deep woods tea party

Update!

2011-03-01T22:39:00.001-08:00

I stopped using this blog quite a while ago, so if you're interested in catching up on what I've been up to and seeing all of my lovely altar, hide tanning, oil making, Temple decorating goodness you should really go here:

The New and Improved Deep Woods Tea Party

My Personal Style of Magick - Part 1

2010-08-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

If I'm going to post here regularly about my practices and rituals and results, I should probably preface it all with a v. brief explanation of my personal style. Otherwise, when I tell you about how my awesome offerings of a powdered donut, jalapeno soaked in rum, and plastic glittery beads netted me a new job offer you'll all be floundering to question my ability to "cast spells".

THE PERSONAL MAGICK STyLE OF
LITTLE BIRD

I. What Religion Do You Belong To?
-None. I rarely use the term pagan to describe my spiritual practices and beliefs, and I definitely don't use the term witchcraft. I'm not a Wiccan, I don't have a pre-defined moral code such as the Rede, and I don't follow the ritual or spell crafting practices of any particular group.
Also, I don't identify with the Chaos Magic label either. Most of the Chaos Magic thought that's been produced has included a strong rejection of mythology and pagan ideas, in the idea of becoming a fully modern magical system. It also draws too heavily from Ceremonial/Hermetic/Traditional Western magick, which I've never felt comfortable with.
When I do feel like throwing words around, I'll refer to myself as a Technautilist. I'm part of a loose knit magical group called the Technautilus, which is designed to foster the development of personalized and self created magical systems.

II. So You Do Evil Black Magic and Summon Characters from Bad Fantasy Novels?
-Unfortunately, not really. While I do have some relationships with entities and spirits that may not be based in any written history, I avoid turning pop culture icons into deities. I also avoid summoning demons, infernal beings, celestial monkeys, angels, the spirits of the dead, and pretty much anything else.

As for the black magic - I'm sure there are plenty of you that assume I'm 100% evil because I did a ritual to keep a roommate from saying a single nasty word to anyone in the house, and he developed such an abscessed tooth that he couldn't talk at all. But no, I don't lurk in chatrooms threatening others with psychic attacks or stand around in graveyards trying to curse my ex-boyfriends.

III. What Do You "Do" When You're "Doing It"?
-When it comes to actually casting spells/energy work/rituals/a whole pile of junk, I'm a very physical person. I enjoy making - making tools for myself and others, making masks, making incense and oils, making candles, making poppets, etc. I also enjoy using items, but generally only items I've made or found. Many people of the various New Age and post-modern magick traditions seem to look down on energy workers who choose to use tools. I'm not reliant on them, and I'll gladly work without them, but there's something that feels more real to me about dressing a candle with a properly blended oil instead of just a visualization.

I've explained it in the past as such: When I'm working on changing something in the physical world, such as "bring me money!" or "get out of my house crazy!", working with physical tools convinces my subconscious and generally makes more sense on a deeper level. If the goal is strictly internal or spiritual, such as "stop eating so much sugar" or "meditate to speak to a customer service representative", I might use something like a sigil or a particular scent, but not as many physical tools and materials.

-Sybelle

black jack, happy jack, captain jack, jack of all trades

2010-07-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

This is a story about a cat that really isn't a cat, but rather a spirit that chose to manifest as a cat to work with Firefly and I.

This cat first showed up before Firefly and I decided to throw our lots together. Firefly opened up the Goetic texts, specifically the Key of Solomon, and read through the domains and specific skills of each Demon contained within. He found one that had "bringing familiars" written below it's name and seal (and now when he goes through the book he can't determine which one it was).

Thankfully, Firefly is smart enough to realize that since he is not a practiced and trained Ceremonial Magician, nor a Hermetic Mage, nor a Goetic Specialist, laying out a circle and attempting to theatrically summon this spirit to ask for a familiar would be uncouth. So he simply meditated on the spirit's seal, and asked it to bring him a familiar. He offered it a specific amount of appreciation and energy in return.

The story of how the first Spirit Cat arrived is very similar to the second, except it happened to Firefly alone. He was named Spirit, in recognition of his true nature, and he was serious business. He was very aloof, and spent a lot of time roaming the woods around the cabin with the coyotes and traveling with us in dreams. He died shortly after turning two years old, in the middle of a freak rainstorm on a South Carolina farm said to be haunted by a female Native American ghost. Firefly found him, stiff and matted, the next morning lying in the rain.

It was sad, but we both knew it was coming well before it happened. When Firefly left on the trip and took the cat with him, I dreamed for the three nights he was gone that the cat was dying. He felt it as well for the whole month leading up the trip. But there was nothing else to do but let it happen.
We were in the middle of the most tumultuous time of our travels, and shortly after his death ended up living in the most cramped and restrictive places of all. We couldn't have stayed at those places with a cat, and would have missed out on some very crucial training and information because of that.
Spirit continued to "send postcards". We would regularly find images that looked exactly like him, down to the specific whisker shape and white hairs across his head. All throughout the last year we kept finding images of 1930s starlets clutching him, strange french advertisements for an underground nightclub, him in the arms of a teenager dying of cancer, and finally of him sitting on a misty moor overlooking a herd of sheep.
When we left the city in March and spent a month and a half back in the mountains, Eric took Spirit's tag off of his keys and placed it below the golden statue of Bast I had procured for an early working. One day, in the very beginning of April, he decided to throw the tag into the creek that runs right along the side of the cabin and let go of it for good.

So one day, driving around, at the very end of May we got a feeling and decided to follow it right into the Newton County Animal Shelter. There was an overabundance of kittens, as there usually is, but all them seemed very disinterested in us. We walked down the row of cages until Firefly reached the first cage. It was empty, but in cage #2, a black kitten had firmly attached itself to the very top of the cage door and was crying as loudly as possible. His Siamese litter mates all sat, calmly, as he rattled the door and thrust his skinny cat arms through the bars to claw at us.

The cat in the cage above #2 was a massive, owl faced tabby that sternly stared at me as I flailed my arms saying "No no no no no no...", as is my usual reacting when the universe starts backing me into a corner with undeniably spirituality. Firefly was already fully convinced, but the place wouldn't let us take him till the next day. We showed up at 8 am, with a beat up rat cage as our only safe cat carry container.

Once we took him home, the connections were even clearer. Spirit #1 was a traveling cat that naturally took to riding in a car, roaming in unfamiliar situations, and wearing a harness/walking on a leash. Spirit #2 loves riding in the car even more, and took to wearing his harness without a fuss. Spirit #1 could ride on Firefly's shoulder - Spirit #2 demands to ride on Firefly's shoulder. They have the same coloration, right down to the redness in his coat and white hairs across his forehead. Spirit #2 is a little bit of an upgrade, in cat terms - much cuddlier and has an even shinier coat.

I firmly believe in accepting that he's the same spirit, but recognizing his new incarnation is also important to me. So we named him Jack, the king of all things, the ordinary man, the elusive con artist. Jack is not a reincarnation of our past cat - he is the same spirit in a new cat body. This spirit comes as a cat because we expect him to, and accept him as one. We spent the whole year (and a day, damn it) looking for a cat and finding nothing but empty animals. It was so obvious when we visited other animal shelters and felt like we were looking through a collection of stuffed animals.

Jack was 9 weeks old when we got him, and roughly born around the beginning of April, when Firefly threw the tag into the water. I worried, when we first both had the feeling that he was coming back, how we would find him or recognize which cat he was in. I never stopped to realize that he would find us regardless of where we were, and that he would make it undeniably clear so that even people like me, who try their best to deny spiritual experiences even as I'm in the middle of them, could make no argument against him.

a change in focus and some beautiful Tarot inspiration

2010-07-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

First, a little housekeeping:
due to my slowly developing need to document more of my personal spiritual and magickal growth, methods, and development, I'm turning this blog (and the tumblr tied with it) into a more personal blog. It was started as an accompaniment to our Etsy shop Puck and Penelope, but I find I have very little to say about the store and much more to say about myself. I will likely not be starting a separate blog for the store because I just don't see any use in promoting it that way.

So, to begin this new focus, here are three different Tarot card decks that I stumbled upon today in my various pagan and occult forum browsing. I found the Shadowscapes Tarot first, because it was just released after years of anticipation, and was linked to the other two via Amazon.com.

The Shadowscapes Tarot is my favorite of the three, and may be the most beautiful Tarot deck I've ever seen.

But I'm also very much in love with the art of the Paulina Tarot...

And the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight is like a more colorful, less offsetting version of the Deviant Moon Tarot.

as the sun rises...

