#brigid rosary

[truedevotiondesign]

✨CUSTOM ORDER✨

Emerald St. Brigid Rosary

[blackmalelaw]

(Black Catholics)

[followingtheladyofthesacredflame]

I really miss a lot of my things that are still at my parents' house, and honestly, so many of them fit my practice now that it's a wonder I wasn't a witch when I lived at home.

like. I have two different daggers. a cloak. crystals and stones. statues. oils. candles. so many rosaries. veils. WANDS????

Lady Brigid out here banging on my screen door demanding to talk to me for YEARS before I heard her.

[crannfuinseoige]

The next morning there was not a drop of water to be seen in the well, for it dripped under the earth and broke out in another place about a mile away, in the townland of Cloonmurly, where it is now to be seen. When moving however it separated into two parts, one lies to the right, about 50 yds. off the road leading from Ballinaboy to Kilteevan Church. It is marked by an ash tree which grows on its brink and overhangs the well; there is also a white-thorn bush on its brink. This well is now called St. Brigids and is the part visited for cures; its waters, no matter how long heated, would not boil. It is visited by many people on the 15th August each year, many of them coming long distances. They perform a station, saying the Rosary whilst going round the well starting & finishing at the ash tree & going in clockwise fashion. They drink the water, and those who have wounds or sores, wash the part with the water; they then tie a string on the ash tree or white-thorn bush: they also take some of the water to their homes.

- The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0260, Page 002-3.

[unfortunate-arrow]

𝐍𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐡 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐝 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 | hphl character profile

warnings: mentions of severe illness leading to child death

✧ IDENTITY ✧

Full Name: Niamh Brigid Kelly 

Nicknames: None

Name Meanings: Niamh → Irish, “bright” ; Brigid → Irish, “strength” or “exalted one” ; Kelly → Irish, “descendant of Ceallach.”  

Date of Birth: February 9, 1875

Gender: Female ; she/her

Sexuality: Heterosexual 

Blood Status: Muggleborn

Nationality: Irish

Residence: Kelly Farm, County Mayo, Ireland (birth to 18) ; London, England (18 to 29) ; Dublin, Ireland (29 to death)

✧ APPEARANCE ✧

Faceclaim: Robin Wright

Height: 5’6” 

Build: Lean

Hair: Blonde hair that she usually keeps down, braided, or pulled back 

Eye Color: Blue

Scarring: 

Childhood & Hogwarts: Niamh has one small scar on her knee from when her dress got caught on a pricker bush and the thorn dug deep into her skin. 

Adulthood: She received a scar on her right shoulder blade during an auror raid gone wrong. 

Modifications: (glasses, piercings, tattoos, etc.) None

Other Distinguishing Marks: None 

Clothing Style: Simple ; dresses ; skirts ; blouses ; trousers ; shirts ; sweaters ; boots ; stockings

Accessories: A claddagh ring ; a rosary that belonged to her grandmother 

What’s in Her Pockets: Her wand 

What’s in Her School Bag: Textbooks ; parchment, quills, ink ; loose scraps of parchment with notes and reminders written on them ; a novel

✧ SPEECH & LANGUAGE ✧

Voiceclaim: Robin Wright 

Accent: Irish 

Dialect: Connaught 

Languages Spoken: English, Irish Gaelic, some Latin 

Languages Understood: English, Irish Gaelic, some Latin

✧ PERSONALITY ✧

MBTI Type: ENFP — the campaigner 

→ Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency.

Enneagram Type: 7w8 — the realist 

→ The Seven wing Eight is a Seven that shares many of the same qualities as the Type Eight. The 7w8 typically appears tougher and more career-driven than other Sevens. The Seven wing Eight is confident, assertive, and encouraging.

