching.

He did give me some things before demolishing the shed. One was this:

I know you are looking at this picture and thinking: cauldron. It's actually a wash pot. That's why it is so big; it is designed for washing clothes. But I intend to use this wash pot as a cauldron which no doubt adds to the confusion.

Here is a picture of a cook pot beside the wash pot. The cook pot probably holds a gallon easy. It looks like a toy next to the wash pot. I also got some cast iron cookware in dire need of seasoning, a lunch box that may be worth something, pottery, some scrap copper pipe, and a wooden crate with potential.

I thought I had a picture of the old shed, but if I do, I haven't found it. I took pictures of the current state:

First, my landlord dug a deep hole. He cleaned out the shed, tossing items into the hole as he went. His grandmother was a hoarder and most of what was in the shed was junk. His relatives claim she had a pile of money stashed away. We didn't find it. We did find a bunch of cow bells which I used to wake up Kurt. I kept two cow bells. My landlord kept the other five cow bells and four more wash pots. After we got out what we wanted, he pushed the shed down and set it afire. He managed to burn the grass. Smoke is still hanging in the air.

Later he will cover the hole and eventually this will be grass. It already looks better without the ugly, leaning shed and weeds.

Just for fun, here's the back hoe.

So what will I do with the wash pot cauldron? I think I will use it to consecrate items for ritual use. I want to place some things from my land base inside. A long time ago, I read that Tarot cards should be kept in the cauldron along with water from the nearest river, dirt from the nearest crossroad, twigs from a local tree, and so on. It sounded like a mess to me, but with a big pot I've got plenty of room and then some. I'm thinking of bottles with matching labels. I could use the crate with potential. All my specimens could be inside the crate and whatever items I was making sacred could lay on top of the crate. I'll think about it more.

Silent Sunday

Witches In Tune With Their Lands

To me, being a Witch means having a relationship with the place I live in. It means knowing the season not because of what the wall calendar says, but going by what the plants and animals are doing.

I used to think being a Witch meant casting spells.

Now I think spells are just one aspect of what Witches do.

I used to lug lots of tools outside for rituals- a small table, candles, salt, water, sword, broom, paper copy of my ritual, lighter, offering, stones to mark the Quarters...then I'd worry about someone coming along and seeing all my stuff. Of course, afterwards every thing had to be dragged back inside.

In case you're wondering, no, you don't need stuff to practice Witchcraft. You need to be still, to pay attention, and to listen.

I spend some time outdoors every day no matter what the weather.

If you go outside enough, eventually you will become one with your land.

The land will tell you what it needs. It is the Witch's job to do want the land says- to pick up trash, to plant trees, to feed animals, to retell the history of a place so it is not forgotten.

You can have a small garden, even just a few plants, you can hang one bird feeder, you can recycle, and you can go outside every day. It doesn't need to be complicated. The land doesn't ask for much.

Some lands just want you to be there.

 

 

When the land is happy, you will be happy.



Silent Sunday- Royo

Oh My Goodness- A Freakin' Picture! That Means You Got Homework

My Goddess! Blogger has gotten over its brain fart! I'm almost at a loss for words. But that's okay 'cause I got pictures now!

So! I said I wanted to draw. I suck at it. I really wanted to take Drawing I in college but every other student on campus did too, so the classes, all 15 of them, would be full every time I tried to register. Of course, I could not take Drawing II because I had not taken I. This led me to a class called Art Appreciation. I have taken many a class during my academic career. Most of them are not worth mentioning. A lot of them were just ways for the school to charge tuition and those classes had little to do with anything. But I loved Art Appreciation and I wish all my classes could have been taught by teachers who not only knew the subject matter, but lived it. My instructor was an artist. A real artist with a studio who spent a great deal of time painting and then sold his paintings. Obviously he didn't make a steady living at art or he wouldn't need his teaching job, but he understood the balance between wanting to create what he liked and needing to create what would sell. He was interested in all kinds of art and he seemed to think experience was the best teacher because we spend half the class creating our own art.

