LET'S TALK LOSS | Collaboration with THE WITCH'S COOKERY

[@justwhistlinpixie]

This video is very timely for me. I lost my dog recently, and I'm finding a lot of solace in ritual where I never did before. My husband and I have always been very "anti-woo" atheists, but her death has changed that for us. We accept what of her that lives on in us as her "spirit". How she lives on now is in our remembrance of her. We visit her beautiful grave, light a candle, and speak with her to keep her spirit with us. She was a big part of what made covid bearable. Covid and these fires make me feel like the world is falling apart. I feel like I'm breaking through a big barrier to secular spirituality, and your channel is helping me put a lot of these feelings into words. I'm glad I'm able to cope with her loss by accepting a little magical thinking.

[@phantaskitten]

@justwhistlinpixie I'm sorry for your loss. You may be interested in Atheopaganism, there's a great FB group where there's active discussion of things like creating rituals as an atheist. atheopaganism.wordpress.com/atheopaganism/

[@heatherb812]

Thank you so much for your channel. I’m part of a skeptical/atheist witch group online, but the group isn’t very active. it’s so nice to come here and see community support, and to receive some guidance and support from you, however distant that may be. I’m so sorry for the great loss of your community, and for the loss of your tree. It may sound silly to some people, but I don’t think many people realize how truly special trees are, until they lose one in their own life. We had an elm tree in my backyard from when I was 13-18, and I was greatly saddened when my dad had to cut it down (it had a scale infestation that rendered the yard a sticky mess.) But that was the first tree I had ever had in my backyard of any place that I had lived, and to see this special little being go, and the lovely shade it provided with it, made me feel so empty. Trees really are special, but I’m glad you were able to recover part of yours to honour its memory and everything it represented for you. We are meant to find out this week (possibly today) whether my father has a certain type of cancer, and he still has more tests to do for a different type of cancer. I’ll need something to turn to if the results come back positive, but this video has helped me to consider devising my own practice to help me cope if that is the result. He also just found out yesterday that a lifelong friend of his passed away on the 6 year anniversary of my grandfather’s (his dad’s) passing, which was also the 1 year anniversary of our family dog’s passing. That’s a rough day for my family now, but your video has inspired me to create some sort of ritual that I can do to honour all of my loved ones, and even my father’s friend, who passed on that day. Thank you for everything!

[@SednaWoo]

This must be such a difficult day for your family. I hope you can create a ritual to help ease the pain of such a landslide of events. I really do think a community (even an online one) is very helpful when on this path. I've really enjoyed the SASS witches sub on reddit as well as Atheopaganism which has a facebook page and group. Maybe you can find more active members there. Good luck and hope to bump into you again.

[@heatherb812]

@@SednaWoo I'm on SASS witches too! I will check out Atheopaganism subreddit as well; I've heard a bit about it and it sounds interesting. Thank you for your kind words. It really means a lot.

[@theartofnaturegermany]

Oh I'm sorry for the tree :( I can imagine how you feel... We had 3 big spruces in our garden my father planted together with my great grandfather! Then we got a big storm 3 years ago which is very very untypical for Germany and two spruces overturn in that the night. I wasn't home but my mother said that she first heard a sound that reminded her of a painful cry and then a huge bang. The two spruces fall on the railway next to our garden and my parents called the railway company in panic. Nevertheless half an hour later they heard a train coming and my dad sprinted outside and managed to warn it with light signals!! It stopped just 2 meters infront of the trees... Omg it could have happened such a big catastrophe If my dad hadn't been so fast and quick witted. Our garden looks still sad in the corner where the spruces where... Like an open wound that will never really heal. I mean we planted new plants but it will never be the same again. I grew up with that trees, my dad saw them grow from little on and I also think that the third spruce and the brids in our garden miss them... we had so many more of them back then and also squirrels, but they left... And yeah as you said they were living things... Thank you for sharing this story 💚

[@SednaWoo]

Your father is so quick thinking! I would not have thought of signaling the train. You are right, it absolutely is an open wound now that the tree is gone. After the storm we came outside to look at the damage and there was a little baby bird sitting in my garden. He had been knocked clean out of the tree and I felt so awful that his home had been destroyed.

