Sunday, February 19, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 18

44 Days of Witchery - Day 18: have you had any paranormal experiences?

This makes me laugh. :) Of course I have! Daily.

But it's all little things that have very little importance to anyone but me. Knowing the phone is about to ring, or who it is calling before I look at the caller ID. Knowing the cash register at work is about to pop a code right before it does (there is no outward sign that could tell me it is about to). Lots of little things.

The photo is from my bachelorette party, where all my friends hennaed my hands and feet. My friend "S" that is feeding me a bite, her husband had recently died. He was an awesome man, friends with my husband, who really looked up to this man. Had he been alive, and allowed to come, he'd have preferred to hang out at my fun party instead of going to my husband's bachelor party. "S" and I like to think he was there after all. You see, this photo was taken with a digital and is part of a short series of photos. The one before and after show no hazy spot like this one does. The gal who was taking the photos knew what she was doing, and did not get fingers in the way. We reviewed these pictures right after they were taken, and "S" and I both had one of those "frissons" of knowing that her hubby had been there celebrating with us.

And of course there is the story of using the ouija board with  my mom... NOT with a group of tweens....

...or when I was 7 and found a book at a used book sale and recognized it as my own, from another life.... and bought it with my own pocket change so I could have it again, even though it was well above my reading level.... And bunches of other things...

But if you are looking for really huge, significant paranormal stuff, I don't have any. :)

Monday, February 13, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 16

44 Days of Witchery - Day 16: favorite witchy websites

The Witchy Web!

There was a time when I had lots of time to spend on the internet (before hubby and kid). lol  Now days, I have less time to spend and well, less research to do. So I actually don't do a lot of witchy web surfing. But I do have some favorite site that I will share. :)

First off, I visit a number of blogs. I like reading about people's day to day lives and what sort of stuff they are up to. So some of my favorite witchy blogs are on the sidebar on the right. I'm always adding to that list though, so if you have a blog or know of a great one, feel free to share!

I also like reading the latest pagan news, so I visit a few sites for my news:
The Witch's Voice: http://www.witchvox.com/
The Wild Hunt:  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/

I happen to like a number of the blogs at http://www.patheos.com/Religion-Portals/Pagan.html some are newsy, some are just informational or interesting. :)

I love online e-zines. The first in this list is one for kids! I love it!

The Pooka Pages:  www.pookapages.com (currently free)
The Witches Hour:  http://www.pagan-mart.com/ (inexpensive)
Ye Olde Witches Brew:  http://yeoldewitchesbrewmagazine.presspublisher.us/ (currently free)
Practical Magick:  http://momsawitch.blogspot.com/p/practical-magick-ezines.html (currently free)

I very rarely buy anything anymore. (more on this below) But when I do, it is usually from Azure Green http://www.azuregreen.net/  or one of the many Crafty artisans that you can find on etsy.com (my go-to place for anything handmade).

I don't buy very much anymore because I prefer to make stuff! I like being crafty and Crafty lol. So what inspires my craftiness?  Pinterest.com  Just do a search on anything you like and you can find someone has pinned a website for just what you are looking for. I find most of my DIY inspiration there. If I find it elsewhere, I pin it! If you can't register for Pinterest, you may need an invite. Just leave a message with your email address and I'll invite you so you can explore.

There are a couple pagan/wiccan learning centers or seminaries. If I could go to one, this is the one I'd go to: http://www.ardantane.org/  they have held one online class so far, so I'm hoping they decide to offer more!

I lean towards egyptian expression of my witchy-ness, at least at, so I find a lot of value visiting these:
http://www.hethert.org/
http://www.hwt-hrw.com/

Well that's it for now. :)  Please feel free to share any websites I might have missed!


Sunday, February 12, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 15

public domain photo
44 Days of Witchery - Day 15: your thoughts on the afterlife

#1 thought is: No one sits in judgement over me or anyone else.

#2 thought is: We probably have way more control over what happens after death than we think.

Otherwise, my thoughts are actually in flux. I had written some stuff before but I've been thinking about it and may be slightly different than it used to be. I'll fill this in when I figure out what I want to say!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 14

Photo by The Pagan Family
44 Days of Witchery - Day 14: A favorite pagan holiday

I love them all. Really. But my top two favorites are Samhain and... you guessed it, Beltane.

