Calendar of the Moon
Ash Tree Month
Color: Pale Blue
Elements: Water and air
Altar: On a cloth of pale blue set a great bowl of salt water in which are set many shells and stones, a shell full of salt, incense, and the figures of sea-birds and fishes.
Offerings: Wash something clean, or air it out.
Daily Meal: Either fish or seafood, or poultry.
Nion/Anthesterion Invocation
Call: Now is the time of wind and water.
Response: Now is the time of sea and sky.
Call: Now is the time of the Gods of weather.
Response: Now is the time of the great waves.
Call: Now is the time of terrible flooding.
Response: Now is the time of needed rain.
Call: Now is the time of battering gales.
Response: Now is the time of winds of change.
Call: Now is the time of fear of change.
Response: Now, and always, change will win.
Call: The wild winds disturb our dreams.
Response: The wild winds awake our minds.
Call: The heavy rains flood our hearts.
Response: The heavy rains water our future.
Call: The sea will sweep us away.
Response: The sea will bear us up.
Call: The sea is cold and unending.
Response: The sea is the source of life.
Call: We are ships on the lost expanse of the ocean.
Response: We are winds that call to one another.
Call: We will brave the wind and water.
Response: We will bring together mind and heart.
Call: We will come home safely after wandering.
Response: We will anchor safely after our journeys.
Call: We will come through wind and water!
Response: We will come through wind and water!
(Repeat last two lines twice more.)
Chant:
We will come through wind and water
We will come through sea and sky
Calendar of the Sun
19 Hrethemonath
Quinquatria Day I: Racing Day
Colors: Red and blue
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon cloth of red (for Ares) and blue (for Athena), place a sword, a spear, a shield, a length of hand-woven cloth, red and blue candles, a book and a pen, and two chalices, one filled with spiced wine or beer, and one with carbonated seltzer water.
Offerings: Engage in a struggle of some kind. To honor Ares, make it physical; to honor Athena, make it mental. The morning exercise hour should begin with running or fast walking, as this was traditionally Racing Day.
Daily Meal: Light, nutritious, high-protein, as for an athlete.
Quinquatria Invocation I
We pray now to Ares,
Bright warrior who has no fear,
Hot of head and heart, you run
The extra mile with your passion,
You are the one who will never give up.
And we pray to Athena,
Armored one, keen of vision,
Cool of head and heart, you always keep
Yourself a ways apart from the crowd,
Yet from there you can see further
Than we can at our close distance.
We ask for your blessings, warriors hot and cold,
Tactician and strategist, one who sees the way
To the goal, and one who has the courage to reach it,
For both are of equal value in this our struggle
To keep from being beaten down
By the many enemies that spring from
Our hearts and minds and lives.
Bless us, fearless ones,
And lead us down the straight path
To glory, to accomplishment, to the goal.
(Each comes forth and takes one of the weapons, and salutes the altar twice, calling out “Hail Athena!” and “Hail Ares!” The seltzer is poured out as a libation to Athena, and the spiced drink is poured out for Ares. In the workday to come, everyone should take on some physical task that strains them to their limit, and tests that limit, or if they are disabled, some organizational task requiring uncharacteristically complex strategizing.)
The wheel of the year turns; the days get longer, dawns earlier. The Spring Equinox, Oestara, approaches. You want to celebrate, but how? The same way you did last year? Nah, boring. Or maybe you’ve never planned an Oestara ritual before. Maybe it’s a holiday you’ve always gotten stuck on: You understand Imbolc, you understand Beltaine, but Spring Equinox — what do you do then? Following are some ideas to get your imagination ticking.
First, as with any Sabbat, consider whether you want only to celebrate the time of year and the goddesses and gods of spring or also to perform magick to accomplish a goal. If you want to perform magick, what goals do you and your co-ritualists have, and how do you work for those goals in magick appropriate to the time of year?
Whether you perform magick or simply celebrate, your Oestara rites begin with understanding the time of year. If Litha, June 21 or thereabouts, is Midsummer, Oestara is Midspring. It’s the second of the three spring holidays, Imbolc marking spring’s first glimmer and Beltaine spring’s height and power. If Imbolc is about inspiration, Beltaine about consummation, Oestara is about growth. At Oestara, the seed that stirred at Imbolc sprouts and pokes its head above ground. At Oestara, you can begin to feel spring: The crocuses and daffodils are out; the cherries blossom. The air smells of wet earth and flowers; earth and air begin to warm. You see the tall spring cumulus, feel the first spring wind, greet kite-flying weather. You can make your Oestara ritual part of this burgeoning spring, celebrating Earth’s fertility and the fertility in your own life.
You can also consider Oestara as a time of balance between light and dark. Night and day equally divide the 24 hours now; the dark half of the year gives way to the light. You can perform rituals to ask for balance in your life, and to honor both dark and light.
