Veiling - Tumblr Posts
Any other Catholics who veil help me real quick? Do you know the best type of clips/combs I should buy for sewing into my veils? I have a small one I’m gonna travel with and want to sew in some clips into it so I can put it on real quick. Thanks!
This is the travel veil I’m gonna get real soon:
So, not even a week after resuming my veiling practice, I experienced discrimination. I don’t wish to recount the experience to save my emotional energy, but I do want to go into why I’m glad I had this experience, and how it encourages me to continue.
Firstly, I want to acknowledge the fact that my preferred approach to veiling does in fact make me resemble Muslim women. And because of this, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Muslim women worldwide for setting the standard for others who find empowerment and comfort in modesty. As a white person, I have been aware of and sympathetic to the plight of Muslim women worldwide, but it’s different when it happens to you. It cements it. My heart aches for your strife and is full by your courage. This is one reason I’m glad for this experience. It strengthens my resolve and compassion. Thank you.
Another reason I’m glad for the experience, is because it reiterates why I want to veil in the first place. I live in Midwestern America. Our bodily autonomy is quickly being stolen from us. Our bodies are hyper-sexualized and spoken about as if all I’m good for is having babies that the government can raise as cattle for the capitalist machine. It’s a physical symbol of rejecting that. I get to decide how I look to others. I get to decide who gets access to my body, not just in a sexual manner but as a whole. For me, it’s a radical act of feminism. It feels as though the fibers in my headscarves and coverings are woven together in a greater tapestry of women worldwide. I can feel it with Muslim women, whom I do not share a religion with, but share something more important: kinship, and sisterhood. My threads are woven with the Muslim women in France who are fighting legislation for their right to be modest (that is batshit insane) and also with those victimized by western imperialism (which gave birth to the Taliban). The tapestry is worldwide, including Jewish women and their tichels, other pagans with their bandanas and beanies, even traditional Christian women who wear lace coverings. But modesty and autonomy reach beyond the gender divide so I have home in those who are also men, nonbinary, gender-fluid, two-spirit, and many others. It is community. It filters out many people who show their true intentions and beliefs, and makes it so much easier to cut through the lies and masks of people whose support is conditional.
I have always been modest and prudish and now I can celebrate it, instead of being “othered” by it. I feel as though it is a symbol of my devotion, but also a form of radical self-care that I celebrate myself.
It is Hera’s Crown.
It is Athena’s War Helmet.
It is Hermes’ Winged Helmet.
It is Eurybia’s Cloak of the Ocean.
It is Hades’ Helmet of Shadow.
It is Hestia’s Veil.
It is Zeus’ Crown.
It makes me feel godly and holy. It protects me. It invigorates me. It gives me confidence.
Khaire.
In this new year a new objective has come to be achieved. So this is where and how I start.
For all my fellow veiled witches, pagans, christians and more, here are some ways to veil discreetly in case your family isn’t accepting of it!
- Wear bandanas
-Scrunchies can be veils too
-Headbands
-Touques, Beanies and hats
-If you want to cover more of your hair, put a wide headband under your bandana and put your hair in a bun underneath.
inspired by a post from @amagdalenewitch (link to post), here's some examples of veiling styles which are more discreet. Not everyone can veil openly and safely, for many reasons, so I hope these help.
I'd encourage you to look these up yourself to see forms of styling and tutorials on how to make or style them, if you're curious. also, none of these photos are mine!
