Pointy boots and cords

I had a short but effective meditation this afternoon. I am working with Brigit closely as I will be hosting her in a about a weeks time and want to be as ready for that experience as possible including making sure that I have severed any unwanted and unnecessary cords. Clearing up my aura I noticed that there were loads of cords attached at my back, a bad thing, and wondered where they came from as I gently pulled them out. Familiar faces came to mind as each one was removed and the funny thing was I hadn't thought or spoken to these individuals in quite some time.

That's when I heard Brigit speak: just because you have not thought or interacted with them, does not mean that they are not thinking of you. 

I can feel the places where I patched my aura back up. They are still sort of glowing. I hope what ever it is that has caused these individuals to attach cords to me resolves well and that they discover that they hold their own light. I do however find it interesting that I would feel pulled to perform this sort of working shortly on the heels of picking up a black tourmaline stone and starting to work with it. I haven't felt pulled to do that as strongly as I did this afternoon in quite some time. The last time I performed this ritual, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself pretty clear and free of unnecessary cords so imagine my surprise this afternoon. I suppose these things happen for a reason, or so I am constantly reminded. I will have to count this as a reminder that as I walk through this place my actions and words affect people around me in a manner that stays with them for quite some time. I hope that it has been a positive impact. ( or at the very least, a much needed swift kick in the arse with my pointy boot!)

My Brigid ritual will be later than most this year because I will be taking the kids to Tuscon so my husband can film at the house with out us in the way. I will be visiting the gem show stuff that is in town and definitely staying out of enclosed places with huge geodes. Last year I got this killer migraine from that. I hope to catch Inner Traditions at their stall and possibly pick up some new material to read. I hope that there is stuff left because apparently everything will be on sale!!! ( please leave something cool for me . . . please ;) My little one will be thrilled because he will get to ride the bus, my eldest will be displeased because he will be doing as many chores for Oma and Opa as possible seeing as how he is in some VERY deep crap with his Mom right about now. Miss B will be probably trying to bargain down prices with shop owners ( she is a very shrewd shopper.) and I will be baking up my famous lemon lasagna at my Mom's ( seeing as how I have lemons pouring into my back yard still. Yea!)

I may not get a whole lot of meditation time while I am at my parent's house, but it will be good to see them and catch up. I will be asking my Dad to give me the Enclosure lecture one more time so that I have it fresh in my mind when I relate it to you and how it affects the witching community at large. My Mom will probably roll her eyes and fall asleep, she's heard it sooooo many times!

Wanted: a magician who understands the viridarium

This is Sia. She is in search of a sacred home. I dug her up because she was being chocked out by Mexican Petunias and was dying. To preserve her spirit, I dug her up and consecrated her to the stewardship of the Green Man. I actually had to dig up two of her kind and cannot keep this one. Yes, I had to choose and Sia volunteered to be the one to be put out there to search for a magician's home. She would prefer to go to someone who understands the heart and soul of plants. We have agreed upon the price of $175.00 shipping and handling included. She is very large: about 7 inches in diameter. Please contact me for an interview if you wish to  bring her into your magic life.  Sia is a romantic soul of both thorn and blossom. Until a proper home is obtained for her, she will be treated as one of my own. This particular alraun is literally the heart of a very mature Lantana and if you have Mexican Petunias on your grounds,  you need not apply as she will have major issues with that. If you are interested in being her companion and care taker, please contact me via email and we will set up and interview over the phone.
Blessings
Mrs. Oddly
mrs.oddly@gmail.com

The magic of screaming obscenities

The ritual generally starts out in frustration already. Some piece of equipment whether mechanical or technological decides it's gonna be wonky and it has gotten on your last nerve. So you tinker with it's usual fixes and still no go and of course you are running out of time and bellow out a " GOds dammit, son of a half breeded bitch WORK! ( ok, well, maybe it's just me)

Actually, It's not just me. I have witnessed this ritual many times as my car was being worked on by a former boyfriend. I have heard this ritual ensue in my house with my Dad while he was working on just about anything and even out of my husband's usually mild tongued mouth. (yes, I am the one with the potty mouth over here. We should have a swear jar, but I fear we couldn't afford it even, on the penny level) I call it a ritual because that's what it is. It has a setting and set up. It has a raising of energy and a release. The energy is directed released and the ritual is closed with either a satisfaction of results or the consultation of an esoteric expert. So I figure, if it walks like a ritual and quacks like a ritual, it must be a ritual.

