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.

Other Happenings

I've seen a few hummingbirds of late, which has been nice.

There's one in this image directly above and to the right of the flower pot, but they mostly look like a greenish blur because of how fast they were moving. This was taken looking out the window at my girlfriend's house. I also saw another while I was at my grandparents'.

Little hummingbirds always help me feel more connected with the universe, and with deity.

You may recall the prickly pear cactus I acquired a few months ago. I meant to re-pot it as soon as I got it home, but due to circumstance, that didn't happen. I did manage to get it into a new pot today, however, and I hope it will be happy there. I don't exactly have a green thumb, but I looked up what they're supposed to need, so I've got my fingers crossed that it will be okay.

Fairy Fest Goodies

I got lots of neat things at the Fairy Festival this weekend.

Among the miscellaneous items I bought were some pieces of artwork, all of them by this artist. I'd seen the original of the mermaid painting on the right at an art fair in Iowa and loved it. When I saw she had little prints available, I had to pick one up. I also got some postcards to give to my girlfriend and friends at school. Then I found a dragon's blood soap, which is great, seeing as I can't burn the incense, some sachets to hold crystals, and a pentacle charm which I'm actually going to use in a Night Vale Girl Scouts cosplay.

In terms of crystals - because I just had to get some - I got two pieces of Sunstone, a Labradorite sphere, a Fluorite point, tumbled Rhodonite and Moonstone, Andara Crystal Glass (which was actually a gift from a man advertising his service as an energy worker), and a Citrine point.

Finally, I picked up this little hummingbird pin. The hummingbird is actually velcroed to the pin, so it can be swapped out with other accessories, or attached to headbands, clips, etc. It's so cute, and it's my favorite color, so I had to grab it.

Posts on the stones are upcoming. In the meantime, hope you're all enjoying your summer!

January 18th, 2016

I'm back at school for the spring semester, and I decided that since we had today off, I would try reading some books I had yet to get to. I started working my way through Celtic Lore, but it was pretty dense, so I switched over to Zen. It was quite a bit shorter than the other one, but also a lot more informative than I had supposed.

Zen was something I picked up from the Goodwill here in town last fall. I have forayed a little bit into Buddhism, and actually had the opportunity one afternoon to learn some Zen meditation techniques from a monk while I was in Japan. As such, I was interested in learning more about it, and actually found this to be a reasonably comprehensive introduction. 

Title: Zen: An ancient path to enlightenment for modern lives

Author: Peter Oldmeadow

Copyright 2001

Peter Oldmeadow is a Sanskrit lecturer at the University of Sydney, and when this book was published, had over thirty years' experience in Buddhist theory and practice. I found his writing style to be very approachable, and the book clarified what I felt to be several of the more challenging concepts.

The book starts with the history of Buddhism in India, as well as the Buddhist understanding of suffering and how it relates to the Eight-Fold Path. It then segues into the development of different schools of Buddhism, and describes how Zen came about in East Asia. Oldmeadow traces Zen through China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as how Zen influenced practices such as calligraphy and the tea ceremony. 

Oldmeadow then discusses some of the primary meditation styles in Zen Buddhism, and how the practice was spread to the Western hemisphere.

When I picked this up, I had been expecting that this would be more of a "how to" kind of a book. What I found is that it's more of a summary of the history of Buddhism, and how and why the Zen tradition developed. While it was not exactly what I was anticipating, it was a very interesting read, and in spite of its length (73 pages), I felt like I learned a lot from it. That being said, it does strike me as being more of an introductory work. If you are already very versed in the history of the spread of Buddhism, this may not tell you much you don't already know. 

In short, if you would like to learn about the basics of Buddhist metaphysics and how Zen Buddhism developed, I would recommend checking out this book. If you're hoping for something more advanced, or strictly covering how to practice any given branch of Buddhism, this may not be quite what you're looking for.

Stare deep into the world before you as if it were

the void: innumerable holy ghosts, bhuddies,

and savior gods there hide, smiling. All the

atoms emitting light inside wavehood, there is

no personal separation of any of it. A Hummingbird

can come into a house and a hawk will not: so rest

and be assured. While looking for the light, you may suddenly be devoured by the darkness

and find the true light.

- Jack Kerouac, 1959

January 11th, 2016

I won't be home for Imbolc, but I decided yesterday that I wanted to update my altar anyway, so that the energy would be more in tune with the current season. It was still set up for Lughnasadh when I got back in December.

I put a bunch of my herb jars in the center to charge (mint, rose petals, lavender, and yarrow), and then decorated with flowers and candles. I'm also using some pillow cases on top of my altar cloth; they're mostly plain white, but my great grandmother embroidered hummingbirds with flowers along the edges. 

My usual BOS is at school, so in its place, I have a small notebook sitting out on the left side which has sabbat and esbat rituals copied in it. 

