Cauldrons: Every Witch needs one!

The cauldron is something that every witch needs!  A cauldron is nothing more then a metal cooking pot that generally has a handle and a lid.  The metal is generally cast iron.  Back in the old days it was hung over a fire, be it the fireplace or a fire out in the open. 

Witches also used them to do various types of spells, or brew potions or other concoctions in them.

Witchy tales tell us of various magical cauldrons such as Dagda's cauldron which could do all sorts of things including restoring life, and never ran short of food.  Bran's cauldron brought the dead back to life.  Down through time there have been stories of cauldron's and their magical powers.

Now the cauldron symbolically speaking represents the womb of the Goddess and is associated with birth, death, and reincarnation.  So it represents germination, transformation and transmutation. 

You can do everything pretty much with a cauldron, from making a potion, to doing spells.  You can place a candle in it and do a simple candle spell, you can use it as a burn container to burn something, be it papers or herbs.  You can also use it to do a container spell.  You can also fill it with spring water and use it for scrying.  There are a number of things you can do with that cauldron. 

Now you can shop online for a cauldron and pay a pretty penny for one.  BUT the smart witch also knows that an iron dutch oven, or an iron camping cooking pot will work also.  Plus the price is so much better! 

Have fun shopping!

Writing obituaries the do's and don'ts.

So there seems to be a lack of understanding on how to write an obituary.  I know of all things to write a blog post on, but there appears to be a lack of knowledge...

The entire idea of an obituary is to 1- let others who know the deceased person that they  have passed on and 2-to have the information there for future generations.  150 years from now your great great great grandchildren will want to know genealogical information.

So you give the person's accurate legal name.  Grandma might have shared Grandpa's name when they were married, but if she remarried or reverted to her maiden name or former legal name then it does no one any good to name her by Grandpa's name if she no longer goes by it.  Trust me everyone probably already knows they were divorced.  If everyone is on good terms, you may include Grandpa as in she is survived by -list children,  list siblings, and then include " and former husband John Dow."

You list her parents.  This info will also be needed on the death certificate.  You give her fathers full name and you give her mother's name but you use the mothers maiden name.  For example Grandma's Dad was named Jacob Yamrick.  Grandma's mothers name was Marianna Wyroba before she became a Yamrick.  You use the Wyroba.

You list where she was born, if you aren't sure of the city, then just use the county and the state.

You list Grandma's children.  All of them.  You might not like some of them, but again trust me on this, everyone knows.  If you deliberately leave someone out, trust me folks will notice and they will talk.  And trust me the talk won't be kind towards you.  Because if they aren't listed in the deceased section people will notice.  If she has been married more then once and has step children you list them also.  For example : She is survived by a son John Davidson and wife Jolene of Daytona, Florida, a daughter Lisa Carpenter and husband George of Glendale, Arizona, and one stepson David Nelson and wife Carol of Benton, Georgia.  You do not include nieces, cousins, the neighbor next door or anyone that is not her child by marriage or birth.  Grandma might have felt like they were her offspring, but the entire world doesn't know this.  If you include someone who is not a child or stepchild, again people will talk and they will assume the worst. Yes you include adopted children.

You list all of Grandma's siblings.  You might not like all of them but again you name them.  I assure you people will notice if you deliberately leave out Aunt Effie.  Again there will be talk, and it won't be kind, and again you include adopted siblings.

You may also list the accurate number of grandchildren, great grandchildren, step grand children etc
At this point if she had someone she considered as a child or grandchild, even if they weren't you may list them here as a special friend.

If Grandma was married before she married Grandpa, and that person died while they were married, then you list that.  Example she was preceded in death by her first husband James Wiley.  You also list her children and siblings that died before she did.

After you list all of the pertinent family info and ties you may state where she worked, what organizations she belonged to, any hobbies etc.

So example.

Glenda North Tinman died June 20, 1832 in the Emerald City of Oz.  She was born May 10, 1756 in Northern Glen, OZ.  She was a daughter of Glenn and Goldie (Goodwitch) Munchkin.  On July 4, 1793 she married Otis Tinman.  She is survived by 2 children Wandmanker Lionking and wife Cinderella of Emerald City, and Glenn Tinman and wife Blondie of North Glen.  1 stepdaughter, Dorothy and husband Scare Crow of East Glenn: 1 sister Wicked East Witch Munchkin of West Glenn, 4 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren, 2 step grandchildren, and several nephews and nieces and special friend Toto.

She was preceded in death by her first husband Lyon Lionking, and a sister Super West Witch.

Glenda was a member of Goodwitches Unite, Save the City, and Wizard Begone.  She enjoyed casting spells of joy and granting wishes. She retired after 40 years of being the Guardian of the North.

