#Technically it's one witchy cozy and one ghost cozy

[amtrak12]

My brainwashed ass staring at my Barnes and Noble receipt: WTF do you mean projected arrival date is HALLOWEEN?!

Me: You knew that when you planned this purchase to celebrate posting day and were fine with it!

My brainwashed self: Yeah but that was before I added two witchy cozy mysteries to my order 👿 I want those now! 😭

[breelandwalker]

Secular Celebrations - Yule

At the very end of the Gregorian calendar comes the winter solstice and Yule. Technically, this is the FIRST holiday on the Wheel, since Samhain is the boundary between the old year and the new. But since most of us have to follow the January to December schedule in our day-to-day lives, we’ll end with Yule.

The winter solstice is a time when we focus on hunkering down and staying warm. We look to the homestead, we take care of our families, and we make sure our communities are surviving the winter as comfortably as possible. This is one of the times that the Wild Hunt was said to ride, their presence indicated by howling winds and stormy nights when it wasn’t safe to venture out. All manner of entities personifying hunger and cold and death stalk the landscapes of winter mythology, so we fortify our homes however we can and indulge in a little midwinter revelry to keep ourselves going until the spring.

Decorate with pine bunting, pine cones, holly, mistletoe, snow symbols, fairy lights, electric candles, ribbons, streamers, local fauna active during winter, whatever you like. There are plenty of Christmas wreaths out there, so don’t be afraid to make a witchy one with a big old star in the middle. Make sure that any ACTUAL foliage is kept away from the pets, and of course, observe fire safety for any lights you put up. Way too many house fires are caused by electrical shorts in holiday lights, so be extra careful. Do NOT plug an extension cord into a power strip. And go easy on the plastic glitter. Anathema to some, I know, but the more of that we can keep out of the waste cycle and the water system, the less will end up in the oceans.

If you have a fireplace, you can burn a symbolic log “to drive the cold winter away.” Or, if you only have a cauldron or a burning bowl, you can find an outdoor space to burn some twigs and incense for the same purpose. Or you can light some candles with appropriately wintry scents. Or, if you can’t burn anything at all, an LED candle left alight overnight on the altar should do the trick. The whole idea is to symbolize keeping warmth in the home, keeping the dark and the cold at bay, and keeping the home fires literally burning for those who must be elsewhere. However you manage this is fine.

Spend time with your near-and-dear, if you can. Eat good food, drink good wine, and do cozy things. Share treasured memories, and tell stories. Fun fact: Yule and Christmas are another traditional time of year for ghost stories, so feel free to pull those out again. If there’s a family tradition of feasting and gift-giving, lean into it. There are a lot of Christian traditions from Christmas that have made their way into the secular sphere. Sure, they still have some religious associations, but I know plenty of atheists who still exchange presents because it’s FUN. You can also give gifts to others by contributing to charitable organizations, donating to clothing drives and food pantries, or through random acts of kindness to those who need it.

Charity and compassion should be emphasized during this time of year. I mean, you should be charitable and compassionate ALL year when you can manage it, that’s just common decency. But especially when it’s cold and people are feeling that lack of money or resources and we’re surrounded by all these super-capitalistic ad campaigns telling us that our love for others is worth only as much as the kitchen appliances and diamond jewelry we put under the tree….yeah, maybe bring something a little more altruistic to the table. It doesn’t have to be huge, it doesn’t have to be performative. Just look for those opportunities to help someone out or make their life a little easier. You’ll know them when you see them.

If you’re crafty, pull out those projects you’ve been saving for a rainy day. We often spend a lot of time cooped up in the house during cold weather, the more so in 2020 with the various lockdowns, so why not turn it into something productive? Fix something, create something new, work on that scarf you’ve been meaning to finish since last winter. Make a pinecone feeder for the local birds, or scatter some nuts and dried berries for any critters that happen to be out and about. Do winter crafts with your kids to keep them occupied, if they happen to get bored of watching Frozen 2 for the hundredth time this week. (Hey, I only have nieces and a nephew, but I’ve still heard the horror stories.)

