Free Form Dreading and Embracing Myself

 

It's been six weeks since the last time I brushed my hair, eight since I have conditioned.  I'm looking pretty wild right now and I love it.  Already this journey has taken paths I never anticipated and I am learning more about myself everyday.  I am becoming more empowered to be completely, totally, and honestly me.  Because I have now taken the drastic step of completely rejecting societies standards of beauty, for the first time in my life I know that I am pretty.  Really, I'm not trying to sound egotistical, this is a big break through for me. From my husbands loving influence, I use to believe I was pretty.  Now I simply know it. 

 

Growing up in rural Montana, I saw dreadlocks in person for the first time when I was 11 or 12 years old.  They were being worn by a blond girl of 17 or 18 and I wanted to be her.  To me, she was the epitome of beauty.  Not only was her hair magnificently wild, but everything about her spoke of natural ease.  Of course, I only saw her from a distance, but it was one of those slow motion cheesy movie scene moments.  It is completely correct to say that I was drawn to dreads, although at the time I could not put my finger on any other reason than aesthetics.  Since my super conservative parents weren't about to let me dread my hair, the idea went to the back burner and continued to percolate for over twenty years. 

 

As I grew older and begin learning more about the culture of my ancestors, I found that my longing for dreads was calling to me from a time long ago.   I am a proud descent of the ancient Celts (Lowland Scott) and Vikings (Finn and Swede) on my dads side of the family, with more Viking (Swede) mixed with Sioux (Mandan) and German on my mom's side.  It is fair to say that the majority of my ancient ancestry likely wore their hair in some kind of natural matted style.  If we want to be completely frank, most prehistoric people probably did since there was no means to brush and maintain their hair in an "orderly" fashion.   Having always felt like an old soul and needing to connect with those who came before me, the desire to grow dreads makes perfect sense. 

Spiritually, my decision to dread goes beyond ancestor reverence and is an extension of my relationship to nature and my kindred the Elementals.  It is an acceptance of my true self similar to the way many witches take on a spiritual name, the girlish woman who still loves to dance barefooted and who wraps herself in the wind.  It is showing the Universe that I am happy with who I am and love the person I was created to be. 


**Since some of you are bound to notice, I do have five twist and rip dreads tied off with wool. 

Feeling Crafty: Altar Wreath



Many of you may know that I make just about everything I need for my practice.  In the past I have always used a grapevine napkin holder wrapped in brown wool to create a pentacle for my altar. It was only a few inches across and seemed to get lost among all the other items I had in my small space. My altar looks very roomy now that it is undressed for winter, but all it takes to become crowded is a few seasonal items. I've known for a few months now how I wanted to remedy the situation, but obtaining a blank, vine wreath took a bit of time. 





 

 

In essence, the new pentacle is the same as the old one; only larger and more decorative.  I used a thrifted vine wreath my favorite thrift store has a great craft department, bias tape, fabric and ribbon scraps, and glass seed beads on this latest project.  I love the combination of rustic and whimsy and feels that this piece really reflects who I am and how I relate to the world.  I may need to make more seasonally appropriate wreaths for Samhain and Yule, so I will continue to keep an eye out for additional blank wreaths.  

 

 

 

 

Tis the Season

Like most modern pagan families we have had to ask,  "What about the holidays?!" 

Living in reverence of the natural world around us makes Yule an important day in our year, but it is closely followed by Christmas and New Year.  As the mama, three major holidays jammed into as many weeks seems like a nightmare.  If we celebrated them all with equal gusto and festivity, I would need a nap that lasted all of January.  To keep the most meaningful aspects of the season and still escape with our sanity, Superman and I had to examine the situation and do some slicing and dicing.

After a long year of struggling through a plethora of holidays, we came to a conclusion.   Religiously we are Pagan, but culturally we are American.  Ach!  Does that mean we have to celebrate everything?!  No matter how much we want to celebrate the Pagan holydays, we cannot bring ourselves to part with the holidays we grew up observing.  So...it is going to look like this at our house:  each Pagan holiday will be celebrated as a family sacred day, while it's American counter part will be celebrated a community based appendage. 

For example Yule was a quiet night at home with lots of candle light, a fake fire compliments of YouTube, a simple altar ceremony to welcome the longest night of the year, a warm hearty dinner, and just some good family time.  We were planning on fresh scones for breakfast, but after Little Bitty Baby woke up seven times over the course of the night I was doing good to slap some peanut butter on a slice of toast.  Christmas morning we will open gifts from our extended family, eat huge stacks of pancakes to celebrate the lengthening of the day light hours, and if there is enough snow spend the afternoon sledding.  New Years will be regarded about as much as the onset of daylight saving time.  Since we feel that the winter solstice is nature's new year, we feel that to celebrate both is redundant.  Plus, we aren't the party type anyway. 

We will adapt this through out the year to work with other observances such as Ostera/Easter and Samhain/Halloween.  We have a secular gathering at my aunts every year over Easter weekend and family camp over Father's Day weekend just before Midsummer.  Both of these traditions will be worked into our own Pagan holyday celebrations.  The details are still up in the air, but I'll let you all know how they land. 

