Monday 27 December 2010

Meditation Beads

A few months back I made myself a set of meditation beads. All of the beads are glass or wood. I know some people use plastic beads, and that is entirely up to you, but I do prefer to use natural materials. At the end of the day though, it is your choice, use whatever works for you, nothing is ever wrong, if a big pink plastic kitsch bead speaks to you use it!

Your mind can sometimes tend to wander when you are meditating which leads to a loss of concentration. For practising meditation, meditation beads can act as a kind of ‘anchor’ or grounding point enabling you to focus better. This can be extremely useful especially if you are feeling tired when you meditate.

Conversely, if your mind is too active and over-energised, meditation beads will prevent you from becoming distracted or daydreaming. And, because the beads are moved in rhythm with your breathing, it helps you maintain your concentration.

Meditation beads can be used in a number of ways. A popular method is to hang the string between your thumb and your third finger, traditionally in your right hand. Using your middle finger, you rotate the beads one bead at a time towards yourself, each time you repeat the mantra and take a breath.

A variation of this method is to hang the string on your middle finger and rotate the beads one at a time in the same fashion, only this time you use your thumb.

You begin the procedure at the first bead and repeat the process with all of the beads, continuing around the loop until you once again reach the start.

On my meditation beads, each bead signifies a different purpose - as I rotate the bead I say quietly to myself a mantra with that specific intent, for instance when I reach the friends bead I say 'I give thanks for my wonderful friends', when I am on the Cailleach bead I say 'I give blessings and honour the Cailleach for guiding me'.

On my meditation beads, each bead has a plain separator, then:
Green for abundance
Grey sparkly one for The Cailleach
Wooden one for The Green Man
Daisy one for my friends
Brown one for my family
World one for the universe
Yellow for enlightenment
Pink for love
Black to release negativity
Light blue for healing
Orange for success
Clear for my totem unicorn
Brown/red for my totem wild boar
Spiral for spirituality
Purple for wisdom
Spiral for balance
Red for empowering
Sparkly brown for happiness
Red for manifesting
Green for money
Blue for protection
Brown for strength
White for cleansing
Purple for meditation

You can have different beads for different purposes as I have done, or you can have a string of plain beads all the same colour, it is your choice, use whatever works for you.

Blessings
Tansy
x

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Gingerbread & Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Mars
Element: Fire
Powers: Love, money, success, power

Eating ginger before performing spells will lend them power, since you have been 'heated up' by the ginger.
Or perhaps at this time of the year what about eating gingerbread?

Gingerbread has been baked in Europe for centuries. In some places, it was a soft, delicately spiced cake; in others, a crisp, flat cookie, and in others, warm, thick, steamy-dark squares of "bread," sometimes served with a pitcher of lemon sauce or whipped cream. It was sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, but it was almost always cut into shapes such as men, women, stars or animals, and colorfully decorated or stamped with a mold and dusted with white sugar to make the impression visible.

The term may be imprecise because in Medieval England gingerbread meant simply "preserved ginger" and was a corruption of the Old French gingebras, derived from the Latin name of the spice, Zingebar. It was only in the fifteenth century that the term came to be applied to a kind of cake made with treacle and flavored with ginger.

Ginger was also discovered to have a preservative effect when added to pastries and bread, and this probably led to the development of recipes for ginger cakes, cookies, Australian gingernuts and flavored breads.

The manufacture of gingerbread appears to have spread throughout Western Europe at the end of the eleventh century, possibly introduced by crusaders returning from wars in the Eastern Mediterranean. From its very beginning gingerbread has been a fairground delicacy. Many fairs became known as "gingerbread fairs" and gingerbread items took on the alternative name in England of "fairings" which had the generic meaning of a gift given at, or brought from, a fair. Certain shapes were associated with different seasons: buttons and flowers were found at Easter fairs, and animals and birds were a feature in Autumn. There is also more than one village tradition in England requiring unmarried women to eat gingerbread "husbands" at the fair if they are to stand a good chance of meeting a real husband.

If you lived in London in 1614, your family would have gone to the Bartholomew Fair on August 24. Of the special cakes prepared for holidays and feasts in England, many were gingerbread. If a fair honored a town's patron saint, e.g., St. Bartholomew, the saint's image might have been stamped (and even gilded) into the gingerbread you would buy. If the fair were on a special market day, the cakes would probably be decorated with an edible icing to look like men, animals, valentine hearts or flowers. Sometimes the dough was simply cut into round "snaps."

