Aphrodite’s Servent

Im 40, I’m have only ever had 2 long term relationships. I am divoreced from a 10 year marriage, and fresh out of a 9 year long term toxic relationship. I never believed in love at first sight untill I met my Viking. I saw his picture on a dating sight and I was hooked. With in 3 paragraphs of text I had to meet him. I dont know if the Midsummer energy had anything to do with it but it definitely feels like the gods/spirits had a hand in this.

I’m a bit of an odd duck and to find someone who is so parallel to me and my interests is a rare thing. Cupids arrow is deep in my chest I could not pull it out if I wanted to. So I obey the love goddess’s command. I’m chasing this, and chasing it hard. I have never met someone who’s very presence makes me feel so simultaneously calm, mentally stimulated, peaceful, and happy. He makes me feel like I found a long lost best friend.

It has only been a month. I have no idea how this will turn out. All I know is that I have not been this happy and joyous in a very very long time.

Hail Satan!

So a recent change to my spiritual life is that I decided to join The Satanic Temple. Why? It feels right, and to be honest given the state of the world right now I think we could all use a lot more Satan in our lives given that true Satanism is a hell of a lot more ethical than every thing else out there. Below is an introduction copy and pasted straight from the official website.

The Mission Of The Satanic Temple Is To Encourage Benevolence And Empathy, Reject Tyrannical Authority, Advocate Practical Common Sense, Oppose Injustice, And Undertake Noble Pursuits.

There are Seven
FUNDAMENTAL TENETS
I
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.

V
Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.

VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word

And yes I still consider myself a Hellenistic Pagan, a druid, and a practioner of choas magic, now I’m a Satanist too.

New Home, New Altar, New Practice

When I moved into my new apartment I decided to put my altar in the frontroom instead of hiding it in my bed room like I have been forced to do my entire practice. With it so prominently displayed it was fairly easy for me to fall in to a daily practice. It started off simple with lighting a candle to Hermes when I came home every night. It has evolved into pouring him a shot of Ouzo twice a week (that is how quickly it evaporates out of the shot glass). I also started to buy flowers for Hera once a week as well. Apart from burning incense every now and then I never made such regular offerings before. It feels so right. I feel like it has helped strengthen my bond with the gods.

Camping at Alum Creek State Park

My friend: “what are you doing this weekend?”

Me:”laundry”

My friend: Nope! Your coming camping, you have one hour to go pack a bag then I picking you up.”

Me: uh ok.

So that’s how I ened up at Alum Creek State Park this weekend. First off let me say that the campsite and the campground amenities were fantastic. Some of the best I have experience in all my years camping. The sight had electricity, fire ring, picnic table and perfect amount of shade. The bathrooms were clean, there was a private beach and a camp store.

It was a much needed mini vacation. It was group camping with a bunch of wild and wonderful women. We sat around a fire drinking and sharing life stories, talking about our personal spiritual developments. It’s always great to compare notes on spiritual growth with other pagan-ish folks and learn from eachother. Sympathizing on the hard parts of life and encouraging eachother on positive personal growth. Get that tattoo, get the hair cut, yes dye it purple, let’s go kayaking, let’s form a Dungeons and Dragons group. It was just so energizing and beautiful.

I also so just needed that time in nature. Surrounded by trees, mud between my toes, dancing in the rain. Smelling like Wood smoke, lake water and bug spray. Falling asleep listening to frogs and crickets. It’s simplistic, fantastic and therapeutic. To just slow down for a few days and enjoy being alive and feral.

And now the not so fun part, I have even more laundry to do.

Personal Update May 2022

Dear readers, sorry for the long delay between post but after my cat Mina died I was dealing with some severe writer’s block and a creative slump. On top of that my life has changed very drastically since then. I broke up with my boyfriend in April and moved in to my own apartment. This change in my life will have a few small inpacts on this blog moving foward. First off now that I am living that urban witch life, I will not be doing anymore gardening post. Second it was an ugly break up and I lost a lot of my personal property. This means that my list of books I was going to review is no longer valid as I don’t have them anymore. I will still do book reviews though, I just don’t have a scheduled list at the moment.

