Any Witches Here? Part 14.

[speakout]

Or Wiccans. or Pagans? Or anyone who is interested in a magical path or feels some magical stirrings.

A place for support, learning, swapping ideas and magical inspiration.

A soft gentle evening here. Light is dimming a little earlier than of late. Quite a busy day of family birthdays, but everyone happy with many blessings and gifts.
I cooked staggered breakfasts for family, danish pastries , fried potatoes, eggs, french toast, waffles, croissants, raspberries, hot coffee and fresh orange. Good to have everyone back at base camp and relaxed in jammies. The day has been a little busy, but calm.
I am so glad that some of you are inspired to make wands. I would love to hear of your endeavours
Having a large mug of peppermint tea as wind down towards bedtime.

Lammas blessings friends. May you experience the abundance of all you have grown and nurtured

speakout birthday breakfast at your house sounds wonderful and you’ve got me thinking about french toast. Delicious! I really enjoyed reading your post about elder and wands and am looking forward to checking out the YouTube channel you shared too

Violet your sunflower nails sound great and very fitting! I hope you had a lovely evening

hilarious speaking of nails, I smiled when I saw your pictures, my toenails are currently to same colour as yours! I’m glad you were able to get to the sea for some soothing. It’s powerful medicine I think. I feel your magpie was visiting to remind you that there’s always magic to be found. A wake up call to an area you’d like to explore more. I always think all of the corvids are powerful symbols of witchcraft and connections with other realms

I took in some oak/river medicine yesterday in between jobs. I can always feel my system calming as I approach. The crackle in the air in the woods was wonderful too

Wishing everyone an abundant day

Lammas/Lughnasadh Blessings to you too Aerwyna and all my sisters here.
I picked some wild oats and wild wheat growing in a corner of my garden yesterday, and wove a little dolly. I live how plants start to grow randomly without being planted! Always a miracle to me.
HillsBesideTheSea I have not heard of well dressing or scarecrow festivals- are these local traditions to your area? They sound very interesting.
Wells are not common in my area at all, I can't think of any in my nearest towns. The terrain is quite rugged around here though, and many rivers and small streams fed by mountain water just a few miles away. So before the advent of a piped water supply- in the past fresh clean drinking water would have been very abundant to my ancestors. I imagine if you live in a flat area with only a few or no rivers then a well would be very necessary. I would love to hear more about the well dressing!
I hope everyone has an abundant day.

Your dolly is wonderful speakout, sparks with the energy of the goddess. I agree about the miracle of plants appearing in random places. I’ve not done much in the garden this last year but have learned more about wild plants that have moved in and made a home here.

Interesting thoughts about wells. There are some fairly close to me too, some believed to have healing properties. I’d be interested to hear more about well dressing and other regional traditions too

I am not sure about the traditions with the scarecrow festivals. I have encountered both on the south coast and NE of England. There is one local village that normally does it it also. I had a hunt but i can't find any pictures atm.
Did find one of straw bear which happens in January though. Which is a fertility/plough sunday festival. A fertile crop for the coming year festival. Which involves parades, dancing, beer, merriment and a very very large bonfire. I will make the trip to see it when I can.

The well dressing festivals are a blessing of the water source, a celebration and a 'pray' for safe water for the next year. The wells are dressed with boards of clay with petals and other things pressed into them to create the displays. There are typically a parade around the town/village blessing each well in turn. The boards are stunning and very well done and different every year. Some times there is a theme through the village. I tend to avoid the dedication parade days for the wells. I do not feel the need to be in the middle of the crowds typically in the summer. I tend to go for a wander around the villages a few days later as they are typically left up for a couple of days. So can be enjoyed quietly in peace. The photo is from Eyam on year, which was so reliant on the wells and springs during their eventful plague event. Without the wells to have clean water, and purify money so that the village could get supplies without contamination fee then the plague outcome in the area is likely to have been very different.

We also have a lot of Rose queen festivals in these part. Not so much as in past years. That was a May time festival. And i will be honest the specifics on the reasons for this are slightly lost to memories in my brain. But it is typically a carnival event with may pole dancing and celebrations.

There is another festival that is very specific to Castleton but i would need to dig it out. It is a May day festival but i have not ever made it to witness. I only found out about it after it had happened the year before covid hit. And is one that i want to dig into more.

I have been trying to look into the regional festivals. I am curious about the origins of the cheese rolling festival, there are a couple of other more obscure ones also. Old custom festivals are interesting. especially when you really dig into the history of them.

Very inspiring HillsBesideTheSea thanks for the information.
Near here we have the Riding of the Marches or common ridings on horseback- an ancient practice- and taken very seriously!
We also have the Burryman festival- a few towns still practice the ancient custom- a pagan tradition thousands of years old; that he is a symbol of rebirth, regeneration and fertility- much like the green man. The Burryman parades around the town being supplied with copious amounts of whisky on his march!
Thanks for the reminder of all these festivals HillsBesideTheSea and Lammas is the perfect day to realise what a rich and diverse culture we have!

Lughnasadh blessings to you all 🌞🌻🙏

Hills that's really interesting about the well dressing festivals, I've not heard of that before. It sounds like a good place to live, I love hearing about the traditions in other regions. A few scarecrow festivals seem to have popped up here in recent years in some of the villages surrounding the town I live in. I've not been to any but I've seen the photos and they look good fun.

