October 29th, 2017

Last night was SIPA's Samhain ritual, which was moved indoors to Gaia House due to the weather - it was freezing cold. There was a big turn-out, so the little building was very crowded.

There were a bunch of really fun pumpkins people brought. I made a Les Misérables carving with the Cosette silhouette, which turned out well, if I do say so myself.

As in other years, we set up an ancestor altar. Tara also established an Honor List, which included both names of those people wished to recognize, and places such as Las Vegas and Orlando, which have suffered devastating losses.

Afterwards, everyone had the opportunity to go through an Inner Circle to contact their personal gods, ancestors, etc.

At the end of the ritual, Tara gifted everyone with a Quartz crystal. I now have one from my first SIPA Samhain (top) and what will probably be my last with them (bottom).

Altar Update

With it now being October, I've updated my altar for Samhain. It was in need of a change, as I hadn't done much to it since the Eclipse.

I've made a sort of ancestor altar toward the front, with the rest of my ritual tools in the back. It's hard to see in this photo, but in front of the cauldron is a black skull candle I bought at Earthbound.

Also from Earthbound is this beautiful display shelf, which I am using to showcase some of my crystals. It has the moon phases at the bottom. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it!

October 15th, 2017

One of the organizations I belong to at school took a social trip today over to a local pumpkin patch. The weather, which had been kind of wet and gross this morning, turned out to be beautiful, and it was a lot of fun picking through the pumpkins with everyone. Pumpkin carving and baking pumpkin seeds are a few of my Samhain traditions, and I always have a great time doing it!

The pumpkins - they ranged in size from little bitty ones to big carving-size ones.

I didn't buy any, but I love ghost pumpkins. They look so neat!

Here's my purchases - a big pumpkin to carve, two gourds, and a mini pumpkin. The gourds I'll be trying to dry out and turn into shakers. I also picked up the "Witch Please" mug today, over at Walmart. They had a whole collection of oversized Halloween mugs, and it just seemed very me.

In addition to the pumpkins, I bought this wire-wrapped tree of life necklace. There was a local artist selling them there at the pumpkin patch, and I'd been wanting something like it for a long time, so I decided to go ahead and get one.

Things are getting spooky here! I've decorated our apartment, and my roommate and I have been getting costumes together. We've also engaged in a bit of spirit work, talking to some of the other inhabitants of the apartment. They seem to be friendly, and like to knock on the walls at night.

A Fun Photo

Andi took this picture of me at yesterday's rock painting event. I like it a lot!

October 2nd, 2017

Had some fun yesterday over at Gaia House with SIPA; they put together a little crafting event painting rocks with fun images, affirmations, etc. The idea is to take the rocks after the fact and hide them for other people to stumble across.

I gave the one with the dragon away, and I'll probably keep the Eye of Horus stone, but the other two I may hide in the courtyard near where I have class.

Virtually any common stone works for this craft - I used river rocks, but there was also some sandstone pieces that came out nicely - and regular acrylic craft paint will stick so long as you let it dry between coats. A final spray-on coat of clear sealant should set it permanently.

September 19th, 2017

SIPA hosted their annual Mabon ritual this weekend, which was being led by a group of Ár nDraoícht Féin druids, which was really cool!

The ritual was held at Giant City State Park, and we had perfect weather - warm, but not humid. We also had a really good turn-out, with around 50 participants, including a lot of first-timers.

We had a visit from a very persistent racoon, who was intent on climbing into the trash can.

The sacred space was in a big clearing and encompassed a tree, cauldron of water, altar, and fire pit.

We were asked to bring water from our watershed, so I did, as well as our favorite glass for the sumbel toast. I brought along my chalice, which has been a bit under-utilized as of late.

The ritual was fairly Celtic in format, but was focused on honoring the Norse pantheon.

After the ritual, I found this stick insect hanging out in the shelter!

August 5th, 2017

Welcome to August, and a happy belated Lughnasadh! My internship continues to keep me very engaged, but, funnily enough, a month after my previous post, I am once again staying at my boss's house. I've actually seen a hummingbird here the last two days at a flowering vine, so that's been neat!

I love those little guys! (No actual hummingbirds in the above photo, I missed her.)

I also spent some time in Pittsburgh earlier this week, and stopped by a bookstore on the south shore. A lot of their selection was focused around social justice activism (a worthy subject, particularly in the current political climate), but they did have a folklore section as well, where I made a very interesting find - a translated copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead!

