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The Naturalist’s Altar

Published February 21, 2012 Bones & Blood , Paganism , Witchcraft & Magic 11 Comments
Tags: altar, bee, honey bee, insects, naturalist, specimens

I befriended an entomologist in Oregon who studies bees (and whose name coincidentally means honey bee) and we performed a naturalist’s trade – Pacific Northwest bee specimens and a beautiful alder borer beetle for specimens of feather, bone, wood, and resins from my collection. I am utterly and completely in love with my bees from the golden-coloured honey bees and fat fuzzy bumble bee queens to the tiny metallic blue and green bees. Now to find a wooden display case for them to truly honour them and keep them safe.

I have an altar of horn and bone and I felt the draw to create another altar to honour Nature’s trees, plants, and insects – a naturalist’s altar. On an altar cloth of a vintage beaver pelt (complete with face, toes, and tail) I placed my bowl of necromantic honey comb from Nikiah’s hives, my new collection of local bees, the phallic root ball of a hemlock tree I found on my mountain by a sacred spring, a cicada carving gifted me by a former student, water and a holed stone from the Chalice Well, and specimens of deer vertebrae, yew, poplar, lichen, stone, and crow egg shells with a tiny silver cauldron for burnt offerings and a toad standing guard.

The crow egg shells I found last week under the trees of the park by my house. February is a sexy time of year for nature in the Pacific Northwest rainforest with the phallic catkins appearing on the trees bursting with pollen, flowers and leaves budding, and new growth sprouting from moist dark earth. The crows have been busy too, finding lovers and making little crowlings.

With the first stirrings of spring I feel like a veil has been lifted. I spent the past weekend finishing unpacking and organizing my new home. I created an office space and a crafting space so I can get more done. Now back I go to my woodcarving and the flying ointments brewing in their oils…

Divination by Rock-Paper-Scissors

Published February 13, 2012 Divination , Witchcraft & Magic 10 Comments
Tags: rock paper scissors

Rock-Paper-Scissors

This is what happens when you pair two very goofy witch-seers, a pipe of visionary herbs, and some tarot reading. Some mystics get treatises on life, the universe, and everything – we get divination by a childhood game. Adults still use it too to figure out who gets the last beer, the last piece of pizza, or shotgun for a drive. We’ve all played it and we know that rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper… now how to apply it to divination?

You can do this in all seriousness in sacred ritual space with candles and incense and use magical gestures instead of rock-paper-scissors, or you can do it playfully anywhere, any time. You need two people and if you have a larger group, split them all off into pairs. One person needs to ask a question to which the answer is “yes or no”. Then it begins. Count to three together and without thinking about it do the sign of your choice. Then do this two more times so you have three results to tally up. Of course when we tested this with my friend’s hubby as the guinea pig his question was “will I get laid tonight?”

Yes – querent beats opponent
Maybe – two of a kind (i.e. rock-rock)
No – opponent beats querent

Two to three yeses means a resounding yes! Two to three nos means hell no! Two maybes and a yes means maybe leaning on the side of yes. Two maybes and a no means maybe leaning on the side of “probably not, don’t get your hopes up”. Three maybes can mean “you asked a stupid question”, “fate isn’t going to answer, ask a different question”, or you need to do a more serious reading and should break out the tarot cards. Once you get your answer, swap so the other person can ask a question.

Have fun!

Go Outside

Published February 12, 2012 Festivals & Sabbats , Paganism , Witchcraft & Magic 15 Comments
Tags: ritual

“Our base is the Divine Life of the universe. Our means of keeping in touch with it cannot be through any man-made dogma, but through nature, which man did not make. Mens’ hands wrote all the holy books and sacred scriptures; only the book of nature was written by divinity.”

~ Doreen Valiente, Witchcraft for Tomorrow

When I lived on the mountain I did almost all of my magic outside. If I needed to leave an offering, I went outside and left it in my garden or in the forest. When I wanted to talk to the spirits I went outside and sat under a tree. When I wanted to literally walk between the worlds, I walked through threshold places in the wild wood. When the moon was full I went outside under it’s pale white light and when the moon was dark I went outside in the darkness of its absence. Solstice or equinox, I went outside. Now that I live in a city, albeit a small one, I still go outside; to the gardens and trees around my building, to the forested parks, to rituals in the wild wood, to rituals by the sea…

I remember going to a ritual on a cold winter’s night with the clear sky filled with stars. It was beautiful and we were celebrating the turning of the wheel, the changing of the seasons, but we were warm indoors away from interaction and awareness of the season of winter. At one point in the ritual we were doing a guided meditation and the ritualist said to imagine being in the forest, imagine the cold wind on your skin, imagine the innumerable stars above. I didn’t follow with the rest as I felt that tug of intuition and the voice whispered that I had just been outside that day in the forest under the beautiful sky with the cold wind actually biting my cheeks and fingers. The voice whispered I’d just been to a winter ritual a week back outside in the cold with a fire under the stars. Why would I visualize it when I’d done it for real? Suddenly the meditation and visualization felt hollow. I realized I would rather experience than imagine. I realized I wanted to go outside.

