Mabh Savage's Blog: A Celtic Witch, page 30

Celtic Witchcraft

My second book, Pagan Portals: Celtic Witchcraft, is on offer on Kindle for £2.79 at the moment.

Get it here.

Hopeless Maine, Lansdown Hall

[image error]

This event, part of Stroud Book Festival, looks absolutely magical. Oh for the mobility for a trip to Stroud! Please go, and then come back and tell me how marvellous it was. How many opportunities are there in life to step inside a graphic novel? Especially the darkly delightful creation of Nimue Brown and Tom Brown. I’m wild with envy. Event info here.

Pregnancy: SPD Tips

Warning: some mention of sex.

SPD may be referred to as PGP. The first acronym means symphysis pubis dysfunction. The latter means pelvic girdle pain. Both cover the often excruciating pain caused by excessive movement of the pelvic and pubic bones during pregnancy.

I had this condition when I was pregnant with Nathan, and I have it again with this little one, now due in about 4 weeks, all being well.

Symptoms include (but are not limited to) sharp pain straight down the centre of your pubic bone, pain around the inner thighs, pain around the pelvis (side, front and/or back) and other lower back and torso pain. You may also hear clicking and popping, or feel like the bones are grinding together.

I can no longer roll over in the night without a huge ‘clunk’, as something in my pelvis moves, accompanied with a pain that brings tears to my eyes every single time. I am on crutches and have a big tuby-grip bandage around my bump. Even with these support mechanisms in place, I’m in agony much of the time.

I am NOT an expert, but here are some tips I can offer, from both my own experience and from others’ good advice.

1/ As soon as you feel pain, see your midwife. Just because something is common, it doesn’t make it normal. Get checked out.

2/ Get referred for physio. It can help, and your physiotherapist can recommend supports and crutches if necessary. 

3/ When you speak to your physio, mention every pain you’ve had, and what makes it worse and what eases it. If you think you might forget something, write a list before you go in. I had a sharp pain in my buttock which turned out to be sciatica, so different exercises were given to support that. Pain happens for all sorts of reasons.

4/ Don’t try and be ‘tough’. If the pain is making you cry or not be able to sleep, or stopping you getting to work or getting tasks done, then when your physio asks ‘Where is the pain on a scale from 1-10?’ You say ‘8’. 

9 and 10 are where you would be moaning in pain constantly or passing out, so don’t try and play it down. 

5/ Walk up stairs sideways. (Thanks Debi!) Keep your knees together as much as possible. Don’t vacuum, don’t mop, lift as little as possible. 

6/ Sex: Missionary is out, spreading your legs is not a good idea! Same for straddling your partner. Even if it feels good at the time, the stress on your pubis can lead to agony later on. All fours might work for you, or alternatively lying on your side; anything that keeps your legs as close together as possible.

7/ Painkillers: ibuprofen isn’t usually recommended in pregnancy, normally paracetamol is fine, but please, please check with your midwife or GP before self-medicating. I am now on a low dose of codeine, but this may not be suitable for you. See your GP. And finally, on that note…

8/ Don’t be fobbed off. One of my GPS didn’t know what SPD was or why I was asking for pain killers. Get a second opinion if you don’t feel like your care professional is taking you seriously. Get your midwife to intercede for you, or ask for advice from your physiotherapist. 

If lack of sleep and pain is affecting your mental health, you can also get support for this. Please don’t be afraid to ask. It’s really, really hard to be in pain and tired all the time. Asking for help is completely normal.

Online resources:

Pelvic Partnership:

https://www.pelvicpartnership.org.uk/what-is-pgp/facts-and-myths

NHS advice:

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/pelvic-pain-pregnant-spd.aspx

Pelvic Obstetric Gynaecological Physiotherapy

http://pogp.csp.org.uk/about-pogp

Royal College of Psychiatrists, mental health in pregnancy:

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/expertadvice/problems/mentalhealthinpregnancy.aspx?theme=mobile

Season Tree

[image error]Some time back Nathan (seven) and I decided we wanted something in the front hall way that brightened the place up, and showed the changing of the seasons. I dug out this lovely, eastern style lantern with different nature images on each panel, and Nathan brought home this branch which we wedged between wall and pipes.

Now we are into autumn, we have the fish showing on the lantern, reminiscent of Alban Elfed; light of the water, the Druidic named for the recently passed autumn equinox. Nathan has gathered fallen Norway maple leaves from the gorgeous tree that grows just inside his school gates. And we have his ever present dragon, a wire sculpture he has had since he was tiny, guarding the door.

The skeleton reminds us of our ancestors, and that we are moving closer to Samhain. It’s glittery because, well, why not? It’s a party skeleton!

What should we have as we move into winter?

Moving Hekate

As we prepare for imminent baby arrival, I’ve had to clear some of my more esoteric items out of what will soon be the nursery. It was my ‘me’ space; for meditation, solo ritual and worship. However, that won’t be practical now, and the hardest thing about this has been finding a suitable place to move my Goddesses to.

Hekate posed a particular problem, as I wanted to be able to keep my devotional items and candles handy, without them moving to a spot where they will set the house on fire, get knocked about or sat on by cats (too much!). Also, I wanted a suitable spot which was apt for this liminal goddess.

I decided on the downstairs hallway, as there is space here that doesn’t get cluttered, it’s easy to keep clean and Nathan and I had already started on making it a more ‘spiritual’ portal to the home by creating a season tree; more on that in another blog.