Beltane is made of awesome. The days are (usually) warmer and greener. It's close to my birthday (April 24). My mood always takes a huge upswing in April and May.

Usually friends of ours invite us to their big Beltane celebration, complete with Maypole and fire-leaping. (babies were recently born after being conceived right after that fire-leaping, awesome!)

I remember as a kid we celebrated May Day with May baskets that we made ourselves - myself and cousins... none of our neighbors knew what May Day was. Family called it our old German heritage... making our own baskets and filling them with little gifts. Then sneaking up to our cousin's door and leaving the basket there, ringing the bell and hiding. My Aunt Deloris was an expert at coming up with the most awesome recycled baskets from plastic milk jugs and other household cast-offs... and this was more than 30 years ago, before "re-purposing" was trendy.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 13

44 Days of witchery - day 13: what are some of the witchy books that influenced you?

Lucky number 13! LOL I get to talk books on lucky day 13. :)

The first thing that I ever read where I learned that witchcraft is not at all like the historical witchcraft of the persecution years of medieval times was a fiction novel. In it, witches were doing interesting things; there was magic, healers, shaman-like trancing and ecstatic dancing. THIS! I knew after I read this book that I wanted THIS. I knew that even fiction authors do some research before writing, surely this book had been researched? So I started researching.


Diary of a Witch by Sybil Leek is the first non-fiction book I read that did not portray witches as "wicked, evil" creatures that worshipped a devil. It just whetted my appetite.

The only other books I found at the time (late 80's) that were at the public library were two Cunningham books: Earth Power and the book of Oils, Incense and Brews. I had them checked out for a long time! Then, suddenly, there were lots more books at the library, and I had a job where I could afford to buy books, and my tastes expanded. Also, I joined a coven eventually, and had reading assignments... which I expanded on my own.

And of course, Drawing Down the Moon is a MUST READ.

I read a ton of stuff... histories both pro and con witchcraft, treatises like The Chalice and the Blade and some others.

No student of the Craft can NOT read Spiral Dance by Starhawk. Very influential in my early years.

Some books left more of an impression than others. I was glad that many books were available through inter-library loan so I didn't have to pay for them!

What are your most influential reads?




UPDATE 8/2016:  I wrote this post two years after I left my initiating coven. That coven identified as a Wiccan coven and called themselves witches. When I discovered that coven and joined it, I thought it was exactly what I was looking for. A few years prior to leaving that coven, I started feeling something was lacking, but wasn't sure what it was. After I left that coven, I realized that Wicca isn't the only game in town, and that people are doing witchcraft differently. Several months after I wrote this post, a good friend invited several women to form a coven with her and we did. We now do witchcraft much more like I always wanted... and interestingly, much more like the witches in the first fiction novel that I posted about in this post.  So I have been reading a lot since 2010 when I left my initiating coven. Here's just some of what I've read:

Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth is actually a re-read. I'd read it about 15 years ago, but I recently re-read it because my coven created 2 rituals based on two of the stories.  The rituals were intense, connecting and beautiful. This literature is intense and beautiful if you read it with an open heart.

Another classic that I've read recently is Aradia, by Charles Leland. I found it online at a website I think called Sacred Texts. I'd like to purchase a paper copy eventually.
I have read several books on Traditional Witchcraft. This book is
one of them and was very interesting.  It's a shame Robert Cochrane is gone. I wonder what he'd think about the craft now.


Apocalyptic Witchcraft is an amazing book, and if I'd read it 20 years ago I might never have become a witch, it's that challenging. But now? Worth every challenge. Read it.
Masks of Misrule made a huge impression on me. I wish I'd found this book a very long time ago. I plan to read more like this, if I can find them.

 The next 3 books listed here I am currently reading.  Letters from the Devil's Forest is extremely thick. Extremely. But I like it's format: it is a series of essays written on individual topics and collected in the book. That makes it easy to consume... I can read an essay or two at a time and not feel like I'm stuck reading consecutive and cumulative chapters. I had originally bought it as a kindle ebook but I soon realized that I needed it in hard copy so that I could take notes in the margins, mark page edges for reference, and use a highlighter on lines I wanted to find quickly. I do not feel cheated out of my money. Now I have the kindle book AND the hardcopy... I can have it with me no matter what. And it's a self-published book so the deserving author gets the money.

