Welcome

Merry Meet, all. Hummingbird, here. 21-year-old eclectic Pagan and witch who works primarily in crystal, warding, and energy magicks. Asexual, with a wonderful girlfriend. I am just beginning to learn the path of Athena. Attending college with end goal of a degree in Interior Design.

This blog is a digitalized record of my life as a Pagan. It includes spells, charms, notes on the properties of various magickal items, and my own personal experiences with my practice. Sometimes I post multiple times a day, sometimes it's once a month.

All are welcome here. Please, make yourself at home, and let me know if I can help you with anything. )0(

Sunday

October 30th, 2016

Yesterday was a wonderful, busy day. After volunteering at Habitat for Humanity in the morning, I got changed and ready to go to SIPA's Samhain ritual. Tara met me outside my dorm around 2:45, and we drove over to Crab Orchard Campground for the event.



The ritual had originally been going to be at Devil's Kitchen Lake like Mabon, but apparently that area is now undergoing construction, so the parks department gave us the Crab Orchard spot instead. Quite honestly, it was probably a better site, anyway - for one thing, the peninsula was huge, and we had the whole thing to ourselves. There was no designated shelter, which, granted, would have been less fun had it been raining like last year, but fortunately, the weather was perfect. The sky was clear, and it was 80 degrees in the afternoon.


I explored the site a bit, and found this strawberry plant growing a baby strawberry! It seemed a little late in the season, but as warm as it was, I suppose the plants didn't mind.



Because the area was so large, we had a lot of options for where we held ritual. Tara originally wanted to use this spot, right on the lake, which had a cool, star-shaped tree stump in the ground. However, it was quite windy, and there was some concern about whether or not things would blow over, so she decided instead to use an area further back in the trees, but which still had a view of the lake.


As always, there was a potluck. I brought soda, since there hadn't been enough drinks at the last ritual, and enjoyed pizza, vegetables, pasta, cupcakes, and cookies. There was also a home-grown watermelon which I had some of later - very tasty - and apple cider.


Look at these cool Samhain cupcakes! They were filled with raspberry sauce, too, mmmm....


I hadn't been expecting to get to use my construction skills at all at the ritual, but as it would turn out, there were some pieces to construct for the Circle setup. Sean designed these elemental doorways, built out of 2x2s and fabric, which we put together using his battery-powered staple gun. This was Air, in the East.


A close-up of the elemental altar beyond the Air doorway; people had the opportunity to banish from their lives anything relating to the element Air by writing it down and then tying the paper to the wreath like a dreamcatcher.


The Fire doorway; problems relating to the element Fire were written down and the papers burned in the cauldron.


The Water doorway; problems relating to the element Water were written down and drowned in the water inside the vase.


The Earth doorway; problems relating to the element Earth were buried in the tray of potting soil.

There was also a central bonfire for burning any problems related to Spirit, or to issues not clearly covered by one of the other elements.


These were the items I brought for the ancestor altar; we've had some deaths in the family this year, so I had quite a bit more to bring than I did last Samhain.



We held the ritual after the sun went down. It was windy enough that it was impossible to keep the candles lit, but I saw a shooting star right after everyone had finished honoring their ancestors, and it was a really good, contemplative ceremony. There were also some reporters from a local newspaper who came to talk and photograph, so I may be in the newspaper sometime this week!

Friday

October 28th, 2016

As a relatively difficult month wraps up, a lot of really good things have been happening. For starters, I carved a pumpkin!


The owl felt appropriately Pagan while remaining subtle. I'll be taking it to SIPA's Samhain ritual tomorrow, and I bought a red candle to go in it today, plus some soda for the ritual potluck.


I also "roasted" the pumpkin seeds in the microwave with some oil, salt, and garlic. That's how we always make them at home, and boy are they tasty!


Then today, I was in a play, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the style of Shakespeare. While I was walking over for the performance, I saw the geology club was having a rock sale - I got this beautiful Quartz cluster for only $1. It was sold as plain Clear Quartz, but the yellowish tone makes me wonder if it could be Tangerine Quartz or maybe even natural Citrine. I'll have to ask around.

I'm really looking forward to the ritual tomorrow evening; pictures to follow, as always.