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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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?