stellar-witchcraft - Tumblr blog

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One of my favorite friends.

Stoat

soosseli

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Fixed Star Alphecca.

Traditional October Still Life #3

original artworks by Lev Tchistovsky, Johann Amandus Winck

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Luciana Lupe Vasconcelos - Babalon

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Wisht Waters: The Cult & Magic of Water

So grateful to have this exquisitely bound, special limited edition of Wisht Waters by Gemma Gary. When this book first came out via Three Hands Press, it was an indispensable friend to my craft--I worked with it more than 3/4 of my collection, and carried it with me nearly everywhere. I made the fatal error of lending it to someone, and of course, never saw it again.

When I saw Troy Books was doing a special printing, I screamed --shrilly, to the chagrin of those around me. What a delight to hold this *gorgeously* bound version in my hands once more; I feel as if a lost friend has returned home. And how special to have it signed by the esteemed author! 

Joyful day. A homecoming.

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Fixed Star Capella.

[Sculpture is "Amalthea" by Ehren Bienert]

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Say Hello to NGC 6441

Location: In the Scorpius constellation

Distance from Earth: About 44,000 light-years

Object type: Globular star cluster

Discovered by: James Dunlop in 1826

Each tiny point of light in this image is its own star - and there are more than a million of them! This stunning image captured by the Hubble Telescope depicts NGC 6441, a globular cluster that weighs about 1.6 million times the mass of our Sun. Globular clusters like NGC 6441 are groups of old stars held together by their mutual gravitational attraction, appearing nearly spherical in shape due to the density of stars that comprises them. This particular cluster is one of the most massive and luminous in our Milky Way Galaxy. It is also home to a planetary nebula and four pulsars (rotating neutron stars that emit beams of radiation at steady intervals, detected when the beams are aimed at Earth). 

Read more information about NGC 6441 here.

Right now, the Hubble Space Telescope is delving into its #StarrySights campaign! Find more star cluster content and spectacular new images by following along on Hubble’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

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I apologize for just seeing this! Thank you, @hillsarehollow​, for such a kind and generous affirmation of my work.

While I have a great deal of affection for Spica, I want to begin by stating that my relationship with her is via natal conjunction to my Mercury, and not via paranatellonta or deliberate pact. This means that my experience with her is more related to my observations for clients and peers and pals, as opposed to deliberately engaging the Spirit in an ongoing relationship for myself (though Arcturus and her both effuse the light of my Mercury).

When people come to me seeking out relationship with Stellar spirits and the Stars themselves, and Spica is well-placed in their starry raiments, I almost *always* recommend they begin with Her, as she is so generously beneficent and patient in comparison to many other Stars and their spirits. Spica is emerald valleys of the Midsummer festivals as much as she is the golden-bough of harvest--she is the honeyed amber jewel of satisfaction, of hard-earned triumph, of unperturbed and ineluctable brilliance which cannot be won by cleverness but rather earned by curiosity. She is a self-replenishing well of honeyed mead which spills over to quench the first of every parched devotee who kneels before her; she is a Mother who never rejects, who takes the orphans in and lights them up with their own intrinsic value (and the knowledge of it). She is not a granter of overnight fame and instant-success, but a progenitor of sustainable, long-term, well-deserved just desserts and credit where credit is due. 

Because Spica and her Spirits are unfettered and uninterrupted in their capacity to give, it becomes all the more important that the individual in relationship with aforementioned spirits does not over-extend beyond their means. A poignant point to reflect what Briar shared about Tailtiu--where Spica is strong, so, too, is the capacity to sacrifice oneself as a generous fattened lamb for a starving audience. Spica’s verdant light has the capacity to illuminate even the most desolate and fallow lands, but one has to repeatedly ask themselves at what personal cost would this lead to? Just because Spica can give unconditionally, does not mean that the native in relationship with her can without bearing some personal loss, burn out, or even eventual bitterness.

The spirits that I see often associated with Spica are relatively diverse compared to most spirit-classes with fixed stars. I have seen domovoi and gnomes and house-spirits that are especially supportive around house-hold chores, and farming tasks, come through this stellar-door, as well as Ljósálfar that are particularly agriculturally oriented and seem to endlessly traipse molten-gold fields in their barley-wreath crowns. I have seen emerald green birds with phoenix-bright tails that take up the corona of Spica, as well as thoughtful alabaster oxen and giant golden geese who sit upon nests of treasure. These spirits are fortunate: both of fortune, and being fortune themselves, and they are more approachable and more welcoming of human interaction. 

As a contrast, the Star I work much more closely with within the Constellation of Virgo is Vindemiatrix, who is colloquially known as the “Widow Maker”, and is Matron to the poisoners and the tenders of the dying vine, the flowers full of venom, and the night-shade wine drinking witches of the celestial sea. I have, in particular, been able to notice a tie to a class of spirit known as  Południca/Poludnitsa, or the “Noonwraith”, aka “Lady Midday”, with Vindemiatrix. I often bring up the contrast of this Star with it Sister, Spica, to show just how profoundly dramatically the spirits of stars within the same constellation can be.

Sorry for rambling, I hope this helps!

On stars, fairy faith, and how to give the gods their due.

