This is a side blog that I keep pretty close track of. You can call me River. Below you will find a little bit about me and my practice, as well as some master posts or tags that will take you to specific types of posts. Feel free to message me!
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Practice: Folkloric American Witchcraft
necromancy and general spirit work
bioregional craft
spirit flight
Currently Reading: Queens of the Wild
33 years old
she/her
ADHD
Married with children
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Book Reviews and Recommendations <- master post of all my book reviews organized alphabetically, as well as books I recommend organized by topic.
Plant Folklore <- master post of all my plant folklore posts, organized alphabetically. Let me know if it would help to have them by correspondence.
Spirit Flight <- master post of all my educational spirit flight blogs. (Coming soon, see tag for now)
Workings <- master post of all my spell craft posts. (Coming soon, see tag for now)
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Seasonal Practices:
Winter Witchcraft
Spring Witchcraft
Summer Witchcraft
Fall Witchcraft
Y’all I’m being so serious when I say this: go to the library for witchcraft reasons.
You can usually find books on witchcraft, yes, but there’s also field guides on local foraging and wildlife, cookbooks, books that teach you how to craft and DIY, books about environmental protection and stewardship, books on how to use herbs medicinally, books about other religions, cultures, and spiritual practices. My favorite local library even has a seed swapping program and fantastic resources to research your own family history!
I'm a librarian, and the ability for you to continue learning, especially about other ways of viewing the world and your country, is a big part of why right-wingers hate libraries. Libraries are one of the best values for the money you pay in taxes.
Pretty much every claim of Christians stealing pagan holidays comes from sloppy scholarship and conspiracy theories. Please get your information from modern scholars instead of trusting random witch blogs/videos/infographics.
The witch hunts were driven by the early modern equivalent of QAnon, not by any credible evidence that a bunch of cryptopagans were out doing rituals in the woods at night. Most of the accusations were repurposed from accusations made against Jews for hundreds of years at that point.
Christianity and monotheism aren't the reasons you have to deal with patriarchy. It existed in polytheistic cultures long before either one existed, and it would still be here without them.
There are plenty of real reasons to be pissed off at Christians, both at present and throughout history. We don't need to make any up.
There are a lot of issues in the broader witchcraft community (not just on Tumblr dot com, but everywhere) that I think stem, in large part, from excessive fluidity in terminology. When any incantatory working is a charm, when folk grimoires and ceremonial grimoires are flattened into a single genre, when the nomenclature for a specific tradition is applied to all workings and formulas, the words lose their meaning and we lose our ability to research as effectively.
I think about this a lot. There is so much terminology that has been over-applied or changed so much in the last 15 years or so that the original meanings are basically a footnote. And (thanks, in part, to social media) it happens at a rate that is basically impossible to keep up with unless you have your finger to the actual pulse of online witchcraft spaces. I've been in online magical spaces since around 2001 (though not in any consistent way since, at that time I had to go to the library to use a computer). And, even where pockets of community different on preferred jargon or identifies or whatever, it was still consistent enough that everyone was speaking a dialect of the same language instead of different languages.
I wonder sometimes if what we experience now in terms of everything being over-applied and flattened to the extent of meaninglessness is an indirect result of the hyper-individualizing of witchcraft spaces that happened in the 2010's where it was relatively common to know five different people with all the same practice but with five very specific labels for what type of witch they were. I wonder if, because of the way social media works, when people started to abandon the use of their personalized terminologies and huddle into pockets of hashtaggable community, did the terminology that existed pre-2000's almost unchanged for decades all collectively get a rebrand?
This isn't meant to disparage social media communities or changes in terminology. It's just a genuine reflection on the changes in terminology I have witnessed in my twenty-something years in online witchcraft spaces. And since I never branched out to WitchTok or really delved into Witchstagram (I have an instagram, but it's just basically a scrapbook), I don't have a lot of context for where some of these changes originate. I generally don't discover them until later. Like when I made the faux pas of asking people what type of folk magic they practiced and they all gently put on their talking-to-the-eldery voices and told me that folk magic was just personal, non-initiatory magic.