I will still be doing all sorts of witchy book reviews, arts and crafts, travel post, and documenting all the ups and downs along my spiritual path. I already have several topics / posts planned out and am looking foward to sharing them with you in the near future.

Mina crossed the Rainbow Bridge

I has to put my cat Mina down last night. She was 17.5 years old, had hyperthyroidism and was suffering from kidney failure. She was a highly intelligent cat, a toast theif, a cuddle butt and a stunning beauty. She was a rescue that had been found in a box along the side of the road. I spoiled her rotten, with toys and kisses, warm beds, cat trees, and endless treats. Here are some photos of her to celebrate her life.

Easy DIY Tunnels for Guaged Ears

I loved the DYI earings I made last month so much that I ordered more of the Casvort brand DIY 0 guage tunnels from Amazon. An trip in to Claire’s scored me 6 cute pairs of earings. FYI that place had a lot of pride / rainbow earrings and accessories for decent prices. My jewelry tools made quick work of removing the charms from their original fish hooks and attaching them to the tunnels. This is an easy and fairly inexpensive way to get fun tunnels that reflect your personal style.

This is also a great way to add a little magic to your person. You can put tiny spell bottles, stones, charms and such on them. You can find all kinds of things to represent your deities and spirit allies to hang them. For example those little travel coffee cup earings pictured below, I plan on dedicating to Hermes as the travel coffee cup is the weapon of choice for the work week commute. You can make custome tunnels for the 8 high days in the wheel of the year. The only limitation is your imagination. You can do all these fun things with regular DIY earrings too.

Before

After

More Sewing Projects.

I have sewn a few more bags since my post Purse Parade. The insperation for these ones is the idea of using basic quilting patterns for a decorative front flap on messenger bag style purses. Also got an idea of trying to think of ways to have a pride theme with out it being done too over the top. So these bags were made summoning energy and astetic of two classic 80s cartoons that feature rainbows, while not actually featuring the licensed characters. The first bag is called Rainbow Brite goes to Goth-Mart. Dimensions are 9″*9″*4″ inches. I had a friend ask to buy it after seeing the pictures of it on Facebook. I love that warm fuzzy feeling of haveing people enthusiastic about my arts and crafts.

The second bag is Carebears carry-a-lot. Dimensions 11″11“*5” inches. Special feature is pockes specifically for pens and lipgloss/pocket sized anti-bacteria gel.

The Birth of Big Bertha

Egregore (also spelled egregor; from French égrégore, from Ancient Greek ἐγρήγορος, egrēgoros ‘wakeful’) is an occult concept representing a distinct non-physical entity that arises from a collective group of people. Essentially it is the creation of new spirits / deities.

I believe that all deities & spirits were essential created through the power of belief and the stronger the belief and the greater number of believers the more powerful the spirit. This is not a new concept by any means. Watch any Christmas movie and you will see repetitive motifs of Santa Claus needing people to believe in the spirit of Christmas in order for his sled to fly.

With that being said my teen has decided to experiment with creating a new set of egragors/deities. I thought it would be fun to share to boost awareness, because I love the concept.

Big Bertha is a big brown tabby cat with green eyes. This cat is responsible for all of creation as she coughed up the Cosmic Hairball that all things are made of. She is the embodiment of pure chaos.

1. If you see a brown tabby that you don’t know personally, that is Big Bertha.
2. If you stare into her eyes long enough she will absorb your soul into the void.
3. She can open portals.
4. She brings choas where ever she goes.
5.That’s not thunder, thats purring.
6. Is Yule cat’s 3nd cousin twice removed
7.Can smell fear and wet food from 100 miles away, she knows.
8. Summon Big Bertha to mix up day to day life.
9. Missing hair ties is a sign she is near.
10. Any activity you do that directly benefits a cat is considered appropriate offerings.
11. She has three kittens Eugene, Gertrude, and Rombus.

Eugene is big orange tabby and is the embodiment of creative chaos. He is the fuzzy Muse adored by all artist.

