Samhain/Samhuinn

Good evening, I would like to wish you and yours a blessed Samhain/Samhuinn/Oidhche Shamhna.

It’s that wonderful time of the year, when the veil thins, the ancestors walk closer, the start of the dark part of the year when we withdraw inwards, the New Year for those of us who mark it as such. I love it.

I have slowly been gathering items for my Samhain altar, conkers and acorns, photographs of departed ones, autumnal fruits like mini pumpkins and dried fruit slices and candles.

I took a day off from carving today as it is Samhain, because I wanted tobsoend my day doing witchy things.i caught up with a recorded Zoom class called Hedgeriding with Spindle and Wool.

I thoroughly enjoyed the class, discussing weavers and spinners of fate across numerous cultures and countries in the world, from creation myths to when your time is up. I found it quite apt that I was watching it today as the constant referencing to ancestors, ancestor worship, down to the different directions of spinning yarn…more often that not, anticlockwise creating what is know as a Z spin, usually used by Celts and other European cultures as this would draw up knowledge and information from the Lower World where the ancestors dwelt.

I found this image earlier and it struck a chord with me, there will be some divination later I feel, after food.

I was inspired to make a little something to mark the holiday, so I decided to rehrdate some dried leaves I had from the Crocosmia plants that I had harvested last year. As I was in ancestor worship mode I decided to try my hand a cordage making from these leaves, an old skill that is making quite a comeback…but this was my first proper attempt at using dried and preserved leaves. I had wrapped my finely cut leaves in a damp teatowel and left them for a couple of hours, didn’t want them soggy but just soft enough that they wouldn’t just snap.

My first attempt didn’t work, I had my twists and my wraps going the same way so it kept unravelling. Chucked it when I got in a snit and tried again…..success, even got the adding in of new material so managed to make a reasonable length of cordage.

I decided to use this cordage to make a small Gods eye talisman to keep on the altar as a reminder of this holiday,

There you go….made with matchsticks and Crocosmia cordage, not perfect but too shabby either!

Reasonably uniform twists in that!

I have put the rest of the leaves away again now, will carry on experimenting with them another day, it’s time for food with the family and of course the obligatory plate of food for the spirits.

So far, my Samhain has been gentle and quiet, and I’m enjoying it, I will take this moment to once again, wish you and yours a wonderful Samhain, x

Yule and Winter Solstice blessings.

Yule tide greetings and blessing to you and yours.

We have had the longest night and today will be the shortest day but daylight will start to increase from here as the wheel continues to turn.

We are heading into a new year and a new decade (in a calendar sense), I wonder what changes will be brought in as the days gets brighter, the seeds of plans that have been made in the dark evenings maybe sown and we wait to see whether they germinate or not.

To welcome the sun back I decided to get up and go the park to walk the labyrinth before sunrise. Thankfully it had stopped raining when I left the house and there was just the barest sliver of the moon left…not that you can tell that from this stunning phone camera image!

This looks more like a quarter moon so you will just have to trust me on that!

I walked around the park, listening to the birds and their chorus – although they could easily have been shouting to each other about the bonkers human walking around in the dark!

Anyway I got the labyrinth and I wanted to light ny candle to welcome in the sun, but my lighter decided that it wasnt going to play ball (even after I had checked it at home). Walked the labyrinth without a lit candle to the center and tried to light it again, success this time!

I had a mini meditation at the center while watching the flame on my candle as I waited for sunrise, I knew what time sunrise was, so there I was, full of pagan-y excitiment and I watch the eastern sky for my first glimpse of the sun….

and as I wait, I get a lovely view of the clouds rolling back in. I waited, sunrise came and went, I could tell from the light levels but the clouds made sure I didnt see the sun…..oh well, the intention was there.

People think that holding a ritual of any kind is just how you see it in the movies and that its all as beautiful as you see from the staged images on Pinterest….but in reality your lighter doesnt work and the weather throws a spanner or a cloud in to feck up your aethestic, you gotta laugh and go with it! My intention was there, my thoughts and feelings were on the solstice/Yule so to me I had a successful personal ritual. Now I am back home with a coffee and my family!

I would like to wish you a blessed Yule and Winter Solstice and enjoy your plans, wbatever they may be.

Imbolc and Full Moon

Hello!

How are you all? Well I hope!

Imbolc is here…well technically it is Imbolc eve as I write this. Time for the Earth to start to wake and get ready for Spring…however I don’t believe Winter has finished with us just yet!

