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#my practice
winebrightruby · 3 months
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I'm not Catholic and never have been. What I am, in practice, is New Orleanian, and New Orleans is deeply culturally Catholic (far beyond what the numbers would show. like I didn't realize how pervasive certain things were in Louisiana as a whole until I moved to Alabama and started getting blank stares back).
Tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, so I've just been thinking about her. The two patrons of the City - OLPS and St. Expedite - are both associated not only with providing aid but doing so immediately, without delay or hesitation. The beyond-generous, open-armed approach to helping, giving succor and sanctuary.
And New Orleans has always been that for me. I discovered through years of trial and error that if I talk too much about the minor nice things that happen, they'll stop happening, so I have to be a bit vague here. But New Orleans gifted me a thousand conveniences a day and asked nothing in return but my love, which I was giving freely anyway. It's beyond a joyous experience to live somewhere that you love, and that you can feel loving you back in equal or greater measure, in quantifiable ways, all the time.
She does so much. The incredible sweetness of that city and how much I adore her in return, how everything I ever needed or even wanted in a passing moment, I could just voice and it would essentially fall into my lap. I don't know what to say to people who ask "how did you do [x piece of magic]" because it's like, I asked nicely? Or equally often, I complained out loud because it inconvenienced me? I don't know how to replicate that without the years of devotion, piety, bribery, and adoration.
But anyway, Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Over 30 years I lived in Louisiana. For 12 years I lived in New Orleans or the swampy depths of further-south Louisiana. And she's been there for me with every request, prayer, tearful plea, every single thing. So tonight and tomorrow I'm feasting Our Lady; I'm thanking the mother of New Orleans for all the times she's been my mother too, shooing inconveniences out of my path and giving me that thing I wanted just because I said I wanted it. I love you, I love you, I love you.
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wytchoftheways · 2 months
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fragmentedhekatean · 7 months
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wonder how many of us on the Death Work/Witch Path struggled with abandonment and betrayal. there's a certain element of a death of trust that haunts us. I haven't ever literally died but I feel as if parts of me have died over and over again bec I was left alone, I was abandoned and made to feel small and like I had to make up for being me
death has surrounded me and chipped at me for years. It's no wonder I have found so much peace and comfort from deities who have walked hand in hand with death and chaos
there's a loneliness in death I understand and working with the dead and death gods feels less lonely and like I'm helping people make sure they're not forgotten too
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ddantalion · 9 days
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Here's to all of the hearts that we've broken, and the ones that we made come alive
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elminx · 3 months
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My partner is outside spreading last year's compost over our garden in advance of the rainy nor'easter we're expecting tomorrow...and just...
We feel like such accomplished gardeners.
I wish that I had "before" pictures to remind us where our post-stamp garden was before we began this journey in 2020, but we didn't think to take them.
Sure, the soil reclamation process should have started before we planted, but we didn't know any better. We had no idea that the purchase of that first Meadow Sage was going to lead to where we are now.
2024 is our fifth year tending this space. We do it for ourselves and our mental well-being. We do it for the neighbors (everybody loves to come by and admire our flowers). But mostly we do it for the bees, the birds, and the butterflies. To return a little bit of wild habitat. To create a safe haven for something, at least, in this difficult world.
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ocean-not-found · 5 months
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Hail to the Lady, Hail to the Lord, Hail to the Divine Androgyny.
To the Male, the Female, and the ALL.
To the God and Goddess.
Hail to Their many blessed names.
Of birth; Mary, Gaia, Pan, The Theketos.
Of death; Santa Muerte, Hades, Mary Magdalene.
Of rebirth; Zagreus, Jesus, Dionysus, Persephone.
Praise be to Them all, on this sacred night.
Where the veil is thin, and we invited our lost ones to come eat with us. Where we mourn the dead. Where we rejoice in rebirth and weep at the miracle of the earth coming anew.
