#Pagan woodwork

[lailoken]

Rosemary Wand (SOLD)

This Wand is made from the wood of a propitiated Rosemary bush, and it measures approximately 14 inches/35.5 cm in length.

Once the length of wood was cut, debarked, and dried, I then went about fastidiously smoothing the surface with a variety of sandpapers until I was satisfied with the texture. I decided to leave this piece unstained, so as to highlight the natural beauty of the wood, though I did varnish the wand to deepen the color, bring out the grain, and highlight the multiple "eyes" naturally present in the wood. To do this, I used a varnish ritually crafted from an array of potent arboreal resins, such as Dragon's Blood, Storax, and Amber, which I then finished off by polishing it with a personally devised oil of ceremonial empowerment that also serves as a lovely wood conditioner.

Rosemary is a powerful botanical ally, known for possessing especially potent virtues of protection and remembrance. Between these, and the care that went into crafting this wand, I believe it will serve its chosen wielder very well in the coming future.

If interested in acquiring it, you can either reach out to me here about purchasing it directly, or you can purchase it from my Etsy Shop.

[distantworldsdesign]

Apollo is finished!! He will be up for sale later this evening

[paganimagevault]

Sogdian wooden idol from Kuh-i-Surkh (Tajikistan) 5th-8th C. CE

"Head of a Sogdian carved wooden idol, found in a cave at Kuh-i-Surkh, Tajikistan. The idol was originally adorned with clothing, jewelry, a diadem, a sceptre, and an incense burner, and must have been hidden in a cave after the Arab conquest. In its heyday, the idol would have worn a crown, a long robe, boots, and carried a sceptre and a censer. At his feet were gifts donated by worshippers - swords, daggers, jewellery, armour, among other things."

-taken from Nadeem - Eran ud Turan's twitter

[daisypinkpaw]

Vegetable Lamb 🐑🌻

[olekciy]

Braided belts with zoomorphic buckles. Hemp, wood, amber, malachite.

[thebowynntradition]

Bowynn Gods: Kalen

Kalen  (Kah-len)  Kalen is the god of woodworking, architecture and protector of homes. He is the patron god of architects, craftsmen, construction workers and anyone whose profession has to deal with woodwork. At the same time, he is a protector of trees.

     Kalen is the son of Phoenix and Sumon and the brother of Gondor, the smithy god and consort to the goddess Panu, the gemologist. Along with Gondor's consort, the four are the master craftsmen of the gods. However instead of feasting and resting at night in Alaway, the four have a sacred home elsewhere in the world, in a most sylvan forest. The home itself was constructed but Kalen himself but in no way out-shines the Daunnat, Alaway or Tennaet. Infact, at one point Kalen as a child dared to try to improve the great immortal's home of Alaway that Anhur had built. Ahnur was so enraged he had taken away Kalen's tools and skills for a year. It was Kalen that spent 7 days with the first tribes of people, showing them the arts of woodcraft, took making and architecture. And it was even Kalen that provided the first structure in Europe when the first tribes of people arrived, so they had a place to stay.

     Despite his constant work, Kalen is a most happy and free giving god, who loves and takes pride in his skills. When not laboring hard, Kalen is whittling away and wood burning, making toys and small gifts for gods and men. He is said to be a most handsome and strong man, equal in handsomeness with his brother Gondor with long hair, a file and hammer in hand and a craftsman apron on his body. When about mortal folk Kalen will appear as a craftsman or a chimney swift, which is his totem animal; the chimney swift being the guardians of homes in Bowynn culture. Sacred to him are all architectural tools; hammer, saw, nails, file, level and these are the best gifts to offer Kalen, if not real ones, votive images of the tools. Most often given is a bundle of long nails, cold water and votive images of chimney swifts.

[mjolnir-viking-jewelry]

Vegvisir (wood carving) – 280$

Material: oak Size: Height - 40 cm (15,74 inch) Width - 35 cm (13,77 inch) Vegvisir - runic compass (not to get lost during navigation). Whoever wears this sign, never get lost or during a storm, or in bad weather, even if the path is unknown. Anyone who wears this sign will never get lost in the storm or in bad weather, even if the path is unknown. In addition, it will help the sign not to lose in life.

[beastrambles]

Pagan Discord server but everyone is completely normal challenge: (impossible)

[lailoken]

Blackened Whitethorn Wand (For Sale)

This wand was created using a branch of storm-blown Hawthorn wood, which I discovered on Imbolc of 2023. It measures approximately 32 inches/81 centimeters in length, and it is currently being sold for $99.

