Last week I showed you the first steps in creating smudge bowls and salt pigs. Today they were leather hard so I finished the shaping and added some ears to my pigs and some designs to my other pots.
I've been participating in a book club reading the book Witchcraft Theory and Practice by Ly de Angeles. Thus far there has been a great deal of introspection. Understanding my own motives and my own responsibility for what I bring into the world.
I thought it might be interesting to do a few blog posts around the seven faces of mulengro and see how they play out not only in the magical world but also the mundane.
Mulengro is the name of an entity that is like an alien barb; one that has become an out-of-control arrow that pierces generation upon generation with its poison. It feeds on its own likeness and people are its hosts. - Ly de Angeles - Witchcraft Theory and Practice pg 29
So what does that mean? When I think of greed, I think of people taking more than they are entitled to. Or people who take more from a pot where there is little to go around without thinking of the rest of those in need. The bigger picture if you will. If we break down the definition however, it really doesn't mean taking more than one's share. It means an intense and selfish desire for something.
So how does that relate to magic? I think this may be related to those who do all they can to take, take, take from the energy and give nothing in return. Those who never toss anything back into the pot. I noticed in the reading that one of the antonyms is temperance. Temperance is one of the five virtues of Hecate. When I first started reading about the virtues, being from the United States, I only associated temperance with abstaining from alcohol thanks to the Temperance Movement, which led to prohibition.
Seeing this now in this context helps me move a bit further into my understanding that temperance, the opposite of greed, is more associated with generosity and not to keeping away or abstaining from something. As part of my role as Torchbearer with the Covenant of Hekate, my goal is to do what I can to embody the five virtues. In understanding how that role works towards my complete understand of Witchcraft, I know that because I am doing what I can to display temperance, greed is no where in my path. As part of my gift back I have a few community service projects that I work on. I do both local work with animals and of course my online work with several groups as well.
So what do you think about greed as it relates to witchcraft. I can see how in the mundane, greed can be the downfall of a civilization. What about in the magical world?
De mortuis nil nisi bonum - (“Of the dead, nothing unless good.”)
We hear this spoken usually after someone who was not a nice person dies. I read a blog post recently that had the following quote:
"You should have got your criticism in when they were still alive, and preferably, while they still had some power. We don’t speak ill of the dead because it’s not just distasteful: it’s cowardly." -Source
Well, while I get the gist of that. I am completely one who will indeed speak my mind when presented with the opportunity. Now that doesn't mean I'm going to spread rumors, run someone down I have blocked on social media while professing some sort of spiritual superiority. What it does mean that I am not going to support someone who I feel has their feet firmly placed in racism, bigotry or any negativity at all when they stand to the world professing spiritual awareness. It means that while I will work within the bounds of professionalism, if someone comes to me me looking for what what you have to offer, I will direct them to someone else who has less baggage. That's just a fact. Now, that being said, why would I treat the dead any different?
Back in 2011 I entered a blog contest to win a copy of Christian Day's Witches Book of the Dead. I wrote about my cousin Tony, who passed away while I was living in California. His brothers had moved him while he was passed out and bound him to a stop sign at a three way crossroad near my house with plastic wrap as a joke. He never regained consciousness. The police ruled his death an accident. When the book arrived I got to page 137, The Ritual of the Crossroads the way Hecate is described as being at the crossroads, that point where the worlds of the living and dead can often meet was a powerful visualization for me.
With the coming of Samhain many groups on social media are having discussions around ancestor altars and who should or should not be included on them. My altar has an assortment of photos, trinkets and possessions of those who have moved on. This is a very spiritual time for me, when I call upon those who have moved on to send energy and knowledge in exchange for my respecting and willingness to learn.
There are those who are intentionally left off the altar. I do not want their energy or their knowledge. I knew them too well in physical world. They caused too much pain here in this life to be honored in anyway in their passing.
When starting your ritual altar on don't feel that you have to do anything like one book or one person says. This is a personal space for you to honor those who have moved on from this life. It is a time for you to do work that is important to you. Don't feel like you have to add people or include energy that you're not comfortable with.
In my discussions, I found that some think they have to include a certain person for fear of them creating havoc in their home because they have "disrespected the dead". Personally I believe that not all dead are worthy of respect. Not every one who has crossed over is someone that should be honored no different than if they were here in the physical realm. If you have unruly dead making mischief in your house you need to take control of the situation and move them out, not give in and place them in higher regard.
