Thursday, October 31, 2013

Day 31 Last

I debated for a long while about what our last Witch should be. She should be beautiful. She should be wise. She should have much to learn. She should be in between. She should know her craft. She should be sad and hopeful. She should be active. She should know and wait.

I settled on this picture for purely personal reasons- my father has had all the trees in the backyard removed. Trees I loved and grew up with are gone because he was afraid they would fall on the house. It reminds me of a quote about trees surviving flood, fire, and wind, but God cannot save the trees from fools. Yet, I understand the desire to protect the home from danger and a 200lb limb falling onto a roof is a real danger. But the trees I have loved for a life time are gone. Do you know what Witches do when the trees are cut? They plant more. Witches, for all we are blamed and accused of, we Witches always work forward. The only time we work back is to remove blocks so that we may move forward. That is the true beauty of Witches, no matter how physically ugly we may be.

I was born a Witch. But I also became a Witch because I had to learn the name for what I am. I had to learn there are others like me, others with secrets and burdens. Others who do not rest, who never stop learning, who teach by simply being. It is wonderful and frightening to know I create reality.

If I could only tell a person one wise thing, I would say be you. Don't worry about fitting in. If you don't fit blaze a path and others will follow. Be the Witch, not the angel. Live. Witches change the world. Make sure you are shaking yours.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Monday, October 28, 2013

Day 28 Pendulum

 
As I mentioned before, the pendulum is the easiest of tools to make. And, even better, it is useful for more than just yes/no questions. It can be used for finding water. Or every water line in your yard. It can indicate precious metals or the gender of an unborn child. Pendulums can indicate the future, contact spirits, delve into the past, determine which ingredients to use in a spell, or, my favorite, find ley lines.
 
I suppose there are Witches who can merely feel the veins of the Earth pulsing beneath their feet. I am not one of them. I usually like a place, feel a connection to a place, and later discover the ley lines crisscrossing in all directions. Sometimes I don't notice anything at all. I have a ley line in my backyard near the shed and I didn't know until I explored with the pendulum. After I find the lines, I can tap them. Most leave me feeling intoxicated. If you would like some visual clues for lines of power, look for forked trees, standing stones (the bigger the better), and animal paths. Sometimes plants are more lush and green in ley lines and sometimes nothing really grows in the spot. I don't really have an answer for this. I've heard ley lines are destructive and I've found many to be pleasant and healing. I guess having too much energy is just as bad as not enough. I tend to think of ley lines as being like water- a little trickle through the woods does no harm, a flood destroys too much. I encourage you to find your own lines and form your own opinions about them. Some say ley lines are dragon energy and some think it is the naturally occurring energy of the Earth. I think it could be either or neither. 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Transitioning

In some ways, I am really glad I did all these blogs posts ahead of time. It certainly allowed me to present some great pictures. But on the other hand, I have planned too big of a project and I don't know what I was thinking trying to pack a full three months of blogging into the end of the year (the busiest time of my life).  I am getting to enjoy much more of the season; I can feel the shifting energies (and boy, are things ever shifting). But when things change I don't get to write about it without disrupting the unity of my Witch posts.

I am about to move. I thought this would be much later, months and months away, but I get the sense things are about to start happening rapidly. I just checked my horoscope- there's a Yod coming and my domestic situation will be affected. And it's not just my housing situation. Lives are coming together. For the first time since I moved out of my parents' home, I will be residing with other people. The move will be affecting me, Will, his children, Will's parents (owners of the houses), and his sisters.

And as if all that isn't enough, we will remodeling a 150 year old house. And the yard. Oh my god, the yard needs so much work it is not even funny. We have to start on the yard because my three dogs need a pen. Will has a dog that had three puppies. And his sister just left a pit bull, sweet dog but huge and nobody wants her.

Just because we invest the time and money into remodeling and landscaping doesn't mean the house will be ours forever. At any time, Will's sister could move back and demand her house be hers again. So we have to have a plan B, clear out the back lot for a trailer or build a house and we barely have money to take care of one house let alone multiple residences. I have the sinking feeling Will is going to get screwed somewhere along the line.

Today, Will's baby sister suddenly decided to go visit her boyfriend. In Huntsville, AL. She has been getting the kids off to school and off the bus while Will is at work. She hasn't said when she is coming back. She is living in the big house. Will is living in the small house. She wants to swap houses in two weeks. The other sister was living in the big house before getting a job out of state. Are you confused yet? I am and I know what's going on. Middle sister is a horder, baby sis tried to fix up a house that needs to be gutted, realized she bit off more than she can chew, now she wants the smaller, more livable house, and Will has way too many repairs before winter.

