Dear Reader,
The chaos of the holidays is hitting full force. I've been madly making gifts and getting ready to bake a ton of cookies. We've been cleaning and trying to get the apartment ready for Yule. I realized yesterday there's no way I am going to keep up with blogging until things settle down. Which looks like that'll be in about three weeks, if I'm lucky.
There's a growing number of Independent Filianists and Déanists in the community. They may find the language in the predominant orthodox texts frustrating or difficult to connect with. I humbly suggest they consider the Children of Déa Version of the Clear Recital. This was a project done by independent Filianists for independent Filianists. It has all of the classic wisdom texts updated for today's needs. It also has adjusted the language to be more inclusive to a larger range of people who may have been put off by the use of 'maid' in the other renditions of the Clear Recital.
This version of the Clear Recital also contains things that have been mystically revealed to members of the independent Filianist community over the last five years regarding the Holy Mythos of the Creation and the Holy Mythos of the Daughter.
I had some difficulty with formatting this work's notation on the cover, I am not the sole author but I was the chief editor. The others who had worked on this project have chosen to remain anonymous. All of the proceeds from the purchase of this version of the Clear Recital go to charity. (Presently, I have been making preemie hats for the local NICU with yarn that has been funded by this work. I'm up to 60 hats at this time.)
I happily have returned to making videos again. I am sharing with you the devotional poem from the Unabridged Filianic Calendar Devotional that is in honor of this holy day. I will try to get another video (or possibly two) up before the end of the Julian year. While it is late in the Filianic year, this is the traditional time of giving gifts. If you or someone you know is interested, this devotional may be a delightful gift as you move through the Filianic year. It is set up differently from A Year with Déa, as there is no correlation between the Julian calendar and the Filianic calendar, but the format focuses on daily devotionals and holidays, all of which are a bit movable because of the difference between the Julian calendar and the Filianic calendar.
All of my rambling aside, here's the poem and I hope it brings you joy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Upon the first holy Night
Upon the waves walked the Mother-Bright
Swathed in sea-foam white
She conceived a child of Light
Blessed is that holy Night
Blessed is the holy Mother-Bright
Dear Reader,
It's the holiday season and one of the most popular decorations out there is mistletoe. It is a plant that is found on trees like oak where it has put its roots into the tree and lives off of the sap of the tree. Mistletoe is perhaps infamous for its role in Norse mythology but this time of year the Victorian kissing ball of mistletoe is what reigns supreme. According to 'tradition' if you kiss a person beneath a sprig of mistletoe they will be your true love in the coming year.
It's a poetic and romantic notion. It also completely ignores the dangers of mistletoe. All parts of this plant are toxic. The pretty white berries are perhaps the most toxic part of this plant. If you choose to acquire a kissing ball, get one made of faux mistletoe. If a berry drops and a small child or curious pet eats it, it can kill them. Play on the safe side of this decoration and go with something that you just have to dust off and hang up next year.
Dear Reader,
While it is the holiday season, there is a lot of envy, jealousy, spite, and just plain meanness going around. This kind of mindset powers what's known as the 'evil eye' and can lead to your luck turning a bit sour. It seems to be a bit worse with how fractious politically things are right now and just the bitterness that many have over this Covid-19 business. I was going to post something different this week, but my guides insisted that I really should share a passive defensive measure that one can take to stop these unwanted energies from disrupting their homes, which should be a sanctuary of peace, safety, and respite from the outside world.
For this spell, you will need a small jar, sand of two different colors, a small amount of pebbles, and a small amount of something sharp (thorns, broken pottery, shattered glass, or tacks all work well). Layer the sand with the pebbles and bits of sharp things between the layers of sand. As you work, focus on the sand and pebbles grounding the energy being thrown at you and your home. The sharp things are defensive measures that acts like a psychic hedge of spears around your home that will discourage those who would consider working against you or your family.
When the jar is full of these things, twist on the lid and put it somewhere that it can be seen from the outside of your home. Mine is sitting in a window that looks out on the entryway of the apartment building. This is one of those spells that you don't need to refresh. It acts as an energy sink and is constantly powered by the spite poured in your direction. The more energy thrown at it, the more effective it becomes at grounding, disbursing, and redirecting the energy into passive defense of your home.
(Note: This may be the second time I've posted this spell. The archives go back a bit on this blog and I am still trying to organize them.)
This week we are looking at the rune known variously as Thurisaz, Thorn, and Thurs. The letter combination associated with it is 'th' and the sound of 'th' as in the beginning of the word 'thing'. Many people of the contemporary sort associate this rune with Thor. I personally do not. It may have become clear as we have worked through the runes, I don't assign gods and goddesses to most of the runes. Other diviners do so, but only if the rune is explicitly about that deity, I see it as a more open ended proposition.
The rune poems that reference Thorn under the name Thurs or Thurisaz are considered to refer to giants (jotuns). They speak of giants as being the bane of women and the cause of misfortune among men. The rune poem that reference Thorn under the name given here simply describes the unpleasantness of literal thorns. In all cases, Thorn is described as baneful and unpleasant, at best. These descriptions lead me to be disinclined to associate this rune with Thor, who is a friend of humanity and the Defender of Midgard.
In the direct association, Thorn speaks of obstacles and difficulties. These are passive resistance against the querent's goals, much like the thorns on a rose bush is a passive defense against that which would take the blossom or the fruit. In the reversed (upside down) orientation, Thorn speaks of more severe restrictions and challenges to activity. This rune equates directly to the five of Staves in the tarot deck, speaking of struggles that can either bring about edification and wisdom as one defeats the challenges (direct orientation) or difficulties that bring about suffering, misery, and blockages on one's path to their goals (indirect orientation).
This might sound a little odd, but I have a favorite cane. I bought it at an estate sale for three whole dollars. It is from the Adirondacks and is hand carved. It's a very simple thing, as you can see in the pic. But, what I love about this cane is that it can double as a magical staff. That might raise a few eyebrows. Most people think of magical staves as six foot long things with all sorts of doodads attached to them. In my book, simple is better.
It serves two purposes. First, it lets you carry a magical weapon on the sly. Second, it's highly portable unlike those six foot staves that will get you questions for store security if you carry them into your local grocery store. And, I'll be honest. it makes for a legit weapon on the sly too. If you take a look at the head of the cane, that'll give you a decent knock on the nose if needed. (The skinny end could also be good for poking or tripping people as well. I may not be a nice person because I have these thoughts.)
I honestly don't know what kind of wood it is made from. I do know, however, it is from the root end of a tree by the bark left on the handle end and the shape of it. I can use it to ground energy very effectively. I can also use it to draw up energy from the Earth easily (don't let the rubber stopper on the end fool you, that's just so I don't scuff up my in-law's floor when I visit). It's a bit unconventional but that's my thing. I'm the same witch that's used pencils as wands, I tend to improvise a lot. But, I love this cane. It fits perfectly in my hand and is just the right height. It also does an excellent job of transferring energy.
Dear Reader,
If you're suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, like I am right now, you may be beating yourself up for not engaging in your magical practice as much as you feel like you should be right now. Take a moment to take a step back. There's one very big form of magic that you can be doing, should be doing right now. It's called self care. Self care, in all it's various forms, transmutes negative and unhealthy thought forms into neutral if not healthy ones. That is high magic, to be honest.
Don't kick yourself for not having the energy to do anything more than light a candle and pray. Don't kick yourself for not having the energy to do anything more than ground yourself when your anxiety starts to spike. Don't beat yourself up for having a hard time, especially right around the holidays. Yeah, they put on a good show about how everyone is supposed to be cheerful and shit but it's all a lie, a badly packaged lie.
