Vine and Bramble

Viranh and I decided that. since we are a group, we need a group identity, or something like that. Stone is doing this as well, because it’s awesome. That’s why. She and Stone came up with our coven symbol, the crooked feather in front of a tree, ergo, The Coven of the Crooked Feather. Viranh started embroidering a piece she is going to put on a Crafting shawl, and on it she put other things that mean something to her. I’ll let her explain it. This, however, is my bit.

As you can see, I have the coven symbol at the top, or my version of it; the stag for Herne; and the fox for me. I am having vague thoughts of a pentacle or pentagram in the middle, but I’ll decided for sure later. It is small enough I can make it into a bag, but what exactly am I going to do with this bag? Part of it is that I don’t know, and part of it is not for public consumption. More updates later.

Side note – all images I use are either my own, inspired by others, or directly from Urban Threads. If another source was used, it is cited as such.

At noon on the solstice, these appeared on the porch. We have added Diabolical, XVI, Howling, and Devoted to our shelves. The books are gorgeous. Each is hand numbered, with high quality binding and lovely paper. They are all from Scarlet Imprint. I have read through most of Devoted already, and am thoroughly enjoying it. My favorite essay so far is “The Mysteries” by Stephen Grasso. It discusses a new theory about deity, particularly the consistency of personality and experiences of different people with a specific entity. He’s very good at approaching working with these entities in a scientific way without allowing science to ruin the experience, and it has given me a new perspective on some of my own beliefs and interactions. In other words, this is a really great book.

Now for new stitchery. I have begun a new project on a piece of brown wool that combines the coven symbol with some symbols that are important to me. It’s intended to be a shawl, and will be good for meditation in chilly rooms. I started with a sketch, then cut it out and drew on the outline on the fabric.

Here it is with no stitching, at the very beginning of the project, about six weeks ago.

Here it is with nearly everything outlined. I am almost done with it! I have the coven symbol in the background, a stag for the Horned One, and a datura and a horse for myself. I’m thinking that my reasons for the horse should be fairly obvious to people who know me at all. I think I started talking about them about as soon as I could talk. The datura is a newer interest, but the plant has been very clear about working with me, and as a result, I think it is entirely appropriate on here.

This exactly what trying to organize a pagan event of any sort is like. Herding mother fucking cats. Only the cats have an empty food dish, and pause to yowl about it periodically while being herded. Because they’re cats. Young, inexperienced, drama-loving cats. Why do I do this to myself? Do I want community that bad? Truthfully, I keep hoping that eventually these kind of things will attract the right people, or I’ll stick around long enough to see some of the ones I’ve got grow into decent pagans/witches/whatever. They’re not bad people. They’re young, they love drama, and they just don’t have a whole lot of experience. That isn’t a crime. I’m not even completely exempt from this. But, empty night, people! Herding cats! It’s so tiring. I am about one more whiny drama episode away from “fuck it.”

Witches’ Sabbat at Raven’s Knoll

I am so very excited for this. I am getting my passport and reading the regulations for travelling with a dog to Canada. I plotted the highways to take. And it is not until July. It is going to be amazing!

I went rambling down at the river with dog and horse this morning. It is my favorite time of year. I love brisk mornings and the smell of leaves. It is the opening weekend of hunting season, so we are wearing hot pink and being very careful of the areas we pass through. We did nearly run down a bow hunter in an unexpected place this morning. He would not have found deer there anyway, and we thankfully do not look very much like deer. It may be our last trip across the river until spring, so we tried to make the most of it. I wanted to use this ramble to charge my pendant, but couldn’t seem to get focused on it. I have learned that I can pull energy out of it, and use it to invoke Him. It is quite interesting. I’m still discovering what it can do since I did not design the spell on it.