I seem to have found a snake wand

I mean, the stuff that turns up at my op shop/charity shop/thrift shop/pick your preferred regionalism. Like, srsly. I find this jarrah wood snake on the shelf when I got in on Tuesday (I work Tue and Wed), and it’s been priced at $3, and it’s just waxed jarrah wood, my dad reckons. The photo doesn’t even do it justice, but it’s so beautiful. It’s got some speckled markings on it, paint I think, but we’re going to clean it up, and then I think I’m just going to embellish it a little, and write on the bottom. It measures about 80cm long/~32in, but it feels like the right size and weight, and, hey, it was only $3. Bargain.

Granted, it isn’t a pair of snake wands, but I ain’t complaining. I’ll pair it with my knife, which I’ve just painted the handle up tonight. I think there’s gonna be some intense ritual tool consecration going on during the next full moon. I might do my ritual jewellery at the same time, since I took it all off on Monday, which is weird, but also good? I’m enjoying a little break from the priesting, and just doing simple twice-daily ad-lib offerings of flame, water, and incense, just for the joy of it. Some of the words from the old Senut prayers are coming back, which is weird because I never did Senut all that much, even when I was Kemetic Orthodox, but there are some nice words in there.

I’m beginning to understand the purpose of this pause, so that’s nice. Got a lot still to puzzle out, but that’s fine. It keeps me busy. I’ve got a snake to finish, and some consecration rituals to write. I don’t think I’ve done any magical tool consecrations since I was Wiccan, which is around 15 years ago woo. So that’ll be fun. I’m probably going to switch up some of the pendants I wear as well, it seems like the time to be a little more committed than just wearing All The Things, so. I’ve also started putting together a knife for Hekate, made from a letter opener, and I’ve made some incense burners out of all the clay, so. Fallow Time is unexpectedly productive, go me.

It’s fallow time again

I can feel it, for the most part. The gods are off doing god things, and I’m left with my own thoughts for a while. I usually feel some sort of pause before the Mysteries, so this isn’t exactly surprising. But I feel like it’s properly set in now. All I feel like I’m being asked to do is just keep doing the rituals, and take care of yourself. So I guess it’s not proper fallow time where nothing happens, but it’s time for myself. Knowing what might be coming for the Mysteries, it feels like that period of isolation before an initiation, where you’re left alone to really decide whether it’s for you. That’s what this one feels like.

That it coincides with noumenia, and with that other time of the month, is, I suspect, a coincidence, but it seems to be an appropriate time for it anyway. It’s weird, feeling like I could go to Bakhu and meditate, but it’d just be for me. The gods aren’t there at the moment. They will return, I know that much, but it’s a quiet place now. It’s very empty. I may still go there, just to keep my connection with it, but it’s not a high priority at the moment. Self-care, and reflection, those matter now.

I did a reading during noumenia last night using my Wildwood Tarot deck, and I pulled The Shaman and The Wanderer. I might ponder those cards over the next three weeks, even though I find the whole ‘shamanism’ concept in modern Paganism problematic. It’s the sense of delving deeper, I think, and being ready to move forward, I think that’s important. I may share some of those thoughts here, or I might just throw them into my private journals. I don’t know. But I’m looking forward to it, anyway. Which may sound weird to some of you, but I am an introvert, and having space to myself, without having to worry about the gods, is very much appreciated. I am all for the fallow time.

Kemetic Round Table: How To Survive Fallow Time

This is the latest in a series of posts that is part of a (new) Kemetic blogging project called the Kemetic Round Table that aims to provide practical, useful information for Kemetic practitioners of any stripe from beginners to more experienced practitioners. Check the link here for more information.

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I must admit this topic threw me a little. It’s a fairly new concept to me, and trying to relate it back to my own experiences that I may not have coded as fallow time is an imprecise artform. So you will excuse me if this post is perhaps not the best, and may wander into strange territory, given my not-so-great understanding of the concept.

When I saw the topic, I first thought it was referring to that time between Samhain and Yule. It was only when I thought about it a little more that I connected it to those periods when gods don’t talk to you, and you feel somewhat disconnected from your path. I also understand this is a different thing than a ‘dark night of the soul’? Though I can imagine that both may overlap to some degree, though more in a Venn diagram kind of way than anything more significant. I can’t say it applies to every experience, though.