Adventures In Witchery

I've not done a lot of work with the various planetary squares.  As a young Witchlet, I used the Square of Mars and The Operation Of Grand Bewitchment from Mastering Witchcraft to curse my sophomore year Spanish teacher, and it was *extremely* effective. 

I've been doing a lot of divination lately.  I've switched decks, because my Rider Waite/Smith wasn't talking, and I've been reading for myself and others.  I'm getting good results.  The cards are talking.  They're talking so much they invade my dreams when I sleep with them at night.

I was inspired to re-visit the planetary squares, making a Square of Mercury for divination work, using Huson's directions and recipes for incense.

My dear friend Trothwy has a very informative post about the Square of Mercury here that you should check out.

No, not the deer.

Once upon a great long while ago, though it was really only about 12 years, I was a young Pagan without a driver's license and a decent disposable income for a kid that age.  But unlike most 14 year olds, my disposable income went towards filling my bookshelves and purchasing things like candles and mugwort.

Not having a driver's license, or living in a place with public transport, I had to beg my mother to drive me the 45 minutes to a neighboring city to go to bookstores.  Being an insanely well-behaved child, she usually went along with it.

It was on just such a day that I met my first ever openly identified Pagan.

Her name was Bambie, and no I'm not kidding.

I saw Bambie before she saw me.  It's hard to miss a woman who looks like a middle-aged Stevie Nicks on meth in a long leather trenchcoat with a huge quartz crystal tied around her neck.  Did I mention it was summer?  Because it was.  And summer in Texas is not a time for leather, or trenchcoat…

Here we are again. 

Lammas is here and the elemental tides are shifting.  We've crowned the Sun in his glory, but everyone at the party knows that the sickle is coming.  The sickle always comes.  We've danced this dance before.  That the dance might one day stop is what keeps us coming.

Traditionally, in the days of yore, some rather backbreaking work would be done in the fields to get ready for winter.  Outside my window to the east, I've watched that work being done for weeks.  The tractors make the work less difficult, and starvation isn't the pressing concern it used to be.

Then again, maybe not.  We're starting to see, on a big scale, what happens when you take without replenishing the system.

As we start plucking from the web those things we've woven into it, Lady Moon is renewing Her face, offering us a chance to plant some new seeds, to weave some new threads. 

Paradox.  One of the many things I love about the Craft.

For me, this night is one of refle…