I always feel like Imbolc is hard to decorate for, but I actually rather like how this is looking. As always, I'd be happy to hear from any of my readers regarding suggestions for amendments to my 

January 9th, 2016

My friend, Destiny, made me this picture a few months back, but I never got around to posting it. She thought I could use another hummingbird in my life, and I'm inclined to agree:

September 6th, 2015

I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos on my day off, and also did quite a bit of work on my "Scrapbook of Shadows". Here's what I was working on.

I added some more decor to my Celtic tree month pages. We have some holly trees by my residence hall, so I picked one up and pressed it. The other lead is a piece of ivy from our garden at home. I'd like to add more to this still, but this is what I've got at the moment.

Here's the last Celtic tree month page. It definitely needs some plant samples, so I'll have to either find or draw some sometime. The right page is adorned with packaging from a bar of soap I got at Fairy Fest a few years ago. I added a tiny feather I found coming back from brunch this morning, and also wrote in a summary of how to make a magickal hand wash as demonstrated by Ashera Star Goddess on YouTube.

I have these pages mostly covered up because a lot of the information is pretty personal to me (not that you could read it, anyway, as blurrily as my laptop took these photos), but these pages were about my power animal, or patronus, the Hummingbird. 

Here's a detail of the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird I drew in the corner. 

I also put up another video today, talking about how I got into the Craft. If you're interested, a lot of it is things I haven't talked about much on here. 

August 6th, 2015

It's been a pretty productive day today. I got quite a bit of cleaning done, first with a load of laundry, and then by pulling out the bottom drawers of my dresser and removing all the accumulated junk. While I was at it, I found my little pewter hummingbird stone which I'd never been able to locate after it fell back there a year or two ago.

I have it sitting as part of a miniature shrine to the element Air on top of my dresser. With it is a yellow candle and matching knit bunny, as well as a replica arrowhead and a watercolor painting of an owl I did. I have similar mini shrines for the other elements as well. This one probably gets the most use, since I stand in front of it to do my hair.

The World of Faeries Festival 2015

The Fairy Fest was simply amazing this year! The theme was The Eleventh Hour: A Journey Through Time, so of course I wore an updated version of my steampunk fairy costume, while Destiny went with a lovely red and blue outfit of her own.

(That's me on the right.)

Destiny borrowed a pentacle necklace of mine until she could buy her own.

We heard fantastic music from award-winning Native American flutist, Randy Granger (pictured), a Japanese Taiko drumming group, the band Patchouli, the "Harp Twins" who do contemporary music played on harps, and more.

There's always so many interesting characters...

...and fantastic creatures...

...and if one looks carefully in the fairy garden...

...one might spot a little hummingbird up in a tree!

Destiny bought herself several things, including these stones:

From left to right, these are Labradorite, Rose Quartz, and Citrine.

I also bought myself many exciting things, but those will get their own post. 

The weather could not have been better (except for a thirty-second downpour Sunday afternoon), and we met up with many delightfully Pagan vendors, some of whom we already knew and some of whom were new this year. All in all, another amazing weekend!

February 5th, 2015

I totally missed my Imbolc post. That may have something to do with the fact that I've basically been doing nothing but continuous schoolwork for the last 72 hours and never even had the chance to celebrate. Perhaps I will be able to tonight, depending on how late my roommate is out. I missed Esbat, too, for the same reason, but the moon was absolutely lovely tonight. The sad camera in my phone utterly failed to capture a photo, but it was large and honey-yellow and just sort of hanging in the air while I spent my evening running across campus-town.

In the meantime, I'll leave you all with this video. It's of a sleepy little Peruvian hummingbird snoring. (FYI, it's very high pitched, if those sorts of noises are hard for you to listen to.)

September 7th, 2014

Moving to college is a little more hectic than one might immediately assume it would be. I've just wrapped up a big architecture project, and am trying to give myself the day just to relax as a result. It occurred to me that this was a perfect opportunity to fill my readers in!

(Actually, I wanted to post yesterday, because my girlfriend informed me it was National Hummingbird Day, but got distracted by the aforementioned project.)

What with tomorrow being Esbat, I've been working to get things in order for a nice first ritual here at school. There's a really nice wooded patch just outside my residence hall, and I think I can go out there and perhaps borrow a tree stump to set up my travel altar on. It's also supposed to be a Supermoon tomorrow, so the view should be good!

I've been rather cautious about setting up anything too overtly Pagan in my room (no need to freak out my roommate), but I do have sort of a casual altar established on my dresser, next to the microwave. Is it lacking a certain mystic quality? Probably. But it's functional.

I have an electric tea light in a paper lantern (candles and incense are both prohibited), a My Neighbor Totoro washcloth serving as an altar cloth (I bought it in Japan, and let's be honest - that's a beautiful movie), a card with a fairy print on it, some silk flowers, and my chalice. All the rest of my goodies are carefully packed in a desk drawer where I can grab them when I need them. Did I bring my entire crystal collection? You better believe it. 

