Monday, January 14, 2013

Creating Your Own Symbolism

|Credit: [x]|
If you've read my tumblr at all in the past week, it's been a mass of both witchcraft posts and parrot pictures. I might be slightly obsessed -- but hey -- few things bring me such joy as pet birds and paganism.

I've been working on spell bottles that I think will make really interesting necklaces. They began as feather curios bottles that were collected from what our pet birds molted off. I spent the next few weeks observing and researching. What magic was held in these feathers? What did they symbolize? Sure, I did look up as much as possible on classical symbolism and spells that use feathers -- but, none of them were tailored specifically to what I was looking for. Not a spell in the constructions that I make use of meant the same thing as when parrot feathers would be used. I did not rule out Australian Aboriginal mythology -- but their ways belong to them, and I believe I have no place meddling with forces and spirits that I have barely researched and have no true connection to.

|The curios bottles|


So I came to a point in my spellcrafting where I had to figure out my own symbolism. So I observed -- and I think I harp on the importance of really observing quite a bit on this blog -- until I came to some conclusions. We have three types of parrots, two of which would be classified as parakeets. We have a Lovebird, a Conure and three Budgies. Each species of bird, obviously, will act differently based on their natures.

 I find the Lovebird is about protecting itself, but still loving unconditionally. He wants to interact with everyone and everything, but when he is settled in his cage, you have to pay attention to him. His feathers are blue, black, green and pink -- along with some iridescence in some of the primary flight feathers. His feathers will be used in a charm for Self Esteem and Self Love, in combination with various herbs and gemstones. The Conure is about being loud and being understood. She makes sure she is the center of attention and her ways need to be understood -- or else. Her feathers that fit in the bottles are grey and red, with yellow and green now and again. Her feathers symbolize excellent communication. The Budgies, while all having their own personalities, are all about community and friendship. They are not related, as they were bought at different places at different times, but they still have made strong bonds with each other. Their feathers are yellow, blue, green and white (and even any combination of the aforementioned for one of them.) Their feathers symbolize friendship, community, connections and memories.

So for the spells, I have decided to research metaphysical properties of certain herbs and small gems that I have with me, and now the curios bottles will certainly become spell bottle necklaces. I have a bit of work to do to get them as I envision -- not to mention the actual spell work can't be done in huge batches -- but I think it seems more complete now. The more you make your own symbolism and write your own spells, the more personal they are. That means the energy you expend into casting them will reflect -- all that effort and time will make the magic that much more powerful.

So take a moment and rethink how you approach symbols and spells. Why not create some of your own if you can?

2 comments:

Dragonwyke said...

i find this particular posting really wonderful. i am both an atheist pagan who works w/animal energy and i also breed/raise and keep parrots of several different kinds. i truly love domestically raised parrots and admire their wildling brethren. thank you for this.

K.M. Alleena said...

No problem!! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

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