Positive Traits: Intelligent, curious, empathetic, warm, good communicator, good leader 

Neutral Traits: Observant, energetic, enthusiastic, spontaneous 

Negative Traits: Overthinker, stubborn, disorganized, sometimes overemotional 

Common Stressors: Exams ; period-typical attitudes ; grades ; farm failures ; money & being surrounded by those with more money

Comforting Things: Books ; the family farm ; her rosary (not the prayers, but the actual object) ; her family ; time to think 

Interests & Hobbies: Reading, horse riding, hiking, embroidering, being around her friends 

Description: Niamh is used to be underestimated, what with being a woman, muggleborn, Irish, and Catholic. However, Niamh is intelligent and friendly, refusing to conform to the person that people or society expect her to be. She loves to be around people, especially when she trusts those people. Niamh has a tendency to overthink things, but she is a loyal friend and someone that can be trusted. Niamh has always been on to forge her own path, whether that’s picking a career over a husband at first or knowing how to run a household and a farm.

✧ MAGIC ✧

Wand: Niamh’s wand is made of elm wood with a unicorn tail hair core and is 10 and ¼ inches with a supple flexibility. 

→ Elm wands preferred owners with presence, magical dexterity and a certain native dignity. Of all wand woods, elm, in Ollivander's experience, produced the fewest accidents, the least foolish errors, and the most elegant charms and spells; these were sophisticated wands, capable of highly advanced magic in the right hands (which made it highly desirable to those who espoused the pure-blood philosophy).

Other Magical Abilities: None 

Patronus: Beagle 

Patronus Memory: The Christmas when she was ten which was somehow the most special and most magical

Boggart: A giant snake, that is not a basilisk 

Riddikulus: The snake turns into a long line of sheep that are bleating loudly 

Amortentia:

Niamh smells like ink, parchment, lavender, and clean laundry. 

Niamh smells soda bread, old books, peat, leather, and peppermint. 

Mirror of Erised: Niamh sees herself with a successful career, and a family. 

✧ HOGWARTS ✧

House: Ravenclaw 

OWL Classes:

Astronomy — Exceeds Expectations 

Charms — Outstanding 

Defense Against the Dark Arts — Outstanding 

Flying — Acceptable 

Herbology — Exceeds Expectations 

History of Magic — Outstanding 

Potions — Exceeds Expectations 

Transfiguration — Acceptable 

OWL Electives:

Arithmancy — Exceeds Expectations 

Divination — Poor

NEWT Classes:

Charms — Outstanding

Defense Against the Dark Arts — Exceeds Expectations

Herbology — Outstanding

Potions — Exceeds Expectations

Transfiguration — Exceeds Expectations 

Extracurriculars: Prefect from fifth to seventh year ; dueling club

✧ EMPLOYMENT ✧

Affiliations: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ; the Ministry of Magic

Professions:

Age 18 to 22 - Auror in training

Age 22 to 27 - Auror desk work

Age 27 to 68 - Auror

✧ FAMILY ✧

Father: Donal Aodhan Kelly

Born in 1848, Donal was the eldest of five children born to Aodhan and Johanna Kelly, who were Catholic farmers. He had a good childhood and worked hard on the farm, which he had fallen in love with. When he was eighteen, his father passed away and Donal met Maeve Walsh at the funeral. 

Donal married Maeve at the age of 20, in 1868. They had a happy and strong marriage, with their first child, Ronan, being born two years into their marriage in 1870. However, tragedy struck in December 1874, when Ronan died after scarlet fever turned to pneumonia. Donal was heartbroken, but remained stoic and dedicated himself to his work on the farm. Joy came again, though, on February 9, 1875, when Donal’s daughter, Niamh was born. He doted on his daughter and decided to teach her the ins and outs of the farm even though that was usually reserved for sons. 

Niamh adores her father and has a very close relationship with, even though he was generally a very stoic man. She adored the way that he let her learn how to run the farm and allow her to gain an independence that was awarded to few women at the time.

Faceclaim: Harrison Ford 

Mother: Maeve Saoirse Kelly née Walsh

Born in 1850, Maeve was the youngest of six children born to John and Frances Walsh, who were both Catholic farmers. She had a pretty good childhood and learned much of the normal things that were taught to women at that time. At the age of 16, she met Donal Kelly at his father’s funeral and they quietly struck up a friendship. 

