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Shake your worries out!

April 2, 2013 in Guests, Hearth and Home, Pagan Family, Pagan Spirituality

I had the privilege of writing and forming my circle’s Ostara ritual this year, I do have to say it wasn’t the standard plant the seeds you have already chosen at Imbolc theme. We see the Lady and Lord as the Bright Maiden of Spring and the Divine Youth of the Sun at this time of year, they celebrate the new life sprouting and budding all around us. I really think of the fun and innocence of childhood at this season, it’s a time of beginnings, of promises we make to ourselves and each other. The world is waking up after a long sleep; the secrets and mysteries we discovered in the shadows of winter can now be looked at and appreciated in daylight. The world is filled with hopefulness and optimism for the future, plans are set in motion, the foundations to root, nurture and grow the seeds, projects, changes we want to make are ready.

Spring is a wonderful time, all the drabness of winter transforms into fresh green, bird songs fill the air again, insects return, the creatures of the forest are busy finding or making dens, even the eagles where I live are rebuilding or creating new nests. Every creature is preparing for the growing season, the sun entices us to be outdoors, subtle scents travel on the wind, breezes scatter blossoms, a feeling of excitement and potential just saturates the air.  It was this feeling I wanted to capture in our ritual, it is a good thing to have goals and plans, yet sometimes the work involved to create the future harvest feels and sometimes literally is a daunting task. I decided to focus on mirth and stress relief for our ritual, so we played the laughing game, basically the leader starts laughing and the next person has to laugh better than the previous one all the way round the circle. The second round involves laughing about a problem you are experiencing, the leader starts again, it goes something like this… “Ha! Ha! Ha!  It’s going to be another financially challenging month! He He He!”  The next person goes and so on, all are encouraged to laugh with each other, and it’s a fun way to release stress. During the third round people lie on the floor with heads together and create a laughing wave, it’s almost like chanting with a new laugh picking up while another is fading out. We were all literally rolling on the floor laughing! If you want to learn more about these techniques check out laughter yoga.

For our activity and working we made Bleggs, and we shook our worries out. A Bliss Egg is a fun version of a worry stone, it’s used to shake your worries away, and it just happens to be made with those plastic eggs that surround us at this time of year and a few magical ingredients that fit inside. My eggs had jingle bells for mirth, seeds to grow beyond your worries, googly eyes to see things from a different perspective, various words, stickers, small paper flowers for spring and foam happy faces inside. Our bleggs were empowered with a song and we literally shook our eggs and ourselves to shake our worries out. The idea is to shake the bliss egg whenever life feels more like a challenge than an adventure and to think of the qualities it holds.

I know some “fundamental” Pagans would be horrified at this ritual though there was the usual structure to it. I see the 8 Sabbats as times to celebrate, moon rituals are the time I do “serious” work, and our holy days are family friendly, that means I need to accommodate everyone from our youngest 7yr old to our beautiful grandmother crone.  I’m always delighted when our young participants offer to pass out the cakes and drink after they are blessed, it makes it a double blessing in my eyes, though some say it’s because they want to see how much is left over for later. (chuckle) Could be, it doesn’t matter, I just think its way cool that they want to be involved! You know how they say witches are born, some of us discover our truth, and some don’t. I think there be young witches among us!

If you are having challenges, remember to laugh and just blegg it!

My Blegg!

My Blegg!

Abundant Blessings

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Ostara At Our House

March 19, 2012 in Family Crafting

I guess it is my turn to talk about our plans for Ostara. Around here there will probably be two different observances. One for the kids and one that is tied into the New Moon for the adults.

For the kids we will be decorating eggs and maybe eating some as well. With only my youngest to join us, we will probably not have an egg hunt. Although a local church will have a large public one as we get closer to Easter, that she may go to.

But primarily our focus will be on recharging. My wife will be switching jobs real soon and we will work on pulling up some fertility for that.

The second ritual will be the conclusion of a spell started a month ago. One to let old things go and to bring new things in. Fitting that it coincides so well with Ostara.

I hope that you all have a great Ostara and I would love to hear any of your plans that you may have for Ostara.

