Blessings Darlings!
I'm assuming that most of the folks reading this are not 'essential workers' and working full time (or more) during the pandemic. Which means y'all are at home, and have more free time on your hands. But along with that free time, you don't have money since you're not working. And most of y'all aren't trying to adjust to homeschooling (I suppose I should blog about transitioning to that sometime, too.)
Have you ever said that you wished you had free time to work on your magic/spirituality/etc? Well my dear - you asked for it, you got it! All the free time in the world.
So what are you doing with this time? What books are you reading and working? What courses are you taking? How much more time are you putting into your daily practice? Doing more offerings? More meditation? Are you doing your basic self care, and drinking water, getting some exercise, eating your 5 - 9 servings of fruits and non-starchy veggies a day?
I'm trying a little desperately to catch up on the Strategic Sorcery course, reading several pagan/magic/esoteric books, failing on drinking enough water, and ... now that the restaurant I worked in is closed, failing on my fruit and veggie intake most days. It was so much easier when I had a full salad case to make my salads out of! Already chopped red onions, tomatoes, lettuces, spinach, cucs, carrots, etc. Ah well. I'll continue to work on improving that tomorrow.
Most of you have that time you longed for. So are you using it?
More on this tomorrow ...
Frondly, Fern
Showing posts with label Magick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magick. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2020
Sunday, July 15, 2018
BJ's "Top 10 things to do as a Witch" list.
Blessings Darlings!
BJ responded to my 'suggestion' list with this. It is, of course, wonderful, because that's how BJ is.
So, in it's entirety, and shared with permission:
Top Ten Things to do as a Witch
1. Be born
2. Have spirits
3. Be othered
4. Inner sense of being kind of fabulous but also meh because liminality
5. :. Be liminal
6. POWER
7. More POWER because Kraft means power.
8. More spirits because they're in your blood
9. Be a supernatural monster, but in the way you choose to be
10. Magic!
Frondly, Fern
BJ responded to my 'suggestion' list with this. It is, of course, wonderful, because that's how BJ is.
So, in it's entirety, and shared with permission:
Top Ten Things to do as a Witch
1. Be born
2. Have spirits
3. Be othered
4. Inner sense of being kind of fabulous but also meh because liminality
5. :. Be liminal
6. POWER
7. More POWER because Kraft means power.
8. More spirits because they're in your blood
9. Be a supernatural monster, but in the way you choose to be
10. Magic!
Frondly, Fern
Thursday, July 12, 2018
10 Daily Things Witches Might Just Consider Doing.
Blessings Darlings!
I just read a really masturbatory and inefficient list of 'What Witches Do'. It was immediately obvious to me that I had to create my own list! Really, almost all of them come down to either "Work to bring down the Patriarchy" or "Do your craft more efficiently"
1 - Read the local paper, so they are informed local citizens.
2 - Read a good 'National/world' paper, so they are an informed world citizens (New York Times, Washington Post, London Times, whatever). Witches should never be ignorant twats.
3 - Ground and center where you are. No need to go somewhere else to do it. And "Long Walks in Nature" may not be available in your area nor safe to do.
4 - Charge all the food you buy with 'health and power' as you bring it into the house after shopping.
Sure, you can charge individual foods when you cook or eat them for specific purposes too. But this way EVERYTHING has at least some charge. And if you're bringing in some food that you know is going to NOT work for 'health and power' ... you need to face that.
5 - Charge your vacuum cleaner (or broom, or carpet sweeper, or whatever) to deal with 'negative energy' as well as dirt/dust/etc. And did you notice the word 'Daily' in the title of this post? Use it/them!
6 - Charge all your cleaning products for the same purposes as in #5. Again, note the 'daily use' clause.
BECAUSE CLEANING DAILY WILL SOLVE A WHOLE LOT OF WITCHY PROBLEMS. DUST BUNNIES AND PILED UP DISHES ARE EVIDENCE OF 'NEGATIVE ENERGY' THAT ***YOU*** ARE ENCOURAGING.
7 - Charge your bath soap for some purpose. No need for a different product than what you're going to use daily.
8. Fight for justice.
9. Support your communities.
10 - Do what self-care you can. Eat as well as your finances allow, and learn what your body works well with. I can do neither Keto nor heavily starch/grain/bean based eating, and we are poor (I work two jobs. And I'm in my 60's). Turnips are cheap. Cabbage is cheap. Eggs are cheap. Well, they are cheap if they agree with your body. Otherwise they are expensive. Try to get enough sleep. Have that bed time routine that eases you into the arms of Morpheus. If your body allows it, get some daily exercise. Clean your body daily - even if it's a sponge bath - you'll feel better.
Frondly, Fern
I just read a really masturbatory and inefficient list of 'What Witches Do'. It was immediately obvious to me that I had to create my own list! Really, almost all of them come down to either "Work to bring down the Patriarchy" or "Do your craft more efficiently"
1 - Read the local paper, so they are informed local citizens.
2 - Read a good 'National/world' paper, so they are an informed world citizens (New York Times, Washington Post, London Times, whatever). Witches should never be ignorant twats.
3 - Ground and center where you are. No need to go somewhere else to do it. And "Long Walks in Nature" may not be available in your area nor safe to do.
4 - Charge all the food you buy with 'health and power' as you bring it into the house after shopping.
Sure, you can charge individual foods when you cook or eat them for specific purposes too. But this way EVERYTHING has at least some charge. And if you're bringing in some food that you know is going to NOT work for 'health and power' ... you need to face that.
5 - Charge your vacuum cleaner (or broom, or carpet sweeper, or whatever) to deal with 'negative energy' as well as dirt/dust/etc. And did you notice the word 'Daily' in the title of this post? Use it/them!
6 - Charge all your cleaning products for the same purposes as in #5. Again, note the 'daily use' clause.
BECAUSE CLEANING DAILY WILL SOLVE A WHOLE LOT OF WITCHY PROBLEMS. DUST BUNNIES AND PILED UP DISHES ARE EVIDENCE OF 'NEGATIVE ENERGY' THAT ***YOU*** ARE ENCOURAGING.
7 - Charge your bath soap for some purpose. No need for a different product than what you're going to use daily.
8. Fight for justice.
9. Support your communities.
10 - Do what self-care you can. Eat as well as your finances allow, and learn what your body works well with. I can do neither Keto nor heavily starch/grain/bean based eating, and we are poor (I work two jobs. And I'm in my 60's). Turnips are cheap. Cabbage is cheap. Eggs are cheap. Well, they are cheap if they agree with your body. Otherwise they are expensive. Try to get enough sleep. Have that bed time routine that eases you into the arms of Morpheus. If your body allows it, get some daily exercise. Clean your body daily - even if it's a sponge bath - you'll feel better.
Frondly, Fern
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Types of Magic
Blessings Darlings!
Let's settle in with a summer drink for a discussion of 'types of magic', and try to get this done before my husband drags me off to practice holding webinars using Webinar Jam (*I* am not looking to do webinars, but an organization we're involved in is, and the Chubby Hubby offered to do the tech stuff so ...)
Now I'm not going to talk about Green magic vs hedge witchery vs water witches vs whatthefuckever. Personally I see those divisions as micromanaging. YMMV. Instead, I'm going to start with what are to me the Two Big Divisions, and then look at a hierarchy of approaches to magic.
