Pagan

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Nat

I was wondering if any of y'all have a spirit animal that you know of?

Also, do you find yourself connected to any other-worldly beings/elementals?

And, do you find yourself connected to certain trees or types of trees?

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Great questions for discussion.

I have always been drawn to trees--particularly the pine, the oak and the willow. I started talking to trees when I was a girl (and was not surprised to get answers.) There was an old live oak in my front yard that I spent many hours in.

Yes, in. I was a mad tree climber when I was younger. Still get the urge to climb a big old oak tree and find a branch to perch on.

Otherworldly beings, yes. Mermaids in particular and green sprites as well. I see green men a lot (heh...that sounds bizarre.) I used to commune with fairies as a little girl but they don't stop so much any more.

Spirit animals? That's a tricky question because part of my path is not able to share all of this answer. So yes and not the wolf or tiger or lion. Grin. My spirit animal is a bit shyer than that. I do have some that are public like the Manta Ray and Kestrel.

[Bit]

What a wonderful conversation! I'm so glad you started it, Nat!

Originally Posted by Arwen

Spirit animals? That's a tricky question because part of my path is not able to share all of this answer.

I also hesitate to share too much, but for a different reason; I used to be hounded by someone on another site. Anything I posted was turned against me; the better I got at shielding, the more skillful my assailant got at breaking through my shields. This happened consistently for many years, until I finally got so cautious that I just stopped talking about anything Pagan for a long time.

I still have that second-nature impulse that says, "watch it! anything you talk about will backfire!"

What I can say is that I work with all kinds of animals--whomever comes to my mind in a moment of need--and also with several different kinds of entities. I've worked with the animals ever since I first discovered formal paganism. The other entities are much more recent, and working with beings from other planes has really stretched my limits and helped me grow.

Originally Posted by that Foxy tease!

I don't generally see Faeries as kind and loving beings... at least they have certainly not always appeared that way to me... this one time... oh wait this is not story time

IS TOO. Is too.

How interesting that our trees are different! I didn't expect that; guess I thought that oaks and maples were ubiquitous once a person was north of the desert... silly of me, because I remember the Douglas fir/cedar/alder forests of the PNW!

For me, like for Blue, the trees are part of an urban forest, planted by people. I don't think of them in the same way I think of an indigenous forest... heck, all over the PNW oaks and maples are planted in people's yards. Maybe that's why I didn't think about the forests being different.

I think all our elms are probably Chinese elms at this point, because of Dutch elm disease. Some are very old but I suspect most are less than 100 years. A really massive elm that I thought had to be quite old is only about 60 years, so I guess I have to allow for the large yearly rainfall here having MUCH more of an effect on the trees than I expected it to.

[Bit]

Hey y'all, Isaac Bonewits has cancer and is asking for help! He and his wife Phaedra have a facebook page and a website--here are the addies.

Here's their fb addy.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/isaac.phaedra.bonewits

Here is their website. http://www.neopagan.net/

Here is the call to action, from the House of Danu:

Isaac Bonewits defines what it is to be a Druid in our time and place. A great friend to the House of Danu, he was the founder of Ár nDraíocht Féin and leader within many Pagan traditions. Isaac has been struggling with colon cancer (root chakra) and it has reached a point where he needs a miracle.

Phaedra Bonewits has put out a call for our greatest magik: A ROLLING THUNDER. The House of Danu asks that you rise to the call and participate in this event which is unprecedented in our history. From Europe moving West at 9:00P.M. in each time zone, the energies will rise and our will shall become manifest.

WHEN: On the night of the full moon, May 27, 2010, at 9:00P.M. in your time zone

HOW: Create a healing ritual within your tradition and that is joined with the rising energies with this chant:
"Isaac's tumors fade away. Thirty more years with Phae."

THEN: It will comfort Isaac and Phaedra to know when your ritual is done. Let them know. Their email adress is at their website, neopagan.net.

The Rolling Thunder has already begun in Europe and is moving across the face of the Earth. Please join in, and bring healing to one of the Pagan community's most beloved authors!


ps-I edited the email addy out of this post, as they are already swamped by over 1000 spam messages a day; no sense taking chances a bot would find the address here and add more.

