Notices by Cat (cat_lefey@pagan.plus)

If you've been a pagan for a while, you run into the same questions over and over again. It can be difficult to come up with quick, easy to understand answers to a topic as complex as religious beliefs when you're like, standing in line at the grocery checkout.

I've learned that the best strategy is to somewhat meet their expectations, and then direct the next question to a simpler, more specific topic with your answer.

Here are some that I've developed over the years that seem to work:

Q: "What is paganism?"
A: "It's a nature-centered religion where we believe in many gods, kinda like Buddhism."
(This gives people a frame of reference to something they have heard of before, even though it's not perfectly accurate.)

Q: Do you worship Satan?
A: Not personally, though pagans worship all dofferent kinds of gods. As long as no harm is being done, we don't tell people which gods to worship.
(Emphasizing the polytheistic nature of paganism works best, especially for christians, who have to get over that binary good vs. evil idea first if you want to reach them)

Q: Do you do spells/believe in magic?
A: Yeah, a spell is just like a prayer with ingredients. I make a brew, light a candle, and ask the universe for help. I mean, it can't hurt, amiright?
(Sounds a lot less cool and mystical like that, but it appeals to reason.)

Q: So are you, like, a witch?
A: Yeah, I practice witchcraft every time I work in my garden, lol. It sounds way cooler than it is, it's mostly meditating and lighting incense.
(Don't tell what witchcraft *is*, focus on what it looks like.)

#Pagan

A straight white guy friend was complaining about not being able to find any gaming groups for WoW that weren't full of MAGA assholes. He said he keeps joining guilds with older (60+) casual gamers like himself because he can't keep up with the kids, and he'll start to make friends, but then they will reveal themselves to be Trump-lovers. He asked, "What am I doing wrong?"

I said, "First of all, your screen name is Russian. Leftys are gonna be wary of that, and the Alt-right loves it.
Second, you should put some social signals in your bio, like pronouns."

"Okay, but how do I tell people I'm cool, but I'm not gay or trans?"
I explained to him what "cis" and "ally" mean. He had never heard of this before, which showed me what kind of online spaces he was landing in.

Next, I said, "Look for the furries."
"But, I'm not a furry?"
"Yes, but the presence of furries are like lichen. They are a sign of a healthy ecosystem."

This was about 3 months ago. Now, he tells me he joined a guild labeled as LGBTQ-friendly and has made several new cool friends. He says, "I thought they would be talking about sex all the time but it's just a regular group." He mentioned that there are many women and PoC in the group too, and "Everyone's so nice on dungeon runs, telling people they did a good job and being supportive, sharing loot."

I didn't tell him that this is what the whole world would be like without patriarchal toxic masculinity, because I think he figured it out himself.

"If Imbolc be gray, spring is not far away..."

#Imbolc

21 Nights of Hávamál (stanzas 89 through 95: only 7 stanzas today because the next section begins a narrative)

These are my modern interpretations of the verses of the Hávamál; Odin’s sayings.

89. Don’t trust things that are damaged, or things that work too well,
Moving fast means making mistakes.
90. Falling in love is like walking barefoot across a frozen lake,
Or catching an oiled pig, slippery and uncontrollable.
91. Speak plainly when it comes to love and relationships,
Don’t present a different version of yourself to make people like you.
92. If you want affection, speak kindly and offer up parts of yourself,
You’ll win because people like to hear how much you like them.
93. Don’t fight over partners,
Don’t let yourself be blinded by lust.
94. Don’t tease people when they fall in love,
Love can make you irrational.
95. Only you can know what is in your heart,
There is no worse illness than not loving anything.

#21NightsOfHavamal

21 Nights of Hávamál (stanzas 73 through 80)

These are my modern interpretations of the verses of the Hávamál, like if Odin had a Mastodon account.

73. Don’t talk shit when you’re outnumbered,
Expect that everyone has a hidden weapon.
74. You’ll sleep better at night if you feel prepared for bad weather,
In autumn, the weather changes quickly each day, and more in a month.
75. Fools do not know that they know nothing,
Those born rich don’t know what it’s like to be poor.
76. Everything dies, even yourself,
But good deeds will be remembered.
77. Everything dies, even yourself,
But a dead person’s reputation will be remembered.
78. I’ve seen people who were rich, and now they’re poor,
Fortunes can change in the blink of an eye.
79. If a fool falls in love or gains wealth,
It will go to their head.
80. You can be sure that if you consult the runes that the Wise One made,
They will tell you that silence is always a safe bet.

#21NightsOfHavamal

Mastodon is not a marketplace, where you set up your little booth and wait for the crowd to walk by and check out your stuff.
This place is a lunchroom, or maybe a campfire; it's up to you to go and sit next to people and strike up a conversation if you want interaction.

Sure, you can sell stuff here, I've bought plenty of things myself that I saw advertised here. But it's not a storefront in a mall, it's door-to-door sales; you need to build a little trust first. Because we're not here to browse or shop, we're here to sit by the campfire.