Maeve married Donal at the age of 18, in 1868. They had a happy marriage and their first child, a son named Ronan, was born in 1870, two years into their marriage. Maeve adored her little boy and she was heartbroken when he died in December of 1874. She was then put on bed rest as she had been eight months pregnant when Ronan passed away. On February 9, 1875, Maeve’s only daughter, Niamh was born. Maeve adored her daughter, but could be a tad overprotective as she was afraid of losing her daughter like she lost her son. As her daughter grew, Maeve began taking on work as a seamstress and tailor to provide her family with more income which became necessary when Niamh was accepted at Hogwarts.

Niamh adores her mother. Everything Niamh knows about being a woman comes from Maeve and she adores the fact that her mother never pressured her to do anything about marriage. Niamh also understands where her mother’s protectiveness comes from and tries to keep that in mind when she gets frustrated by that. 

Brother: Ronan Oscar Kelly [deceased, 1870-1874]

Born on October 28, 1870, Ronan is the eldest child of Donal and Maeve. He was born five years before Niamh. However, Ronan sadly had a short life as he contracted scarlet fever at the age of four and his mother, who was eight months pregnant with Niamh, sat with him throughout his illness, only trading off to let Donal sit with him. Unfortunately, Ronan’s scarlet fever turned into pneumonia and the child passed away from that, something that his parents never truly got over.

Niamh never knew her brother, but her parents never shied away from mentioning him. 

Pets: 

Childhood: A tabby cat named Ro… and the farm’s sheep and horse 

Adulthood: An owl

✧ ROMANCE & CHILDREN ✧

Love Interest: Tadhg Oisín Lynch 

Niamh had heard of Tadhg Lynch throughout her time at Hogwarts and may have harbored a small crush on the Gryffindor boy, but they didn’t officially meet until 1901. Tadhg came into the auror office to meet one of his buddies and Niamh found him resting with his feet on her desk. A friendship formed quickly, but it wasn’t until 1903 that Tadhg actually asked Niamh out to dinner… after Niamh went and asked him if he was ever going to take her to dinner. They dated for a little over a year and half, becoming engaged in the summer of 1904. Niamh married Tadhg on December 24, 1904.

Daughter: Aisling Maeve Lynch

Hufflepuff | Prefect | Headgirl | Heterosexual | b. April 22, 1907 

Niamh has a good relationship with her eldest daughter. Aisling takes after her more than she does Tadhg, so it makes it easier to connect with Aisling. Niamh is very proud of her daughter and does everything that she can to encourage her daughter to find her own path in the world, especially as the world seems to be changing everyday. Niamh loves her daughter dearly. 

Faceclaim: Shay Rudolph

Daughter: Saoirse Brigid Lynch

Gryffindor | Keeper | Bisexual | Twin | b. October 10, 1912

Niamh has a pretty good relationship with Saorise, even though they tend to butt heads often. Saoirse takes after Tadhg more, so Niamh occasionally struggles to connect with her younger daughter. However, Saoirse inherited Niamh’s desire to not conform to the world and make the world fit who she is becoming. Niamh is very proud of her daughter and loves her dearly. 

Faceclaim: Raegan Revord 

Son: Oscar Oisín Lynch 

Ravenclaw | Prefect | Seeker | Twin | b. October 10, 1912 

Niamh has a good relationship with her son. Oscar is a combination of her and Tadhg, but with a more even temperament. He is easy to connect with and Niamh is quite proud of her son and, like his sisters, she encourages him to find his own path in the world. Niamh adores her only son. 