1. Eugene has strong warm bigfoot energy.
2. Loves crafts especially woodcarving, carpentry, model planes, welding and making yard sculpture made from scrap metal.
4. Is a bit of a hipster, enjoying  microbrews, farmers markets and flannel.
5.That’s not thunder, that is power tools and indi rock.
6. Has pet frogs.
7. His best friends are raccoons and opossums.
8. Summon Eugene when you need creative chaos in your life.

Gertrude is a fluffy white Persian cat and the embodiment of destructive chaos. She is the cat that knocks things off the table just for fun. She is full of sass, sarcasm and savage insults.

1. Gertrude is the movie “Mean Girls” personified.
2. She is a shopaholic as such she can help you find the perfect gift great sale or new obsession.
4. Is a horder if you need it she has it along with your missing socks, car keys, and sunglasses.
5.That’s not thunder, that is Pop songs and vicious mockery.
6. Is all about shiny things no matter the cost.
7. Is a social butterfly and loves to help introverts navigate through social situations.
8. Summon Gertrude when you need destructive chaos in your life.

Rombus is the chotic neutral kitten of choas. They are black cats, calico cats, or even tuxedo cats, any cat really, and are always up to mischief with the ultimate goal of causing confusion and getting laughs.

1. Rombus has got a Mothman kind of vibe.
2. Rombus’s hobbies are waking people up at 3am for no reason, overthinking, arson, and spreading confusion.
4. Loves bad puns, witty sarcasm, and dad jokes.
5.That’s not thunder, no wait it is just regular thunder, or is it?
6. Spaghetti.
7. Is head of the cyptids council.
8. Summon Rombus when you need chaotic neutral energy in your life.

Book Review: Urban Primative

The Urban Primative; Paganism in the Concrete Jungle, by Raven Kalera and Tannin Schwartzstein. 2002.

This book turns 20 years old this year and it aged rather well. The only part of this book that needs an update to stay relevant is chapter 16 ‘Spirit in the Wires: Magic Over the Modem’ because technology and internet usage has changed and grown a lot. With that being said let me tell you why I love this book so much.

First off this is the first pagan book I had ever read that is specifically written for lower class apartment dwelling witches. It is great for beginners and is full of life hacks for preforming spells when you have no budget to work with and / or must be done in the closet. The spells in here are practical and focused around satisfying the basic needs of safety, shelter, resources and employment.

It is also unique in its approach to talking about deities.  It’s handling of this topic is why would suggest this book more as a 102 book instead of a 101. It kind of makes the assumptions that the reader is already familiar with assorted pagan pantheons and will automatically know which deity to call on. The authors themselves seem to favor the Greek pantheon. What makes thier approch so different from other books is that they introduce the reader to a whole new pantheon based off the personification of basic needs. The three goddess are SQUAT, SKOR, SKRAM, and the three gods are SCREW, SLICK, SARGE. (Sorry for the caplocks here but autocorrect is being a pain in the butt).On a personal note this was my first introduction to egragors leaving me intrigued by the concept that one can just create thier own deities.

It is one of the only pagan books I’ve read that talks about sacred tattoos and piercings. It actually gives suggestions on how to utilize piercings in spell work, and not just your normal lobe piercings but guaged ears, assorted facial piercings and genital piercings too. It also is rare in the fact it is one of the few pagan books I have ever read that talks about dealing with ghost.

If these things haven’t intrigued you enought to want to read it then let me tell you one of the best features of this book is it’s illistrated list of animal spirits that are native to cities such as racoons, pigeons, rats, and assorted insects. I love the fact they poke fun of other pagan books for only listing asseticly pleasing animals like eagles, wolves and stags.  There is also a list of commonly found city plants that can be foraged for for spell ingredients. I should also note this is one of the few pagan books that dosen’t mention the wheel of the year, sabbats, esabbats, highdays or festivals which is refreshing. I know it is an odd thing to appreciate but much like with Batman movies, you get irritated seeing the origin story over and over again, you get to be ” just get on with it and get to the main plot already”, well atleast thats my thoughts.

Anyways this is one of my all time favorites pagan books I ever read and I highly recommend it.