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I made this painting of my partner as a Green Man on the one year anniversary of his Death; March 26. He introduced me to witchcraft and The Green Man. He grew up falling in love with the local woods. That was his home. I like to think a part of him is still there, running free and dancing to Mother Earth's song.

"I honor my pain because that pain is a reminder of how deeply I loved and was loved in return."

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My newest babies, Milo & Pounce

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I've been told again and again that my narrative needed to be told. I wondered why. Why my story instead of someone else's?

But I realized that's the wrong question. The question is; why NOT my story? In fact, why not everyone's story?

We all need to harness the power of our stories, to see the worth in the steps we've taken. Because others come after us, stumbling. They follow the same crooked paths, looking for sign posts, just as we did. And just as important, perhaps more important, is the power in the story that we are creating at this moment.

I realized this after my partner of 9 years committed suicide. I realized this after my heart broke and my identity -- my ego -- died with him, and I chose to continue on living. I realized nothing was holding me back from sharing my story. Because when the thing you've been most afraid of happening for 9 years actually happens, you find out that you were handed these cards for a reason, and that there is nothing left to fear after your worst fear has come to pass.

My partner's sudden and traumatic death on March 26, 2024 left me broken, but propelled my spiritual life forward at lightning speed. I've been a practicing Pagan and Witch for about 8 years, a path my partner helped me onto. Before that I was a devout Christian. And after my partner's death, I was introduced to the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, and his books 'The Power of Now' and 'A New Earth: Awakening Your Life's Purpose'. These books changed my perspective, perhaps even saved me from the same course of life my partner was on.

If this blog goes according to plan (which few things do), I will tell my story, touching on topics of death & grief, transitions & transformation, dreams & reality, gods, fear, faith, ancestors, and nature. This is just one narrative told through the lens of one being, but I believe others will see familiarity in these words as well. Hopefully this familiarity will go beyond into a deeper realm of oneness. Because we are not as separate as we perceive ourselves to be. We all struggle with the same themes in life. The details are different, but we are, deep down, the same. We are more than those struggles. We are more than our beliefs, more than the thoughts we think and the emotions we feel, more than our opinions, personality, achievements, and more than our stories. Without all those things, things we ultimately lose our hold on once death is upon us, what are we?

What we truly are underneath all that unnecessary noise is completely inseparable from Divinity. Jesus realized this about himself, and his life's mission was to spread that message to others. Psalm 82:6 “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are the sons of the Most High.'” The noise in our minds buries that truth in ceaseless thought. But we can choose to not identify with that noise and wake up our true self. Once you do, anything is possible.

We are all like a cauldron, churning with all the ingredients we need to create, symbols of infinite potential, symbols of transmogrification and magic. When aligned with our highest selves, we can manifest whatever life we want.

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TW: mention of suicide

I see it's been nearly a year since I've been active on this blog. The past year was a bit of a nightmare for me. My partner of nine years went through a horrendous mental health battle, and sadly, did not overcome it. On March 26, 2024, he ended his life in the house we bought together just two years prior. Dealing with losing him and the grief that swallowed after me has been the hardest thing I've ever done.

He's not gone; only his physical form is gone. The rest of him, the eternal part of him, remains. I made friends with Death some years ago, thanks to my partner actually. He taught me a lot, and was actually the one that helped me step fully onto the path of Witchcraft. I'll forever be proud of him, and grateful to have known him.

After his death, I had a powerful experience. I woke at 3 am to a breath-taking dissolution of my own ego. I felt as if I was floating, my skin tingling, the head warm and fuzzy. I felt all forms melt away, and everything became one within me. I felt as if I was capable of manifesting anything I wanted, yet I wanted for nothing. Because in that moment I saw that I am everything. It was a beautiful experience, and since then I set myself on another spiritual journey; to realize who and what I really am, and do whatever I can to help others do the same.

I started a website where I can explore these concepts. Death and grief, transition and transformation, consciousness, humanity's awakening, witchcraft, the Tarot, ancestors, and nature will be the main themes. If this appeals to you, I invite you to check it out at Cauldron-Churning.com

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☕️ carofromwoodland ☕️

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ig: white_strawberries

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~ Sources: (IG) @Jameslloydcole, @Daryadarcy 🍄🍁🍎

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Curious Zelda

https://twitter.com/curiouszelda

https://www.instagram.com/curiouszelda/

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Correspondences - Why are they called that?

I'm sure at some point, like me, you were curious as to why we use the word "correspondences" when connecting physical things meant to represent, relate to, to nonphysical things. No? Just me? Well here are my notes about the topic, anyways!

What are correspondences?

In the context of theology, correspondence is "a relationship between two levels of existence".

The use of the term in this way was coined by Emanuel Swedenborg in his works Arcana Cœlestia (1749–1756), Heaven and Hell (1758) and other such works. Here is a quote from Swedenborg himself:

Though this idea wasn’t new, and neither was the word “correspondence”, Swedenborg coined the term to explain the relationship between the spiritual world and the material world.

Nothing can exist anywhere in the material world that does not have a correspondence with the spiritual world—because if it did, it would have no cause that would make it come into being and then allow it to continue in existence. Everything in the material world is an effect. The causes of all effects lie in the spiritual world, and the causes of those causes in turn (which are the purposes those causes serve) lie in a still deeper heaven. (Secrets of Heaven #5711)

The idea that the material world and the spiritual world are linked came along before Swedenborg, however.

