Helping humankind live with the earth not against it
I loved all the responses for the December giveaway! I hope you are all inspired to go out and find new fun ways to help out in the community!
The winner is….. BREE! Congratulation!
To everyone that entered you also won! Send me an email and I will send you your copy of Kai Altairs Mama Ocean Song!
There is very little change in the amount of daylight between summer and winter solstice where I live, but I enjoyed an excellent time with friends and family and good food!
DECEMBER 2013 GIVEAWAY
Dates: 12/1 – 12/27
Question: Google “citizen science” and your city/town or region and let me know if there are any projects in your area, and if any of them seem interesting. If not that is ok just say there aren’t any!
Comment with your answer or if you don’t feel comfortable for whatever reason email me with the subject line DECEMBER GIVEAWAY.
Last entry will be accepted on 12/27 winner announced within 1-2 days and you have until 1/5/14 to email me your address!
Prize:
Drawing type: Random Number from all qualifying answers!
Please refer to giveaway rules:
#1: answer question
#2: answer between dates given
#3: check back to claim your prize
#4: pay attention to restrictions on shipping
#5: no bitching (have fun!)
#6: open to everyone (see #4) so feel free to share
#7: Reviews are good, review if you care inclined.
(more details on the RULES post)
A while back I wrote a post about reusing the leftover wax from the tea lights I use in my daily practice. I pondered what to do with the tins from the tea lights since it seemed like a total waste to just throw them out. Scarlet (of Lakefront Pagan Voice) came to the rescue! She pointed me to her video:
Now I have new candles sitting on my alter cooling and I am so excited to use them! I took some photos of my progress today, and thought I would share them. I tried to reuse as many of the clips as possible but… I might just go buy more. It was super frustrating to unbend them. The ones I bought had long wicks and I trimmed them and then used the extra wick with the old clips.
Due to my lack of consistent access to witchy/metaphysical shops I have been day dreaming about my ideal shop. I went into several in New Orleans and they struck me as places that sell a lot of finished products, but that’s never what I am looking for. I would want to pick up the supplies to do the spells and make the things myself.
My shop would assume you do your own spells and would sell you any last minute supplies you might need. For example, I grow a lot of my own herbs. My shop would have some gardening supplies, enough to just get you started with a planter garden, as well as dried herbs in case you need something right now. I love cute plant labels for the garden I would totally love to have those for sale too. My shop would also have local almanacs, and plant ID books, and foraging guides. I don’t think it would have starts, but seeds for sure of the classic plants that get used in witch craft. Garden gloves, and shovels and small bits and pieces. Not a nursery but just enough to get you started, and a few things the veteran gardener might need or want.
My shop would not only have some stones and crystals for sale, but local rock hounding guides and supplies. Mineral ID kits, and roadside geology books, rock hammers, and sample bags. Maybe even have a space for local rock hounds to sell their finds in the store with stories about where they are from. That’s the sort of samples I would buy for sure!
My ideal shop would have a kitchen section that would have kitchen tools used in magic. Mortal and Pestles of all shapes and sizes would be a must, along with nice wooden spoons and cauldrons for outdoor cooking and cute copper kettles and empty jars for storing herbs and good solid knives and cutting boards. Basically cute but durable kitchenware, since you spend a lot of time in there. Also some cook books, focused on local and seasonal cooking.
Supplies to make and burn incense of a variety of types would be awesome. I got a little carried away when it came to tools and started to also think about classes. I would love to take a class in making my own knife, so there would have to be supplies for that, and maybe a collection of locally made knives.
Brooms would be a combination of decorative and particle but all very well made and classes in how to make them. Lots of carrier oils, and a variety of little bottles and labels for them, candle making supplies along with candles. Also a section for curios for root workers.
If you can’t already tell books would be from all over the Dewey Decimal System, and a place to sit and look through them. Also since keeping a grimoire or book of shadows requires something to write in, blank books and book making supplies!
Maybe there would even be a “witch of the month” to sell pre-made things, but overall an emphasis on supplies. It would be a local mom and pop hardware/craft/garden/book store. That is the kind of place I would spend a ton of money. Employees would have to be trained to be humble and helpful and never pretentious. It would be the sort of place that if you were new to the area you could find out everything you needed to know to really enjoy and make the most of where you live. Plant and animal guides and maybe even hiking guides! My ideal shop that I wish existed everywhere I move to.
Maybe one day I will retire from research and make this store a reality. But that would be a long way off so I will keep day dreaming about my ideal store. With classroom space or meeting space in back and not a far drive (maybe even biking distance) from my house with chickens and dogs and maybe even a llama and goose.
Is it really the 29th already!?
I had way too much fun with friends last night to be of any use today. I wanted to share the pie I made though. We have an avocado tree in the yard and when it goes… it goes. With avocados everywhere I decided to try my hand at an avocado pie. I have made avocado tart pie things before and they were really good.
I used this recipe sort of: HERE with a few changes.
1/2 cup raw coconut oil
1/2 cup hot coco powder (we used Ghirardelli)
1 cup coconut milk
2/3 cups honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 avocado (2 ripe avocados for mainland varieties)
1 pre-baked 9-inch pie shell (we made a vegan crust but forgot to pre-cook it)
1. In a saucepan, melt the coconut oil and stir in the hot chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in the coconut milk, honey and salt, and heat until warm. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
2. cut and mash the avocado and then pure into a blender with the chocolate mix. Pulse blend until smooth.