2010-06-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

photo by studentofrhythm

I would like to say that this half of a year has been strange, or unusual, or upsetting. But really, it's been the same as the past two years, a mix of frantic movement and travel sandwiching months of uncertainty. When Firefly and I first decided to throw in lots together, we started down a long and winding road of strangeness. We were also committed to avoiding commitments, including those of a domestic nature. Signing a lease and working regular jobs were cardinal sins to us at the time.

Now, quite a few months later, the idea of having a place we can control, that we can shape with our hands instead of running to ask permission for every little thing, is more appealing than ever. We had just decided that city life was not for us when in March, a few days short of our shared birthday, we were exported back to the mountains. And so we stayed up there, in our prodigal nest, as the earth slowly woke up from winter.

I walked up the hill to work each day in a gradually warming clearing. I kissed the leaf buds as they opened, and Firefly tore away the rotten back wall of the cabin and rebuilt. As our work wound up and the spring opened into it's green and sweet fullness, we received an invitation to come and stay in a smoky, confusing cave of a home.

We chose to come here for a few reasons. Number one, we are paying rent and working regularly for the first time in many years for both of us. But we are building a system of freelance work, mostly over the internet, that leaves us with the flexibility we desire. The rent is low enough to handle the rough periods of low income that working out the kinks in the system brings.

Number two, there is something interesting going on in this house. Each room is a separate world, and the main areas belong more to the constant visitors than to any of us living here. The one who made the call to invite us is struggling to break out of the cocoon she's grown up in, and may very well be gone in a few days to hop trains with her strange and insistent boyfriend. Or she may decide to stay and go to college, or perhaps she will shave her head and become a nun. Nothing here is clear or consistent - mirages appear, personalities shift.

Despite the particular uncertainties of this year, we have found more successes and have maintained much more stable footing than years past. I have found a skill that I can actually apply to earn money - writing, of all things. Where it was only a faint dream, earning me possibly $15 or $30 in a month, I am now set up to make more than enough to support us. We are still working out ways for Firefly to earn money, but he has a much wider base of skills and experience than I do.

We also have plans, beyond what we would like to do in a few months, and that are actually concrete and achievable. The main backbone of our plan is small town just over the North Carolina border. It's home to the John Campbell Folk School, near the beautiful crack in the Blue Ridge Mountains known as Fire's Creek, and (most importantly) has 2 bedroom homes on private wooded lots for $300 a month. As much as we love the solitude of the cabin, we need somewhere not without a 30 miles dirt road drive over steep mountains to a grocery store. $10 in gas just to leave home is a little much. We're also acquainted with a perfect group of eclectic, artistic, hard partying crew up there. In short, it's perfect.

It's just a little bit amusing that we've finally found our resolve to make this goal a reality as I'm stuck, in pain and discomfort, from a sudden bout of unknown nerve pain and general low energy. It's the same strange two week long migraine/body pain/tired ailment that I've suffered from since I was a kid, the one problem no doctor has ever successfully solved for me. I've learned to live with it, but it just seems like such a limit now that I have the drive to work all night and day to reach my goals. My mind is willing, but my body is unable to comply.

The sun is rising on the summer solstice as I finish this post. It seems remarkably apt, to finally be ready to commit these goals to writing, to publish our intent publicly. I will sleep for most of the day, while the sun bakes this smoky shell of a house, and in the evening we will hold a ritual. It is time to perform the ending of something I asked for in ritual a year ago, and it is time to set into motion the new cycle we are so ready to begin.

-sybelle

2010-04-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Deep Woods Tea Party has returned to it's roots, and we're back in the mountains that spawn thunderstorms and where water springs from every tree's roots. The landscape up here at our cabin is slowly changing - in part because of our work, but much of it is being done by nature alone.

Spring has definitely sprung up here in the mountains, although the buds are still slowly pushing to open. We had a massive rain up here yesterday, and the extra water has already altered the face of the mountains, as more and more bright green spreads. The bees, hornets, nectar suckers, and Yellow Jacket Hovering Flies are already zipping around and investigating my hair for potential nesting sites.

We have slowly begun our pilgrimage back to the center, after a year(!) in the city. We are spending more time telling stories, working to repair the cabin, and painting than scraping and forcing things to happen. Unlike our previous stays up here, we have a working vehicle and work, so for the time being we have a working space that we can fully inhabit, instead of spending our days trying to dream ourselves somewhere else.

So, in the next few days, you can expect the return of the Puck and Penelope Etsy Shop, the development of the new puckandpenelope.com, and definitely more Technautilus stuff. The cabin has some rotten wood that we're replacing, and in the drying times between pulling the walls down and putting them back up, we've been working on the Technautilus Red Papers #1. We're hoping to release it as a zine and free pdf download in the next month.

Signs of Life

2010-01-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

The holidaze knocked me flat. Normally I deal with the rush of energy and psychic anxiety pretty well, but I also have never had to travel or shop very much for the season. This was my first year fully participating in the collective madness, and it's made me realize that I will not do it next year. I'm going to have all my gifts made and wrapped by Thanksgiving, and wherever I go to visit I will be staying for at least a week.

It's taken me until yesterday to settle my mind and unhook from repetitive, anxiety driven circles of obsessive thinking. Getting things out of my head and down on paper is the only way to escape it, and that's exactly what I've done. I was getting a really good start on all of my plans, such as a regular daily schedule and a handle on my work and creative plans, but the season of madness knocked me back off of the trail. Now I'm finally in the right space to start again.

Winter is really breathing down our necks here, despite being in the deep south. It's freezing the ground solid every night, and our poorly sealed and scarcely insulated love nest the Moon Room is way too cold to sleep in, even with two ultra efficient ceramic heaters. So we've taken over the New Room, which is more interior and is being remodeled for the occupation of a new roommate sometime soon. This is giving us a chance to fully renovate and organize that small space for best possible use, which is my kind of job.

But! Despite the freezing temperatures and our modest uprooting, some of our gardening efforts have come to sprout. I was attempting to start some basil, lemongrass, and leek seeds but the cold and accidental spillage ended their germination. However, one unexpected project has begun to flourish. If you check out our myFolia page at EcoHivePod Gardens, you'll find that we've built a mini raised greenhouse out of scraps. It's filled with a mix of compost and potting mix, and has been relatively neglected since it's creation in mid-December.

However, shortly after filling it with dirt, I put in two rows of Mesclun Mixed Lettuce Salad Mix, mostly to see if they could sprouting in the clumped and heavy dirt, and withstand the cold. I imagined that would not, but I went to check today on a whim and found two rows of clustered, defiant little green and red sprouts amid the dry soil. The soil dried out enough for them to break through, but they did get a little more moisture today. It seems that the plastic is keeping it warm enough in there to sprout them. It gets plenty of sunlight, and I think the soil absorbs enough heat during the day to keep from freezing solid at night.

-Sybelle

the busy buzz at the Eco Hive

2009-12-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

the leaves have finally stopped dropping and winter's blowing in, so we've been busy buzzing about in the Eco Hive. a lot of construction, re-struction, and instruction has been going on around here. I've been writing more than ever, for a new site that's been paying me quite a bit more than I've made elsewhere. We've been fortifying our den with more blankets on the walls for insulation and two chairs to make a nice workstation.

the street we live on, in the fog

Despite the cold cold wind blowing around, I've been driven to...gardening, of all things. It used to be a big thing that I was very bored or disinterested in, despite enjoying rehabilitating houseplants I bought at the local stores for a dollar or two that were nearly dead. I would fuss over them for a few weeks, trimming dead leaves and watering them very small amounts twice a day, repotting them into the richest compost mix imaginable, until they were healthy and ready to burst into growth. Then I would give them to someone else - if I kept them, they would get forgotten and go back to a nearly dead state.

But recently there's been some general interest in growing food, despite it being winter, and due to some other input and imaginative impressions from games I've been playing, I've been driven to plant and grow. I'm keeping it a secret right now exactly what kind of strange plans we've got for coaxing plants out in the winter, but you'll see it soon.

Ganesha head

I have been very very productive lately, even finally getting around to painting this Ganesh icon I cut from lightweight cardboard a few months(!) ago. He's been sorely underrepresented on my altar, but now he's got his blue head floating in his altar jar and a white candle that I burn for him during meditation.

Despite the weather being bleak, we've been out and adventuring. Puck and Penelope the store has fallen by the wayside a bit, in the rush to accomplish so many things around this area, but it's been expanding in new and unusual ways locally. I've also spent some time today making some new oils and brainstorming exciting new kits and special tools, so hopefully by the beginning of next week the store will be back to it's usual eclectic self.
Off to drink more peppermint tea and write a series of articles on dental implants...6,000 words due by midnight!

-Sybelle

and so shall we hibernate, and when spring comes...

