Plant Hunting

Once in the month and better it be when the Moon is full... Well actually it is the first Sunday in the month, when there is currently a Farmer's and Craft Market held in the Humber Bridge Car Park.
     I say 'currently' as we have been told that after December this year there will be no more Farmer's Markets here, as the car park is being 'developed' into a 'hotel and leisure complex'. This will be a huge blow to the thousands of customers and many stall holders who set up there each month. At times the car park is so busy with potential customers trying to find somewhere to park that you see cars slowly circulating the parking bays, waiting to pounce when anyone leaves.
     This is one of my treats, an outing we can do in relative ease with the wheelchair as all the surface is tarmacked. I rarely get to boot sales these days as most of them are held in fields, which the hard, narrow wheels of my chair just sink straight into.
     So anyway, in addition to our regular shopping of fruit and veg, and visit to the stall of proper Lincolnshire butcher's for some haslett (pronounced ays-let, not haz-let) and maybe some sausage rolls, we were on the look out for some plants to stick in our side garden.
     Now, our side garden is the coldest and shadiest part of the garden. All of the ground is beneath the canopy of our Wishing hawthorn - grown from a seed Graham picked from a bush over-hanging an ancient sacred spring. The canopy forms a huge umbrella over the side garden, and has been smothered in blossom for the last month or so. This means that only shade loving ie woodland plants have a chance of growing here.
     We have tried putting in mixed wild flower seeds, but they only seem to throw up jack-by-the-hedge, meadow cranesbill, nettles and sow thistles.
     Happily we have found a few plants which like the conditions, a lovely wild fern (I love watching its frondy leaves unfurl - and at mid-summer there is always the chance to collect some magical fern seed), ransoms (wild garlic with white pom-pom heads of flowers), blue bells and snowdrops. But I would like to put in a few more plants to add more interest to the area - and keep down the weeds. So I had a look on the internet and came up with a list from the RHS website.
     Of course all of these were given by their Latin names, which is lovely, and accurate, but doesn't mean a lot to me, so I had to then look up the Latin names to find out what I know them as.
     And found that most of them were lovely magical plants I know already, such as foxgloves (digitalis), lady's mantle (alchemilla mollis), lungwort (pulmonaria), sweet woodruff (gallium odoratum) and Solomon's seal (polygonatum multiflorum).
    So as there are always a few plant stalls we had a look there and managed to find some hollyhocks to replace the ones Graham had mown flat in the front garden, and some apple mint, which we always used at home to make mint sauce and popped in to flavour new potatoes as they boiled.
     We also managed to confuse one lady by asking for some foxgloves then picking up the plants labelled 'digitalis'. She had the same problem as me and hadn't realised they were foxgloves, 'My husband does the labelling.' she explained.
 

A Visit to the Hospital

     Those of you who are on the Raven Mailing List and therefore get our Newsletter will know that earlier this year I made Graham go to the doctor's when he found a mass in his groin.
     Thank goodness it turned out to be nothing more serious than a hernia. However that has meant that he will be having an operation later this month to repair the hernia, and this in turn has meant that he has had to visit the hospital several times to speak to the consultant, Mr. Sedman, and to be assessed physically and mentally.
     Last week he had to attend an assessment to check his overall fitness, make sure he was who he said he was, and tell him yet more information about the operation.
     One of the last forms we had to fill in and send back asked about his interests (?), not sure why, but anyway as Graham is keen (obsessive) about keeping fit and exercising, we put that down as an interest.
     I waited outside the hospital, in the car - doing Sodoku and nearly falling asleep - while Graham went to fill in another two forms and be assessed. This included taking blood and an E.C.G. with many electrodes, and having swabs taken from various places while he was asked questions such as his date of birth (three times) and his full name (twice). He was also asked his height and weight, 'Five foot nine, when I was last measured and 84.2kg last Monday.' he said.
     'That is rather precise.' the nurse remarked
     'Well, I am interested in statistics.' said Graham
     'I see that you are also interested in exercise.' the nurse went on, reading from her clipboard
     'Oh yes,' said Graham, 'I am looking forward to getting back to my full routine.'
     'I am going to ask you, as a favour to me, not to do any exercise for six weeks after the operation,' said the nurse, 'Because if you cause the hernia to burst through again, of course Mr Sedman will repair it again, but then he will be working on scar tissue, which is more difficult and which will take longer to heal.'
     He was told that he could walk and he could use an exercise bike, but that was all. No weights and nothing which could affect the affected area.
     After confidently expecting to be back to normal in a week (or at the outside two weeks) after the operation, Graham was like a bear with a sore head for two days after the visit.
   A friend remarked, 'I thought you were going to say they had told him it was to be six weeks without sex!'
    I said I thought he would have been happier with that.