Imbolc is a fire festival so I shall be having myself a fire (albeit a small one in the fire bowl instead of the fire pit because it’s too chuffing cold to be outside in the sideways hail we have today!)

I gathered my reeds this morning (again in the wind and sideways hailstones!) and have made my cross, this year I have made a 3 armed cross for Brigid as she is the Goddess of Healing, Poetry and Smithworking/Fire. I know most Brigid crosses have 4 arms but I read the blog of The Everliving Ones (can be found here) and it made sense so this year’s weaving has 3 arms.

It also has swan feathers collected from the birds at a local lake (with thanks) and I shall hang it above the threshold to our home for protection.

I saw a pair of stunning swans this morning while I was collecting my reeds…they really are beautiful birds aren’t they?

Today is also the full moon and the second one for this month, which many people will refer to it as a Blue Moon (and at time of writing about 15 minutes away from a total Lunar eclipse on the other side of the world-hmmph!) So Mother Moon definitely has it going on today!

Therefore along with my fire for Imbolc eve I will also be working some Full Moon stuff too.

With tomorrow being Imbolc and the festival of Brigid, to welcome her time of the year. The lands start to warm, earth is full of fertility as plants wait to burst forth, hardy sheep are lambing, or about to start, the signs of life are starting to show everywhere if you look, tomorrow I will have my altar set up for an small indoor ritual like the image below, a candle in some earth to warm it before I use it to start off some seeds for Spring.

Therefore tonight I will also give thanks to The Cailleach who rules the land for Winter, I have been drawn towards The Cailleach for some months now. She looks after the land during Winter when everything dies back but she is keeping the new life safe until it is time to come about as the wheel turns and we move towards Spring. Without death there can be no new life!

There are those that see The Cailleach and Brigid as two sides of the same Goddess and there are those who see them as separate, all depends on what legends you believe I suppose. At the moment I fall in the 2 separate Goddesses category because I haven’t learnt/been told by them differently as yet!

There is a legend that says if the weather is horrible on Feb 1st then Winter is nearly over as The Cailleach won’t go out in bad weather to collect her firewood, however if its a nice day then She/Winter has not finished for a while! Let’s see what the weather does tomorrow?

So yes, I will leave a wee nip of the good stuff out for Herself tonight as an offering of thanks, to warm her bones on a cold night methinks.

I would like to wish you well and a blessed Imbolc for tomorrow and enjoy any Full Moon activities you planned for tonight!

x

Vernal Equinox

It has arrived…..the Vernal Equinox and in turn Spring! Although by the weather I have had today you wouldn’t think so.

But this is it…the balance will now tip towards daylight over darkness, the earth is warming (and hopefully the weather too!) things are growing new life is being born…it really is a great part of the year.

Above is my Equinox altar with some of my plants from outside, a candle in my Mother Earth statue and some pastel coloured crystals, rosee quartz, celestine,  clear quartz and fluorite. 

I am off out to my regular monthly moot tonight but decided to have a little ceremony with my family.

We got 4 plant pots, grabbed the last 4 eggs in the house. Each of us wrote on our egg what we would like to manifest over the next few months, buried the egg in some soil in the pots and then planted some sunflower seeds on top. As our plants grow, our intenting should manifest and grow with our plants while the eggs nourish the plants.

It has been an unbelievable hard 9 months for those in this house but we have weathered the worst of the storm and we are moving forward together with renewed hope. This was done as part of our family healing so keep your fingers crossed!

Whatever your plans for this Equinox have been/are, I wish you the best of blessings from my family to you and yours, x

Summer Solstice greetings and Litha blessings

Solstice greetings one and all…I hope you are having a good Litha (or Yule if you are in the Southern Hemisphere!)

This is my first Litha or Summer Solstice and I was going to mark it in great form but recently life threw me a massive curve ball and all plans went out of the window!
No matter what is going on in my personal life I didnt want to leave it unmarked…its also a full Moon and there is a moot with my local pagan group so busy day all in all!

Anyway, on my way back to work this afternoon, I collected some Mugwort from a rather substantial patch I found (cue little happy dance!) with herbs being collected today being even more potent. I intend to dry some leaves for tea and make my own smudge sticks with leaves and some lavender too.
Part way through collecting I realised I hadnt said thanks as I was given a timely reminder with a sharp sting from a hidden nettle…duly paid my respects and all was well.