Gingerbread-making was eventually recognized as a profession in itself. In the seventeenth century, gingerbread bakers had the exclusive right to make it, except at Christmas and Easter. Their street cries could be heard well into the nineteenth century, but in 1951, writer Henry Mayhew sadly recorded that "there are only two men in London who make their own gingerbread nuts for sale in the streets."

Of all the countries in Europe, Germany is the one with the longest and strongest tradition of flat, shaped gingerbreads. At every autumn fair in Germany, and in the surrounding lands where the Germanic influence is strong, there are rows of stalls filled with hundreds of gingerbread hearts, decorated with white and colored icing and tied with ribbons.

If you lived in Nuremberg in 1614, your family would have gone to the Christkindlmarkt in December. You would have bought carved Christmas decorations, special sausages, and the famous Nuremberg Lebkuchen flavored with ginger, which you probably would have thought was the best in the world. Nuremberg gingerbread was not baked in the home, but was the preserve of an exclusive Guild of master bakers, the Lebkuchler.

Lebkuchen are made throughout Germany and large pieces of lebkuchen are used to build Hexenhaeusle ("witches' houses," from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, also called Lebkuchenhaeusel and Knusperhaeuschen—"houses for nibbling at").

Nuremberg merchants, in fact, were so well known for their spices that they had the nickname "pepper sacks." From early on, Nuremberg's Lebkuchen packed into one recipe all the variety of flavorings available to its bakers—cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, white pepper, anise and ginger.

The traditions in France were closer to the German than the English ones, with noteworthy recipes for pain d'epices coming from Dijon, Reims and Paris. In 1571, French bakers of pain d'epices even won the right to their own guild, or professional organization, separate from the other pastry cooks and bakers. In Paris a gingerbread fair was held from the eleventh century until the nineteenth century at an abbey on the site of the present St. Antoine Hospital, where monks sold gingerbread cut into the shape of pigs.

Tansy
x


Sources:
wwwiz.com
cunningham

Saturday 18 December 2010

A whimsical creation myth

It all began with a breath. That first breath that breathed in Life and brought awareness to the world. But Fam Mawr was lonely in her dark and cold place. She cried many tears, and these tears became the stars in the sky. Fam Mawr cried until she could cry no more, and she sighed. Her sigh travelled out into the sky and became the Moon.

But still she was lonely. Her tears spent, she became angry. She picked up pieces from around where she sat, and she threw them out into the darkness. Finally, she scooped up a big handful of firmament in her hands and she screamed at it. As she screamed, the ball of firmament became hotter and hotter with her anger. Until is burst into flames. In shock and surprise, Fam Mawr threw the flaming ball far away from herself, but not before her hands were burned and bleeding.

The flaming ball became the Sun, and it brought light to the world, and finally Fam Mawr could see. She looked at her injured hands. As she held them to her face, she breathed over them, and the burns healed.

Fam Mawr was still lonely. She looked at the ground where her blood had fallen and saw a shape. She mixed the blood in with the earth and moulded it. She breathed over the shape and breathed Life into the form that became Tad Fawr. Fam Mawr wept with joy to know that she was no longer lonely, and this became the song of the universe.

Fam Mawr and Tad Fawr were very happy. They spent their days in moulding the earth, piling it here and there, playing, tunnelling deep down and placing sparkling coloured treasures for each other to find. When the Sun hid it's face from them, they would cuddle together and sleep.

Fam Mawr's belly grew and grew. Until one day she could not move. She lay on the bare ground, and Tad Fawr tried to console her and ease her pains. She cried and the earth quaked and trembled. Until suddenly the waters of the world gushed from her body, and with it came her children - the peoples of the world, the plant peoples, the animal peoples, and the human peoples.

The waters filled the chasms and pits that Fam Mawr and Tad Fawr had dug. Some of the peoples went to live in the seas. Other peoples made homes on the places that the waters did not reach - and that includes all the human peoples.

