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White Sage

Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:50 pm
by Yeva
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3 Searing 721

Yeva opened the window, drew the curtains closed, and brought the flame to the candelabra's wick. Basked in gentle orange light, the Hytori woman illuminated the kitchen table, marked simply by two tired chairs. Waiting for her was a pile of herbs, a roll of twine, a pair of kitchen shears, and a book of forgotten wisdom. Notes to serve her a lifetime.

Lifting the bundle of herbs, Yeva buried her face amidst the leaves and closed her eyes, inhaling the woodsy, astringent scent. For a moment, she stood in the forest, far away from the oil of Zaichaer. Slow, steady breaths.

Sage belongs to the Salvia plant family and is derived from the Vallenor word salvere, which means "to heal."

She opened her eyes and exhaled, taking the leaves and bundling them together. She added dried rose petals and a sprig of pine, coaxing the twine into a knot. Using the scissors, she cut and knotted the bundle. Practiced. Precise.

The journal was filled with her grandmother's wisdom - secrets and rituals - that had been passed on in little lessons for when she would be ready to mark her own path as a mystic. Now it was her turn. Yeva tied back her long, red hair and paused, listening to Zaichaer's change of pace at such a late hour. With any luck, overly curious neighbors would be sleeping.

Yeva turned towards the entrance and unlocked the deadbolt, cracking the door. She did the same for exit; another leading to the alley. There was no promise she would have complete privacy, but it would take a keen eye and intentional peeking to witness the oracle's practice. She moved quickly just in case, placing the prepared smudge stick beside her grandmother's grimoire and began to turn the pages, taking pause to lovingly admire the rituals and wisdom revealed within. Laid out on the table was an unpolished abalone shell, glittering in the candlelight with iridescent brilliance like mother of pearl. Yeva gazed at colors in admiration, running a finger along its edge. It was easy to imagine her hands wrinkled, like her grandmothers. One day, would she make her grandmother proud?

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Re: White Sage

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:49 am
by Yeva
Image
3 Searing 721

With the smudge sticks made and preparations underway, Yeva took a shuddering breath, glancing uneasily towards the cracked door. The curtain blew gently in the warm night breeze and she moved towards the entrance, taking a moment of silence to focus her intention. She was silent for some time, listening to the faint sounds of the city outside. In the distance, a baby cried. A door was slammed. A couple laughed, fading up the road as they meandered home for the night.

She leaned forward and grabbed the hem of her nightdress. Yeva tugged upward on the attire, feeling her skin prickle at the sudden exposure. Her face disappeared within the fabric and she shifted, bare-chested with only small clothes worn on her lower body. She gave another tug and red curls tumbled free as the dress was pulled over her head and discarded to the floor. Yeva's movements picked up in speed, slipping her panties down and around her ankles, where she wiggled free of their loose confinement. She nudged the fabric beneath the dining chair with her foot and then hesitated, eyes flickering anxiously towards the cracked door. It would be poor taste to lose reverence now but... she had to hurry.

She crouched with haste, picking up the attire and folding it, all the while, watching the doorway.

Her heart thundered and she had to take a deep breath as she cradled the white sage bundle upon the abalone shell and recited her prayer. It was one of cleansing and reverence for the divine, the unknown. It requested the removal of negative energies, from her room, from her body. She lit the sage, drawing upon the elements. Burning for fire, smoke for air, the shell for water, sage for earth. As the bundle lit, she blew out its flame so that it burned like incense, picking up the hawk feather that had been laid upon the table with the rest of the supplies and used it to pull the air towards her. The smoke slithered through the air, carried on the soft sounds of her invocation.

She leaned foward, wafting the smoke across her bare flesh, over her toes, ankles, up her shins, the soft flesh of her thighs. Over womanhood and hip bones, across her stomach and up her chest and arms. She visualized the energies of the room, swirling and purifying; the rest pushed around the room as she moved around its perimeter, chanting softly and sweeping the smoke across the walls,