2009-11-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

There is a rain front coming in, and it's putting a lot of pressure on my poor head. There is also a tense air due to some drama llama issues with one of the people living in this house, who is taking it upon themselves to throw fits about having to share space. It's all very draining, and I have a lot of work to do that I'm not getting done.

Part of my dream last night was about these large catepillars, with black and electric green fuzz and spines, that would swell up like a balloon if you got too close to them. Touching them made you sick and gave you a horrible rash. I don't know what it signifies, but last Saturday I had a showdown with a nasty little spirit, a servitor who's creator is trying to muck up a neighborhood. There's a lot of half-hidden opposition, butting of heads going on right now.

Thankfully I can go upstairs and be away from everyone and the havoc in the studio (we're painting the floor) and clear everything out of my head for a little while. I have a long to-do list, and it's already 2 pm...

-Sybelle Darling

the Small Detective, the Bone Scribe, and the Daughter Who's Shadow Went Back to the Sea

2009-11-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

inspired by the Spirit of Jazz and tribal masks

I think we did Samhain right this year. We painted our faces, ate too much Mexican candy, broke in my new brass cauldron, worked some witchcraft, handed out candy, scared small children, spoke to spirits, and burned a lot of candles, many of them voodoo oriented, that we probably should have left in the box.

inspired by Papa and various musical groups

Offering candy, rosemary, black tea, sesame seeds, dried fruit, and vervain to the spirits we summoned for our Technautilus launch. You can see my bone & lead crystal wand and my dried pomegrante vessel to the left of the cauldron.

There were no wild parties or dangerous exploding pumpkins, but we did project a very strange Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on the front window and massive oak in the front yard. It refracted through a quartz crystal that sits in the front window, and Charlie's head was 8 feet tall. A chill wind blew, but the charcoal tabs I had lit for offerings kept me warm.

We worked on Talismans this week, now that it's that time of the year for warding and sealing work. This is a wonderful charm Rev. Firefly made from my hair - I cut bangs again, which is maybe a good thing, maybe a bad thing. Once I dye it all black again I'll know for sure.

My absolute favorite is the Bone Scribe, which is seen here. It combines a piece of plaster we found in the Drum Tribe Creek, a bone skull bead from a mala, a polymer clay wheel, a bit of handcarved wood, and a brown sea glass drop. It does have a very dry, papery energy, but this is not always a bad thing. Protection from accidental and tragic death, loss, and easing the transition from life to the afterlife - good for coroners, hospice workers, and those losing a lot of friends.

Firefly's back in the creation mode, and I've been putting 1000+ words down a day, so we'll see what gets done between the two of us.

my little greenhouse room, my princess and the pea bed

2009-10-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

We've spent most of this year moving from one living situation to the next. We're in a very nice, comfortable, fun situation right now, with plenty of opportunities to focus on our art and metaphysical work. However, I'm not planning anything permanent yet - I've learned that situations change very quickly and the truth below the surface can be much different than what's presented.

drying rosemary for smudge sticks, geode slice windchime

It's a closed in porch, with plexiglass windows that we've sealed with plastic to start working on winterizing it. We've got to start adding blankets up for insulation soon, so it doesn't get so cold when the sun goes down. It's like sleeping in a greenhouse or a human sized aquarium.

Our books, altar, and massive cd player

As you can see in the first photo, our bed is a princess and the pea style stack. It's includes a box spring, a double deep queen size mattress, and two futon mattresses, with a thick comforter over the top. It's like sleeping on a giant firm marshmellow.

Our altar - feminine on the left, masculine on the right.

Mother Mary, crow feathers, healing stones (in the heart), & my silver offering bowl

Fairy dust, geodes, horns, Hanuman, Bacchus, and Firefly's flute

-Sybelle Darling

Spearfinger and breathing the clouds

2009-10-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Whiteside Mountain, NC.

Our trip to the mountains was very relaxing, magical, and chilly. We arrived just in time to see the leaves change - the day we arrived, they were just becoming yellow. When we left 12 days later, most of them were on the ground. We stayed in a cabin that belongs to the family of one of our friends, and had a good time communicating with her grandfather through various lamps that would flicker on and off in response to questions.

Our biggest adventure on the trip was climbing a mountain. We set out one day to go and see more scenery, and went down the Scenic Byway from Franklin (where the cabin was) to Highlands. In Highlands the Byway hooks to the left, and we kept going, and eventually dead ended in a State Park parking lot. We didn't know there was a mountain, especially not one we could climb. We started up a trail, and a few hours later were at the summit, looking over miles and miles of valley and ridges.

Whiteside Trail

There are Peregrine falcons nesting in the cliffs, and I managed to see one from only a few feet away as we rested at a ledge. It was riding currents just a small space from the cliff edge, and gave me some curious looks before diving back down. Just as we began to climb again the clouds started rolling up the mountain side - by the time we reached the next stop, we were in the middle of them. Breathing a cloud is very strange experience.

Kewpie at the Cabin

We found this little dried salamander in the bathroom at the Whiteside Mountain parking lot. He's completed dehydrated, and almost completely hollow inside.

We also tried to go mine quartz. There is a quartz vein near the cabin we stayed in, that has beautiful points and clusters, mostly clear. But we couldn't get to the mine because of an abandoned house threatening to fall off of the mountain onto use, and people goggling us trepassing on abandoned property and probably calling the cops over it.

I also had a dream about a deity known as "Bishop Green", who has inspired us to start a new metaphysical tradition/group known as Technautilus. It launches on October 31st, so more information will be coming all this week.

-Sybelle Darling

mountain trip time again

2009-10-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

We've been a pair of busy bees the past few days/week or so. We've been spending a lot of time with new-old friends, who are very compatible with us. They are going to NC this weekend to get away from the city, and we're going with them. I haven't been to Franklin NC in many years, and it's really one of my favorite places in the world.

One of our new-old friends.

Puck and Penelope is slowly starting to take off. I've made (and listed) two blessed oils and a love kit this week alone. It's hard work putting all of my extra spellworking energy into these items, but I hope that they'll be helpful to whoever buys them.

Puck and Penelope's Control Your Life Powder - You're in Charge Now!

I've been having bitter but colorful dreams. Last night I was a desert princess in an empty wasteland, in a rundown palace with the frescoes fading and the minarets crumbling. I lived off of licorice sticks and the slightly minty ice that the old ice maker spit out. There was no one else around for thousands of miles, except my scarred wild dogs that roamed through the empty rooms all day. The sand was starting to fill up some of the lower levels, and I remember wondering how many years it would take to completely swallow the whole building.

Cairo

Writing a new Calendar

2009-09-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

image by Queen of Smaland

As much as I want to find others to practice with, especially when it comes to rituals and holidays, that desire is difficult to fulfill due to my refusal to accept holidays and festivals that don't have a personal meaning to me. I'm compromising right now, attending group rituals that have little meaning to me, just for the sake of practicing in a group setting.

The problem is that even sets of holidays and festivals that follow the seasons of my geographic location still don't always feel correct to me. The idea of having 3 harvest festivals in a row makes logical sense, but leaves me feeling like the second two were a bit of a waste of time. I'm committed to the idea of making my own calendar - but it's just another difference that will keep me from joining a regular pagan group.

I think, since most of my practice is self-created (aka "made up in my own head!"), I'll find more satisfaction by forming a loose give-and-take group for regular practice in easily bridged fields like meditation, group sorcery and magic, and self-discovery. I'd like to find others who are making/want to make their own complete path.

image from here

I've been thinking about the holidays I'd like to celebrate, but nothing's down on paper as of yet. Most of my spiritual path is still in my mind, in unlabeled drawers and thin shoe boxes that have lost their lids. I know that I want to have 6 days a yet dedicated to celebrating the triple god/dess. The Nights of the Crone (or Sage, if I was a man) will be in the winter, I'm thinking in December and January. The Crescent of the Maiden will be in Spring, one early when it's still cold and one when it's becoming Summer. The Mother days (no snappy name yet) will be split between Summer and Fall, with one in each.

I want at least 3 minor celebrations a month, instead of the more widely accepted 8 sabbats a year. I also want to have some kind of regular full and new moon ceremony, but that will likely be a wholly private event, set aside as a time for working on talismans and potions.

-Sybelle

Flood Waters for the Equinox

2009-09-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Flooded Krog Street Tunnel, photo by Caroline Smith.

Sunday and Monday, just in time for the Autumn Equinox, brought a flood to Atlanta. No where as destructive or exciting as the flood that occured in middle Georgia in 1994 (the rain that started that flood began falling the day I arrived in Georgia), but it still did some damage, killed some people.