[Side note - if you feel you're becoming perfected and other folks find that you've becoming a pretentious prat - go with THEIR feelings. IJS.]
THAUMATURGY; This here is miracle working. Measurable changes on Earth/shared reality from magical actions. More money. New relationships. Measurable reduction in violence. Healing/reduction of physical ailments (debate on whether 'feeling better' is theurgy or thaumaturgy is something I'm not going to cover here.)
Those two categories are the Big Two. I'm not usually into dualities, so savor the moment.
Basic Bitch Level Magics include chants and herbal/oil/etc mixes. Making a potpourri to cleanse or bless your house. Doing a chant for some purpose (didn't we ALL start off as kids doing the 'rain, rain go away" chant?) Amulets. Sachets. Soaps. Washes. Most crystal use. Herb use in food - heck, everything in the proposed "First you take a dead chicken" cook/spellbook. I'd even add doing magic by planetary hours here. Any time you are taking some item that is associated with your purpose and putting it together with other items associated with your purposed and that is the bulk of the spell. Certainly these things can be layered like flavors, so you take your herbs and oils and do a chant over them. That can help. But it's still Basic Witch Level.
Intermediate Bitch Level Magics start when you consciously start raising/tapping, shaping, and sending energy. You're not just doing a chant over that amulet - you tapped energy and charged that amulet. You threw the ingredients for an herbal salve into the Instant Pot to slow cook ... but also charged a candle to power a specific magic into that salve while it cooks. You 'woke' the Florida Water so it could do its thing.
It can also include involving magical helpers with your magic. Having spirits that you have alliances with help power the spellwork or the promise of offerings to the spirits involved if the spell works.
Badass Bitch Level Magics and you're going what you want, when you want, and only use herbs/other tools when you want to for the pleasure of using them. n You can do magic stark naked in Times Square with no tools while walking to an appointment and avoiding the police bothering you for indecent exposure. OTOH, you might still choose to do 3 hour deeply ceremonial ritual timed to start in a 8 minute window between the end of a retrograde and the start of a full moon if that is what you choose to do another time for some specific reason.
I am NOT Badass enough to do successful magic naked in Times Square, that's for sure.
Frondly, Fern
Let's settle in with a summer drink for a discussion of 'types of magic', and try to get this done before my husband drags me off to practice holding webinars using Webinar Jam (*I* am not looking to do webinars, but an organization we're involved in is, and the Chubby Hubby offered to do the tech stuff so ...)
Now I'm not going to talk about Green magic vs hedge witchery vs water witches vs whatthefuckever. Personally I see those divisions as micromanaging. YMMV. Instead, I'm going to start with what are to me the Two Big Divisions, and then look at a hierarchy of approaches to magic.
The Big Two: Theurgy vs Thaumaturgy
THEURGY: "Theurgy describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of achieving henosis and perfecting oneself." (Wikipedia) And henosis fundamentally means union with the Divine or Ultimate Reality. Which is, really, what 'religion' means at its roots, that is re = again and lignon = uniting. In short - Theurgy is magic for spiritual progress. It's hard to measure results, as they don't easily translate into direct changes here in lovely Malkuth/earth/manifest reality.[Side note - if you feel you're becoming perfected and other folks find that you've becoming a pretentious prat - go with THEIR feelings. IJS.]
THAUMATURGY; This here is miracle working. Measurable changes on Earth/shared reality from magical actions. More money. New relationships. Measurable reduction in violence. Healing/reduction of physical ailments (debate on whether 'feeling better' is theurgy or thaumaturgy is something I'm not going to cover here.)
Those two categories are the Big Two. I'm not usually into dualities, so savor the moment.
A Brief Hierarchy of Magic
This hierarchy is about power, pure and simple.Basic Bitch Level Magics include chants and herbal/oil/etc mixes. Making a potpourri to cleanse or bless your house. Doing a chant for some purpose (didn't we ALL start off as kids doing the 'rain, rain go away" chant?) Amulets. Sachets. Soaps. Washes. Most crystal use. Herb use in food - heck, everything in the proposed "First you take a dead chicken" cook/spellbook. I'd even add doing magic by planetary hours here. Any time you are taking some item that is associated with your purpose and putting it together with other items associated with your purposed and that is the bulk of the spell. Certainly these things can be layered like flavors, so you take your herbs and oils and do a chant over them. That can help. But it's still Basic Witch Level.
Intermediate Bitch Level Magics start when you consciously start raising/tapping, shaping, and sending energy. You're not just doing a chant over that amulet - you tapped energy and charged that amulet. You threw the ingredients for an herbal salve into the Instant Pot to slow cook ... but also charged a candle to power a specific magic into that salve while it cooks. You 'woke' the Florida Water so it could do its thing.
It can also include involving magical helpers with your magic. Having spirits that you have alliances with help power the spellwork or the promise of offerings to the spirits involved if the spell works.
Badass Bitch Level Magics and you're going what you want, when you want, and only use herbs/other tools when you want to for the pleasure of using them. n You can do magic stark naked in Times Square with no tools while walking to an appointment and avoiding the police bothering you for indecent exposure. OTOH, you might still choose to do 3 hour deeply ceremonial ritual timed to start in a 8 minute window between the end of a retrograde and the start of a full moon if that is what you choose to do another time for some specific reason.
I am NOT Badass enough to do successful magic naked in Times Square, that's for sure.
Frondly, Fern
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Sensing Energy 101
Blessings, Darlings!
Mostly - sensing energy just takes practice. But setting up an A/B test (or A/B/C test, in this case) helps by setting up a setting where you have clearly different energies.
I'm going to assume that you have a kitchen floor that is not carpeted. If it is - I'll have ideas for you to use to modify this after the main article.*
Sweep your entire floor. Wash half of it in your usual way, with whatever products you usually use. Let it dry (wipe it dry if you're in a hurry!) Compare what you feel, standing on the washed vs unwashed parts. Use all your senses - you might be best as visual energetic cues, audible ones, scents, etc. Touch might work, but might not be the best sense for this, because clean surely feels different that a floor that might be sticky! Still, holding your hand just over each side might have you feel different things on each side - different temperature/pressure/other sensations (this is why a dry floor is best for this, being wet alone would give some false positives) And while you might sense a different taste on both sides, obviously don't go licking the floor.
Feel a difference? Wonderful! THAT is just from a basic cleaning.
Now, wash the rest of the floor, just like before.
That done? Great! Now charge some spiritual/magical cleanser, and add it to a new batch of wash water, along with your usual cleaning products. Salt, hoodoo floor washes, Florida water, a little lemon extract/oil/juice, all are good for this. To charge whatever you're using, put it in a small bowl, hold it in both hands, announce to it what you're charging it for (all these things can be used in several different ways, after all). Then - I'm really being basic here for charging, since I've not covered that in this series yet - do what you can to 'push' that flavor of energy into it. All of the products I named (save for the floor washes, which vary by purpose) easily pick up 'spiritual cleansing' vibes.
Now wash half of your floor with THAT mix, and dry the floor.
Repeat the 'sensing' part. Notice what you feel, in all your senses.
Write all results down in your lab notebook/journal/whatever.