You can also work with Oestara as the first quarter of the Sun-year, parallel to the first quarter of the Moon. It’s a time to start new things or to consolidate beginnings. If the first inspiration began at Imbolc, now is the time to pour on nurturance and growth. You can also plant new seeds now. Symbolic associations for Oestara include the element air, the direction east and the time of dawn.
In a related association, this time belongs to the Maiden and her parallel the Young God. Other gods and goddesses concerned with Spring Equinox include the Greek wine-god Dionysos and his Roman counterpart Bacchus; the Greeks held Dionysia at Spring Equinox, when the new wine made the previous harvest was first drunk. The Norse at equinox celebrated the feast of the goddess Iduna, bearer of the magick apples of life, symbol of the light half of the year. We get the name of the holiday from the Germanic goddess Eastre or Oestara, whose symbolism is similar to Aphrodite’s, whose associations include Near-Eastern Astarte and Indian Mother Kali and whose consort is the lusty Moon-Hare.
On the day before the equinox, the Greeks and Romans honored wisdom goddess Athena and her counterpart Minerva. Rhea, mother of Greek Sky-Father Zeus and an aspect of the Great Mother, has her feast day March 15. March as a whole is sacred to the Roman god Mars and his Norse equivalent Tyr, and to the Anglo-Saxon Earth-Mother Hertha.
To celebrate Oestara, you can do any of the following, or use these ideas as a springboard.
Get out in Nature.Take a walk around your neighborhood or favorite park. See which plants are sprouting, which budding, which blooming, which still are in the grips of winter. Feel the air; smell the scents of Oestara.
Clear a space for a garden, or start flowers, herbs or vegetables indoors.It’s too early in this climate to plant fruits and vegetables; frosts can happen as late as April in the Northwest. But you can clear weeds, grass and rubbish from the spot where you plan a garden, or you can start seeds indoors. Check with your favorite garden store what flowers and vegetables might best be started now.
Pick up litter at your favorite park or beach.Help the earth rejuvenate by getting rid of the mess. Even an hour of cleanup can make a big difference.
Ritually color hard-boiled or blown eggs.Eggs, a potent symbol of fertility, figured in pagan spring worship long before their appropriation by the Christian Easter. Ukrainian pysanky, blown eggs with patterns drawn in wax and dyed, are pagan amulets for fertility, prosperity and protection. Pysanky have come to us basically unchanged in form from the hunter-gatherers of Eastern Europe.
For your own rituals, you can draw in crayon or white wax on hard-boiled eggs symbols that represent things you want in the coming sun-year, or write on the eggs these things’ names, or both. You can then use Easter-egg or natural dyes to color the eggs; your wax symbols and writing will stand out against the dye-color. Next, raise energy in ritual for your goals, charge the eggs with that energy, then peel and eat the eggs, taking in the things you want to manifest. Alternatively, you can mark and dye unboiled eggs, then crack tiny holes in both ends with a pin and blow out the matter inside, keeping the eggshell on your altar.
Perform oomancy (divination by eggs).To perform the most common form of egg-divination, separate egg whites and yolks. You then drop the white into hot water and divine from the shapes it assumes.
Perform love or other divination with apples.Apples are a Northern European pagan symbol of spring and of love. You may recall from childhood two forms of love-divination by apple, using the seeds and the stem.
To divine whether someone loves you by apple seeds, choose and eat an apple thinking of your loved one. Next, split the core and count the seeds chanting this rhyme: One I love, two I love, three I love I say, four I love with all my heart, five I cast away; six she loves, seven he loves, eight they both love; nine s/he comes, ten s/he tarries, eleven s/he courts, twelve s/he marries. To divine the first letter of your spouse-to-be’s name, twist an apple’s stem while chanting the letters of the alphabet. The letter at which the stem breaks is his or her initial.
Both these love-divination techniques can be adapted to other uses. To adapt the former, alter the rhyme with words suiting your situation. To adapt the latter, you can simply chant yes and no while twisting till the apple stem breaks; you can also chant “yes, no, maybe” or use words more specific to your situation.
Meditate on the imagery of the seed.Consider a seed and how it relates to the earth, how it falls from its mother plant into a rich loam made from the breakdown of other dead plants. Consider how the seed is influenced by sun and rain, by the energy from sky and earth. Or contemplate as a seed an idea or situation in your life, then imagine the seed breaking open and sending out roots and sprouts. Study what these roots and sprouts look like, where they find barriers and where they grow most strongly.
Perform magick by planting a seed to grow with your spell.A traditional love-spell runs as follows. (Of course, you shouldn’t perform this spell to draw a particular person, but rather to draw the right person toward you.) Just after the New Moon, plant the seed of some sturdy plant in a pot. Water thoroughly, and charge your spell by raising energy and saying over the plant: As this root grows, and this blossom blows, may my true love be inclined toward me. You can adapt this spell to any purpose naturally achieved over time, such as the success of a business.