Looks like: magnolias and lilacs; lightning, green skies, and storm clouds; dandelions and bumble bees; woodpeckers, red-winged black birds, and seagulls; rabbits eating my seedlings!
Sounds like: a frog chorus and bird song; winds blasting by; hard rain and hail on roof tops; sirens (not just on the first Wednesday); thunder directly over head; feet running through puddles; woodpeckers hunting on trees
Smells like: lilacs and petrichor; worms after the rain.
Feels like: swirling winds and electricity; spring sunshine; wet clothes and hair; the slight stomach drop from the unknown (weather usually).
Tastes like: dandelion salad and nettle soup; worms in the water (why? even the filtered water); fresh fish and turkey
I’m tagging some new followers (hello 😈): @huldretjejen , @salixsociety , @corvinumbraxis
A hill I will die on is at the "choose your thesis statement then do your research" method is not an effective way to approach research. What it teaches is to use goal-oriented research to support an existing bias. If we are researching for the sake of learning, the questions we ask ourselves to guide our research must be open ended.
This is true in witchcraft spaces too. If someone looks up, for example, "why is it okay for wiccans to do smudging in their practice" they're going to find a different set of sources than if they were do look like "what is the history and significance of smudging". If someone looks for "witches don't believe in satan", they are going to find sources that support that belief; whereas the research will yield more balanced results with a less leading query.
Research isn't just proving your existing point or validating one's UPG. It requires looking at both sides, assessing, analyzing, and understanding the information presented, especially where it is going to be applied practically.
I think the deepest gift that honest history offers practitioners is not the destruction of their religion but its liberation from a kind of false dependency. If your practice only works because you believe it descends unbroken from ancient Mesopotamia or medieval Italy or pre-Christian Britain, then it is, in a certain sense, held hostage by a claim that can be falsified. And that is a fragile foundation. But if you can learn to say, “this practice is powerful and meaningful to me, and it was assembled from various sources in the twentieth century, and those things are not in contradiction,” then you have something far more resilient. You have a practice grounded in honest experience rather than mythologised history.
This is not the same as saying history does not matter. It matters enormously. Understanding where your practices actually come from, who shaped them and why, what was borrowed and what was invented: this knowledge enriches practice rather than diminishing it. But it requires a willingness to tolerate the vertigo, to sit in the gap between what you were told and what the evidence shows, and to discover that the ground is still there even when the map turns out to be wrong.
Your Tradition is Fake. Now What? On cognitive dissonance, practitioner identity, and the strange gift of honest history by Angela Puca
Culture is More Than Just Ancestral Origins, and Everybody Has Culture and Traditions
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A lot of people, especially in Western countries, underestimate or even ignore their own culture. Many people define culture as being of ancestral origins, and while yes that can be part of culture, culture is overall the sum of how we were raised which imprinted on our values, traditions, norms, beliefs and what we personally consider sacred. The history of where YOU come from.
My mom grew up on the coastline of California, wearing her bikini underneath her school uniform and racing to the beach with her friends right after classes where hundreds of people were out surfing, blasting music from boomboxes, beachcombing, and some even traveling from one end of the coast to another living in vans. That's her personal culture. I grew up at the base of the Applaichan mountains catching frogs in the creeks, tapping trees and collecting sap to make maple syrup from scratch, and hiking the same trails the monarch butterflies use to migrate. That's my personal culture.
Culture is so many things other than just where our ancestors came from or traditions dominated by the major religion or the majority ethnicity of that location. It includes the new and old technology, music, arts, and activities that are cultivated into our everyday lives. The local flora and fauna from the ones we can recognize right away to the rare ones where a sighting becomes the talk of the town. The fashion styles and various trends people follow or the cuisine you can find in almost any restaurant or household. Locational landmarks that anyone in that area could recognize and have gone to from malls to historic buildings to natural structures. The folklore, fairytales, and ghost stories that have been passed down through campfires, saloons, and bars of various towns, cities, and villages through the decades.
