I really do like the design freedom that Blogger offers, however, no matter what template I use (even the standard Blogger ones) I run into problems. I also cannot get a hold of their Help Desk and I have several problems with my account itself. I have also just been informed that Comments are not working, so enough is enough, the experiment has been a complete failure and its back to Wordpress.com for me!
http://witchwoman.wordpress.com
Last time, in the first of the series What is a Hedge Witch, I covered a lot about what a hedge witch is by definition and briefly touched upon what a hedge witch does. I think, however, that there is more to delve into and so this is Part II of what is becoming The Hedge Witch Series, A Day in the Life of a Hedge Witch.
I will base this day mostly on what used to be typical of mine and what I am aiming to getting back to doing, but I'll make it a bit busier just to give you a better sense of the wide variety activities that could be done. I know point form is not the greatest thing for blogging, but I really cannot think of a better or clearer format for this, I'll refrain from adding bullets too!
Wake up, stretch and make a coffee, stand by the kitchen window, open it a crack (at least) and greet the day with a small prayer, something like:
Good morning Mother Earth,
thank you for another day,
may I percieve all the blessings you have bestown upon me
Sit with coffee and do Morning Pages, which I have mentioned before here, to get all the gookies and negative energy out of one's system.
Have a shower, with a square of cheesecloth filled with lavendar, rosemary and bay, tied off and hung from the shower head, to wash away negativity that might be clinging to the aura and physical self.
Meditate for 15 minutes, set your intentions for the day and say a wee prayer.
Now the rest of the day is filled with regular people stuff, getting kids ready and off to school, going to work, doing housework etc, but the Hedge Witch may be doing a few extras in the midst of it all such as...
a spell and quick ritual for child that is going to camp and requires a pouch:
~grab some herbs from the garden, cupbord or store
~grab three bunches of embroidery thread in the appropriate colours like red for love, green for health and black for protection
~scoop a few stones from the altar
~collect other bits and bobs, a piece of material to wrap it all in, things to consencrate it all with etc
~go to prefered working area, the garden, kitchen, dinig room table, altar and put it all together with prayers and/or chanting ( a chant may go like this: Earth and Air, Fire and Water, Give Protection, To your daughter! Stone and Wind, Flame and River, Protection now, Be delivered!)
Check existing spells and amulets around the house. Does the garlic in the kitchen window for protecting the house need replaced, do the dream catchers need a dusting, any ritual items like stones or tools that need to be buried, sat in moonlight, or soaked in water, anyones existing pouches need rechaged.
Feed the birds and/or local wildlife.
Recycle.
Do some community service, this could be anything from blogging about recent enviromental issues, donating time to the local animal shelter or even picking up garbage as one walks down the street.
Study or read up on something. Learning is an ongoing process, there are always more Gods or Goddesses, plants or herbs, animals or enviromental issues to learn more about.
Prepare for an upcoming Sabbat or Esbat. Most witches celebrate the Sabbats, which are holy days throughout the year, the Spring Equinox and Fall Equinox would be two examples, and Esbats, which are days when the moon is Full or Dark or New. To prepare most witches at least write down a loose outline as to what they will be doing to celebrate. They may also look up new (or even old) chants or spells, pull out boxes of decorations and make sure the right foods are in the house. Do I feel Part III of the series starting to form?
Make dinner. Now I am going to briefly traverse into Kitchen Witch Territory, but Hedgies do this stuff too. Before I start making dinner I light a candle near my stove and ask for blessings and protection upon my home and family. If there is food to stir I always stir desoile, clockwise, and I may add certain herbs not only for their flavours but also for their magickal properties.
We always say grace at dinner to thank the Divine for all our blessings, which I insist the household does but guests are not required to.
Family celebration of a Sabbat, this may include a fancy dinner, presents, making wishes, telling stories or doing crafts.
Children say bedtimes prayers. This is the second religious thing I insist they do, the most popular one goes like this:
Mother of all things, watch over me tonight,
Hold me in your arms, until the morning light.
Blessed be,
Mommy, Daddy, all my family and me!
