Yvonne Aburrow's Blog, page 16
July 11, 2023
Names
I like my name.
Yvonne means a yew bow or yew tree. The yew tree is associated with death and is used as a guardian of churchyards (the tradition of it guarding a burial place is pre-Christian I think). On some social media sites, I used to go by Yewtree as that’s a translation of Yvonne.
Aburrow means “at the walled town” — I had hoped it was “at the burial mound” but that would be Berrow, derived from Beorh, whereas the —burrow part is from burh, whence we also get borough, and the wall ...
June 24, 2023
Kitchen witchery
What is kitchen witchcraft?
Kitchen witchcraft is basically cooking with magical intentions, or using cookery as the basis of a magical working. There are many ways of doing this, involving both methods and ingredients.
Gathering and growing
Gathering and growing your food is part of kitchen witchery, whether you are growing herbs in a window-box or a pot on your patio, cultivating a vegetable patch, or foraging for wild plants and mushrooms.
If you are foraging, never gather mor...
June 21, 2023
The prefix CIS—
Cisalpine Gaul is upset that Transalpine Gaul said it was on the same side of the Alps as Rome.
FUN FACT: when I explained the term cisgender to some people who are actually FROM Cisalpine Gaul, I explained it in terms of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, and they were immediately comfortable with it. Because of course they have zero issues with being called Cisalpine Gaul.
The image is a map of cisalpine Gaul and transalpine Gaul. The Romans referred to the part of Gaul that was on the ...
June 19, 2023
Review: Queen of All Witcheries
Queen of All Witcheries: A Biography of the Goddess is an excellent book which explains complex ideas in an accessible way. It’s also beautifully written.
Each chapter is a reflection on one of the influential writers and thinkers who shaped the modern view of the Great Goddess: JJ Bachofen, JG Frazer, CG Leland, Margaret Murray, Dion Fortune, Aleister Crowley, Robert Graves, Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente, and modern Goddess feminists such as Carol Christ, Starhawk, and Lasara Firefo...
May 31, 2023
Where I am now
Changing Paths challenge day 31 — where I am now
Nowadays I am fairly and squarely a Pagan and an inclusive polytheist Wiccan, but one who has been enriched by my wobble.
May 30, 2023
Reflections
Changing Paths challenge day 30 — reflections.
The most amazing autobiography I have ever read was Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Gustav Jung.
It discusses how he arrived at his psychoanalytical theory — but the bits I found most fascinating were about his childhood and his occult experiences.
May 29, 2023
Memories
Looking up at the stars makes you realize the sheer size of the universe, and how magnificent it is in its own right — and much larger than most fundamentalists could possibly imagine. This reminds me of the awesome quote from Douglas Adams: “You may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s but that’s just peanuts to space.”
May 28, 2023
Crossroads
Changing Paths challenge day 28 — the crossroads
“Only one heart had to find its true position and travel on from there and all the rest would follow, for no matter how isolated the one felt itself to be, in the deeps of all life all were united and no one could move accurately without all ultimately moving with it…”
—Laurens van der Post, A Far-Off Place, p 304
May 27, 2023
Change
Changing Paths challenge day 27: change
My favourite times of year are the transitional seasons of spring and autumn, when everything is changing rapidly. In spring there are new blossoms and new leaves emerging, and the days lengthen rapidly. In autumn, the leaves turn red and yellow and orange and are blown away in the wind. The smell of bonfires is in the air, symbolising the transformation of decay into the bright energy of fire.
May 26, 2023
Spiritual wobbles
Changing Paths challenge day 26 — wobbling
Spiritual wobbles can happen when your spiritual path becomes out of synch with your religious community. They can be dry spells, when it feels as if the source of your spiritual life has dried up, or the wobble can propel you out of your old path and into a new one. It depends how severe the wobble is.