We sketched (I never finished one, I am way too slow), we made collages (okay at that), we made prints (cool, but too time consuming for me), we painted (!), and our last project was working with clay (loved, reminded me of my Grandfather's ceramic shop, but also too time consuming for me). I learned more about art in that one quarter than I had learned in my whole uncultured life. I still have the textbook from the class. I bought it used. There are notes, mine and other students, highlighted passages, and dog-eared pages. And I nearly have the whole book memorized.

I became familiar with a lot of art. I learned styles, periods, history, painting, sculpture, fine art, graphic designs, photography, quilts (OMG! Fiber art BEFORE it was popular!), wood carving, printing, crafts...I just can't name all the things I had to learn. I learned how people react to art, why some art is censored, and why some art is great while other is considered trash.

And the whole reason I learned what art moves my emotions, is because I still, to this day, study every picture I see.

I like this picture. I like dragons. I like purples and blues. I like books and moons and night and magic. So I like the subject, I like the colors, and I like the placement- the dragon has interrupted the reader, interrupted the alchemy. Why? Is he uninvited? Is the dragon a symbol of danger, of forbidden power, of calling what you can't put down? Is he teaching, pointing to the much needed paragraph? Is the window behind the dragon symbolizing opportunity and moving beyond set limits? Must we face our fears before we can soar to great heights? Is that why the dragon has wings? Is he not flying because we have been doing too much thinking and not enough doing?

I could go on and on. I could write essays on just this one picture. Actually, that's what I'm doing.

I've embarked on an art journey. I am studying the pictures I have, from Pinterest, from forwarded emails, from photos I've taken, and I am trying to figure out why I love these things. What speaks to me? These are the things I should be drawing. These are the colors I should stitch.

You photograph what you fear losing. Think about it.

Another Progress Report

I have been getting up earlier than Kurt to have my computer. So far it has worked out beautifully.

Saturday we took Halona to Petsmart and let her pick out a toy. She was too excited so Kurt walked her around while I picked out toys for Sophie and Queen. A toddler wanted to pet Halona. Magically enough, she stayed still and let the baby pet her. Then she picked up a stuff duck and nearly dragged Kurt to the parking lot. No need to linger when you've got what you want.

Saturday I made meatloaf. Sunday- boiled chicken and rice. Monday- chicken casadeas because I was about cooked out. Today will probably be BBQ beef tips.

I closed the Etsy shop. I realized if I do want to sell again, Etsy is not the place for me. In theory, it's great- your own little shop without any of the worries that go with a real shop. In reality, you are a waste of cyberspace with no way to stand out from the 8 million other shops selling practically the same thing you are. I'm doing fairly well selling to local shops in my town and I think I need to expand that. I still love Etsy and plan to keep shopping, but no selling.

It has rained so much here that the creeks have swelled well above their banks and we are under a flash flood warning.

In December, when I did Silver's Great Release Challenge, most of the junk I let go of was mental. One area of my home which attracts chaos in my sewing room. My whole house is neat, devoid of clutter- except the sewing room. My father calls it my junk room and says it is proof that I am like my mother, Queen of Never-Throws-Anything-Away. It's tough to organize my sewing room because I can use almost any fabric for sewing and the fiber arts tend to messy anyway with little bits of thread, beads spilling out, dye pots getting knocked over, and never, ever, ever enough room to lay out a project. I want to buy an embroidery machine with my tax refund. I don't know where I am going to put it. Then I realized there's a lot of stuff that goes with an embroidery machine, like a gazillion spools of thread and no, the gazillion spools I already have are not suitable, and oh yeah, I need stabilizers, extra hoops, extra machine parts, software, more needles, and there's probably 50 more items I'm not thinking of because I've never owned an embroidery machine. Stuff has to go now. I've started on my PHD- Pile of Half-Dones. I'm seeing a lot of future Christmas gifts.

I did something and I am sure I will regret it. I allowed a family member to connect with me on Facebook. Her sister said she was sending me a friend request and because the sister, whom I love and trust, mentioned it first, I said okay. Then I checked her profile (really should have done that first), and she has all kinds of Jesus stuff. I didn't think she was that religious, but apparently she wants to save the soul of all she meets. And I could deal with that, but THEN I noticed she is friends with another cousin who hates me. And then, sigh, I remembered she's two-faced. If someone is talking about you, instead of defending you, she'll weigh in to stay in the person's good graces. Of course, she'll tell you all about it. Not the part she said. That's none of your business. I told Kurt my concerns and he said it was ok because Facebook has an unfriend button. BUT since accepting her request, I have gotten 2 strange calls. The first was some crazy area code I didn't know and the second was unavailable. Neither left a message. I'm just sort of sitting over here in a daze thinking, what have I done?