Now that the birth pains were over, Fam Mawr was overjoyed at what she had produced. Whilst Tad Fawr rejoiced in the plant and animal peoples, Fam Mawr held the human peoples as her favourites. Each wanted their own favourites to have the upper hand. Fam Mawr and Tad Fawr argued. Their fights caused terrible catastrophes, and many many of their children were killed. When they saw what they had done, they stopped fighting, and agreed that the peoples should be equal. Still they have their favourites, however, and they still bicker, bringing storms and the occasional disasters.

But Fam Mawr and Tad Fawr love each other, and love their children, and these outbursts are soon over. We, their children, must help them keep the balance between the human peoples, the animal peoples, and the plant peoples. For as soon as one of the people gains over another, that will spark an argument and only bring disaster to all the peoples.

~ Blaiddwolf 2010

Friday 17 December 2010

Yule - The Winter Solstice



The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.

So many cultures celebrate a mid-winter festival, in both ancient and modern times. The Winter Solstice is one of the four fire festivals, the time when in the Northern Hemisphere, the night is at its longest and the day at its shortest.

To our ancestors it was a crucial time, when the sun reached the point in the calendar where it apparently "stood still" in the sky (the literal meaning of the word solstice) before beginning the return to longer days and shorter nights - something very significant for people whose survival centred on growing enough food and keeping warm.

Ancient people were hunters and spent most of their time outdoors. The seasons and weather played a very important part in their lives. Because of this many ancient people had a great reverence for, and even worshipped the sun. The Norsemen of Northern Europe saw the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons. It was from the word for this wheel, houl, that the word yule is thought to have come. At mid-winter the Norsemen lit bonfires, told stories and drank sweet ale.

If you watch the sunrise and sunset from the same spot you'll be able to mentally mark your own solstice alignments - the point where the sun rises and sets on its shortest day. Stand in the same place on June 21st and compare these winter points to where it appears and disappears at the Summer Solstice. You'll realise the huge difference the Earth's tilt and orbit makes, although to our ancestors of course it was the sun which appeared to move.



So many of our modern Christmas customs date from pagan times. Evergreens have always been part of the decorations for this festival – holly, ivy and fir. Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids and a venerated plant. Light, candles and wreaths have always been important for Yule, and the word yule comes from Old Nore “jul”. Christingles, St Lucia, St Stephen – all have their roots in ancient customs celebrated at this mid-winter festival. Even Father Christmas is said to perhaps have morphed from the shaman who would play a vital role in the proceedings in the Northern Hemisphere. Some early art depicting this mid-winter benefactor portrays him in green robes – maybe a version of the Green Man? Herne the Hunter was a horned deity sacred to this time of year – a man with antlers sprouting from his head. Wassailing, when the orchards would be visited by bands of singers performing rituals around the trees, singing and drinking from a Wassail Cup to toast the trees and ensure their well-being for the year ahead – perhaps a forerunner of the bands of carol-singers who once traipsed around the village.

The ancient Romans also held a festival to celebrate the rebirth of the year. Saturnalia ran for seven days from the 17th of December. It was a time when the ordinary rules were turned upside down. Men dressed as women and masters dressed as servants.

The festival also involved decorating houses with greenery, lighting candles, holding processions and giving presents.

The Druids would cut the mistletoe that grew on the oak tree and give it as a blessing. Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months.

It was also the Druids who began the tradition of the yule log. The Celts thought that the sun stood still for twelve days in the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit to conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year.

Many of these customs are still followed today. They have been incorporated into the Christian and secular celebrations of Christmas.

Yule is a time throughout time that honours love and new birth, as well as the collective unity of man. Just as Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, Yule celebrates the birth of the Sun God - child of the Goddess in the Pagan belief system. Yule is primarily the celebration of the rebirth of the Sun. Many people associate the Winter Solstice, or winter itself with death, as it is the season in which nature is dormant, and in which many plants die off and crops are scarce. Conversely, the Winter Solstice, although it is the longest night, (boasting more than 12 hours of darkness), it is also the turning point of the year, as following this night the sun grows stronger in the sky, and the days become gradually longer once more. Thus the Winter Solstice is also a celebration of rebirth, and there are many traditions that stem from this perspective.

The Winter Solstice is the traditional time to celebrate the truly important things in life: your family, your children, your home and looking forward to a wonderful year to come.

Tansy
x


Sources:
Stonewylde
Shapeit

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Hazel - a tree of wisdom

The Hazel is a tree of wisdom.

