Blurb

Thoughts, lessons, and theology from an eclectic witch from a varied background.

Monday, October 23, 2017

Divination Notes: New Moon Reading

Hello, dear Reader,

I have been desperately trying to think of ways to get back into the swing of doing writing work and such. One of the challenges I have been facing is how to get my practice doing divination more active. As a result of a minor brainstorm last week, I have decided to do a monthly reading for what I can expect out of the upcoming lunar cycle on the evening of the New Moon. After all, in the traditions that I was educated by, the New Moon is a particularly good time for things like divination.

I used a Celtic Cross spread. Given below are the cards and their positions. Also, my initial impressions of each card, as per my notes. Some of the impressions may make immediate sense. Others are more due to the deck I was using, which was the Witches's Tarot from Robin Wood. Those cards have some interesting twists on the iconography of the suits and such.

# Name Card Impression
1 Querent 1 of Pentacles New beginnings,
fertility & growth
2 Situation 9 of Pentacles New beginnings,
fertility & growth
3 Deep
Past
Lovers Marriage &
stability
4 Moderate
Deep
Past
6 of Wands Turning within
learning to find
words
5 Recent
Past
Queen of Cups The Good Mother,
spiritual wisdom,
priestess's work
6 Immediate
Future w/o
Changes
Princess of
Wands
Writing, new
beginning, listening
to inner self
7 House &
Home
The Sun Coming to know my
inner child
8 Hopes &
Fears
8 of Cups Inspiration, blessings
'My cup runneth over'
9 Fate's
Hand
Wheel of Fortune Knowing my many
selves, accepting change
the cycles of life
10 Outcome 9 of Swords battling 'false' self, hard
struggle with eventual
victory, 'lightning' - Tower?

After making my list of initial impressions, I consider the spread as a whole and the different parts of the reading in context. From this, I get my summary. For this reading my summary was the following:

Next month brings a lot of growth, new communication, and spiritual passages. Focus on self, relationships and work - writing & priestly/parental.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Video Post: Positivity Post No. ???


** Transcript **

Hello,

It has been a while since I have posted one of these videos. I'm sorry that I have been so absent. It has been quite a struggle to get much done over the last few months. I am not completely feeling confident in myself right now. That, however, is not a sign that I should not do this.

Sometimes, being vulnerable is a good thing. It is a place where honesty comes from and we can connect on a deeper level than what you would find in what comes when everything is comfortable. Taking risks is hard to do. It is especially hard when we feel like we are too open for harm when we do so. But, sometimes that really hard risk proves less difficult after we do it. And sometimes the rewards of taking that risk are a lot bigger than we dared to dream.

Thank you for allowing me to take this chance with you. And I hope that you have someone equally supportive to help you take the chances that help you grow into who you desire to be.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Divination Notes: Rune Ingwaz


Ingwaz is a rune strongly associated with the god Ingvi-Freyr. It is in position 22 of the Futhorc alphabet. It has two variants. The first is a diamond. The second is a square. Both are drawn from the central portion of the image for this glyph. It is not associated with a specific letter within the modern English alphabet. This is because it is a glyph for a dipthong, specifically the -ng sound. This dipthong glyph fell out of use as the Roman script began to replace Runic in England and surrounding areas.

Unlike many other runes, this one has only one rune poem associated with it. It is from the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The poem translates to: Ing was first among the East Danes / so seen, until he went eastward / over the sea. His wagon ran after. / Thus the Heardings named that hero. It is often considered an obscure and hard to decipher text by many who refuse to consider that Ing was the name of these people's ancestral god (hence why they were called the Angles, which could also have been written the Ingles). The wagon spoken of would be Ingvi-Freyr's famed ship Skithblathnir if this poem was viewed from this context.

Traditionally, this is a rune of blessings and fertility. It is also considered a rune of wealth. I personally consider it to be a rune of gestation and growth. As the rune itself visually is very close to what a wheat ear looks like or of what a seed would look like. It is a benevolent rune with no untoward implications, generally, due to the fact it can not be read merkstave. Depending on how it falls in a reading, it may indicated a time of growth or a time of prosperity. If it arrives in a reading surrounded by negatively aspected runes, it serves to soften the harshness of those other runes.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Back in a day.

Hello, gentle Reader,

I am currently struggling with a migraine. It's been a thing all day. I will try to post something more tomorrow. Gods willing, this will end quickly.

Monday, October 2, 2017

Thoughts and Ponderings.

Hello dear Reader,

I have been unwell. I'm actually going to be calling my physician in a little bit to make an appointment to deal with a possible sinus infection. Other aspects of my health are not very well at the moment either. It is making quite a few things challenging.

I woke up today with the hope that today would be the day things turned around. Instead, I found news reports about the massacre in Las Vegas and more details about transgender children being abused. Grief is a reasonable response to such things, especially when you do have a fundamental love for life. I am, however, numb. It is not a pleasant sense of ennui that has been romanticized by certain people.

It is the horrible numbness that comes when you are burned and for a brief moment you can't tell if you feel as though you are freezing or on fire. It is the numbness that comes when you have learned that someone you dearly love is dying and you are helpless to do anything to even bring them comfort. Or the numbness as you witness a tragedy so great it alters the lives of even the people who come in passing contact with it.

Some would have us say that we have seen evil and it lies in the hearts of humanity (some would say men specifically, I refuse to because all genders have this capacity). The faith of Filianism and Déanism tells us that evil is the fruit of that which is not of Dea. It tells us of the Dark Queen and her servants who function in much of the mythos as the Satan figure does within modern Christianity. We are told that we are fundamentally good, though flawed in our existence in this world because we are at some distance from Dea - who is the source of and the one who sustains all good.

When I take these things into my mind and contemplate the deeds of myself and others, I find myself troubled. The fundamental question as to the nature of evil gets more challenging when we move out of the rarified realms of pure philosophical thought. We find ourselves asking if the person who steals a loaf of bread is wrong? And if they continue to be wrong because they are doing so to feed themselves or another. The list of conditional modifiers that can be hung upon just one simple question makes the question of evil murky and hard to resolve, even when the simplest answer is that it is from that which is not of Dea.

I look to Loki, a much maligned god of the Norse pantheon who many would treat as the Asatrur version of the 'Devil'. His answer has always been that evil is only evil to they who are harmed by it. It is an answer that many would take great offense over. At one point, I did as well. Then I looked at the horrific things done for the sake of the equally nebulous concept of good. Murder is murder, regardless if it is done on the street over a pair of shoes or an imagined insult or upon the field of battle. When one kills another, it is murder. The value of the act comes from the context, which is more often than not defined by the mindset of the parties involved. (This is one of Loki's favorite arguments by the way that our perception of good and evil are relative.)

Thus, I find myself drawn to the mysteries of physics. Einstein had some fairly definite things to say about frames of reference and how they influenced everything. Such things could be applied to philosophical or theological questions. But, at what point do we find that we must say that the value judgments are meaningless because they have no direction they move in at the speed of light? It is a question that keeps coming to mind of late.

Is there good or evil? Well, yes. But they are only recognizable in context. That which is good to me may prove evil to you and entirely valueless to someone else. Thus, I question, is there some absolute value that good and evil can be calculated against. Some manner of spiritual equivalent to lumniferous aether or something else that we can gauge good and evil against. In my years of struggling with this question, I have no answer. It only brings up greater questions. And the biggest of them is why people do these horrible things.

The only answer I have been able to come up with is because they think it good and right and proper. And when considered from my frame of reference, they are insane. And the question about why the gods permit such things are even more difficult. It is, however, something to discuss on another day.

May there be healing for all who have been harmed this day.