I have not been good about sharing my regular posts on Pagan Activist. This past week I started a series which has been bubbling in my head for weeks.
Greening your magics will be an ongoing series and I have several topics I ant to cover. The purpose is to have you possibly rethink some of your magical supplies and how to make them better for your environment, along with making your practice more bioregional.
Enjoy!
A project being compiled by my friend Skyllaros who also did the Hoofprints in the Wildwood anthology.
Since it does seem like there is some interest from people in hearing about these things, I keep posting.
Inner Temple of Witchcraft dedication rite begun and first lessons practiced. Energy work. I first discovered this kind of energy 25 years ago, that magnetic attraction/repulsion current that can run between hands. Now I have become so aware and attuned to it that even the thought of such energy gives my hands an alive and heavy feeling. But I do the exercises to regain the regular practice. That is the purpose.
In the dedication ritual I also rewrote the pledge to serve my own needs. I am not a neophyte, nor do I ascribe to a (neo)Wiccan ethos. But the promise has been made, and my Gods and spirits will hold me accountable.
The rite was also done under the shadow of Hekate. My rituals remain minimal but they remind me of what lurks beneath my surface.
Daily journal writing continues, mostly with the computer as medium but last night also some paper journal to record what I had done.
Yesterday morning upon waking I had one of Seidhjaller‘s songs for the seidh rite running through my head.
And this morning I had a message on Facebook from someone I vaguely know, because it turns out she saw Someone behind me and wanted me to know. There was a minor variation I’ve never heard of before with the vision but with Him I can believe it.
I also have at least 7 posts for PBP in the planning stages and I MUST write them. Energy levels are up thanks to a new herb in my supplementation. No not that kind of herb!
But an interesting herb. I bought 4 ounces at the health food shop on Wednesday, on the suggestion of my holistic nutritionist. When I was putting the powder in the bag I did feel a little something but did not give more thought. Yesterday morning, upon addition to my kefir and consumption, I felt the spirit of that herb launch into me. Seems I have gained a new ally for now. I am hoping to learn more as I continue to practice, consume, and heal.
Since I loathe the reblog function, I continue to share my finds as links. These are going to be of interest to a certain subset of my readership.
By Blood and Bone, By Staff and Stone has written three exceptional posts covering fetches, familiars, faery-mates, Otherworldly beings, and their ilk. In the posts Eric also linked this gem from Sarah Lawless entitled What Makes One a Witch.
I have been on this path for over two decades. I still struggle. I still have trouble putting on foot in front of the other. I still wonder if I have any business claiming witch and hedge rider for myself. Writing like this I take a the big hits on the head delivering the “YES” message. Yes, even as I falter.
It’s real. It’s not depth psychology in some extra cool robes. I’m not making it all up. Or if it is in my head, it’s like Lon Milo DuQuette says and I just don’t know how big my head is.
Today is the sixth day of the month of 2 Shomu in the Kemetic Orthodox calendar. In antiquity, the sixth day of every month was a day to honor the ancestors. Two years ago, my brother Reverend Raheri started to mark these days with a rite via IRC on the first Sunday of every month. It is a time when we can name our beloved dead and make offerings to them in a community setting.
Honoring my ancestors has turned into a relaxing weekly rite for me over the years. They have a shelf in my bedroom, upon which sits photos, a candle holder, incense burner, some offerings and mementos, and whatever I have offered which can stay there. I have also written before about some more general information about working with ancestors and will link that instead of repeating myself. Instead, today I want to talk about one specific of honoring my ancestors which might be of help.
Several years ago I received this book as a gift from a friend of mine, and as with a lot of blank paper journals it wound up hiding in a desk drawer for some time. When I had the shelf put up for the shrine a few years ago, I put the book there with the intention of writing the names of my beloved dead inside it.
And there it sat, untouched, until March of this year. When I read the 70 day prayer for my beloved’s mother, I decided it was time to start recording names in there. The first two entered were her’s and my father’s. Ever since them, when I do my weekly ancestor offerings I add one or two names to the book. Unless it’s today, in which case I added 7.
If you want to make a formal record for your shrine, try it this way. Just think, in a year you could have over 100 names listed!
