Hello, Hello! I know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, but I wanted to share something very special with you today! Don’t worry, it’s not a course or anything like that! Cue the relieved sighs.
A very, very special lady that is near and dear to my heart is sharing a Pagan children’s book she’s written, and I wanted to tell you about it. It’s pretty difficult to find specifically Pagan kids books so, with a little witchling myself, I was pretty interested in her book, Stardust.
It’s based on a song we sing on Wednesday nights during our Circle, Enchantica (every Wednesday night at 6pm CST on FB) and is a beautiful and wonderful creation story. The illustrations are cute and cartoony, perfect for kids, and were created by rising artist, John Lollar!
As Ginger has written herself: “This is the enchanting story of Creation as the Little Goddess sits in the Time Before Time, in the Dark Before Dark. She holds out her hand and there is only one tiny, sparkling mote of Stardust! With illustrations that are completely enchanting, generations of children will cherish this book and the timeless story it tells! Perfect for parents to read at bedtime – and great for kids to read on their own, too!”
I hope you enjoy Stardust as much as we are going to! I can’t wait to add it to our bookshelf and our rotation of bedtime stories! 🙂
Hello friends! Here is our question for the day: how are Chris Baty, Ancestry DNA, and animal bones all connected? You’re about to find out! So let’s take a journey and I’ll walk you through it.
I know it’s been a little while since I posted anything new. With the school semester and with family and several trips I’ve taken since it has just been a very busy few months! As those of you who have been following me for some time maybe aware, this is the month of our Lord and Savior Chris Baty! It’s NaNoWriMo Time!
You may be wondering what the title of this post and National Novel Writing Month have to do with one another but rest easy because I will explain it all.
This year I’m working on a series of short stories that are centered around North American cryptids (and for those of you who may not be aware, we have some weird and wacky ones, melting pot of the world that the U.S. is). Included in several of those short stories are bits and pieces of different Folk Magics, especially Appalachian Folk Magic or what is also called Granny Magic.
Weirdly specific right? But stick with me. Remember this is a journey!
When I started delving into my Ancestry DNA results and my family tree I noticed that, with the exception of a few outliers, the majority of my family has lived in the Appalachian region since my ancestors came to the US. It made me curious about what kind of traditions that they may have had and, as a practicing Pagan, what kind of belief systems they may have shared. This is what led me down the rabbit hole that is Appalachian Folk Magic!
Still with me?
Unconnected to my ancestry but still tied in with my own practice is the use of bone casting sets for divination and communicating with Spirit allies and Ancestors. My very first magical teacher other than my own intuition was a lovely lady whose own practice was very hoodoo based. Has anyone who has been a devout student of anything over time can tell you, we each end up collecting pieces of the teachings of those that have instructed us. It’s kind of like an ancestry on its own really. An ancestry of knowledge rather than blood.
So because of that influence, my own practice tends to lean into Conjure and root work just as much as it does Kemeticism and Indigenous Spiritually (thanks to my Elder, Standing Bear of the Fishing Lake First Nation).
Bone casting comes from the Conjure side of things originally. It’s something that I wasn’t very eager to get into because, and don’t make fun of me for this, it just felt very teenage edge lord for me. Like those try hard kids that try to convince people that bear real life vampires and spend too much time and Hot topic harassing the associates. If you know the kind of person I’m talking about, you know.
But regardless of my plans for my practice, Spirit will have it’s say at the end of the day and honestly the best we can do is just get out of our own way.
Now that we’ve seen how all of those things are connecting for me right now, let’s get back to the main topic at hand.
So magic systems!
What do I mean whenever I say something is a magic system? As I think of it, and Magic system is something like the use of crystals, the use of tarot or candle magic or runes. Methods of doing a working that each have their own set of rules and ways of use that are inherently disconnected from other systems and methods.
One of the things that my hoodoo teacher taught me during our first tarot class was that these magic systems don’t necessarily have to remain separate. She was a big fan of using dice casting and pendulums in conjunction with her tarot reading which I always thought was very fascinating! I’d never seen someone combine them in that way before.
Here is a picture or five of one of the spell workings I have ongoing right now.
This work has to be done consecutively for 7 days in a row for the first part of the Working and then another seven for the second part. As any good practitioner knows, I won’t be telling you what the Working is for because I don’t want to risk dispelling and undoing it after putting in so much time and effort! However that doesn’t mean that I can’t break down the pieces of the working for you to explain what’s going on and what you’re looking at.
This working in particular combines candle magic, crystals, my bone casting set, a bell and incense, the calling upon of Ancestors and Spirit Allies as well as prayer. At the base of the largest candle, between the amethyst and quartz, you’ll see I’ve left a little offering there as well for those who may come to aid me in the Working.
