Blessing is an important part of my practice, and one of the first things we teach in my tradition of Wicca. We talk about blessing people, which is a kind of calling out of attention. It's my attention to their individual beauty and ways, sharing that attention, and naming the person Good in their specificity, their authenticity. It is an act of creation, much like G-d, in reflection on hir handiwork and declaring it good, and declaring the creation of the adamah, the human being, and declaring it very good.
So today, Hanne Blank Boyd, I give thanks for your care and tenderness, your cleverness and depth, your femme identity and expression. I bless you and call out your birthright of beauty, radiance, strength, resourcefulness, and endurance.
Blessed be you, all you have been, all you are, and all you ever will be.
Thank you so much. It takes practice, letting things like that in. I’m not always great at it but I do so much appreciate your giving me the chance to practice.
Oh, and please don't stop using terms like blessing. :)
I remember the holiness of your house in Baltimore. The sense of the sacred in the kitchen, the pickled egg on my plate, your matter-of-fact fatness, and the welcome at your table. You are a blessing, all of you.
Every one of those "hey you, I saw when you..." notes that I find in my substack stream get to be counted as blessings, both for whom you notice, and for me, the reader. Thank you!
For blessing No 10, may I suggest that you dodged a bullet when the TWSBI pen didn't fit your hand well and you put it aside? That thing leaks for Ireland. I got a huge ink blot into my work notebook this morning (not the first one), and of course that was the exact moment my boss rang. When we were wrapping up an hour later, it had bled through several more pages. I have been using fountain pens for more than half a century, from first grade onwards, and I have never experienced anything comparable, so I refuse to think that I am somehow handling the pen wrongly. My blessing in all of this is that I now feel entitled to treat myself to a new pen (likely a Kaweco) for my birthday later this summer.
You may be altogether unsurprised to hear that I didn't manage to wait until my birthday - the new Kaweco is on order! I parted from the TWSBI in a kind of reverse Marie Kondo, telling it sternly: "You have been a failure! It's over between us! Byeee!" and flinging it into my garbage bin. That felt amazing satisfying. (You may be aware that Kondo recommends thanking things for their service before throwing them away.)
Thanking things for their service is all very nice, if they’ve been of some. I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised had some rather nastier vocabulary been part of the adieu!
Blessing is an important part of my practice, and one of the first things we teach in my tradition of Wicca. We talk about blessing people, which is a kind of calling out of attention. It's my attention to their individual beauty and ways, sharing that attention, and naming the person Good in their specificity, their authenticity. It is an act of creation, much like G-d, in reflection on hir handiwork and declaring it good, and declaring the creation of the adamah, the human being, and declaring it very good.
So today, Hanne Blank Boyd, I give thanks for your care and tenderness, your cleverness and depth, your femme identity and expression. I bless you and call out your birthright of beauty, radiance, strength, resourcefulness, and endurance.
Blessed be you, all you have been, all you are, and all you ever will be.
Thank you so much. It takes practice, letting things like that in. I’m not always great at it but I do so much appreciate your giving me the chance to practice.
Miss Hanne, you, and your persistence in making spaces with fresh air, are a blessing. Thank you.
Thank you. That’s some high praise.
Oh, and please don't stop using terms like blessing. :)
I remember the holiness of your house in Baltimore. The sense of the sacred in the kitchen, the pickled egg on my plate, your matter-of-fact fatness, and the welcome at your table. You are a blessing, all of you.
Thank you, QIra. That was a dang fine kitchen too. It’s lovely to recall you in it.
You’re right it was! I loved all the things on your fridge!
Every one of those "hey you, I saw when you..." notes that I find in my substack stream get to be counted as blessings, both for whom you notice, and for me, the reader. Thank you!
You are so welcome! I’m glad you see those. I really enjoy when something happens and I get to write one.
What a wonderful essay! Thank you! 🙏😘♥️🌟♥️🥰
You’re so welcome!
For blessing No 10, may I suggest that you dodged a bullet when the TWSBI pen didn't fit your hand well and you put it aside? That thing leaks for Ireland. I got a huge ink blot into my work notebook this morning (not the first one), and of course that was the exact moment my boss rang. When we were wrapping up an hour later, it had bled through several more pages. I have been using fountain pens for more than half a century, from first grade onwards, and I have never experienced anything comparable, so I refuse to think that I am somehow handling the pen wrongly. My blessing in all of this is that I now feel entitled to treat myself to a new pen (likely a Kaweco) for my birthday later this summer.
Oh noooooooooooo. What an utter drag. And a messy one too. My Kaweco Sport’s a champ and has never let me down. Neither has my Esterbrook.
You may be altogether unsurprised to hear that I didn't manage to wait until my birthday - the new Kaweco is on order! I parted from the TWSBI in a kind of reverse Marie Kondo, telling it sternly: "You have been a failure! It's over between us! Byeee!" and flinging it into my garbage bin. That felt amazing satisfying. (You may be aware that Kondo recommends thanking things for their service before throwing them away.)
Thanking things for their service is all very nice, if they’ve been of some. I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised had some rather nastier vocabulary been part of the adieu!