The Crafts: Wixes, Spells, and the Weaponized Placebo Effect

Several important gaelic myths are about people stealing other people's cattle, the gaels are little overboard in their cow appreciation.

 

No. No they were not. They get cows. Cattle raids are important fucking shit ok. COWS WERE THE BACKBONE OF THE IRISH ECONOMY. THEY WERE THE BREATHE OF LIFE IN THEIR BOGGY HELL ISLAND. And those myths are about the fanciest coolest cows to have ever been. The magical super cows. THAT EXPLODE.

It is beautiful.

Exploding cows. This part of the country is named so because the loins of the dead super cow landed there. Beautiful.

Granted I am entirely biased because again. Gaelpol.

 

So uh I kinda took my sweet time in joining this thread cause I had to go through all of it (thats just how I roll) and cause I haven't been feeling real witchy lately. But i am here with herbalism and also I updated the hell out of the gods list with the jewish prophets and ancestors and heroes.

 

Yeah in context they weren't but compared to everyone else the gaels were really into cows. also i had no idea abt exploding cows and cow loins, thats beautiful.

 

the others just don't know

 

They are not attuned to the spiritual glory of the cow.

Also does anyone want to hear about the bathroom spirit I coexisted peacefully with for about 4 months?

 

Yes :D

 

I'm abt to go to bed so I'll write it up tomorrow. Bug me if I don't.

 

Okay so first, context. This was last summer, and to no one's surprise New England is like Satan's ballsack in the summer, hot and muggy. So after the obligatory cajoling and begging and with reluctance Dad sets up the upstairs air conditioner. Now because our upstairs bathroom isn't very well insulated and we like to keep the window open a little to prevent it turning into a rainforest when we shower we always keep the bathroom door closed when the ac is on. Exposition over, now the fun part

Bathroom Spirit (aka Bathroom Ghost)

So the first evidence I have of Bathroom ghost is twofold. First, the br door started jamming unless I knocked first. This wasn't odd in and of itself, our house is around 90 years old and wood swells in the heat and humidity. This had never happened before though so it was a little strange. Additionally I started getting the feeling that there was something/one there when I was in the bathroom, particularly when I showered.
Now I know what you're thinking, 'Dude, that sucks. You had a pervy ghost for a summer!' Actually no, I never felt perved on by the ghost. The spirit was actually very polite, and wanted privacy to be respected, both it's own and others'.
So I did what any beginner witch with a specialization in protection spells and a firm belief in something of the Pratchett style of practical witchcraft would do. I talked to it. I talked to it while I showered, telling it about my life and what I did that day, and sometimes about my anxiety and shit.
(part 1, will do more later)

 

Oh dear.

So, I don't have my interpretation booklet for the Favole tarot any more, and, for those who don't know it - it's got different minor arcana. Roses, Masks, Butterflies, and Crosses instead of the classic Swords, Staves, Cups, and Pentacles/Coins.
And it appears I have been grossly misreading my spreads because I misremembered which corresponds to which. I thought it was Roses - Cups, Masks - Staves, Butterflies - Pentacles/Coins, Crosses - Swords. Roses - Cups was right, the rest was not, instead it's Masks - Coins, Crosses - Staves, and Butterflies - Swords.
Welp.

 

why would you make a sword a butterfly, anyway

if the interps you were getting with your suit system made sense, I say keep doing that. Don't underestimate intuition, etc, etc

 

IMO it doesn't so much matter what you do as long as you're consistent about it. Definitely not everyone agrees, but I've never felt like the cards had to have an objective meaning that didn't come out of your dialogue with them.

 

Lughnasad is coming up. It is storming near my quadrants and has been for a bit. But not near me.

this means something

 

Soooo I caved and bought some new rocks the other day at the rock/new agey shop near a friend's place and the whole time I was drawn to quartz. This doesn't surprise me as I have loved quartz from a very young age (one of my favorite rocks as a kid was what looks like a Quartz geode that my dad had when he was a kid and eventually gave to me)

The ones I got at the shop were an amethyst, prasiolite, and aura quartz. The lady there tried to sell me on the meanings and stuff but honestly I feel like the meanings will come to me? Like the aura quartz feels more like a soothing stone for my anxiety, since I do feel pretty good when I'm holding it. I'm not sure what the amethyst and prasiolite will be for, but I'm planning on sitting with them sometime soon.

 

ikr??

I mapped them in a way that made sense in my own head, and since I basically ditched the booklet very early and have been mapping them that way for years? But I'll re-check the interpretations against the official mapping and see what I'll get.
And probably re-ask some more recent questions with a different deck.

 

Tomorrow is Lughnasad. The day was made to honor the sacrifice of Lugh's foster mother Tailtiu who die preparing the fields of Ireland for harvest. It's a big day for him, but I feel it is most important to remember why he made the day special. Family is very important to Lugh, after all.

It's a day for farmer and gardeners to fuss about things. A day for physical competition too! All the sports games! All of them. It's also a day for matchmaking and praying about relationships in general. If you've relationship shit you want help with then Lughnasad is your day.

I sadly won't be able to make it to a top of a hill for this one. He's getting food though. Berries in particular. Man loves his berries.

 

I'm getting into panpsychism, can that be connected to this?

 

Decided to go out on a bike ride this morning. I found a red tailed hawk feather near my bike before I went out. I associate these birds very heavily with Lugh, and they've guided me on every Lughnasad thus far. The feather is sitting at his spot, resting against his go bowls. Today is going to be a good Lughnasad. I can feel it in my bones.

 

Finally finished catching up to this thread!

I'm a GaelPol, primarily, with a very strong devotion to Brigid and a long-term study relationship with Manannan. I also have some pop culture pagan Feelings, primarily about Tolkien. My whole household is varying degrees of pagan/witchy, which is nice.

We are doing our Lughnasad things this coming weekend bc Finances worked out that way - I feel the least guilty about moving this date around, since apparently it was one of the most historically flexible holidays? I do not personally get along with Lugh much at all (:/) but Tailtiu means a lot to us, esp my wife, and the general cultural meaning is really good, and we came up with a really cool outline-of-the-day for our family, so I'm super excited.

Also, thanks to this thread - I went digging through my still only half unpacked stuff to find all my tarot decks so I could do that cool interview spread with them. Turns out I have one deck that needed rehomed (has been passed off to a local pagan group), one deck that is looking pretty promising for personal growth/discovery work, and then...

I still had my first deck I'd ever bought, although I'd just been carrying it around from house to house for four-ish years bc I'd sworn some of the cards were missing. I'd kept it all this time because it was my first deck, and the symbolism meant a lot, and I figured I could use the cards as spell components since they had a lot of energy and meaning invested in them. But I dug it out too, just so I could go through the cards for nostalgia's sake.

Turns out all the cards were there. Nothing's missing. And the deck is very awake and alive.

So, between studying the new deck and working with the overflowing energy of the old deck, I'm suddenly doing a LOT more divination lately. Yay?

 

Tailtiu is the most important part of the day really so I feel that's better? Like praying to Lugh and giving him stuff on it is a thing, but he made the day to honor his foster mother.