It's ways you grew up finding joy and community, how you and the people surrounding you hold celebrations big or small, the aspects of nature you've come to find familiar and at home. Where I was born and raised; The hidden waterfall with a deep enough pool to swim in and room to meditate underneath or behind the waterfall, the farmers markets and other summer events that bring my community together young and old, the preserved buildings and historical structures which people still live in and hold activities at, local folklore, myths, and stories. All of that is just as much of my culture as anywhere else, and as I grow and evolve in my life so too does my culture.
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Kind of a random post for today, but as we go through the more Christian-centered holidays I see the phrase of "it makes me sad I don't have a culture" because so many people's ancestral origins are lost in the modern age. While it's cool to admire the very unique and widespread cultures that belong to other countries, it's important to recognize what culture actually means and ways in which we ALL have cultural aspects and personal traditions. They just become so normalized and localized to us we forget what they are!
I'm a big fan of working with the land, and one of the easiest ways to do so is by gathering your own plants. This is also free! No having to stop at an occult/metaphysical shop to pick up that random plant you forgot you needed. I will be making individual posts on different plants that can be foraged in my own bioregion, but first we should go over a few tips and housekeeping notes about foraging and witchcraft.
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Contents:
Natural Isn't Always Safe
Laws and Foraging
Invasive vs. Native vs. Naturalized
Animistic Foraging
Conclusion
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Natural Isn't Always Safe
First thing I want to get out of the way is that not everything you find outside is going to be safe to put in your body or even touch. On top of that, not everything that is safe for someone else is going to be safe for you. We each have different bodies and how we react to something will not always be the same. When you first start foraging, it's important to have a guide book that will tell you of any safety measures to take when dealing with a plant. Some will interact with medications in ways that are not healthy, some have fluid that can make your skin photosensitive, and some... some people are just allergic to.
When it comes to medications, you can find contraindications (when not to ingest something) with a quick google search of "[plant name] contraindications." Generally this will give you a safe answer, however always check with your doctor if you are unsure. Better to pay for a consultation than a hospital visit.
Some risks come from the environment that the plant grew in. If you are foraging near train tracks or buildings that could leach lead into the soil, the plants will pick that up as well. Contaminated soil and pesticides sprayed onto the plants can also lead to health risks. Be very mindful of where you are foraging.
Some plants that are safe will also have toxic look-alikes. A famous look-alike is wild carrot and poison hemlock (thank you Oregon Trail video game). Unless you know what characteristics you are looking for, it's very easy to confuse the two plants. One is a delicious snack, while the other is highly toxic (the poison hemlock), to the point of causing muscle death and kidney failure. This isn't to scare you away from foraging. Only to drive home the importance of making sure you know what you are gathering.
*credit to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture
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Laws and Foraging
I am a resident of the United States so these will be more geared towards that country. It would be to your benefit to look into the foraging laws of your own country/state anyway, as it can still differ. The majority of states in America prohibit foraging on public lands, which makes it really hard for those who don't own their own property. If you live in Alaska and Hawaii, however, congratulations your local government allows it. Even among those states that do allow it, there can be designated areas where it's not allowed such as a nature preserve. Breaking these laws tends to come with a hefty fine and possible jail time, if caught. Though these laws are hard to find with a quick google search, especially for a specific area.
