Thankful Thursday #26

Photo for today:



Adding to my feather collection. ::smiles::

I am thankful for….
1. A FIVE-DAY WEEKEND! Woohoo bitches! I don’t work Fridays, and I have Monday and Tuesday off for the 4th of July observance. And then next week I only work two days! Woohoo! ::happy dance::
2. Spotting my first hummingbird of the season on Tuesday. And saw another yesterday. I seriously adore those tiny winged jewels.
3. My rosebush is going into a second blooming. She has a handful of blooms just ready to pop open. ::smiles::
4. My Litha altar and ritual turned out beautifully. This was definitely one of my prettiest altars yet.
5. My Railroad Spike protection and blessing ritual is going very well. Ten more days until it’s time to drive the spikes into the boundary points and set it all in motion.
6. My gorgeous feathers from Klaus. I am thinking of having some of them framed and hung in my room. They are just gorgeous and shouldn’t be hanging out in a box in my closet.
7. Having a dozen or so huge, orange dragonflies zipping around me and Josey on our walk today.
8. Finally speaking to Sandy and Ken (bosses at the Tech Job) about Evan being crazy lazy and slow and on his phone all the damn time. Hopefully they’ll take steps to light a fire under his ass because I’m hitting my breaking point.
9. Speaking of the Tech Job, I got a $2 an hour raise this time around. Woohoo!
10. David also has Monday and Tuesday off of work. I’m sure he’ll have a number of projects he’ll want to attend to, which will allow me to focus on my own projects. ::smiles::

Red Rockets and Stamps

written: June 28

Photo for today:



The Red Rocket crepe myrtle is FINALLY blooming! Hurray! Damn, I LOVE these flaming red blossoms with the dark green, almost black, leaves. Just stunning.

Leviathan’s hatch-day cards arrived today. They are friggin’ cute. Not as pretty as her 10th hatch-day cards (from last year), but still cute. I’ll start working on addressing them this weekend, even though I won’t be mailing them for a bit. But it at least want to get the Out-of-the-Country ones addressed and stamped, so I can get them in the mail mid-July. Sending mail overseas can take up to a month or two to arrive, and I would like for them to arrive on or at least close to Leviathan’s hatch-day (Sept 5th).

So I went looking for birthday style stamps on USPS.com and lost a good hour of my life. They have SHARK stamps coming out in late July!!! I definitely want to order a set of those. And they have Disney villain ones too! Seriously, USPS stamp store is DANGEROUS for me. I would gladly spend my entire paycheck on stamps and postcards. ::laughs:: Sucks to have bills to pay instead. Not nearly as much fun.

Feathers

written: June 27th

Photo for today:



Seems the gods were listening when I was bemoaning fucking up a photo of a blue jay feather and an owl feather that I had found yesterday. They were in the same spot I dropped them yesterday! Unusual, as the wind had been pretty gusty earlier. But here are the two feathers I was talking about yesterday, in a much better photo. ::chuckles::

Nothing major to note outside of this. Work is work. Evan, my coworker who is also a campus leader like me at the after school program (just at a different campus), is slow as SHIT. Seriously, I banged out 210 iPads (cleaned, put into iPad cases, and boxed) today. He comes in a hour and a half after me, and SIX hours he’s there….he does friggin 40 iPads. That’s all. He’s on his goddamn phone all the time. It takes him ages to clean an iPad. But seriously, just 40 iPads?? That’s insane. I’m averaging about 26 iPads an hour, and he’s averaging SIX. Talk about making me see red! It sucks so bad because we are both getting paid the same amount of money per hour, and yet he’s doing a FRACTION of the work.

Ok, off that subject and on to happier ones. My feathers from my German friend arrived today. So awesome. I love them. AND he was kind enough to toss in a beautiful owl feather as a surprise. I have inquired what species of owl, because I’m super anal that way, and have to know such things. I’m just waiting to hear back from him on that. Which reminds me, I really need to label my various feathers in my collection soon, so I don’t forget what is what. Because, again, I’m seriously anal about these things. ::chuckles::

Oh and another thing….my rosebush is blooming again! Woohoo!



One blossom is already open, but there’s a good half dozen or so buds in the wings. Just waiting for the right time to bloom. Love it!