3. poor into crust and refrigerate for it to set. (we forgot to pre-cook the pie crust so we threw it in the oven and it was still awesome just warm and runny….)
It was amazingly delicious! I am defiantly going to try it again and this time do it right!
The winner of the November giveaway is…… PAUL! His answer to the question “what is your favorite landform” was stromatolites!
I was going to write about something a little on the long side, but a movie I wanted to see came in the mail today so it is going to be short. Here is a super crazy idea I had. I love the Asterix and Obelix comics. I checked out every single one the library had when I was growing up and bought one when I was in France. I even own a movie!
Now for my crazy idea. I am pretty damn french in my heritage and I got curious about Gaul and Gaulish religions. I remember references to Julius Caesar writing about the Druids in France, and a cautionary note to remember who he was and who he was writing too…. and therefore take those writings with a large chunk of salt. However, I am curious about the cultural knowledge today about druids in Gaul. So then I got the idea that in Asterix and Obelix the characters would be stereotypes based on current cultural understanding. I’m not saying I am going to take them literally but I thought it would be a fun exercise to treat the comics like a sort of source material story (like fairy tales) and see what sort of picture I could draw about druids in Gaul. So I am going to try it! We’ll see what happens!
Meditations on the Path of Knowledge
Reminder: Enter the November contest by tomorrow 11/27!
I think we all have an idea about what constitutes as a magical practice. I however feel like almost anything can be converted into part of your path. I am going to list a few of mine and I would have to hear what unconventional things you do that you consider part of your practice.
Music:
I know that doesn’t sound like it is very unconventional but hear me out. I am not talking about playing music as part of a ritual or even listening to chat or religious music. I find singing to be a very meditating activity as well as playing music. If you think about it, in singing you are doing breath control and focused on one thing. For me it helps get air moving through my body and clear my mind. I also have a few songs that to me have a feeling that sometimes I find useful. Some of these are classical music pieces, and others are pop songs. The ones I use to get myself into different head spaces change with time but I find it very useful. Combing these two can be powerful as well. Even if you think you cant sing, there is always the shower and driving by yourself to try it out.
Hiking/walking:
This is another big one for me. Most of my life my regular practice involved walks in the woods. When I was a baby pagan there was a tree in the park I used to walk down to. It was off the path a little ways but I knew which downed log to walk back on. I would climb up in that tree and just sit there listening to the woods around me. When I went to college I walked through the arboretum to school every day and made that my personal time. I had room mates that I could have talked with but I preferred to walk alone. You can also if you are on a hike somewhere with friends take a minute (under the guise of a rest if you have to) to just be in that moment in the wild space you are in. Really feel the movement of the earth.
Swimming:
This one is new. I have never lived somewhere that swimming outside was doable year round. It is amazing how calming just jumping in the ocean is. It doesn’t really take long to get me out of the downward spiral you get into worrying about your day and make you very present. I have always felt water to be very calming but never liked the chlorine feeling after being in a pool for long time periods. I have also when available found similar satisfaction with hot springs. I have nothing against pools they are awesome for swimming laps but in terms of centering me and bring me to the present in a spiritual context they are not ideal for me.
Teaching/Volunteering:
I lumped these together because to me they both represent giving selflessly. One is to others directly and the other is to the community and environment. I started the podcast as a gift. I was inspired by the gifting culture of Burning Man. If you haven’t noticed there is no donate button on my site. I have experimented with selling items on etsy to help offset the cost but my heart isn’t in it. I like it more as a gift. I feel bad sometimes that I can’t spend more time, energy, and money on the podcast, but c’est la vie. It is what it is, and I can’t give more than I have. I also in the same vein arguable don’t really have time to volunteer but I do it anyways. It tends to make my weekend a bit hectic but it is something I consider important. Giving without expecting anything in return is hard (its the second part that is hard) but it is very rewarding. Give to your community and give to others. Praise counts as being given something back. Try it without expecting any recognition. We are social creatures it is definitely challenging and is something that I work hard at to fight within myself to accomplish.
Learning:
We owe it to ourselves to be lifelong scholars. Some of us are called to learn in different areas than others. Never assume you are done learning on any topic, that means you have only scratched the surface. The more you know, the more you know that you don’t know. I was called to learn about the earth and that has taken me down some odd roads. Curiosity is your friends. Never settle with “I think I get it” always dig deeper. It can be even something as simple as keeping detailed notes about how your divination tools behave in different conditions. This may only be useful to you, but be curious and ask questions. Knowledge is a powerful tool. Don’t stop at what others can teach you, go out and try and learn new things. Learn the names of the trees in your area. Make a goal to identify the plants, and animals and insects around you. I challenge you to not find something so interesting you want to learn more. Learning about the world around you brings you a closer feeling to it. When I moved and didn’t know the bird calls, and couldn’t name the trees I felt like I was truly in a strange place. I bought some field guides and now I feel much more at home.
Cooking:
Not just magical cooking, but cooking itself can be a meditative task. Taking the time to make things from scratch can be a challenge but again puts you in the now in a way heating something up doesn’t. I am often amazing that the simple ingredients I put together create something so different and so wonderful.
I would like to hear what you think about these topics as well as anything else you would like to add to the list! 🙂
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