Tag: England

The Ancient Druids

The Ancient Druids

In about 750 CE the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac, who wrote about Jesus saying that he was “…better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage.” The druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and Neopagan groups were founded based upon the ideas about the ancient druids, a movement which is known as Neo-Druidism.

According to historian Ronald Hutton, “we can know virtually nothing of certainty about the ancient Druids, so that—although they certainly existed—they function more or less as legendary figures.” However, the sources provided about them by ancient and medieval writers, coupled with archaeological evidence, can give us an idea of what they might have performed as a part of their religious duties.

Druid History

One of the few things that both the Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree on about the druids was that they played an important part in pagan Celtic society. In his description, Julius Caesar claimed that they were one of the two most important social groups in the region (alongside the equities, or nobles), and were responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices, divination, and judicial procedure in Gaulish, British and Irish society. He also claimed that they were exempt from military service and from the payment of taxes, and that they had the power to excommunicate people from religious festivals, making them social outcasts. Two other classical writers, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo also wrote about the role of druids in Gallic society, claiming that the druids were held in such respect that if they intervened between two armies they could stop the battle.

Pomponius Mela is the first author who says that the druids’ instruction was secret, and was carried on in caves and forests. Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study. There is no historic evidence during the period when Druidism was flourishing to suggest that Druids were other than male. What was taught to Druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids’ oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek characters. In this he probably draws on earlier writers; by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from the Greek script to the Latin script.

The Druid’s Religious Practices & Philosophy

Greek and Roman writers frequently made reference to the druids as practitioners of human sacrifice, a trait they themselves reviled, believing it to be barbaric. Such reports of druidic human sacrifice are found in the works of Lucan, Julius Caesar, Suetonius and Cicero.Caesar claimed that the sacrifice was primarily of criminals, but at times innocents would also be used, and that they would be burned alive in a large wooden effigy, now often known as a wicker man. A differing account came from the 10th-century Commenta Bernensia, which claimed that sacrifices to the deities Teutates, Esus and Taranis were by drowning,mhanging and burning, respectively.

Diodorus Siculus asserts that a sacrifice acceptable to the Celtic gods had to be attended by a druid, for they were the intermediaries between the people and the divinities. He remarked upon the importance of prophets in druidic ritual:

“These men predict the future by observing the flight and calls of birds and by the sacrifice of holy animals: all orders of society are in their power… and in very important matters they prepare a human victim, plunging a dagger into his chest; by observing the way his limbs convulse as he falls and the gushing of his blood, they are able to read the future.”

There is archaeological evidence from western Europe that has been widely used to back up the idea that human sacrifice was performed by the Iron Age Celts. Mass graves found in a ritual context dating from this period have been unearthed in Gaul, at both Gournay-sur-Aronde and Ribemont-sur-Ancre in what was the region of the Belgae chiefdom. The excavator of these sites, Jean-Louis Brunaux, interpreted them as areas of human sacrifice in devotion to a war god, although this view was criticised by another archaeologist, Martin Brown, who believed that the corpses might be those of honoured warriors buried in the sanctuary rather than sacrifices.Some historians have questioned whether the Greco-Roman writers were accurate in their claims. J. Rives remarked that it was “ambiguous” whether the druids ever performed such sacrifices, for the Romans and Greeks were known to project what they saw as barbarian traits onto foreign peoples including not only druids but Jews and Christians as well, thereby confirming their own “cultural superiority” in their own minds. Taking a similar opinion, Ronald Hutton summarised the evidence by stating that “the Greek and Roman sources for Druidry are not, as we have received them, of sufficiently good quality to make a clear and final decision on whether human sacrifice was indeed a part of their belief system.” Peter Berresford Ellis, a Celtic nationalist who authored The Druids (1994), believed them to be the equivalents of the Indian Brahmin caste, and considered accusations of human sacrifice to remain unproven,whilst an expert in medieval Welsh and Irish literature, Nora Chadwick, who believed them to be great philosophers, fervently purported the idea that they had not been involved in human sacrifice, and that such accusations were imperialist Roman propaganda.

Druids And The Irish Culture

During the Middle Ages, after Ireland and Wales were Christianized, druids appeared in a number of written sources, mainly tales and stories such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, but also in the hagiographies of various saints. These were all written by Christian monks, who, according to Ronald Hutton, “may not merely have been hostile to the earlier paganism but actually ignorant of it” and so would not have been particularly reliable, but at the same time may provide clues as to the practices of druids in Ireland, and to a lesser extent, Wales.

The Irish passages referring to druids in such vernacular sources were “more numerous than those on the classical texts” of the Greeks and Romans, and paint a somewhat different picture of them. The druids in Irish literature—for whom words such as drui, draoi, drua and drai are used—are sorcerers with supernatural powers, who are respected in society, particularly for their ability to perform divination. They can cast spells and turn people into animals or stones, or curse peoples’ crops to be blighted. At the same time, the term druid is sometimes used to refer to any figure who uses magic, for instance in the Fenian Cycle, both giants and warriors are referred to as druids when they cast a spell, even though they are not usually referred to as such; as Ronald Hutton noted, in medieval Irish literature, “the category of Druid [is] very porous.”

When druids are portrayed in early Irish sagas and saints’ lives set in the pre-Christian past of the island, they are usually accorded high social status. The evidence of the law-texts, which were first written down in the 7th and 8th centuries, suggests that with the coming of Christianity the role of the druid in Irish society was rapidly reduced to that of a sorcerer who could be consulted to cast spells or practice healing magic and that his standing declined accordingly. According to the early legal tract Bretha Crólige, the sick-maintenance due to a druid, satirist and brigand (díberg) is no more than that due to a bóaire (an ordinary freeman). Another law-text, Uraicecht Becc (‘Small primer’), gives the druid a place among the dóer-nemed or professional classes which depend for their status on a patron, along with wrights, blacksmiths and entertainers, as opposed to the fili, who alone enjoyed free nemed-status.

Whilst druids featured prominently in many medieval Irish sources, they were far rarer in their Welsh counterparts. Unlike the Irish texts, the Welsh term commonly seen as referring to the druids, dryw, was used to refer purely to prophets and not to sorcerers or pagan priests. Historian Ronald Hutton noted that there were two explanations for the use of the term in Wales: the first was that it was a survival from the pre-Christian era, when dryw had been ancient priests, whilst the second was that the Welsh had borrowed the term from the Irish, as had the English (who used the terms dry and drycraeft to refer to magicians and magic respectively, most probably influenced by the Irish terms.)

As the historian Jane Webster stated, “individual druids… are unlikely to be identified archaeologically”, a view which was echoed by Ronald Hutton, who declared that “not one single artifact or image has been unearthed that can undoubtedly be connected with the ancient Druids.” A.P. Fitzpatrick, in examining what he believed to be astral symbolism on Late Iron Age swords has expressed difficulties in relating any material culture, even the Coligny calendar, with druidic culture. Nonetheless, some archaeologists have attempted to link certain discoveries with written accounts of the druids, for instance the archaeologist Anne Ross linked what she believed to be evidence of human sacrifice in Celtic pagan society—such as the Lindow Man bog body—to the Greco-Roman accounts of human sacrifice being officiated over by the druids.