Jim had built a three tier corner unit which he kindly donated to the cause; ideal for this three faced goddess of the triple crossroads.

[image error]

I cleansed and consecrated the space, and cleaned the items I wanted to move, anointing some in olive oil; as well as being a great offering for Hekate, the oil helps protect the surfaces of some of my altar items. I have used the three teirs to roughly represent the three levels of the world and Her dominion; earth, sea and sky. 

I have replaced her twin torches, which were larger wax candles, with LED candles for safety. The red candle from her last sacred fire is present and when I perform a ritual to sanctify this space, the old candle will be used to light a new red candle, to symbolise the transition we have undergone, and the cyclical nature of the universe.

Finally, she is now in a truly luminal spot in the house. The front hallway is neither truly in or out of the house. There are no main rooms downstairs; we either climb up to warmth and food or down to fresh air and adventure. She is close to the door, the portal to our daily different ways of being, and as keeper of keys this feels like a safe and suitable place for her to be. 

[image error]

I think the final step may be painting the unit, as it just feels a touch drab at the moment! 

New Poem: Ink Cap

Fungi, the changing season, and some gorgeous artwork from Nimue Brown.

http://moon-books.net/blogs/moonbooks/pagan-poetry-ink-cap/

September Pagan Pages Now Up!

Hello all, I [image error]hope you are enjoying the first touches of autumn and the first tentative fingers of the fall. Our lawn is already dotted with yellow birch leaves, and the odd ink cap that appears magically overnight. The blackberries are dragging the brambles low to the ground with their lucious, loaded weight, and doves and wood pigeons fight over their delicious bounty.

While it gets a bit cooler outside, you might want to stay in the warm and catch up on some reading. With that in mind, here is this month’s Pagan Pages, packed full of entertaining and informative tid-bits for your enjoyment.

There’s a magical tale from Ian Elliott, the new feminist column from Susan Morgaine, and Imelda Almqvist writes about painting, as well as regular columns Crystal Connections, Good God! and my own Notes from the Apothecary, which this month takes a more dangerous turn as I look at the deadly Aconite.

I was also lucky enough to be introduced to some new Pagan music over the summer, so please check out my review of Trismegistia, and my interview with Daniel Faria, the brain child of this mystical music project.

May your autumn be warm and fruitful!

 

House Martins

[image error]

These little beauties all came to pick at the crumbs left by fellow bank holiday revellers. I was on the seafront at Hornsea, resting my weary bones after a meander on the wet and glorious beach. As I sat quietly, the martins waited until the noisy passers by had cleared off, then came in force to clean up behind them.

I was lucky enough to see one of their nesting spots, inside an old, brick bus shelter on the Esplanade. The little mud  pod is so tiny you can hardly believe a family is raised in there, but we regularly saw mum and dad flying in and out with delectables for the babies.

House martins are a type of swallow, and unlike their cousins, the swifts, aren’t constantly on the wing, but can be seen resting, in particular on man made structures such as telephone wires and rooftops. Folklore has it that Noah granted the martins permission to use human housing as their own, for being such a ‘useful’ bird, however prior to modern housing, martins built their nests on cliffs and crags.

There are many superstitions involving luck and martins or other swallows. A hunter may wear the tail of the first Martin of the year on his cap to ensure a successful hunt; an unnecessarily cruel tradition, methinks! Three martins landing on your roof is a sign of good fortune. A German superstition holds that if you wash your face immediately after seeing the first martin or swallow of the year, you won’t get sunburnt that year. Still, best keep the factor 30 handy just in case…

As we approach autumn, we will have to say goodbye to our migratory visitors soon, but look out for them again next spring. Swifts are the ones who are always in flight, ever moving. Swallows have the red breast, in English folklore a symbol of devil’s blood which becomes apparent in the birds’ nature if you try to disturb their nests! But martins are the ones who share our houses, sit companionably on telegraph poles and pub signs, and remind us we are lucky to have these visitors from foreign climes.

Moon Books Author News

Sharing from the Moon Books Blog. Here’s what the Moon Books (Pagan Publisher) authors have been up to over the summer, plus some upcoming stuff. Check out the pic of my stall, with books in freezer bags because it kept raining!

http://moon-books.net/blogs/moonbooks/moon-books-news-for-september/

Enjoy!

Autumn is coming…

[image error]

Yes, it’s a blatant take on GoT’s signature slogan, but the drama of winter is a way off (we hope) and I’m loving browsing Pinterest and Tumblr and seeing how excited folks are getting about fall, Halloween and Samhain.

The primary colour is orange, a good thing for one of our boys as it’s his favourite colour! Orange leaves, orange sweets (American candy-corn in particular), pumpkins, clothes and soft, wooly blankets. Sunrise glinting off dew-gems in spider webs. Sunset shimmering bright across purple twilight skies. Marigolds giving way to mushrooms giving way to leafmold and cold, clean nights.

We start to talk about wholesome, hearty meals, such as beef stew with dumplings, or served in a giant Yorkshire pudding. Slow cookers are dusted off, and put to good use.

I’m due to have our baby in November, and as mentioned in previous blogs, am pretty sore and sad with SPD, but I still feel excited in these last days of summer, already brimming over with the promise of autumnal bounty. It’s not quite here yet though. There’s brambling to do first; the bushes outside my house are starting to look as heavy as I , with their black and juicy jewels. 

Limited though my mobility may be, I look forward to the joys of late summer and early autumn with optimism, with two small boys and a large one to help out, there’s no reason why we still can’t have some fun.