Put away the how-to books for a little while. What further instruction do you need?

Read no more poetry, no eddas, and no hymns. Just throw back your head and pour out your heart.

Read no folklore, no more myths, and no sagas. Put pen to paper and compose your own.

Sing no songs or chants you already know. Sing no verses you have not made up on the spot.

Just for a little while.

Do not dance to the usual beat, pretend that you forgot the spiral dance. No more dance moves taught in a workshop or book. Dance with the wind, dance to the dripping of rain from leaves.

Do not rely on the magickal correspondences of herbs as written by another. Spend some time, and ask the plants yourself.

Forgo the script and the ritual outline. Pick up a stick, take a deep breath and just go. Shouldn’t you know what to do by now?

Forget the fancy prose and weird terminology and practised speech. Pull up a chair, pour a drink and chat with your spirits and gods like old friends for a change.

Just for a little while.

Give in and give up. Shout at the wind. Be unfettered and free.

Step out of your comfort zone. Just for a while.

Rely on your wits and the things you’ve been researching all this time. Rely on your instincts and the practice you have put in. Rely on the relationship you’ve been building with the unseen.

Summer is coming and with it the storms of the season. Give in to that rumbling rhythm in the distance.

Put down that book, come along with me. Unbind your hair, pick up your stick, lace up your boots and let’s go find some adventure out there.

Related posts:

1. Horned God Devotional
2. Wordless Wednesday: Devotional
3. To Fly By Night

1)      Grey is not an idiot

2)      Grey is not interested in recreational drugs and getting high (that’s my job in our household)

3)      Grey is not a newbie

4)      Grey is doing it for all the right reasons

Grey is a Hearthwitch, so ointment was the way to go. Hearthwitches like making things on the stove.  Since Grey is an experienced Witch with brains in her head, I acted more as a consultant in her quest to make ointment.  I directed her to some books on my shelf and talked about the various possibilities for ingredients, rituals and such. Then I left her to her research.

For the whole of the winter she studied, took notes, asked questions and weighed her options. She considered her purpose, contemplated symbolism, meditated, talked it out with her spirits … you know, all the things you’re supposed to do before you take your first step on the poison path.

When All snakes Day (such as it is) rolled around, she purchased a duck and brought it home. Appropriate offerings were made before she skinned it. I gave her my sharp knife to use, because it’s better than our regular kitchen knives for such purposes. I went to bed while she was still rendering fat. The smell of the duck fat filled the house and I wound up closing my bedroom door and spraying my bed with scent to cover it up, just so I could get some sleep. I’m not a fan of bird-cooking aromas.

The next morning, Grey was ready to start making the actual ointments. I ran about our house, digging through various boxes and shelves for the dried plant matter and red ochre to be used. I am not an organized Witch. Half my stuff will be in the basement, the other half in the Craft room, whatever.

I had advised Grey that colouring your ointment makes it easier not only to place it on your body using sigils and symbols, but also much easier to get it off afterwards. You know, because it can clearly be seen upon your skin. We already had red ochre in the house, and it’s a personal favourite. And … well you know, red ochre. (If you don’t know, you should know, so go learn about red ochre.)

We sained the herbs, made offerings and I left Grey to mind the hearth while I went exploring the woods near our home with a boy. After dinner (we ate most of the duck), the ointments were placed in their cute little jam jars.

There are two batches made and ready to go. One is a mild version which will be good for someone who has never used entheogens before. The other is for the more experienced Witch in the house. No, you aren’t getting our recipes.

A few days later we packed up a few items that needed to be given to the land. This included a broken goddess statue (I leave a trail of broken goddess statues), a couple of old offering dishes and the bones of the duck.

We headed out to the bit of urban forest near our home and found just the right spot along the creek, a place that I had come across while on a hike with a friend a few days earlier. I had seen the spot in summers before but from the other side of the creek. This spot features a nice little whirpool right at the curve of the creek.

While Grey lit some incense and took off her shoes, I (rather unceremoniously) tossed the pieces of the broken goddess statue. Then I broke my old clay offering dishes (I’m a Celt, you’re supposed to break things and put them in water) and threw those in as well. Grey waded in a little ways and said some nice words, then placed the duck’s remains into the whirlpool, along with some rose petals.

We watched the bits Grey had given swirl around. My offerings, being pottery, had sunk and will eventually become part of the creek bottom. Some of the pieces of duck and such did float around however. I stood there watching the pieces float around and around and found myself thinking how this would be the perfect place for the toad bone rite (not that I have any desire to do it). One large, white object kept swirling around and coming back to us. I pointed it out the first and then the second time it came by. Reluctantly, Grey pulled it out as it made the second pass. We were both somewhat relieved when it turned out to be nothing more than some random garbage. It must have gotten dislodged when I was tossing in my heavier pieces into the creek.

Our work done, and Grey’s shoes put back on, we climbed the hill back home.

Patch tests have been done. Plans have been made. Many preliminary offerings have gone to the gods, spirits and ancestors all through out this week. Everything is set.

This weekend, we will take turns watching over the other while we cross the great hedge. For myself, this will be yet another jaunt and I may or may not share with you. For Grey, this is will something of an initiation. Her experiences will certainly not be any of your businesses, dear readers.

EDITED TO ADD: Just an FYI all ingredients are perfectly natural, ethically gotten, and totally legal. Don’t be an idiot, folks.