Don't kick yourself for the fact that you don't fit that lie. You're a real person, not a character in a Hallmark movie. You've got real life issues to deal with and some of that stuff is real hard. Take some time, however much you can spare, and do something that is gentle and loving for yourself. Maybe it's a cup of tea or the stereotypical bubble bath. Maybe its brushing your hair for the first time in three days and taking a warm shower. It doesn't matter what it is, it's still magic. It still counts as self care. Take care of yourself, because you're important and you are loved. You may not feel like you are loved, but I assure you that the High Ones do love you and want to see you well.
This rune is one that is strongly associated with femininity by modern interpreters and seems to have this connection in possible antiquity. Berkanan is associated with the letter 'B'. There are three separate rune poems associated with it. The strongest association that Berkanan has is with the birch tree. It is also associated with the poplar tree by way of the Anglo-Saxons. In modern readings, I have seen it also associated with the beech tree. I am not sure if the beech tree association is because of a mistranslation of birch by someone or because of some manner of oral tradition that's been passed down and never actually written down. In my study of the runes, I have encountered it as the beech tree multiple times and as the poplar tree often as well.
It is my suspicion (as it is of serious scholars) that this rune's connection with trees is an indication of cross communication between the Norse and Germanic peoples with the Celtic peoples. The Celtic peoples of antiquity used a divination and alphabetical system that was centered around trees. Within the Celtic Ogham system, the Beech tree is considered female and maternal in nature. A similar sentiment is expressed by modern diviners regarding Berkanan, though the rune poems make no mention of such a sentiment. Two of the rune poems describe the tree and it's nature as a very leafy and persistent plant. One rune poem briefly touches upon the highly leafy nature of the tree and then states that Loki was lucky in his mischief. The association with Loki is an utter mystery. A possible hypothesis is that Loki found the mistletoe that he used to fashion the dart that killed Baldur on a birch tree. But that is pure conjecture.
In interpreting this rune, it has a direct and an indirect/reversed meaning. In the direct orientation, Berkanan is a rune that speaks of feminine forces in the querent's life (be it people or raw forces of nature, such as feminine aligned deities). Berkanan also speaks of new life, new beginnings, and pregnancy, when in the direct orientation. In the indirect orientation, Berkanan speaks of missed opportunities, false starts, and (in some cases) a loss of something dear to the querent (i.e. a miscarriage if the reading is discussing pregnancy).
Dear Reader,
The last several days have been super busy and I haven't had a chance to update the blog (or work on my NaNoWriMo project). Turkey day week is always chaotic. I always forget that fact. I will do my best to get back into my regular posting on various topics. If you are shopping for a Filianist in your life (or for yourself as a treat) I have several books out along that vein. You might want to start with the first one that I put out in 2014, Rose Petals: A Filianic Psalter. If you're shopping for a Heathen (or, more specifically a Lokean) in your life, I have a new book out. It is The Veiled Witch's Ritual Book, Vol. 2: A Lokean Devotional. The Lokean devotional gives detailed instructions for building a person relationship with Loki, the Norse God of Mischief.
I thank you for your consideration of possibly picking up a copy of something I have written. And I thank you for your continued readership. As we march forward into the holiday season, I hope that you all find great joy and many blessings. I'm going to do my best to keep up through the chaos of the holidays. Post may be a bit shorter than usual. I apologize for the brevity in advance. Finding time to write is getting a little hairy this time of year.
Dear Reader,
The print edition of the Lokean Devotional that I wrote is live. It whipped through the review process a lot faster than I expected. There is a bunch more material in the print version. I also hint at something that I'm going to be writing over the course of next year and the year after (because I've got a whole ton of things to go over and get set up for being in hardcover format). I'm still working my way through my list of book topics. There's a bunch of stuff in the works, but I finally got this one finished up for you. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful.
♥
This week, we are looking at the rune Laguz. It is considered by many to be a feminine oriented rune because of its association with water. It is my belief that this is a modern projection onto an ancient symbol. If we pause a moment to consider that the deities associated with water in the Norse and Germanic pantheons are of masculine and feminine genders, we must conclude that this is a gender neutral rune. That is if we wish to ignore the literally fluid nature of this rune, taking that into consideration the rune is gender fluid and can represent anyone along the gender spectrum when it pops up in a reading as a descriptor of a person involve in the querent's situation.
There are three different rune poems for this rune. I suspect that there were other rune poems that pertained to it in the other Nordic and Germanic tribal cultures that were lost to history. (It is my belief that each of the tribes had their own twist on the meaning of the runes that subtly reflected their differing relationships to the lands about them.) One thing that remains consistent through the rune poems is that Laguz is discussing water and our relationship to it. Interestingly, there are archeological finds that suggest that this rune is feminine oriented and pertains to fertility but they are very few and far between (and heavily debated).
If one were to take the matter and consider this rune in the context of what of the principle deities that we know of were associated with water and fertility, we find ourselves looking at the Vanir that reside among the Aesir as hostages after the Vanir-Aesir war. Njord is a god of harbors, good fishing, and prosperity (as well as kingship). Freyja is the goddess of love, sex, war, and seidh. Her connection to water is via the kenning Mardoll which roughly translates to the light on the waters. This leads me to conclude that there are additional water associations for Freyja that have been lost. And finally, there is Freyr whose association is his wonderous ship. It seems like something someone just tacked on to his mythos to make him more interesting but it is my suspicion that the association of Freyr with ships runs deeper and that his water associations are just as strong as his earth associations. Again, I believe there is lost mythos that would prove this but the fragments that we can find just leave a tantalizing and baffling hint.
In a divinatory context, the rune Laguz can be in a direct or indirect/reversed orientation. The direct orientation is typically taken to mean that one is in connection with their source of inspiration and experiencing a smooth flow of ideas. It is conventionally associated with women, usually with some manner of sexual overtones. In the reversed orientation, this rune speaks of a disconnect from one's source of inspiration and stagnation. It can also speak of fertility problems, particularly for women. (I contend that the next rune in a reversed orientation is more of an indicator of such difficulties but I will discuss that next week.)
In my personal divination work, Laguz has spoken to me of inspiration and deep spirituality. In the direct orientation, there is the free flow of ideas and creativity. It also signifies a connection with the depths of one's spirituality. In the indirect orientation, Laguz speaks of the stagnation of ideas, a lack of creativity, and a shallow venture into the realm of spirit. At times, it has indicated coming prosperity in the direct orientation that is the fruit of the combination of hard work and luck.
Dear Reader,
Time got away from me and I just couldn't get a script written or the video put together for you today. I apologize. Because next week is turkey day, I know that I won't have time to make a video that week. I'm aiming for getting one up the week following.
First, I'd like to apologize for this post's brevity. I am running short on time for writing and getting things done. I will try to add more later on this topic, because Keys are powerful magical tools in their own right. In antiquity, they signified power and authority. They were associated with women's magical gifts. And, they were associated with secrets and hidden things.
The key in the photo is a non-functional key. There isn't a lock on the face of the earth it will fit. And yet, I can use it in a spell to unlock secrets about a situation or lock up information that I don't want shared. Keys are transformative tools because they occupy a liminal space in the equipment of a person's life. They open doorways and secure chests with equal opportunity. They signify dominion over secrets and truths. And they can, on a magical level, be a talisman to allow one passage through difficult places.
In ancient Germanic and Norse cultures, keys were a part of marriage rites. The groom would give the bride a ring of keys to all the locks within the home, handing authority of the household over to her. (The bride would give the groom a sword, handing over the defense of the household over to him.) In other ancient European cultures, keys were associated with the ability to unlock the secrets of the spirit realm. The symbolism and meaning of keys allow us to access the deep collective unconscious essence of their meaning and apply it to our magical working.
