•solstice, sorta•

 

Spells of Sea Salt

•disrespect•

oh fuck

moar words?

When you realize you've accidentally done the first two days of a challenge without meaning to.  Albeit in sort of the wrong way...

Equinox

digging one hand

fingers deep 

down 

past soil

anchored in bedrock

trying not to shift

fault lines

other reaching

grasping for sky

I'll be your

p e n d u l u m

if you'll just

let me balance

Stress, Side Projects, and Solstices

Today isn't what I expected, but that's not exactly anything unusual.  I'd hoped to share an exciting new recipe, but life and the plague sort of shoved me to the wayside.  And even though things did not work out how I'd planned, I still want to share something new.

For quite some time I've wished for a place to speak about both the complexity and simplicity of modern spirituality and paganism.  Somewhere focused but inclusive, somewhere just a bit less froofroo than the average.

After talking it over for months in a sort of hypothetical sense ("...someone should start something that...") my dear friend Sparrow and I decided to just jump in.  And thus you have the extremely abbreviated origins of Witchery Wednesday.

Please check it out, I hope you can find something to enlighten or entertain.   And on that note, I wish you a Blessed Yule and Happy Hibernal Solstice.

This is Not a Political Post

This is not about candidates or issues.  It's not about changing your mind or swaying your opinion, as the time for that has well and truly come and gone.  This IS a post about storytelling, spirituality, and fear.

My mother was a poll worker for many years.  She did it because it was interesting work, because she genuinely enjoyed talking to all of the different people, and frankly, because we could always use the extra cash.  She would come home tired--they were very long days--but content, and with a fair amount of folksy news and amusing stories to tell.  And even in controversial election years it seemed to be a genuinely enjoyable experience.

That is not this year.

As we have all watched the increasing ugliness, unrest and aggression, I have said that you could not pay me to go near a polling place on election day this year (and as a matter of fact I made a point to cast my vote by absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago).  But over the past week or so it has really hit home what I am saying by my refusal to vote in person.

I have been thinking more and more of the various firehouses, churches, and schools where my mother has worked and where we have cast our ballots.  Thinking about all of the decent people she has worked with, that like her, volunteered to do a job out of patriotism, interest, or need.  These places, these people, will take the brunt of whatever happens today.

And I......I don't have a good feeling about it.  I'm worried, not about the election outcome right now, but the more immediate concern about all of these raised tensions, clashing beliefs, and the powder-keg potential for violence.

I've darkly joked about treating today as though it were some horrible cross between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, with all the angst and cons of both days.  I've talked about holing up at home with tea and a couch full of snuggly blankets, watching the fallout through the cold glow of the internet.  But I know many--most--do not have that luxury.

I'm not deluding myself into thinking that I can have any sort of impact on the actual election, this country, or the world in general.  But I can lay out my rocks.  I can light my candles. I can mix my herbs.  And I can try to assuage my own worry by a sending of thoughts, prayers, and hopes.

So, for those poll workers who are doing their jobs, for the kids trying to learn in one of the many polling places, and for all those people who are just trying to go about their day today, I wish for you light and love, peace and protection, and the safety of home no matter where you are.

In which few things turn out the way I expect.

Yeah, about that…

Beyond being one of the basic facts of life, the unexpected has definitely gone a long way toward being the theme for this year.  So, I suppose I should not have been surprised when fate (and a wasp; long story) cancelled my Halloween plans.

Today was to be a short trek across the autumnal decorated countryside, followed by a much anticipated and very much needed visit with friends.  Instead, it has become a quiet day hobbling around at home, windows full of gloom, dreary skies, and a threat of snow.  I can’t say that I am happy about this development, but I am working my way towards content.

Though the air is too cold and damp to carry the essence of crisp fall leaves, the scent of yeasty bread dough and pumpkin roasting in my kitchen sort of make up for it.  I am rounding out the day working with some lovely fiber, maybe a bit of sewing, and then snuggling up in a spooky blanket with my e-reader.

All in all, the day has not been anywhere near as festive as I’d wanted, but it has been good nonetheless.  Here’s hoping your day is/was fun, entertaining, or at the very least, peaceful.

Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain everyone!

Spring Demands Versatility

I had several sets of plans for today. 
The first was discarded due to the joyous arrival of my brand new niece. 
The second tossed aside by fickle and less than cooperative spring weather.
And the third was completely decimated by vast, vaaaaaaaast oversleeping.

I don’t know about you, but I am sensing a bit of a theme.

So.

Instead of anything at all that I’d even remotely intended for this space, you get a few snapshots from last week’s completely unexpected field trip.  Seems fitting, right?

 

 

Tiny pinecones (and a wayward ribbon tie from my bracelet).

 

 

A tapped sugar maple.



The waterflow at Clifton Mill (Clifton, Ohio)



A view of the hillside from an ivy embellished stone tomb.

 

 

I hope that your first day of spring was lovely, if perhaps a tad less  disordered than mine.  Then again, I suppose we all need a lesson in versatility every so often.  Either way, Blessed Ostara and Happy Spring Equinox!

 

A Winter's Reflection

Traditionally speaking it makes little sense, but traditions being what you make of them, Winter Solstice feels like New Year’s to me.  There is just something about it.  Maybe it’s the lack of light and the depth of cold.  It could be because  I am a gardener at heart, and it is the halfway point between putting the garden to bed in October and starting seeds in February.  Or perhaps it’s that the Solstices and Equinoxes have always been the most important part of my spiritual path.  I don’t know, but Yule, for me, is an end to things…and a beginning. 

I find this day to be so much about reflection.  Time to sort through all that has happened in the past year, to reflect on my life and realize what is meaningful and worth keeping, and what I need to discard.  I don’t really do resolutions, but treat it as more a sort of winter version of spring cleaning for my mind. 

Winding down now, my day has been full of quiet contemplation, along with a few festive gifts and snacks.  It has not turned out exactly as I had planned or expected (case in point, as I type this it is thundering, which is not exactly the most winterish of things in southwest Ohio…), but knowing that this holiday is often about change, I can’t help but believe that all is as it should be.

So, as a part of my quiet celebration, my wish for you is a Blessed Yule, Happy Winter Solstice, and a Merry Whatever Winter Holiday You Choose.  Have fun and be safe, people!