The Power of a Space

When we moved to university housing, two events occurred that contributed to me struggling as a witch.  First, I lost my cat we wont delve into that once since it is still a painful subject and second, my altar space was greatly diminished.  In our cozy basement apartment, my altar space was set up on a large dressing table, beneath a ledge, beneath one of our 3 windows with a fairly deep ledge.  Merlin and I used all of the space and were quite happy working there.  

In the new apartment, I first set my altar up on a corner of the counter.  It was greatly reduced in size and everything sat on a placemat.  That was my entire altar and all my supplies were hidden away in a tote.  Working was pretty much a pain in the ass and it didn't take long before I was actually avoiding it. So, I moved all my supplies into the top two drawers of my dresser and set my altar on top.  A bit better, but still not enough room for all my actives and it was out of the way. I could hold ritual and do a bit of spellwork, but was still very limited.  I made due for over year, but recently I had to make a major change.   

It started out with me clearing the entire top of our split level bar and cl,aiming that as my altar/ritual space.  I had room for all my trappings and being able to see it durring the day was a great inspiration.  Next was adding a small divided box laid on its side to the .....counter below to use as storage for all the miscellany I collected in that corner and using the top for an ancestor altar.  It was great!  I had a large designated space for my sacred items, it was beautiful, and most of all it was functional.  One might think I had it made, but there was still a small issue.  

The counter below my altar space was my disorganized catch all.  Everything I didn't have time to deal with immediately got tossed on that counter and blocked my access to the altar.  Repeatedly, I cleared it off and vowed to never again junk it up and repeatedly I failed.  For weeks, I struggled with the space.  I knew if I gave it over to my practice and made it a witchy space I would no longer allow it to become my "hoarder corner", but the thought of giving up 3/4 of my counter space brought hesitation.

One day, while browsing YouTube, everything changed.  I saw a video by one of the witches I follow and it was entitled "How Important is Your Practice."   I didn't even watch the video.  I had to clean off that damn counter!  After clearing the counter, I laid out an old mirror that I use as a work space and I left it there.  That counter is now off limits for everything except magickal working and to everyone except me.  Ever time I see it, my confidence as a witch is boosted and I very proudly think, "Yes, I am a witch and I have important magick to make."  

Do you have a permanent altar space?  How does it affect your practice? 

Happy Dust

Yesterday, I moved my ancestor altar from the bedroom into the kitchen.  I felt my ancients would get more love and attention out here with the rest of the family.  While I was setting up the altar, I tossed the old potting soil in the bottom of my incense dish and decided to replace it with sand from the sandbox.  

I thought I was being thrifty, but it ended up being a much better idea than I thought.

While I was coming back inside with my little jar of sand, I suddenly felt giddy.  I wanted to skip and laugh.  The energy coming off that sand was/is just delicious!  My first thought was, "Papa is going to love this."  Then I realized it would also make a great magickal ingredient.  

All summer long, hordes of neighborhood children have laughed, collaborated, and created in that sandbox.  Even now as the days are getting shorter, they run from the bus to the sandbox and play late into the afternoon, coats and backpacks scattered on the lawn around them.  I collected my sand durring this time of day.  With out knowing it, these children have continually charged the sandbox.  

Now, instead of "fairy dust" I have "happy dust."  You had better believe that I am going to find a dozen ways to use it, too.  

Keeping it Witchy

It is ten minutes to noon and the altar candles have yet to be lit for the morning, my grandparents haven't heard my voice in days unless of course they are listening in on me while I fuss at the children, and Superman asked me to recharge his hag stone weeks ago. The only way I am slipping in some blog time is that I have to sit at the kitchen table, facing the girls door in order to stay on top of things and enforce naptime.

The baby is fully mobile now and getting a tooth...

My hands are full.

With time being a premium at our house, I have to be smart to keep my sanity and maintain spiritual growth.  Sometimes, that means taking advantage of random moments that pop up through out the day and other times it means making time.  Here is how I'm coping.  

• Set the Altar Up Where it is Easily Accessable. I use to have my altar in the bedroom to keep it away from little hands, it was effective, but it was out of the way for me too.  Moving it to the kitchen counter is nearly as effective for keeping kids out and it is much more accessable for me.  
• If You Only Have a Few Minutes, Use Them.  Study or write while kids are drifting off to sleep.  Dust the altar durring the three minutes they decide to play with Legos without assaulting each other.  Let them start eating while you take a food offering to the ancestors.    
• Let Them Help When Possable.  This one might be the hardest of them all.  Little helpers are often more hinderance than help, but making a mess and driving us crazy is how they learn.
• Keep it Simple.  Instead of creating elaborate rituals and planning highly complicated spells, plan to keep things low key until you have more time.  The supplies for my Full Moon Ritual are so few that they fit in the pockets of my over robe and most of my spells are based on sigil magick.  If something is feasibly do-able, I am less likely to put it off altogether.  
• Forgive Yourself.  Life happens.  Often our best intentions get swept to the wayside and we don't do all that we want or should.  If the baby wakes up vomiting and the toddler runs around the house tearing up paper while the preschool screams, chances are you might not spend time honoring your deities or talking with your ancestors today.  Days like that happen. It doesn't make you less of a witch.  
• Maintain an Atmosphere.  Sometimes little things really effect the way you feel about life.  Burn an herby candle, wear something that makes you feel particularly magickal, or daub essential oil on your wrists.  For a quick energy boost, listen to witchy/pagan/heathen music. 