Go outside. Rain or shine, cold or warm. Go outside. It doesn’t have to be for long, just long enough to feel the season, the day, and be aware of it. Align yourself with your world as it is right then and there – feel, see, hear, touch, and taste everything around you. Feel the sunlight, feel the moonlight, feel the wind, touch the water, touch the earth, and bathe in starlight. Be aware and be in the moment. This is how we find the divine and connect with it – by remembering we too are a part of it. There are gods in your garden, gods in the woods, gods in the sky, gods in the water, gods on your dinner plate, gods in the fibres of your clothes… All that is in nature is spirit and divine. Go outside and connect with nature.

Indoor ritual and gatherings have their place. Maybe you’re doing a mystery play for fifty people and it’s January and pouring icy rain or snowing like crazy. Maybe you want to do spellwork with candles and the wind is insane or maybe you want to ritually bake something or make crafts. Sometimes outdoors isn’t going to cut it. I like to combine the two for large and small groups – performing the ritual and any magic outdoors and then going inside after for the feast and celebratory “hanging out” part (especially if it’s cold or raining). Everyone seems to be fine with this as at some point they get to go inside and warm up and eat and sit while they talk and laugh. Just give your attendees the promise of a warm roof and food and they just might follow you anywhere into the wilds of the outdoors first.

So what if it’s winter? Have a coven snowball fight! Or, as our mothers once told us, “go outside and play!”

Imbolc, Fog, Oracles and the Bone Moon

Published February 9, 2012 Festivals & Sabbats , Folk Magic , Paganism , Witchcraft & Magic 16 Comments
Tags: divination, esbat, full moon, Imbolc, Imbolg, ritual, tarot

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to post about all my adventures in between work, so you’ll get it all in one long post and with luck I’ll catch up with myself! Last week and the weekend was full of non-stop packaging of Stang & Cauldron orders to ship. I took a short break on Friday to have my own little celebration of Là Fhèill Brìde. I found roses the colour of flames for my altar and picked up some delicious local beer which I poured in offering to Brìde, my spirits, and the land and shared a little feast with them.

I came up for air from my work again on Saturday evening to spend time with my good friend Beki – a fellow artist and tarot reader. I love visiting her because not only are there cute bunnies to snuggle, but her place is always filled with the amazing paintings she’s working on. Right now she’s painting the major arcana for a dark bunny tarot and they are gorgeous.

We walked through the magical night-time fog to the Drive for burgers and beer and then headed back to her place after to read cards for each other. She did a reading for me with her beloved Fairy Tale Tarot and I brought out my vintage Gypsy Witch fortune-telling cards for hers. The meanings of some of the cards are backwards so I also brought my handy old book with English playing card meanings in it. Technically we played drunken oracle as we’d both shared a pitcher of local beer at dinner and then had homebrewed mead afterwards while reading the cards. Then it was back home to get some sleep so I could get up early on Sunday for an all-day Imbolc ritual by the sea inlet in Lion’s Bay.

The shaman picked me up bright and early and off we went to a gathering of others to share in Imbolc rituals and festivities. We all wore white and green and the hall was elaborately decorated in the same colours with an altar to Brighid in the South and a live apple tree in the centre on a cow hide ringed with primroses, fresh greenery, and feathers. Brighid’s doll and bed made, we brought her in and laid her by the open fireplace with offerings of bread, milk, and fruit. We made oatcake dough (for Bride’s bannock) and all of us shaped our own – one to share with each other and one to keep.

We listened to stories, we told stories, we sang songs, we feasted, we performed many little rituals adding up to one big one. We purified ourselves with smoke, water, fire, and milk. The hall was filled with the intoxicating scents of sage smudge, rosewater, apple mead, the baking oatcakes, tobacco, and woodsmoke from the fire. We tied ribbons of wishes to the apple tree and we wove Brighid’s crosses to hang over our front doors for blessings and protection for a year before burning them next Imbolc. We each brought home a candle to use for magic.

The theme of the ritual was playfulness – to stop worrying about the mundane world and trying to control things and instead to feel the freedom and joy of what it’s like to be a child and let go; having no expectations but to find joy and wonder in all things. To learn to stop for a moment now and then and just play, just be. Considering how hard I’ve been working and how busy I’ve been it was a very necessary reminder for me that I need to stop and enjoy myself now and then. Everyone there radiated such tender joy and love that by the end of the ritual, when the sun was sinking into the ocean, we were all sleepy and content like kindergarteners ready for nap time after stories and warm milk. Home we all went into the sunset, still smelling of rosewater.

