A Little Update~ Jan. 23rd, 2022

Life, it seems, really does just continue whether you’re actively participating with it or not, doesn’t it? That’s of course not to say that I wasn’t living at all in the last year, but I certainly was doing so more reactively than anything else. I don’t need to waffle on about how difficult 2021 was; much like the year prior, it was an unparalleled mess that was handled poorly by people in charge. The best anyone could do was to do what had to be done and try and be mindful of how their actions could affect those around them. A disappointing number of people couldn’t even be kind enough to do that. And so this blog post is, really, more about me. An update. An insight into the last ten months or so since I last posted.

I’ll begin with probably the most noticeable thing, particularly if you have been following m blog and other social media platforms for some time: a small change of face and name. I had been questioning my gender identity long before even starting the Patchwork Crow blog. I let other people talk me out of it, talk me down, make what I was feeling smaller, insignificant, “crazy,” and I held onto this nagging inside about the person I wanted to be for years. This past summer, I was through with hiding and with pretending and just making things work. I came out as transgender and began hormone replacement therapy. So far, I have been blessed that most people in my life have been supportive and that I was able to find appropriate care that was accessible with my insurance. Too many others are not so fortunate. So you will be seeing posts, artwork, and videos (this is a maybe as it’s a large undertaking of having the inspiration, the time, and the space to record) signed off as Maxwell, and I prefer to use he/him/his pronouns. I will not be going back and altering all of my old posts. But going forward this is how I will be addressing myself, and asking to be addressed. If this is something you cannot welcome and support, then perhaps this blog is no longer a resource suitable to you.

The Magician from The Cottonwood Tarot

Most of what I’ve been doing to keep busy in the past year or so has been art. I purchased an iPad early on in 2021, and it has dramatically changed the way I work. I’m not so fussed about Apple as a whole, but as a tool that enables me to work through the paralysis of undiagnosed mental illness, it has been completely invaluable. Artwork doesn’t have to include getting out a bunch of paints and pencils I’ll then have to put away. Writing up notes for Dungeons and Dragons can be done by hand still, but with images effortlessly annotated and attached.

My spiritual practice has taken a back burner. In a lot of ways, I think I needed to find myself again. A lot has changed in these past few years, on a larger scale, and personally. Art, storytelling, and having the space to myself to think has allowed me to do that. One project that has been really keeping going is the creation of a tarot deck: The Cottonwood Tarot.

The Emperor

Temperance

Page of Wands

Knight of Swords

King of Cups

10 of Swords

The Lovers

King of Pentacles

Death

Ace of Cups

10 of Pentacles

The Magician

It has allowed me to express my past, present, and hopes for the future. I’ve been able to explore my own identity, relationships, and connection to my path through the creation of this deck. As it stands now, it is nearly half completed, and I’m hoping to finish it by the end of 2022.

There will be, I hope, more to come. I’ve given the blog a fresh look to reflect the journey I’ve been on, and the itch to get involved and to share my work again is there. Hopefully this one sticks around a bit longer than the last.
Until next time,
Maxwell

Flower Face

Flower Face

You crafted me from blossom and brush
and expected me to sigh and blush,
but you forgot so many flowers
have such fickle thorns.

Beneath the shady forest bowers,
by the will of your powers,
I took first sweet fragrant breath,
and I thus was born.

But from those first fateful steps,
I was told: in life, and death,
That I was one shape for another
molded, sculpted, formed.

“You will be a young lord’s lover.”
“You will be a faithful mother.”
“Maiden, fair, delicate.”
From forest, I was torn:

To learn your courtly etiquette
in your world cold, synthetic,
and though you poured devotion…
I grew more forlorn.

So I hid each wild emotion,
cast away each wistful notion
that I could be anything besides
that which I was born.

But a hunter in my heart resides,
and he showed me where my true self hides:
deep beneath root, and branch, and feather
passivity turned to scorn.

And you call me beast that I did sever
my fate from you who were so clever
to give me life and give me wile
but think me content to be shorn.

So a beast I am, of tooth, claw, and guile,
in feathers cloaked, in deep exile,
and I will roam these nighttime skies
until I am reborn.

You shaped me with your clever lies,
tried to make me ideal shape and size
but forgot there is great power
in those from forest formed.

Ace of Cups: Redux

This is a revamp of an earlier spread I had posted, The Ace of Cups Tarot Spread. I’d been spending some time reflecting and feeling a bit unsure of where to go next with my life, and so I’ve restructured the original spread to be a little bit more suited to my needs.

