Episode 19- Discernment, Defense and other Miscellany 06/09 by Jessica Ann | Blog Talk Radio.

 

A few words to get you thinking about your spellwork, when and why, and how to deal with issues of ethics and defense.

Episode 18- Sacrificial Kings 04/21 by Jessica Ann | Blog Talk Radio.

 

Giving some love to our  male deities, our green men and our sacrificial heroes and kings!  Also, enjoy a song from Damh the Bard.  Please enjoy and have a wonderful spring.

This was fun to read.  It shows what my simple little amateur blogging efforts have yielded.  Some of you are mentioned as commentors or referral sources.   Happy New Year to all.

 

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

http://www.garrisonphoto.org

I caught sight of a golden full moon that turned rapidly white on my drive home from work.  It hung low over a snowy landscape and it was mesmerizing for the few seconds I could look at it without sliding into anyone on the expressway.  It is darn slippery tonight.

We just got done celebrating the return of the light, and a young solar god coming back to pierce the night. Yet, lest we celebrate too soon, we have most of the wintery-est part ahead of us here.  It’s the time of the winter queen.  A lot of people focus on a crone concept of the feminine divine at this time of year and I suppose that’s fine.  But what about the queen?    What about the wisdom and our right to rule; a right we have gained by learning icy, stormy lessons?  It’s a bittersweet personal power with a hard edge; the kind that nothing can take away from us, because we earned it.  The hard way.  It’s a lonely sort of power, sort of like the loneliness of the moon in tonight’s white and black sky.

So from now on, I will celebrate the Moon of the Winter Queen each full moon after the winter solstice each year.  I imagine this will be less festive and more contemplative but it will include doing something loving and honorific for myself.   I imagine that my crown has a jewel in it for every mistake I made and hard life lesson I learned.   And, my friends, my crown has a LOT of jewels.  I have earned them, in all of the wrong ways, but to the final benefit of my growth.  In fact, I was just getting ready to make a couple of those errors all over again, and didn’t after all.   I’ll just take those lessons, and with the strength they gave me, rule.

Guys, you can get in on this too.  There must be some scratches on the armor of your youth; some notches in your sword.  You earned them, you may as well celebrate them.  Men and women both, we have some scars.  Our shields have taken some hits.  We are people of valor.  No one ever became a legend by staying home where the wind never blows.    In a nice fairy tale world, we don’t talk about our mistakes.  In the world of courage, the courage it takes to accept the blast of icy wind in your face, our hard won lessons are worthy of wearing with dignity.

Reblogged from The Wild Magic:

It's Thanksgiving here, and I was in the kitchen making dessert for the family dinner later today.  I was reminded rapidly of the importance of the senses in our magical practice.  A load of laundry was started up and the washer makes a  high pitched sort of rhythmic sound when it is in the wash cycle.  My little temple area under the stairs is within throwing distance of the washer and half the time, I have laundry going in the evenings which is coincidentally also the time I have to slip away downstairs to do my  magical work.  

Read more… 203 more words

Happy Thanksgiving

Episode 14- The Wild Hunt 10/29 by Jessica Ann | Blog Talk Radio.

 

Blessed Samhain or Happy Harvest time to all!

So, I really did end up retreating my sacred space to the place under the stairs.  This environment is big enough for my one short book case-type-thingie with three shelves (and their contents), my cauldron, the mirror I put behind the cauldron and that’s pretty much it.  Oh, and I fit in there too.  Though, standing up doesn’t work that well if I don’t want to bash my forehead on the underside of the stairs.  It does leave room for me to curl up in my nook behind my little privacy screen under the stairs, lean against the (cold) concrete wall with my legs curled under me, and do my work.  I am getting used to it and it’s going okay.  I can find things without having the bright utility room lights on.  That’s a good sign.

There’s one little issue, though.  I go into my space from time to time and find that the screen has not been disturbed, so none of the small humans have been in there.  One of the household dwellers managed to knock my mirror over sideways but I got a confession out of him.   Yet, despite the lack of “breaking and entering” evidence, unusual items keep manifesting in my cauldron.  Last week, it was little plastic green pea pods from my daughter’s toy cooking set.  On Saturday, it was a small toy frog.  A couple weeks ago, there was a pink baby sock.  I suspected my toddler instantly, but she leaves no evidence of her coming or going.  She also doesn’t disturb any other items in that area one bit.  I start to think that perhaps my child is so secretive and stealthy, she should work for the NSA.  Considering she refuses to talk, she seems like an outstanding candidate.

The answer became clear last night, however.  I had snuck down into my area when everyone upstairs was getting ready for bed.  I just wanted to collect something but it was so nice and quiet that I stayed there for a couple of minutes.  Then I heard in the kitchen above me some tiny little steps.  This can only be the baby spy.  I sat quietly and heard the basement door creek open just  a little.  I hadn’t latched it.  There was some quiet shuffling of her crawling down a couple stairs on her backside and then a “plunk” as a small rubber ball fell into my cauldron.  There is a small opening between the side of the stairs, and the wall; just perfect for tiny toys to be dropped through.  Then I heard her little giggle.  She’s a crafty one.