* Carpet modification. Use Vacuum/don't vacuum and spread charged salt on half of it for 15 minutes before vacuuming all of it.
Frondly, Fern
Mostly - sensing energy just takes practice. But setting up an A/B test (or A/B/C test, in this case) helps by setting up a setting where you have clearly different energies.
I'm going to assume that you have a kitchen floor that is not carpeted. If it is - I'll have ideas for you to use to modify this after the main article.*
Sweep your entire floor. Wash half of it in your usual way, with whatever products you usually use. Let it dry (wipe it dry if you're in a hurry!) Compare what you feel, standing on the washed vs unwashed parts. Use all your senses - you might be best as visual energetic cues, audible ones, scents, etc. Touch might work, but might not be the best sense for this, because clean surely feels different that a floor that might be sticky! Still, holding your hand just over each side might have you feel different things on each side - different temperature/pressure/other sensations (this is why a dry floor is best for this, being wet alone would give some false positives) And while you might sense a different taste on both sides, obviously don't go licking the floor.
Feel a difference? Wonderful! THAT is just from a basic cleaning.
Now, wash the rest of the floor, just like before.
That done? Great! Now charge some spiritual/magical cleanser, and add it to a new batch of wash water, along with your usual cleaning products. Salt, hoodoo floor washes, Florida water, a little lemon extract/oil/juice, all are good for this. To charge whatever you're using, put it in a small bowl, hold it in both hands, announce to it what you're charging it for (all these things can be used in several different ways, after all). Then - I'm really being basic here for charging, since I've not covered that in this series yet - do what you can to 'push' that flavor of energy into it. All of the products I named (save for the floor washes, which vary by purpose) easily pick up 'spiritual cleansing' vibes.
Now wash half of your floor with THAT mix, and dry the floor.
Repeat the 'sensing' part. Notice what you feel, in all your senses.
Write all results down in your lab notebook/journal/whatever.
* Carpet modification. Use Vacuum/don't vacuum and spread charged salt on half of it for 15 minutes before vacuuming all of it.
Frondly, Fern
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Basic grounding and centering.
Blessings Darlings!
I don't seem to have posted on grounding and centering - and since I just did it in a group on FB, I'm going to share that post here. Enjoy!
I don't seem to have posted on grounding and centering - and since I just did it in a group on FB, I'm going to share that post here. Enjoy!
Grounding and centering is some of the most basic energy work you can do. The surprise is that so few folks seem to consider these things to be energy work!
Grounding is just keeping a clear and active energetic connection with the Earth/Malkuth/the material world - this is the energy of manifestation. There will be plenty of times that you will want to connect with other sources of energy for specific purposes, but for day-to-day magic, this is what you will need - magic to make changes in your life and the lives of those around you.
Much of what I suggested in my post in The Start Menu was aimed at clearing away barriers to being grounded, clearing away things that keep you from having a clear and active connection to Earth Energy. As you can tell from that post - I see most of those barriers as being self-inflicted.
What I do now for grounding is just turn my attention to the always existing connection between me and the earth, or make myself a cup of coffee or tea, invoke Earth with the cup (earth invoking pentagram: top middle of pent to lower left/lower left to upper right/upper right to upper left/upper left to lower right/lower right to top middle/top middle to lower left) and drink it mindfully. But for beginners, taking the time to learn it thru' a guided meditation is a good idea. There are many such guided meds out there - here's a link to one of Patti Wigington's: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/dreamsandmeditation/ht/EarthMeditation.htm
Now - centering.
For me, centering is being clear on where you end and the rest of the energetic world(s) begin. Making sure that you have barriers keeps you from being blown about by random strands of energy that are in play in every day life. It gets even more important when you're out and about playing in the Other Worlds, too.
I LOVE the Emerald Heart meditation for this, published by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. in his book "Spirit Speaks" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EHE4K0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 I'm a fan of the entire book, for that matter. But that's not for every day work! For everyday work, I like to just move my awareness to what some call the 'transpersonal chakra' above my head, notice it bringing energy to my auras, and focus on having it pump out a silver sparkle colored (to me, at any rate!) energy to cleanse my auras/chakras/etc of uninvited attachments and strengthen my auras in general. I've also had great results on centering from doing what's like 'chakra tuning' work, just focusing on each chakra in turn, from sacral on up, spinning in it's appropriate color. Again, there are tons of other exercises out there aimed at helping you center, just like there are plenty of them to help you ground.
So - ground. Center. Be wonderful.
Frondly, Fern
Frondly, Fern
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Visualize THIS.
Blessings, Darlings!
Today in an extremely fluffy Facebook 'witch' and 'Wicca' group - where I'm totally sure that no one has an initiation in lineaged Wicca or could explain what an egregore is and how that related to lineaged Wicca - I was ... informed ... that magic is all about visualization.
So I asked if that meant that the blind can't do magic.
This told me several things. First, that people using the word 'visualization' haven't thought about that ableist phrasing, obviously. Second, that they are just parroting things that they read in bad books (or that their 'teachers' read in bad books). Third ... that they have no bloody idea what magic is about.
Trust me - there would be a crap load of bleeding bodies around me if magic was just 'visualization'. At the very least, with all the magic user out there imagining/visualizing things - think of what would have happened to Donald Trump's hair by now!
No, magic is NOT about 'visualization'. It's about moving energy. Beginners are often taught to move energy by using visualization, but ONLY because it helps them past a few limits they've put on themselves. The visualization is NOT THE MAGIC. MOVING THE ENERGY is the magic.
And if you do not understand that, you fucking shouldn't be teaching.
Frondly (or not), Fern
Today in an extremely fluffy Facebook 'witch' and 'Wicca' group - where I'm totally sure that no one has an initiation in lineaged Wicca or could explain what an egregore is and how that related to lineaged Wicca - I was ... informed ... that magic is all about visualization.
So I asked if that meant that the blind can't do magic.
This told me several things. First, that people using the word 'visualization' haven't thought about that ableist phrasing, obviously. Second, that they are just parroting things that they read in bad books (or that their 'teachers' read in bad books). Third ... that they have no bloody idea what magic is about.
Trust me - there would be a crap load of bleeding bodies around me if magic was just 'visualization'. At the very least, with all the magic user out there imagining/visualizing things - think of what would have happened to Donald Trump's hair by now!
No, magic is NOT about 'visualization'. It's about moving energy. Beginners are often taught to move energy by using visualization, but ONLY because it helps them past a few limits they've put on themselves. The visualization is NOT THE MAGIC. MOVING THE ENERGY is the magic.
And if you do not understand that, you fucking shouldn't be teaching.
Frondly (or not), Fern
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Anti-Racism Magic
Blessings Darlings!
I assume that everyone reading has heard of the attack earlier this week on the people - black people - at the Emmanuel AME church in South Carolina. I'm going to provide a simple magic aimed at reducing racism.
BUT - before I get to that - I'm going to write about what racism is and what to do in the mundane about it.
First I'm going to point out that the dictionary definition of racism is totally inadequate. The dictionary (written by ... whom? think on that) defines racism as the same as 'prejudice'. As an individual issue. That's not correct, in my never humble view. In my view, racism is a societal power issue - you can be prejudiced against folks you don't have power over, but racism has IMPACT on daily lives of others. Racism requires power over the 'others'. That can only happen when privilege is a basic part of society. BTW - you might want to research why/how the AME church was created.