The Witch's Familiar

Familiars are not my kind of magick for one simple reason- it’s a form or servitude. Some suggest the familiar is the Witch’s companion in magick. But I have always thought of a familiar as the animal which performs whatever spell or deed is too dangerous for the Witch. A familiar can gather information, bring nightmares to an enemy, steal items, spy, or be a medium during possessions. In short, a familiar does the dirty work.

I have never had an animal as a familiar. I don’t mean to make it sound all bad because familiars can be a real boon to a Witch. A familiar can add a lot of energy to a working. A familiar is great protection. But it’s a special kind of bond and I have never felt that connection with a cat or dog. I don’t really like cats and my dogs are members of my family. I would feel bad asking them to do something I am nervous about doing myself. Also, my dogs don’t seem the least bit interested in circles drawn on the floor. Whenever I do magick they go lay down and leave me alone.

Right now I have a dragon for a familiar. I like using an astral being because I feel the dragon is in a position to say no (and he has before, turns out he was right). Because dragons are (to me) higher beings, it feels more like an equal partnership. I learn much from my dragon. I’m not a boss giving orders. I’m a student.

If you would like to have an astral familiar (no need for bedding, cages, or trips to the vet) it helps to have a focus object that will either be a 'home' or 'body'. If the object is a home, then each time you touch the object you call the familiar forth to the physical world. If the object is a body then astral being becomes/is the object. I prefer the latter so that the energy looks the same every time I work with it. Having a red dragon one time and a green one the next makes me nervous. Did the color change because the astral is more fluid or did I get a different dragon? I don’t want to question if my familiar is really my familiar.

My familiar came from a friend. He’s a little metal dragon about two inches tall. My friend told me he used to be a necklace but broke so she kept the dragon on her altar for a while. He doesn’t really look like a necklace. There are no hooks or closures where a chain could attach. He looks like a dragon- just a dragon in and of itself. He doesn’t like being tethered. I tried to make him into a key chain so he could travel everywhere with me and the chain mysteriously came loose. He’s fine in my pocket, in my purse, or in my truck, but he must be free to roam. One day he’ll probably go to someone else.

When I got my dragon, it was obvious that he had a spark of life in him. I once had a garden statue that felt alive, but not all items can house/be familiars. Some items just won’t 'take.' Some things can be enchanted but I’ve had quite a few things 'die' as in one day I could no longer feel the energy I had placed there. It would just be empty.

If you want to make a physical object a familiar, the object must be deeply appealing to you. It must be something you loved from the moment you saw it. You see it as alive. You must talk to it and really hear answers. You must be clear in what you want it to do- does it present answers, direct energy, guard and protect, or all of the above? Last, it must be fed. If you don’t feed it, it dies. After it dies, you can’t revive it again. Feeding varies. My familiar needs crystals. Yours might need your energy. Some need blood. Others need pollen or cornmeal. Your familiar will tell you what it wants and how often. The more you work with it, the more your familiar will need to be fed. If you forget about it or neglect it, the familiar will be insulted and leave. This is why it can’t be revived and if you let one die, you may find it is difficult to attract another; they are all avoiding you until you prove that you are serious and committed.

Mostly, my dragon stays on my altar. I touch him every day when I light my daily candle. Sometimes he tells me he wants to come with me when I go out. If I feel I need protection, I ask him to come with me. I always ask, I never just grab him up. Sometimes before a working, or if I am wavering on a decision, I'll ask him to show me the best way. Occasionally I'll ask his opinion on the meaning of a tarot card. He has set a few rules- 1.) I call him by the name he gave me. 2.) It's okay to blog about him, but no showing him to others. 3.) He can stay as long as he wants and he leaves when he wants. Your personal familiar will have its own rules. If you are not willing to follow them, you're not ready for a familiar.
 