So, just like the original spread, we start with the Ace of Cups in the center of the spread to act as a significator.

1. What obstacles do I currently face in the path to meaning and fulfillment?
2. Where do I currently stand? What is the environment I’m in? Does it help or hinder me?
3. What action must be taken to overcome the obstacle?
4. What things in my life give my life meaning? What makes me feel fulfilled?
5. What in my life does not make me feel fulfilled, but rather leaves me feeling lost, hopeless, or numb?
6. How can I best fill my life with more meaning? Where should I seek it out?
7. What things must I release in order to make room for the more fulfilling things?

Please let me know if you use and enjoy the spread!

Blessings,
Ren

One Year Later…

Despite having a significantly larger amount of free time since this all began, I’ve found it difficult to write. 2020 was nothing short of a nightmare in so many ways: COVID. Natural disasters. The absolute embarrassment that was US politics. Violence… And those were only the things happening outside of my sphere of immediate influence. My grandmother was admitted into a memory care facility. One of the friends I’d had since beginning on my path of Druidry passed away very suddenly. There was stress at work. Anxiety over health and money. I moved amidst all this. Had what felt like an inordinate amount of car troubles…

And I suppose that it felt like, as I was trying just to survive the day to day, I had nothing of value to add to the conversation. What did I have to add to what was circulating other than my own suffering? My own echoes of the hopes all of us had: that things had to get better at some point… right?

When we first went into quarantine, I had had hopes of renewing my creative and spiritual practices. I had just purchased the Ovate grade of the OBOD distance learning courses. I was looking at having a lot more time on my hands. But the truth is that it just didn’t happen for me. And it would have felt fake to pretend like it had. So my presence, on this blog especially, and on social media aside from Tumblr has been very minimal. I’ve spent much of the past year reflecting inward, staying healthy, and just trying to stay adrift in the madness that has ensued. I have been blessed: I, and most of my loved ones have stayed healthy. Those who did get sick were not hospitalized (that I know of). I have not lost my job at any point during all of this, and the suspension of Federal student loan payments has actually helped me build my savings a little, and make some larger purchases that I would not have otherwise been able to make.

At any rate, spring has come again, and I’ve been feeling restless the past few months. I’ve wanted to write again. If you’re still here despite the radio silence, thank you. If you’re just stumbling upon my blog, welcome. I’m looking forward to posting some more content in the coming weeks.

Forest Blessings,
Ren

Some New Tarot Spreads for Uncertain Times

This first one I called “A Path Forward” and it kinda weighs three options for moving forward in an uncertain situation.

Card 1: Represents you. You could choose an indicator, if that’s your sorta thing, but I’m a glutton for punishment and like to let the deck tell me exactly what sort of disaster I’m being at any given point in time.

Card 2: What Crosses You. Basically a big influence causing the period of indecision, stagnation, and tension.

Card 3: Represents the Path You’re Currently On. Meaning, based upon the patterns you’re following and the energy at hand, this is the way things are headed.

Card 4: Road Block! This is what’s keeping you from moving forward on the path you’re currently on.

Card 5: Alternate Route #1. This can be an option you’ve already considered or a suggestion someone (heck maybe the cards suggest it) gave you.

Card 6: Road Block for Alternate Route #1. Self explanatory.

Card 7: Alternate Route #2. Just like the first alternate route, this is just another possible path to take.

Card 8: You guessed it, this is a Road Block to Alternate Route #2. But don’t worry, there are still three more cards left in this reading.

Card 9: Overcoming the road block for the path you’re on. This should be a practical action to take towards pushing through and continuing on your way.

Card 10: A means of overcoming the road block for Alternate Route #1. Again. Practical action to take. A means of clearing your options.

Card 11: A means of overcoming the road block for Alternate Route #2.

This spread is meant less to be an outcome thing, and more of a means of examining some options when it feels like you’re spinning your wheels.

The second spread I’ve (for now) called the “Key to Your Purpose” spread and is meant for those existential “What do I wanna do with my life?” sort of times.

Card 1: Again, this will represent you. Just like the last spread, you can pick an indicator, or let the cards call it like it is.

Card 2: What Crosses You. The big influence/situation that’s got you feeling this way.

Card 3: The Path You’re On. What you’re currently doing!

