Seasonal Cues

Well, friends, late August is here. The weather is hot and humid and sticky, and people are hiding in air conditioning, if they have it. Every other commercial on the television is for cars, so that the dealers can clear out their last model year in order to bring in new ones. And every department store, superstore, craft store, whatever, is preparing for fall -- back to school, Halloween. All of which is just to say -- even in our own, odd, post-industrial way, our mainstream culture follows the seasons, too.

This is the very first year when I'm not going back to school, friends. I graduated in May, and after nineteen years of formal institutional education, I'm not returning to classes in the next couple of weeks. Finding work has been a struggle, and moving to a new (and somewhat specific) region doesn't help with that.

So I've been feeling a bit disconnected from my spirituality. I haven't been meditating or praying recently, and not having a job to wake up and do in the mornings has been very hard for my type-a, modern, always-moving, young, urbanite personality. Living with my parents and away from my love hasn't helped, either.

So this week, I'm preparing, and on Friday I leave the suburbs and travel to another metropolitan area, to find my job and start getting serious. I'll be in the city for about a week, but you'll hear from me. Don't you worry.

So, if you think of it, please post any good job-finding spells or prayers you know about, or have used yourself! And think of me on Friday, for safe travels.

Blessed be, friends.

And six months later...

Hey, there, friends. It's been about six months since we posted on this lovely blog. How sad! And definitely my fault.

Things have been crazy here in my life, and I know Blessing has been keeping busy with her own projects too!

So, without going in to any real details, we'll be starting up our weekly posts again! Hopefully with a bit more continuity! More to follow, I promise.

Blessed be.

Past Imbolc....

Spring is on its way! Blessing and I both got busy for a while in there planning out our gardens and spring cleaning and, you know, our day jobs. I was definitely the worse offender, so I'm trying to start posting regularly again!

My girlfriend Acorn and I visited Blessing for Imbolc -- and what a magical time! It was the first time we had been to her new house out in the country. We thought we were in a remote area in the small town of our SPLAC, but we were sadly mistaken. The house, the neighborhood, and everything around Blessing's home is just beautiful. It was nice, too, to see the cats once again.

Blessing asked a bit ago about organization for her spice rack, so I have a brainstorm for her. What do you think about mason jars labelled and filled with all of your favorite herbs and spices? Everything looks neat, it's got country charm, it's an inexpensive solution which comes in multiple sizes, and you can tell when you're running low on your favorites. I put little labels on mine to help me remember what's where.

Funny Ol' World, I'nnit?

In the words of Jack Sparrow, one of my favorite fictional characters.

Yule season is officially over, and now we get ready for Imbolc. I'm reading my Sabbats Almanac (by Llewellyn - wow, shocker) and just got slapped in the face with a reaffirmation that yes, I have indeed decided to affiliate myself with the right Goddess.

Originally, when I first decided to become a witch, I had no idea with which pantheon I wanted to become involved. I decided that since my ancestors would have worshiped the same gods that I was about to worship, I would go with their I'm not Egyptian, so I felt no connection there. Nor am I Greek or Italian, so the Greek and Roman gods were right out. The Chinese and Japanese pantheons just baffled me. (I admit, I am probably way too Western European for my own good.) The Indian pantheon has deities with really long names. I may be the whitest white girl you know and 75% German at that, but I've never felt much of a connection with the Germanic/Nordic/Scandinavian culture. So that pretty much left it to the Celts.

So far, I've only found Scots in me, although if I dig deeper, there has to be some Irish in me. NO ONE. I repeat. NO ONE loves potatoes like I do. And every time I hear Davy Spillane I cry. But they borrow a lot of each other's gods and goddesses, so I figured things were pretty much interchangeable.

I'm fiercely proud of my Scorpion status, so I looked for the Celtic goddess that was closest to my sign. And thus, I began trying to identify with The Morrighan. Y'know, the death, dying, and delicious morbidity. It was alright - I'd see crows all the time, but nothing major. I tried, though. It was rather mediocre, but for the time, I was happy.

Until I developed my domestic side and decided that I would follow the path of kitchen witchery, and then domestic witchery.

I found a blog, Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, that helped jump start me on my new domestic witchery path. In one of Mrs. B's posts, she provided a list of kitchen deities. As I looked down through the list, I saw Brigid and Cerridwen. I remembered that a common phrase in my favorite book series (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon) is, "Blessed Bride!" and wondered if Brigid and Bride were somehow related. Oh, guess what. They are. Ties to my Scots roots. Bam. Clan Gordon represent!

So the more I read about Brigid, or Bride as I like to call her, the more I liked her. And she even has her own holiday! Imbolc! How fun is that! Which brings me to the point of this post.

As I was reading about correspondences for the holiday, two of the animal correspondences caught my eye. The firebird, or phoenix, which is one of the animal correspondences of Scorpio, and the dragon. I just so happen to be a Dragon, according to the Chinese Zodiac.

I'm grinning from ear to ear. There are days when I really love being a witch.

-:- Blessing

Witch Doctor

I work in a retirement community with residents who have dementia. Recently, someone brought a stomach virus on to the unit. I would like to have this person taken out back and shot.

With the love of the Goddess, of course. =)

Anyway, just when I thought it was getting better on our unit, the staff started to get it.

And by 'the staff', I unfortunately include myself.

I'll spare you the details, but I spent a day and a half recovering from it. And during that time, I didn't feel very 'witchy'. Now that I think about it, what exactly is the feeling of feeling 'witchy'? Has anyone ever had that feeling where they do something, see something, read something, what have you, and think, "Yeahhhh... I'm a witch." with a little smug smile on your face and a feeling that The Goddess is indeed alive and well? I've had that feeling a couple of times, and it mainly comes along with doing things that incorporate my beliefs. Casting a spell. Reading some new books. Decorating for a sabbat. But now that the Yule season is almost over and there's kind of a lull until Venus enters Pisces and our Imbolc season starts and since I've been down with the tummy bug, I need a little spiritual motivation. In the next few days, I'm going to think of little things I can do to boost my feeling of "witchiness", and my connection to the Goddess. Of course, all comments are welcome. Help me by being my witch doctor. =)

Organizing My Herbs...

Ew.

My herb cupboard needs some serious help. Any pagans out there have some ideas how to organize this crazy mess??

My initial thoughts were some tall glass jars - kind of like the jars that Planter's peanuts come in, only taller and thinner. (Does my desire for tall, thin jars reflect my desires for myself?! Back 'er down, psych major...)

Anyway. I'm posting a picture of my herb cabinet in its current state. I've collected random jars here and there over the years and been using them, but I think it's time to upgrade. You can kind of see from some of the stuff (dishwasher tab box full of epsom salts, mortar and pestle, Lipton tea bottles, boxes of tea) the scale of my closet. Definitely room to expand - onward and upward!

Peace and Quiet

Thistle asked what our New Year's Resolutions are. Here are mine!

1. Be a goddess!! This one is pretty self-explanatory. I am just pampering myself and living life. I'm focusing on being a woman and my sensuality! My signature tagline this year is going to be, "Whatever. I'm a goddess."
2. Be better focused on my spirituality. I'm already doing pretty well on this one. It's only the second day of the year and I've already done a spell!!
3. Make progress on my novel. Yes, I have a huge plot bunny dashing madly around in my head and I think it's time to unleash it.

About my spell - I do enjoy myself a good Llewellyn publication, especially their Witches' Day Planner. For the first full week in January, they offer a peace and quiet spell to help you recover from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I just did the spell five minutes ago and I already feel like I'm about ready to pass out!! I think it's time to go to bed early... Hope your 2012 has started off on a fantastic foot! <3