December 16th, 2016

I'm officially home for winter break! I actually got back around 12:30 yesterday morning, to weather which is roughly 40⁰ colder than it was at school; I was not prepared to come back to -18⁰.

I stayed huddled inside as much as I could yesterday, and among other things got my Yule tree set up in my bedroom.

One of my grandmas moved in with us at the end of the summer, and has been sharing my room ever since. This has made it harder to keep my altars out, not necessarily because she's close-minded or anything, but just because she needs places to put her things, and they've mostly ended up on or around the spots I usually have an altar. That's been a little frustrating, but at least we're both enjoying the tree.

My mom has been buying me Hallmark's fairy ornaments since they started coming out with them 12 years ago (12 years! I was eight at the time...), and this is this year's edition, the tulip fairy. She promptly joined the tree with my other winged friends.

December 13th, 2016

I got the family Christmas card in the mail today; along with the usual letter, my mom sent along a little ornament she made.

I think she wanted to send everyone a little extra love in these difficult times. It's so cute, I hung it on my Yule tree.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be taking the train home for winter break. I'm excited to be back - this semester has been good academically, but rough on just about every other level, and I need the holiday.

December 3rd, 2016

I've been feeling the Yuletide spirit pretty hard after Thanksgiving; my family went and picked out a Christmas tree, and ever since I've been listening to carols and drinking peppermint hot chocolate. I also got the little Yule tree in my dorm all set up.

Then on Thursday, I received a package from my mom with some more holiday goodies in it, including this little guy:

It's an ornament, but it's a bird wearing a hat! I love it so much, it's adorable!

I didn't have time to put up my larger Yule tree while I was home for Thanksgiving, so I'll have to do that when I get back for winter break in a week and a half. Let me just say - I am ready for this semester to be over with.

I also had Habitat for Humanity's home dedication ceremony to attend this morning. It was a really nice little event, and I'm so happy for the new homeowners. In the midst of all the hardships in the world right now, it was great to be a part of such a meaningful thing in the community. The home is so crucial to any family, and getting to help build the place and then turn it over to the people who will live their lives there is an incredible privilege.

It's been an emotional week for a lot of reasons, but it's these moments that really make it worth it. Blessings to all as we go ever deeper into the dark and rest of winter. May this time of introspection and reflection bring healing and wisdom.

January 16th, 2016

So a funny thing happened last night. My mom and I had some friends over for a little party, and during our grab bag game, my mom ended up opening a bag to find an exact duplicate of the incense box I gave as a gift at SIPA's Yule ritual. I ended up "stealing" the box from her (trading her a picture frame I'd unwrapped), and now I don't have to debate with myself over whether it's worth buying myself one!

The universe provides, indeed. I just think it's such a cute little gift set, with very pretty colors. I'm not sure when exactly I'll be able to burn any of it, but maybe over the summer I can try using a bit outside or something.

SIPA Yule 2015

Some pictures from the ritual yesterday! It was held indoors at Gaia House, although at a balmy 65⁰, we could pretty easily have had it outside. 

Table decorations for the post-ritual potluck.

Holly leaves inscribed with some Japanese phrases denoting what I want to grow in the coming year. (Other people used runes, but Japanese felt more applicable to my practice.) They say, よろこび (joy) 愛 (love), and 平和 (peace). The one saying joy I wrote in yellow, hence the fact that it doesn't show up in the picture. 

One of the members brought her pet Tegu, named Walter! I got to hold him - he's a real snuggle bug.

Getting ready for the gift exchange.

A Yule Carol booklet, with lots of the rewritten classics.

My gift from the gift exchange - three colored glass jars!

They look so pretty on my altar!

December 12th, 2015

The semester's winding down, which is good, because I'm exhausted, but even as school is giving out, the holidays are picking up. I did some shopping for gifts last weekend, and ended up getting myself a few things as well. Earthbound always has some great stuff.

I got this pentacle ring with triquetras on the sides.

And then they also had these lovely Quartz crystal ornaments on ribbon, so I got one for my mini Yule tree.