It can be hard to see privilege if you have it. I guess that's kind of like not seeing air if you're a land animal, or not seeing water if you're a fish. If you're not sure what privilege looks like, you can google things like 'how to recognize white privilege'.
Actually ending racism is going to end white privilege. That's going to be a side effect. If you do the magic right, and it starts working at least in your local area ... if you're white, you may see changes in your life that you might not like. Police and courts might treat you the same way they treat blacks. Because privilege is built into the legal and enforcement systems. And the system is going to fight ending privilege.
In the Mundane - move out of your comfort level.
To work on ending racism in every day life, you're going to have to speak up when you see/hear racism and prejudice. Speak up when folks make 'jokes' putting down other races. The terrorist in Charleston made lots of them. His friends laughed.
Have those discussions about race, prejudice, racism that might be scary for you to have. If you're white, you fear of words is nothing compared to the fear of being attacked for your race by the agents of the state.
And, FFS (BTW, on MY blog, FFS means "For Fern's Sake"), listen to people of color when they describe their experiences. Don't try to rush them to 'forgiveness' when the perps haven't asked for it, and when the attacks are ongoing.
The Magic
This is real simple magic. Go weed your garden. Charge the weeds with being 'racism', and root those weeds up. Let them dry to nothing in the light of the sun.
That's it. Really. Most magic is simple.
Frondly, Fern
I assume that everyone reading has heard of the attack earlier this week on the people - black people - at the Emmanuel AME church in South Carolina. I'm going to provide a simple magic aimed at reducing racism.
BUT - before I get to that - I'm going to write about what racism is and what to do in the mundane about it.
First I'm going to point out that the dictionary definition of racism is totally inadequate. The dictionary (written by ... whom? think on that) defines racism as the same as 'prejudice'. As an individual issue. That's not correct, in my never humble view. In my view, racism is a societal power issue - you can be prejudiced against folks you don't have power over, but racism has IMPACT on daily lives of others. Racism requires power over the 'others'. That can only happen when privilege is a basic part of society. BTW - you might want to research why/how the AME church was created.
It can be hard to see privilege if you have it. I guess that's kind of like not seeing air if you're a land animal, or not seeing water if you're a fish. If you're not sure what privilege looks like, you can google things like 'how to recognize white privilege'.
Actually ending racism is going to end white privilege. That's going to be a side effect. If you do the magic right, and it starts working at least in your local area ... if you're white, you may see changes in your life that you might not like. Police and courts might treat you the same way they treat blacks. Because privilege is built into the legal and enforcement systems. And the system is going to fight ending privilege.
In the Mundane - move out of your comfort level.
To work on ending racism in every day life, you're going to have to speak up when you see/hear racism and prejudice. Speak up when folks make 'jokes' putting down other races. The terrorist in Charleston made lots of them. His friends laughed.
Have those discussions about race, prejudice, racism that might be scary for you to have. If you're white, you fear of words is nothing compared to the fear of being attacked for your race by the agents of the state.
And, FFS (BTW, on MY blog, FFS means "For Fern's Sake"), listen to people of color when they describe their experiences. Don't try to rush them to 'forgiveness' when the perps haven't asked for it, and when the attacks are ongoing.
The Magic
This is real simple magic. Go weed your garden. Charge the weeds with being 'racism', and root those weeds up. Let them dry to nothing in the light of the sun.
That's it. Really. Most magic is simple.
Frondly, Fern
Monday, January 26, 2015
Think Globally - Do Magic Locally
Blessings Darlings!
The other day I commented on a post on Facebook, recommending igneous rocks for a working. Thinking further about that, tho', I realized that was a holdover from growing up in the Midwest, and not what I'd do myself, now that I live in the Appalachians.
The bulk of Illinois land is sand loam - six or more feet deep of it. There are occassional streaks of sand or clay, and occassional stones (usually granite, scraped up by the glaciers when they dug out the Great Lakes in the last Ice Age. As a result of growing up there, and starting my practice there, my 'mother tongue' of land magic is based on that.
But I'm no longer in Illinois. I'm not even in the stoney silt/clay mix of the piedmont of Maryland anymore. I'm in the Appalachians, with a Duffield Clay variety of soil. I've posted before on how my local soil, when worked by hand for gardens, rewards hard workers with nice chunks of quartz.
The local clay also, I've discovered, can make fine talismans, amulets, other magical objects, if dug up and purified. And THAT is what I'd now use in place of chunks of igneous rocks in the same workings.
What's your land base like?
Frondly, Fern
The other day I commented on a post on Facebook, recommending igneous rocks for a working. Thinking further about that, tho', I realized that was a holdover from growing up in the Midwest, and not what I'd do myself, now that I live in the Appalachians.
The bulk of Illinois land is sand loam - six or more feet deep of it. There are occassional streaks of sand or clay, and occassional stones (usually granite, scraped up by the glaciers when they dug out the Great Lakes in the last Ice Age. As a result of growing up there, and starting my practice there, my 'mother tongue' of land magic is based on that.
But I'm no longer in Illinois. I'm not even in the stoney silt/clay mix of the piedmont of Maryland anymore. I'm in the Appalachians, with a Duffield Clay variety of soil. I've posted before on how my local soil, when worked by hand for gardens, rewards hard workers with nice chunks of quartz.
The local clay also, I've discovered, can make fine talismans, amulets, other magical objects, if dug up and purified. And THAT is what I'd now use in place of chunks of igneous rocks in the same workings.
What's your land base like?
Frondly, Fern
Friday, June 27, 2014
It Happened Again
Blessings Darlings!
As y'all already know, I make a lot of things from scratch, or almost-scratch. Like - my husband LOVES having Kahlua in his coffee in the evening. He does this three or so times a week. Kahlua is a pricy bitch, so I make my own.
And when we moved I lost my usual recipe.
No problem, go online and find another (the original was pulled from being online, because it was shared from a book without the author's permission, and the author or publisher said "Oh, HELL no!")
Since I've made stuff several times, it wasn't hard finding a recipe that I could tell had about the right proportions of coffee to sugar. But in looking over the recipe, I could tell that the person who POSTED it (to Wikihow, which my protection software identified as a 'malicious' site) clearly had never made it.
The first clue was that s/he said it would make about a quart of Kahlua-substitute. Well, yes, the recipe called for 4 cups of liquid. But the 4 1/2 cups of solids added, which dissolved into the liquids, DO TAKE UP SPACE. Not one cup of space per cup of sugar/instant coffee, but enough space that the recipe made 6 cups, not 'about a quart'.
The second clue was that, since the mix was 50% higher in volume that was presented, the proof (alcohol content) of the finished product was going to be WAY too low given the relative volume of alcohol the recipe called form.
To get around these problems, I used nice high-proof Everclear instead of most of the rum that was called for, and used brown sugar instead of white sugar to replace some of the flavor the rum would have brought to the recipe. I could wing it, because I have experience and mad math skillz.
This isn't only a problem in online recipes, BTW.
And, for you Pagans/witches/wiccans out there - it's not only a problem in cooking.
But more on THAT in a future post!