To Blog or Not to Blog

     I don't 'follow' blogs from other people (apart from my son's Blog of Thog - thoggy.blogspot.co.uk - and that is only so I have some idea what is going on in his life, or what currently interests him) So, anyway, as I don't follow other blogs I don't know what other people blog about and I sometimes wonder (well worry really) that I am not doing it 'right'
     I know when I first decided to have a go, Mike (my son) asked me what the blog was going to be about, and also warned me that I would have to update it regularly.
     Well that is me stuffed then on both accounts.
     My blog doesn't really have a theme except to be the Blog of a Working Witch ie me. The posts are about things that interest me, things that have happened to me or my family, or are responses to a magical enquiry I have recently had - my last post entitled 'Help' was one of those. And I can't guarantee that something interesting will happen or that inspiration will regularly strike me.
     Sometimes the blog entries come thick and fast, just because that is the way things happen in my life (and, I suspect everyone else's lives too) - three blog entries on last year's Autumn Equinox was just the way things happened around that festival.
     At other times life jogs along in a quite unremarkable way, which, to be honest, I am in general quite content with
    So here I am with a disorganised blog with magical, non-magical, real life and theoretical subjects - and apparently stalking my son.

   Enjoy.


   
   

Help!

     In this post I want to look at how we can ask for magical help when we need it.

    We all need help from time to time, but who to ask and how to ask can leave you simply doing nothing but worrying or maybe panicking (depending on how urgent your need is).

     First things first, you need help and you need it urgently so what do you do? 

     Just ask.

     That is the very simple, and very direct way of contacting spirits or powers who can help you. Very often the spirits/gods/saints/angels are watching us and waiting for us to make the first move which is: to ask for help. Until we actually ask, very often the powers cannot intervene. They are constrained by cosmic laws which means that in general they cannot interfere in our lives unless they are invited to do so - incidentally this is why you have to be careful just which doors you open (ie be careful 'playing' with ouija boards and the like, saying 'Is anybody there?' means anybody can take that as an invitation) and also be careful just what you ask for.

      As a child, when anything went wrong the first people you would turn to would be your parents, your mum and dad, so spiritually the first and most easy spirits to contact are our spiritual Mother and Father. The Lords prayer starts: 'Our Father, who art in Heaven...', so take that as your starting point and simply say something like: 

     Mother Goddess, Father God, help me!

     You can then go into as much detail as you want or feel necessary. You can also say just what form you would like this help to take, e.g.:

     Help me to make some money quickly, 

or

     Help me to get out of this mess..

     If you are desperate, just repeat over and over:

     Mother Goddess, help me!

     Father God, help me!

    In magical terms, the best spells will be filled with our emotions and our need. So these spells very often can have dramatic results, even though they are extremely simple.

    You can, of course, embellish your magical working. Light a candle to your deity - inscribe your need on the candle, light it and let it burn down - be very careful that your candle is safe, you don't want to add having to call the fire brigade to your troubles.

    You can create a charm pouch to help you. Select three gemstones which have energies in tune with your needs and put them in a pouch, put the pouch near your candle - not touching it. Then carry the pouch with you and hold it tight when your need is greatest.

    There are, of course, saints, angels and deities who can help you with specific troubles, and so they can be invoked as part of your spell. But DO NOT put off doing a spell until you find the 'right' words or the 'right' saint or god to invoke. If your need is great and urgent ASK NOW.

    There is always someone who will answer you.

Saturday Spell

     This spell is specifically for working on a Saturday with the Moon Waning:

Spell to Attract all Good Things to your Home, and Repel Evil

     You will need three small magnets or three pieces of magnetic haematite, a red candle and a red pouch.

     At the top of your red candle draw a small straight line, and at the bottom a cross. Take all the spell ingredients to the heart of your home and light the candle there.
     Position the three magnets around the candle to create a triangle, then say:

Saturn, Lord of Earth's domain

Attract to my home all Good Things:

Peace, Prosperity, Contentment and Joy.

Cerberus, Guardian of the Underworld,

Fear, Fright and Banish all Evil from my home.

Powers of Earth, absorb all Evil influences,

Return them to their origins.

Powers of Earth, bring forth the gifts of Ceres,

Pour out the Horn of Plenty

Here in my home.

So must it Be!

     Leave the candle to burn down completely - make sure this is safe to do. Then stick the magnets together and put them in the red pouch together with any wax left over from the candle.
     Hang the red pouch above your front door.
     If you have more than one entrance to your home you can make pouches for each of them.

