deadspitfaedm

[deadspitfaedm]

Having moved to the mountains I experience storms much more frequently and have had more of an opportunity to reflect on both the science and spiritual of them. The various types of storms, whether or not they bring with them rain or snow, their length, their destruction (or benefit to lakes, wells, and scorched plant and animals alike) and what is within them (or wove them together).

It has always interested me that there are types of divination that are warned not to try during storms (Geomancy comes to mind immediately) because "rules" interest me. The suggestion usually comes from the idea that the energy in storms has the ability to interfere with the ability to divine or use magic in general (something I am still exploring myself).

This said I also second the addition of storms into one's practice (and not simply the summoning or calling of them).

New Storm Moon

Often you will see this moon called the Buck moon because male deer are regrowing their racks (antlers) in preparation for mating season, which are then shed in winter. However, the most impactful part of nature this time of year is the weather. From thunderstorms to tornadoes, this is the time of year to keep an eye on the sky (especially with the cuts to the National Weather Service that happened this year in the United States).

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Contents:

New Moon in Cancer

Planning

Storms

Ancestors

Conclusion

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New Moon in Cancer

The new moon in cancer is a time to nourish yourself and those you consider family. Take some time to indulge in your hobbies, eat your favorite foods, get cozy on the couch and read your favorite book, talk with you favorite people, have friends over for a game night or whatever it is you enjoy doing together.

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Planning

This lunar cycle I drew the Mermaids from the Seasons of the Witch: Litha oracle deck. It really speaks to the themes of the astrology of allowing yourself to be pulled into the depths of the things that you enjoy or something you've been wanting to try that seems scary. Give into that sirens song. I've had so many creative projects rattling around in my head, the problem is what to choose first (all of them, I'll bet I'll choose all of them). There are several things I want to get do in terms of my witchcraft as well. So much to do and so little time.

In all the hubbub, I don't want to forget my garden. I will be starting the fall garden soon. Unfortunately I've been battling the rabbits since May and more than a few of my plants haven't survived. But the raspberries are coming on which is just in time for my plant study of this lunar cycle, which just so happens to be raspberries and blackberries. I'm also planning on expanding my journal collection by starting a couple new ones that will lead into those other siren calls from earlier.

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Storms

This lunar cycle is really a dance between extreme heat (100F/37.778C as a high) and humidity and the cooling rains which quickly turn into sever thunderstorms. When it gets so hot you feel as though you would burst just by stepping outside, the storms come to rip you up and spit you back out, leaving you wind swept yet refreshed.

This is a great lunar cycle to harness the energies of the storm, whether in storm water, binding the winds in a knot, or infusing yourself with the power of lightning itself. There are so many applications to using storms in magic that I encourage you to get creative. Always remember storm safety, however.

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Ancestors

This new moon, if it is raining I will collect some of the water and use it as the water I'll leave on the altar. While water in general is great conductor of spiritual energy (and here I mean spirits specifically), rain/storm water seems to conduct it better than your average tap water (which is what I usually use). It's a similar idea to storms themselves being said to give ghosts more energy to draw from. If I'm able to gather enough, I will use the rain/storm water to wash the altar itself as well.

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Conclusion

There's something about thunder that makes me want to make music, and something about rain that is so soothing. Many people, witches or otherwise, feel drawn to sit out and listen or watch as the storms pass through. They're magnetic and mystical. When the bottom of the sky falls out, what magic will you make?

[deadspitfaedm]

[ @birchwood-path ]

I can appreciate the self-reflection here, especially when it may be born from traumatic experiences (in my state 10% of households experience food insecurity). I work a lot with children who have lasting impacts from food insecurity in their families, which we only can remedy by offering reminders of plentiful food within my program. My own mother went hungry on more than one occasion so that my brother and I did not.

Kimmerer is right obviously that, "food shared is food stored" and the solution to food insecurity is community. Historically, I pull from vague Norse influenced threads, recalling readings expressing how great the importance of sharing food and supplies was.