The Secret History is written by the same author as above. However, it's a much thinner book and I'm very close to being done with it. I've enjoyed it a great deal, though there was one section I raised my eyebrow at, because it sounded almost... evangelical. I suspect Robin Artisson would not like that description lol... so I'm looking for a better way to say that.  Still, it was very interesting and provided a lot of food for thought.
I'm also currently reading The Visions of Isobel Gowdie by Emma Wilby.  This book is like a text book (I'd love to take this class! lol) However, it's very thick, written with very small print and is jam-packed with info. But it's also amazing information. Well worth reading no matter what.







My To-Read pile is HUGE.  All books highly recommended for the study of modern traditional witchcraft and in no particular order of importance:

Witchcraft Medicine - Claudia Mueller-Ebeling
The Triumph of the Moon - Ronald Hutton
The Red Goddess - Peter Grey
Mastering Witchcraft - Paul Huson
Children of Cain - Michael Howard
History of the Devil, Horned God of the West - R. Lowe Thompson
Call of the Horned Piper - Nigel Jackson
Craft of the Untamed - Nicholaj Frisvold
Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits - Emma Wilby
Roebuck in the Thicket - Evan John Jones (I can't find it though)
Books by Gemma Gary, more by Artisson, and a number of other books that are not specifically modern trad witchcraft but are useful to it.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 11

44 Days of Witchery - Day 11: witchy tools: oils

I probably would have played with essential oils even had I not been pagan. :) I love the scents and I use them mundanely as well as magically. In fact, oils were perhaps my first foray into witchy crafting, as one of the first books I read was Oils, Incense and Brews, and oils were easy to come by.

However, my stash has dwindled! Both individual oils and the blends I make. My more recent purchase was through a company that sells smaller bottles, which allows me to buy more different oils, that was from Nature's Gift. They even included a couple free sample ampules, which I thought was very nice!  I also buy at the local health food store, they sell Aura Cacia and Frontier Herbs oils. My food coop also has oils in the catalog and when they go on sale I sometimes buy.

So, since I'm needing to create some more oil blends, do you have a favorite magical oil blend? :)

Monday, February 6, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 10

I'm not so sure about that last one...
 44 Days of Witchery - Day 10: my sun sign. Yeah... it's Taurus. I chose these images when I googled for a Taurus picture because the descriptions of Taurus are textbook for me. Even the negatives.


Although, I HAVE learned to temper some of my negative traits... I'm not as bad as all these words suggest. ;)  Really... I'm not! lol

Images from: www.squidoo.com

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 8

www.nasa.gov
44 Days of Witchery - Day 8: a photo of a magical place outdoors

I looked through my photos and while I found many lovely pictures of places I've been, and they were all magical to me because I'd been there and because they were inherently magical as they were part of the earth.  I kept thinking... these pictures do not say what I want to say... but I couldn't figure out why.

Then I realized, taking one photo of one place and saying it's a magical place (to me) is implying some other places are NOT magical. And while I would agree that the local county landfill does not at all seem like a magical place... it is! It's part of the earth but also, there is magic happening there. Some of what is there is being converted (eventually) into compost, and other things the earth will use. Yes, there is stuff there that may last for thousands of years and do nothing good for the environment. I am an optimist and hope that someday either mankind or the earth finds some way to handle our landfills.

Till then, I have to say, here is my photo of a magical place. The Earth. It's part of a magical universe. We are part of this magical planet. What we, as people NEED to do is own this feeling that we are living on a magical, living planet so that we all can treasure it as we should.

Friday, February 3, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 7

44 Days of Witchery - Day 7: Element of air

This is pretty open-ended. :) the list didn't say "photo" or anything. I could have done a list of correspondences but who cares? those lists are all over the 'net.

So I guess I'll just type some random thoughts I had today about air. When I was trying to decide what picture to use, cuz I always use a picture - preferably one I've taken - I thought of this one that I took at the family museum, of a "tornado" machine that is supposed to demonstrate for kids how tornadoes form.

For kids, this is just something they like to jump into, to break up the "tornado" and make it form again. But as I'm sitting there watching it, mesmerized by the foggy smokey stuff, I think of how this "tornado" doesn't really show the power of real tornadoes, how awesome and horrifying they can be. I thought of my mom, recently moved to OK, sitting in her closet during tornadoes last summer. I thought of the baby, pulled from his mother's arms as they sat in their bathtub during a tornado in my mom's town and later found, dead. I thought of the tornadoes that devastated Missouri last year.