Faceclaim: Iain Armitage

✧ OTHER RELATIONSHIPS ✧

Best Friends: 

Primrose Gray @endlessly-cursed

Close Friends:

Josie Edwards @slytherindisaster

Danny Gibson @catohphm

Roxie Haley @mjs-oc-corner

Adelia Selwyn @thatravenpuffwitch

Friends:

Ivy Anders @kc-and-co

Lydia Ellis ; Charly Grant ; Maggie Grant @mjs-oc-corner

Blanche Dubois @endlessly-cursed

Lottie Gallagher @slytherindisaster

Seraphina Hopper @thatravenpuffwitch

Wolfgang Witte @hufflefluffs

Acquaintances: TBD

It’s Complicated: TBD

Hogwarts Dormmates:

Gwen Archeron @thatravenpuffwitch

Primrose Gray @endlessly-cursed

Siobhan Llewelyn @kc-and-co

Rivals: TBD

Enemies: TBD

✧ HISTORY & BACKGROUND ✧

Place of Birth: Kelly Farm, County Mayo, Ireland

Hometown: County Mayo, Ireland 

Childhood: 

Born on February 9, 1875, Niamh Brigid Kelly is the second child of Donal and Maeve Kelly. However, she grew up as an only child because Donal and Maeve’s eldest child, Ronan, passed away a little over a month before Niamh was born. This colored much of the way that Donal and Maeve raised their daughter.

Despite growing up with the slight pallor of loss, Niamh had a generally happy childhood. Her parents were very loving, if a tad overprotective. Both of her parents dedicated time to teaching Niamh their skills. From her mother, Niamh learned how to run a household, sew, and much of what was considered appropriate for women to learn. From her father, Niamh learned agriculture and outdoor skills, even though they weren’t considered appropriate for women to learn. Niamh was extremely grateful for the skills that her parents taught her and valued them immensely. Then, at the age of eleven, Niamh received her Hogwarts letter, something that shocked her family. 

Hogwarts Years:

Upon starting Hogwarts, Niamh was sorted into Ravenclaw. She settled into the house quite quickly, startled by how much those in the year above her were willing to support her and take her in. Niamh made a few friends for life in those seven years and found the whole experience to be extremely enjoyable and valuable. 

Adulthood:

After graduating from Hogwarts, Niamh enrolled in the auror training program. However, she was the only woman in the program and was often written off because of it, despite the fact that she performed better than most of her class. After completing the program with top marks, Niamh found herself relegated to desk work as no one wanted a woman for a partner. She remained working at a desk for five years, during which she grew more frustrated by the year… until 1901, when she was finally allowed to do field work.

Niamh found her groove and enjoyed her work as an auror. That work allowed Niamh to meet her husband, Tadhg, that same year that she was allowed to begin field work. However, she didn’t begin a romantic relationship with him until two years later, when he finally managed to ask her out after she had asked him if he would ever take her to dinner. They married on December 24, 1904. Niamh had three children with Tadhg: Aisling Maeve on April 22, 1907 and the twins, Saoirse Brigid and Oscar Oisín on October 10, 1912. In the summer of 1913, Niamh and Tadhg also took in Tadhg’s nephew, Conor, who had run away from home after being tired of everything in his home.

In 1910, Niamh mourned the loss of her mother and four years later, in 1914, she mourned the loss of her father. 

Old Age:

Niamh retired at the age of 68, tired of the aches that the job brought and tired of the disapproval from some of her male colleagues. She enjoyed her retirement and spent the time looking after her grandchildren and being with her husband. 

Death: 

Niamh passed away from natural causes in 1960, at the age of 85. Her husband had passed away two years earlier. She lived a long, happy, and fulfilled life, leaving behind three children, seven grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren, although nine of her great-grandchildren had yet to be born.

✧ MISCELLANEOUS ✧ 

Favorite Color: Sapphire blue  

Favorite Food: Rolls with homemade preserves 

Favorite Weather: Sunny with a bit of cliff 

Favorite Season: Spring 

Favorite Book: Jane Austen (Pride & Prejudice, Emma), Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 

Dislikes: Fish, bullies, singing in public, blood supremacy, being reduced to a housewife or someone’s property 

Trivia:

Niamh is Catholic. However, she is not overly religious and the religious rituals have a small place in her life, but she does consider being Catholic an important part of her identity. In fact, Niamh is probably my most religious OC.

Niamh never wanted to marry young. She wanted to establish a career and find her place in the world before she married. Being a wife and mother was something she wanted, but she didn’t want that to be the main part of her identity.