Call them 'tools' or 'weapons,' the items associated with the different Elements are powerful in their own right. The paten associated with Elemental Earth can also be a magical shield. The wand associated with Elemental Air can also be a fighting stave. The athame associated with Elemental Fire can also be a sword. The cup associated with Elemental Water can also be armor.
The use of the magical properties of the Elemental weapons in defensive or offensive magical practices varies from tradition to tradition. In general, a shield will allow you to turn away magical attacks. A stave or a sword will allow both defensive and offensive maneuvers. Armor, obviously, protects you from an attack. It is possible to combine the Elemental weapons to achieve something that is multifunctional. A shield with armor strengthens your defense against attack. A stave with a blade increases the range of the blade's effectiveness and still is effective in both offensive and defensive maneuvers.
Many people think of magical combat as a thing of fantasy stories. It is rare in today's world, but it does happen on occasion. One must be deliberate and careful in their actions if they choose to engage in magical combat. If they do so and are invoking the raw power of the Elementals, they will find their efforts have greater potency. They must also remember, the Elementals will demand a price for this manner of use of their power. Tapping in to the raw power of the Elementals and bargaining for a dollop of that power to use as you will requires negotiating terms with the Elementals and fulfilling your end of the bargain, lest your weapon turn on you.
We're diving back into the Rune Study series with a rune that I'm fond of because of who it is attached to: Ing. The letter that this rune stands for is actually a dipthong combination: NG. There are two variants of this rune. The first is pictured in the image to the right. The second is a lozenge/diamond shape. In both cases, the rune stands for the same sound and letter combination.
It can be found in the Elder and Younger Futhorc in both shapes. In the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc it is more frequently seen in the lozenge shape in latter manuscripts. I believe this is simply a matter of it is easier to draw a lozenge and conserves more ink. During the latter period of the use of runes in writings in England, there were more forms of shorthand like this involving other runes. Also, interestingly enough, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc has a greater number of runes than the Elder or the Younger Futhorc. This is, in my opinion, an indication of language evolving to meet the needs of the speakers. The use of the Elder Futhorc for divination in the modern era is a matter of convention. It is possible to take the other rune systems and use them, but I do not know what the results of such a practice would be because the information on the divinatory meanings of these other runes are a bit sketchy because much is lost to history.
Ing is more than a sound. It is the beginning and the short-hand of the proper name of the god Freyr, Ingvi (also spelled Yngvi). He is one of the Vanir that was sent to the Aesir after the Aesir-Vanir war as a hostage (with his father and sister) to help ensure that peace remained between the two tribes of gods. Odin gave Ingvi the rulership of the realm of Alfheim as a tooth gift, which leads me to suspect that Ingvi and his twin sister were children at the time this peace arrangement was made. The mythos is unclear because much has been lost and warped with the passage of time. Ingvi is a god of fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvests. He is also a god associated with royalty and kingship (there are several myths that point to a number of royal lineages claiming descent from him).
The appearance of this rune in a reading is typically positive in aspect. It may indicate that Ingvi is involved in the querent's life at the time. It more typically indicates that the querent is the recipient of positive things that fall under Ingvi's auspices.
Dear Reader,
My life has been really topsy-turvy for the last few months. I have no good book recommendations. I have no interesting tools or techniques to recommend. My brain is just kinda toast right now. I'll try to have something for you next week. Life is beginning to stabilize. As a result, I'm starting to get back into my work patterns and doing things like getting my house back into order. Mental illness isn't a joke. It can really screw up your day, month, year, or life. If you're struggling, please seek help. There's no shame in it and only good can come from doing so.
Dear Reader,
There is not a video post this week. I've been having difficulty coming up with material for the videos. Also my boys are home from school for the day and would totally photobomb the video holding up their favorite toys. I'll try to come up with something next week. I'm probably going to be discussing Shadow Work.
Why? It's that time of year and I've been doing a lot of it over the last several months. So, I am probably going to give y'all a few pointers on how to safely do Shadow Work, provided I can get my proverbial ducks in a row. Everything is a bit chaotic because my maternal grandfather died suddenly last week and the extended family is in upheaval. I'm trying to be supportive but there really isn't much I can do aside from pray for them.
I may do a video at some point in the future on just what I do as a necromancer as well and try to demystify some of that stuff too. It is that time of year, after all.
Dear Reader,
As you may or may not be aware, it is National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo). This is something that I've participated in for almost a decade. I've been sucked into a manuscript over the last few days and completely forgetting about things like housework and blogging. I apologize. I'm attempting to be more restrained in my writing sessions. I did finally get over that damned bronchitis and the sinus infection only to come down with a norovirus a few days later. That was also part of the reason why I hadn't been posting for a bit.
Theoretically, I can post from my phone but the keyboard on that thing is so small that even with my bifocals or reading glasses, I can barely tell what I'm typing. I don't know how other people do it. But, given how sick I was, I really was too loopy most of the time to come up with anything coherent. I literally said to Beloved "I unlocked the brain's screensaver mode. It's a bug, not a feature!" as I was febrile and just this side of delirious.
I am almost finished with the print version of the Lokean devotional. I've been working on that along side the novel, which eats even more time. But, I think I've got one more section and it'll be complete. Look for it being available around the holidays, because I'm saving line edits for December. Since half of it is complete, it should go a bit faster than editing other stuff.
To the readers who have been catching things that got missed in the edits on my Filianic books (like my ordering the days of the week how I do my morning devotionals and labeling it as the orthodox days of the week), I apologize for the errors. I will work on cleaning them up and getting that out in the next edition of the books. This will be something that I'll be working on over the course of next year. I will keep you updated on how that is going. It's frustrating when things get missed in the editing process and make it into the final book. But, when you're both the author and the editor, you get a little cross-eyed during the line edits stage of the process and things will get missed.
In 2023, I hope to have all of the Filianic books up to snuff and correct in January. I also hope to have some more material for you. It's just going to take a bit of time because the notebook that I use for book planning is falling apart in a most literal fashion. This is quite the contrary from the preemie hats, though. I have been chewing my way forward on that project. I think I'm going to miss the goal of 50 hats by January 1, 2022. I do think, however, I am going to hit the goal of 100 hats by the Filianic new year.
Ur is a problematic rune. The problem lies not in unfortunate associations but the fact that there are three (if not more) possible root meanings for this rune. The Proto-Germanic roots of this rune are unclear. As a result, there are three rune poems that are still existent that give meanings for it. It is my opinion that there were quite likely other rune poems out there that have been lost with alternate meanings for all of the runes that we just can't recreate because they have been consumed by the passage of time. I will not give all three rune poems, but I will link to the excellent Wikipedia article that does a very good job of summarizing this rune's challenging aspects.
I, like many other rune readers, associate this rune with the Auroch. This was a wild ox that was rather ferocious and lived during the migration period. (I am not entirely sure when the Auroch went extinct, but I do believe that it's genetic legacy lives on in the cattle we have today that were domesticated. I think that some brave souls decided that they were going to wrangle some of the less ferocious Auroch and that was how Europeans acquired domestic cattle. Thus, I link this rune with the rune Fehu (the rune for cattle).
There is some weirdness that does, alas, go back to the Nazis where they attempted to recreate the Auroch through breeding aggressive cattle. The resulting longhorn aggressive cattle species is living out on an English farm, they've no idea what to do with them. I don't think these longhorn cattle are the same as the Auroch, but their development was based in a mythos among the Nazi party's occultists that hunting Auroch was a rite of passage for young men into adulthood. I don't put much stock into this theory and believe that the Nazi party invented it whole cloth out of some badly biased archeological research.
