The Brownie Game

I keep separate journals for separate things. I have a drawing journal, which is mainly for mundane art (pretty much Pathfinder related lately) and I have a collection of bits and pieces strewn across several notebooks relating to spirituality, coven matters, studies, and intuitive processes. There is only one journal I keep solely for spiritual, religious, and magical matters.

Do you have a process for overcoming mental obstacles that prevent you from doing something you want to do, and if so, what is it?

Normally when I feel incredibly blocked, I often find the best solution (*for myself, personally*) is to step away from the thing that I am feeling blocked towards. If that is writing- I stop writing. If it's part of my practice - I stop practicing it for a bit. Taking some space can really help to clear your head, and often I find when I do return to whatever it is I was trying to accomplish - enough time and space has occurred that I am able to perceive it in a new manner and approach it differently with renewed efforts.

Is there a part of your practice, spirituality, religion etc that you do on a daily basis or at least a very frequent basis? If so, what is it? How do you go about it?

I usually try to make a prayer before bed. I'd do so by asking the Gods for good sleep, dreams, health, a good day and thnk them for whatever might've happened that day.

Do you grow your own herbs? If so, how and what herbs?

Yeah, I'm growing some rosemary, mints, basil, peppers, and some vegetables in trays right now.

What do you enjoy about your practice?

Currently, I enjoy the structure of my practice. Previously I just did whatever, now I feel like I know what I'm doing and having a blast.

Does anyone make their own beauty products?

I do not make my own but I do love watching Youtube beauty gurus do their make up and some make their own as well.

Speaking of make up and junk...Who is your guyses favorite beauty vlogger?

I like watching Nikki's Tutorials on Youtube. She's very real about makeup, why she chooses to use it, and is fun to watch. I love her sense of humor. I also like that she's confident about how she looks without makeup and isn't afraid to talk about that either.

https://www.youtube.com/user/NikkieTutorials

Name a Greek deity and describe them?

You knew I was gonna pick Ares. Keeping in mind I think Ares and Mars to be the same man. But more to the point I would describe him as this; black sheep, chilvarous, moral, kind, passionate, hipster.

Okay now allow me to elaborate on each point:

Black Sheep: Most other gods fought with him and when they went left he went right. Hera and Athena expected him to side with the Greeks when him and Aphrodite sided with the Trojans. Zeus told him not to go down and interfere but he did not listen. He makes his own decisions and is very direct about things.

Chilvarous: He is kind to women. He bestowed man-like strength upon his daughters the Amazones in which he guarded with birds who dropped feathers like arrows upon invading enemies such as Hercules. When Poesidon's son tried to violate his daughter he murdered him not caring what it might cost him and he stood trial for it. He rescued Rhea Silvia a Vestal Virgin under his Roman name Mars.

Moral: Not only did he stand up for women in a time no one else did but also I reference Spartans. Which keeping in mind many places in Greek times were okay with men loving men but it is still a plus. Now in addition to which, Spartans treated women very well. So well in fact that Aristotle a massive chauvinist critisized them. Makes me think of the expression, "if you have haters you must be doing something right." The Spartans are still note worthy as if he was infact lending them aid he would not do so if he disagreed with them and what they stand for in my experience.

Kind: Okay so despite Cadmus killing his son (the dragon) he didn't kill him...after eight years of repenting he actually released him and allowed him to marry his daughter Harmonia. In my UPG I like to think that the only reason why is Harmonia must have begged her father to release him. Him having a soft spot for women and his own children must have begrudgingly agreed. But reguardless to me believing he did it for Cadmus's sake or Harmonia's sake it still shows kindness and restraint. He tried hard to forgive and bury his pain and loss for the sake of his own daughter.

Passionate: Anyone who has read into his love life will find two things right away. He has NEVER taken a male lover as he is infact straight but an LGBT supporter. He has loved goddesses such as Aphrodite, Enyo, and Eos. He has loved many nymphs and some mortal women as well. But by the timeline and children born it would appear that he was one of the very few faithful and mynogmyous men in his time. Even amongst Greek gods many of them such as Zeus would sleep with women left and right not caring if it angered or hurt his wife. So though he was never known to formally marry any of these women he did genuinely care. Even with the story of him and Aphrodite if you look back you will see they were together BEFORE she married Hepheastus. There is also a quote stating how Mars allows himself to be vunerable in Venus's presence being disarmed. Their is even a painting on it. More so, try as you may he is never said to take a woman unwilling. Not something you can say for many other male Greek divinities. You can argue it was mistranslated or biasly written for the others but Ares literally doesn't have any stories that even so much as ellude to otherwise.

Hipster: Like he did a lot of cool shit first in my opinion. Treat women like humans? He earned the title of Entertainer of Women. He didn't just treat them well but helped them fight back. He also helped his sons as well of course. He also is a god of agriculture and abundance. So like flowers to commerate his birth are nice. I just like appealing to his soft side because I feel people tote the war aspect WAY too much and try to make him so two dimensional and treat him like that is all he stands for and all he is allowed to like. Yup, he has no other interests but sports and fighting, way to actually read your own text yo. I know that might sound a little snippy but I am just a tiny bit tired of the generic regurgitated information on Olympians. That and trying to make a god whatever you want them to be I find to be very disrespectful. No hate here but he's not bi or gay. Not one single piece of the text supports this. This was not just randomly discluded from the text because Greeks were anti gay as some modern religions in our society can be. Zeus took a male lover, so did Poesidon, so did Apollo and Dionysus. But you want to tell me this was just randomly discluded? Upg and nonsense are two different things. He will not be gay no matter how badly you want him to be mmkay?

Ranty bit ended~ I will better expand and make this a more formal post when I am able to better put my thoughts in order lol.

Okay now my question is, what would you mix with sage for blessing your home? Lavander, patchouli or something else?? Oh, and the prayer or blessing words you would use? I have some ideas but I would love to hear how you guys go about it.

So this is my own little tidbit. In Heathenry, there's a ritual called "landtaking" which is what you do when moving into a new place in order to greet and make friendly with the wights that are already present. It involves taking fire along the edges of your property and perhaps leaving an offering.

Within my home, I do something similar periodically to clear the air so to speak and to make the wights welcome. I do use sage, burning in one hand, and I carry a candle in the other. I go to the corners of each room with the lit objects. As they burn, I normally say things like "In my home and hearth, I welcome the spirits of my ancestors, the disir, the landvaettir, the husvaettir, and all other wights near and far. In good faith, and in good company". It varies, sometimes I'm not formal and just say "hey yo, cleaning the place up. We're still good".

If you have a favorite gem or crystal, what is it? What is it associated with, to you? What do you use it for?

I am really fond of rose quartz as generic of a choice as that may be. I like meditating with the one a dear friend got for me. It's the heart shaped tumbled one from the shop on here. I also won a rose quartz bracelet from a coven contest back in the day. So it helps calm me and give me that loving energy. I get called mom a lot by people because I take care of others but forget to take care of myself so sometimes it helps me recharge. It also reminds me of Aphrodite because of the story of how pink roses came to be was with her spilled blood on white roses. I'd like to get the rose quartz massanger from off here too to use as a wand for like spells and rituals. Which reminds me, I'm gonna go review the items from the shop I have already. A lot of the shop stuff on here have poor descriptions and no reviews.

Somebody tell me about bird feathers! Which ones do you like to use in your practice and how? Vulture, Woodpecker Raven, and Dove most espically.