August 8th, 2016

The World of Faeries Festival was this weekend! I was so excited to go; after a long, difficult summer of family crises, I was really looking forward to some down time out in the open air with magical people and surroundings. The theme this year was Seasons of the Faeries. Participating children got a calendar, and then could go to each of the twelve month fairies (I was February) to play a game and get a birthstone sticker for the corresponding calendar page.

Me as Amethyst, the February fairy.

Destiny, the Season Changer fairy.

Hazelnut as Corra, the November fairy (she also did a lot of the season changing, as Destiny wasn't feeling the best).

The Blue Rose Mermaid.

One of the vendors' daughters with Natsu, the iguana dragon (check out her mother's work here).

Raincloud made it out with her boyfriend - I haven't seen her in forever!

There were some funny little field mice scurrying around the park.

Kaladin, the stilt walker.

The Statue Lady.

Bubbles...!

A vendor, Sara, working on a fantastic watercolor painting (view and purchase her art here).

Fairy Godmother Rose with her right-hand gal.

The river - we had perfect weather. Warm, but with a steady breeze and some cloud cover.

After the fair closed last night, the cast went out to dinner at a local buffet (photo credit to Hazelnut).

And last but not least, a group photo of a bunch of the cast (photo credit to photographer Mike Smith).

I met some cool new people and got to reconnect with a lot of old friends, which made me happy. I also did lots of shopping, so posts on that are upcoming. I'm very glad I got to go, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

May 1st, 2016

A very happy Beltane to everyone! I have a lot going on today, including practicing some presentations and set strike for the last performance of the season, but I'm also going to spend part of my afternoon at a Beltane ritual! It takes me back to the first public ritual I ever attended, which must have been Beltane of 2011. I went with Hazelnut and Raincloud, and we didn't quite know what to expect, but we had a blast. Today I'll be out with SIPA, and might even get to dance my first maypole.

I hope all your festivities go wonderfully!

August 10th, 2015

What a fun afternoon! After I got off work, both Raincloud and Destiny were able to come over for a nice little luncheon. We were hoping Hazelnut would also be able to make it, but regrettably, she didn't have transportation.

Photo by Raincloud
From the left: Destiny, Raincloud, Hummingbird

Raincloud was kind enough to give us both little baggies of Hyssop, an herb which she recently acquired. It's useful both for purification and for protection, so I'm sure it'll get plenty of use. I'm not allowed to burn things at home, but perhaps I can make some sort of infusion and put it in a spray bottle.

We ate, and then we sat on my bed and just talked for several hours. It was so nice to get all caught up and relax with my fellow Pagan friends. While we were talking, I set up a little crystal grid on the blanket, like so:

I set my seven Amethyst points all facing outwards towards us with my Spirit Quartz in the middle. We'd been discussing some pretty heavy stuff, so I felt like we could all use Amethyst's calming, soothing influence, and the Spirit Quartz is great for encouraging harmony between members of a group, which also seemed appropriate. It was my first time working with these stones, and I felt like it was a very powerful grid. I know I could definitely feel the energy radiating off of them. 

It's been so long since I've had a big group of Pagan friends I could sit and just talk with, and it was great to be able to do that again. I know I'm really going to miss them when I leave for school next week, but there's always Facebook and Skype. Maybe we can try to do a group ritual over the internet - that would be interesting. Does anyone have any experience with that sort of thing?

January 7th, 2014

Hazelnut gave me a copy of this book as a Yule gift, and I thought I might review it here for anyone interested in learning more about the fairy peoples. You may recognize the format if you've seen other books by the same publisher, such as The Crystal Bible.

Title: The Fairy Bible
Author: Teresa Moorey
Date of Publication: July 1, 2008

I was impressed in general by the text's content; many similar books that I've read in the past just invent names of fairy species that aren't backed by any sort of history or lore. Granted, many of the texts I've read are intended for younger audiences, but even so. All entries in this book introduce the original mythology for the spirits, and some also give examples of how they have been reimagined in pop culture.

The book's categories are as follows: Water, Air, Fire, Earth, House, Flower, Tree, and Weather. Each category then has the related spirits, as well as information at the end of each section on meditations that can be done to contact these fairies. Most of them also have suggestions for the
 kinds of altars that could be established to attract the type of spirit in question, as well as to make your living space a more welcoming environment for them.

Most of The Fairy Bible's entries come from the folklore of Western Europe,

particularly the British Isles, and I was left feeling like the inhabitants of other cultures were rather under-represented. That being said, the book does incorporate entries for djinn, domovoiye, a few Native American entities, and a Japanese water spirit, so it did make some level of effort.