@moss I usually give the advice to start with wooden knitting needles because they "grip" the yarn better and it makes it easier to hold it.

People who knit usually collect shit tons of needles, so honestly just asking around might produce a set for free. Maybe check your local library, senior center, or church if there's a knitting circle, they might even give you some yarn to work with too.

Sunrise hitting The Great GrandDaddy Tree in my front yard this morning.
He is a very old sugar maple in his 126th autumn season, practically a member of the family.

Dessert for after the feast!

#Mabon #Witch

I love the sherbert colors of this Lantana!

Sometimes called ‘shrub verbena,’ it's not edible like vervain tho. Only a bit toxic to humans, but very dangerous for grazing animals, which is why it's behind the fence in my #PoisonGarden

#bloomscrolling

A tale of two libraries:

I live in an extremely rural area between two larger towns, which are around the same size (population 10,000 ish).

One’s library is huge; two stories, multiple research rooms, reading areas with comfy chairs. There's never anything going on, it's empty every time I go. The only things on their event calendar are town board meetings. They're still charging late fees, and actually have a bookstore in the library where they sell books at cover price.

The other town's library is a small, squat building in a residential area. They run an adult learning program, and homework help, have history presentations every weekend, and game nights for the kids. I've been to a Titanic tea party, a Mario Kart competition, a reptarium presentation, a laser dance party, plant ID labs, movie nights, and more. All free. It's not a great place to study, actually, cuz it's jam packed with people constantly.

I'll let you guess which one is in a conservative town, and which one flies a rainbow flag out front.

My moon flower is gonna be open for the full moon, and I'm super excited to do some cool moon magick!

#witch

I'm loving everyone's pictures of the aurora!

A lot of these pictures don't have alt text though, and I get it, it's something that's probably indescribable. But I want to try anyway:

I could say that it's a filmy wash of colors in the sky that starts pink at the top and fades to yellowy-green, but that doesn't capture their majesty. Because the most breathtaking part of the Aurora is how it makes you feel. The bright bands of light that vibrate down like wavering harp strings give a depth of perspective in the atmosphere. The lights are at the top of the sky, and there is so much beyond it, the feeling of smallness is close to fear. The lights aren't constant, they pulse and writhe like living things, like the sky is alive and talking to you through glimmering ribbons. They look like song, like those old gospel choir tunes that give you goosebumps.

A lot of people living in cities don't realize that rural USA is a lot like those third-world countries a politician might describe as ‘shitholes.’

In my tiny village(which is basically a few far-apart houses and farms gathered around a swamp):

-No municipal water (we have a well)
-No sewer (septic tanks)
-No garbage disposal (burn it)
-No public school (There's one in the next town over, bus leaves at 630am, gets back 430pm)
-No public college (there's one in the next county, that means you pay out-of-county tuition which is double)
-No mail delivery (I have a PO box)
-No police (I actually love this, no complaints here)
-No fire/emergency services (volunteers are notified by the town siren, closest actual hospital is an hour flight by chopper after you've driven 40 minutes to the rural hospital, which is basically just triage)

Where do I live? In Michigan, but you'll never find my address cuz it's not even on Google Maps.

My kid is in a club at school, and they meet 4x a week for 4 hours. So all the parents chip in and stock a "snack cabinet" (granola bars, juice boxes, etc.) because teenagers are hungry goblins.
I went to fill the cabinet and noticed a padlock on it, apparently someone had been "stealing."
I admit, this triggered me.
I spoke to the coach and told him that perhaps he should talk to the kids and find out if one of them is food insecure instead of locking up some two dollar box of granola bars.
The look on his face, I could tell it kinda clicked, he didn't even think of that, just assumed it was some punk kid breaking rules.
People who grow up with wealth don't even realize that it changes the way they think. Luckily, he's a cool guy, and he was horrified that one of 'his kids' might be hungry at home. Sometimes it just takes one comment to open up someone's eyes to their privilege.

As I tell my own children: If you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.

10 Image #CaptionTips from a transcriptionist:

1. Any words are better than nothing.
2. You don't need to say it's "a picture of…" screen readers will already say it's an image.
3. Start with the framing or format (i.e. close up, landscape, meme, text).
4. Think about the reason you're posting the pic and describe that first, add background details if you have time.
5. Pretend you're talking to someone on the phone and want to tell them about this cool thing you're looking at.
6. Transcribe any and all text in the image, even if it's the only thing you do.
7. If you've described the image in your post, you don't need to copy and paste it again in the caption. But again, don't leave it blank, just put something like "as described."
8. You can add small subjective notes, but don't give too much interpretation of the image in your own opinion.
9. Caption jokes are fun, as long as they still describe the image objectively.
10. Use punctuation, and capitalize words properly. A lot of us have interacted with this tech when calling customer service or talking to Siri, so keep in mind that you're writing for a computer to read, and it needs all the help it can get.