There is no working heat pump in either house. There is a massive water bill that must be paid in the big house. Some of the rooms don't have lights because Will's brother-in-law ripped out copper wiring to sell for scrap metal. He probably got $30. It's going to cost around $200 to replace the wiring. The brother-in-law started several remodeling projects like tearing off porches and the laundry room, but he never finished most of them. We don't know how much damaged he cause by leaving wall studs exposed to the elements. Where he did complete a remodel, we don't know if he did it correctly and some of that may need to be redone. We do know when he 'fixed' the roof he forgot the flashing so at least one room leaks badly. Read that as fix roof again, then fix walls, and floor. Why isn't he around to either make good on his projects or shell out some repair money? He's in prison. I'm pretty sure he won't get out, but if he does I bet he can't leave the state, so hmm, where would he want to live?

The middle sister is supposed to be sending money for bills since, you know, it was her house and she was supposed to be taking care of it for the last five years. Somehow, despite going from earning $26,000 a year to $60,000 a year, she has no money. And that's why the water bill hasn't been paid and the baby sister was using Will's hose pipe as her sole water source thus doubling his water bill.

Will's parents, even though they are the home owners, aren't paying for anything. They are in Ft. Rucker. They are retiring next year. I guess they think in a year's time we'll have everything fixed and they can move into a newly remodeled house and one child or two can move out. Will has a standing job offer in Dothan. Sometimes I think it would be better if he took the job NOW, we move farther south and we sensibly rent a place that has nothing to do with his family.

No, still not done with this story, it gets more twisted. Will's ex is off her meds again. She stopped going to AA meetings so her doctor won't see her. She's going to a meeting Monday, seeing the doctor on Wednesday and probably still won't have meds until Thursday or Friday. Because Baby Sis left town, it falls to me to get the children off to school. The ex is in full panic mode because she doesn't want me to 'replace' her BUT she already lost custody due to her drug addictions. She is totally unstable. She has moved four times in six weeks. I haven't moved four times in 15 years. She's unreasonable and difficult to deal with anyway, but since she's been off medication for nearly two weeks, it's like trying to explain high speeds to a turtle. She's just not comprehending the logic. The ex thinks she should stay at Will's house until Baby Sis comes back. Uh, let me think...not no, but HELL NO.

I'm tired. Really, really tired. I have to go back to Will's tonight. He's getting up at 3am. Then the older boy goes to ROTC/drill/school Then the younger kids go to school. Finally, I hope, I can come home. I am already feeling the pinch of managing two houses. My dogs are here. I need to be there. Laundry needs to be done. Bills here need to be paid. I have to take things that Will forgot here to him and I pray I don't forget something important. I have to shower before I leave here, but I have to bring food with me for tomorrow. And all this going back and forth is costing a lot of gas.

I'm a Capricorn. I like routine and order. This is getting to be fruit-basket-turn-over. I haven't even moved yet! I'm still under a lease. I still have to replace the kitchen floor in this house because my dog chewed up the linoleum. Also, I foolishly said I'd paint the interior when I moved. I really wish things would hurry up and settle. I don't know how long I can be in between.

Day 27 Working With the Dead


Saturday, October 26, 2013

Friday, October 25, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Day 20- It's Time for a Ghost Story

We can't go all the way through October without a ghost story. I think I may have posted this in the past, but it's a good story AND true, so it bears repeating.

My friend Diana is married to a painter. Jeff got a job remodeling a lawyer's house. It was an old Southern house, with the 12 foot ceilings and wide front porch. One Friday, all the painting was done. A few other repairs remained, but those could wait until the next week.

Diana was outside washing windows. She hosed off a kitchen window and when the water cleared from the glass, she saw a woman standing in the kitchen. It was obvious the woman was a ghost. Diana ran screaming for Jeff. He told her she was crazy. She stuck to her story, but he didn't believe her. Finally Jeff told Diana to wait in the truck, he was going to gather up his tools and lock up the house.

Diana sat in the truck for a long time. It slowly began to get dark and Jeff still didn't come out. She started to worry because he should have came out a long time ago. She didn't want to go inside, but where was he? When it was almost full dark, Diana started thinking about going to the porch and calling for Jeff. Suddenly, he came around the house, white as a sheet. He got in the truck and they drove away. Diana asked several times what was wrong but he would not talk until they were back home.

Jeff put all his tools by the front door. He then walked around the house making sure windows were closed. He locked the back door, then headed towards the front. That is when he discovered he could not leave.

