Category: Festivals and Holidays

Festivals, holidays, celebrations, etc. This will include posts on personal, local, regional, national, or international holidays or festivals.

How to Design Your Own Spiritual Calendar

The Wheel of the Year is one of the most popular new age systems of calendars but it’s not the only one out there. Hellenics and Heathens, for example, often follow a calendar of festival and holidays of historical relevance and reverence to their practice.

But what about everyone else?

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Source: Wikipedia.com

The Wheel of the Year is a fairly modern creation cobbled from historical (and in some cases still practiced) festivals and holidays, notably with Western European origins. But the world is not comprised with entirely Western European practices. Even if you don’t have a specific culture you work within, the Wheel of the Year might not appeal to you for many reasons. It feels weird to me to have a harvest festival when I don’t have a crop to harvest and it feels odd to celebrate the coming of spring when winter will go on for another six weeks in my neck of the woods. The Wheel of the Year works well for a select group of people and in a select climate and everything else is somewhat forced.

If you love the Wheel of the Year and want to use it, for whatever reason, that’s totally up to you. But if you want something different, stick around.

The first thing you really have to consider is selecting what days are important to you and how you’re going to incorporating your calendar with everyone else’s. Your family and fellow practitioners probably has certain holidays they consider important so that’s worth tracking as well. But what’s key is to pick out the events that you want to be most important to you.

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You might start off with just a single day for now but give it time and thought and often you’ll find that the calendar fills up. Maybe you need a day of rest and meditation after each college semester or you want to hold a ritual to pray for family and friends on the third of every month. Do you want to mark down the times with the best waves as an ocean witch? Maybe gardening practitioners want to hold their spring festivals on the days the frost is over for the year. There’s so many places you can go with this!

Don’t forget to look at historical holidays too. Are there special holidays or days associated with deities, gods, or spirits you worship or work with? Are there heroes you want to honor? Is there some pop culture being you wish to emulate? Dates and seasons relevant to these entities can all be marked on your calendar. Maybe you just raise a glass in their name or maybe you devise a ritual for them. How you denote what to do on those days is up to you.

You may also want to consider what’s a cornerstone festival and what’s more secondary. Do you need to add something to your calendar as an obligation? Or maybe something holds a more personal significance to you. It may not be spiritual or religious but it’s still time you want to spend doing something personally important to you. Figuring this out can save your sanity and let you focus on what’s really important and what’s nice to do when you have the time.

For example, the first week of September I spend rereading the entire Harry Potter series. It’s not spiritually important but it has personal importance to me. For another example, I hold seer’s vigils for spirits and the dead to clear the crossroads every couple of months. This isn’t a witchcraft or spiritual thing. It’s more of being a friendly neighbor duty to me. If I ever moved away from the Crossroads house, I probably wouldn’t need to hold those vigils anymore. Both these events aren’t nearly as important as my Demon Festivals however so if it came down to only paying attention to one holiday, the Demon Festivals would win out for me.

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You can have as many or as few holidays and festivals as you like and they can serve whatever purpose you want. Do you want a three day event where you spend as much time as possible having sex and conducting fertility rites with a consenting lover? Have fun! Do you want to dedicate five days of rituals and rites to an honored goddess? Go for it. Want to include birthdays, a cleaning schedule, or your family TV shows schedules? You can add that too. It might not be religious but it’s still important to mark down and is good for mental health. Plus, having everything in one place is usually a good idea.

Start with days and events that are important to you and go from there. My calendar is a mix of religious and spiritual events with practical events (like the vigils) and personal events like Harry Potter Week. They all have some sort of significance to me but they serve different purposes.

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You can physically design your calendar any way you want. I have my calendar copied in full on Google Calendar (as shown above) but I also write down major events in my business planner. I don’t bother copying it, however, on a hanging calendar as I feel like it’s not necessary. I really adore using a calendar like Moon Planner which is set up by the phases of the moon. (The English version is available under “For Foreigners” and only as a PDF right now.) This could be a great option if you’re very into moon-based rituals.

And that’s how you design a holiday calendar personalized to your practice and you! A calendar is meant to keep track of days and events that you consider important. You can add or subtract to that calendar at any given time so there’s no reason to not give it a try. It’ll take time so don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works for you. You can always add days in addition to the Wheel of the Year as well, so you can be as flexible as you want.

 

Blessing & Ensorcelling Your Plants

Earth day is here. Some practitioners will even have rituals to renew the environment, praise mother nature, or volunteer to help clean up pollution. Others will spend their day adding or tending their garden or houseplants. And then there’s some who don’t care or have “oh shit!” moments ten minutes to midnight and light a candle and dust off their cactus. To each their own.

 

Nature tends to be a very large portion of a great many people’s practices and growing the plants used in your practice is kind of assumed at times. But gardening isn’t easy. Some plants are notoriously difficult to grow like mandrake and others like mint can go wildly out of control if caution isn’t taken. You have to decide what’s better for you to grow versus what’s better for you to buy when needed. Then you add in your climate, local laws, and just how much space you even need to grow plants. Gardening is a huge endeavor and can get expensive very quickly.