An excavated burial in Deal, Kent discovered the “Deal warrior” a man buried around 200-150 BCE with a sword and shield, and wearing a unique crown, too thin to be a helmet. The crown is bronze with a broad band around the head and a thin strip crossing the top of the head. It was worn without any padding beneath, as traces of hair were left on the metal. The form of the crown is similar to that seen in images of Romano-British priests several centuries later, leading to speculation among archaeologists that the man might have been a druid.

The Demise And Revival Of The Druids

During the Gallic Wars of 58 to 51 BCE, the Roman army, led by Julius Caesar, conquered the many tribal chiefdoms of Gaul, and annexed it as a part of the Roman Empire. According to accounts produced in the following centuries, the new rulers of Roman Gaul subsequently introduced measures to wipe out the druids from that country. According to Pliny the Elder, writing in the 70s CE, it was the emperor Tiberius (who ruled from 14 to 37 CE), who introduced laws banning not only druidism, but also other native soothsayers and healers, a move which Pliny applauded, believing that it would end human sacrifice in Gaul A somewhat different account of Roman legal attacks on druidism was made by Suetonius, writing in the 2nd century CE, when he claimed that Rome’s first emperor, Augustus (who had ruled from 27 BCE till 14 CE), had decreed that no-one could be both a druid and a Roman citizen, and that this was followed by a law passed by the later Emperor Claudius (who had ruled from 41 to 54 CE) which “thoroughly suppressed” the druids by banning their religious practices.

The best evidence of a druidic tradition in the British Isles is the independent cognate of the Celtic *druwid- in Insular Celtic: The Old Irish druídecht survives in the meaning of “magic”, and the Welsh dryw in the meaning of “seer”.

While the druids as a priestly caste were extinct with the Christianization of Wales, complete by the 7th century at the latest, the offices of bard and of “seer” (Welsh: dryw) persisted in medieval Wales into the 13th century.

Phillip Freeman, a classics professor, discusses a later reference to Dryades, which he translates as Druidesses, writing that “The fourth century A.D. collection of imperial biographies known as the Historia Augusta contains three short passages involving Gaulish women called “Dryades” (“Druidesses”).” He points out that “In all of these, the women may not be direct heirs of the Druids who were supposedly extinguished by the Romans — but in any case they do show that the druidic function of prophesy continued among the natives in Roman Gaul.” However, the Historia Augusta is frequently interpreted by scholars as a largely satirical work, and such details might have been introduced in a humorous fashion. Additionally, Druidesses are mentioned in later Irish mythology, including the legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill, who, according to the 12th century The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, is raised by the druidess Bodhmall and a wise-woman.

The story of Vortigern, as reported by Nennius, provides one of the very few glimpses of possible druidic survival in Britain after the Roman conquest: unfortunately, Nennius is noted for mixing fact and legend in such a way that it is now impossible to know the truth behind his text. He wrote that after being excommunicated by Germanus, the British leader Vortigern invited twelve druids to assist him.

In the lives of saints and martyrs, the druids are represented as magicians and diviners. In Adamnan’s vita of Columba, two of them act as tutors to the daughters of Lóegaire mac Néill, the High King of Ireland, at the coming of Saint Patrick. They are represented as endeavouring to prevent the progress of Patrick and Saint Columba by raising clouds and mist. Before the battle of Culdremne (561) a druid made an airbe drtiad (fence of protection?) round one of the armies, but what is precisely meant by the phrase is unclear. The Irish druids seem to have had a peculiar tonsure. The word druí is always used to render the Latin magus, and in one passage St Columba speaks of Christ as his druid. Similarly, a life of St Bueno’s states that when he died he had a vision of ‘all the saints and druids’.

Sulpicius Severus’ Vita of Martin of Tours relates how Martin encountered a peasant funeral, carrying the body in a winding sheet, which Martin mistook for some druidic rites of sacrifice, “because it was the custom of the Gallic rustics in their wretched folly to carry about through the fields the images of demons veiled with a white covering.” So Martin halted the procession by raising his pectoral cross: “Upon this, the miserable creatures might have been seen at first to become stiff like rocks. Next, as they endeavored, with every possible effort, to move forward, but were not able to take a step farther, they began to whirl themselves about in the most ridiculous fashion, until, not able any longer to sustain the weight, they set down the dead body.” Then discovering his error, Martin raised his hand again to let them proceed: “Thus,” the hagiographer points out, “he both compelled them to stand when he pleased, and permitted them to depart when he thought good.”

From the 18th century, England and Wales experienced a revival of interest in the druids. John Aubrey (1626–1697) had been the first modern writer to connect Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments with the druids; since Aubrey’s views were confined to his notebooks, the first wide audience for this idea were readers of William Stukeley (1687–1765). It is incorrectly believed that John Toland (1670–1722) founded the Ancient Druid Order however the research of historian Ronald Hutton has revealed that the ADO was founded by George Watson MacGregor Reid in 1909. The order never used (and still does not use) the title “Archdruid” for any member, but falsely credited William Blake as having been its “Chosen Chief” from 1799 to 1827, without corroboration in Blake’s numerous writings or among modern Blake scholars. Blake’s bardic mysticism derives instead from the pseudo-Ossianic epics of Macpherson; his friend Frederick Tatham’s depiction of Blake’s imagination, “clothing itself in the dark stole of mural sanctity”— in the precincts of Westminster Abbey— “it dwelt amid the Druid terrors”, is generic rather than specifically neo-Druidic. John Toland was fascinated by Aubrey’s Stonehenge theories, and wrote his own book about the monument without crediting Aubrey. The roles of bards in 10th century Wales had been established by Hywel Dda and it was during the 18th century that the idea arose that Druids had been their predecessors.

The 19th-century idea, gained from uncritical reading of the Gallic Wars, that under cultural-military pressure from Rome the druids formed the core of 1st-century BCE resistance among the Gauls, was examined and dismissed before World War II, though it remains current in folk history.

Druids began to figure widely in popular culture with the first advent of Romanticism. Chateaubriand’s novel Les Martyrs (1809) narrated the doomed love of a druid priestess and a Roman soldier; though Chateaubriand’s theme was the triumph of Christianity over Pagan druids, the setting was to continue to bear fruit. Opera provides a barometer of well-informed popular European culture in the early 19th century: in 1817 Giovanni Pacini brought druids to the stage in Trieste with an opera to a libretto by Felice Romani about a druid priestess, La Sacerdotessa d’Irminsul (“The Priestess of Irminsul”). The most famous druidic opera, Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma was a fiasco at La Scala, when it premiered the day after Christmas, 1831; but in 1833 it was a hit in London. For its libretto, Felice Romani reused some of the pseudo-druidical background of La Sacerdotessa to provide colour to a standard theatrical conflict of love and duty. The story was similar to that of Medea, as it had recently been recast for a popular Parisian play by Alexandre Soumet: the diva of Norma’s hit aria, “Casta Diva”, is the moon goddess, being worshipped in the “grove of the Irmin statue”.

