Hiking with SIPA

There were only a few of us today, and it was a bit chillier than expected, but it was still a lot of fun to meet up with some friends from SIPA for an afternoon hike.

This area has loads of parks and trails and state reserves - I've been down here for school for three years and I've barely scratched the surface - so both of the places we went were new to me.

Our first stop was a local arboretum.

There were a lot of pine and cypress trees.

We saw some ducks and a turtle out on the pond.

Apparently, there is also a bamboo forest, which was beautiful, but which was rather surreal because of how out-of-place it felt. There were old sandstone blocks strewn about, perhaps from a long-since gone house, and little tunnels running through the thick bamboo grove.

We also went over to a second, smaller hiking trail which featured a creek (mostly dry at the moment), lots of shelf fungus, and birds including cardinals and a red-headed woodpecker.

October 23rd, 2015

It's gotten so beautiful down here. Between all the trees and the leaves and just the smell of autumn in the air, it couldn't be nicer.

I took this picture the other day - look how yellow the leaves are!

I also enjoy this decorative menhir garden; it sits on top of a hill in the middle of a wooded patch, and is just delightfully Pagan.

This was the trees this morning. Look at that early sun falling through them!

I'm headed to the store now to pick up some pumpkins. Samhain is definitely in the air.

October 15th, 2015

I meant to post these photos on Monday, but I ended up forgetting. My fall break was lovely, but not really enough of a break. I'm hoping I can relax some this weekend, but as many projects as I have right now, that could be kind of hit-or-miss. 

Anyway, on Monday, I went for a walk with my family through one of the local forest preserves where my brother volunteers. It was absolutely delightful weather, unseasonably warm for October.

The leaves are starting to change color. Most of them were turning yellow, although we also saw a few trees going red.

The view over the prairie.

The lake, shrinking as we head towards winter.

A sulphur butterfly sipping some clover nectar.

Purplish aster flowers.

A big toad.

A woolly bear caterpillar.

We also saw a young goldfinch sitting on a flower eating the seeds. The wind was really whipping her around, and finally the plant snapped back and tossed her off. She was just fine, but the rest of us were cracking up because she just went "boing" and flew like three feet. 

All in all, it made a really nice interlude before coming back to class. 

October 11th, 2015

What an idyllic October day! It was in the mid-70's here today, and I got to go apple picking with my family. We saw a coyote on the drive up to the orchard, as well as a pheasant, which I don't think I've ever seen in the wild before.

The orchard was beautiful, and the Empire apples had just come into season; they're our absolute favorite, and we got a lot of good ones. 

We also picked Jonafree, Liberty, Ultra Gold, and Cortland.

The orchard also has a pumpkin patch, as well as raspberries, melons, and more. In the past, they've had fantastic deals on their produce, but I think we came too early for that this year, so we didn't get a ton of gourds or anything, although dad did pick up a turban squash.

While we were there, I also found a perfectly straight apple-wood stick and a bunch of guinea fowl feathers. I'm going to turn them into a new wand!

SIPA Mabon 2015

Yesterday was so cool!!! I really had a blast, and definitely hope to participate in more of their rituals in the future!

I left to meet my ride at the Gaia House around 3:00. I brought my food, of course, some extra plates and utensils, and my ritual robes, as I was unsure if other people would be wearing them or not. While I was there, one of my friends (who also needed a ride) offered me some fresh honeycomb.

I've seen it on occasion packed in jars of honey, but never fresh out of the hive, and I'd certainly never tried it. I thought it was really good! The beeswax has kind of a toffee-like texture and it is edible, although you can also press it against the top of your mouth to squeeze out the honey and then discard the comb if you like. I just went ahead and ate it.

That white box is the Gaia House beehive. I'd noticed in the past that they seem to have an awful lot of bees flying around the place, but I had no idea it was because they actually cultivate a swarm. They have to take honeycomb out every so often, and I guess I showed up on the right day!

We left for the state park circa 3:30, and it took another half hour to get there. We three were the first to arrive, although the others started getting there soon after. This open area in the trees was where we did our ritual. I didn't take any pictures of the actual ritual setup as I wasn't sure it was allowed, but they did have a photographer there, so theoretically there will be pictures on the Facebook page eventually that I can share with you all. Apparently they're a little behind getting things uploaded.

This was the shelter they reserved for dinner (that's my stuff sitting on the table).

A tree across the road covered in ivy.

We set up a lot of tiki torches. One got planted at each of the Quarters and Cross-Quarters around our circle, and then we had a bunch more canisters but no posts for them, so we just set a bunch of canisters on the tables to keep the bugs away from the food.

One of the girls found this tiny peeper tree frog!

Dinner, or "what I took my first time at the buffet to leave food for everyone else before I got seconds and stuffed my face".

Their banner, which they hung on the side of the shelter.

I got talking with some really incredible people over dinner. There were people of all different paths present: Wiccan, shamanic, Norse, Celtic, eclectic, etc. I decided not to wear my robes, although I probably should have, as it got really cold once the sun went down, but I did wear my blue cape, which got a lot of compliments. 