Conduct a solitary ritual to celebrate a Sabbat or Esbat, my children are not allowed to participate in heavy ritual until they are at least 14 and there is no sacraficing of animals nor humans, no blood involved in any way nor is there any hexing or cursing unless I burn my finger as I try to put a candle out.
Decharge, this consists of emptying all the excessive and negative energy into a bowl or water, a rock or the dirt.
Meditate
Say my own bedtime prayer.
Well thats about it, not much different from anyone else's day really but I hope you enjoyed the read!
A day of heros and cowards and tears,
not about a nation nor a religion,
but the right to live free.
Free of fear, free of oppression, free to simply be.
Fire, smoke and twisted metal,
images embedded in our minds,
embedded in our hearts,
embedded in our souls.
All are now united,
in disbelief, in tears and in grief.
Wednesday September 10, 2008
1. Write
2. Find a good community to socialize and learn from I recommend Blogcatalog
3. Write
4. Find a template that suits you
5.Write
6. Respond to your commentators
7. Write
8. Visitor you commentator's and others blogs and comment when you have something relevant or nice to say
9. Write.
10. Add the following to your blog:
- Recent Posts
- Recent Comments
- RSS Feed
- E-mail Feed
- Labels/Tags/Categories
- An about section/post/page
- A few relevant or worth while links
- Archives
12. Have fun
13. Write
Crunching brown leaves beneath my feet
reminds me how to play
Russet, gold and green
reminds me how to dream
The smell of woodsmoke in the air
reminds me to stay close
The bounty that surrounds me
reminds me to just be
And the frost from my breath
reminds me to be thankful
Tuesday September 9, 2008
Due to my putzing around with the blog, I may have completely messed up the RSS Feed, if you are having any problems you may have to re-subscribe.
Also the E-mail Feed is missing, as is the Twitter, I will fix these tomorrow.
And due to nothing I have done, this particular template does not seem to have a date header above the posts, if anyone knows how to fix this please tell me.
And I am sorry for any inconvience this all may have caused.
Yesterday was my birthday, so I am now 37 and need to update my About page. It wasn't a bad day, I don't mind getting older, I just mind when I feel older. My husband took the kids to the dollar store and they each got me something; a fake mini orchid plant (to maybe make up for the real and beautiful one the cats knocked over and killed?), three stones each engraved with a word: Happiness, Love and Kisses (I collect rocks and stones) and a stuffed witch from my 10 year old (because the Halloween stuff is out and every witch should have her own witch?). My Dad and step-mother came over after dinner, McDonald's so I didn't have to cook, and brought me an ice cream cake and a card with $50.00 in it.
I am very torn about the money, we need to pay bills, money was spent on McDonald's which should not have been, our computer is completely fried and needs to be taken in to be repaired and we are currently using our daughter old one. But its supposed to be for me and I desperately need clothes, but I know I will feel guilty if I do buy something for myself, even if everyone says I should not.
I also went to have a coffee with one of the mom's down the street, that I met when school started, as everyone one the street has to meet at the same place for the school bus. She, we'll call her Deb, seems like a very nice lady. She gave me a birthday card and my son some hand me down pants , but is definately a bit of an alcoholic. Some of the moms bring their mugs of coffee with them as we traipse these children about, hers has wine in it. Yesterday, in the hour I was there, she had two glasses of wine and filled her mug as we left to go grab the kids. I like her though, she is very straight forward and honest. Her one statement did concern me though, about another mom on the street that lives directly across from us, she said and I quote "I like to drink but at least I look after my kids."
Now I don't actually know the woman across the way but I don't like her, didn't like her even before Deb said what she said. Nothing has really happened nor has she said anything to me other than good morning and have a good day, but my spidey senses are tingling.
I consider myself a Hedge Witch, not a Wiccan, so lets clarify that first. I'll use a well known religion for a comparison; imagine Christianity is a tree, Catholic is one branch, Anglican another branch and Baptist yet another. Now we have the Pagan tree, Wicca is a branch, Druid is another branch and Green, Cottage, Kitchen and Hedge Witchery (though all somewhat different) yet another branch. Pagans refer to the different branches as Traditions.
