Archive Page 8

Rowan, Red Thread, and Feathers

Charms of Red

The witch has been charm making: stringing rowan berries, weaving rowan crosses, stitching leather and feather… Strung rowan berries are an old Scots charm to place around your neck or an object or over a doorway for protection. A cross of rowan wood woven with red wool of which no knots have been tied is another Scots charm hung in the house for protection – from spirits and spells of witchcraft. And lastly a bird foot fetiche with a feather and bone skull. These are for the lovely Snow, but I will be making more such delectable witchy things. I have more rowan berries to string, crosses to weave, and crow, wild hare, and toad feet to craft into fetiches.

Strung rowan berries, rowan spirit trap, and bird foot fetiche

Come All Who Hunger

The candle in the window

The candle is lit in the window, it’s light shining out into the darkness through the droplet-covered screen onto the street slick with rain. Welcome spirits and welcome friends. It is warm inside and there is food, music, empty chairs and cups to be filled with mead.

Come all who hunger
Come ye rogue and restless souls
Come to the feast and
Let your greatest deeds be told
Raise up your voice and
let your songs be free and bold
For this night we feast with the Mighty

~ Written by Sharon Knight

Illustrating Birds of a Feather

Specimens of wings and skulls to illustrate

Specimens of crow wings, crow claw, crow skull, and owl skull to illustrate

Inking over the pencil sketch

Inking the linework over the pencil sketch

Filling in the details

Filling in the fine details and shading

Owl and Crow skulls for reference and inspiration

Owl and Crow skulls for reference and inspiration

Two finished feathered illustrations

And it all results in two finished feathered illustrations with more to come for an article I’m working on for Witches & Pagans. My illustrations can also be seen in the latest Heathen-themed issue which is available for preorder now and will hit the stands in January.

More Midwinter Goodness

Alder leaves of frost

The day before Christmas eve I let the shaman twist my rubber arm into going to his group’s Yule ritual. We stopped on the way at his friend’s in the steep mountains by the sea to craft crowns out of wild greenery. I wrapped a cedar bough with a vine of ivy and tucked wild goose feathers into the back for my crown while drinking my goblet of rum and orange. They unearthed defleshed wolf skulls from chicken wire in the backyard and put them in a bucket of hydrogen peroxide to clean and whiten them.  Then we all went to a pub by the sea inlet before heading to the ritual hall.

I recognized many faces from the shamanic conference, but many were also new to me – every head crowned in greenery and in every hand a candle.  There were three feast tables covered in food, big bowl of mead with fresh fruit, a crock pot of mulled cider, and evergreens everywhere. A fire was lit in the big stone hearth and in the centre of the hall was a bull hide surrounded by a large circle of evergreen boughs. Once everyone arrived, the ritual of storytelling, offering sacrifices, sharing of light, burning of the Yule log, and drumming began. After came the feast and I cracked open and shared the ambrosial bottle of clementine-maple-cinnamon mead my witch-friend had gifted me for Midwinter.

Crown of cedar, ivy, and goose feathers at the bone altar

It was a good evening and a good ritual with a perfect mix of solemnity and mischief. The shaman sent me home with a large elk and smaller goat skin drums for me to paint and he’ll be making drums from a variety of animal hides to sell in Stang and Cauldron soon.

Elk and goat skin drums

Christmas Eve I spent watching movies and wrapping smudge wands of cedar, hemlock, and juniper and some with all three. My bedroom was fragrant with evergreen oils and sandalwood incense and I was surrounded by drums as I store them in my room because I keep it warm which keeps the drums in tune. The smudge wands are in a paper bag to dry and the remaining evergreen boughs hung up to dry with the other herbs in my kitchen to be added to incense and smudge blends when ready.

Crafting smudge wands

Today a fierce storm is brewing, twisted over trees and beating rain in sheets against my windows. A good day to hide inside with a pot of hot tea and to work on illustrations as my deadline creeps up on me. Midwinter blessings to you all whether you are blessed to be with family or not this day.

A Blessed Yule to All!

Wreaths at the Granville Island market

What a Yule season this year! So busy with work and fitting social events into it all too!  Tuesday I went to Granville Island with a lovely herby witchy friend for some last-minute holiday shopping. The market smelled amazing – fragrant with evergreens in the florist stalls and spices, fruits, earthy mushrooms, coffees, cheeses, and cured meats… Then it was off to bookstores, paper stores, the music shop, and all our favourite artisans. Her hubby picked us up after and we found chocolate and then Guinness and lunch… yes in that order.

Yesterday on the eve of the Winter Solstice I went to the mountain for some wildcrafting as it was a gorgeous sunny day. I visited my favourite trees and harvested boughs of cedar, juniper, and western hemlock and also found the juniper berry motherload. Then it was over to a witch’s house on the mountain for tea to warm my cold hands and cheeks. We talked of magic and our seer’s gifts while watching the bushtits, junkos, and fat brown wrens devour suet in her yard.

Holly against the cold blue sky

Ivy climbing a maple tree

That night it was off to my neighbour’s Yule ritual. A lovely gathering of witches celebrating the darkness under a dark cloudless sky full of stars. We bathed our bare feet in a bath of candles and evergreen sprigs. Our bare feet circled around a cauldron and crossed from the dark half of the wheel to the light. Our bare feet crushed cedar and hemlock, toes stained green, releasing the smell of deep forests and childhood memories of christmas trees. We scried into the fire lit in the cauldron in hopes to see visions of our futures. Then it was back to the mundane world for homemade meads and fig liquor with a veritable feast and the giving of gifts. We all left with smiles on our lips and love in our hearts.

Mulling homebrewed mead for Yule

Yule Feast

Today, on the day of the Solstice, I made myself my very own feast. I cracked open a three-year-old bottle of sugar pumpkin spice mead (which tastes like a dry white wine) and mulled it with a honey mandarin, a small lemon, fresh ginger slices, cinnamon sticks, cloves, peppercorns, honey from a local beekeeper, and some of the Rocky Mountain Juniper I harvested yesterday. It was divine, ambrosial. I say was because I just drank the last sip. I roasted up some chicken and veggies, made myself a beet and goat cheese salad, and put together a plate of sweets – chocolates and cookies friends gifted me.

Welcoming the Ancestors to the feast

Then I lit the candles at the ancestral altar and invited the ancestors of my blood to dine with me and share in the bounty on this shortest day and longest night.

A blessed Winter Solstice to all! May it be full of love, laughter, mischief, and plenty.

Slàinte Mhòr!

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All original text and images are copyright of the Witch of Forest Grove. Please do not copy without permission. Text excerpts must be under one paragraph and have full attribution.

© Sarah Lawless 2006-2012

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