The "love thy neighbor" sentiment adopted by Christianity was no accident. In the harsh winter if you ran out of food, or if your house or barn burned down it was a death sentence without a community to help. Misfortune surely strikes us all, who better to help us back to our feet than our neighbors?

I also think of the states with laws prohibiting the feeding of the hungry. How people have been arrested for feeding hungry mouths, people in their cities...

I shake with rage at the hellscape rendered by Capitalism.

So back to the text, I had this segment underlined which I think relates to this thread quite well:

"Recognizing 'enoughness' is a radical act in an economy that is ways urging us to consume more. Data tell the story that there are "enough" food calories on the planet for all 8 billion of us to be nourished. And yet people are starving". (p.12)

The idea that there are currently limited resources on the planet that are exceeded by its population was born out of a false sense of urgency. This then drives up prices and too distances people from one another. The reason politics (at least in the US) work at accomplishing mostly nothing substantial (most hard earned wins are often repealled) is because of infighting and isolation.

This is apparent by the slowly dwindling availability of community spaces (parks, libraries, cafes, malls, community centers) that are being replaced solely by online hubs of interaction. This isn't to say online communities are a bad thing either, but that the face to face element is being stripped from our interactions.

Obviously social media can be accessed and explored for betterment of others (whether on Facebook requesting food or firewood or a ride or furniture) but require navigating through the hate and violence peppered throught. Rage bait, bots, and an overwhelming surge of misinformation all engineered for forced interactions to drive engagement up. Not to touch on the fact that social media is deliberately designed to be addictive.

It comes down to cultivating a space that has been painstakingly built by manipulating algorithms to work in our favor, a task that is not nearly so rigorous or burdensome in actual physical community spaces.

Recognizing this and then taking steps to neutralize these behaviors does take effort and should be acknowledged. We cannot change otherwise, which is why I'm so grateful for books like this and the people who take interest in them.

The Serviceberry- Robin Wall Kimmerer

I found out that @deadspitfaedm and @plantyhamchuk are both (re)reading this at the same time I am! I see that Planty reviewed it a while back but I still gotta ask both of you: what's sticking out this time through? The most recent bit that got me was her description of community as an alternative "unit of success".

There are many examples of functioning gift economies--most in small societies of close relations, where community well-being is recognized as the "unit" of success--where the interest of "we" exceeds that of "I." ...Security is ensured by nurturing the bonds of reciprocity... You can store meat in your own pantry or in the belly of your brother.

p.48-50

I've experienced food insecurity in the past and it left me with some hoarding mentalities that are not really in tune with the perspective Kimmerer is offering. Which, you know, that is what it is, but I found this to be a very helpful perspective for gently challenging that view. Food shared IS food stored. There's a lot to be anxious about right now, and asking myself not just what my metric for success was, but my unit for it (that we > I) gave me something to chew on as I considered what my community needs. I think I was reading this around when the tariff sabre-rattling was taking off, and food access is a big challenge in my area for a lot of people. Gave me some constructive direction so my response to the news wasn't just can-counting.

[deadspitfaedm]

We accidentally went to the lake for hours instead, whoops...

I am home after work, it is 101° and we do not have air conditioning (nor do I want it) so I'm going to nap, wash, and clean and then when the temperature dips slightly in the evening I'll write. Firing up my PC in this weather despite the cooling it has is not an optimal choice. Besides this I have refugee tomatoes from work that need a lot of attention to salvage.

I'll return with a book write up, a blurb on The Serviceberry, a few more photos from the week's festivities and a snack hopefully.

Until then..... Zzzzz.

[deadspitfaedm]

Unrelated, flowers!

Motherwort and Lobelia respectively.

[deadspitfaedm]

I am home after work, it is 101° and we do not have air conditioning (nor do I want it) so I'm going to nap, wash, and clean and then when the temperature dips slightly in the evening I'll write. Firing up my PC in this weather despite the cooling it has is not an optimal choice. Besides this I have refugee tomatoes from work that need a lot of attention to salvage.

I'll return with a book write up, a blurb on The Serviceberry, a few more photos from the week's festivities and a snack hopefully.