SIPA had their Yule ritual a bit early, seeing as many people go home over the winter break, so I went to the store yesterday and picked up some drinks to take. They also were doing a gift exchange, so while I was at the store, I found this lovely box of incense. It comes with six scents, both as sticks and as cones, with a flower-shaped burner to go with. I thought it was real cute and appropriately witchy!

November 1st, 2015

And as of today, the Samhain season is over, and we move on towards the rebirth of Yule. I was thinking a lot the past few days about why we consider Samhain to be the "Pagan New Year", and the conclusion that I've come to is that the sabbat is really the final celebration of death on the Wheel; from Lughnasadh to Mabon to Samhain, we're considering the harvest and the autumn and the gradual shutdown of nature. 

Now, in the month and a half before Yule, is a fallow period of quiet contemplation. We can determine our goals for the next year, get our things in order, and be ready to begin again like the sun on the winter solstice. If we imagine the Wheel of the Year as a tree, then this period is the acorn, lying dormant under the soil. Above the surface, nothing appears to be happening, but beneath the earth, there is so much potential ready to sprout. 

I did a bunch of cleaning today, as well as redecorating. I had a lot of Samhain decorations to take down, and a few little Thanksgiving items to replace them with. It feels far too early still to decorate for Yule, and besides, those things are all at home; I'll have to be sure to pick them up over Thanksgiving break. 

I wanted to redecorate my altar, and so I shifted everything around a bunch. I've decided to try keeping an ancestor altar up year-round, and my crystals also wanted to be switched out. Then I had some sugar maple leaves I'd pressed, so I set those around as well. 

It feels a lot calmer in here after the fact, and I opened my essential oil bottle for a bit this morning, so the whole room smells like frankincense.

This is the Quartz point I received at yesterday's ritual. Since it has such a strong tie to banishing magick, I decided to set it on my altar facing one direction, with my other, invoking Quartz point facing the opposite direction. It struck me as a good way to balance out the energies.

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.

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.

March 15th, 2014

Well, I already know I'm not going to have any time next week to make my Ostara posts, so I'll do it now, yes? I mean, let's see:

• Sunday: Teaching Sunday School (so much irony), work
• Monday: School, rehearsal, work
• Tuesday: School, rehearsal until 8:00
• Wednesday: All day rehearsal, more rehearsal, work
• Thursday: School, rehearsal, work, MY BIRTHDAY, Ostara
• Friday: School, rehearsal until 7:30, parent night
• Saturday: All-day acting competition, theoretically going out for the birthday dinner I'm not getting Thursday...

I think that paints an accurate enough picture of my schedule. That's not even accounting for homework time. But enough about me. I mean, gosh, you'd think this was, like, my blog or something.

Today being the first weekend in months that I haven't had homework, I finally had a chance to power-clean my room. Ever since winter break, I've been home so little that I just had college mail piling up in corners with books and art pieces, two baskets of clean laundry waiting for me to put them away, a terribly made bed, dust all over, ceramic pieces I've made without a proper home, and on top of all that, my poor altar and shrine were still set for Yule. It feels so much better to have everything in order - I jest you not, there is a physical difference in my stress level right now. Cleaning gets rid of negativity, of course, especially since dust hangs on to it, but it also looks way nicer.
After cleaning my room, I got down to the business of fixing my altar. I got out all of my Ostara decorations (plastic eggs and silk flowers, mostly) and got the Yule stuff boxed up at last. My little brother came in as I was working on it, and he just sort of stared for a moment before saying:
"Is that all you do to make a living, besides work? Decorate your closet?"
I just laughed. He thinks it's so bizarre that I change my decorations every other month or so.
Suffice it to say, it's overwhelmingly pleasant to be caught up. Now if I could just find the motivation to sew the buttons back on my coat...

January 31st, 2014

WHOOPS. I just found out today, after being informed by my few friends who stalk this blog, that I haven't actually posted anything in 2014 yet. I guess I just had some posts planned out and they never made it up. Sorry about that! In remedy of this sad fact, here's an update on those metaphysical moments that continue to be interspersed with the mundane reality of school, rehearsal, and work.