A central figure in 19th century Romanticist Neo-Druidism is the Welshman Edward Williams, better known as Iolo Morganwg. His writings, published posthumously as The Iolo Manuscripts (1849) and Barddas (1862), are not considered credible by contemporary scholars. Williams claimed to have collected ancient knowledge in a “Gorsedd of Bards of the Isles of Britain” he had organized. Many scholars deem part or all of Williams’s work to be fabrication, and purportedly many of the documents are of his own fabrication, but a large portion of the work has indeed been collected from meso-pagan sources dating from as far back as 600 CE.Regardless, it has become impossible to separate the original source material from the fabricated work, and while bits and pieces of the Barddas still turn up in some “Neo-druidic” works, the documents are considered irrelevant by most serious scholars.

T.D. Kendrick’s dispelled (1927) the pseudo-historical aura that had accrued to druids, asserting that “a prodigious amount of rubbish has been written about druidism”; Neo-druidism has nevertheless continued to shape public perceptions of the historical druids. The British Museum is blunt:

Modern Druids have no direct connection to the Druids of the Iron Age. Many of our popular ideas about the Druids are based on the misunderstandings and misconceptions of scholars 200 years ago. These ideas have been superseded by later study and discoveries.

Some strands of contemporary Neodruidism are a continuation of the 18th-century revival and thus are built largely around writings produced in the 18th century and after by second-hand sources and theorists. Some are monotheistic. Others, such as the largest Druid group in the world, The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids draw on a wide range of sources for their teachings. Members of such Neo-druid groups may be Neopagan, occultist, Reconstructionist, Christian or non-specifically spiritual.

Daily Motivator for June 20 – Out of your rut

You don’t have to continue doing things the way you’ve always done them.  Today is a new day, filled with new possibilities, so remember to treat it as  such.

You don’t have to be held prisoner by your old, familiar habits and  assumptions. There’s a whole world of goodness and abundance beyond what you  already know, so get out there and experience some of it.

Does it seem like you’ve run out of energy and enthusiasm? Maybe you’re just  tired of the same old things.

Does it feel like you’re stuck? If you’re just living on autopilot, then you  are indeed stuck.

Take the helm of your life and steer it in some new, exciting, fulfilling and  energizing directions. Discover again and again how adaptable and interesting  and joyful you can be.

The world is a never-ending source of beauty and wonder. Climb up out of your  self-imposed rut and live the richness.

— Ralph Marston

Daily Motivator

A Smattering of Solistice Spells

by Melanie Fire Salamander

As a pagan, you may well light a  bonfire Midsummer night and jump it,  for Litha is a fire festival. Likewise, you  may stay up to greet the Midsummer  dawn.

If you do, keep a pair of garden  shears handy. Midsummer’s Eve at midnight, Midsummer’s Day at dawn and Midsummer noon are prime times to collect plants sacred to the sun or special  to the fey. In fact, any magickal herb  plucked at Midsummer is said to prove  doubly effective and keep better. Divining rods cut on Midsummer’s Eve are  said to be more infallible, too. You can  charge your charms, depending on their  purpose, at midnight, noon or in dawn’s  first light.

Charms traditional at Litha include those for courage, dream divination, fertility, invisibility, love, luck, protection, wealth, the restoration of sight and the ability to see the fey. Midsummer is a fey time, both by tradition and observation. The scent of the air is thick, green and juicy; it’s lost its spring astringency and is simply lush. The whole world is stretching its limbs and frolicking. The fey are big on that.

Especially for charms of love, gardening and magickal abilities, the fey are  a great help in herb collecting. In exchange, they like gifts of milk and honey,  cookies, sweet liqueurs, or any sweet  food, drink or liquor. They also like  baubles, particularly pretty or shiny. Or  cold hard cash — but in coin, not paper,  and it’s best if shiny.

To stay in good with the fey and the  herbs you collect from, leave enough of  the plant or other plants of the type that  the herb survives in the spot collected  from. Remember too to always ask the  plant before taking a cutting, and to wait  for an answer. A quid pro quo usually  works: a shiny dime, some fertilizer, or  a bit of your hair or clothing — whatever  you think the plant most wants.

Courage: Tuscans use erba della  paura (stachys)collected on  Midsummer’s Day as a wash against fear.  Steep the herb in hot but not boiling  water, then rinse the limbs with long  strokes moving outward from the torso.  You might substitute wood betony, a  relative more common in North America.

Dream divination: Litha is a good time for foretelling things in dreams. Specifically, to induce dreams of love and ensure them coming true, lay a bunch of flowers under your pillow on Midsummer Eve. That’s what the girls of old Scandinavia did.

For effective dream divination, remember to keep a notebook beside  your bed. At bedtime, relax, ground and  center, then clearly define your question.  Meditate on that question until it’s firm  in your mind, and assure yourself you  will remember your dream on waking.  Then go to sleep.

As soon as you wake, record your dream. One trick is to set an alarm clock so you’re wakened artificially, which can help dream recollection. Dreams dreamed on Midsummer’s Eve are said to be more likely to come true.

Fertility for your garden: For a lush garden, mix ashes from the Midsummer bonfire with any seeds yet to  plant. (You still have time to plant cosmos and a handful of fall-blooming flowers.) Likewise, for fertility sprinkle bonfire ashes on any flowers or vegetables  you have growing.

Fey charms: To see the fey, pick  flowers from a patch of wild thyme where  the little folk live and place the flowers  on your eyes. A four-leafed clover not  only grants you a wish but also, carried  in your pocket or a charm, gives you the  power to see fairies dancing in rings. A  good place to look is by oaks, said in  Germany to be a favorite place for fey  dances. To penetrate fey glamour, make  and wear an ointment including fourleaved clovers.

St. John’s wort, also known as ragwort, has a strong connection to the fey  and transportation. You might add it to  charms to travel quickly. The Irish call  the plant the fairy’s horse, and the fey  are said to ride it through the air. But  beware: The Manx say if you step on a  ragwort plant on Midsummer’s Eve after sunset, a fairy horse springs out of  the earth and carries you off till sunrise,  leaving you wherever you happen to be  when the sun comes up.

Invisibility: Collect fern seed on  Midsummer Eve for use in charms of  invisibility. To become invisible, wear or  swallow the seed (that is, the spores)  you have collected. Such spores also  put you under the protection of spirits.

The fern is said to bloom at midnight on Midsummer Eve, either a sapphire blue or golden yellow depending  on your source.

Love: Plant two orpine starts (Sedum telephium) together on Midsummer  Eve, one to represent yourself, one to  represent your lover. If one withers, the  person represented will die. But if both  flourish and grow leaning together, you  and your lover will marry.

Luck and human fertility: As at  Beltaine, leap the Midsummer bonfire for  fertility and luck.

Protection: Herbs traditional to  Litha (also know as St. John’s Day) in  England include St. John’s wort, hawkweed, orpine, vervain, mullein, wormwood and mistletoe. Plucked either at  Midsummer’s Eve on midnight or noon  Midsummer Day and hung in the house,  they protect it from fire and lightning.  Worn in a charm on your body, they protect you from disease, disaster and the  workings of your enemies.

Sight: Dew gathered Midsummer  Eve is said to restore sight.