Weather Magick

To bring rain was easy. But knowing when to bring rain and when to leave it in the hands of the gods was another matter.
Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

Given the 'super storm' Hurricane Sandy, over a thousand miles wide, weather magick might be the most practical thing a Witch can do. Sandy wasn't a fluke or a freak of nature. Sadly, this is the new normal. We can't pretend global warming doesn't exist. We also shouldn't think we are beyond all hope- there is always room for change.

It won't be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

I have learned weather magick is really, really easy. In my experience, storms seem to want to connect with humans. I wouldn't call it a conscious energy- storms are much too primal and raw. But touching a storm with your mind does make an automatic effect, much like putting your hand under running water. The water must go around your hand. It cannot go through, it must go around. Just by being present, you have changed the flow. Remove your hand and the water surges on like you were never there.

One reason people think weather magick is difficult is because it requires something most of us are too lazy to do- pay attention. Do you know the weather patterns of your area? I can see your mental wheels spinning, you're thinking No one can predict the weather.

But the weather is predictable. If you read all the signs. You need the wind, the sky, the moon, the temperature. You need location, direction, elements. Forget maps, radar, and computers. GO OUTSIDE. Everyday. Several times a day. Then be still and LOOK.

I learned weather magick by starting with the sun. I stood in the sun every day and felt its heat. I noticed how the light fell around my house. I watched my dogs laying in sunbeams. I saw sunflowers turn toward the sun and follow it across the sky. I felt soft morning light, blazing mid-day heat, and dying, cooling evening. Without the sun nothing can live.

I learned the winds. Wind is more difficult to work with than rain. Wind will either help you or it won't. You can call the winds fairly easily but the wind might arrive on its own terms. To work with the winds you will either need a weather vane or a wind sock in order to tell which way the wind is blowing. Start by noticing which direction the wind comes from. Note how the air feels. The coldest wind is the North Wind. Make notes of what sort of events occur with each wind. You may have more romantic encounters during a South Wind. After learning what the winds will bring, you can begin calling the winds for spell work just as you call the Quarters during a ritual. I like to use something lightweight as a focus object. The first time I called the wind, I used a small paper butterfly. When the butterfly was blown out of my hand, I knew the wind had arrived. One of my friends tosses fine sand into the air. Feathers work very well.

Last I learned the rain. There are multitudes of rain- soft rain, mist, hard rain, sleet, fog, and thunderstorms. Observe first. If you can, the best thing to do is go out in the rain. Some rain is warm and some is ice cold. Some hurts as it pelts the skin and some rain is soft as kisses. I like to work with the rain on the porch so that I can reach a hand out to touch, but not get soaked. A covered porch is also helpful when doing candle magick or to have a dry note taking spot. Rain water can be collected for spells. Keep rain in clean bottles and label them accurately. Note the kind of rain, the date, and the location. For lasting beauty, was your face with rain from the first rainfall in May.

I did not learn snow because I live in the South where snow is rare. And I didn't learn hail storms because that's a dangerous rarity I'd rather not encounter. But I did learn storms because we have them often in Alabama.

You can push a storm almost anywhere. Don't want the tornado heading toward your home? Fine, redirect it. Just remember no matter where you send a storm, it still has the potential to be destructive. It is far safer to dispel a storm. This takes a lot of practice. You must touch the storm with your mind, be unyielding, be confident and assured, then see the storm dying down. While you are dispelling, the storm will probably surge up. Expect sudden gusts of wind or for the rain to fall harder. Don't back down. The storm is seeing how strong you are. The more you practice, the easier it is. This leads me to my second warning- eventually the weather will punish you. Every time you work weather magick, you are upsetting the balance of nature. You cannot play with the weather just because. Sometimes it just has to rain and you need to accept that.

Some people can create storms. These are usually the people who already have an affinity for the element of air. Have you ever been in a really angry mood and suddenly the rain started to pour down even though the forecast predicted clear skies all week? That's a weather mage in a snit.

Be mindful of your emotions.