I’m no green thumb. I kill plants all the time. I blame this largely because of space issues – I have too much space in the Crossroads House. House plants are far-flung so it becomes a hassle to care for them in a timely manner and when conveniently or aesthetically placed, there’s little sun for the plants to grow. Outside, the soil’s not great but it’s the layout of the property itself that makes it a gardening challenge. And let me tell you: It is a major annoyance of mine. My neighbors have this palatial garden next door and it irks me so much.

My number one gardening tip is to take it slow. Pick two or three plants a growing season and focus on them. Read up about their care and see how that does. Then pick up another few the next year. Over time you’ll have all the plants you want and you’ll know how to care for them without sinking a big chunk of cash into it. Plus, you’ll develop gardening habits so six weeks in you don’t slack off and kill hundreds of dollars worth of plants.

But what do you do with them? Outside of caring for them and using the bits in your practice, how do you work magic with living plants? There’s numerous ways to do it.

 

Plant with a blessing. For my 21st birthday I asked for a tree and a cat. I got Kiki and a cherry blossom tree. My tree is now huge and beautiful but it didn’t grow that way without help. When I planted my tree, I layered clean water on blessed herbal water on clean water, then murmured numerous beneficial inspiration and motivation as I planted it. I layered in spells for protection and health. Make the entire act of planting a spell and ritual.

Add enchanted decoration. Hanging a crystal from a tree branch or adding quartz to a flower pot not only adds an aesthetic beauty but also can add energy to the plant itself. Crystals aren’t the only thing you can use though! I enchant a very large number of wind chimes to my purposes and hang them up.  I’ve also used pinwheels, tiny statues, and wooden signs.

 

Placement and pots. Adding a fun or funny pot can make or break a “boring” plant. Planting flowers with interesting color combinations can really make your garden stunning. Enchant those things. When you add soil to your garden or water the grow before planting, mutter your spells and send energy towards it. I write in chalk or water sigils or spells inside and outside the pot to encourage growth, strength, and health.

Work with what you got. Look to see what already grows naturally around you. The Crossroads House came with grapevines so I had a crash course in how to care for them. To my delight, poke weed and bittersweet nightshade all grow naturally in my yard (but so does poison ivy and poison sumac. Oops.) But don’t be afraid to ditch what you got. I’m not a fan of hostas but there were over a dozen of them when we bought the house. I ended up re-homing a bunch of them to friends back in college and I’m still finding more of them half a decade later. Just because you have plants you didn’t super want doesn’t mean you can’t enchant them too. When I cut back or rearrange the creeping jenny and grapevines, I put spells on them.

Ask the plant! If you’re an animist, then you’re probably of the school of thought that plants have spirits. So simply ask the plant what spells they should be used in. I tend to plop down somewhere sunny and meditate with the plant for a little while until I get a sense of what I should do. Sometimes it follows along with folklore and sometimes it’s out of left field. For example, I have a climbing rose bush that I only use for curses or vengeful bindings because the plant is mean and vindictive. I never come away working with that rose bush without several new wounds. No other rose bush gives me that trouble. My bittersweet nightshade is a sweetie though and super laid back. My hydrangeas are perfectly happy to protect, encourage, or connect to the spiritual world – in exchange for a a gallon or so of water. Maybe I’m projecting but my spells work and the plants are alive still so I give it the benefit of a doubt.

 

But what kind of spells can you use? Anything. Growth, protection, and health spells are the easiest to pull off. But money or job spells? Sure. I grow basil as a money spell. Curses? Yup. My creeping jenny will stop any enemy or thief in their tracks. It’ll take care of curses too. And that’s just from telling it what I want it to do while taking care of it. I find plants to be a really great alternative to positive jar spells. Plant some sunflowers or marigolds in soil mixed with a few pinches of other herbs can really boost household happiness.

Heads up though. Unless killing the plant is the purpose, be careful with what you add to your plant. You might want to toss in a bunch of ingredients to have a living spell but the weird additions to the soil ends up killing your plant – and your spell.

 

As for myself, this Earth Day I’ll spend my day picking up one of the local beaches, painting a few clever sayings on some pots, and getting to know my new plant friends.

50 Tips and Suggestions for Magic Practitioners’ Events This Summer

Summer is here and many of us have events like Pagan Pride and local coven parties to attend. Or, you’re thinking of maybe throwing together a witchy cookout or get together. But events can go wrong very quickly when there’s a lot of people involved. Here’s some things to consider.

