Antonine Maillet (May 10 1929- 17 February 2025)

La Saint François d'Assise

October 4th marks St. Francis of Assisi's feast day! St. Francis if Assisi (1181-1226) was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Venerated across multiple Christian denominations and traditions, he has patronage over the environment and animals.

For today, I blessed all four of my cats with a little cross of holy water on their foreheads, and said a prayer over my cat Moonshadow's collar. She wears a St. Francis of Assisi medal on her tags.

Cherish your animals today, and love them, pray for a long companionship.

St. Anne wall shrine

I painted a boat-shaped key holder into a wall shrine to St. Anne today, as her saint day is coming up soon.

I incorporated a canoe and a sash, as St. Anne was a protective saint of voyageurs during the fur trade. Red, green and white felt like her signature colors, and she is near the ocean, as she was a treasured saint among fishermen and sailors.

I'll try to find a little tea light platform to glue to the bottom of the shrine for a fake candle to rest.

St. Joseph the worker pray for us 💼 worked for me last week! You got this!!

please pray for me I have a job interview coming up 🙏🏼🩷

after getting rejected a handful of times I’m starting to get a little depressed :(

Folk Ways for an Acadian or French Canadian folk practitioner -The Heavens

Here are some Acadian folk beliefs tied to the skies and its celestial bodies. It is to note that Acadians lived by the tides of the ocean, and that these would create all kinds of folk sayings. The high times of the universe "les temps forts" were when powerful things could happen, such as when the moon was at its fullest and the tide at its highest (a child born at that time would be destined to become physically strong), or the night would be at its absolute darkest (when "revenants" or deadwalkers/ghosts were known to visit their family homes.)

*My painting of the Virgin Mary is in progress meanwhile.*

The Moon

When the moon is full, it's an opportune time to cut hair (it will grow back thicker), to slaughter pork (it will sell at a profit), and to split firewood (it will give off more heat), and to prune onion shoots (they will grow more full).

When the moon wanes, especially in the month of March, wood cut to make fences will not rot. It is also the best phase to sow root vegetable seeds, such as carrots. Wood cut to make sled runners need to be cut during this phase.

When the moon waxes, you must sow the other vegetables (tomatoes, peas, beans) and grain crops (wheat, barley). This phase is reputedly so strong, it can turn a post into a tree.

When the moon is new, if the horns of the moon point upwards, it won't rain, since you can hang a bucket on its horns. If the horns are pointing down, it's a sign of bad weather ahead. This is an awful rime to cut your hair, as the hair will grow too quickly.

The Stars

It is optimal to plant your garden the day after a particularly starry night.

When the stars are "creuses", or not many in the sky, it announces cold weather for the next day.

source: Dupont, Jean-Claude. Héritage d'Acadie. Collection Connaissance, editions Leméac, 1977.

so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what

Book of Seasons and Festivities

I wanted to share some images of my work so far in a book of holidays, seasonal religious and cultural celebrations for my own personal path. :)

thank you for this! It really explains traditional ways and contextualizes it for today!

12 Things You Need to Know About Traditional Spells

Why are traditional spells so goddamn weird?

There is no black or white magic.

Elements That Make a Spell Truly Powerful

5 Signs that a Spell Book is Authentic

The Power in Witches’ Hair

Spell Ingredients in Traditional Witchcraft

We do not cast spells against haunted places.

Do not mistake grimoires for journals and scrapbooks.

We call it the Ritual of Wandering.

Shielding is entirely pointless.

Gold and Silver in Witchcraft

Why Blood Magic is Powerful

Heritage Folk Witch Altar - Update

I wanted to personalize my altar to my practice further, so I decided to paint Quebec landscapes and notable animals that mean a lot to me. Some landscapes are derived from my grandmother's painting style, while others are inspired by Clarence Gagnon (1881-1942), an artist well-known for his Quebec landscapes of villages and sweeping views.