Vejovis

     21st if May is one of the festivals of this very obscure Roman deity, who was worshipped on at least three dates in the Roman calendar.
     On the 21st of May it was said that female goat was sacrificed to him, to avert plagues, and the phrase used to describe this means something like 'in the manner of a human sacrifice'.
     Vejovis is so obscure that even the Romans were not sure what he was the god of. He is depicted on coins and in statuary as a naked, beardless, youth, carrying arrows and accompanied by a goat. Because of the construction of his name ve-jovis he is interpreted both as a youthful Jove and as Jove of the Underworld - Ve-jovis could mean the anti-Jove or the darker, chthonic Jove.
     It is also thought that he may be a pre-Roman or Etruscan deity who has been carried into the classical panthaeon, but whose original function has been forgotten.
     Because his function was not clear, and yet he was obviously important enough to have his own temple sited in a valley between two other hilltop groves (which was discovered and excavated in the 1930's) and three feast days, he was assigned functions based on his appearance as youthful Jove and his attributes such as the arrows, which are also associated with Apollo (the arrows of Apollo are the sun's rays, in the same way as the arrows of Artemis are moon beams). Thus in later Roman times he was worshipped as a god of healing (as was Apollo), and he was believed to have been an escapee from Hades, the Underworld kingdom of Pluto, who made it to heaven and sought refuge amongst the gods there. As an escapee, he became the god of persecuted people, those escaping injustice or those suffering because of the prejudices of the majority (sounds like a good deity for Witches!)

     However, there is another interpretation which could be made of Vejovis, which looks further back than classical Roman or Greek mythology (which much of the Roman religion is based upon), to the time when it was not the male god who dominated heaven.
     No religion springs fully formed into being. All religions are based on and in those which preceded them.
     Islam and Christianity are based on the Jewish religion, and the Jewish religion is based on and incorporates elements from still older religions. Older religions where the Goddess was the supreme deity.
     And one of the oldest stories tells of the love of the Goddess for a mortal who is the youthful tender of flocks and herds, and, for one reason or another, the youth dies and his spirit is drawn down into the Underworld. The Goddess follows him into the Underworld and through sacrifice, magic and bargaining she enters a contract with the powers of the Underworld that her lover will be allowed to live on the Earth again, but only for a certain length of time and then he will be obliged to return to the Underworld - thus explaining the apparent 'death' of the Earth in Winter and its 're-birth' in Spring.
     Now let us look at Vejovis in light of this myth: Here we have a youthful god, associated both with flocks and with the Underworld. He is an archer (as was Attis, another lover of a Goddess), his arrows used to protect his flock of goats. And on the 21st of May to ensure that the flocks will grow and flourish, one of their number must be offered in place of Vejovis. This sacrificial goat fulfills several functions: it is an offering; it dies in place of the God allowing him to remain in the upper world; and it is the 'scapegoat', it dies so that plagues and suffering will not come to humanity, and it carries the sins of humanity to be buried in the Underworld.
     So perhaps Vejovis should not be seen as the 'anti-Jove' but as the 'proto-Jove', the god he was before he became Jove, Lord of Heaven, King of the Gods.
     Before Jove was all those things, he was Vejovis, a youthful god of flocks, who loved a Goddess, died and was reborn each year.

Cold Callers

I really hate cold callers. I hate getting up from the sofa to pick up the phone and find it is a recorded message telling me this is a very important call (no it isn't) and that I should listen carefully.
     Sounds more like an evil hypnotist: This is an important call. You will listen very carefully. Your will is not your own. You will now give me your bank details as I am a Nigerian business man who needs to put money into your bank account...
     What I hate even more is picking up the business phone to find that it is a cold caller posing as someone on official business and attempting to scare me into complying with whatever they are doing.
      But really the best one was the one I had who rang up yesterday:
      'Hello love,' he said, 'Can I speak to the business owner?'

     'You are speaking to the senior partner,' says I, 'And you have just put my back up.'

     Maybe I am naive, but I would have thought that by now, 2016, it would have sunk in to people NOT to make assumptions about who answers the phone in a business situation. Because I am female and answered the phone, the caller had immediately assumed:
a) that I was a person of little or no importance in the business
and
b) that I would not be the business owner.

     The caller was surprised that I had taken umbrage and protested 'I was only being polite!'

     I don't mind being called 'love', I am a Northern lass and that is quite normal where I come from. What I object too, in the strongest manner, is the unthinking and implied assumption that there will somewhere be a man who is my superior in the business.
     As our business is called Raven, we do still have some cold callers (and others who should know better, such as our bank) who ring up and ask to speak to Mr Raven. Sometimes, for a laugh I give the phone to Graham. He listens to them for a while then says, 'Actually you need to speak to the senior partner for that,' and hands the phone back to me.

    We live in a country where there should be equal opportunities for men and women to progress equally in the work place. Women everywhere know fine and well this still isn't happening.

     Redressing social attitudes is going to take a while yet.

     But I hope at least one or two cold callers will be starting to get the message.