Card 4: The Thing You were Meant to Do. What it is you’re being called to do. It could align well with Card 3. It might not.

Card 5: The Turning Point. The means of moving from the path you’re on, to the path you’re meant to be on. Like turning a key that unlocks a door.

Cards 6-8 are practical actions to take in order to achieve this. Card 5 gives you the big picture, but 6-8 are meant to be the little steps to take.

Card 9: Your Purpose. Sort of an outcome card. This card should (hopefully) grant some closure. A goal to work towards. A purpose for life that is achievable through the advice given in the earlier cards.

Hope these are helpful to someone!

Forest Blessings,
/|\ Rachel

Ritual at the Hunter’s Moon

“Wild Hunt” by Velamir on Deviantart 

This past full moon, often called the Hunter’s Moon, marked my eighth year in working with the Wylde Hunt. This year has already made me keenly aware of how quickly time can fly by. An eight-year milestone in something that still feels so new to my path is mind boggling to me, and yet… here I am nonetheless.

I typically mark the Hunter’s Moon each year. It’s become something of a tradition to honor my relationship with my hunter god and his cohort then. Autumn has well and truly fallen upon us now. Samhain isn’t far behind. The winds are fierce and chill. It is their season, after all. That this Hunter’s Moon fell upon the anniversary date of that fateful evening in my parents’ backyard felt especially potent.

The past five months or so have also revolved around beginning a new chapter in my life. I touched on this in my post for Lughnasadh, but much has changed in my life. A couple big moves. A new career choice, new relationship. The freedom of having my own vehicle. My time since last year’s Hunter’s Moon has been spent in a sort of transient path of self discovery- I’m not actually certain that it’s ended yet. This season, I believe, has been a lesson in realizing there needn’t always be a direction or a plan.

At any rate, I wanted to mark the occasion with something special, and also to reaffirm my path which had been left to the wayside for months while I was in Georgia and in the process of moving and settling in again. The ritual I constructed drew on a few different things that had been potent to me in the past. One of them was Damh the Bard’s post about the Ritual of the Wild. Another was a rite originally dedicated to the Washer at the Ford aspect of the Morrigan found in Stephanie Woodfield’s book Celtic Lore and Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking the Morrigan. There were also some affirmations made along the way through my Bardic Studies that found their way into this ritual. What it resulted in was a potent ritual of rebirth and reaffirmation of my path.

It was cold, but clear that night, and the moon rose quickly to cast its silver glow on the whole of our yard. I gathered a vessel of water, an offering of whiskey, and some herbs I had blended and stepped out into the night. It was too windy for fire, and so I brought a small flashlight with which to read my notes by.

The night wasn’t as quiet as I’d hoped. Somewhere in the distance, a boat horn could be heard loudly and intermittently blasting from over the bay and the river to the south east (My girlfriend later pointed out: was it a boat horn? or the hunter’s horn? I’m sure I know the truth, but the more imaginative answer makes me feel less frustrated by it in hindsight). It had been ages since I’d cast a circle. Doing so just felt natural though; how many times had I walked that same circular path around our firepit? I couldn’t say, but the energy of that memory bolstered me.

I called for peace at the quarters, and stood, facing the northwest and the forest I couldn’t see in the darkness. I called to the Hunters then. Sometimes, the reassurance of something larger than ourselves is subtle- a gentle rise in the winds and in the whispering of the cottonwoods overhead, a certain rising of goosebumps on the skin. 

I returned to the center, where I’d placed my tools on the cold stones of the firepit. A little billow of ash danced in the wind and off into the darkness. I emptied the herbs I’d prepared into the water, and I called to the Hunters for rebirth. I meditated a moment on the things I wished to leave behind, on the person I wished to become. And then, as the oils and herbs had steeped the water, I washed my hands with it, symbolically scrubbing away the old and worn out things that were holding me back.

Then I knelt and placed my head to the ground, and using some of the dialogue from Damh’s Ritual of the Wild and affirmations I’d used along my bardic studies, I spoke my desires into being. I struggled a little with remembering the words- but then felt a gentle reassurance: “Just speak from your heart.” I spoke aloud affirmations about feeling renewed on my path, about finding my place as a teacher and using my skills to guide others. I affirmed a release of relationships and toxic behaviors that hold me back. I spoke of living more fully and completely in the world- whatever joys or struggles that might entail.

