I was gifted with two lovely red roses at PantheaCon last weekend!

The first, from Karen Krebser of The Muse’s Darling, was from the ritual of The Order of the Black Madonna. I put it on my Angrboda altar, and both She and the rose seem pleased about the arrangement:

A Rose for Angrboda

And I had the pleasure of making a new acquaintance, Sidney, who attended my Difficult Gods workshop, and gave me this rose in thanks. I’ve put it on my Sigyn altar, which seems satisfactory to all parties.

A Rose for Sigyn

Note to self: add fresh flowers to altars more regularly!

Greece
~ Gunnar Ekelöf
Translated from the Swedish by Leonard Nathan and James Larson

O whitewashed chapel

with icons worn out by kisses!

Your door is shut

only with a spike and a twist of wool

such as one gathers among thistles

and twines around the finger

The oil cruse stands ready

and the greasy lamp, and the plate

for him who has a penny

for him who hs matches

Old and new icons

a gift of mothers

— occasions have not been wanting —

for him who was left in the pass

for him who was taken as a janissary

for him whose eyesight was emptied

for him who was lost with Markos —

cheap prints under glass

Big as a sheepcote:

Your bells the sheepbells

tinkling somewhere up in the mountains

chapel whose lock is wool.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for February 23, 2017
Active Influence: Rind/Page of Swords
Rune: Othala/Inheritance (reversed)
Hidden Influence: Sunna/The Sun

Sunna brings a positive undertone to things today, even if the general mood is difficult. Rind encourages you to act from a place of calm, rational thought, rather than pure emotion. Othala reversed is a warning to be aware of your negative behavior patterns, and to counter them with Rind’s help. Positive changes and accomplishment are possible today, if you take the time to get clear with yourself about what is really going on—both internally and externally.

The slides from my “Working with Difficult Gods” presentation at PantheaCon 2017 can be found in my public Dropbox folder here. Next year, I’ll see about bringing the projector from my office and so avoid the weird display issues we had!

I would like to hear about your own experiences working with difficult Gods, so please feel free to email me with your thoughts!

The Length of An Arm
~ Melanie Silgardo

It is so difficult to love the dead people.
From bone to ash to air.
Never to be there
to see the last furtive looks,
the longing for life, the love,
the books, the trees.

The last thoughts muddle and clear.
The heart, the dying fist,
has just enough strength
for the last fight.

The length of an arm is history.