Still, some of what the author considered suitable content was questionable to me. For example, the book contained sections on several deities, including Pan, Brighid, Hermes, and others. While I certainly don't object to learning more about these Powers in general, it seems to me that it might offend said god/desses to be included in a book regarding Fey. This is not to say that Fey are lesser Powers - many of them certainly possess astounding capabilities - but it seems odd to me that deities which are never portrayed as fairies in their myths are then included in the book.

Not only that, but famous fairy entities that one would expect to see in a book like this - for instance, the illustrious Queen Mab - were hardly mentioned at all.

All in all, I thought it was a reasonably informative book, and most of its meditations and other exercises were well-composed, but buyers should be aware that some of the content is a little watered down, and parts of it come across as more of a "how-to-Pagan" than a strictly-informative guide to the fairy realms. Ultimately, know what you're buying. There definitely is quality information in it, but in places it takes a bit of digging.

I would call it, "fairies for beginners", and not, "the definitive guide" as the cover suggests.

January 6th, 2014

Hey there, internet. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to A) remember that I have a blog and B) to remember to actually post things on it. Another one is to start keeping a dream diary again - so far so good on that one.

In any case, I do have some news! Quite a bit of news, actually. Most excitingly, I got together with Hazelnut last Saturday for the first time since September. We exchanged Yule gifts - she gave me a copy of The Fairy Bible (review to follow), and then we went over to Gypsy Haven. They've done so much with the place since I was there last, and the energy feels fantastic. While I could easily have emptied my bank account in there, I only made one purchase, albeit a significant one. The pendant, more or less identical to the one pictured, features a lemniscate (the infinity symbol) set with stones coordinating to the seven major chakras. Insofar as I can tell, the stones in descending order are Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Aventurine, Tiger's Eye, and two kinds of Agate, but those are my guesses only; the sites selling these over the web are incredibly unspecific. 

At any rate, I love it because the lemniscate is a symbol of neurodivergence, as well as an inside joke with my girlfriend. I love gemstones, I need more chakra-related jewelry, and it's also really satisfying to rub the smooth texture of the stones.

We hung out and talked at the store for a while with the owners, and then we all went over to the local drum circle. It was so nice to be back - I hadn't been in a year, at least, and everyone was so friendly, as always. It's truly a great opportunity to recharge my energy. One woman had a rain drum and thunder sticks that her husband had made her, so we closed the evening with a rainstorm drum session, and it was totally amazing. 

In conclusion, I really need to get back to doing more witchy things. I've missed this.

July 11th, 2014

A couple of months ago, Hazelnut took me to a new metaphysical shop near her house called Gypsy Haven. It's an amazing place, one which I definitely plan to frequent, and also a huge purveyor of crystals. There was too much variety almost to choose from, but I settled on a piece of Black Onyx since I didn't happen to have any yet. Having had some free time today (finally), I felt it prudent to actually get its properties researched and posted.

Onyx

Physical Characteristics: Onyx comes in almost all colors, though black and white are the most well-publicized. The red variety, depending on its composition, is either Sard or Sardonyx.

In Nature: This stone forms from bands of chalcedony in alternating colors and is cryptocrystalline, meaning that its crystal structure is so fine that it is difficult to see, even under a microscope. It forms in vesicles of lava, and consists of fine intergrowths of Quartz and Moganite.

Chemical Composition: SiO2

Mohs Scale Hardness: 7 (middle)

Can be Found: Brazil, Uruguay, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Hawaii, Madagascar

Healing Properties*: Onyx's healing powers are effective but slow. To combat epilepsy, eye and ear problems, unbalanced chakras, and the like, wear Onyx for at least two weeks and up to a couple of months. Cleanse the stone weekly when used in this way. The stone is especially renown for its ability to heal skin ailments. For cases of sunburn, rash, and other topical conditions, use Onyx water (i.e. water that has held an Onyx for a number of hours) to wash the afflicted area throughout the day.

