This month I bought my collection casting system, and once again it performed wonderfully in response to other peoples questions. At first, I was not convinced that it was working as I threw down the pieces and only 3 of them landed inside my marked area. Not a single one of those three were close to the central area that indicates significance either.

But as soon as I started to interpret the reading, I could tell by my friends face that I was on the money. No piece had fallen into the central region because all three pieces on the cloth denoted the main problem. I then noticed that quite a large amount of the other pieces had formed a concentric ring around the cloth, as if they were waiting to become significant in the questioner’s life once she had dealt with her current issues.

Reading for others not only presents me with new ways to interpret a reading and gain a deeper insight into the meaning of each piece, but it also gives me new ideas! My set is far from complete, and my friends had some useful suggestions for things that I should find pieces for, e.g. Hobbies.

The set is still being cast onto a piece of paper. I need to remedy that very soon!

Bay (Laurus nobilis) is one of my favourite herbs. It not only adds a little kick to a thick beef stew (my speciality), but has several interesting spiritual uses.

It is a masculine herb, ruled by the sun, the element of fire and the star sign Leo.

It is, of course; sacred to the god Apollon. The famous myth concerning how this came to be involves the nymph Daphne, whom Apollon loved and thus pursued. To escape him she transformed into a laurel tree and it has been sacred to him ever since. I do not honour Apollon regularly but I have been told by those who do that a handful of Bay leaves makes a good daily devotional offering.

It is one of the best herbs for use in purification and protection, and this is mostly where it comes into my own practice. On days where I feel that my home or my shrines need purification (for example on the last day of the lunar month, Hekate’s Deipnon) I brew up an infusion of Bay and sprinkle it around my home. I also use it to wipe down the objects on my shrines, and place a small amount in a diffuser.

A more preferable thing to do (I live with Asthmatics) would be to burn a handful of leaves and use the smoke to purify yourself and your space. You could also use a sprig of bay to sprinkle holy water.

A bay tree planted on ones property will apparently protect both from malevolent witchcraft and also lighting. Bay can grow in cooler climates like here in the UK, but it is best to keep it in a pot so it can over-winter indoors.

The berries can apparently help to procure abortion, and an oil made from bay is useful in alleviating bruises when applied externally.

The leaves, bark and berries all have mild narcotic properties, and some sources assert that the Pythias at Delphi used to chew the leaves as one of the methods to induce prophecy.

Sources

CULPEPER, N., Culpeper’s complete herbal. ISBN: 0-572-00203-3

CUNNINGHAM, S., Cunningham’s Encyclopaedia of Magical Herbs. ISBN: 0875421229

http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/larbay10.html

http://www.theoi.com/Flora1.html

I also fought spirits in a churchyard and met a giant troll smelling of sulphur who wanted to learn how to cook.

I like remembering my dreams!

Really, you can replace boyfriend in this instance with friend, family member, flatmate etc. I am talking about whether the gods hold your guests accountable to the same rules and taboos that you are when they are in your home.

This month I have had a frequent male visitor who is an agnostic Christian. The first time he walked into my room, he took one look at my shrine and went ‘woah, that looks like some kind of shrine!’ (incidentally he is the first person to ever do this, so he wins a gold star). He then proceeded to take his phone and money out of his pockets and place them on the altar. I of course, immediately removed them much to his confusion; and then went on to explain that it WAS in fact a shrine, and that most pagans have one.

Later on that night, whilst in a state of miasma; he asked about what the things on the shrine represented and proceeded to pick up the wooden snake that represents Zeus Melichios to play with it. I had to take it back and then explain the concept of miasma.

He asked if the gods would be angry because he touched the shrine and I replied that I honestly do not think so. He does not honour my gods and so I do not think they they hold him to the same rules that they hold me to. However, any fault would lie with me and the space was still defiled; so I cleansed the space as soon as I could and said the appropriate prayers.

Do the gods hold your guests accountable for the same rules as you and your household? Would fault or blame lie with you for not instructing the guest on relevant things before their approach to an altar?

