Saturday, December 31, 2011

First Spell

So, today I am getting ready to cast my first spell.  I was reading about New Year's traditions and I found one called  "Hogmanay."  I realized that I wanted to observe this tradition and I started to write down what I needed, realizing I was missing an ingredient.   It just feels right to me that I found this and wanted to do it.  Raven is the one who pointed out that it was a spell.

And it is.

Hogmanay is a celebrating the New Year in Norse tradition. The original Norse Hoginanaye-Trollalay invokes the hillmen (or elves) and banishes the trolls to the sea for the year. One does this with the tradition of "first-footing." First-footing means the person who first sets foot in the house on the new year, and that person can not be inside the house when the New Year strikes. It is best if it is a tall, dark haired man- for luck.  The first-footer should bring gifts of the following:

coin: for financial prosperity
bread: for food
salt: for flavor
coal: for warmth
drink: for good cheer

So here in a bit before I go to work, I am going to put up my own small circle in the back yard where I feel most connected to the world and the spirits.  No clue how I am going to put up the circle really, just going to go on my gut.  And then I am going to charge the items for the spell with the energy that they are supposed to bring to the family/ friends.  I am also going to add basil to the small bag I am putting it all in because where there is basil, evil cannot be.

Since I have never put up a circle, or really attempted to call on the spirits for help like this, I am going to have Raven sort of with a magical ear out in case something bad comes or something goes wrong.  That way I am not completely alone and he can help if I need him to.

Wish me luck, and after I am finished, i am going to ask him to tell me what he thought of what happened when I invoked.

Also, this has shown me why people keep a book of spells.  So when you find one you want to use or remember- you have a place to keep them.  Also kind of like a note book to take notes in as you learn :)

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Clocks and time

When I was a little girl, my Papaw was always building something.  He had lots of wood working tools in his basement and he used to let me help him build things.  We made shelves and I watched him make baskets out of peach pits and all sorts of neat things.

My Papaw's favorite passtime was building clocks.  He had a shelf in the house that was full of clocks he'd built, cuckoo clocks in the den and several grandfather clocks throughout the house.  There was even a clock that he built in which even the gears were made from wood.  He was so proud of that clock.

I have so many happy memories from my Mamaw and Papaw's house.  My Papaw built the house too, when my Dad was a little boy.  And when I was little, I got to play with toys that my daddy played with when he was little.  I learned to take care of things, so that I would have them later.  Be careful, don't break it-you might want to play with it later!

Today, my dad made a special trip down here to bring me the grandfather clock that I had picked out.  He helped me carry it upstairs, level it, taught me how to set the time (there's a special process for clocks that chime), pulling the weights, speeding it up or slowing it down.  During all this, I noticed there was a paper in the bottom of the base, and I asked Daddy what it was.  He reached down and showed me that it was the specs for the clock.

Across the top of the page, in my Papaw's knotty handwriting, was the date he build the clock: April 1976.  It seems to be fate that this clock now sits in my house.  This is the first time in my whole life that it hasn't sat at the top of the stairs in the house my Papaw built.  I wonder if the house will be lonely for it's ticking and the chime.

I know it makes me smile when I think of it's song.  It reminds me of being small, and knowing that I am loved.  That there will be chicken and dumplins on Sunday night and Mamaw will make sure to have biscuits and apple butter.