Why I use the title Lady.

Dear Reader,

If you've read my published works, you will notice that I style myself as a Lady. This is not whimsy or the desire to be aristocracy. Within many Wiccan traditions, Lady is a title given to a fully trained priestess. While this is not a widely accepted practice, it is one upheld in communities that are organized along 'traditional' Wiccan practice as per Gerald Gardner et al. Because my training as a priestess comes along a Wiccan orientation, I use the title Lady to signify that I have completed sufficient training to lead a coven.

Which I did at one point in time and said coven fell apart due to life happening to everyone involved. I do not denote that I am greater than my peers. I do not claim honors that would be due to me if I were somehow royalty. (Though there is a microscopic percentage of a chance that if the Royal Family of England disappeared down to their last number, I could be peerage or possibly Queen.) I treat the title Lady as I would the title Professor, a title earned through education that confers only a modest amount of authority among those who would recognize that title.

After all, not every university in the world is accredited and not every instructor will be recognized by other universities as acceptable for their programs.

Blessings be upon you and yours.

Hel vs Hell (Filianic/Déanic version)

Dear Reader,

As you may have noticed, I'm one weird Filianist. For one thing, I'm a polytheist. For another, I'm a godspouse to two deities from Heathenry. And I'm a witch on top of that. (Not to mention busy with mundane things that come along with a marriage, two kids, and being a disabled SAHM.) I don't fit the typical Filianist profile. And that's ok. Because, honestly, diversity is strength.

Now, preface made, I just want to dive a little bit in to how I approach the topic of Hel vs Hell. Hel, or as I prefer to refer to it Helheim, is the Norse underworld ruled over by the goddess of death, Hel. She is the daughter of Loki and Angrboda. Hel (or Hela as some spell it) is a goddess who welcomes the dead to her hall for a time until they are ready to reincarnate. (Yes, I am one of those heathens. Pour the haterade out in sumbel to Loki, if you're so kind to provide. I'm sure he'll bless you with laughter for it.) Now, Hel's hall is not the only place that the dead go to when they die. But I am not going to get into the various halls the dead may go to when they die. I want to specifically focus on Helheim.

In the scriptures of Filianism, we are told of Anna's journey into Hell. We are told that Irkalla fled Hell when Marya came in search of her Daughter and besieged Hell. After the reunion of the Bright Mother and her Daughter, there is little mention of Hell beyond the fact that Anna leads all souls trapped there out. Also, in the scriptures of Filianism, we are taught that there are many underworlds. This is where things get weird.

The underworld is left abandoned and defenseless by Irkalla's flight. Helheim is one of the realms of the underworld. Prior to Odin sending Hel to Helheim, that realm is unclaimed though the dead go there. Hel descends to Helheim to take possession of a portion of the realms abandoned by Irkalla. There, Hel is a just and fair (albeit somewhat grim) ruler who attends to her people and prepares them for Ragnarok.

When Ragnarok comes, the cycle of ages ends. Hel releases her claim upon Helheim and reincarnates as her child self in the proper time of the next cycle of ages, allowing Irkalla to take hold of that realm and reestablish herself as queen. Thus does the cycle perpetuate itself.

See, I'm one of those strange people who thinks that all gods may die and yet be deathless at the same time. I may, perhaps, reveal some of the secrets that Loki and Frey have shared with me about their relationship with Déa, if they agree to it. Let me say that all mothers have a Mother and allow you to draw your own conclusion.

Stupid sickness, go away.

Image from Pexels.com

Dear Reader,

I was hoping to sing for you today. Instead, I'm still coughing. I'm very frustrated with the fact that I am still sick. Yesterday was an awful day because my blood sugar was running pretty high and I slept most of the day due to it. I'm still working on my new Filianic manuscript. I am about half done and it is starting to look pretty good. I will be publishing it through Lulu.com instead of Amazon because Lulu will be less expensive for you and allows me a wider range of publication formats.

This is a seemingly minor detail that will make a big difference in how useful this book will be. What I'm working on is a combination of devotional guide and prayer journal. I want this to be a book that will lie flat which requires something like a spiral bound spine. The prayer journal portion will also be produced separately as its own book. Again, this will be published through Lulu.com because of the reasons I have already stated.

I don't anticipate this project being finished by the end of the month because of factors beyond my control, like the fact that I'm still sick. My revised goal is less ambitious and I'm aiming for the beginning of Spring. If I'm lucky, I will be able to get some artwork into this thing so that it is not just straight up text. I know that nothing but text is tiring on the eyes.

