Whimsy and Fate

Morri, 26, Pagan, Bi, reader, writer, crafter, gamer. Lover of literature, music, and hope.

[thebibliowitch]

Here is my Valkyrie souled, beloved Astrid.

She will live to see another day, but she's going to have battle scars.

[thebibliowitch]

This is my new pendent, pic as promised. It's gorgeous, right??

[thebibliowitch]

Well guys, I know that I haven't posted in a LOOOOOONG while, and I have been very passive in my worship and offerings to Odin.

But yesterday, I thought out of the blue, that I needed to get a Valknut pendent. I don't know where the thought came from, but I am blessed enough to have a witchy shop in the city I work in, so I called them up and asked if they had any.

They had one.

I asked if they could hold on to it and immediately headed up to the store. I bought it and fell in love with it immediately. Pics will follow shortly.

Now here is where it gets weird, today I am off work, and decided that I was going to go get sushi for the fiance and myself.

I forgot to put on my watch, my favorite bracelet, my engagement ring, and my aunt's engagement ring that I recently received.

But do you know what I remembered? My pendent.

Well

I was on my way to get the sushi this afternoon, and was hit, nearly head on, while driving. Pics will follow shortly.

But before the woman hit me, the forest of Yggdrasil flashed before me, and I heard Odin's voice in my mind, telling me to hit the breaks.

I didn't have time to react, other than the split second that I slammed on my breaks, making it so I had no momentum when she hit me.

She was whipping around the corner, and it should have been so so so much worse.

My car, my valkyrie souled, Astrid, will live to see another day. She is drivable, though I won't be until the cosmetic damage is fixed, just because I live in the middle of nowhere, it's dark when I get home, and I have no headlight on the driver's side.

I'm not about to pull some "everthing happens for a reason bullshit" I don't believe that there was a reason that this happened to me.

But I believe that Odin was there to protect me.

[snappydoodle-deactivated2022051]

Sometimes you gotta make yourself drink water and sit in direct sunlight, like some kind of wilted houseplant

[thebibliowitch]

I mean, this checks out. 

[ethicalmemes]

Do what makes you happy! #EthicalMemes

[blushandbourbon]

Sometimes you fall off the wagon for months. Sometimes you tell yourself you’re gonna start fresh on Monday and by Wednesday you’ve already fallen back off. Sometimes you have to restart a 100 times and it’s frustrating. But it will be okay. You can do this. One day at a time

[appendingfic]

Sometimes writing is crafting intricate foreshadowing and themes that delight your readers and sometimes it is realizing you forgot an entire character existed.

[thebibliowitch]

Oh, I've been there...

[thebibliowitch]

Altar Ideas...?

So, I have some crystals and some wood chips on my altar, as well as a piece of candy that I thought one of the gods would surely like, but I guess I am looking for suggestions on what else to put there. 

My dad is working on wood burning a Valknut for me to place there (I worship primarily Norse gods). 

We also put black coffee there for Odin on occasion, but I am just out of ideas. If it were warmer here I would pick flowers for Frigg. 

I have thought about getting something cat related for Freya, but I just can’t seem to find things that fit. 

Any help would be appreciated. 

[thegorgonist]

I missed the Solstice but here’s to Winter, and finding coziness and friendship in the coldest days.

[hexeandharmony]

🎄❄️✨Yule Blessings✨❄️🎄

Insta: verbenalune ✨

[dirtshrines]

[is-this-cottagecore]

[mostlycatsmostly]

[systlin]

If any of y'all want to know how to make some super dope beef stew super easily LISTEN UP

Take a couple pounds of beef and cube it. Put that shit in a crock pot.

Add 1 ½ cups water.

Add an onion soup packet.

And a glass of red wine.

Hell yeah

[systlin]

Pour yourself some wine too you deserve it.

Add like half an onion and season with pepper, salt, chipotle pepper, garlic, cinnamon, and cloves. I don’t measure I just dash some in and adjust to taste when I add the root vegetables.

Nice.

[systlin]

Mix that shit up.

Now put on high and ignore for 3 hours.

[systlin]

In 3 hours, add veggies. Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, whatever ya got. Mushrooms are good too. I’ll add some dried morels, crumbled up. Will post again when we get to that point. 

[uristmcdorf]

Can recommend the above recipe, but with a dark brown ale instead of wine and with pickled walnuts added with the veggies

[systlin]

……man that sounds good too will have to try that sometime. 

[systlin]

Ok meat is done through now dump in some baby carrots or chop up some regular carrots and throw in some taters. I use red because I hate peeling them fuck that. Also crumbled up a half dozen dried morel mushrooms and threw in some flour to thicken things up. Added some fresh thyme because why the hell not.

nice.

Now ignore for another hour.

[systlin]

As for the cut of meat; doesn’t matter get what’s cheap. Anything gets tender if you stew it in a crock pot for six hours. Spices can be tinkered with as you see fit. Add other veggies as you see fit. Nothing is set in stone do what you want, man. Sub beer for the wine, throw in pork, ‘s all good. Pour yourself some more wine or beer and play Skyrim for awhile. 

[systlin]

Note that the finished stew can be frozen in single portions and thawed in the microwave  later, and will feed either a family for a night or you for a week if you live alone. 

[meilintheempressofdreams]

By the way, would dumplings be addable to this?

I’m addicted to having dumplings in my stews/soups…

[systlin]

DO IT

[inconspicuouspotatosack]

Hey @systlin is there anything you’d recommend as a substitute for wine/beer to someone who can’t legally buy alcohol?

[systlin]

Beef stock. 

[caller-what-else]

I don’t even know how i ended up fullowing your blog but now there is beef stew and i live for that.

[velynven]

I use salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and allspice in mine.  Veggies are carrots and green beans (need to be in for ~30 minutes especially if using fresh GBs) and tomatoes added in the last 10 minutes (again if fresh, could definitely go on less time if using canned).  I skip the potatoes because I am not a person who enjoys them in stew, and always serve with baguettes!

[naamahdarling]

What would be good to use instead of onion soup powder?

[systlin]

Just sub in 1 ½ cups broth of any sort instead. Lots of folks are allergic to onions, including my brother’s fiancee, and for her I just left out potatoes (she has a few food allergies, potatoes and tomatoes and onions are some, and she has celiac disease) So I omitted the onions and potatoes, made my own beef bone broth to make sure there wasn’t anything in there that would be bad for her, used cornstarch as a thickener instead of flour, and added parsnips and rutabegas and some sweet potatoes instead. It was excellent.

[thebibliowitch]

Trying this asap.

[thebibliowitch]

So, let me tell you about my Yule log experience this year.

I already took on a lot more baking than I am used to, but really wanted a Yule log of some sort to put on my altar for Odin and the other Norse gods.

But holy shit, that's a hell of a project. So I improvised. I got a pack of swiss cake rolls. And I put it on the altar with the promise that I would do better next Yule.

And Odin was pleased that I'd thought of a solution.

Funny thing. The day after I was going to split the pack of two with my fiance but when I came in the bedroom the little shit had eaten both of them.

Odin was highly amused.

[orrphelia]

“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.”  

[sous-le-saule]

Inktober 2019 #21 “Treasure”