Niamh is an okay singer. She’s not great and rarely sings in public. However, she was a part of the children’s choir in her church and can be found humming hymns. This is especially common during Christmas. 

Important Links:

Niamh’s tag

With Love, a Valentine’s Day story

More information about Niamh’s children, Aisling, Saoirse, and Oscar 

[achristopaganbreviary]

Feast Days and Prayers

(a work in progress; these are prayers found on the internet, not written by me)

Jan 1- Solemnity of Our Lady, Theotokos Jan 6- Three Kings Day Feb 1- Candlemas/ Imbolc/ St Brigid's Day Feb 6- Aphrodite Mar 5- Isis Mar 19- St Joseph Mar 20 or 21- Ostara, the spring equinox May 1- Our Lady Queen of Heaven; Beltane May 31- The Visitation Jun 16- Our Lady of Mount Carmel June 20 or 21- Litha, the summer solstice Jun 22- Mary Magdalene Aug 1- Lammas Aug 13- Hecate Aug 15- Assumption of Mary/ Dormition Aug 26- Our Lady of Czestochowa Sept 8- Nativity of Mary/ Marymas Sept 22 or 23- Mabon, the fall equinox Oct 1- St Therese of Liseux Oct 7- Our Lady of the Rosary Oct 15- Our Lady of Walsingham Nov 1- Samhain, the day of the dead Dec 1 (ish)- Advent Novena Prayer Dec 8- Immaculate Conception Dec 10- Our Lady of Loreto Dec 12- Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec 21 or 22- Yule, the winter solstice Dec 24- Modranicht, Feast of the Mothers Dec 25- Christmas

[hbhughes]

Ann Marie (Burns) Kelly

Ann Marie (Burns) Kelly, 91, of Forty Fort, died January 21, 2024, at Geisinger Wyoming Valley.

Born in Wilkes-Barre, she was the daughter of Oswald and Mary Rowan Burns, also the stepdaughter of Agnes Harkins Burns. She was a graduate of E. L. Meyers High School.

Prior to retirement, she was employed as a secretary by Wyoming Seminary Lower School, Forty Fort. She was previously employed by PPL, in Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton Offices.

She was a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish. Where she formerly acted as a lector at weekday masses, along with teaching catechism classes. She was a member of the Alter and Rosary Society of the former Holy Name of Jesus Parish. She was also a Red Cross Volunteer, and involved with the Cub Scouts acting as Den Mother, and Forty Fort Little League volunteer.

Predeceased by her loving husband of 49 years, Robert T. Kelly, as well as, her brother, Robert F. Burns.

She is survived by sons, Lt. Col. John F. Kelly USMC (Ret.) and his wife Anne, Chesapeake, VA; Matthew P. Kelly, Esquire, Forty Fort; daughter, Molly and her husband David Earls, New Freedom, PA and five grandchildren, Patrick (Brother Anselm Kelly OP), Brendan and Brigid Kelly, Kathryn and William Earls.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 10 AM from the Hugh B. Hughes & Son, Inc. Funeral Home. Mass of Chrisitan Burial will be held at 10:30 AM at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, 116 Hughes St., Swoyersville. Interment will be held at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Hanover Twp.

Family and friends are invited on Friday, January 26th from 4 to 7 PM at the Hugh B. Hughes & Son, Inc. Funeral Home, 1044 Wyoming Ave., Forty Fort.

[apixellife]

Lunch Date by Colleen Criss Via Flickr: sass [hailey heels] rb COMING TO DOLLHOLIC! sassdesign.co :: pm :: Luca Handbag -xmas edition- (LeftHand) Animated POISON ROUGE Brigid Hat - Red Rosary. Teyana . Dress Reborn LOGO Noelle v1.0.1 Head **RE** Sublime Star Collar - OpenCollar TRUTH / Cozy / REBORN by eBODY v1.69.6

[wolfofwinchester]

8. name two or more things your muse can’t leave the house without.