The laws in the United States prohibiting foraging are generally colonial, imperial, classist, and racist (surprise, surprise). Foraging was protected by law well into the 1800s (except for Native Americans who were pushed off their ancestral hunting and gathering grounds), even when doing so on another person's private property. After the Civil War, many newly-freed African-Americans would sell their foraged and hunted goods for an income, while also using the practice to become self-sufficient. The southern plantation owners needed this system to go away so they could chain what used to be their "property" to their old line of enslaved work. Starting with criminal trespass laws. Eventually anti-foraging laws spread to the average white rural American. Outside elites began to believe that the "backwards" people of the countryside, who made a subsistence living off the practice of foraging, fishing and hunting, could not be trusted with the stewardship of the land; using "conservation" as a way to "protect" it from the people who lived there (Linnekin, "Food Law Gone Wild: The Law of Foraging" p.1008-1014).
I do believe we need to protect our resources and lands. However, foraging can be regulated, not outright outlawed as it is. Learning about the plants and animals that live around us and can help us in our lives, leads us to learn more deeply about their role in the environment and just WHY we should protect them...
All this to say, look into your local foraging laws (and how local law enforcement actually enforces them, if they do at all) and then you can decide if you want to follow them or not. At your own risk.
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Invasive vs. Native vs. Naturalized
There is a lot of talk in foraging communities about invasives vs. natives. Sometimes even bringing in naturalized plants. So let's talk a little bit about what these words mean in ecology and how this may effect your foraging habits.
Invasive and naturalized plants have one thing in common; they are both transplanted outside their natural ecosystem. A plant that is invasive in one place, can be naturalized in another. What matters is the impact the plant has on the ecosystem it has been transplanted into.
Invasive = plants or animals that harm regional ecosystems.
Naturalized = plants that have successfully established and reproduced in a new environment, integrating into their new home without inflicting ecological harm.
To make things a bit more complicated, let's introduce the 10% rule. According to the Huron River Watershed Council, "the '10% rule' postulates that of all species introduced to a region outside of their native range, only 10% will survive to reproduce in their adopted environment. This 10% of non-native survivors are often called 'naturalized' plants. Of that 10%, another 10% (or 1% of the original non-native transplants) may thrive to such an extent that they dominant their new home, out competing their native neighbors. These prolific competitors are known as invasive species."
So what makes a native plant? The US Forest Service defines a native plant as "plants [that] are indigenous terrestrial and aquatic species that have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, and habitat. Species native to North America are generally recognized as those occurring on the continent prior to European settlement."
Some native species can be endangered due to habitat loss from agriculture and/or competing invasive species. It's good to have a list (many state DNR (Department of Natural Resources) will have a list available on their website) printed so you know which ones should be cultivated in your garden if you wish to work with them. Avoiding these and working with invasive species can help with conservation efforts as well. Native species can still be worked with in the wild if they are not endangered.
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Animistic Foraging
You'll often see witches giving advice about asking the plants permission before harvesting. This is from the belief that the plant has a spirit, an animistic belief. Asking permission to harvest isn't the only way we can forage mindfully and with respect to the plant. The way that I do this is by following the Honorable Harvest set out by Robin Wall Kimmerer (a Potawatomi botanist, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry) in her book "Braiding Sweetgrass."
Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.
Ask permission before taking and abide by the answer.
Never take the first, never take the last.
Take only what you need.
Take only what is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have been given.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.
The first rule really helps you to follow the rest of them. Know the plant. Walk by it several times, offer water even if you aren't taking something, say hello. These plants are our neighbors and when we harvest we are asking for their help.
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Conclusion
Each plant will have it's own method of harvest to minimize the harm done to it. Some you have to pull the whole thing up, but there are ways to repopulate it. It's so individual that I couldn't add it to this post. Hopefully what's written here can help you keep a few things in mind when going out and learning about your local flora.
Foraging can be a great way to connect with your land and learn about it. Getting your hands dirty and making you feel as if you are a part of the landscape. Hopefully the first couple of sections didn't scare you off. Get a couple of good guidebooks for your region (the local library is a good place to start) and you're good to get out there and start identifying plants you want to work with!
Saw this video (love Alexa Nicole) and thought it added a good summary of what I’ve been feeling lately about foraging. Relates really nicely to this post.
