Devotion

Woo Hoo! I got the first letter of my post title to be this week’s letter!

So devotion, seems ambiguous, there a few ways to define devotion, from dictionary.com

de·vo·tion

/dɪˈvoʊ ʃən/ Show Spelled [dih-voh-shuh n] Show IPA

noun

1.

profound dedication; consecration.

2.

earnest attachment to a cause, person, etc.

3.

an assignment or appropriation to any purpose, cause, etc.: the devotion of one's wealth and time to scientific advancement.

4.

Often, devotions. Ecclesiastical . religious observance or worship; a form of prayer or worship for special use.

This oddly enough seems to be something people struggle with. So often newer pagans who don’t really have a grasp yet on just how umbrella the term is or what they mean when they say they are a new pagan start out confused. So often, because of how the term tends to be connoted, people come under the impression that they need to devote themselves to a deity of some kind, or they need to find a patron god and goddess, and devote themselves to them. If it is something you really want to do, go for it, but if it is something you are struggling with, DON’T DO IT!

Can I stress that point again, if it feels wrong DO NOT DO IT!

Doing things because you think it is the right thing to do, but you don’t understand or truly believe it is a bad plan, it has always been a bad plan, and it likely always will be. I’m not saying that any minor discomfort about change should stop you, any differentiation from your “norm” is going to feel a little awkward at first. Moral compunctions about doing something, or you don’t understand why you are doing it, the thing is best left un-done. Making a pledge to a deity you may find later fails to speak to you, or does not make you feel right, is a generally bad idea, wait until something feels right, or you really understand the point of why you are doing it. Once it makes sense or you realize you have a reason to do it, or even feel called to do it, by all means do it. Don’t feel like you need a pair, a god and goddess, or that they have to be all from the same pantheon, or know that sometimes an unexpected deity will call to you, and when something like that happens you will know it has happened. If one calls to you and you are lucky enough to have a connection like that, you will know, and it will likely feel more right than picking something out of a book, just to do it.

Devotion has more than just the one meaning though. I have only gone over some of #2, but #3 comes up a lot, craft tools and whatnot. They are oft discussed, and held by many people in extreme esteem. There are also different opinions and schools of thought as to what can be considered a craft tool. Many want their tools only used for craft purposes, consecrated and purified, and never touched by another. This is fine, if you can afford to have tools specifically for witchy purposes, many of the tools made for such purposes are quite expensive, and sometimes unnecessary. For example, my first athame was a swiss army knife, given to me by a member of the church I grew up in when I joined the army. I was not going to cease to use the multi-purpose tool for the purpose it was designed for, (this thing was amazing for working on my assigned truck!) I just added a use to its already, frankly, extensive list. Yes I cleaned it before any symbolic or ritual use, or use in cutting herbs, but it still meant a lot to me, and to me it felt like it was more powerful since I used it day to day, rather than letting it sit on a table not having a purpose any more. I suppose it is another one of those things that some people find more effective one way and others, another.

I feel like most of these definitions are already pretty much covered under #1 with profound dedication but #4 is slightly more difficult for pagans. There are whole walls of books dedicated to nothing but devotions for the different Christian faiths, but not so much for pagans. Well there is a very good one online, run by Thalassa, and has a number of contributors as well.

Pagan Devotionals

Our bible is the wind and the rain… and more.

Cleansing Life

Yes the last post was about cleaning, but this one is about cleansing, not the same thing, but similar ideas.

Cleansing spiritually, yourself, your home, any tools you may use. This should be done regularly, or as needed. There are all sorts of opinions as to when and how to do a cleansing, Tools are supposed to be cleared of energy at the full moon, and lunar cycles are not bad timelines for getting things done either. I personally find the full moon a good time for meditation and mind clearing, but I do not feel like it is a requirement. If you need to cleanse your mind, do it when it needs to be done, you do not have to wait until the full moon, new moon, or some specific sabbat, some things need doing when they need doing.