Wealth: The fern also has a connection with wealth. Sprinkle fern seed  in your savings to keep them from decreasing. The alleged golden-yellow fern  flower, plucked on Midsummer Eve at  midnight, can be used as a dowsing tool  to lead to golden treasure. Alternatively  (the Russian version), you throw the  flower in the air, and it lands on buried  treasure. Or, if you’re Bohemian, you pluck  the flower and on the same Midsummer  Night climb a mountain with blossom in  hand. On the mountain, you’ll find gold  or have it revealed in a vision.

If you wait patiently till midnight on  Midsummer Eve and see no such golden  fern flower, perhaps invisibility will have  to do.

The Wicca Book of Days for June 15 – The June Moon

The Wicca Book of Days for June 15th

The June Moon

 

Wiccans honor the Full Moon under a variety of names during their June Esbats, depending on which of its powers they wish to highlight. Some term it the “Mead Moon,” in which case “mead” may refer to either England’s fermented-honey drink, or “meadow,” this name speaks of natural sweetness and fertility. Others call it the “Dryad Moon,” denoting the nymph that the ancient Greeks believed lived within every tree. Another name is the “Lover’s Moon,” signifying the nature of the relationship between the Goddess and Horned God at this time of year.

 

Magna Carta Day

 

June 15 marks the anniversary of the signing in England, in 1215, of the Magna Carta, the “great charter” guaranteeing certain human rights that is regarded as one of the first democratic documents. Give thanks that you live in a democratic society today, and resolve to use your vote in November.

MY WICCA (Part1 of 5)

MY WICCA (Part1 of 5)
By Durwydd MacTara

My RELIGION is Wicca, my LIFE-STYLE is Witchcraft! I believe in
a supreme being that is both Immanent and Transcendent, that is
expressing itself within AND without. However, I also believe that
trying to define/describe such an infinite Divine Being in finite terms
to be a waste of time and energy. I CAN describe my perceptions of the
Ultimate in terms of the energies that I work with and find significant
in my daily living. My style and methods of relating to what I can
perceive of these Divine Energies are what I describe as my RELIGION.
How I apply these insights gained via my religious practices, I term my
CRAFT.

The name for my religion is derived from the Saxon root “wicce”
(pronounced “witchy”) and is loosely translated as “Wise”. The word
“Wicca” was first used in modern times in England by Gerald B. Gardner
to describe/define an attempt at restoring “the old wisdom” of pre-
Christian beliefs and practice into a modern context in the 1940’s.
Ergo, I could call my religion “wisdom” and my style of application of
this wisdom “wise-craft” or more simply, “The Craft of the Wise”.

For the sake of convenience and easy understanding, I divide the
expressions of the Divine Energies into two groups; that of the active
positive (symbolically “male”) energies represented to me by the stag
horned Lord of the Forest, and those of a more passive, nurturing, or
“negative” polarity represented to me by the Threefold Goddess.
Approaching my perceptions of the universe and its energies in this way
allows me to break them down into “bite sized chunks”, applicable to my
daily life in a mundane world, and what good is ANY belief system if it
is not of immediate and practical use here and now?

So what are some of the beliefs and practices of this religion
called Wicca, and how do I apply them to my daily life? What does it
all mean? The following explanation is based on a press statement
released by the American Council of Witches released in the early
1970’s, with some editing on my part to reflect my own beliefs and
practices.

=================================

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE CRAFT

1. The first principle is that of love, and it is expressed in the
ethic,
“AN IT HARM NONE, DO AS THOU WILL”

a) love is not emotional in it’s essence, but is an
attribute of the individual as expressed in relation
to other beings;
b) harming others can be by thought, word, or deed.
Thought is included here, because for the Witch,
“thoughts are things” and every action, even thoughts,
can become magical actions, whether consciously intended
or not;
c> it is to be understood the “none” includes oneself,
though it is permissable to harm self in helping others,
should one so choose;
d) the harm which is to be regarded as unethical is
gratuitous harm; war, in general, is gratuitous harm,
although it is ethical to defend oneself and one’s
liberty when threatened by real and present danger,
such as personal defense or defense of another WHEN REQUESTED.

About the Celtic Month of The Hawthorne Tree

The Hawthorne Tree

FOLKLORE & PRACTICAL USES: HAWTHORN

by Muirghein ó Dhún Aonghasa (Linda Kerr)

Crataegus oxyacantha– English Hawthorn. Found in England and continental Europe.

The hawthorn is easily recognized by its branches, covered with long, sharp thorns. Its small, usually white flowers bloom in May, earning it the additional name of May or Mayblossom, although in the southern U.S. it usually blooms in April (the ship Mayflower was named after the hawthorn). Its generic name, Crataegus oxyacantha, is derived from the Greek work kratos, meaning hardness (of the wood), oxus , meaning sharp, and akantha , meaning thorn. The old German name for the tree, Hagedorn , means Hedgethorn; the word haw is also an old word for hedge (1).
The red fruit, or haw, which appears in late summer, resembles a miniature stony apple. The wood makes an excellent fuel, making the hottest wood fire known, and in the past was more desirable than oak for oven-heating (2).
To the ancient Greeks and Romans, the hawthorn was a symbol of hope and happiness, and was linked with marriage and babies. Hawthorn was dedicated to Hymen, god of marriages. The torches carried in the wedding procession were made of hawthorn. People would put a sprig of hawthorn in their corsages, while the bride carried an entire bough (3). This also helped to appease the goddess Cardea, who did not like weddings, especially in May. In England, May was considered a lucky month for engagements, though not for marriages.
Later, in Medieval Europe, it was thought to be an evil and unlucky tree, and foretold a death in the house if brought inside. The hawthorn was considered one of the witches’ favorite trees, and on Walpurgis (Beltane) night, witches turned themselves into hawthorns. “With a little superstitious imagination, the hawthorn’s writhing, thorny branches at night probably do look enough like a witch to have instilled fear in medieval folk (4).”
In Ireland lone hawthorns belong to fairies, who meet at and live inside them. Many dire things are predicted if a lone thorn were disturbed in any way, among them illness and death. The Irish believed the fairies spread their washing across the thorn to dry. Ireland also has sacred hawthorns at holy wells, on which rag offerings are left (5). According to Geoffrey Grigson, the haws are also called ‘hags, (6)’ and might be a connection with the old Irish Hag-Mother, whom it was said that the rags and clothes were meant for.
The most famous hawthorn of all is the Glastonbury Thorn. It is Crataegus monogyna var. praecox , putting out leaves and flowers in winter and again in May. According to the Glastonbury legend, the Crown of Thorns was made of hawthorn. Later, it was added that Joseph of Arimathea stuck his dry hawthorn stick into the hill, where it at once grew, and ever after bloomed on Christmas Day (7).
The hawthorn is associated with May Day more than any other plant. On most May Days the hawthorn was already in full bloom, before the British at last changed the calendar in 1752 and adopted the New Style. May Day now comes thirteen days earlier (8).
Hawthorn was gathered on May Day morning, interwoven, and placed on doors or windows. The interweaving was important, since the power of magical plants was always increased by weaving them into various shapes. The magic of the hawthorn had already been increased during the night by the dew, which the country people always considered a magic fluid, especially on May Day morn (9).
On May Day, fairies and witches were abroad, and just as excited as humans by the beginning of summer. Milk and butter were likely to be stolen or bewitched. In Ireland, the rowan was the surest protector against this, while in England and France, the protective plant was the hawthorn (10).
Sex and fertility were very much a part of the old May Day celebrations, and were symbolized by the hawthorn. The stale, sweet scent of the flowers makes them suggestive of sex. This same smell led to the belief that hawthorn flowers had preserved the stench of the plague. The flowers contain trimethylamine, which is an ingredient of the smell of putrefaction (11).
Today hawthorn may be the source of an important cardiac medicine. Scientific research has shown that hawthorn dilates blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more freely, lowering blood pressure. It also regulates heart action, acting directly on the heart muscle to help a damaged heart work more efficiently. It works slowly and seems to be toxic only in large doses, making it a relatively safe, mild tonic (12). When administered properly, hawthorn is good for a heart muscle weakened by age, for inflammation of the heart muscle, for arteriosclerosis, and nervous heart problems.
At home, the hawthorn flowers and berries can be decocted (boiled) and drunk for a sore throat. They are also helpful in kidney trouble, acting as a diuretic. The berries can be made into a tea, which is good for nervous conditions and insomnia (13).
An excellent liqueur can be made from the berries or flowers. This recipe using the flowers dates back to about 1775. May Blossom Liqueur: Try to gather the may blossom on a dry, calm day when there is no dust flying about. Pick as much as a preserving (quart) jar will hold. Fill it up with brandy or vodka. Close the jar and shake it 3 times a week for 3 months. Filter and if necessary add sugar to taste. The resulting liqueur is excellent in custards and sauces (14).Sources:

1 Grieve, Mrs. M. A Modern Herbal (2 volumes). 1931. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY, pg. 385
2 Ibid, pg. 385.
3 Lust, John. The Herb Book. 1973. Bantam Books, New York, NY.
4 Ibid.
5 Grigson, Geoffrey. The Englishman’s Flora. 1955. Phoenix House LTD, London, England, pg. 169.
6 Ibid, pg. 166.
7 Ibid, pg. 170.
8 Ibid, pg. 168.
9 Ibid, pg. 168.
10 Ibid, pg. 167.
11 Ibid, pg. 168.
12 Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs. Edited by Claire Kowalchik and William H. Hylton. 1987. Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA, pg. 275.
13 J. Lust.
14 van Doorn, Joyce. Making Your Own Liqeuers. 1980. Prism Press, San Leandro, CA, pg. 72.

________________

The Hawthorne 

LUNAR ENERGIES & ESOTERICA

As Dictated by Epona to Imré

Huath – Hawthorn – is the sixth lunar tree/month of the year. The Yin or female energies have subsided and the yang or male energies are on the up- swing. This is the perfect time of the year for people to begin to utilize and collect the Yang that is needed, because the energy is not yet strong enough to blow us out of the water, but is just strong enough to begin using. Women will find that the men around them have become irritable and testosterone-ridden – be warned, ladies, that this is the last chance that you are going to get, before the cycle of Yin returns, to establish the balance in the home.
This is also a good time to practice abstinence; for Hawthorn is the moon of purification and creative (as opposed to fertility-oriented) uses of sexual energies. We have found that women who indulge in the increase in their sexual appetites will feel the repercussions of their actions during the summer (around the Summer Solstice in particular) as “female problems.” Use this increased sexual energy to form a stronger bond with Nature. You will find it easier to contact spiritual guides, or ‘the Masters.’ Just as your energies are easily released at this time, so are Nature’s.
Folklore tells us that at this time of the year priests would go out into their church- yards and beat the surrounding stones in order to form a boundry and to keep evil spirits away. However, according to myths that originated in times when standing stones commonly created the physical boundaries around magickal circles, that the stones were struck so as to “wake them” or charge them (see Needles of Stone Revisted, Tom Graves). This would create the astral boundries. What does this mean? Well, it is now the time to begin understanding who you are and how you are developing. This will begin to happen as you go to Nature, yet, along with your pilgrimage comes the need to realize your basic physical limitations brought about by this incarnation. You must transcend them by imploding, or going within your being and discovering how unlimited you are within. Discover the mysteries of You. This is that time of year.

For further research, look up these points:

Vestal Virgins
Cardea (goddess)
Lady Godiva

(This is what we have come to know and understand. We would like to hear from those who have experienced it differently or would like to add to what we have. You never stop learning! – Epona, High Priestess of Faerie Faith)

Stress Relief Bath

Stress Relief Bath

Ingredients Needed:

3 tablespoons chamomile flowers

1 tablespoon oatmeal

1 tablespoon hops

1 tablespoon comfrey leaf

2 tablespoons Calendula

1 tablespoon comfrey root

Place the ingredient in the filter cup of the coffee maker and add a full pot of water. While the mixture brews, draw a warm bath. Pour the infusion into the bath water and chant:

Herbs into the water flow,

Soothe me now from head to toe.

Dissolve all stress and ease all tension,

Wash away woes an all dissension.

Cleanse me well with all your strength,

So I may now relax at length.

Soak in the tub for at least thirty minutes.

Folklore & Practical Uses: ALDER

FOLKLORE & PRACTICAL USES: ALDER

by Muirghein uí Dhún Aonghasa (Linda Kerr)

Alnus glutinosa L. – European Alder, Black Alder. Native of Europe, Asia, North Africa; naturalized in southeastern Canada and northeastern North America.
A. rubra – Oregon Alder, Red Alder. Evergreen and redwood forests from Northern California to Alaska.
A. serrulata – Hazel Alder, Common Alder. From Nova Scotia south to north Florida, west to east Texas and north to Kansas.
A. rugosa– Speckled Alder, Tag Alder. Across Canada and Great Lakes region.

Description & Uses

Alders are small, shrubby trees found in swamps or on the banks of ponds and slow-moving streams, where they help prevent soil erosion with their closely interlaced roots. The alder is easily recognized, even in winter, by its catkins, which look like a tiny fir-cone, and by its broad oval, ridged leaves. It flowers in the spring before the leaves appear, and has ripe berries in the fall.
The wood of the European alder, which grows to 30-40′,1 is very durable and lasting in water — most of Venice is built on piles of alder, and has lasted for centuries.2 The wood is known in the Highlands as Scottish mahogany, and is used for making chairs, as well as water pipes, pumps, troughs, and sluices.3 It was also used heavily in boat construction.4
The Hazel alder is too small to be of commercial value as timber, but the Oregon alder grows to a good size — up to 120 ft in the Puget Sound region5 — and is one of the principal hardwoods of that area. The American Indians made canoes and dugouts from the trunk of the tree, and also made cooking vessels, troughs, and food containers from the wood.6 Its only fault is that it decays so quickly in contact with the weather and the soil.7
The alder doesn’t make good firewood (again, the Oregon alder is an exception8), but it does make better charcoal than any other wood. Even after its other uses as a timber had declined, alder charcoal was still considered the best type for making gunpowder.9
All parts of the alder are an excellent source of natural dyes. The bark makes a reddish color, called Aldine Red, when used alone, or as a foundation for other materials, yields a black dye. The bark and young shoots together give a yellow dye, and with a little copper added to make a yellowish-grey, is used in some of the flesh colors in embroidering tapestries. The fresh shoots dye cinnamon; when dried and powdered they give a tawny shade. The fresh wood makes a pinkish-fawn dye; the catkins make a green dye.10
The bark and young shoots contain tannic acid, but also have so much natural dye matter that they aren’t very useful for tanning. The leaves have been used for this, however. The leaves are also clammy and slightly sticky, hence the specific name of the alder, glutinosa, and will catch flies on their surface when spread in a room.11

