graveyard child

a big pile of garbage

[324732]

— A Prayer for Gaza's Children

[gefdreamsofthesea]

The obsession with motherhood among Pagans is another Victorian era embellishment on the past but no one's ready to have that conversation.

[tuiliel]

NO NO I TOTALLY AGREE.

I am a mother and it makes me nauseous.

[embervoices]

Okay, now I'm curious, because The Matronae are not an invention of the Victorians. That was the Romans trying to parse the Germanic tribes' relationships with local land goddesses, yeah?

Still, most of the other Great Goddess figures, not so much with the Great Mother per se. Not all of them even have offspring, I don't think.

I find it ironic that the Victorian Era seems to have subsumed the idea of Sovereign Queen as somehow a subset of motherhood, given the era is defined by a sovereign queen, and didn't already have children when she was crowned.

I have to assume at least some of it comes from the equation of "God" with "Father" under Christianity, as well as subsuming reverence for Divine Feminine under Mother Mary. As such, it's not just the Victorians, though.

[gefdreamsofthesea]

The book I thought I was referencing does not in fact have the information I thought it did. I think it's clear that many societies recognized that you needed babies to keep things going but I think without the Victorians (which includes people like Murray and Gardner) banging on about "mother right" (see Bachofen) we wouldn't see so many people assuming that so many goddesses are mother goddesses or that every goddess with children is automatically maternal.

[edderkopper]

I'm not saying that the Victorians didn't contribute, but I don't think we can ignore the gender roles of the 50's and 60's when the modern movement really began to crystallize either. A lot of the modern neopagan notions of motherhood (and childhood for that matter) don't align very well with Victorian notions of motherhood but do align with 50's housewife notions. There are layers of misogyny and I think it's necessary to acknowledge that in order to successfully unpack it.

[adventurecore-suggestions]

i love all the words we have that mean traveler. i love the shades of difference between wanderer and rambler and rover. i love the boldness of adventurer and the purposefulness of explorer, the lawlessness of vagabond and the capability of wayfarer, the quiet reverence of pilgrim and the wild rootlessness of nomad.

[longestnight]

says the crow to you on your worst day, by vanya krieger

(tips/support)

[pieandhotdogs]

I don’t have the willpower for a real post at the moment but if you’re trying to deepen your connection to the spirits of the land on which you live, I recommend visiting the following locations:

Nearby bodies of water

Nature trails and forested areas

The highest and lowest points, both natural and otherwise

Community cemeteries and memorials

Places of worship

Other prominent landmarks and characteristic sites

Bring field guides, maps, and brochures if you can find them. Study the topography of the area, note how they relate to other parts of the town, how they are accessed by travelers. Can you get there by car, or did you have to approach on foot? Is it within walking distance of your home? What plants do you recognize? Critters? What’s the history of each site, who lived here before?

Visit each place at different points in the year. The sun slants through the trees differently in spring than in fall, this trail is inaccessible in the winter, the river always floods when it rains, if I cut through the graveyard on my way home I can grab a couple fallen branches from that cyprus by the gate. Leave offerings, say prayers, speak to the spirits.

[dreamingwitchmagic]

Yule blessings and Happy Winter Solstice everyone ❤️

[leannan-sithe]

🚩 – red flag, an issue to be concerned about that indicates appropriation or a bias of the author⚠️ – caution, proceed with knowledge that this isn’t automatically concerning but …

I published this a little early the other day while I was working on it, because I was having issues with Wordpress, but here’s the updated version! It will continue to have WIP in the title until I’m done tinkering with it. 

This is a critical reading guide. It’s a guide to help you read critically. 

It is not telling you to throw away any resource or publication that has questionable content. 

What it does say, however, is that every author and every piece of media comes with a set of biases and assumptions. The main factor of critical reading and comprehension is to be able to identify both your own and the author’s biases and assumptions, so that you understand any social, political, or cultural context that flavors the narrative. 

[hagoftheholler]

Person: I was doing spellwork using a candle I had dressed with oils and herbs, and the candle's flame spiked up so much! The candle melted so quickly after that, I think that means it worked!

Another Person: I lit my 7-day deity candle that was dressed with dried herbs and the flame went wild! I think that's a sign the deity like it!

Me: Your candles are literally coated with oils and herbs that are flammable and therefore will catch fire. They are dressed to the point where you can hardly see the candle anymore. What you have is a fucking fire hazard.

[breelandwalker]

LOUDER FOR THE WITCHES WHO DON'T THINK ABOUT FIRE SAFETY.

"Oh I did this cauldron spell and I was so tired and woozy after, I expended so much energy!"

You also burned a shit-ton of plant matter and incense in a closed room, genius, that's called smoke inhalation. Open the damn window.

[traegorn]

Also, tie your hair back.

Trust me.

[wisdomofthewitches]

Spell Safety, please, people. And safety in general.

[rednines]

[lsseymiyake]

I need this in my kitchen

[weaponsofclairvoyance]

You must fix your heart and you must build an altar where it was

[t4tstarvingdog]

listen to music that kills you a little bit. listen to music that swallows your heart and makes you feel insane

[darkearthsuggestions]

There is rot in you– fine, there is rot. Maybe at your fingertips, or under your tongue, or maybe in those parts you cannot see, but feel, crumbling between your bones. So you know that there is rot. But you are not the only one; we are all fetid beasts, breath between our teeth coming death-sweet. Sing your sorrows if you must, but come find us in our garden. We plant our rots together here and give them a place they may decay, and make themselves something more– iris climb from curling skin, lilies lilt like ribs. No bruise alone knows how to bloom, but together we’ll teach them to grow. 

[in-your-walls]

x / Landscape With Fruit Rot And Millipede, Richard Siken

[oldbastard101]

Odin by Nataša Ilinčić

[bogleech]

It's interesting how every time there's a "nature spirit" or "green magic" or "mother earth goddess" in popular culture it's tied in with just flowers and trees. Heck even the inverse of that, themes of "death" and "decay," tend to revolve around bugs and mushrooms and dirt even though most "nature" is in the ocean. Us land animals just tend to think of that as its own thing or like a whole separate domain even though it sustains all the land life anyway.

Realistically a primordial life spirit would be all about plankton, hydrothermal vents and the Cambrian explosion while demons of rot would be associated most with marine snow, toxic algal blooms and whale bones.

[thorraborinn]

no frith with fascists ~ engan frið með fasistum