The house was changing. He would either walk into a room and that room looked nothing like it did moments before, or he would think he was about to walk through the dinning room but instead found himself in the bedroom. Jeff wandered around and around, getting more and more annoyed and frightened, thinking surely he must be crazy because rooms can't change. He thought all sorts of things- that he found a hidden section of the house, that his wife was playing tricks for making fun of her, that he had accidentally entered the house next door.

It was getting darker and darker and still Jeff couldn't find the exit. Desperate, he shouted, "Please let me out!" And there was the back door. He fumbled with the lock, then ran out without closing the door behind him. He never went back to the house again. He picked up his tools and last pay check from the lawyer's office.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Friday, October 18, 2013

A Call for Feedback

The problem with scheduling so many posts ahead of time is that when I want to write about something relevant I have no free day to post it :)

I have an idea for next year's Celebration of Witches. How many of you are interested in knowing the difference between types of Witchcraft? In other words, how often have you wondered what really makes a Kitchen Witch different from a Hedge Witch? Or what about the difference between Wicca and Witchcraft? I'm willing to go into other cultures and religions such as Voodoo and Hoodoo even though the practitioners don't call themselves Witches.

How many posts I write will depend on the response I get. I don't really see me writing a month's worth next time but I don't know, maybe all the terms that fall under Witchcraft is very confusing to outsiders. Or even to other Witches. Some people get really snotty about their personal practice. They insist on doing things 'the right way' but I can't tell how their practice is better or much different from mine.

I'm also willing to answer questions about tools, casting circles, calling quarters, and spells but I want the focus to be on difference between Witches.

So, who's with me? What do you want to know? I'm not claiming to be an expert, but if I get a question about a subject I am unfamiliar with, I am willing to look up the answer. If I get enough comments to this post, I'll create a page where people can leave questions. If no one comments, I'll assume my readers think I'm doing a fine job and you can be stuck with whatever I come up with next year.

If you're not comfortable posting questions in public, you can also email me thewitchfreedragon@gmail.com Put something about 'Witch Question' in the subject line so I know it isn't spam.

Day 18 Study the Situation


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Day 12 Who Is Invited?

Welcome to Day 12 of my month long celebration of Witches. This is my second post with words; save for the first post of this month, everything has been just pictures. Are you enjoying things so far? What do you think? I put a lot of work into this even if it doesn't seem like it. I'm still typing in May. See how long I've been planning? I still have November and December posts to write. If all this goes well, I may do similar things for other holidays. Remember, the whole reason I am writing so far ahead is twofold- good holiday posts while actually enjoying the holiday. I feel like I'm in a bit of a time-warp writing so many months ahead. On the one hand, I live my Witch life every day so I always feel inspired to write about Witches, spells, and magick. On the other hand, Halloween has its own charm- jack o' lanterns, ghosts, costumes, candy, monsters, and all the beauty of crisp fall days. I'm trying to stay away from a Halloween theme and just post about Witches in general because it's hard to worry about haunted places when scent of spring flowers fill the air. Much as I love fall, we also need the light half of the year. Everything can't reside in shadow all the time. Today I want to talk about a very shadowy subject. Ouija boards- spiritual tool, game, or demon summoning device?

Personally, I love Ouija boards. I really like hand crafted ones, but the store brought kind is cool too. The first time I remember seeing any reference to Ouija was in a bad made for tv movie. Some dingy mom pulled an old 'board game' out of the closet for her teenage daughter saying she could never make it work.  The daughter was charmed at first, used the board on a nightly basis, then strange stuff started to happen, and you know what comes next, right? Of course, lots of evil spirits, demons, and the devil himself.

So can bad things happen? Maybe. When I was about 16, a friend of mine had a Ouija board that had been her mom's in the 70's. She would let me 'play' with it, but she was insistent that both of us always use the board together. No one person should use the board alone. Her reasoning was a story she heard about a lady writing with one hand and using the board with the other hand. That night she was alone in bed and began to feel as if she was being raped. She tried to sit up, but unseen hands pushed her back to the bed and held her down. My friend was certain if two people used the board then nothing bad could happen. Safety in numbers, I guess. Looking back now, it seems dumb to me. We didn't cast a circle, do a protection spell, burn sage or incense, set out crystals, or ask for guidance from higher beings. We weren't protected at all.

