Notices by Cat (cat_lefey@pagan.plus)

I have finished the temperature blanket panel for 2025! This is a decade-long project. Each stripe represents the local daily high temperature in farenheit: red is 90s, orange is 80s, yellow is 70s, and so on.

To capture the entire winter and summer seasons, the first bottom row actually starts on November 1st of the previous year, and the numbers are placed on January 1st of the labeled year, and it continues up from there.

#crochet #FiberArt #ClimateDiary

The two best pieces of advice I have ever received when it comes to volunteering and activism:

"Just say 'no'." People who volunteer tend to be people-pleasers, and will often spread themselves too thin and burn out by agreeing to every request. Some of this work will take generations to truly solve. Volunteer orgs would prefer you work once a month for 5 years instead of working every day for 2 months and then needing to quit because you've hurt yourself. Consistancy is more important than quantity; we're in this for the long haul.

"Choose one thing." Taking in the plethora of causes that need help will overload your nervous system and make you freeze up, doing nothing. Pick just one issue that you can reasonably put effort towards and do that. Yes, we need people out there protesting fascism, but there are also probably shelters in your area that could use things like paper towels, masks, and tampons. Whether it's helping kids with homework after school or picking up trash at parks, all of these things are part of the fight for a better future. Every act of voluneering is an act against the capitalist system. Pick one, and get to work knowing that you are part of the resistance.

I finished my altar cloth just in time for the Yule ritual tonight. This is part of a series of faire-isle style altar clothes I'm making dedicated to my various gods for each holiday in the Wheel of the Year. This one is for Odin, the OG Santa Claus.
Wishing all my fellow Pagans a happy solstice!

#Pagan #Yule #knitting

Mushroom week continues. Today's gem is Armillaria solipides, also known as "Honey Mushroom." This parasitic fungus can infect living trees and spread through hundreds of acres of forest through tendrils of rhizomorphs called 'shoestrings.' It is considered the largest terrestrial organism on Earth.

Yes, they are edible, but gross. Extremely woody, tastes like chewing tree bark with a light glaze of corn syrup. When cooked, they turn to black goo. Wild animals like deer and skunks love them, though, and seeing animal bites out of them is almost a hallmark for identification.

Found in big clusters at the base of hardwoods, they're easier to identify when they're small because the caps are covered in little black fuzzy hairs, which aren't as prominent when fully open. (Zoom on the 2nd pic to see them.)

#Mushtodon

My husband just called Mastodon a "cyberpunk voodoo parlor," and I am honestly flattered 🤩

I read a lot of books. Like, a lot. I've read 148 books so far this year. This means I read many indie authors, and I'm willing to give unknown authors or unrated books a chance.

But LLMs are ruining everything. I've accidentally started reading 2 "AI" books in just the past month. It's the repetition that gives them away. Whole paragraphs that repeat word for word only a few pages apart. Also, the glaring continuity errors, like in one scene the character mentions a brother, but then a chapter later they're an only child.

It's just so frustrating because I know that new authors rely on those first few reviews for their book to even show up on searches, but now I'm reluctant to try. I've been sticking to authors I know, and even some of those are showing hints of using AI for their covers. And if the cover is AI art, they're obviously fine with plaigerism, so they probably used AI to write some of it too.

Godsdamned techbros have even managed to interfere with my love of cheesy gay romance novels! Is nothing sacred?!

#gravy

@ElementalEcho yup, powerful is a good way to put it. I've messed myself up with tea before too, whoops!

Saying that witchcraft is "dangerous," or that only 'experienced' witches should attempt certain spells, is a technique used by grifters to operate in our occult spaces. Creating a need that only *they* can fill is, like, Charlatan 101.

It's also a way for people in the community to get clout by making themselves seem more official or more powerful. These people might not be outright grifters, but I can bet you that they are selling something.

No, witchcraft is not dangerous. Nothing evil will happen unless you intentionally want it to, and even then—sorry wannabe supervillians, but you're gonna be sorely disappointed by how much reach you actually have.

Historically, encouraging people to fear us hasn't gone well for witches. I'm not saying we gotta be all 'love and light,' I'm saying it's giving us way too much credit.

Witchcraft is less like weilding knives and more like weilding a ball of yarn. I could definitely hurt someone with yarn, but that's not gonna happen on accident, I'd have to intentionally put effort into it.

#Witchcraft

Springtime reminder that all plants in the lily family are toxic to cats. This includes tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths. Irises are also toxic. Basically, any spring bulb perrenial is probably poisonous to your cat, so be careful with those boquets.

#Beltane

Posts about medicinal herbs hardly ever include the side effects or any negative reactions. It's always, "drink chamomile tea to relax and sleep" and not, "15-20% of people are allergic to ragweeds, which includes chamomile, so it might give you a scratchy throat."

-Drinking mint tea regularly can cause acid reflux and exacerbate other GI issues.

-St. John's Wort calms you, and is good for depression, but it can also dangerously lower your heart rate if you take beta blockers.

-Sure, fennel is great for "digestive issues," but don't schedule a date that night, you will be very gassy.

-All members of the Poplar family, which includes Willow, contain the same chemical as modern aspirin within their bark. Don't give it to your kid if they have the flu or chicken pox, it can cause a deadly reaction.

-Rosehip helps with painful menstruation, and is a great source of vitamin C. So great, in fact, that you can overdose and give yourself kidney stones if you take too much.

-Dear white people, taking turmeric every day will literally turn you orange.

#Herbology #HedgeWitch

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.