Spinning Weekend

On Saturday night, we made a small Blot (offering) to the Norse deities – Moroccan tea, rum, honey, milk, cheese, olives, pate, seed bread, an orange spiced with cinnamon and honey, a tobacco pipe, and of course our own kyphi incense. After meditation and prayer, we like to do some special activity devoted to the deities, and this time it was spinning. We had just made some improvements to our spinning wheel and wanted to try it, so we worked all night on spinning what it looked like a ton of red wool in three different tones for a special project I’m keeping secret for now. Sorry for the bad pic, my camera really hates red!

On Sunday, I got to finish another blanket for our charity project, and already started a third one. Colours are a little warmer than in the pic. I am really in love with this piece and it’s a perfect way to use all the wools that Peeps sent me, which were too thick for crocheting – and a wonderful practise for getting better at knitting, something I’m really slow at because of my dyslexia.

Knitting under the sun. Perfect spotless sky, and probably the first sunburnt of the year because we stayed too long moving pots to the shadier side. Temperatures are very high already, so we better hurry to plant this week.

If you want to try the Moroccan Tea, here’s the recipe. It’s a wonderfully refreshing and digestive beverage, to be enjoyed at any time of the day, and its little ritual is a sign of hospitality and friendship for Moroccans.

Moroccan Tea Recipe
- Loose tea (green is the most used, but you can use any good loose tea you like);
- Fresh Spearmint or Peppermint;
- Sugar (white, brown, fructose, even powdered saccharin);

In the pot, place first the sugar, then the tea, and on top the fresh herbs. Pour near-boiling water and let sit for 5 minutes. Take a short, slim glass and pour the tea on it: pour the glass back into the pot, and repeat two more times. Try to pour from as high as you can, so the tea makes a little foam, as the aeration benefits the taste.

After the three pourings, you can serve it, garnishing with more fresh spearmint/peppermint if you want to – a Mauritanian man I met many years ago taught me this small ceremony and told me that “The first glass is bitter as death; the second, long as life; the third, sweet as love.”

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Winter Solstice Pics – II

December 23

The Yule bonfire, made of eucalyptus, wormwood and lavender wood, all wildharvested by us along the year. When the woods turned into a mesmerizing bed of embers, we grilled some mushrooms and sausages and had a wonderful dinner under the stars.

Using the tiny tangerines we offered the night before, we made some pomanders for gifts, as a way to spread the blessings we constantly receive from the Spirits. For the powdered mixture, we added several arabic spices like cumin to give them a more unique scent.

Today, we are making a special dinner for Christmas Eve – special as in frugal, as in simple but tasty food to celebrate with our Dead. A soup like the one my grandma makes is already happily boiling, and probably there will be some spinning tonight. Since it’s only the two of us, we want to have a very intimate, quiet day, with the occasional spirit visit. There is no gift giving in Spain on the 25th, so tonight is the big night here – in our usual rebellious spirit, we fight the over-eating and the over-buying everyone around is going through with simple, comforting food, and devoted quietness.

Have a wonderful day!

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Winter Solstice Pics – I

Right now, we are in the most beautiful time of the year. Here in the north of Africa, we get blue skies, fat and playful clouds, and greenery. Lots of greenery, so brief, so lush, so perfect. It is the season of fresh fruits, of goat breeding, of birds laying eggs – in one word, fertility. While in the Northern hemisphere life stands still under the snow, and in the Southern hemisphere summer is at its peak, those of us who live right in the middle enjoy the miracle that the marriage of winter and summer can create.

For us, seasonal celebrations usually happen during the course of several days – for this Solstice, we have planned to make something special every day from dec.22 to dec.25. This makes it easier to accomplish (as being only two people makes it a little difficult for more complex rituals) and much more enjoyable I think. Right now we are on holidays so this makes it even easier, but usually we work 7 days a week so there is no other way to make all the activities fit on our schedule. And, last but not least, we think confining a sacred time to one night makes it for a very poor understanding of the change of the cycles, and the lesson it contains.

December 22

In the morning, Eleggua and the Saints got a freshly made fruit cake from our local bakery. Though Yule is not celebrated in Santeria, Eleggua must be attended before every important celebration to ensure good communication between worlds – and, this is the Temple Of Eleggua, so he gets spoiled every chance he gets, period. The rest of day busily flew away cleaning and arranging the house for our Spirit guests.