Some ways to work with the weather without upsetting the balance:

1. Place a storm protection spell on your home. I use stones. I simply tell the stones what I want protected. I keep them in a pot on my porch. Google storm spells and see what comes up. There are a lot of spells involving runes and a good bit of information on hex signs.

2. On a windy day hang windchimes. Every time you hear the chime, say an affirmation. You can empower the windchimes and you can also hang banners or flags that match your intent.

3. Work with totem animals. Deer are very active before storms and cold fronts. They are feeding before they are forced to take shelter.

4. Plants also react to weather changes. Some leaves turn upward to catch more water.

5. Have an emergency plan. Will you have food, shelter, and medicine during a power outage? Is your area prone to flooding? Do you know alternate routes to home in case fallen trees block the road?

6. Last but not least- are you aware of how your life affects the earth? Do you waste water? Can you recycle more? Use less? Where does your water and electricity come from? Where does your trash go? Is pollution a problem in your town? What can you do about it?

Progress Report

Happy Imbolc! I started the day by cleaning my altar. I have been cleaning a lot lately. It seems very important right now to tie up loose ends, to handle business, and to leave nothing negative lurking in small corners. Imbolc is a time when progress is made but often goes unnoticed because the change is internal. If you've stuck with your New Year's Resolutions, you will be seeing some results now. But probably no one else realized you lost five pounds. If you look to the outside world, there may be some hints of spring- tightly closed buds for example. But it's really easy to overlook the barest hint of green when the wind's chilly fingers brush your neck.

Imbolc is a great time to work on private and personal issues. With Valentine's Day is coming, now would be a good time to update your wardrobe- starting with your underwear. Throw out everything with holes. Are you secretly a Sex Goddess? Do you think Goddesses wear granny panties? Buy something nice. The stores are full of silk and satin in red, black, and purple. Transform yourself into a Seductress and get ready for February 14th.

Imbolc is about the change on the verge of happening. If you're ready for change, the transition is welcome. If you're determined to hold on to out-dated thinking, the change will feel sudden and traumatic. The Wheel is going to turn whether you're enjoying the ride or not.

I am having a bumpy ride at work. I did manage to banish Nancy. She got another job. I haven't had anymore dreams about her. I feel things are settled. BUT I have a new problem- Mary. Mary doesn't like me. At all. I don't know why. Last night things blew up. I was working at a different station beside Mary's friend Jenny. I asked Jenny to move some parts. Jenny didn't think this was her job. Rather than telling me, she went to Mary and asked her to explain my new job duties to me. Mary isn't a supervisor or boss and she should have stayed out of it but instead she rushed over to me and started an argument. I tried being polite but she kept cutting me off in mid sentence. Finally she asked me if I knew what teamwork was. I had the overwhelming urge to slap her. The whole time everyone was staring at us. When Mary walked away, she loudly complained that I rolled my eyes at her. I didn't, she was just making things up. I wasn't rude or disrespectful. I didn't want to keep arguing with her. Afterwards, everyone was whispering about me. I have the feeling Mary is going to be creating more issues. Time to do some defensive spell work.

I am halfway through my post on storm magick. We had serve weather while I was writing so I had to get off the computer. I live with a computer hog and it is nearly impossible to get my desk back. When Kurt gets his tax refund, I will strongly suggest he buy a laptop for himself. Also in the works is a post on familiars and maybe one on my land base.

My Kitchen Witch Magick is evolving. I have been studying recipes and plants. This leads to wondering which elements are necessary and wondering how much more magick can be added to process that is already art, magick, and mundane all at the same time. Some people think Kitchen Witches practice simple magick. There is absolutely nothing simple about it. A good Witch just makes it look easy.

I'm sort of wavering on my Etsy shop. I had decided to close it. As items expired, I deleted them. Then suddenly I had the idea of completely changing what I sell- change the name, the product, everything. I'm not sure how I feel about all this so I'm letting things simmer on the back burner for a while longer.

I am now one month into my journal project. I like how things are going. It seems life radiates more smoothly. I have no pictures to show because Blogger is still being a confused bitch. Sorry.

Finally- the give away. I have a winner, but she hasn't emailed me back. Chrysalis is the winner. There won't be any more monthly give aways. No one was interested. If I do another one it will be around Mid Summer or Halloween.