GIFTS FOR YOU: DARKFLOWER DISCOUNTS for WEBSITE SUBSCRIBERS!

Got the winter blahs? Need something to look forward to? I have a present for you....

Hello, website friends! As a special present to say THANK YOU for subscribing to my blog, I am running a FLASH SALE on certain events and classes JUST FOR YOU through MARCH 3 only!! Want to come to an event or take a class? Want some new artwork for your house? Need an end-of-winter read? Check this out!

(We apologize that discounts are not retroactive if you already hold a ticket for an event. But hopefully there is something else you are not yet signed up for that might tickle your fancy!)

FOR YOU IN THE ETSY STORE: EVERYTHING is 20% off through March 3! Buy yourself some spring prints, pick up a novel, or get your friend a Deck of Rebellion. Maybe buy yourself a bone reading? The discount code for you is LILITH (all caps). Here's the link: https://darkflowerbooks.etsy.com?coupon=LILITH

DISCOUNTED EVENT TICKETS: Come to the UNDERWORLD Event at Green Hill Cemetery for 20% off! Limit one ticket per subscriber (because these events raise money for the cemetery). Promo Code is HELLOSPRING

Here's the link: https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/underworld-a-hades-and-persephone-journey

Come to the POWER OF STORY Sound Healing / Guided Channeled Meditation Event at 20% off! Limit one ticket per subscriber (because these events raise money for the cemetery). Promo Code is HELLOSONG. Here's the link: https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/the-power-of-story-a-channeled-guided-meditation-and-sound-healing-event

ARE YOU ON THE LILITH PATH? If you have completed Lilith Level 1 Classes then I have a discount code for THE HOLY ROOTS on MARCH 15! Type in SAMAEL to receive 30% off your ticket as a thank-you for completing Level 1! Here is the link: https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/the-holy-roots-lilith-and-the-lost-city-level-2

OR if you have completed Lilith Level 1 you can also sign up for Level 3 CHAOS ANGEL at 40% off! Type in FALLEN to receive 40% off your ticket as a thank-you for completing Level 1! The link is here: https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/lilithian-magick-chaos-angel

The DROP SPINDLE SPINNING CLASS at the Inn in July is also on sale 30% off for you guys! Event link is here: https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/drop-spindle-spinning-and-solar-dying-workshop and your promo code is TWISTED.

Get ready to embrace the warm weather, community, and color once more!! And thank you for being a blog subscriber!

Tava's Haunted Dollhouse

Hello, everyone!

If you clicked on this post you're one of the people who goes, "Ooooohhh...haunted stuff". Welcome to our club of people who aren't freaked out by dolls, or are and kinda like the rush.

I started this project as a Lilithian upcycling practice. And oh, how it has grown.

There are approximately forty dolls in various states of undress strewn all over the studio. I'm creating a log book entry for each one: where I acquired it, what state it was in, anything about its brand or creation that I can find, and...whether I see evidence of it already having been haunted or not. Lots are coming in with residual energy still attached.

A few of them actually MOVE.

It is my experience (and many other people's) that the Unembodied are attracted to the little bodies of dolls as homes or hotels. These Spirits often once had a body themselves, and a little place to sit where they can have arms and legs again feels familiar and mighty fine. And for those of us with bodies who want to speak to the unseen, the doll gives us a place to focus our energy and conversation. We can express our affection for the spirit by holding the doll. And it appears, in many cases, that the Spirit can feel it.

I haven't seen evidence that the spirits mind heat or cold while visiting the dolls, but I have seen the features on the doll's face respond or seen hands move. One doll you'll see below, Holly, makes the rocking chair I have seated her in move, and there are often the sound of small objects in her vicinity falling. Small objects that I cannot find. She's also warm to the touch at times.

My aim is to take a doll that has been cast aside and give it power once more. Reclamation is a big act in Lilithian Magick. I take something no one wanted and put in love, creativity, and hard work until the doll becomes a vessel for Spirit Communication.

Each doll comes with a little certificate certifying it and a 13 page little guide pamphlet hand-sewn by me in various patterns of scrapbook paper to make it unique. The pamphlet contains a Lilithian Consecration Ritual for if you intend to use the doll in Spirit Communication, and a few pages of ways to begin to reach out to the Unseen. If you'd like to own one of these dolls they, and others like them, are available in my etsy shop.

The proceeds from the dolls go to pay for tuition and materials for Pagan students who want to take Darkflower classes or attend events but are on a limited income. This way I can keep doing what I am doing and people who need a bit of a financial boost can still participate in the more expensive events. And you get a tool for speaking to the Dead! Everybody wins!

Here are the first three in the project.

DOLL #1: JOY

Joy was found in the Goodwill in Frederick, MD, smashed under a pile of much larger dolls on a dusty shelf. She is porcelain and cloth and 8" tall. She has no maker's mark. Someone had chopped her hair to pieces, and glued a bunch of it together (I suspect she had a hat on at one point.) She was a bit lopsided in her body, and her head felt very large for her body structure. And she was pretty darn dirty and missing a shoe. I scooped her up.