Let me pause a moment to address the proverbial elephant in the room. And this MIGHT be dipping a toe into the religion pool, but it’s an issue that a lot of us face. Late December can be a tough time for witches who were raised Christian but are, for one reason or another, disconnected from the faith or the Church at present. There’s the constant symbolism in music and decorations all around, pressure from our friends and families, people gnashing their teeth about red coffee cups, and so on. And we’re not even going to talk about the annual arguments over who stole whose holidays. If you know me, you know exactly how salty I can get on the topic, and we don’t have time for that today. This is about finding ways to celebrate, not my personal rage over people who don’t understand the difference between conflation and syncretism, and can’t be arsed to read history that doesn’t come from-...

Ooooo deep cleansing breath. Come on, Bree, you promised. (-hiss- I LIED.)

ANYWAY. Yule is a time when it might be worth remembering literally anything positive that came out of your experience with Christianity. Some of us have it, some of us don’t, that’s purely a personal matter. Some of us miss the carols, okay? There can be a lot of nostalgia involved in the season that’s disconnected from whatever trauma or differences in belief led to that split. And if you want to pause and remember that fondly, that’s okay. I will fully confess to singing along to Christmas hymns on the radio in my car at top volume because that’s a big part of the season for me and always has been. Heck, I might even attend a service at the local Unitarian church. They’re nice and non-denominational and they focus much more on the meaning behind the season than any particular holiday. So if you feel the need for that fellowship, see if there’s a UU church near you, or a virtual service online. There’s nothing wrong with revisiting your roots.

Moving back into witchcraft territory, you can collect clean snow and icicles to melt for winter moon water. This isn’t really much different from moon water you’d make at any other time of year, but it’s another method of gathering the base material. Also, icicles are great for any water you’re setting aside for more aggressive or protective purposes. The fact that they look like hanging spears isn’t lost on me.

Check your household protections and see if anything needs shoring up. Like I said, I cast my wards every year at Samhain, but they always seem to need a bit of detail work by the time Yule rolls around. Or heck, you might find Yule a more appropriate time to perform that casting, or maybe you refresh your wards at every holiday, who knows. Whatever works for you, as long as you remember to do it at some point. Cleanse your thresholds and the corners of your home, at the very least, just for good measure. But don’t go sweeping anything out the door. That’s sweeping away your good luck for next year.

And speaking of New Year’s, if the year you’ve had has been particularly….well, like the year we’ve had, you can also burn the year in effigy and cleanse with incense for a fresh start. Just write it on a piece of paper and burn that S.O.B. in the cauldron. While you’re at it, you can symbolically burn lingering worries, bad habits, bad memories, and regrets with either candle flame or a burning bowl. And yes, that includes all those negative things you think about yourself that you wish would go away.

And finally, reflect on the year as a whole, with all the joys and lessons it’s brought you. What memories have you made? What has brought you joy? What do you regret? What have you learned? What skills have you developed and how will you use them? What improvements do you still wish to make? And what do you want to do with the coming year?

And around and around it goes….

Like I said at the beginning, this is by no means exhaustive. These are just some basic ideas to get you started. You can make your own celebrations and your own traditions as you, either by building off of existing ones or by creating something new. As long as it has meaning to you and marks the occasions you deem important in ways that are fun and festive, it’s all good. This is something I’d love to see more often as a discussion - personal traditions, things that are unique to families or particular regions or individual witches, all the places they intersect, and all the various ways that we celebrate ourselves and each other and our craft.

- Hex Positive, Ep. 011 - Secular Celebrations (November 1, 2020)

Other Posts In This Series:

Imbolc

Spring Equinox

Beltane

Midsummer

Lughnasadh

Autumn Equinox

Samhain

Yule

If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop.

