June 5th, 2015

So I finally finished reading my fairy encyclopedia! I don't know why it took me so long to get through, but regardless, here are my thoughts on it.

Title: The Element Encyclopedia of Fairies 
Author: Lucy Cooper
©2014

Calling itself the "ultimate A-Z of fairies, pixies, and other fantastical creatures", I wasn't sure how I would feel about this particular encyclopedia of folklore when I picked it up at Barnes & Noble a couple of months ago; I'd read part of another mythology text in the Element Encyclopedia series and had not been impressed. However - this very quickly won me over.

It is clear from the get-go that the author has done her research. Cooper's writing is authoritative and in-depth. While this is not a how-to for someone interested in actively working with fairies, it also is not condescending in any way towards those who believe in them, either. When one considers writing style, the book is made both engaging and accessible while being very informative. The cross-referencing of different names for the same fairy(ies) is not perfect, but is very good on the whole, and her crediting of and reference to other compilers of folklore is one of the better ones I've run across outside of academic texts.

All that being said, it's really the information that the reader cares about, and this text has a lot of it. There are multiple inserts throughout the book (about one every 150 or 200 pages) which discuss topics not specific to one type of fairy. These include:

• What are fairies?
• Where is Fairyland?
• Connecting with fairies
• Elementals and flower fairies
• Fairies in literature and legend

Then, of course, there is the actual A-Z itself, which talks about fairies and similar spirits from around the world. All of this info is drawn from documented myths, and Cooper even goes on to tell the reader which books they can look to so as to read the original legends. In many cases, she provides abridged versions of the stories, which are interesting reads in and of themselves.

She also includes important people, particularly writers, relevant to the world of fairy tales in the encyclopedia. I found this useful because though I might read classics like Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book and etcetera, I do not always know much about the authors, where they are coming from and what their biases are, or where they were getting the folktales that they then published in their collections. I appreciated Cooper providing that cursory bit of perspective.

The Cottingley fairies, which Cooper discusses at length

And yes, I did say "spirits from around the world". The book is probably Eurocentric, it's true. Many of the stories come from Ireland and the UK. This is not inherently a bad thing, of course. I myself have always loved English flower fairies, and the Celtic Tuatha de Danann. But, other cultures have fairies and fairy-like spirits as well, and they often get ignored in texts like this. Cooper's book, however, actually gave more information than in many of her peers' works.

Although there is very little coverage of South or Central American lore, she talks about spirits from many different North American native tribes (Navajo, Ojibwe, Algonquin, Sioux, Inuit, etc.), Aboriginal Australians, African peoples (primarily focusing on Nigerian Yoruba lore), and the Maori people. There is also discussion of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Siberian fairies.

Additionally, I feel I should point out that Cooper does not take deities and call them "fairies" for the sake of bulking up her content. Of the few that are in the book - Brighid comes to mind - she explains the reason for their inclusion; in Brighid's case, it is because she was a Tuatha de Danann before she was worshipped as a goddess.

Finally, Cooper makes note of where some of these spirits have appeared in pop culture, which I always find to be fun and interesting trivia. For instance, Harry Potter fans might like to know that Dobbys, Cornish pixies, and Padfoots all appeared in local English legends well before JK Rowling wrote them into her delightful series.

Tl;dr: If you are looking for a guide to working with fairies, skip this one. If you want to read about the stories and histories of fairies, this is a great place to start.

~Fairy folk are in old oaks~

June 4th, 2015

It's been a quiet day of crafting for me. I made a birthday gift for my mom, and then decided I could finish up an older project (by "older", I mean "abandoned for two or three years"). I made three of these little knitted bunnies ages ago and started on the green one, but then lost motivation halfway through. Later it occurred to me that the colors I had picked at random were actually elemental colors. 

I went ahead and finished the green one today, and now I have them situated around my room according to their corresponding direction.

Green, of course, is earth and North, yellow is air and East, red is fire and South, and blue is water and West. 

If anyone else is interested in making their own elemental bunnies (they also make great herb satchets, cat toys, etc.), the pattern is available for free download here.

June 3rd, 2015

It's been a fun couple of days! Destiny came over today after I got off work, and we got to sit and chill for a while. She wanted to see my book collection, so we pored over those, as well as my collection of Pagan and/or crystal jewelry. I need to organize that!