I took her home, and could feel residual loving, enthusiastic energy bouncing around in her. Perhaps she had been loved at some point by someone young. I took her outfit off and washed her and spoke quietly to her in case there was a spirit attached that was a bit shy.

Then I assessed what parts of the outfit were going to stay and what was going to go. Her dress was torn. I stitched it, but decided to leave the stitches visible to mark her journey. Then I put her clothes into the dye bath.

I wanted to give her dramatic, powerful eyebrows and eyes and gothic lipstick. And the hair went up into a Beetlejuice-inspired hair wrap. I like that her curls look a bit frazzled. I added a bumblebee necklace because by now I had picked up that there was a lot of sweet, childlike energy in her. I grabbed a stand from another doll that fit her.

And I gave her a pet bunny Harvey, so that she wouldn't have to be alone again.

Here she is now:

She is signed on her body on the back and labelled 1/?

Joy can be adopted at https://darkflowerbooks.etsy.com in the Tava's Haunted Dollhouse section.

DOLL #2: ADELE

If you are looking for a Spirit Communication Doll that blends in so no one becomes suspicious of your activities but still holds LOTS of attitude, here is Adele. I don't usually work with anything but porcelain and cloth dolls, but Adele is an exception.

She was hanging inside a plastic bag at the Frederick Goodwill. I picked up the bag, saw she wasn't porcelain, and put her back.

Correction: I TRIED to put her back. I'm not sure exactly what happened to change my mind, but Adele went home with me despite the fact that she was priced about three times higher than what I usually pay for dolls. I was still questioning it in the parking lot.

Adele is a Madame Alexander Doll (so made of jointed plastic) and her costume started off French. She was actually in really good shape. But I stripped her down and gave her a very thorough cleaning anyway. She's just 7" tall and cute as a button.

When I first took her out of the bag her pants fell right off. I ended up switching them with Joy's, so that both would have better fitting items.

I wanted to give her dark lipstick and a hat (I really feel that she is a hat person), and I wondered what that dress would do in a black dye bath. AND IT IS NOW MY FAVORITE THING!

Goth Dolly, you've stolen my heart!

As for her energy...I mean, something made me override my judgement in that store and spend more than I wanted on a doll that didn't fit my parameters. And she has PRESENCE. Not certain exactly what the deal is here. I'll leave whomever adopts her to figure it out. Maybe she's waiting for you and I was just the transportation mechanism?

She is signed on her body on the back and labelled 2/?

Adele can be adopted at https://darkflowerbooks.etsy.com in the Tava's Haunted Dollhouse section.

DOLL #3: HOLLY

Okay, people, Holly is just straight-up haunted. STRAIGHT UP. I knew it from even before I picked her up. Her energy is INTENSE.

Writing this post was difficult because pictures of her had trouble loading, and I'd also get weird computer flickers when writing about her. Power flux? or Holly?

I might have said power if it wasn't for the other stuff.

I seated her in a rocking chair. The chair moves. I've put her in one position to come back and find she's facing a different direction when I lie her on a table. Things randomly fall in her area. I say "things" because I hear something small clattering but can find nothing missing or on the floor. This has happened over and over again in the time I have had her.

She will go randomly warm at times. Her mouth twitches. And the other night, as I was debating whether or not she needed more clothes, I very clearly had the strong urge to crochet her a sweater. I have never crocheted...oh, shit, there goes the rocking chair again (she's seated in it off to my left).

I've never crocheted doll clothes before, and have largely given up crocheting. but I hear her say very clearly in my head that she wanted it. She picked out her button from my stash, too. Told me she didn't want shoes anymore.

Had me order her new socks.

The rocking chair is clearly too big for her, but she has made it HERS. I guess it comes with her?

She is larger, at 12.5" tall. She is porcelain with a cloth body. When I got her, her pants were on inside out (???)

I cleaned her up, gave her some dramatic face paint (with a symbol Samael told me to place there...he said it helps balance the energy of The Dead), gave her an up-do with some little silk flowers, hand-dyes all her clothes, gave her a lace neck wrap, crocheted her a sweater, and painted her nails. To say she has opinions would be an understatement.

The attached Spirit has not introduced itself by name. I'm not sure if it is there all the time or pops in and out. But it LOVES to move things, and there's this constant compulsion I feel to make sure the doll is comfortable and well-protected. Among the 40 or so in my studio, she is one of the ones that stands WAY out.

No negative energy is detected, but if you startle easily you might want a different doll. Sudden movement and sounds abound.

I adore Holly and hope she finds the perfect home. Pretty certain someone else we can't see will be coming along with her. You're going to find yourself talking to this one.

She is signed on her body on the back and labelled 3/?

Holly can be adopted at https://darkflowerbooks.etsy.com in the Tava's Haunted Dollhouse section.