In the late evening, we prepared the offerings for Sunnas, norse goddess of the Sun, and Frey, norse god of fertility. It was Fernando, of course, who decided most of the activities this year, with only the crafty suggestions from my side, since the winter solstice is way more important for his Spiritual path than for mine. Readers often ask me how do we combine two spiritual paths that apparently are so different; the truth is that we don’t see them as two spiritual paths, but as one, the path of our family, which is at the same time the path of the Temple.

We offered incense, beer, seasonal fruits (oranges, tangerines, bananas, papaya), bread and two wonderful fresh ginger roots that we found at the grocery. The fir wreath we made at the beginning of the year was spruced with feathers, handpainted christmas ornaments and eucalyptus seed tops, and a yellow candle was lit to stay all night representing the rebirth of the Sun. It just finished burning this morning at 7, when the sun had already come up.

Today, we are making a Yule bonfire upstairs!

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Runic Prayer Beads

We got a bone necklace from a bag of discarded jewelry, and Fernando reclaimed it as his immediately. Since it was a poorly made piece, strung with plastic beads, we dismantled it and turned it into three sets of runic prayer beads, one for him and two for the shop.


His set was made with 24 bone pieces, one for each rune, and threaded with dark red cotton thread and handblown glass bead from India, in three colours, one for each Aett or group of runes. On each end, we added some very special beads one of our patrons sent us all the way from Australia: two red glass beads from a 1800′s russian rosary, made with real gold, and a skull bead also made of bone, bought from a Buddhist monk – the bead was hollow, so we filled it with a miniature parchment paper scroll with inscriptions, a cat bone and a piece of incense from Romania that another friend recently sent to us. Each bone bead got a rune painted on it, mixing paint and Fernando’s blood, and painting it with a new, unused brush, that will never be used again.


The rosary is really, really heavy, so we made two smaller sets for the shop, using 12 bone beads each and painting two runes on each bone. They were constructed in three sections, just as the bigger one, and a gorgeous glass bicone bead was added at the end. The bicone, made in a blue-grey glass, is covered with what is called an “Aurora Borealis” coating, that makes it shine beautifully when exposed to light. The runes were painted in the correct order of the alphabet, one at a time – an incredibly time-consuming process that ensures that the power of the runic alphabet is preserved during the creating process. One rosary was started and finished, and then the other – no assembly line work when dealing with talismans! Of course, these contain no blood, just red paint. The runic bead sets have been listed on our Zibbet shop – there are only those two available, so don’t miss your chance, because we don’t have any more bone beads available now – the necklace had exactly the 48 beads used in the three sets.

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Freyfest 2011

Yesterday we celebrated Freyfest, the day of Norse god Frey, patron of agriculture, fertility and abundance – he’s very special to us for many reasons, so we were both happy to please him with some offerings, music, singing and playing, and of course private activities of the god-of-the-phallus type ;).

Eleggua, of course, gets the first offerings – beeswax candles made by Fernando, coffee, liquors, cigars, sweets, and a plate with sun-dried coconut bits garnished with honey and cinnamon. Since he is the passage between this world and the others, and the patron of our Temple, he makes sure that Frey and all the Spirits are called for the ritual.

Offerings for Frey – candles, herbs, beer, more sweets, nut bread, a fresh corn cob and a dish of nopal (prickly pear) fruits, a very common fruit here during the summer and quite the treat as these are getting more and more expensive since they are exported to other countries as an exotic product.

This beautiful candle was a gift from one of our most loved patrons – can I say again that we have the most amazing customers :D ?

After the offerings, we made a drumming+singing+dancing session in honour of Frey, and then we went upstairs to feed the roof garden and make ourselves a good fire and grilled dinner – and I have to add that we saw something really weird in the sky last night! Since we don’t have electric lights on the roof garden, the only illumination we had was the light of the embers, and one candle on the altar. After dinner, we were just gazing at the sky, which was clear for the first night after a Saharian heat wave that had turned the sky into a dusty yellow for a week. We were trying to identify constellations and then, right above us but very, very far, we noticed a tiny point of light that crossed the sky. It took it at least a minute until it faded in the distance – don’t worry, we’re not the UFO seeking type, so we think it could be a satellite, but the fact that we were right there to notice it makes me think of it as a sign of Frey’s presence and approval.

