It’s been awhile! – Life Updates, Self-Care, New Hobbies, Witches

It’s been almost a year since I last wrote a post.

Point blank: Since becoming a mother, it has been difficult to find time to just sit down and write like I used to. It’s also because there’s not been much to write about. I lived in a mental fog for a long time, and my perspectives have shifted drastically… Almost everything about me is different. It’s been a hard year and a half of discovering my new self, but it’s been one I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I’m learning to take time for myself sometimes now. I used to feel guilty about that, but I’m pushing those thoughts aside and am going forward. I’m continuing to see a therapist, but not as often now. With motherhood came changes to my anxiety and I developed some road blocks in my counselling. I was referred to a psychiatrist for medication management, and though I was reluctant to go down that path again in my life, but the shrink has greatly helped me manage things. I was impressed he had a background as a neurologist. It was discovered I had a B12 deficiency, and that has now been sorted out. I currently am taking Cymbalta, and my anxiety has become very manageable! I am no longer taking artificial hormones as a contraceptive and I’m working on a ‘cleanse’. I want to lose 40 pounds and do light exercise every day now. I see a massage therapist once a month too, because there is a therapist very near my workplace now. I’ve learned to curl my hair quickly in the mornings so I feel more ‘styled’ and confident. It sounds like a lot of upkeep for me, but it’s not. I go to therapists once a month (2 appts, 1.5 hours total), a virtual Dr. appt once every 6 weeks, and I do half an hour of light exercise a day and take pills. Lol.

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I’ve taken up an interest in baking sort of. I got a bread machine for Christmas this past year and it’s been life changing for me. I’m not the world’s best baker, but I greatly enjoy it. Lol. I bake bread for my household once a week, and also once a week at work. (I bring the bread machine to my office lol). So far I’ve made basic white bread, banana nut bread, and French bread. White bread is my favorite, but it took awhile to get it down-pat. There’s quite a science and sense of trial-and-error to bread making, even with a bread machine. I’ve had to modify the recipe book my machine came with quite A LOT. Not sure if it has to do with my elevation, or what. I’m also playing with different cake pans, making cupcakes, etc. I’m not trying to make a business out of it – just fun.

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I’ve also become very interested in Native American marker trees, and now it’s on my bucket list to find one. Marker trees are trees that were purposely shaped as saplings by Native Americans to indicate water sources, burial sites, sacred places, etc…

Many point to water.

But check this mess out:

From “Mountain Stewards” facebook group:

“Ed found an Ascension Tree and sent it in from Georgia. This shape tree has several version to include the one like Ed’s with one tree grafted into the other to form an “H.” The second version of an Ascension Tree is an upside down “U” shape. All of these trees have an energy line passing through the center of the “U” and another one passing through the tree from one side to the other. There will also be an underground stream of water directly below the tree. These trees were used to assist the deceased to reach the afterlife. The body was placed under the “U” and when the spirit left the body, then the remains would be placed in a common grave.” – Don Wells

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There’s a dude named Don Wells in that facebook group that can interpret the trees and has committed much of his life to this. He currently has a database of the coordinates of 3,200+ trees, not made public in order to safeguard the trees, but also 85% in the database are on private land and the owners don’t want trespassers, which is understood.

I mean, this stuff gets DEEP.

Per Don, “This is Marker Tree marking six graves of Indians who were murdered during the removal period.” – Don Wells

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“This is a special place. The larger Marker tree is marking the grave of a woman Cherokee probably 180 years ago. The smaller tree is marking the grave of a g-g-granddaughter probably 110 years ago.” – Don Wells

– and sure enough, some of these people go a certain number of feet ahead, and find strategically placed piles of rocks, or depressions in the ground. CRAZY.

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“Surprisingly, this is a grave pointer tree marking the grave of a woman chief buried on the shoreline. Seems a very starnge place to bury someone in view of the fact water tends to uncover things buried near streams and rivers. There must have been a strong reason for burying her in this location. Send me the gps coordinates so we can get it recorded in the database.” – Don Wells

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“The configuration of trees sometimes tell a story of its purpose. This tree has been determined to be a Ceremonial Healing tree associated with dealing with difficult pregnancies. Note the limb angled back from the pointer. This tree has the pregnancy bump under the tree that has been seen on several trees.” – Don Wells

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“One of the Marker Tree categories is Story-Telling tree. These trees are bent uniquely by the bender to tell a specific story about a place. The tree attached came from southwestern VA sent in by Gary. Interpreting these trees are difficult. Using Native Science, remote dowsing and some psychic abilities here is what we have so far. This tree is marking the graves of between 10-15 Indians. These are not local VA Indians but rather a group of Indians from probably SC who we believe were working at hiding their culture to avoid the removal. 😦 We think the 10-15 killed may have been killed by their own people for reasons unknown. We are probably going to have to visit this tree at some point to do a more thorough interpretation.” – Don Wells

I will note that I’m not into the ‘appalachian voodoo’ mess like using psychics and dowsing, but it’s still VERY interesting, right?

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This is a birthing tree!

“A birthing tree will always be near running water. Second, there will be earth energy lines associated with the site to help the birth mother in delivering the baby. The soothing sound of the small stream is also helpful. Now look at the hip of the tree. See all the knobs? Those are likely the number of births that occurred at this site. Lastly, look at horizontal member bent at 45 degrees and note the lines marked on the tree. That may be the number of midwife helpers who used this site.” – Don Wells

Picture this… just minding your own business, taking a walk in the woods, and what you think is just a weird looking tree is actually the place where, hundreds of years ago, people were born LITERALLY RIGHT THERE IN THE LEAVES IN THE FOREST. It’s mind-blowing.