Related posts:

1. Path Reading for a Client
2. To Fly By Night
3. A Few Things That Work (and other things)

For we out number them

We who grew up in a world of women soldiers and gay pride parades

We who received our sex education from Dan Savage

We who were raised by single mothers who went to work in steel toed boots

We who Occupy

We who don’t mind skirts on men and hard hats on women

We who are Anonymous

We who can network in milliseconds

We who own the Internets

We who march and demand reproductive rights

We who choose to be stay at home Dads

We who watched 911 and asked “what can we do to make them hate us less?”

We who are gender fluid

We who know there are more than two genders

We who think not in black and white

We who see the shades of grey and delight in them

We who struggle to create marriages built on equality

We who are of mixed race

We who hold tolerance and acceptance as sacred

We are the generation that made Paganism the fastest growing

We are the ones who glutted the numbers and swelled the ranks

We are coming of age

We are having babies

We are raising them with our values

We who will not sit down and shut up

Let them cling to their outdated views

Let them fight in fear

Let them have their last gasp

Turn away

Turn away

Wait

Wait

We out number them

We will out live them

We hold the future in our hands

Be strong

Be true

Be faithful

Be patient

Occupy everything

We are steadfast

We will take their place

We will build what they cannot comprehend

Gather your tools

Related posts:

1. Afraid and Ashamed, but not Surprised
2. Children
3. I Just Keep Telling Myself

You speak of freedom of religion. You say “this is their Tradition and they have a right to it.”  And this is true.

You speak in generalized platitudes about religious tolerance, of freedom. You say nothing of the pain caused to the individual. My “beef” with Z. Budapest and Dianic Wicca is not one of generalized platitudes. It is personal.

I have arrived at an open Dianic ritual and was pulled aside and asked to leave. Because I arrived in combat boots and a biker jacket (I came on a motorcycle) and my energy was too masculine.

I have been at a women’s ritual where a Dianic Wiccan informed me that I was buying into the patriarchies’ objectification of women for wearing a pretty, strappy dress with full hair and make up done. She said I offended her and the Goddess by being tarted up.

I have been told disdainfully that I cannot be a woman of substance, as I am young, thin and pretty.

I have been told that I am selfish and unnatural for being a woman in her thirties who is not a mother, and who has no strong, desperate desire to become one. I have been told that I cannot be a whole woman until I bear children from my body.

Does Z have the right to exclude transwomen? Yes.

Do Dianic Wiccans have the right to call me an unnatural, too masculine, tart who lacks substance … because that is their Tradition? Maybe so.

Look into my eyes and see the pain there. Know that it is 1/10 of the pain the transwomen at Pantheacon felt when they sat in protest, staring at a sign that read: Genetic women only.

Does Z have a right to practice intolerance because it is her Tradition? Yes.

Do the organizers of Pantheacon have the right to allow her to lead a ritual that excludes certain kinds of women? Yes.

But I also have the right speak out against this these things. I have the right to condemn her, her Tradition and Pantheacon. And I will exercise that right, with tears in my eyes and sorrow in my heart.

Things Z has written or spoken on the subject:

“Transies who attack us only care about themselves.”

“Women are born not made by men on operating tables.“

“But if you claim to be one of us, you have to have sometimes in your life a womb, and overies and MOON bleed and not die. ”

“Genetic women only”

“Many many young men at collage age are latent homosexuals, which is dangerous to women.”

“The male gender is gender conscious, ‘us boys together’ against the other gender.”

“Why are we universally hated by the male gender? ”

These are not the words of a wise Elder. They are not the words of a loving priestess. They are not the words of a worthy leader. They are the words of a hateful, narrow minded bigot.

You say we should allow Z to have her Tradition, you say we should allow Pantheacon to exclude certain people from rituals based upon gender and sexual identity. You say we must do these things in the name of religious freedom, in the name of tolerance, in the name of diversity.

I say that religious tolerance and religious freedom does not mean that we must tolerate leaders who are openly bigoted.

“Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.” ~ Boondock Saints

Related posts:

1. I Just Keep Telling Myself
2. I Can …
3. My Soap Box

“… something, something distaff day”

You can do you own googling and see for yourself.

This just so happen to also be one of those little feast days that I celebrate in some small way. Because Frigga rocks for so many reasons and she deserves a little love from me at least once a year. Also because the 12th of January is two days after my younger brothers birthday and is therefore easy to remember. The winter needs lots of feast and fire days, don’t you think?

I”ll admit that I enjoy the random obscurity of it.

My roomie and I set up a temporary altar on the microwave. Said an invocation, lit a beeswax candle, gave the lady some wine and yummy bread and other goodies. Laid out a spindle, spoons, knives … you know.

I’m about to take down some more of the Yule decorations. One of the evergreen things from the front door. It takes me from Yule to Imbolg to take down the decorations. I like having 6 week to do that.

I might work on my prayer shawl for a little while. I have some writing to do (still recovering from having to recover the PC to a slightly older date due to a virus and loosing some work)

I’ve been quietly mindful of Frigga and her spheres of influence throughout the day.

I’ll read something with her in it, or find that Ravencast episode where they talk about Her.

If it feels right, I might throw the bones (cast my collection) and see if She has anything to say to me.

Pick something, find something happening in the next month or two. Something small, not Thorrasblot or Imbolg, unless you typically don’t observe them.

Here’s a fun, random and obscure Pagan feast day, a modern one. Pour out a nice little offering at your ancestor altar for Dorothy Clutterbuck on her birthday, Janurary 19th.   heh

Related posts:

1. Imbolg 2010
2. Hecate’s Night
3. The Mandatory Altar Photos

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. The Phony Reading