It is my belief that the Auroch was the last surviving megafauna of the Ice Age in Europe. (Much like on an island in Alaska there is evidence of at least one surviving herd of Mastodons during the same period that the great pyramids were being built in Egypt.) The Auroch is associated with strength and endurance. It is also considered by many to be a 'masculine' rune on this basis. I don't ascribe to this position, but I know other rune readers who do. Ur is a rune of strength, endurance, and primal power. In the direct orientation, it is associated with the positive aspects of these traits. In the reversed orientation, it is associated with the negative aspects of these traits. The role of the Auroch is obscured by history in the ancient Germanic cultures aside from it was a possible food and source of leather and other goods during the early period of their history.
This lack of clarity is simply another mystery for a rune that lives up to it's name of being a rune. For one of the translations of the word rune is mystery.
Dear Reader,
I am just about over this damned bronchitis. I didn't do anything big and fancy for Samhain (which also is the first day of the Filianic holy time of Tamala). I did wear jewelry that invoked deceased friends for their company as I took my sons out trick or treating for the first time in over a decade. It just has been nothing but bad weather and people being sick this time of year for a very long stretch. So, when the weather was merely cloudy and everyone was mostly healthy, we did it.
The kids didn't get a big haul of candy but they had a great time wishing everyone along the street a happy Halloween. (We took the approach that the houses with their front light on and no candy were the 'trick' portion of trick-or-treat and cheerfully wished them a good evening.) There was a brief scare as a very nervous little dog rushed out someone's door towards my youngest son, but that ended well. He was of the opinion that the little dog was naughty and still learning how to be good after he got past the ZOMG IS IT GOING TO NIP ME!?!
Today is the second day of Tamala, the Filianic festival of the united body of believers both living and deceased. Yesterday was the day of invitation for them to come to us and take part in the celebration. Today is the day of celebration and prayer for gratitude for the community of believers. I also mark today as the day to invoke my ancestors (both familial and otherwise) to honor them and ask their blessing over my family. If I can manage it, I'll be doing something like a Dumb Supper for them. The challenge there is that mice are beginning to get into the apartment. It makes leaving a food offering out over night a tricky proposition.
Tomorrow is the third day of Tamala. On this day, we bid farewell to our guests who have come to visit us through this celebration, provision them for their journeys off to their respective residences in the spiritual world at this time, and celebrate the union of all within Déa. It is not a 'good bye' but a 'see you again soon' and a joyful time where we take comfort that all are one within Déa and not even death may separate us from all whom we love and all who love Déa.
Dear Reader,
I am still working with my care team to get this messed up brain stuff sorted out. It's been slow and painful going. I am finally getting to where I can sleep through most of the night but the nightmares have been wildly out of control. I wake up exhausted because of them. It sucks.
As much as I love blogging, I have been spending more time on pen and paper writing doing my therapy work in an effort to get my head sorted out. Beloved, myself, and my doctor are all pretty sure that there is some manner of trauma memory trying to break through. I'm using the therapy writing in an effort to excavate that memory and deal with it. It's not going well. My emotions are all over the place. Which makes things like parenting hard, especially with two boys going through puberty.
I haven't forgotten this blog. I feel really guilty that I haven't been well enough to post regularly for a while now. My doctor assures me that between the medication and the therapy work that I am doing, I should have my c-ptsd symptoms back under control within a few months. I'll try to log in with periodic updates. They'll probably look like this one, very little good news or possibly some measure of complaint about how my disability is screwing me over.
I thank you for your patience. Right now, things are weird and crunchy. I'm sure that they'll get weirder before they get better. It pretty much always goes this way. I'm sorry, again, that I'm not posting interesting stuff for you and the running themes (like the rune study) are on hold right now. I simply don't have the brain power or energy to be posting as I am spending up to four hours a day on therapy work. It's exhausting and scary. But, if I stick with it, I'll get to the other side of this mess and back to posting better material.
Dear Reader,
I wish I had good news for you. I wish that I had content that was interesting and delightful. Alas, I am still in the midst of dealing with some psychological issues that are making writing a very challenging problem. I will be talking with my doctor this afternoon and updating him on how things are going with the chronic sleep problem and the flashbacks. Growing up in an abusive household has long and lingering impacts that can erupt from seemingly nowhere and throw everything in to tumult as you try to track down what triggered the panic reactions. This is what I have been working on. It's exhausting and demoralizing, to be honest.
Society has this habit of victim blaming and saying that trauma survivors are either exaggerating their experiences or putting them up on pedestals and calling them paragons of strength (provided the trauma they survived was the socially acceptable form). In my experience, there's a lot more victim blaming and accusations of exaggeration of trauma than there is placement upon a pedestal. There's a lot more 'You were wearing the wrong clothes/at the wrong place.' to rape survivors, for example, and less 'What happened to you is horrific, your feelings are valid, and I will hold space for you until you feel safe enough to talk about it.'
Society puts on blinders about trauma and assumes that if we do the 'right' things, trauma won't happen to us. And when trauma happens to us, society tells us that it is our fault. Even the various spiritual communities whom you would think wouldn't do that. They claim that we attracted our suffering with our 'negativity' and that the misfortune wouldn't have happened if our 'vibration' was higher. They claim that our suffering was a 'karmic lesson' or 'karmic consequence' of some ill deed done by another person in another lifetime where our soul resided (possibly). Both of these stances are victim blaming and just serve to make victims feel worse.
I get real angry about that 'vibrational' mindset when it comes to this stuff. I'm sorry, but a 7 year old who love everybody and wants to show the whole world beautiful things doesn't deserve to be sexually assaulted. A 5 year old who spills a glass of milk because they didn't have the strongest grip on the glass doesn't deserve to be beaten. And a 23 year old who is giving a friend a place to rest for the night, someone that they thought they could trust, doesn't deserve to be sexually assaulted at knife point with one of their own kitchen knives. These are not random incidents. These are things I have personally experienced. I can tell you right now, my 'vibration' wasn't the cause of the harm I have endured. The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the people who harmed me.
If you think that I attracted these situations to me on any level, be it as a 'learning experience' or because I happened to be depressed at the time my false friend assaulted me, you can drop reading my work and fuck right off. I'm still processing a lifetime of ugly stuff and it's making it hard for me to write about anything other than it. I apologize if this post is distressing or disturbing. I'm working towards my usual optimistic, informational content. It's just been really hard going over the last three months. And it's hard to tell if that light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train, optical illusion, or legitimate light.
Dear Reader,
I may not have been very active over the last few weeks because my life has been difficult. I still have been watching the public spaces where the Filianic community interacts with each other and I have observed a migration away from Tumblr. Those who are leaving speak of going over to private Discord servers and functionally becoming a closed religious group because of the challenges they have been facing on Tumblr and other platforms.
I will not be leaving Tumblr or ceasing to blog. Nor am I dropping Filianism. It is a part of my life that brings me comfort and stability, which is a big deal for someone with c-ptsd and bipolar II. I'm still going to be practicing my weird version of Filianism and doing my best to provide general information to seekers. I don't know if sites like The Society for Filianic Studies are going to remain public or not. I have no idea honestly what direction things are going to take going forward.
I know that Filianism is experiencing growing pains. There's a growing number of independent Filianists who take a wide range of views on the core principles of the faith. This has caused friction and difficulty for a number of people in their efforts to present the Orthodox Filianic perspective. Hence their migration away from Tumblr (where there had been a bustling community of believers up until a few months ago). It is my belief that Orthodox Filianism will re-emerge after a period of time to heal their heart break and attempt to engage in discourse with the independent community again.