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Rhode Island Pagan Pride 2013

17 tips and suggestions for planning, setting up, packing for the event, or getting to the event

  1. Be really clear on on the dates, locations, and directions. Ask a five year old if they can understand it if you’re unsure. Also be clear where to buy tickets, if tickets are necessary, what, where, and to whom donations can be made (whether food or money).
  2. Arrive early vendors and make sure your paperwork is covered. Bring extra water, food, and a spare chair in case something tragic happens to yours or a friend stops by. Be very clear on whether you are cash only, card only, or both. Have cash on hand just in case. And don’t forget to set online shops to vacation or whatever/watch the inventory so you don’t oversell and disappoint customers.
  3. Carpooling is a great as parking is usually a mess. However, be super cautious when carpooling with strangers.
  4. Double and triple check public transportation routes and fares. You might want to even consider emailing, calling, facebooking, or tweeting your public transportation folks to ensure that the area is being serviced.
  5. If you’re going somewhere alone, let someone know where you’re going to be. Even if it’s just your internet friends.
  6. Park in well-lit areas if possible and lock up your car’s windows, trunk, and doors. Keep valuables out of view of windows. Yes, anti-thief spells are nice. But so are locks.
  7. Bring a device charger. Solar chargers are getting better and better now and they’re priced just about as much as a regular charger. If not, at least bring one to plug into a wall. Even if the event is at a campground there’s bound to be someone with something you can plug into to charge your device with.
  8. For the love of the gods and spirits, wear sun protection like sunblock, hat, sunglasses, and so on. And hey, bug spray usually won’t go amiss either.
  9. Bring cash in small bills. Many shops do take cards now but cash is often appreciated.
  10. Biodegradable serviceware! I’m not just talking about cups. Everything from plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons, straws, take-home boxes, delivery boxes, and yes cups are made with biodegradable plastics or materials now. Some are better than others so do your research. But this is HUGE and I’m SUPER disappointed I don’t see this more at events. Like, do you know how easy it is for a practitioner to pick up your used cup and use it as object in a spell? Having a biodegradable cup can really muddy the waters when trying to do a spell (especially if the cup is made with seeds). Plus it helps the environment! Yup, it’s more expensive (usually) but then you don’t have a plastic cup sitting out there for years if you missed it during clean-up.
  11. Do not put non-edible things in community shared food. It’s one thing to do it at a private dinner where it’s expected but it’s entirely another where it’s a community event and you can’t be sure you’ve told every single person not everything is edible.
  12. Write down ALL ingredients included in a recipe. Also write down if you enchanted it or if those ingredients used have been enchanted (like if you grew the plants in your garden and poured fertility magic into it… uh, mention that?) This isn’t just for magical needs but also for things like allergies, medical disorders, or religious observances.
  13. Wear sensible shoes. Actually, just wear shoes. I personally love/hate shoes and yet they stay on my feet at events. Amazing concept.
  14. While first aid kits, safety kits, and properly trained attendants of first aid centers essential for community events, this leaves aside the whole aspect of magical needs. What if someone can’t find a lighter for a ritual to be performed in five minutes in front of the whole community? What if someone is super negative and you need to cleanse yourself right there and then? What if you need a spell, stat? What if your special event garb rips? Build an emergency kit to cover your needs. It can be as small as an Altoid’s tin or as large as a whole bag.
  15. Note keeping is rarely mentioned in these lists and it’s a shame. A lot of fun ideas and information is thrown around at these events. Keep a small notebook and pen on you to write down information like website names, emails, phone numbers, or terms to research later. You can also use your smartphone by texting yourself or a note keeping app.
  16. Casting some spells to find your things, look more attractive, be confident, or draw customers? Don’t go overboard. If your spells are super forceful, people will feel that and either ignore you (because rude to do that) or can even become ill.
  17. Bring drinks. Yes, you can usually buy something there but BRING DRINKS. And if you bring your vendor friends’ coffee they will probably thank you immensely.

Food and magical practitioners have a long, long history. Many of us love food and drink and often incorporate it in our magic. Some even work solely in the kitchen. But there’s a downside to this: we don’t know if anyone’s enchanting our food or drink without permission. Many practitioners are somewhat wary about dining with other practitioners, especially when food is being brought in or privately made. Here’s some more magic related tips to consider when planning an event.

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Rhode Island Pagan Pride 2013