Now before I go any further, let me say that as with all things Pagan, the opinion and answers you receive will be different for almost every practitioner you ask, so these are my definitions which are probably different from someone else's.
Some believe that certain prerequisites must be met before one can call themselves a Hedge Witch, some of those are:
- one must be initiated by a coven and now be solitary
- one must be able to engage in spirit flight and journey into the Other World
- one must able to go into the Other World and call back the souls of those who are about to die or at the very least be able speak with those who have passed beyond
- one should be associated with a bird, usually a raven, crow or goose
The term Hedge Witch is generally believed to related to the village witches of old and comes from the fact that your average European village, in time gone by, was surrounded by a hedge or woods. Beyond that hedge was unknown land that was beyond their known confines and comforts. The village witches of this era usually lived just beyond or just before this hedge. The hedge was a seen as a barrier, both realistically and metaphorically, between this world and Other Worlds.
Now, I must digress for a moment and mention in passing that a common definition for Shaman is "one who walks in both worlds" or "a walker between the worlds". And there are witches and others who are not Shamans, yet use shamanic techniques, meaning they also do journeys and go into trance states to travel to Other Worlds.
So a Hedge Witch uses shamanic techniques, with the hedge as a metaphor, to travel to other worlds or realms.
This term didn't mean just that though. It also denoted that said witch was an herb worker, a healer, because they spent much time in the hedge or woods looking for the herbs necessary to heal or enchant.
So now you know where the term came from, but what does a hedge witch do?
A hedge witch may learn their trade or craft by word of mouth, some from a family member or another village/local witch or be self-taught. One may learn ways to learn from nature, such as listening to the winds or watching cloud formations or the movement of birds. Studying trees, flowers and herbs may also be done.
One would celebrate the sabbats by the change of the seasons and not by a Wheel of the Year or a date on a calender. More than likely they would have other Holy days besides the sabbats.
They may or may not worship Gods and Goddesses as hedge witches all view the Divine differently. I personally only focus on the female aspects and women's mysteries and worship only Goddesses. I also honour my ancestors by only dealing with the Celtic pantheon, again these are my personal choices and will be different for almost every witch.
Hedge witchery does have some common threads; one being that magick isn't just about spells and potions, it is in your morning coffee, in a gentle touch from your lover, in the complex beauty of a leaf, and in hundreds of thousands of other seemingly "mundane" things. This concept has been phrased as "Life is magick, and magick is life". I do craft spells and potions though, a healing pouch for a friend that is ill, a protective pouch for a family member who is going away or a spell to insure that all goes well and is on time for a move.
Another commonly accepted theme is practicality and simplicity. Hedge witches are a very practical group of people and from that practicality comes simplicity. I think in that simplicity, away from the athames, the pentacles, and silver plated chalices; we are able to connect more fully to the natural forces. All too often people get lost in the symbols and forget their meanings.
I know alot of pagans, when investigating a new path, that first want to know what toys (tools) a tradition uses. In keeping with the hedge witch way, a hedge witch uses a variety of tools, some ornate and fancy but most of them practical and useful.
My personal tool set consists of: an athame (dull knife), a chalice, a boline (sharp knife), a walking stick, and a stone. These tools I consecrated by earth (I buried each tool for a day), air(I left them out above ground during a full moon), fire (I held each in a flame for as long as the materials aloud), water (I submerged each in the bay) and for spirit i asked the blessings of the Goddess and Faeries upon them.
Most hedge witches, my self included, are very ethical people, though most do not follow any one Rede as Wiccans do. They usually have basic lines they, individually, will not cross.
Hedge witches are charmers, healers, and, priestesses and generally considered free spirits. Hedge craft is a very eclectic path, mostly because it depends on each witch as to how it is practiced.
I am really really happy with the look of my blog at this point. It's minimal but not too bland and I love my Mr. Toad!
Over the next few days I will still be tweaking and adjusting and adding a thing here and there, and if you have any suggestions please feel free to make them. Thank you my readers who have hung tough and I hope you like the look as much as I do!
All this web designing got me thinking about stereotypes and how many each of us are pegged with on a daily basis.