I think I will be off for the weekend – I’m working on painting a couple of chalkware pieces for the altar – two Candelaria virgins, a Virgin of the Assumption and a Medinaceli Christ. Fernando found them at a very discounted price and we couldn’t let the chance pass. They’re too big and too heavy to be sold at the shop, but believe me, I don’t mind one bit keeping them! We’ve had a really crazy week, full of work and with Mercury retrograde hitting really hard on everyone – I’m really looking forward the solace and energy renewing that painting gives me. See you on Monday!

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New Kyphi Incense And Rune Sets Listed!

At Her Feet – Incense Pellets

Second batch of Fernando’s incense pellets, this time devoted to Goddess Freya, the Norse Goddess of Love, Sexuality and Wealth. Starting with a base of mulled apples, cider, citrics and spices, and using herbs, perfumes and essential oils related to Love Magick and to Freya herself, we created this recipe for your devotion to all Love Goddesses – and for your most sensual moments. Spicy, powerful, intoxicating, and so magickal.

Herbal Rune Sets – Green And Magenta


Complete rune sets made in polymer clay, with powdered herbs included in the clay. The herbs are a mix of several of Odin’s Nine Herb Charm, an ancient recipe we found during our study of Norse Magick. I’m sorry, but we won’t be disclosing which ones, as there is no risk if allergy to the herbs once the runes are baked.

Each set contains 24 runes – there is no blank rune. Although it has become a very popular addittion to rune sets, it is not part of the original futhark alphabet and we have not found a valid reason to include it in these sets. All runes are branded on the back with a small sun-like sigil, as a maker’s mark.

Each one is a One Of A Kind creation. After Fernando mixes each ball of clay with the herbs and shapes the rune, I carve the sign following exactly the order of the futhark and brand the back; once all runes are branded, we bake them all together, one set at a time. No assembly line process on such a sacred work is possible.

We cannot make custom colours at this time, as we have to order the clay from the UK and it wouldn’t be cost effective. We will offer as many colours as we can make, but making a rune set is a long and tiring process, so we will be putting them for sale really slowly.

The runes have received a blessing only – consecrating them or not, or how to do that, is completely up to you and your particular path. The runes come in a free black organza pouch.

Please click on each picture to be taken directly to the listing.

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Rune Consecration Ritual – Pictures

Yesterday we consecrated Fernando’s new runes. The images of the ritual itself are private and we won’t show them, but here are quite a few pics of the altars and offerings we made to inspire you :).

Odin’s altar, with the runes in front of him, resting over vintage furs that were a gift from a friend and adorned with one of the huge cups we found in the trash ( you can see them here).

On the right side, the phallus Fernando carved for Frey, sitting on a brass bowl we also made using discarded components from several lamps.

Eleggua, of course, got a beautiful carnation bouquet and a very special candle, which is actually a gift from a customer – I know I have said it a million times, but The Hoodoo Shop’s customers are simply AWESOME!



The offerings – beer bread (with ham, cheese, olives and herbs), stuffed dates, serrano ham paté, fruits, olives, goat cheese, mulled cider, wine, beer, flowers.

Update for today:The Marie Laveau prints have been listed!

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Bones, Incense Pellets And Salvaged Furniture

All the bones found at the mountain were cleaned and will be drying under our unforgiving sun for a few days, before starting an amulet-making storm for the shop :)

The incense pellets Fernando made are already listed and being sold and reserved as hotcakes! We have name it The Wanderer in honour of our favourite image of Odin, that of the trickster God that appears at your doorstep like a beggar, only to test you generosity. It reminds me so much of a story about Obatala, where he does the same to teach Obi (the coconut) some humility. Some images that inspired us were:

The last pic until Monday – another dumpster find, brought back to life after lots of love, sandpaper and varnish. We both loved the grey, sun washed colour of the wood. We are considering using it as a display for our local customers, but in between it will hold the altar we have on our bedroom, dedicated of course to love and family. I always forget to take “before” pics of the items we make, but not this time!

Before – lopsided because of damaged leg, carved frames loose and broken and general state of dryness.

After – legs repaired by reconstructing broken piece, frames reglued and repaired and varnished.

Have a wonderful weekend Witches! I’m off to prepare Friday’s orders for the post office and then I’m enjoying the rest of the day in the garden, crocheting the day away!