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Planning for Ostara

March 13, 2012 in Family Crafting

I’m already running late on my Ostara plans, because life is still rather chaotic.

The first things that come to mind for me as far as Ostara is concerned are eggs and plants, though here in Michigan it’s still far too early to plant outside (in fact, our local last frost date here is after Beltane!). But now is a great time to start plants indoors.

If you’re not up for coloring eggs, you can use egg shells to make little candles, or even to plant seeds [1].

We’re actually doing sprouts right now from our last SpiralScouts meeting, and they’re quite fascinating to watch, as well as being tasty and nutritious. [2] Other plants would be just fine too though.

One thing I’ve always wanted to try, egg wise, is dying eggs with silk ties – especially after learning how easy it is to dye silk to begin with. [3][4] But I doubt Acorn will get the whole coolness factor of it this year.

So…our plan is a story and a short ritual, and then planting some herbs in egg shells (assuming we have them available). We’re trying to keep things simple around here right now, so nothing too complicated.

Come back in a few weeks and see how we did…

 

[1] http://voices.yahoo.com/5-easy-ostara-crafts-pagan-kids-2880027.html

[2] http://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/a/growingsprouts.htm

[3] http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/silk-dyed-eggs-aka-tie-dyed/

[4] http://snapsandblabs.com/blog/2647/silk-tie-dyed-eggs

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Our Imbolc With Small Children

February 27, 2012 in Family Crafting

As is all too common here, life gets in the way of ritual on a regular basis.

For Imbolc, it was the issue of getting our daughter out of the hospital the next week, after a 3 month stay, and all the things that had to be done before she could come home.

As you may recall, I wrote about our plans for Imbolc a few weeks ago. Of the things on that list, I read a story to Acorn from “Circle Round” and we made butter. Making butter was our most successful – though we didn’t eat it with bread that day, we made buttermilk biscuits with the buttermilk a few days later and ate them together.

Making butter turns out to be really easy, and not all that time consuming. First, you need heavy cream, and a container to shake it in.

Supplies For Making Butter

Supplies For Making Butter

Pour the cream in, put the lid on tight, and shake. This is the point where I realized that making butter with a 3-year-old is a lot like making butter by yourself:

Acorn's Idea of How to Shake Butter

Acorn's Idea of How to Shake Butter

So, I went back to shaking on my own while chasing him up and down the stairs. A little over 10 minutes of shaking, and I clearly had whipped cream.

And a few minutes after that, the whole batch of cream seemed a little more of a solid lump. I set the container down for a bit and came back to find very grainy butter that didn’t hold together.

Now, I don’t know about you, but we made butter in my 2nd grade class, and I was sure that the butter separated from the butter milk, and so now I just wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong, so I looked it up on the internet. Sure enough, I hadn’t shaken quite enough.

So, another 3-4 minutes of shaking and suddenly the container was going slosh when I shook it:

Butter and butter milk

Butter and butter milk

A little more shaking, and all the grains of butter had really clumped. My internet instructions suggested scooping the butter out of the buttermilk, squishing the milk out, and then rinsing in cold water, which left us with butter

Butter

Butter

 

and buttermilk:

buttermilk

buttermilk

I will say that the buttermilk turned out much sweeter than I expected. Most store-bought buttermilk is vaguely sour, and this tasted more like regular milk.

So, hopefully this will go better next time, with Acorn being more willing to play along. But all in all, not bad for a first attempt at a holiday celebration in the midst of complicated family drama.

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Our Imbolc

February 20, 2012 in Family Crafting

courtesy of free digitalphotos.net

I realized I was remiss in writing the followup to my last article on how my family’s Imbolc went. So here is the brief on how things went.
Due to a case of the flu, we forgoed doing a ritual  and focused instead on family. Imbolc for us, has always been a time of rest before the explosive growth of Spring.

To our Ancestors this time marked the end to the long period of confinement forced upon them by Winter. Hence why Groundhog day obsesses so much over the shadow of rodents.  We would all want to know how much longer we had to be cooped up inside.

Yet our recent ilness begs the question, how do you honor the Turning of the Wheel of the Year, when you are sick?

For most of us, I would venture a guess, the act of setting up ritual  and casting circle is likely beyond our energy levels, when we are sick. Yet none of the trappings our absolutely necessary.

