Mabh Savage's Blog: A Celtic Witch, page 29

Kin

Ginger hair in duplicate

One by choice

One by genes

In jeans of blue

And eyes the same

Cool pools of dew

That cry ‘I love you’.

January Pagan Pages

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Click here to access this month’s issue of Pagan Pages. The free e-zine has been lovingly put together and this month you can enjoy reviews of Tree Magic, Tree Medicine by Ellen Evert Hopman, and Sacred Plant Initiations by Carole Guyett. If this whets your appetite for all things green, check out my article on the magical artichoke.

The editor explores some of the witchy subscription offers available, and the regular columns on divination, sacred art and feminism are all looking fab this month.

Happy new year to all our readers!

Death of a Christmas Tree

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Epiphany!

But there was no

Kind revelation

Or transformation

No visiting magi

Blessed this bunch

Of tattered twigs

And glitter.

Barely litter;

Sitting partway

On the verge

Of grass

And desperation.

Christmas over

Someone angry?

Resenting loss

Of festive cheer?

Or beer

Fuelled madness

Take the tree out for a ride mate

Toss it out the window!

Who can say.

I would have treasured

It’s glitzy branches

Cheap and cheerful

Both positives

To me.

But now mud spattered

Battered

I say again, tattered

Here lies Christmas

Rest in pieces.

Happiness

I was looking for a specific piece of work from 2012 when I came across this. I’m not sure what was happening the day I wrote this but clearly I was in a good mood! My description of how happiness exists within us and how it feels.

https://soundsoftime.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/happiness/

Enjoy!

An Ode to My New Coat

Wrapped in

Tiny, tiny pillows

Downy treats

To snuggle in

On streets

While walking

In snow

Hail or rain

No pain

No sting

Just cuddling

My purple joy

My new toy

I’ve waited so long

This song

Is for the coat

I yearned for

Without even

Knowing it.

Silky sacks of feathers

Siccing all the weathers

I am a child again

Hugging tight

Colour night

And thumbing

Nose at

Snow.

Giveaway: Celtic Witchcraft

To celebrate 300 lovely folks following me on that there Twitter, I’m giving away 5 signed copies of my latest book, Pagan Portals: Celtic Witchcraft. Click here to enter. Good luck, and happy new Gregorian year!

Solstice Thoughts

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Winter Sunrise, copyright M Savage 2017

I’m not blogging extensively over the solstice period as I’m terribly sleep deprived and using the few spoons I have left to me to spend time with family. However, whilst cleaning my altars last night, a few thoughts and ideas came to me that I may expand upon for future blogs:

1) The masks we wear, and how they are not always a bad thing.

2) Sowing seeds of kindness in hopes of trees of compassion.

3) The importance of family, including the family we choose for ourselves.

4) The connection between the Morrígan and livestock; not just cattle.

5) Celts and their sheep and maybe goats.

Also I was thinking I should really get back to reading more. Commitments made before the gods are taken seriously; this morning I was given ‘The Hidden Life if Trees’ and through the post arrived a lovely, glossy book on sigils that I’m to review for Pagan Pages. That’s my reading sorted!

A blessed solstice to all.

Parenting: Fighting the Boob

Any ideas why babies fight the boob? At first, with Ember (now nearly six weeks old), I thought it was because I was offering food when she really was not hungry, or when she really wanted something else. However, picture the scene:

She’s rooting, tongue in and out, obviously tense and irate but not actually crying yet. Mummy moves her head towards boob, unholsters the milk machine, and hitherto quiet baby screams, as if she is being tortured. But! If mummy perseveres, stroking nipple on face, stroking cheek with finger, coaxing verbally and so forth, baby will either

A) latch on and feed as if naught of import had occurred or

B) scream as if actually being murdered.

If ‘A’ occurs, quiet tears of joy are shed. But for ‘B’, well, the malicious mammary is hustled away behind the barrier of bra and we return to hunting for whichever soothing method is in fashion for the next five minutes.

My son would feed whenever it was there, so this is alien behaviour to me.

Any ideas?

Moon Books Blog

A quick news update via Patreon, and the start of my own section of the Moon Books Blog. Bird lovers in particular will enjoy the article on the blog.

Samhain

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Recognising that today isn’t always a happy day. Not everyone is filled with joy remembering their ancestors or loved ones. Sometimes the veil being thin and opening up lets through memories that can stir up great clouds of emotion we might rather not face, or that even when we want to face them, can be so, so hard to deal with.

Don’t feel forced to be happy in the face of masks, music and trick or treaters; if you need to cry, cry. If you need to talk, talk. If you need silence, seek solitude or quiet company and above all don’t feel guilty for this.

We all deal with things in different ways. If you are joyous this season, that’s wonderful. If the turn of the wheel feels slow, sluggish, rusty and painful, stay warm, safe and look after yourself the best way you can. 

Samaritans: Call 116 123

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/samaritans-free-call-helpline-number-faqs