Self care is magic.

 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.

Divination: Rune Study - Berkanan

 Dear Reader,

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).

An update.

 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.

Print Lokean Devotional is Live!

 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.

♥

Divination: Rune Study - Laguz

 Dear Reader,

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.

No video this week.

 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. 

Herbalism, tools & treasures: Keys

 Dear Reader,

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.

Practical Witchery: Using Elemental Weapons

 Dear Reader,

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.

Divination: Rune study - Ing

 Dear Reader,

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.

Recommendations: umm... I've got nothing.

 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.

No video post this week.

 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.

Update time, whee!

 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.

Divination: Rune Study - Ur

 Dear Reader,

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.

Blessed Samhain and Tamala.

 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.