44 Days of Witchery - Day 44

44 Days of Witchery - Day 44
Witch's choice!

My new tattoo! :)

It marks a new phase in my life.  I am part of a new coven. I'm working on some changes in my life. And well I just fell in love with this design.

It is from an stone age tribe of people who lived in Siberia, the Pazyryk. I am fascinated by the designs of their tattoos, and wouldn't mind another in this style. This tattoo is the first one (the 4th total) I've gotten that I chose to be deliberately visible. All the others I chose to be in places that would be covered up all or most of the time. This one, I'll probably want it seen at least in the summer.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 43

44 Days of Witchery - Day 43
A magical recipe.

In the coven I used to be in, we drank Faerie tea almost every Litha and then would take a "faerie walk" where there was some wilderness.  Our recipe was similar but I think we were doing faerie tea before this book came out... or perhaps we got our recipe from the book! I wasn't in charge of the tea and faerie walk planning. :)

~ Faerie Tea ~

(For seeing the Fae)

Combine in a teapot:

3 tsp black tea
1/2 tsp chamomile
1 tsp dandelion root
1/2 tsp elder flower
1/2 tsp hops
1/2 tsp mugwort
1/2 tsp raspberry leaf
1 1/2 tsp rose hips

saying as you drop the herbs into the pot or filter basket:

"Black for power; apple of night, root of the sun, Lady’s blessing, Lord’s leap for joy, then between the worlds to Fairy bramble, with token of love, brewed to bring Fair Ones close to me."

If not using an automatic tea maker, boil water in a kettle and add to a teapot that was warmed with a bit of hot water before the tea leaves and herbs were put in. Let steep for five minutes. Warm a second teapot by swirling inside it more hot water from the kettle. Pour out the water and strain the brewed tea into this warmed pot. Add to taste in your teacup whatever sweetener and milk you like. You may want to have something to eat such as cookies or tea biscuits (Scottish shortbread is very good and can be found in most supermarkets), or other tea snack. This can be part of your Cakes and Wine ritual toward the end of your spellwork, or you can use it to set the mood prior to your Faerie magics.

(From "Green Witchcraft III: The Manual", by Ann Moura) 

Edited to add:

I found the coven recipe that we used for our Faerie tea. 
"Equal parts of Elderflower, Chamomile and Lavender, bring to a boil and make a strong mixture."
We used  2 cups water and 2 tablespoons of each herb, boiled for 3 minutes and steeped for 30. Let it cool and then refrigerate overnight. In the morning, the tea was mixed 1 cup tea to 2 cups elderberry nectar and kept cool until the ritual.

Knowing now what I know, I would not boil the herb at all. Instead I would make an infusion by adding a quart of boiling water to 1 oz of dried herb (the 3 herbs divided equally  1/3 oz each) and steeping it a couple hours, then strain and chill.

I think it would be interesting to compare the two recipes and their effects.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 42

44 Days of Witchery - Day 42
A favorite nature spirit.

Heehee

44 Days of Witchery - Day 41

44 Days of Witchery - Day 41
A spell I've done.

This is an ongoing spell I guess.

These hands are castings of my own hands. You can get these plaster kits from the craft store, you mix up the plaster, and then you have this bucket mold that you stick your hands or whatever in it, and hold in there for a certain amount of time till it's firm enough. Then after you remove your hands or whatever, you pour in the plaster and let it set. When you pull away the molding stuff, you have a cast of your hands.

I spelled my cast hands as a prosperity/money/all good things receiving kind of spell. I keep a gold colored dollar coin in it, as part of the spell to multiply money/prosperity. While this spell hasn't made us rich, we always seem to have enough, sometimes with little windfalls that allow for the extras. I consider it a success. I've left it alone for a long time so perhaps I'll cleanse it, renew it and reboot the spell.

Then I should buy a lottery ticket, eh? lol

44 Days of Witchery - Day 40

44 Days of Witchery - Day 40
My altar, if I have one.

I'm posting a picture of the Ganesha altar we set up this month for the 10 day festival of Ganesh, Vinayak Chaturthi.

I didn't have a lot of proper Ganesh stuff, but I used what I had and made a pretty paper banner spelling out His name. :)  My son added an offering of candy from his stash.

Next year I'm trying for a more traditional altar!

