fox-and-fischer

[fox-and-fischer]

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In lieu of blowing out my candles so I don't blow away my intent. I will instead use a spray can of perfume. The scent will provide offering and allow for productive relationship of fire and air

[fox-and-fischer]

Solstice Musings

Hello again, all.

It's been a little while.

This'll be a bit of a ramble, and I doubt I'll be coming to any sense of a conclusion, or even have much direction to this musing at all. It's more of a snapshot that I'm recording for myself and am inviting others to join, if they desire. Please, if you have any thoughts, personal experiences, or anything else of the sort, fee free to add your two cents.

Normally, I come to this blog when my spirituality feels rich and thick and my magic feels alive in my hands. Today is not one of those days. The truth is, I doubt my own beliefs almost constantly nowadays. I don't know if other people in the spiritual/witchy sphere experience this- if they do, I really haven't seen much of it, even though I've sought it out- but I spend more of my time questioning, doubting, or outright shunning my practice than I do actually, well, practicing it.

I frequently doubt if my spirits, or any Gods for that matter, are present. I often feel like my entire view of energy and magic are completely falsified, made up of placebo and confirmation bias in my own skull.

I am a scientist by trade, and I struggle to meld that data-based, research-oriented mind with the a spiritual practice that is innately undefineable and outside of what we feel is known.

I struggle to say a prayer without laughing at myself.

To be fully honest, who I am right now does not believe in witchcraft. Who I am right now cannot reconcile an animistic, magical, mystical world with what I know to be real.

And yet.

I cannot let go.

I've surrounded myself in this world for over five years of my life. I have dreamt of building a beautiful home steeped with magic; little bits of spirits and blessings arranged in every bouquet, cooked in every meal, hung above every doorframe. I think about living without Fox as a presence in my life and my soul weeps; the grief of losing him gnaws and leaves me bloody with mourning.

My soul and my mind are at war, it seems, and they have been fighting for nearly a year, now.

Sometimes, I can look out at the woods outside my door and I can feel the trees breathe. Sometimes, they are nothing but sticks rammed in clay. Sometimes, I hear the birds sing at dawn and I hear what must be this 'God' that people talk about, and others I wish only for the squealing chorus to be over so I can sit in lifeless silence again.

Life without my spirits and the practice I dream of sounds dead. Returning to the life I had before, to a God that shepherds a flock of sheep that wish me strung out to die, from wounds at worst to judgement and ceaseless badgering at best, sounds worse. The only path I see forwards is one with Fox and the other spirits of the world around me, but when my soul reaches out for that life, my mind slaps it away, reprimanding it for it's childish dreams and whims.

I feel like, too often, we only hear about people's struggles with spirituality and faith after they already found their answer. Too many sermons have I attended where there is a cleanly-dressed, put-together man on the stage talking about his struggle with drug addiction and faith throughout his twenties, explaining how he found God and, through God, found redemption, found forgiveness, found strength to go clean. He's 7 years sober. Never, not once, has the strung out, homeless, drug-addled man who cannot fathom a God in a world so cruel to him stood up on that stage and told me his experience; what it was like to live that way right then and there, with no guarantee of a fulfilling ending.

I have no answers. I don't know which path I'm going to walk from here, and I don't know what any of my possible paths might look like. I don't know what choice I'll make tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or in my next life.

It's symbolic, maybe, that I'm finally writing this now, on this Longest Night. I feel like the Winter Solstice is often associated with both thoughtful contemplation and a lull in life; a season where time slows, the nights stretch long, and we are left with such a placid emptiness that we have no choice but to sit with ourselves and listen to what our mind and soul have to say. If I wanted to be particularly artistic about it, I'm sure I could wax poetic about how this is my period of rest before I blossom in spring and mature into full life in the summer; how this is exactly where I'm supposed to be in my life and practice right now and everything will be okay if I just trust the process; how I am a tiny seed buried in the snow that cannot fathom of the beautiful oak I will grow into.

But if I wrote that, it would be a lie, because I do not believe it.

I want to say that I'll keep practicing, even if I don't feel the magic. That I'll keep lighting my candles, keep thanking Fox for his watchful eye and guidance, keep collecting herbs for an apothecary, keep tending to my bones as if they still lived. Keep holding out for a miracle to part the fog. Keep hoping for my soul to win out over my mind.

But I don't know.

And maybe that's okay.

Maybe that has to be okay before I can grow.

Time will tell.

[fox-and-fischer]

happy winter solstice !!!!! we made it

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Hey guys. Friends. Northern hemisphere pals. Only like 10 days until the days start getting longer again.

[fox-and-fischer]

Joy Sullivan, from Instructions for Traveling West: Poems; “Of Wildflowers”

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To the roadkill, Those animals on the road, The ones who once lived.

Deprived of life, Deprived of kindness, Deprived of purpose For all but the Vultures, Guardians of the dead.