18 tips and suggestions for how to act while at the event

  1. Never, ever leave your drink or food unattended. If you can’t take it with you, leave it. If you leave for some reason and plan on coming back, as a trusted friend to watch it. And even then that should be avoided.
  2. This community, like all communities, has our assholes and predators. Call them out on it as needed and ensure the safety of everyone around you. If you feel creeped out, tell them to go away. And don’t be afraid to call or scream for help if you need to. If they insist on contact information, give them a fake. You are NEVER obliged to give out your information or anything. Not even the damn time. Never.
  3. Do not feed the wildlife. Do not litter. Do not spray the environment with chemical sprays unless explicitly told you can. And watch for poison ivy, oak, and sumac.
  4. Help each other out. Seriously, if someone is uncomfortable looking talking to someone, go over and join into the conversation. At worst you’ll be considered rude and told to butt out. At best you saved someone from a harmful situation. This is especially true with minors.
  5. Remember not everyone has perfect physical mobility and just because someone looks healthy doesn’t mean they are. Ask if they would like help and don’t help if they say no.
  6. Do NOT touch someone’s clothing, hair, body, animals, or things without their explicit permission. This is basic common courtesy.
  7. Community elder does NOT mean they are entitled to anything, least of all special treatment, discounts, or even your respect. Treat them as everyone else and let them earn your respect with their actions and wisdom rather than be expected to comply because they’re a pillar of the community.
  8. Keep an eye on your weaponry. Yes, that athame is very pretty. Yes, it’s very much part of the ritual you plan on performing as a part of the event. No, it should not be swung around like you’re in a hack and slash game and it should not be handed to children.
  9. You are not at home. Don’t treat it that way. Please shower and by hygienic when you arrive. Please remember your manners. No, not everyone is family and you shouldn’t treat strangers with familiarity like that unless they say it’s OK.
  10. Tip your fortune tellers. This depends on the event and reader. Often times if you’re paying the reader individually, then it’s not often expected. If they’re being paid by the event, the event takes a cut, they squeeze you in, or they’re doing it for donations/fun then tip them. Even a dollar or pocket changes goes a long way.
  11. Do not ask someone to do a psychic reading or perform for you. It’s ridiculously rude unless that person offers or are selling their services. Furthermore, why would they open themselves up at an event where there’s so much energy being thrown around? Why would they do that to themselves. Don’t be afraid to say no, if you’re the person being asked. You also don’t have to agree to have such a service performed if you don’t want it.
  12. Be mindful of minors when holding discussions that involve graphic sex or violence descriptions. And yes, some of them probably do need to be there. If your parent is working the event and can’t find a babysitter for a Saturday, guess who’s tagging along at said event? I’m not saying don’t talk. I’m saying don’t tell someone in graphic detail about your sexcapde the night before in a public forum unless that forum is specifically for adults and/or a community catering to that.
  13. Not everyone is an extrovert. Some people really do just prefer sitting back and watch than participating in an event. They like it even. Do NOT pull someone into an event if they don’t want to be.
  14. Be nice to the beginners, children, teenagers, and newbies; they’re learning. That being said, you don’t have to correct them, you don’t have to be nice, and you don’t have to teach them, especially if they’re toxic to you. Some people need a hard truth to learn. Also, not all beginners are young. Some people come into this much later in life.
  15. Remember, some people simply do not want to learn or change. You might as well be arguing with a wall. Learn when to disengage and walk away. Let them win. Fools never recognize when they’re wrong.
  16. Remember not everyone practices the way you do. While your religion may say you can only practice one way and there’s only one truth, that does NOT mean you get to degrade, bully, insult, or be an asshat to anyone else. Also, bashing other religions like Christianity is petty, unnecessarily, and absolutely spreading the same toxic behavior you’re claiming they’re giving you.
  17. Burning incense or candles at an event? Be kind and post a little sign on what you’re burning! Not only is it great for businesses to advertise that you sell it but you can also popularize the smell. Scent and smoke sensitive folks will especially thank you.
  18. You are not entitled to ANY information from anyone. You are not entitled.
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Rhode Island Pagan Pride 2013

15 tips and suggestions for after the event and clean up

  1. Clean up the grounds after your event. Even the trash that isn’t yours. This includes your animal’s deficantions.
  2. Check for all your stuff and money before you leave the event. Often times if you lose something you won’t have access to that site to even look for it later.
  3. Just because you met someone at an event doesn’t mean you’re entitled to talk to them again, have their time, or their attention.
  4. Update websites after the event is over, community organizers. Apologize for things that went wrong, list any shops that made an appearance, and consider a missed connections forum of some kind so people can reconnect after the event.
  5. Take down any photos of people who request them taken down and ask give names to people and events so others know what was happening when and who was there.
  6. Do not include people in your prayers or workings if you met them at the event. Ask them again in private outside of the event if they want to be included.
  7. Ground and cleanse yourself after the event as needed. Some amazing energy can be raised there and some really crappy energy can be as well. Do it to your tools and things too.
  8. Do not be a creep and try to excessively hit on, stalk, or harass someone you saw at the event. Especially do not do this to minors. It’s one thing to contact someone and follow their social media but it’s wholly another to continually contact them when they don’t respond or ask you to go away.
  9. Shop owners, do an inventory. Yes, right away. That night or the next day. If you don’t and find out you’re missing a whole box of stuff two weeks later there is incredibly little that can be done about it.
  10. Reconnect with people that interest you or groups. Maybe group work isn’t your thing or their style isn’t what you thought it would be but supporting your local community is often the best way to connect with them.
  11. Supporting your local community is a strong ideal. However, you do not have to support a local community if it won’t support you or has toxic behavior.
  12. Didn’t see a shop or person at an event and think that’s weird? Check out why. It could be some personal drama or that person could have a real serious reason why they didn’t attend right down to what the event supports or the event excluding someone for some reason. Knowing your community politics is a good way of avoiding being dragged into them.
  13. Give feedback! Make suggestions on what you’d like to see next year and what events you really enjoyed.
  14. Some traditions or covens are specific on who can join in. Just because they did an event doesn’t mean that they’re looking for new members or you’re eligible to join in.
  15. Just because someone’s culturally appropriating something doesn’t mean that you can do that too. Nor does it mean you should instantly berate them. Inform them after the event is done so you can provide insight from the cultures involved and links for additional information. Starting an argument onsite it not the way to go about it and puts someone immediately on the defensive. The exception to this is if they’re being racist or extremely toxic in some way.

There you have it! 50 tips and suggestions for magic practitioners to keep in mind this summer. Some of these are super general and can be applied to any event and others are more specific. So followers, what tips, tricks, suggestions, and secrets do you have to share about event going?