I've always had a real fear of wells. They fill me with dread and I can't look down into them. I think it probably stems back to hearing stories of people getting stuck down them when I was very small.

Aerwyna thank you for the beautiful image, such wonderful energy. I'm tempted to go off and find a river today, but need to get on with some household tasks first that I've been putting off!

Speakout I love how you described your day, a good balance of busy and relaxing. It must be lovely to have DD back for a few days. I love your corn dolly, every year I say I'm going to make one, but never get round to it. I really need to put some energy into carving out some time for myself to do things like this!

I think you would cope with the wells that are dressed. Here they are not the fairly tell legend of a deep hole in the ground that you might fall down. They are more springs. Mostly today they are not even that in some cases. I can think of 2 which are just a hand pump and animal trough.
If i manage to get to any i will see what i can do for some more pictures.

Speakout those festivals sound really interesting I will put them on my research list. Also if anyone else knows of any more obscure or local traditions please do pipe up. I would love to learn more about them.

Lammas blessings to one and all! Well dressings are something I associate with Derbyshire (we don’t live there but near enough for visits). Would love to know any customs from other areas. My Lammas will be our first face-to-face ‘moot’ in ages - so looking forward to seeing my Pagan people again.

Lughnasadh blessings sisters

Here are a couple of sources you may not have come across for Wells and traditional customs (as well (!) as a plethora of other fascinating things)

Northern Earth magazine covers a lot of traditional and folkloric events as well as other antiquarian pursuits www.northernearth.co.uk/

Bob Trubshaw's Heart of Albion Press has a fair few titles you may like alongside a wealth of information for free pdf download www.hoap.co.uk/trubshaw.htm

And a bit about the ancient places and alignment mythicalireland.com/MI/blog/ancient-sites/tara-and-loughcrew-aligned-for-lughnasadh-sunset/

Some great links there BlankTimes thank you- I will enjoy diving into those web sites.

Hello to all. I've loved taking a break from work to read your updates... lovely pics of the sea and of festivals

Happy belated Lughnasadh! My wish for you all is that you can reap what you have sown with all the loving energy that goes into this thread at the very least.

I had a busy week last week but then my DC and I well and truly unplugged by camping for the weekend. My first time leaving my city in nearly a year. It was like quenching a deep thirst... I saw the sea, beautiful rolling hills, breathed the countryside air, forest bathed, drove through tree tunnels and heard rabbits close to my head through my tent canvas at night Also got caught in an epic rain and thunder storm, soaked to the skin (again! Twice in one week!) and I surrendered utterly and my DC did too. Their initial fear of the thunder turned to excited giggles as we splashed through the mud and then warmed up with hot drinks back at the tent. Lovely memories to last forever...

Wishing you all a magical week x

@BlurpBlorp what a lovely carefree experience!

Blessed be everyone, hope you are all well.

Has anyone else sensed some weird (negative) energy today? It seemed to arrive for the afternoon.

Trenzalor I had a very strange day yesterday, energy wise. I threw it off today by going to the woods.

For the most part I think I have recovered from Covid, but I did a 30 min workout this morning and found it really difficult - even having to stop completely a couple of times. I have been told by my trainer (who I won't see until the end of the week) that they are all easing post Covid clients back into it slowly as there is some evidence it is having longer term effects. I am being very gentle with myself.

I have been feeling off all day. Put it down to new meds but this class of meds tends to affect me completely differently. Totally discombobulated, unable to focus or concentration and just feeling very flat.

Possibly not what you were referring to Trezalor?

Room for a newcomer?

I'm a lone witch and I've read this thread with interest.

@LumpySpacedPrincess always! The kettle is on the fire (and today I've filled it with peppermint tea) welcome!

Blurp your camping trip tales made me smile and banished the last of a strop I've been having about the weather - it ruined a shoot and a paddle last week and I had a bit of a breakdown over my calendar trying to reschedule. But managed the shoot this afternoon and your stories of memories in the storm and the rain have made me see it differently!

Trenzalor not negative specifically but there is definitely energy crackling at the moment - it feels like change. Lots of people I love, as well as me, are having massive shifts and realisations and making foundations for big changes, which is glorious and exhausting all at once. Is the energy you're sending still lurking this evening?

BlankTimes thank you for links, those are going to be bedtime reading when I've sorted my kitchen out this evening.

Hills I hear you on the meds front, also adjusting to new ones and while they are making a positive difference there's always a weird adjustment period, isn't there?

Late Lughnasadh blessings, sisters

Thank you hilariousnamehere

I went for a wander around Canterbury Cathedral today and saw this lovely stained glass window with a wheat theme, reminded me of Lughnasadh.

A warm welcome LumpySpacedPrincess glad you have joined us.
That is an interesting photograph, christian churches are so full of ancient and pagan symbolism aren't they.
An unexpected visit from my DD and her flat mate yesterday and the day was spent group Tarot and oracle reading, jewellery making and cooking a vegan Korean meal for Dinner- Tteokbokki and Kkanpoong Tofu, so the day has left me a little behind with work! Was fun though!
I have a facial today at a local beauty salon, but only a 5 minute drive and a 30 minute session- so won't take too much time.
Though I would post my Korean dishes- first time I have tried cooking Korean food!

Those look delicious speakout will admit to being slightly jealous 😂

@HillsBesideTheSea, that sounds about right!

Can I ask a witchy question? Do any of you work the craft without deities/spirits?