Frondly, Fern
As y'all already know, I make a lot of things from scratch, or almost-scratch. Like - my husband LOVES having Kahlua in his coffee in the evening. He does this three or so times a week. Kahlua is a pricy bitch, so I make my own.
And when we moved I lost my usual recipe.
No problem, go online and find another (the original was pulled from being online, because it was shared from a book without the author's permission, and the author or publisher said "Oh, HELL no!")
Since I've made stuff several times, it wasn't hard finding a recipe that I could tell had about the right proportions of coffee to sugar. But in looking over the recipe, I could tell that the person who POSTED it (to Wikihow, which my protection software identified as a 'malicious' site) clearly had never made it.
The first clue was that s/he said it would make about a quart of Kahlua-substitute. Well, yes, the recipe called for 4 cups of liquid. But the 4 1/2 cups of solids added, which dissolved into the liquids, DO TAKE UP SPACE. Not one cup of space per cup of sugar/instant coffee, but enough space that the recipe made 6 cups, not 'about a quart'.
The second clue was that, since the mix was 50% higher in volume that was presented, the proof (alcohol content) of the finished product was going to be WAY too low given the relative volume of alcohol the recipe called form.
To get around these problems, I used nice high-proof Everclear instead of most of the rum that was called for, and used brown sugar instead of white sugar to replace some of the flavor the rum would have brought to the recipe. I could wing it, because I have experience and mad math skillz.
This isn't only a problem in online recipes, BTW.
And, for you Pagans/witches/wiccans out there - it's not only a problem in cooking.
But more on THAT in a future post!
Frondly, Fern
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Before First Aid
Blessings Darlings!
Today I saw a FaceBook post from a friend. He's teaching first aid, and wanted to know what to teach along with that. This is my reply ....
About a decade ago, my boss collapsed - Atrial Fibrillation. It took 18 minutes for the EMTs to arrive (that's a story for a different time). One of my coworkers was a volunteer firefighter, had spent the past year and a half I'd worked with her claiming how ready she was to deal with anything.
That coworker froze. I, along with a woman from the loan office housed next to ours, did CPR and kept the boss going until the EMTs got there and defib'd her.
Why did the 'trained' person fail, while I could function (even tho' my CPR training had been two decades earlier)? Because in ALL things I didn't procrastinate, instead my habit was to deal with problems as them came up (and try to head them off, of course, but that, too, is a story for a different day. OTOH, my coworker was the youngest child of many, and her siblings would usually step in to 'help' her if she was slow in doing things, or her boyfriend would handle unpleasant things, etc.
Cultivating the habit of handling problems (that you failed to prevent) as they happen, so you don't freeze and act out the habit of putting things off and having others handle them, is to me the most important thing to learn along with the skills involved in first aid.
Frondly, Fern
Today I saw a FaceBook post from a friend. He's teaching first aid, and wanted to know what to teach along with that. This is my reply ....
About a decade ago, my boss collapsed - Atrial Fibrillation. It took 18 minutes for the EMTs to arrive (that's a story for a different time). One of my coworkers was a volunteer firefighter, had spent the past year and a half I'd worked with her claiming how ready she was to deal with anything.
That coworker froze. I, along with a woman from the loan office housed next to ours, did CPR and kept the boss going until the EMTs got there and defib'd her.
Why did the 'trained' person fail, while I could function (even tho' my CPR training had been two decades earlier)? Because in ALL things I didn't procrastinate, instead my habit was to deal with problems as them came up (and try to head them off, of course, but that, too, is a story for a different day. OTOH, my coworker was the youngest child of many, and her siblings would usually step in to 'help' her if she was slow in doing things, or her boyfriend would handle unpleasant things, etc.
Cultivating the habit of handling problems (that you failed to prevent) as they happen, so you don't freeze and act out the habit of putting things off and having others handle them, is to me the most important thing to learn along with the skills involved in first aid.
Frondly, Fern
Friday, August 16, 2013
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Blessings darlings!
I'm glad you're here.
Now, go read THIS, because it's the most useful magical advice you'll get today, this week, maybe this year. http://candlesmokechapel.com/2013/06/29/that-candle-is-not-magic/
Frondly, Fern
I'm glad you're here.
Now, go read THIS, because it's the most useful magical advice you'll get today, this week, maybe this year. http://candlesmokechapel.com/2013/06/29/that-candle-is-not-magic/
Frondly, Fern
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Unobtainable Fantasies.
Blessings Darlings!
If I see one more "Being a Witch is a way of life" captioned picture where the picture is some skinny young thing in "obvious witch-clothes" (flimy dress that goes to the ground, big boobs supported (apparently) by magic because there is no bra and no way physics can explain their perkiness, wearing a pointed hat, and/or a pentacle the size of a dinner plate) I might start bitchslapping people.
Is that REALLY how you look on a typical day? I call BS. MY 'way of life' doesn't include dry-clean-only witchclothes at all, let alone for every-day wear. I'm sitting here now in my typical summer life style clothes - remember, it's hot and humid here and we don't use much air conditioning (because THAT is a way of life). So I'm in a nice pair of shorts today, and a white tank top. My wet hair is in a turban with one of my standard towels - this one is 25 years old, and rather frayed around the edges, because using things up IS a life style. Pizza is for dinner tonight, which I mention only because when I sit down to eat I'll be wearing a chef's apron so I have LESS chance of staining my clothes with the tomato sauce. Because, you know, gravity always bats last.
You who post those pics may be young and beautiful - but those are temporary blessings/conditions, not a life style. You don't wear those clothes in your day to day life ... you may be one of the fools who wear the plate sized pents daily, I suppose. But if you have bodacious tatas, they aren't that perky.
If you mean that your lifestyle is a fantasy, get over it and join the real world. Embrace who you REALLY are, not some unobtainable fantasy of who you wish you were. That, my dears, is what is really meant by the occult term 'being grounded'.
Frondly, Fern
If I see one more "Being a Witch is a way of life" captioned picture where the picture is some skinny young thing in "obvious witch-clothes" (flimy dress that goes to the ground, big boobs supported (apparently) by magic because there is no bra and no way physics can explain their perkiness, wearing a pointed hat, and/or a pentacle the size of a dinner plate) I might start bitchslapping people.
Is that REALLY how you look on a typical day? I call BS. MY 'way of life' doesn't include dry-clean-only witchclothes at all, let alone for every-day wear. I'm sitting here now in my typical summer life style clothes - remember, it's hot and humid here and we don't use much air conditioning (because THAT is a way of life). So I'm in a nice pair of shorts today, and a white tank top. My wet hair is in a turban with one of my standard towels - this one is 25 years old, and rather frayed around the edges, because using things up IS a life style. Pizza is for dinner tonight, which I mention only because when I sit down to eat I'll be wearing a chef's apron so I have LESS chance of staining my clothes with the tomato sauce. Because, you know, gravity always bats last.
You who post those pics may be young and beautiful - but those are temporary blessings/conditions, not a life style. You don't wear those clothes in your day to day life ... you may be one of the fools who wear the plate sized pents daily, I suppose. But if you have bodacious tatas, they aren't that perky.
