Poor image quality is due to poor camera quality

The Question:

What path do I take and where to from here? I have a fear that I am only paying attention and seeing what I want to see, not the message that is truly there.

Off the Cloth:
* Acorn (male, men, god) took off running and skittered away and into me.
* Amethyst (spirituality, religion), Tiger eye (intellect, air), Blood Drop (It’s a red marble with wax on one side to replace the min mortar and pestle that was lost, it’s for health and healing) and Sea Shell (emotions, water) all formed a line off the cloth.
* Petrified Wood (foundations, solid, old) and Clear Quartz (clarity, understanding) hovered just off and above the cloth.

First Impressions:
* Rabbit Bone (clergy, teacher, leadership) in isolated from the group at the edge of the cloth, facing away.
* Red Stone (fire, passion) sits at the edge as well, being blocked by the pairing of Juniper Block (blockage, obstacles, protection) and Strawberry Quartz (love, romance, sex).
* The centre is taken up by Juniper Stick (what is at the heart/centre), Misshapen Silver Nugget (unexpected treasures, the diamond in the rough), Turtle (pace, speed) and Blackthorn (witchcraft, magick)
* Antique Ring (tradition, heritage) is wrapped around Ivy (that which surrounds)
* Many pieces are interacting with Sharp Tooth (a predator’s tooth, attack, hunting, harm, negative communication) and Grinding Tooth (a prey animal’s tooth, positive or constructive communication, learning, sharing)
* The Key (unlocking, opening doors) is interacting with Rowan (World Tree, hedgecrossing) and Foot Bone (journey, path)
* Bottle Cap (which has a raven holding a key in a doorway on it, acts of service, sacrifice, practice) is covering (the very green) Bloodstone (the Land, earth)
* Vintage Jack (an old school toy; childhood, kids, the inner child) is at the edge of the group, heading away.

The Reading:
There is no need to commit to one Path or Tradition right now. You don’t have to dedicate yourself to anything or anyone. That day will come, but it is not coming soon. Take your time. Explore, find treasures and shiny things.

If you must DO something then you should serve the Land. Work on your connection with the energies and spirits of Nature and the Earth and rocks and trees and wild things. Learn about the landscape around you and build a relationship with it.

If you must study something, then study hedgecrossing, shamanism, the many worlds, cosmology, and the World Tree (etc). This will be key to your future success. Become knowledgeable now, before you delve too deep into practice.

That which surrounds the matter is tradition, heritage and history. Areas for you to study and practice: Traditional Witchcraft, Paganism within your heritage, Reconstructionist stuff. Look to the old ways. Become passionate about history, folk traditions and anything old time-y.

Inspiration and Mystery comes when positive (and new) communication (and thinking) surpasses or bypasses negative talk (and anxiety, doubt) and winds up where the hearth fire is. Take a look at home-based Crafting and crafting. Homemade things, arts and crafts, fixing up the house. Create stuff!

Whatever your living conditions are, try to make them a little more magickal, a little more spiritual. It might be an idea to take a class or find someone who you can share (and talk) about these subjects with. A cooking buddy, paint the house with your Mom, plant a garden with a friend? While you are being advised to not Circle with anyone, you still can talk, share and do other more domestic and practical things with others. You might even get inspired!

The spirits are also tied into your need to communicate, create and share in more positive ways. Perhaps you need to hand make more goodies for local land spirits. If you ever feel you can’t talk to anyone, you can always try a tree, or a river or the unseen spirits in a field.

That all being said, there is a danger in putting too much of your resources into guilty pleasures. Music, dancing, socializing, entertainment. It’s easy to get distracted, to wind up watching TV or listening to music or hanging out instead of practising. All good things in moderation. Keep a balance between life and the Craft.

Beware of becoming blinded by love, lust or romance; a pretty face or a charming personality. This could wind up cutting you off from your spiritual journey and your practice of the Craft. You need to be solitary right now, at least for the most part. Keep some distance between your relationships and your practice. Now is the time for inner work and introspection, not for Circling with groups or an overwhelming personality.