Thank you for reading. Praise also, to the holiness inside you❤️
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hare-beneath-pine · 7 months
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2023.09.09
Big working last night - consecration of my black book of (visual) art, plus the first painting in it. This is a general road opener with an area to place a small, separate sheet of paper with a sigil or petition for a specific situation.
Consecration was pretty simple, though I had to write what I was going to say... often I just speak off the cuff, but wanted to be a bit more precise in my language for this. Apart from that it was my usual feeding with incense and candle (a safe distance away from the book) plus three breaths. Here's what I said:
I consecrate you, my black book, With cover dark, with pages blank; White void before creation. By my word and by my will, May you live in the threshold Between this world and the Other. As your pages bleed and bloom, The lies I draw turn into truth, The dreams I paint persist in waking. May messages from other realms Adorn your pages by my hand: Wild whispers and weird visions. I consecrate you, my black book, With cover dark, with pages blank. Now feed upon creation.
Probably this is quite influenced by Aidan Wachter (as is this whole thing), though I haven't read him in a few months.
The painting was a little more complicated and I'm not 100% pleased with the results. Trying to be nice with myself since I'm a novice painter and have never painted ritualistically before.
Process-wise, I entered a light-medium trance through song (Station to Station on repeat baby) and swaying/dancing - thanks to those who suggested that. I didn't prime the paper as much as I normally do, which had a negative affect on the brushstrokes - didn't pre-prime because I didn't want any marks on the book before consecration. Future paintings will be primed and taped before the working. I also think I'll prep a palette with liquid retarder pre-trance or in a light trance next time. Grabbing and mixing colours on the fly feels very intuitive but I haven't internalized enough colour theory to be happy with the result on an aesthetic level.
Results-wise, I have mixed feelings. I like the general composition and the central sigils magically and aesthetically, and I'm also happy with the inclusion of a thumb print to tie it to me. My annoyances are aesthetic - not happy with the quality of the brush strokes or the lack of unified palette.
Shortly after finishing this painting last, I had a strong visualization of the palette and brush strokes I "should have" used. I've primed and taped the next page and am planning to do a second road opener painting with these improvements. I feel like I should leave this painting in the book though, as it leads to the next one.
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crossroads-moth · 1 year
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A gentle reminder to myself that my practice is what I make of it. Tweaking preexisting spells does not make me a bad practitioner, it makes me a skilled enough witch that I can take a basic outline and make it into what I need.
There is so much to be learned from other practicioners and from what has worked historically, but I'm not going to go to Magic Jail™️ because I chose to use a different herb in a spell because I think it will work better for me.
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eldritchboop · 6 months
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My Harvest results. Pear custard pie and two kinds of roasted squash.
The squash was served with some honey mustard chicken, and whichever we like better will probably get added to the Thanksgiving menu.
I’m not a huge wild hunt follower, but I made sure to spend some time outside and work on my garden, too. The shoulder season is good for spinach and radishes.
Today, we decorate for Halloween!
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starsambrosia · 2 months
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Something i do enjoy about the gods being so present in day to day life is when im going to do some judgemental stupid shit and i feel one of them near me just watching...almost daring me to do said stupid judgemental shit while they watch me politely shut the fuck up and slowly realize i have absolutely zero right to judge given my wild shit going on 😭
Its usually Athena she welcomed herself in to beat the internaluzed misogynist out of me
But Hermes and Apollo have been helping me be more open minded as of late
Its just nice
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winebrightruby · 1 month
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hello hello! question for you, hopefully not a bummer: how do you observe Mardi Gras now that you are not living right in New Orleans anymore? (I think of you every year when it rolls around!)
I cry a lot, lmao.
Tbh this year was a bit of a mess because of the single-parenting struggle until husband is back in the country, but I'll answer in terms of general intentions. I start on the night the Krewe of Muses parades, which is the Thursday before Mardi Gras (day). I offer specific hymns and offerings for the relevant deities/spirits as determined by parading krewe:
Muses on Thursday
Hermes and Morpheus on Friday
Iris and Endymion on Saturday
Bacchus (and Okeanos and Athena) on Sunday, Dimanche Gras, the start of my version of Anthesteria
Orpheus and Proteus on Monday, Lundi Gras
Rex and Zulu on Tuesday, Mardi Gras
At this point, I treat it like a semi-festival. I buy king cake and then suffer because it's Not Good. I buy hyacinths; I mix fancy drinks for offerings. In the years to come I'll have our Mardi Gras/New Orleans shrine set up, but right now toddlers render that too risky.
