Sweetening

written: Jan 15th

The #cy365 photo prompt for today is “Now”:



Yeah, we lost power for a little bit earlier today due to an AWESOME thunder and lightning and rainstorm that blew through. Brief, but fierce little storm.

The 2017 YT Pagan Challenge prompt for Week 2 is “How do you protect and consecrate your book?”

I am assuming the question is in reference to what magickal means I employ in the protection and/or consecration of my Grimoire. Honestly, I had not even thought about it until this question popped up. ::chuckles:: Such a terrible Pagan I am!

My Book of Mirrors has a book blessing in it that I mostly like. My current Working Grimoire does not have it – there were parts of the book blessing that do not quite resonate with my Path and I am still mulling over how to modify the book blessing to better suit my needs. Until then, there is no book blessing.

As for consecrating it? The thought had not even crossed my mind either. And yet, consecrating other items seems to be a no-brainer to my mind. ::laughs:: I guess because it is not really DONE until the end of the year, when I get it all bound together in its final book form. Right now, it is very much a work in progress and as such, I had not even given it a thought as to consecrating it or blessing it. But maybe I should look into doing that… Something else for me to ponder for a bit.

I am loving the 2017 YT Pagan Challenge because it is giving me another peek inside other Pagans’ Books of Shadows, Magickal Journals, and/or Grimoires. I absolutely ADORE being invited in to see another Witch’s work. I am a peeping Tom when it comes to other’s journals, be they magickal or otherwise…as long as I have permission.

I am not ok with violating another’s trust just to satisfy my own curiosity. That is something I stress with my students when we do journaling at the after school program – you may not look inside another’s journal without their expressed permission. And I told them that this rule also goes for me. I will not look through their journals unless they give me permission. And when I do ask for permission, I do remind them that they can say no, if they don’t want me looking in there. It won’t hurt my feelings. A lot respond very positively to this. There are some things they will share, and others they elect to keep private and when they see me respecting that and requiring others to respect that as well, I think it goes a long way to building trust with the students.

And given that we are talking about the students and work….I need to make a quick run to Michael’s tomorrow and pick up a small bottle that I can use for some spell work. Mary mentioned a Santeria charm to get someone to chill out and has offered to send me some of the ingredients. Which then reminded me of the folk magick of a Sweetening Spell – it’s supposed to sweeten a person’s disposition towards you. I am thinking with the animosity between me and Gail, this would be a good first step. I’ll also do it on myself, to aid in sweetening my disposition towards her. As much as I would love to claim myself blameless, I am so damn defensive now when she shows up to “talk” to me, that nothing good comes of it. So a sweetening spell for the two of us to see if we can actually work together.