There may be a fear of what other people think of you and say about you. Someone may be a gossip or verbally abusive to you. This may especially relate to your relationship with a woman or women close to you, such as your mother or your female friends. Allowing other women’s opinions and words to hurt you is detrimental not only for your self esteem but for any relationship you may wish to build with the feminine divine.

You need to make serious changes in how you communicate with others and with yourself. If you tend to beat yourself up, it HAS to stop. Learn new scripts. You don’t need anyone’s approval but your own. Seek to validation from within. Own any problems you may have with communicating, do you come on too strong or are you afraid to speak up, are you critical of others? Whatever it may be, you need to examine this.

You are NOT on a healing Path right now. The only person you need to work on is yourself. Learn Thyself, Heal Thyself, Know Thyself.

You are being discouraged from working with male deity and being told to “keep away from boys”  lol  sorry!

It is unlikely that you will be getting a teacher any time soon, if you are looking for one. Also, there is no need to enter into teaching, clergy and leaderships roles just yet.

Childhood and childish things have packed up and are leaving. Things will get sorted out, keep plugging away.

Practice your grounding. Ground and centre!

Find solace and strength in your connection with the land and the things that you build/make/create.

Serving the Land will be good for you emotionally and physically. MOAR exercise, go outside and play! This will also be an important factor in the building of that spiritual foundation and in leaving childhood behind in a healthy way.

At the Very Heart of the Matter:
Unexpected treasures can come through the practice of Witchcraft. The spirits caution you to keep a slow but steady pace. Neither rush into things, nor procrastinate. The treasures or prizes that you seek may not be the ones you find. Though you will find Witchcraft rewarding, it may not be in a way that you expect. Keep an eye open for small prizes and hidden treasures along the way. Smell the roses, pocket a few pebbles, and then move on.

Your Path is marked by a “bread crumb trail” but the pieces are very small, quiet, and subtle. Do not expect anything big, shocking, or life changing to occur in the next little while. The big mysteries may come, but not yet.

Your Focus and Goals:
* Serve the Land.
* Rid yourself of negative people, bullies and gossips. If they say horrible things to you or about you, they are not your friends.
* Learn to be kinder to yourself.
* Use more positive and encouraging thinking and communication styles.
* Embrace your own passions, not other people’s interests.
* You are in no position to heal or fix or save anyone but yourself.
* Don’t be distracted by other people or by hedonistic pursuits.
* Traditions and history surround everything, mind your ancestors.
* Incorporate your practice into everyday things, the hearth, the home, little projects, and hobbies.
* Study shamanic and spirit working practices. Learn your theory before you leap.
* Focus on your self; don’t practice with others for a little while.

Over all Message:
The start of any journey if fraught with doubt and distractions, concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. Watch the ground beneath your feet; don’t worry too much about what might be down the road and around the bend. You don’t need to name the Path you are on yet, get to know it and yourself better first.
Right now you are still laying the foundation of your spirituality and your practice. Take your time, build it strong. Build it well.

Client Feedback:
Not only was my question answered but also it has given me the direction I so desparately needed.  Accuracy is certainly an understatement.
It answered so many questions I didn’t even know I needed to ask.
When I first read the reading, I sat and cried for a bit. Just not only the overwhelming sense of, not relief, but that kind of almost elated feeling that it wasn’t all in my head. That I am starting to walk the right path.
It stirred a feeling something akin to a comforting hug given when it is needed most and a slap in the back of the head, wrenching me from a lovely daydream.
I had to laugh at the of the masculine element, it certainly almost mirrors what men are doing right now. It was very funny.

Related posts:

1. New Years Reading
2. Review: Last Year’s Birthday Reading
3. To Fly By Night

Getting ready for Yuletide; I found tree ornaments that look like fly amanita mushrooms! Writing, working, unpacking, playing Skyrim.

Is the podcast going to keep going?

Yes. Bren put up an episode recently and we hope to get back into the swing of things with the new year.

I am interested in casting objects and divination as spirit communication. Can you recommend some books?

