Workshop Notes - 1/3/2024
Holidays are literally the hardest for workshop time. The whole schedule gets thrown off with schools closed. So, you are stuck in this bind where you either try to rest when you are not parenting or you keep working on your projects. I tried to give myself the space to rest, as I would much rather be present for my daughter then be edgy for trying to maximize every minute of my day. So, I just putz along at a slower pace.
With this past two weeks, it’s just been continuing work on what I have been calling a prayer or ritual rug. It’s made of all my own handspun brown Shetland that is woven simply into a 16 in x 16 in weaving for the purposes of some ritual work. For this specific rug, I have been doing simple spell work to bring in the trust and safety that needs to be present for someone to be able to really let go into the process of receiving medicine, especially grief and death medicine. These spells are nothing special. They are not ornate. They are simple words, repeated while constructing the rug, that create the spiritual foundation upon which the rug rests. The spells are embedded in the nooks and crannies where weft meets weft and pick meets pick and makes a row. If you look closely enough with your mind’s eye, you can see the subtle glow that emanates from these liminal spaces.
I also have leaned on some potions for this piece in the last two weeks. I had to take advantage of my friend Hannah of Mourning Light Divination working at my local apothecary over the holiday season. If one is serious about enchanted weaving, you cannot pass up an opportunity to get a fellow witch to make a potion for you to bless your rug with. It’s one of the few defenses we have to retain our magic and joy in a senselessly violent world bent on beating us into a dull passivity with the ceaseless lying about why a genocide in Gaza is necessary, legal, and appropriate. so, I texted Hannah while they were working and we chatted about a potential spray to add to the weaving during my final ritual. I was specifically looking for a potion that could further amplify the sort of death and grief release magic that this rug will be used for by Jennifer Rose Marie Serna of Wapato Island Farm. Hannah suggested that we use lemon balm, rose, and myrrh. I agreed heartily, trusting my friend’s intuition and expertise in this realm, and agreed to pick up the potion later that day.
While picking up my spray potion, I had an incredibly odd encounter at the apothecary. The folx in the store were all discussing various interaction with people who had visited the shop recently. One person shared that a christian was trying to preach to them. We all uttered a collective “UGH.” I started to remark that many christian denominations I had encountered fitted that mold but some catholic denominations back east had not been like that. However, before I could finish my thought, I was interrupted from out of nowhere when someone popped their head up from behind a display and said, “in my experience Catholics are like that.” I just started at them blankly and continued to note how conservative and awful the achdiocese of denver are with their work to push a pro-life, anti-LGBTQIA+ agenda in the city. That’s what I get for attempting to let some nuance into a conversation. I will try and remember to embody my most rabid anti-religious black metal attitudes when in public from now on. Such are the times of black and white and interjecting ourselves into conversations to prove what team we are on. Why don’t we save that anger to work toward ending state subsidies and tax breaks for religious organizations? Seeing that as a cue, I left immediately.
I got back home and immediately started using the spray on the weaving. I was weaving and just could not wait any longer to use the spray’s power while the weaving is in progress. I spritzed the spray three times in rough circle around the in process weaving. I then made three spirals out of the three sets of vapors with my hand to create a simple triskelion. I saw the triskelion glowing in a gentle white light against the backdrop of the chocolate covered weaving in my minds eye. I felt a simple satisfaction from this little exercise that grounded me in that simple little moment of magic. This is why I practice weaving as a form of magic.
Mix of the week - “Entrancing Enya”
This is not your typical new age Enya playlist. The crowd pleasers are gone. We not orinoco flowing or dwelling on only time. No, this mix is chock full of all Enya deep cuts that span across her discography that cannot be found on the compilation pure moods, vol 3. These are the moments of gothic darkness and dungeon synth warmth that have endeared her music to millions of weirdos like me. The mix’s emphasis is on those moments where Enya tips her hat to the darker side of ritualistic revelry or death. This is a mix that only a person like me who is in the top 2% of Enya listeners worldwide on Spotify can provide to the people of this community. Enjoy!
Thanks for being here. If you are not subscribed, I would be much obliged if you considered a free or a paid subscription. This is a reader supported publication and all free and paid subscription are greatly appreciated. I make sure to provide wonderful essays and mixes twice a week here, so you can engage with my work outside the awful confines of our social media hellscape. If so moved to support this project directly, consider a paid subscription for $5 a month of $50 a year and get access to every essay and mix I release. Direct paid support is always appreciated and keeps this project humming along. It also helps pay for stupid luddite stickers and what not, which are coming. I am putting the order in today. I SWEAR IT.