Ritual started at 7:00. The produce items we brought all went into a big basket in the middle of the Circle, which we empowered to attract even more abundance, as we were donating the food to a food pantry, and wanted to encourage it to draw additional food to feed the hungry. I wish I would have known we were donating the food - I thought it was just for decorative purposes, so I only bought one pepper, but I would happily have bought more to donate. 

We also did some banishing, writing down things we wanted to be rid of in our lives and then dropping the papers in a small bonfire. Though the Samhain ritual next month will likely be intense, and will presumably involve getting rid of a lot of negativity, the idea was to take a first step here at Mabon to lighten that load. 

I helped out with the Cakes and Ale segment, distributing cups of cider while another girl passed out mini cornbread muffins. 

As we were standing there in the dark, we could hear a drumming group performing at a local festival, which as far as background noises go was not a bad one to have during ritual. We could also hear the insects, of course, some frogs, and at one point an owl hooted.

After the ritual was concluded, I stood just looking at the stars for a while. I don't know if the view was quite as incredible as it is in the Boundary Waters, but it was still really something. One gentleman there pointed out some constellations to me, and I actually looked up in time to see a shooting star go through Cassiopeia. A Mabon wish was really the perfect way to tie up the evening. 

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 16th, 2015

While looking for some other things upstairs, I stumbled across a little BOS my Aunt C gave me when I was six. It's a black volume which she personalized with inserts on the inside cover. When she gave it to me, I only vaguely understood the intended use, so mostly I scribbled all over it. The scribbles, however, were done in pencil, so I was able to erase them and now I can actually use it, after like 13 years. Perhaps there's some significance in that, now that I think about it.

This evening, I decorated the title page. I think I'll use it as more of a spell and prayer book, as opposed to a formal BOS with ritual instruction and the like. Maybe one day I'll even show it to my Aunt.

On the left page, two triquetras frame a pentacle. Below, an insert reads:

Presented to:

{Name}

From:

Aunt C

Yule of 2002

Across the bottom is a triple goddess symbol made of Celtic knotwork, with a Tree of Life in the center.

On the right page, the alchemical symbols for air, water, fire, and earth go across the top. In the middle, another inset reads:

Book of Shadows

What Witches Need 

In Order To Be Witches

{star}

On the bottom is a Green Man face. 

I chose to use the fuchsia as it matches the color of the names which I mostly erased from the photo above. 

Now I'm working on the next two pages, which will hold a sort of book blessing. I am interested in trying to make a sort of scrapbooked BOS (a Scrapbook of Shadows?) - I've seen some beautiful examples, but never really got around to doing anything to that effect.

August 8th, 2015

What an exciting day! I bought my first laptop this morning, and also restocked on poly pellets for my weighted blanket. I had requested Athena's help in finding the right laptop for the right price, and I was able to get exactly what I needed.

As a thank-you offering, I actually painted this picture frame last night and am adding it to her shrine (temple?) today.

As you can see, I still need to make a picture to go in the frame, but I was very pleased with how it came out. It shows many of Athena's symbols, including olive trees, an owl, a dove, a bowl of gems, Her golden helmet, spear, and Aegis shield, a snake, a spindle, and tiger lilies. I also have quite a bit of Turquoise, which is Her stone, so I plan to put a piece of that on my shrine as well.

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. 

July 21st, 2014

The last couple of days have been pure insanity, so allow me to catch you up on some of the Pagan things I've been doing.
On Thursday, my family went to a local Botanic Gardens for the afternoon. Besides lots of pretty flowers, I saw some things relevant to this particular blog:

This, if you can't read the sign, is Artemis Silver Sage. Sage is a wonderful herb of purification, and if you were doing a working with the Goddess Artemis or any of her sacred animals, it might be worth the research to find some at a garden center. Besides its purifying qualities, this particular Sage has the added benefit of having leaves that are positively downy with fuzziness.

There was this depiction of Pan on a dry fountain in the English garden.

Outside the English garden, someone had crafted a statue titled "The Guardian" with these massive Quartz crystals set in the center; the whole matrix was longer than my forearm. Whether or not the artist actually has the crystals empowered to act as a Guardian of the garden, I couldn't say. Nevertheless, one could absolutely use crystals around the home for protection as desired.

The three trunks in the center of this picture belong to an Alder tree. I immediately thought of my blog when I saw it, because for some unfathomable reason, my "Celtic Tree Month: Alder" post is still my most popular, with over 5,200 views at this time. Here's a photo of one such tree I can actually claim to have taken!

There was also a big grove of birch trees which I felt had to be included. Birch is sacred to many deities, and is particularly noted in Wicca as being a tree of the Goddess.

On Friday, I went downtown with a friend to see a showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream (it was brilliantly done), and Saturday was spent at the zoo. Yesterday was occupied primarily by church and work, and now, finally, I have a moment to sit an catch up.

As many of my followers are probably aware, I am off to college next month and have been scrambling to get things ready. On Saturday, I found a marvelous little couch at a garage sale for $20 that will be perfect for my dorm - I'm considering it a Goddess-given miracle. Additionally, I was able to get a bunch of books from the library yesterday, so expect posts in the near future regarding the metaphysical subjects I'm now perusing.