For skeletons and bones, I stuff them in a hav-a-heart trap and stake the trap to an anthill. The ants will clean them beautifully. Feathers I wash gently in Dawn dishsoap, dry flat, and store in bags of sea salt. Wings can be done the same way, but in pizza boxes, not bags. Shells are harder. The ants will not always get them clean, so I bleach them when the ants are done. I didn't used to bleach them, but that lead to the most unbelievable stench. I mean unbelievable.

Greetings, everyone ! I am still, as my friend used to call me, a "baby pagan", haha. I have found my patron and matron god/desses and worship them in my own way, but it's all very disorganised. I know they're happy with it, but I also know it's a bit of a mess. I'm also never quite sure how to celebrate different holidays-- last year was my second year celebrating Yule and I'll admit it was a bit weird of a celebration, haha.

Regardless, it's nice to find other pagans !

A big part of my spirituality was my taxidermy work and sense of belonging I found in vulture culture. Unfortunately I lost all of my deads (and my ESA) in a flood last year so I'm still trying to will myself back into getting back into collecting the dead remains and cleaning them once more. I love the idea of putting deads in a trap on an anthill-- I used to have dermestids to help me clean, but that's so ingenious; I'll have to give it a shot now that my beetles are all washed up, haha.

I can't believe I've never thought of using an anthill before. It might be difficult to locate one since I live in an apartment complex, but I'll have a look around. Would you believe that I accidentally put a little brown bat through a wash cycle once, and it preserved it perfectly? Unfortunate that I didn't notice the little guy in there before I did the laundry (it was in the basement), but I just used ivory soap on my clothes and he dried out perfectly clean. I was even able to position him into a crawling pose before rigor mortis set in.

Welcome! I saw you on the kissing forums as well, haha, nice to see another new person here. <3 It's okay to be disorganized; I think that is part of the beauty of being a pagan. It doesn't have to be structured and clean-cut.

Good job on saving your batty! I had one in the freezer to freeze dry and my husband thought it was a chocolate Easter egg and nearly ate it!

Merry Meet and welcome! I like that term 'vulture culture' it seems to cover a myriad of concepts very neatly. It is hard to get your life back after a flood...been there...what a mess. Hopefully you will find more inspiration to return to your taxidermy. It sounds like a very cool thing to do.

Hello everyone!

New-ish Hedgewitch here. I only worship one goddess in particular; Artemis/The Moon. Otherwise I worship all others with solemn reverence but no specific name. I decided to finally make the transition to hedgewitch about a year and a half ago when I realized that I no longer believed in the Christian god or faith.

Nice to meet you all!

Hello there.

Basically, I'm not sure where I stand. I do feel quite the calling to nature and even Cerunnos, but I don't know if can call myself pagan yet; I don't know enough for that. It'll be wonderful to chat with you all and I have so many questions that are just swirling around in my head! I used to be Christian, then went straight through to Atheism (thank you philosophy classes) but as I read more about various indigenous faiths, it slowly turned to Agnostic. So yeah, I find it very difficult on one hand to believe that you can actively use energy (magic) but I've been trying to open my mind more. It's just the same skepticism that ran me off from Christianity rearing its head. At this point I don't have a specific deity I honor, but I am very curious to find out who I'm connected to most.

How did you find your calling? How did you know which deity was for you?

It sounds like you are deep in the process of trying to learn your mind and heart...that can be both wonderful and quite disheartening. I also think that everyone here probably has a story to tell...I know I do...

But I am wondering if this is the 'right' thread for this discussion to be honest.

What I would like to do, if you are okay with it, is have you join the group, and quote this post for our weekly discussion thread...let me know if that is okay with you. If it is not okay, I'll ping the group here and we will have the convo here...it will work either way, I just wonder if everyone in the group will feel comfortable chiming in on the public thread...

I have absolutely no problems with that - I wasn't sure if it'd be right for me to join initially, hence why I didn't join. Whatever works best if good for me c: Thank you for taking this so seriously!

This is big stuff. Please do join, and I'll quote your post for the SpellShare weekly discussion thread. I'm (obviously) online now, and can approve your membership right away. :)

Hello! I was really excited to see this thread. I consider myself a sort of pantheist, Druid-leaning baby Pagan. I started my practice fairly recently and it has enriched my life so much, but I haven't had any sort of community for it, so this group looks awesome! I hope it's okay for me to join. I just sent in a request.

I just sent in a join request as well. Hey there, everyone! I'm devoted to Freyja specifically, but pay my respects more widely. Not affiliated with the whole Norse / Asatru / Heathen thing because fundamentally I'm tired of discovering closet Nazis and offensive alt-right assholes.

Brightest blessings and welcome! I'm sorry I was away and did not approve your request until just now, but we are glad you could join!

Thank you :)

Hi all! I just sent a join request!

I've been practicing Earth-based spirituality for 5 years now. I forged my own path, and it is still ever growing and changing, but I am consistently devoted to life and nature and the Earth and the universe at large. I also practice some witchcraft, and gardening is my primary medium for all of my spiritually driven practices!

Hey there! It's always fascinating to learn about the different paths people are on -- there's so many ways you can do this and it's delightful.

Hello, my name is Danie and I would love to join your group. I am not sure where I am on the scale either, but I know I am Pagan and would love to learn more.

Guys. I fell off the face of the planet. Thankfully, medical issues turned out okay and I'm back-ish!

How are all you lovely people doing? Well, I hope.

Sorry to hear that, and glad you're back!

Sorry about completely being gone...I got a dream job as a cook at a Pagan Camp, and I have been doing nothing but work, work, work ever since!!! The season is finally winding down for us, so I should be able to be on more often soon!

Hello! My name is Alchemy. I'm a bit of a dabbler to be honest, but I do have an interest in pagan beliefs, the metaphysical and the paranormal. I do occasionally practice energy work. I don't have a set religion, but I do pull beliefs from wicca, taoism and just generic earth-based ideologies.