fog-of-hydrangeas

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

poem by @ghost-and-the-magpie, shared here with their permission:

an angel is rolling the garbage cans out. it’s 96 degrees in the shade and he’s stopped to watch the sunset.

an angel is rolling the garbage cans out. he fiddles with the lock to the side gate with acrylic-stained fingers and his feathers would be catching on the splinters in the fence if he still had wings. he does not.

an angel is rolling the garbage cans out. it’s been a long day. he gazes up at the pink-lemonade clouds and wonders if they were ever home to him. he wonders if anyone is watching him watching.

an angel is rolling the garbage cans out. it smells like compost and heat and there’s cobwebs pasted to his palms and perhaps this is how caterpillars look at the sky. not that he will ever rearrange himself into a winged thing, but perhaps boys and bugs both creep down sun-warmed concrete and stare up up up into the blue. perhaps they both catch twilight in their mouths. perhaps they both crawl beneath summer skies in october and wonder if angels can exist without a god.

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

(plain text version under the cut ^-^ be warned, it's quite long)

this is the first time i think,

i can begin to understand the phrase

“sea of clouds” because yes—those are

nothing if not oceans,

mighty and inaccessible.

stretching out into eons because

of course the screen cannot fit them.

i can’t get any glass clear enough of

blemishes and imperfections, spots

and scrapes and scars and imprints,

to truly see them

as if they were real.

so i feel my shoulder blades ache

with the weight that isn’t there.

oh and maybe if those pixelated

horizons are blurred just enough

by tears (of longing for something

that can never be:

a new kind of saudade)

they will swirl around my not-body

and envelop it in cornflower blue.

“do you ever wonder in feathers?”

yes, and how cruel to even attempt to

imagine in any way else, to rip myself

from the things

that form me, always will.

that are forever out of my reach,

because here i cannot swim,

only sink in this anchor-form, soul

dragged down at terminal velocity,

like words hugging the edge of a page.

and i often wish

i could ask why they do.

(maybe they could define it all,

neat little collections of horizons.)

because before that can ever happen

i will fall, consumed by unseen stars

and seas miles above the ground and

souls barely tethered

to anything but pictures of sky;

we are bound to that feathered saudade

and those wings

which

can’t

break 

our

falls.

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

hi idk if tumblr ate my ask but i am a deitykin who is trying to figure out about my past life as a god. i came from your altar post! would you be able to make an altar with themes of blue items and silver metallic items? i also have an affinity for the number 6!

your altars are so beautiful <3

believe i got both asks, but i’ll answer this one as it’s the more recent of the two :3 for themes where i had as much room for creativity as blue and silver, i really loved putting this altar together—hopefully you like how it came out!

i figured the best way to include the number six would be in the center bowl, with that many blue stones surrounding the candle (though one is a bit hidden behind it, sadly :>). i may not have the most in the way of blue items to add, but i think they all work well together, and including all the silver trinkets i could find was quite fun ^-^

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

an altar for @strangepersonthefirst

this one’s a good bit different from a lot of the other altar’s i’ve made here, namely because it’s really a spellwork altar rather than one for worship. however, as i’m in the habit of talking about specific elements of these altars and not at all about any of my magical practices, i’ll try my best to mix the two ^-^

a few notable things are the cloth, my personal one, and the location of the altar, my hearth, as well as the fact that all the objects are semi-organized into four elemental corners. along with that, there are some old photos i’ve taken, the closest I could get to kintsugi (the grey, marbled vase with a large crack through the center of it), and two shark teeth, on either side of the sigil made from your work name :]

given the importance of my own spellwork in this altar, the “centerpiece” is a watercolor painting of mine i made some time ago (which technically I already told you about haha- but it’s nice to include here, too).

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

Hi! Newly awakened deitykin and wanted to ask for an altar if it's okay? c:

I'm a deity of nature, abnormality, freedom and chaos, I'm very connected to the colors red, orange and gold, I love flowers of those colors, especially dandelions and marigold, I'm also foxkin and these kintypes overlap a lot, I mostly take the form of a fox/foxlike being as a deity, so if you have anything fox related that'd be great too! No animal parts though.