I promised Jo I'll take her to New Orleans next year. She's not old enough to get why it matters, but it's a point of pride for her that "mommy and me are from Louisiana, and I was borned in New Orleans". We'll go for Muses and she can catch shoes to her heart's content.
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wytchoftheways · 24 days
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fragmentedhekatean · 1 year
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actually I just had a Thought thinking about Lady Hekate. we all know that (especially black) Dogs are sacred to her but I like to think she holds a Tender Place for the dogs that are marginalized and actively harmed and demonized, like Pitbulls and Rottweilers
Pitbulls have been abused so so often and labeled a threat to so many people that they're SO often put down
I like to think the Goddess, who holds dogs as sacred to her, would hold a place next to her for them 🥺🖤
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Belated candlemas blessings!
Brides candle crown ended up being a plate this year, hopefully next I’ll have the time to do something more special.
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elminx · 2 months
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this holiday name currently left blank
If I were to create a personalized wheel of the year, the "it's spring" holiday (the one where it's definitely not really spring but you are reminded that someday, soon...) it would be on the day that I found out that the maple sap was running.
The winter won't last forever.
Oh yeah, and go eat some pancakes.
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spiritofhyena · 10 months
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@espresso-049
You are lucky because Archangel Gabriel is the only angel I'm currently working with! (I had a brief exchange with Archangel Michael during a couple of readings for other people and never interacted with him since then) I put "angels" plural on my post, but I only have interacted with Gabriel.
As stated in my previous answer, I'm speaking from *my own experience* so it's better to take anything I say with a grain of salt as everyone has different experiences. What I say are mostly UPGs based on my interactions and, of course, it'd be better to check more uh- sources (even if I don't believe I could be considered one lmao) for researching!
Back to the point-
My impression of Archangel Gabriel is that he's very calm and patient. A demon I interacted with called him "stuck up", but honestly I always found him quite chill. One of the first things he told me was that he didn't care if I followed a different deity or worked with demons (although he prefers to not share the same time/space with them), he was open to helping me get better with divination anyway.
I read some posts in a community online that Archangel Gabriel can also show himself with feminine appearances, but Gabriel always felt/talked in a masculine way (idk how to explain it, my native language is simply very binary and always used masculine for himself) so I don't know much about his feminine aspect.
From what I got, he's really good with anything related to communication (writing/poetry is included too) and - in my experience - he helped me a lot with divinations about messages from spirits/entities in general. Relaying messages is his job after all, innit?
With me, he didn't ask for much offerings-wise. He asked for a lit candle during divinations as a sort of offering in exchange for his help and nothing more, sometimes a bit of water... but sometimes I try to offer something "more" if I get the chance. Most of the time I try to leave something for him if I leave offerings for the other entities I work with.
He is pretty pleased with a little origami box I made with light blue paper, that I decorated with some stars in silver and gold markers and some feathers from a washi tape I had. He likes citrine, from what I noticed: when I went to a shop that had some crystals and asked him what he liked, both times he picked citrine quartz.
I read somewhere that the colours associated with Archangel Gabriel are copper and orange other than white, but I feel like that also blue (in any shade), silver and gold would fit him well. Probs also creamy-tan colours could work too, same goes with light grey.
Hmm... what else? As far as "random" things go, I learnt that he likes caramel nougat chocolates, also homemade cookies, coffee with milk in it and fruit teas. Oh, and honey too. And isn't really into alcoholic offerings.
Gabriel's music taste is quite varied, but he mostly picked either instrumentals or pop/pop-rock music on the cheery side for the devotional playlist I made for him.
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