I recommend that you look for books on the divination and spirit communication systems that appeal to you.

My main sources of inspiration were the FUTHARK and the Ogham. There are people who cast personal sets. I come across them from time to time, usually online. Not always though. I lead a workshop on it for Fest one year and a lady showed up with her casting cloth based on Hoodoo concepts.

I’m really rusty in some areas, tarot seems so long ago. I moved on from tarot (because it just wasn’t a good fit) in my early twenties, so about 7 or 8 years ago? I am amazed at what I have forgotten. It’s weird. Or not, since I never really clicked with it. It’s silly but somehow all the imagery, connections and correspondences didn’t make sense coming from a beautifully painted card.

I look at a sea shell and I see much more *shrug* Maybe it because the sea shell is much more tactile?

Any how, here a couple of books:

Wyrdwalkers: Techniques of Northern-Tradition Shamanism by Raven Kaldera

Taking Up the Runes: A Complete Guide to Using Runes In Spells, Rituals, Divination, And Magic by Diana L. Paxson

The Way of the Oracle: Recovering the Practices of the Past to Find Answers for Today by Diana L Paxson

Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism by Jenny Blain

Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic Edred Thorsson

I would also suggest you get a book or two on the Ogham and possibly other divination methods that interest you. You might want to have a look at some of the books listed in the answer below as well.

What books should I read?

As well as the books listed to answer the previous question? Mostly it would depend on what you have read before. Plus some books on whatever particular subjects are interest to you. And probably a bunch of stuff that I forgot to mention.

In no particular order:

Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations from the Gaelic by Alexander Carmichael

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans Wentz

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask and Wendy Doniger

Galdrabok: An Icelandic Grimoire by Stephen E. Flowers

Understanding the Galdrabok by Greg Crowfoot

The White Goddess by Robert Graves

The Sea Priestess & The Goat Foot God by Dion Fortune

Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World by Diana L Paxson

Shamanism: A Reader by Graham Harvey

The Book of English Magic by Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate

Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul by Ross Heaven, Howard G. Charing and Pablo Amaringo

Cunning-Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic by Emma Wilby

The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy by Ronald Hutton

Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination by Ronald Hutton

Herbs of the Northern Shaman: A Guide to Mind-Altering Plants of the Northern Hemisphere by Steve Andrews

Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants by Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Christian Rätsch and Wolf-Dieter Storl Ph.D.

The Way of Wyrd by Brian Bates

To Fly By Night: Craft of the Hedgewitch edited by Veronica Cummer

The Roebuck in the Thicket: An Anthology of the Robert Cochrane Witchcraft Tradition by Evan John Jones, Robert Cochrane and Michael Howard

The Myth of Eternal Return by Mircea Eliade

Hoodoo, Herb and Root Magic by Cat Yronwode

The Well And The Tree World And Time In Early Germanic Culture By Paul C Bauschatz

Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath by Carlo Ginzburg

Singing With Blackbirds: The Survival of Primal Celtic Shamanism in Later Folk-Traditions by Stuart A. Harris Logan

Do you own a lot of books? I mean a lot? How do you read all of them?

Yes and no. I have a large portion of my books in storage out west still, as books are heavy and hard to move. If everything was together (especially me fiction, which at this point I think Mom has absorbed into her own collection, sigh) my book collection would be large-ish but by no means massive.

No, I have not read every book from cover to cover. Many to most of my books are reference books, like encyclopaedias. You might skim and browse to know where to find what, but you don’t generally read the whole thing in one sitting.

I’m sure there would be some that I read only partway and put down. This is why you own books, so that you can take you time. I own that book; I can take as long to read it as I please.

Having or reading a lot of books doesn’t mean much. Maybe I barely understand what I’m reading. Maybe I’m human and can’t possibly know everything in a book with one reading *grin*

What’s going on with the prayer shawl, we haven’t heard about it in a while?

It keeps growing. I want it to be fairly large and long and deep hooded. So, it’s going to take a while to crochet. I try not to work on it just randomly but primarily during meditation or prayer etc.