Magickal Properties: According to Greek and Roman legend, Cupid wandered past the sleeping Venus one afternoon, and, feeling mischievous, used his arrowhead to cut the goddess' fingernails. When the clippings fell to the sand, the Fates turned them into the first Onyx so as to let no part of the immortal perish. The name "Onyx" comes from "onux", the Greek word for "fingernail". This legend ties the stone to two powerful deities of love, and yet modern lore states that Onyx will actually reduce sexual desire. Scott Cunningham reconciles this opposition in his Crystal, Gems, & Metal Magic when he points out that as a protective stone, Onyx can be used both ways: to suppress desire when sex could be considered a health risk or to stimulate it by protecting life and the impetus thereof. That aside, Onyx will grant both physical and mental strength and is an aide for releasing attachments to negative people, places, memories, etc. In tandem with Amethyst, the stone is a tool for overcoming alcoholism and encouraging sobriety. Above all, Onyx is famed for its protective qualities, whether that entails keeping negative people out of one's life or warding off danger while driving through a dangerous neighborhood. By virtue of its banishing negativity, the stone is a confidence booster as well as a stress reliever. Use the stone in banishing rituals, or as a tool of divination; in particular, it is an excellent scrying stone. Other magickal uses include psychic contact with the deceased, mediumship, and past-life regression. In Chinese Feng Shui, the color black is associated with wealth and wisdom; left in an office, Onyx will assist its bearer in making wise business choices. Onyx is noted for its tendency to store the energies of its owner. This is a good thing for its bearer, as it creates a close working tie with the stone, but should one receive Onyx as a gift, be sure to thoroughly cleanse the stone of its old energy.

Chakra Association: First (Root) Chakra. Also the Second (Sacral) and Sixth (Third Eye).

Element: Fire

Energy: Projective

Planetary Association: Mars

*Magickal healing should never take the place of seeing a doctor and following any recommended prescriptions, actions, or other advice. Magick works best in tandem with physical efforts, anyway, so don't skimp on those check-ups!

August 5th, 2013

Whoo hoo! The World of Faeries Festival was AWESOME!
I went over to Hazelnut’s house on Friday night. We were up Saturday morning at 6:30 to get into costume and buy our lunch for the day at Subway. Since we were volunteering, we had to be at the festival grounds by 8:30; she and I helped set things up and got an early look around at the vendors.

Here's me as a Time Faery named Amser.

And here's Hazelnut as a Fox Faery named Corra.

The grounds were beautiful - we had perfect weather both Saturday and Sunday. It was warm but not hot, and there was always a gentle breeze going.

New this year to the Fest was this gorgeous Andalusian Unicorn. His rider performed a bit of dressage, and all the little fairy girls and boys got to pet his (very soft) nose.

There were a lot of other great costumes, including Nautica, the Water Faery.

There was also the ever-popular "statue lady" and her pet dove, Noah.

Then, completely by surprise, we ran into Raincloud and her recently acquired boyfriend, Fox. It was wonderful to see them again!

In addition to all the wonderful people, the Faery Fest always includes wonderful things to purchase. I spent a boatload of cash, but I haven't even the tiniest of regrets. What all did I get? Let us see...

 

The final count includes:

• Beaded pentacle necklace
• Beaded Goddess necklace
• Tumbled Howlite
• Tumbled Angelite
• Tumbled Celestite
• Tumbled Lapis Lazuli
• Tumbled Lepidolite
• Tumbled Apache Tear
• Tumbled Fairy Cross
• Tumbled Jade
• Tumbled Serpentine, carved with a Goddess figure
• De-Stress medicine pouch including seven additional stones
• Clock and key necklace
• Fairy dust necklace
• Nectarine-Guava lip balm
• Spearmint-Eucalyptus soap
• Mini steampunk top hat (see following picture)
• Celtic cross earrings and matching Snowflake Obsidian necklace (not pictured)

See? It has little elastic bands on the bottom for sliding onto headbands.

My legs will be stiff for a week, but I couldn't have had more fun with my friend. Can't wait for next year!

July 20th, 2013

In the midst of all the things I've had going on, I have managed to maintain some semblance of a social life. Hazelnut is coming to sleep over tonight (whoo hoo!), and I'm sure we will have many exciting discussions on metaphysical topics. I know she recently learned some new things about Therians she wanted to share with me. I haven't gotten to see her in weeks, so I'm really looking forward to it!
Also, it's just a couple of weeks until this year's World of Faeries festival! The Faery Fest is steampunk-themed this year, so I put together a Time Faery costume, complete with watches, a Time-Turner (complements of Harry Potter), and eventually a couple of my dad's pocket watches.

This is just a preliminary picture; adjustments to the costume will still be made. You cannot see them in this image, but I am wearing pale green faery wings in the back.

February 24th, 2013

I had a fabulous time at Hazelnut's birthday party yesterday - after a mind-numbing two hours doing a mandatory charity walk for National Honors Society (couldn't we have done something more useful to help people?) she picked me up and we went with her other Pagan friend, Haley, to the mall to do a bit of shopping. Hazelnut got a bunch of cool Hunger Games memorabilia on clearance, Haley found an adorable stuffed dolphin, and I got a Goddess necklace and Hummingbird worry stone from a store selling Native American crafts.

