andinarcadiai

[andinarcadiai]

May you live in intresting BORING times

[andinarcadiai]

remember chat. the most hopepunk thing isn’t actually the quest for a better life and a better world. it’s actually to never give up the secret belief that both of those things are possible no matter what and to never let that fire go completely out

[andinarcadiai]

a phrase that kinda bothers me when talking about women's historical roles in europe is "cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children." you hear it so often, those exact words in the same order even. and once you learn a little more you realize that the massive gaping hole in that list is fiberwork. im not an expert and have no hard numbers, but i wouldnt be surprised if fiberwork took up nearly as much time as the other three tasks combined, so it's not a trivial omission.

it's not a hot take to say that the mass amnesia about fiberwork is linked to the belittlement of women's work in geneal, but i do think there's a special kind of illusion that is cast by "cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children." you hear that and think "well i cook and clean and take care of children (or i know someone who does) and i have a sense of how much work that is" and you know of course that cooking and cleaning were more laborious before modern technology, but still, you have a ballpark estimate you think, when in fact you are drastically underestimating the work load.

i also think that this just micharacterizes the role of women's work in livelihoods? cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children are all sisyphean tasks that have to be repeated the next day. these are important, but not the whole picture. when we include all kinds of fiberwork—and other things, such as making candles or soap—women's work looks much more like manufacturing, a sphere we now associate more with men's work. i feel like women's connection to making and craftsmanship is often elided.

[andinarcadiai]

Since we're getting into "did you know that Santa's eight tiny reindeer are a reference to the eight legs of Odin's steed?" season once again, remember: while there are some elements of Christmas (or Hallowe'en, or Easter, or...) observations that are probably pre-Christian in origin, before one believes any of that this-is-really-100%-just-a-Pagan-holiday-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off stuff, one must consider all of the following possibilities:

Our earliest known records of the cited pre-Christian practices were written down by some random Christian monk centuries after the fact, and we genuinely have no idea how accurate this account is, to what extent the apparent similarities with Christian practice are due to the author deliberately or unwittingly putting a Christian spin on it, or indeed, whether they were just making shit up.

The similarities between the two sets of practices have been exaggerated or misrepresented by Christian writers who were bent for prefiguration theology (i.e., the idea that the Bible echoes backwards in time and pre-Christian religious practices were unwittingly imitating future Christian practices).

The similarities between the two sets of practices have been exaggerated or misrepresented by Protestant writers who believe that all Pagan deities are Satan in disguise, so they think that if they can prove that Catholic practices are secretly Pagan in origin, that proves that Catholics are secretly Satanists.

The similarities between the two sets of practices have been exaggerated or misrepresented by overzealous mythographers trying to prove that all mythology and religion throughout all of human history is secretly a single unified monomyth; if it's pre-Victorian, expect shades of prefiguration theology, while if it's post-Victorian, expect a lot of stuff about the Collective Unconscious.

A bunch of 19th Century proto-Fascists were trying to construct a pre-Jewish cultural identity (and considered Christianity to be tainted by association), but didn't want to give up any of the fun rituals, so they made some shit up about how it was still okay to do Christmas because something something Odin, or whatever.

A bunch of early 20th Century Pagan reconstructionists filled in the gaps in their understanding of pre-Christian ritual with culturally Christian assumptions, then turned around and pointed at their own accidentally Christianised reconstructions as evidence that Christian practices are derived from them.

A bunch of late 20th Century self-help manual authors tried to break into the occult bookstore market by uncritically repeating any or all of the above.

Someone on the Internet just made it up.

[andinarcadiai]

The Witch and the Moon

— by majara__

[andinarcadiai]

Naturalists have got to be one of the groups of people most susceptible to being tricked by the fae. Travellers these days are much less likely to follow a mysterious light or the smell of roast beef into the forest. Meanwhile, find me a naturalist who would not completely lose themself in pursuit of:

An unidentifiable bird call

A butterfly that’s slightly off-color

An opossum with its head stuck in a yogurt tub

A really big woodpecker

[andinarcadiai]

[andinarcadiai]

285 35933515 15835535

[andinarcadiai]

[andinarcadiai]

Bree’s Simple Runes

Okay, so I was catching up on my reading today, and came across a set of simple instructions for creating witches’ runestones in Kate West’s “The Real Witches’ Book of Spells and Rituals.” The author recommends a set of eight simple symbols painted onto pebbles or disks and cast to find the answers to questions.

Drawing from this idea, I decided to make a simple set for myself and test them out. I haven’t had much luck with tarot or oracle cards, and ogham sticks have been similarly baffling. So one Sharpie and a handful of small mirror discs later, I had my own homemade runestones.

My artistic skills are hella lacking, but I managed to make clear representations of 20 different symbols with meaning for me, and I recorded each of their meanings in my witchbook. (Keep in mind that the following associations are ENTIRELY personal to me and may not agree with or reflect the opinions of others.)

The Sun - Solar, masculine, energy, glory, favorable outlook

The Moon - Lunar, feminine, dreams, intuition, magic

The Leaf - Nature, growth, fertility, health, renewal

The Coin - Chance, wealth, opportunity, luck

The Arrow - Inspiration, Brighid, “look forward,” “forge ahead”

The Harp - Pleasure, Lugh, skill, cleverness, “be crafty”

The Hammer - Protection, Thor, courage, will, “hold strong”

The Teardrop - Choices, Freyja, a journey, “look elsewhere, “search”

The Serpent - Ambition, desire, greed, career

The Spears - Conflict, trials, suffering, illness

The Dagger - Unseen danger, betrayal, a plot, meddlers

The Rings - Unity, harmony, friendship, love, family

The Cat - Independence, serenity, secrets

The Dog - Loyalty, affection, playfulness

The Cauldron - Power, creation, wisdom

The Wand - Influence, directness, proximity, “it is near”

The Spiral - Introspection, confusion, the unknown

The Feather - Release, relief, lightness, escape

The Web - Caution, entrapment, unseen foe, complication, consequence

The Broom - “Start over,” cleanse, banish, re-evaluate

I made a simple casting board with four quadrants - Then, Now, Future, and Within. And with my cheap-o little mirror discs, I did two castings.

The results were clear as a bell and eerily accurate.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I made the pieces myself, or if it’s the use of symbols that are my own instead of someone else’s, but this set really WORKS for me. And anyone who’s followed me for a fair length of time knows that I am utterly shite with divination.

So for all my witchlings who want to learn divination but are struggling with learning tarot or runes or what-have-you, give this a try! Pick up some discs or pebbles, something with two definite sides, grab a marker or some paints, and make your own set of runes. (Hell, if you can’t draw, you can even use stamps or stickers.)

Use symbols that have meaning for you, and record them in your witchbook or journal. Cast them how you please and read the ones that land face-up.

Have fun!

[andinarcadiai]

a graph based on my observations

[andinarcadiai]

Halloween cat

[andinarcadiai]

[andinarcadiai]

[andinarcadiai]

Where giants once lived

[andinarcadiai]

a cottage full of vines + old books , what a dream 🌿

[andinarcadiai]