Thank you for coming on this journey with me! Stay tuned for more dolls. There will be a bunch travelling with me to The Undead of Winter Dark Arts and Oddities Market in Milton, PA on Valentine's weekend if you would like to meet some in person.

Some people have written saying they have an old porcelain and cloth doll kicking around their house that they don't know what to do with because of its energy and will I accept a donation? The answer is YES, if you don't mind that the doll may be altered and re-homed at some point. Drop me a message and let's chat!

Thank you for coming on this adventure with me!

FULL MOON NIGHTS at The Simple Life for 2026

I'd like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who came out for the first Full Moon Night at the Simple Life in Frederick, MD. Folks, if you haven't been there and you are anywhere near Frederick, MD, it's about to become your favorite little metaphysical shop. Am I bias because Helen, the owner, lets me take over her kitchen to teach Lilith classes? Maybe. But it also has an ENORMOUS herb wall, a room full of crystals and stones, and is loaded with metaphysical items from local artists that you won't find anywhere else.

It's on Patrick Street -119 East Patrick Street, to be exact- and is LOVELY. Right downtown. You know how some people just have a magick eye for display? Helen has The Eye. More info on the shop at: https://www.shopthesimplelife.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq5EF93CZ9UVVhyyhyZQAdhrf_kbLJ1o0C8BdUMDuxHph0yFQSr

Walking into The Simple Life feels like wandering into a Witch's cottage from a fairy tale. Last night we held our first Full Moon Gathering there for Imbolc. I was blown away by the response. We had a big group, and people brought food, and we made Brigid corn husk dolls and Brigid's crosses together. People trekked up from The Darkflower Collective in Winchester. It was a fabulous night of community and a bright spot during our dark days of late.

So, we're doing it again. And again. AND AGAIN. Here are the dates for 2026:

FULL MOON CIRCLE: THE DARK GODDESS

May 30th, 2:30-4:30 PM

Come and explore The Sacred Dark with your guide, Tava Baird! We’ll be making and blessing Dark Goddess bracelets and Dark Goddess Witch Balls to guard your liminal spaces. Registration is here: https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-the-dark-goddess-at-the-simple-life

FULL MOON CIRCLE: HONORING MEDUSA

June 27th, 2:30-4:30 PM

At this month’s Circle we’ll be focusing on Greek divination and will undertake a ritual for protection and raising power. Join us by registering at

https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-honoring-medusa-at-the-simple-life

FULL MOON CIRCLE: BRIGID’S CAULDRON

July 26th, 2:30-4:30 PM

This month we’ll be revisiting Brigid in her aspect of Divine Poet. Come make a poetry cross and a set of Celtic-inspired Witch Bells with us! Space is limited, so grab your seat at https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-brigids-cauldron-at-the-simple-life

FULL MOON CIRCLE: RISE of THE MORRIGAN

August 29th, 2:30-4:30 PM

We’ll be gathering together to honor the Morrigan and create a lovely wooden altar box in her name. We’ll also blend up our own little vials of a Morrigan-themed ritual oil to adorn ourselves as The Wheel of The Year turns. https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-rise-of-the-morrigan-at-the-simple-life to register.

FULL MOON CIRCLE: HECATE, KEEPER OF KEYS

September 26th, 2:30-4:30 PM

Hecate rules transitions and liminal spaces, and so this month we’ll be making a Hecate-themed bed and dream blessing headboard charm to guard you during your walks beyond this realm. We’ll also be discussing dreamwork and how to call back your energy after a walk in a liminal space. Grab a ticket here:  https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-hecate-keeper-of-keys-at-the-simple-life

FULL MOON CIRCLE: LILITH and THE ETERNAL GHOSTS

November 21st, 2:30-4:30 PM

Lilithian Magick welcomes all…the Living and the Dead. During this dark time of year, we’ll explore communicating with Spirits using Black Mirrors, Spirit Dice, and Haunted Doll Vessels. Step into your power and reach through The Veil with Lilith at your side! TWO SESSIONS: Choose between 12-2 or 2:30-4:30

NOON GATHERING: 

https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-lilith-and-the-eternal-ghosts-at-the-simple-life-1

2:30 GATHERING:

https://www.tavabaird.com/event-details/full-moon-circle-lilith-and-the-eternal-ghosts-at-the-simple-life

We hope you can join us for a Full Moon Night or one of the other classes going on at the Simple Life. Safe spaces to gather are more important than ever, and Helen's shop is a bright light in my life.

We're going to make things better, people. With magick, and community, and remembering how powerful we truly are. One gathering at a time.

If you'd like to attend a Darkflower class or gathering and funds are tight for you, please write me. I have a limited number of discounted tuitions and volunteer positions available. There's also some free gatherings that pop up on my site (check out the one at A Galaxy of Happy Art with The Darkflower Collective in March.)

And thank you for supporting Pagan education and my small business and Helen's. It matters so much to us.