Meditate on the season’s flowers.Around us now bloom crocuses, daffodils and early tulips. You can find or purchase cut or living flowers and meditate on them. Sitting before the flowers, consider what is growing in your life. Flowers are the sexual organs of plants; consider what this says to you.
Perform magick to give back to the earth.Raise and send energy to return to the Earth, our mother, some of the bounteous energy and fertility She gives to us.
Meditate on the Moon-Hare.Rabbits provide an obvious symbol of animal fecundity. Meditate on the Moon-Hare, the animal the early German tribes and the Aztecs saw on the face of the moon, and see what comes to you about literal or creative fertility in your own life.
Honor the spring or Earth goddess or god of your choice, or a goddess or god of balance.To honor balance, venerate Roman Janus or his female counterpart Jana, or any pair of twin goddesses or gods. You can also honor goddesses and gods of spring or fertility now. Greet Oestara with rites like those of Aphrodite; drink new wine in honor of Dionysos; celebrate warlike Mars, deep and fertile Hertha or ever-young Iduna. Likewise, you can honor the Maiden, either sole and free or ripe for consummation.
Light around your house pairs of white and black candles, symbolizing dark and light.Each time you pass a pair of candles, you can honor the balance of light and dark we find this time of year, and the balance of light and dark within yourself.
Light a bonfire at dawn on the Equinox to honor the light half of the year.Not only did ancient Northern Europeans burn such fires, but also the Mayans.
Meditate or perform ritual at dawn or sunset.These liminal times are particularly significant now when we balance between dark and light.
Meditate or perform ritual for balance in your life and in the earth’s life.Meditate on that ancient Eastern emblem of balance, the Yin-Yang symbol. Consider what is dark and hidden, rightly or wrongly, in your life, and what is daylit. Consider how you best can create balance, honoring both sides of yourself. Likewise, contemplate what you see as dark and light in the world around you. Meditate upon what this year will bring, dark and light, and how best you can take right action in the world. You can also use these symbols actively, raising energy and asking that balance come to your life.
Do a ritual denoting the passing of the year’s dark half.Medieval Bohemians, after honoring the Christian savior on Easter Sunday, performed a ritual for his pagan rival on the following Monday, or Moon-day. Village girls sacrificed an effigy of the Lord of Death in the nearest running water, singing “Death swims in the water, spring comes to visit us, with eggs that are red, with yellow pancakes, we carried Death out of the village, we are carrying Summer into the village.”
As an updated variation, you can create an effigy of the dark half of the year and imbue it with the things of winter you’d like to leave behind. You can then either burn it in a bonfire or drop it in the nearest watercourse. (In the former case, you’ll want to make the effigy’s components flammable, in the latter biodegradable.) To return with the spring, bring back to your home greenery cut with respect or water from the stream.
Use the energy of the time of year as you would the first quarter of the moon.You can use the energy of this time of year to fuel any new project or goal.
Meditate on beginnings, on the East, on air, on dawn. This station of the year reflects these traditional associations. In meditation, note how these symbols connect organically and how you relate personally to them.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 18
“The sacred fire used to heat the rocks represents the eternal fire that burns at the center of the universe.”
–Dr. A.C. Ross (Ehanamani), LAKOTA
Our Sweat Lodge represents the womb of Mother Earth. This is the place of forgiveness. The altar is the place where the Grandfathers are heated. The Sweat Lodge and the altar represent the whole story of the universe. The Sweat Lodge and the ceremonies are sacred. The Great Spirit gave these things to us to help us. He taught us to do the ceremonies in harmony with Mother Earth. We need to know and understand these things.
Great Spirit, let me understand harmony.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Calendar of the Moon
13 Nion/Anthesterion
Anthesteria Day 3: Khutroi
Color: Purple
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a purple cloth set a great jug of water, the ship of Dionysos, a wreath of grapevines, nine purple candles, and a cauldron in which are many beans.
Offerings: Food. Feed people in the community.
Daily Meal: Beans and lentils and rice. Grains cooked with honey. Only water to drink today. A great meal should be prepared, and many people from outside the community should be invited, especially those who are in need. If there is not room, the meal may be cooked and taken to the appropriate shelter or soup kitchen.
Khutroi Invocation
After the joy of the vine,
We come to water and work.
Water of the flood, which washed away
Our ancestors, may you give us
Only aid, and may we not see
Your terrible aspect, drowning the millions.
Work of the world, the greatest of which
Is the giving of sustenance to those who have none.
As we come to a better understanding
Of what it is to be past childhood,
After the day of joy and mirth
We come to the threshold
Of work and toil for the good of others.
