Yard Wards

Fierce Kitty thinks that the garden is just divine.

I have been working out in the yard and garden lately. Pulling weeds, redoing the brick walkway, transplanting flowers and herbs--the typical springtime stuff that one does when one has a yard that is not completely grass. I am not happy that Denver is already on drought (watering) restrictions; but then again, most of the plants that I really care about are border-line weeds (most herbs act as if they are weeds).

Another thing that I am doing is resetting my yard wards. It has been several years since I have done so; and last year, there was a couple of incidents that made me wish that they had been renewed sooner rather than later (I was finishing my second Bachelors, so I did not get them renewed in a timely fashion...with results that probably made someone who was upset with me happy). The problems (resulting from a small spite...I sided with a pagan woman in a fight rather than the Christian ceremonial using male...of course, I was wrong to do so in their mind) were minor, but still annoying.

Wards, for those who don't already know, are kind of like a magical electronic fence. Sort of like shields, but not quite. It is hard to explain the difference...if there is really a difference. The ones I use are based on Pennsylvania Dutch magic. I won't tell you what I buried beneath the brick walkway, but I did bury something there.

So yes, this year I am renewing my yard wards in a timely fashion, along with all the weeding, planting and mowing I have to do. Good times in the spring time. And if nothing else, it makes the cat happy that I am spending time outside with him.

More magical jars available on Etsy.

Think of the magic you can do with these jars. 

Another item that I was taking photos of were a new butch of small cork jars that my wife hand-throws on the potter's wheel. Personally, I use these types of jars to store incense and for spirit bottles. I know that one of the local pagans uses them for magical oils.

Now, I like this photo--my wife doesn't. It was an experiment. One of the difficulties that I have taking photos of her pottery is that the glaze is so shiny, and occasionally the camera I am using has a difficult time recording the true color of the glaze. So in this photo, I was experimenting to see if a white background would help. My wife disapproves of the picture because I used wrinkled paper. *sigh*

These corked herb jars are available on her Etsy--Celtic Soul Jewelry and Pottery page for $18 (American) apiece.

More mortar and pestles available on Etsy

Cobalt blue mortar and pestle.

The last couple of days, I have been taking pictures of pottery that my wife is putting up on her Esty--Celtic Soul Jewelry and Pottery page. Today, she posted five new mortar and pestles (various colors). My personal favorite this bunch of photos (of the mortars that is) was the cobalt blue mortar and pestle against the purple background. For those who have not heard me cuss about it, the cobalt blue glaze is really shiny and hard to take good photos of (especially if I am trying to show its actual color). This shot actually shows you its actual color, so I am very happy with the photo. This particular cobalt blue mortar and pestle is available for $19 (American)--though she did not use this photo on the sales page. (We seldom agree about the photos which should be used...but that is a post for another day, isn't it?)

So many mortar and pestles to choose from. 

Beltane 2013 (Tarot Blog Hop)

The first Tarot card I ever created. 

Welcome to the Beltane 2013 edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. For those people who are doing the hop, you probably came from Alison Coals' blog. If there has been any problems, you might have came directly from the Tarot Blog Hop Master List. As for my regular readers...well, it is probably a secret where you are coming from (esoteric Order humor--I s*** at it).

The theme of this particular blog hop is "What traditions are important to you in how you read Tarot?"

Now, some of my regular readers have heard me talk about one of my favorite Tarot traditions--which is to make your own Tarot cards. It is a tradition that some in the Golden Dawn has observed; but not all, for the number of surviving handmade copies of the initiated version of the Golden Dawn deck that has surfaced in the historical arena number less than a dozen (or so, I have been led to believe).

When I first joined Golden Dawn, or what passed for GD here in Denver during the 1990s, I was horribly bad at reading Tarot cards--better than some people, but not good enough to rely on them to tell me anything that I did not already know. One of the things that Hathoor Temple insisted that members do during their course work was prove that one could create a Tarot deck (hand make it) if one really had to.

Now, at the time, I was reading a Tarot based story by Pier Anthonys. Some people will recognize the book cover that I based my Death card on, and perhaps even the fact that I borrowed more than just that. The interesting thing is that, despite my nerdish leanings in my initial Tarot creation, the exercise worked. I became better at reading Tarot cards. I never did complete that first Tarot deck, but the point was proven to me that making your own Tarot cards helps you build a connection to the spirit of the Tarot.

Color your own Death card in Golden Dawn.

One of the problems with creating your own Tarot deck is that you might not have enough artistic skill to comfortably do the task. This problem may be why so few decks have survived. Or like in my case, the requirement was done with just a handful of cards.

BOTA, an esoteric Order in the United States, an offshoot of the Alpha and Omega, came up with a solution where the student did not completely create their own Tarot deck. The BOTA deck is a "color it yourself" Tarot deck; many in Golden Dawn seemed to have gone with that option. From a Golden Dawn viewpoint, the BOTA deck is not completely right (it is based more on the A.E.Waite/Pamela Smith deck than the initiated GD version); a point that was addressed a decade ago with the creation of a limited edition Golden Dawn version of a outline deck...which unfortunately is out-of-print to the best of my knowledge (not that you can't find and print out the whole thing from your computer with the help of a simple Google search).

