Queen of May #beltane #mayday #pagan #sabbat #witchery
Witchy Twitter Round-up
Hello my darlings,
I just started a new Twitter account for my magical workings and this persona (to keep it somewhat separate from my other accounts).
Please reply or reblog with you Twitter handle if you are a witch, pagan, alchemist, rootworker, magician or otherwise so magically inclined.
Hope you had a lovely weekend!
~sparrowqueen ♥
(@SparrowQueen)
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 ♥
Spring is here again!
Happy Ostara and Blessed Vernal Equinox from all of us here at Wonderworks!
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
Spring is finally, officially here and it feels like not a day too soon. The first day of Spring also marks the astrological new year, with the sun entering firey Aries.
This truly has been the winter that felt like it was never going to end. Even yesterday is was snowing here in Toronto, but today the energy feels somehow lighter and more optimistic.
I wrote a short post for the Wonderworks blog about Ostara! Happy equinox to all!
~sparrowqueen ♥
A bath tub cut out of a large single piece of Quartz Crystal.
WUT
the witchcraft……
This would take “bathtub witchery” to a whole new level.
The Bathtub Witch has A MIGHTY FUCKING NEEEEEED!
Oh yes, one day it will be mine!
The Wild Hunt on a BBC news item, re: the growing number of pagans who identify as spiritual but not religious. Also, apparently pop star P!nk has studied some paganism (so she claims).
Intetesting article, worth the read but I think it’s reflecting things that are already common knowledge, e.g. a shift towards syncretism by many magical practitioners and spiritual but not magic using pagans.
Tonight’s Yule altar. What a lovely evening. I had a bit too much Bubbly and wassail though, seriously way past time for bed. Zzzz….
Celebrating Samhain 2012
Today, October 31, is one of our favourite holidays and days of the year! Known as Halloween to most people in North America, it is also called by the ancient Celtic name of Samhain (pronounced SOW-hin). Outside of the cultural celebration elements we all know about – trick-or-treating, dressing up in costumes and eating lots of treats – Samhain is also celebrated as a high holiday (sabbat) in the Neopagan and Wiccan Wheel of the Year.
Sunset on the night of Samhain marks Celtic New Year and the festival continues until sundown on November 1. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and this calendar year it also roughly coincides with the Full Moon (which was completely full on Monday, October 29). Like Beltane, which is opposite Samhain in the Wheel of the Year, Samhain is one of the times when the veil between worlds is said to be the thinnest.To read more about the history of Samhain, see our article from last year about its history and lore.
This year we decided to focus more on ways you can celebrate Samhain, so here’s ideas about how to observe this sabbat.
Read more on the Wonderworks Blog »
However you choose to celebrate, have a Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain from all of us here at Wonderworks!
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!
Upcoming Samhain Related Events at Wonderworks
Best Witches Exhibition Opening (in the Fleishman Gallery)
Artist: Monica Bordirksy
October 11th to November 9th; Opening Reception - Thursday, October 11th, 7 – 9pm
Cost: FreeThis exhibit consists of seven oil portraits of witches: contemporary, historical, real and imagined. The artist has taken a close look at the lives and expressions of archetypes and individuals who were labeled, portrayed, or identified as a ‘witch’. More information
Juicy Fridays!! Presents Celebrating Samhain with Candice Craig
Friday, October, 7pm
Cost: FreeSamhain, (pronounced SAOW-in) literally means Summer’s end, and is the third and final Harvest.
Many gifts and sacrifices were given in thanks for the harvest. Samhain is considered by some, as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. More information
Samhain Personal Readings: Tarot and Palmistry with Deirdre Norman and Melanie Ollenberg
Saturday, October 27, 12 pm - 5 pm
Cost: 20 minute readings for $20As we approach Samhain and the veil between worlds grows thinner, divination is an even more powerful tool of insight. We invite you to explore what insights the mystical can provide, with Tarot and Palmistry readings by Deirdre Norman and Melanie Ollenberg. More information
Upcoming events at Wonderworks for the most wonderful, witchy time of year! So very excited!
Harvest Festivities & Rites
(I’m re-postin’ this particular ask because it helps explain where my ass has disappeared to, in a kinda sorta out-dated-but-not-horrendously-so way.)
itmoons asked: Hello! I’ve emailed you before and I am a great admirer of what you do. My boyfriend and I have been discussing the old ways and pagan holidays and such things and decided we’d like to celebrate them correctly (we did an informal ritual for mabon). With samhain coming, i was wondering what you did for mabon and what you will do for samhain. also, any sources you can direct me too would be helpful. apologies if these questions are too forward/personal/presumptuous. just two lil pagan boys lookin to give the goddess her due.
Ever since I received this question I’ve been hella excited by the prospect of answering it, but I’ve been so knee-fucking-deep in various observances and celebrations (and work - will the mushroom season EVER FUCKING END?) that I haven’t had a chance to address it. (I’m actually pushing this question to the top of my list because 1.) it’s seasonal and 2.) it provides an explanation as to where my AWOL ass has been for the past few months.)
At this point in my life my Gregorian year is split into halves. In the first half, the Light Year (spring and summer), I’m the virginal Bride who marries the divine King and throughout the growing months we reign together ensuring fertility and new life. The second half, the Dark Year (fall and winter), I’m the great Whore who sacrifices her husband, consort and king (wheat, vine, bull and stag) and harvests His blood, flesh and seed for consumption and resurrection.
Because we live in a mostly rural setting and I work with the idea of female-based sovereignty the majority of my Harvest (from ‘round Lammas to Mabon to Samhain to Fet Ghede) is agriculturally themed. Rather than just focusing on our little patch of property I’ve incorporated this entire area that we live in as my land, and I routinely drag Italics across the local landscape to perform various rites and rituals in the Scottish countryside we see every day out our windows.
The following is a list of activities, rituals, celebrations, observances and traditions that we try and nail every year. Some, it goes without saying, are more important than others, so we prioritize things and keep our schedules flexible for unplanned disasters (i.e., bad weather, catching a cold, family drama) to ensure that the most important shit is executed. (<- Like Italics/the divine king, har har.)