I stopped seeing natural disasters as "wrathful" or punishment, as most news outlets like to refer to them as, a long time ago. In a charming bit of synchronicity, I was reading this article, on Honoring Hurricanes, a few days before the flood came. Of course, the creek behind this house, the one that we honored and named, rose with the waters. It ate the altar that we built for it, and with it all the offerings placed on the altar. It seems so much more fitting and active than normal weather simply wearing away the brown sugar, flour, and salt I gave to the creek and the bog spirits.

In exchange, the creek gave up two sturdy shovels (one very old), a post hole digger, and a very stout 6ft long pole. The pole immediately became Rev. Firefly's walking stick, as soon as he pulled it from the muddy poke weed tangles where the water had receded. It has a perfect hole right around chest height, bored into it by a wood boring/carpenter wasp.

Tarot Card Readings on Sale - Deluxe Reading for $5

2009-09-15T20:58:00.001-07:00

I've got some tarot card readings on sale right now in my Etsy shop. The best deal is a Deluxe Reading, normally $7, for just $5. I haven't done a reading in a few days, and I'm itching to do one, so a sale seemed like a natural idea. The reading is 6 cards, your choice of decks - I've got runes and a few different tarots.

If you get one, you can use the code "TEAPARTYXTRACARD" in the Notes to Seller part of the order form for a free extra card of your choice. I'm going to have this sale until I'm satisfied, so it might end tomorrow or next week.

-Sybelle

another batch of Gone for Good Vinegar

2009-09-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

The first time I made a banishing vinegar it was out of necessity. I was determined to try my hand at making a special little potion for something or another, and I was determined it would be for banishing and getting rid of negativity. I was planning on making an oil, using a few herbs I had gathered and some willow bark, but when I search the cabinets of the strange place we were staying in there was no oil.

the second formula

I hadn't thought to check. There was, however, vinegar - so I decided it's acidity would be appropriate for banishing and used it as my base. I added salt, black pepper, rice, willow bark, and a rusty key, and it sat for 10 days on the willow tree's altar while the moon waned and eventually became New.

Well, the stuff certainly works. Although my formulas now don't include a rusty key (don't have one on hand) or willow bark, I've added a lot to it - horseradish, vervain, garlic and onion. The strongest blend has a smell that is sure to scare off parking tickets and collection agencies.

I have two 3 oz bottles of my strongest formula in my shop right now. I'm working on a warding/protection water to go along with the banishing, and eventually I'll have a full clearing and warding kit for sale. I'm dealing with leaking bottles and an overdose of dill right now, but by the next full moon I'll have it right.

Thrift Store Luck

2009-09-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

I love thrifting. I used to hate it, when I had some issues with mild germaphobia and a general aversion to all things possibly dirty, especially soft things like couches or chairs that can't be cleaned easily. I still have that aversion, when it applies to hotel beds and other people's stained carpet or couches, but I've gotten over it enough to buy all of my clothing and most of my other things used.

Of course, Metro area thrift stores can get pricy. Our local Goodwill has women's blouses (from tshirts to tank tops to collared button ups) for $4.83, which is sometimes a fair price but usually not. However, one of our local thrift stores, Last Chance Thrift, has a 50% discount on everything on Mondays. It's a huge business day for them - the lines can get 20 people deep for the dressing rooms, even with 7 of them. People roll up with a shopping cart mounded over with clothing, hoping something in the pile will fit or be flattering.

We were there last Sunday, just looking for strange things, when Rev. Firefly looked over a knick knack shelf I thought I had thoroughly combed, and found a little plastic bag with a set of Elder Futhark Runes in it.

That's pretty amazing, considering the high level of religiousness, especially in local thrift stores. They're made out of clay, and the set is 25 - two Thursaz. He's taking them with him on the first hunt this weekend, so if he gets something he's going to use that blood to set them.

-Sybelle

Banishing Spells and Banishing Rituals

2009-09-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

photo from Paul Stevenson

I've got an article up at Suite101 that's an intro/overview of Banishing Spells and Rituals. I'm working on some simple and complicated original banishings, but this article is a good explanation of the how, when, and why of banishings.

Banishing spells do not have the same implicit intent as a curse or hex. If the practitioner working the spell is careful, a banishing spell can be worded so it does not harm or attempt to control others. Unexpected consequences may arise...

creekside, in metro atlanta

2009-09-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Rev. Firefly and I, now that we are taking a break from constant traveling and come down from our mountain hide-away, have been staying in Atlanta with friends for the past few months. Our friends live in Clarkston, which is sub-suburb of Decatur. Clarkston is immigrant capital of Atlanta, meaning lots of Halal groceries, Ethiopian groceries, Vietnamese noodle shops, and Indian sweets shops and sari stores. The little loop of roads they live on is wrapped around a minor wetland, with a pretty creek running right behind their house. You have to go downstairs and into the magic drum circle...

past the gate and the giant axe-throwing target we built...

and you come to the creek. For all our time here, I didn't know their property extended beyond the fence, and never discovered this creek. Firefly and I spent an hour yesterday, with the perfect cool weather and overcast light, digging plastic bags and wonderfully worn down pieces of glass out of the creek bed.

For a metro creek, that runs under a major interstate, it is remarkable clean. Sure, there's debris, but it's not choked up and the water just has a faint smell of rust. I wouldn't drink it, but there's mussels growing abundantly down there.

This is the altar I built, out of an old birdcage and other bits pulled from the creek. The faeries living back in the greenery around the creek formally petitioned Firefly to spend more time down there, so I figured a creek altar would be a good start.

To come: creekside rituals (nothing too elaborate or suspicious, as the neighbors' properties also end in the creek and they can see us quite easily), naming the creek, more clean-up, and wading up to the interstate tunnel.

Article on Connecting With Other Pagans Online

2009-08-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've got an article up at Suite101 about finding and connecting with other Pagans through websites, forums, and social networks. It features some sites I visit frequently, like Pagan Forum and Ecauldron, as well as places I've never heard of before. If you're looking for some new ways to meet like-minded people, you might try some the places listed in the article.

"Many people, of all faiths, enjoy having the support of knowing others that share their faith. Pagans are no exception. However, for those who do not live in a large enough town to have public Pagan groups ... the Internet is the only way to connect with others."

-Sybelle Darling

Altar Jars

2009-08-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've stumbled across a great (and beautiful) way to decorate an altar, without covering a surface with lots of little things that can get lost or eaten by inquisitive mouths. Inspired by terrariums, canopic jars, and dioramas:

Saraswati Altar
Blue water patterned cloth, bits of abalone shell, blue beads, and a piece of wood with her symbols on it.

My altar is on a desk that sits in a occasional playroom for my roommate's children, so I had to make sure that no one would be tempted to make something shiny or small disappear, even by accident. I've had three glass jars sitting around for half a year now, waiting for something to fill them. So I gathered them up and filled them with the same materials I'd used in my normal altars.

Pan Altar
Obelisk shaped river rock, melted piece of aluminum (left side), turtle shell, and a small printout of one of Thalia Took's great pieces of artwork.

These also work for traveling altars. It's easy to grab one or two of them and pack them in an overnight bag or backpack for group rituals or trips away from home. This is especially true if you arrange the contents so they can't shift easily during travel.

Kali Altar
Tiny fairy crosses (staurolite), a shark's tooth, a jagged piece of quartz, wire smoke statue, and Thalia Took's interpretation of Kali. Also shown: the tiny white pitcher I found to use for offering honey to Kali.

The two stopper jars were loaned to me by a co-witch I've lost touch with, but the mason style jar was $1 at Micheal's Craft Store. It has a wide mouth, making it infinitely easier to arrange everything in the jar.

I'm thinking about making a few to list on Etsy, and accepting custom orders for them. I wouldn't charge very much, as they fulfill my desire for making dioramas and miniature scenes. It's much easier for me to make altar jars than terrariums, mainly because these jars don't normally contain live plants or moss.

-Sybelle Darling

Path Forging - Defining Deity

2009-08-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

(from walking the grey mists)

How does one define Deity?
Are there qualities or traits that make a being divine?
Can deities exhibit so-called negative attributes?
What form(s) does Deity take?
Are all gods/goddesses one or is each an individual being? Or are various deities part of a greater whole? Can they be both?
Does/can Deity have a physical form?
Are deities extant/immortal or can they die?
Do deities take an interest in the affairs of individuals?

1. A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers. That's wikipedia's definition, and it's pretty close to my personal definition. I define Deities as higher beings - beings that actively choose their own manifestation, that can manipulate matter and energy in ways an enlightened human can't, and that have skills or powers that human beings can't so easily use. I don't buy into "good" or "evil" deities.