The elements I feel more connected to is both fire and earth. And I love incense!

- @vulpine-divinity

the sun finally came out enough to work outside again, which I’m very grateful for as this altar to a deity of nature and chaos would have felt completely out of place indoors :> the flowers hare are nasturtiums, one of my personal favorites and a lovely fit for golden-orange blossoms :]

sadly i don’t have any incense or direct fox symbolism (though i could’ve sworn i did- just couldn’t find the items i was thinking of), so i did what i could to capture the energy of those elements in the clutter and warmth of the altar as a whole ^-^ i’m actually really happy with how that intention shines through, hopefully you are as well!

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

an altar for @sh0sh0

(gonna try just putting all of these at the top from now on ^-^)

i was immediately excited when you mentioned green and kitchen witchery as well, because a lot of my personal practices are rooted in those (along with hearth witchery). i knew i could include a lot of elements i've previously used and created, like spell jars and charged stones/herbs :3

i wanted to make this more cluttered than i ended up being able to, but i tried to capture the general energy of your request in all the ways that i could, so hopefully it's to your liking! just sitting outside in front of the altar for a while was very nice :]

apologies once again for the wait- i don't foresee it getting much better in the future but i do feel bad regardless :> i appreciate your and everyone's patience with me though <3

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

*screaming in questioning spacehearted/voidhearted*

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

an altar for @signal-arbiter

i’m including all the images up here this time because i have a bit less to say about the process :> this was a really nice change of pace from the chaos that this week has been for me, just foraging around my garden for fallen flowers and leaves was lovely <3

hopefully it’s to your liking! not as much like a traditional altar but this has quickly become something i’m considering making a ritual out of in the future, especially seeing as i can leave these up for much longer :]

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

Hello..! Would you be able to prepare an altar for me? I'm a mostly traditional angelkin with a bit of a scene/emo twist aesthetically. I love warming herbs like cardamom and anise. My symbols are silver and snakes. I love opal. Purple is an important colour for me as well 💜 thank you so so much.

here you go! i had a lot of fun working on this one, even though i don’t have much in the way of scene/emo aesthetics- hopefully i did an okay job with what i could find ^-^

i wanted to work in more abstract designs around the silver snake, i’m very happy with how the shapes all turned out! here’s hoping you feel the same :3 i also got to use some of the felt flowers that i’ve had for a while, which i think fit very well :]

you can see a few more details better in the pictures under the cut!

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

hey hi hello! this is just a quick post to hopefully keep everyone updated on the altars even now that requests are closed :]

i haven’t been able to be online very much bc of some recent business in my personal life, but i want to make it really clear that i will get to everyone’s! it just might take a little longer, and it’s likely that i won’t be able to do a bunch of them in quick succession like how i started out, but i will get there :D and i’m excited to continue working on them <3

thank you all so much for your patience!

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

i saw something just now that i really love and would like to try. so, any divinekin, deitykin, anglekin, etc, who would like offerings or an altar, please either comment, reblog, or send me an ask :) [not comment or reblog bait, i’m happy to do anonymous asks as well] please include what you’d like, and any specific details! i’d be happy to give small food or drink based physical offerings, photo post altars (interactions with the altar post are offerings of energy, photos are used to channel specific energy, form the altar, and are also offerings), or a small “side quest” offering (a small action that you request i do, and the energy i use for said task is an offering, as well as the time spent doing it). with all of these, if i’m uncomfortable with it, i’ll tell you that, and won’t complete the request.