Let's see what I would look/be like if I actually did fall into all my stereotypes. Well first off I am a witch, so I think old, wrinkled, warts, green skin (that would be interesting think I'd rather have lavendar coloured skin), big nose hunched over. I would probably be very wise, yet mean or stingy about that wisdom and I'd have to have killed someone somewhere with a poisoned apple.
Next I am an artist, bohemian, intense, paint splattered (well that kinda fits), willowy and wear a beret (over my dead and bleeding body).
Then a soccer mom driving in my mini van, which I actually do have, in polyester pants, flat sensible shoes and a watch (I never waer mine). My house would be perfect and always smell like fresh baked cookies and we'd have wine at dinner everynight (I am allergic to wine). But everyones love me because I contribute to every cause there is with my time.
So, I must be in my 50's, but very sun dried with a big nose and perfect makeup and perfect hair under my beret. My polyester pants are paint spattered but concealed beneath my cloak. I am wise, intense and drugged out but too busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off to hand out any of those wonderful poisoned chocolate chip cookies I made.
and yes these are real and really about me, Witch Woman:
I still can't tie my laces the "big girl way" I make bunny loops etc.
I cannot whistle
I smoke cigarettes, a pack a day (don't bother lecturing me I am not listening)
I drink gallons of coffee everyday
I hate socks and shoes and go barefoot as often as I can
I would rather plunk my arse down on the grass/ground than on a chair or bench, I prefer the
feel of the earth beneath me
I often sit on my front lawn, cross-legged, watching the kids, waiting for hubby etc.
I don't drink or do drugs at all
I can't stand getting over heated, it makes me sick to my tummy
I get car sick
On one occasion I tripped over a dead body and another occasion I found a dead body
One of my births was by emergency C-section, one natural and the other three with drugs
My entire wardrobe is black and I wear black everyday. Some think I am in mourning, or depressed or it's because I am a witch; the truth is I am partly colour blind and would rather not dress funny
I sleep with a rag doll every night, with rough wooly hair, under my chin so I can feel the scritchy-ness
I make my children say grace and bedtime prayers everyday
I love foggy days
I am a morning person
I grind my teeth while I sleep, probably because I have something scritchy under my chin
Bright lights hurt my head, so everyone says we live in a cave
The room usually stops when I enter it (on social occasions)
When I yell I sound like a drill-sergent
I am an alto
I was accepted at the Toronto School of the Arts when I was 13, but did not attend
I used to astral travel
I was the first female in Canada to win the Craftsman's Award, for graphic arts, back in grade 10
In the year 2001 there was 9/11, ten days later my paternal grandmother died and 7 days after that my mother died
I can read tarot and regular cards as well as tea leaves, with a fair amount of accuracy (don't ask me for a reading, they generally do not work long distance)
Wicca found me, in a bookstore, when a book, The Witches Bible, fell on my head, literally
I have never fainted
I have never been out of Canada and have only been in my own province and Quebec
To my readers, I know this last week has kinda sucked, but I have had a breakthrough on the design of this blog and after today we will be getting down to the knitty-gritty, so please just hang tight!
Everything seems to be settling in. The kids like their new school and mornings are running smoothly for the most part, my teen is doing well with her schedule as well. I am now here at Blogspot and also settling in the new house.
I managed to get a "Command Central" going in the nook at the top of the stairs. Theres is a two tiered table, the top for writing things out and dumping incoming/outgoing papers on, the bottom to hold three magazine holders which serve to hold stationary, incoming mail and the local phone book as well as a small tin bucket holding pencils, pens and a pad of paper and a wee chest that holds our index cards with all of our recipes, phone numbers and addresses. I have hung a corkboard and perpetual calendar on the wall beside the table. I also grabbed three hatboxes that were on sale that now sit on the floor kinda in front but off to one side of the table. In the biggest bottom one we now have all our spare pens, pencils, erasers and index cards, in the medium middle one are the batteries, tape, paperclips etc and in the small top one, the stuff we grab most often, calculator, digital camera and change jar.