Usually when I think of the "Element of Air" I think of feathers, birds, breath, words. Easy things, nothing dangerous (well... words can be but for the sake of this writing...). But today my contemplation of air reminds me that like water and fire and yes, even earth, these elements have their destructive side. We think we, as humans, have it all figured out. We are very small beings that are just a small part of the larger organism, the earth.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 6

manyhandshouse.blogspot.com
44 Days of Witchery - Day 6: favorite god

He is in the food we eat.
He is in the trees that sleep in winter.
He is in the sun that shines.
He is in my son, who grows before my eyes.
He is in my husband's heart that loves.
He is in the people who stand for what they know is right.
He is the seed that waits for me to plant this spring.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 5

44 Days - Day 5: A favorite Goddess

It almost sounds as if I'm supposed to run a lottery, for all the goddesses to compete for the position of favorite. Goddess just is. The name I use doesn't matter, except in how I relate my story to Her.

So instead I'm sharing a picture of a statue of Isis, that is only about 40 minutes drive from me. Because She's beautiful. Because who would have thought there would be a statue of Isis in the middle of Iowa.

Monday, January 30, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 4

44 Days of Witchery - Day 4: picture of nature (water element)

Whenever I think of the element of water, I see the Mississippi River. Especially when it is flooded! The water that will not be stopped, will not be controlled. We are used the the floods. Flooding is one thing my town handles well. But lest we ever forget, we cannot control it.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 3

44 Days - Day 3 "Witch Tools: Athame"

From Wikipedia:
An Athame or Athamé is a ceremonial dagger, with a double-edged blade and usually a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in the religion of Wicca, and is also used in various other neopagan and witchcraft traditions.

The top one is my first, acquired about 20 yrs ago. The second is a fantasy blade, given to me as a gift. The third and fourth ones are only just recently acquired, as in this past weekend, and need some work and cleansing. And a new sheath since I want to carry them together.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 2

Day 2 - A myth or story from folklore.

This is an egyptian folktale originally told by Joan Grant and can be found in it's entirety in her book The Scarlet Fish and other stories.  This version was adapted (and abridged) by Aaron McEmrys.


