Divination: Dark Season or Light Season for Deep Readings?

 Dear Reader,

We're marching our way through the Dark Season of the Year here in the Northern Hemisphere. The days draw shorter and the nights extend longer. On top of that, in my region, the weather tends more towards cloudy and cold. We haven't had our first real snowfall yet, but I can feel it in my arthritic bones that it's going to happen soon. Some questions that come up when it comes to divination is when is the best time of year to do a deep reading on issues like past lives, ancestor contact, and looking into future events. 

Folk wisdom in the Pagan community at large says that during the Dark period (be it of the Moon or Sun) is the best time to look into hidden things. The premise is just as the source of light is hidden, so is the details of the matter that you are reading on. It goes back to the principle of "like calls to like," which is one of the fundamental concepts of modern magical practices at large. In my experience, deep readings can be done in either season, the question is what is your focus.

In the Light season, your focus would be casting light upon the hidden details. This will reveal different information (sometimes more superficial information) than what you would get during the Dark season. The Dark season is the time for the focus to be on summoning the hidden details to reveal themselves to you. You are not casting light upon them as much as raising them from the depths as you would raise the dead from where they lie.

The information gleaned from the Dark season readings is going to tend towards brutal honesty and a hard push towards confronting your Shadow Self. I'm not saying that information from Light season readings are not going to push towards that as well, but Dark season readings are going to push far harder in that direction. 

[Untitled]

 Dear Reader,

I'm not really sure what to write. I am depressed because of Seasonal Affective Disorder and the fact that the 'holiday season' brings a laundry list of depression triggers for me. Due to the depression, I feel like I am a fraud and that nothing I have ever done or ever will do is going to be good enough. A part of me says I should delete this post and just give up.

I, however, am not one to just give up on things. There's some core part of me that says I must push through the challenges before me and bend the universe to my will. It is exhausting to have that drive down deep inside. While it has allowed me to accomplish many things (like writing 2 books over the course of this month despite my depression), this drive to push forward is relentless and almost like a compulsion.

I have started my holiday crafting months late. At the same time the list of people I am crafting for is much shorter than it has been in past years. I'd be doing charity crafting but I have no where to donate the goods that I have made. They're just sitting in a laundry basket taking up space in the other room. Due to Covid-19, I have not been making the preemie hats and scarves for the homeless. It cut down on my yarn bill, but it doesn't leave me much to work with in my annual scrap yarn projects at the end of the year.

I feel like a fraud for so many reasons. I'm not holding rituals anymore because my kids get into things. I'm doing less magical work because I'm doing less rituals and because my kids get into things that I leave sitting out. As such, the brain weasels gnaw on me and tell me that I'm not a real witch because I'm not doing these witchy things. I'm doing less in the way of active devotional work for any of the deities because I have been so busy juggling the kids needs and trying desperately to keep the household running. I feel like I've been a bad priestess to Déa because I'm not out there working among the population doing things like volunteering at the local food pantry, simply because I don't have the time or the energy to do it. I feel like I have been a bad priestess to Déa because I haven't been writing spiritual works for her this year. I feel like I have been a bad priestess to Déa because my medical conditions prevent me from 'properly' celebrating the rite of Sacrifice. I've been spinning my wheels on trying to come up with alternatives that work for people like myself who are medically unable to have wine or bread (yay diabetes /sarcasm).

Depression makes this time of year really hard. It's part of the reason why I have a habit of going radio silent through most of the month of December. I feel like nothing I have to say is good enough and that my complaints about my struggles are something that no one wants to read. When the Werdé's Day came, I promised myself that I would be more open and transparent in my writing. I also promised that I would be more consistent. It's been a struggle. I'm going to put my damn fool stubbornness to work here and do my best to keep posting through the darkest months of the year. I can't promise it will be pretty or necessarily uplifting. But it will be honest and genuine.

NaBloPoMo 10? I surrender.

  There's no way that I am going to make up the missing posts for the remainder of this month. Being sick for two weeks with that sinus infection threw everything off. Then I got hyper-focused on writing books. Add to that the chaos of a few days of distance learning, the kids being off from school for a few days, and the typical afternoon/evening chaos when they get home from school ... Well, you can see why I made it to ten posts before I hung up my hat on this front.

NaBloPoMo 9: Ramblings.

 Dear Reader,

I'm a day behind, but I will try to get caught up. I have this wicked head cold / sinus infection that's accompanied by an intermittent fever that keeps bouncing up and down between loopy headspace and just wanting to sleep headspace. It's been a long week and a half. Theoretically, I should be over this in the next few days.