A major part of my spirituality is devotional practice and a major part of my craft is spirit work. A big part of both is ecstasy. Therefore, I spend a lot of time holding vigil. Crochet is something I can do with my hand whilst I hold vigil.

Related posts:

1. The Course of My Studies Part Two
2. The Course of My Studies Part One
3. To Answer a Question

Related posts:

1. Wordless Wednesday: Catching Up
2. New Years Reading
3. New Addition 2

When folks come over and inquire about the macaroni in the offering dishes upon my house shrine I act like it’s no big deal. I just made too much and so I gave it to my spirits. It gets a little more complicated to explain that I am expected by my spirits to make too much and give them their fair share. That I keep their offering bowls small because they expect them to be filled.

It’s all rather a lot of bother.

Spirit work and devotional practice that is. A bother. That’s why it’s called work and practice I suppose.

Years ago, I was researching medicine bags and crane bags and the like. I came across something talking about Native American shamans and their relationship with their medicine bags, and with the spirits within their medicine bags. For some, they had to sing a specific song for each item/spirit in the bag before opening it. Over the years the bag would acquire more and more items. When they died, they might pass their bag onto someone else, who would have to learn the songs for all the spirits in the bag. Then start collecting their own power objects and familiar spirits and sing songs for them as well. Sometimes it gets to the point that it takes well over and hour to sing all the songs required before the shaman can even open the fucking bag and get to work.

Then there’s the need to take care of a big-ass heavy bag full of precious objects and spirits who want you to sing yourself hoarse before they will work with you.

Imagine being a slave to your medicine bag.

Welcome to one of the less glamorous aspects of being a Hedgewitch.  The bother. The expectations. The schedule that must be kept. The building and maintaining of relationships with entities that some people don’t even think are real. Booyeah.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m a little afraid of my casting collection? No? Heh. Well, maybe wary is the better term for it. I am wary of becoming a slave to it … because, well, all 30-odd pieces want me to sing to them. Fortunately, the pieces of my casting collection are/is kind of a hive-mind (that’s the best that I can explain it, like a bee colony or ants or something) so I think one song for all might make them happy.

But if I start singing for them, who else will want a song? The casting collection’s main job is translation and communication with my spirits. If I singing to the collection, will the ancestors get jealous and want a song? What about everybody else? Oh, and HE already wants me to play the bloody tambourine for Him, no matter how poorly I play (and I do play poorly). Have I mentioned that I’m a terrible singer? Maybe I can negotiate for more poorly played tambourine instead of having to write/divine and sing chants?

Just the care and feeding of the casting collection alone is a lot of work. Pieces leave as they wish, choosing when to fall out of my hands or bag and disappear into the weeds and grass, or to roll away and drop off a pier or go under a bookcase. I do sometimes choose when to retire a piece and sometime they ask. But rather a lot of the time I simply open the bag one day to discover one of the pieces is gone and I never got to say goodbye.

Then I have to go through the process of finding a replacement, then prepping it, introducing it to “the group”, blessings, charging, blooding. Then I have to learn how it speaks and what it says and how it works with the other pieces, while they are all still figuring that out themselves. The hive mind has changed slightly. I’m kept always on my toes. It’s always changing, I am always learning, there is no chance to simply memorize meanings and then rest on my laurels.

The collection (it’s such a great example and a large part of my practice lately) likes to be warmed up a bit before casting. I usually do this by giving the bag a gentle shake (think like how you bounce a baby) and holding the pieces in my hands, gathering them up together. I’ve gotten good enough to chatter inanely to others while doing so. Somehow making it obvious that I must greet the pieces and cajole them to work earns me funny looks.

That’s a whole other bother … fellow witches and pagans who don’t get it. Who think that it all must be done elegantly, flowing and … and not weird. Do something odd or awkward like blowing on your divination set or baby talking to a crow skull and all your validity goes right out the window in their mind. Nevermind that fact that the elegant shit is just for show and the spitting, swearing, shaking, whispering, sweating, bloodletting, pissing and such is the real deal! It’s supposed to look like the white witch on TV with her perfectly rhyming poetry and not the crazy voodoo chick with her eyes rolling back into her head on that documentary we watched once … right? Bullshit.

