Loretta Jean, the Vampire Slayer ?
Epic dreams of late: this morning I was involved in an 8 day ultra-marathon version of an obstacle course something like Tough Mudder that seems to have some magical/mystical components. Yesterday morning I dreamt I was a slayer slaying zompires* and other assorted demons and nasties at a luxury cottage/chalet.
So basically, lots of running, all the running and jumping and back flipping and physical strength that I actually don’t have. My brain works in weird ways.
(*see Buffy Season 9 comics)
Time to put my money where my mouth is
It’s been brewing in my head and I’ve ben scheming about it for far too long. I need to finally get SparrowQueen.com up and running. Once I’ve back from Las Vegas, it’s going to my top priority project.
In the meantime, I’m finally secured my long coveted Twitter handle: @sparrowqueen. I’m going to posting my witchy and lifestyle stuff there, leaving @jessicathorp for academic/personal/professional, and @loretta_jean for burlesque. I also post on the @NerdGirl Burlyq account. Feel free to follow me on of those.
Now do you know why I often feel slightly schizoid in my online identities? Part of me wants to consolidate all of them into one, but for now they’ll remain separate but I don’t go out of my way to retain anonymity either. These are all just different facets of who I am.
I’m curious lovelies, any suggestions on how you handle your multiple/or competing identities online?
As promised, a better look at my new prosperity & abundance altar.
~sparrowqueen ♥
Late night prosperity magic & new abundance altar set-up. I am very pleased with how this one turned out. It’s kind of hard to see in candle light, I’ll take some with natural light tomorrow.
~sparrowqueen ♥
My coven and a guest celebrated a small Equinox ritual over the weekend. This is the time of year when we release our Hags (cailleach) who we have been caring for since Autumn equinox. She’s then reborn as a maiden.
It’s one of my favourite rituals and I’m glad that we did a few days early because my hag kicked my ass this year and it was time to start fresh.
She was like a sweet little old lady who likes to put dollies under everything but who is so prim and proper that she has a bit of a mean streak. For some reason the only way I could think of how to describe her is almost like Dolores Umbridge-lite in her character and yet I feel like she did help me get through the worst of the worst. The hag offers harsh lessons and maybe it’s my own fault for not feeding her quite enough whiskey this year.
I love winter but I am so ready for spring!
~sparrowqueen ♥
I know nothing about this photo’s origins and the sign looks suspiciously Photoshopped, but is still makes me really happy.
I love it when I get confirmation from the universe that my intuition was spot-on. It helps build confidence in my own abilities.
Today is a good day, despite being utterly exhausted. I hand delivered my second last PhD application to York today. That also meant I got have tea with one of my oldest friends, had a brief but encouraging meeting with my MA thesis supervisor, and then also ran into an old friend on my way home.
The delirium is setting in a bit though, I’ve been awake since 8am yesterday, so time for bed me thinks. (Yes it’s 2:30PM, I know, bad…)
I hope I have some more prophetic dreams, they’re super rad.
~sparrowqueen ♥
On the occasion of my 25th birthday
I turned 25 today. I wanted to take a minute to reflect and show my appreciation for the year that has passed. Also, a huge thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me on Saturday evening - thanks for all coming out, celebrating and also running with my ridiculous party theme. I was feeling a bit stressed out turning 25 - it seems like a *big* birthday in my head. In some regards, I feel like there are many things I would have liked to accomplish by this point in my life but you know what - 24 and 2012 has been a pretty good year for me.
There’s been some ups and downs, but overall I have lots to be appreciative of and thankful for. Here’s some of the things which I very much want to express my appreciation for: This year I learned a lot. I grew quite a bit. I feel like I really came into my own skin. I became a much more positive person. I let go of lots of deep-rooted baggage and am on the road to recovery/physical health.
This year, I finished my Masters degree. That was a big one and I’m very proud of said fact.
I am also immensely proud of my burgeoning burlesque troupe off the ground (and co-producing two shows).
This year I also did my first art exhibition, and performed a bunch (twice as much as 2011) . My coven got officially off the ground - we did a ritual for every sabbat, plus a few more and gaggle of social events.
I have an awesome loft style apartment, just like I’ve always wanted. (It’s not quite how I want it yet, but it’s a work in progress). I get to live next door to my dear friend (and fairy godmother) Kristin, who is always up for a cup of tea, an episode of True Blood, or an adventure to St. Lawrence Market. Having such such an incredibly vibrant, magical influence in my life has really been life altering.
I have an incredibly supportive and awesome partner, C., who is sweet as the day is long, who doesn’t have mean bone in his body. I get to live with him and he makes me laugh a bunch. Corey is as big of a nerd as I am and who is always quick to make me breakfast or a cup of tea. (All major bonuses). He also tells me I’m pretty every single day, even when I’m at my worst. He’s been with me through thick and thin for the last 3.5 years and he’s a gem of a guy.
We also have two derpy, adorable, snuggly, ridiculous cats who always make me feel better and are generally the best. They bring me an obscene amount of happiness and I love them to bits.
I made some awesome new friends this year. I also was able to do some pruning of negative influences and become closer to awesome people. I have many fantastic friends (both old & new), and they are the main reason that I feel so very blessed and thankful.
Thank you to everyone who made this year fantastic. I love you all!
-LJ. xo
(I originally posted this on my personal facebook page, on Monday, December 17th, 2012 - my birthday).
(Art by Erika Altosaar)
No Queer Girls are Queerer Than Others: Resisting Femme Invisibility - By Jeannette Young
… Nevertheless, as femme women, we are often invisible to other queer people.
Our femininities are often marginalized and delegitimized. We are often seen as heteronormative, apolitical, less radical, and less queer in a community where being visible and valued depends on being masculine or androgynous.