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Title: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: (The Papyrus of Ani) Egyptian Text Transliteration and Translation
Author: E. A. Wallis Budge
Date: Printed 2016, first published 1967

This text divides into three parts: an introductory section, the transliterated hieroglyphic text, and a translation of the text.

The introduction provides a wealth of background information on the context for the Book of the Dead; there is discussion of its known versions and variations, Egyptian funeral ritual, the gods discussed throughout the text, places mentioned in the text, and etc. The transliteration provides every line of hieroglyphics with a word-by-word translation below each character, and then the final section provides a comprehensive English translation of the entire text.

Overall, this is an excellent resource. It is highly academic, so it is full of citations, and parts of it read a bit dry, but in my opinion, having access to the full hieroglyphic text of the Book of the Dead is a must-have for anyone interested in Kemetic Reconstructionism or other Egyptian-based path. I found that just by reading the transliteration, I was beginning to pick up a few things about the language.

There's a lot of valuable information in the introduction, as well - I was excited to see a full ritual for funerary rites, complete with a description of when and what to give as offerings. It was just as helpful to have the full translation; perhaps obviously, Ancient Egyptian grammar does not correspond smoothly to English grammar, and so reading the transliteration is slow and somewhat confusing. The translation is much more palatable.

I do not have much in the way of criticisms for this work, except for one issue. In a few places in the introduction, the author has a tendency to suggest that polytheistic religions are "less evolved" than monotheistic religions (read: Christianity), and that the Egyptian religion was impressive despite being polytheistic. That kind of condescension rubs me the wrong way, and it continues a racist, Western narrative that white monotheistic religion is superior to indigenous polytheistic beliefs.

All in all, I'm glad to be able to add this text to my library. It was instructive, and I think it has a lot to draw on for ritual and meditation purposes. If you are interested in Egyptian mythology or practice, the Book of the Dead is a cornerstone of our understanding of Ancient Egypt and their practices - you should definitely check it out, but prepare yourself for some dense content.

July 2nd, 2017

I'm staying the weekend at a gorgeous house (it actually belongs to my boss's family) which is totally Pagan aesthetic #goals, despite the fact that they're staunch Christians. I would love to have a place like this one day.

Over one of the doors is this saying:

Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin

This is an Irish phrase meaning, "There's no place like home". Literally it translates to "There's no hearth like your own hearth". Sounds like it could be a nice house blessing! 

Another blessing I found is the following; I wanted something that I could write on the subfloors of the houses we're building (everyone was invited to write down well-wishes for the families), but figuring out what to put proved to be a bit of a trick. The families are Christian, and I want to respect that, but I also wanted to be genuine about what I was writing. I think this (allegedly Celtic) blessing gets the best of both:

Bless this house and those within.

Bless our giving and receiving.

Bless our words and conversation.

Bless our hands and recreation.

Bless our sowing and our growing.

Bless our coming and our going.

Bless all who enter and depart.

Bless this house, your peace impart.

June 21st, 2017

Happy Litha, Midsummer, Summer Solstice, and whatever else you might like to call today! I have been very engaged in my summer internship, hence my lack of posts, but I did want to take this opportunity to recognize the shifting from the light to the dark half of the year. My internship has revolved around rebuilding homes which were destroyed last year in a flood, and this week in particular has really represented a culmination of energy as walls and roofs have been raised.

My fellow interns and I drove past a deer this evening, which stood and stared through the car window for several minutes. It did not occur to me at the time that it was the solstice, but in retrospect, it feels like a good omen.

May the summer treat you kindly. May the warm rays of the sun uplift your spirits, even as the days begin their slow descent towards the equinox. Let the fields and all your labors be bountiful, act with love in your heart, and be Merry Met in the season to come.

May 20th, 2017

Fairies

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!

It's not so very, very far away;

You pass the gardner's shed and you just keep straight ahead --

I do so hope they've really come to stay.

There's a little wood, with moss in it and beetles,

And a little stream that quietly runs through;

You wouldn't think they'd dare to come merrymaking there -- 

Well, they do.

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!

They often have a dance on summer nights;

The butterflies and bees make a lovely little breeze,

And the rabbits stand about and hold the lights.

Did you know that they could sit upon the moonbeams

And pick a little star to make a fan,

And dance away up there in the middle of the air? 

Well, they can.

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!

You cannot think how beautiful they are;

They all stand up and sing when the Fairy Queen and King

Come gently floating down upon their car.

The King is very proud and very handsome;

The Queen--now can you guess who that could be

(She's a little girl all day, but at night she steals away)?

Well -- it's Me!

-Rose Fyleman