[@theartofnaturegermany]

@@SednaWoo Oh no the thing with the baby bird makes it even much worse :'(( I guess it died...? :(

[@Thewitchescookery]

@@SednaWoo awwww nooo, that poor baby bird 😢

[@adjustmentdisorder736]

I knew that I'm emotional ... but I didn't know I was crying-over-an-internet-stranger's-dead-tree emotional. Sorry for your loss and great ways to use the wood!

[@SednaWoo]

I cried over a cartoon bear dying in a video game trailer today sooooo. I blame the Rona. My threshold for sad is at an all time low.

[@jessherselfable]

I live in North Texas so I’m VERY familiar with the arbitrary destruction of tornadoes. I think what you did with the tree was beautiful! I would love to see more of how you incorporate little things like that into your spellwork. Annie of The Green Witch here on KZbin (Wiccan, not secular, but still beautiful content) did a video about making a broom that was quite lovely. No need to apologize for delays between videos! They are a treat when they happen, but life is also a thing!

[@SednaWoo]

thank you for sharing the video with the broom tutorial! I will totally check it out.

[@pru3230]

Thank you for this video, and I'm sorry for the loss of the tree, and the other trees in your community too. I worry about the three large beech trees in our garden every time a storm comes through, they're old and one of them is sick and cannot be treated. I'd love to learn more about your altar and how you use it, and how you use items on your altar :)

[@SednaWoo]

an alter tour would be a good idea for a video but my practice is far from aesthetic. There are a lot of great witches on youtube who have beautiful alter tours!

[@pru3230]

@@SednaWoo haha fair enough! Although personally I'm much more interested in what you have to say about how you use your alter, and the things you have there, than how it looks :) I'm not here for the aesthetics.

[@phantaskitten]

Thank you for sharing. Your videos are always a treat! And it's nice to see other atheist witches out there, it feels like there are dozens of us!

[@SednaWoo]

it's true! I find more every time up upload. :D

[@caitlynv1167]

I am so sorry for the loss of that tree. :( I have a nice live oak tree in my front yard and I can't imagine what I would do if we lost it. It's not just the shade that would be lost; the entire front of the house would change in how it looks. I imagine it would feel like moving to a new house; very disorienting. I am so glad I found your channel. Definitely another skeptical atheist witch here. I'd been struggling with what 'atheist witch' meant for me for the longest time because the other "resources" I'd found always seemed to have an element of the supernatural despite being atheist. When I finally found your videos (particularly about the open label placebo) it was a huge relief to finally have something to point to and say "That! That is how I can be an atheist and a witch and it works and is not a contradiction" particularly when it came to trying to explain my beliefs (or lack of) to other people.

[@Thewitchescookery]

Thank you for your lovely words ♥️ that really was one beautiful, big tree - I love the discs you made from it, so you can include some of it in your workings! A perfect way to honor the memories and preserve some of the trees sheltering energies.

[@SednaWoo]

Thank you so much for proposing this collaboration. It was such a joy to work on!

[@katie3362]

As a Midwestern yes I feel your be strong and carry on mentality. One of the reasons I really like secular witchcraft is you can process your feelings in a meaningful way to just yourself. I found your channel a few weeks ago and love what you're putting out. Sorry about your beautiful tree though

[@beckyekg]

I'm so sorry about your tree. We lost one in a tornado a few years ago and it surprised us how sad it made us. They're like family. I like your idea for honoring it. I might try some of those too. We have a forest by our yard so parts of our tree are still there.

[@darcyreadssometimes3904]

I’m curious - derecho? I live in Iowa and my heart goes out to all the people affected, especially Cedar Rapids and rural areas. I liked the idea, and loved the burn marks too.