The holidays are a particularly exciting time of year, but the next few months thereafter still retain some of the gift-giving spirit as we get together with those we could not meet with at Yule. My high school's production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible ran Wednesday through Saturday of last week, and my dear Aunt C and her girlfriend came to see the show. We exchanged gifts with them at the same time, and I received a very fancy new camera (now maybe I can post pictures for all of you that aren't terrible) and a handmade "elf coat". She took pieces of old sweaters and created a somewhat Tim Burton-esque button-down piece. The hood is really long, almost down to the floor - that's it wrapped around my neck like a scarf.

My Aunt also made my mom one (pictured right). It's incredibly cool-looking, super warm, and I think it would make a great dress-coat for wearing in ritual on days where I just don't have the motivation to dig formal robes out of my closet.
Also after the holidays, I found myself left with a ridiculous number of Barnes and Noble giftcards, with which I bought almost a dozen new books. Most of these were fantasy (Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, etc.), but I also made a purchase of Scott Cunningham's brilliant Crystal, Gem, and Metal Magic, which I consider to be a very comprehensive manual on the subject of working magic with minerals, as well as his Wicca: a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner which is just such a staple title for we Pagans that it seemed a crime I'd never had the opportunity to read it.

December 27th, 2013

It's amazing, all the little signs that come to us sometimes, saying that all is well. About a week ago, I was feeling a bit low at work when I found this:

It's the sequel to the first Rupert's Tales book that I found sometime last year, including narrative poems about Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, and Ostara (the author is Kyrja). It made me smile, and I set it on the top of the shelf as a display item. Hopefully the next person to find it smiles, too.

December 23rd, 2013

It is bitterly cold outside - I had trouble getting the car started after work! Yikes! Yule is past, but if you're bundled up indoors and looking for a project, here's a great one to put together this holiday season:

Yule Seed Amulets

The legend goes much like this: malevolent spirits are just that - malevolent. And on the solstices, like Samhain, the veil separating the Otherworld from ours is much thinner than its usual. These Astral nasties may choose to come bother we mortals with a string of bad luck. Fortunately for us, lesser spirits of this variety have a few consistent weaknesses. For one, they abhor salt. For another, they tend to be a bit OCD. By mixing salt and protective herbs in a small jar, any spirit of ill intent passing by it will be forced to sit and count the jar's contents, keeping them from making mischief until they leave at sun-up.
Making yourself one of these amulets is a fun, easy way to keep your home clear of negativity - moreover, the kids will get a kick out of putting them together, too. Once finished, hang the completed jar on doors, set on the porch, or hide in other creative places around the home. They also make great gifts.

Supplies:

• Glass jar of desired size
• Tightly fitting lid for the jar
• Yarn, ribbon, twine, or thread
• Salt
• Enough protective herbs to mostly fill the jar (examples include...)
• Anise
• Basil
• Bayleaf
• Belladonna
• Black pepper
• Chamomile
• Chives
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Comfrey
• Fennel
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Lavender
• Lime
• Mint
• Nutmeg
• Willow
• Other decorations (optional)

To Make:
Pour a layer of salt into the bottom of the jar. Then add herbs until it is full.
Seeds are the best option, although in the case of cinnamon, ginger, and other like spices, a ground powder may be better. Whole or crumbled leaves can also be used as desired. Just remember that the goal is to give our less pleasant visitors something to count, so definitely include at least one ingredient that is small in size. The herbs listed above are just ideas - you only need to use one variety, and may certainly employ something not on my list. Including layers or mixtures of different herbs might make the amulet prettier. Even glitter can be added - this is an especially good option for a jar going in a child's room. Once you have the contents to your liking, screw on the lid tightly and if it is meant to hang on, above, or next to a door tie on a piece of yarn or ribbon. Other decorations may be added as desired - a small pentacle charm, for example, or other carving of a protective symbol. Sigils of protection can also be drawn or painted right onto the glass.

