[NYNY] Mindful Indulgence

Tea by Lekyu

This week’s task: do something nice for yourself.

After a bit of thought, I realized that I was having the same problem as R.O., namely that I already do nice things for myself. However, what I don’t always do it realize how nice they are—because I do them without thinking.

So, I’ve been taking a little extra time to bask in the pleasure of my indulgences, instead of just mindlessly consuming them.

*Making a full pot of green tea, and focusing on nothing else for the 10 minutes is takes to cool the water and steep the leaves.

*Savoring every bite of the dairy-free, eco-noo-nah, salt-and-pepper chocolate that I got in Portugal last week. It’s amazing how when you eat this way, a single piece will satisfy you.

*Taking a full bath and paying attention to the scents of the shampoo and soap, how they mingle with each other in addition to how they smell in the bottle.

*Doing my book and action-figure order a little early this month. I realize the half my pleasure in getting packages is anticipation—so I’ve started letting them sit on the counter for a week before opening them. (Ok, I realize this is a weird one, but just go with it.)

*Signing up for a free World of Warcraft account. I was a pretty crazy WarCracker back when I was pregnant, but cancelled my account since it was a complete and total time-sink. But I occasionally still get the urge to go whack some murlocs, and this lets me do it guilt-free.

And now, I think I’ll have some more tea.

—A.V.

 

[NYNY] Who Me? Procrastinate?

Overcoming Writer's Block by photosteve101

Things I’ve Been Putting Off:

Writing my tutor.

Cleaning off the kitchen islands (yes, this is actually relevant since it’s my primary working space).

Getting self over to old house and 1) cleaning, 2) banishing, and 3) winterizing so that we’re not very sad in a couple of weeks.

I have the day off. Maybe this is a sign. (The fact that the moon phase is now inconvenient is only me trying to weasel out of Getting Shit Done.)

—A.V.

 

[NYNY] Goals

Streets of Obidos

Since I’ve been toodling all over Portugal for the past week, I’m aiming for a 2-for-1 special on writing prompts today. First, the seed question from December 20th: What do you want to accomplish in 2012 using both magical and mundane means?

I already stated the vague intention of flexing my magical and energetic muscles, but I think a concrete goal is also worth pursuing. With that in mind, I’m stating my intention to make our old property turn a profit, either through sale or rental, so that it stops becoming a financial burden on my family. I’ll openly state that it scares me a bit to put this desire into words, as it will mean some sort of significant change no matter what happens. But things can’t continue the way they have been, and it will be concrete proof of my development when things turn around.

So now, I have two clearly defined goals: a) develop a magical and energetic toolkit for mundane manifestations, and b) sell/rent the old house. These things are entwined in several ways, so hopefully working on one will create progress on the other as well.

Now, on to specifics.

1. How are you going to accomplish these large goals in your daily life?  You need to start breaking it up into bite sized pieces.  Our particular Experiment goes until Valentine’s Day.  What can you reasonably expect to accomplish by then?  How will you do it? 

1a. I believe I can hit the half-way point in my OBOD Ovate work by Valentine’s Day, which would put me on target to enter the Druid grade by the next East Coast Gathering. I also want to sign up for Jason Miller’s Strategic Sorcery course (having heard Great Things about it from BoneDruid), and since he’s running a NYNY deal, I really don’t have an excuse. I’m hoping that I won’t overdo things by working two systems simultaneously, but I think the SS course will give me some of the technical grounding that I’m currently missing from the Ovate work.

Additionally, I need to continue writing to my Ovate tutor monthly, which makes me accountable and on track for the work I’m doing within the Order.

1b. I need to get the house thoroughly cleaned, both physically and energetically (although the latter is in much better shape than when we lived there). Then, I need to start pounding the pavement, putting up posts on Craigslist and the like to get the place rented until we can put it back on the market in the spring.

2.  What magical acts (rituals, spellwork, whatever it is you do) can you do to help you accomplish these goals?

2a. Continue working with my inner guides to develop techniques and focus. Continue with both Druid and Eastern meditation practices (LBE, bifutsow). Perform cord magic to untie any remaining blockages.

2b. Cleansing, house blessing. More cord magic, releasing any trapped emotions. Honey-mark the ads to attract tenants/buyers. (Any other ideas in this area are welcome.)

3. Use your preferred method of divination to figure out both what you can do to make sure these goals will happen and also to figure out what road blocks keep you from this.