There see how easy that was!  Info is accurate, and trust me everyone knew that the Wicked Witch of the West was a sibling!

Funerals and Death are stressful, but you have to put aside your personal feelings about people.  You don't want to appear to be white trashy and no class!!

The art of domestic science, or homemakers are grand.

In the past 50 years or so, it has been the trend to downplay the homemaker.  Snarky remarks are made such as "Oh, she's just a homemaker", or "A house frau, how quaint."  Well, there is an art to making a home, and I salute all homemakers.

In the past the lady of the house did not have all the wonderful items to make life easier that we have today, yet they made wonderful, comfortable homes and created fantastic meals.  They also understood the concept of delegating, time management, procurement and a host of other concepts generally not associated with homemaking.

Stains on the carpet? They knew how to take care of that, and how to get them out of household linens and clothes.  Lost button?  They could sew that button on, fix a hem, patch a tablecloth so you didn't even know it was patched and sew a seam so fine you needed a magnifying glass to see them.  For that matter, they could make you an outfit or make a quilt for the bed, not to mention crochet a doily, make an afghan, put embroidery on your towels and make the lace for something.  They knew how to whip up a batch of starch, and how to iron that outfit.

New wallpaper needed?  They would rip off the old, put up the new, paint the ceiling and woodwork, and wax the floor, and still have time to whip up a tasty meal for dinner. And no doubt washed the windows and drapes while they were at it.

As for cooking, they knew how to make homemade noodles, and bread, custards, cakes and pies, not to mention canning and jelly and jam.  You could give them a handful of ingredients and they could whip up a meal that could grace a 5 star restaurant in a blink of an eye.  Fast food and frozen dinners were not on their agenda at all.

I sit back and think of all that my Mom could accomplish in a ordinary day and it makes me tired just thinking of it!  For instance Mondays.  Mondays were laundry and changing the bed day.  Plus the usual household chores, and the usual farm chores.  My job was to help feed the animals and when I came home from school help with any household chores, set the table and help with the dishes.
In the summer add to that gardening or canning.

Tuesdays were ironing and breadmaking day, in the summer add canning to that.  One of my first household lessons was helping to iron.  I was first started out on handkerchiefs and was gradually moved up to other items.  I remember being excited when I was older as Mom had deemed me ready for shirts, and finally curtains with frills.

Wednesdays and Thursdays were for housecleaning.  Upstairs one day, downstairs the next.  Fridays were for doing all the things that needed done that we hadn't gotten around to.  Saturdays and Sundays were for shopping, visiting and resting. 

There was no such thing as no-wax floors.  You learned how to wax, and how to strip the old wax off the floor.  I still enjoy waxing a floor.  The brother-in-law likes his floors waxed and when he doesn't have time to do it, he calls me.  When I am waxing a floor I let my mind roam and think of spells to create, things to put in books and so on.  It's also good exercise!

Yes homemakers had a wide array of talents that they put to use in creating a comfortable homes for their families.  It is and was a talent, a skill, and an art!!

Warlock or male witch? Or Witch is Which

Nowadays the term Warlock is throw around quite easily and generally is used by those in the non pagan areas to refer to a Witch of the male gender, though to be honest some in the Pagan/Wiccan communities use it also. The origins of the word go back to the Scots.

The term Warlock literally means twister of truth, or even Oathbreaker.  It was used centuries ago to refer to a traitor in the Ceremonial Magician paths.  The Readers Digest Condensed Version of a Ceremonial Magician going back a few centuries or so is this: A Christian male who used Angels and Demons to cause change.  Through the use of various things such as gems, elixirs, herbs and circles, they tried to control the aforementioned to do their bidding.  Of course it was a whole lot more than that, but that is the basic concept.  Most of them were affiliated with Christian religious groups of some type or the other.

Now doing the Burning times and other Witch hunts, the Church generally turned a blind eye to these men as they were Christians, male, and supposedly using Biblical texts.  And as always happens you get a bad apple or two.  Now a few of these bad apples would either go to the dark side(meaning practice evil magic such as death cursing etc, or become involved in things such as torturing others, handing out poison and so on), or cause chaos and whatnot. So when the Church authorities would catch on and start investigating you would have these "Warlocks" turn up and they would blame the old Cunningman(a term for a male witch) down at the loch, or the old witch Elspeth of devil worship or else blame one of the other members for their own misdeeds.  Often they would make up stories of orgies, raising Satan and so on so that they would be allowed to live for turning in others who were supposedly evil.  So you can see where the twister of truth, and oathbreaking comes into this.

So traditionally going back to the origins of the word, and the time period helps us see that being called a Warlock was an insult.  As happens over time the word was misused and begin to be associated with any male that walked the various pagan paths.

Originally a male witch, was just that, a witch.