Like all faiths, there are schisms and divisions. I think, however, that we can all reconnect through our love of Déa. I think it will take some time and during the interim period independent Filianism is going to grow and develop deeper understanding of the holy mysteries of the faith. I think that when both groups come back to the table, we will find the discussion fulfilling and affirming.
Dear Reader,
I have been unwell for the last few weeks. I had been optimistic that I'd resume posting this week but that didn't exactly happen. I've recovered from my back issues. The problems now are revolving around chronic insomnia due to c-ptsd and the c-ptsd itself. I am working with my doctor to get this resolved as soon as possible. I need more than 4 hours of sleep on a given night, honestly. And having cascading flashbacks to horrific things that happened in my youth has this nasty side effect of my sitting and staring off into space not fully aware of my environment. Reorienting myself to the present is difficult after that happens, let me tell you. The hope is that as we get my ptsd symptoms under control, everything else will settle down and my anxiety will get back under control as will my sleep cycle.
I'm trying very hard to get back to regular posting. My health is making that difficult. I apologize. Being disabled sucks. I appreciate your patience and support. (And a big HELLO! to all my new followers.)
The Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems refer to this rune as an ulcer. This leads to many scholars suspecting that this is the older meaning of the rune. The Wikipedia entry regarding this rune shows that it actually has multiple variants in the Elder Futhork, the Younger Futhork, and the Anglo-Saxon Futhork alphabets. The version that is depicted on the card I am holding is the eldest version of this rune.
It is one of the runes that I, personally, associated with the god Loki. Particularly via the star known as Loki's torch, also known as Sirius. I hold to the interpretation of this rune as that of fire in a controlled environment when in a direct orientation. When the rune appears in an indirect orientation, it speaks of fire that is uncontrolled. Fire can be figurative and speak of passions, anger, or lust. Fire can be transformative and a force for radical change. It can also be destructive and cause for great grief.
I have yet to have this rune pop up in a reading indicating an ulcer or wound upon the body or spirit. I presume that the direct orientation of this rune under that meaning would indicate a minor injury and an indirect orientation would speak of a more severe injury.
Dear Reader,
I put my back out last Wednesday and I'm not doing very well. The doctor put me on some unpronounceable medication with a name that looks like Scrabble tiles thrown out a window by the handful. It's supposed to help my spasming back relax. I go to my family doctor for my diabetes follow up on Friday. This back issue will be getting brought up if it isn't resolved by then. I am really hoping that I don't have to do physical therapy again because that sucked.
I'm not thinking very clearly at the moment. As such, I am not going to be blogging while I've still got this medication making me fuzzy headed. I don't want to accidentally post something stupid or completely ramble about stuff unrelated to anything of importance. I'm working on the Lokean manuscript on paper right now because it's more portable than my laptop. Also, I can lay down and still work on it. I can't exactly do that with the laptop.
Emotionally, I'm a mess because my c-ptsd got triggered by an argument with one of my sons. The fall out is still happening even though it's been half a week since it happened. I'm trying to get that under control. The muscle relaxant making my head a bit fuzzy helps to insulate me against the full brunt of the pain of the memories that keep coming up and the distress it causes me but I'm not doing well on that front. Again, something that makes it hard for me to focus and write up quality content. Right now, I just want to go cry where no one can see me but I feel like I can't cry because that would be weakness. (Thanks, toxic upbringing for the lose.)
So, there's a lot of stuff that's not going right at the moment and getting in the way of doing other things. Once I'm off of the medication that's got my brain feeling like Jello and I'm thinking clearer instead of caught up in this emotional hellish merry-go-round of trauma memories, I'll be posting again. Hopefully it will be a few days. I don't know.
Hey y'all, if I seem a bit off kilter it's because I put my back out last Wednesday and I'm on some stuff that's spelled like Scrabble tiles thrown out the window. It's making writing a bit of a challenge. My ducks are not in a row. I have irritable squirrels that are at a rave, wanting glow-sticks, in my back.
As I was going to say, enough people have shown interest in a print copy that I've started working on more material for it. It's going to be a little bit because of this business of my back being an issue. I'm working things out on paper before I type them up. But, I am working on it.
This was a text heavy post over on Tumblr that's gotten no traction. In an effort to engage the community in some serious discussion about the role of mental illness and similar conditions in our spirituality, I've decided to cross post it to my blogs. Below is the original post with all it's typos and such.
~*~*~*~*~
Concerning the Mind
“Thoughts of the mind neither pass away, nor vanish into air. For every thought is a builder in the subtle world that lies about you. Thoughts of beauty and of things of the Spirit refine and purify the soul, making them fair to look upon and graceful in their movements, uniting them with the universal music of eternity and gathering about them the servants of the angels. But harsh thoughts harden the soul; coarse thoughts coarsen the soul; thoughts bound only to material things load the soul with heavy chains.” - Teachings of the Daughter: The Thoughts of the Mind: verses 1 - 5, The Clear Recital, CDV
My friends, this lesson has been rattling around in my thoughts ever since I first read it in the AAV. There are minor differences in the two regarding the language. But the message is the same, regardless of which version of The Clear Recital you pick up. That message is in three parts:
1. You are responsible for your thoughts.
2. If you think about the correct things, you will draw closer to Déa.
3. If you think about the incorrect things, you will move farther from Déa.
This is generally all well and good for neurotypical people. But what of people who lack the ability to have the degree of control over their thoughts to prevent the incorrect thought patterns from emerging persistently, be it via immaturity (i.e. children), via a medical condition (i.e. dementia), or some other reason that can not be resolved at the time of the incorrect thought (i.e. distressful situations). I suppose the child could be taught and trained in mental discipline, this perhaps removes them from the list of persons unable to control their thoughts.
But what of persons like myself who suffer from an illness that impairs their ability to control their thoughts on a regular basis. With great willpower, we attempt to control our thoughts so that the undesired ones do not occur but it is not possible to eradicate them or mitigate the frequency of them. No matter what I do, what medication I am on, or how formidable my will might be, I can not help the anger and harshness that comes when I am in a mixed episode nor can I help the thoughts of suicide in a depressive episode. My brain just isn’t wired right, it’s got the wrong amounts of neurochemicals despite the best treatment.
I have given this a lot of thought while I have been in a range of mental states over the last few years. I’ve cycled through all of my mood states and this question of how does Déa regard my inability to control my mind keeps coming up. If we accept the premise that Déa is a merciful Mother and understands our failings, I think we must also accept the idea that Déa extends forgiveness to us when we can not meet a standard that is set. I think that we must accept the idea that Déa views us in our impaired state and sees that we are trying our best.
Thus, through Déa’s grace, even though we may struggle to think the correct thoughts, when we fail because we are unable to do otherwise, we are not moving farther from Déa. The thoughts we have when we are impaired or injured do not disfigure the soul, do harm to the subtle body that is referenced in this teaching of Our Lady, or prove something that makes us fundamentally repellant on all levels. I think that Déa sees my struggle and allows grace and mercy as long as I try my best.
Your thoughts, friends?
ETA: typo corrections because I haven't had enough coffee yet today. LOL
Earth Elementals are surprisingly easy to work with. They are not, generally, as mercurial in temperament as Fire Elementals or Air Elementals. And they tend to be more orderly and less prone to rapid changes than Water Elementals. For many 'baby' witches, Earth Elementals are where they begin serious study of Elemental magic because of how accessible they are.
Show in the picture to the right is my big chunk of Rose Quartz. It is both a stone that I use to charge other ones for different purposes and a place where an Earth Elemental ally of mine likes to reside. In folk lore, Earth Elementals can be described variously as dwarves, gnomes, or any other spiritual entity that resides within the earth. They are associated with stability, prosperity, endurance, and wisdom.