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Not every tree that’s bent this way is a marker fashioned by Native Americans. They have very distinct characteristics that need to be met. Many are mistaken for markers, but are actually naturally formed, or are simply too young to have been created by indigenous people. To learn more and dive into this rabbit hole with me, click HERE. (The one pictured below is naturally formed, and much too young)

Oh, you’re welcome! (for sending you down that rabbit hole) It’s very interesting!

I live in wooded area where arrowheads and tomahawk heads have turned up. I wonder if any marker trees are around, and it’s driving me crazy. I REALLY want to see one in person someday before they all disappear. Connecting with the past is something that’s always been extremely worthwhile and meaningful to me, so I hope I can fulfil this dream someday.

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Gun talk ahead.

So… I almost was arrested by US Customs and Border Patrol because I unknowingly ordered a quad rail for an AR-15 from another country.

I CAN EXPLAIN.

When I asked my husband what he wanted for Christmas in late October, he sent me a link to a $30 quad rail for his gun. He didnt know it wasnt being purchased in the United States (which is illegal). Well, I’M the heifer that got it for him!

November passes.

December passes. Package never arrives. No tracking info provided. Seems scammy to me, so I file for fraudulent charges on my card. I get my money back, no problems.

January ALMOST passes…

Until my parents get a letter to their address (that i put originally for the packages shipping location) in my name. They got nosey and opened it and panicked.

I had to sign and return the last page of this long document asap or I could be taken into custody. This document included photos of all angles of the outside of the package. My other options were to go to court, or abandon the goods.

I abandoned the goods. Lol

There was NO indication on the site I ordered from that this was a bad idea. No clues at all. When I checked out, NO CHARGES FOR CUSYOMS were provided for me to pay. No flags went up. The company never reached back out. Nada.

I have a carry permit, and I know anyone can buy weapon PARTS – permit or not – but I didnt know I was buying from outside the U.S.

I didnt mean to break the law. Its more scary than funny. But I told my husband I’d never buy him anything weapon related again. Ever.

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Our little boy is learning and growing fast!. Shepherd is almost a year and a half old now, and has QUITE an extensive vocabulary. Lol. Some of the things he says are so funny… For example, last night he asked, “Cake peese.” LOL! -and sometimes when he is irritated he says, “Don’t!” Lol. His newest thing is acting like a Baptist and throwing his hand up in the air and saying ‘Glory!’ Lol. He is a MESS. He loves wearing boots and hats, reading books, and sleeps with his ‘dawg‘ (a dog blankie). This poor kid has had a myriad of illnesses, including Covid, which we all as a family contracted not long ago… We all made it through okay and our symptoms were very mild, but poor Shepherd got the worst of it. His poor nose just poured and he had a nasty cough. We have all recovered now and are doing okay.

Shepherd has won the hearts of many people. People ask about him all the time. He is tall for his age, and he is getting into everything, keeping us on our toes. He’s in the tantrum stage, so…. it’s getting interesting. He just falls apart sometimes when he hears no. One thing that’s funny about parenting is that you learn how wrong you were before you had kids… I used to think kids having tantrums always needed to get their butts popped, BUT what’s funny is that we expect kids to respond certain ways that not even most adults do. Funny how a kid can’t express disappointment and frustration by having a tantrum, but I’ve seen A LOT of adults have them, myself included. It’s just something to think about…

He is starting to cuss. Lol. Not intentionally. You can imagine what words like ‘truck’ and ‘sit’ really come out as. We’re working on these words. Bless. There’s nothing like looking into the eyes of your child, and they look back into yours, and say f***. It’s terrible.

My favorite thing in the world to do is hold him while we watch a Disney movie, or hear him giggle while playing with my cat Picasso. He really likes to stand on my exercise machine (vibration plate), and play ball. I can’t wait until it gets warmer so we can take him on some outdoor adventures. He loves to be outside. It is such a blessing to be a mother.

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This is a HUGE change in topic, so prepare yourself.

My grandma told me that she was ‘scarified’ as a baby. She told me this was a practice in which a newborn baby had an incision made in the back of it’s neck, to purposely scar, to ward off evil spirits.

I told her that was voo-doo. LOL

I’ve always known this about her and her siblings, but never knew more about it

UNTIL….

I came across a group recommended to me on facebook called “Appalachian Witchcraft and Folklore” or something like that (not sure now). The ‘folklore’ part peaked my interest, because I wondered if anyone in the group could tell me more about being ‘scar-ified’. I described the practice, and a bunch of practicing WITCHES responded and told me ALL ABOUT IT.

They told me SCOURIFYING was a form of what was known as “holler magic.” Parents would take the newborn to an old faith healer and they would cut the infants neck or shoulder with a razor blade, collect a thimble full of the blood, and feed it back to the baby, in order to keep it from getting sick and dying in infancy.

I asked my grandma about this and she told me the ‘old faith healers’ name was Ernest Sloan, and many people took their babies to him for this. This was the late 1930’s / early 40’s.

When I told my mother about this, she FLIPPED OUT.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!

THOSE WITCHES WILL PUT A HEX ON US!!!

I told her the truth – I just thought someone would tell me something they read once or something. Even though the group said ‘witchcraft’ in the title, I didn’t really stop to think practicing witches would be in it for some reason… I told her they were very nice and just answered my question. She about tore me a new butthole over that one. Lol

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Well, there you have it – some updates. Lol.

I tried to make them all as exciting as possible for you. Hope you enjoyed. Hopefully I’ll have time to start picking up my beloved writing hobby again. Until next post, be blessed my dudes.