Twin Powers

Photo for the day:



I had planned on using a photo I took of a blue jay feather and an owl chest feather I had found on my walk today. Only to realize the photo wasn’t in proper focus. And I didn’t keep the two feathers. ::sighs:: Ah well. Better luck next time. And next time I know to take a handful of photos just in case. ::chuckles::

Instead, enjoy a photo of a lovely polar bear photo for my Canadian Twin, Brandy. John (a dear friend from my journal writing group) introduced us (via internet) because we were so similar. And seriously, it’s almost like looking in a mirror. Except she’s an amazing artist, and I can’t draw too well. ::chuckles:: And yes, this is the same Brandy who created and painted my beloved Big Drum. And boy, does that drum carry power. Love it.

Messy

written: June 25

Photo for today:

Witchcraft is messy business. ::chuckles:: Especially when it involves old, very rusty railroad spikes.

Honestly, I swear this is the most Occult thing I’ve ever created. With the magick circle drawn on blackboard, and special glyphs of my own design drawn on the board and on the spikes themselves. It certainly is not my typical witchcraft, with its scented oils and pretty candles. Yet, even for this one that looks so “dark”, it really isn’t…if you know what you are looking at.

I wish I could share more, but my gut instinct says to keep this one close to the breast. I can speak of the generalities of the overall spell. But the glyphs and the meaning behind them, what each of them contain…that will not be up for public consumption.

Sunset

written: June 24th

Seems my hair is fading from a deep plum purple into a reddish-pink.

I love the sunset look I’ve got going on.

Another quiet Saturday. I picked up some black artist board at Hobby Lobby for the rail spike protection spell. I finalized the glyphs for each spike. Now I just need to get cracking on it. ::smiles::

Litha

Blessed Litha!

Technically Litha (the Summer Solstice) occurred on Wednesday, but I celebrated today. Today, I have the day off of work (I ADORE the three-day weekends the Summer Tech job gives me) and David had to work, so I had the house all to myself as well.

I finally got my sunflowers. I wanted them last year, but the selection was crappy. I ended up going with these awesome red and orange roses instead. But I got them today, and I LOVE them. This will definitely become my Litha tradition.

So Litha is the Summer Solstice, Mid Summer, the longest day of the year, and it celebrates the strength of the sun. With all of that, it’s the perfect day to celebrate and reaffirm my bond to Sekhmet, the lion-headed sun goddess of ancient Egypt. And I figured this would be the perfect time to clean, cleanse, and rededicate the various icons I have of Sekhmet.

And I have to say, holy hell. I am IMPRESSED with how this altar turned out. It’s one of my best, in my not-so-humble opinion! ::laughs::



I mean, look at it! Stunning, no?



So three Sekhmet statues and the Sekhmet painting by Kimberly.
A shit ton of garnets. Seriously, I knew I had a lot, but didn’t realize I had THIS much. ::laughs::
A red tealight for each statue and painting.
The orange candle with the sun charm on it is the Solstice Sun candle I purchased last year from The Briarwood. And it STILL smells amazing.
The bottle of scented oil is the Sekhmet Anointing Oil that was created and blessed at the Sekhmet Temple in Nevada. I seriously want to go back there soon.
All sorts of garnet necklaces, from single strands that are wrapped around the base of each statue, to two woven collar-like necklaces.
Incense is “Kyphi” incense I picked up at the Hearth Wisdom store a while back. Kyphi is an ancient Egyptian incense. But this is not my typical caliber of incense, so it didn’t have the aroma throw that I’m used to. But at least, the incense only cost me a dollar. ::chuckles:: Well, you get what you pay for. So I’ll stick with the more expensive, higher-quality incense.

I elected to wear my red and gold flame robe. I just love it. And I wore one of the garnet collar necklaces as well, instead of my Little Sorceress crystal pendant I purchased from Luna Blue Boutique. I had that pendant on my altar, to soak up the ritual energy all the same.

And damn, I felt POWERFUL. I anointed my forehead with the Sekhmet oil as well, and reaffirmed my dedication to my Path and to Sekhmet.


It was nice to just sit in Circle and talk to Sekhmet.

Post-ritual selfie:



After that, I closed the Circle. I left the red tealights and incense burning, as my offerings to Her. All in all, a truly lovely ritual.