And the cards say…

3a. Pentagram Spread

Earth: King of Swords. Keep your mind focused and disciplined. Make sure your thoughts are manifesting in the physical realm, and aren’t just staying stuck in your head. Make ideas real, and don’t think you’ve accomplished something just because you’ve thought about it a lot.
Water: The Lovers. Passion and connection to others are what will see you through.
Air: Princess of Wands. Accept help from people who have traveled this path before you, who have knowledge in these areas already. (Probably in reference to my neighbor, S.)
Fire: Nine of Wands. Bank the coals of your will so that you don’t burn out. Take little steps and keep the fire glowing—don’t aim for a full conflagration in this particular work.
Spirit: Prince of Pentacles. Again, be practical in your approach. You’re a capricorn, and steady, measurable accomplishments are what keep you in the game. Focus on the manifestation of the spiritual in your everyday life, not just on the inner planes.

3b. 3 Card Draw

Past: Four of Wands (r). This place was not the happy hearth and home that you had hoped it would be. You still carry that resentment, and the desire to be right about choosing it in the first place. (Ouch, ok, gonna work on that.)
Present: Six of Cups. Currently you’re in a place where you’re safe, and don’t have to think about the disappointments you experienced in the old house. However, this has also led you to stick your head in the sand about the situation, focusing on your current happiness instead of taking responsibility for your loose ends.
Future: Six of Wands (r). See previous card. Beware of continuing to ignore the underlying emotional, as it will only lead to a sense of defeat. The antidote to this is the Prince of Swords, aka Do Dumb Stuff Fast. Be flexible and innovative to break through any blocks you might encounter.

4. Consult whatever inner or outer spirits you may work with as to what’s blocking you from achieving your goals. 

My guides basically just confirmed the readings, and suggested some ways in which I might purge myself of the negative emotions surrounding the old house. Once those are cleared, it will be much easier to continue the physical work needed to make it turn a profit.

Whew. Flexing my metaphysical muscles, indeed.

—A.V.

 

[NYNY] Clean Sweep

Broom by Barret Anspach

All I can say is “wow.” Deborah’s prescription of FlyLady and Hoarders has already made an impact on our home. Funny how my now-shining sink is spreading its obnoxiously cheer glow to the surrounding counter space. I have a feeling the grime on the stove is going to be the next casualty. And it only took 4 minutes of Hoarders to have my husband chucking a large portion of his warped wood stash in the dumpster. Today he even emailed me about purging the basement—magic is indeed afoot.

The next step will be to physically and energetically cleanse the old house. I’m hoping that this will be accomplish before we leave for the holidays, since the waning moon lends itself to this sort of thing. At the very least, I want to work the sink magic again. Getting the kitchen clean and welcoming will make dealing with the rest of the house that much more manageable.

My offerings during this process have been to the Witcher, namely Frau Holda, housekeeper par excellence. One of her lessons is culling, making her the perfect one to ask for aid in de-cluttering a home (although she’s also likely to push you to dust the bookshelves while you’re at it). In my experience, the actual work of making a dwelling place into a home is her favorite offering, and so I’ve been dedicating my shiny sink to her each morning and evening. Next thing you know, she’ll be asking me to make the bed….

And time, oh, time…why you punish me? My family definitely has a habit of over-committing ourselves. So I’ve decided to cut my “extra-curriculars” back to two things: kung fu and druidry. I still plan on keeping up my crafts, but they will most likely be in service to these two main areas. Needless to say, this is going to allow me to purge a lot of stuff, as well as freeing up my schedule so I can focus on my work, my family, and my community.

Lastly, those Big Motherloving Rocks. Yeah, I’ve got some. I think I’m finally getting tired enough of the weight that I’ll put them down for a while. Particularly since some of those rocks aren’t even mine. Carrying your own is bad enough. Settling your boundaries so others don’t hand you theirs is just plain self-love.

—A.V.

 

New Year, New You

Well, I’ve been grumbling that I wanted an opportunity to stretch my magical ligaments, so I’d be a fool not to join in on the Dropout Dilettante’s New Year, New You project. I’m a little late to the party, as I spent a bit of time waffling about the time commitment and what I wanted to focus on—but at least I brought a bottle of mead with me!

My project of choice is reclaiming the magical power and focus that I lost while we lived in our last house. Since we still own the place (yay, economy!), at least I have ready access for any cleansings or rituals that I may want to do there. As usual, I’m a little worried that I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but if you never push your limits, you never grow.

Check out the comments in the above link for other participants in the project. I’m finding some really neat bloggers whom I never knew were out there!

—A.V.

