44 Days of Witchery, Day 40: Your altar, if you have one!

This cacophony of light and color is the wall that forms my altars. One on the windowsill, one on the far right, one in the centre, one on the left, and one even further left, on the bookcase. In order: for the Lady of the Stars, for my ancestors, for Morrigan, Brighid, and Manannan in a Celtic context, for witchcraft, divination, etc, and for Aphrodite.

Not seen in this picture are the ancestors altar and the Aphrodite altar, because my camera couldn’t get them all in one shot.

I need to re-organize, but this is how they are at the moment.

44 Days of Witchery, Day 39: Something that inspires you.

The Anticraft. (Maaaay not be safe for work, depending on where you work.)

I mean, it quite literally inspires me to do things. I’ve made their Swamp Witch shawl and the Life and Death backpack already, and have a huge list of other things I want to try. All filed away in my Witch / Craft bookmarks folder, which includes spells, crafting, and cooking. Because witchcraft is daily life.

The backpack. It turned out really well, even if the fumes made me ill. (Duct tape has fumes. MAD fumes.)

 

The shawl. I made it 7 feet long, excluding fringe. Not blocked yet.

 

Close-up of shawl colors. I call it Harvest Witch.

 

Both were fairly easy. Actually, the 7-foot shawl was easier than the duct tape bag, if only because of my relative lack of experience in the latter crafting area.

Regardless, I’m very proud of myself.

44 Days of Witchery, Day 37: A famous pagan or witch!

Starhawk, pagan and eco-activist (sicilian wor...
Image via Wikipedia

Starhawk.

She’s definitely my favourite pagan author. I ID as Reclaiming-esque so this shouldn’t be a huge surprise. I love Dreaming the Dark and The Fifth Sacred Thing, and I’m working on reading through a number of her other books currently.

When I read the Reclaiming Principles of Unity, it was like someone had reached into my mind and found my beliefs and then written them down and formed a Witchcraft Tradition around them. Witchcamp had much the same effect.

I started reading Starhawk shortly thereafter, and her words have changed my life. She is a huge inspiration to me. I know a lot of people have a problem with her grasp of history, but it’s something I can overlook because of how inspirational she’s been, and because in her later editions of The Spiral Dance she admits to mistakes made in previous editions.

Currently I’m reading The Twelve Wild Swans, and I can’t wait to see what kinds of changes it inspires in me.

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

Roses are a pretty popular flower, and it may be because of their various magical properties. (Or it could be because of capitalist Valentine’s Day propaganda; who knows.) They’re my favourite flower, which I didn’t want to admit for all of high school but which I say proudly nowadays, mainly because it means my boyfriend will actually get them for me (see picture above). Also, Kushiel’s Dart, Phedre’s marque, etc, made roses cool again.

Anyway.

The different colors of roses have different magical meanings. White for purity, red for passion (herpa derp), bright pink for love and appreciation of your house and those that inhabit it, orange for vitality, passion, and enthusiasm, purple for power, magic, and passion, and deep burgundy for breaking negativity and protection.

Roses are also good for self-love spells, which may be why they’re my favourite. If roses have been given to you by someone who loves you, keep the petals and dry them — they’ll be especially potent for spells involving protection of yourself or love. I still have the roses pictured at the start of this post, because Nate gave them to me for Valentine’s Day (without prompting, or even expectation that I would get any). Mom tried to throw them out when she visited because “dead flowers are gross”, but they’re dried and well-kept and Nate gave them to me, so I threatened to curse her if she did.

Anyway.

According to Ellen Dugan’s Cottage Witchery, theses different goddesses are associated with roses:

Aphrodite: red and white five-petal roses.

Diana: dusky purple roses or wild roses.

Flora: all colors.

Freya: full red roses.

Hecate: a deep burgundy or chocolatey red rose.

Lakshmi: yellow, white, and pink roses.

Lilith: deep burgundy, thorny rose.

Mary: all roses, but especially white.

Our Lady of Guadalupe: red and pink roses.

Selene: a full white rose.

Titania, the Faery Queen: all roses, the more fragrant the better.

