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

Admittedly I'm a fili so I'm biased. Poems for all things. Tyrant killing us all? Poem. Need to know if you'll win the war? Poem. Lost your socks? Poem loudly declaring the house fae to be little shits.

 

I have to say, slam poetry spellwork is among the coolest shit ever and I have mad respect for people who can come up with stuff like that on the fly.

 

...
so like, anyone tried "i lik the bred" spells yet

 

No, but now I kind of want to. It's got to be at least as fun as editing Hamilton lyrics.

 

I haven't because I can't follow meters like that if I fucking tried.


One of the Coru Cathubodua priestesses has spoken on advice regarding cursing Trump. And she raises a very, very, very good point at least where I am concerned. Man took a sovereignty oath. It's one of the first things I attacked in my satire. There's some other bits, but from my thing the sovereignty aspect is the best angle to go after him. Granted that's because I come from something where kings and kingly behavior are very, very, very important. The Morrígan flies about angrily screaming about sovereignty.

 

Not a spell exactly, but I definitely sure did write an offering-prayer to Brigid for my Imbolc ritual this year in that style

 

omfg that's so perfect

 

Working on a fan tarot deck for Kencyrath. The current list is here. Some things are set in stone and I refuse to change them, but the bulk of it needs to be worked on and changed and settled. The list must be balanced nicely god dammit.

 

I'm so glad

 

can i help

 

yes of course you can

 

Opened it to being edited by others too because fuck it. Only thing I ask is that you don't delete anything I wrote. And just kind of add onto the thing. In addition to whatever talking we do over here and what not.

 

I didn't know we had a witchy thread hi
I'm probably wiccan, but I say pagan to save the problem of people giving me shit about wiccan stuff.
I have to rebuild my book collection and supplies, since they all had to disappear when I lived with dad, but away from him I'm slowly setting up my altar again. I used to have a couple mentors and at the time I just focused on the triple moon goddesses. However, I am trying to decide if I want to focus on Celtic or Greek, for my goddess(es)
I focus a lot on my tarot reading, since I've had the best divination with it. But for now, just trying to slide back into things and hopefully find a coven in my city.

 

which celtic

or just like all of thems

I can only really help with Irish goddesses, and some Scottish takes on those figures. Bear in mind all my stuff is coming from a reconstructionist background and definitely not as Wiccan one, though. Still if you've questions I'm more than happy to try and help.

 

The celtic goddess that stand out to me in interest are Arianrhod, Cerridwen, Aine, and Olwen

 

Áine is the only one of that bunch that is Irish and thus the only one I can really say anything about.

So Áine is sadly a figure we don't have too many mentions of. We do know that she was important enough to have several locations in Ireland named after her. This is Kind Of A Big Thing. It's suspected and believed my quite a few that the goddesses who have places named after them (or were named after places) are tutelary goddesses. So protective goddesses of that place. In some cases we find evidence that these places are literally considered to be their bodies, as is the case with the Paps of Anu. Places named after Áine include: Cnoc Áine, Dun Áine, Lios Áine, another Cnoc Áine in Donegal and Tobar Áine. So there's not just a bulk of places with her name but over a series of counties. Several important families claim ancestry from her as well, a sort of recurring theme with Irish myth and folklore. I can, at the least, trace mine back to Donn as can everyone who is even slightly Irish, for example. Donn being a god of the underworld who rules a home where the human dead travel after death.

That said what we do know about Áine connects her to the warmer half of the year and the sun. Along with her sister Grian they are the closest we have to "sun gods" that I've found. My personal conception of this is as follows...Áine and Grian are the daughters of Egobail. They've other siblings, namely their brother Áileen who was slain by Fionn mac Cumhail. Áine comes with the warm, bright half of the year. That is summer and spring. Midsummer is her Big Day given that it is the one with the single longest period of light in the year, as well as the day on which you pay Manannán mac Lir rent for his granting you rains and the sea. However at fall and through winter Áine switches off her sun and harvest related duties with her sister Grian. Áine also has associations with sovereignty, which is fitting given that the harvest depends on her blessing. As a sovereignty goddess Áine is able to grant a king the right to rule or take it away and bring he and his people to ruin. We see this in the case of Ailill Aulom who raped her. She bit his ear off, thus blemishing him and removing his right to rule. There are other stories involving her being raped after which she curses the man in question. This aspect of her, as someone who dispenses fatal and painful justice I feel is very important to keep in mind with her. It is through their graces that there is peace and prosperity. To upset the balance of sovereignty is criminal.

A note to make, is that the idea of two goddesses who switch off between the halves of the year are also associated with Bríghid and An Cailleach Bheur due to Scottish folklore. Again you have two goddesses, one is the warm sun and seasons and the other is the cold sun and seasons. The Cailleach is specifically described as being a very harsh and at times malevolent hag. The Morrígan is also at times associated with the cold half of the year given her heavy association with Samhainn, the beginning of winter. Like the Cailleach she is in all her various appearances described as very harsh and it's noted that she's a war goddess. We don't know much about Grian save that she may have been Áine's sister and that there is a Cnoc Gréine named after her opposite of a Cnoc Áine.

As far as interacting with them goes, I tend towards considering the offering to be the primary way in which we interact with them. So giving her bits of food or drink, perhaps even non-food gifts like jewelry. Another thing to do could be to devote specific activities to her or to learn skills that have anything to do with her at all. Along with interacting with the gods, I feel there's an importance in keeping in good with the non-god beings out there. Namely the Fair Folk and your ancestors. Offerings to these two things tend to be in general, as opposed to specific. I personally when offering to general beings use the phrase "To the Gods and Ungods" prior to making the offering.

On the handling of offerings, with drink the standard procedure is to pour it out or to let it evaporate. With food you can burn it, drown it, or bury it. It must not be eaten as the beings it was offered to have eaten the vital substance of the food, called toradh. Objects like jewelry, gardening tools, and the like aren't to be used by you or other humans. I personally have my things I've given sitting on an altar and they are never used. Ever. There is precedent in the archaeological findings for the idea that offerings of that sort are to be broken as well. These also tended to be buried or drowned. I do the sitting things on my altar thing though because I can't really dig up a hole and just start tossing a bunch of game pieces into it.

General good offering ideas for Irish gods are: fruits, milk, dairy products, baked goods, porridge/oatmeal, and alcohol.

 

I did "springtime pls come faster" nail polish last week. Leaf green with blue-and-silver glitter for dewdrops. Can't decide what to do next. I haven't used the purple or blue in a while.

I'm trying to get involved with the r/pagan subreddit. Bracing myself for rejection because I don't pray or meditate or give offerings (unless caring for living things counts.)

 

The second to last chapter of The Book of the Great Queen is all about warrior initiation rite possibilities that we may be able to gather from the records. Which means more Cú Chulainn. Others too. And like archaeology and shit but

more cú chulainn

i love cú chulainn

I LOVE CÚ CHULAINN SO FUCKING MUCH.

 

in which we wonder if my cú chulainn and fedelm problem is related to my war goddesses problem

and the answer to both is probably "yes of course you idiot"

 

I know the name Cu Chulainn, but who/what is fedelm?