Book Review: Hedge Witch Book of Days

Hedge Witch Book of Days by Mandy Mitchell

This book is a good supplemental read for beginners. Each chapter is a month of the year and full of ideas on how to celebrate. The celebration ideas are conveyed slice of life style, from personal antadots from the author, as such it has got a strong mom vibe. It reminded me of “Cakes and Ale for the Pagan Soul” in that it felt more like a collection of personal stories than a straight up witchcraft book.

The author is in the UK so the book is geared around thier seasonal changes. Luckily it’s not to far off from the weather of Ohio so it was still relevant to me.

As the chapters were by month, I took a full year to read this, reading each chapter at the start of the appropriate month. I highly recommend doing the same to streach out the fun and keep the material relevant.

Overall it give 3 out of 5 stars.

Batman Fan Art

I finally finished my Batman fan art poster. I normally don’t draw people so this was a big challenge for my skill set. My meduium was markers, on posterboard. This poster is a gift for my dad. The Adam West Batman was one of the shows we bonded over when I was a kid. I always loved how campy it was and how the color pallet in the show made it feel like a live action cartoon.

Working on this project kind of delves in tho that pop culture magic a bit with a Venn diagram side step into ancestor worship as geek icons like Adam West and Stan Lee are part of my Beloved Dead. They are the Bards and Heros of our modern mythos.

Below is my poster, and the insperation poster for comparison.

Also fun fact today celebrates my 4 year anniversary for this blog. Woot!

Thundarian Magic

So a while back I did a book review of Pop Culture Magic and while I was not a fan of the writting style the book had a lot of good concepts for using our modern mythos in magical practice. (So does the Webtoon ‘Trailer Park Warlock’, seriously its awsome go check it out) This post is about my personal exploration in this to type of magic. The Modern Mythos I chose to work with was my favorite cartoon Thundercats, specifically the 80s version. Don’t get me wrong I loved the 2011 anima style reboot too, but I love the original more. Something about that beautiful Rankin and Bass art style just speaks to me. Fun fact there are many nods to the ‘The Last Unicorn’ movie in the orgional series as well and that make my little nerd heart happy.

So for those of you not familiar with the story the basic plot of Thundercats is that they are refugees from an destroyed planet that have to build a new home on 3rd Earth. Despite being badass warriors they seek a peaceful existence amongst thier neighbors but the Evil Mumm-ra and his mutant henchmen keep messing with them. It is also a come of age story as the main character Lion-O thanks to malfunctioning suspension pod is essentialy a boy trapped in a man’s body (like that Tom Hank’s classic movie ‘Big’) and has to grow up emotionally and learn to be a good leader.

So how is this mythos relevant to me now. Well 1st off in my muggle life I am trying to figure how to advance my career and become managment material, as such revisiting the lessons taught in the show is helping me focus my will towards my goals. After all if what the other Thundercats teach Lion-o is to help him be a good king, they can’t hurt me in my quest to be a warehouse manager.

The second way I am using the Thundercats in my magic is by using them as motivation for my physical fitness goals. I channel Cheetrara’s speed when working on my running goals, and Pantro’s strength when on the rowing machine. The twins Willykit and Willycat are great for agility and balanced based exercise like yoga.

The 3rd way I am using the Thundercats in my practice is taking insperation from the magic being used in the show. For example I started using trigger phrases like “Sword of Omens give me sight beyond sight” when I’m trying to find missing stuff. Or channeling Tigra’s invisible powers when trying to hide from that one annoying coworker. I am about to rewatch the entire series for the 4th time in my life, but this time I plan on picking it apart for every little nugget of magical wisdom I can find in it. I also have aquired two Thundercat tattoos so far, the iconic black and red Cat’s head symbol and Tigra (got him Saturday yay happy fresh ink dance). I plan on getting the Sword of Omens done at the end of March, and I will get Mumm-ra when I hit my weight loss goal of 60lbs. For the record I also have tattoos from Discworld, Sailor Moon, Robotech, and Harry Potter, sooooo it’s a nerd thing. But also playing with Pop Culture Magic has brought even more power to my ink so woot woot.

Images below are screen shots from pinterest. The first is the version of Tigra I got, the second is the Sword of omens I will get.

I’m not dead yet…

I have been working ridiculous amount of hours in the mundane job here lately and have been too exhausted to do much of anything extra in my life. Only got about 3 chapters further in 1 of the books I’m reading. Haven’t picked up my sewing at all, and just been feeling meh in general. The youngest cat has been a complete terrorist and keeps waking me up about every 2 hours when I try to sleep. Linda is 2.5 year old demon tabby and spoiled brat of a cat. Yes she is fixed, and yes I’ve tried all the calming products on the market and yes she has 2 other cats to play with. She is just a sleep stealing goblin. Even before I had the one weird dream that Cuthulu was in my coffee cup.