For this is truly the mark
That we have passed youth and innocence:
When we realize the Fate does not
Take care of everyone, including we ourselves,
And that we must stand in for Fate
And alter the order of the world,
Giving of ourselves that others may survive,
And thus become Fate.
On this the Day of Pots
We open our cooking fires
To the rest of the world.
(All depart and proceed to the kitchen, where the meal is prepared in silence, with all meditating upon the effort that it will take to feed all that they can, and what that means to one’s understanding of oneself as a mature being connected to the web of life.)
Calendar of the Sun
Media Hiems
Color: White and grey
Element: Earth
Altar: Set out a cloth of white and grey, a vase of bare branches, a single grey candle, a pitcher of melted snow or rainwater, pots of earth, and seeds to be sown and nurtured in the greenhouse.
Offering: Seeds, preferably saved from the year before.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian.
Media Hiems Invocation
Earth that lies asleep
Waiting for the touch of the Sun
To grow in strength and light
And awaken thee to life,
We warm thee with our breath,
We prepare thee with our hands,
We plant thee with our hopes,
We await thy awakening
With faith in the coming of Spring.
Chant:
Breath warms thee
Hands prepare thee
Hope sows thee
Sun awaken thee.
(All take seeds and plant them in the pots of earth, water them, and breathe onto them, visualizing the seeds awakening and growing. The remainder of the water is poured out as a libation to the Earth. The pots are then taken to the greenhouse in procession to be nurtured until planting time.)
Empowering Your Magick Potion
To empower or enchant magic potions, focus your mind on your magical goal and on the specific effect you expect the potion to have. Use your intention plus the natural energy of the ingredients to cook the magical energy into them. Your focused energy is imparted into the ingredients through your willful intent, your touch and the heat of your hands.
Use the three basic steps of magic—-intention couple with expectation, desire and merging—-to empower the potion. When you mix the ingredients, mix them with the intention and expectation of imparting your magical goal into them.
You can also use the power of touch to enchant potion ingredients. First, wash your hands well, dry them, and then rub the palms of your hands briskly together to charge them with energy. Immediately place your hands on the ingredients for a few moments , imagining that you are transferring the energy in your hands into the potion ingredients, very much like you would bless food. Then whenever possible, use the fingers of your power hand to mix the ingredients. Your power hand is your right hand if you are right-handed, your left if you are left-handed. If you are ambidextrous, your power hand is the one you eat with. If you are using a wooden spoon or blender to mix the ingredients, visualize or sense the energy from your hands moving into the spoon or blender, and then moving into the potion mixture. If you need to, just pretend doing this at first until you get the hang of it.
When you mix and charge the potion ingredients, either with your fingers, a wooden spoon, or in a blender, send your energy into the mixture. The stronger your desire for your goal, the stronger the energy you impart into the potion. At first it may seem odd to actually be sending power or energy into the ingredients, but with a little practice, empowering and energetically charging potions becomes a natural skill that is easy and fun. You will also begin to understand how powerful transferring energy from your hands to another object or from your mind to a specific goal, can really be. More specifically, how this energy can be applied toward attaining your magical goals.
The key to empowering potions, as in all magical work, is to stay focused on your magical goal for the entire time it takes to make and use the potion. For example, if you are adding the ingredients of vanilla or honey to a love potion, concentrate on each ingredient , bringing sweet and delicious love into your life. See, touch, taste, hear, and smell the love coming into your life. Imagine the potion being particularly effective. See and sense it as already having the proper effect. Do this by moving your awareness into the near future and imagining the successful effect of the potion. In your awareness feel the great joy and happiness of having the potion work, of attaining your magical goal. See and sense your magical success. Bath in the flow of energy that surrounds it.
Then move your awareness back to the present, and impart that image and joy full energy, that great feeling, into the potion ingredients. You can do this by imagining a bright white light coming from your hands and moving into the ingredients or you can see and sense a laser beam of light coming from your third eye (on your forehead between your eyebrows) and igniting the ingredient with its powerful radiance. You can also use deep breathing to empower potions by sensing yourself breathing bright energy into the ingredients.
After you have placed the potion in its container, you can empower it even more by saying something like:
Magick powers, that be
Please bless this potion
On Earth ,Sky and Sea
Charge it with Divine power
So Mote It Be.
Nine Easy Steps for Making A Magick Potion
OTHER WAYS OF MARKING OESTARA
* Celebrate the arrival of spring with flowers. Bring them into your own home and, in keeping with the theme of balance, give them to others. You do not have to spend a lot of money – one or two blooms given for no other reason than ‘spring is here’ can often bring a smile to even the most gloomy face.
* Do a bit of ‘personal housekeeping’. We live in an age where guilt is more often encouraged then pride, where we are encouraged to dwell upon our ‘negative’ points and habits. This is not the way of the Witch. As Witches we must learn to be as honest about our plus points as society would like us to be about our minuses.