Instead we can sit in quiet thought and say a small prayer to the Gods. Marking the change in the world around us in silent reflection. For, as we all know, it is the intent that counts, not the actions. At least for ritual, this holds true.

And above all don’t beat yourself up about missing ceremony. Life happens. If all you do is to walk outside and look around nature for signs of the Gods and speak to them with respect, then that is enough.

So here’s hoping that your Imbolc was a blessed one.

Blessed Be!

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Imbolc In My House

January 9, 2012 in Family Crafting

As many of us know most of our Pagan Sabbats are modern interpretation of ancient Pagan traditions. And that Christianity co-opted most of these holidays for their own. So celebrating many of the Sabbats come easy to us, especially if we come from a Christian background. Imbolc is one of the exceptions, and as such I have always have found this Sabbat hard to celebrate. But with the decision to raise my daughter Pagan, I had to figure it out pretty quick. So here is how we celebrate Imbolc in our household.

Imbolc is known as the return of the light, because the days are getting longer even if they are getting colder. At least in some places they are. The Sun King is on his quest to find the cure for the sleeping Maiden (the Earth Goddess slumbering beneath the cloak of  Winter) and we are in a waiting period between Yule and Ostara. So with this in mind we decorate our house with the few flowers that can bloom at this point in the year, Daffodils, Daisies and Snowdrops.

We make corn dollies to represent the Goddess through the year. These we bury at Mabon to symbolize her journey into the Underworld. We also are planning this year for the first time to make sand candles from the scraps of candles left over from the year before.

But our plans for this Sabbat is just that, making plans. Like in our garden it is to early to plant anything but not to early to plan our plants and to till the soil, preparing for the coming Spring. The same can be  said for our life, any goals we have usually take planning and preparation. This is the time to do this.

Hope you all have a great month and a blessed Imbolc and check back later for how our Imbolc went.

Blessed Be!

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Imbolc with Small Children

January 8, 2012 in Family Crafting

2011 was a pretty chaotic year for us. I don’t think we really did a great job of celebrating any Sabbat, much less big mainstream holidays or even birthdays.

There was a time where that really wouldn’t have bothered me, but my son, Acorn, is now 3½, and he’s at an age where he’s starting to understand holidays, and I wish we’d done a little better at it for him.

And that’s where the idea for this series of posts came from. For each Sabbat, I’ll post a planning post with links to various resources I find and with my thoughts on what we’ll do, and then I’ll post again after the Sabbat to talk about what worked and what didn’t. We don’t have years of history celebrating these holidays – all of our extended family is at least nominally Christian. My plan has been to keep notes so that we’ll have guidance, year to year, of what things we did that really resonated and what things were a flop so we don’t do them again.

Our household includes two children under the age of 4 (a 7 month old and a 3 ½ year old), so my main focus will be on including them in our celebrations. Both of my children have some special needs, so I’ll be including that in the plans. As of this writing, our baby is in a hospital, but doing well and preparing to come home in a few weeks, but it’s doubtful she’ll be home by Imbolc; if she is, we’ll see what new experiences we can give her.

Does your family do something different? We’d love to have you post about your religious holidays too!

*****

For me, Imbolc has always been a challenge. Here in Michigan, winter is just getting rolling come the first of February. It’s hard to envision it being a celebration of spring. The Dianic coven I trained in used Imbolc as the time of initiations – of starting new things, beginning new journeys, and preparing for the year ahead.

I started looking around online for ideas of what we would do this year. While I was researching, I read a site [1] that mentions that spring is coming, but it’s hidden under the snow – it’s “in the belly” so to speak, unseen but still there. So I’m hoping that thought helps me visualize this holiday better. Imbolc is also tied to Brigid (and thus to wheat and fire) and was historically celebrated with custards and other milk dishes, since milk was plentiful and new, even as stores of other foods were running low.

Hands-on things work well for my very spirited little boy. Things that involve moving are always good – the more energetic the better.

While searching, I found a page titled “13 ways to celebrate Imbolc” [2]. Among the suggestions here that I like are things like going through toys to give some to charity, making/decorating candles, planting seeds, and eating spicy food and dairy dishes.