Looks so cute and innocent.

I’m a caffeine filled zombie just trying to survive a shitty job and trying to figure how to buy my first house and start a esty store at the same time. It’s hard to find time sit down long enough to eat dinner let alone try and create a prosperity spell or do research on how to find the best home loan. I am the candle burning at both ends. Always taking on more projects than I can actually handle. I am either a workaholic or idiot.

On top of all that madness I am working on a commissioned piece of artwork, a recreation of a 1966 classic batman poster.

Work in progress

Buckeyes & Broomsticks 2021, What to anticipate

First I want to apologize my dear readers I never finished my December Blogging challenge, I just ran out of spoons because of all the overtime at work and personal issues.

So 2021, what can you expect from this blog?

Book reviews, I got several books on my to read pile, and yes a few of them are carry overs from 2020 that I didn’t get to. It’s a decent mix of history, fiction and pagan themed books to keep things interesting. See pictures below for the list.

More pagan / witchy topics. I am a rather laid back pagan with a focus on practical application and minimal theatrics. I am a dirt under my finger nail, paint on my shirt, and covered in cat fur kind of witch. So if honest everday pagan conversations are what you are after I got you covered. I will also have some gardening stories and the occasional random road trip exploring more local treasures in the great state of Ohio. And also please don’t be afraid to reach out in the comments and request topics you want to see me write about.

Art, I plan on posting more art than in previous years as it seems to be a popular topic, and I am feeling a little more confident with my skills to share it with the public. Below is a picture of my most recent project.

Winter Witchy Blogging Challenge: Days 19-27 Playing Catch Up.

Winter Witchy Blogging Challenge. I fell behind on this challenge because the Grinch stole all my spoons.

19. Reindeer Magic, write a meditation, spell of ritual that honors these animals.

I appoched this challenge by looking at the flying reindeer associated with Santa’s sled. For me I see them as symbolically being connected to speed, strength, teamwork, flight and spreading joy. Working with reindeer energy this time of year would be a great way to give a little extra boost to spells centered around endurance, and fitness, or anything that you want to put a little speed behind like a “please let the package arrive on time and unbroken”. Reindeer are also great allies for doing astral travel.

20. Longest night, how to honor the seasonal darkness and deities of night. To be honest I don’t make the longest night in my practice.

21. Winter Solstice, how do you mark this solar event? I cook an extra special dinner, light candles and catch up on my journaling.

22. Winter Hobbies, how are you keeping busy? I sew alot in the winter. Currently making myself a purse.

23. Snow days, share your stories of playing in the snow. As a kid we went sledding a lot. It was rare we ever got sufficient snow to build a proper snow man.

24. Snuggle up with a book, what are you reading? Currently reading “Carthrage must be Destroyed”. Which is history of Carthage from conception to destruction. I just made it theough the first of punic wars and am about to start the second one.

25. Wrapping paper round up, how to repurpose wrapping paper. Makes good book Mark’s, and considering I have a cat that likes to steal bookmarks and chew them up I go through a lot of them.

26. Holiday Hangover, how do you deal with the post holiday energy crash? Leftovers and kitty snuggles.

27. What’s in your cauldron? Share you favorite hot beverage, and soup recipes. I drink a lot of tea, but I mostly use the big name brands like Twinning and Biglow. My household is not big on soups, so the only thing in my crockpot/ cauldron is chili. I cook it with instinct not recipie so not a lot to share. Guess the one weird thing I do is like to use maple sausage, and replace 1/2 the beans with maple baked beans beacuse I enjoy a sweet chili.

Winter Witchy Blogging Challenge Day 18.

Winter Witchy Blogging Challenge Day 18. Scrooge This! Write a shadow working ritual using the three spirits form the the Dickens’s classic to guide the way.

Shadow working is about looking at the darker aspects of yourself and figuring out healthy ways to reconcile them. The Charles Dickens classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a great illustration of this process. The character Mr. Scrooge examines his past and is forced to face his regrets. He then looks at the president to see how others view him as well as what he is missing out on, and what hardships others are dealing with. He then looks at what the future will look like if he continues down his path. He decides that he needs to change the way he is living in order to be happy.

So what are some ways we can use this story in our witchcraft.

1. Do a 3 card tarot card pull, or omen reading representing the three ghost of past, present and future.

2. Do some journal working or meditation around the theme of your past, present and future winter holidays and how they effected the direction of your life, and how they might impact your future.

3. Do a spell / ritual where you let go of some of your regrets.

4. Do a spell / ritual where you give thanks for all the blessings you have.

5. If you are able to do something that helps those that are less fortunate.

6. Rewatch your favorite version of the movie with you favorite snacks and relax and enjoy the holiday. My recommendation is the Muppet Christmas Carol.