Advertising, probably the most pervasive kind of propaganda, encourages us to think
of ourselves as ‘less than perfect’ unless we look and dress like the people in the
adverts and possess all the things that the advertisers would like us to spend money
on. It is worth bearing in mind that if we truly needed these products then there would
be no need to put them into commercials!
However, to return to the ‘personal housekeeping’, write a list of 20 of your plus points,
things you are good at, and 20 minus points, things you would like to improve. Try
not to be influenced by stereotypes – many female Witches include ‘outspoken’ on
their list of negatives, while males will describe the same quality as positive! If you
absolutely must include your physical attributes on the minus list, then make sure
that these are things which you can sensibly expect to change, but don’t fall into the
advertisers’ trap. From the perspective of the Witch it is far more important that you
should come to terms with the person that you are, rather than worry about the way
people see you.
One of the first tasks of the Witch is to understand and accept themselves, with all
their good and bad points, because it is only when you understand yourself that you
will be in a position to understand others, and therein lies a good portion of Witches’
Magic.
Start to learn about some of the plants and herbs which have been traditionally used
as remedies. A basic knowledge of herbs is part of the heritage of the Witch.
Calendar of the Moon
Full Moon Night
Color: White
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a white cloth set a plate of round white cakes, a single thick white candle, a white bowl of water, and a pitcher of fresh milk from a local animal.
Offerings: Milk. Sugar. Nurturing another.
Daily Meal: White foods, such as rice, coconut, almonds. All dairy products.
Full Moon Night Invocation
In the dark of night
You are the source of light.
Our ancestors gathered at this time,
Protected by the silvery glow
That drove the demons from the dark fields.
Selene, Moon Mother of the white breast,
Milk-giver, fountain of life,
You speak to us of sustenance,
Of bringing to fruition, to climax.
Yemaya, reflection of the full moon
On the surface of the ocean,
You speak to us of inner tides,
Of feelings swelling like waves.
Thoth, writer and calculator
Who took pity on a mother’s plight,
You count the days, the moments,
You speak of trust in the universe
Proven by the lunar cycle,
Something we can always count on,
Something we will always see.
What is done under Full Moon Night
Is seen by the gods both of Darkness and Light.
(Let each come forward and be given milk to drink, and a moon-cake to eat. Then let all process in a slow spiral dance, chanting.)
Chant:
What is done under Full Moon Night
Is seen by the gods of both Darkness and Light.
What Is Magick
I suppose I could ramble on for quite some time about what Magick of Wicca, Witches and Witchcraft is or is not. Instead, I will offer this brief writing I found somewhere. Unfortunately I cannot remember where I came across it or who the author was, but I thought it was clear, concise and to the point. It very simply dispels everything that some religions, old superstitions and of course Hollywood have tried to make people believe magick is.
Magick is finding your connection to the Earth and all that is natural, alive and moving in the universe! It binds all that exists together.
Magick is living in balance with the flow of life, and knowing that you are a vital force within that flow. Magick is everywhere! In the trees, rain, stars, and in the sea. It is the spark that quickens a seed to rise up from the soil.
Magick is laughter, joy, wonder and truth the of the world around us!
It is the subtle enchantment that reminds us not to waste a single moment of this gift that we call life! Magick is not greed, or power, or pretense…It is real. It exists. And it works.
Magick is the mystery that lies in the secret soul of the world. It is the essence of creation. What we imagine, we have the power to create!
MAGICK IS WITHIN YOU…
With it you can create your dreams, heal your world, love your life and find the peace that lives in every human heart.
Author Unknown
Take a black candle which has been ritually cleansed and some anointing oil which has also been ritually blessed. Do not use anything for this which has not been cleansed or blessed already. Depending on the desired result, you should choose an oil which corresponds to this end. At the time of the new moon, or when it first begins to wane, cast a circle or use your 9′ cord to create a sacred space. Place the black candle (preferable a taper) on the altar with the oil. Have only blessed/cleansed tools in this ritual. Cast the circle. Call the Goddess and her consort. Use a burin to engrave the candle with the spell you wish to cast. Now, anoint the candle using the oil. While you anoint the candle with the oil, speak these words out loud or silently “Tonight no moon, tomorrow the first one. Let this be eroded till my will be done. Candle burns down to remove all ill. Let this spell be cast by the power of my will.” And once you have anointed the candle, place it in a safe place to it can burn down completely.
Over time, it has become increasingly clear to me that while we may be the ones who pack the cooler, check the tires and top off the tank, there comes a time in every trip where the best charted course goes astray. It is then that we lay the map aside and rest while Deity drives. Spectacular vistas unfold in this way, and the harvest of tales is terrific.
