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I've already contributed to this thread so can I have a cursed animal instead of a sacred one?

How do I know it was cursed?

Because I cursed it - twice!

I have been visited tonight by a bat just before midnight - a little pip but if it was a female it probably had young so needed to leave rather than buzzing me as I tried to read.

It was first cursed as I put down my kindle and hauled to my feet.  Ten minutes later it was cursed again when, after eventually catching it, the ungrateful little bugger bit me as I chucked it through a window.

This shall look good on the COVID Symptom Study tomorrow.  Symptoms - morbid fear of water, overwhelming desire to bite necks and using a sunshade indoors.

 

On 7/21/2017 at 10:01 PM, Hillwalker said:

Mine would have to be the field mouse - wonderful little creatures they are!

And much overlooked, I think! How cute!

I had the opportunity to hold one once. We were at a nature reserve and the guide had trapped a few in order to monitor numbers (or something similar - I can't remember now). He asked which one of us would like to be the one to release it, which involved holding it briefly in the hand before it scampered off into the undergrowth again. It was such a lovely experience.

19 hours ago, hedgerose said:

I will just say though, that if you haven't worked skyclad on a beach, in the pouring rain, in a thunderstorm, you are missing one of life's greatest experiences 

I think that is one that is unlikely to provoke the quasi condition of FOMO in my case...

9 hours ago, hedgerose said:

on a beach, in the pouring rain, in a thunderstorm,

I'm curious now but I think I'll take your word for it!! (I had a work colleague many years ago who had being skyclad in a hailstorm on her bucket list.)

Edited Monday at 11:41 AM by Stonehugger

In larger circles I do work robed. In that case, i have used a handmade cotton robe, tied with cord, and cloak (which was gifted to me by my HPs and was velvet - it was her own, veteran of many a ritual - but if I need one in future, I'd rather natural materials. Or waterproofed.)

Skyclad is only alone or with a closely knit group. There is an element of trust, literally opening up and revealing all involved, spiritual and emotional as well as literal. It would upset the group dynamic if you didn't have what Wicca calls perfect love and perfect trust. Which is part of the reason that the initiation ritual is so powerful, on so many levels. It just wouldn't have the same impact in everyday clothing, and I feel even robes somehow lessen that glimpse of understanding how we relate to Deity.  

But to each their own, of course. My viewpoint is merely that. It's and interesting topic, like everything else we do, there is no right or wrong way. 

I will just say though, that if you haven't worked skyclad on a beach, in the pouring rain, in a thunderstorm, you are missing one of life's greatest experiences 

I'll take your respective words for it.  I'll stick with cotton clad.

I think that a spirit animal kind of adopts you. Sometimes they stick around, and become almost an alter ego. But sometimes they can make themselves known for a short while, because we need to learn something and they have agreed to teach us. A shamanistic view of this would be that you are using the spirit animal magic, to bolster some quality that you lack but they have in abundance, for example.

Many of the old folklore stories from all over the world have surprisingly similar themes and attributes given to spiders, say, or foxes. Ancient stories and poetry have many layers of meaning, and dreams and visions are how our subconscious mind interprets and makes connections the conscious self might miss. 

The little stranger that had been aheming discreetly for my attention is a wren. Actually, I was told this many years ago by one of the coven elders, but unfortunately we were both a bit tiddly-p*ssed at the time and I had forgotten. It took lockdown, of all things, for the wren to start chirping at me, reminding me to be bold, and speak out when needed.

1 hour ago, Stonehugger said:

Yes, it does feel special. I've been naked without being skyclad, but never skyclad without being naked. Speaking from extremely limited experience, skyclad is a state of mind for me. It's about feeling enveloped, not exposed. When it hasn't worked (in a group collapsing with laughter or on my own wondering what on earth I'm doing) I'm just outside with my kit off. When it has worked, then skyclad feels like a really good word.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This.

Exactly.