Planting seeds could work here too. We used to have potted herbs in the house; there are none now for a variety of reasons, but having fresh again might be fun. We simply don’t have time to manage much of a garden, and frankly, the planting season runs so late here (our last frost date is May 15), we’d have to start things inside anyway.

Acorn probably wouldn’t grasp the concept behind giving away toys, but it’s a good precedent to set, and we have so many toys that the grandparents have given that we seem to be drowning in them.

Making candles with snow (or ice) is also suggested quite a few places [3]. We have a lot of restrictions on burning candles here due to the oxygen, but might be interesting to make some anyway.

The ADF [4] talks about making bird feeders, which is probably highly appropriate here in Michigan, given our usual snow pack at Imbolc.

So, I think we will start our day by making butter – the shaking of the cream will be a good energy burning activity. We’ll make fresh bread to go with it as part of our celebration. We’ll plant some herbs. We’ll have a very short ritual where we read a story – I’m thinking there must be something in Circle Round or Celebrating the Great Mother – and have bread with butter. After that, we’ll see what’s left. Maybe make some candles, maybe box up some toys, or make bird feeders – I’m thinking peanut butter on pinecones, rolled in seeds.

Now you just have to wait for next month, for me to let you know how it goes!

*****
Other Imbolc resources you might find useful:

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/imbolcfebruary2/a/AllAbout_Imbolc.htm

http://www.muddlepuddle.co.uk/mpblog/themes-2/festivals/imbolc/

http://www.kidsnkin.dragondreaming.com/?q=node/45

http://www.druidry.org/obod/intro/festivals.html

http://clatsopduck.awardspace.co.uk/imbolc.html

Notes:
[1] http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/02/expectancy-and-creativity-feast-of-brigid/
[2] http://www.widdershins.org/vol4iss7/05.htm
[3] http://www.essortment.com/pagan-parenting-imbolc-crafts-activities-children-55365.html
[4] http://www.adf.org/articles/kids/ol5/

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Reflections of Yule

December 21, 2011 in Family Dynamics

Enjoying the holiday Yule season has often become about the commercialism of the event and it has slowly continued to move us away from the real reason for the season. This time of year is a time of rebirth that is crucial to the balance of the universe and within our personal lives as well. In addition to the changing seasons and the rebirth of the sun, we are struggling with the internal wheel of the self that is moving through another journey of the shadow half of the year.

 

All of these components of the season make it extremely important to reflect on and find the lessons that we are learning so they can be incorporated into living a better life. If life is but one lesson after another that aids each person in embracing themselves, isn’t it important that we take all the various moments thrown at us to use as ways to grow beyond our imagination? I think this is very important to the path of spiritual growth and it makes Yule appear to be one of the more valuable times of the year; and this has nothing to do with Santa Claus dolls and presents under the tree. The reason for the season starts and stops with our ability to integrate our shadows into our daily living so that we can maintain a sense of gratefulness for every moment of life and for those within it.

 

In an attempt to put spirituality back into the season of sharing, let us look at Yule as a reminder of what we should be conscious of every day of the year.

 

  • Our shadow lives with us every day and it is a matter of balance and understanding that matters the most.
  • Every new day gives the chance to be reborn a new. Every day the sun is reborn and rises to its full potential at some point within that day. Every moment we breath is another chance to be reborn into another moment, allowing us to give birth to a new self at any time that we choose.
  • Presents do not express gratefulness or gratitude. Sharing moments of love, attentiveness, empathy for one another and action shows gratitude and gratefulness.
  • The closure of one element of life brings about new hope and creates space for the manifestation of something new to come. While death is painful, birth brings with it an opportunity to cherish the many wonders of the death, life, rebirth process within the universe. I am humbled by death just as much as I am humbled by life.
  • And most importantly, there is no one time of year to share your self with those that you love. We save money all year to give to others when it should be something we do everyday. Yule is not a time of year that trumps all other times of the year. It is a celebration of the continuous turning of the wheel. If you find yourself saving money to celebrate the holidays, you should ask yourself why every day should be different than this time of year; hopefully your answer in return is that it should not be.

