Hyssop and Purification

There are many herbs that can be used for the purposes of purification. But if you practice a European tradition of Paganism, then hyssop is the purification herb for you. This is a great alternative to white sage, which is part of a closed Native American practice, and is being used almost to the point…

Greek ‘smudging’ substitute

So I’ve been thinking a lot about cultural appropriation lately.  I never used to really worry about using sage or palo santo, feeling like I was OK as long as I honored the First Nations tradition of smudging but without trying to claim it as my own.  However, if I’ve learned anything in my practice,…

Pagan Blog Project Week 29- Oudh

Oudh, also known as agarwood or aloeswood, is a rare and wonderful aromatic wood used in incense making. It originated in Assam, and then spread throughout Asia. The precious resin is created when the heart wood of the evergreen tree is infected with a very specific mold. Because of the very specific conditions in which…

Pagan Blog Project Week 28- Nag Champa

I like incense. I like incense a LOT. One of my favorite memories is my 13th birthday. It’s one that my father didn’t forget, which was miraculous. I had decided that I wanted nothing more in the world than a deck of tarot cards. I don’t even know how I knew about tarot cards at…

Energy Redirection

I’ve been going through a bit of a crisis lately.   The fibro has pretty much changed the way I look at everything.  It made me reexamine how I spend my energy, who I give it to, and what actually feeds me energy back.  I’ve spent the last 2 years getting more weak, feeling less ME….

5/13

Today was my first day off in a while.. The fibro has been screaming for the past few days due to stress, long hours, and virtually no sleep. I woke up today already hurty and weak. So I decided to keep my goals easy for today: burritos, henna, and kyphi. What I ACTUALLY did was…

2013- goals and better luck

In my last post, I vented about all the things that went horribly, horribly wrong last year.  And there was a lot.  It seemed neverending at times. However, I truly am an optimist.  I tend towards stupid optimism, even.  Even when I get truly depressed and feel victimized, I usually come back around and start…

2012 in review

2012 has been a rough year.  I have been broken and rebuilt in ways that have stunned me, and I feel like I need to record it all here.  Maybe that will make it all seem less surreal, less like a movie of someone else’s life. January: Lost my job.  I trained throughout November and…

Yule and mistletoe

So, yeah.  We’re making a go of this incense thing.  I’ve been making incense for the sabbats anyways, and one of my favorite parts is gathering the ingredients.  For Samhain, we gathered fresh cypress needles from a cemetery.  They were LOVELY.  They really made the incense pop. For Yule, we began scanning the landscape for…

Ravenson Reagents- Handcrafted incense

Hi guys!  Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be doing a lot of work on my other blog, RavensonReagents.wordpress.com.  Bear and I are going to be making handcrafted incense, eventually for sale.  We’re beginning with the great kyphi experiment of 2012/2013.  (The ingredients are expensive, so it will take us a while to…

Samhain Altar

This is it! The only thing we have left to add is letters. I’m going to write a letter to my dad, and Bear and J might write letters to their loved ones as well. I’ll place them on the altar (behind everything), and then we’ll burn them on Samhain. The incense also turned out…

Gathering ingredients for Samhain incense

My husband is lovely.  Simply lovely.  He truly is the best thing in my life.  And when I asked him yesterday if he would like to go to the cemetery with me to gather some ingredients for incense, he didn’t hesitate.  He was even a bit excited for another one of my cemetery adventures. He…

Gathering ingredients for Samhain incense

My husband is lovely.  Simply lovely.  He truly is the best thing in my life.  And when I asked him yesterday if he would like to go to the cemetery with me to gather some ingredients for incense, he didn’t hesitate.  He was even a bit excited for another one of my cemetery adventures. He…

Pain and Tiwaz

Good news: I found my runes while looking through my old herb collection! Bad news:  All of my herbs are waaaayyy too old and stale to use for anything.  They all smell like dust. Good news: I found a great supplier who sells the herbs I need cheap on Ebay! Bad news: I spent my…