Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018

"And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping
The moon tells me a secret - my confidant
As full and bright as I am
This light is not my own and
A million light reflections pass over me
 Its source is bright and endless
She resuscitates the hopeless
Without her, we are lifeless satellites drifting"

~Reflection by Tool 

I think that 2017 was a really challenging year for many of us, and perhaps some of us can't wait for it to be over with. As we welcome in 2018, we will do so under the light of a full moon. Surely an auspicious sign!

I hope that the upcoming year brings many positive things and blessings to you all!

Laurel

Midwinter Woods

I find that during the cold, dark months

 the forest is most willing to reveal its secrets. 

And although the trees stand naked before us,

it is by their robes that they have dropped to the floor where

 the most interesting ones are kept.

So go take a walk in the woods 

 and see what they will confess to you.

When you are done, may you have a cozy place to call home, where you can reflect on those secrets learned, in this seasonal womb of the year.

Warm Hearts & Hearths!

A Quick Tip for Polytheists: On Dreaming of Haunted Thresholds and Holes in the Walls...

Should you find your sleep disturbed by dreams of things like:

• The doors and windows in your home opening themselves and slamming themselves shut
• Curtains taking themselves down and putting themselves back up
• Huge holes in your walls with beetles the size of hounds crawling out of them

It might be a good idea to take note. While it could simply mean that you are dreading getting your home ready for company, it could also mean that your home needs some better protection. Either way, doing a home blessing and resetting protective wards is not a bad idea. ;)

Stumbling

Sometimes you have to trip over the signs before you notice that they have been at your feet all along. 

The Eyes Reveal All

"Briseann an dúchais trí shúile an chait"/ "Breeding will break out in the eyes of a cat."

~ An Irish proverb meaning you can tell someone's true character from their eyes. {source}

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The above photo is an older portrait of Squeaky, and as her eyes show, she was the sweetest of kitties. <3

A Frosty Morning Down at Little Cat Creek

Yesterday morning a friend and I headed off early in the morning for a hike at Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area. As the sun got higher in the sky, the frosty evidence of an overnight visit from Old Woman became apparent.

This was my first time at Little Cat, so I got to choose which trail we went on. I chose Chickadee Lane in the hopes of seeing some of my little winged friends and because it is supposed to be especially lovely on that part of the property. 

Chickadee Lane is pretty much like a fairy tale forest covered in moss, fungi and all sorts of different trees that goes right down to the edge of the creek. As promised, we were greeted by the trail's mascots by the dozens, as well as by other critters including a beaver, blue jays and red squirrels that seemed rather grumpy to have their morning interrupted by a pair of humans. 

Unfortunately not too far into the trail my camera announced that my batteries were dead, and of course I didn't bring any extra with me. So I didn't get to take a whole lot of photos. Weirdly though, I had enough juice in the batteries after we left Little Cat. The same thing happened to my friend with her phone. Could be a coincidence, or perhaps someone was playing a little game with us.

We do plan to go back hopefully soon, so perhaps we will have better luck next time. 

I hope that everyone is enjoying this lovely, chilly season!

Laurel 

Beannachtaí Na Oíche Shamhna Oraibh!

May the Gods smile upon you, may the Spirits be kind to you, and may your Ancestors always be near.

Beannachtaí na Oíche Shamhna oraibh/Samhain Eve blessings to you all!

Warm hearts & hearths,

Laurel

Fall Leaf Bouquets for Ancestor Offerings

{one of my bouquets from last year}

A few years ago I started making fall leaf bouquets to use as offerings both on my Ancestor shrine as well as to bring to the cemetery around the time of Samhain. This is by no means a novel idea, and my inspiration actually came from the following song:

"The autumn air
Thickly fills my lungs
So sweetly
Reminds me of
Her smoky breath
With wine and this
Bouquet of maple
And oak leaves
In death or life
We'll always be..."

~Creepy Green Light by Type O Negative

There are a few different ways you could go about making your bouquets, but the one I choose to do is a pretty straightforward bunching and binding it all together with yarn or ribbon. I like to use various different leaves and also berries and nuts, going with whatever I can find outside around me. {Unfortunately I don't think I have any other examples than the one pictured above that I have previously made. I will try to remember to take photos of the ones I make this year to give some more ideas and either add them or link them to this post}. 

Below are some link of other fall leaf bouquets ideas:

Autumn Leaves Bouquet {from Ali Does it Herself}
How to Make a Fall Leaf Bouquet {from Metamorphocity}
Maple Leaf Roses {from Listed and Loved}

And to get you into the spirit, here is a video to the song that originally inspired me:

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Sláinte!

Laurel

The Gaelic Roundtable for October: Divinity

This is my seventh post participating in The Gaelic Roundtable blogging project, and October's topic is Divinity. The Roundtable asked:

"Who do believe are the Deities of the Irish Pantheon? How do you believe that they gained their Divine status? Were they always Gods- or did they become them? Or do you view them as traditional Gods at all? Are there other “categories” that you believe exist- such a “demons” or Demigods? How does your view of Gaelic Divinity differ from traditional views of Divinity such as what is found in the Hindu, Greek, or Abrahamic faiths?"