2. Divinity is a complex thing in my mind. It's kind of like the legal definition of smut or filth - I know it when I see it. Some things I don't consider to be traits something must have to qualify as divine or deity:

All knowing or All seeing prescience
Complete control or power over every part of the world
Hated or complete acceptance for all people/specific groups
A specific attitude towards worshippers - I believe a deity can be warm and loving to one person and cold hearted to another, based on what the follower needs most

3. Of course they can. But this is acceptable to me for two reasons. 1) Since I consider deities to be higher, more enlightened or powerful beings than myself, I can't fault them for having the same shortcomings as me. 2) There is nothing inherently bad or weak about having issues or shortcomings, and in many ways they can be expressions of importance for others that they affect. (aka a god with a bad temper teaching it's followers not to over react.)

4. All forms. I'm a bit of an animist, so I follow the whole spirit of the rock, spirit of the trees idea as well as traditional Deity forms. I believe that deities can inhabit specific animals, items, or people, take a physical form of their choice, or appear spectrally or in someone's mind.

5. This is where my ideas of "individual but part of the whole" comes in. I believe in a great animating force, a general energy, that we are individual expressions of. That we includes everything, from algae to me to deities. So while a deity and I are different expressions of one larger energy, we have great differences and can express our own power and affect each other.

6. I addressed this (as best I can) in answer #4.

7. This is a complicated issue. I believe that a being can stop being a deity, but that doesn't involve any kind of ideas of mortal death. To me, deity refers to more than being enlightened or non-physical - it also refers to one half of a relationship, the relationship between a deity and those who worship or follow it. So when a deity falls out of all worship, and is "forgotten", they cease to be a deity. Much like a smart, powerful, practiced Witch can cease to be a teacher if her students forget her and she has no new students to follow her. It's not a negative thing, but rather a simple change of roles. I think some deities choose to be forgotten, so they can move on to other things. I also think that forgotten deities can be recontacted, since having only one or a few worshippers would be very little work for a deity occupied with other things. This may be why some deities seem to refuse or ignore attempts to contact them.
For example - you find an old magazine article about a mural painter. You call/email the mural painter, who has since moved onto a new occupation, about painting a mural for you. They can get the message and ignore it, having moved on to another occupation. The contact info could be invalid, the painter having changed numbers or email addresses. Or they could read it, and say "Hey, I miss doing that, and I have the spare time to do it, why not."

8. If they didn't, I don't see why they would bother making contact with people. Obviously there is something to be gotten from interacting with mere mortals, even if it's just entertainment.

-Sybelle Darling

I want to stay out of the executioner's house

2009-08-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

photo from caves of lillith

Last friday we visited the executioner's house again.

Rev. Firefly and I have been helping his old high school friend Doug do research for his upcoming book. it's a collection of reportedly haunted places in Georgia. we took the Roswell Ghost Tour on Friday. It was mostly interesting, in a historically minded way, but not very active. Until the end of the tour the 13 year old girl who fell down the well at Bulloch Hall was the only thing we three agreed on as still being active.

A few weeks before then, when we first met and Doug outlined his plan and we discussed our “abilities”, as he was looking for people sensitive to energy to help him, we had driven through Roswell shortly before sunset. Doug had asked Firefly to point out an "active" house. Firely immediately pointed to this barely visible blue house, screened in by some massive old trees, next to a brick office building. we pulled around the back and found a steep driveway leading up to it. As we walked up to the house, we all saw flickering movement in the top left dormer window. I didn’t like the place - I didn’t even want to go up there, but both Doug and Firefly explored it a little, looking in the windows and taking a few photos. Firefly had gotten the image of an older bald man sitting at a table and drinking when he climbed up onto the porch and peered in the first floor. We left, and forgot to check up on the details of the place.

Well, unbeknowst to us, the last stop on the ghost tour was that house. It wasn’t listed as part of the tour, but it was the “creepiest place in Roswell”, according to the tour guide. the history is even better(worse): it was built for the executioner of early Roswell, who would walk up to the old town square and hang whoever was next for a short drop, then come back with all of his buddies and drink the night away. The place has horribly aggressive energy. The tour guide told us that it’s made many more sensitive people cry when approaching the place, before they know the history, and many people get weak or nearly faint when leaving it. and of course, everyone keys in on the left dormer window. The last three sensitive or psychic people they invited on the tour all independently said that child and animal abuse had occurred in that room. One women also saw the bald man, standing in the other window of that top room, cursing and screaming at her.

Even homeless people won’t go in that house. Doug has spoken to many of them in the area, and either they won’t talk about what they’ve seen (no matter how he tries to bribe them) or have never gone near it. I don’t like the place - I don’t even like to get close to the place, not even during the day. But I think we’re going to end up going in, or at least on the porch, and I’m going to have to be ready for it.

Path Forging - Giving It a Name

2009-08-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

(from walking the grey mists)

* Is it either necessary or important to have a name by which to label your path?
* By what name do you call your own beliefs/religion/spirituality?
* What does your choice of labels imply about your actual beliefs and practices?
* If you've chosen a name associated with an established religious tradition, are your practices and beliefs similar to those of others using that same label?
* If you do not follow an established tradition, how did you name your path?
* What things need to be taken into consideration when applying a name to our beliefs?

1. Necessary, no, but I do think it is important. I could just call myself an eclectic pagan, but I'm more than that. I have a specific path, and it has specific beliefs and symbols that are tied only to the path. It is more than a conglomeration of multiple paths, and therefore deserves a name.

2. I refer to my particular brand of spiritual beliefs as Avianism, which is a term so far unused in the world. I can it that to reference that fact that the main point of my practice that ISN'T simply eclectic paganism is the recognition of birds. Recognition's a touchy word - in the sense of Avianism I'm defining it as "recognizing the energy and power in birds, and choosing to work with it". This, of course, can differ for each person, and for me is not the whole of my spiritual path. But it is the core of my beliefs, and it is the most unique part.

3. I think that the only thing you can infer from the name is that it involves avians, or birds, which is exactly what I'm aiming for.

4&5. I specifically chose Avianism because it has no associations. I called myself an eclectic pagan for a while, but people always had conceptions with that name, and I was usually lumped into a group that can't decide on a path. I've got a path - it's just that I've decided on what's a part of it, instead of following what others have done. It's not out of a desire to rebel. I have yet to find a group/philosophy that works or feels as right as the path I've made for myself. I wanted a name to reflect the fact that I've spent time and effort creating an individual belief system that is just as cohesive, comprehensive, and balanced as any other tradition. The other labels I could've applied to myself had ties to half-baked beliefs, and I wanted to distance myself from that.

6. You need to decide if your desire for a specific name stems from the want to feel special or exclusive. I've met a few people who had some weird made-up name for what was simply Wiccan beliefs, with nothing unusual or unique to separate them from that tradition. But when they told everyone that they were (blank)-ists, it sounded more exotic, and many people immediately assumed they followed some secret ancient path most of us were clueless about. A unique path deserves a unique name, but if it's simply a rehashing or melding of certain traditions, you're doing yourself a favor to refer to those when naming your path. It's a lot easier to find sympathetic practitioners when you admit that you're Wiccan with a little Celtic Reconstructionist, than when you say that you're a "Phlotonomist".

Why I Don't Believe in Conspiracy

2009-08-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that 9/11 was orchestrated by someone, I'm sure that fluoride isn't added to water in order to keep our teeth strong, and I have done research on crop circles. It's not that I hold my hands over my eyes and pretend the government is out for my best interests, but I certainly don't sit around reading about conspiracies and what I can do about them. Because the fact remains - there isn't anything to do about the vast majority of them. I firmly believe that the government is hiding things from us - and I firmly believe that conspiracy theories are often created by groups who also have reasons and plans they're trying to further. I understand the quest for the truth. But the Truth is, the only kind of truth that can be verified beyond all doubt, is that what you believe is what effects you most. If I believe I am allergic to bees, I'm going to have some kind of reaction when I get stung, whether it's my mind or my body reacting. When I believed, whole heartedly, that someone would bring us food when we were staying up in our remote cabin with no car to get out in, they did. They showed up, unbidden, with groceries and a guitar and the only wine I've ever liked.
So, by that logic, and since I am a creature who can only understand through my perceptions, I am careful with what I spend my precious time focusing on. I work magick every day, even if it is simply writing a list of things I would like to accomplish and tracing a bind-rune over it. If I started to focus on these conspiracy theories, my view of the world would begin to change. I would start to see it as a threatening place, full of lies and secret plans to control me. But that only ends up feeding those conspiracies, giving them power over me. I do my research before joining a group, or shopping at certain companies, to source out any strange links or negative ties. But I'm not going to sit here and pour through volumes of information about chemtrails or 9/11 or the UN becoming our global rulers. There is a massive difference between being informed and being paralyzed by fear.
When the information becomes too much to bear, conspiracy theorists become reclusive and act only in fear. Their energy, focused so strongly on these issues, ends up creating and feeding these entities, not working against them. Anything you focus on so strongly, even things you are in opposition to, end up stealing your power. It's a grave mistake to give power to the things you oppose. So, while I understand some of the nefarious agencies working against us, I don't think about them. I don't worry about everything I eat giving me cancer, I don't watch the sky for chem trails, and I drink filtered tap water. I feel in control of my life - I'm not about to give that away. Some people would simply excuse me as being ignorant of the "truth", but I understand the subjective nature of "truth", and choose to subscribe to Truth instead. I don't fear challenges - not death, not illness, not tyrants trying to take over the world. I've got skills to deal with those issues, and I actively create my reality.
So on a daily basis I recreate it without those issues.