 

More on the Vanic Soul Map

Casting cloth & soul map

This week, I’m going to talk a bit more on my casting cloth/soul map. I use this both for regular rune (and hopefully soon ogham!) castings, as well as for a more detailed soul-map reading. When casting runes, I’ll usually take a handful and toss them on the cloth, then interpret them in relation to whichever elemental quarter they occupy. If a rune happens to land smack in the center of one of the tribal circles, then I’ll pay extra attention to it, and consider it to be advice either coming from that Tribe, or pertaining to an area of life “ruled over” by said Tribe. So for example, finding othala in the Bull circle would indicate that there needs to be a focus on the hearth and home, also perhaps establishing boundaries or paying attention to right action in relation to family and/or community.

For a more detailed reading, I use a modified version of Kaldera’s soul map system, focusing on how the Vanic Tribes can manifest their influences on the body-soul complex.*  I’ve expanded a couple of groupings since I use 19 tribes (whereas Kaldera has 17 positions), as well as rearranged some other associations. So far, though, it’s been working out nicely, and still serves as a good diagnostic tool despite the change in flavor.

The map can be divided into five regions, four elemental, and one central axis. The Core gives an overall look at the health of an individual; the Elemental regions provide details on four major areas of a person’s being. These are as follows:

Vertical Axis—The Core
Cat: the astral body
Bull: the physical body & well being, health.
Boar: the higher self, connection to the divine

Earth Tribes—Blood & Bone
Serpent: chi/energy flow; the unconscious, possible unhealed wounds which may affect the situation
Frog: vitality, ability to self-heal, adaptability
Goose: lineage, effects your ancestors may have upon the present situation
Hare: creativity, sexuality, lust for life

Water Tribes—The Dreaming Sea
Salmon: wyrd & fate, not limited to ancestral
Swan: ability to achieve mystical union
Seal: the emotions, empathic ability
Otter: balance

Air Tribes—The Wind-Honed Blade
Eagle: the intellect, mind
Crane: the will, discipline
Owl: woo, innate psychic ability
Raven: memory

Fire Tribes—Hearth & Embers
Deer: guiding spirits
Ram: honor, reputation
Horse: what sort of path you’ve made for yourself and how fast you’re riding down it
Bee: luck

As to the stones used to diagnose each aspect of the map, my numbers are basically the same, but I thought I would dowse for them independently just to check (since this was the method Kaldera originally used to determine how many he should use). The only changes are one more normal stone, and two more wyrd ones. That leaves us with 19 normal stones, 5 weak, 6 exceptional, 6 blocked, 7 wyrd,** and 1 missing or void.

The procedure for a reading is much the same: a person draws a stone for each Tribal position to diagnose the level of health in that area. If there are areas which are blocked or wyrd (or otherwise require further explanation), a rune or card is then drawn to try to clarify the situation.

I’ve only used the soul map a handful of times now, but I find it much more intuitive for my wiring than the original version (which is hardly surprising, I suppose). For other who have asked about running with this idea, I found Juniper’s writings on how she went about creating her casting collection to be most helpful when it comes to creating divination systems—it gave me the impetus to take a great idea that I loved but couldn’t quite mesh with, and make the changes necessary to let it work with my wiring, my worldview.

I hope other folks will be inspired to make their own systems, whether based on Kaldera’s, Juniper’s, or completely from their own bag. I love seeing what works for different people and I’m glad I’ve finally come to the point in my own studies where I’ve been able to branch out (sorry, druid pun!) and do the same.

—A.V.

*Disclaimer: it should be noted that this is not channeled material (i.e. not THE ONE TRUE PATH!), but a creative work in progress—take that for what you will.

**While I basically agree with Kaldera’s definitions for the stone categories, I am a big believer in wyrd not being a fixed and inevitable track—even if gods or wights are involved, there is always a choice. So I see the wyrd stones as being indicators of divine influence or proddings, rather than an inescapable fate.

 

A Quiet Druid…

…is a busy Druid.

I realize that it’s been nearly a month since I last posted, but the good news is that all sorts of interesting projects have been coming to fruition while I’ve been off-line. Among other things, the pig bones are fully cleaned and bleached, I’ve begun finishing my stang, and I’ve finally taken pictures of my Waincraft soul map, inspired by Raven Kaldera’s version of the same. The soul map is going to get its own post in a few days, but I figured I throw up a preview now, because three pics are preferable to two.

—A.V.

Pig Parts

Stang-in-Progress

Rabbit Skin Casting Cloth and Soul Map

 

What Happens When You Win the Carcass Lottery?

The lid to my maceration bucket.

You end up with the neighborhood dogs sniffing around your maceration bucket each morning. Weighing it down with a sledgehammer was a good idea, after all.

