ethaisa

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

---'A Return To Love' (1992) by Marianne Williamson

Oddly enough, even though we have something going on every night this week, I still feel rather relaxed after the last week's orgy of sorting and sewing and cleaning and cooking and otherwise prepping for the Descent ritual. I still do have a number of projects in the pot, but no immediate deadline pressure, which is nice.

It's cold and mucky and deary outside, but the snow is mostly gone, so I really should get outside and rake up the rest of the leaves -- there's only a couple more pickups before spring. Unfortunately the leaves are too weat to go through the mulcher but I'll leave some on the beds anyway. And I should do some bush-wacking and cut things back a bit. That, and the weather outside, only deepens the inturning feel of the coming dark for me, which probably feeds into the fragmented dreams I had last night -- still sorting it out. It felt like something was waiting for me. It's one of those dreams that's far more emotive than visual, but at least I've confirmed for myself that my drawing of the wolf card at Samhain is entirely connected to the Celtic side of me -- definitely an ancestor dream and it's the Cailleach's season, though I usually don't connect Her with ancestors on this level; perhaps it's more the wolf connection that's bringing this up.... I think I shall be doing something with my wolfskin soon.

It's been a pretty busy week, one of those where everything blurs together and you're left wondering what day it is. I finally got some garden work done on the weekend before the rains came, and hopefully if it continues to dry out, I can get out there tomorrow, too. I don't think we have nearly as many leaves to deal with as we usually due, thanks to all the high winds. (Of course, the neighbours' Norway maple *still* hasn't completely dropped, so that may change. I'm not tackling the gutters until then.)

But today I'm doing something really cool, admist laundry and house work and books sorting -- I'm airing out my wolfskin rug! Yes, real wolf skins. It's old -- maybe 50 years or more, but still in wonderful condition - pliant and a lovely creamy colour. A dear, dear friend found it among her father's possessions (he was a trapper, though mostly small critters, like beavers and such) and offered it to me. It's been put together with great care and tiny stitches. Considering that I drew the wolf as "my" animal this Samhain, I'm taking this as a sign. I am looking forward my explorations.

It's been my practice to draw an ogam at Samhain; this year I drew elm, or more particularly, the wych elm, the most common variety (or was) in Britain and northern Europe, and aparently the only variety to grow in Ireland. My strongest memories of elm are of sadness; as a child, growing up, Dutch Elm disease was in horrid resurgence.

Mentally cataloguing what I knew of the elm gleaned scarce results. I knew that it was used as a charm against milk-stealing fairies in Scotland, and that at least one archeological site had produced pipes of bored elm that still worked. A little poking about and I had a few more tidbits to ponder:

-not only is it durable, and flexible it doesn't rot in water (shared quality with alder)
-it's a hedgerow tree (hello, liminality!) though it was once known as a shade tree
-it's associated with fertility (another quality shared with alder)
-it was a favoured wood for making coffins, long bows, and occassionally divining rods


As for the 'wych' bit.... ME wiche, OC wice, IE weik-2. Most likely the name was truly gotten because of the pliant branches, but the folklore/charm bits are intriguing.

A very nice little animation (even if it does somehow remind me of webbles -- wind'em up and watch'em dance!!) Someone put a good bit of effort into this teaching aid.

http://www.dreamroads.com/witchkids/sd.php