Until then..... Zzzzz.

[deadspitfaedm]

Similar to Bart Simpson and the chalkboard, I am punishing myself to be able to write a SATOR square from memory. This is partially because my knowledge of Latin is minimal, and because my memory is horrific. However there is nothing more jarring than being mid-ritual and having to fucking google the correct word, or number, or symbol.

[deadspitfaedm]

More than 200 years after the electric eel inspired the design of the first battery, it has been discovered that they can co-ordinate their “zaps”.

Researchers working in the Amazon filmed eels gathering in packs to herd prey, then stunning them with a synchronised electric shock.

“It was really amazing - we thought these were solitary animals,” said researcher Carlos David de Santana.

The discovery is published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

continue reading

[deadspitfaedm]

Hexafoil | daisy wheel, witch marks, rosette | apotropaic mark This symbol was used to protect one from harm, evil, malefic magic, and bad luck. It was carved into wood or stone in buildings (often places of worship), graves, or other objects or items.

Limestone ossuary from Jerusalem, ROM

A geometric design "with six-fold dihedral symmetry composed from six vesica piscis lenses arranged radially around a central point, often shown enclosed in a circumference of another six lenses."

As with many symbols ancient, this one cannot be accurately ascribed to any single people, religion, or culture. Those who have studied it's origins have proposed overlapping theories about the symbol being a solar symbol, or a storm symbol. Each attributing the origin to various gods (Taranis, Perkwunos, Perun, Tarhunz, Thor, Jupiter...) or delving into the name of the symbol across many languages ('little sun', 'sun of the Alps', 'thunder sign', 'thunder wheel') without definitive conclusion.

While some have tried to claim the symbol of Christian origin, hexfoils have been discovered on several Jewish ossuary boxes (dating around 100 BCE- 100 CE) and it was suggested that the symbol was borrowed from earlier pagans.

When looking into what tool would have been used to craft the geometric image left behind (difficult/near impossible to do by hand) it was suggested that either dividers, sheep sheers, or race knives could have been used.

Dividers were less accessible as they were tools primarily used by masons, which has been recorded throughout history in various artworks. Alternatively it was suggested that common people would have had access to sheers (sheep) which were a common enough tool for farmers. The race knife is still used today by carpenters, however most would not have been the appropriate size for large hexfoils found carved into beams and boards.

To Read: Daisy Wheel, Hexfoil, Hexafoil, Rosette: Protective Marks in Gravestone Art - Robyn S. Lacy

Goodenough, Erwin R. 1957. The Study of Man: Pagan Symbols in Jewish Antiquity. Commentary

[deadspitfaedm]

Witch Bottle* Apotropaic magic | ἀποτρέπω (apotrép) 'to ward off' Crafted on Mar's Day, during Mar's or Saturn's hours in places ruled over by either. Bottles are crafted during light hours and hidden at nightfall the same day.*

Uses:

deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye

cures for sickness, bad luck, or poor harvest

trap and ultimately break curses

kill the witch or wizard who cursed the person

Contents:

needles/ pins / nails (bent & colorful)

red wine / vinegar / salt / oils

sprite traps / knotted thread

taglocks: urine / hair / menses / spit / natal chart* / imagery*

bottle / jug (see Bartmann jugs)

sea water

earth / sand / stones

feathers / shells / bone

plant matter / thorns / rosemary / lemon

coins / glass

ashes

Locations:

buried in walls

near or under the hearth / chimney stack / fireplace

buried at the farthest corner of the property

placed in an inconspicuous spot in the house

thrown into a fire (killing the witch)