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

update!!

i'm leaving home today for a trip and won't be back for about a week, so i'm not gonna be able to work on any altars during that period. i'm sorry for the wait, but i'll be able to return to this in early july :3

this post got a lot more attention than i thought it would, and i'm so glad to have reached everyone that i did :] that being said, i want to make sure i can properly focus on each project, so i'm going to close this post to any more requests for now, probably until i can finish all the ones that i've received so far.

on that note, here's my list of everyone whose replies i've seen and will get to ^-^

(the asterisks just denote different things I’ll want to do for prep, namely foraging and spell work)

thank you all so much for having patience with me! have a lovely rest of your day/night/whatever time it is in your timezone haha- and take care!

hiya o/ this is sort of a letter to any/all divinekin, from angels to deities to anyone else who identifies as some kind of divine being :>

i've been wanting to do a little project for some time now where i put together altars for those of you that would be interested in that sort of worship. so, if you'd like an altar, any text-based interaction with this post—as well as asks if those are easier or you want to be anonymous—would work great to let me know!

i'd love to hear about any specifics of what you think would make sense for yours (whether that be specific offerings, herbs, colors, themes, elements, etc.) and i'll do my best with what i have! :3

i'd love to post photos of them as i put each together, so please also tell me if you wouldn't want that ^-^

quick edit: should probably mention that i'm gonna try my best to do all of these in order of being received!

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

an altar for Kokabiel, @of-shattered-halo

i did my best to include what i could from your pinned post, it was super helpful to have that much information! i was excited to see you mention owls and snakes, as those creatures are ones i have representations of that i've been wanting to use :3

i think my favorite part of this altar is the symbol in the center, made from hibiscus, rose, and salt crystals ^-^ it was incredibly fun to draw (albeit a little challenging with the wind haha-). i figured it would make sense to include a couple of my own secrets and hopes on this altar, as well, on the paper in the front :]

there's a few other angles of the symbol and some of the smaller decorations under the cut :>

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

an altar for Judgement, from @empyrean-demise

it was really lovely working with all the blues in this one <3 and the star symbolism! combining one of my favorite colors and imagery that i've associated with for a long time into an altar like this was really interesting and i'm very happy with the results :] here's hoping you are, too!

the paper cranes i've actually had for a while, included because they're analogous to stars in my weird, convoluted spiritual stuff :>(and ofc i couldn't stop myself from adding the star tarot card haha- i love putting those on altars.) they fit with the other birds, as well ^-^

you can get a better view of the card and some of the smaller items in the images under the cut!

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

an altar for eidien, @thedollthatseesall

incredibly proud of how this one came out- i got to mess around with a lot more details like the eye imagery through charms and drawings :D sadly i wasn't able to actually brew coffee for this, though hopefully the beans make up for that haha-

in terms of including a story that i love, i sort of did that indirectly :> the fabric patch on the bottom right of the altar is for a zine that one of my friends worked on; that writing means a lot to me. it immediately came to mind when i saw that request and i'm glad i was able to include it ^-^

i think the drawn eyes to the left and center sigil are captured better in the above angle under the cut, i hope you like them!

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

hello. I saw your altars, and was intrigued. may I request one that focuses on a seraph (six wings, red) that incorporates earth-based elements, fire, the desert, lions, or lost civilizations? - Fel

for sure, yes! i did what i could to combine all of your themes, especially lost civilizations and the desert as those were really interesting to try and emulate in an altar :] i'm not completely sure how well i did but i was able to use a lot of items i'd sort of forgotten about, which was fun!

specifically the little lion statue- it fit very well as a centerpiece, and kinda ended up inspiring a lot of the other colors i used ^-^ it's a bit hard to see but there's a pentacle in the bottom left that I made with a stamp and a candle in the top right, which were the most explicit representations of earth and fire, though there's a lot of others sprinkled throughout the altar :3

as always, there's some alternate angles under the cut!

(might stop linking the post soon haha- we'll see)

[fog-of-hydrangeas]

just popping in to say that it warms my heart to see you making altars for gods, angels, and other deities alike. i can't imagine how the receiver must feel to view it, it must be incredibly heartwarming. as an angel, i just wanted to say that it makes me unbelievably happy to see the content you post. even though the posts arent directed toward me, it still makes me feel seen in a way. thank you for the hard work, love, and care you put into each altar.

i can't express enough how grateful i am that i get to affect others in such a positive way. i really adore putting together these little art pieces (gifts? places of worship? ig it depends on who you ask what an altar really is haha-) and am so very glad that others appreciate them so much.

so, thank you! both to you for this wonderful message and to all the beings whose altars i've created or am in the process of creating. the fact that i'm able to do this for you all is something i treasure <3