It's so quiet in here you could hear a pin drop, but it is bliss. To be able to breath, to be able to think, to be able to just be.
I am still struggling to find a look for my blog that reflects me. I may be wrong, but I think this is vitally important.
Although I do like Wordpress.com it is simply not cutomizable enough for my liking and will not allow me to express my creativity in a way that I wish to.
I do hope that my readers will follow and support me in this move.
My house is only approximately twenty years old. The previous occupants were the original ones and no one has died in the house.
However, I keep sensing at least one presence, possibly two. I am catching shadows out of the corner of my eye, smelling odors, that are not unpleasant, yet out of place and I can feel them.
So my next question is, could it be land spirits? What was here before the house, street, town?
There is a river 3 side streets over, the Nottawasaga River. The name is Iroquois for "mouth of the river" and in 1665 a major battle in the French and Iroquois Wars occured here. Also, in the war of 1812, another major battle took place here as well, this time between the Americans and the British.
I will have to be more observant of our fellow residents, to see if I can figure out what their origins may be.
We have 10 cats. Persy (Persephone) and her 3 kittens Raven, Mooch and Flower; Tey Tey (Hecate) and her daughter Annabelle; Minerva and her kitten Toffee; and the boys Spooky and Bandit. Spooky and Bandit we made sure were neutered and we were going to get the girls spayed as we go, except for an unfortunate visit from my mother-in-law and her male un-neutered cat which resulted in most of the kittens.
Now I love cats, adore them, so did not have the heart to give all the kittens away at 8 weeks as we should have, but they are all indoor cats, well looked after and no more un-neutered visitors allowed. I have 3 large litter boxes on the go, all of which I scoop twice a day. We have 10 cat dishes and 1 very large water bowl. My house is clean and does not smell.
But having more than 3 cats is against the by-laws in my town and most landlords (including our new one) have a clause in their lease of having no pets, this is illegal and not enforcable.
Yesterday my new landlord called to ask if we had any cats, I said no, just because I do not want any problems. She reminded me that my lease said my pets allowed and then informed me that my old landlord called her and informed her we have numerous cats and that they (the old lanlords) were going to call the by-law officers and have them all taken away, which they can do.
So, as my heart is breaking, my husband and I decided to give 7 of our cats to the local non-euthanizing shelter, I will be taking Persy, Raven, Mooch, Flower, Tey Tey, Annabelle and Minerva in later today. Please send your good energy, thoughts and prayers to my furbabies.
I am so tired
too tired to get up again
too tired to move again
too tired to care again
too tired to fight again
I am so tired
I just want to lay down
and stay down
and not care
All that is visable in our room is the bed, two bedside tables, a candlestick holder, an antique fan, two clocks (one is a wind up), two ashtrays and the celtic cross above our bed.
Now I can hear people say but where's all the stuff? The water bottles, kleenex, stuff from your pockets the night before, t.v., vcr and converters, dressers and clothes for pete's sake! Well, as I undertake this minimalist task room by room, I will tell you all the little secrects they do not.
Under each side of our bed is a shallow 8 x 12 tupperware container minus the lid, this is where we stash the heartburn medicine, converters, kleenex and stuff from our pockets. I have completely reorganized our closet and no longer need a dresser. Everything is hung up except our socks, underware and pyjamas which are sorted into bins that sit on the floor. All hubbies stuff is on the left, mine on the right and in the middle is the t.v., vcr and dvd player on a slim tv stand. It works very well and I can close the closet door on that damn t.v.!
I am frozen.
I am frozen in a myriad of ways.
I am frozen with fear.
I am frozen with the fear of success and fear of failure, as a writer/blogger, as an artist, as a mother, as a person.
I am frozen with the fear that I am truly insane, just like my mother, and that people will start to realize this and laugh at me behind my back.
I am frozen with fear at the thought of taking that one last step into my spirituality, my religion, my beliefs, as I fear I will never come back.
I am frozen with fear that here, where I am, is not worth coming back to anyhows.
I am frozen with fear thinking that this is in fact it, there is no more, my potential has been maximized and I have nothing left to learn or give.
My heart, however, is almost thawed.