25. what do they do when they are deep in thought?

𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚌. 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚎 // accepting!

8. Your grandmother is a packrat, Elizabeth.

I can name several, actually. The woman never goes anywhere without her snack sachets, which are little sheer green bags filled with a variety of.. well, snacks! There's sweet and savory things ranging from small cuts of dried meat to what she calls 'sugar pearls', beads that have a very smooth, shiny surface and taste of sugar, spearmint and lavender. There's freshly foraged mulberries and steamed dandelions, and candied honey suckles to boot.

She never leaves home without her mother's broken pearl necklace, either. Keeps them wound up close, often clutching them like a rosary during travel and fiddling with the cracked pearls. She rubs them when in deep thought, something all of her progeny have seen. She's very protective over them, but would not mind letting them hold onto it and look it over. It's like her personal faith item, too. Doesn't catch attention, but there's been so much energy put into it with prayer that it counts.

Claudia also carries a silver dagger in her boot or up her sleeve, and three hatchets have their own hems sewn into her innermost petticoat layer. She never leaves home without her axe, either. It's always to be found close-by, let that be in the carriage, or in the lovely suitcase Tanaka carries around for her.

And lastly, because I was debating back and forth whether or not to mention it, is her green cloak. I count it as part of her wardrobe, but I figure it's loose enough to be counted as something she brings with her and also optionally leaves off as well. It's her cloak she's entirely dedicated to Brigid, and she considers it to be her own personal mantle. This is the biggest religious item you will find on her person outside of her mother's pearls, and it's her very own. It's very warm, makes the wearer feel quite safe.

If this woman ever has to be forced at gun point to unload everything she's carrying, she's going to take a while. She'd carry her whole room on her, if she could!

I've always used this gif to describe her and the junk she keeps on her person. It's so accurate.

25. Where is your mind now, Countess?

One leg crossed over the other, foot tapping at the air. elbow propped and fingers mustached over her lips. Claudia's mind has a terrible habit of wandering, and deep thought is nothing unusual. She has this long, eerie stare that's unnerved plenty of folk, and she doesn't seem to care if she is staring at anyone when she zones out, either. Definitely adds a bit to her "odd woman" reputation, especially when folk report that her gaze follows them when they've moved from her line of sight, even though she is not looking at them at all. That feeling doesn't quite lift until they're completely out of the room. Generally, it's nothing personal. She's just pinpointed them as her focal object. However, to those who hold it meaningfully.. they'd swear it follows them even when they're scuttled a great distance away.

Her children and grandchildren have held her gaze plenty of times, but it's so much softer. It's difficult for them to feel it's spooky or eerie when she's practically raised them, but Edward might have the odd complaint now and then. Where others feel trepidation, the children have always been able to snap Claudia back to reality easily.

[softersinned-arc]

THE GRIM FAMILY can trace their line back for centuries before they lose track of the thread somewhere in the mid-to-late seventeenth century. The family’s historians, amateur and professional alike, agree that the records being kept tracking births, deaths, and marriages are inaccessible during this period because of the European witch craze. Compared to other European nations, Sweden’s witch hunt was relatively mild, and like in other nations, the witch hunts were less concerned with finding actual witches and more concerned with solidifying the state’s control over both religion and legitimate forms of violence. The reason for the break, then, is not that the Grims were persecuted as witches, even though they were but rather that during the Great Noise of 1668-1676, church records were seized by the Witchcraft Commission for review and were simply never returned — a clerical error, rather than religious persecution.

          (Not much for the narrative that Astoria finds in the United States especially, but it’s accurate all the same. On occasion, she likes to remind the “feminist” witches particularly that they are not, in fact, the granddaughters of the witches “they” couldn’t burn, but probably the granddaughters of the ones doing the burning. Furthermore, burning was a particularly rare form of execution in most places, given the degree of sympathy it would inspire in the assembled masses. Witch hunts in Europe were more centered around the state trying to establish an other to use to justify the state’s growing reach and control. This is about where she reminds people that there isn’t actually any sort of documented proof that “female healers” were being targeted more than anyone else — if anything, inquisitorial and judicial records stating occupation suggest that “female healers” made up an almost negligible percentage of victims — and that if you want to look for the real victims you’re best looking at religious and ethnic minorities, the poor, the disabled, and yes, women, but it’s a lot more complicated than that, given that women also made up the majority of accusers and those testifying against their neighbors. But we digress.)