Sorry if you've got this in a tag somewhere-- could you talk about your pen and paper note taking styles for your practice? How do you keep things organized?
To begin with I have templatized all of my most commonly used notes - and I have posted most of those templates! I think I'm just missing my dream/meditation/Otherworld Adventure template, which I'm sure I'll get around to cleaning up for public posting eventually.
In addition to the templates I keep separate notebooks for different subjects/tasks.
Spirit Field Guide: This notebook, where I track the spirits I encounter and how my relationships develop, consists mostly of my Spirit Encounter templates, my Unrecorded Entity exercises, and sometimes my Signs & Omens template if I've specifically requested a sign from a spirit as part of my work with them. My template for dreams, meditation, and Otherworldly travel will also appear in this notebook pretty often if those experiences relate to a spirit I'm tracking. I'll also have free form notes on divination sessions, which usually follow a format dictated by the spread or type divination I'm doing, and historical or folkloric/mythic research related a spirit or type of spirit will show up as well.
Spell Lab Notebook: This notebook, where I track the design and development of spells, is almost exclusively my Spell Lab Notes template. Sometimes there will be more free form notes that are just jotting down ideas or concepts for spells.
Journal: This is where most of my dream/meditation/Otherworldly travel notes happen, as well as crazy random happenstance signs that I didn't request. It's also just my regular-degular journal. So it's where I track what's happening in my life, be that mundane, magical, or spiritual.
Grimoire: Once something's become solidified enough in my practice to have a sense of permanence it gets written into the Grimoire. Spells that have been refined to a point where I'm happy enough to stop tinkering, divination systems that I've built for myself, that sort of thing. But also once I feel I understand a spirit well enough to stop tracking the development of the relationship closely and start just living it.
I first read this around the time it was published in October 2019 for a book club. I remember because I ended up getting through most of it while waiting out a typhoon in the hotel room during my honeymoon. I'm quite fond of this book, but let's see what I think now.
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Contents:
Synopsis
What I Liked
What I Didn't Like
Overall Thoughts
Conclusion
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Published 2019
"Learn how to connect with your ancestors and receive the benefits that come from veneration--deeper spirituality, more love in your life, better outcomes in creative pursuits, powerful magic and spellwork, and an improved sense of wellness. Filled with hands-on techniques and tips, Honoring Your Ancestors show you how to create an ancestor altar so you can work with ancestors of all kinds. Author Mallorie Vaudoise also shares fascinating ideas for incorporating rituals, spells, family recipes, and even practices like music and dancing to help you open this wonderful new dimension of your spiritual journey.
Ancestors veneration is one of the most widespread spiritual practices in the world. This book shares the important distinctions between working with blood ancestors, lineage ancestors, and affinity ancestors while helping you recognize the signs that your ancestors are responding to your petitions and offerings. You will also explore important topics like mediumship and ancestral trauma so you can be sure to develop a veneration practice that's uplifting and affirming for you."
-from the back of the book
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What I Liked
The book starts off with describing the different types of ancestors; from blood ancestors to saints and guides. Some were human and some were not. A ritual to reconnect with your ancestors is included if you wish to have a more formal start to your ancestor practice. I will sometimes go back to this if I have found that I've been neglecting them as well. The chapter ends with a discussion of what you can expect from working with your ancestors; as well as what some people may think will happen, but will not.
There's a really great section discussing memorial art and the healing that comes along with it. With examples of famous monuments that work as memorial art, such as the Stolpersteine project, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt among others. The author gives smaller examples as well that may inspire the reader to come up with their own memorial.
From there Vaudoise talks about the importance of "dying well in order to spare the future generations our own unresolved baggage" (pg. 39). Especially when we are young, we don't take the time to think about what would happen with those around us when we die. Writing a will is in our heads as something only the extremely aged have to think about. Where do you want to be buried? Do you want to be buried? What is legal to do with a dead body in your country, state, county? The book prompts the reader to think about these things, now. What will you be remembered for? Will you be?