After all, not even Spirit wants to work for free! They will occasionally do volunteer work but everybody does their work more happily whenever they’re being paid for their services.
I’m using cards from three separate Oracle decks here: the Isis Oracle which has been a favorite of mine for many years now and was my very first Oracle deck; the Halloween Oracle deck, which is actually my go-to-deck right now; and in the center beneath my bones is a card from my Everyday Witch Oracle deck.
One of the first things you may notice about my bone casting set is that it’s not actually all bone! And it doesn’t have to be. Many bone casting sets include things like stones and fossils, both of which are present in mine, but also small knick knacks and curios. Two of the pieces that aren’t bone are actually from my great-grandmother’s sewing kit that was passed down through the women of my family and eventually made its way to me! In that way, my ancestors keep a solid foothold in any Works and castings that I use this set for.
Another piece is Blue Glass which is used for trapping nosy or invasive Spirits, and the last is a spent bullet casing. I didn’t realize till I picked it up but the small evil eye bead that is also part of the set was inside the bullet casing at the time so it’s not in the picture but it’s there! There’s also a bell because I’ve always been told that bells are the voices of the goddess on the physical plane.
The coral, stones, and fossils are pretty easy to connect with bones. The bleached coral piece and the fossils were once living things, the parts of them left behind after Time had it’s say, and what is a stone if not the bones of the very Earth itself?
Every practitioner is going to have their own opinions and beliefs as far as they’re chosen magical systems go. Some may believe that a bone set should only contain bones. Some may have no bones in their sets at all! Some may prefer not to combine methods like I do and some may combine methods that I’ve never heard of or experienced myself!
I’m always very curious to see what other people are doing and experiencing in their own practices so if you would like to please share with me here in the comments! I love learning about new methods or even new opinions on the same old tried and true ones and I’d certainly love to hear yours!
Sorry if this was a little rambly, it got away from me a little bit but I can’t help but have fun whenever I’m talking about these kinds of topics! It also doesn’t hurt that this blog post counts towards my nanowrimo word count. 50k, let’s gooooo!
Also, are you participating in this yearly writing chaos speed run? If you are, let me know and let’s do a word sprint or something!
Also also, sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. I usually try to be pretty diligent about them but after all, this is November. Editing is for next month. 😉
Oh Most High Father, Earth’s grace, Lord of All, your son cries your name in lamentation.
Great is my shame, as sharp as the blade I sheath within the flesh of the Great Worm. Large have been my boastings, my wrongs, and my iniquities. Equally as sizable is the wound that lay within my breast, stinking and festering to the Heavens. Heavy is the weight of my burden as this hour grows late.
Your forgiveness is a balm but the cut of anguish pricks me still. I guard the Sun Barque by night when I wish nothing but to bask in the light of her that is the day.
Golden is she, that goddess of my heart. Monumental has been my grief ever since our story began. But my sister remains and ever will be the heart and soul of our brother, Asar. One half of the whole that they share. Perhaps it was destiny that my sister wife, her twin, should come to despise me so. For how much more monstrous would be my lot if her image continued to be forced to my side? They cannot love me, cannot be mine, because their hearts already belong to their King.
So to the desert, my wasted lands, so seemingly empty and yet still managing to cling still to life. To survive and thrive through adversity, as I shall continue to do into time immemorial. I will bring the sting of the sword and the storm to our enemies and maybe someday that seeping wound will slowly become a scar, ugly for the memory but ultimately a sign of meeting adversity and coming out the victor. Coming out the better for it.
This sunset was so beautiful I just had to share it. One of my favorites things to photograph are skyscapes. Nature’s own passion painting made of wisps of air sand refracted light, the turning of the Earth it’s own paintbrush. 🥰 What’s your favorite thing to photograph, draw or paint? Let me know!
Don’t mind my pinkie! This was Daddy Maxwell working on getting our Yule logs burning! We burned two, one that I actually put together and decorated with Holly, oranges, pine, dried apples, pennies, and inscribed runes on the wood, alongside my bestie! This year is her first celebrating Yule officially so many blessings to you, sister! We also had some of that delicious fizzy juice while we gathered and played around the fire because who doesn’t love a holiday classic, am I right? 😉Little Maxwell’s learning time for today! We practice our writing by writing a letter to Santa! I wrote the sentences out that she wanted to say and then she copied them down. This is often called copy work but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! We even found an address in Finland where you could actually send your letters to Father Christmas. 🙂We also made Lego Dot friendship bracelets!
Yule for us is a day of joy, of family and of hygge. We share treats and we have lots of snuggling! We play games together, sing carols (paganized of course! XD), and enjoy time making handcrafted gifts for family members. We get to pick one gift from under our tree to open but the gift opening is very much secondary to the time spent together. I made us a wonderful lunch that we sat down at the table for and we did crafts like making a homemade Lego snow globe!