          She is an ancestral witch, different from a hereditary witch in that she not only inherited her power, but that she draws from her ancestors’ power as well. Like many of her family members, she keeps little trinkets that connect her to her ancestors’ remains — a ring inlaid with her great-grandmother’s ashes that she never takes off beyond a shower serves as her primary connection, but she also keeps a small, locked reliquary with her great-great-grandfather’s finger bones, and dirt from the family’s plot in Sweden, in her study. She feels no great connection to any of the Norse pantheon — in fact, she would describe herself, first and foremost, as Catholic, and beside her great-great-grandfather’s bones, she keeps her grandmother’s rosary along with the mass card from her funeral. Later, after connecting with the Irish side of her family, Astoria developed an appreciation for and connection to Irish saints, particularly St. Brigid of Kildare.

          While Astoria was born into and raised with the Grim family’s traditions, it was her father’s family — unknown to her until she was seven years old — that gave her power its particular nature.

THE DONNELLY FAMILY can trace their lineage at least to the late sixteenth century, when Clan MacDonnell took Dunluce Castle. Donnelly magic is less common in its descendants than many other lines, though the magic, when it appears, is powerful, often showing an affinity for water and weather in the bearer. The particular branch of the Donnellys to which Astoria can claim connection has very rarely been visited by the family’s banshee; she appears once or twice a generation to them, at most.

          The majority of the family is fine. Astoria adores her aunt, and her father’s cousins; her grandparents, however, are among the members of the family more concerned with material wealth and power than their magic or their history. Though Astoria’s father immediately sought her out upon learning she existed, and welcomed him into his family, his parents were less than pleased, and were comfortable simply choosing to ignore her. While she felt that her connection to water was likely due to her father’s family, she couldn’t identify much else in the way of a Donnelly influence in her magic until she was an adult.

          The Boston coven was like most other covens in North America and Europe: they refused, by and large, to study the way their magic could interfere with death. Healing was typically the extent of their exploration, and anything further was left to coven leaders, if it was attempted at all. Any sort of death magic — including blood magic — was strictly forbidden, and when the coven’s leader began looking more closely at Astoria’s practice, it became clear that she was drawing her power from something to which the rest of them, Donnellys included, had no access. Further investigation revealed that Astoria had been experimenting with death magic in secret since she was a teenager, studying it since her brush with blood magic under her godparents’ care. After deliberation, the coven’s elders agreed that she would be exiled, her access to Donnelly magic cut off, and that she would be denied access to her home in Boston beyond the occasional visit to family, during which time she would be punished if caught using unauthorized magic.

THE HOUSE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK sat on nine acres of land, largely untouched and grown wild. The house itself — a farmhouse showing obvious signs of wear and weathering from more than a generation’s abandonment — had hummed with power strongly enough that Astoria needed only to step foot past the threshold before she knew that it was hers. She made an offer that day, signed the papers, and settled in to the home. On the other side of the crooked cobblestone road was a stream that led to a river; surrounding the house were woods that seemed especially ominous in the early hours of morning; and the house itself was a project beyond Astoria’s imagining. The foundation was sturdy, but half the windows needed replacing, and the walls were poorly insulated. She expected that first winter to be a miserable one, but she found that the house stayed warm when she needed it.

          She adopted two kittens from the shelter in town, a pair of sisters she named Ophelia and Estella, and they settled into the house quickly. They didn’t seem to mind the constant construction — the wine cellar Astoria put in the basement, the walls between three of the spare bedrooms being knocked down to make the space for a massive library, the updates made to the kitchen and the bathroom. And some things stayed the same, including the staircase accessible only through the door tucked away in a corner of the library that led to Astoria’s study, where she kept everything she didn’t want a casual visitor to see: her grimoires, her altar, the little alchemical laboratory she’d built for herself on an old kitchen table, and the reliquary.