[Bit]

A new set of questions for us!

Do you prefer to make your own tools (wands, athames, cards, cups, etc) or buy them already made?

If you make them yourself, do you prefer to find the makings as you walk through an area, or to buy unadorned items and personalize them?
~~~~~~

My answers: I've done all of the above at various times. Sometimes I have found absolutely wonderful items in the shops, especially jewelry and cards--certainly, making one's own tarot cards is QUITE the daunting challenge for me, lol--and sometimes items have presented themselves to me completely unexpectedly.

My favorite example of the unexpected tool is a small geode I found once (now moved on to another owner, nonconsensually) that was naturally opened and bent back. It looked like a tiny shrine of the Mother from one angle and like a fish with its mouth open from another, and it served me well for several years.

Once in a while I make something just for the sake of creating, and then discover afterwards that it's become a tool. My favorite example of that is a small gourd I painted once to look like a curled up fox. It became my guardian while I worked in a haunted building by myself, until it broke in my pocket one day.

I find myself thinking that I *should* make all my own tools, mostly because lots of people have *said* so... but yanno what, if we all made all of our own tools, the Pagan artists among us would have to go out of business. So I think I like having a balance of both kinds of tools.

How about you?

[2myladyblue]

Originally Posted by Bit

A new set of questions for us!
Do you prefer to make your own tools (wands, athames, cards, cups, etc) or buy them already made? If you make them yourself, do you prefer to find the makings as you walk through an area, or to buy unadorned items and personalize them?

Great questions, Bit!
Of course, I would *PREFER* to make my own tools....but alas & alack, that rarely happens *eyes one of many piles of projects in process*...
I have made a few things out of clay. I love to personalize & consecrate something plain. And I love love love discovering the *perfect* thing walking through the woods or in some wonderful witchy store I've wandered into!
~Blue

[2myladyblue]

I really need to get some sleep, but I wanted to recommend a lovely selection from my bookshelf....
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

Has anyone else read it?
~Blue

[Nat]

I just saw these and think they are cute. They are three little beeswax candles.

[*Magic_and_Silk*]

Originally Posted by 2myladyblue

I really need to get some sleep, but I wanted to recommend a lovely selection from my bookshelf....
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

Has anyone else read it?
~Blue

I have read it and I recommend it to anyone who has not. It is a wonderful book!

[Nat]

Originally Posted by Bit

A new set of questions for us!

Do you prefer to make your own tools (wands, athames, cards, cups, etc) or buy them already made?

If you make them yourself, do you prefer to find the makings as you walk through an area, or to buy unadorned items and personalize them?

Most of my main items have been store/internet-bought, but I don't have a good connection to most of them (yet).

I am happiest with my pentacle (which I made myself out of self-hardening clay. it was at christmas time, and my mom asked if it meant that I danced naked in the woods. I told her, "not yet!")



I am also very happy with my chalice, which is actually a glass compote that I picked up from Goodwill. In that case, I knew what I wanted before I went into the store, and sure enough, I found exactly what I wanted and it felt right.

This was my altar on New Year's day - it was a bit crowded - but you can see the chalice back there on the right.



My wand is a plain willow wand, and I haven't really made friends with it yet, and my athame is a letter-opener. Unfortunately, I dropped it and broke a stone off of it, and I'm not sure how best to re-attach it. I also feel kinda bad that I dropped it in the first place. Somewhere I have a beautiful mermaid dagger but it's buried in my stuff. If I ever find it, I will probably make that into my athame.

I'm very new to the witchy and pagan worlds, so these are things I'm still in the process of feeling out. I do tend to collect things for my altar and also for my workspace. Acorns, fallen leaves, interesting sticks, seashells, ribbons, just stuff. I also have fantasies of creating little miniature altar kits. I love the idea of a tiny altar kit with a needle for the athame, a thimble for the chalice, a toothpick for the wand, birthday candles with spindles to hold them, a pack of match incense, a handkerchief for an altar cloth - but I never can think what to use for the thurible.