As I stood, the wind gently rose again, bitterly cold from the northwest. And I raised my offering to the Hunters. Another turning has come, and I walk with renewed purpose. I buried in the soft ground around the firepit some wooden staves marked with the things I intended to leave behind and those I wished to manifest, and the necessity of change and transformation to achieve that end. I thanked the Hunters for their guidance, and I opened my circle.

My mind’s eye is always a little more colorful and dramatic as I’m preparing rituals. It’s why I’ve quit truly planning them altogether. The thing I’ve learned about initiations and dedications however, is that the shift in question has already begun long before the ritual take place. The ritual simply calls it into your conscious mind; the changes have been being made, little by little, for some time. And so, it needn’t be a flashy dramatic ritual with intense supernatural experiences. Sometimes, subtlety is even more potent.

Forest Blessings,
Rachel

How To: Cast a Circle

In an effort to include more original content and like actually useful things, I wanted to make this addition to my blog!

Most people will recommend a circle when doing any kind of trance, ritual, spell, or spiritual work. The reasons range from needing to contain energy raised during a working, creating special liminal space between yourself and the realms of the gods, and nasty energy/entities out to sabotage you. I am personally of the opinion that nasty energy that will ruin whatever your doing and malevolent beings looking for a human host are incredibly unlikely, and that honestly wards should be set wherever you’re working against that sort of very rare circumstance anyway. I am also of the opinion that energy can be raised, held onto, and then released in a ritual through your own energetic field.

However, casting a circle does mentally, energetically, and ritually delineate what is mundane and everyday stuff from the magical/spiritual and so I still think it super useful. When I cast a circle, it clicks in my brain that “this is ritual space, and I can let go of all the other crap buzzing around in my brain and just connect.” It also helps me focus more actively on the energy that I am raising and working with, and gets my mind in the proper gear so to speak for doing whatever working I’m about to be doing.

So, let’s get down to my method for casting a circle, shall we?

Originally posted by midnight4ever

• First thing’s first, having a physical marker for your circle is super helpful. Chalk, candles, flower petals, crystals, whatever. Go wild! Just don’t pour salt on grass or plants because it will kill them. Make your physical boundary first. Trust me, it’s easier that way.
• I like to begin by grounding and centering first. Much like casting a circle gets me in the proper head space for ritual, grounding and centering gets me in proper head space for setting up the circle. My method for that can be found here.
• Next, I like to stand at the center of my circle, or as close to it as I’m able to get if I’ve got something like an altar or a bonfire in the dead center. Seeing that I’ve grounded and centered already, and am comfortable and know where the center of my energy is, I’ll turn my focus back to that. For me, it’s between my Solar Plexus and my diaphragm.
  • I then visualize my energy radiating from that center moving out slowly to fill the circular area of your ritual/work space. It might be a similar color to your aura. Maybe it’s a bright light. Maybe you visualize it as glitter and bubbles. Any visual that works for you will do. I also like to stretch my arms straight out from my body as I do this, sort of like I’m pushing the energy to fill the space.
• Once I’ve gotten my energy to fill up the bubble of the area that I’ll be working in, I’ll move to the western edge of my circle.
  • I choose the West because: it’s the direction used in a lot of the Druid works I’ve come across, and it’s been sort of tradition because of that now; The Wylde Hunt is said to ride from the western winds, and since they’re my familiar spirits/patron deity, it just seems right; and the West is said to be the realm of water, emotions, intuition, and receptivity, and so I bring those things into myself as I begin my circle.
• Now that I’m at the western edge of my circle, I’ll use my dominant/power/projective (insert occult/new age label for it here) hand to draw, with energy, my circle’s boundaries. Again, visualization depends upon the person. A lot of people I’ve worked with have envisioned white, silver, or blue light; I’m a bit dramatic and like to imagine a ring of stones rising out of the earth around me. Your circle can be as simple or as complex in your mind’s eye as you want it.
• Whatever you’ve visualized, you’ll want to move clockwise around the circle.
• It might help to use a chant or rhyme as you trace the circle. I personally like to hum the tune for S.J. Tucker’s “For Love of All Who Gather” as I draw my circle.
• For quick/simpler workings, I’ll make just the one circle around. Sometimes if it feels right, I’ll make three trips around it. Do what feels best. As long as you feel like your energy is anchored and you’re secure, that’s all that matters.
• Once I’ve made my final loop around the circle and find myself back at the western edge where I’ve begun, I like to give a little tap with my foot, or with my hand/wand on the ground. It gives me a visual and a motion to sort of lock the circle in place.

