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TWO NEW PATHWORKING GUIDES ARE OUT! The Chalice of Visions will take you to a breathtaking tropical temple to answer all of your top-secret questions and to meet ancestors and past-life connections. The Oichana Meditation will take you to a beautiful village in the middle of the plains, a place that does not obey the laws of nature, but is sure to give you a lot of powerful, bubby, healing thoughts to think!

My friends Airees, Lorra, April, and I are collaborating on a #365doodleproject. My project is to draw the daily prompts on my 365 Things to Draw 2015 calendar from Chronicle Books. We post our daily doodles on 365doodles.com (check us out!) but every now and then, I’ll cross-post some of my drawings there here on Tumblr.

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013: a shattered mirror

I tried something new today by coloring my pencil sketch digitally. I’m starting to look for ways to rely less on the computer for my client work so having this 365 doodle project is a great way to experiment and have fun.

Story time! A bit unrelated, but this drawing brings to mind a visit to a fortune-teller a few days after the new year. I went to see this manghuhula (let’s call her Tita Y) out of sheer curiosity. I’m skeptical about these things but years ago, my ex-boyfriend and our officemates would see her to have their fortunes told and I was impressed then by her accuracy. Tita Y, without knowing anything about my ex, and without me being there, told him the letters in my name and that I live in Parañaque. Among the other things she said that were true about me, she also told him about my guy friend and how we weren’t on speaking terms then– which my ex did not know about at that time. I’ve also had my officemates tell me their fortunes came true (i.e. the name of the husband one had yet to meet; a fling one would have with an Indian guy) months and years after Tita Y told them about it.

That was in 2007 and I’ve been wanting to book an appointment with Tita Y since. I’ve been reading “religious” books lately and I’m curious how fortune-tellers like her fit into the grand scheme of Catholicism/Christianity/God’s will*). I’ve also read about psychics on Reddit and how most of them don’t really have “psychic powers” and are merely skilled at cold reading (observing people and inferring things about them from what they’ve observed). So I wanted to see for myself how Tita Y worked, mainly out of curiosity, for science, and to form an informed opinion. Anything she could tell me about myself without me telling her would just be a bonus.

So I dragged my friend with me and we hied off to Quezon City where Tita Y lives. In a nutshell, the whole “experiment” was a bust. Tita Y went through a bout of depression in 2012 and maybe that sucked out all her “psychic powers” for she told my friend and I nothing new. She didn’t “see” whatever had happened in the past, and I call BS on the stuff she said will happen in the future (“you will meet someone within 8 weeks or 8 months from now”– UM, HELLO. That’s too broad a time frame).

Her hula was mostly mundane practical advice (friend: “Magkaka-love life ba ako ngayong 2015?” Answer: “Yes, pero mag-ayos ka ng sarili mo”). She did tell me some things about myself, personality-wise, that were on point (i.e. that I’m secretive, I need to be more open, I don’t show my emotions), but I believe that can be attributed to either cold reading and/or knowing about my birthdate and consequently, my Scorpio personality profile. 

I was disappointed as I was expecting the same uncanny accuracy my ex and my former co-workers experienced when they went to her years ago. I paid her anyway and my friend and I left. That was, seriously, the biggest waste of money I’ve ever spent on. But at least I got what I came for which is to satiate my curiosity and to form an informed opinion: that there may be legit fortune-tellers out there, somewhere, but perhaps Tita Y isn’t one. Or maybe she was having an off day. In any case, I don’t see myself going to see her and any other fortune-tellers any time soon.

P.S. She did tell me, from inspecting my palms at the end of our session, that I am “a good person.” And then she tried to set me up with her 39-year-old son. Lelz.

Welcome to the Reblog Book Club, Tumblr’s official book club!

Right now, we’re reading our fifth book, Vivian Apple at the End of the World by katiecoyle. It’s available in print and ebook from a variety of retailers or your local bookstore or library.

Follow the book club here and Katie at katiecoyle. We’ve already selected some very passionate Tumblr bloggers to help lead the discussion, and we hope you’ll participate too. 

You can contribute in one of two ways:

- Post to your own Tumblr blog and tag the post #reblogbookclub — we’ll reblog it into the main conversation. - Submit to the book club Tumblr at reblogbookclub.tumblr.com/submit

We’ll begin with non-spoilery posts right away, and discuss plot developments on the following schedule:

- January 13-19: Chapters 1 - 10 - January 20-27: Chapters 11 - 22

For those of you in the New York area, we’re throwing a party right on 1/27 at housingworksbookstore to celebrate! We’ll be sure to take pictures and make recordings for the out-of-towners.

This book is thought-provoking and a little bit difficult. It’s about religion and politics and a lot of other things people often try to avoid in polite company. We have complete faith you’ll be able to discuss it like the smart, kind, nonjudgmental, respectful, generous, open-minded people you are. But let’s all keep it in mind anyway.