I am frustrated because I'm struggling to do my chores around the house. I just feel exhausted and like the world is spinning at a 45 deg. angle very slowly. This is likely due to the sinus infection part of the fun. I was feeling well enough to do my morning coffee with the gods. It's kinda like a sumbel without alcohol and other participants. I have a ginormous coffee mug that I filled up and doctored to be tasty. Then I toasted the gods, spirits, and ancestors. I poured out an offering with each toast and then drank a bit of coffee. Because it's just something that they've made clear to me, when they drink I should drink with them. The exception that I am permitted is when I give offerings that are not going to mix well with my diabetes or the laundry list of medications I am on right now, like alcohol or fruit juice.

For months now I have been wracking my brain for how to adapt the Rite of Veneration / Rite of Sacrifice for people that can not have alcohol or fruit juice. I keep coming back to what manner of drink is a luxury for your household. In my case, it's diet peach iced tea. The other thing that keeps coming up in my contemplation of the question is blessed water. Because there are people who are allergic to the sweeteners that are in diet beverages. I am leaning towards blessed water.

The reason why I am leaning towards blessed water is two fold. First, water that is potable is scarce and precious. Some of us have the luxury of clean drinking water that is easily accessible. Many more are not in such a lucky position. As such clean drinking water is as much a luxury as wine, if not more so. The second reason why I am leaning towards blessed water is because water is one of the primary elements of creation. If we consider the rite from the elements of existence that are incorporated into it, the bread would be that of earth, the incense would be fire and air, and the wine would be water that has been transformed into alcohol. (If we seriously look at the fermentation process as alchemical, fresh grape juice has more water content than alcohol and the transformation changes the entire substance of the grape juice, including the water content.)

In the Rite of Veneration / Rite of Sacrifice, we are offering up to Déa the fruits and gifts of the world. This can manifest in many different ways, like a bouquet of flowers or the Collyrdian style offerings of wine and bread. The only form of offering prohibited is blood sacrifice. Some could logically extend that out to any form of offering based in animal products, which is why some Filianists and Déanists do not offer up meat when they say grace before their meals. I would go so far as to say that goods that are produced via slave labor or in an environmentally harmful fashion could go on the list of unacceptable offerings as well.

NaBloPoMo 8: Chop wood, carry water.

 Dear Reader,

I don't usually make political posts on here. While it is good to celebrate the victory of the president-elect, we must not stop here. We must push for justice for everyone. We must push for the end of the detention centers/concentration camps and the abomination that is ICE. We must push for human rights across the board. BLM needs to be supported so that people who are not lily white get a fair shot at the 'American dream.' We need to make sure that women's reproductive rights remain respected. We need to stop human trafficking. We need to body check the white supremacists into a few walls when they decide that it's fine to start physically intimidating anybody who doesn't meet their niche concept of a 'real American'. 

Yes, be happy. I am. It is a victory. We have won the battle but we have not yet won the war. And there is a subtle war going on right now for the very essence of this nation. Let us not become complacent and let ourselves be fooled into thinking that the Democratic party is our saviors. The Democratic party is not the reason why Joseph Biden is president elect. It is the people.

It is time for the sleeping giant to awake and slap down the neo-fascists. There's still work to do. Take a breather. Get a drink and some food. We've got a brief reprieve but we're going to have to pick up that shield again and start marching for justice again soon.

NaBloPoMo 7: It's officially 30 years now.

 Dear Reader,

It's official as of last night around 5pm, I've been practicing witchcraft for 30 years now. I just had my 42nd birthday. I was reviewing some old notes in my book of shadows and realized they dated back 30 years. The whole thing is a disorganized mess. I'm probably going to sit down and attempt to make sense of it. It wanders through various topics with spells written down next to historical research, with devotional drawings and poetry scattered through out.

I don't know where I'm going to start on organizing this mass of paperwork. You know those good sized file boxes that have the lid with a handle that snaps down on it? I could fill two of them with my notes. I know that organizing my book of shadows is going to be a big project that will help me get things sorted out. I have tried a few times in the past and it didn't work out so well. I got overwhelmed and gave up. A part of me says I should work on it now, but I'm doing this blogging challenge across five blogs and writing a novel. (Almost at 20k words on the novel, the goal is 50k by the end of the month.)

