#Blood Sugar Sex Magick|The Verbena Tradition

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

You may call our rituals bloody and primitive, but with your illusions of cars and comforts you are infinitely farther from the truth than I.

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

Litha || The Longest Day

The summer solstice, known as Midsummer or Litha, occurs around June 21st. It is the height of the sun's power before it begins the long, slow journey into darkness. It is a time of power and potency, of growth and expansion, but it is also one of balance and change, as the Sun King gives way to the power of the Dark Lord. Midsummer is a time for harvesting herbs at their greatest potency. The druids harvested mistletoe on Midsummer Night, and their modern Verbena continue to do so. Midsummer's Eve, the shortest night of the year, is a time of magick and the unleashed forces of nature. The rules of the ordinary world do not always apply on this night. Elementals and Faeries are active, and the Verbena often gather to work their spells and enchantments. It is a time associated with dreams and illusions, where forces break their usual bounds. For the Verbena, the sphere of Forces have always meant the forces of nature: the heat and light of the sun, the winter's chill, the fury of a storm, the rushing river-- the power of nature boundless and complete. Most Verbena use of the sphere of Forces involves shaping and directing these natural energies. Weather magick and wind-witching in particular have been crafts practised by the Verbena's ancestors, and their modern descendants ~the Stormwives and husbands~ are known as the masters of this working. Forces are often manipulated through sympathetic magick: a candle flame will create an inferno, a whistled tune to summon a wind, a scattering of water or simmering cauldron to call forth a storm. The wand or staff, an extension of the caster's will, is the most common tool used in conjunction.

[brooklynislandgirl]

@southern-belle-outcasts, @dontcxckitup

I love that y’all liked that gif. I honestly think because Beth tries her best to be a pacifist, that she uses her magick so subtly most of the time, and in service to life and healing, that people tend to underestimate her and don’t realise that... nature isn’t always kind, that it too can be catastrophically destructive. Although her two most favourite violent spells are...really gross and really horrific.

The first is called Rip the Man Body, and it essentially rends the patterns/make up of complex life forms {{animals/people}} The magick reaches into the person and begins tearing them apart at the base level, and manifests as lesions erupting on the skin, internal haemorrhaging, etc as the body comes apart. It is in NO WAY considered subtle and can, in a lot of cases cause her trouble but it’s also incredibly satisfying it she’s been made angry enough to use it.

The second is.. called Summon the Mad Howlers // Free the Mad Howlers // Call the Mad Howlers and can work in one of two ways. In a wild frenzy of dance, blood, and rage... Beth can summon angry spirits to attack the living. If she wants, she can call upon a certain type of spirit who can materialise on their own and wreak havoc on the ‘victim’. If she’s particularly done with someone’s bullshit, she can also seal the Mad Howlers inside the victim, turning the person into a living fetish, or she can just wait for the Howlers to rip, bit, blister, burn, etc the way out of their human prison.

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

[brooklynislandgirl]

Advent Calendar: Day 1

@mynameisanakin​

“Wintah Solstice or Yule is da Longest Night, da peak of power of darkness ovah da ‘aina. It also da turnin’ point, aftah which da nights grow shortah, days get longer as light is reborn into da world. Amongst da Verbena, it is seen as a child, newly born in da underworld from da womb of da Goddess. It is a time of spirit descendin’ into da form an’ solidarity of matter, represented by da stillness of da cold an’ frozen eart’. It is also a time for craftin’ an’ repairin’ or workin’ indoors to make an’ fix da tools needed for da coming year.” Beth glances over her shoulder as she arrays a garland of holly and ivy along the mantle of the fireplace in the great room, allowing the ripe red berries to catch light from the windows, to make sure that Anakin is following along and not bored to death by her lecture. She’s careful not to impose her beliefs on him, despite having a firm hold of her own paradigm. He’s still constructing his own, waiting for the right mentor to find him. Some part of her suspects that search is not so strenuous, that he is content to remain within her umbrage. She’s prideful in her belief that her tradition gives her an older legacy, and she will swear that it is the ways of the Wyck that spread like fire among the Sleepers aeons ago, changing only a little with each culture that adopted that faith as their own. Of course, she also says that most Traditions will have the same story to tell, and most of them would be wrong. Except she’d do it with a wink and a smile, with very little more than playful sibling-rivalry in her tone. In the wan light streaming through the sheer curtains, his profile is still razor-sharp but not deathly worrisome, he’s filled out slightly since his arrival on her doorstep. In the three years he’s been under her roof he’s regained his colour, he’s grown a little more confident in himself, and no longer has that rattling cough that worried her into insomnia for months. He still hasn’t overcome all of his pains, illnesses, or neuroses, but she’s no longer afraid to leave him unattended nor does she think she will wake up one morning to find a bare home and clinic with nothing but her regrets for company. “Da Art of Matter, for Verbena involves infusing cold an’ unlivin’ substance wi’ Spirit and Life. Da ability t’ take an’ shape da raw stuff of da world into tools an’ da kine of beauty has always been seen as a magickal art, an’ we hold to da views of smi’ds, weavers, carpenters, an’ oddah crafters as practicin’ a sort of magick of dey own. By understandin’ how Prime has passed t’rough Spirit to become Matter, a witch can see da essence or Pattern of matter an’ alter it to suit his will.” This is all theoretical to her, she has never been able to learn that particular Art, though with specially prepared items, she can still bid spirits to bind with them to create talismans and fetishes, and he’s already known quite intimately how well she wields the sphere of Life. But she still owes him an explanation of all the Spheres, and how they were attempted to be taught to her. She hates having to acknowledge that his home is nothing like her own, save for the blessed heat and humidity, but they make a good go of it. “Foci of Matter magick are da tools of craftahs an’ makers, from simple kitchen utensils like knives, spoons, an’ bubblin’ cauldrons to da hammah, chisel an’ da anvil. Fire is a focus for da Matter Sphere, transformin’ da heat of da hearth,” she pronounces that word with extreme care, forcing herself the digraph correctly for him, “da oven, an’ da forge. We are known for firin’ or forgin’ matter into new forms as one might fire newly moulded clay t’ set its shape, or beat red-hot metal into some new life. Personally, I find it small kine silly…clearly Fire belong to Forces, but ya eventually gonna see dere’s a lot of overlap between da Spheres. What I’d like ya f’ do, aftah ya help me set up da candles t’roughout da house an’ we go grab lunch…Was t’inkin’ we go t’ T’irteen an’ grab some mushroom phillys an’ a impossibly huge order of dose tater tot nachos….is to come up wi’ somet’ing you’d like to make or some talisman you’d love f’ have… an’ we can practice t’ see if you got a talent f’ Matter. Personally, I’mma hand make us some 'ahu'ula ahead of carnival season.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

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