Some use sage, incense, and oils, different tools and rituals, and as said above different lunar cycles, but all you really need is yourself. Your own mind and inner visualizations are more than enough to accomplish a simple purpose, if you can visualize the energy running through you for a specific purpose, and you can feel it, and direct it you can use it for whatever purpose you need. All you need is your intent and the will to direct the energy. I helps to have a private space, or at least a group concentrating on the same purpose to do this, but it is not necessary. It only takes a moment to clear your mind and build energy, all the other things done during rituals or formal spells is mostly pomp, it can certainly aid in the process, but the key in all of it is the person making it work, throwing their intent and purpose behind it, using their energy and directing it, and knowing that it will work. Cleansing is really no different, whether cleansing your mind or aura, your home or some new crystals, you can do it all by yourself. Some days you just need that moment, the renewed energy running through you, and a short personal cleansing can help, along with some simple meditation can turn your whole day around. It is a simple step but one which is so often forgotten.

 Any technique you use, embrace it, and do it, let the energy around you be clear. Keep yourself cleansed!

Sometimes, You Just Need More Paint!

So I have recently moved into a new apartment, and have had all of the fun experiences which come with it. One of the big fun things to do is clean the heck out of the old apartment, (who doesn’t want their security deposit back?) So now suddenly you have new questions, like how do you get all those candle drippings off of the carpet, or what the heck were you boiling to get that particular splash stain on this odd section of wall, and how do I remove it, or where the heck did that mess come from, and why did you not notice it before? These things also come up this time of year anyway, It is Imbolc! It is the time of year when nature is cleaning away last year and making way for the new spring. It is only fitting that this is what I should be doing come this holiday! Now we just have to figure out how to deal with the crazy unexpected cleaning that happens to come up. We also need to try and figure out if we even can fix them. Well it is ok, most of these things are fixable, mostly.

So, yes I found this awesome blob of orange candle wax on my carpet, right under where I keep my altar, I imagine I spilled at one time and never bothered to MOVE THE ALTAR and check beneath it. Really, though, by the time you notice you have candle wax on the carpet, let’s face it, you have candle wax on your carpet. If it is still melted try and find something to absorb it DO NOT SCRUB! If you scrub and push the wax, it will end up deeper in your carpet. Just carefully pat it, being careful not to redeposit the wax on new parts of the carpet. The next instinct is to melt the wax out of the carpet, which is one of the most efficient ways to do it, but again NO SCRUBBING! Once the wax is far enough in the carpet, there just is no getting it out, so leave the scrubbie brush behind for this one. Hair dryers are amiable and they get hot and seem like a lovely option for melting that wax, and they are, but it goes very slowly, melt a bit of wax, dab it up, over and over, but it works. Another option and one I like even better involves a paper bag, towel and an iron. Put the towel on the floor next to the stain, or large rag, or whatever you do not mind having a bit of wax on. Then lay the paper bag, cut so it is just 1 layer thick, upon the wax, and set the iron on it, on high and warmed up, do not leave the iron sit there, your carpet is likely made of something which can melt, and it totally will. As you carefully drag the paper out of the iron slowly, and over the towel, you will see that the paper soaks the wax like a sponge. For larger wax deposits you will need more paper, but the concept does not change. Heavily dyed wax may leave a dye residue, but that can often be cared for using an ordinary carpet cleaner. Viola, no more wax carpet.

How you care for the strange wall stains in the kitchen is going to depend a lot upon what you kitchen is walled with, and how best to care for those surfaces. I was lucky, I had an awkward stain on tile, which was nice and shiny, and could ultimately be cleaned with nearly anything. But some stains are nasty and contain grease, and just will not wipe away easily, or even scrub away, and for these you have a few options, soak it in a high chemically concentrated cleaner, or scrub it better. One of the things which works fairly well, and does a lot of the scrubbing for you, is lemon and salt. Yep lemon and salt, just simple table salt works, and half a lemon. Squeeze some of the juice out of your lemon, it is going to be your scrubbie! You dip the open half of lemon in a bowl of salt, get enough salt on there that it is not all going to melt, and scrub your wall! Beware, do not do this with soft paint walls, you will strip the paint! This works best on tiled surfaces. The salt and lemon juice eat away at the stain, and the salt scrubs, and gets into the grout where you need friction to scrub. Lemon juice is acidic and will mildly bleach some surfaces, so this is not the tool for dyed grouts. But my white tile and grout, suddenly looked white again. This works well on bathroom tile too, but will not properly remove mold, but that stuff just will not die, the best plan with that is start hammering at it as soon as you notice it, never let mold build up.