I think I'm going to get myself organized next year (as per the Julian calendar) and work on it through out the year. I have an equally large project that I need to work on through out the year, organizing my notes and background work for the fantasy series that I am writing. I have almost as many years worth of notes kicking around here for that too. I figure 15 minutes on each every day shouldn't be too big of a bite out of my day and I can get it sorted out by the end of the year. I don't think that is overly optimistic. I may be wrong. I'm still a little feverish and not thinking quite clearly. But, I was able to get a full night of sleep with out coughing myself awake last night. So I am definitely on the mend.

NaBloPoMo 6: Cord Magic II

 Dear Reader,

In my last post, I mentioned a number of forms of cord magic that went beyond simply tying knots in a string. Today, I want to share with you my favorite forms of cord magic. Top of the list is spinning. Spinning yarn or thread is a labor intensive process with many steps. You can skip some of the steps and buy roving that is already dyed and prepared, but it is still a lot of work. The cool thing about spinning is the fact that it is a process that goes into antiquity. Modern spinning wheels are not too different from the ancient ones, except for those nifty e-spinners. (I've been thinking about possibly getting one but they're a bit out of my price range right now.) And if you really want to go back to the roots of spinning, get yourself a spindle.

This art is steeped in history and the form of magic that goes with it is equally so. Also, spinning can be a very relaxing, if not literally entrancing form of handcraft. When I am spinning with intention, I have not only the item I plan on making from the yarn or thread in mind but what the end goal of the item involved will be. For example, I spun some fine thread with the intention of it being a protection charm. I kept that focus as I plied the yarn and then fashioned it into a cord for the protection charm that I made to go on. As a result, troubles missed their target and I honestly believe that an attempted curse was averted given the description of what happened from the recipient of the protection charm.

My second favorite form of cord magic is crochet. Number one, you get to use a hook as a wand to direct your energy into the yarn. That's fun. Number two, crochet is the process of making knots with a hook to make a fabric. (A single crochet stitch is the same as a slip knot. All other crochet stitches are a variations off of this.) I use crochet to make healing shawls and blankets to help people who have difficulty sleeping. I also use it to make protection and health enspelled hats for preemie babies. (I've made SO many hats.)

Crochet is a highly versatile fiber art. You can make anything with it. Slippers and socks to hats to high couture garments and art pieces. (If you do crochet and want to make something cool, start with a round of 6 stitches and double the number of stitches every round. You'll wind up with a hyperbolic plane that looks like a bit of coral.) As with spinning, you put your intention into each stitch and part of the process. In the end, you have a magically charged item that can be used for quite a while before the spell wears off.

NaBloPoMo 5: Cord Magic.

 Dear Reader,

Cord magic is something that gets mentioned as a really simple thing. At it's most basic level, cord magic is as simple as tying knots with intentions and then untying the with intentions. You can, however, delve deeper into this category of magic. Crafting with string or yarn is a for of cord magic if you're impressing your intentions into what you are making. (Like the best damn baby blankie in town that puts the colicky tot to sleep every time you wrap 'em up.) Sewing is a form of cord magic if you are impressing your intentions into each stitch. If you want to move away from sewing and get into stuff like embroidery, you have more complex stitches that gives you more opportunities to cast spells as you work. And then there is spinning, where you're literally making your thread or yarn with intention. Let us not forget the second oldest form of cord magic, cord making. If you're using a tool like a lucet, you are making a TON of knots to fashion your cord out of string. Each knot can be a spell component or a full spell in itself.

Don't limit your cord magic to just tying a few knots in a string. Branch out into the different possibilities. You may find that there's a form that works even better for you.

NaBloPoMo 4: Dianic Wicca & Filianism

 Dear Reader,

A question I saw posed on Tumblr caught my eye. This anonymous soul asked if one could be a Dianic Wiccan and a Filianist at the same time. The person that they posed the question to wasn't sure how to answer because they were not familiar with Dianic Wicca. I, however, can answer this question to some extent.

Dianic Wicca is in many respects the matrifocal version of Wicca that is closest in ideology to Filianism. Filianism in its worship structures are similar to those of Christianity but they do not prohibit magical practices, in general. Both religions revere the feminine Divine as the prime originator of reality and the sustainer of it. They use different language and have some diverse comments on things like the practitioner's relationship with the earth. But, Dianic Wicca is compatible with Filianism.

NaBloPoMo 3: If you're not 'practicing' you're still a witch.

 Dear Reader,

The last year has been awfully hard on me. There was the seasonal depression that I was just barely clawing my way out of when the business of Covid-19 hit. There was the extreme stress of distance learning and trying to keep my two boys entertained/educated/engaged for months. And I've been struggling with my bipolar, c-ptsd, and anxiety disorder with all of the rhetoric flying around due to this being an election year. On top of that, I have just slowly become more exhausted as time has gone on because I simply haven't had the opportunity to rest and recover from all of this.