If you mean that your lifestyle is a fantasy, get over it and join the real world. Embrace who you REALLY are, not some unobtainable fantasy of who you wish you were. That, my dears, is what is really meant by the occult term 'being grounded'.
Frondly, Fern
Monday, June 3, 2013
Hard Won Gifts
Blessings Darlings!
As I noted a few days ago, we have a bit of a heat wave here. Today will be another hot humid day, and we MAY have air pollution warnings - DC has warnings, but I don't know about the Blue Ridge. But I digress ...
As a result of the heat wave, I was out working in the garden very early today, while the temperature was in the lower 70's. Oh my goodness, it was sweet outside then. The birds were chirping, no tractors were running yet (either mowing lawns of my neighbors or cutting hay), the breeze was NOT from the cattle barns, etc.
I, of course, was sweating exactly the way a pig doesn't. This is because to be more intimate with my immediate land base I work my garden by hand. I worked the bean bed again today, with the days work being taking a spade (and not a shovel) and turning what would be topsoil (if I was still in Illinois). Here in my little corner of Appalachia it is NOT topsoil - it is clay. Heavy red clay. I need to do another round with that now broken bed, and work compost into it so it is ready for the seeds.
Heavy Red Clay. I looked at those first spadefuls, and a soft voice said, "You know those runes you want to make? They can be made of clay." I went back to the garage and got a bucket. And a lid. By the time I had the bed turned I had 4 gallons of great red clay, 13 pieces of quartz .... and a blister.
Because the real gifts of the Gods are their quiet voices. Not in them doing the work for us.
Frondly, Fern
As I noted a few days ago, we have a bit of a heat wave here. Today will be another hot humid day, and we MAY have air pollution warnings - DC has warnings, but I don't know about the Blue Ridge. But I digress ...
As a result of the heat wave, I was out working in the garden very early today, while the temperature was in the lower 70's. Oh my goodness, it was sweet outside then. The birds were chirping, no tractors were running yet (either mowing lawns of my neighbors or cutting hay), the breeze was NOT from the cattle barns, etc.
I, of course, was sweating exactly the way a pig doesn't. This is because to be more intimate with my immediate land base I work my garden by hand. I worked the bean bed again today, with the days work being taking a spade (and not a shovel) and turning what would be topsoil (if I was still in Illinois). Here in my little corner of Appalachia it is NOT topsoil - it is clay. Heavy red clay. I need to do another round with that now broken bed, and work compost into it so it is ready for the seeds.
Heavy Red Clay. I looked at those first spadefuls, and a soft voice said, "You know those runes you want to make? They can be made of clay." I went back to the garage and got a bucket. And a lid. By the time I had the bed turned I had 4 gallons of great red clay, 13 pieces of quartz .... and a blister.
Because the real gifts of the Gods are their quiet voices. Not in them doing the work for us.
Frondly, Fern
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Calling a Spade a Spade.
Blessings Darling!
Let us all say this in unison - Fern is not everyone's cuppa. Did I hear all my Mountain Sisters (and I don't just mean Owl Mt, I mean all the Delicate Flowers of Appalachian Womanhood) snickering?
I am an opinionated, wordy, judgmental, and precise bitch. The same in person as I am online. Did I just hear an "AMEN" and "Preach it, sister" from Asheville?
I'm not the person who uses a lot of exclamation points, even tho' I have strong opinions. Instead, as you may have noticed in the previous two paragraphs, I ask a lot of questions. I am not just interested in your conclusions, the 'what' you do, I am also interested in the 'why you do it part'.
Some people seem to think that the 'why' part is an attack. I find that view odd, to say the least (see, I CAN be diplomatic). I assume that you have good reasons, even if I can't see them, and want to know what they are. Because magical and life-skills THEORY matters and informs what we all do.
Yes, I think that what words you use matter, too. If you make up your own definitions to words rather than using the meanings used in normative English and in the dictionary - then you are NOT actually seeking to communicate but to hide things or sound like you know more than you do.
Did you notice above that I did NOT say that I was "not everyone's cup of tea", even tho' that is a commonly used phrase? I'll tell you why - tea is a precise word, referring to a precise family of shrubs.
I'm not everyone's tisane, either, which is what you get when you made an infusion of other herbs.
So if you are easily offended, this is not the blog you should follow. You probably shouldn't follow me on Twitter, or friend me on Facebook, either.
Because I'm going to continue to call a spade a spade. And not a shovel.
Frondly, Fern
Let us all say this in unison - Fern is not everyone's cuppa. Did I hear all my Mountain Sisters (and I don't just mean Owl Mt, I mean all the Delicate Flowers of Appalachian Womanhood) snickering?
I am an opinionated, wordy, judgmental, and precise bitch. The same in person as I am online. Did I just hear an "AMEN" and "Preach it, sister" from Asheville?
I'm not the person who uses a lot of exclamation points, even tho' I have strong opinions. Instead, as you may have noticed in the previous two paragraphs, I ask a lot of questions. I am not just interested in your conclusions, the 'what' you do, I am also interested in the 'why you do it part'.
Some people seem to think that the 'why' part is an attack. I find that view odd, to say the least (see, I CAN be diplomatic). I assume that you have good reasons, even if I can't see them, and want to know what they are. Because magical and life-skills THEORY matters and informs what we all do.
Yes, I think that what words you use matter, too. If you make up your own definitions to words rather than using the meanings used in normative English and in the dictionary - then you are NOT actually seeking to communicate but to hide things or sound like you know more than you do.
Did you notice above that I did NOT say that I was "not everyone's cup of tea", even tho' that is a commonly used phrase? I'll tell you why - tea is a precise word, referring to a precise family of shrubs.
I'm not everyone's tisane, either, which is what you get when you made an infusion of other herbs.
So if you are easily offended, this is not the blog you should follow. You probably shouldn't follow me on Twitter, or friend me on Facebook, either.
Because I'm going to continue to call a spade a spade. And not a shovel.
Frondly, Fern
Monday, May 27, 2013
Nature Unaided Fails
Blessings Darlings!
I want a stang. Y'all who are Pagans have seen stangs before - they are the 'staff with two or three points on the top'. Here's a grand article about them http://witchofforestgrove.com/2011/02/27/how-to-use-a-stang/. I have heard it can be used as a magical gateway, and want to try that out. I have to admit I don't quite get how that would work, or why it would be different than using a 'regular' staff, or my staff with the antler on top.
Today, a cold day with a seriously sharp wind, I moved from inertia into active on getting one. Or co-creating one.
We have a whole lot of Tree Of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) growing around here. It and I have decided that my stang will be of that wood. While a import (and, let's face it, an invasive one at that) in the US it already has a mythos here. Not only does it resist city pollution, but it's the tree that was the central image in the book/movie "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". And it grows fast, which is part of why it and I are working together on this.
Because while I WANT a stang out of this wood, that doesn't mean that the trees here have the formation I want ready. Or at least ready somewhere that isn't 40 feet in the air. So today nature and I started working together.
I went out to the smaller of the two copses - the one my main altar and the huge holey stone is in - and started evaluating and conversing and building a relationship with the smaller trees. I removed the side branch buds forming under 6 feet high on their stems. Once they get to be about 8 feet tall, I'm going to be pruning the main stem back about 2 feet, and letting two or three branches form and grow up, competing to be the main trunk. Once those get to be a couple of feet tall, I will fell the tree and make the specialized staff.