When I left my hometown of Peoria, Illinois, last October and headed toward Washington state, I yearned for the sequoias up the California coast. However, after several leg-cramping days on the road, motels that chomped deeply into my budget and a first taste of winter’s ice and fog and snow, I seriously considered cutting my journey short and opting for a more direct route home.
In Salt Lake City, I cursed my luck and their road construction. I-80 had abruptly ended, thanks to rerouting for the upcoming Winter Olympics, and I was forced into town. I rolled down my window at the first business I came to, a car wash, and asked two men for directions. They conferred, then one turned back to me. “If I were you, Ma’am, I’d hang a right on Redwoods Boulevard.’ A word to the Wiccan was sufficient, and I found my route again, forgoing the connection to I-90 and forging on to the trees.
One bittersweet theme that wove throughout my journey Northwest was my nightly phone call to my sister in Illinois, whose husband was dying of cancer. Hospice was involved, and his time would not be long. Just south of Eureka, California, I was tired and the gas gauge low. No motel signs in view and the prospect of sleeping in my crammed-to-capacity van looked grimmer by the moment. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small, faded sign. “Accommodations,” it read, with an arrow pointing down the road, right into the middle of nowhere. Down a dirt road, over a trestle bridge, past a winding creek I drove, astonished to find myself at the driveway of a small cluster of stone villas! The local cat ran out to brush my legs, then sped off toward the circular courtyard, where a grove of five redwoods stood sentry. That night, sad news awaited. My brother-in-law had passed away that morning. Later that night, when the stars came out, I adjourned to the courtyard alone. I lit some sage in the abalone shell decorating a white wicker table, and sent prayers in many directions. My stay at that stone villa was the least expensive night of my trip. Deity had provided, in every single way.
Bellingham has proven to be no exception to serendipity. Earlier this year, a postcard for an artist’s reception and the promise of free French food and wine coaxed me from my home. I arrived at the Jody Bergsma Gallery on King Street, where gurgling fountains and candlelight led one to the door. Inside, a visual as well as edible feast awaited. I seated myself in the loft where a musician unknown to me would soon perform.
As Christopher Bingham took the stage and launched into his first song, the lyrics dropped my jaw. “Calling up a Horned One, calling up a Green Man, we are gathering here!” Stunned, I noticed the pentacle patch sewn to his guitar strap! By the end of the first set, I had purchased a CD and become a forever Gaia Consort fan.
As a mistress of magick, here are some highway travel tips I can offer you. After checking out of your motel room and consulting your atlas, trace an imaginary pentacle over your steering column, intoning, “Spell and magick, three times three, swift, safe journeys grant to me that I might reach my destination without accident, incident or cops unless I need them.”
When freeway traffic is frozen, through unseen hazards or misfortunes up ahead, you can send positive energy to unblock the obstruction and speed you and fellow travelers on your way. To do so, wave your power hand in an undulating motion saying, “Ebb and flow…ebb and flow…swiftly, safely, on we go.” Surprisingly soon, you’re rolling right along.
In closing, let me say that while it’s good to consult your travel agent before embarking on adventures, don’t forget to pack blue protection candles or to invite the gods along. Safe journeys, good winds and Godspeed as you travel the highways of life!
Calendar of the Moon
13 Nion/Anthesterion
Anthesteria Day 3: Khutroi
Color: Purple
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a purple cloth set a great jug of water, the ship of Dionysos, a wreath of grapevines, nine purple candles, and a cauldron in which are many beans.
Offerings: Food. Feed people in the community.
Daily Meal: Beans and lentils and rice. Grains cooked with honey. Only water to drink today. A great meal should be prepared, and many people from outside the community should be invited, especially those who are in need. If there is not room, the meal may be cooked and taken to the appropriate shelter or soup kitchen.
Khutroi Invocation
After the joy of the vine,
We come to water and work.
Water of the flood, which washed away
Our ancestors, may you give us
Only aid, and may we not see
Your terrible aspect, drowning the millions.
Work of the world, the greatest of which
Is the giving of sustenance to those who have none.
As we come to a better understanding
Of what it is to be past childhood,
After the day of joy and mirth
We come to the threshold
Of work and toil for the good of others.
For this is truly the mark
That we have passed youth and innocence:
When we realize the Fate does not
Take care of everyone, including we ourselves,
And that we must stand in for Fate
And alter the order of the world,
Giving of ourselves that others may survive,
And thus become Fate.
On this the Day of Pots
We open our cooking fires
To the rest of the world.
(All depart and proceed to the kitchen, where the meal is prepared in silence, with all meditating upon the effort that it will take to feed all that they can, and what that means to one’s understanding of oneself as a mature being connected to the web of life.)