 

Coming together for any purpose is magical and it should be. Today we celebrate the rebirth of the sun as it gains power to move us through the coming calendar year. May the reminder of our individual importance and our collective power help to set the course for the coming 2012 year. Bring with you all of the magic and wonder of life as you continue on your spiritual journey to learning, growth and personal power. May it be as powerful for you as birth is and may you find the answers within the light that you struggled to find in the dark.

 

Blessed Be, Blessed Yule, Blessed Solstice and a Happy New Year. Raise your glass and toast to the Gods while you celebrate the true meaning of the season; a renewal of self, acceptance of the importance of the shadow, sharing with those you love and forward movement.

 

 

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Songs and Warm Yule Memories

December 5, 2011 in Family Crafting

One of the warmest memories I have of the Yule season, is of a public ritual, held in the dark and cold. We huddled together trying to keep warm, a woodland Santa told us tales of the holiday.

Then the high priest dressed in a toga (remember this is December where even in Florida we can get into the 30′s and 40′s), came to circle carrying a flaming torch that he cast into the central fire pit, lighting our circle and heralding the return of the light to the world.

After ritual we gathered as friends and shared hot cider and sang pagan carols. Here are some of the ones that we sang.

We Wish You a Merry Solstice

Tune: We Wish You A Merry Christmas

words adapted by Susan M. Shaw

Chorus:

We wish you a merry Solstice
We wish you a merry Solstice
We wish you a merry Solstice
And a happy New Year!

Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin
We wish you a merry Solstice!
And a happy New Year!

Our feasting is not so simple
Our feasting is not so simple
Our feasting is not so simple
On this Hollyday!

Chorus

We’ve eggnog and punch and wassail
We’ve eggnog and punch and wassail
We’ve eggnog and punch and wassail
And hot chocolate too

Chorus

We’ve breads, cakes and Solstice cookies
We’ve breads, cakes and Solstice cookies
We’ve breads, cakes and Solstice cookies
Plus crackers and buns

Chorus:

Now bring us some figgy pudding
Now bring us some figgy pudding
Now bring us some figgy pudding
And bring it right now

Chorus

We won’t go until we get some
We won’t go until we get some
We won’t go until we get some
So bring some right now

Dancing in a Wiccan Wonderland

Tune: Walking in a Winter Wonderland

words adapted by “Alexander & Aarcher”

Chorus:

Pagans sing, are you listenin’,
Altar’s set,candles glisten,
It’s a Magickal night, we’re having tonight,
Dancing in a Wiccan Wonderland.

In a Circle we can light a Yule Fire,
And await the rising of the Sun,
It’s the Great Wheel turning for the new year,
Loaded with abundance and great fun.

Blades held high, censer smoking,
God and Goddess, we’re invoking,
Through Elements Five, we celebrate life,
Dancing in a Wiccan Wonderland.

Queen of Heaven, is in Her place,
Triple Goddess, now the Crone Face,
Above and Below, She’s the Goddess we know,
Dancing in a Wiccan Wonderland.

Chorus

Now the God, is the Provider,
Supplying game for our Fire,
Above and Below, He’s the Horned One we Know,
Dancing in a Wiccan Wonderland.

Later on, by the fire,
Cone of Power, gettin’ higher
It’s a Magickal Night we’re having tonight,
Dancing in a Wiccan Wonderland.

So gather with family and friends this Yule season and make some warm memories of your own. Don’t worry about whether you can sing or not. Just sing and be merry.

Blessed Be!

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Children’s Story for Yule

December 1, 2011 in Family Crafting

Today I wanted to share a story that I share on my blog every year. It is the first in a series of stories about the Sabbats, geared towards kids. Hope you all enjoy.

“Grandfather can you tell us a story?” the children asked in unison as they ran up to the old man reclining peacefully by the fire.

The old man sat up straighter in the chair, took a puff from his pipe and asked with a grin, “What story should I tell? What story do you want to know? You there,” he said pointing to one of the children, the smallest, “you haven’t had a turn to ask for a story in quite a while. So you pick, tell me what you want to hear.”

In a small voice, the child said “Grandfather can you tell me of the story of the first Yule? I always liked that one the best.”