This is an article that was incredibly long in the making, and of which I am still pondering the public platforming. But I am happy to release it today 🌹

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“In its own person the Swan hides a god and the voice belonging to it; it is more than a bird and mutters to itself within." - Manilius

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Hand painted second-hand leather gloves - inspired by old Slavic embroidery and traditional Balkan tattoos

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Venus in Sagittarius

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I done did it, y'all. You can procure either my AstroMagia 2021 featured lecture, Haunted Houses: Ancestral Gifts & Curses in the Nativity, or my AstroMagia 2022 closing keynote lecture, The Shining Ones: Folklore's Spirits & Fixed Stars, now! You can even treat yourself to both at the same time for a cute lil' discount.

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Gertrud Kolmar, tr. by Henry A. Smith, from Dark Soliloquy: The Selected Poems of Gertrud Kolmar; "You"

[Text ID: “You. I want to melt you from the stars! / You. I want to lick you from the earth, / And bite you out of fruit, / You. I want so much— / Dear. Dearest. Can’t you give yourself to me?”]

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Some of My Favorite Urban and Coastal Mermaid Statues in Honor of Fixed Star Sualocin in Constellation Delphinus

Winged mermaid at the stern of the stone barge at Vizcaya Mansion.

White mermaid sculpture with mosaic background adorning the bar at Caesar’s Palace Hotel

Mermaid sculpture near the promenade of the town of La Coruña in Spain’s Galicia region

Baltic Sea mermaid sculpture – Klaipeda, Lithuania

Ian Thomas antique mermaid statue on Lord Street in Southport, England

Nabeul mermaid sculpture at the seaside, Tunisia

Leopold Park Mermaid Statue.

Warszawska Syrenka sculpture, Poland

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Fixed Star Sualocin, Constellation Delphinus.

Frozen Mermaid by American fantasy doll sculptress Nicole West 

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Happy Mercury Day, as Mars retrograde in Gemini (the home of Mercury) conjoins fixed star Alnilam, the belt of constellation Orion.

Alnilam is the central star in Orion's Belt, making up a configuration that the Arabic people called a "string of pearls". This constellation is known in countless cultures as a giant and a warrior.

Usually this star (and the others that span the "string of pearls") indicate that unity around a cause is possible, bringing about great leaders. One such example of someone born with Mars conjoined Alnilam is Martin Luther King Jr.

However, good leaders also mean a form of division. To unite for something, you must be against something. In it's best form, the unification is against injustice--but that means rocking the boat against that which is unjust. Standing against the corrupt status-quo naturally makes enemies, even if that is not the intent.

With retrograde Mars as translator of light for this star, the likeliness of being misunderstand (willfully or unintentionally) is high, causing further division and disruption.

Remember that you are the bad guy in someone's story, even if it's factually untrue. Learning to be true to your convictions is vital wisdom in this age, and requires we sit with the tension of disappointing others and their expectations put upon us.

It's your one and precious life that requires the mastery of relations. A necessary relationship to get right is the one with yourself and your values. Mars (courage, action, confrontation, defenses) needs marching orders from Venus (values, needs, desires).

When we work from a place of people pleasing we are not actually in good relation with others. Good relationships are reciprocal and require both parties to take responsibility and accountability for themselves and their expectations. Giving in blindly sets you both up to fail.

Are you willing and able to meet someone's expectations? Have you actually talked about and negotiated it? Or is it unspoken projection that you are enacting or accepting? (This is especially true for relational patterns in our lives. Things don't happen in a bubble.)

Villainizing someone else is so much easier than looking for how we are responsible for continued relational challenges.

If you're the villain to someone else, let me suggest you free yourself from trying to change the narrative.

The narrative won't effectively change or become healthy until both parties accept their part in co-creating relational stories.

Defending yourself while someone is hellbent on making you a villain will only entrench the story further.

Instead get clear about your values and convictions and act from those before anything else. This will ultimately lead to right relationship with people who resonate, because there is no betrayal of self, and no need to project onto others.

When you take responsibility to act upon what matters most to you, there is no need to put that expectation on someone else. Instead you can co-create a relationship with clear roles and healthy communicated expectations. There's no betrayal of self or other.

May you find the courage to stand and act upon your values, including divesting from someone's fairy tale that you are unwillingly being cast within. Be the bad guy, sit with the tension.

Go live and act with the gusto of an adventurer to create an aligned life.

(Are you someone with the heart of a warrior who needs guidance in focusing on the most spirit-aligned mission? Do you require fortitude as you face trials in a wilderness? A companion to help you on the uncharted road of courage and conviction? Check out my newest fixed star readings, particularly the Modern Battle Stars special focus reading.)

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Who is this deity and what do they have to do with Mars? (And ancient astrology for that matter.) Curious?

Come participate in a low-cost beta run of my new seminar where we dive deep into the original Greek of the Orphic Hymn to Ares/Mars (don’t panic—I’ll walk you through it word by word).

We’ll uncover the hidden esoteric language and teachings of the Orphic Mysteries—including how they impacted the cosmology that underlays all of Hellenistic astrology.

And also hopefully have fun in a nerdy sorta way. Details are on my substack page. Only three spots in this small-group class are left!