Summertime Offerings

Offerings are kind of a big thing in the pagan world. You might make an offering or a sacrifice for your deity on some regular basis. Or you might offer something to local spirits by way of thanks. Whatever your reasoning and purpose, practicality has to be tackled alongside the spiritual considerations when handling offerings.

Here’s a few simple tricks, tips, and rules in order make sure both you and the offering recipient are happy campers.

Clean your space

  • Take a glance at your altar, shrine, or workspace. How long would it take to disassemble? Go ahead and time yourself. Regularly taking apart your shrine space and putting it back together (even if the layout is the same) will help refresh and renew the space. It’ll also keep you from putting useless stuff there.
  • Take 30 seconds to wipe down the surfaces of your altar, shrine, or workspace. This includes idolatry pieces like statues, table or shelf surface, and offering dishes.
  • Wash your offering dishes. It doesn’t matter that only dried rice or water was held in it. Wash it out.

Protect your space

  • Summertime can be the worst time for food and liquid offerings. Milk curdles, insects are attracted to offerings, and animals – and people – are everywhere. Make sure your food and liquid offerings are safely placed so children and animals don’t get to them.
  • Insects a pest? Grow plants like lemon balm, peppermint, or citronella around the altar if possible. If not possible, spray strips of cloth or rope with bug spray (I recommend natural but you do you) and hang or place it near the altar.
  • Have a lot of visitors this summer? Move all breakable items away from the edges. Introduce children to altar spaces and ask them not to touch unless you say it’s OK because it’s very important to you. Often times simply explaining the space and letting them touch or look at the items will keep them from grabbing and breaking something accidentally. This depends on the child, of course.

Use common sense

  • Leave out offerings of milk and honey for the faeries? That’s a great idea in the summertime right? You may wish to switch to something that’s not as easily spoiled in the heat for a while. Or, reduce the amount of hours the offerings are out for.
  • Ask the recipients before making any exchanges or substitutes for offerings. For example, my household fae dislike almond milk but don’t mind soymilk as a substitute for regular milk or cream.
  • Placement is key. Want to remember to make a daily offering? Put it next to the coffee maker or refrigerator. Make it memorable. I keep household spirit offerings next to the oven and by the coffee maker.
  • Always watch open flames. Always. Make sure there’s nothing for the flames to set fire to.

Substitutes and alternatives

  • Always ask before making substitutes for traditional or common offerings. You can even give a little explanation on why you’re making the substitute if necessary when making the offering.
  • Clear alcohol is a common offering that is generally accepted by many spirits and deities, including ghosts. It has the added benefit of not spoiling in heat or freezing in cold.
  • Water, especially purified water, is almost always an accepted offering. Only certain types of spirits, like those associated with fire, will disdain them. Deities are a hit or miss.
  • Nuts are often offerings and can last a long time.
  • Dried grains, rices, and beans are also great offerings but watch for worms and flies if left too long.
  • Non-food offerings like incense, music, art, actions and prayers are all offerings too. Don’t forget about them simply because there’s a focus on food items.
  • Can’t use candles or incense? Mist sprays made from light tisanes are great for cleansing and making offerings. LED lights work just as well for rituals unless you need to burn something (which I would then recommend waiting until you can safely and legally have a place to use a candle).

General altar and work space advice

  • Have a lot of stuff? Cycle it through by season or purpose to refresh the space. You probably don’t need all the stuff all the time.
  • It’s often desirable to have a beautiful altar or shrine chocked full with statuary, incense holders, associated objects, and offering pieces. Consider simplifying your space. Do you really need that athame out on the table surface or can it sit in a sheath until necessary? If you never put out food offerings but for special occasions then why have the empty offering plate there? Does that scrying ball need to be there if your deity isn’t associated or involved with divination? Consider what you have in that space and if it’s really there because you have no where else to put it or if it actively services your and their needs.
  • Use your terminology correctly. Work spaces are for you to do work on and doesn’t necessarily even have to have deities or spirits honored at all. An altar is where offerings and sacrifices are made. It’s general a table or shelf set up and can be a part of a larger shrine or temple. A shrine is a building or set up that will usually contain an altar or offering place. It is a holy space for the deities and spirits honored and is dedicated to them entirely. A temple is more of a place for worshipers to go whereas shrines have a tendency, especially in Western culture, to be reserved only for the priesthood or attendants of the honored deities and spirits. A temple could have a work space, altar, and shrine all in one place.Terminology does change somewhat depending on culture, especially the further east you go but this kind of language is something to keep in mind.
  • What you put on an altar or in a shrine should have meaning to both you and the honored being. You’re honoring them so having things they enjoy is just as important as having beautiful things you enjoy.
  • Take your time assembling your spaces. There’s a lot of beautiful inspiration out there and newbies have a tendency to want to rush out and buy all the things. Shop around and visit used goods store, flea markets, garage sales, and even online ads for things that would fit your spaces perfectly. You might even have earmarked some pieces for future altars that aren’t available yet from family collections.
  • Travel or pocket altars are incredibly useful if altars are important but you can easily assemble an offering from whatever when traveling.
  • Research, research, research. Look at what was historically offered for these beings. You don’t have to follow that strictly but knowing what those beings are use to and expecting can make introductions and foundling relationships so much easier to develop.