The author has a chapter on building an ancestor altar. Here she talks about not actually needing anything to have an ancestor practice. She hopes that the suggestions in this chapter will inspire the reader to think of what they already own, and use that. The suggestions are very easy to come by or cheap to acquire.
Chapter Four is completely about giving offerings. What to do with them, what to give, how to give it. It's not just how the author would do it either, she gives examples of different spiritual practices and friends of hers who do something different as well.
In a chapter on spiritual hygiene, Vaudoise talks about house spirits. Here we see examples of different areas of the home having their own spirits. For example, the faucet and stove have, what the author calls, a water god and a fire god, the store rooms have their own protective spirits worth giving libations to, etc. From there Vaudoise also gives examples of how to cleanse different areas as well as different methods. From floor washes to smoke cleansings. There's also the New Moon House Cleansing Ritual that I've adapted to my own practice. I'd completely forgot this is where I got certain ideas from until I skimmed back through it for this review. When it comes to cleansing the body, Vaudoise also has examples of different types of spiritual baths and has a section talking about how to make holy waters.
Vaudoise has a couple of chapters on mediumship, one for complete beginners and one for more intermediate practitioners. In the first, she expresses how to respect the opinions of your ancestors while also being the one who is actually alive. You don't have to listen to everything they say, but you also don't have to be an asshole about it when you're the one who asked. Along with this advice, she gives about a weeks worth of exercises to help build your senses to be able to do mediumship work.
There's a whole chapter on working with plants and ancestors! There's a lot of really good lore and folk practice when it comes to the plants listed and may give the reader new ideas on how to think about the plants they utilize in their own practice.
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What I Didn't Like
This is one of the few books that I don't have any complaints about. It's incredibly informative and helps get the reader going in their ancestral practice. See below for more general thoughts.
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Overall Thoughts
As I mentioned, I think this book gives a good introduction to ancestor veneration. From beginning the practice and covering ancestral trauma and forgiveness (which may be a sticking point for some people and if you're into shadow work may be a good prompt for you) all the way to working with ancestors in spell work, there's quite a bit this small book covers. The end of each chapter also has some journal prompts to work through. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about working with and venerating ancestors.
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Conclusions
If you wish to get this book it can be found on Amazon, Thrift Books, Half Price Books, Bookshop, Abe Books, Llewellyn Publishing, Powell's Books, Livebrary (free through certain public libraries!), and more!
Manifestation is a concept that arose within an extremely individualist worldview that held that you alone were responsible for what happened to you. People in the past did not practice "manifestation under a different name" because they did not have an individualistic worldview like this.
Many US Americans celebrate their ancestral ties to other countries. We often discuss our lineages, cook foreign food, and observe holidays that center our heritage: St Patrick’s Day, Oktoberfest, etc. For most of us, our ties to ancestral lands are as important as our mother’s maiden name.
But what about the pride we take in regional culture?
There’s a spiritual connection I hold with the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, where my father spent a lot of time growing up. He canoed in those rivers, hiked on those trails. I can never know how many stones he turned, or how many nights he spent by a campfire under the pines. But when I’m standing on the same sandy soil, the wind seems to whisper to me.
I’ve been thinking about this connection a lot recently. Despite our community valuing connection to Land, it’s always in the context of where you currently live. However, I wonder if some of us might find value in also forging connections to our parents’ Lands, even if they’re in the same state. The following are some ways you can connect to your parents' Lands; even if your family doesn't have a strong connection to their homestates, I hope you can still find inspiration in this post.
Learning the Land
Of course we can always start with the local fauna and flora, as is often suggested when we’re forming connection with our own Land. But that might feel repetitive if it’s in a similar region as where you live.
Instead, I’d recommend visiting state & national parks. I understand this might be inaccessible for some, but if you can visit your parent’s homestate, I highly recommend it! The best way to learn the land is to experience it firsthand.