Witching and Moming are both full time activities.  We do the best we can with all our hearts and just enjoy the ride.  

Spiritual Gardening

 

A few weeks ago, Superman walked past my alter and mentioned that it looked rather sad.  He was right. I have since fixed it, only to get wax all over it on Lammas.   With all the time I have been spending in the garden, I have been substituting my altar time with Earth time. If I had a garden space of my own, I would completely move my altar outdoors during the more temperate months. 

 

 

Several mornings a week, I take Miss Busy and Little Moon to the garden with me.  Perched in their double stroller and armed with snacks and sippy cups, the girls settle into a meditate state of stuffing their faces. In the silence that ensues, I invoke the elements and offer praise to the Universe while I weed, sucker, and harvest.  Standing barefooted in my garden with soil on my hands, I connect with nature and am nature. 

Even now, when my garden is not nearly as beautiful as it was when these photos were taken, a rather intense hail storm battered all the beautiful leaves  I find great inspiration in the strength and resilience found springing from the earth.  The plants are beginning to show the signs of weather and age, yet still they are producing food for my family.  In fact, the stress of our recent storm seems to have spurred some plants my cucumbers and zinnias to finally produce.  It makes me think of how we as individuals often require hard times to nudge us along in our own development.  Mountain gardening is a challenge in so many ways, but the struggles associated with it are teaching me so much.  Not just about this ecosystem and climate, but about myself and my relationship with the Earth. 

 

Celebrating the Beginning of Harvest

This time around the wheel I am trying not to get too caught up in the philosophy of our Pagan holydays, but to enjoy them at their simple point of origin.  I want to celebrate the passage of time as told by the rhythms of nature.  Being so immersed in my garden this summer made Lammas a little extra special.  Garden season goes so quickly here that it really is the beginning of the end.  I could really get into telling you all about my garden, but that is a different post. 

 

 

As usual, I kept things pretty simple.  I decorated my altar with my most recently harvested garden produce, held a sparse 5 minute ritual which even that was too long since Miss Busy managed to pull a page out of her daddy's new book in that time, and made grain cakes for supper.  Once I got the girls settled for the night, I spent about an hour in the garden doing some maintenance and just enjoying the evening.  I left the candles burning, with the fan in the hall and they melted down very quickly so now I have a waxy mess to clean up off my altar, but I did enjoy my little holyday.  As the littles get a bit older it will all get a bit more in depth.

Hiding Behind the Boxes

The smoke wafting from my altar not yet dressed for Ostara seemed particularly beautiful this morning while I did a bit of spell work and then puttered around putting the house in order.  I always get more done to the smell of incense and the flicker of altar candles. 

I really can't tell you where the last week and a half has gone. We are looking at yet another big change in our little world and it is turning things upside down. For the past year, Superman has been playing around with the idea of going back to school.  Two months ago, he started working with MSU on the enrollment process.  Then last Monday, we made the trip across the state for him to meet with his advisor and get everything in line to enroll for the summer semester.  Now I am looking at organizing another move.  Just the thought makes me tired! 

I may fuss about making the move, but there are so many good things that I can see coming from this relocation. 

• The area around MSU is breath takingly beautiful and has a plethora of public lands for outdoor recreation. 
• We will be living in married student housing with a family neighborhood, many playgrounds, two community gardens, and free onsite laundry.
• There is a metaphysical store and a large natural foods co-op with in two miles of the school.
• It is a much more diverse area and I am feel it will be much easier for us to find a place with in that community.

So...that is where I have been hiding. Plotting a move and trying to get all my fun artsy projects done in the meantime. 

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.  

 

 

 

 

Growing Friendship

My beautiful friend the Crab Apple Tree. 

Making friends takes me a long time. I am friendly and I like people.  I also believe that people like me, but making friends is not something that comes easily for me.  In fact, we have been in this town for a little over a year now and I have made a grand total of two friends: the lady who owns the liquor store down the street Miss Busy charmed her our first day in town and the lovely girl I am going to tell you about today.  There is also a potential new friend I met today, but that is still to be decided.

So, just at the end of our block lives a very lovely lady.  I walked right past her many times through out the late fall and winter with out taking a second glace.  I said a customary "hello," but took no special notice.  Then spring came and this little lady started to take on some beautiful color that I just couldn't help but comment on.  She accepted my compliments quietly at first perhaps more accustom to being overlooked, but eventually begin to respond with a gentle nod or a smile. 

As her buds started turning to leaves and her pink blossoms turned into hard green fruits, I grew to love her more and more.  I looked forward to our warm greetings as I undertook my daily walk and watched with great interest as she continued to grow more beautiful.  I often thought that her progression into summer and fall, laden with zesty little apples, mirrored my own amply pregnant body. 

