3 Responses

1. xJane Says:
   September 13th, 2013 at 1:29 pm

   Mmm, Ron Perlman-scented candles. Wait, is that creepy?

   I really read “Vincent Price tag” and I thought that someone had started an incredibly inventive marketing-to-goths ploy of vintage-looking tags with a brilliant name. Where else can we go with this? The Vincent Price is Right! A game show about famous (and not-so-famous) quotes.

   That purse is striking, but it appears to open without any way of keeping its contents in, so…not very useful.

   The mischievous look is amazing. Makes me wonder what was left inside the case. I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to shame my sewing machines, though. They pretty much do whatever they want whenever they want. Or, more often, don’t.

   They say insects are the next ground beef (that is, cheap and can be turned into anything). I’m looking forward to them showing up on my grocer’s shelf—they are an excellent source of protein. There’s a restaurant nearby whose menu is 50% Asian fusion and 50% dare. I was rather disappointed by the scorpions-on-shrimp-toast as they just managed to taste like grease. (The crickets fried in garlic and served with sriacha dipping sauce, however, are proof positive that garlic and sriacha are the magic fairy dust of the food world. (Along with bacon, of course.)

   Okay, so, my honest question about creating altars with food is When You Live In The City, What Do You Do With It? Like, if you’re in the country and you leave a saucer of milk for the wee folk or a platter of food for your deceased family, a few days later and it’ll probably’ve been taken care of by said wee folk and deceased family. I have found, however, that the magical forces that disappear food avoid the city like the plague. So: at what point do you admit that you are decidedly fae-free and need to remove that smelly, fuzzy, slightly green pile. Also, if you bought your dad beer and didn’t open the bottle, what do you do with it? Are you allowed to put it back into the fridge for later use? Do you toss it out, unopened? (I’m assuming you don’t just pour it out on the ground, as that is the obvious answer—what if you’re in an apartment?) What about those cigarettes? The land wights of North America are, one is told, tremendously fond of tobacco as an offering. If you don’t simply unravel the cigarettes and sprinkle the innards on your plants, what do you do with the package of your brother’s favorite brand? Do you smoke them in his honor (all of them?) or, see questions above regarding beer.

   Again, these are honest questions. I really like the thought of honoring one’s departed in this way (and I drink whiskey to my father as appropriate—and sometimes even pour some out into a potted plant, in the event that he happens to be under its roots, and thirsty), but the practical implications mystify me.

   (Also, count me out for doing anything involving “lime” (whether slaked or not) at home. Especially if I’m going to eat it later, but I do kind of love that it turns black.)

2. Pixel Pixie Says:
   September 13th, 2013 at 7:06 pm

   Machine Shaming speaks to me in a way that words cannot adequately describe.

3. Cobwebs Says:
   September 14th, 2013 at 5:08 pm

   I replied to xJane directly, but since others might have the same question about what to do with food offerings, I’ll repeat it here as well. According to my sister, who is Wiccan:

   As far as food goes. Once it has been offered to whomever the best thing to do is compost it, if possible. If not, it’s totally fine to simply throw it out. It will ultimately go to a landfill and back to nature. The point of the offering is exactly that – it’s something you offer and not eat/drink yourself. It’s really about intent.

   In regard to the beer, if the whole bottle (bottle included) has been blessed, you can simply pour the beer on the ground, or in the sink. Again, it’s the fact that you offered it that’s important. The bottle should then be recycled. If just the beer has been blessed (and not the bottle) you can just toss the bottle out. The general rule is that you don’t bless something like a bottle, can, plate, etc – only the food/beverage it contains, because you really aren’t supposed to destroy or throw out the container it was in. Many Wiccans have a plate and cup that are used specifically for blessings and are kept and re-used over and over. But since that isn’t always practical for everyone, as long as the container is dealt with in an eco-friendly way that’s fine.

   For tobacco, you can smoke one (if you want), but usually, since they are being offered, the best thing is to either sprinkle the tobacco on the earth (or in the trash), and recycle the packaging. Better still is to cut the filters off the cigarettes and burn the paper and tobacco since burning them produces smoke, which will carry the offering to the ‘heavens.’ You can then dispose of the packaging by recycling or in some other eco-friendly way. In either case it is really best to not bless the packaging or filters and just bless the tobacco and/or paper around it (just remove the cigarettes from the package and cut the filters off and bless the rest).