After debarking the piece and allowing it to fully dry, I went about carefully smoothing the surface of the wood, making sure to preserve any larger thorns present on tne piece. Once I was satisfied with the texture of the specimen, I blackened it with a stain made with Hearth Soot harvested from the interior of our Wood Stove, which I used to coat the wand, layer after layer, for days. In the end, having thoroughly layered the black pigment onto the wood, I used Wisefool's Oil (a ritually enlivened oil of empowerment, which also serves as a lovely wood conditioner) to polish away the excess, and then sealed the whole piece with Wisefool's Glaze (a personally developed wood varnish made from an array of precious and potent arboreal resins, such as Dragon's Blood, Storax, and Black Frankincense.) Finally, I gave it one last, thin coating of polyurethane to help thoroughly protect it.

Between the rich magical folklore of the Hawthorn, and the energy, time, and care that went into creating it, I believe this wand has the potential to serve as an lovely tool in the hands of the right practitioner.

If you are interested in purchasing this piece, then please free free to reach out to me through tumblr messenger, or buy it directly on my shop, Wending Wares Occult Parlor.

[distantworldsdesign]

I'm in love with how this altar table came out.

[sammie-dae]

mini altar i made for a friend who lost her father.

i started with a bereaving/mental health jar for her, but was inspired to make something that held memories and candles, too. i'm really happy with this piece as a small and discrete way to memorialize or worship. i think i'll be making more with different designs and functions - maybe on my shop soon! :)

[olekciy]

Smoking pipe "Faces of Veles". Apricot, willow, lilac, beech, Ural malachite, lapis lazuli, Black Sea volcanic rock. 29 cm.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Saw your post about talking to people at parties. Got any tips for making adult friends outside of the party setting? I’ve been pretty isolated since moving cities and literally just don’t know where to start

Going to places where people expect to talk to each other is generally good. I often go to church to make friends but if you’re not into that there’s other stuff too. Local coffee shops and bars and community message boards often have advertisements for such groups hanging up. Women’s hiking, queer prom, single’s mixers, local clubs, etc. You can also Google (thing you’re interested in or are) group (city). Some places have gay men’s support groups, black women’s networking events, Esperanto clubs, Spanish or English speaking practice, tutoring opportunities, cycling groups, woodworking clubs, sign language classes, Deaf and hoh events, craft fairs, whatever you could want. Bumble also has a friends/bff section if you prefer to meet people online. And if you want the structure or friend aspect of religion without the organized religion requirement there are Unitarian Universalist churches, atheists and skeptics clubs, meditation classes, spiritual retreats, pagan meetups, and other stuff like that you could look into.

[ernmark]

What the blog could have been, had the URL not been taken by a bot:

Presidential-Streetli: the official blog of a sentient streetlamp and its hopeful political campaign (lots of promises regarding infrastructure improvements)

Pristine-Sacrament: an aesthetic blog focusing on stunning photos of sacraments from various Christian sects, with a weekly tradition of Eucharist Tuesday

Numerous-Carol: this blog collects holiday themed songs from countries around the world. Says it's all holiday inclusive, but only actually active between November and January.

AfflictedStrobe: a database of recent movies with photosensitivity warnings, including timestamps and the relevant things that happen while you have to look away.

ResourcefulCampFir: a low-tech camping blog focusing specifically on coniferous forests.

CrazyCommunicator55: a retired therapist offering somewhat outdated mental health advice to anon askers

Fresh-Lathe: a carpentry and woodworking blog

Antisocial-Heartbeat: this one's a late teenager just getting into the swing of their goth phase. Writes wonderful poetry

ExploratoryHag: this blog belongs to a post-menopausal woman getting back in touch with paganism after her divorce. She's still figuring out how to upload pictures from her phone, but her cooking and handiwork is breathtaking (when it isn't too blurry to actually see)

[girlfromthecrypt]

Introducing the Such Happy Campers ROs:

𝓑𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓵 𝓛𝓪𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓻

gender: male [trans, ftm]

age: 27

height: 5 ft 8 (172 cm)

occupation: none/volunteer/camp counselor

faith: Wiccan, pagan, spiritualist

physical description: Basil is slim, athletic and prone to moving with a measured, uncanny grace. He has fair skin that tans easily in the sun. His chin-length hair is artfully shaggy and dyed in brown and gold layers to resemble a tiger eye gemstone. 

notable: Faded top surgery scars. A red and blue lightning bolt tattooed on his sternum. Multiple small, simple gold earrings.

clothing style and aesthetic: Basil always dresses in either bright, cheerful colors or various natural hues. He prefers his clothes to be layered and airy, often sporting vests or flowy shirts with boho-style patterns. Sometimes, he wears several beaded necklaces and rings.

hobbies and interests: folklore, woodwork, true crime, traveling

Basil is harmonious, optimistic and outgoing. He appreciates humor and puns (even if they're at his expense). He takes neither himself nor others very seriously. 