          And the house, she found, grew to love her. It was worth it, even when she had to get a truck, because just driving an Italian sports car simply wasn’t reasonable anymore. It was worth it, even when the local coven of witches made it clear how unwelcome she was in town, and where she’d set up her shop. (We’ll come back to that later.) The house loved her. It came to trust her, and she felt its presence like that of another person. She expected her power to wane, following her exile, but instead, it grew, and for a long time, Astoria attributed that to the house.

          She later learned that the house was only responding to her magic. Even when it threw tantrums — locking her out, flinging the windows open to let in a gust of cold air, flinging books from their shelves or cups from their cabinets — it was all in response to her own power.

MAEVE ROE knew that the sea was treacherous when she escaped during the storm that killed her, her beloved at her side in the small boat they hoped would carry them to freedom. When she found herself bound to the world of the living, but always just out of reach, she did what she could, and the Banshee of Dunluce Castle paid little mind to most of the castle’s inhabitants, and those inhabitants’ descendants. Most shied away from death magic, and so she had little reason to show interest.

          Astoria was something different — fearless, maybe, or stupid, to dabble in death so often. While some of the more cautious members of her former coven would suggest that Astoria deliberately lured Maeve Roe to her with the death magic, others — like her aunt, and her father — insisted that Maeve Roe had been the one to inspire her exploration. When the Donnelly line was ordered to cut Astoria off from her ancestors’ magic, they complied, however reluctantly, but Maeve Roe was never one to take orders. And, newly cut off from the restrictions that came with her ancestral connections, Astoria had no reason to expect this, but Maeve Roe followed her to New York.

          And Maeve Roe stood on the other side of the stream and watched her when Astoria commanded her first storm, entirely by accident. She watched when Astoria, isolated and expecting to falter, grew more powerful as more of her experiments worked. She watched when Astoria learned to link her magic to the moon, particularly as she read tarot. And she watched when Astoria finally unlocked the key to extending her life — not to living forever, but to healing beyond what her predecessors could have done by tapping into the power stored in the water in her body, to living longer, to halting aging.

          Maeve Roe had been a beautiful young woman sewing her own shroud, and so she has remained. She has started to think that perhaps Astoria Grim might follow suit.

BELLADONNA APOTHECARY is the town’s occult shop. The shop is made up of several rooms, each with a theme — one filled with the candles and herbs and tools for spellcraft, another exclusively filled with the means for divination, yet another filled with strange artifacts. In the back, she keeps the strangest of the artifacts — often the most dangerous, and the ones she’s obtained through less than legal means — to be sold quietly to discerning collectors. In another of the back rooms, she reads tarot, consults on hauntings and cursebreaking, and has even worked with the Catholic priest a few counties over on exorcisms. The local witches can sneer all they’d like, but they’re among her most frequent customers, and the shop’s reputation is enough to bring in tourism in and of itself. Designed to be accessible to the newest of the “new age” to the oldest of the “old school,” Belladonna Apothecary is remarkable enough to have caused a stir in Boston after her exile.

          When her former elders told her to stop, to fade into obscurity, Astoria laughed, and offered them a discount on mugwort. They refused it, though one or two contacted her privately to replenish their supplies.

[blackmalelaw]

(Black Catholics)

[media-via-incedens]

A present from my boyfriend’s parents for my confirmation. My patron saint, Brigid of Kildare. ❤

[sippingdaisies]

the car being surrounded by irate orangemen vs gerry with an actual st brigid’s cross and set of rosary beads hanging from the rear view mirror. poetic cinema

[muddyviolets]

Custom jade and oxbone Anglican-style rosary for @liminalblessings. Features a reversible St. Brigid/St. Patrick medal and a lobster clasp. Thank you for the commission, darling, it was a true pleasure!

Interested? See more of my rosaries, and some charm bottles; I’m taking commissions as well!