So what did happen to us? Nothing really. While we got some interesting results, we also got a lot of useless information that didn't really make sense. I remember asking for a boy's phone number. I got a phone number, but it wasn't his. This annoyed my friend. She thought we should only ask for 'important' stuff like how her dead grandfather was doing on the other side. Well, you can't prove or disprove things like that, so I always wanted to know things that could be verified on this plane. We finally stopped using the board because we disagreed so much.

The mass-produced boards are marketed as games. You might be wondering what makes a Ouija board different from a magic 8 ball. That's a game too. My answer is- nothing. One Halloween I dressed up like a Gypsy. I decided to tell fortunes. I thought a Ouija board was too big to carry around, so I got an 8 ball. I went to several bars, two stores, a party, and a fast food restaurant. Lots of people, mostly strangers I had never met, asked me questions about their future. It didn't take long to figure out that cheap plastic ball was fairly accurate.

How could this be? I bought it at K-Mart. Was it me? Was I psychic? Maybe I am a little and using the ball helped me develop the ability. People would ask me questions. Suddenly I would feel a connection, a pull, something leading my mind in a certain direction, and I would blurt out things I had no way of knowing. I didn't know any of these people. I got asked if someone would stay in the army, if a person would marry again, about a promotion, a car, money, relocating to another state, and I had answers for everything. I just knew.

If it was me, then the ball itself shouldn't matter. But for some reason it did. I continued using the ball for about a week. A friend who had been with me that night often called me 'to check my ball'. It was working. Then the magic 8 ball started to leak. Dismayed, I immediately got another one. The second 8 ball didn't work. I had no connection with it. I threw that ball away.

Later, I made my own Ouija board. I spent a long time painting cardboard a lovely shade of royal blue. I carefully stenciled letters on. I added dragon stickers because I really like dragons. I had mixed results. Sometimes I would get vague references and only much later would things begin to click into place. Sometimes I got gibberish. I thought if I kept using my board it would eventually improve or increase in power but it remained in the same state of half answers.

Over the years, I've tried many methods of divination. I've used crystal balls, tarot, and pendulums. Some things I really connect with and they're great. Other stuff is just junk. Crystal balls usually work. But they're expensive. I had one beautiful ball on a wolf stand and I got nothing from it. I gave the ball to a young Witch. With tarot cards, the images really have to speak to me. If I don't like the art I get nothing in a reading. The pendulum is pretty good for me in that I can make one from almost anything and I can make a variety of charts- yes/no, direction, people's names, herbs, etc. The pendulum is the cheapest and easiest tool to make. But like the others, some of them don't work. I have greater success making pendulums with objects that mean something to me. I think I'd have good results with antique skeleton key that I found if the key really spoke to me, but I don't think I'd get good results if I took my house key off my key chain.

In all the years that I have been using divination, and I became a practicing Witch when I 21, that's 15 years ago, I have never encountered an evil spirit. I've never felt that my tarot cards drew anything evil. I think Ouija boards are just things that can be useful tools. I think people who have bad experiences with them probably go in with that mindset- they saw it on tv, it could happen, so it does. I think of a Ouija board kind of like an open bar at a wedding. The alcohol is free so people drink way more than they should and drunk people are rarely well behaved. It could be that lower spirits are easier to contact because they are already looking for a way in.

I think if you're going to use a Ouija board or anything else, then you should approach it in a positive way. I think you should be polite and cheerful. I think you should clearly state your intentions from the beginning. I think you should be firm about who or what you are contacting. And when it's over you should put everything away, clean up, and not dwell on it. And if anything bad happens you should be responsible and deal with it not just hope it goes away. If you don't like the idea of a board, or if you think it's creepy then don't use it.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Friday, October 4, 2013

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

One Month of Witches Day 1

Happy October, My Loves! Welcome to my month long celebration of all things Witchy! I have been working on these posts for months. As I type this, it is May 6, 2013 and I got started way before then! I collect pictures of Witches and other things that interest me. I wanted to share the things I find beautiful so the idea of this post was born. Then I decided October is THE month of the Witch and that was perfect because it gave me time to sort out what I had and to find at least one picture for each day of the month. Then another great thought came to mind- if I start early I won't be rushing around in October struggling to blog. I like blogging, and I feel that as a Pagan it is my job to produce something special on my blog but October is one of the busiest months of my life (the other being December with the holidays and the year winding down). Wonderful energies surge all through autumn and as a Kitchen Witch I want to take advantage of them. I cast a lot of spells, do a lot of cooking, and start banishing. Halloween is the start of my New year. I try to tie up business, remove what hinders me, let go of what is not good, and make room for good things. That doesn't leave much time for blogging and that's why last year I only had a week of Witches. Or maybe I had 13. I don't remember. Octobers tend to blur together and that's why I'm starting in spring so some of my chores will be done and I can enjoy the Turn of the Wheel.

