Last Post Before The Holidays

Just a quick post to remind you that from Friday 29 (tomorrow) until July 9, I will be enjoying a little break. The shop will stay open and orders will be attended, and dates for readings/candlework/spells are available for when I’m back – just convo me through Etsy or email me at magickshop(at)gmail.com and I’ll get back at you as usual.

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Beautiful Images: The Bathing Of The Goats, Saint John’s Eve, Tenerife

On the night of the 23rd of June, Saint John’s Eve, happens the “bathing of the goats” in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. Herds of goats are bathed in the sea, following one of the oldest Canarian traditions, to enhance their fertility before the mating season. Puerto De La Cruz is my mother’s family’s hometown, and the town where I was born. Goats are NOT harmed in any way.

These pictures are not mine, I am showing here for educational purposes only. Original images HERE.

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Doll Blog Update

Yesterday I wrote a new post at my doll blog, showing the first of the three dolls I got from a House Of Eleggua patron – check it out!

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Update – Tarot And Spellwork Services Deactivated!

The Tarot, Spellwork and Candle Work services have been deactivated until July 9, as all slots for next week are already taken. Some customers have already asked about reserving the first slots after July 9 – the slots will be available through custom listings. If you want to reserve a date, let me know and I’ll make a custom listing for your service – once you pay it, I will contact you with the date your work will be made as usual.

And remember – I am not going anywhere, so I am reachable by convo or email just as any day. I will be working on new items for the shop, and photographing and listing items as time allows. So, if you need anything, you know where to find me :).

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Tarot And Spellwork Notice – Customers Please Read!

From June 29, Friday, to July 9, Monday, the Tarot, Spellwork and Candlework services will be unavailable. The shop will stay open as usual, and orders and messages will be attended, but I will be taking a small break from the magical services. Right now, there are only two slots left for next week, and I will deactivate the listings from Etsy and the website once the slots are given, so if you want to pre-reserve dates for when I’m back on the 9th, you can message me privately at magickshop(at)gmail.com, and I’ll send you an invoice for your work.

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New Moon Magic

Celebrating with the Spirits of the land during the night of the New Moon. The goat skull in the center of the table was a very lucky find – last week we had to go to one of the places in the woods where we work, to make a spell for a customer. Besides the area where we usually work, there is a small eucalyptus forest – Fernando went there alone to meditate while I was looking for herbs and taking pics. He told me he stopped for praying in the middle of the trees, and closed his eyes for a few minutes; when he opened them, half a goat skull and several pieces from the goat’s jaw were beside his feet. If they had been there before he arrived, he would’ve stepped over them; his footprints were right under the bones.

For us Canarians, the goat is the quintessential Provider. Without goats, the Guanches would have not survived, given our geography and climate. Fernando and his parents raised goats when he was a child, and as Witches, we cannot deny the power and influence of the Goat God – call him Pan, Baphomet, or however you please. There is a strong tradition in Spain of the Goat God cult, mostly in the north of the country, as well as here in the islands – the Goat is the protector and healer of animals, the keeper of the Witches’ secrets, the provider of food, leather, bone and horn. Did you know that the Guanches would plow the land with goat horns, since they didn’t know metals?

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The Weekend’s Crafts

Sorry for last week’s complete absence from blogging – after a truly exhausting week, we had a very relaxing weekend full of quality time, cheesy Roger Corman movies, long restoring naps and taking care of our very neglected home. We’re back fully rested and ready to face this week’s work.

My crafty work was focused of hand sewing. Our very magical Cornelius, a doll which was a gift from a customer (thanks once again Heather!) and that has become my craft room companion, needed a new set of clothes – he loves the cats and the cats love him back just as much, so the clothes I made for him were completely covered in cat hair and needed a wash. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that dolls are a very important part of my magical work – and certainly, this work fits into the “work with the Small Ones” category of work that I mentioned in my last post.


As you can see in the pics, I also sewed two new quilted potholders for the kitchen, and a small quilted mat using a lovely piece of owl-themed fabric that our dearest friend and customer Lucy sent me from the UK (thanks once again Lucy!). Two good practices to start making bigger patchwork projects in the near future – as part of my desire to recycle/upcycle my ever growing collection of fabrics. Every now and then, our friends and family bring us bags of clothes and household fabrics “because I’m sure you’ll make something out of this”, and if I don’t start using them all they will take every free space on our little craft room (smile).

This little bowl was crocheted and beaded, to hold my cowrie shell oracle and my coconut Oracle pieces.

I have also made several items to be listed this week – hopefully tomorrow. Five small Witch Dolls for your altar, three unique necklaces and a small army of wax poppets for spellwork/amulets/etc. If you are interested in any of them and want to save me the joy of listing them, please let me know as usual :).

The Witch dolls are perfect for your altar – stuffed with protection and healing herbs and adorned with a lovely deer charm (18$ each)

The wax poppets are perfect for spells – you can carve the spell’s recipient name easily with a pin or nail, and add runes, sigils, etc. (5$ each).