Side note:  Permission to bring home the black fur ball in the photo was Superman's holiday gift.  This new member of our family is named Merlin and is a quiet, slightly more dexterous version of Miss Busy.  Notice the mess he made of my center piece. 

Everyday Spirituality

Miss Busy likes to "help" me write rituals.

Since I am still fairly new to the craft, I am still working on making my path my own.  Last week, before the full moon, I decided to rewrite my circle casting and full moon rituals.  It sounded simple when I first hatched the plan, but it quickly spiraled into a hectic frenzy. 

Sensing that I was otherwise occupied, Miss Busy whirled around the house like a tornado yes, she looks sweet and calm in the photo, but seconds after I snapped it she was crouched on the tray shrieking like a banshee.  It was: write a couplet-got get Miss Busy out of the junk drawer, turn the page over-pull Miss Busy off of the kitchen counter, write another couplet-retrieve the pacifier Miss Busy snatched out of the babies mouth....On and on and on.  Nap time never comes fast enough or lasts long enough. 

Often, it feels as if motherhood is getting in the way of my spiritual life.  Then I have to remind myself that nothing is more spiritual than being me: a mother, a wife, a woman.  Learning to accept me and become the best me possible is the highest spiritual calling I have.  The fancy way to say it is enlightenment. 

I seek to be one with the world around me, communicate with the Elementals, hone my divination skills, and practice meditation all because my higher self will benefit the universe far more than my current self could ever imagine.  In my mothering role I practice patients, seek resourcefulness, and learn to put the needs of others before my own plans.  Each of the disciplines I learn as a mother furthers me as an individual.  They also work to give my children a solid base and a good example to work from. 

The Good Spell Book-Love Charms Magical Cures and Other Practical Sorcery: Gillian Kemp

The Good Spell Book was given to me nestled into a box of random books on divination and magick and I very nearly bypassed it as just another bit of frivolous writing.  Although my first response was to file it in the bookcase and forget about it, I kept finding myself drawn back to this book.  It's beautiful cloth binding and comfortable heft kept asking me to open it up and explore.  Once I did, I was delighted. 

This little volume is densely populated with bits of Romanie folk magick and spells.  It is fun and friendly to read and the handwritten notes in the margins give it a very personable feel.  The intent behind this volume feels very sincere and  accessible. 

The test of any spell book is of course it's spells and this one could almost be viewed as a simple primer on earth magick.  I have adapted a several of the spells and practices for my own use and been very happy with the outcome.  The simple folksy manner of these workings make them ideal for the magical mother looking to infuse her home and the lives of her children positive witchy energy. 

Wonderful Wyoming

Our "new" CJ7

Superman has been looking for a Jeep for the past six months.  Very intently looking for the past couple weeks.  With the sparse population in our area, it wasn't an easy task.  Last Sunday we were in Billing shopping and checking out yet another jeep when he announced that we would be taking a road trip down into southwestern Wyoming.  He had been in contact with a gentleman in that area who was attempting to sell what appeared to be exactly what we had been looking for yes, I was all in on the Jeep scavenger hunt.  As the mama I cringed at the thought of extending our road trip, but his logic was sound.  We were already three hours into the eight hour trip, so we might as well make a run for it.  If the vehicle didn't pan out, at least we could say we'd seen some country.  Thankfully, after driving that distance with Miss Busy and Little Bitty Baby, the Jeep was all we expected and more.  We brought her home and named her "Calamity" this girl will be a big part of some exciting changes to our world, I'll keep you posted,  but that was just the icing on the cake.  It ends up, Wyoming is more beautiful than Montana even in my native Montanan opinion and the scenery as so spiritually moving that I just have to share. 

Now, this was Superman's first adventure in Wyoming and I had only seen it from the interstate.  I have to say it was completely breath taking.  We didn't get as many photos as I'd like, but we've already made plans to load up Calamity and go back to explore further next summer.  All the photos of this recent trip were taken on Miss Busy's tablet through the vehicle window. 

South Central Wyoming, between Rock Springs and Lander

Red Rock Canyon Wyoming, just outside of Lander

My beloved Yellowstone River:
 photographed just north of theWyoming boarder near Belfry, MT 

Pumpkin Custard

 

Ever since squash and pumpkin started showing up in the grocery store about a month ago and being handed out like adult trick-or-treat candy by local gardeners, I have been having fun playing with the preparation of these fall classics.   Usually I prefer to use savory methods to highlight the warm nuttiness of such vegetables, but occasionally I can go Americana as long as I add a bit of a twist.  Having already made a "proper" pumpkin custard once this year, I mixed it up a bit yesterday and came up with a truly decadent creation.  It's amazing what one altered ingredient can do! 

 

 

Pumpkin Custard

 

3 cups fresh pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

6 slightly beaten eggs

2 1/2 cups egg nog

1 1/3 cup milk

 

Stir dry ingredients into pumpkin puree until smooth.

 

Add wet ingredients and mix well. 

 

Pour into two deep dish pie pans and bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. 

 

Serve with whipped cream and maybe a drizzle of caramel sauce. 

 

 



Miss Busy approved this recipe!