The cardinal direction that Earth Elementals are associated with is North in most European-centric magical traditions. Earth Elementals hold sway over the forms of magic and divination involving the use of stones and dirt. You should call on their assistance when engaging in any form of magic that uses these elements for extra emphasis upon your spell craft. Earth Elementals are associated with the magical 'weapon' of the paten (the plate upon which the ritual meal of cakes/bread and ale is served during a rite) and the symbol of the pentacle in the direct orientation (along with the High Ones, for the pentacle in this orientation is an indication of spirt/mind over matter).
To establish a good relationship with Earth Elementals, consider things like a houseplant that is dedicated to them. Earth Elementals are deeply entwined with the flora and fauna of a region. Regular care and maintenance of said plant acts as regular offerings of good will to the Earth Elementals in your region. This is even more the case if you happen to be lucky enough to have an outdoor garden where you can really get your hands into the local dirt and build that spiritual imprint with them.
You can also collect stones and ask that an Earth Elemental for an alliance and that they reside within the stone. Giving offerings then resembles giving offerings to other spiritual beings. Something that is specially set aside and placed on an altar for a time until your intuition (or common sense) tells you it is time to properly dispose of it. A unique method of giving offerings to Earth Elementals outdoors is to build a cairn in your garden area and pour the liquid offering over the stones. It is a good idea to put it in a spot where there is good drainage and it will not disturb the plants. Wine, for example, is not good for hostas and you don't want that offering to kill off the nearby plants. Cairns make a good place for Earth Elemental allies to take up residence and assist in the magical protection of property and one's home.
As we pick up the threads that got dropped over the last month and a half, we return to the Rune Study series with an important rune for humanity: Mann/Mannaz
Now, before I go into the history and interpretation of this rune I must pause to clear up some semantics about it. There are many people who look at this rune and think it only talks about masculine people. The assumption is that the modern word 'man' is the same as the ancient one. This is incorrect. Mann refers to humanity at large. The Anglo-Saxon term for masculine people used the prefix (or suffix, depending on the conjugation of the word) -wig. Their term for feminine people used the prefix (or suffix, again depending on the conjugation of the word) -wif. The word 'wife' is derived from 'wif' and it is believed that both are pronounced the same way. It is reasonable to think that other Germanic and Norse cultures had similar distinctions. The word Mann is related to '-were' (think werewolf which translates to man-wolf), which again refers to humanity at large.
With the tendency to condense and simplify language over time, Mann was shortened to man and because of social politics it became associated with the masculine gender within the English speaking world. I'm not entirely sure (because my resources are limited) what changes were made with respect to this rune and the word it is associated with in other cultures that used it. You'll note on my rune card I spelled it "man" this is to reflect the modern use of "man" to refer to humanity in the general sense. This is not a patriarchal thing but a reclaiming of the gender neutral meaning and putting it to the modern usage.
The version of Mann that is presented here is from the Elder Futhork and the Anglo-Saxon Futhork. The Younger Futhork presents Mann with the Algiz rune in direct orientation. (This can lead to some confusion in reading these runes depending on the system of interpretation you are using.) There are three rune poems about this rune. I will link to Wikipedia where there is a good translation of all three of them. In general, all of the rune poems agree that a person is the joy of their kinsmen and doomed to die. There is some variation as to the third element of the rune poems from each culture. The general trend is to describe some trait that humans engage in that is distinctly of their nature (i.e. the adornment of ships).
In interpreting this rune, I look at the querent's relationship to people at large or their kinsmen if this rune comes up in connection with Othala. A direct orientation indicates a relatively positive relationship and an indirect orientation bespeaks a negative one. As relationships change and are in flux all the time, this is a relatively fluid rune and requires others to place it into context.
Dear Reader,
This post is a place holder for future material. Life is beginning to settle down and I am getting back to drafting out posts and such. Next Monday, we'll be picking up the Rune Study thread and on Tuesday we'll be looking at Earth Elementals. I'm still planning out the posts for the rest of the week, but it's a work in progress. Thank you for your patience. August was a rough month for my household which made it difficult to get any writing done at all.
I ask that you continue your prayers and good wishes for my sister-in-law and her husband. He's home from the hospital but things are not ideal. He is suffering from a great deal of confusion still and is struggling to adjust to the changes that have come with being the recipient of a kidney transplant. As such, my sister-in-law has been trying very hard to adapt to the situation as she is acting as his primary care giver during this period of healing. We appreciate your care and consideration. It means a lot to have all y'all praying and keeping them in your thoughts.
See y'all on Monday with some new material.
Dear Reader,
My silence and absence from social media over the past month has been due to a combination of factors. Some of them are familial. My brother-in-law had a kidney transplant back at the beginning of the month and has not been well since then. For a while, things were looking pretty grim. He's home now but he's not doing great. We're doing what we can to be supportive of my sister-in-law, but it's been a challenge.
The other big familial thing that's been keeping me from being active online has been the fact that my kids have been keeping me really busy since summer school ended. It's hard to write as someone is digging through legos and arguing with their sibling at full volume. Even noise cancelling headphones are hard pressed to resist that pitch of sound.
Look for more regular content next week. This week, like the last few, is shaping up to be pure chaos.
Dear Reader,
Please forgive my lack of posting. My brother-in-law is currently in the hospital. He had a kidney transplant last week and there has been serious complications. My sister-in-law has been at his side virtually night and day. There's not much we can do to help but it's been cause for concern. He's shown some improvement over the last 48 hours. There is hope that he will continue to improve, but it is uncertain.
It has made it difficult for me to focus on writing as I am waiting for news. At the same time, my children have finished summer school and are home now for three weeks until the beginning of the fall session. I am trying, honestly, to make time to get writing done but it has been virtually impossible. Throw in a migraine last night that is lingering into today and things aren't going too great.
Dear Reader,
I am in the midst of dealing with a migraine. Light feels like being stabbed in the face. It sucks. And, somehow, I have to keep up with the kids. Long story short, I won't be doing anything on today or yesterday's planned topics. I'm just going to wear my sunglasses in the house and wait for this stupid thing to pass. I hate this weather.
Dear Reader,
I'm short on time to get a quality post up for you on the topic of Earth Elementals. I will try to get it up tomorrow. This week isn't quite as busy as last week, but various factors are delaying my post on the planned topic. I'll try to, in the course of my afternoon, find a good image to go with this post. I can't promise I'll be successful. Worst case scenario, you might be looking at a picture of a shiny rock out of my collection. :)
This week's rune is Radio/Rad. It is present in all variations of the Futhork. It represents the letter 'R' and has been carried forward in the English language virtually unchanged in appearance.
It is the topic of three rune poems. For the sake of brevity, I will skip the translations of the poems and give you the link to where they can be found on Wikipedia. All three rune poems speak of this rune as being one of travel. There are some who associate this rune with the tarot card The Chariot.
Some diviners interpret this rune as traveling in a vehicle. Others simply interpret it as travel. I interpret this rune as transition or movement. It can be literal movement, like travel, or it can be a shifting in concepts identified with.
Dear Reader,
This week has been madness. Appointments and other people screwing things up makes it really hard to stay on task. It would have worked better if I had those appointments written down properly. If you think you have the time to do a thing, check your schedule and then check it again as it draws close to the date in question. Trust me, it will save you a big headache. There's lots of scheduling and organization systems out there. I've tried a few and modified a few to fit my purposes. What I'm using now is a mash up of FlyLady's system and Ryder Carrol's Bullet Journal system. My binder has a whole lot of notes in it and tons of little boxes I mark off as I get things done.