And because this is a book club the Tumblr way, you can express your feelings about the book however you choose—a written review, fan art, gifs, poems, letters… Maybe you have nail art? Maybe you want to post a video blog talking through your ideas, a g-chat with a friend, or a song you think the characters would relate to? It’s all up to you! And, of course, you can reblog other people’s posts to add your own thoughts and responses. Katie will also be answering your Ask Box questions throughout the project.

Personal Relationships with Spirits & Deities

Here are a few pointers to strengthen your relationship with them.

Introductory Hekate F. A. Q.

. Sit with trees.

Just be still and listen to them – what can be learned in those moments of tree conversing is limitless.

As a child I could often be found up in a tree or a fort at tree level.  That is how I came to know the Pepper Tree Schinus molle that grew over the fence of our yard from our neighbor’s backyard.  I would sit in my fort with my plastic play buckets full of water and carefully remove the outer pink skin of the Pepper Tree’s berries, crushing the papery skin between my fingers and mixing it into my water buckets, discarding the hard inside berry back over the fence.  I would let it brew overnight, sometimes days, and convince the other kids in the neighborhood that they were magickal brews.  I loved how the water would change colors with the berry-skin infusion and I truly believed that magick was at work.  I still know that magick was at work then and years later I learned that I was unknowingly mimicking the medicinal preparation of the Pepper Tree by earlier peoples, such as the Incas.

2. Grow something.

It can be a herb, a succulant, zuchinnis, flowers, moss, or something else but it is important to grow!  Buy seeds, find seedlings in the farmer’s market or maybe take a cutting with permission from a neighbor’s yard.  Begin to speak the unique root-clicking, multifloral, seed-spreading  languages of plants.  Find out the best growing conditions for your plant friend, water it when needed, and talk to it all the time.  For those who say they have no green thumb I would say that it is more about having a green heart.  To grow a plant we must grow ourselves and that requires building relationships, all which go through cycles of sprouting, fruitfulness, death, and decomposition.

3. Talk to plant folk, herbalists, and the guy down the street who knows how to prepare nopalitos.

Infusion

Infusions work best for making tea from leaves and flowers as these plant parts give up their active constituents easily.

Allow the tea to steep for 10 to 20 minutes so the therapeutic properties can pass from the herb into the water.

To make an infused oil put dried herbs in the top of a double-boiler, cover with oil about an inch over the herb (olive works well for this because it has a fairly long shelf life), let simmer for 2 hours without letting it get too hot or boiling, a temp of 150 F is good. Strain the oil into a clean jar, date and label. Without any preservatives, infused oil will last about a year.

Decoction

Teas made from roots and twigs are most often brewed by decoction because it is more difficult to extract their medicinal properties any other way. Boil or simmer 1 to 2 teaspoons of the herb per cup of water for 10 to 20 minutes.

Poultice

A poultice is a paste of chopped, fresh (or dried and then re-moistened) plant material which is applied directly to a wound or skin infection. It is held in place by a wet dressing covered by a bandage. Poultices are most often used to prevent infection and hasten healing.

To make a poultice, boil, steam, or pound the healing herb of your choice to release more medicinal compounds. Then shape the material into a small, coin-size wad which can then lie flat against the wound. Many herbalists recommend mixing 1 part herb with 3 parts water, alcohol, witch hazel or vinegar. Thicken with flour to make the poultice easier to handle and apply.

Note: doing a patch test first would be a very good idea to make sure your skin doesn’t get irritated.

Tincture

Stuff dried herbs into a jar, add enough alcohol (usually vodka or everclear (natural grain alcohol), depending on the strength needed for the particular herb) to amply cover the herbs, and screw the lid on. Allow the mixture to stand for about a week, shaking it occasionally. Then strain it, discard the plant material, and store the tincture in a bottle with a dropper lid. Label and date the bottle. Most tinctures have a shelf life of 2 years.

Wash

A tea or infusion meant only for external use. A mild form of a wash would be 1/4 ounce of herb to one pint of boiling water, steeped until lukewarm, then applied.

lights go down you try to not make a sound hearts collide we still have plenty of time

i’m like a childhood boy  young man of twenty-three i believe in us ‘cause you believe in me believe in me

i’ll wait for you in the dark arms outstretched, comforting lover my bones may be falling apart but i’ll wait for you come the summer

lights go down we try to not make a sound hearts collide i still have plenty of time

i’m like a childhood boy  young man of twenty-three i believe in us ‘cause you believe in me believe in me

i’ll wait for you in the dark arms outstretched, comforting lover my bones may be falling apart but i’ll wait for you come the summer

so come close and i’ll scream,  "well, just let me be me" i fail to see the dark skies aren’t all that dwell inside me

i’ll wait for you in the dark arms outstretched, comforting lover my bones may be falling apart but i’ll wait for you come the summer