Before I get into all the gory details, though, this post would not have been possible without the following people: Ms. Graveyard Dirt and Sarah Lawless, for their inspiring and detailed descriptions of working with bones; and Seillean of Howling at the Crossroads, who was kind enough to share his own experiences and give me that little extra bolst of courage to try this.

But to begin at the beginning, on September 4th, I won the carcass lottery.

See, it all started because a friend of mine was holding a pig roast—she’s one of those crazy chefs who likes to try everything once. She and her partner had been wanting to try spitting a whole pig for quite some time. Naturally, two people are not going to be able to get rid of an entire pig (one definition of eternity is “two people and a ham,” after all), so they invited a bunch of us over to help out with that oh-so-onerous task.

Just as I was leaving, I asked my friend what she was planning to do with the pig head. She said that she had no idea and asked if I wanted it. I jumped at the chance, since I had spent a goodly portion of the afternoon trying to figure out how to get my hands on it. So per partner double-bagged it for me and I hauled it home. I mean, how often are you going to be gifted with a pig head that came from a community feast?

Preparation

I wasn’t able to work on the thing until September 8th, but it kept in the fridge since it had already been cooked. I decided to try boiling the flesh a bit further in 20 minute increments to loosen it up so that I would be less likely to nick the bone by carving it off. I was really thankful that it didn’t stink up the house since I don’t have an outdoor burner—actually, it smelled rather good. Must have been all that garlic my friend stuffed it with while I was roasting.

Most of the butchering went without a hitch. I’d be lying, though, if I said I wasn’t a bit squeamish about getting the brains out—this was my first carcass after all. But as it tuned out, the brains weren’t so bad.

The eyeballs? Those were bad. And peeling off the roof of the mouth. Yeah, that got to me.

Anyway, I de-fleshed the piggy as best I could. I must say, it was a big advantage having a chiropractor in the house to help out with the preliminary butchering. I was having trouble getting the skull apart from the spine, but my sweetie gave me a very helpful anatomical description, and I was able to separate the atlas from the occiput with little trouble, and only some minor damage to the occipital condile (or at least that’s what I’m told it’s called). This made it much easier to fit in the maceration bucket as well.

There’s a certain intimacy that you have with the meat and bones as you begin to separate them. I did discover that it was a fairly young animal, as its last set of molars was just coming in. (This brought more than a few tears to my eyes as I though about my own son’s molars beginning to poke through his gums.) I actually learned a ton about anatomy from carving the pig apart, and now I looking at other animals and imagine the muscular structure underneath the skin. It’s an interesting perspective, but kinda weird.

Speaking of weird, I drew dancing skeletons on the maceration bucket (a good sturdy one from Lowes). Yeah, I’m a dork. And I desperately wanted to give some levity to a critter that had such a short life—I wanted something that would make me smile as I tended to him. I wrapped the skull in cheesecloth to keep any teeth that fell out, and sang to him as I placed both head and neck into the water.

The Maceration Process

Honestly, I really found this to be fascinating. Again, it wasn’t nearly as smelly as I expected—more like a really bad case of halitosis than anything else (although I do have some, shall we say, olfactory issues as well). But I was being pretty conscientious about replacing the water every few days, and it wasn’t high summer, so those two factors may have had a bit of an impact on the odor.

A month of pouring out rotten water passed, yet there was still a good bit of flesh on the bones. In fact, the spine was still intact. After a bit more research, I figured out that it was probably getting too cold at night for the bacteria to continue their work. The vertebrae finally separated October 20th, but I ended up leaving everything in the bucket until November 1st. In addition to this being a significant time to work with bones, we’ve also been getting down into the 30′s at night, and I wasn’t sure what effect being in freezing water would have. As I didn’t have a place indoors in which to continue macerating, I decided to dump everything and see what I could do by hand.

Unfortunately, there were still some stubborn bits of flesh hanging on. This meant I had to scrape the last of the cartilage off the vertebral bones by hand; happily, the skull was in really good shape. A good rinse removed the last of the brain matter and the remains of the septum. The bones themselves were mottled red and grey, so I really wasn’t sure how white I would be able to get things.

Bleaching the Bones

I submerged everything in a clean bucket with hydrogen peroxide (dollar stores are awesome for getting large quantities of this). I ended up leaving it until the 3rd because I was away on business, but it didn’t seem to hurt anything. The peroxide actually helped loosen some of the last of the gunk that I had missed. Everything looks even better than I had hoped—brilliant, shining white. Even the delicate, curling cartilage formations in the nose were preserved. Some of the vertebrae split, probably because this was a young piggy, but they should be pretty easy to piece back together. All that remains is to glue the loose teeth back in place, and it will be ready for reddening.