I also cross reference everything against the wall calendar that has the master schedule for the month on it. All the appointments, when bills are due, and major events all put down in one place. (My planner has a monthly page like that too but it's just easier to look at the calendar every day instead of flipping through the planner.) Sometimes, your week goes haywire because of other people screwing something up. (Yesterday was a great example as I tried to figure out what in the nine hells was going on with my health insurance company. I spent my whole afternoon clawing my way through phone trees to get answers instead of being on Keen and doing tarot readings. It was not fun. I don't recommend it. The hold music was pure torture.)
But, always check your schedule. Don't rely on your memory to keep you on track because our brains will tell us that everything's fine when in actually, there's a meeting or something lurking in the wings waiting to ambush you. What ever system you have for keeping track of everything, may it be awesome and helpful. And may life not ambush you several days in a row, like what happened this week.
Mermaids, mermen, undines, and sea-serpents are all known aspects of Water Elementals. Like all Elementals, these spiritual beings can appear to us in a wide range of forms that we might best comprehend them. Some make the mistake of thinking that Water Elementals are the most peaceable and serene of the Elementals. While they do not have the aggressiveness of Fire Elementals, they possess all the fury of the ocean in a storm and should be regarded with caution, even when their bearing is kindly.
Water Elementals hold sway, quite obviously, over bodies of water. They also are known to have influence over matters of the spirit, emotions, and all things psychic. They have a special affinity for lunar magic, given the close relationship between the Moon and all bodies of water on Earth. Water Elementals are fickle and can change their demeanor rapidly. When approached with disrespect, Water Elementals tend to cause mischief because of their refusal to forget a slight.
Water Elementals are associated with the magical weapon of the chalice and, by logical extension, the cauldron. They will accept offerings of candles because as the flame warms the wax it turns to liquid, which they hold influence over. They will also accept offerings of water or other liquids. Wine is a popular offering, specifically white wine. Partly because it is an offering that requires some expenditure on the giver's part and partly because there is a historic precedent of wine being given in offering because it was the only potable substance aside from pure spring water. White wine is popular because it visually resembles water compared to red wine.
Dear Reader,
As I had stated in a previous post, if there is enough interest in a print version of my newest book (The Veiled Witch’s Ritual Book, Vol. 2: A Lokean Devotional) I will make that happen. Now, the question one may ask is how I gauge interest. If I have at least 10 people ask, I will put this into motion. The print version will have additional content because it will be longer than the ebook. As of right now, the ebook does not meet the minimum page count requirement for a print book. I’m in the process of developing more material for the print version, but I need you to let me know that you are interested.
An Empire is a nation built of many other nations. The individual nations are ruled in their own fashion but owe honor and a measure of fealty to the Empire. Our Lady Anna, as the true born Daughter of Marya, is more than Queen of Heaven. She holds that title, but she is also Empress for all the gods that reign are beholden to her will.
She allows them their dominions but hold ultimate sway over their actions. As such, Anna calls them to tend to the Earth under her auspices. Some would say that these gods are the terrestrial janyati. That they are angels and not gods. I hold that either position can be accurate, for the janyati are emanations of Déa and can be seen as divine in their own respect as such or as messengers and servants of Déa.
Some may ask, what of the 'evil' gods and I would ask if these gods are truly evil or if they've been maligned and slandered by the religions that came after them in an effort to prevent people from 'backsliding' into worship of them.
I hold to the belief that Déa is not constrained by the limits that we have. As such, Déa can reach out to us through any possible form you can consider. This means that all religions can lead us back to Déa if we simply pay close enough attention and look for the signs that she has given us.
Dear Reader,
Yesterday was the holiday of Chelanya, the Golden Festival of grain and nature's bounty. The holy mystery of it, for the Filianic and Déanic communities, is the death and resurrection of the Daughter. In some ways, the cycle of mysteries associated with the harvest season mirror those of the Eastre cycle. In the Eastre cycle, we celebrate the life of the Daughter and her taking on of Fate (and mortality), we follow her journey into the Netherworld, and mourn her death before celebrating her arising from the abyss of absolute death by virtue of her Mother's tears and love.
In the harvest season, we approach the death of the Daughter with holy awe for she has arisen from the abyss of death like the grain springs up from the earth. We celebrate the bounty of the earth, more specifically the grain's bounty, as a reminder of the perpetual life that we find in union with Our Lady and her Mother after we have passed through the gates of death ourselves. This is the celebration of Chelanya.
The next harvest celebration, Cuivanya, comes and we celebrate the fertile earth and it's bounty in all things. It is a day of joyful abudance and embracing the life we have in this world by way of the benevolent gifts of the Bright Mother. The third harvest celebration corresponds with Tamala. With this third harvest celebration, we honor the Dark Mother, who is the ground of all being, and the one whom all souls return to in union at the end of days.
First Harvest is also celebrated within the Wiccan community as Lammas, the celebration of the bounty of the grain and the holy mysteries of the death of the god of the grain. It is, in many ways, like the celebration of the holy mysteries of the death of Freyr within Heathenry. The first harvest marks the beginning of the season where all produce is gathered in and prepared for the long winter.
Freyr, as the grain-lord and patron of the harvest, dies in ritual sacrifice so that the earth remains fertile and he arises a new in the spring with the sprouting grain to the joy of Gerða, his wife. He spend the winter within the halls of Helheim, just as the winter wheat planted at the end of the season spends the earth in fallow ground. When the snows of winter gives way and the season warms, the winter wheat springs up and Freyr returns. This is much like the story of the grain god of the Wiccan belief system. (There are some who theorize that the God of Wicca is a folk memory of the god Freyr of the Anglo-Saxons.)
In either way, First Harvest is a holy day. In my personal practice, First Harvest is a day dedicated to work. I wanted to spend time in meditation but life persisted in refocusing me on work that needed done. I dedicated my efforts to the High Ones and did my best to give thanks for the bounty in my life.
This week we're looking at the rune Ansuz. It is an interesting rune from the linguistic front because in the Elder Futhork it is a single glyph, in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork it is split into 3 separate glyphs, and in the Younger Futhork it is split into quite a few more. In the cases of the Anglo-Saxon and Younger Futhork, it represents different letter combinations and sounds. The one consistent point is that the eldest glyph remains associated with the letter 'A' and holds the same sound in each instance it appears.
The fluidity of language is fascinating. That said, most people who practice runic divination use the Elder Futhork for their work. This rune can mean 'god(s)' or 'signs' in its base interpretation. The Younger Futhork rune poem attributes this rune to Odin, as seen below:
Óss is aged Gautr
and prince of Asgard
and lord of Valhalla. (Source: Wikipedia)
While this rune is reversible it tends not to have negative connotations as dire as some other runes when it falls in the reversed orientation. It is a rune of communication, especially of communication between the querent and the gods. In the upright orientation, the rune signifies that a message is being expressed and that the querent should watch for signs of the message, remaining open for communication. In the reversed orientation, the rune indicates that a message is not being received or that communication is breaking down between the querent and the other parties. It speaks of a necessity to focus on good communication and listening skills to overcome this challenge.
At times, it can indicate a direct message from the gods and it can indicate that Odin in particular is attempting to communicate something. More often, however, the rune is indicative of communication challenges and success in the interpersonal realm.
Dear Reader,
I know that I'm trying to get back to daily posting and here I am saying that I'm taking a week off. This week has a ton of appointments and such scheduled that interrupts my writing time. As such, I will be back next week (gods willing and the creek doesn't rise) to give you your daily posts. I really need to get my calendar into order. I scheduled too many things in one week. Ugh. See you next week, y'all.
