#yorubaby

Learning to trust yourself and your intuition after having it destroyed can be so weird.

I'm thankful I can still see the beauty and hope in life despite it all.

When I asked why, Rue said, "Just because;" and Ania said, "Everyone needs hand pies."

Friends like this really do make the hard times so much more manageable.

And it's the perfect time for a new lavender plant, what with everything that's been going on. Warding off evil whilst death has touched our family? Yes, please. Bringing peace and cleansing? I'll take that as well, thank you. A symbol of resilience and courage? Don't mind if I do. A bringer of spiritual protection? Yes, yes, yes.

The timing is honestly uncanny.

I got a financial reading from Rue, and it was a gift from start to finish. Rue set a deeply locked in energy early on that snagged me right away. I felt connected to the process. During the reading, Rue accurately pinpointed key areas that I was struggling with internally in regards to my relationship with money. She approached the reading from a place of understanding and I never once felt any judgement from her.

Rue then went on to help unpack external issues affecting my income and didn't miss once. The reading was done with sensitivity towards the systems that trap us, so don't think she will ever shame you or forget that we don't exist in a vacuum. I have experienced that in previous readings, where you are held solely to task for your circumstances. I felt like Rue did an excellent job of balancing what was in my control and what wasn't in the advice she gave.

Have the day you deserve, Anna.

I was tagged by the wonderful @yorubaby!

Rules: Answer and tag 6 people you want to know better!

Favorite Color: Green. The green of my soulmate's eyes, the green of my herbs, the green of the northern lights, the green of young leaves and budding sprouts in the spring. Green.

Last Song: Polygon Dust by Porter Robinson, Feat. Lemaitre. This is my current samesong!

Currently Watching: I don't tend to watch a lot of TV? I have been watching someone on YouTube do a blind play through of one of my favorite video games though! I love seeing people experience the things I love for the first time

Currently Reading: Witch Hat Atelier and a book on medicinal plants!

Currently Craving: A break. Please.

Coffee or Tea: tea! I do enjoy a good coffee, but I've been just obsessed with match for a year now

You get a TREAT!

This one is about superstitions / folk beliefs :)

In both Hoodoo and Appalachian folk beliefs, there is a motif of backwardness or inversion as a protective measure.

Some examples recorded by Zora Neale Hurston in "Hoodoo in America" and Mules and Men are:

If you want to be sure to return (be welcomed) to any place, wear your hat backwards as you leave.

To prevent anyone's harming you, get up early in the morning and walk barefoot out of your house backwards into the road without looking back. Pick up your tracks and walk forward into your house again, and stop the tracks with sugar and rum and drink water, and no one can hurt you. 

If you k*ll someone, step backwards over the body and you will never be found. (Please, for the love of G-d, no one do this. This example is just for illustrative purposes!!!)

Similar examples and motivations can be found in Appalachia, like these superstitions, as recorded by Jake Richards in Backwoods Witchcraft (2019):

Turning your hat backwards when a black cat crosses your path, until you get to where you're going, in order to avert bad luck.

If you accidentally put an article of clothing on inside-out, you should leave it that way because it means someone's trying to charm you.

When a mother is in labor, all empty vessels in the room are turned upside down to prevent the baby from being breech.

To prevent being conjured by walking over a trick, cut out the soles of your shoes, flip them over and then place them in the opposite shoe.

Bonus folk belief (though I can't remember for the life of me where I read it or what tradition it belongs to):