Wait, You Did What?

So why did I decide to so this? Part of the reason is that I’ve always wanted to try cold water maceration. Just chalk it up to being an archaeology major (or too many episodes of Bones, take your pick). Part of the reason is because it’s the closest thing I’ll probably find to a boar skull for my stang, and it carries extra “juice” because it came from a communal meal. But I also did this because on some level I was repulsed and afraid to work with the bones. I was worried that I might throw up, or that I wouldn’t be able to finish the job. So it was a challenge to myself, to prove that I can deal with the dead, even through it’s far from being my strongest talent. Some of the hardest work still lies ahead, but I think I’ve set a good foundation for my continued relationship with these bones.

—A.V.

 

Tucking in the Garden

Rows of Hay 2 by goody2230

As of 2pm yesterday, the community garden was officially put to bed for the season.

It was wonderful how much folks wanted to participate because there was a lot to get done. Friday afternoon I prepped the fields by winding up the irrigation system and stowing the 22 tomato cages that had supported our friendly little nightshades all season long. Saturday, three pickup trucks full of manure were unloaded and carted by wheelbarrow down the rows of the field garden; these were then raked into place. The process continued on Sunday, and extra lime was added to the beds to lessen the acidity. Lastly, hay bales were hauled to each of the rows and laid down in sheets to help protect the manure as it composts over the next several months.

The whole process took four days, with multiple people putting their energy into the project. But my body and soul were singing the entire time. Working the land, preparing for the winter—it puts everything in perspective. Somehow the woes of the world just don’t seem that pressing anymore. Your body aches with a righteous soreness that comes from being full engage, fully present, in a very old tradition. You’re connecting with your neighbors, and the bonds that are built during field time will sustain you all until the coming of spring.

It’s my hope that we can get more of the community involved with the garden next year. If this fall’s turnout was any indication, we may be well on our way towards creating excitement for the spring planting. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to create enough food for at least three of the common meals during the summer. It’s an ambitious goal, but one worth trying for.

—A.V.

 

Lords of Green & Black

"Looks Like Rain" by Sean McGrath

The Lord of the Otherworld (sometimes called Lord of the Black) and Lord of the Green have been manifesting as the light and dark masculine aspects of my pantheon over the past several months. The Lord of the Otherworld, whom I interact with as Gwynn ap Nudd, rides from October 31st to April 30th, and has been a cyclical presence in my life for four years now. The Lord of the Green, however, has honestly been missing since 2005. But this past spring, I began to feel his influence as Gwydion again, something which I never imagined would happen, but which fills me with great joy.

These two gods are the root of my journeying practice, taking turns stamping my Otherworldly passport. I’ve travelled with Gwynn ap Nudd and the Wild Hunt for four years now, at Samhain, Yule, and Beltaine. This has been my first time with a summer “schedule,” and it ended up being much less defined, guided by the weather and the moon. Travelling under Gwydion’s auspices is somewhat more gentle, but no less profound.

The line between Lord of the Green/Black and the Shaman Father is a fine one for me, possibly because I relate to both through trance work. This is where the freedom of the Waincraft framework is so helpful. It’s not that all gods are one god, or that they’re completely separate: there are similar job descriptions, and if a particular deity fits more than one area, it’s ok. So, sometimes I find Gwydion in the role of initiator and shamanic guide, while at other times he embodies the lush foliage and animal sexuality of the Greenman. The same is true for Gwynn: he can be hunting souls through the sky or holding an audience amongst the Fey. Neither is absolute, and both natures are true.

The other aspect which links these two so closely is their profoundly sexual natures. The Lord of the Green is the verdant virility of the land during summer’s height. He is creation and procreation, the sweat and fire that comes with complete union. The Lord of the Black is the explosive finality of orgasm, la petite mort or little death as the French call it. He pushes surrender to its furthest point, letting you wonder in that moment of release whether or not you’re going to come back this time. Again, their flavors are different, their manifestations individual, but there is still an undeniable connection in my experience of them.

It’s taken a while, but I’m finally past the need to swear oaths and prove myself to these beings. They are not my patrons. If anything, they seem to encourage my status as a free agent, as it were. Yet, I work closely with both of them, and they in turn have guided me to greater and greater levels of understanding and growth. They inspire an ecstasy that I’d never experienced in my spirituality before, so closely intertwined with the pulse of the land and the spinning of the sky. My life is richer for their songs, both in pleasure and pain. And for that, I thank them.

—A.V.