 

This larger jar might get set among the flowerpots or next to the stoop.

December 22nd, 2013

Happy Yule, everybody! (Oops, it was yesterday.) My grandparents came to visit, so I've been enjoying the holiday with them, and felt it would be gauche to sit on the internet and ignore them, hence my lack of posting yesterday.

This image may or may not have appeared on the family Christmas card this year, recreated by me (I'm not the artist, so apologies to the owner):

There's really only so many times one can draw baby Jesus before it all begins to feel a bit contrived. I've tried, for the last few years, to draw something a bit less religion-specific. After all, my Aunt C is getting one of these, too...

Once again, happy Yule to my Pagan followers. To everyone else, enjoy the season and any holidays you may or may not celebrate. It's the spirit of love and happiness that really counts, after all.

December 10th, 2013

The weekend after Thanksgiving, I decorated my Yule altar and set up my tree. It's super colorful to match my room, and my mom bought me a shiny pink tree skirt this year to go with it. I also added my wide collection of fairy ornaments to the décor.
It feels so nice to have most of my Yule gifts made and purchased. On the off-chance that someone I know stalks my blog, I'll not post the contents of said gifts, but they're all wrapped and pretty. I still have to make something for one of my grandmas and my uncle, but otherwise...


Also, I found this while dredging the mire that is Facebook and thought it seemed relevant to this season of the year.

Happy Yule, Christmas, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus and other generic winter holidays to all of my readers.

January 11th, 2013

Aunt C and her friend Leah are here for the weekend! Since they couldn't come at Yule/Christmas, we opened presents tonight. I got a gift card for Barnes and Noble, and a FANTASTIC set of faux horns and a Green Woman mask. I gave them a potpourri sachet I made, as well as lots of other presents from my family in general. It's great to see them again!

January 5th, 2013

The books I ordered arrived today! On the left of my photo, I have the two I purchased - A Practical Guide to the Runes, by Lisa Peschel, and The Magical Household, by Scott Cunningham. In the bottom middle are the two books I mentioned previously, Encyclopedia of Spirits, and Witches' Datebook 2013, and on the right, though not metaphysical, are two more awesome books I got for the holidays - JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

December 25th, 2012

Merry Christmas to any Christians I happen to have viewing my blog today. I hope that you get as much joy celebrating your "son" god as I get from celebrating my sun god. :)

For Yule/Christmas, I got a couple of fabulous gifts - The Witches Datebook 2013 was from a sweet woman who works at my school. From my parents, I got a really pretty faerie calendar that includes already printed in it all of the Pagan holidays, full moons, eclipses, etc., and from Santa, I got Encyclopedia of Spirits, by Judika Illes, which I've been wanting for several months. I started reading it today, and it is so good, I can't put it down!

December 22nd, 2012

Well, I'm happy to say that yesterday was not the end of the world, and I'm still here. I'm celebrating Yule officially today, since I had my last day of school before break yesterday, and then we spent the whole evening making cookies. After going to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving, they're coming here for Christmas on Monday; I'm really excited to get to see them again! I've been working on designing some awesome potpourri sachets to give them as gifts, which I'll likely bless and empower in my Yule ritual today.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Hummingbird's Winter Potpourri

Supplies:

• Dried and shredded orange peel
• Dried mint 
• Dried pine needles
• Cheesecloth
• Ribbon

Instructions:
In Circle, mix an approximately equal amount of the orange peel, mint, and needles together in a bowl. Ritually sprinkle with a few drops of salt water (holy water) and empower for abundance and happiness (orange), health and prosperity (mint), and success and new beginnings (pine). Then take a square of cheesecloth and put about a tablespoon of the mixture in the center. Tie tightly with the ribbon. If the potpourri is then to be given as a gift, visualize it filling with pure white light and recite a gift blessing, such as this one*:

"Perfect love and perfect peace,

The world will dance as one.

I dream the wish to make it real,

The magick now is done."

Close Circle.

*From Silver Ravenwolf's Solitary Witch. Don't freak out at me if you don't like her writing, just make up your own gift blessing.