Anyways …

The collection like all my spirits (great and small) likes scared smoke. A favourite offering. Incense is probably the most commonly given. As other than possibly annoying the girl up stairs with the constant smell of sandalwood or juniper berries burning on a hot coal it is pretty easy. But the other kinds of smoke makes them happier, is somehow more nourishing. Because it is shared I think. Put it in your pipe and inhale, fill you lungs, then breathe it out onto/into them. Sharing not just the smoke but your breath as well. From deep within yourself. A gift of self, smoke and energy. There are many different types of smoke that can be used, some more legal or safer than others. Some of my spirits have preferences. The casting collection likes all kinds of sage but especially salvia divinorum, what a surprise. But that’s for special occasions. Usually.

Others have a thing for tobacco, especially cigarettes. Because they know that I am addicted. The fuckers. I quit smoking about 6 years ago. But I do it for them now and then. I light a cig or buy some good tobacco for my pipe. I inhale (of course whether I inhale or not depends, you don’t inhale when smoking a cigar for example) and I share it. I fight the cravings the day after. I never do it in the home because the smell will drive me crazy. I never touch tobacco, of any sort, except in ritual situations. It’s becoming more and more like a geas (or geis, but I like the Scottish spelling myself).  As if I need another one. At least this one only makes me look odd once in a while, such as when the girls are digging through a box of herbs and hands me a bag of “incense” tobacco and I drop it, or quickly hand it off. Lame excuse: I quite smoking and I stay away from it now. But Juni, it’s not like smoking tobacco or cigarettes. Yes, but still … here take this.

*sigh*

At least the food related geas handed to me by the Big Guy can be passed of as a food allergy!

I’m starting to ramble a bit I think so I’ll get to the point. It’s fucking WORK people. Really real work. It amazes me how often a god or spirit taps on someone’s shoulder, gives them some tiny sign and they … do nothing. They sit around and wait for another tap, another sign. Then wonder why nothing is happening.

A large portion of the castings that I do with my collection are for people who want to know what they should do on their Path, which spirit(s) they should work with. The answer is almost always the same: Do the work, you haven’t done enough. Why yes, there is a god/spirit/ancestor who has an interest in you, but you haven’t earned anything more than that yet. Do the work, make the offerings, do you research. For a  long while.

Most people I talk to give up a month or three after that first tap on the shoulder. But Juniper! I gave him/her/it offerings once a week for three whole months! That’s it? That’s all? My spirits demand at on offering every single fucking day kiddo. Or they won’t talk to me. That’s just for maintenance. If I want real help or real knowledge they want blood, sweat and tears on a regular basis.

I’m going to be an annoying egotistical bastard and quote myself:

 “…There is no such thing as “good enough” in a spiritual practice, especially when that “good enough” means you did next to nothing at all. A spiritual Path is not supposed to be easy and the gods don’t like lazy people.

The gods, spirits and ancestors do not reward people who do not do the work to earn their respect. If you want to develop a relationship with the Otherworld and the Spirits of the Land you have to earn it. You cannot simply show up with your hand out expecting a prize, for no work, like a spoiled child.

… You cannot expect your ancestors, people who fought battles with swords, who pushed horse drawn plows, who would walk many miles to the yearly feast grounds, to give you long lost lore for nothing. What we must look like to them, we who are so spoiled and pampered that we whine and complain when the processional to the ritual is longer than 3 city blocks. How can you ask for their aid, protection or knowledge when you are willing to do little more than pour half a bottle of cheap whisky out to them once in a while?

The processional for the Eleusian Mysteries in ancient times took a whole day.”

I’ve spent the whole month of August and the first 10 days of September plying my spirits with food and drink and prayer and poetry and smoke. I gave them a whole room in the apartment to themselves. I lead a ritual for Lughnasadh for my ritual group and assisted a friend in a devotional and prosperity ritual before my own altar. I spent a good part of last night on my knees, my face pressed against the hardwood flooring.

