fey

fey, 7 months ago to random

With the clock change, the Hunter is now quite visible in the sky by my bedtime. Hail to the winter walker. :orion:

Cat_LeFey, 7 months ago to random

Nearly 4 years in, and Covid finally reached my little shack here in the swamp. 🤒

My oldest caught it first, probably from volunteering at a robotics event, he admits he was lax in scheduling his latest booster. My daughter and I literally had an appointment today for a booster and flu shot, but now she's symptomatic too.

With the waning moon, it's a good time to do cleansing and banishing, so I'll be doing a lot of physical cleaning and disinfecting, as well as brewing up some health potions.

Thank you for reading my complaints, here's some cat tax- robot helpers edition.

Meera, a dilute tortie, is laying inside the big orange box of robot parts like it's a cat bed, looking up at the camera. If it fits, it sits.

fey, 7 months ago to random

The Full Moon reminded me of herself as she rose beautifully between the trees this evening — so of course I had to do tarot. 🌕 I had a very rare unambiguously encouraging reading.

Cat_LeFey, 7 months ago to random

Graveyard visit on this perfectly gloomy day.

This is one of the only parts of my practice that could be considered ancestor worship, where I walk around and sweep off grave markers for #Samhain. I don't know my own heritage, so I try to connect with the ancestors of my land.

This local cemetery has a heavy Lithuanian population. I've learned it's customary to leave mums on the graves this time of year, so I grow hardy mums in my garden just for this purpose.

Cat_LeFey, 7 months ago to random

My mullein torch for Samhain! I've been making these hag's torches for years- it's now an annual tradition.
I wrote out the process on my blog, with plenty of pictures and advice for making your own: https://greatlakespagan.wordpress.com/2023/10/24/how-to-make-a-hags-torch/

#Pagan #Witchcraft

fey, 7 months ago to random

Oh look: language, culture, & cognition DO all influence each other.

This was such a perfectly timed read with my current immersion in complexity theory & indigenous ecological knowledge. All power to all the relations!!!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/grammar-changes-how-we-see-an-australian-language-shows/

Cat_LeFey, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to paganism

Thank Freya it's Friday! Today's #FridayPaganPoll :

Out of the classic four ritual tools, which one do you use the most?

#Witch #Pagan #Polytheist #Druid

khthoniaa, 8 months ago to random

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Cat_LeFey, 8 months ago to random

I took a small hiatus this past week because one of my cats passed away, and I have been grieving. To help myself work through it, I wrote a blog post about fostering cats and dealing with death, as well as sharing my ritual for a pet funeral.

https://greatlakespagan.wordpress.com/2023/10/08/pagan-funeral-for-a-cat/

KentuckyConjurer, 8 months ago to random

Witches and that sort,

We have our huge autumn equinox celebration tonight with a dessert potluck. We have monthly full moon and new moon celebrations, generally with a witchy craft or spellwork.

We also hold the following celebrations:

Winter Solstice
Spring Equinox
May Day
Summer Solstice
First Harvest
Autumn Equinox
Samhain

Occasionally we will hold something for the other cross quarter day but most of us hole up between Jan-March.

Personally, I've never held full/new moon rituals.

Are there any occasions you celebrate regularly?

#Witches #Witchcraft #Witch

fey, 8 months ago to random

Haust Blót greetings for the equinox! :invertedpentagram: 🍁 🍂 🍎 :death_tarot_card:

fey, 8 months ago to random

Seeking PHYSICAL REFERENCE BOOK recommendations! :boost_please: :reply_love:

I really need to download things like the Audubon app on my phone to help with identifying species of bird (& so on) in my bioregion. However, in times of electricity loss, of me just not wanting to get lost in my phone, or of nuances that no app is coded well enough to handle... I've found myself seeking physical field guides.

I would love recommendations for the best field guides to the following (all for east of the Mississippi, preferably for so-called New England):

• Birds
• Trees
• Other plants
• Fungi
• Hell... insects & arachnids, why not

If they're intentionally decolonial in any way, that would be fucking amazing, but I don't have high expectations there — what I really seek is something with SUPERB, color illustrations, especially showing more than one angle of the same species.

Similarly, much as I would appreciate useful details like foraging info & ethnobotanical significance, for raw identification purposes that's not as important to me because I can research that separately if I need to. (I already have one of Samuel Thayer's books, for instance.)

Thx for any recs!

khthoniaa, 8 months ago to random

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Cat_LeFey, 9 months ago to random

I spent all last week picking apples every day. This year's harvest is a full 2 weeks earlier than the last three years, due to wildly swinging temperatures. Now the #Canning begins!

These are from my oldest apple tree, which surprisingly produced about 12 pounds (5.4kg) at an estimated 85 years old, though I really had to climb and hunt for them. It's a Macintosh variety, which was the first European cultivar brought to the Americas. They are only good for making sauce, but I don't have to add any sugar to the recipe because they're already sweet.

I admit that I don't actually like applesauce itself, it's a texture thing, but I like having some on hand to add to cakes and muffins, or pancake batter.

fey, 9 months ago to random

I have many cautionary feelings at this point about how settler mentality (which I have been raised with) imagines changing our language & implicit attitudes is a substitute for changing our systems & power structures. However, insufficient language does make it harder to shake off the mindsets that thoughtlessly perpetuate of broken systems & structures. Changed language is not a substitute, but it's still a stepping stone.

In light of that, I really enjoyed this (& it's a reminder for me to finally get to Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass" in my reading list).

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/together-earth/2015/03/30/alternative-grammar-a-new-language-of-kinship

fey, 9 months ago to random

The huge maple next to our house (our neighbors’ tree, though, insofar as they’re legally responsible for it) is so loaded down with its samaras, it’s a wonderful sight. They must be ready to drop soon.

fey, 9 months ago to random

I finally came up with & performed the apology rite for the bees we displaced from our house last month. I would have liked to do it sooner, but I really wasn't sure what to do. Well, no harm perhaps — just after a blue Moon could be a powerful time, couldn't it?

Unlike some of my other rites, this doesn't feel like something that ought to be private, so I'll explain it here. First, I walked out to the backyard & stopped near a retaining wall. Looking ahead there you can see a steep wooded slope. On that slope I'd identified a tall pine tree & I thought that honey bees might be more likely to find an opening in the soft conifer wood. Also, almost right in front of that tree is some flowering goldenrod, a plant that pollinators love. It seemed to be waiting there like a beacon.

To start the ritual, I hummed three times, long & resonant. Bees hum, so I thought I should make a noise like theirs. Then I recited a short chant, opening with the Welsh name for honey bees:

"Gwenyn mêl, gwenyn mêl,
We have ever wished ye well;
Though we bade ye leave our home,
On this land ye ought to roam.

"If ye have not gone away,
Build your hive again, and stay.
I shall show the tree to claim,
And pray ye go, by my true name."

Then I did something that probably looked very silly, but I mimicked a bee's figure-eight waggle dance, humming a spontaneous melody as I did it. The waggle dance is what a worker bee normally does to point the way to where good foraging can be found, but in my case I pointed the way to the good tree.

I ended by plucking a piece of wild red clover, setting it on the retaining wall before me, & pouring honey over it. An offering.