Panel 1: Black bear mother and her cub in a Charlevoix clearing in winter. Black bears are very common in the sub-boreal forests of Quebec, and I've had many dreams of them, sometimes as one myself. In Innu cosmology, black bears are very close in relationship to humans, and are often perceived as humans themselves. The clearing is directly from a Clarence Gagnon painting.

Panel 2: Bluejay resting in a flowered tree in St. Charles-de-Bourget, late spring (late May-June). My grandmother painted this exact bluejay on a wooden lamp, and I have fond memories of her bird paintings. She lives in that village, and she taught me to paint these kinds of flowers when I was 11, so it's a rather sentimental panel.

Panel 3: Canada Geese in the Saguenay Fjord in autumn. My grandfather often mentions the 'outardes' (Canada Geese) flying south or coming back, and he's always happy to see them. These birds are ferociously loyal to their families, and their endurance is tested and true. The song 'Les oies sauvages' from Mes Aieux has a special place in my heart. It's a song of familial strength and support mirrored in these geese.

Panel 4: A humpback whale having fun in the summer waters of Tadoussac. My grandparents love to go whale-watching in that region, and these whales journey a long way to come back north to our waters. Their communication styles are unique to each whale, and they form very close bonds with their children. My ancestors often visited Tadoussac in the summers to trade and communicate with other family groups, so it is a time of joy and gathering.

I discovered there are four additional panels, 2 on each side of the altar, which excites me, but it is anchored to my wall, so I'll have to wait until I move to think about painting some more.

A reminder to fellow folk practitioners that include catholic elements and anyone practicing a form of folk Catholicism that it’s perfectly fine to rewrite prayers to fit YOU. Modify the Our Father prayer to be Marian focused or have different wording! change the wording in the Hail Mary if you’re uncomfortable with the phrasing! Diy your own saint cards with modified prayers you’re comfortable praying! Rewrite chaplet prayers! You’re the one saying the prayers, make it meaningful to you however you see fit. Yes, the prayers do hold significance and power, and if you need to change them then go for it!

Folk Ways for an Acadian or French Canadian folk practitioner - Folk Spells

While Acadian and Quebecois societies didn't call these practices witchcraft by any means, these little prayers and moments of hope and action in situations where one lacks control over the outcome can be used in folk spells today. For safety disclaimers, do NOT consume plants you don't know, or water that hasn't been treated. And trust your doctor.

To ensure the bread rises well, do the Sign of the Cross over the proofed dough.

When you have bronchitis (apart from nowadays going to your doctor!), wear a red flannel shirt.

Keep a piece of the Host in your wallet to ensure you never go broke.

Keeping a rabbit's foot or a piece of snakeskin on you brings you luck and money.

Water gathered from a stream before the sunrise of Easter Sunday can be used to heal eye issues and other ailments.

May Water, which is gathered from the melted snow on the first of May, is blessed all year round, and can be used to bless or cure pretty much anything.

To avoid misfortune, a new bride must carry with her to her new home a fresh new broom and a box of salt. (In this day and age, anyone can do it!)

To avoid lightning strikes on your home during the year, preserve a piece of burnt wood or charred remains from the Christmas fire in your abode. It is also useful to send a prayer to Saint Barbara for this protection (which can be composed by you, or you can use the following traditional French prayer here): "Sainte Barbe et Sainte Fleur, protégées du Seigneur/ sur la croix de mon Sauveur, Où ce que le tonnerre ira, Sainte Barbe le conduira."

In folk medicine, when someone had a weakness about them, they were suggested to drink sea water. Do NOT do this! Instead, you can use sea water in a symbolic way, in any way you see fit that won't endanger your health.

Cultivating twigs of a spruce, fir, or cedar tree and arranging them in the shape of a cross, then blessed with Holy Water, is to be arranged on Palm Sunday and hung in every room of your house to protect against storms, shipwreck, disease and misfortune.

Sources

Dupont, Jean-Claude. Heritage d'Acadie. Collection Connaissance, editions Lemeac, 1977.

DesRuisseaux, Pierre. Dictionnaire des croyances et superstitions. Editions tryptique. 1990.