Here's Hazelnut and Haley trying on hats in an anime/movie store.

Drinking bubble tea. Mmm....

One of my presents to Taylor - a Triple Goddess Washcloth that I knitted. I also took a tiny wooden treasure chest and painted elementals all over it for her. It was really cool, but I forgot to take pictures - I'll have to do that next time I'm at her house.

Happy birthday, Hazelnut, and brightest blessings to you and yours! )O(

February 18th, 2013

A very happy early birthday to my friend Hazelnut! I've been working on some (hopefully) cool presents for her, but as per last year, I'll have to wait until after her party to post pictures - don't want her coming on here and finding out what they are early!
Since today is President's Day, I've been off from school and am just relaxing at home. I spent most of the morning reading, and I painted some pictures as well. I have to work this evening, but on the whole its been nice to just reconnect with my creative side. My brother is feverishly preparing for spring, reading and rereading seed catalogues, looking for interesting vegetables to grow in our garden. Everywhere, the snow is melting and the animals are coming back out. Even so, we're supposed to have another winter storm coming thorough here in the next couple of days. Spring is on its way, but it sure isn't going to get here without a fight!
Speaking of spring, I don't think I ever shared pictures from my Imbolc altar.

I actually really like how this altar came out - I think I finally got the right balance of color!

December 5th, 2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Yuletide...
On Sunday, my family went over to our local Home Depot to get a live Christmas tree for this year. It's an uber-fresh fir (a frasier, maybe?), and it smells like pine sap and oranges. Good stuff. We had to spend forever looking for one, though, since it seems everyone had taken advantage of the nice weather and had bought their trees before us! When we got home, I set up my plastic Yule tree in my room and decorated it (I forgot to take pictures though. Oops.), and also set up my Yule altar. Here's a general picture:

And here is a close-up of the middle. I have some great new items on here this year. The four red candle holders I'm using for my elemental candles were actually a gift to my dad from one of his Indian co-workers. He didn't have a use for them, so he gave them to me. These candle holders were designed as a decoration for Diwali, which I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) is sort of a Hindu equivalent to Imbolc, a Festival of Lights. I also have, holding my center Spirit candle, an adorable ceramic bowl my friend Steph made for me in her Spanish class. It's got a gold pentacle painted on both sides, and here you can just see the little green Hummingbird she made to sit on top of it! Over the summer, Hazelnut and I scored a box of holiday decorations at a garage sale - the box was full of all kinds of goodies that we split between us, this silver snowflake being one of the things I got.

This is the left side of my altar (sorry it's so dark). You can see some greenery, a gourd that I'm still drying, lots of pinecones, etc.

And this is the right side of my altar, with more greenery and my cauldron, which has a red votive for the Sun King in it.

Have a wonderful evening, everybody, and brightest blessings in this season of joy!