I've developed a bit of a headache, so I may do a crystal layout and try some meditation this afternoon. There's free canoe rentals over at the boat docks as well, if I can successfully get myself out the door.

August 15th, 2014

I'm all moved in to college, which is kind of a crazy thought, really. I've had very little opportunity to get more than the dimmest outline of an altar set up, and I may leave it that way and just get other things from my travel altar out when I need them.

On the other side of it, this campus could not be more alive with wildlife. There is an abundance of squirrels, rabbits, deer, lizards, birds, and other critters - dad even saw a hummingbird yesterday! Moreover, there's a large wooded area in the middle of campus, lots of flowers, a lake, and access to some of the largest national forests in the region.

Today I had the chance to do some volunteer trail work at Giant City State Park, so called for its sweeping ravines that look like a giant's city streets. One group layed pipe and gravel, others fixed signs, and we cut excess brush back from the trail edges. 

August 4th, 2014

Happy belated Lammas to everybody! Why didn't I post sooner? I'll tell you why! Because the first weekend of August just passed, and you know what that means. Yes! It means that I just spent all weekend at the local World of Faeries Festival!
Once again, it was an amazing experience. There are few things more novel to a Pagan living in a Christian household than getting out for a weekend to mingle at a predominantly Pagan-run event. For the 10th anniversary of the Faery Fest, the theme was Year of the Dragon. There was two days of great music (if you've never heard of Randy Granger or Frenchy and the Punk, check them out), a quest game for the children, bubbles, sword fighting, fresh air, and sun. I got a complimentary wholeness blessing, and even saw a hummingbird winging its way over the flower garden. As per my usual, I bought a bunch of new accessories and several new stones, but before I get into posting about those, I want to share some pictures.

Welcome!

Me in my steampunk Time Faery costume, holding an adorable little woodsprite critter made by the esteemed Dragon Lady. I, unfortunately, did not have the means to pay the adoption fee, but if you'd like to see more of her work, check it out here.

Water Faery.

Statue Lady.

Dragon ice cream.

One of the vendors with Tommy, the Peregrine Falcon.

The fairgrounds.

Bird Man dances.

Friends appear in unexpected places.

A mermaid!

Additionally, it seems only fair to help spread the word about some of the wonderful vendors. Besides the Dragon Lady, whose work is linked up above, I got the business cards of several other people. Not all of them are necessarily Pagan, but they do high-quality, handmade work.

• Eliza C. Stockfisch: watercolor and digital artist, custom masks, and crafts. www.etsy.com/shop/eis4artist
• Annette Powell: fairy houses and gardens. etsy.com/shop/fairyellagarden
• Christina Loraine: paintings, art, and magnets (animals and dreamscapes). etsy.com/shop/ChristinaLoraineART
• Catherine B. Torres: Goddess gowns, vests, corsets, and soy meditation candles. swsilverlark@gmail.com
• Crystal River Gifts: crystals, jewelry, oil, candles, incense, etc. 1 (244) 535-8708
• Joe and Lisa Rothengass: wire wrapped and beaded jewelry, stones and crystals, stone readings. www.maplehousearts.com

February 26th, 2013

My grandma and uncle are visiting my family this week - we didn't get to see them at Christmas/Yule, so it'll be great to have them. In addition, I got my ACT results today, and I got a 33 as my composite score! I had gotten a 32 on the practice version, and knew I wanted to get that score or better on the actual test. To achieve that goal, I studied, of course, and also empowered my emerald chunk for memory and intelligence. It seems to have been effective - I went up in all areas!

Finally, I'd like to share a picture of the necklace and Hummingbird stone I got while at the mall the other day:

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(

January 26th, 2013

Today is Esbat, isn't it? I just realized that. After six hours of building the set for our school musical, I spent most of my afternoon relaxing in bed, reading a collection of short stories from the library about the Green Man and other nature spirits. I'll be having dinner soon, and I suppose I'll do a nice little ritual for Esbat after that.
I re-learned the lesson that one cannot trust everything one reads on the internet just now. I was looking for pictures of Bee Hummingbirds, because they're small and presumably cute, and I wanted to know what they look like. I came across this picture:

The associated website labelled it a "Bee Hummingbird", but my brother, who is well on his way to becoming a zoologist, told me to look at the legs - they are much too long to be those of a Hummingbird. He identified it instead as a Cuban Tody. Bee Hummingbirds do live in Cuba; whoever took this picture simply mislabelled the local wildlife. Instead, Bee-birds look more like this:

Aren't they sweet? I figured that if I want to consider the Hummingbird my patronus animal, I should probably know more about their corporeal counterparts!