The necklaces have been made with ritual attire in mind – the white one has shell, glass and carved bone beads; the green and brown, glass and ceramic plus the Earth Goddess charm; the yellow and orange, glass and a wonderful vintage snake charm that I have been saving for years. 35$ each.
EDITED – The white shell necklace has been sold.

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Changes, Cowrie Shells And The Gods Of Small Matters

The three first tasks I have been assigned by our Guides have been of quite different nature; the first one was dismantling the altar; the second, working more with “small” spirits; the third, working more with my cowrie shell oracle.

Dismantling the altar has not been an easy task at all. I had grown really attached to it along the years. I received instructions on what to do with almost every item on it – some of them were given to Mother Earth, some to Exu Okkada in the dumpster, and the rest of it I’m free to do what I want, so some statues have been placed around the house (because I will need them for certain works) and a couple of them will be sold to friends and patrons that I’m sure will make wonderful use of them. I am free to create seasonal or working altars as I please, but they must be dismantled again after use, always going back to the blank page of the empty altar table after it is no longer needed.

I won’t deny I was more than a little heartbroken while doing it, but the house’s energy lifted tremendously after doing it, proof of how right our Guide was, and proof that it was no longer a need for me. Spirits are everywhere, and I can feel them everywhere. The altar was not more sacred than any other place in the house, and I was made very clear that I could honour my Guides/Orishas anywhere I wanted, however I wanted, so this is not a loss of connection, but quite the opposite – the confirmation that the connection is permanent and constantly at my reach. Every single place, in my house or in the world, is an altar now. Makes perfect sense to me.

About the second task, attending the “Small Ones”, let’s say we could include there every Spirit that’s not a Guide/Orisha/Deity: my Root Spirit, fetishes, amulets, and of course the Dead. That kind of spirit is in much bigger need of physical objects to link to, and of offerings of food/candles/whatever to keep their energy working – and that needs time and attention, the time and attention I was giving to my Orisha altar before. On this post, I briefly explained that in several Afro-Caribbean religions, new Spirits are added constantly to the worship as the religions are not closed systems – but these “new” Spirits need support from the living to gain energy and evolve into powerful advisors and healers. Figures like Jose Gregorio Hernandez can be found in all good Latin Botanicas, even though he has not been dead for 100 years yet.

Let me make clear that I’m using the term “small ones” because Shango used it during a mediumnic session, not because I personally see them as smaller than anyone. These spirits are very powerful, and can make many of what we call miracles – they just need a different treatment until they have enough power to work for themselves without the need of any help. For me, they are not small at all, because I have experienced in my own skin how much they can do.

The third task is getting a deeper relationship with my cowrie shell oracle. For many years, I have only used it maybe once a year or less, and only for very, very urgent situations, because Eleggua told me once that it should be that way. It’s not something that bothered me particularly because I’m more than good with a card deck and there is little a good deck cannot see, so I never asked again. Well, it seems the waiting time is over and now I am free to study it deeply, and use it without any restriction.

Before you ask – no, I won’t be offering readings anytime soon. When I do (and IF I do), you will be the first to know through this blog. I want time to go through all my books first, to create the items necessary for their correct use and to start empowering them before I actually work with them – Shango called then “little ones” as well, so this is not actually a different task from the second one.

And all that, on top of one of the most work-loaded weeks I’ve had this year. Aaah, the easy life of Witches!

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Pics Of The Week

Handspun yarn for magickal pouches and amulets.

Learning to crochet ripples on the little free time I’ve had this week. Oggum watches over the garden lovingly.


We visited the city of Candelaria, where the Basilica of our patroness is. Didn’t feel any special energy inside the church, but outside the sea was roaring beautifully. Along the avenue beside the church’s square, the statues of the Guanche Menceys, rulers of the nine counties of the island and sons of Mencey Tinerfe are constantly washed by the waves. This is Tegueste, the Mencey of our area and my favourite of the nine.

Remember the dragon’s blood trees we wanted to replant in the wild last winter? We had the chance to visit them yesterday and there they are, growing beautifully! Yay for guerrilla gardening. I already have another five growing at our roof garden, and I can already see a small dragon’s blood tree garden growing on our secret spot in the eucalyptus forest.

June has started like a hurricane, more full of work than I could envision, so I’m sure the blog is going to suffer a little setback as I work my way among spells and readings. We just knew our best friend is coming for a week at the end of the month – can’t wait to have a few days of rest with her!

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Thankful

A beautiful (and expensive!) Seven African Powers candle, glowing beautifully on this hot and cloudy day, to thank all the Spirits who work for our enlightenment, growth and freedom.

I won’t give many details, but this weekend I have been given some of the most loving and liberating advice that I’ve ever received from the Orishas and our guides. A part of my growth as a Witch has ended and another has started. Right now I’m still processing the information and working on the things that our guides have told me to do to make this change as smooth and positive as it should be, and barely starting to understand what the last ten years have really meant, putting together the puzzle of the past and seeing the full image that is shown. On the outside, there won’t be much difference – I will continue to do what I do and being who I am; but inside, I feel like I will never be the same.

Thank you.

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