"... He therefore advised him to take a Bottle, and put his Wives Urine into it, together with Pins and Needles and Nails, and Cork them up and set the Bottle to the Fire well corkt, which when it had felt a while the heat of the Fire began to move and joggle a little, but he for sureness took the Fire shovel, and held it hard upon the Cork, And as he thought, he felt something one while on this side, another while on that, shove the Fire shovel off, which he still quickly put on Again, but at last at one shoving the Cork bounced out, and the Urine, Pins, Nails and Needles all flew up, and gave a report like a Pistol, and his Wife continued in the same trouble and languishment still. Not long after, the Old Man came to the house again, and inquired of the Man of the house how his Wife did. Who answered, as ill as ever, if not worse. He askt him if he had followed his direction. Yes, says he, and told him the event as is above said. Ha, quoth he, it seems it was too nimble for you. But now I will put you in a way that will make the business sure. Take your Wive’s Urine as before, and Cork, it in a Bottle with Nails, Pins and Needles, and bury it in the Earth; and that will do the feat..." Joseph Glanvill’s Saducismus Triumphatus

Sprite Trap: Set at night, constructed at sunrise blackthorn, red thread and animal hair. Once caught, the threads were removed and sealed in a witch bottle.

*Disclaimer: This is information that has been specifically collected for my own practice, with focuses on ancestor overlap. This is not all encompassing, and was not created with the intention to be used as a teaching tool. *Also these items are personal additions and have no historical basis.

[deadspitfaedm]

I would argue that it is actually internalized Christianity (Protestantism) making you think that, and would also offer within that framework the Devil would actually be encouraging you to be yourself.

if you're writing and find yourself thinking 'this is too weird/gross/offputting/esoteric/ambitious/catered to my specific interests + sure to push away a broader audience' that is the devil speaking and it is a lie. you are already firmly on the right path and you need to double down

[deadspitfaedm]

Aight I have to ask you what your favorite Le Guin books are now! I got started on the Earthsea books (Tombs of Atuan my beloved) but I also adore Lavinia. I want to work through her other works but the time it takes for me to properly digest and recover from her writing means it's taking a while.

A friend put me on the the Earthsea books years ago and they perfectly filled in the giant hole in my spirit. I had kind of figured out 'True Names' within the context of my Craft YEARS before I read them so it was also kind of cathartic to read about similar without expecting it. The world building is also so dynamic and FULL that I can easily put myself in the story, make my own little people to put in there, and also SUPER overthink everything to death, as an enrichment exercise. The Day Before the Revolution is a short story, but it meant a lot to me the first time I read it for a lot of personal reasons and because of the political climate at the time (though arguably its even worse now). I can also appreciate the reflection of self, of legacy, and of complex characters so I really loved this on multiple levels.

I'm currently reading Worlds of Exile and Illusion, which, so far, has been really good (I'm just reading a lot right now) it reminds me of Dune a little bit (but very much not also) simply because of the plot but it's been really engaging to see a vaguely similar story develop in a completely different way. Again, it mirrors a lot of what is currently on my feeds across social media but with an added layer of separation and comfort, in a way, so I can think deeply about relevant topics and philosophies but not have to slam my face into untold horrors occurring in real time.

Lavinia is in my to read pile (along with a few others) but I'm re-reading The Princess Bride at the moment so everyone else has to wait their turn. I'm so happy you enjoy her works, she's really a treasure for us all.

[deadspitfaedm]

Characteristics of Vega / Wega Falling Vulture (Handle of the Lyre) Arabic word wāqi’ (واقع), meaning “falling” or “landing,” via the phrase an-nasr al-wāqi’ (النّسر الْواقع), “the falling eagle.”

Mediator between worlds | Music, Performance, Charm

Beneficence, Ideality, Hopefulness, Refinement & Changeability

Nature of Venus and Mercury and Alvidas (Capricorn & Taurus)

Used as the standard for measuring the brightness of other stars and galaxies for over a century . It is considered “the most important star in the sky after the Sun.”

1st magnitude (the brightest stars in the night sky, with apparent magnitudes lower than +1.50.) 5th brightest star, pale sapphire (magnitude (V) +0.026 (−0.02 – +0.07), spectral class A0Va.).

(Hercules Cerberus et Ramus, Vultur et Lyra, Cygnus, Sagitta, Vulpecula et Anser.)

The first distant star ever photographed (1850). It became the first star to have its spectrum photographed (1872).

Vega's stone is the Chrysolite (Peridot) and plant is Savory.