Simply put: don’t forget to use common sense when setting up your altar space.

Please, please, please remember that many times you do not need a permanent work space, altar, or whatever. It is not a requirement of most practices. You can make offerings without such spaces and you can easily work witchcraft without them.

Creating an altar can be extremely fun and making summertime offerings when fruits are plentiful is always a blast. But taking precautions is always ideal to make sure everyone’s safe and happy.

Happy New Year!

May your 2015 be better than the last years, may you be given the wealth you want and need, may you remain safe in adversity and hale in health, may you have the courage and strength to do what you want, need, and must, and may the best of your wishes and dreams come true.

Enough of that solemn nonsense. Have your hangovers abated yet? Considering some hair of the dog perhaps? Or maybe you mocked up your new year resolutions and considering to maybe even stick to them this year. Did you have someone to kiss (yes! Your pet totally counts!) Or perhaps you just spent ringing in the new year on a Netflix marathon and didn’t realize it was 2015 until 3 a.m. Hey, it’s all good.

There’s something of a tradition that you should spend your first day of the New Year doing what you want to do for the rest of the year. Make that first day the pattern and what to hold the rest of the year to. That’s great and all but I prefer to make it a week-long event. This primarily comes from not everything I want to the year to be can’t fit into one day. So I spend the week stretching out the things I want to do. This is actually really useful if your new year resolutions are more life-changing than just “I’m going to read more books this year.” This is especially useful if health or dietary concerns were part of your focus for the new year.

For those of you a little lost on those new year resolutions or what direction you want 2015 to go in, you might want to consider some divination and soul-searcher. Write a list of what you want to do and draw cards to see how feasible they are. Divination not your thing? Find a reader! Here’s my three recommendations from my own shop for those who want to use divination to plan 2015.

On This Crooked Crown’s front, I’m focusing more on my writing than last year as well as planning a few big changes and travel plans this year. (That includes getting those rumored witchcraft lessons off the ground.) In fact, watch this space for a big announcement next week!

That’s it from me! I hope the year is kind to you!

Road Trip! Rhode Island to New Orleans and Back Again!

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So unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll notice that it’s September and almost October. You may have noticed that by checking the calendar but more likely you’ve noticed that because the autumn tumblr posts are back.

For those of you who were paying special attention you have connected that with my RI-NOLA-RI road trip (coming up in 10 days) so some of you on the East Coast of the US are probably even partially excited by that.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, let me give you the summary: Between September 30th through October 8th I will be on a road trip from Rhode Island (where I live) down the eastern seaboard to New Orleans (via Florida) and then back. During the trip I may make requested stops and hold meet ups for tumblrites.

OK, so that’s cool. Where are you stopping? My mum and I are spontaneous – we have literally nothing planned but a general direction, a budget, and I’ve a few cities that I intend to stop in (for meet ups or tourist bullshit.) If YOU have a place you want me to stop at or can recommend, send an ask or email.

So far the following places have been decided (dates are COMPLETE estimates and absolutely NOT guaranteed):

  • Gettysburg, PA (9/30-10/1)
  • Washington, DC. (10/1)
  • Richmond, VA (10/2)

How will this effect YOU?

  • I will be on the internet less and answering asks and emails less, if at all.
  • The shop will remain open but ONLY for divination/tarot readings.
  • I technically legally can’t do divinations for those in Pennsylvania or North Carolina. That doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t but legally I shouldn’t.

That’s cool, that’s cool. How can I help?

Want to follow along with the road trip? The BEST way to do that is my twitter although facebook and tumblr will get some love too.

Rhode Island Pagan Pride Day 2014

Sunday August 16th, was Rhode Island Pagan Pride Day (RIPPD). For those of you who don’t know, last year I presented a workshop on secular witchcraft at RIPPD. This year I didn’t present or vend because I didn’t have time to get something together before the event given the severe resurgence of my sleeping disorder beforehand.

Anyway, a friend of mine was vending his spa products so I had a definite reason to make an appearance. More than that, I believe in supporting my local community – not just for the vendors but also the local pagan community.

For those who visited RIPPD last year, know it was far smaller this year. Which saddens me. It’s really hard to support the local community when the community is so disorganized that major vendors don’t want to participate.

I happened to visit a major new age store the day before RIPPD to pick up herbal supplies. The owner of the store was manning the counter and when asked if she was going, she told us that she has issues with RIPPD and one of them was the location. RIPPD isn’t held in Providence but an out-of-the-way place in East Providence. Previously to that it was held in Bristol. Not only is the location a problem but RIPPD is, apparently notoriously disorganized.