Death is a transition to the next part of the energy exchange. It can be sad but it should be looked at as a natural part of life. Working with the dead is about listening and learning. We should listen twice as much as we speak in order to learn as much as we can. We should also learn that our time on this planet is limited. If we want to have others not speak ill of us after we move on, then maybe we should be a little more considerate of others while we have that opportunity. Not the other way around.
I'd love to see what altars you create or what rituals you do working with the dead this week. Feel free to post here or find me on social media at Tsu or Facebook.
I have one more vending event of the season, but figured I would go ahead and get a head start on some new requests. I have an outstanding request for memorial jars to contain the ashes of loved ones passed on. I've been working on those and they have to make themselves known to me as they come. This week the clay decided it wanted to be salt pigs, smudge plates and an incense burner.
My incense burners are much wider at the base than those you get in the store. To me, what is the good of a skinny little dish. The ashes end up all over your counter or across the floor.
Photo Credit - Renee Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Olson
A smudge plate, is a plate that is slanted on one side to help hold the plate in one hand so that the other hand can be used to waft the sage smoke around the person or area being smudged.
Photo Credit - Renee Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Olson
A salt pig is a jar that sits on the counter with an opening in the front of the dish. The hand or a spoon is used to reach in and scoop the salt out of the pig. I haven't completed one all the way yet so you'll have to use your imagination until we reach the end of this project.
I've been participating in a book club reading the book Witchcraft Theory and Practice by Ly de Angeles. Thus far there has been a great deal of introspection. Understanding my own motives and my own responsibility for what I bring into the world.
I thought it might be interesting to do a few blog posts around the seven faces of mulengro and see how they play out not only in the magical world but also the mundane. I'm starting in no particular order.
Mulengro is the name of an entity that is like an alien barb; one that has become an out-of-control arrow that pierces generation upon generation with its poison. It feeds on its own likeness and people are its hosts. - Ly de Angeles - Witchcraft Theory and Practice pg 29
Envy
synonyms: jealousy, covetousness; resentment, bitterness, discontent; the green-eyed monster
So what does it really mean? Envy can be a motivator. You can use this power to have something that someone else has (Keeping up with the Jones') as a way to get yourself out of bed everyday and work to obtain that goal. It can also be a monster, being so caught up in the moment that you purposefully seek out to destroy someone is just that monster.
We are each responsible for our own actions. It is upon us to act responsibly. People will see your intentions or motives from the actions that you present. The only one who will actually know however, is you. You are the owner of those actions.
When I get up in the morning, I do my morning ritual. I make coffee, I feed the cat and I light my candle. I burn the sage to cleanse my space and then go out and feed my colony outside. I feel the air on my skin and sometimes am able to snap a picture of the perfect sunrise. I create my ads for the day on my business account and then start work at the mundane job. Sometimes I have meetings, sometimes I test. I do this job to keep my hobbies up and pay the bills. I throw clay and make jewelry. I spend my weekends trapping cats. I have a fantastic hubby and wonderful family. I appreciate each and every one of them. I can honestly say that the only thing I am envious of, I think is a whirlpool bathtub. I'd really like one of those. Other than that, my life is complete. I have everything I need.
Being able to be happy where you are, in my opinion is the key to keeping envy at bay. I am content that I am not participating in mulengro with respect to envy. Now I just need to learn how to address the actions of others, when they are perpetuating it on me.
I am so frustrated by these stupid, "I want to treat your family like dirt or less than just so I can say I am better than someone people" running around trying to create amendments to stop people from being treated fairly. People cannot say they are friends with someone while that person is being treated less than a full citizen. We treat everyone equally here in the US. We allow consenting adults to have relationships with other consenting adults. I am so sick of seeing people say "they are forcing their gayness on us" or "that's the liberal agenda".
NO No no ... that is called equality. Marriage is a union created by the state. Not by god, little g or big G. I remember my very first boyfriend told me after we broke up when I was 13 that it didn't matter what I did, I would always be married to him in Gods eyes. I would always be married to to the first person I had sex with. Really? Little did he know I had be molested. There goes that theory right down the flapping tubes.
There are many faiths on this planet. There are many people on this planet. I don't expect that everyone loves everything the same way.
Today so many people get married in drive by chapels or they have million dollar weddings only to be divorced 24 hours later. I keep reading, stories that say we are protecting marriage; really, what exactly are you protecting it from? Two consenting adults that want to spend the rest of their lives together? Who want to be able to share a home and finances and insurance? They want to be able to see each other in the hospital? They want to know that when they are seniors they can stay in their home? If one dies the other is taken care of? Read those sentences again. It sounds like what they want is to be married. Just like you are married. Nothing special. No special wording or naming. No special laws. They just want to be treated EQUALLY!