Medicinal

The American and European alders have similar medicinal properties; the parts used are the bark and leaves of the European alder, and the bark and cones of the American alders. The medicinal parts are tonic and astringent, according to Grieve,12 and astringent, bitter (acts on the mucous membranes of the mouth and stomach to increase appetite and promote digestion), emetic (causes vomiting), and hemostatic (stops bleeding), according to Lust.13 On any species, the fresh inner bark and root bark are emetic; dry and age these before use, or let the decoction stand and settle for 2-3 days, until its yellow color has turned black. Hutchens says this will strengthen the stomach and increase the appetite.14
Use a decoction of the bark externally to bathe swellings and inflammations, and as a gargle for an inflamed or sore throat and laryngitis. The decoction is good as an external application in gangrene, ulcers and other skin problems. Boiling the bark in vinegar produces a liquid with several uses: it’s an approved (according to Hutchens) remedy to kill head lice, relieve the itch and dry up the scabs. This vinegar is also good for other skin problems and scabs, and to tighten the gums (as a mouthwash), clean the teeth and soothe a toothache.15
The cones, being astringent, are useful in heavy bleeding, both internally and externally. They are also used as a stomach tonic in diarrhea and indigestion, and are good for fevers. Grieve says peasants in the Alps were frequently cured of rheumatism by being covered with bags full of the heated leaves.16 The berries, combined with apple cider, make a good worm medicine for children. The treatment is supposed to be most effective when given on the full moon, and must be repeated in four weeks to clear out the remaining larvae.17

Folklore

The Irish consider the alder to be an unlucky tree. They feel its a bad thing to pass by one on a journey, and they also don’t like to fell an alder, as the timber cuts white and then turns a startling, brilliant reddish-orange, rather like blood.18
Other superstition or emotion attached to the alder seems to be almost nonexistent; “perhaps because it was a tree of swamp and marsh and impenetrable valley floors, which needed the exorcism of natural history. Yet once enjoyed, an alder swamp along a Cornish stream, for example, remains perennially and primevally enchanting — the trees alive and dead, moss-bearded and lichen-bearded, the soil and the water like coal slack and blacksmith’s water, in between the tussocks of sedge.”19Notes:

1 Brimble, L.J.F. Trees in Britain. 1946. MacMillan and Co. Ltd., London, pg. 239.
2 Green, Charlotte Hilton. Trees of the South. 1939. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, pg. 112.
3 Grieve, Mrs. M. A Modern Herbal (2 volumes). 1931. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY, pg. 17.
4 Green, pg. 112.
5 Peattie, Donald Culross. A Natural History of Western Trees. 1950. Bonanza Books, New York, NY, pg. 399.
6 Green, pg. 112.
7 Peattie, pg. 400.
8 Ibid, pg. 400.
9 Brimble, pg. 241.
10 Grieve, pg. 17.
11 Ibid, pg. 17-18.
12 Ibid, pg. 18.
13 Lust, John. The Herb Book. 1973. Bantam Books, New York, NY, pg. 122.
14 Hutchens, Alma R. Indian Herbology of North America. 1973. Merco, Ontario, Canada. Published in London, England, pg. 4.
15 Ibid, pg. 4.
16 Grieve, pg. 18.
17 Hutchens, pg. 4.
18 Grigson, Geoffrey. The Englishman’s Flora. 1955. Phoenix House LTD, London, England, pg. 246.
19 Ibid, pg. 246.

 

THE HAZEL NUT

A Journal of Celtic Spirituality and Sacred Trees

Daily Motivator for March 28 – Take a step back

Take a step back

Step back from the loud and pressing concerns of the moment. Step back, get some perspective, and remind yourself of how good life can be.

Many of the things you see as problems would have been considered to be blessings by people in an earlier era. Think of how good you have it, and of how you can make good and fulfilling use of what you do have.

You are able to make a difference, and that ability can literally take you anywhere you wish to go. Though your efforts may be difficult and challenging, those efforts give you some extremely valuable options.

Don’t take those options for granted by letting them sit idle and unused. Instead, take them to heart and consider how you can make life richer and more beautiful by making use of what you have.

Take a step back, and look objectively at where you are. What you will see is the great and wonderful opportunity that is your life.

Now, while you have it, seize that opportunity. Life is always good, because you can always make it better.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

In Search of a Pantheon

In Search of a Pantheon

Author: Crick

[Note: This essay is primarily for those living in the USA.] A thought has crossed my mind that needs to be addressed. It is the common custom of Neo Pagans in this country (America) to reach out to pantheons that are associated with countries and/or locales other than those found here. For instance, neo pagans in this country will commonly invoke the Tuatha De Danann whom is associated with various areas of Ireland. Or perhaps they will invoke the Olympians of the Greek pantheon or the Nordic pantheon and what have you. Often these various deities are by nature of their being, associated with a particular river or sacred well or mountain, or other geographic area particular to each area and/or country. Their presence and influence is woven into the customs and histories of the people who dwell in those areas.

My question is does the members of these geographically located pantheons extend their attention and/or influence to those outside of their historical areas of influence simply because neo pagans request them to do so?

Does not each set of Deity have a demarcation line that they simply do not cross? And if they were to do so, would this not create a basis for war against the Deities whose territory they have infringed upon? After all, do not humans serve Deity rather than the other way around? Let’s face it; America is in all reality, a mongrel country when it comes to a national identity.

When one goes to Italy for instance, folks there are Italian, in Japan, they are, ethnically Japanese and so forth on around the world. Only in America is there a melting pot of so many different ethnicities that leaves us without any discernable identity as a true national identity.

Does this mean that we have no discernable pantheon of our own and thus the overwhelming and common tendency to poach upon pantheons not associated with this country?

Of course one could suggest that we turn to the Native Americans, who are the true Americans of this country and utilize their pantheons. After all, they have Deities that are associated with the original people of this country. Their Deity is connected to this land and not to Germany or England or China or what have you. Their Deity is connecting to and associated with the geographical landmarks that are found here in the US and not across the ocean. Their belief systems even include a belief in the wee folks known by various names such as the May-may-gway-shi, the Mekumwasuck, the Nagumwasuck, the Ohdows and so forth.

But then we would have to face the reality of the actions of our forefathers who came here with an arrogant and domineering attitude. Our same European forefathers who did their best to shut down the native beliefs in the Deity associated with this land and who tried to enslave the original people of this land to spiritual beliefs that originated from foreign lands and a foreign God/s. And such a sad and disrespectful practice unfortunately has continued on to this very day.

If we are to impugn the original children and thus the true believers of the Deity associated with this land we know as America, can we really expect such Deity to now hear our spiritual pleas?