May those who guide you onwards Be gentler than the things that killed you.

[fox-and-fischer]

we have got to be less nice about astrology. we got people out here being emotionally immature and terrible at navigating interpersonal relationships and blaming the stars. the stars didn't do nothing to you, learn to hold yourself and others accountable for their actions and just try to do better and stop incorporating "people are who they are as fated by birth" into your beliefs even casually everyone has agency

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personal rules for winter ❄

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My favorite piece from the latest firing! The back was an experiment to see how carvings would look with a glaze inlay, and I’m liking the result!

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Listen to the whole episode here

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What if spells radiate in all directions in time, so the reason that it seems like things were destined to work out well even before you cast, is because the spell was working backwards from the point when you cast it.

[fox-and-fischer]

🍓🍋 Strawberry Moon Slushy 🍋🍓

I was looking into making a beverage for the Summer Solstice when I remembered a drink I had on my birthday and thought I'd recreate it!

This is a strawberry, basil, and mint frozen lemonade but given that I made it with the coming Strawberry Moon in mind, I decided that "Strawberry Moon Slushy" sounds so much better.

This recipe makes about 2 servings.

Ingredients

2 cups of FROZEN strawberries

1 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

3/4 cup of sugar

Basil leaves

Mint leaves

1/4 cup of ice

Shot of your fav gin or vodka (optional)

Instructions:

Get your ingredients ready and grab the blender.

Squeeze the lemons. The lemons I used gave me roughly 9 tbs of lemon juice.

Pour in your frozen strawberries, lemon juice and ice. Blend until slushy. If you're adding booze, add it in here. One or two shots depending on your preference.

Add in 3/4 cup of sugar. If you're like me and you love it sour then only do 1/2 cup sugar. You could also substitute sugar for agave or honey, using a few tbs of either and then adding more to taste.

Add your basil and mint to taste. I used four large leaves of each but you can use more or less!

Top it off with a garnish, either a strawberry, a lemon slice, or a mint sprig!

Notes:

If you'd rather use premade lemonade, use 1 cup of lemonade and you can skip the sugar.

You can use this mixture to make popsicles if you have a mold for it!

Fresh mint and basil works best but if you only have dried only use about a 1/2 tsp at first and then add more to taste.

Magical Associations:

This is a great drink for the Summer solstice because the following full moon the next day is called the Strawberry Moon! This would be a great spell for self-love or attraction.

Tip: Imbue your beverage with magic and create a drinkable spell!

Strawberries are associated with love, good luck, and fortune.

Basil is associated with wealth and prosperity.

Mint is associated with abundance and healing.

Lemons are associated with the sun, happiness, and cleansing.

[fox-and-fischer]

Hiya Chicken! I was wondering if you could expand upon what you meant in your most recent post (some people DO need physical items)? I think I understand what you're saying (some people are incapable of directing energy for spellwork on their own and need the assistance of tools, and that's okay?) but I'm not sure it's entirely clicking in my brain. Is it somewhat akin to "some people cannot effectively direct their energy without additional forces like correspondences to nail it down"? The idea is something I can get behind, I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on other nuance and completely misinterpreting. It isn't something I've really thought about before, so I want to make sure I'm like. Understanding fully and completely. Thank you for your time :)

Hi!!

We are in reference to this post.

Hey! I like where you’re coming from, but I think there can be more to it. You're really kind for inviting me to talk about my thoughts ����

Uh... I'd also like to say that this has been on my mind for a really long time, so I don't think the following is comprehensive, but it's a good start.

I also want to reiterate that when most people say "you don't need stuff to practice witchcraft" they probably mean it in an encouraging and anti-consumerist way, which I don't disagree with; I just think it's more nuanced than that.

Accessibility: A part of witchcraft is integrating it into your life so that it’s possible to practice. If you’re a very ‘out of sight, out of mind’ individual, then it may literally be necessary to have physical tools, altars, and reminders around you, or else you’ll wake up 5 months later remembering you wanted to be practicing this entire time.

Also accessibility: You say that some people might need tools to help move energy, which is a factor (more on that later!) but it’s also a thing that some people can’t just sit down in an empty room and focus on visualization + willpower. Not all people can sit still and use meditative focus to direct their thoughts for an extended period of time without any external stimulation. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be good at energy work; it just means they can’t engage with that style of practice.

Still accessibility: This is more on the “it’s okay to buy mass produced” side of things, but an interest in witchcraft doesn’t automatically equal talent or interest in handcrafting skills. Making custom boutique tools takes time, money, energy, workshop space, and physical ability that not everyone has. It’s unfair to imply that even if you can buy a ready substitute online for $30, a beginner is a poser if they don’t take four months of free time to hone a personal hobby and make the tool themselves.