With a clearing of his throat and another puff on his pipe, the Grandfather started to spin the tale of the first Yule.

“We all know that Yule is at the end of December. When the night and the day are equal to each other. But the story really starts much earlier. In fact over a month earlier. For you remember that in August the Harvest Lord laid down his sword of power and went away to Summerland to rest. Well the Goddess missed her husband so much that she began to grow old just with the grief alone and that is why we have Winter. The time when the Earth grows barren and cold.

“Well the Goddess because of her sadness after a time, left us also and went on a journey to Summerland to try and find him. Now she doesn’t die now, she only goes on a vision quest. But she is gone so long that at Samhain her body passes on and when she is found frozen in the forest two weeks later a wake is held for her in the Holly King’s drinking hall.

“It took over a week for all the faeries and other mourners to come.For they came from all corners of Creation. But there was one unexpected guest, an old woman. She was so old that she almost looked like a walking skeleton. So of course everyone there was mean to her out of fright and disgust.

“Yet when she greeted the Holly King, calling him her Son, everyone realized with much fright that this was the Goddess returned to them. The very Goddess whose death, they were there to mourn.

“So angry was she, that she was treated so poorly, the Goddess passed a prophecy to the Holly King. That she had within her the Oak King, soon to be reborn. And for rebuking her the Holly King would pass to Summerland upon the birth of that child.

“Now this scared the Holly King that he decided to lock the old Crone away in the top room of the tallest tower in all the world. Then he walled up the doors and all but one of the windows so that she is trapped within the room at the top of this tower. The window he left open so that he could have the birds fly food to her.

“Now he did this hoping that he could escape the doom that was foretold to him. But the Crone knew that the birth of her child was her only hope of escape. The Crone then wove magick and took the light and warmth from the Sun, and passed it to her son. So that in just four weeks, she gave birth to the Oak King. Who ever after was also given the name of the Sun King. For he was born fully grown and glowing with a golden light so bright that it caused the dying of the Sun to be reversed.

“Those four weeks of magick are why we light the candles for the four weeks before Yule. One candle for the first week and two for the second and so on until we have four candles lit on the night of Yule. This represents the growing light inside her as outside the Sun grew weaker.

“But the birth was hard on the old Crone, so hard that she slipped into a sleep very near to Death. So the Sun King in his anger thinking that his mother was dead, flew out the lone window as a large golden eagle. All across the Earth he hunted the Holly King, Lord of the Wintertime. Finally cornering him at the shores of a great ocean.

“And when he found him he threw his magickal spear at him and destroyed him. The spear hit the Holly King so hard that his body just vanished. But don’t worry, for the Holly King simply reappeared in Summerland. When he got there he found the Crone in one of her other aspects, the Young Maiden.

“She spoke to him of prophecy and the Wheel of the Year. She spoke of the new cycle that had been made in the last year. That the events of the last year would repeat themselves forever and ever.

“And although the Holly King had passed away now, he now knew that he would return just past the height of Summer to take the Sun King’s place again.

This is why the Holly King, as Santa Claus, brings us gifts every year to make up for the Winter that he brings with him. But he only brings presents to good little boys and girls because he wants us to learn to not be mean like he was to the Crone on that first night that he met her so long ago.

“Now back to the Sun King, when he returned to the Crone he saw that she wasn’t really dead but only asleep. So he went out and found a large log, the first Yule Log, cut from the largest Oak he could find. In hopes that this would revive the Goddess. And for their lifegiving properties he decorated her room with evergreens. Even bringing in a tree and decorating it with his light.

“But all this magick did was to make her youthful again, so that now she was a beautiful youthful Maiden. Yet she still slept a deep sleep almost near death.

“So you see my grandchildren there are good reasons why we do the things that we do at Yule. They served a purpose long ago and it is good to recognize and honor that. “

“But Grandfather,” spoke up the eldest, “What happened next? I know the Goddess didn’t stay asleep forever. Please tell us more.”

Shaking his head, the old man said, “Lunch is overdue and I’m hungry so let us go to eat and then I will tell you all another tale. I will tell you of what happened next to the Goddess and to the Sun King. I will tell you the story of the first Imbolc.”

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