The Monster Who Grew Small

Far to the south, beyond the great river, there was a small village, where a boy lived with his uncle.  The uncle was known far and wide as “The Brave One”, for he was a mighty hunter, but the boy was called “Miobi”, which meant, basically – “Scaredy-Cat” because he did not like to hunt, and was scared of the hungry lions that lived outside the village.
Every day he had to go down to the river to fetch water, and to get there he had to cross through some of the scariest jungle around – a place full of snakes and leopards and giant spiders.  And every time he went into the forest he was so scared that he could barely breathe.
One day, just as he was crossing the very scariest part of the forest, he heard a voice crying out for help.  He wanted to run away, but the voice sounded so frightened that he summoned up every bit of courage and ran to see if he could help.
He found a small rabbit caught by the leg in a tangle of creepers.  Very carefully he freed the rabbit, who was very grateful.  The rabbit said, “I was so very frightened, but now you have come and rescued me.  You must be very brave to come alone into the forest.”
“I am not at all brave.  I am called Miobi, the Frightened One – but when I heard how frightened you were I just had to help.  I know I am too weak and scared to protect you, but if you want, I will carry you home and make sure you are safe.”
“That will not be necessary young man – I live up there, in the Moon, so you can’t come with me yet.  But I want to give you something to show you how grateful I am.  What do you want more than anything in the whole world?”
“Courage.  I want to be brave, like my Uncle!”
“I can’t give you courage, but I can tell you where to find it.  The road is long, and you will have to walk it alone – but whenever you are scared and want to turn back just look up at the Moon and remember that I am your friend and will always watch over you.”
Miobi followed the road the Rabbit showed him and after many days he came to a village where everyone was crying and hiding under their beds.  “What is wrong?” Miobi asked the first person he met, “Why are you all hiding?”
“Wouldn’t you be hiding if you were about to be eaten by a Monster?”
“A Monster?”
“Yes, a Monster.  It has the head of a crocodile, the body of a hippopotamus and the tail of a giant snake.  It breathes fire from its jaws and will soon destroy us all!  See, it lives up there in a cave on top of the dark mountain.”
Miobi gulped.  He was terrified, but he saw that the road the Moon Rabbit showed him went right up to the very top of the mountain where the Monster lived. Miobi looked up at the Moon, and knew what he must do. “I will go challenge the Monster”, Miobi said quietly, almost trembling with fear.
And so he set off up the mountain on shaking legs, sure he was about to be eaten, burned, torn apart or maybe all of the above.
Climbing the mountain took a long time, but soon he could see the Monster in the distance.  It was even bigger than he had feared – it was very big – even for a Monster – and it really did breathe fire –burning everything in sight.
Miobi kept climbing, but then the Monster roared a terrible roar and Miobi was so scared that he ran right back down the trail as quick as he could.  Now the Monster seemed even bigger than before.
“This is curious indeed” thought Miobi. “The farther I run from the Monster, the bigger it seems, and the closer I get the smaller it seems.  I wonder what will happen if I get very close? And so the boy closed his eyes and started running as fast as he could up the trail so that he wouldn’t have time to start being frightened again.
When he finally opened his eyes Miobi couldn’t see anything scary.  The Monster was nowhere to be seen.  Then he felt something hot on his foot.  He looked down and there was a little tiny monster blowing a tiny flame out of his tiny mouth.  The fire wasn’t very hot at all.  Crocodile head?  Check.  Hippo body?  Check.  Snake tail?  Check.  It really was the Monster – but it was so small and cute!  Without a thought Miobi picked it up and scratched its back, and the Monster made a funny sound halfway between a purr and the simmer of a cooking pot.
“Poor little Monster!  You must be so lonely in this big old cave all by yourself.  Come with me, I will be your friend.”
Miobi put the Monster right on his shoulder and walked back down to the village with his new friend.  He wasn’t afraid any more.  All the people of the village were amazed, and crowded around to see the Monster.  It woke up, yawned a small puff of smoke and began to purr.
A little girl asked, “What is its name?”
The Monster cleared his throat and answered her question himself.  It stopped purring, looked round to make sure everyone was listening and said:
“I have many names, but most people call me, ‘What-Might-Happen.”
Everyone thought that was a very silly name for a Monster.  But Miobi, who was on the path to wisdom, understood, and laughed at how foolish he had been.


Friday, January 27, 2012

44 Days of Witchery - Day 1

What's your witchy background?

A very long time ago, when I was 20 year old, I got out of the military and came home to be a "civilian" again. I was adrift... the military and I had not gotten along well enough for it to be a permanent career. I felt adrift spiritually as well... not comfortable at all in the pentecostal christian church I'd been a member in, or really any christian church. Like most people, I never knew of any other options... it was simply assumed to be a choice of which christian denomination I would join, or atheism.

For months and months, I worked part-time jobs and read books, mostly science fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy. I found this novel on the shelves at the public library, and being a fantasy story and having something to do with a cat and magic, I thought it sounded like a good read.

That book, that fictional fantasy, changed everything.

You see, that story included modern people that called themselves "witches". Normal men and women with jobs, lovers, families. They weren't bad or evil just because they were witches. And their lives were full of interest, mystery... magic.

Now I knew a little bit about authors. They write about things they know... things they've researched. What if... what if these authors had researched REAL people calling themselves witches? I had to know more. And I knew a little bit about researching too, so off to my public library I went.

It might have ended right there, except that my local public library had a librarian who (unknowingly to me) happened to be pagan, and had the charge of buying books for the "occult" section. Of course, this was 1988, and there were few and far between books on modern paganism available. But there was Diary of a Witch by Sybil Leek. And there were a few books by Scott Cunningham. (pagan, witchy and wiccan friends, you may roll your eyes all you like at Scott Cunningham (or even Sybil Leek) books, but when you are a closeted introvert in 1988, have no money and no internet, and at that point, Cunningham is ALL that was available at the library... well this blogger has fond memories, and still has most of his books)  I kept Earth Power checked out from the library for months before I finally got the courage (and money) to go looking at the bookstore.

By 1990, I had not only gotten hired on at the public library, and made friends with a certain librarian, I had devoured every current witchy book I could get my hands on. Between what the library had, and the staff discount for buying books via the library, that was a LOT.  By 1991, I had met local pagans and witches (other than the librarian). A local coven offered "Wicca 101" classes, and I took those and any other classes they offered, even going so far as continueing self-taught "classes" with my classmates.  By 1994, she had joined that coven as a dedicant, and eventually initiated in that coven.