Even the very children of these native Deity distance themselves from the label of Pagan. There is a clear and established resentment towards those of European descent who claim a connection to what Native Americans see as spiritual beliefs which are foreign to those they see as encroachers and thus not to be understood by those they regard as outsiders. And from the looks of it, such views may very well be legitimate considering the ongoing history, past and present, towards Native Americans.

But then this essay is not about ostracizing folks for actions against this people or that. It is about taking a pragmatic view when it comes to how we view and thus how we develop and advance our spiritual beliefs. For if we don’t have the ear of Deity, what validity do our individual spiritual beliefs have?

Of course one may argue that such pantheons are simply labels for a unified supreme energy. But then why have so many different pantheons when in essence they all represent the same human characteristics that one would use such labels to identify with? Of course having so many different pantheons provides populist material for the many self-proclaimed experts on Neo paganism to sell their plethora of paganism 101 books.

But then is this the premise for Neo Paganism. Creating a market in which to sell modern concepts of spiritualism? Or is there a deeper understanding and spiritual goal for taking belief systems that have in many instances been practiced unaltered for centuries. That is other than giving them a modern label, such as “Neo Paganism” in order to set up a different set of parameters that does little to contribute to the original spiritual intent and goals associated with such ancient beliefs. Which brings us back to the Neo pagan concept of Deity and pantheons in America…

If we accept the blatant practice of “selling neo paganism” based upon the whims of modern entrepreneurs for what it is, and if we accept that pantheons associated with lands foreign to America have little or no interest and/or influence here, and lastly, if we accept that the pantheons associated with the native lands of America are not friendly to those of European descent, then where does that leave Neo pagans in America?

Quite frankly I do not have the answer to such a personal spiritual question, for I am not seeking to sell any books on this subject. Like most of you I am simply a student of the mystical arts and I do not claim to be a master of anything. But if I were to make a suggestion, it would be to put aside the many populist books that seek to tell folks how to connect with their individual spirituality.

One person’s experience is not a one size fits all. That concept is what Abrahamic religions are based upon. As pagans we have the freedom of individuality and thus the possibilities of discovery that works for us on a personal spiritual level. Following this suggestion I would be remiss not to point out that Deity starts from within. And as such, one may want to actually go out into the woods, fields, mountains, riversides and so forth. And once there one may want to try actually connecting with the Deity/spiritual presence that resides in such locations.

If there is to be a label (for we humans have a need for such a connection) than rather creating a name/label that comes from a foreign land or even a populist book, allow the experience of the moment to speak to your heart and soul. Perhaps by actually reaching out in such a realistic manner, one can actually connect with the spiritual identity of such locations in ways that greatly exceed just reading a book on the subject.

And is it not such a personal experience, that each of us who follows a mystical path exactly that which we are reaching for? And would not such a connection put one in attunement with a spiritual essence/Deity that is associated directly with our current abode and culture?

To curse a person’s material possessions

To curse a person’s material possessions

Ingredients:

Corn silk Brown paper Sand

Two twigs A funeral candle

Obtain a candle used in a funeral that is nine days old or, keep one for nine days.

Build a castle to the best of your ability using the corn silk and the paper. Strengthen the castle by pouring sand at each of the corners. Use the twigs as little flag staffs.

At midnight, take the play castle to a trash pile. Take off all your clothes and light the candle, invoking the soul of the individual in whose funeral it was used. Set the castle on fire. Tell the dead soul that your enemy’s goods should burn as the castle is burning. Continue demanding destruction and loss for your enemy until the castle is completely burnt. Leave the candle burning.

Daily Motivator for Tuesday, March 13 – Go one better

Go one better

Do circumstances demand that you get up an hour earlier? Then put yourself firmly in control, go one better, and get up two hours earlier.

As long as you’re making the effort, make it count. Rather than doing just the minimum required to merely get by, do the maximum of which you’re capable.

Don’t just break even by giving what you’re expected to give. Go one better, and exceed everyone’s expectations.

A little bit of extra effort will end the frustration of always playing catch-up. Instead of constantly being run over by the problems, you’ll be out in front, ready and waiting to transform them into opportunities.

Instead of resenting what you must do, rejoice at the opportunity to make a difference. Instead of casting yourself as a victim of low expectations, raise those expectations higher and higher through your commitment to excellence.

Life asks much of you, and with a little extra effort you can go one better. Go one better, and earn the ability to joyfully live life on your own best terms.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

The Wicca Book of Days for March 13th – A Planetary Discovery

The Wicca Book of Days for March 13th

A Planetary Discovery

It was on this date in 1781 that the German-born astronomer William Herschel discovered a new planet, whilst working in England, which later took over the astrological ruling of Aquarius from Saturn. We now call this plant Uranus after the Romans’ primeval sky deity. Yet it was initially touch and go whether the new planet would be named Georgium Sidus (the Latin for “George Star”), in respectful recognition of Herschel’s patron, King George III, as Herschel himself had stipulated, or rather Herschel, Herschell, Herschellium, or Herschel’s planet, after its discoverer.

Learn from Lithomancy

The divinatory art of lithomancy requires thirteen stones, symbolizing each of the seven traditional ruling planets (the sun, moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn), as well as life, love, health, the home, magick and news. Cast your stones on a table and interpret how they fall.

The Wicca Book of Days for March 12th – Mad March Hares

The Wicca Book of Days for March 12th

Mad March Hares

The mating rituals performed by hares that can be observed in England and other parts of northern Europe during March have long amused, resembling as they do erratic chases punctuated by frenetic boxing matches. In more superstitious times, such “mad” behavior was regarded as proof that the hares were, in fact, “were-hares,” or witches that had assumed a harelike form. Hares have profound symbolism in Pagan belief: they were considered sacred to the Greco-Roman messenger God Hermes/Mercury and the Norse fertility Goddess Freyja, among other deities, while Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, was depicted with a hare’s head.

A Pagan Philosopher

Take a little time today to read about life and work of the remarkable Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 370 – 415), a female philosopher and teacher who was butchered and burned in March by a mob of bloodthirsty Christians, for being either Pagan or a Witch.

 

Daily Motivator for March 9th – Amazingly able

Amazingly able

Progress is made by those who do what they are afraid to do. Progress is made by those who do what they did not previously know they could do.

You cannot push the world forward by staying safe and comfortable. You cannot make great advances by holding tightly to the tired excuses and outdated assumptions.

It is energizing and liberating to turn down a road you have not traveled before. To reach toward what you cannot yet touch brings new passion and strength to your life.

You are amazingly able to do not only what you have already done, but also what you cannot yet do. Your capacity for learning and improvement has no limit.

Beyond where you are comfortable is where you will grow and improve and achieve. Nudge yourself away from what you already know, and discover how very much more you can be.

Give yourself the priceless gifts of new experiences, new skills, new knowledge and the confidence of knowing how quickly you can grow. Expand your horizons, again and again, and discover that every limit is there to be transcended.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

Ash Tree Magic and Folklore

Ash Moon: February 18 – March 17

In Norse lore, Odin hung from Yggdrasil, the World Tree, for nine days and nights so that he might be granted wisdom. Yggdrasil was an ash tree, and since the time of Odin’s ordeal, the ash has often been associated with divination and knowledge. In some Celtic legends, it is also seen as a tree sacred to the god Lugh, who is celebrated at Lughnasadh. Because of its close association not only with the Divine but with knowledge, Ash can be worked with for any number of spells, rituals, and other workings.