Dear Reader,
There is no video post this week because the apartment sounds like an airport again with all the fans. I'll hope to get one up next week if the weather cooperates.
Dear Reader,
My garden is overflowing with apple mint. It's a wonderful plant that has a lot of the same properties of regular mint. It just has a subtle apple aftertaste. Apple mint goes wonderfully with ham. It can be dried and used to make a soothing and relaxing tea that helps with sore throats, just like regular mint. In the dried state, apple mint's apple-like notes are not as strong. This seems to be the reverse of what usually happens when you dry something. I don't know why. It could be there's a problem in my drying technique.
I'd post a picture of my garden right now but it's raining. Apple mint is a plant that can be started from a cutting rooted in water. I have found that if you root it in water, you'll want to plant it shortly there after. You don't need to apply rooting hormone to get this plant to put out roots. In the ground, apple mint produces runners and will spread that way to take over your garden. If you don't want apple mint popping up in the middle of your hostas like mine is, when you plant it, put it into a bucket with some holes in the bottom. Make sure the bucket is deep enough that the runners can't get out the holes at the bottom. Then your mint will fill up the bucket and not take over the garden.
Dear Reader,
Way back in February, I did a post about Air Elementals. I have finally gotten my proverbial ducks in a row to write the next installment of this series of posts. This week we're meeting the Fire Elemental. Now, as I have said in my earlier post, this is not a comprehensive guide. This is an introduction and a guide to working with these spiritual beings.
Where Air Elementals are associated with slyphs, Fire Elementals are associated with salamanders. This is an association that goes back a long way to Medieval European thought. When wood was collected from the forests and put on the fire, the salamander that was living under it that had been collected with the wood, would come crawling out of the fire. This made many people think that salamanders lived in fire and were coming literally from the fire, not the wood. This idea became so prevalent that it stuck with us into modern occult thinking. Some people substitute the salamander with dragons. But, that doesn't really change much except the iconography of the spiritual being.
Fire Elementals are mercurial in temperament. They are the spiritual embodiment of fire, which means they can be warm, welcoming, and soothing or they can be destructive, terrifying, and harsh. The magical tool associated with Fire Elementals is the Athame or the Sword. (Others associate the Wand or the Stave with Fire, placing the Athame or the Sword with Air. It depends on the tradition you're following.) They're typically viewed as hailing from the South. Candles are especially associated with them because, well, fire.
Invoking Fire Elementals can be a fairly routine experience. They make excellent guardians. They can be good advisors because of their ability to shed light upon hidden things. And they are excellent at destroying things, because fire does that. When invoking the Fire Elemental for protection, you should do so with courage. They respect courage and view people with it favorably. If you're not feeling particularly courageous, still invoke them if you believe they will provide the best protection for you. Because the act of invoking the spiritual aspect of raw fire to protect you is an act of courage.
Appealing to Fire Elementals for assistance with problems is a mixed bag. They're somewhat chaotic in their workings. With patience, however, you can get a solution to your problem. It may not manifest in the manner you expected, however.
Dear Reader,
This is the first time all day I've had a chance to sit down at the keyboard and attempt to type up a blog post. I'll be posting the practical witchery topic post tomorrow (working with Fire elementals) as well as tomorrow's scheduled topic. In the meantime, I hope you've all had a productive and wonderful day. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. Errand day rolled a natural 20 and my dodge was a critical fail with a 1. I really need to increase my dice pool or something.
The rune we're looking at this week is pretty optimistic. Dagaz is present in the Elder Futhork and the Anglo-Saxon Futhork. No one knows why this rune was dropped from the Younger Futhork. Much of what we know about this rune's place in history is due to its presence in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork. It is from the Anglo-Saxons that we have the rune poem that describes the qualities associated with this rune.
Day, the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord;
it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor,
and of service to all. - Source: Wikipedia
The rune Dagaz is one of the irreversible runes. It is associated with good things, as seen in the rune poem translation quoted above. This rune is parallel in meaning as the Sun card from the Tarot. Unlike the Sun card, however, Dagaz has very few potential negative connotations. This rune speaks of hope during times of trouble, happiness, and success. It also speaks of sudden enlightenment and the revelation of hidden things. The rune can also indicate the timing of events, suggesting that an event will be happening in the immediate future.
Dear Reader,
As I had announced earlier in the week, my new book is coming out. The Veiled Witch's Ritual Book, Vol. 2: A Lokean Devotional is now available for purchase.
Dear Reader,
I just finished writing and editing the second volume of The Veiled Witch's Ritual Book. This book's focus is on Lokean devotional practices. It's a slim volume and will only be available as an ebook (unless there is sufficient demand for it to be a paperback, all y'all have to let me know if you want a physical book for this one). It is currently being reviewed by the publisher. I will let you know when it is ready for sale and post a pic of the cover.
Dear Reader,
Today was an emergency dentist trip with my eldest son. Tomorrow is going to be busy with family stuff. As a result, I will be delayed in my posting the next installment on working with Elementals and posting about another interesting thing I have kicking around here. In the coming week, there's going to be at least one more delay in posting due to this dental stuff. I'm trying really hard to keep going with my daily topics but stuff like this makes it hard.
I appreciate your patience and your readership. Life always gets complicated when you least expect it to.
P.S. The dental stuff isn't severe but we must go through the motions to make sure that it does not become a severe problem.
Today we are looking at the rune Eihwaz which stands for the Yew tree. Eihwaz is also known Eoh or Eihaz. This is a rune that is present in the same format in the Elder, Younger, and Anglo-Saxon Futhork. It is an irreversible rune.
It shows up a both a vowel and consonant. As a vowel it is associated with an 'I' sound, as a consonant is it associated with 'X' and 'Ç'. The association with 'I' is found more in the Elder Futhork and the other letters are found predominantly in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork.
It appears to have no connection with Nazi occultism from what limited research I can do, which I find curious. For the yew is a tree of death. Some associate the yew with the world-tree Yiggdrasil. Through this association, it is associated with Odin as well. It is theorized by some scholars that Eihwaz is a bind rune of Isa and Jera. It is unclear what this would change about the divination meaning of this rune if it is indeed a bind rune.
Eihwaz is like the Death card. It speaks of a spiritual period of rapid change and upheaval. It can speak of an actual death but typically it is focused on the stripping away of old and outmoded thought forms and concepts in our lives. This interpretation is based on the fact that the Yew tree is inherently very toxic in all its components and was used for making weapons of war. (Yew was an especially good wood for making bows if you're taking from the heart wood of the tree. The berries are particularly toxic and most birds will leave them alone, from what I have observed in growing up with yew trees around my parents' house. If you burn yew, stand upwind from the fire because the smoke will be an irritant to your lungs and can cause a serious reaction.)
Dear Reader,
I may have mentioned back in April that I was working on a Lokean devotional. Well, my brain decided that a massive depressive episode was necessary and that screwed up getting the thing done that month. April is the first Camp NaNoWriMo of the year, July is the second one. I have about a third of the first section of the book done. It's not going to be very long and my goal is not 50k words. My goal is to write for an hour every day until this thing is finished. On the days where I can get more than an hour worth of writing in, I'll do so. It's just been difficult because the kids are very distracting when they're around and when I'm not working on my writing, I am doing stuff to keep the household running. It's just a difficult month to do Camp NaNoWriMo. (By the way, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which officially takes place in November.)
I'm working on it, it's just going slowly. Hopefully it won't stretch into August because I have books to edit slated for time in that month. We'll see. I'm doing my best to post daily for the July for Loki meme over on my other witchy blog. It's not going that great because I am kinda short on time for writing across multiple platforms.
