A Blessed Mothers’ Night to All Celebrating!

From Oak & Aconite Coven to all of you, have a blessed Mothers’ Night and a bright and joyful Winter Solstice!

Happy Fall, Y’all

We’re nearly three hours into the Autumnal Equinox from my Northern Hemisphere vantage point in Chicagoland. Fall Equinox, or Second Harvest, is one of my favorite Sabbats to celebrate. I honor my Holy Powers in this gilded season and watch the foliage of my local treescape transform from green to gold. The dying year is prepared for its final resting place in Winter’s embrace. With every falling leaf, I submit to Divine Mystery and ask for the guidance of my Goddesses and Gods to see me through the season of lengthening shadows, while I remember with thankfulness all the forms of abundance my Holy Powers have bestowed upon me.

The Mantle of Brigid: An Imbolc Prayer for Protection

After stirring “in the belly” (what Irish Gaelic “Imbolg” literally means) of a fallow season, we undergo birth pangs to extricate ourselves from winter’s constricting force. Fueled by the Goddess/Saint Brigid’s sacred fires of hearth, head, and heart that warm, inspire, and heal; and cleansed by Her holy waters of renewal, we stand assuredly in Her might.

Let us pray:

The Mystery, Majesty, and Moral Ambivalence of the Great God Set

According to the way I reckon the old Cairo Calendar, today is the Third of the Five Epagomenal Days, sacred days set aside as certain Gods’ (the Children of Geb and Nut) birthdays during the liminal period of the old year ending but the new year (Wep Ronpet) not having yet begun. (The New Year in ancient Egypt was calculated by the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, which usually takes place between what we know now as August 1-3.) Day Three of the Epagomenal Days commemorates the birth of my most cherished Kemetic Holy Power: red-hot, ultra-dynamic, take-no-bullshit SET!

Happy Belated World Tarot Day!

Preparations for today’s Super Full Moon Eclipse in Sagittarius got in the way of my celebrating this yesterday, but happy belated World Tarot Day and may all your divinatory readings bring you joyous journeys of self-discovery! I decided, after emerging from my overnight ritual/puja/vigil whose focus was spiritual protection during the eclipse, to do a Tarot reading: 6 cards to detail what the next 6 months have in store for me, post-eclipse. Here are my results.

Imbolc Crafting: Weave a Brigid’s Cross

I’m so thrilled to have the awesome folks at Chicago’s own Irish-American Heritage Center pass along this how-to video on weaving a Brigid’s Cross from newly harvested reeds. Blessed Imbolc!

Hail, Brigid, Triple Goddess of Poetry, Smithcraft, and Healing! May Her Holy Wells and Sacred Flames heal us, inspire us with creative visions, and endow us with courage!

https://www.facebook.com/IrishAmericanHeritageCenter/videos/255050419510356

My Brigid’s Cross is a few years old and was woven from local cat-tail grasses. It adorns my Imbolc altar. (c) A Urosevic 2021

To La Santa Muerte Verde, the Conclusion of My Public Novena

Tonight is Christmas Eve for the Eastern Orthodox faithful whose churches adhere to the older Julian Calendar of reckoning the liturgical year. For my Serbian parents, the Advent fast is still being observed on this curiously named Badnjak Veće (the Night of the Oak Yule Log), and while there’s a sense of anticipation for the Nativity feast, tonight marks one more night of deprivation and meditation. Similarly, the offerings I am planning to give to La Santa Muerte Verde for tonight’s conclusion of my nine-night public devotional series of prayers to Her (I just know She’s going to love Serbian-style roast pork and our signature alcoholic beverage of heated rakija!) are going to have to wait until the morning light. The items are assembled, but shrouded with a white veil before my main altar to all aspects/robes of La Santísima. It’s a fitting way to contemplate the Mystery of the Bony Lady: Her energies and blessings on Her devotees are omnipresent, but only revealed at the proper time.

To La Santa Muerte Verde, an 8th Night of Praise

La Santa Muerte Verde can be petitioned for matters of justice both personal and collective, from winning a court case or settling other legal disputes to upholding Cosmic Order. In that sense, She is very much on the same frequency as the Egyptian Goddess Ma’at. Matters of social justice in this country that have been brought to the forefront of public consciousness (events from last year in particular) are definitely worthy petitions to bring before the feet of La Santísima. She is ever and always the Champion of the downtrodden and marginalized—those who in some way or another would find themselves drowning in the mainstream without Her aid. Let us pray.

To La Santa Muerte Verde, a 7th Night of Praise

Night time is the right time to literally sing the praises of my beloved La Santísima in my home temple space. With fresh flowers on the altar and jasmine flower incense burning, with a shot glass filled with top-shelf tequila, tasty dark chocolates, and sweet red apples before Her feet, I stand before La Santa Muerte Verde and publicly offer Her this prayer of praise on this, my seventh night of my novena in Her honor.

To La Santa Muerte Verde, a 6th Night of Praise

It’s night 6 in my public novena honoring La Santa Muerte Verde. As I rest and refresh myself, gearing up for the new week ahead, I give thanks and praise to the Bony Lady. Let us pray.