-> bandanas
[ ID 1: Photo of a person with long, straight, brown hair with blonde streaks wearing a red bandana with white flowers on their head. They face away from the camera. /End ID ]
[ ID 2: Photo of a person with long, coily, black hair and dark skin wearing a black and white bandana on their head. They face right. /End ID ]
• coverage level: medium-high
• varies a lot on the style, bandana size and hair length
• works for a variety of hair textures
-> headbands
[ ID 1: Photo of a person with medium length, coily, black hair and dark skin, wearing a red and white twisted, fabric headband around their head. They face forward. /End ID ]
[ ID 2: Photo of a person with medium length, wavy, blonde hair and pale skin wearing a white crochet headband with dark blue flowers on it. They face right. /End ID ]
• coverage level: low-medium
• varies a lot on the style, bandana size and hair length
• works for a variety of hair textures
-> balaclavas
[ ID 1: A person with light skin wearing a brown knitted balaclava, covering their entire head and most of their face. They face forward, tilting their head slightly. /End ID ]
[ ID 2: A person with blonde, wavy hair and light skin wearing a yellow and blue knitted balaclava, covering their head. They face left. /End ID ]
• coverage level: high
• varies in material and style
• works for a variety of hair textures, but may need adjustments
• works better for colder seasons and environments
-> beanies
[ ID 1: Photo of a person with long, straight, dark hair and light-medium tone skin wearing a gray beanie, looking to the right. /End ID ]
[ ID 2: Photo of a person with long, curly, brown hair and medium tone skin wearing a knitted dark gray beanie. They face right. /End ID ]
• coverage level: medium-high
• varies a lot on the style, beanie size or thickness and hair length
• works for a variety of hair textures, but may need adjustments
• works better for colder seasons or environments
-> tips:
• many types of hats can also work and are very discreet, tho they don't always offer good coverage
• hoodies are also very discreet and are a good option if you need to cover yourself quickly as well
• you can combine different types of veiling for more coverage, like using a headband or bandana underneath a hat or hoodie, etc
• veil in the way that's most comfortable to you, but remember to keep yourself safe as well
• different materials and sizes can offer different results, keep experimenting if something doesn't work for you
veiling during windy hikes >>>>>>
Veiling/dressing modestly in the heat (because “aren’t you hot” questions are annoying enough without actually being unnecessarily hot)!
I made a silly little acronym for you, and that’s WELLNESS! :D
W: Watch how other people do it. There are plenty of people both religious and not religious who dress modestly for whatever reasons, and looking for inspiration on the kinds of things they wear might help you out in ways I can’t!
E: Evaluate your health. Are you able to dress modestly in such a way that doesn’t flare up any health issues? Do you have skin problems that can’t handle being covered in the heat? Is it so bad you need to stay inside all the time anyways and you’re allowed to just free-for-all your wardrobe? You might have come into wanting to dress modestly already with an idea of what you wanted to cover consistently, and that might change depending on what medical needs you have.
L: Light colors. Lighter colors reflect sunlight and don’t hold heat as easily as darker colors do.
L: Loose cut. Allow air flow to cool you down! This also means try not to layer too much with overlapping layers, look into things like dicky collars it you like a collar but don’t want to layer a whole buttoned up shirt under a whole other shirt, and other such things. Except for veiling, in which case having something up high and tight off your neck is the best!
N: Natural fabrics. If it’s made of plastic (like polyester) it’ll trap heat in. Cotton and linen are your best bets!
E: Except wool! Wool will also trap heat. Always make sure you check what the actual properties are of the fabric you’re buying, there are natural fibers that insulate and there are synthetic fibers that don’t. If you want to broaden your horizons you’re going to have to google a funky word every now and again.
S: Stay on top of water consumption, sunscreen (for what’s exposed), and where you can go to cool off if necessary. Yes, it’s important for everyone, but especially if you’re more covered!
S: STOP IF YOU HAVE TO! No style of dressing is worth your health. If you find dressing modestly too cumbersome and dangerous for your health, CUT IT OUT! Know the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Know the signs of dehydration. Know when you just need to take a break and separate yourself from the heat.
Portrait of Sculptor Mark Matveevich Antokolski (1866) by Ilya Repin
For Hestia!!!! She got me out of paying a huge fee while traveling 🥰💌🌸
(Finally my chance to answer a veiling question)
I wear full coverage styles, covering neck and all my hair (I typically wear Khimars),,, actually, I wear face veils too :>
Fully !!
I veil everyday when I go out
Shout out to veiling and all my veilers!!
to anyone who wears veils as a polytheist or pagan:
what styles do you wear?
do you fully veil or only partially?
do you veil consistently or only on certain days/dates?
if the later, what's your schedule?
i am simply curious since i've started veiling :)