Snippet from the Demon Feast

I slip my arm through his and nudged him through the grand doors and into the moonlight balcony gardens. The roar of the sea under us was great and the wind whipped across my flesh, instantly cold and utterly satisfying. I sigh with contentment, abandon him, and step up to the very edge of the balcony, the pressed sand wall pushing into my knees. Annoyed, I concentrate for a moment and the sand parts at my will. I take a final step closer, toes curling over the edge as close to the ocean as I could get without being in the water. I take a cool, deep breath and suck in the sharp salt air. Distantly through the roaring of the sea, I hear the dock hands and sailors on the ships that have anchored on the newly built docks, still mostly under construction and barely heard of. Soon, they will be bustling but for now they are empty, dreams that have been birthed but not yet started to live.

He is silent, as always, but watching me. I spin and smile at him. “I miss the sea.”

He waves with his non-sword hand, barely a gesture before the hand returns to a fighting post. Always ready to fight, my warrior. “We’re right here.”

I shake my head and step closer to him. “I miss the sea in my physical form. It’s too far. I need to bring it closer.”

He tilts his head. “You have a plan then.”

My grin is wicked and razor sharp. “Don’t I always?”

Vigils at the Crossroads

I don’t mention it much but I live at the intersection of several crossroads and some of those roads are corpse roads. My house sits on the corner of four streets, which may sound like a regular crossroad but isn’t.

Corpse roads are roads used to transport the dead to their final resting place. Traditionally they’re old dirt roads or paths. Sometimes these roads were only used for transporting the dead, depending on local tradition and superstition. Most of the traditional corpse roads have been lost to time but new ones are around. I live behind a funeral home and one of the streets my home is situated on is a shortcut to and from the highway.

Legends surrounding these corpse roads are numerous among a lot of different cultures. I recently read several Russian fairy tales along the same vein but it is common in cultures that transport their dead, especially for burial. Vigils next to the dead are also very common, usually so spirits won’t possess the deceased’s body.

When I say four streets I mean four SEPARATE streets

This is the best I could get of the crossroads ridiculousness I speak of. The white and brick house with the pink and green trees is my actual house so you can see how convoluted the streets are. There’s the street the house faces and the street to the right of it. The street on the right splits at my driveway into two other streets (behind my house and where the blue bin is). The funeral home is on the same side of the street the photo was taken on.

In the past I served as a medium to spirits and deities. I don’t do this much anymore for a wide variety of reasons but I still have the knowledge and capability to do so. However, I thoroughly enjoyed doing the works so I continue it privately now and my family home is perfectly situated for this.

Since I live at crossroads and corpse roads, it’s pretty spiritually active around here. There’s a lot of energy given our proximity to running water (two blocks away), the ocean (.8 miles), schools (three of them within two blocks), a main thoroughfare (top of the street), plus the funeral home (in front of my house) and a social club (end of the street). There’s a huge sewer network under my house (which is why it floods so much), plus we’re on the top of a hill. In fact, the roads are so ridiculous around my house, to back out of my driveway you need to back into an intersection.  It’s a busy road for not being a major road, both spiritually and physically. Spiritually, we get a lot of paranormal events from ghosts to non-human spirits. These beings are always transients and I guess we’re something of an inn. I tend to deal with the non-humans and my brother, the Necromancer, takes on the humans.

However, the crossroads and corpse roads are also a place for beings to linger. Lost or simply unwilling to move on, these spirits hang around and drain at the energy. Children, already more susceptible to possession and influences by spirits (however rare it may be), are especially fine targets. To protect and preserve the clarity of the energy and land, I hold vigils at the crossroads every so often.

There’s typically four or five a year on various dates (often in the spring where funerals are most common as burying the dead was not feasible in the winter in ye days of old). During the vigils I put myself into a state of being that allows for easier spiritual communication. Sometimes that’s fasting, other times it’s using entheogens, or hours of meditation. The method depends on my mood at the moment so it’s not something that’s specific. I meet with the spirits that linger and attempt to get them to move on – whether that’s to pass from this land into the next to just to go haunt some other location depends on the spirit themselves. I’m not one to force a spirit, human or otherwise, to do something they don’t want. If a human spirit understands that they are dead and they’re still not ready to move on, I’m not going to force the issue unless they start hurting people or other spirits. Then I turn into a dragon and start destroying things, so to speak. I’m protective, what can I say?

These vigils last typically twenty-four hours and can be very boring. Bound to not leave the area, I tend to amuse myself (and those I’m keeping vigil for) by singing, dancing, reading out loud, or telling stories. Most often, I listen, pour drinks of purified water and clear alcohol, and lay out offerings of coins and snacks. Divination is also incredibly common, since some spirits have difficulties in speaking through a medium.

At the end of the vigil, I “reset” the area, not exactly cleansing the area but more of dispersing negative energy clumps or untangling clogged energy to get it moving better. It makes the area feel better, safer, and more exhilarating for the spirit.

I really enjoy these vigils not only as a service to my community but also as a way of connecting to spirits around me. It’s one of the rituals I’ve developed that I intend to continue no matter where I live or what the future may hold for me.

 

Play the Fool

April Fool’s Day is April first as my readers well know and a simple cursory Google search will reveal that April Fool’s Day is amazingly older than many imagine. While it surged back into popularity in the 1950s, scholars believe that the core theme of the festival is  far older and may be linked to the Roman festival of Hilaria or the Feast of Fools.  In my own anthropological and folkloric studies, I find that a feast or festival during which merry-making and playing the fool is actually fairly common world-wide, although the dates and purpose varies as wildly as the methods of which the festival is celebrated.

