The Witching Hour

Blessings Darlings!

There's a lot of references to "The Witching Hour" in popular culture.  Mundanely, it can refer to the time of day when things are at their worst - the rush time a job, the time of day when the newborn is ALWAYS cranky (that was 5:30 pm for the Spawn), that type of thing.  Sort of the inverse of Happy Hour, both in tenor and in the ability to have a drink during it.

The basic premise behind 'the witching hour' is that witches, ogres, demons, and all sorts of 'nasties' come out and play when all the adults circadian rhythms say 'sleep'.  And by 'adult', I really mean adult.  As in 27 or older, when the brain is fully developed. 

Here's what the adult body circadian rhythms are doing during the day

http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/insidelifescience/images/biological_clock_human.jpg

But, as you might guess, this post is going to look at that from the perspective of an adult Pagan/witch.  And when most folks talk about the witching hour for witches, they most often mean midnight (with a small number of people saying 3 am) being the 'best time' to do magic/rituals/whatever.

That's a nice theory.  It fits in very well with the lives of teens, who don't have the same circadian rhythms as adults, and usually feel the need to hide their witchcraft from their parents.

But the times that matter to most witchcraft are liminal times.  Liminal times are the 'times between'. The best known liminal time for most witches and pagans is Samhain - the Celtic 'New Year' that is celebrated on a day after the end of the old year and before the beginning of the new year.  Lliminal times go together with the liminal spaces we make when we cast a circle, as in the line so often used as part of circle casting "A place that is not a place, a time that is not a time, between the worlds and beyond".  A three-fold liminality!

What does liminality bring to the table?
What do you want it to bring to the table?  For me, in my worldview, it is a time when it is easier to manipulate energy.  Energy in these times is more fluid, not yet one thing or the next.  

These are the times I like to play.  

Everyday liminality
Every person has their liminal times. Your personal ones are the times each day when you are falling asleep and when you are waking up - you are in two worlds, and neither, at once.  We've all been there, probably within the past 12 - 24 hours.

Every day has it's liminal times.  Midnight is a modern version of a liminal time - until there were clocks, no one knew when it was midnight (at least without referencing the Big Dipper, humor me here).  More traditionally, the liminal times were and are the grey time before dawn and twilight.  Not yet the one state of night, nor the other state of day.  These are the times when traditional Witching was done.  

Every month liminality

The month, okay the LUNAR month has it's own liminality.  That occurs on the Dark Moon, the time after the moon has waned all the way, and before that first thin crescent of the Waxing/New Moon.  Just like Samhain is a day between the years, the Dark Moon is a few hours between the months.  For me, I use the 13 hours (one hour for the 13 lunar months of the year) before the astronomical New Moon.  

 Don't get me wrong
I don't limit my magic/ritual to liminal times.  For example, I cook at all times of day - I'm going to do my food magic every time I cook and not try to only cook at liminal times.  And as noted earlier, I create my own liminal time and space when I cast a circle.  But Ii don't blow off the every day or every month liminal times when I have some workings that I can do that don't have a set time frame.  Because I'm one of them Practical Pagans.

Frondly, Fern  

Charmed, I'm sure.

Blessings Darlings!

A recent question, not asked to me exactly, but posted online: "This is going to sound silly, but I love to have all my pieces with me, particularly the ones that function as jewelry, so my question is how do you pick which to wear? My stones help me regulate my emotions and I can't forsee [sic] what I'll need thoughtout [sic] the day. Any tips?"

Amulets probably go back almost as far as jewelry does.  Maybe farther, but my observations of children's brain development tells me that 'pretty' comes before 'symbolic' in their use of items, so that may be true of general human development as well.  And most humans being hoarders, the idea of 'the more the merrier' probably goes way back, too.  So humans have had to find ways to handle carrying around lots of amulets at once.

So humans made special necklaces and bracelets and sachets.

The idea of bracelets being used to hold special items is still common today.  They are called 'charm bracelets' - remember them?  Now the charms tend to be symbols of life events, like a charm representing each child born, or getting married.  But charging and then adding a wire-wrapped crystal or stone or tooth or whatever for a magical purpose is a natural way for a magic-user to move a charm bracelet back to, well, a bracelet of CHARMS. Of course, a this can be worn either as a wrist bracelet or an ankle bracelet and serve the same purpose. 

Creating your own necklace as a multi-purpose amulet is also a great option.  From delicate looking ones, using beads from a craft store (different sizes/colors of beads charge for different purposes) to the more old-school rustic ones, using, say, animal teeth with holes drilled into them for protection, along with (again) wire-wrapped stones and crystals (hard to drill holes in them yourself!) or plant seeds you've carefully made holes in and lacquered, or whatever materials, each type charged for its purpose.  Strung on nylon, leather, cotton, or your own hair. 

Even using charm bracelets and necklaces, you will still have times when you may want to use a sachet.  Sachets (which Byron Ballard, writer of "Staubs and Ditchwater" on Appalachian Rootworking assures me is to be pronounced 'sa-chet' here in the Appalachians, not "Sa-shay") are little cloth bags that you fill with 'stuff'.  The 'Stuff' can be herbs, roots, bits of stones/clay/crystals, whatever.  Sachets tend to be one-purpose items, the way I use them, and somewhat time-limited.  After the one, two, or four-week period I keep it with me, I will usually bury the entire bag, to return it to the earth. 

Do y'all need me to go into how to magically charge things?  My online group reading is making me think that a lot of folks haven't been taught that yet.  Please - let me know.

Frondly, Fern

Dream Worlds

Blessings, Darlings!

The more you track you dreams, the more you are likely to see familiar and repeating layouts and figures in your dream world.