When her fruits were at the peak of ripeness, I could resist no longer.  For months I had wanted to deepen our relationship, but had often felt a reserved shyness about her.  One beautiful afternoon, just before Mabon, I had to take the next step. 

I gently laid my hands on her bark and begin telling her how glad I was to have met her and how much I appreciated all that she had quietly added to my live.  She received me which was a relief, I was honestly very nervous that I would frighten her and it almost seemed as if the air around us grew warmer as we spoke. 

After a few moments I was moved to ask her if she would allow me to pick a few of her fruits for my altar.  She responded with a rush of gratitude, telling me how sorrowful she had been that nobody had appreciated her efforts for many years.  Once, long ago she had been appreciated, but now the only ones who took any heed of her dainty little apples were the squirrels and birds and even they seemed to prefer the offerings in the nearby bird feeder. By this point Miss Busy was getting antsy in her stroller.  I wrapped my arms around her scarred trunk and held her for a few moments before taking all of the fruit I could carry.

Back at the house, I arranged the offering of fruit on the altar.  Having an abundance of the tart little fruits, I also set a few in the fruit basket for munching.  Crab apples are tart and drying, but I ate each of these little treasure with relish.  I found such joy in knowing that I had not only been given a gift, but at the same time had been able to give one in return.  Since that time I stop to chat nearly everyday and returned to take some photographs.  She absolutely adored the photo session. 

***When I started writing this yesterday, it was before our afternoon walk.  During our walk, an exciting event unfolded.  As we approached this dear friend, Miss Busy begin yelling excitedly and waving.  When we stopped under her now golden boughs, my little girl reached up lovingly as if to embrace her.  I pushed the stroller up close to her trunk and Miss Busy stroked her bark, jabbering excitedly for several minutes.  It is beginning to get colder and the breaks in our walk are kept shorter, but this was an experience I would not have missed for the world. 

From Stalled Out to On a Roll

Hunter's Moon altar 2014

Ever since Little Bitty Baby made her appearance nearly six weeks ago and the entire third trimester of my pregnancy if I were to be completely honest I really haven't been feeling very ambitious.  The wheels are turning and the ideas are there, but both the time and energy to execute them has been absent.  This lackluster feeling effected every aspect of my life from routine chores to art projects and spiritual activities. 

The Harvest Moon came and went.  I wrote a beautiful baby blessing, but just didn't have the energy to set up an altar or cast a circle.  Superman and I just took the little one out in the yard to meet Her and called it a night. 

Mabon was going to be my new start.  I planned a ritual, collected crab apples and leaves to adorn my altar, and then cared for a new born and a teething toddler all day.  Once the girls were in bed, I sat down on the couch and didn't move until I could respectably call it a night myself. 

The Hunters Moon almost snuck up on me, but the unperformed baby blessing was starting to eat away at me.  Two days before the big night I started making plans, but true to my nature didn't finish pulling together a ritual until the last moment. 

Once all my notes were in order I set up the altar, laid out my Elemental stones, and then nursed the baby to sleep.  Having come too far and put in too much effort to stall yet again, I prepared myself and cast the circle. This being the first time I had cast or participated in a communal circle I fumbled a bit.  I didn't raise as much power as I do in my solitary working circles due to nerves, but I am sure that will come with practice.  As comfortable as I am with my husband, I have to admit it felt a little odd having an audience while I worked. 

When the circle was cast, Superman joined me with our sleeping baby and we read her blessing while she slumbered.  It was a beautiful experience and I believe we both were a bit misty eyed before it was over.  Although we often discuss spirituality and have fully compatible beliefs, this was the first time we celebrated those beliefs together in an official capacity.  It was a bit unnerving at first, but the feeling of closeness and contentment that followed was exhilarating. We also found it quite fulfilling to know that we had finally started a new spiritual chapter for our family. 

Now that I have resumed a magical practice and we have taken a step toward family spirituality, I feel like we are on a roll.  In the past few days we have been sharing more thoughts about Paganism, witchcraft, and the deities who may be playing rolls in our lives.  Not surprising, we both feel a special affection for Hela.  Also, I have already started making plans for Samhain.  Maybe I won't be finishing up at the last moment this time. 

Celebrate the Wind: My Favorite Childhood Poem

Fiber Art: Air Elemental (work in progress)

Who Has Seen the Wind?

By Christina Rossetti      

 

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

 

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Source: The Golden Book of Poetry (1947)

 

 

As a  Virgo, I am an Earth sign, but that does not stop me from being very attached to the Wind.  Maybe it was growing up on the prairie where the wind is a constant companion.   Even before embracing a natural faith, I found spiritual moments standing at the clothes line with my bare feet absorbing energy from the sun warmed Earth while the Wind swaddled me in friendly gusts.  For many years, not even understood by myself, the clothes line was my altar from where I worked infantile magic.  I sent and received messages, drew strength for upcoming tasks, and received soothing.  The elementals require no liturgy or dogma and they were happy to commune with one who simply believed.