You might have noticed that this is not an instant-gratification version of getting a magical tool. No, this is a form a relationship, grow together, work together, THEN work to turn out a tool (and working to a freshly cut tree whose fresh sap can cause blisters). This is taking time to build the right long-term relationship. This is not 'shopping for a tool'.
It is the tree working on my nature, as much as me modifying nature.
This, my darlings, is the Great Work.
Frondly, Fern
I want a stang. Y'all who are Pagans have seen stangs before - they are the 'staff with two or three points on the top'. Here's a grand article about them http://witchofforestgrove.com/2011/02/27/how-to-use-a-stang/. I have heard it can be used as a magical gateway, and want to try that out. I have to admit I don't quite get how that would work, or why it would be different than using a 'regular' staff, or my staff with the antler on top.
Today, a cold day with a seriously sharp wind, I moved from inertia into active on getting one. Or co-creating one.
We have a whole lot of Tree Of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) growing around here. It and I have decided that my stang will be of that wood. While a import (and, let's face it, an invasive one at that) in the US it already has a mythos here. Not only does it resist city pollution, but it's the tree that was the central image in the book/movie "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". And it grows fast, which is part of why it and I are working together on this.
Because while I WANT a stang out of this wood, that doesn't mean that the trees here have the formation I want ready. Or at least ready somewhere that isn't 40 feet in the air. So today nature and I started working together.
I went out to the smaller of the two copses - the one my main altar and the huge holey stone is in - and started evaluating and conversing and building a relationship with the smaller trees. I removed the side branch buds forming under 6 feet high on their stems. Once they get to be about 8 feet tall, I'm going to be pruning the main stem back about 2 feet, and letting two or three branches form and grow up, competing to be the main trunk. Once those get to be a couple of feet tall, I will fell the tree and make the specialized staff.
You might have noticed that this is not an instant-gratification version of getting a magical tool. No, this is a form a relationship, grow together, work together, THEN work to turn out a tool (and working to a freshly cut tree whose fresh sap can cause blisters). This is taking time to build the right long-term relationship. This is not 'shopping for a tool'.
It is the tree working on my nature, as much as me modifying nature.
This, my darlings, is the Great Work.
Frondly, Fern
Thursday, May 23, 2013
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
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
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Magick for Beginners, by J.H. Brennan
Blessings Darlings - it's time for a Book Review!
I must have bought J. H. Brennan's "Magick for Beginners" a decade ago. I don't recall WHY I bought it, I suppose it's because I know that Brennan did at least one book with Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and I like her classes and books. Earlier this month I decided it was long past time for me to read the book.
I did not enjoy the book. I do not think it is a particularly good book for beginners at magick. I THINK he intended it as an intro to Ceremonial magick, but it's too disjointed to be that, and it has so little 'how to do' magick in it that a simple spellbook would be more practically useful.
The author says that he's starting readers off with 'low magick'. However .... he actually starts readers off with the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram - pure theurgy, not practical, low-magical thaumaturgy. Then he moves into chapter after chapter on the 'clairs' - clairvoyance and such. Those, in my world view, are not magical skills, rather they are psychic skills. The one 'practical magical' working is to bring in $100 ... but he drags the reader thru' 'inadequate explanation and knowledge of the Kabala" to do it.
Then it's off to how magic isn't really magic, it's psychology, and we head to theurgy for the rest of the book. But not just any theurgy - it's Intro to Enochian, where one is supposed to do invocations in a language you don't know (and he doesn't always include translations). Then ... off to assumption of Godforms, the Rose Cross ritual (with no explanation of any of the Divinities the reader is calling!), etc.
Nothing practical in it's thaumaturgy. Nothing beginner in its theurgy. I simply cannot recommend the book.
Oh, let me look at how long it would take to 'work' the book, given it's exercises. Two weeks of doing the LBRP. Tatvva work - no clear idea how long that is supposed to take. Several weeks of the color version of the Middle Pillar. Then add the 'fountain of light' for an unmentioned amount of time. So - two months, THEN you spend a month on getting that $100. Total - over three months on what he calls 'low magick', only one of which is actually doing low magick.
Onward to High Magick - several exercises of self-awareness given, no time frame for how long they will take. Then a ritual to charge a Talisman, which requires the reader to prepare for two months (but anyone the reader gets to join in .... doesn't have to prepare that long? Because it's really only about the reader? very odd....), etc. No preparatory times given for these rituals, nor any word on how long to take between them or if you should/could do them all in one day. So, let's say another over three month period for theurgy.
Bah. And Humbug.
Frondly, Fern
I must have bought J. H. Brennan's "Magick for Beginners" a decade ago. I don't recall WHY I bought it, I suppose it's because I know that Brennan did at least one book with Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and I like her classes and books. Earlier this month I decided it was long past time for me to read the book.
I did not enjoy the book. I do not think it is a particularly good book for beginners at magick. I THINK he intended it as an intro to Ceremonial magick, but it's too disjointed to be that, and it has so little 'how to do' magick in it that a simple spellbook would be more practically useful.
The author says that he's starting readers off with 'low magick'. However .... he actually starts readers off with the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram - pure theurgy, not practical, low-magical thaumaturgy. Then he moves into chapter after chapter on the 'clairs' - clairvoyance and such. Those, in my world view, are not magical skills, rather they are psychic skills. The one 'practical magical' working is to bring in $100 ... but he drags the reader thru' 'inadequate explanation and knowledge of the Kabala" to do it.
Then it's off to how magic isn't really magic, it's psychology, and we head to theurgy for the rest of the book. But not just any theurgy - it's Intro to Enochian, where one is supposed to do invocations in a language you don't know (and he doesn't always include translations). Then ... off to assumption of Godforms, the Rose Cross ritual (with no explanation of any of the Divinities the reader is calling!), etc.
Nothing practical in it's thaumaturgy. Nothing beginner in its theurgy. I simply cannot recommend the book.
Oh, let me look at how long it would take to 'work' the book, given it's exercises. Two weeks of doing the LBRP. Tatvva work - no clear idea how long that is supposed to take. Several weeks of the color version of the Middle Pillar. Then add the 'fountain of light' for an unmentioned amount of time. So - two months, THEN you spend a month on getting that $100. Total - over three months on what he calls 'low magick', only one of which is actually doing low magick.
Onward to High Magick - several exercises of self-awareness given, no time frame for how long they will take. Then a ritual to charge a Talisman, which requires the reader to prepare for two months (but anyone the reader gets to join in .... doesn't have to prepare that long? Because it's really only about the reader? very odd....), etc. No preparatory times given for these rituals, nor any word on how long to take between them or if you should/could do them all in one day. So, let's say another over three month period for theurgy.
Bah. And Humbug.
Frondly, Fern
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Inducing Sleep
Blessings Darlings!
Among the many and varied things I've taken on lately, I'm finally getting around to something I should have done decades ago - programming myself to fall asleep on cue. I often have issues with insomnia (both type - delay in falling asleep and waking in the middle of the night and being unable to fall asleep again easily). Thus, the need to program myself.
The plan is to put in place a two-part program. One part is a specific physical relaxation technique (and I've had to pick one I don't use for other purposes, like for astral projection preparations or other things); the other part is to pick/create a mantra to repeat just for falling asleep.
