#heathen
Our living room (& whole house) is lit only with candles for solstice, & it’s so dreamy ☺️❤️ also I made the cutest wreath wait til you see it.
Happy solstice, heathens! ❄️
Made beeswax candles with one landmate late on solstice eve, after a several hour song jam with another (working on ‘O death’ from Songcatcher). Such a beautiful, delicious, nourishing treasure of a night. These candle babies got infused with cottonwood resin & rolled in yarrow flowers, rosemary, juniper, & cottonwood buds. Most are for gifting, but we’re also slowly moving toward no-electric-light in the main house.
After being on the move for a season, and before that living somewhere I didn’t intend to stay, it feels intensely good to have a holiday with friends on land that I can actually feel connection to. The cottonwood buds are a sweet tie to friends on the west coast, and the yarrow, rosemary, and juniper are big local allies in boundary holding and protection. The wax came from local bees. I love feeling the interweaving of plants and other beings that feeds into my life & prayers, knowing that the nectar of local flowers colored the wax, that the resin from the cottonwood made sticky a friend’s fingers a continent away. Knowing that miles of flight over the blue ridge mountains made the wax possible, that all those visions and moments and reaching toward the sun get twined together to help me remember how to grow brighter with the season and take rest as it comes, how to surround myself with strong, supple edges. We’re crafting new traditions here in the wake of turbulent family histories and with the scraps of community we can knit together safely, & it is such a fucking blessing.
Hail to Skadi, the Goddess of Winter, the Goddess of the Hunt; the White Wolf. We feel you.
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Alfablot, the Nordic counterpart to Samhain, or as some of you may know it as Halloween, is a very sacred time of remembrance of our deceased ancestors. We gather around our close family, and exchange stories of great men and women within our family tree, who we honor that night with drink and warm food. We must keep them in our thoughts, for they overcame great struggles to bring us to life. This is their night.
Hail to our deceased brothers,
To our past sisters
To the mothers of our mother
And fathers of our father
Though you may be gone
We feel your presence
And honor your life
You will never be forgotten
Hail
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And the old gypsy woman said to me, “Draped in your animal furs, protect yourself from the cold, my child, my child. Live off the land the Gods have given us, for they can as easily forge a monster strong enough to take it away. A monster within, my child, my child.”
Yes, this is me, I may start posting pictures of myself to put a face to this blog.
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My spiritual practice is not Scandinavian-based, but I have been enjoying watching this series on Nordic witchcraft. This video in particular, highlighting the importance of maintaining a good relationship between spirits of the place and nature spirits. Anything that promotes hospitality and reciprocity, I am all for.