The Hex Positive podcast is a proud member of the Nerd and Tie Podcast Network.😊

[spnreactionblogging]

LAST HOLIDAY

spoilers below - backdated from 10/9/020

oh hey abaddon, is alaina huffman in this? that would be nice all these beheadings, damn I couldn't watch this live when it aired because I don't have cable but I bought season 15 on amazon this time last fucking year so technically any time after 2AM I could've watched it, not actually sure I'll make it through everything tonight because I started at 10pm and I am Tired the livestream misha did was fun for the first 30 minutes but then I had to turn it off to avoid spoilers so I guess I will revisit that later I like sam's flannel in this one too. like gold, light grey, dark grey? A+. this is queer flannel. this is from EXPRESS, not Kohl's the bunker has a gas stove I guess which I should've known having all the appliances fail suddenly is very relatable to me and perhaps one of the worst monsters of all don't mock luigi, he knows how to deal with ghosts sam has the plans and dean just smashes buttons god that burger does look great "meat man" who wrote this one ah the dean deluxe the scooby doo boxers are pretty cute honestly who is jeremy adams 1958, yeesh "everybody?" "everybody's dead" standby mode huh, were they supposed to have like... lights this plot is very narnia, wake up to find out everyone you loved is dead they have extra abilities in the lead-up to the final boss, and the network is willing to spend more on the electricity to give them more lighting sam is right to doubt anything ever being good is anyone going to tell jack they're leaving him alone with some random person and lmao thank you sam as I was typing this he pointed that out jack's shirt/sweater looks very cozy snickerdoodles are great magic roomba... thanks for calling him the son of satan, lucifer doesn't even want to be called satan "ignoring your trauma doesn't make you healthy" THANK YOU SAM time + space, indeed uh just throwing this out there he could use some emotional support too probably please accept this sandwich as an offer of solidarity god it's nice to see alex be allowed to emote again leave these guys alone, they're drinking blood packs with curly straws aw, come on :( those guys didn't deserve that I guess if she's a wood nymph she can summon a christmas tree? where's the secret christmas decoration storage room in the bunker yeah tell sam to smile :\ I hate holidays except halloween god I love how jack waves I do love how much jensen loves wearing goofy outfits, this made me smile big time. I'm glad they clearly had so much fun on the set with this stuff especially knowing what comes next IRL :( she's right to be worried about his cholesterol just waiting for the other shoe to drop with something terrible befalling this group watching dean run in that outfit is hilarious poor jack doesn't deserve all this but I'm glad that she's helping him kind of work through the grief where the fuck is cas so it seems like ultra fucked up to be watching them do no-knock shit into people's homes and shooting them no questions asked, and it has always seemed fucked up but right now the methodical nature of this and their goofy smiles taking packed lunches while setting out to murder people minding their own business is not cool with me and never has been the 50s were bad, actually god sam has the hammer of thor. thank fuck. is it may? is it sam's birthday in-universe? what files was she going through, eyes emoji jack is smart, actually oh boy is she brainwashed, are they keeping her held hostage with magic or something, because the men of letters don't give a FUCK about monsters and will use them jack's a millennial and can look up instructions for how to operate a reel to reel and 100% knows what it is because he lives in the bunker "son of a bitch" jack's spending too much time with dean sam has a big date huh, I hope it's with eileen "abercrombie and bitch" IT IS EILEEN!!! dean should definitely be nicer to sam poor jack has no one to turn to for help :( where is cas!!!! can they not afford to pay misha also I don't feel sorry for nazis there are a lot of beheadings on this show, pulling someone's head off definitely seems like yanking on a plant vs pruning it with sharp pruning shears or whatever oh you're shitty lady "do you ever think they're scared of what you'll do to someone else" uh yeah there was that time they locked him in a coffin please stop hurting this child if she's so sure sam and dean would approve then she'd do it when sam and dean can see her yeah I am not surprised she was poisoning him MAKE THE BUNKER SAFE AGAIN!!!!! maga shit, get rid of all the monsters, says a monster the writing here is.... iffy. little heavyhanded dean's thinking about it, that's what's so fucked. like "look I already tried to kill him one time" we just keep comparing jack to snakes but I prefer when yockey's doing it sam looks so much like vincent from silent hill 3 in this outfit sam really is the smart one. jack's a child, he hasn't had a lot of experience with this. dean... I guess tried to explain what he wanted but didn't realized he'd get overruled but sam is smart because sam knows how to deal with witchy shit. like he'd survive in a hansel and gretel situation. GET HIM JACK GET HIM this is BULLSHIT dean tried to kill him and he didn't answer the question re: "do you still think i'm a monster" fuuuuuck this WHERE IS CASTIEL, why is jack always trapped alone with dean and unable to get away OTL dean won't admit he himself is a monster either lol oops. or that sam is. oops!! dean is mourning the loss of omelets and his new mom who can cook and some semblance of normality "evil mary poppins" is very funny to me because I've been watching venture bros and dr killinger has been showing up how long has this been actually? sam's birthday is in may, did they actually celebrate all those holidays in real time? I got the impression that it was a holidays-speedrun but now I'm doubting myself why is it always torture THANK YOU SAM!! SAM SAID IT!!!! "jack is not a monster, he's a kid who's gone from one tragedy to another" THANK YOU!!! sam just won so many points with me for saying it out loud "pain is just weakness leaving the body" huh, at least it opened the door :\ sam poor baby lost all his fucking fingernails trying to stand up for jack :( it's wild seeing smoeone's eyes glow green this is why cas can't be here, because castiel could just stop her just go back to your forest lady sam's right, the men of letters just use monsters for their own ends sam goes "we care about him" dean goes "oh yeah jack's useful" which to be fair dean's trying to logic/rationalize it, that the world needs jack, but I don't know that those lines would have been reversed insofar as characterization feeling authentic she's having trouble processing her own grief ah yeah there it is "sorry I ripped your fingernails off one by one" yeah god she hasn't seen the sun in decades?? "it's an interdimensional geoscope" "I looked into it earlier and didn't see anything" "oh that's... not good" I'm glad sam and jack are talking about how jack is feeling and if he needs to talk I'm glad dean is cooking happy birhday jack where is castiel for this I have mixed feelings but I guess this turned out okay, still waiting for DEAN TO APOLOGIZE TO JACK? but dean never apologizes to anyone. the cake is a step in the right direction but cake doesn't make up for locking him in a box and threatening to kill him several times over, sorry