In England, all the knowledge of the arts and sciences were bound to the eating of Hazel nuts. Until the seventeenth century, a forked Hazelstick was used to divine the guilt of persons in cases of murder and theft. We have retained the practice of divining for water and buried treasure.

The name 'hazel' comes from the Anglo Saxon 'haesel', meaning 'cap'. This refers to the way in which the nuts are covered with a thin, leafy sheath, rather like a little hat.

Even a brief look at hazel lore will reveal that it is often connected with water. The hazel rods respond to water in the hands of the diviner and the myths of Ireland show an intimate connection between the hazel tree and the seven great rivers of Ireland. The surviving lore concerns the Shannon and the Boyne in particular, though it is said that at the head of each great river grew one or more magical hazel trees. In various stories, either one or nine of these trees are said to have grown over Connla's Well and the Well of Segais, the legendary sources of the Boyne and Shannon respectively. It is said that the hazel trees at Connla's Well produced fruit and flowers simultaneously and it has been suggested that this represents wisdom mixed with beauty. To my mind, it underlines that these were no ordinary trees, but magical, otherworldly trees.

Nuts from these magical hazel trees were described as 'the Nuts of Wisdom ' and many stories tell of how the nuts fall into the waters of the well, imbuing the water with special qualities and causing bubbles of mystic inspiration to form. The nuts are eaten by salmon who swim in the river, who gain great wisdom from this. It is said that the number of spots upon the back of the salmon corresponds to the number of nuts he has eaten, and thus to the amount of wisdom held by that fish.

Generally in Irish myth, hazel nuts represent wisdom, and this correspondence is often found in kennings and riddles. The Irish word for the nuts is 'cno', and the similarity between that and the word for wisdom, 'cnocach ' is obvious. The nuts are seen as a concentration of wisdom, something highly nutritious, yet compact. Something sweet to the taste, just as knowledge is sweet.

Sadly for those in Wales, hazel was not so much a symbol of love, as love unreturned. A hazel twig would be given as a sign of rejection between lovers . But conversely, another Welsh custom runs that one should wear a twig of hazel in ones hat in order to make your wishes come true .

This is found elsewhere, in a slight variation known as a 'Wishing Cap,' woven from hazel twigs. Again, the cap would bring the fulfillment of your wish. It is said - though from slightly dubious sources - that sailors would wear such caps in order to protect themselves from storms . This may be true, as elsewhere, particularly in the East of England, we find hazel twigs placed on window sills to protect a house against lightning or fire .

We also find hazel in use as a general protective plant, in much the same way that trees such as the holly and oak are employed. As we have already seen, the Philistines employed hazel in their fight against the magicians of the Tuatha de Danaan. Hazel offered protection for the Philistines against the evil demons inhabiting the corpses of their slain enemies.

In the Discoverie of Witchcraft, Scot advocates the use of hazel wands, cut, of course, upon the 'Sabbath daie', as protection against witches and thieves. And something that may or may not be relevant in the light of our earlier discourse on ancient bodies found with hazel nuts and leaves, is that Pennant, writing in the 17th century, tells us that in Merionethshire it was customary for hazel twigs to be placed within graves to avert malign witchcraft .

Hazel was also thought to protect against adder bites.

The most commonly found lore concerning healing properties of the hazel runs a double-hazelnut should be carried in the pocket as a charm to prevent toothache.

Gender: Masculine
Planet: Sun
Element: Air
Deities: Mercury, Thor, Artemis, Diana
Powers: Luck, fertility, anti lightening, protection, wishes

Tansy
x



Sources:
Caer Feddwyd
Scott Cunningham

Monday 13 December 2010

A Modern Take on a Creation Myth

"At the beginning of Time there was an Instance. Out of that Instance came Time and with it Space, and Nothing became Something. And with that Instance, with the Time and Space, came Consiousness. Consciousness smiled, and slept.

When Consciousness awoke, she saw tiny specks of intense brightness. Myriad specks, and as she looked, she saw that they were gathered into families. Consciousness blinked. She looked again, and the families of specks had moved apart, Space was growing.

She picked a family at random, and moved towards it. She watched as the family of specks danced around in an intricate circle, and with each speck a cloud of dust. As she gazed entranced, she saw that the dust was sticky, and as the specks swirled and twirled, the dust began to clump together, until each and every speck had it's own group of dots dancing around it too.