In return, last night I was given a dream. I dreamed that I was in a lodge in the woods. There was a gathering of witches there. They formed a circle, sitting, standing, kneeling around it. My casting collection was scattered around the edge of the circle. They were trying to divine something. One witch made a valiant effort but in vain, the information did not come. They turned to me. They wanted me to try. I dug in my heels. I could do it but I didn’t want to do it in front of them. They’d all look at me like I’m crazy. It wouldn’t work if I did it in flowing elegance and perfect poetry. This isn’t Wicca, this isn’t Druidry. This isn’t even religion. It’s witchcraft.

I step towards the circle. I stomp and shuffle. I rock back and forth. I wave my arms around. I make guttural sounds. My eyes roll in my head. The witches look on as if I am crazy. I hear them whisper, is she faking? Is she putting on a show? Why is she being so weird? I rock even more, I stomp around. I am wild and unpredictable. I fall on the floor within the circle, on my back. One arm raised behind my head.

Suddenly my spirits are there. They show me a new technique for slipping out of my skin. I am not permitted to share it with you here. But it works. They show me twice to make sure I know it. Then they wake me up so that I will remember. My hard earned reward for the last 6 weeks of work, a gift. Precious. I look forward to many months, maybe years, of practice to get it right.

There are bruises on my knees. Blisters on my feet. Burns on my fingers. My house reeks of a dozen different kinds of incense, the lady upstairs makes a point of coughing in an annoyed manner every time she is in the stairwell.  There is beer in the fridge that I will not drink, except a sip for sharing. I’m tired and my head feels like it is stuffed with cotton. I have to go to work today.

Welcome to walking the hedge, bitches.

Also: this.

Related posts:

1. Horned God Devotional
2. Defence Against the Dark Arts (When You are Locked Out of the Circle)
3. Are You Scared Yet?

The casting was perfect, I actually burst into tears upon reading it.  Thank you so very much for being my “translator” and giving me the kick in the ass I desperately needed.

Her question was that she was wondering where her Path and Practice ought to go, where to focus. And especially which spirits or deities she should be focusing on.

Here it is:

Running through the whole thing like a pair of crosshair or an X is priestessing and shamanism. Shamanism is right at the very bottom though, buried. Priestessing is on top of everything, prominent. Everything else finds itself between, above or below priestessing and shamanism.

Witchcraft & magick is wrapped around the very spot where priestessing (Paganism?) and shamanism meet.

You need to reconcile witchcraft, shamanism and paganism. Bring the pieces together so that they meet, but don’t expect them to be all one in the same. There will be divergences. Sometimes we walk more than one Path at a time; these Paths criss-cross back and forth, over each other, away from each other and then turn back together again.

At the very center is passion, fire, the heart (more on that later)

Priestessing is reaching towards something emotional yet grounded. A connection with Water and Earth is part of the goal here. Waiting at the end of that is that sudden insight, the flash if inspiration. Beneath that inspiration are things homemade with love and feeling. Build upon the love of things created by your own hand. Communicate your feeling about this … maybe blog, take a class or just talk to someone.

There is some kind of blockage or obstacle in the west/water. It is strongly connected to some kind of thought process, lack of knowledge or a need to study. Possibly some kind of mental block is keeping you from your feelings or a passion you have for something.

Sharing the West with this mental/emotional blockage is a foundation of creative/artistic/musical pursuits. Commitment will bring clarity and banish the blockage. This clarity rests at the axis of the meeting place of priestessing and shamanism.

In short: You have a want or desire for something but you’re holding back intellectually. Shit or get off the pot, but make a choice and stick to it, creativity is being squandered here and it is clouding your vision. Your lack of commitment (perhaps going back and forth between feeling and thought, talking yourself out of things) is causing a big problem for you. Sometimes clarity and knowing whether we are doing the right thing doesn’t come until after we’ve committed and started down that road.

