Are You Kidding Me?

Inner Witch October Photo-Challenge

October 3rd: Candles

I originally thought of getting my full candles stash out and taking a photo of that....and then I realized I probably have a candle addiction. i have multiple stashes of candles all over the house. So instead I thought I would take a photo of my current favorite scented candle – Ashland’s “Vanilla Spice” pillar candle (purchased at Michael’s). I light it for the utterly amazing vanilla scent and I find it very soothing.

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The day has been pretty interesting. I have specifically avoided discussing my current woes of my staff issues at work. It’s been so insane – beyond anything Chelsea ever did.

Like, seriously? I have to explain to an 18 year old that claims they want to be a teacher....that you can’t discuss AK-47s with students. You can’t say the word “douche bag” in front of a 5 year. You can’t tell a student that the one that’s being mean to them is a “jerk”. I mean, holy shit! Are you fucking kidding me?

So we had a long discussion with my boss about it. And two of my aides also talked to her about their concerns. And it seems like she was really hearing us. Hopefully this will be resolved asap.
Trust me, it ain’t fun having to correct a parent that is pissed about an older kid teaching their 5 year old the word “douche bag”…that it wasn’t a kid....that it was your STAFF member. Yeah. That was a BLAST!

But I am hopeful that this situation will get fixed soon and we can move on to something better.

Smudging

First up is the Inner Witch October Photo Challenge

October 2nd’s Challenge is Elements:

Earth: four Witch’s Burrs (pods from the sweet gum tree) in a buffalo horn bowl.
Air: Sacred Feather
Fire: lit candle
Water: rain/storm water housed in a skull jar (specifically for the Harpies)

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I had forgotten how labor intensive smudging down an entire house is. I’ve decided that it would be good to smudge down the house after the end of September. It was a viciously brutal month on both my husband and I and I would see all that residual negativity banished from our living space.

So I lit up the big sage bundle and started in my room (it’s the only room upstairs), and worked my way down. I paid special attention to all doorways and windows. Basically driving all the negativity OUT of the house and then sealing it behind it. But holy fuck, doing that for EVERY room? Man, by the time I was done, my arm was on fire! ::laughs:: I also did most of the outside of the house. I still need to do the very front of the house – there are two windows that have been smudged on the inside but not the outside. And seeing as how I’m attempting to NOT scare off all the neighbors, I’ll wait until night time to do those, so as not to draw too much attention to myself. ::laughs:: Hell, I even smudged down my car while I was doing the back of the house. I did the yard as well.

I am hoping that this will bode well for the month of October for us. I don’t think I could handle a second round of the shit September spewed upon us.

The next step I would like to do is bless the house fully, to invite in all the GOOD that around us, to fill the house to bursting. I am not sure exactly what that step will look like. I could use rain water. Or make salt water. Or using some sort of anointing oil possibly? Or re-smudge with Sweetgrass this time around. I will do that on the Full Moon (Oct 16th), so I have a little time to figure it out.

NaJoWriMo

October first.
Thus begins another round of the National Journal Writing Month challenge.

Given that this semester of grad school seems to be even more labor intensive than the previous semester, I’m setting the goal of simply writing SOMETHING every day. If I hit the 500 word mark for the day, bonus! But I’m not setting it as an actual goal.

And, one of my Pagan/Witch groups on FaceBook also listed a “Inner Witch October Photo-challenge” that looks VERY appealing to me. So I’m giving that a go this month as well.

The list of Photo-challenges:

So today’s photo-challenge is “Sacred Altar”.

I elected to photograph all three altars I currently maintain and use.

First one is my main altar, the one I use the most, the one I use in ritual and spell work.

It’s a little messy from Mabon. I didn’t do anything for the Black Moon (2nd new moon in a month) that occurred on Sept 30th. I know, bad witch! ::laughs:: Oh well, I’ll be cleaning it off and setting it up for the Full Moon on Oct 16th. And then I’ll be gearing up for Samhain, at the end of the month.

Next up, is my altar for a very specific wolf spirit that guards my dreams. She has a name, but I am not comfortable sharing that information.

 

In the back is a beautiful wooden wolf carving my husband gave me upon my return from my trip up to visit Wolf Park and Wolf Creek Habitat. The wooden wolf is wearing a wolf claw necklace given to me by Brandy. It also has a string of snowflake obsidian, an offering the She Wolf specifically requested. In front of the wooden wolf is a picture of my husband and Old Lady Dog (rest in peace) from when they were much younger. And in front of that is a wolf family candle holder that my Mom had picked up years ago and that she then gave to me. This altar is a mix of sacred and mundane, as it’s also my side table to my bed.

Last up is a nature altar set for a very specific purpose. Very simple and primitive, but very potent all the same.