Consiousness was overjoyed at this spectacle. She chose one particular speck and moved closer until she was close enough to hug the speck and feel it's warmth. She followed the trails of bright light, let herself be carried along on the wave of warmth and noticed that the dots surrounding were of so many colours.

Just then, she felt a tickle. She giggled, and her attention caught on a particularly colourful dot - blues and greens and browns, yellows, white and even patches of red. As she got closer and closer to the dot, the more she tickled.

She dove down under the fluffy white blanket, and found herself exhilerated. She floated through the clear blue, drawn on by ever increasing sensation. She touched the mountains, she touched the seas, and every time she shivered with the contact.

Consciousness stretched out, and as she did so, the waters moved away from her. She relaxed and the waters returned.

Curious, she turned to glide across the surface of the planet. She came to thickly forested land, and as she smoothed the green foliage, she in turn felt a comforting stroke upon herself. She sighed out in contentment, and the trees breathed it in.

After a while, something began to niggle in the back of Consciousness's mind. She could hear something completely new and different. Rhythmic, not at all like the background noise she was accustomed to. She followed the sounds, and the sounds became voices. She came upon a human village, where in the centre was the bright heat of fire, and dancing and swirling around it, mirroring the intricate dance of the stars, were people, and they were singing.

Consciousness could feel them! She knew of their happiness, their sadness, oh she could feel their pain, their joy. Consciousness felt herself captured in their song, felt herself be pulled down to dance amongst them, she joined hands and stamped her feet and danced. She danced with a million pairs of feet, and sang with a million voices, her awareness exploding out past mountain, past sea, past cloud and sun, exploding out to encompass the entirety of the universe. Her awareness taking in the billion billion tiny suns and their dancing planets with their singing and dancing inhabitants. For when she dances, the whole of the Universe dances, for that is what she was."

Blaiddwolf ~2010

Thursday 9 December 2010

Come and meet The Unicorn...

The unicorn is found in folklore throughout the world. It is a beautiful and majestic creature. Unicorns are connected with magic, enchantment and the faerie realm.

It is said that Unicorns live in forests or groves of apple trees. The apple being a symbol of Avalon, the Celtic Otherworld, this perhaps illustrates the unicorn's ability to move between the worlds.

The allicorn is the name of the spiral horn on the unicorn's head. It is also blessed with magickal powers. It was at one time believed that the unicorn was hunted to extinction because of it's allicorn.

During the Middle Ages many fake allicorns were in circulation and were claimed to be genuine. They were used as drinking horns and magickal wands.


It was said that the allicorn could detect poison and purify liquid to render the poison harmless. It is believed that a unicorn would dip it's allicorn into a lake or stream before drinking from it.

Magickal Attributes:Good will, fame, prosperity, gentleness, purity, strength of mind. Unlimted individual power. For wisdom combined with success. Developing personal power.

Proper working with unicorns as a spirit guide/totem animal can have tremendous impact on your morality, sense of propriety and spiritual growth. If your life has been average the appearance of a unicorn will signal a coming change of great importance. This change may be positive or negative, but it will have a profound impact on the way you live your life.

Embrace the unicorn!

Tansy
x

The image is of a unicorn spirit animal stone available from http://www.kitchenwitch.org

Sources:
Magical Beasts by Marie Bruce
Magickal Mystical Creatures by DJ Conway

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Creation Myths - do we really still need them?

There are more creation myths amongst our world's many cultures than there are any other type of story. These myths are not meant to be taken literally, but they hold the basic profound truths held by each society. These myths are many and varied, but they all tell of how the world as we know it came to be.

Science is a fairly new concept. It has been around for as long as we have, but as with a lot of things, has only been labelled as separate and distinct in the last few hundred years. In fact, before the seventeenth century, the words "science" and "philosophy" were pretty much used interchangeably, modern day science having been born from the realm of ancient philosophy. Philosophy being the use of reason to explain general and fundamental problems.

Creation myths were one method of explaining how the world came to be, how a culture and it's associated deities came to be, without having to know the actual scientific mechanics of the process. They are meant as metaphore, a symbolic story that speaks directly with the sunconscious, with imagery to capture the imagination of our waking minds. A culture's creation myth will reflect their knowledge of the world, and their observations of their part to play within it.