There is a big park near where I live and it has a big stone entrance on one side called the ‘Four Seasons’, because there are four women carved from stone, one for each season.

Spring.

Summer.

Autumn.

Winter.

I have always admired these women but it was only today that I noticed how each woman ages as the wheel turns and each season has its turn – hadnt been obvious before starting my path but now makes perfect sense.
As I dont really have an outside altar I decided to take some roses and use them to honour ‘Summer’.

Summer with her roses.

I had a quiet word internally with Summer before carrying back onto work. This way I feel I have marked the Solstice in a small way and had a quiet word with the Goddess.

Whatever your plans are I hope you have had/are having a wonderful Solstice, x

Full Moon Wolf Moon

Full Moon Blessings

Hello again, here it is, the first full moon of 2016, known as the Wolf Moon!

I am all set, so is my altar, this time with an orb shaped candle, inscribed with a glyph representing the full moon, my clear crystals are out, I have smudged my area and I will perform my ritual later.  Whatever your plans for your full moon, blessings to you.

Here is some more information of the Wolf Moon courtesy of Goddess Rising 13 Moon Sisterhood;

*WOLF/LEO FULL MOON JAN 23*
Wild Sacred Blessings on this first Full Moon of 2016!

The name Wolf Moon comes from Indigenous Tribes of North America, who gave names to each of the moons, in relation to their qualities connected to nature and the seasons.

The Sacred Wolf Medicine, representing ‘Teacher’, great wisdom, wildness and inner freedom is beckoning our attention. Maybe you are already feeling it in your bones and are ready to dance and howl! This Wolf Moon reminds us the importance of expressing our heart’s truth and our wildness, to live feeling free.

Connected with Leo, this moon mirrors the importance of reflecting our light from within, discovering and sharing our greatest gifts, and expressing our creativity from authenticity to expand in true sovereignty, as Wild Queen!

This full moon also illuminates the shadows that need clearing / healing / transforming, which are often thoughts and beliefs preventing us from living in our wild sacred nature and our fullest potential.

Candles make me happy.

Here is my altar tonight…this is making me happy. I managed to find a very reasonably priced pillar candle as I am running low on white candles, so I gave into the urge to light it tonight.

I am working on my ritual for the full moon this weekend, (as you may remember from a previous post) I have worked out a ritual for the new moon so now I wish to work one out for my full moon observances. I also obtained an orb shaped candle in white as I thought this would be fabulous to represent the Full Moon…but that is as far as I have got so far….I still have time however, the seeds of an idea are there, just need to allow it to grow over the coming hours!

Do you have any set rituals that you work…or do you just go with the flow and how you feel on the day?

Anyway, this makes 2 posts from me today so I will say bye for now and see you for the Full Moon! )0(

First New Moon of 2016

Hello and good evening!

It is the first New Moon of 2016, new beginings abound.

I have written out a ritual for myself…it is my first and is how I intend to observe each new moon. As my journey progresses, my rituals may change as I work out what works for me and what doesn’t but this felt right as I worked it tonight.
As a New Moon is a time for putting plans in place for growth, I aired the house out earlier, I have re-potted some young house plants and top dressed others ready for them to wake slowly over the next few weeks.
I got my altar ready for this evening, my black candle has been inscribed with the sigil for a New Moon all the way down and I have my black stones of jet and obsidian on my altar too.

I have my manifestations that I want to achieve, this contains mainly personal things that I want to work on as the moon grows in her brightness and intensity. These I will read daily to re-affirm them as we journey towards the Full Moon.

It is while the moon is growing that I will work on my full Moon ritual and what I would like to release after the full moon as she wanes in her never-ending cycle.

Until next time, enjoy your New Moon!

New Moon

Hello again!

Today is a New Moon!  Are you ready to manifest?

Its time to start afresh, ask the universe for help in something or make new plans!

Last new moon, I wrote out my list of things I needed/intended to achieve before this new moon, I needed to complete some crochet patterns on a blog that people were following as I had fallen behind (the way life catches up and takes over sometimes!) and I set down some intentions that I wanted to establish. I kept my list on my altar space and read it out loud daily.

Well the New Moon has arrived and I am pleased to say that I have managed most of my list…I have totally caught up with the crochet project, I have even managed to go past were I needed to as well so that is extremely good news and I succeeded with most of my intentions…I say most as I didn’t manage establish all of them so I will start again with today’s moon.

Try it for yourself this new moon and see what you CAN achieve!

Samhain

Wonderful!