September 15th, 2012

It's a beautiful Saturday! I had set-build for the fall play until noon, but after that I got outside for a while and re-colored the deck for my dad. I also saw that woodchuck again; he's been poking into our gardens recently, eating our plants. Anyone have suggestions for keeping woodchucks out of a garden?

~~~~~~~~~~

Mabon, of course, is next Saturday, and to get in the Sabbat mood I'm still looking for interesting activities to do. Here are some that I've come across on the vast expanse of the world-wide-web:

• If you follow a Druidic tradition, consider cutting willow wands at this time.
• Apples can be left on grave sites and/or burial cairns as a token of honor and blessing.
• Take a walk in the forest to gather dried seed pods and other organic materials for decoration.
• If you grew fruits or vegetables over the summer, pick a piece of high-quality produce and return it to the land with prayers of Thanksgiving.
• In a meditation, offer thanks to each direction - North for finances, the home, and health, East for gifts of knowledge, South for a career and hobbies, West for relationships, and Spirit for spiritual insight.
• Plan a feast using the produce of the season - squash, apples, corn, bread, and cider. 
• For a protective charm, string Hazelnuts on a red thread and empower.
• Make a wreath out of grapevine, wrap with gold ribbon to bring in the God's energy, and add any desired herbs and seasonal flowers.
• Visit an apple orchard, pick grapes, or harvest pumpkins.
• Make rattles out of dried gourds.

Don't forget the "mundane" stuff, either - just because a tradition doesn't take place in a circle doesn't mean that it doesn't have its own magick.

• Fix up anything in the house that needs to be mended before winter.
• Take a look at family scrapbooks and pictures, and remember loved ones, both living and passed.
• Fill up your bird-feeder, and put some of that dried corn out for the wildlife.
• Consider what you can do to reduce your ecological footprint. Can you use less water or electricity? Recycle more?

September 10th, 2012

I saw this earlier and it made me smile.

Hazelnut and I went to Styx & Stonez, a local metaphysical store, on Saturday. She got two new CDs, a piece of quartz, Scott Cunningham's Wicca, and a dozen small taper candles. She also got me a black taper, since I didn't have any. It's a beautiful store with practically one-stop-shopping for most typical metaphysical supplies. 

I've also been working my way through Teen Psychic, by Julie Tallard Johnson. It's full of great information, with personal and traditional stories from around the world. The book has sections on chakras, the Rainbow Body, spiritual empowerment, psychic protection, and psychic visions, among other things. It's great for anyone looking to develop their intuition, teen or not.

August 19th, 2012

So many exciting things to write about today. First of all, Hazelnut will be coming for a visit on Tuesday, before we're both back to school the day after. Summer went by so quickly.
I also started my first official job today, working as a page/book shelver at the local public library. I'm still not sure how that's going to play into my busy schedule, but it'll work out somehow.
On a more magickal note, I've been interested in the local flora ever since a presentation I saw last week on edible wild plants. Not only is harvesting wild edibles an interesting task from a culinary perspective, being able to identify natural growing herbs and flowers can be most useful in creating one's spells. It seems to me that it makes the most sense to work with what grows around you, naturally, rather than some dried flower shipped here from the other side of the planet. The energy just isn't the same. I'd like to get a real field guide, but in the meantime I'm making do with an app on my phone, called NatureGate. It allows you to look at a wild plant and choose from a wide variety of characteristics that describe it. Then, it calculates the potential species of what you're looking at, based on what you specify. It's a neat idea, but I'm not sure how useful it will be for me; it's based in Finland. Still, it says that many of the species are found worldwide, so we'll see.

August 6th, 2012

After leaving for Hazelnut's house Friday afternoon, I returned yesterday around 7:00. On Friday, I got acquainted with Hazelnut's new familiar, Gypsy, a black kitten who they found abandoned in a park. She's absolutely adorable, although her wee little claws sure are sharp! We also made meringue cookies, some of which we decided to take on Saturday to share. Saturday morning, we stopped at a Subway restaurant to get lunch, already in our costumes. The expression on the employee's face was priceless. Then we drove to the festival park, getting there early to sign in as volunteers.

There wasn't a great deal for us to help with, so instead, we spent the day exploring the vendor's tents, watching the Swords of Valour perform their sword fights - they're quite a hilarious group, actually - and spending a large portion of the money we brought. It will never cease to amaze me how blatantly Pagan the Faery Fest is: it seemed like everyone had a pentacle necklace, a Triple Goddess tattoo, a dancing Goddess necklace, or some combination of the three. And even those who didn't often reflected one or more of the themes in their wares.

We found a vendor from OakMoon Crafts selling beautiful sets of embroidered towels, wash cloths, Books of Shadows, shirts, and more, with the embroidery including fantasy dragons and faeries for non-Pagans, and pentacles, Sabbat imagery, and Triple Goddess signs for those who were. I was really tempted to take home a Lammas washcloth, but somehow I wasn't sure that my parents would approve. That was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, though. One huge tent had a vast variety of goods, ranging from fox and raccoon tails to delicate beaded jewelry. Hazelnut found a perfect ceramic cauldron for $3, as well as a lovely brass chalice. I got myself a pouch to hold stones and herbs in. Speaking of stones, there were at least three places specializing in semi-precious varieties, which I took a particular interest in exploring. I ended up with a piece of emerald calcite and fluorite. Also on day one, I purchased a small besom, as my previous one was... lacking, to put it kindly, as well as a snail-shell water vial. We chased giant bubbles around for a while, enjoyed some wonderful music, and were about to head around again when a huge storm blew in, closing the Fest a few hours early. In the meantime, Hazelnut and I headed back to her house, where we relaxed for the evening. Sunday morning, it was back to the Faery Fest. Because of Saturday's storm, some of the vendors had had trouble with their tents, so Hazelnut and I helped get things in order. We also gave Meadowynn and the Faery Queen a hand with the tea parties, where little faery girls could listen to stories, eat some cookies, and enjoy blueberry lemonade. Later, I had a chance to hit up some more stone vendors, and used the last of my cash on pieces of unakite, red jasper, malachite, sodalite, and bloodstone. Finally, may I just say that some of the costumes we saw were spectacular. There were whole hosts of faeries, Green Men, pirates, and other sprite-ly beings who had really gone all out.