Pagan blog project

‘Then, you are handed a mask, ordered not to talk and crammed into an elevator where you will most certainly be separated from your friends’

…wow spam bot…wow.

Aphrodite

…and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet -Hesiod’s Theogony

Aphrodite of Cnidus

This statue, although beautiful; is not the image of Aphrodite that I wanted for this post. The image I wanted to show you was of a statue that I saw in cyprus of a naked Aphrodite with a sword slung across herself, reaching as if to un-sheath it. It is one of my all time favourite representations of any of my gods, and it bought a tear to my eye when I first saw it.

It is no secret that I detest the failure of many modern pagans to perceive the notion that the gods are infinitely complex beings instead of buzzwords. Aphrodite is one of the gods that this happens to the most.

Let us consider Hesiod’s account of her birth. Heavenly Aphrodite is born of the sea and the seed of the most primordial of beings, great Ouranos. This in itself makes Aphrodite a primordial goddess, older than all of the other Olympians.

She rose from the sea, as did all multicellular, sexually reproducing life. She had to come first so we, and also the gods themselves, could procreate. Far from being just a giggling bimbo, she has directed the course of evolution. More that just a pretty face, she is a primordial creatrix.

Aphrodite Urania is always on my mind, though I primarily honour her as Pandemos. My worship of her consists of rich floral incense, fragranced teas, chocolate, apples and pomegranates. It is with joy and thanks that I approach her shrine because by her I am truly blessed.

Speaking of her shrine, the orchid is now in bloom for the fourth time. This year are are 3 delicate pink flowers which opened one after the other, each miraculously on auspicious days which I took as a good omen:

]]> http://tendingthehearth.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/a-is-for-aphrodite/feed/ 3 tendingthehearth Aphrodite-of-Cnidus,-marble-sculpture SL371754 http://tendingthehearth.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/will-resolve-and-discipline/ http://tendingthehearth.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/will-resolve-and-discipline/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:19:13 +0000 Patch http://tendingthehearth.wordpress.com/?p=430 Continue reading →]]> Happy new year folks!! I hope 2012 will be a successful and happy year for all of you.

This is the obligatory new years resolution post! This year for once I actually thought quite hard about what I was going to pick as my resolution. I have several personal goals and an clear image of how I want to be this time next year, which I am not willing to share publicly at this time. It is going to take a lot of hard work to get to that point, but I have broken the main goal down into things I need to focus on and strive for.

The key things I need to develop in both my mundane and my spiritual life are listed above; will, resolve and discipline. In the last few months it has become painfully apparent just how much I lack these things. In my mundane life this translates as a complete lack of backbone. I cannot bring myself to say ‘no’ to people and I never speak up when I have concerns, causing them to build up until it is far too late to resolve the issue easily. In my spiritual life it translates as a shoddy devotional schedule, endless ‘lapsed’ phases and worry about what others may think.

If I can make a conscious effort to work on these things and be a grown-up about it; I know everything else will click into place.

I have been at home with my parents for the last fortnight, and was only able to bring a few basic shrine items with me in a plastic storage box. As a result, I have not been able to worship as regularly or as attentively as I would usually like. I am looking forward to being back in my own space with my altars around me once again. As time goes on I find myself able to be an armchair pagan for much shorter periods of time. After a week or so I find myself missing my practice and my time with the gods and the little itch inside me that prompts me to practice turns into an all consuming fire. I am currently trying to distract myself with religious plans for the coming year.

I got some lovely things from friends and family this year, including a pretty hanging tea light holder which I may integrate into a shrine for Hera, a gorgeous oil burner shaped like a teapot, beeswax tea lights and some myrrh oil (I prefer to burn oils in the place of incense sticks and cones as it smells nicer).