Running on that linked topic, I bring up the court jester. The often motley dressed entertainer of royals, nobles, and common folk alike. In Medieval Days and Ways by Gertude Hartman(1) writes the following:

Nobles were also in the habit of keeping a fool – or jester – to provide entertainment. He wore a cap and bells and a costume, half of one color and half of another. During meals he told jokes to amuse the company, and his antics and capers were a source of much merriment.

Telling jokes was not the only thing jesters might do. They often could juggle, perform acrobatics, told or made up stories, sing or play an instrument, sleight of hand or magic tricks, or perform a myriad of other entertainer’s roles. Such jesters were widely sought after and were regarded like prized pets. Even jesters with a limited repertoire were sought for as entertainment was hard to come by and travel was not something many attempted to do.

While the court jester was an entertainer and did play the fool for the amusement of their audience, the court jester often had a deeper, more involved role. Many of the best or most cunning of jesters only played at being a fool and instead could criticize the court (but not too much or risk punishment) and were sometimes used to deliver news others feared to do so. Some scholars go so far as to separate fools into the natural fool or licensed fool. Natural fools were often people with deformities or mental challenges whereas licensed fools were a profession, skilled entertainers and clever men who tread the line to mock nobles, court policies, or general politics. Early political satire, so to speak.

I could keep going, there’s a great history for jesters and fools and there’s several guilds of jesters out there for those folks who are looking to get into a new trade. (And it’s serious business competition, just like any other entertainment field). Jesters are a common literature troupe, having appeared in all sorts of media including the book series A Song of Fire and Ice, the TV show Game of Thrones (2), and the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (3).

Of course, I have to mention the Tarot. The first card in the Tarot is The Fool and often the Fool is represented not only as the beginning of a journey (often a journey or plunge they’re unaware of) but also the careless naivety of youth, an escape of the real world or responsibilities, foolish bravery (or not knowing to be afraid), and even the beginning or the end of everything. This last interpretation actually has historical relevance as the Fool card is set something apart of the rest of the Arcana, given the number zero but often mixed up when in discussion. Waite talks about the Fool between Judgement and the World. (4) In addition, some version of the Tarot give the Fool other card numbers.

Death also is sometimes seen dressed as a Fool in some Tarot decks. This heralds back to the idea that death is the ultimate equalizer and Death always gets the last laugh. The Death card is one of the most varied in appearance in the Tarot deck so this shouldn’t come as a surprise to some. Additionally, Death’s way of clearing the field or humbling everyone is akin to the jesters role in being able to mock everyone accordingly.

When I was determining and designing my calendar, I wanted to set aside a special time for the Fool. My festival, simply called The Fool, takes in all of the above into account. The festival, starting March 30th and running until April 3rd, is a time set aside to be the fool. While fun and games likely will be taken into account, so are acts of wild and foolish bravery. This festival is a time to break out and try something new, ride that nervous thrill of something something so stupid and yet amazing. It’s also a time to set up and consider the world around me and the politics and relationships that affect me. While taking stock, I might even take a few pot shots at people, in the name of satire (not that calling people out on their shit is something I’m accustomed to doing but I make a point of it during these days to try and pass it off as both criticism and a joke).

During this time, entertainment is the highest order of the day, mixing media at will. As a symbol of the medieval origins of the festival, I often accompany this with ‘hidden’ foods like pies, ravioli, or tuck into surprising flavors into what appears to be a normal dish. Food that appears as something else like cupcakes or cakes decorated as fast food or something else is another favorite of mine. I also wear colorful clothing, often in bright or contrasting color as well as don on jingling jewelry in addition to my normal bell jewelry. On occasion, I’ll even put my hair into unique styles to create an illusion or just for the look of it.

Specifically, it’s a time to also play the fool. During these days I endeavor feign ignorance or innocence, if only to see where it gets me, or to behave in a foolish way (such as doing something I wouldn’t normally do). In company, during these days I make it a priority to entertain as needed.

This kind of festival is not only a huge stress reliever but also somewhat necessary now that spring’s come to the Northern Hemisphere. People want to shake out the cobwebs of both their homes and their spirits and my The Fool festival is perfectly designed for just that.

  1. Hartman, Gertude. Medieval Days and Ways. Macmillan Publishing Company. New York. Original publication: 1937. Edition publication: 1965. Pages 48-49.
  2. There are several jesters in George R.R. Martin’s works and other characters who are forced into the role of a fool. I won’t say much since case of spoilers but it’s a total THING.
  3. Circeo anyone?
  4. Waite, Arthur Edward (Waite, A.E.). The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Stamford, Connecticut. Original publication: 1910.  Edition publication: 2000. Pages 152-155.

I would also like to apologize for the silence around here. My shop had a sudden burst of complicated orders and it was hard to keep up and not drop other things at the same time. As of this posting, I’m currently several states away from home serving as priest, healer, confident, and spiritual balm to a client and their family. It’s very high stress but it seems the worse has passed and I’m now ready to publish the above piece which I wrote a while back. Thanks for your understanding in this.