I believe in activism, and the ability of people to stand up and take over again. But I know, from first hand experience among resourceful anarchists, that you can't focus on how horrible your oppressors are. You have to focus on what you have, and how you can get what you need. This means climbing in a dumpster and pulling out food instead of sitting in front of the store and complaining that you can't afford to eat. When you feel like you have the ability to create your own reality, you are able to accomplish what needs doing. When you are convinced that there is something else running the show, your abilities and avenues for change become greatly limited. This can be seen in many organized religions - when a God is in charge, you can only pray to him/her for the change you want. But when you are in charge, and are empowered and skilled, you take responsibility for your reality and implement the changes yourself.

Excerpt from Center for Tactical Magic's Free Occult Services:

Empowerment -
Initiating participants into the realm of Tactical Magic, Empowerment is a ritual invocation fusing the science of understanding oneself and one's condition with the art of applying that understanding in action. Beginning with a concerted distillation, participants trace their social malaise and cultural consternation to an accountable source, often a perpetrator of neo-feudalist repression. The participant then transforms their dispirited sentimentalities by employing a diagrammatic hex designed to counter the malevolent metaphysical and metapsychological manipulations of oppressive forces. Although no individual persons are targeted, organizational entities, large corporations, and social institutions which initiate and support malign policies and exploitative practices are deemed appropriate recipients of the participant's curse.

Transformation -
Transformation is quite simply an introduction to street-level Tactical Magic. Linking modern graffiti techniques with the ancient practice of affixing curses to the property of one's foe, Transformation also implements a diagrammatic hex, but in the form of a sticker for easy application. As an interactive ritual invocation involving the creation and application of diagrammatic hexes, Transformation provides the participant with all the tools s/he needs to take that difficult first step in mentally, spiritually, and physically addressing social injustice. By giving voice to suppressed misgivings and sublimated desires, participants readily gain insights into their own unharnessed potential, enabling them to see beyond the illusion of disillusionment and into the golden aethyr of collective empowerment.

Lughnasa - Games, Songs, and Injuries

2009-08-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

Our group celebrated Lughnasa this weekend. It started on Friday, when we had our drum circle in honor of Tailtiu, Lugh's foster mother who died giving her energy to the fields so the harvest would be successful, and other harvest related Goddesses. It was one of our Full Moon Drum Circles, which we hold every month, but this one was focused on that specific energy.
On Saturday we started with games in honor of Lugh. He's the master of all skills and crafts, and atheltic competitions are often held in his honor. We built an archery range and axe throwing target just outside of the drum circle, and had a competition. I won third place in the Archery portion, which was surprising because I hadn't shot in 2 years. I also had never shot with a longbow, or one with such a high weight on it.

The altar in the Drum Circle, decorated for Lughnasa

Saturday evening we went to our friend Timothy's house for the feast of Lugh and a short ritual. We danced a set of runes drawn in chalk into a giant circular pattern, and we ate lots of chocolate and grain dishes. There was even a short craft sharing time, when we showed our particular craft and what we've made lately. I didn't have anything because I left my Tarot cards at home - Lugh's so talented he's even good at divination, not just physical skills.

Things got hung up a few times by injuries - Timothy stepped on a nail during the axe throwing, a few people fell down steps or ran into pointy objects, and I almost poured hot oil on my feet while cooking pan bread. But considering the fact that we were throwing axes and shooting arrows with hunting points on them, those were minor and acceptable pains for the celebration.

oils and vinegars, potions

2009-08-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

photo by TW Collins

I've written two articles so far for ehow.com, both on making your own energetically charged potions. They're simple recipes and allow for a lot of creativity based on your particular path, instead of simply saying "add two parts of this and one part of that".

Make Your Own Blessed Oil is the first. It's the simplest - you choose an oil, some herbs/essential oils/etc to add to it, a container, and it's purpose. You decide what kind of energy to put into it, build that energy in one way or another, and bam, you've got blessed oil. It tends to be more powerful than blends you buy from a supplier, mainly because it's attuned to you since your energy went into it.

Make Your Own Banishing Vinegar is a slightly more structured recipe. For banishing negative energy I like to use vinegar, rather than plain oil, since it is a mild acid and has traditional cleansing and cleaning uses. It's also got layers of metaphysical meaning that tie into banishing. I've also got suggestions for ingredients to add, such as black pepper, salt and rice to absorb and hold negative energy, and willow bark.

as the first fruits of the harvest come to be ripe

2009-08-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

Lughnasa has already passed for many people, but around here in the small Bog we're still anticipating it. We're going to celebrate this Saturday, with games (archery and axe throwing) in the afternoon and a sacred circle/feast in the evening. Since we're a conglomeration of so many different faiths and individual paths, we're currently using the most common Pagan Wheel of the Year. It's the best compromise we could come up with, since each of our systems has drastically different holidays/festivals.
The "first harvest" celebration began last night, with a keg that some of our friends took home from a house cleansing/house warming party. There was drumming and a roasted leg of venison that was the last of last year's deer harvest.

We've been focusing on the house lately. There is now a dedicated crafting space, the hearth has been cleared off, and errant child marks are being painted over. This has jangled the energy in the house a little - things have been flying off of shelves and hopping out of hands, and the children have been butting heads. The cards say things will settle down once everyone refocuses and has specific goals again.

There is storage built in under the hearth, and much of the supplies we use for holidays has been basketed and is kept under there(instead of piled on the hearth). I also built a small altar in a metal tray down there, to honor the house spirits and give them a focus that they otherwise don't have in this house.

-Sybelle

simple flatbread

2009-07-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

I cooked a batch of flatbread last night. I made too much dough, so I saved a bit of it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for this morning. It turns out that salty, garlicky flatbread hot from the pan makes a great breakfast too.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar (other sweeteners don't feed yeast very well)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
dried oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder (may substitute minced garlic)

DIRECTIONS

Whisk the warm water with the yeast and sugar until the yeast is dissolved. Cover and let stand in a warm place for 10 minutes, until foamy.
Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, half of the butter (1/8th cup) and the yogurt. Mix into a soft dough then knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours or until the dough is doubled in size. If making in advance, place in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours, until doubled in size.
Punch down dough then knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into small pieces and roll out into circles. Make them thicker if you like softer bread, and as thin as possible if you want them to get a crisper crust on the outside and bubble.
Heat a pan, with a bit of oil or butter in it(not much at all). Place the dough in the pan and flip after about 20 seconds to get an even amount of oil/butter on either side. Cook until puffed slightly and each round has some brown spots. Test the first round you make - these can be cooked with almost no grease in the pan, or with plenty, depending on the crisp and flavor you prefer.

I'm thinking about making some more right now, with only a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar instead, maybe with some cinnamon or vanilla mixed in. They're amazing savory, and I have some fancy jam, so sweet flatbread may be on the menu tomorrow morning.

Original recipe is here. It calls for ghee, kalonji(onion seed), and cooking under a broiler/grill.