And that’s it! If you’ve followed those steps you’ve successfully cast a circle!
In order to open a circle after a ritual, you’ll want to start back at the west and this time move counter-clockwise, again tracing the circle. I personally re-collect the personal energy I used in building the circle back to myself and let whatever energy I’d raised during the rite drift off to do its work in the Universe.

Hope this is helpful!
/|\ Rachel

Lughnasadh: Reflections on Summer

My “wicker” man perched atop my altar.

It feels like ages since I’ve posted, and yet like the summer has absolutely flown by in the blinking of an eye. A great deal has happened and it feels like a great unraveling and re-weaving of a tapestry. It’s all seemed a blur, but I’m able to sit now and reflect and give thanks for the process though I know the work is not yet over… but after all, that is what Lughnasadh is about, isn’t it? Giving thanks for the first fruits of our labor though we know there is still much left to do.

In the past months since posting, I’ve moved back to Michigan from Georgia and, on mutual terms, ended the long-term relationship I’d been in. I left a living and job situation that was not promoting growth and stability like I had hoped that it would. The stars (or energies, or whatever) aligned so that I was able to get my job back in my home town, and I have my own little bit of space in my parents’ house. Right now, I’m looking at returning to school to become an English teacher. I have the freedom to drive where I please. There’s a great deal I’ve been thinking and feeling, that for sake of privacy I won’t divulge here, but for the first time in I can’t quite remember when… I feel happy and fulfilled and hopeful for the future.

This year, as I was crafting my “wicker” man (he’s truthfully made out of sticks, wild grapevine, leaves, tigerlilly stems, and all manner of other foliage from my back yard), I began with a poppet. I’d wanted him to be a little bit more stable, but I also decided to fill him with written prayers of thanks, affirmations of the personal transformations I’ve been undergoing, herbs and scraps from spells over the past winter, and all my hope for the coming fall and winter.

Lughnasadh has always been for me one of those important touchstone holidays. I may skip nearly every other sabbat in the Wheel of the Year, but I’ll find time to bake and to get crafty and gather friends together to mark the start of Summer’s end. I make the first pumpkin bread of the year. The Halloween costume shops start to crop up around town. There’s a cool breeze now and again in the air that smells like the coming rains of autumn. The leaves and grasses are more yellowed with the languid late-July/early-August heat, and the spring and summer flowers are fading away. Crows have moved into my family’s yard and chatter away each morning. The countdown to the renaissance festival has begun.

As I write this, my bread has just finished baking and my wickerman is perched upon the altar awaiting a small rite tomorrow. I am deeply thankful for the lessons and the strength the beginning of 2019 has given me. I look forward to whatever the coming months have in store.

Forest Blessings,
Rachel

The Wyldewood Grove Discord Server

Picture above originally by forgotten-tale on deviantart. Edits made by me.

It occurs to me that I have shared links to this on Tumblr, but not yet on WordPress or my other social media platforms, but I’ve recently created a server on Discord geared towards building community and sharing information with fellow witches, pagans, druids, etc.  It’s called the Wyldewood Grove, and is intended for folks 18 years or older who are interested in chatting with like minded people, sharing anything from art to spell ideas or even recipes, and more.

I’m learning the in’s and out’s of operating and maintaining the server as we go, as I’m relatively new to Discord myself, but the community we have started is welcoming and supportive, and I’m very proud with how it’s been growing over the past couple of months.

The server itself is divided into a couple of sections: The Seedlings section is where new members will land when first entering the server. This contains the very basic rules of the server, a place for introductions, and a chat that’s open to folks who’ve not been given access to the rest of the server. The rest of the channels on the server are private for members only and are made up of:

The Campfire: a place for general chat and community building. This category also contains channels for witchy swaps, sharing on-going art projects, music, interesting articles and resources.

The Grove: the bulk of the server is The Grove: these are the specialized channels geared towards particular pagan paths and specific interests. Topics include Druidry, Hellenic paganism, divination, kitchen/hearth magic, garden magic, working with fae, and much much more.

The Stone Circle: gets its name from the idea that ancient stone circles were used as a sort of means of tracking the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. This category contains topics for lunar/star magic and astrology discussion.

We also currently have a running Dungeons & Dragons campaign going with a few members of the server!