So what is it that makes this whole thing work? I sort of have a theory on that. While you are working on said broken equipment, a certain amount of energy is built. In ritual settings, most of us call this raising the cone of power. We are focused on a desire ( to get this ^*(^@@@~!!~ thing to work), and we also generally have a few explicative threats handy. It's sort of shaking your fists at the Gods in anger. The only thing left to do at that point is to release the energy once the required skill task is performed. The explicatives vary from practitioner to practitioner, but they seem to use the same one because it's the one that works for them. I think this whole thing is just like any other piece of magic: desire identified, energy raised, task performed, and energy is directed and released. Check. . .  check. .  . and check.

For me, this ritual has over time gained a very potent tool: a magic hammer. This hammer has actually done violence to technology. I once had a phone that gave me nothing but grief.  I swore up and down that one day I would take a hammer to it and bash it into a million pieces. One dark day the screen on this phone ceased to function. I had to get a new phone. I removed the battery from that phone and took it outside with hammer in hand and kept my oath. I smashed it into little tiny pieces! My neighbors thought I had lost my mind while I was screaming obscenities and beating it with the hammer. It felt good to release all that frustration that I had built up with the POS phone! To this day, it is the oath I use upon all of my technology that misbehaves. I have been even known to pull out that magic hammer and place it in plain sight.

There is another aspect of this ritual that must be discussed. The bloodletting! Ask any mechanic and repair man. Nothing is really fixed if you do not swear AND shed blood. My former boyfriend refers to this as the offering to the carburetor gods. Whether it is a scape, puncture or cut, blood must be shed. If there is no accidental blood shed you create it with a pin and a few drops on the the broken part! I actually have created a tool for the ceremonial shedding of blood and keep it on my altar.

Ok, so maybe this isn't the most child friendly of rituals . . . but it is most certainly a real world application of magic. ( just send the kiddies to their rooms or swear them to silence)

The 29th

From the Book of Crooked Shadows
Nalaya

Hekate stepped into my life long before the interwebs had information really available to me about Her. So many of my rituals and 'knowings' of Her came from Her. This is one of those workings that has helped me over the years hear Her. It was drafted on the idea that on the 29th of every month there would be an offering to Her that spooked out the generally Roman population, so they stayed off of the crossroads to avoid the 'evil weirdnesses.'

From this piece sprang other pieces that are based upon the list of epithets referring to Her. I explored each one in turn to help me understand how best to honor and work with Her. At that time, much of what was spoken about her was done with a sense of dread and loathing. . . twisted propaganda put out by fearful people wishing to seize power for themselves to later struggle amongst themselves for more of that same power. I have always found it interesting that fear and the desire for power often times run together unchecked hand in hand stomping through the tulips. ( mostly because they have been blinded by their fear that the tulips remain unseen.) 

This process taught me that sometimes that, which is masked in fear, is a source of great personal power and transformation. But you first have to look that mask through the sockets of it's eyes and see what is beyond it's appearance. The 29th is coming up and I will be lighting that black candle, as I have been for years, and listening very carefully. New things are coming, worn things are leaving, and old things are resurrecting themselves. Maybe She'll show me which door needs opening.

North Carolina Bible issue update

Note to self: don't be a hater!

My friend came over last night to talk and we had a good late night chat ( of course SOPA was brought up, but I digress.)  He brought with him a book used currently by police education instructors to show me the chapter on the craft as related to criminal investigations. The chapter is entitled: Satanism, Cults, and ritual crime. The chapter is about 30 pages long and an ode to the sick minds of universe claiming to be satanists and witches. About the only thing it got correct was holidays as celebrated by pagans and Wiccans and a few of the satanic principles as laid down by Anton LeVey. So I sauntered over to the bibliography and it was just as I expected, a who's who of the extreme right wing conservative writers. I think we can agree that maybe someone else should be writing that chapter.