The most famous creation myth of our western civilisation is that of Genesis - where God took six days to create the heavens and earth, to populate it, and to have enough spare time at the end of the project to sit back and relax. This is one popular mechanism of a creation myth, in that a Supreme Being actively moulds the world we live on, and places humankind at the pinnacle of their creation.

Many myths will contain a birth of some kind, whether of the world, or of a new generation of deities, more closely resembling human-kind who then go on to form the world and it's inhabitants. There can be one Supreme Being, two, or even more. The more "advanced" the culture, the more complex become their pantheons.

Some myths have divinity coming to an already existant but barren world. For example, one that is covered in water, and which the land is brought up from the bottom of the sea and then populated. Or, as with an Australian myth, the Mother-creation goddess coming down to a bare earth and giving form to plants, animals and humans.

The creation myths often attempt to explain the origins of the Sun and the Moon, day and night. Many will also explain a "fall from grace" of the peoples, acknowledging the imperfect nature of humanity.

I recently had cause to write a creation myth of my own. In fact I wrote two! I wanted to write a myth that would work with the state of modern scientific thinking, being compatible with the theories of quantum physics and the theories as to the evolution of the Universe until present day. A myth that mixed science with spirituality.

My other myth I wrote from the perspective of an ancient ancestor. No specified historical period nor culture, but one that was completely remote from a scientific background. One that attempted to explain the origins of the known world. I never thought that I could ever write a credible creation myth, would ever need a creation myth - I have science (and magick is definitely a science) but creation myths? They were for those less advanced or ancient cultures...weren't they?

Love and hugs

Blaiddwolf

Thursday 2 December 2010

Witches' Ladders, and a Kitchen Witch perspective

In 1886, whilst repairing an old house in Somerset, England, in the roof space was found half a dozen broomsticks, an old chair, and what is now considered the first recorded find of a Witches' Ladder. It was a length of braided cord, looped at one end for handing, with many cockerel feathers threaded through the braid.

There have been many theories as to its purpose, the most popular at the time, and in the subsequent years, was that these ladders were for nefarious reasons, ranging from taking milk unseen from the neighbours' cows, to causing deaths. Later theories were more benevolent, with the ladders storing healing magick and wishes.

All of these theories are pure supposition, there has been no historical evidence to the use of a witches' ladder, or that they were used at all by witches! Anthropologists likened their use to objects used in folk stories from Scotland to Italy.

Nowadays, the Witches' Ladders are used to bind magickal intent. They also come in various different guises, some are braided, some are knotted, but all share the common theme of natural cord and feathers. Some braid three cords together, and weave nine feathers in, evenly spaced, chanting whilst the ladder is created so lock in the magickal intent. Other are knotted twine, tying the feathers in place. Many use specific coloured cord, corresponding to magickal intent. The number of knots or feathers can be different too.

My ladders have evolved from the braiding technique, using a little bit of hedge-witchery. I cut nine pieces of natural twine, about the length of my arm from shoulder to finger tip. No need for measuring tape here! I braid together three sets of three lengths, and then I braid these three lengths together, all the while I will be chanting words specific to my intent.

The number three is a powerful number in witchcraft, and in fact in many of the world's spiritual systems.Mind, body and spirit; earth, sea and sky; Maiden, Mother and Crone; God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Celts saw the number three in this way, and three times three being that much more powerful. It is from the Celts that witchcraft gains much of it's practices.

I use colour magick in my ladders, using colours that correspond to my magickal intent. Like green for prosperity, yellow for happiness, red for love and blue for healing. I use a mixture of feathers, beads and charms, three feathers, three beads/buttons and three charms, three times three. I tie these into the ladder after I have finished braiding mainly because of the practicalities of construction. Not only is it extremely fiddly and awkward to evenly space nine trinkets whilst braiding, but many of the beads and charms don't have big enough holes for the twine to go through! Hedgewitchery is all about practicalities, there is nothing magickal about struggling and needing two pairs of hands. So, the feathers are threaded through the braid, but the beads and charms I tie on using cotton thread, knotted three times. Of course, all the while, with each charm, bead or feather, I am chanting my intent.

Love and hugs

Blaiddwolf

The image shown is of the Kitchen Witch Love Witches Ladder
http://www.kitchenwitch.org