Making your own Tarot deck is the one Tarot tradition that I insist on inflicting on all the students that I teach...because it worked for me. It is the cornerstone to how I teach the Tarot. Besides everyone loves to paint and color by number--and if they don't, well, I am quite sure that they will not tell me so to my face.

(And yes to the person who asked--eventually I did end up doing an entire Tarot deck by hand for the Inner Order Adept Minor program that I did a couple of years ago.)

For those who are continuing with the Tarot Blog Hop, the next stop is Aisling's Tarot Witchery Blog. As always if there is any problems, you can jump over any broken links by consulting the Tarot Blog Hop Master List. As for my regular readers, you probably should get back to work. Until next time, keep shuffling those Tarot cards.

Stonehenge is looking for a manager

Need a job? Good at management and bossing people around? Know a lot about the esoteric practices and beliefs of the druids?

There is a job waiting for you with English Heritage. English Heritage is looking for a general manager to oversee the Stonehenge site.

Tim Reeve, English Heritage's Historic Properties Director, states in the online announcement, "We are looking for a dynamic and inspirational person to welcome the million plus visitors to Stonehenge each year including the tens of thousands who celebrate the sun-rise there every Summer Solstice." Plus they are about to open the new visitor center, so there will be even more visitors in future years.

Now, personally I don't know enough about Stonehenge to apply for the job. After all, I believe that Stonehenge is part of a large trap to catch a particular pesky time traveler. I am quite sure that is not the type of knowledge that they want their general manager to gravitate towards.

But still, maybe one of my readers would be a perfect fit for the job. And if so, please remember that I told you about the job opening first...because it might help me get some decent photographs of Stonehenge that I can use in a book someday.

Spider Mania (Coffee Cup edition)

Yes, that is a spider on my coffee mug. 

Here is a picture of the spider that was on my coffee mug as I was writing the article for the April 2013 Hearthstone Community Church's Newsletter. Just in case, any of the newsletter readers are curious about what it looked like.

Familiar animal spirits and the modern pagan

[The following article was written for the April 2013 Hearthstone Community Church newsletter (the "Open Full Moon people"). The April 2013 Open Full Moon ritual is April 19, and will be held in the upstairs of the First Unitarian, 1400 Lafayette, Denver Colorado--doors open at 7 pm, with the ritual starting at 7:30 pm.]

Recently, one of my sisters has started to complain about me. Or rather resumed complaining about me. One of the complaints that my sister has about me is that I seem to care more about animals than I do human beings. She especially does not like it when I point out that animals have not invented nuclear bombs, credit ratings, and the IRS, therefore they are more worthy of my respect. She does not see the humor of that logic. But I must admit that I often have more empathy for animals than I have for some human beings. (There are some humans I really enjoy the company of, and there are the other ones that I just want to whack with a stick.)

In the records of the witch hunts, one often encounters the claim that witches have familiar spirits, often in the shape of an animal. Honestly, most of the people harmed during the witch hunts were Christian, and a high percentage of them seemed to be property owning unmarried women. And many of them seemed to have been crazy cat ladies. A good number of animals and their owners seemed to have been tortured and killed by the Christians in their quest to rid the world of the devil and to line their pockets with other people’s property.

And yes, I am on the side of the accused witches, be they pagan or Christian.

Scanning the literature concerning primitive religious beliefs, and the early days of religion, there seems to be a lot of respect given to our animal brethren. In shamanism, often a shaman would channel the power of an animal, such as a bear. The shaman often had that power because they survived an attack by such an animal—the logic being that if you survived a traumatic attack by a hostile animal, then you must have some power over that type of animal.

Fortunately, the modern pagan does not need to go to such extremes to be able to access the power of an animal. But it still can be dramatic to gain such a familiar spirit. For instance, my wife used to have nightmares about spiders. It took her a long time to come to terms with the spirit of the spider. Today, spiders are perfectly safe at my house. Proof of this can be found in the fact that I did not freak out a few minutes ago when I found a spider crawling on my coffee cup.

Correction—the idea that spiders are perfectly safe at my house is not completely true. The familiar animals that I work with the most—cats—tend to eat them if they venture into reach. There have been many of a time that I have watched one of the cats hunting and then eating one of the spiders. There is probably a lesson there about the spirit of one entity absorbing the life force of another entity…we probably do not want to think about it too hard.

So how did I start working with cats? At first, I started by adopting one. Well, actually two. Well, really four of them. I wanted one cat, and my friends (who were moving) insisted that I take the other one also. I agreed. Turned out that one of the cats was pregnant. I became an instant kitty daddy. A few years later, when my wife and I brought a house, we were surprised that it came complete with its own feral cat colony.

I like to think that I earned the right to have cats as one of my totem animals by serving as a caretaker to them. After all, we trapped, fixed, and released the members of the feral colony, and continue to feed and watch over them to this day. And Bast, the Egyptian goddess of cats seems to agree with my logic.

So instead of having to survive vicious animal attacks, the modern pagan seems to have gone the route of the medieval witch, gaining the companionship of animal spirits by caring and living with animals. And I imagine quite a few of them like their animal companions better than some of the humans that they know.  Heavens knows that I like my cats better than I like my sister at the moment—that probably also makes her upset. I wonder if she would like a big box of spiders.