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
Showing posts with label clay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clay. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2015
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
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