Something is blocking you from fully committing to things. You’re holding back. Protecting your heart or you may be over analyzing everything. Maybe you think too much to follow your heart. Only you can remove this blockage and make a full commitment to your practice.

Turtle is telling you to slow down in the giving away of your resources, your thoughts, feelings and passions. You give so much to others; there might not be enough left for you or your spirituality and so forth.

There is a god who wants to take you on a journey. An emotional journey full of passion, fire and cleansing.

Learn about your connection with the land and the earth. Learn dangerous and uncomfortable things about the earth. This will be a journey that leads to a kind of purity as well as freedom.

The key to all this is where change, purification, witchcraft and being unafraid of gossip and other’s opinions all meet.

The key is rooted in thought and passion. Where the god’s journey takes you.

Study a male deity who stirs/strikes you emotionally and intellectually.

Love and romance rest just outside the mass. A silver lining. Think about this, consider it. This love (or loving husband) protects you from “predators” (negative energies or nasty spirits perhaps?).

Family and friends sit outside all of this, at the edge. There are people in your life who are grounded and smart. Reach out to them; they have perspective to offer you.

A (earthy?) goddess is tucked beneath a lack of resources, waiting to be free. She offers healing traditions (possibly ancestral or within your heritage) that comes after/behind change and witchcraft. She will be waiting when you have the time, energy and commitment to work with her.

At the very center of everything is your own heart. The fires within you. It is surrounded by a confusing mass; you can’t see the forest for all the trees. Stemming from your heart is that which surrounds the matter:

A lack of resources offered to earth-y animal spirits and the fae. Your trouble with shamanic work is also rooted in this.

The Path:

Remove blockage. Let go of fear, stop holding back, and don’t try to do everything at once. Make the changes and commitments. De-clutter. It’s okay if the neo-pagan side of things is more prominent than with shamanic side of things.

You should start by working with local spirits, land spirits, nature spirits and especially animal spirits. Work with the fae and find some helper spirits. You haven’t been giving them enough time, energy, effort or offerings to earn much attention from them yet. Don’t stop, pour more into the work. Give better offerings more often. Learn more about spirit work and about the kinds of animals your familiar spirits take shape in.

Until you have built a strong practice of working with spirits nothing else will happen. This is your foundation, your starting point. This step alone could take months or years.

When you are ready and willing to commit, there is a goddess related to traditional healing and witchcraft. Folk healing and folk magick perhaps. Look into the cunning arts, herbalism and so forth. This goddess is waiting for you to make certain changes in your life and practice … and for you to be able to devote a lot of resources into building a relationship with her. Devotional practice takes a lot of commitment, but she is offering to work with you and teach you, if you are willing to be her priestess for a time.

Working with your connection with the land is also very important, though this may not really begin until you’ve started working with the goddess. You will learn uncomfortable things about the land. Maybe work with dangerous spirits, damaged landscapes or become involved in environmentalism. This work with the land will bring about a kind of purity for you; perhaps you will become more focused. Perhaps you will unlearn some things and will be less cluttered and feel free.

There is a god waiting for you, but his journey is not for the faint of heart. He waits for you to have more experience before he will reveal himself to you. You’re not ready for him yet. His is a Path of challenges and changes.

Cheers!

Juni

Related posts:

1. New Years Reading
2. It’s All Rather a lot of Bother
3. Mortar and Pestle

Here we go.

I was concerned that there was nothing in the South. This turned out to be rather true. This past year really wasn’t about passion and fire. It was more practical, getting things done. Not much for adventures. I didn’t get any more worked up about anything than I normally do. I finished some projects, took on a few new things (like the tambourine) … but nothing really, REALLY, lit a fire under me. It was a “put your nose to the grind stone and try to be an adult” kind of year. Boy, I hope next year is a little more interesting.

Acorn and Clear Quartz rolled well away from the cloth and left me wondering why is masculine virility and clarity trying to run away from me? I can’t tell you why, but they have been. The bastards.