Ugh, still sick.

Dear Reader,

I'm still recovering from that sinus infection/cold. I have been thinking of things to post but finding I haven't the energy to keep up with my blog and my kids at the same time. I cast a minor spell for healing. It seems to be helping because I'm not sleeping all the time. I still am quite weary and having difficulty focusing. I'll be glad when I am over this bug.

Thank you for your patience.

♥

Transmission received.

Dear Reader,

As I have said, I am a necromancer. That means that I talk to and work with the spirits of the dead. One of the dead had a message for me to share. It is getting posted here because I am sure it will get more readership. (If you know me and my family, you'll probably know who this is from.)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

What is a woman?

A woman is not her ovaries.
A woman is not her vulva or vagina.
A woman is not her breasts.

Women may have these organs. Women may not.

Where do we find a woman?

In her mind for it is from her mind that she comes forward.
Don't concern yourself with appearances.
Once we all had tails, but that didn't stop us from becoming who we are.

Heads, butts, tails, vagina, penis, these are all parts and not defining of the being possessing them.

Where do we find personhood?

In the mind, because we're just a little body hair away from being classed as great apes.

No video this week.

Dear Reader,

Sorry, I don't have a video for you to enjoy this week. I am still really sick with this sinus infection and coughing a lot. I don't want to put your ears through that. When I am over this damned thing, you'll get to listen to me sing. I'm still writing devotional poetry and songs. Here's the lyrics. Sadly, I don't remember how to write or read music, otherwise I would be sharing it too.

Song 73

Glory, oh glory to the Mother
Glory to the Mother wise
Glory upon the hands that shaped all
To Her we give our cries

Glory, oh glory to the  Daughter
Glory to the Daughter kind
Glory upon the heart that saved all
Upon Her we focus our mind

Glory, oh glory to the Veiled Mother
Glory to the Veiled Mother wise
Glory upon the hidden one who knows all
To Her we give our cries

Glory, oh glory to Déa
Glory, oh glory upon Her
Glory upon the Bright Mother and Daugther
Glory upon the Veiled Mother wise

Spirit Familiar vs. Servitor / Egregore

Dear Reader,

Most folklore about witches in English speaking countries talk about them having familiars. Some familiars are cats or dogs. Some of them are more ... exotic, such as 'demons'. I'm a necromancer. I have a fish but my fish is not my familiar. Though he is sensitive to magical work and gets all hyper when I am doing stuff in the kitchen (where his tank is). My familiar is the same one that I had back when he was alive, my cat.

Re-read that last sentence. It's a weird one. When my cat was alive, my cat's name was Sandy and the body the cat inhabited was female. Sandy was my marginally reformed barn cat who regularly did things like attack my feet in my sleep for fun. Still, when ever I was performing magic, Sandy showed up and stuck around like a fuzzy guardian until the spell was complete. Sandy has been dead now for almost twenty years. Sandy is different now. Instead of a ginger cat running its head into my leg to get my attention, I get a cold spot there. And out the corner of my eye, I can see a dark brown cat prowling around the apartment every so often (more so during hunt season). Sandy now answers to Spooky. Just like when they were alive, offerings of potato chips go over really well.

Spirit familiars like Spooky are actually pretty common. They are spiritual beings with their own independent agenda and intelligence. They are not dependent upon you or continual spell casting by others for their presence. They have it all on their own because they are a being, not a construct. When you start researching familiars in witchcraft, you start to find that there's a pretty strong record of spirit familiars, usually named demons because anything that could be named a demon by witch hunters was.

Now, I'm not saying it is impossible for someone to have a demon as their spirit familiar. I'm just saying it is highly unlikely because demons tend to be rather powerful and have greater agency than most spirit familiars. It's like the difference between a house cat and tiger. Sure, they're both cats, but the tiger is bigger and much more formidable in just about every way. It is highly unlikely that the tiger is going to be willing to be your pet and if it happens, there's still a good chance that they may decide to eat your face some day.

Servitors are spiritual constructs that do a specific job or set of jobs. They're like spiritual robots that do only what they're programmed for. They can be very complicated and do a great many things. But they are, in the end, only capable of what they are programmed to do. Spirit familiars are unpredictable at times. That's because they have their own sense of agency and will not always follow orders. Literally, it's like herding cats sometimes. Servitors are much easier to organize and give marching orders. Egregores are more complex spiritual robots but have the same limitations because they're only as good at doing things as their programming is.