Swedenborg’s Law of Correspondence is similar to the “As above, so below” concept that you may see often in spiritual circles, which comes from the Hermetic text The Emerald Tablet; as well as the microcosm–macrocosm analogy; the idea that the human body is a microcosm—a small universe that mimics the macrocosm (or “great universe”).

Similar ideas can be found all throughout the world and in many cultures. (See also Sympathetic Magic, Synchronicity, and the Doctrine of Signatures.)

References and Further Reading

Swedenborg Foundation - Correspondences

Sacred Texts’ collection of Swedenborg’s works

(Please check out the other links throughout the post, too!)

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Some Midsummer Rituals from the North of England.

Happy Litha everyone! To mark the occasion, here's a collection of customs and rituals pertaining to Midsummer, taken from The Denham Tracts by Michael Denham (1846-59).

The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Sir Joseph Noel Paton (1849).

Midsummer Cushions

"This was a custom, used some seventy years ago at many places in the North of England ; but it, like almost every other of the innocent and pleasing customs and amusements of our fore-elders, is fast vanishing away, if it has not altogether done so. The young lads and lasses of the town or village having procured a cushion or, in accordance with local phraseology, a whishion, and covered it with calico, or silk of showy and attractive colour, proceeded to bedeck it with every variety of flower which they could procure out of their parents' and more wealthy neighbours' gardens, displaying them in such a manner so as to give it a most beautiful appearance. All this done, they placed themselves, with their cushion of Flora's choicest gems, in the most public place they conveniently could soliciting of every passer-by a trifling present of pence, which, in numerous cases, was liberally and cheerfully bestowed. A set form of words was made use of (in rhyme, I believe) when soliciting those gifts, the precise version of which I have never been able to obtain. This custom prevailed from Midsummer Day to Magdalene Day, which latter has long been corrupted to 'Maudlin Day'."

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Wells

In Durham, the Lambton Well was used as a wishing well. A crooked pin along with a pebble on which is inscribed the initials of the 'wisher' is thrown into the well at Midsummer and the name of the 'wisher' is entered into a book. When the wish must be reversed, the name is erased from the book, and the pebble and pin are collected.

"Half a century ago it was in repute as a wishing well, and was one of the scenes dedicated to the usual festivities and superstitions of Midsummer Eve. A crooked pin (the usual tribute of the ' wishers ') may sometimes be still discovered, sparkling amongst the clear gravel of the bottom of its basin."

The Colwell, a little north of Hexham, the villagers used to dress their well with flowers, and in Erring Burn near Chollerton on or around 4th July (old Midsummer) -

"... great crowds of people used to assemble here from all the surrounding hamlets and villages. The scene has been described to me as resembling a fair, stalls for the sale of various refreshments being brought from a distance year by year at the summer solstice. The neighbouring slopes had been terraced, and seats formed for the convenience of pilgrims and visitors. One special object of female pilgrims was, I am informed, to pray at the well, or express a silent wish as they stood over it for the cure of barrenness. If the pilgrim's faith were sufficient, her wish at the Bore Well would be certain to be fulfilled within the twelve months."

Over in Monkton near Jarrow, the well of the Venerable Bede was said to have healing properties (as did the wells of Jesmond and Holystone), and children with any infirmities would offer a crooked pin and then be dipped into the well.

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Bonfires

Midsummer Night by Nikolai Astrup (1926).

Rev. Gr. R. Hall, quoted in The Denham Tracts, said:

"The fire festivals or bonfires of the summer solstice at the Old Mid- summer until recently were commemorated on Christenburg Crags [Cumbria] and elsewhere by leaping through and dancing round the fires, as those who have been present have told me..." The driving of cattle through the smoke of the need-fire, as a supposed preventative of murrain, and the carrying from farm to farm as quickly as men could ride the sacred self-lighted fire, made by two pieces of dry or rotted wood being rubbed together very quickly, has occurred at Birtley within the last thirty years ; and this forms one of the most recent survivals of the adoration once so generally rendered to the great orb of day and to the element of fire".

Rev. J. E. Elliot Bates, rector of Whalton (Northumberland) recorded a similar ritual:

"The bonfire ... was lighted a little to the north-east of the well at Whalton, and partly on the footpath, and people danced round it and jumped through it. That was never interrupted."

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Why are traditional spells so goddamn weird?

Because ancient grimoires reflect the reality of their time.

Old love spells often require you to take something from your target because photographs did not exist yet. Even once they did, it was much simpler to grab a hair from someone’s coat than to steal their photograph from inside their home.

And who else would you cast a spell on if not the guy next door who would be so easy to borrow a handkerchief from? People’s worlds were small. There was no social media, TV or frequent travel. The only men most women were interested in were the ones right in front of them.

Many ancient vengeance spells require the body parts of a hanged man because such corpses littered the streets back then. They would be left there for months, even years, to deter people from committing crime. Cutting a piece of their skin was as easy as picking an apple from a tree.

Animal sacrifice too was rampant because livestock were valuables. People’s wealth was measured mostly through the size of their land and the number of cows in their farm. Not through the model of their Apple Watch or the carat of gold in their necklace — things that some offer as sacrifice these days.

This truth is not restricted to spells. It applies to things like literature too. Poets could write hundreds upon hundreds of words about trees and rivers alone because they are what surrounded them back then. Now we are surrounded by malls, McDonald’s and Starbucks. That is why today’s poets often write metaphors about coffee, shopping and whatnot.

When reading ancient grimoires, keep that in mind. These witches’ reality was different from ours. Although, in traditional witchcraft, the goal is to stay true to the old path. As true as sensibility allows.

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I made my own pentacle tree topper this Yule season

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