44 Days of Witchery - Day 39

44 Days of Witchery - Day 39
Something that inspires me.

Seeing any part of this. O Beautiful Nut, blessed Lady!

amazingsky.net

44 Days of Witchery - Day 38

44 Days of Witchery - Day 38
A Famous pagan/witch!

Amber K and Azrael K!
This picture was taken in October of 2011, when Amber K and her partner Azrael came to the Iowa Pagan Pride fest as the guests of honor.

Amber K is my witchy "grandma". She is the initiating HPS of my own initiating HP and HPS. I had last seen them over 10 yrs ago when the coven I was in brought them here for workshops. So it was great seeing them again! 

Together they gave a couple workshops at the Pagan Pride fest, as well as set up a little booth to sell books and Ardantane patches.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 37

44 Days of Witchery - Day 37
Witchy tools:  Cauldron

These are my smaller cauldrons.  Actually, the littlest black one I gave to my son so it's technically his. :)

I have a much larger one, a real cast iron cooking pot, very old. It's at the bottom and back of my storage closet!  I couldn't bring myself to dig it out just for a photo. lol

I have a thing for copper and brass cauldrons too.

This one isn't really a cauldron I guess, but it reminds me of the Gundestrup cauldron but with greek or romanesque figures. My stepmom let me have it, she said she got it in a box from an auction and had no idea what to do with it. MINE. lol

44 Days of Witchery - Day 36

44 Days of Witchery - Day 36
Flower of your choice, and its magical properties.

I know I mentioned Lilacs already as my favorite scent. They are also my favorite flower so that's the one I chose for this. However, I didn't know their magical properties...

According to Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, Lilacs are good for protection and exorcism. In New England they were planted to keep evil away from one's property. Bring fresh cut lilacs into the house to drive away ghosts! Who knew. I think this must be why none of the houses I've lived in were haunted... lilacs are also my mom's favorite, and every spring we'd have several bunches in vases all over the house. 

44 Days of Witchery - Day 35

44 Days of Witchery - Day 35
Something that I think people who don’t know much about paganism/witchcraft should know.

Pagans and witches are just people. We love, need, laugh and cry just like everyone. I like to chat. I refuse to argue. I have better things to do with my time, like ... live life.

If you want to learn and understand, email me. :)
If you want to troll and argue, move along. 

44 Days of Witchery - Day 34

44 Days of Witchery - Day 34
Rune of my choice.

I thought I would share a rune stone that someone made for me. It's a combination rune that she embellished a little.

I believe it's a combination of wunjo and sig. I'm not strong on runes so I had to consult my meaning key. :)

wunjo:  Joy, happiness, good news, ecstasy, harmony, unity
sig:  Sun, victory, warmth, success, triumph

I remember thinking the meanings would be useful at work, so I kept it at my desk. :)

44 Days of Witchery - Day 33

44 Days of Witchery - Day 33
Faerie of my choice

I don't know if merfolk are considered "faerie" but I think any of the "other" folk are fae, at least to me.

I don't consider myself "otherkin" or anything. I just like the merfolk. I love to swim and used to pretend to be a mermaid when I was a kid.

This is a poor scan of the original artwork by Lubov. I have a tattoo in progress of this lovely merman on my back. 

44 Days of Witchery - Day 32

44 Days of Witchery - Day 32
A pagan/witchy artwork.

I used to visit my grandmother and she often would give me a box of things. I also got a couple boxes of things when she passed.  I found this ink drawing in her things.  It was drawn in 1915 (Grandma was born in 1916 I believe) by a gentleman named Frank.

I am rather fond of it, and need to get it framed. I wish I knew it's story.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 31

44 Days of Witchery - Day 31
A favorite pagan/witchy movie.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 30

44 Days of Witchery - Day 30
Witchy tools:  Wand

 I'm not a huge wand user. More of an athame girl. <<shiney>>

But this is from the corkscrew willow in our yard. It's a slow work in progress. I'm not done prepping it.

We also have walking sticks and twigs for crafting from this willow.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 29

44 Days of Witchery - Day 29
Water Element

A person can hardly live in the area I live in and remain completely disconnected from Water.  I live in a city along the Mississippi River (or just, The River).  In fact, where I live is the only place where The River flows east to west.

The River permeates our lives. It floods almost every year, and we adapt. Many people live on one side of The River and work on the other. We who live here are often crossing back and forth if not daily, usually weekly, at least monthly.