  • Some traditions of magic hold that the leaf of an Ash tree will bring you good fortune. Carry one in your pocket – those with an even number of leaflets on it are especially lucky.
  • In some folk magic traditions, the ash leaf could be used to remove skin disorders such as warts or boils. As an alternate practice, one could wear a needle in their clothing or carry a pin in their pocket for three days, and then drive the pin into the bark of an ash tree – the skin disorder will appear as a knob on the tree and disappear from the person who had it.
  • The spear of Odin was made from an Ash tree, according to the Norse poetic eddas.
  • Newborn babies in the British Isles were sometimes given a spoonful of Ash sap before leaving their mother’s bed for the first time. It was believed this would prevent disease and infant mortality.
  • Five trees stood guard over Ireland, in mythology, and three were Ash. The Ash is often found growing near holy wells and sacred springs. Interestingly, it was also believed that crops that grew in the shadow of an Ash tree would be of an inferior quality.
  • In some European folklore, the Ash tree is seen as protective but at the same time malevolent. Anyone who does harm to an Ash can find themselves the victim of unpleasant supernatural circumstances.
  • In northern England, it was believed that if a maiden placed ash leaves under her pillow, she would have prophetic dreams of her future lover.
  • In some Druidic traditions, it is customary to use a branch of Ash to make a magical staff. The staff becomes, in essence, a portable version of a World Tree, connecting the user to the realms of earth and sky.
  • If you place Ash berries in a cradle, it protects the child from being taken away as a changeling by mischievous Fae.
  • The Celtic tree month of Ash, or Nion, falls from February 18 to March 17. It’s a good time for magical workings related to the inner self.

 

The Wicca Book of Days for Feb. 14th – Valentine’s Lovebirds

The Wicca Book of Days for February 14th – Valentine’s Lovebirds

Although February 14th is known as Saint Valentine’s Day and is dedicated to love and lovers, the Valentine who was canonized for having been martyred on account of his Christianity in ancient Roman times had no known connection with romance. It seems that Valentine’s name and patronage became confused over the millennia, and that the day’s association with love and romance arose from the widespread popular belief that birds began mating on this day. In England, it was said that if you were unattached, the first person of the opposite sex that you clapped eyes on on this day would become your husband or wife.

“The Lovers”

If you are not wooed tonight, you may find meditating on The Lovers, the sixth of the major-arcana. Tarot cards, thought-provoking. It portrays a pair of lovers, yet may be concerned with the dual options inherent in making any binding decision.

Spellcasting In Natural Magick

Spellcasting In Natural Magick

 
Spellcasting involves following a format that provides the structure to channel, amplify and release energies to bring into actuality the fulfillment of a wish, a need or desire.
 
Spellcasting can bring results fast if you really are in a crisis situation, perhaps because you endow the spell with the urgency and emotion. Mel, a 25 year-old store manager living in a historic town in the south of England, desperately needed a home to rent and had been to every agency in two with no results. A couple of days before she was due to move our of her present flat. Mel did a simple spell to find her a comfortable, affordable home as soon as possible. She took the symbol she had empowered, in fact a written one, to work having slept with it under her pillow.
 
The next morning her mobile rang. It was a man to say he and his wife had a home to rent and she could go to see it that evening. When Mel got there the house was perfect and affordable but the couple had no idea where they got her number because she hadn’t given it out and they had not even got round to advertising the house, so it had not come through an agent. The couple said they would let her know, but just as Mel was driving off disappointed, the man ran after her and said the house was hers and she could move in the next day. The couple didn’t know anyone to whom Mel might have mentioned the house problem. Mel moved into the house soon afterwards and was very happy there.
 
The energies of someone wanting to rent out a property and Mel’s urgent need must have telepathically been drawn together.
 
Of course, most spells aren’t as instant and may involve more earthly leg work. However, spells do get the energies moving and usually bring into your sphere through unexpected opportunities or seemingly chance meetings, what it is you need—at the time you need it. Under the rules of cosmic exchange you neeed to be willing to reciprocate by passing on information or surplus items when you hear though a friend of a friend of a need, even if this involves a lot of effort or you are busy at the time.
 
Rituals also follow similar stages beginning with a statement of the purpose, adding elemental powers and ending with the desired results. This would for example, be the rebirth of light as the December midwinter solstice, celebrating the return of the sun after the shortest day – and as importantly, acknowledging or bringing your own rebirth or renewal of hope.

Today Is St. Agnes’ Eve

Goddess Comments & Graphics 

St Agnes’ Eve


This is an evening for love divinations, even though the spurious St Agnes chose death rather than marry a pagan Roman officer. Most of the methods recommended for determining your future spouse are challenging.

According to the Encyclopedia of Superstitions, you should take a row of pins and pull out everyone while saying a pater noster. Stick one in your sleeve and you will dream of your future mate. I’m not sure if this works if you don’t know the Our Father in Latin. Perhaps it doesn’t matter as the words simply represent your effort to make the process sacred, in which case you can write your own charm along the lines of the following:


Fair St Agnes, play thy part
And send to me my own sweetheart
Not in his best or worst array
But in the clothes he wears each day
That tomorrow I may him ken
From among all other men.


To dream of your future mate, you must fast during the day and keep silent. No one, not even a child, should kiss you. At bedtime you must don your best and cleanest night dress.

One method requires the making, in silence, of a dumb cake of salt and water, supplied in equal proportions by friends who help you make it in silence. You then divide it equally and each takes her piece, walks backwards to bed, eats the cake and jumps in bed.

In Northumberland, the girl is told to boil an egg, extract the yolk, fill the hole with salt, eat the egg shell and all, then recite the above lines of entreaty to St. Agnes. This will insure a significant dream which cannot be revealed to anyone.

Aristotle’s Last Legacy (written in 1711) provides another, even more unpleasant, method for provoking an oracular dream of your lover. All you need to do is sprinkle a sprig of rosemary and a sprig of thyme with urine three times, then put each sprig into one of your shoes and put your shoes by your bed and say:

St Agnes, that’s to Lovers kind
Come ease the Troubles of my Mind.

If these seem too difficult or inedible, you can always try the simple charm of peeling an apple in one long strip and throwing it over your left shoulder to see what initial it will make or simply paying careful attention to your dreams.

For a special treat, find a copy of John Keats’ poem The Eve of St. Agnes and read it aloud.

    

~Magickal Graphics~

Daily Feng Shui Tip for Jan. 8th

Let your worries and your woes go down the drain on this ‘Bubble Bath Day.’ In fact, today I think I’ll get off my soapbox and offer you a soothing soak that will have your energies awash in peace, good fortune and luck. Take seven stems of seven different but fragrant flowers, making sure that they are free of thorns or sharp protrusions. Let them soak and infuse their energy into your bath for at least twenty minutes before you get in. Refresh the water to the temperature that you like best and add a handful of marigolds or rose petals. Bathe in the normal way with the sure knowledge that this bath is drawing into your life the blessings and benefits that these blooms hold. Take this bouquet of a bath whenever you need peace, purity, grace and glory! Anything annoying or irritating will, as previously mentioned, circle down the drain!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com