So, if you’re looking for a fun and supportive community of fellow witches/pagans/druids/etc. to connect with online, consider giving our server a look: https://discord.gg/WhZV8SZ .

Forest Blessings,
Rachel

Playlist for the Wylde Hunt

Another fun #2019GrimoireChallenge prompt from several weeks ago: music! Now I have different playlists for different moods: one that’s strictly speaking pagan tunes like Damh the Bard, Wendy Rule, S.J. Tucker, etc. for studying to; one that has music from Florence & The Machine, Stevie Nicks, Hozier, etc. that’s sort of my “witchy vibe” playlist; another of sea shanties that’s relaxing, but also sort of mournful and sad; one of musical scores from different films for writing to; the list goes on. What I wanted to share today though was my playlist specifically for The Wylde Hunt (the full Spotify Playlist is linked here and prolifically long because I like to be able to spend hours listening to music of a similar vibe). For purposes of this blog post, however, I’m going to pick 10 songs to share with you from it. So, in no particular order, just how they ended up in the list on Spotify:

1. “Become the Beast” -Karliene Technically a fan-made song for Hannibal this is a wonderfully dark and spooky song that I had to include on my list. I actually have a lot of Karliene’s music on the playlist. She covers songs from films, writes music of her own, has her own renditions of some folk tunes, all around good stuff, and I recommend you check her out!
2. “I Don’t Speak Human” -OMNIA I also have a lot of OMNIA’s music on that playlist. This one speaks about humanity’s destruction of nature, and as the Wylde Hunt is sort of one with the forests, I saw it as particularly fitting.
3. “Fehu” -Wardruna You might recognize this one from the show Vikings. It was used during one of the battle scenes in an earlier season of the show (Gods, I’m so behind on it; this makes me want to go back and binge-watch to catch up!). I can’t remember if I discovered the song before or after it was used on the show, but it’s got an awesome beat and makes me feel like going out and fighting all of my troubles. It’s a similar feeling to listen to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack while you’re going about your day. You just feel as though you have more purpose and can accomplish anything.
4. “If I Die In Battle” -VanCanto VanCanto was shown to me by my boyfriend a couple of years ago. They’re mostly an a capella group + a drummer. This song is freaking epic: the vocals are powerful, the video is fantastic, and really what isn’t there to love about an a capella metal band, yeah, you heard that right: a capella metal. Please. Go watch this. It’s worth it.
5. “The Parting Glass” -Loreena McKennitt OR Damh the Bard I can’t pick a favorite rendition of this song but I deeply love both Loreena McKennitt and Damh the Bard’s versions of them, so here I have included them both. It’s a little less battle-song and more folksy. I like to imagine I’m sitting at a pub with the hunters, or maybe around their campfire as I hear this song. Also, not to be morbid or nihilistic: I really want this song played at my funeral. It’s sad, but like, in a parting-of-friends way. I dunno. I just really love this song.
6. “Fith Fath Song” -Damh the Bard Because I love Damh and need to give him more attention in this playlist, I’ve added this song. Again, a bit more folksy than some of the others I’ve listed here. It reminds me of the chase scene between Cerridwen and Taliesin in their myth, and felt appropriate for something I could imagine one of the members of the Wylde Hunt singing. I have several of Damh’s other songs on the playlist. He’s long been one of my very favorite artists as far as pagan / folk musicians go. He also runs the Druidcast for the OBOD. I’ll link his website here.
7. “Safe & Sound” -Taylor Swift & The Civil Wars Heading back into the dark and spooky vibe, we come to “Safe & Sound.” I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift, honestly, but I really like this song, and the Civil Wars, which brings me to…
8. “Kingdom Come” -The Civil Wars this beautiful and haunting song that just gives me all of the autumn, Wylde Hunt lurking in the trees sort of vibes.
9. “A Pict Song” -Emerald Rose This one is again folksy and kind of got that rearing for battle kind of a feel to it. One of my favorite areas of history to study is the Roman invasion of the Celtic lands because it’s where much of what little we know about the ancient Druids comes from. Imagine wild hunters from the lands of the Picts, still bitter about Roman invasion. I just really love this song.
10. “If I Had A Heart” -Fever Ray This is another one from Vikings, and another sort of dark, primal, spooky song.

Do you make playlists for your spiritual workings? What sort of music do you associate with your deities / guides? Share them in the comments below!

Forest Blessings,
Rachel