[ofieugogyshz]

🌻 uwu

🌻 describe what home is like for you and your f/o. (do you live together? would you like to? how do you decorate? what makes it comfortable for you both?)

I'mma allow myself a little bit of freedom with this answer, as a treat

We live together! It's been difficult to find a balance between our design... Aesthetics i guess? I have a lot of butterfly decor [or i guess they'd be pokemon in this case], we have some fairy lights on the pretty patio, a room for our trophies (Actual trophy roon) but he also uses it for a work room if he's behind on any paperwork, and we have a library of books there, organized by genre. fic and nonfic on different sides of the wall, and the space in the middle that hasn't been filled in yet has figures we like why yes my idol kids are next to some cool dragon figures, we can do both. Even though Lance winds up doing a lot of his work in here, the room manages to keep some semblance of relaxation. I have a small altar in there as well, incense and candles stored in there, as well as the unfortunate amount of tarot decks i own. (Several others have been strewn about the house, to wherever I took them, with probably seven or ten in the living room, and three or five somehow in the bedroom, leaving Lance curious as to how that always happens whenever it's time for me to round them up.)

There's another room for me to do crafting in, and a lot of my fiction actually winds up in there, as well as cosplay/craft reference books, and any art design/myth/ancient history books i might be borrowing for inspiration. And then forget to put back until he asks where it's at.

The patio is as wide as the house, the backyard unfenced as it goes into, like, idk a meadow/prairie that ends with a forest and eventually runs into the indigo league's mountainside.

It looks very domestic on the outsideand then you see the inside and you are like, "ah. Yes. They do indeed live here". My apt gets that comment a lot LOL but thats bc i have a lot of shit on display.

The living room has a gaming center for me, mostly organized by me since i'm the gamer here. Stuff like big controller accessories are hidden behind entertainment consoles' doors, along with spare cables and controllers. There's a glass coffee table in the center of the room, with navy/dark blue couches and a corner table connecting the two as they angle towards the coffee table and tv.

There is a fireplace off to the side that lacks a couch, that is not in use except during winter.