I also received enough Amazon vouchers to feed my reading addiction for a good few months. I made my first purchase with them today: Paul Huson’s Mastering Witchcraft. I AM SO EXITED!! I have wanted to read this book for months and now I finally have the disposable funds to buy it! This will technically be the first book on witchcraft that I have ever read, if you don’t count scholarly works, anthologies or encyclopaedias. Hooray for baby steps!

The next week or so is going to be extremely hectic around here, but I will return to write a real entry soon.

On Wednesday I was lounging around in bed, revelling in the fact that I didn’t have to be anywhere for hours. Suddenly I heard an odd hissing noise that pulled me out of my daydreams and made me sit bolt upright. What I had heard was actually the wings of a 7-spot ladybird. It was sitting in my offering bowl upon my altar.

This is not the first time I have found an odd insect somewhere auspicious (there was once a spider that appeared at eye level with me during a household spirit rite, only to disappear immediately after). I feel really stupid when I say things like this, but I swear that it was a concealed spirit.

The thing is, I fucking hate ladybirds. The way they suddenly fly has always scared the shit outta’ me. But this little guy walked languidly round the circumference of my offering bowl for about half an hour and so I figured I should do something. As mentioned above, I didn’t think that it was just a ladybird (in December too) and so I offered it some sandalwood incense, invited it to stick around for a short time; and performed some divination to ascertain what it wanted. The results I got were interested and corresponded with a message I had received in a ritual the night before (I hate it when stuff like that happens as it means I am unable to deny that what I am experiencing is real. My life would be so much easier if I could be an atheist, haha). I also said that I would research the ‘spiritual meaning’ of ladybirds.

It stuck around for a further half hour or so making it’s little journey around my offering bowl until I looked up the meanings, as I said I would. When I looked up again it had disappeared and I haven’t seen it since.

A second ‘woo’ happened around midnight on the same day. I was queuing with some friends to get into a club, and the queue was so dense that I couldn’t move. I was standing next to an alcove where a homeless man in a ‘happy’ dwarf mask from snow white was sheltering. He started talking to me, which made me uncomfortable; but I am not shitting you…he had one eye. He claimed he recognised my face and then asked if I knew a certain pub. I freaked slightly at that since I live OPPOSITE the pub in question. I denied knowledge of the pub. He said some other interesting things, and I really regret not having change to give him. He left soon after and wished me a good evening, and I returned the greeting in good faith.

Things like this are becoming more common for me now. I’m terrible at decent etiquette and I handle things without the grace that others seem to have; but I am blundering through.

This is something I have been dwelling on quite a lot recently in the context of my spiritual path. The Witch of Forest Grove posted this fantastic piece yesterday about fear and doubt in witchcraft and it prompted this post.

Fear is something that I have struggled with a lot. I have to admit that at times it has been utterly crippling. When I was around 15 and I first came to paganism, I somehow managed to stumble across traditional witchcraft only months after discovering paganism itself. Something resonated deeply within me and (you must excuse the cliché) called to my soul in a way that nothing else has before or since. Yet I was too young, inexperienced and fearful to actually persue that path at the time. The fear of spirits and the otherworld was so great that I couldn’t bring myself to do even the most basic of practices, and after several months of cowardice I moved on.

Years later traditional witchcraft still calls. I felt a burning desire in my heart that I could no longer ignore and a few months ago, after several signs and omens that told me that I had permission to continue; I started out (again!) on this path.

This time, the fear is not so great, but it is there all the same. I get fed little titbits of information in dreams and via omens and signs, I practice divination and carry out my devotions to my gods. However so far I have not practised anything that could be considered magic.  I still fear striking the match. I fear becoming visible to things in the dark that weren’t looking at me before.

This week I have had what I think are 2 interactions with spirits (I will hopefully have finished that post later today). Both made me uncomfortable at first but I worked past that both times. This time around I don’t have the luxury of turning away and ignoring things. This time, things are happening for me. This time, the burning desire will get so bad that if I turn away I will surely catch fire.

The kind of witch I want to be is one who breaks taboo and masters fear.

And so I remind myself that fear cuts deeper than swords.