For most neopagans, today they are thinking about tomorrow’s holiday: Beltaine. Or, as Thorn Coyle puts it, International Have Sex With A Worker Day. In the Isles, this was a time to put pole in the ground, wake the land, fuck, et cetera. As my own life and practices develop and I get more in touch with the Scandinavian and Germanic currents of magic, I find myself more attuned to a different rhythm. Today is Valborg, which is still celebrated in Sweden. You might know it better by its German name, Walpurginacht.
The land here is starting to warm up and shake off the last of (another harsh) winter. Flowers bloom, insects scurry, last week the wind hound would not stop whistling all over. Patience, friend, you will have your food tonight. Tonight/tomorrow I will commence working through The Inner Temple of Witchcraft, even if some of the material in the pre-lesson chapters makes me want to break out a red pen. This is for techniques and refreshing skills gone dormant for a few reasons.
And tonight…
a candle will be made
mead will be drunk
ointment smeared on skin
another slide into the unseen worlds
magic will be renewed.
Health improving a little more.
Candle prepped for spell. Symbols carved in. Candle rubbed with one of my brother’s blends. Sacred space set, flame applied. Meditation done.
Oh hi Bragi. You want me to write for public consumption more than for myself? Give me the energy and focus to do so and I shall.
Ideas are also forming in my head for Valborg. I’ve also decided that starting with that day, I am going to work through the lessons in The Inner Temple of Witchcraft. For a while I have been feeling like there are a hundred paths laid out at my feet and cannot decide where to take the first step. When I mentioned this to Hemet, and that I felt like all had equal pull, she said that it might mean that any of them would be good to take. I’ve had too many cases of starting out and getting sidelined though. It makes me hesitant to take that first step. Because of all the stress and health issues of the last few years, I am hoping that this course of study will bring me back to foundations. Instead of taking a step around my feet I feel like I am raising up above all those paths and maybe giving myself some new perspective.
Are you involved in practicing conjure or hoodoo, or serve the lwa? Would you like to help support practitioners of these traditions in making their dreams come true?
Good Luck is a planned shop for Kansas City, Missouri, the brainchild of a rootworker and a Mambo and a Houngan of Vodou. With a little over two weeks left in the campaign, they have only raised about a quarter of the $8,000 they need to get the store going. Give them a hand!
You remain elusive to me, skald among skalds.
Preserver of history, knowledge, wisdom, myth.
Son of Odin and Gunnlod.
Get of Odhroerir.
I still remember how you came into my life. One night when I climbed into the branches of Yggdrasil to speak with Your Father. Whether you were waiting there or just popped up at the right moment I do not know. But the Old Man was insistent that I get to know you.
On that I have failed. It has taken me almost six years even to think about You long enough to write a post about You. And yet the influence is there. I write more. I’ve been published. I contribute regularly to a shared blog. My love for the past has grown.
I’ve even started to understand why You, Who helps to keep the past alive, are married to Idunna, Who helps the Gods to stay young.
Maybe one day soon I will even get a scan of the portrait of You and Your Lady which I had commissioned… and need to frame.
In some way You are with me every day. Let me remember and realize enough so that I may reach out to You more and we can finally build that relationship the Old Man seemed intent on us having.
This post is part of the Pagan Blog Project.
It is also my 200th post. Hail and nekhtet!
Oh blog, oh writing, I miss you. What I would give to have the spoons to see through all the ideas whirling through my head take a more tangible form. Somehow today I have energy, and it may just be from the large cafe au lait I got after work. Whatever it is, I am going to take advantage of it.
Too often I feel frustrated that there is not enough magic in my life. And at the same time I can also marvel at all the magic which IS in my life. Therefore I am going to try to do posts like this at the full and dark moons. May they remind me, focus me, and inspire me.
*Witnessing a light show by the gods against a pitch black sky and standing in the first drops of the first spring rainstorm of the year. Dua Set and hail Thor!
*Getting a load of laundry washed and putting away clothing.
*Changing the bed sheets and performing an over ten year long ritual to help me get restful sleep. I change my sheets on the full and dark moon.
*Lighting up candles for the Nago spirits I serve.
*After I finish this post I will take the time to do my taxes and have one less thing hanging over my head.
*Bringing down the needed tools to once again honor Hekate on Her moon phase. There may also be some banishing happening during that meditation.
(Another bright flash of light and a loud thunderclap!)
If anyone wants to keep on me to do these kind of posts you have my permission and encouragement!