The strange mess was another problem entirely. A can of soda had been spilled in the bedroom, down behind a bookshelf, and well hidden. The walls were painted with a porous matte paint, which is more than a little difficult to clean. The trouble was, when the soda was spilled, no one moved the bookshelf, or bothered telling me that there was a mess. So this stain had the advantage of who knows how long to seep into the wall. I tried everything I could think of, I even mixed chemicals with the intention of stripping a layer of paint off of the wall. It was no good folks. The dark icky liquid had seeped in all the way, stained the paint, and was not going to release my wall. Soda is evil, I know doctors and dentists say it, about your health, but nobody listens to them. But soda will absolutely ruin a painted wall, clean it while it is fresh. Do not give it the chance to surprise you and force you to repaint your wall, which is what the ultimate solution was, paint match, and use an ultra-thin layer of paint to hide the stain, this worked ok because I had already taken a layer of paint off of the wall, so there was space to put a new layer.

Moving can be a challenge, but there are all sorts of simple ways to clean and repair all sorts of things. Don’t let the crazy stuff get you down, there is always a solution, even if it is not what you were expecting. Now I am moved in and living under a pile of boxes, until I manage to unpack them all. Just keep in mind that most messes are easiest to clean early, even for the most industrious little witch, and regardless of what you have in your arsenal, sometimes, you just need more paint.

Cats and Crows and Late Winter Snows

There.

I’m finally doing it.

I am finally giving some context and meaning to the title of my blog!

They all mean something to me, whether it is magical, mundane or otherwise.

             First things first, I suppose, I love cats. I always have. There is just something about them all domestic, wild, or anything in between, that is fascinating to me. We had cats when I was very young, but when my mom and brother and I moved out of my grandparent’s house, we did not get more. My father was allergic, and not too fond of them anyway. So I had to wait until I was married and living with my husband before I would have a kitty again. Now I have two, Cthulhu and Realta. Cthulhu has some minor personality issues, which means she is not particularly fond of people, or them doing things. She will gladly roll onto her back as though she wants a tummy rub, and then will proceed to try and tear off whatever body part you have deigned to put near her. If she decides she is actually itchy she will suddenly become a purring cuddly ball of sweetness, but only when she wants to.



Cthulhu next to Realta,
 I swear they are not really this fat



Realta is different, not in that she likes people better, she is just a wee more justified. She was a rescue kitten, and before she was rescued she was feral. This is an odd situation in Delaware, as feral cats are considered wild animals, like squirrels, and will not be picked up and have homes found for them. Whatever happened to her that made someone decide she needed human help resulted in her ultimately losing one of her hind legs, and being a little bit paranoid. Paranoid or not this sweet little cutie loves attention, as long as she knows you and she is not busy being frightened by a dust mote. She does have an affinity to when I am utilizing magic, or meditating, or even preforming simple ritual or prayer.  She has to have a seat on my lap and have a nap. Sometimes she brings presents, things she finds on the floor, like coins or a crumpled bit of paper she dug out of the trash. All of them manage to mean something to what I am doing.  She just seems to have a place with me.

            Crows have always been there, massing somewhere nearby in the sky, shadowing me from somewhere.. They have never been an ill omen for me, they have always felt more like protection. They have never been ravens, despite my misidentifying them as such in my youth. As I got older and learned more about different spiritual paths, I learned how to identify with them, I even have a crow as a spirit companion. There seems to be a naivety to the crow, a sense that no matter how wise or even ferocious they may seem, or become, there will always be some kind of innocence or incorruptibility to them. Yes they are scavengers, and yes they can be frightening in numbers, but they occupy that in-between space. They are not pure like doves, or fun to look at like some exotic birds, their calls are not particularly melodic, but this does not make them evil. It only means that they are a different part of nature, of our own natures. This gives them the ability to have within them a connection to the everything, and to remain disconnected. They are neither blazing light, nor engulfing darkness, they are spiritually open, without the temperance of bias.

           Late winter snows are just awesome. You get all of the beauty of snow, and the warmth to sit outside and enjoy it in.