I'm still working on the mantra part. I DID hit one of the 'quotations' websites to select a bunch of quotes that might work (some with some adjustment) as the mantra. The quotes I'll be selecting from are:
So, next time you see someone sleeping, make believe you're in a science fiction movie. And whisper, 'The creature is regenerating itself.” George Carlin, Brain Droppings
“Sleep is my lover now, my forgetting, my opiate, my oblivion.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
“Sleep my little baby-oh
Sleep until you waken
When you wake you'll see the world
If I'm not mistaken...
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”
― Akira Kurosawa
“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
― Homer, The Odyssey
“I crave the sweet surrender of sleep and my dreams' uncensored communication: no tiresome small talk, sucking up to impress, or tiptoeing around charged topics. Dreams are the naked truth; get ready for it.”
― Judith Orloff
“Eat healthily, sleep well, breathe deeply, move harmoniously.”
― Jean-Pierre Barral
The message of the lullaby is that it’s okay to dim the eyes for a time, to lose sight of yourself as you sleep and as you grow: if you drift, it says, you’ll drift ashore: if you fall, you will fall into place.”
― Kevin Brockmeier
“I breathe slowly and deeply. I make my eyes still under eyelids, I make my mind still, and soon, Sleep, seeing a perfect reproduction of himself, comes to be united with his facsimile.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled,’ she said. ‘Tonight you shall sleep in peace.’
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“We sleep, allowing gravity to hold us, allowing Earth- our larger body- to recalibrate our neurons, composting the keen encounters of our waking hours (the tensions and terrors of our individual days), stirring them back, as dreams, into the sleeping substance of our muscles. We give ourselves over to the influence of the breathing earth. Sleep is the shadow of the earth as it seeps into our skin and spreads throughout our limbs, dissolving our individual will into the thousand and one selves that compose it- cells, tissues, and organs taking their prime directives now from gravity and the wind- as residual bits of sunlight, caught in the long tangle of nerves, wander the drifting landscape of our earth-borne bodies like deer moving across the forested valleys.”
― David Abram, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
“And then, despite all these concerns, Arnette felt her mind begin to loosen, the images of the day unwinding inside her like a spool of thread, pulling her down into sleep.”
― Justin Cronin, The Passage
“Sleep is closing your eyes and trusting you will heal.”
― Danielle Barone, Releasing A Toxic Person
“Whatever it may bring, I will live by my own policies, I will sleep with a clear conscience, I will sleep in peace.”
― Sinead O'Conner
She falls asleep like someone yielding to the gentle tug of a warm tide, and floats with confidence till morning.
― Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
He was sleepy. He felt sleep coming. He curled up under the blanket and went to sleep.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Nick Adams Stories
I like so many of the quotes! But, by the end of the day, I shall decide on one and start programming myself tonight.
Frondly, Fern
Among the many and varied things I've taken on lately, I'm finally getting around to something I should have done decades ago - programming myself to fall asleep on cue. I often have issues with insomnia (both type - delay in falling asleep and waking in the middle of the night and being unable to fall asleep again easily). Thus, the need to program myself.
The plan is to put in place a two-part program. One part is a specific physical relaxation technique (and I've had to pick one I don't use for other purposes, like for astral projection preparations or other things); the other part is to pick/create a mantra to repeat just for falling asleep.
I'm still working on the mantra part. I DID hit one of the 'quotations' websites to select a bunch of quotes that might work (some with some adjustment) as the mantra. The quotes I'll be selecting from are:
So, next time you see someone sleeping, make believe you're in a science fiction movie. And whisper, 'The creature is regenerating itself.” George Carlin, Brain Droppings
“Sleep is my lover now, my forgetting, my opiate, my oblivion.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
“Sleep my little baby-oh
Sleep until you waken
When you wake you'll see the world
If I'm not mistaken...
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”
― Akira Kurosawa
“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
― Homer, The Odyssey
“I crave the sweet surrender of sleep and my dreams' uncensored communication: no tiresome small talk, sucking up to impress, or tiptoeing around charged topics. Dreams are the naked truth; get ready for it.”
― Judith Orloff
“Eat healthily, sleep well, breathe deeply, move harmoniously.”
― Jean-Pierre Barral
The message of the lullaby is that it’s okay to dim the eyes for a time, to lose sight of yourself as you sleep and as you grow: if you drift, it says, you’ll drift ashore: if you fall, you will fall into place.”
― Kevin Brockmeier
“I breathe slowly and deeply. I make my eyes still under eyelids, I make my mind still, and soon, Sleep, seeing a perfect reproduction of himself, comes to be united with his facsimile.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled,’ she said. ‘Tonight you shall sleep in peace.’
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“We sleep, allowing gravity to hold us, allowing Earth- our larger body- to recalibrate our neurons, composting the keen encounters of our waking hours (the tensions and terrors of our individual days), stirring them back, as dreams, into the sleeping substance of our muscles. We give ourselves over to the influence of the breathing earth. Sleep is the shadow of the earth as it seeps into our skin and spreads throughout our limbs, dissolving our individual will into the thousand and one selves that compose it- cells, tissues, and organs taking their prime directives now from gravity and the wind- as residual bits of sunlight, caught in the long tangle of nerves, wander the drifting landscape of our earth-borne bodies like deer moving across the forested valleys.”
― David Abram, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
“And then, despite all these concerns, Arnette felt her mind begin to loosen, the images of the day unwinding inside her like a spool of thread, pulling her down into sleep.”
― Justin Cronin, The Passage
“Sleep is closing your eyes and trusting you will heal.”
― Danielle Barone, Releasing A Toxic Person
“Whatever it may bring, I will live by my own policies, I will sleep with a clear conscience, I will sleep in peace.”
― Sinead O'Conner
She falls asleep like someone yielding to the gentle tug of a warm tide, and floats with confidence till morning.
― Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
He was sleepy. He felt sleep coming. He curled up under the blanket and went to sleep.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Nick Adams Stories
I like so many of the quotes! But, by the end of the day, I shall decide on one and start programming myself tonight.
Frondly, Fern
Monday, October 22, 2012
Who Controls You?
Blessings Darlings!
So you say that you are a Witch, or Wiccan, or some other form of Magic User. You Create Change in Conformity to Will (a phrase that goes back to, gasp, Aleister Crowley). Or so you say .....
If you and your Will are so tight, then why can perfect strangers push your buttons and get reactions from you that cause the clerk in the store you're in to have to try to calm you down? If you can't control yourself, and be in charge of your anger/reactions so you can choose how you act, how do you expect to control the Universe, or even do a working to help you in some smaller way?
Get it together.
Frondly, Fern
So you say that you are a Witch, or Wiccan, or some other form of Magic User. You Create Change in Conformity to Will (a phrase that goes back to, gasp, Aleister Crowley). Or so you say .....
If you and your Will are so tight, then why can perfect strangers push your buttons and get reactions from you that cause the clerk in the store you're in to have to try to calm you down? If you can't control yourself, and be in charge of your anger/reactions so you can choose how you act, how do you expect to control the Universe, or even do a working to help you in some smaller way?
Get it together.
Frondly, Fern
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
