@wordywitch @WiccanWonderer and @Backtotheland
Welcome from me also, I’m not a regular poster but visit whenever I can.
I hear you @wordywitch and @dementedma with the Roman Catholicism background, I was also raised RC, my late mother converted to RC to marry my late father and became staunch: holy communion for me aged 8, convent school, confession every Saturday, family Mass every Sunday with Mass at school in between, confirmation aged 14, eventually becoming a minister of the Eucharist when I was 16. For years, apart from the candles and incense, it didn’t feel right for me as a young woman.
Funny enough it was when I started Nursing & Midwifery training back in the day that I was able to walk away. I’m no longer practicing but come from a line of midwives, I traced my maternal family tree right back to the 1600’s and it’s a very rural line.
@dementedma and @speakout I have rose hip berries that grow in my garden, along with an elder tree so I will have to get myself organised and use those gifts from nature! I also have a crabapple tree but she didn’t do that well for fruit this year after the heatwave.
@speakout your post about having problems with authority struck a chord, too. The Burning Times video and the 2 others that go with it are saved on one of my YouTube favourites lists. The fact that a woman could be accused by her community for such little things: speaking up / talking back / having her own opinion, shows how ingrained misogyny was by Abrahamic religions and still is to this day. ‘It serves men and ratifies their power’ resonates so strongly with me.
Thank you for the poem about joy.
We’ll be watching Krampus this evening!
@VioletCharlotte I’m so sorry I missed your earlier message about your friend. How is she doing? I will be setting intentions later and if you would like, I will add your friend. Thinking of you and sending love.
@HillsBesideTheSea thank you for the links, I had a read of the Folklore Society and am thinking of joining. The talk about coffin paths looks fascinating, there was a fictional book I saw with the same title by Katherine Clements that I’d like to read as well.
@Blank Times I hear you re flying visits! I could have written that myself. I wish I could spend more time with you all, too. Thank you for the links.
@queenrollo hoping your DH’s cough is getting better. Isn’t it frustrating that ill people insist on attending meetings? I empathised when I read that as eldest DS came home from uni full of cold and has been hacking away like the last act of Camille! Thankfully it isn’t The Virus but he creeps around the house like a dressing gowned wraith, poor boy, looking more like an unshaven Dream from The Sandman.
I hope that swirl of feelings have passed for you, or will pass soon.
@WiccanWonderer and @speakout oh I adore a good ghost story!
I struggled with Christmas when my DCs were little, DH had a stressful career and I was also caring for my elderly mum so having so much to do was overwhelming. Eldest DS is high functioning autistic and there were regular meltdowns - more than once a day. DH didn’t really have the time to understand it so I felt as if I was managing everyone’s expectations without having my own needs met. That stage of my life is over and I’m on the right side of not giving a fuck. The season still brings up mixed feelings of loss and guilt that I felt that way and those people (Mum) are no longer here, but once we properly get into December the tension eases. I no longer feel pressure to provide the media / insta version of Christmas (not that my version ever was) but I felt the absence of a wider family environment for my DCs - something I’d grown up with that they’ve never had.
@EmmaAgain sending you peace for a lighter week. I remember those nightly non-emergency calls and I’m sending you much love and empathy.
@Aerwyna thank you for the tarot spread and the 8 candle ritual. Although I only just read about it (I’m always late to the party) I realised that 8pm is the time I light my scented living room candle once we’ve cleared up after dinner.
Tonight I will hold this lovely group in my thoughts.
Thank you for having me, blessings for the next few days and New Year.
I will endeavour to carve out time to engage more so that I don’t have to write such long-winded replies!