The kitchen is one that has one of those... I don't know the name for it, but a counter that connects to the kitchen? Not an island but kinda technically yes. You could technically sit and eat here. There's a dining room/table a bit behind it, sort of sandwiched between the kitchen and living room.

There's an upstairs behind the entertainment console wall, which sometimes i regret having, especially when i'm tired. But upstairs is different sort of rooms, especially one used as a supplies sort of room for various things (usually for our pokemon). One or two are guest bedrooms, though we don't always have people over; it's nice to have and if one of us doesn't want to wake the other at any point in the night, we might sleep in one of those rooms. Though one of those rooms probably got redesigned recently by lance so if silver stays over for training he can have a space that's not the couch. Apparently he deserves a proper space to sleep or something :p so more like one guest bedroom by now. I feel embarrassed just saying this but there's also probably a workout room mostly used by him and some of our pokemon. ;>>

There's also a pc/pokemon transporter somewhere around the house, mostly for me to use since i've caught a lot of Pokemon, and we like to let our Pokemon roam around freely. It's not nearly as varied or big an area as Oak's Lab is known for, but for where our house is, it gets the job done. Especially since we're not housing an innumerable amount of Pokemon.

As for the master bedroom, all i have in mind is a big canopy bed, since i've always wanted one, with plenty of room for us to sleep, especially if any Pokemon come in the middle of the night. Pika technically has her own little bed, but she usually winds up curled up on a pillow next to me, or next to my torso. The bed is super plush and the comforters are a big comfort when one of us isn't there before we fall asleep. The bed frame itself manages to look simple but ornate. We put glow in the dark stars along the canopy curtains because I saw some one day and bought them, half jokingly asking if we could put them on there, and he said yes. The canopy curtains are a dark, regal blue; the bedsheets an amalgation of ones that i've kept over the years or saw and wanted, though Lance has managed to prune the amount of blankets kept in/on the bed, since I'm bad at deciding these things myself. The pillows are a mix of shaped ones and plush ones, couple of plushes i've snuck in there while he's gone, just bc i could.

There's of course a walk-in closet, or at least one big enough that you could technically walk-in, and I told him to get a separate closet for all of his capes. He still keeps some in the bedroom. I have a separate one in the craft room for all of my costumes and fabric. You have to.

There's one of those makeup dresser things with the big mirror, a vanity? but I don't often use it for its intended purpose, aside from my minor makeup collection being stored on there. My two hanging nail polish racks are on each side of the mirror, which DOES see more use than the eyeshadows and lipsticks I have. A handful of tarot decks also sneak their way onto it, mostly bc i wanted a flat surface instead of the bed to read on, even tho i could have used the coffee table in the living room, but i wanted to read in the bedroom. There's another small, personal altar here, on a wooden table under the bedroom window, with picture frames of us, a couple of candles and incense holders, one of which is that really cool dragon one from the in-verse equivalent of Wal-Mart, a mixture of fairy and witchy [or i guess fairy, ghost, and dark type ] aesthetic knick knacks, a simple incense holder in the middle, which burns quietly, slowly, as smoke trails upwards and disappears into the bright, sunshine creeping in from the window above the table

Of course im just talking about a dream house of a sort here, since i won't get to have any irl.

Despite what sounds like a lot of space, we still manage to keep it very homey for us, with little touches of decor that remind us of the other. There's always room for two in any room if we wanted to hang out together, and a couple of places we make cozy regardless.

Our Pokemon all have a place to roam about; any that are small enough to be indoors that we're currently training or working with have their own food bowls that they share from.

The place never feels too big, even when one of us is missing the other, because of all the personal touches. All of the Pokemon that are free to wander and keep an eye on things when we're both out. Things we all have to keep busy. Work, training, hobbies, etc. It always feels like home whenever we enter. And we never fail to find each other in our house; like two magnets, we'll just know which room the other might be cooped up in.

Maybe this isn't quite what the ask was going for, but i needed the reprieve from "shitty ass 1bdrm crowded apt in vegas", so i took it and ran. Thank you.

Oh and we'd still have a landline phone, with an answering machine, and a phone in most of the rooms. But it sees less and less use since smartphones became commonplace. But we still have them, just in case.