Of course there are special magical things that we do to honor the return of the Sun. Along with our sparklers, we ring bells to harald in the return of the light. We see the long night, not as a time of darkness but of necessary rest and recuperation, of reflection. We think on the trials of the year and of the new adventures spread out ahead. We remember those that left us but also rejoice that we can still keep them in our day to day as our Ancestors, our beloved dead who never truly leave us.
Clean crisp air, the child almost burning your lungs. The smell of smoke from the fire and the warmth of snuggling beneath a big blanket together while we watch a movie or play a game. Getting to feel your heart grow two sizes at the joyful exuberance of a little one when they bite into that tasty treat or unwrap a gift you made our picked out just for them.
Yule is the first day of the cold times, the lean times, but also a day of joy to share with those you love. That is what this season means to us. What does Yule mean to you? Do you have any traditions for this time of year, whatever way you may celebrate? Let us know in the comments!
Asar, Lord of the Duat, take him into your shining fields.
Anpu, Protector of the Dead, guide him through the winding dark paths and places.
Setekh, Warrior of the Way, protect him as his spirit finds its way.
Nebet-Het, Mother of Mourners, be with us as we grieve.
Aset, Lady of Life, give his spirit breath again into his next life.
Hewet-Her, Comforter of Comforters, hold him fast as he travels into the lands of the West.
Tehuti, Writer of All Wisdom, give me the knowledge and strength to comfort and give guidance to my family in this time of loss.
Today, after a painful battle with a rare form of cancer, we buried my grandfather. I ended up at home alone after the wake and found myself with a terrible problem. No matter what I did or tried, no matter how much I wanted it, I could not make my brain focus on anything. I wasn’t overcome with sadness, nor were constantly shifting thoughts stealing my attention. There was no depression and all I thought about the wake itself was that I hated to leave my grandmother Ruby to go home alone. I didn’t want her to have to go back to an empty house that would never feel like a home again.
National Novel Writing Month was in full swing but the words wouldn’t come. What was wrong with me? Maybe it was the headache that was working itself out. Maybe it was fatigue. Grief? All I had in me was busy just processing the day, trying to let go of all of the hundred conversations and people. The casket, the coffee. The bowl of mints, the director’s nametag and my mother’s tears.
I found myself writing out, instead of my poor NaNo novel, just an unpunctuated, long single stream of thought with no rhyme or reason. Then, my hopes and prayers for my granddaddy as his spirit passes on. It gave me a sense of…peace. Something like happiness but less than joy. Like he was standing there watching the proceedings and seeing how there wasn’t just tears but there were smiles and humor too. Seeing how the family shored together despite differences and even, in some cases, not even knowing one another. There’s support there and there’s love. I could see him there. He’d probably be wearing navy and looking kind of sheepish with his hands in the pockets of his slacks, his watch on and his chin scruff and he’d be smiling because I think he’d be happy with what he saw.
Afterwards, I still felt like I’d been hit by a truck but on the inside, it felt like finding peace.
My grandaddy, Lehman Franks. I will see you again someday. When we walk the Field of Reeds together, our family will be whole once again.
Today, I found myself irresistibly fascinated by the shapes, colors and textures of the clouds as a storm front made it’s way into our local area.
They were beautiful and strange. Remarkable and wonderous. It led to conversations about the heights that certain clouds sat at and the colors that some had taken on.
It just served as a potent reminder of the wonders all around us in the natural world, in our world, if only we took the time to look.
I hope that at some juncture in your schedule, you take the time out of your day to just stop for one moment…and look. Look up. Look down. Look at all the wonders that can be found in the things that we overlook everyday.
Those things that we see but have become so much the norm that they are easily passed over. Look at the clouds or the rain. Even the soil beneath our feet and how it teems with life. How we would not be able to survive without it. How sick much of it has become…
Without these small, oftentimes considered insignificant things because of their regularity, our world but not be the amazing place that it is today so take a moment to just appreciate it.
Little Maxwell choosing her card of the day after seeing me do it. But she couldn’t pick just one! There were way too many pretty ones! So she picked a whole stack! The card decks featured are the Everyday Witch Oracle, the Everyday Witch Tarot, the Halloween Oracle (that’s the black cat card you can see next to her hand), and last but certainly not least, the Isis Oracle deck.
These are all personal favorites of mine that I certainly recommend, especially if you’re looking for a deck that really speaks to you. These all use imagery that’s fairly easy to understand and conceptualize and out of all of the decks that I’ve seen and used over the years, these have my favorite imagery of all, especially the Halloween Oracle and the Everyday Witch Oracle. 10 out of 10 definitely recommend! 🙂
Little Journeys Everywhere 