My definition of what divinity is will probably not suit everyone, but is fairly simple: I see those who fit into the "divine" category as anyone who is not mortal. Of course this is a pretty broad definition which could include a whole host of beings, but within the context of Gaelic Polytheism I break it down to Gods, Spirits/Good Folk and Ancestors. 

In general I think that it is difficult to neatly arrange the divine within the GP context like how one would in the classical pantheon manner. It is a wee bit more messy than that, especially when one turns to the complicated lore and mythology of the Gaels for insight. I think that there is an overlap of the Gods, Spirits/Good Folk and Ancestors, and it is likely that many individual divinities fall within two or all of those categories.

I think that some of these individuals were mortals at one time or perhaps were always some type of supernatural being that became elevated to the status of Gods through reverence and may even maintain that status through the continuation of that reverence. Maybe this is the "payoff" Gods get from having reciprocal relationships with us mortals.

I have no idea how any of them became, if some were always in existence playing a role with the dawn of the cosmos, helping shape The Great Nothing into something, or if like us they came along later.

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Sláinte!

Laurel

A Perfectly Gloomy October Morning

"I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers"

~Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

So am I Anne, so am I.

 

How Do You Like Them Apples?

{royalty free photo}

Apple season has been upon us for a while now, so here are a few recipes and other bits and bobs on how you can use the fruits of the harvest!

Apple Butter
Apple Crisp
Apple Flummery
Apple Muffins
Apple Muse
Apple Scones
Apple & Staghorn Sumac Jelly
Apple Spiced Whiskey
Baked Apples Stuffed w/Oatmeal and Brown Sugar
Baked Apples w/ Walnut and Herb Stuffing
Candy Apples
Crock Pot Apple Cider
Granny's Apple & Rhubarb Cake
Homemade Applesauce
How to Make Hard Cider
Irish Apple Cake w/ Whiskey Hard Sauce
Rowan & Apple Jelly
Rustic Apple Tart
Traditional Wassail

And some bonus folk magic with apples!

Divination w/Apples {here and here}
Shrunken Apple Heads {for Samhain decorations or can be used as a part of a poppet}
To Mend a Broken Heart

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Sláinte!

Laurel

Apple & Staghorn Sumac Jelly

I made this jelly about a month back for the first time, and definitely will be making it again! I used a really great recipe found over at the Thomasburg Walks blog.

If you are not familiar with staghorn sumac and how to harvest it, Wayward Spark has a very informative post that you can check out. I harvested mine back in August and left it out to air dry, before stashing it away in a jar to use throughout the rest of the year. If you are new to making jelly or canning, check out this article.

***One thing to note about staghorn sumac is that it is high in tannic acid, so keep boiling time for the juice limited.***

If you can, give this lovely recipe a try!

Apple-Sumac Jelly by Thomasburg Walks

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Sláinte!

Laurel

The Last of the Flowers

The Gaelic Roundtable for September: Faith

This is my sixth post participating in The Gaelic Roundtable blogging project, and September's topic is Faith. The Roundtable asked:

"What gives you faith? What makes you believe in the Gaelic Deities, and why? How do you respond to those times when your faith is wavering? What do you do when your faith becomes too unstable, or “too hard to handle”? do you think that doubt is healthy when it comes to having faith? Why or why not?"

I think that in some ways faith/belief/trust comes naturally to me, to the point that the motto of one of my ancestral clans is Confido. So perhaps it's even in my DNA. ;)

While this is probably not really an influencing factor, I was brought up with the idea that faith is important. Even as a curious, at times skeptical child I still held on to this notion and that hasn't changed much since becoming an adult.

Don't get me wrong, I have a healthy skeptical streak in me and I almost always question things, but I think that belief in something, anything is important. It doesn't have to be religious or spiritual, it could be political, philosophical, or even just in oneself and those you love. Either way I think that faith is a must if one is going to keep hope.

Faith and hope bring comfort, and I am a huge fan of comfort. 

I believe in the Gods of the Gaels as well as other deities, although I choose to be devoted to the former. I can't say that I know that they exist or who they are exactly, but I have my ideas. I could be wrong, may be right, or perhaps a little bit of both. 

How I see them {as well as all deities and spirits} is not how they would be classically viewed in the Abrahamic sense. I don't believe in an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful deity. I think that their powers are finite, although they definitely have a lot more than I do. Which I think is kind of the point why us mortals benefit from forming amicable relationships with them.

Obviously I have my own personal reasons for believing in deities and spirits instead of being an atheist or at least an agnostic. That said, I am not going to trot out a laundry list of experiences, but will just say that I am either touched in the head or they exist at least on some level. 

Even though faith for me is important, so is doubt/skepticism. Blindly believing in something with no reasoning or benefit to oneself I think is more bane than blessing. This is especially true when dealing with leadership, risks and such. People who blindly believe are the perfect candidates to be duped or abused. 

Skepticism and questioning things are obviously important to the pursuit of knowledge, and to me knowledge is just as important as faith. 

I think that both faith and knowledge are important facets of our species. Faith and hope bring us comfort in life's hardships and the pursuit of knowledge is what helps our species strive through those hardships.  

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Sláinte!

Laurel

Reminders From Moss & Trees

I like to go to the woods to be reminded 

that there are things much bigger than us humans,

and that we are not permanent. 

In the overall picture we are just a blink of time,

and I am good with that.