Jingle Bell and Tiger Eye indicated that creativity and education are leaving intellect and passion behind and heading out the door. This wasn’t the most creative year for me, not by a long shot. Much of my arts and craft supplies spent the year crammed in boxes in my sunroom, which leaks, isn’t heated and I have to brave passing through Bren’s study to enter.I barely wrote any poetry. However I did contribute to other writing projects and I have been learning the tambourine.

Education wise, I have started to go back to school, working towards earning a few certifications before I take the plunge and try my hand at University. BUT … the first certification I have earned, a course recently completed, was a totally no-brainer. A lot of this stuff is getting the credentials to go with the years of experience I already have. I felt like I could have completed the Pet First Aid course without even reading the material or viewing the videos, just challenged the exam. So education has begun but it did not challenge me creatively or intellectually. Right now that’s kind of what I need anyways, as I ease into the reality of working and going to school after being out of school for many years.

Turtle and Herbivore Tooth told me to stop and think before I speak and step outside of my emotions and the look upon things with dispassion. Slow down my passionate and emotional speech. Yeah, I’m still working on that. I imagine I always will. It also doesn’t help that I still haven’t figured out why people read more force and anger into my words than is there to begin with. I might muse and ponder on something and others read a rant. *shrug* I don’t get people and they don’t get me. I keep trying though, to my unending frustration. One of the reasons I joined No Unsacred Place was to help me improve my ability to write in a more balanced and less personal manner, we’ll see how it goes.

Ivy and Bloodstone fell in such a way that they looked like a Horned God symbol, sitting above the casting and watching the proceedings. Well, He has certainly been around this year, but somewhat more removed than usual, watching rather than interacting. I also contributed the Horned God Devotional this year, which was pretty major for me.

The Goddess charm was reversed and alone in the West … the story of my life. A deep emotional need to connect with other women and with female spirits and deities, yet feeling like I am just chasing carrots. Going nowhere fast. I have made some strong steps forward, working more and more with certain female entities, who aren’t completely ignoring me (one gave quite the answer to a call I made last fall, but I think it was more because the friend I was with had such a great need of Her at the time). I have also become more involved in female-centric activities in the local Pagan community, and they don’t hate me (yet). I have made some girlfriends out here too.

Sea Shell told me to pay more attention to the bodies of water here in and around Ottawa. This has proved to be good advice. I now lack a real mountain to connect with, but I have rivers, streams and a canal.

The two Coins in the set spoke of the lack of funds which shall be in my emotional future (big surprise there), but there should be enough to get by (and maybe a little more than that). This was bang-on.

Antique Ring and Black Stone with Silver Stripe were paired at the edge of south and west. Somehow I took this to mean this old city (Ottawa) and how I will grow to love it. I do love Ottawa, for many reasons. The people are amazing, the history is wonderful, the architecture, the landscape, the parks. I adore my neighbourhood. I still miss the West though.

Petrified Wood, Deer Fur and the Matches warned that working with animals has some emotional and real risk. This confused me at the time but has become more and more clear. I have finally realised and accepted my calling and started on the road to achieve it (see education). And damn, it’s scary and it’s hard. I might blog more about this another time.

The two groupings in the North had me thinking of not just my own usual practice of hedge and hearth witcheries but also of friends I am making and groups I am coming into contact with or am now a part of. This has been two steps forward, one step back kind of progress this year.

I have had some wonderful experiences and rituals with my Hedge group; I wish we could see more of each other! I try not to chafe at the whole “we are still getting to know each other” thing as I tend to be the dive-right-in sort of person, heart on sleeve, you know.

I have also bee adjusting to working in a city and small apartment. Some things have grown and others have been placed on the back burner.

Looking at the two groupings in the east, Brendan said to me that I will finish my book this year. Well, that didn’t happen. In fact I decided I might never write a book (one of these days I’ll blog about that). I did find other writing projects, or they found me, and the podcast continues.

So over all, the reading was pretty damned accurate. Not too shabby. Yay me for doing a good reading and yay for my spirits and collection set for being accurate in their predictions.

Related posts:

1. New Years Reading
2. Collection Casting: Birthday
3. New Addition 2