The Cabin, pt. 1

2009-07-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

fairy bog

front yard and sacred fire pit

I have a lot of stories, especially magical stories, that have to do with/are set at The Cabin. The Cabin is not ours - it was built by Firefly's father, and still belongs to him. However, it is ours in the sense that we are the only people that visit it and take care of it. We also lived there for about 6 months collectively between this year and last. Most of those months were alone, but for a period of time last winter we had two others there with us, which was a little too much. It's a small place - three rooms, with no inner doors except for the bathroom. You enter into the living room, which has a strange couch and a big brown wood heater. The bedroom is through the doorway straight ahead, which has an old full size bed and a wardrobe full of forgotten clothing from Firefly's family. To the right is the doorway that leads to the kitchen. It has an old fridge, some strange counters and a 50's freestanding iron propane stove. The bathroom is at the end of the kitchen, sharing a wall with the bedroom.

layout

It is also very isolated. It is 30 minutes at least to the nearest grocery store, so when we had a car we had to be careful to have enough gas to get back out when we went there. There are no neighbors for about half a mile, and even then they are either seasonal or very private. There is only the sound of the birds and the little creek that runs by the kitchen side of the cabin. On three sides there is only National Forest. It is set in the bottom of a minor valley. It is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and you can climb to the top of a small mountain in about an hour. There is also a large creek that is about 300 feet into the National Forest that has a small waterfall with a overhanging log to sit on. Everything is covered in ferns and moss, and in the late summer there is goldenrod blooming everywhere. The winter was cold, but we always found enough firewood. This spring we had no car, and getting a ride to the grocery store - or having even $10 to buy food with - was tricky, but we always worked something out. There is electricity and running water, but no TV or internet or phones, so we entertained ourselves by reading, writing and performing rituals, meditating, teaching ourselves yoga, repainting our gnomes, and making moss gardens in the front yard.

rune holding split poplar, mushrooms, woolly caterpillar,
and the view from the lake down the road

from the front porch up the hill to the road leading out

-sybelle

2009-07-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

laughing owl by desirwin

sometimes I forget that I can work magic simply by saying that something will happen. case in point, I posted to my tumblr that it was time to get busy. I had a few minor projects on the books, but I really wasn't busy. then Eric Baron Gant, no. 1 musician, showed up last last friday at Moon Drumming, and invited us to come up with him to a gig in the mountains, and we'd all go visit the cabin Eric and I lived in for half of last year.

we left thursday and came back midnight on Saturday. the gig, on Friday, was stressful because the people that own the coffee shop worked with us for a little while when we were living up there, and now because of something someone else we used to know did to them, they are treating us badly. so we had to sit there while Eric Baron Gant played and wait for him to be done.

on the other hand, we had a really good time seeing the cabin again. when we get a car, the first place we're going is there. now that I have enough photos, my next post will be all about that magicial place. for now, I'm just focusing on what I have to do tonight and tomorrow morning.

we're also doing management/promotion for Eric Baron Gant, helping our friend Doug write a book about haunted restaurants, doing a once a month landscaping job, possibly building a strip club(!), and trying to find a place to let us read tarot cards and runes.

oh, and trying to do enough renovation work with our friend's company to buy a car and get into an apartment. and meet/hang out with people. and clean and cook here at the house since we're staying here for free. AND focus on our spirituality.

it's almost too much! but at least I'm not playing video games for 18 hours a day anymore.

come walk the labrinyth with me

2009-07-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my tumblr, but not on here yet. Toriffic.co.uk is a very interesting, fun website - if you like tarot or runes or other divination, and if you trust the Universe enough to believe that randomly generated messages can be a lightning bolt of insight.
They've got readings from the Glastonbury Tarot (a multitude of layouts), the Vertical Oracle, Rune Readings, and another set of Tarot Readings. Barry Hoon runs the site, and is also an artist. He makes strange, fascinating pieces of artwork called Quantum Drawings.
But the real reason I like the site is the Labrinyth. I've never seen a reading method so in-depth and so carefully designed to get deep into your subconscious. It features a labrinyth with each track tied to a Chakra, multiple decks(including ones where spirit guides dictated the meanings), and throws some random phrases in to click your mind into the reading. It's a lot of fun, and can send you some pretty clear messages.

-Sybelle

Sybelle's medicine pouch contents

2009-07-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

The contents of my everyday medicine pouch. I made the pouch and started filling it during our summer solstice ritual. I also made a special Solstice pouch that I usually wear. It's going to be opened on Winter Solstice and burned.

-arabian frankincense

-balm of gilead

-sage, mint, thyme, rosemary, cedar

-rhodocrosite(layered pink) and rose quartz (translucent pink)

-sardonyx (black and red), amazonite (turquoise), citrine point (gold), and rough cut ruby

- river quartz (gray)

-ganesh keychain

-Sybelle

the prettiest whistles won't wrestle the thistles undone

2009-07-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

I want to point everyone (everyone that is pagan or does personal rituals in any kind of way) over to the Ritual Creation Worksheet pdf at APath.org. APath.org, and it's relative site PaganWisdom.com, have a lot of very helpful and well thought out essays and information. But what I've found personally most useful is the Ritual Creation Worksheet you can download from them. It goes into much more detail than I ever include in my rituals, but it is great because:

It makes you remember different aspects and parts that you wanted to include, but that slipped your mind.
It gives you inspiration/ideas for ritual components you may have never considered.
It reminds you that there are many levels of power in a ritual, down to the weather and colors of the clothing the participants are wearing.
You don't have to fill it in to use it - just looking over it can jolt your memory or give you a new idea.
When planning a group ritual, this is an effective and clear way to communicate the structure and intent to everyone involved. You can also pass this around to gather everyone's various ideas.

Of course, for people like me, who do best with a checklist and structure, this makes writing a ritual much easier and quicker. Instead of sitting for hours trying to decide who to invoke and what colors to use, I can just go through each section and put down what might work. As I fill in different components, I can decide what to drop and what to add.
Also on Pagan Wisdom, since we're talking about ritual, is the article Crafting Effective Ritual. I've been to many routine or perfunctory-feeling rituals, and a handful of good to great ones, and most people really need to use the tips in that article to inject more energy and passion into their ritual work.

The Ritual Creation Worksheet
A Path.org
Pagan Wisdom.com

2009-06-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

a short list of gods and goddesses I am currently working with:
-Kali, the redeemer of the universe, at once both the fiercest of warriors and most protectives of mothers
-Saraswati, the consort of the god of creation, Brahma. Mother of the Vedas, the sacred texts of Hinduism, and a patron goddess of music, knowledge, and arts, as well as tied to sacred waters.
-Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, who shares my love of little sweets. For a short time there was a small sect following Ganesh, in a trailer park in Blue Ridge, GA.
-Pan, that terrible skirt chaser, terrorizer of rapists and murders (inspires "panic", or the fear of wilderness). One of the first deities I ever had personal contact with.
-The Vulture Woman, alternately Mut, or the Crone. I alternately associate with and clash with the Crone energy, which routinely manifests itself in my life through the image of the Vulture Woman.
-The Sparrow, the Raven, The Owl, The Swan, etc. You can't have a personal mythology based on birds without seeing birds as deities. I mean, I guess you can, but that's what works for me. Instead of seeing them as the messengers of various gods, they're direct representations of particular power.

little pieces of confetti

2009-06-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have sent quite a bit of random mail over the past few years, but especially this year. I used to receive more of it, when postcardx.net was still up. I've sent about 12 letters out since New Years, all through sendsomething.net. It's a database of mail art enthusiasts, with open and empty mail boxes, and all kinds of creative, stamp sticking people. I haven't received anything this year, but for most of the year I haven't had a mailing address, other than at my mother's house, who I rarely see. Oh, the joys of living in an isolated mountain cabin, outgoing mail but no incoming. If I see my mother this weekend, as is the plan so far, she will have for me a chunk of mail - hopefully some of it will be kind and imaginative correspondance. I may also have a letter or two waiting at that mountain cabin, as we had the address re-established just two weeks before we left there for the city. I put that address on a few things I sent out, so replies may have ended up in that ant-nest mailbox.
I like the tactile sensation of writing a letter, of drawing and scribbling things in the margins and on the envelope, of cataloging the particular secrets and stories I want to send to each recipent. I like getting letters too, but I'm picky, and I'd much rather write 10 long and magical letters and receive one of similar quality and length, then receive 10 short responses. I don't mind not getting responses, but I do have to imagine that people are receiving, reading, and enjoying what I've sent. Or there's just no reason to keep writing.

owls and other things I have drawn for letters.

our current divination methods

2009-06-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

Rev. Firefly:

Druid Animal Oracle Cards - very beautiful, good at giving direction or insight, not always useful for answering specific questions.

Elder/Futhark Runes - a set of the 24 ancient Norse runes, painted in red on dark stone that was gathered in the mountains. Gathered, cleaned, painted, and blessed by Sybelle in March. Very accurate so far.

Sybelle Darling:

Witch Runes - this system seems to have been created by Susan Sheppard, and it came to me in a convoluted way. It was meant to be a set for a mentor of mine, but ended up coming with me. She still got a set of them - just not this set, which was specifically made for her, but she forgot that fact and confused it with a set that was to be sold in her store.

Tarot Nova - a set of tiny tarot cards I bartered for this spring. I was unable to find a deck I felt like buying, though I really wanted to start reading with them. I liked the tiny cards from the minute I picked them up, and they work for me, even though each of them are about the size of my thumbnail.

just a bit of shop news

2009-06-26T14:28:00.001-07:00

I made my second sale last night. It was a Deluxe Card Reading, which was also my first sale. It consists of 7 cards, plus 3 question specific cards, with the buyer's choice of decks. It needs some revision. The layout does not work as well as I thought it would for over the internet readings. I've used it successfully a few times for in-person readings, but it is a very different experience. I think it'll work better with 6 cards and only 1 or 2 specific questions.