I have been in the marriage equality fight a very very long time. I sat in protest on the streets of San Diego and stood in line waiting for marriage in San Francisco City Hall terrified the doors would shut before we were allowed to marry. I was horrified when our letters came telling us that our marriages were void from inception.
There are those who may feel that being gay is a sin. There are those that may believe that gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry. I remind them that at one time, races were not allowed to mix. I remind them at that there are those who believe that you shouldn't marry outside your religion. Now immediately you're saying to me, what about Renee?? What about their rights? Let me tell you about their rights. THEY have the right to marry who they choose to marry. They have the right to take that partner and add them to their insurance and visit them in the hospital. They have the right to get married in a church or in the city hall. Does that sound like special rights? Gay and Lesbians want the same thing.
If you don't want to marry outside your race, don't. But don't tell me who I have to marry.
If you don't want to marry outside your religion, don't. But don't tell me who I have to marry.
If you don't want to marry a gay man or woman, don't. But don't tell me who I have to marry.
Rights are beautiful thing. They are there for everyone to enjoy. Looking back into the history of marriage in antiquity it had nothing to do with love at all. Marriage was a way to gain property through alliances of kingdoms. It was used as a way to ensure peace between nations or limit property being taken away from a family encouraging brothers and sisters to marry or cousin to marry such as in French and British Monarchy. Arranged marriages ensured that only people of the same class or status would be allowed to marry and in bible stories a rape victim had to marry her rapist.
Marriage has evolved since it was created. It was not created by god ... any god. Marriage is a civil contract created by the state so that two consenting adults can share the fruits of their labor together. Benefiting from tax status, visitation rights and protections. Marriage equality does not seek to change that definition. It only looks to grant that same protection to all couples.
Loving vs. Virginia
Loving in Virginia
Come on folks, isn't it time that we stop treating consenting adults like criminals? Isn't it time that we grant full equality to all? Contact your state representative and tell them to stop defending this unconstitutional amendment. Contact your state senator and tell them Love is Love is Love. Contact Govenor Pat McCory and tell him that you want all North Carolinians treated equally.
Let's take this throwback Thursday and throw this horrible law out of our state!
Coming to terms with the hurt that one experiences when there is a betrayal of trust is difficult. The level of difficultly is directly related to the level of trust one person had. I have had a situations dealing with my blood related family and with my family of choice that have been on both sides of the spectrum.
When dealing with members of a close circle it becomes quite obvious when one member decides to shun another. Over the last few months in my community I've seen quite a bit of mud slinging and name calling. I have watched as people actually tried to destroy another's livelihood because of some comments on social media.
While I get that something shouldn't be said, people do make mistakes. Which brings me full circle to situations I've dealt with personally. People I trusted. People that I called friends, but really they were merely acquaintances. You see social media has taken the word friend and changed it.
Photo Credit - Screenshot Goggle Search
A friend once was someone who was a trusted companion. Now it a verb. Social media has a way of turning people into bullies. It also has a way of making people feel as though they can be ugly and not expect to be called out for it. And by ugly, I mean mean, that's what my grandma used to call it.
So what do we do with these people? These "friends" who have been ugly to you? I have the light and love friends saying forgive forgive, you need to forgive to move on. Then I have the other side of the road saying bind, bind.
Let's be really clear here. I have no need to forgive. My life is a daily set of choices. I have things to do. Having someone's approval, permission or any other type of validation is something that became obsolete many many years ago. I am responsible for my own words and actions, not those of another. If someone wrongs me, that burden is on them, not me. No matter what I do in this world I will never be able to change someone's opinion of me. They set that opinion, they created it in their mind and they own it.
I hold other's responsible for their actions. That doesn't mean that I'm holding a grudge against you. Everyone enters my life with an equal amount of trust. As that trust is broken and tossed aside it becomes less and less. If that person shows up at my door pretending nothing is wrong, they will get a sad awakening. I will remind them of our last encounter. Don't send me a friend request on social media while there are still underlying issues between us. Perhaps an apology might be in order prior to sending that.
Also keep in mind that just because someone who has wronged you apologizes, you are not obligated to accept it. I have people from my past that even if they did reach out to me, I may say, thank you for the apology, but that person would not be welcome to share in my day to day life. An apology doesn't grant access back into your life or your circle of trust. Forgive and forget is crap. I don't want you to forget what happened to you. Keep that shit fresh so that it never happens again.
Am I being nasty about this? I don't think so. Others may disagree. There is a real difference between taking holding some one responsible for their actions and holding a grudge. Don't be guilted into bringing a destructive force back into your life. This is your life and you are the owner of it.
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