Calendar of the Sun
13 Hrethemonath
Day of Oath to the Earth
Color: Green
Element: Earth
Altar: On a green cloth lay branches, flowers, stones, twigs, figures of animals and birds, a special pot of good soil, and a small globe.
Offerings: Clean up or protect a natural environment.
Daily Meal: Vegan.
(Each person present stands forth and takes this oath to the Earth:)
By seeds of all beginnings, I make this oath.
By roots of all depths, I swear to protect the purity of your soil.
By stem and trunk that reaches for the sky, I swear to respect your cycle of growth.
By bud that grows, I swear to respect all those who live in that cycle.
By leaf that catches the rain, I swear to protect the air we breathe.
By flower that opens to the dawn, I swear to always see your beauty.
By fruit that gives forth sweetness, I swear to remember where my nourishment comes from.
By seed within the fruit that grows the tree anew,
I swear to try again and again to fulfill this oath,
As many times as the Gods shall decree.
By life and death, by Lord and Lady, by hand and eye, by heart and spirit,
This I do swear here before the Fates
And mark my soul forever with this promise.
As all green things grow, so shall you live and survive,
And your memory be carried forever beneath the feet
Of a thousand generations to come.
Chant:
The Earth is our mother,
We must take care of her,
The Earth is our mother,
We must take care of her.
Hey and a ho and a ho la la
Hey and a ho and a ho la la
(After each person has taken the oath, all place their hands over the pot of soil and concentrate on charging it. Let it remain before the altar until Hesperis the following day, at which time it shall be planted with seeds of a rare and special healing herb, to be kept in the house and cared for and cherished.)
This is probably not going to be the easiest start of a workweek in recent memory. The main challenge comes from normally fast-paced Mercury slowing down completely from the Earth’s perspective, making a station at 7 degrees of Aries (12:49AM PDT), and beginning a retrograde cycle until April 4. All Mercury themes – communications, information exchange, words and language, intellectual prowess, reading and writing, classes and primary education, transportation and travel plans, health and medical matters, magic tricks and sleight of hand, stealth and theft – are emphasized throughout the day. Be careful concerning legal matters and signings. Don’t put your John Hancock on important papers if it is not required right now. Utilize the next three weeks to review and re-evaluate your literary, educational and business affairs. A Sun-Moon flowing trine in water signs (11:31AM PDT) seems to offer a promise of better times ahead since Jupiter is also about to trine Pluto (forming exactly at 9:45PM PDT). However, the Sun-Moon harmonious alignment at 11:31AM PDT also begins a 12+ hour void twilight zone that doesn’t end until 11:55PM PDT. During the lengthy void-of-course lunar marathon in Scorpio, Mars forms a dicey contra-parallel with dreamy Neptune (6:04PM PDT). Projecting your anger on well-meaning friends, associates or relatives is taboo. Instead of tapping into the creative, success-oriented energy-field being established when Jupiter trines Pluto at 9:45PM PDT, it is wise to wait until the Moon enters upbeat Sagittarius (11:55PM PDT) and then reaffirm long-range goals and hopeful objectives.
Calendar of the Sun
11 Hrethemonath
Marduk’s Day
Colors: Light blue and grey
Element: Air
Altar: On a cloth of pale blue lay a naked sword, three grey candles, and a loaf of bread shaped like a dragon.
Offerings: Cut something into pieces.
Daily meal: Fish or meat, chopped finely.
Invocation to Marduk
The warrior’s sword is clean and bright
And has two edges. So Marduk found.
Taking up the sword, he slew
The Dragon Mother Tiamat
And from her body carved the earth
And the overarching sky.
Yet he found, as we all do,
That he could not live anywhere
On this the new earth without
Remembering her, and all that she was,
And he lived and died surrounded
By her at the last,
And her body took his
When at last he was betrayed.
Beware, ye who would be king
By force of arms! Your enemies define you,
So choose them well.
(One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual takes up the sword and cleaves the bread dragon into pieces, which are then passed around and eaten. Exit to the beating of a drum.)
Good Morning/Afternoon or whatever it is? I absolutely hate time change. I got tickled I stuck up the post yesterday reminding everyone to change their clocks and guess who didn’t? Yeap, me! So I am totally screwed up today. Please have extreme patience with me, I beg you, on bended knee, enough or do I need to go on, lol!
I forewarned you that this was going to be a personal post, so if you want to skip over it, you can do so now……..
For all the other’s that stuck around, I love ya’. Most of you know that I am a Hereditary. I have had the opportunity to practice all types of magick and also walk several different Paths. I guess after a while I have begun to think I have my act together. Then something out of the blue catches me and I absolutely loss it. When I loss it, I do not do good magick. The magick I produce is magick that comes from angry and hatred that spontaneously combusts. You think you have your inner magick harnessed and under control but these things can happen to the best of us. Let me fill you in…..