I learned much about magic, goddess and god, ritual, pagan festivals, coven and group dynamics. My experiences were transcendental, wonderfully positive and some negative as well. My coven had initiatory degrees (initiate, elder and High Priest/ess), and I became elder, considered ordained. The coven was also "out of the broom closet" so I had to grow into the ability to teach others, be willing to "out" myself, even becoming less of an introvert and growing far beyond what I'd ever hoped to be.

As life happens, I married, had a child, changed jobs. When my job schedule began to interfere with the coven schedule, I parted ways with the coven to walk my path on my own for a while. I create my witchy world on my own for now, still making magic, talking to goddess and god, still planning to attend pagan festivals, still finding the Sacred in everything.

Edited to update (9/2013):  I have recently become part of a newly formed coven. It's an entirely different sort of coven from the previous, more formal tradition, and good to be part of a group again!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

44 Days of Witchery

I was surfing the web this morning, and discovered the Mom's a Witch blog. She posted today that she's starting a series of posts called 44 Days of Witchery. I like it! So I'm going to do it too. :)

Here is the list, one for each day. I will start answering them tomorrow! So check back!

Edited to add:  to follow along with this challenge and find all the posts easier, click on the tab above to get to a linkable list!

1. What’s your witchy background?
2. A myth or story from folklore.
3. Witchy tools: athame.
4. Picture of nature (water element).
5. A favorite Goddess.
6. A favorite God.
7. Air element.
8. A photo of a magical place outdoors.
9. A favorite mythological animal.
10. Your sun sign.
11. Witchy tools: oils.
12. Picture of nature (air element).
13. What are some of the witchy books that influenced you?
14. A favorite pagan holiday that you celebrate.
15. Thoughts on the afterlife?
16. Favorite witchy website(s).
17. Picture of nature (fire element).
18. Have you had any paranormal experiences?
19. Fire element.
20. A picture of a tarot or oracle card, and its meaning.
21. A favorite scent.
22. Current moon phase.
23. A favorite candle.
24. Your moon sign.
25. How do your close ones feel about your witchy path? Do they know? Why or why not?
26. A witchy podcast.
27. Picture of nature (earth element).
28. A picture of a witchy I-Want-It-Now!
29. Water element.
30. Witchy tools: wand.
31. A favorite pagan/witchy movie.
32. A pagan/witchy artwork.
33. Faerie of your choice.
34. Rune of your choice.
35. Something that I think people who don’t know much about paganism/witchcraft should know.
36. Flower of your choice, and its magical properties.
38. A famous pagan/witch!
37. Witchy tools: cauldron.
39. Something that inspires you.
40. Your altar, if you have one!
41. A spell you’ve done.
42. A favorite nature spirit.
43. A magical recipe.
44. Witch’s choice!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Imbolc Love!

The wonderful sabbat Imbolc is returning, and we are preparing for it!

Yesterday I dug out my wheat and set it to soak. Of course Kevin was excited, as this is the first time he and I have done this together. His idea was to tease a cat with the wheat of course, so now my weavings have to be on the wall or hidden from the cats or they will play with it!

I made two Brigid's crosses. The first one is primitive and rough looking, as the wheat wasn't quite soaked enough, but I still like it and plan to hang it on the front door. The second one I made is pictured above, and Kevin loves it. It too is a little rough... it's possible my wheat was too old? I have no idea when I got it, but it was surely well before the kid was born, lol.

Kevin did his own thing with scraps. I tried to interest him in attempting one of the crosses, but lately when I pull out some sort of crafting, he just wants to do his own stuff, and I'm ok with that! His imagination is fun to watch, I like to see what he comes up with. Today was also good practice at dealing with frustration - for both of us!

Kevin insisted I take a picture of his creations along with mine! So I did. Sorry about the flash reflection on the table. I have much to learn about photography as well as wheat working. :)



Here are my creations from yesterday. The only traditional weaving I did were the Brigid crosses and that little star, which I found on a website in the beginner weaving section. hahaha! The little wheat goddess and god were me just experimenting for the fun of it!

Not sure what we'll do next but we do need to make some candles still. We have until next thursday! :)
Do you have any plans for the coming Sabbat, or if you don't celebrate it, have you done anything to bring some cheerfulness to your home in these dreary winter days?