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Offerings

We didn’t have any appointments on Wednesday, so we decided to go early in the morning to our beloved mountain of Las Mercedes to make an offering, something we had been delaying for a while. We made a gofio ball with gofio, honey and milk and filled a small bottle with rum; we gathered scissors, knife and bags and headed to the mountain with our little dog, Baba, who comes with us on all adventures. Despite being very hot where we live, summer has not arrived to the mountains yet – it was cold and foggy. Fernando was ecstatic as it is his favourite weather.

The offering came first of all as usual. I wanted to collect a little moss to make a new terrarium, and maybe bring a stone or two: there aren’t many herbs to collect there as it is the type of forest where the trees take all the light. But, the Gods had something different prepared for us.

We went a little further than usual and found a beautiful fallen tree; I was called immediately to a hole among the roots. Fernando climbed over the huge roots and placed the gofio ball, poured the rum and made a rune with twigs below it. The rune is Fez/Fehu, the first rune of the Futhark, a rune of prosperity and wealth. He personally dedicated the offering to Frey and Freya, patrons of that rune, as he is becoming more and more involved with them in his Asatru work. I prayed to our Guanche ancestors – during the prayer, a sudden blow of wind brought a baptism of water drops falling over us from the trees’ leaves.

Fernando climbed down from the tree roots and we lingered a minute, while Baba was sniffing every inch of the forest ground. He looked at our feet and said “Bones”. I looked down too and realized that we had been standing over a dog skeleton all the time. Of course, we quickly grabbed our tools and started picking the bones. We knew we had been gifted a very powerful treasure, and that our ancestors and deities were pleased with the offering. The bones had been already inspected by other animals, as they were separate. The skull, almost intact, was found about a meter away.

Happy with our find, we walked a little more through the forest, mainly because we didn’t want to leave – and we did well, because we found TWO cat skeletons, not far away. They were not completely dry so we only gathered the skulls and a couple of bones, and we will look for them the next time we go. We had more than enough and I’m sure many little critters will benefit from the remains of those animals – we don’t want to the hand that takes everything when we’re in Nature. We will show pictures when the bones are clean.

When we left the mountain, we stopped at a couple of favourite spots to gather fern before summer dries it completely; we also found dandelions, thistle, fennel and nasturtium, and brought small plants of all of them to grow at our roof garden. Believe me, next time I’m making a dozen gofio balls!

The only downside was to find the dirty, disrespectful evidence of spellwork on several spots. Plates, bottles, bags and clothes, mostly. Stuff that won’t degrade, or go away, and that may even cause fire during the summer. I can’t imagine how the spirits can be willing to help people who behave like that. Sigh.

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Holy Week Images I

There are so many pics of our blogging break that I’m breaking them into several posts for this week.
Monday:
Odin’s altar was set on our studio, as we both felt it was the place where he wanted to be. Not finished still, but already glowing with the warmest energy. I never thought Odin would be such a daddy, but he’s covering us with blessings already.

Under Odin’s loving presence, Fernando made a new batch of kyphi incense, using herbs of the Asatru tradition. Yes, he will start making his own products for the shop! My only job is to make beautiful packaging in Photoshop :).

And I worked on these little dolls – a project I’ve been working on and off for a while. They will be part of a bigger piece of artwork.

Tuesday:
We went to visit Fernando’s parents and made some foraging. We brought home miniature lemons and potatoes from their crops, and a lot of herbs from the ravine: fennel, thistles, fig tree leaves, more wormwood, flamboyan seed pods for Oya, wild flowers for Eleggua and a couple of cuttings to replant of lemon verbena, which I really hope they root because it’s probably my favourite herb. I have a lot of good memories of my childhood related to its scent.

We dined with my aunt and cousin, and she gave Fernando a very old English-Spanish dictionary for his classes – old book smell, bible paper and ragged look: perfection for us – and a new recipe book for me (the marbled paper one). No coincidence since I was actually looking for a new recipe book + book of shadows + drawing journal! It’s so perfect that it even has two recipes from my grandmother on the first page, the only thing my aunt wrote on it: so, it will have something from three generations of Gonzalez women on it. So magical that I got chills when I realized that! The drawing was made on my regular journal, and it was made while sitting on the floor on my mother in law’s little garden, surrounded by bees and a friendly stray cat that sat by my side.

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