It's left me feeling like a fraud. I haven't done a full ritual in over a year. Sure, I officiated a wedding but it was a super short secular wedding due to Covid-19 and life circumstances for the couple in question. But ritual observances of the full moon haven't happened since some time in 2008. Ritual observances of the high holidays of either of the two religions that I'm involved in haven't happened in at least a year. No matter what I do, something comes up or otherwise goes wrong. It's very discouraging and leaves me feeling like I am a fraud or something.

I was reminded recently, even if you're not holding rituals or casting ceremonial spells, you're still a witch. If your potion work is brewing the best damn pot of tea in town, that's still going to count as magic. If your spell casing is mixed with crafting and you make the best blankies for kids of every age, that still counts as magic. If your theurgy is simply reciting the prayers you have memorized for serenity, that still counts as magic.

Magic is not the sole domain of high ritual. It can be as simple as cleansing and purifying yourself ritually while you're taking a shower. I know at some point, life will calm down enough that I can start doing rituals again. And I'm talking about rituals that go beyond pouring out offerings every morning and lighting candles. In the mean time, I do my best to remember that I am magic and that every action I take is prayer.

NaBloPoMo 2: Honoring the Ancestors

 Dear Reader,

This post is on a topic that is close to my heart. In most of the United States of America's pseudo-Christian over culture, the dead are forgotten as soon as they're in the ground. There used to be a ritualized period of mourning but this gave way to hurry up and get back to work. It is considered to be morbid or impolite to discuss the dead after their funeral except in passing. This is not because of concerns that it would draw their spirit to you (which is found in many other cultures) but because death is a taboo topic for the majority of my country. Unless you're talking about murdering others in the abstract, the it gets bantered around quite casually.

In the pagan community the time around Samhain (also known as Halloween) is a time for honoring the dead. Altars and shrines are set up to them and rituals are practiced to keep their memories alive. This is not the only time of year one can spend a moment honoring they who went before us. It can be a daily practice such as what I have. Every morning, I brew a pot of coffee and put out a cup as an offering to my ancestors. It is a small act of welcoming, but it can be a big thing.  Small ritual acts build up big energy over time.

It's like building a cairn. Each small pebble is not much in itself. The entirety, however, can be breathtaking in what is built. There are days where I'm not feeling well or I just don't have the time for that morning offering. I trust that the ancestors are forgiving and understand when I am unable to do my daily ritual. They say that each of us are the result of the love of thousands. That love is deep and can carry us through hardship. Even when that hardship is having a bad case of the flu and being sick in bed most of the day, our ancestors will care for us and lend us the energy we need to be healthy and well.

Some may say, but I'm an orphan, I have no ancestors that I know of. Or I have disowned my family, I can't venerate them. Remember that line about the love of thousands? That means you have ancestors that are not going to be recognized as related to you. That means that you have ideological ancestors who guide you as you try to navigate life in an ethical way. That means that you can venerate the dead and let them reach back to you with the same care you extend to them, regardless of how much blood quantum connection is there.

NaBloPoMo 1: What is this?

 Dear Readers,

I have fallen out of the habit of regular blogging. NaBloPoMo is a casual challenge to bloggers to blog every day for the month of November. I invite my fellow bloggers to take up this challenge and spend the month sharing what is on your mind and the things you enjoy.

This is different from other blogging challenges because there is no meme beyond "just write a post every day" and the themes are left completely open ended. Some people write fiction. Others write poetry. And there was one person I knew who wrote reviews of anime that she watched. The choice of what to write is completely yours.

Now that I have explained National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), let me share with you the sister project that I am involved with for the seventh year in a row. That is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a book (not necessarily a novel) by the end of the month. Initially, I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to do NaNoWriMo this year because of all the things going on around me right now. Then, last night as I was staring at the computer trying to wind down from my busy day, a novel storyline struck me and I started writing. Now, if you write 1677 words every day, you will have a small (50k words) novel by the end of the month.

Again, I invite the writers and would be writers out there to join me in this madness. As a fellow author said, there's a book inside everyone, everyone has a story to tell. And another author told me this gem: everything that happened to you is yours, if people wanted to be cast in a better light then they should have treated you better. So if you're considering an autobiographical novel, write it. No one said you had to publish. And if you decide to publish, no one said you couldn't use a pen name.

Don't worry, there will be witchy content on here. I just had to use my first post of the month (a few days late) to get everyone up to speed with what is going on right now.