This is the crape myrtle that my husband planted in Old Lady Dog’s memory. This is also where I do my daily prayers to Artemis, to watch over and protect our canine companions, both living and deceased. So yes. It’s a plant with a stick of incense, but this is the sacred place that gets the MOST use.

I just wish Josey would quit pooping near it. ::laughs:: I have to really watch my step at times!

1st Snake

Caught my first snake at the house! Woot! Love these tiny little guys.

It’s a Smooth Earth Snake.

It’s about 5 inches long, so not quite adult length…but not too far off.

As much as I wanted to keep him, from what I’ve heard, they don’t do well in captivity. So I released the little guy back into my yard…but away from where Josey roams.

Which, Josey wanted NO part of the little snake. Like at all.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog NOPE as hard as she did once I caught the snake.

Thankful Thursday on a Friday

I am thankful…
1.    Blessed Mabon and a good ritual…even if Josey was utterly terrified of my shadow for the beginning of the ritual.  ::laughs::
2.    That Chelsea is finally gone from my campus.  I don’t have to deal with her bullshit anymore and while I wish she was completely gone, I will celebrate my victory all the same.
3.    Spencer, my new aide, seeming to be a good fit for the campus.  He’s super socially awkward, but seems keen to learn, so I can totally work with that.  I have high hopes.
4.    Finally trying out my new fountain pen (Nemosine Singularity, medium nib) and a handful of ink samples.  I’ll stick to fine points from now on, but this should be a good pen to play around with some of the shimmering inks.
5.    I am STILL receiving positive feedback from the class I taught over “documentation” at our after school program’s orientation back in August.  And there’s been a growing request from various aides, campus leaders (like myself), and floaters (subs) to present one on other forms of documentation that we use in our program.  So I’m kicking around the idea of approaching the bosses and offering to do this, if it’s something they would like to consider.
6.    Leviathan shed EARLY yesterday morning…maintaining her 5 foot or so measurement.  Love that little serpent!
7.    Donated $25 to the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary yesterday during North Texas Giving Day – all donations are matched in kind on that day.
8.    All the awesome artwork my students make for me.  ::laughs::  It’s amazing their level of creativity.
9.    The recipe for Venison Chili Cheese Dip that I made last night – even if I substituted ground turkey for ground venison.  It’s still amazing to eat!
10.    A huge sleepy pit bull that loves to sleep curled up in my lap each evening as my husband and I watch season 6 of The Walking Dead.  Even if her heavy head typically puts my arm to sleep as she sleep-drools all over it. 

Blessed Mabon

I did a small Mabon observation/ritual, very spur of the moment this evening.

Going left to right:
Galaxy Coyote skull – she is such an awesome little skull. I just love her.
Buffalo offering bowl with four sweetgum pods that I’ve picked up on my walks with Josey in the neighborhood.
Red seven-day candle – Sekhmet’s candle.
Radiant Red Maple candle for Mabon in a brass leaf candle holder – from Artistan Witchcrafts.
Sekhmet painting by Kimberly (I am planning to hang it up very soon, now that I know for sure my altar is where it needs to be).
Pentacle altar tile with caribou antlers painted on it. The Medicine Cards deck on top of it.
Orange seven-day candle – Sekhmet’s other candle (purchased ages ago from Sage Goddess).
Pumpkin candle in a brass leaf candle holder (from Michael’s).
Mabon incense – from Divine Scentsations
Athame

 

 

 

 

 

And you would not believe how hard it is to do ritual, when your “oh so ferocious” pit bull is doing her damnest to protect you from the shadow the candles cast upon the wall.

Me and my Great Protector:

Victory-ish

I am amazed at how many people advocated me leaving my job on my previous post.  Wish I could do that, but I’ve got bills to pay.  And where else would I find a job that pays me just shy of $25 an hour to work part time, and have all weekends and school holidays OFF?  Yeah, you find me a job like that, I will quit this one in a heartbeat.  But until then, I gotta make that money.

BUT!

Victory is at hand.

Kind of.

Horrid Aide got transferred to another campus, effective today.  So while it’s not the victory I had longed and hoped for (aka, she getting her punk ass fired), but it is still a victory.  For me, at least.

And sadly, I know the supervisor that’s getting said Horrid Aide and I really like that supervisor. 

(I may or may not have a girl crush on that supervisor….like hard core……)

But I have been officially ordered NOT to speak to that supervisor about ANYTHING involving Horrid Aide.  It’s tied up our company’s weirdly worded, super strict confidentially agreements.  ::shakes her head::  So yeah, even if Hottie McSupervisor comes and asks me pointblank about a behavior of Horrid Aide, I can’t tell her anything.  ::sighs:: 

Which, technically, if the bosses found this blog, I could possibly get into trouble for the breach in confidentiality.

Even though I don’t say Horrid Aide’s name, or even the company’s name, or even the specific elementary school I work at.  The agreements are that strict.

But yeah….all of that to say, Horrid Aide ain’t my problem no more!