And October is just the beginning. November will be about cooking and Kitchen Witchery. I've been wanting to do Kitchen Witch posts for some while. I thought November would be an excellent time because most people are busy stressing themselves out over Thanksgiving dinner. A little help might be welcomed. December will be about crafts and magick, namely how to do spells with things you've made yourself. December is when my needles practically burn from constant use. I am always making something for Christmas gifts. Every December I run out of time and I sadly hope my unfinished gift will be done in time for the recipient's birthday. Maybe if I get started earlier...

After today, most of October's posts will be just pictures. I won't have words unless the pictures invokes a strong response in me or unless I feel the picture is about a very important subject. Like today. Technically, this semi-nude lady isn't a Witch. She doesn't have a pointed hat, a broom, a cat, or a cauldron. But there is something mysterious about her. She has an air of knowing more than she shows. And that's because she was probably committed to an insane asylum.

The Victorian Era was the 'golden age' of pornography. That just means porn was at its realistic beginning. Previously nudity was only on public display in art- painting and sculpture. If anyone wanted to see a naked female they had to go behind closed doors. Photography meant for the first time men could see real naked women and they probably spent thousands of dollars mail-ordering pictures. But did you ever wonder who those models were?

In the earliest days of photography, cameras were owned by professional photographers. It probably wasn't until the 50's that cameras became household items in America. The reason why my mother has so many old pictures is because my grandmother was the only person in the neighborhood who owned a camera. Anytime anyone wanted a picture, they dressed up and came to my grandmother. She took a picture, maybe two, and saved the negatives. She had boxes and boxes of old film, negatives, and pictures. My mother spent years trying to identify people in photos.

So if people didn't have cameras at first, we can rule out men photographing their wives and girlfriends at the turn of the century. And we can rule out the middle and lower classes because film was expensive. That's why my grandmother rarely took more than one picture of a person. Plus, film had to be developed. It might take a week to get pictures back. There wasn't any taking shots until it was right, photographers set the subject, made the person adjust their position a dozen times and THEN took a picture during which they had to sit completely still. Studio portraits became popular but people had to pay for them thus they usually posed on special occasions.

Pictures were first printed on glass and tin then on cardboard. They weren't handled much for fear of damage. I've only seen one glass photo. Even tin wasn't handled much for fear of leaving finger prints on the photograph. From a business sense, it wouldn't be economical to pay the models because of the cost of printing. That means no nude photographs of famous people like actresses- they would want to be paid. When I was in high school my drama club went to a live performance and we were warned not to bring cameras because stage actors consider photos to be stealing their 'work.' They are the character on stage and if you take a picture of the play you are taking publicity from them. Other actors don't care, they want as many people to see them as possible in hopes of being discovered. What kind of debate would it have been when photography was new? If you had to pay for a ticket to the show, how dare you let someone who hadn't paid see part of the act?

So what kind of model was needed? Someone who didn't expect to get paid. Someone who could appear nude without a public outcry of vulgarity. In other words, people no one paid attention to. People who didn't have families or whose family ignored their existence. And who was shut away to be forgotten? The insane.

It didn't take much to be committed. You didn't have to be crazy, just unwanted or in trouble. Women with illegitimate children often wound up in asylums because their families were embarrassed by their sexuality. Any deviation from 'normal' sex could be a ticket to the nut house, so homosexuals were often locked up as well. There wasn't much of a distinction between physical and mental illness so an epilepsy patient could be in the asylum just as easily as a schizophrenic. Some of the 'patients' were petty thieves or orphans with nowhere to go. They'd have some minor brush with the law, maybe they started screaming in a panic, and were labeled crazy. Once in the asylum they were treated horribly. They were abused, neglected, tortured, experimented on, drugged, and often left to die. Anything could be done and no one said a word.

What does all this have to do with Witches? And why am I starting on such a dark note when this is supposed to be a celebration? Because no matter how much I love being a Witch, I can never forget that we are often the most hated people in society. And actually, people hate us so bad that we often live outside or on the fringe of society. Witches have been burned, hanged, stoned, put to the death, mocked, blamed, ridiculed, and accused, usually for no good reason. We have been feared all through history and still are to this day which is why Pagan Coming Out Day is a controversial issue. It would be nice if we didn't have to 'come out' but I fear we are a very long way from acceptance.

Enjoy the pictures. Just remember we Witches are People too.