It is beautiful; giving us amazing photos of itself, it's wildlife, giving us entertainment. It is ugly; the site of industry, pollution, contaminated water and fish. It drives people to great lengths to clean it up. To avoid it. to seek it out.

I happen to be very fond of Ancient Egypt and it's mythology, and I see The River as that Great River... a reflection of the celestial Nile. The water that flowed through the Nile in Egypt has flowed through the Mississippi. It gives me a deeper connection to the mythology of Egypt, especially since we are nearly at an almost perfect annual inundation every spring/summer.

It is Water, with all it's beauty and challenges. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 28

https://www.etsy.com/shop/katwise

44 Days of Witchery - Day 28
A picture of a witchy I-want-it-now!

I don't care what color it is.
I don't care how I get one.
I WANT ONE OF THESE SWEATER COATS.

Now please.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/katwise


PS:  She sells a how to booklet on how to make one. I bought it already. I have some sweaters, mostly black and grey. I just need a serger that can stand up to making it! I'm not sure my serger will survive.

UPDATE:  I don't have one of the Katwise coats but I did get myself a sweater made by a friend, Saren, of Vespertine Fabrications. Contact her for awesome fiber art clothing!

44 Days of Witchery - Day 27

44 Days of Witchery - Day 27
Picture of Nature (Earth Element)

Tree
Yellow lichen growing on a tree
very earthy to me

44 Days of Witchery - Day 26

44 Days of Witchery - Day 26
A Witchy Podcast

Well... I don't really listen to podcasts much! I used to but the job I had at the time nixed that.  I never got back to listening to them.

So I went looking for a witchy podcast. I only tasted a couple but wasn't satisfied. I finally came to PaganFM and am listening to it right now. It's ok. I'm not into listening to politics so I doubt I'll keep listening to this, right now I'm waiting for the next song to come on and that's really it.

So, if you have a favorite witchy podcast that's ABOUT witchy stuff and not just politics... frankly, I get enough politics day to day... if I'm going to use my very valuable time to listen to a podcast, then I do not want to have it be about politics. Anyway, if you know of one, do share. I'm interested. :)

44 Days of Witchery - Day 25

44 Days of Witchery - Day 25
How do your close ones feel about your witchy path? Do they know? Why or why not?

I'm using a photo of the altar at our handfasting and wedding.  This was when my parents learned that I definitely was not a christian. I had tried to give little warnings, but it was hard to come out and say "I'm Wiccan (as I was then, I do not identify as wiccan now), in a coven and everything." Or even that other dreaded "W" word... witch! gasp.

My hubby doesn't seem to have any religious or spiritual leanings at all... I might be able to safely call him a "pagan agnostic".  hahaha.  He's totally supportive of my choices, I was a witch before we met and he knew what he was getting into. Theoretically at least. :)  He's attended open rituals and celebrations, he's attended a few workshops and my former coven's Wicca 101 classes.

Dad never talked to me about it, and my stepmom has never spoken in disapproval about it.  Both were raised with christian backgrounds. Dad has passed away, so I'll never know how he felt about it I guess.

My lack of communication did hurt my mom's feelings and we needed to process it later, a few weeks after the wedding. Mom has a strong christian lifestyle and at first there was a lot of "I'll pray for you."  But now she doesn't say that anymore, and I think she even made a witch joke to me once. :)  I do know she's passively tried to instill christian ideas into my kid's head, once. I watch for that though. We live quite a distance so our visits are not as often as I'd like... I do long for the days when we could talk about anything openly... after I got over my teen rebellious stage, we used to talk about astrology and other things.

My husband's mother doesn't seem to care one way or the other...she even asked me to teach her a little about it, not for herself but in case something happened to me, so that she could tell my son what she knew and he could decide to walk a similar path or not.

Nearly all my closest friends are either pagan themselves, or at least know and accept that I'm pagan even if they don't know the details. Anyone else's opinion doesn't really have effect on me.

While I do consider myself "out of the broom closet", I do not consider myself "out there" or super blatantly witchy. I don't do the "goth" look except perhaps as a costume. I look like a tubby middle class mom, not particularly witchy... if witchy has a look.  But I am not furtive or secretive in my choice of lifestyle so if someone hears me say "by the gods!" they are welcome to ask what I mean, if it matters that much to them. :)