She also showed me a couple of the things her grandmother brought back with her from her recent trip to England. Apparently, Destiny had requested she bring back something for me as well, and today she gave me the cutest little pewter trilithon figure (on the right side, in the picture). Destiny also gave me a small stone (on the left), which she said was also from Stonehenge. That's so cool! I got a book from the library last summer about stones from sacred sites, so I'll have to see if I can find it again and check out its Stonehenge entry.

June 2nd, 2015

Destiny and I had a fun afternoon today! Her grandma drove us over to a local Half-Priced Books (which I hadn't even realized we had), and we spent a couple hours totally geeking out over books. I got a couple of things - as it would happen, their metaphysical section was in fact better-developed than most Borders'.

I got a little book about Nordic runes, and then we each got a copy of a volume recording Celtic myths and legends. I also got the next book in the Dresden Files series, because why not? Book reviews to follow for the first two, as soon as I get my act together and read something new instead of just rereading YA books (but hey, the Kane Chronicles have me all psyched over Egyptian mythology, so there's that).

Afterwards, we drove over to a nearby metaphysics shop - yet another place I had no idea existed! We had a bit of a time limit, so we only got to stay long enough to wander a little and get a feel for the place, but it was absolutely lovely and had a huge selection of crystals available, so it won me over immediately. The place was called Quest Books, or something to that effect. Apparently, they also have a labyrinth down the street one can go walk.

In short, if I keep finding brilliant places like this, my bank account is going to be in trouble.

Tangerine Quartz

Tangerine Quartz

Physical Characteristics: Crystal specimens may range from pale to very dark orange, and appear translucent. 

In Nature: Tangerine Quartz forms in the presence of Hematite and water. The Iron in the Hematite oxidizes, covering the crystal in a thin coat of rust.

Chemical Composition: SiO2

Mohs Scale Hardness: 7 (high)

Can be Found: Worldwide, though most mining occurs in Brazil

Healing Properties*: Mentally, the stone boosts self-esteem and brings a sense of empowerment. It may be helpful in recovering from shock or trauma, or can be employed as a more general pick-me-up. Like many orange crystals, it engenders feelings of happiness and positivity.

Magickal Properties: In addition to Quartz's general properties, this stone is especially notable as an emotional healer and for sparking creativity. Use Tangerine Quartz to foster relationships and to release self-deprecating or limiting patterns of thought. It may also be useful as a tool of manifestation, especially when one's desires correspond to one of the stone's other properties (e.g. manifesting a completed project, new relationship, etc.) 

Chakra Association: Second (Sacral) and Third (Solar Plexus)

Element: Fire

Energy: Projective

Planetary Association: Sun

*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!