It was last night, I got into a very heated argument with a neighbor. The neighbor made a nasty comment about my helping the local vets care for wild animals in the area. She had even made a comment about me taking one of these wild animals as my own. She told me she knew that I had an affection for wild animals and some I did keep. That’s a lie, I have only kept one and that one was Razzy. She informed me that Mocha (my 15 year companion) was a wolf. Then the bitch even when on to say Razzy was a bobcat (tell me something I didn’t know). She made the comment that started the whole “push over the edge me.” Razzy came from a set of three kittens. Two of those kittens just vanished. I knew what had happened to them but I can’t go to the sheriff and tell them how I know and expect them to believe me. After I told the woman last night, I knew what had happened to the kittens. She admitted they had come over here and got them. She said she got them because they knew what kind of cats they were. After that I got totally angry with the woman and told her a thing or two about staying off my property. I also told her if she ever set foot back over her she would live to regret, I promised her that. I meant it. As the bitch was walking away, she hollered, “Oh, yeah, there is a bobcat just roaming all around. Wouldn’t it be ashamed if it got shot?” I cursed the woman on the spot. (Temper, temper, temper). I came into the house and told my husband about the conversation. While I was talking to him, I heard about 5 gun shots. The darkest feeling came over me. My heart got so heavy and it sank to my stomach. I went to the kitchen and fell to my knees. I knew what had just happened, her husband had shot that bobcat. The rage built-in me so quick, the power was there before I knew. My mind just went. I left this plane and was traveling down a cosmic wormhole. The colors, the speed, I could see the end of the hole, there was nothing but starry sky. I bursted out of the wormhole and with me came a indescribable force of energy. I could see it surrounding me. It was just a straight, focused surge of energy. Then it was gone. I felt so relieved. I just wanted to drift in the stars. My husband was shaking me and calling me by name. “Good Goddess, what happened to you?” he asked. I slowly came too. I asked him what he was talking about. He told me I was sitting up in a fetus position and light was coming from my stomach area. He told me that I had scared him half to death. Then he heard one explosion after another coming from the neighbors. He said all of the outside lights started bursting one right after another. The garage, the security light, the landscaping lights, the house lights, the porch lights. He said it looked like an energy field had just come over their house and was blowing anything electric. Then he saw me on the floor still out of this world, shaking, the light glowing stronger now, he knew what was happening. That is when he started shaking me. After I grounded, I told him what I had experienced. I told him I had felt it in my heart that nature had lost one of it most divine creatures. I couldn’t take it. It was too much. I went into a rage. The energy just came and I sent it. Am I ashamed of what I did, no. The man had no respect for nature and all of it creatures. He needed to be taught a lesson. But it wasn’t my place to do so. But I realize to raise that type of energy, I had help. So I figure what I did wasn’t all wrong. Today, I am totally wiped out. I just feel very relaxed and totally at peace. Strange isn’t it? How such a violent outburst such as that can leave a person feeling this way.
You might wonder why I am sharing this with you. Several reasons: One, even the Seasoned of us can lose control. We think we have that inner power harnessed and can wield it at our command. 99% of the time we can. But there is that dangerous 1%. That 1% is just sitting there waiting to be triggered. Most of the times, something you feel very passionate about, a true love, a deep connection with something or someone, a death, something traumatic can trigger it. Last night, it was my deep connection with all the wild creatures of nature and one’s death that triggered mine. That 1% of energy is there, waiting so be aware of it. Second, things happen that sometimes we can’t control or perhaps we can but we don’t want too. Should we feel guilty about what we have done? Is it wrong to go with that sudden impulse? These are questions you will have to ask yourself. I can’t answer them for you. But I do have to answer for myself. My answer to both of these are NO.
There comes a time in every witch’s life were you will have to make choices. You will be put in circumstances, you never believed possible. You will face experiences, that you never dreamed possible. This is the way of the Path we have chosen to walk. We are the chosen. We are suppose to help mankind and their betterment of their lives. Perhaps I did better that man’s life. Perhaps he woke up with a horrible guilty in the pit of his stomach for what he had done. I don’t know but maybe. But as a witch, you will run into these situation, be put in strange circumstances, you must be prepared for whatever is to come your way. You must be able to live with the result of your actions you take. The Path won’t always be rosy but it will be a Path that only the few and select are honored enough to walk.
May the Goddess Always Guide Your Path,
Lady A
Make or buy a small cotton draw-string bag about 1-2 inches deep.
Put in equal parts of each of the following:
Rosemary Lavender Camomile Quartz
During the Full Moon, put the bag together, then consecrate and charge it.
Inhale the scents when you feel stressed or overwhelmed.
These herbs will act to soothe you if you are feeling stressed or frazzled and will help
you focus your mind to deal with the problem at hand.
Witches Of The Craft® 
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