I know many people do not believe in charging money for energy work, whether it's card readings or healings or spell work. I also know that many people don't care - they're going to charge whatever someone will pay. I used to have a deep skepticism towards divination of any kind, based on the behavior of phone psychics, and their $3 a minute "spiritual advice". So I ask what I think is fair, based on the amount of energy I put into these readings, and I also ask for the listing fees and Paypal fees. And usually I end up making less than $4 an hour, which is fine. I enjoy doing card readings. I do them for free most of the time, but they are a lot more work when I do them long distance. Asking for a small amount of money helps balance out the energy exchanged.

I made two beautiful talismans recently, a Barn Owl/Kenaz rune talisman in purple and silver, and a karmic release/powerbuilding talisman in sun colors. They are currently missing - the house keepers came and put them somewhere, and I've had no luck finding them yet.

I am finishing up three popular wands I made during our Solstice ceremony. They are all parts of the same branch, but each is attuned to a different element. Our ceremony was held on the New Moon in Cancer, so they are very balanced. They also received a good dose of powerful, direct Sun energy, so they should be very useful for more direct energy work. I also did all the work on them using only a naturally sharp piece of quartz. It was a branch that was going into the purification fires, but instead of tossing it in I carried it around for a while, and realized they'd be better suited as wands.

-Sybelle

Midsummer Ritual

2009-06-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Avalon, a private community near Lake Hartwell, for a small Litha ritual. It turned out well. We had a circle bounded by rune plates, a Southern altar with something from everyone participating. We started by doing Rune Chants for Perthro, Sowilo, and Wunjo, since most of the participants are practicing Heathens. After some more energy raising and meditation, we did a purification. Rev. Firefly led each person, one at a time, between two fires(very very hot, it was already almost 100 degrees in the shade) and through the woods to the creek. We also made medicine bags to harness the powerful Sun energy, including things like Balm of Gilead, Rhodocrosite, Rose Quartz, cedar, and stones from the river that were charged.
Rev. Firefly and I also made something special to put in the bags. We made molds(after a lot of testing, redesigning, rune drawing and counting and redrawing) and helped everyone cast their own pewter coin, with a custom bind rune we designed for the ritual, at the site. The runes above are not what ended up on the coin, but the coin in my bag is one of the tests that uses that rune.
We tried air dry clay(it cracked while it dried), cuttlefish(it held up for 4 or 5 castings but eventually broke, but was easiest to carve), and wood epoxy(worked best but bad for details). It took almost a full week of experimenting and designing to get it all down where anyone could do it.

My Midsummer Ritual Bag(to be opened at Winter Solstice and contents burned):
-arabian frankincense
-dragon's blood
-cedar
-sage, thyme, and mint
-dog hair
-rhodocrosite
-rose quartz
-activated river stone
-pewter bind rune coin

In Memoriam - Spirit

2009-06-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Rev. Firefly's familiar Spirit, who was also coincidentally a great cat, died about 2 weeks ago. He's buried in SC, where he died, so visiting his grave isn't possible.

He was a traveling cat. He went everywhere with us, held his own against packs of dogs, and was one of the most intelligent cats I've ever met. He was also a powerful ally and energy worker.

new stones

2009-06-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

We visited Phoenix and Dragon, the closest metaphysical bookstore, a few days ago to pick up some Rhodocrosite, Balm of Gilead, and Frankincense for our Midsummer celebration medicine bags we're making this weekend during the ritual. Rev. F and I spent a few minutes picking out some stones. He's already got quite a few, including a giant piece of labradorite the size of my hand. I've never owned very many crystals or stones, except for what I was allowed to have from the mineral and fossil collection that was my great-grandfather. I've always collected whatever interesting stones I've found, but I've never identified any of them, and someone was always tossing them back outside.

F bought a piece of Mookite and a small Dragonstone, which is apparently not the common name for the stone, and I have no idea what the real name is.

I bought a piece of Amazonite, which is the same color I would dye my hair if it wasn't so difficult. I also bought a small Citrine point. They've both got some money flow and creativity enhancing properties. Amazonite also wards off negative energy and increases psychic ability.

I want to get a piece of ocean jasper, which they had about 200 pieces of. Ocean Jasper is all different patterns and colors, so I wanted to go through all of them, but I didn't know that they had trays for going through a whole container until we were leaving. I don't like to pick stones based on color or size. I prefer to go through the stones with the tips of my fingers until I find one that feels right.

Center for Tactical Magick

2009-06-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

One doesn’t have to peer through crystal balls or satellite lenses to realize that neither we, nor the products of our imagination exist in isolation from the worlds around us. To understand one’s condition is to relate oneself to the surrounding community. In so doing, we open the gates to a world of cultural-production that is not disembodied but intimately connected to a physical reality inscribed by power relations, social politics, and dynamic forces that move about like staircases in Harry Potter’s magic academy.

- Center for Tactical Magick

The Center for Tactical Magick draws upon the individual power of artists, magicians, ninjas, activists, and subversive thinkers, and provides the intellectual stimulation to draw them together into a cohesive unit.
They have some really mind-opening writing in the thought section, but the most inspiration is to be found in their projects, such as this 30 ft. tall surveillance clubhouse, built by high school students in the middle of Kansas.

They also have a Tactical Magick Ice Cream truck that dispenses free ice cream and radical literature, and a Cricket Activated Defense System for protecting endangered redwood forests from illegal logging.
My favorite is the Free Occult Services project, where they set up a table to offer free fortune telling, and empowerment, including giving out a sigil sticker designed to ethically transfer power from a greedy or damaging corporation or company to the downtrodden.

paths and traditions

2009-06-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Redwinged Blackbird by kevincole

While I can identify as Pagan, and I do energy work, magick, and witchcraft, I don't follow any of the pre-described pagan paths or religions. I'm not Wiccan, Hermetic, a Kabalist, Gardnerian, Theodish or Asatru, Heathen, Celtic, or a Druid. I'm not a Reconstructionist or a Traditionalist or a New Age guru. I follow my own personal mythology, or personal gnosis. I do use some documented information, such as crystal and herbal correspondences. When I work with traditional/historical deities I do my research and follow what's already known about them. However, most of what I do in spellwork, or ritual, or in meditation comes from within me. I've studied a few of the more common pagan traditions, and I just don't identify with them. They don't apply to me - my life doesn't work that way. It's the main reason I'm not Reiki Certified, I don't go to the thursday night Wiccan discussion at our local metaphysical bookstore, and I don't usually discuss religious experiences with other people.
I found that an awful lot of those traditions focus on learning and memorizing a pre-set way of doing things - or, conversely, have no structure, and are terrible at explaining even the basics of energy work. You end up with people who can cast certain spells, but ask them to be creative and they don't know the basic components to create their own spells. You also end up with "practitioners" who don't do any kind of practice or work on a regular basis, and who insist that Kali is a purple love goddess who loves marshmellows.

Kali by Mary MacGregor-Reid

I really only make the point that a lot of traditions seem to be lacking for two reasons.

It's hard to find powerful, creative magick workers to do larger scale projects with, because many people have plenty of power and ideas, but won't express them because they have learned a certain system.
Many pagans seem to become disenchanted with these paths. It seems like they either put too heavy of a requirement on "leveling up", or they don't have any growth and development planned out. You can't require someone to memorize tables and charts and spells and chants and then suddenly tell them to make up their own stuff. You have to teach them from the beginning.

Introduction: Rev. Firefly Weaver

2009-06-12T12:11:00.001-07:00

Who is the honorable Reverend Firefly Weaver?

ordained (for weddings, handfastings, and funerary rites)
jack of all trades - woodworking, metal working, smithing, armory, house cleansings, spiritual advice and guidance, painting, sculpture, construction and remodeling, mask making, sword fighting, hunting and wilderness survival, etc.
creative

Introduction: Sybelle Darling

2009-06-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Cybele: the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia (the "Earth"), or her Minoan equivalent Rhea, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals (especially lions and bees).

Sibyl: The earliest oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity, "who admittedly are known only through legend"[1] prophesied at certain holy sites, under the divine influence of a deity, originally— at Delphi and Pessinos— one of the chthonic earth-goddesses. Later in antiquity, sibyls wandered from place to place.

Sybelle Darling is, in turns, a priestess, a poet, a secret agent, a co-conspiritor, an artist, and a weasel-keeper. Born and raised in the deep south, tempered by heat and humidity.She spends her time painting talismans, making masks from plaster, salvaging, drinking peppermint tea, dreaming, writing, and soaking up moonlight.
Sybelle is an Avianist, a made-up word describing the proliferation of birds in her personal mythology. She writes letters to strangers she finds through sendsomething.com, and still does not have a decent friend.