This femmephobia in queer communities—this devaluation and stigmatization of queer femininity—is a form of misogyny that is rooted in dominant patriarchal culture. It’s a form of sexism that intersects with cissexist, heterosexist, racist, classist, ableist, and sizeist views of femininity, women, and what it means to be queer.
The accusation that femme women “pass as straight” undermines our own self-definitions of our femme identities, our empowered embracing of our femininities, and our blatant disruption of the normative constructs of what it means to be feminine and a woman.
The experiences of femmes are complex, as we each have our own multiple identities.
This article is extremely relevant/important. Please read it & share!
Look at these gorgeous pumpkins, aren’t they just perfect? I really do love this time of year.
On Wednesday morning, I woke up with a splitting migraine. I’ve had them ever since I was around 11 years old, in varying degrees of severity and frequency. (For anyone counting, that means I’ve experienced migraines for more than half of my life.) In grade 12 (senior year of high school), I had one that lasted 3 weeks straight and that was pretty much hell on Earth.
On the plus side, I’ve has the migraines pretty much under control for about a year and a half. I still get them occasionally, but usually they’re not as severe as they once were. Wednesday was an exception to this.
I think it was my body’s way of tell me to slow down. Also, it had been cold and rainy here the past few days, but very humid. I find that when we have that kind of weather I’m more prone to them. It’s kind of a double whammy - weather + stress and I get knocked out. In this particular the migraine basically forced me back to sleep for an extra 7 hours. (Sometimes there’s also the trifecta of migraine - PMS added into the combination, when that happens, I’m usually screwed).
When I finally woke up from my extended slumber, I felt groggy but I really wanted to go for a walk to clear my head. It wasn’t raining anymore, but it was very dark, a bit foggy and the sky was completely grey. I also was nursing what I like to call my migraine handgover, but apparently the technical medical name for the phenomenon is postdrome.
When I experience postdrome, it’s hard to explain or really to put into words. Everything feels very dreamlike and kind of ethereal. I feel a mixed emotion somewhere between depersonalization and euphoria, but the entire world looks very beautiful. I also sometimes get really strong food cravings - this time it happened to be my #1 weakness, which is dark chocolate. The craving combined with craving fresh air meant one thing, time for a walk.
I decided to go for a wander down to the nearby Distillery District to get some chocolate from Soma, which is pretty much the most delicious stuff in the universe.
Anyway, this has all been a bit of a long-winded preamble to explain the state of mind I was in when I took these photos.
The pumpkins were just so lovely, perfect and magical - they looked like they fell right out a dream or fairytale.
It’s funny to even think of it this way, but had I not woken up with a migraine of doom, I probably wouldn’t have seen them at all. I would have been at work until dark and then come. It’s funny how even the worst experiences (in this case, extreme physical pain/sickness) can sometimes have silver linings along the way.
~sparrowqueen♥
It’s almost 3am and I really should be sleeping, but check it out! HALLOWEEN TAROT! Ooooohhhahhhh!
The Hagging - Autumn Equinox 2012
I can’t believe it’s already been a week since equinox, time flies when you’re mega-busy-to-the-extreme. I’ve been working tons, trying to have a bit of a social life, writing PhDs applications, judged a drag show, taking a coding workshop and last night I saw some Nuit Blanche art.
I simply adore this time of year! The weather is a large part of it (being Canadian to ridiculous degree I love the crisp, chilly weather and hate being hot), and certainly the foods and sounds and smells of the season also contribute - but it’s more so the palpable feeling of change that accompany harvesttide and the move to the dark half of the year that is so magical and intoxicating. My inner gothypants also gets stupidly excited about Halloween, but really from Equinox through to Yule, this feels like my season and power time. I always feel like I become my best and brightest self this time of year, which is somewhat ironic considering I usually want to pseudo-hibernate until spring, but really I find it delightful. I’m embracing my inner little-old-lady.
On the night of Equinox, I celebrated with my coven, Rosa Mystica, as well as few special guests that we invited to join us (shoutouts to littlecitywitch, pada-viya and kitzuneh - as well as our other lovely guests).
I’ve lost count whether this is my 4th or 5th year doing this ritual now, but it’s an incredibly powerful experience. (Read more last year’s ritual here.) Essentially, it’s about honouring the Callieach. We make our own Hags to care for over the fall and winter months. If you care for her, she will care for you and your household. Offerings of whiskey on the full moon are traditional, though each individual Hag may ask for something different of its caretaker.
Each year my Hag turns out a little differently. As a group, we’ve found your Hag’s appearance generally has some reflection on the months to come. This year, my hag is tiny in comparisons to past years. She’s also more streamlined and simple looking. I can definitely dig this, my goals for the next 6 months are to get organized, declutter and simplify my life. Back to basics!
~sparrowqueen ♥
Bigmouth Strikes Again
So I registered with Ancestry.ca just to see if anything would come up. I’m not sure what prompted it, but I did and I found this photo and it made me a bit giddy. It’s my paternal great-grandparents (grandfather’s parents), circa 1912. I believe this is their wedding photo, which means she was 17 and he was 22.
I found out through marriage and birth records that her middle name was Celeste, which really peaked my interest because I’ve always inexplicably loved the name.
Mistress of the Arts
I defended my thesis project today! Very happy to report that I passed with flying colours and my committee gave me a glowing review & mark. I couldn’t be happier with how everything went.
Yup, I know am officially done my MA. My committee members were/are very supportive and encouraging of me pursuing a PhD. To be honest, I’m feeling a bit conflicted about the idea. Need to think on it for a bit, but for the time being - onwards and upwards!