"Amoungst stones... is the Chrystolite/Peridot amoungst the plants... succory and fumitary." -Agrippa

Portion of Talisman prescribed for protections against spiritual attacks: "Savory juice with an equal amount of the herb called fumitory and with a little of the stone called turonso grants favors with b easts, protects from demons , nocturnal phantoms, and fears". -Translated by John Michael Greer (BM Bodleian MS)

(as drawn by Agrippa)

Bibliography: Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts Three Books of Occult Philosophy or Magic

[deadspitfaedm]

A raccoon, a vulture, a snake. Fingers stained red with the most flavorful berries, biting at yarrow (I forgot my knife) the peppery stem yielding. Spreading the seeds of both mullein and yarrow in exchange for a modest harvest.

The first part of the arrival of Summer, the longest day felt deeply in my bones and heart.

Bombarded by a flurry of thoughts while hiking, heavy with a meditative quality I have been lacking in the weeks prior. They left me as they came and even now I find it difficult to recall them in specifics.

That said the overall message was more or less "I am alive".

Obviously the state of the world is a barrage of misery and death and we're all grieving and mourning someone (or several someone) or ourselves. It is raw, and, overwhelmingly achingly immense.

However entire those feelings, I remembered all that comes with remembering I am here.

The water was cold, the company was minimal and therefore preferable and the harvest was a self-imposed minimal gathering. I hope you reading this managed something pleasant for the Solstice, I'll be posting additional portions periodically. I had fallen into a habit of forgetting my camera which I have adopted into best practice.

[deadspitfaedm]

Solanum dulcamara | bittersweet, poison berry, woody nightshade When broken down and applied externally this plant has much to teach, especially if you don't mind your dosage. While I don't advise ingesting internally, I can say that if you're interested in doing so there are resources but I will not be providing them.

As it is Summer here many of these plants have bloomed and started fruiting (green, then yellow, orange, and finally red) so they are easier to spot as their purple flowers dot predominately green landscapes.

While they are more than simply an 'ingredient' in flying ointments, there is, as with most nightshades, an overlap of folklore, history, and personal experiences to review.

They have been recorded as a ward against the "Evil Eye" in some instances, against witches in others, and as a component is protecting livestock (predominately cattle). Personally I've found that their tenacious growth and remarkable climbing abilities coincide with their magical properties. That and a touch of madness.

[deadspitfaedm]

Tisha B'Av

The night prior: Seudah Hamafseket (bread, egg, ash) Shrine Setup (Jewish family only)

Tisha B'Av Shrine cleaning/removal Donations /Prayers/ Palestine Ancestor Work Abstaining / Joy (no perfume, no showering, no sex, no sweets) Celebrating Perseverance (collecting stones)

[deadspitfaedm]

Kupala: The First

If you're Ukrainian or have any corrections/additions to offer my gratitude is endless. Aside from nudges in various directions I am beyond my depth in this endeavor. My great-grandfather has been dead for some time, and so our communication is... Quite long distance.

June 23rd (evening) Vinok (ferns, burdock, nettle, thistle, clover, daises, yarrow) Kupalo & Mara (willow pruning) Bathing in the Sun (lake / approx. 7 PM) Bonfire (sage, mullein, mugwort, wormwood) Fern Flower Hunt

Additionally: Kozak Honey Mousse [x] Varenyky [x]

Next: Tisha B'Av (July 13 → August 3rd)

[deadspitfaedm]

Solstice /Standing Still / Sol

6/20/2025 (5:00 AM | 10:42 PM) ♊︎→♋︎ | ♀♉︎ | ☿♋︎ | ♂♍︎ | ♃ ♋︎ | ☽♉︎ |♄♈︎

Harvesting of Hypericum Sleeping Draught for the Dead (Cannabis, Valerian, Motherwort) Warding / Bathing / Well Blessing Feeding the Garden/Guardian Leaving for the Lake

Additionally: Heavily Modified Recipe [x]

Next: Kupala (Ukraine) June 23rd → 24th