Sorcery: Not all schools of sorcery agree that you can advance down the path you want to take while never accumulating physical tools, icons, or ingredients. For example, my paradigm (which isn’t terribly unique) advises that in order to make changes in the physical world around you, then you need to use physical tools. No crystals to impregnate with energy? No herbs to sprinkle into the dinner? No candles? You can’t even direct energy into the threshold, windows, doorways? Then maybe you’re not going to be able to affect physical reality the way you want to.

(But, Chicken! You don’t need physical tools to put energy work into the front door. So you agree that the physical object is still a necessity? Or, no? Is it possible to create a purely astral threshold? Because...)

Energy: Just because you can perform an operation without using any physical tools doesn’t mean you have the personal energy to pull it off, especially not on a regular basis. For example, perhaps someone can create an energy construct of a cauldron sufficient to perform ritual gestation. They cast a spell purely out of energy work, and feed it with energy. That’s all good! But I can’t do that, because it would exhaust me. It’s not that I’m unable to direct energy; I can do energy work. It’s not a lack of talent or education. It’s just that I am literally, physically, too much of a low-energy witch to be able to do a lot of work without tools. If I had to substitute everything with energy work, I couldn’t do a lot of my witchcraft; I am too tired.

Spirit Work: In my paradigm (which is not so rare), a very important way to develop relationships with gods and spirits is to invite them into your physical space by devoting trinkets, houses, shrines, or spaces to them. By giving them a slice of your life, you invite them into your life! I don’t have to do that with a spirit. I can use my energy to bridge the gap with them every time. I can provide energy offerings to them every time they come through to me. I mean – hypothetically. I hypothetically could, but I actually can’t, because even though I can do energy work, I do not have enough personal energy to call my gods and spirits through into my IRL space using my own power multiple times a day. I especially do not have this energy when I need them most – a.k.a, when I am fatigued, distressed, and in need of help.

At a certain point, if Oak tree tells you to go find wood for a staff or wand, you’re going to have to do that. Maybe it’s going to take months or years of spellwork, careful searching, and cunning, but if you want your relationship to progress, it can’t be 100% on your terms. My point in all of this is just to say, I do agree with the sentiment that (as @lazywitchling says) you can't buy skill. And a lot of confusing resources can seem to imply that a beginner has to load up on unnecessary tools just to get started, which is untrue.

But I think sometimes that this push against anti-consumerism and a desire to protect beginners has warped into a sentiment that all witches are supposed to be able to validly work with 100% mental magic all the time for all purposes, which I don't believe is true.

Some people do need stuff! For lots of different reasons! And I think that should be normal and okay.

[fox-and-fischer]

Coin's Quick Cash Caprese

Caprese is a quick and easy dish to make and is one of my personal favorites. You can make a caprese salad, mini caprese skewers, or a toasted caprese sandwich!

Ingredients

Tomatoes - prosperity & abundance

Mozzarella - quick results

Fresh basil - money

Olive Oil (extra virgin is preferred) - wealth

Salt - for taste and purification purposes

Pepper - for taste and to repel bad luck

Balsamic Glaze - wealth

Instructions

Prepare the ingredients first.

Cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into slices.

While you put together the dish, say aloud what each ingredient is used for. (ex. Tomatoes for prosperity and abundance, Mozzarella for quick results)

Lay out the tomatoes on the plate. Lay the mozzarella on top of the tomatoes slices, then lay the basil leaves on top of the mozzarella.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic glaze.

Finish by saying, out loud, “As quick as I've made this dish, quickly will cash come to me. As I have said it, so shall it be."

Possible Variations and Notes

More types of tomatoes could manifest as multiple channels of cash flowing in.

Plate the dish nicely. The aesthetically pleasing dish will likely boost energy. Happy = Energy for me so perhaps the same will go for you.

This was a really quick spell and I got results from it for like a week. I didn't get a ton of extra money but enough that I noticed!

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Tfw you've been doing this for ages and somebody's like wow you're so knowledgeable / cool / interesting / etc

and you're just like

my darlings i am not up on any kind of pedestal, not even so much as a stepstool, i am down here in the dirt with you and my hands are filthy

i have no laurels to rest on, i still make mistakes, i am still learning too

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Remember when historian Diane Purkiss chose violence? 🤣

“In this essay, I will show that medieval and early modern witchcraft was for the most part not a pagan practice, but a dissident form of Christianity. I will also argue that modern pagans and modern witches are themselves products of the very globalized, commercial, urban and anywhere culture which they set out to resist.”

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the fact that anyone is expected to do anything on a rainy day is a true failing of the world. Rainy days are for making tea, sitting by the window, and watching your ecosystem sigh. See the plants glow green as they're nourished; see the trees go still as birds and squirrels and bugs take a moment to rest; see the soil grow rich and soft. To take the time for yourself to breathe, relax, and take account of You.

But nooOoooOooo, things like 'work' and 'obligations' exist. tsk tsk.