Now, I’m not sure how accurate that is, as the only deity on that list that I’ve worked with, really, is Aphrodite, and She seems to like them fine. The rest — I have no idea. Also, not sure if a few of those mentioned are actually considered deities, though I suppose it depends on who you are and your relation to Them.

But there’s the list, for better or for worse. I do find that Dugan is pretty spot-on with her witchery stuff, so I won’t begrudge her errors in deity lore.

Boom. Roses.

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

That they’re not the same damn thing.

Actually, I think people who do know a bit about paganism and/or witchcraft should know this as well.

Paganism = large umbrella term for non-JCI religions that self-identify as such.

Witchcraft = the craft of being a witch; the practice of magic.

Big difference there.

44 Days of Witchery, Day 34: Rune of your choice.

The Runic character algiz.
Image via Wikipedia

Algiz

Protection, sedge or rushes, an elk.

From The Book of Runes, by Ralph Blum:

Algiz serves as a mirror for the Spiritual Warrior, the one whose battle is always with the self. The protection of the Warrior is like the curved horns of the elk, or like the sedge grass, for both serve to keep open space around you. Remain mindful that timely action and correct conduct are the only true protection. If you find yourself feeling pain, observe the pain, stay with it. Don’t try to protect yourself from life or pull the veil down and escape by denying what is happening. You will progress; knowing that is your protection.

This is a good rune for me. It has a lot of lessons I need to remind myself of, constantly.

I think one of the coolest things about this rune is that if you turn it upside down and put a circle around it, it forms a peace sign. Peace is not an objective that is antithetical to the warrior’s path; quite the contrary.

I’m not using the definition of peace to mean no fighting, no wars, no disagreements, ever — that’s ridiculous and impossible. Peace means justice for all, and that is exactly what warriors fight for.

44 Days of Witchery, Day 33: Faerie of your choice.

I’m going to use one of the fairies of Amy Brown’s art, as I like her art style.

My fondness of Amy Brown’s art style really has nothing to do with my feelings regarding the good folk. There’s a separation in my head between pop culture fairies and the fair folk.

Pop culture fairies are cute, glittery, and nice (even the “darker” ones). The fair folk are not. The fair folk, you give them offerings and hope they stay the hells away. (See Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies.) Covering your house in iron doesn’t hurt, either.

So. An Amy Brown fairy. Seeing as I’m posting this from the future — specifically two months away — here’s an Amy Brown fairy that fits the current season.

(Normal disclaimers of “I don’t own Brown’s work, etc etc,” of course apply here.)

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

One of my favourite artists, Autumn Skye Morrison, who also happens to be a friend of mine, does a lot of pagan-y artwork. I own one of her paintings, “Grounded”, which is a dual canvas piece with ravens flying in the top canvas, and one standing with the image of a woman sitting overlaid in the bottom canvas. I also own a print of one of her works, the name of which I can’t recall, that reminds me of the Feri Peacock God.

Anyway, the one I’m going to share with you today is called “Queen Bee” (click on the image to go to its page on Skye’s site). Bees I feel are a quintessentially witchy animal, mainly because of their very large presence in Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing. I’ve been interested in bee magic for a while, and recently have had some UPG that they’re a Brighid animal (and I seem to recall reading somewhere that bees were kept by St. Brighid’s nuns, so that could be supported by fact).

You should definitely take a look at some of her other works on her site. (Unfortunately the two I own are not up there.)

44 Days of Witchery, Day 31: A favourite pagan/witchy movie.

Cover of "Practical Magic (Snap Case)"
Cover of Practical Magic (Snap Case)

Practical Magic. It’s not uber-hollywood with the magic — I mean, sure, there are special effects, but they’re far more subtle than one expects from witchy films. Far different from the book, but in a good, standalone way. I can see each thing as a separate entity. And a great story about the true magic being the power of sisterhood. Love it.

Also love the actresses; can’t go wrong with Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, and Stockard Channing.

Lastly, the 90s. Is there any better time for movie soundtracks? NO.

Second place winner: Hocus Pocus. So deliciously campy.