Hobbity Home

I get a lot of inspiration in life from the Hobbits of Tolkien's writing. I find the lifestyle and overall feeling of the hobbit culture draws me in. It also helped me find an answer to a question I had spent a long time thinking about, how to decorate my home.

The way we view decorations, pretty things only to be used for make the look nice, directly goes
against many of the values me and my husband hold. However I can’t stand the minimalist decor
styles like modern. I think they have no comfort to them and no warmth. I would never like to live
in a house like that. I also like decorating with the changing seasons, this adds another level to the friction with our values. The idea of having four sets of items with minimal use that we only use each a quart of the year really rubbed me wrong and my husband even more so. With these two things headbutting in my mind, how would I be able to have a warm, cozy home, that was full of useless pretty things.

I started researching lots and lots of decorating ideas. First I was interested in the vintage styles, but it didn’t quite fit. Then I found the primitive style. I really liked that for awhile, but it had two things I didn’t like. One, was that it always looked like an abandoned home, not one is use. Two, when I looked closely at the pictures, they were full of useless decorations they would look nice, but in the end just take up space.

Just when I was ready to give up, we decide to look to the Hobbit movies for inspiration. Bag End always seemed like the most comfortable place to live. Something surprised us as we watched the scene in Bag End over and over. There weren’t any “decorations”. The set was full of beautiful mugs, candles, vases, books and other everyday things. Nothing was there just for show. That’s when I realized how we could combine my need for a pretty home and our desire to not be wasteful. Everything in the house would need to have to purposes. One was a job, like dishes to eat off. The other was to be beautiful and add that comfortable feeling that comes from pretty things.

When you think back to things you use in your house, it’s easy to see things that could add beauty to your home. A throw blanket that sits on the back of my couch keeps me warm on cold days, but it also adds beauty. A pitcher I use to hold juice may sit on my table to easy use, but it’s a pretty color and has flowers on it. Or a tablecloth, it protects the table, but makes my dining room look great.

This concept can of course work with any style. For us we are planning on focusing on natural materials, because they often last long, work better, and to me look much better. We look for items made from glass, stoneware, wood and natural fibers like cotton and linen. Here are some things we have looked at adding to our home:

(Source)

(Source)

(Source)

With this new idea everything we buy for our home not only makes it look nicer, but adds to functionality
of it.

Dedication to Cernunnos

Last summer I did something I never thought I would, I dedicated myself to a deity. I've worked with spirits my whole life, but not until recently did I work with deities. Honestly, just saying "I worked with a deity" sounds wrong and disrespectful. I feel deities are the same as other spirits, but older and more powerful. For them to even notice me seemed unlikely and arrogant to assume.  

(Source)

However there has always been an energy or force that I've spent my life being drawn to, even knowing that it would be a challenging path to walk and attempting to walk another. That is where the name for this blog comes from "Undomesticated". It was this wild force that would not allow me to join into the normal flow of life many other take. I could never make myself fit into the shapes needed to do the things so many do everyday, month and year. 

After learning more about myself and the deity connected to the name Cernunnos I realized there was something different about this energy than just a personality trait or a little spirit. It was something much more powerful than that. I knew it was Cernunnos when I read about him and not just the horned god in general. He was different from the rest. He was wild, but not "out of control". He was in control of himself, but nothing else controlled him, nothing else could. There is a nobleness about Cernunnos that isn't always connected to wild gods. That was the part that made me sure it was him that called me so powerfully. 

I couldn't deny it any longer, there was a deity that called out to me, my spirit was drawn so strongly to it that I couldn't possibly turn away. So I accepted it and myself fully. This was the way I am and I would have to live according to this energy and what it represents or I would not find happiness within myself. That's when I decided to ritually dedicate myself to Cernunnos. 

I was lucky enough to preform this ritual in a group of other pagans. They were dedicating themselves to their own deities the same day and it made for a very powerful experience. This of course doesn't mean you need a group to dedicate yourself, but for me it was rewarding to do so. Here's the ritual:

I began the ritual with just a robe on and quickly removed it, preforming the ritual sky clad. I felt this was the best way to express my dedication. I then cleansed myself with burning cedar and awaiting my time to speak. 

Once everything was set I began my dedication:

“Great voice in the woods,

You call to me,

Your voice shakes my soul.

I have tried to ignore your song,

To follow others way of life,

But I find myself humming your tune,

Singing it under my breath.

I accept now that I am of you.

My soul was born to dance to your song,

no challenge can keep me from your side.

I know that my place is forever with you,

Singing along on the great hunt.”

“I ask for your forgiveness,

For the time I spent quieting the wildness inside me.

It hurt me,

It hurt to turn away from you.

I will never do it again.

I will never deny you,

For my soul is made from your smile.

I feared the pain of not being able to reach you.

For your feet are the fastest,

and I may never catch up,

But to never look and chase after you,

Would be a fate worse than death.”

At this point in the ritual I planned to un-robe, but in actual practice I went sky clad earlier. Finish up with the rest:

“Cernunnos!

I run with you always.

From today onwards,

I am yours, as I always have been.

I will sing your song,

and dance your dance.

You have my heart, my soul and my body.”

Then place the oak crown on your head, expressing your connection to Cernunnos, but also becoming the offering itself. Lastly I finished off with this:

“Thank you for never giving up on me.”

Then I had another member of the group draw the symbol for Cernunnos on my chest with henna. You can also use something else, I wanted to have the reminder on my body for an extended amount of time. However, ashes paint or many other mediums would work fine.

We were lucky enough that the home we conducted the ritual had a pool and we finished off the ritual by diving in all sky clad. It was a soothing way to finish off some very powerful magic.

Have any of you dedicated yourself before? Or do you have a deity that you find yourself connecting to strongly? Are any of you fond of Cernunnos? Or want to know more about him? I would love to hear from you!