June 1st, 2015

Well, I hadn't been anticipating going to the zoo yesterday, but that's what we did, and thus my other plans got rather derailed. It's alright, though. I always enjoy getting to see the animals.

~~~~~

This afternoon, I would like to take some time to discuss my notebooks, and what I use them for in my Craft. In the picture, one can see two Alice in Wonderland notebooks, spiral-bound. There is not much which outwardly distinguishes either one; in fact, they are entirely innocuous, the sort of thing that any young person might own. 

Almost any Pagan living with (or even frequently visited by) unsupportive family finds themselves subject to trying to hide their practice. I myself accomplish this by keeping my altar in my closet, and making sure that those things I have visibly around the house are common enough to not raise any eyebrows. Granted, I have it better than many, and my solutions may not be suitable for those whose housemates are especially invasive of privacy, but that's a topic for a different post.

The point I am slowly working my way toward is that while my BoS stays in my closet, with its triple goddess and stag head imagery, I can carry either of these notebooks around anywhere and no one is any the wiser. 

The blue book on the left hand side is the one which I just filled up on Saturday, after four years of sporadic use. Started in August of 2011(about a month before I made this blog, actually), it tracks things like:

• Psychic experiences
• Pagan events or festivals I attend
• Feedback on rituals
• Specific notes on spells and their results
• Research (including first drafts of all of my crystal posts)
• Tarot spreads and notes on accuracy
• Contact information for Pagan stores, artists, etc.
• Other miscellaneous Craft-related info

In short, it is a record of my life as a young adult Pagan. I wish I would have thought to start one when I first became interested in my religion, but I was never very good at keeping a journal growing up. The second notebook only has one entry so far, but it will serve the same purpose.

Spreads like this allow me to clip in business cards, highlight relevent information, doodle altar layouts, design sigils, and etcetera. I found over time that writing in pen is the best option, as pencil has an unfortunate tendency to fade. Also, I do record the dates and times of all of my entires. I have considered adding in notable astrological info, but ultimately never bothered.

Other ideas I would like to try sometime include adding stenciled headers, marking a page with a specific oil or perfume, or including bits of herbs left over from a spell or ritual.

Something that I've had a great deal of success with in other applications is writing in code, particularly when one is concerned about somebody reading what you've written. I like Futhark runes myself, as I memorized them in my childhood and therefore have an easy time reading and writing them. Also, I figure that most people are not interested enough in my writing to look up the translation and decode it. That being said, one could always simply invent one's own alphabet if one were particularly worried.

Whether you already keep a journal or are interested in starting one, I hope that this little explanation of my own inspires your work, or at least was mildly interesting. I'm always looking for inspiration myself, so by all means share your own journal if you have one!

May 30th, 2015

How is it the end of the month already? Where did the time go? I got back from school for the summer on the 15th. Since then, I've been doing an assortment of things - knitting, mostly, with some crochet and a bit of reading thrown in. This morning, I got to setting my Litha altar up, did a little rearranging on my smaller shrine, and finally - after four years - filled up my notebook version of this blog. More on that later, but for now, a few pictures:

I just bought this pendant off of this Etsy shop; the woman who owns the store, Rebekka, uses only natural, high quality stones, and hand wraps all of them. A lot of her pieces are Labradorite, which are absolutely stunning, but she's also done work in different quartzes (Amethyst, this Tangerine Quartz, etc.), Opals, Aquamarines, and more. She gets her pieces in the mail pretty immediately - the only reason I had to wait a bit on mine was because I ordered it over the holiday weekend - and she sends it through priority mail, so once it ships it arrives quickly as well.

Here I am wearing it. Sorry, the lighting isn't great. I really like it! 

EDIT: Rebekka's store has moved - she now has her own website! Click here to view her work.

May 5th, 2015

My architecture studio got quasi-cancelled today; rather than having the usual four hour class, we only have to go into the gallery for an hour to present our final projects. That freed up a lot of my afternoon, so I went back to the Gaia House to check out the display of Pagan artwork they are currently exhibiting. There were some really lovely pieces there, including these:

Owl with triple goddess eyes.

Handmade robe with Goldstone and Mother of Pearl beading.

I might be in love with this owl dreamcatcher.

I didn't know about the exhibition soon enough to make something to submit, but it sounds like it's an annual event, so maybe next year!

May 4th, 2015

I ended up not doing much on Beltane for Beltane, but I was very busy this weekend with other creative and manifestive pursuits, so I still got to tap into some of that energy regardless. On Saturday, I helped one of my friends paint the nursery in her new house, and on Sunday, I worked some more on an accessible dog park with my architecture group. (Friday night I spent seeing a production of Godspell instead of actually doing a ritual. Oops.)

Tonight, though, was amazing! I just learned that there's a Pagan alliance in my region, and they do open rituals every so often. They did an Esbat tonight, over in the labyrinth circle behind the Gaia House, and I was able to make it. I don't have any pictures at the moment, although one of the guys there did take a bunch, so I'll keep you all updated.

We started off by going around the circle, smudging each other with sage smoke. Then we drew down lunar energy and used it to charge a bowl of moonflower seeds. We all got to take little peat pots, fill them with dirt, and then plant several seeds to take home! I've always wanted moonflowers, so I was very excited. Everyone was really friendly, and it was absolutely gorgeous weather. Plus we had a few little bats dart around overhead.

I'll be going back home for the summer, but in the fall I'd really love to check out their Mabon ritual or something! Great group, for sure, and I'm excited to go back.

April 22nd, 2015

In honor of Earth Day, some students yesterday were giving out native plants to take home and put in one's garden. I got these lovely Butterfly Weed plants:

I'm planning to have my mom take them home to plant when she comes to visit on Sunday.

Butterfly Weed is a great garden choice for anyone living in midwestern America. The red and orange flowers are pretty and fragrant, and the leaves are a vital food source for native butterflies, Monarchs in particular.

Those working with fairies may like to include some of these plants in a fairy garden, as those flowers favored by butterflies also tend to be favored by the fey.

On the altar, the bright orange flowers could be used to symbolize the fire element, and would be great for spring and summer rituals, like Beltane and Litha.