When romanced however, a lot of his confidence turns into stricken stupidity. If you want to see a cocksure, assertive character losing his cool and tripping over himself, look no further.

Though it might just be a challenge to get him there.

[hyperlexichypatia]

**Cracks knuckles and wades into The Discourse**

"Can atheists be culturally Christian?" is entirely the wrong question.

Of course they can! Plenty of people don't believe in the religious doctrines of Christianity, but still do things like celebrate Christmas or Easter, have church weddings, and other culturally Christian activities. Take for example, me -- I'm a Deist who is also culturally Christian. Christianity is the religious lens I understand best, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

Plenty of atheists and broadly-secular people who live in majority-culturally-Christian places, like most of the U.S., also are often oblivious to the Christian basis of their cultural practices, and may think of culturally Christian practices are "universal" or "secular" or "for everyone." This comes up every time someone brings up the inappropriateness of public schools/places celebrating Christmas, when people come out of the woodwork to insist that of course Christmas isn't religious, they know plenty of secular people who celebrate it! (Note: This is often blamed on ex-Evangelicals, but I don't think that's fair. Ex-Evangelicals know what Christianity is. This is something I see more from people from secular families in mostly-secular areas who don't think about religious diversity because it's not relevant to their lives.) (Additional Note: Do not @ me with "WELL, ACTUALLY, Christmas is PAGAN--" No. Your history is oversimplified and bad. You are not celebrating Yule. You are not celebrating Saturnalia. You are celebrating Christmas, a heavily secularized Christian holiday with some cultural influences from European Pagan traditions.)

Additionally, many atheists/secularists/non-religious-people whose primary reference point for religion is Christianity (whether because they're ex-Christians themselves, or just because that's what they know from cultural osmosis) make broad, inaccurate assumptions about All Religion based on their projected understanding of Christianity, e.g. "I'm not religious because I don't believe that an omnipotent God controls everything in the universe and rewards or punishes people when they die." Okay, cool, but not all religions teach that, not all religious people believe that, not even all Christians believe that.

So, of course atheists can be culturally Christian, maybe without realizing it or thinking about it. Anyone who says they can't isn't paying attention! And that's why "Can atheists be culturally Christian?" is entirely the wrong question.

The right questions are "Is it reasonable to assume by default that anyone who lists their religion as 'atheist' or 'none' must actually be culturally Christian?" and "Is it reasonable to blame anything you don't like on 'cultural Christianity'?" and no! It's not!

Sometimes simply does not have a religious affiliation. And that's okay! There is a tendency to interpret "none of the above" as "Oh, so, the default thing, but a milder version of it," and that is... not accurate.

There's this vague sense that non-religious people aren't really a religious minority, that they're really just play-acting at being religiously marginalized, because after all, they're actually just non-devout Christians. Discrimination against non-religious people doesn't necessarily look the same as discrimination against religious people (like, there aren't atheist holidays that people are being denied time off work for), but it's still very real, and falls the hardest on non-religious people with the fewest cultural ties to Christianity, the very people erased by "Atheists are just cultural Christians" discourse.

Furthermore, the traits and beliefs and ideologies and biases that get called "culturally Christian" are often not actually unique to Christianity at all. Certain concepts, like an emphasis on redemption through death, are culturally Christian (although even that one is sometimes found in other religions), but to hear the people calling everything "culturally Christian" tell it, no other religion, culture, or philosophy on Earth has ever believed in virtue ethics, valued hard work and stigmatized "laziness", or been judgmental about petty infractions. Nor, I can't believe I have to say, is "Christians do it, so it's bad" a good argument against things like freedom of conscience or disability rights (neither of which are even especially popular among Christians).

The problem with way people are talking about "cultural Christians" isn't that atheists or other non-Christians can't be culturally Christian (of course they can) or that Christianity doesn't have pervasive influence in majority-Christian societies (of course it does). The problem is that people are using "culturally Christian" in inaccurate and nonsensical ways.