Then it was back to concocting and packaging magical goods for the shop on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday evening was filled with more magic as it was the night of the full moon. February’s full moon is often called the snow moon, but I prefer the older name of “The Bone Moon.” Off I went into the sunset back to the sea inlet surrounded by impossibly tall mountains to circle with other witches and shamans on the beach under the stars. We met when only the faintest bit of dark blue remained across the horizon, the stars and planets shining down on the water, and the white pregnant moon rising over the mountain behind us.

It was cold, but there’s nothing like celebrating the moon and nature actually in nature under actual moonlight with the bite of winter wind on your cheek. We poured out offerings and planted seeds. There was more storytelling accompanied by hot tea and mead. We stayed until the wind blew out all the candles but the one in the South. I dipped my hands in the Mother’s ocean and anointed my face and neck with the water for renewal. Then off we went back into the night and back into the city of lights away from the darkness of the sea.

Magical Ointments and Witch Crafts

Published February 1, 2012 Amulets , Botanica Products , Entheogens , Witchcraft & Magic 14 Comments
Tags: alraun, fairy ointment, flying ointment, henbane, magic shop, mandrake, poison path, rowan cross, spirit vessel, witch's whisk

I’ve been a very busy witch and have been spending most of my time in my kitchen cooking, crafting, and shipping for Stang and Cauldron rather than writing for my blog (though I did miss it!). All my supplies arrived so it was time to make new batches of fairy and flying ointments. I made my well-loved Aves Ointment for attaining spirit-flight and this time added the fat of wild birds blended with high quality grapeseed oil (very good for the skin) instead of my usual pure duck-fat recipe – the active ingredients of belladonna, mandrake, mugwort and wormwood are still the same. I made more of my insanely popular Porta’s Flying Ointment. I think you guys must all have datura and belladonna fetishes as you’re buying it up like crazy, but keep in mind they give you a hangover, belladonna can cause blurred vision for hours or a day after use, and henbane shouldn’t go near your sensitive bits.

Mandrake Ointment is also restocked (formerly known as Medea’s ointment/salve) which is a simple salve just with atropa mandragora root, grapeseed oil, and the best local beeswax. If you’ve never used a flying ointment before or are maybe a bit scared of them, then the Mandrake Ointment is for you. Mandrake is the most friendly of its poisonous solanaceae cousins and only has pleasant effects (think of it like topical weed). It’s also useful for a ton of different magical purposes and therefore excellent to have in your bag of tricks (read that as sex magic, baby, oh yeah).

I was finally able to make more of my fairy ointments too! My Forest Spirit Ointment recipe is used for seeing and communing with wild forest and plant spirits and contains the traditional European fairy-sight ingredients of fern seed, fly agaric, and oak, ash, and thorn along with enchanter’s nightshade and the herb of Robin Goodfellow – all wild harvested by me from the forest of course!

My Toadman’s Ointment, also made with fly agaric, is for those who work with toads and frogs as familiars and for shapeshifting. They make excellent allies for those who follow the poison path since they often contain their own natural poisons which some scholars believe were used in flying ointment recipes in Europe.

Amidst all this crafting for Stang and Cauldron I made a test batch of a flying ointment made with henbane seed harvested from my old garden and the bear fat I rendered with the shaman a few months ago. It’s not strong enough for me yet so it still needs some tweaking and more testing before I’m comfortable selling it. I did get some excellent dreams from testing it so far.

If you’re looking for info on flying ointments (what they are for, how to use them, what to expect, etc), I’ve written an article about their history and use called “On Flying Ointments” and also did a HedgeFolk Tales podcast episode with stories, poetry, and ancient literature about flying ointments.

As always I crafted more poisonous offerings for the shop on top of the flying ointments; poison plant spirit vessels of a night-blooming datura flower, black henbane, and bittersweet nightshade from my garden, genuine mandrake root, and fly agaric I wild harvested last autumn. People really love these little skull bottles full of poisons so, alas, ~~only the Black Henbane spirit vessel is left looking for a home~~ they’ve all sold.

I have an Ancestor Spirit Vessel with poison too – it’s layered with owl bone dust, graveyard dirt, althea root, yew needles, and owl feathers. The skull is handcarved from deer antler and hard to find. It would be an excellent tool for a necromancer, psychopomp, grave-tender or ancestor worshipper.

There are also roots available for those who want to turn them into fetiches or alrauns. I’ve sold out of the belladonna, yarrow, and rue, but I still have two large prize Black Henbane Roots available.

As if that’s not enough, there are more goodies! Blackthorns for cursing or reversing curses, Blackberry Witch’s Whisks for smudging a place to purify and chase away evil spirits, Rowan Berry necklace charms, Rowan Crosses handwoven with red silk and wool, protective Witch Ball charms of rowan berries, red thread, and goose feathers… You’ll just have to come by the shop and see what’s there!

The Witch of Forest Grove

Archive for the 'Witchcraft & Magic' Category

The Naturalist’s Altar

Divination by Rock-Paper-Scissors

Go Outside

Imbolc, Fog, Oracles and the Bone Moon

Magical Ointments and Witch Crafts

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