Example: Every time I go to New Jersey, I visit Wharton State Forest, which includes some of the Pine Barrens. I kayak & hike, letting myself enjoy the same forests my father did while he was living in NJ.
Learning the Lore
Every town has its ghost story, and every state has its cryptid. Do some digging, see what turns up. Ask your parents what stories they remember, and see if anything that comes up could be a potential spirit ally to you.
Example: I love the story of the New Jersey Devil–it’s my favorite cryptid! I’ve considered working with him as part of spiritwork, but I haven’t gotten around to it just yet.
Learning the Cuisine
This one’s pretty simple–Learn the regional food! This can be anything from the modern claim-to-fame to what immigration has brought into the state. Try your hand at the recipes, especially if they were found in a parent’s cookbook.
You can also look into agricultural exports, though sometimes that leads into a dead end (as a born and raised Illinoisian, our corn sucks).
Example: New Jersey is the inventor of saltwater taffy and pork rolls. Southern NJ takes a lot of cultural cues from Philadelphia, so the Philly cheesesteak is also big in my family. There’s also a strong pizza culture in NJ, as a part of the Italian cuisine common in the state.
Learning the Celebrations
This might be the hardest part, as finding information on local festivities can be difficult. In North America, a lot of town festivals revolve around agriculture or the immigrant community.
Even if you are unable to visit during the festival itself, you can still celebrate at home. If you find an annual Pumpkinfest, then around the same day as Pumpkinfest bake a pumpkin pie, or roast seeds, or carve an early jack-o-lantern.
Example: I’ll use myself for this example, as I’m unsure of festivals from my dad’s town. Where I’m from, there’s a horseradish festival. I hate horseradish, but otherwise I might create a nice charcuterie board with multiple horseradishes and plenty of cheeses & crackers to pair them with.
State Altar
Just like many of us include genius locarum in our altars, you could also include the spirit(s) of a state in your altar! If this interests you, here’s a list of ideas to get you started:
Local wildflowers, rocks, or soil (especially state flowers!)
State maps
Artworks of local lore, the state itself, or landscapes
Photos of landscapes, fauna, or flora (especially state birds!)
Souvenir items like tickets or museum gift shop snowglobes
Example: If I were to make an altar for the spirit of New Jersey, I’d include my NJ Devil horseshoe, the card from my kayaking trip, glass from Batsto Village, my “New Jersey” bell, and freshly picked blue violets if in season.
We have a maple syrup festival that’s always the weekend after the spring equinox to celebrate the end of sugaring season. There’s also a celebration in May for morel season that also celebrates Czech culture (lots of Czechs immigrated to the city I grew up near and now live in). There’s also the state fair in late summer and county fairs as well, which are great ways to celebrate the local land.
It was exciting to find out I had moved to the same town where my great-grandparents and many other family members were buried unknowingly and was able to find them in the old prints of the local newspaper (which is how I found out that I was hiking the same trails as my grandmother who died long before I was born). I no longer live there but I was able to gather some grave dirt to take with me.
My grandpa is very proud of the gooseberries on his land and his nephew and brothers live in the surrounding area. The family reunion on the family generational farm was always similar to a harvest festival and we learned about local and family lore through ghost stories on the hay ride at night over the family lands.
A popular way of spending the summer is getting some giant tractor tires, tying them together, and floating down the river (we take the tires with us when we’re done). The rivers are now an integral part of my practice as I came to realize the major impact they’ve had on my life. Whether fun summer recreational use or major flooding bringing community together.
Hmmm… as for altar stuff, I could add an image of a goldfinch (our state bird), or there’s an image of forests giving way to prairie that just has my heart, it may be fun to add something related to the Van Meter Visitor even if I’m in the wrong part of the state for that. Oh and a river rock. I should definitely add a river rock. I already have a lot of ancestral stuff.