This particular person has been interested in magic and witchcraft for quite sometime but before me  has lacked in someone who has had any experience to talk to about it. He is very well read and very well spoken and not prone to nonsense. He was shocked that I was not surprised by this expose` and even more surprised that I had nothing to rant about the subject. I just laid out a few thoughts and a couple of real life experiences with law enforcement and let the subject lie. The truth is, haters are gonna hate. It doesn't matter what the subject is. Sure, I could be angry about how we are being painted in the police world, but the other side to that is simply there are those who are working within the law enforcement  world who are also pagans and can disspell this kind of misinformation with a wave of their hand and good old fashioned lead by example. Being angry about something that has been going on for thousands of years isn't gonna make a lick of difference and is a colossal waste of my time and energy. There are far better fights to pick. When I find something worth fighting for ( or against) . . . trust me this witchy stands, speaks, and finds a way to make a difference.

We all have our sacred cows and hate to see them butchered. In the throws of  HOW DARE YOU!!! we get our BGPs ( Big Girl Panties) all up in a snit and have an open mouth insert patella moment. I don't think I advocate the business shunning that I have seen for someone who has expressed an opinion contrary to our own. However, when it comes to bad behavior, such as we seen, I think certain business owners should keep in mind that it does affect how people see you and they may veer away from someone who behaves in a volatile manner. They will put you in the hater pigeon hole and find somewhere else to put their money. So put those BGPs on neatly and play nice. Playing nice doesn't mean that you can't have and articulate your opinion, it just means you shouldn't talk about shooting people in the face.

I think that the point of this subject is simply bad behavior is seen from every circle of the world from the Christians who are cursing the girl who stood up for her rights with eternal rape by Satan in Hell to unnamed pagan authors who are emotionally violent with their support of SOPA. While I feel the need to express my opinions and views on things I think that recent anger about certain subjects should be paid attention to for the mere reminder that all of us have a right to our own opinion, but it is better to express that opinion in a cool and collected manner without resorting to demagoguery. Demagoguery apparently does nothing but rile up emotions and  circumvent logic and good debate. So, note to self: don't be a hater!

Possession, Demons and Exorcism: part 2

When possession comes to mind, the first thoughts are generally negative in nature. The mind wanders off to the Hollywood renditions of heads spinning, weird things being regurgitated at record distances, convulsions, and intimidating voices issuing threats from the twisted features of the possessed. While some of these things may actually be true, it is not the whole story of possession. For the most part Hollywood and TV land has neglected to take into account the phenomenon of sacred possessions, unless you count The Vampire Diaries in season one where Bonnie the witch is possessed by the spirit of her ancestor to prevent something terrible from happening ( see no spoilers for those who have not seen it yet.) That's pretty close to what I am talking about when I talk about sacred possession, but it doesn't earn a cigar ( sorry Bonnie.)

http://www.bobgrahamart.com/page/page/3690774.htm

What I am talking about is possession of a person by a divine being and in some cases, the spirit of a spiritual leader, for example, Marie Laveau has been called forth at least once that I can recall seeing.  I wish I could find the video of it on YouTube again. It was so long ago that I saw it on YouTube that it probably no longer exists if my searches are correct. In Voodou tradition, possession of their Gods is a common theme. It is even said that the Haitians gained their freedom while being possessed during battle by their Gods. This type of possession, generally does not happen spontaneously. It is worked for. Some traditions use trance, others dancing, others yet a series of trance and invocation. This process is just that, a conscious effort to call a specific being/spirit/divinity into the body of a willing host for the benefit of that specific spiritual community.

Christianity is included in the traditions that practice possession. *gasp* Ever heard of the Holy Rollers? The Holy Rollers are a group of Pentecostal Christians who at one point in time during the mass would literally roll down the aisles of the church to whip up the energy. They would do this to invoke God within them and speak in tongues. According to my Pentecostal friend this is no longer practiced, but they still practice possession. They call it getting the Holy Ghost.