I 'know' a person online who has been writing about her dream worlds for year. While it can make starting to read her blog difficult (in most places deep knowledge of what she's posted before really helps), there are times when story arcs begin and those places are where her blog is most accessible.

So, to enter a coherent and pretty well-mapped dream world of one individual, I give you Three Different Ways: http://threedifferentways.katalytis.com/2012/05/the-gathering/ at a place where the first three posts can stand alone, but the story arc comes back in a big way over the rest of the year.

 Frondly, Fern

When the Spawn's Away...

Blessings, Darlings!

Since the Spawn hasn't been getting many hours at work (they aren't getting many customers for day shift, so they call and tell him not to come in), he's covering not one but TWO other folks' shifts at work today.  So he's not home for dinner.  Which means ... the Chubby Hubby and I can have food he doesn't like without a care in the world!

Don't get me wrong - the Spawn likes most foods. But like all of us, there are a few he just doesn't care for.  Corned Beef, what we had tonight, is one of them.  And I bought 3 corned beef briskets at REALLY good prices around St. Patrick's day.  We had one of them last month, and I cooked the last two today.

And now that I've eaten dinner, I'm especially happy that I did.  Damn, they're good.

Frondly, Fern

Casting a Quarter-Cast Circle

Blessings Darlings!

I'm going to steal my own writings here.  I explained circle casting in a Facebook group today, and I'm cutting and pasteing that here now.  Enjoy!

A circle is one way of creating sacred space for magic or ritual or healing or whatever purpose. The 'typical' circle is a quarter-cast one, using either the 4 directions or the 4 elements as part of the structure. Details, as always, will depend on the magical group or tradition one trains in. Generically - you can start in the East. Using your finger, or an athame, or a wand, you ask for the power of that direction or element to ward the circle and add it's power to your working, then visualize a blue (usually) etheric flame pouring from it. You visualize that line of flame going from that quarter to the next, as you walk to the South. Repeat, asking that direction or element. Repeat for the next two quarters, and after you invite the North or Earth, continue the line of blue flame to the east again, completing the circle. At that point, change the visualization of the blue flame from a circle around you in one dimension to an orb around you in three dimensions.

You can get fancier. You can have altars at each of the directions. You can draw pentagrams at each direction and open a gate for the power of that direction to enter thru'. Etc.

After you do the hoodoo you do in the circle, you take the circle down by thanking the powers you invited and bidding them farewell. Some do this in the reverse order that the powers were called in, some don't. Use the same tool you used to cast to 'suck up' the energy of the blue flame as you dismiss. And ground that tool afterwards (ground yourself if you used your hand/finger, put the top of the tool to the earth if you used a tool).

Here are the words to two sung quarter-castings by Isaac Bonewits http://www.neopagan.net/IB_Songs_WiccanRitual.html

The Calling, with the blue flame visualization, really is it for a simple circle casting.

The only tool needed is Knife/athame, or wand, or pointed finger.

Again, you can get fancier.  And you're going to get better results the more intimate you are with the elements/elementals and the directions.  

Any questions?

Frondly, Fern 

End Of Month Eats

Blessings Darlings!

In a recent discussion in a Facebook group, the issue of getting thru' the end of the month on pasta or ramen came up.  And how boring living on those noodles are.

Well.

First of all, you KNOW my view of pasta vs ramen, right?  That pasta costs WAY less per serving, so go for that if you can?  But, onward to making noodles flavorful (and more nutritious) when broke!

First, of course, your herb/spice rack is your friend.  A shot of Sriracha sauce will kick up noodles.  So will garlic and onion - use the powdered form if that's what you have.  

Canned or frozen veggies can be added.  Don't have any?  Well, now that it's well into spring you can harvest what's growing wild.  Today, for instance, I'm adding the greens from wild garlic, for vitamins C, A, fiber, and flavor.  Here's a shot of wild garlic:

I'm also adding wild yellow dock.  This is more of a problem to add - it can be bitter, and the Chubby Hubby is a supertaster of bitter and HATES HATES HATES it.  So after I harvested it I chopped it, threw it in a bowl, and poured boiling water over it to blanch it.  I drained it after it soaked for a few minutes and had CH taste it - it met his approval.  For your viewing pleasure, a shot of yellow/curly dock: 

There are plenty of other plants growing right now that you can add.  Dandelions (again, bitter - you may have to soak/drain several times), plantain is coming up, creeping Charlie (nice peppery flavor), Corn creeper (boring flavor, but very nutritious), chickweed, etc.  Even the young leaves of clover can be used.

And let's not forget to use those pasta, as well as ramen, in soup.  Just add cheap cubes of boullion, and more wild greens (or canned veggies if you have them).  Leftovers, in broth, with noodles, is a grand meal.

So - eat well!

Frondly, Fern

Spring Snow Day

Blessings Darlings!

We have about  6 inches of snow, and it's still falling.  Spawn got an 8:00 call from work, telling him not to bother coming in, they wouldn't be getting enough business to justify paying him.

Therefore, it's an official day of Spring Cleaning in our household.  I'm mostly just doing the kitchen and breakfast nook myself.  Spawn is doing bathrooms, and since HIS knees work he's scrubbing the sides of the cabinets and outside of the fridge/oven/dishwasher.  Vacuuming and shampooing carpets is well under way.  Chubby Hubby is going thru' his accumulated papers, and cleaning the laboratory.  I'll clean many of the cobwebs, but one of those taller people will have to deal with some of them.

By the end of the day I expect we'll all be tired, but we will have a nice clean ready-for-summer-and-having-people-over house.

Frondly, Fern