I could talk about this subject in an arm chair magician sort of style, but that's not who I am. I come from a line in my tradition that does possession with the Gods. My first taste of possession was, in fact, something that falls into: "this generally does not happen category." I was working on an oil devoted to one of our deities. I had contacted Her before I actually started working on creating the oil to ask Her what she desired Her oil to be like. I listened and took notes and this process continued for a few days while I asked questions, listened and played with energetic resonances of the oil mixtures I was testing for this project. When it came time to actually blend things together and leave it steep for the proper time I could feel Her hover near and my crown chakra would spin and become very warm. At the Dark Moon when it came time to bless this oil and call Her to empower it something different happened. I could feel Her half slip into me like a hand filling a glove and all the things I had planned on saying and chanting went right out the window. I could hear a difference in my voice, I could feel my eyes and other facial features being held in a different manner. I felt VERY large as though I could just stretch out and touch the other side of the house if I wanted to. It took a few hours after the blessing for the effects of Her coming and going to fully dissipate and even my kids looked carefully at me as though they were wondering who else was in there with me. I have witnessed another practicing this sort of possession and watching it happen on the outside I can tell you that there is a marked change in the person hosting the Gods while they are present.

While popular media likes to spin things in a manner of the sensational, the truth is that what ever it is they are spinning probably has another side and face to the subject and possession is no different. Possession is both sacred and profane and it is up to you to determine which you wish to embrace.

Sugar Plum Faery Vodka. . . a new trad in my house

I took up the challenge of celebrating Sviata Vechera with my friend Ms. Dirty. It was an amazing experience and even though I was sick through most of it I completely enjoyed the whole get to know my Finnish ancestors experience. I decided to focus on one set of ancestors because our line has been broken and mostly mysterious due to the tragedies of history. I never really knew my paternal Grandfather. I didn't really meet him until I had an accidental trance. . . my first trance ever btw. He showed up and after the experience I spoke to my parents about it and they both verified the identity of the person I was speaking to. It became my first proof of ancestral connection.

Upon investigation of Finland and her Yuletide customs, I found out that it is indeed the Land of Santa and that inspired me to invoke the spirit of the sugarplum faery along with inviting my Finnish ancestors to celebrate with me. At first, I wanted to just include the family in this tradition, but the further I went in my research the louder my Grandfather's voice became: No, this is to be a small gathering of your closest kith and kin. That's how we did it. So I caved and sent out invites to my closest friends and a few of my husband's closest friends. It was not regretted.

My kids and I turned the house upside down and cleaned it in accordance to Finnish tradition and made decorations that my ancestors would recognize. I planned the menu which included a glazed ham, a green bean mushroom casserole, cheeses and breads, sugarplums, and of course the glogg and gingerbread cookies. Upon reading the vodka could be used to spike the glogg, I brewed my own special addition to the celebration. Sugarplum Faery Vodka! It was met with grand approval from my grandfather so I set to work. I will know share the recipe here with you because it is indeed a great tasting brew!


Sugar Plum Faery Vodka

( this must be prepared several weeks before you plan on drinking it so plan well.)

1/2 cup dried apricots diced
1/2 cup dated pitted and diced
1 cinnamon stick
2 pinches nutmeg
1 pinch clove
the zest of one lemon and/ or orange
all this steeped into 1 750mL vodka for 3 weeks
Strain
next, because the sugarplum faery has the glamory of a purple hue, steep 1/2 cup  blackberries in the brew for another 2-3 weeks to color it. Strain again and store in a pretty bottle. I offered the marc ( the steeped remains) back into the earth in my garden beds. The birds loved it. . . and probably were good and tipsy. It sort of reminded me of a news story from a few years ago when birds were acting drunk in Australia. . . but my birds weren't falling out of the trees and wobbling around. ( no birds were adversely affected in the making of this offering)

This tastes very good in glogg, hot chocolate, lemonade and iced tea

Of course there is a bit of magic in calling the sugarplum faery into this brew but that should be a personal experience you draft for yourself. Words and magics of the heart are far more effective than anything you could recite and copy from me.

Thank you Ms. Graveyard Dirt for encouraging all of us who answered your emotional blackmail call to participate in this with you. Love you muchly Ms. Dirty! I have no regrets other than I felt like crud during this time. Next year. . . I'm gonna be well and whole for this experience! Cause I'ma gonna do it again!

( yes next post is gonna be about sacred possession. . . I haven't forgotten ;) )