By Fire Well and Tree

Author's Note: I actually wrote this soon after August 1.  And then I went about my merry way until I sat down to start the Autumn Equinox post.  That was when I discovered I had neglected to hit the "Publish" button.  I'm sure you all did well without the guidance, but now you can look backward and see if it was spot on or not. If you have heard me talk about the high days at all, you will know that the so-called 'cross quarter days,' the four Celtic fire festivals (Beltainne, Lughnasadh, Samhain, and Imbolc) I tend to celebrate them based on what my land is doing.  I don't have a lot of land, only a few raised garden beds, and I'm definitely not dependent on them for my survival.  But I have this romantic notion that these holidays were not fixed to a specific date on a calendar (that likely did not exist), but that the holy day happened based on certain things going on in the agricultural cycle .  The "date" of which might have varied f

Yes, I see the date on the calendar.  I actually did it about three to four days afterward and between flitting here and there with festivals and such, well.... Still, the patterns and energies are still there, so for completeness' sakes..... Again, I'm using the Druid Plant/Animal Oracles combined.  The significator or keynote for the Midsummer to Lughnasadh period is "Celtic Bean."  The first sentence describing the meaning of this card is "Something which you thought was dead has come back into your life in a new form." After the reconciliation of the last six weeks (Beltainne to Midsummer), the fruits of that burst forth in this one.  Projects get restarted or something that was long forgotten comes back to light, and some of these things may do so in unexpected ways. From the mental, intellectual side, the card is Owl.  (One of my favorites!)  Owl respresents wisdom, and especially that of turning "disadvantage into advantage."  This can

Addendum:  Since I posted this, I've gotten even more comments.  I'm going to address two of them, up here at the top, as they sort of frame the whole thing, and in case you've already read this, you don't have to go back through everything. First, only you can control you.  You can't make someone apologize, or forgive, or reconcile.  That's probably the hardest part, because we (and that's not the royal we, I'm exactly the same way) want to focus how THEY have wronged you and how you wouldn't have done that horrible offensive thing but for THEIR actions.  When we use the third person, though, we aren't taking our own responsibility for our actions, or really even our own emotional state. "THEY offended me" means 'they' have the ability to do something to you. You however CAN apologize, CAN forgive, or CAN reconcile, or at least do your part on that.  Note how that removes THEY entirely.  Thus, the points below are all about

A bit late you say?  Well, as I have mentioned  elsewhere , in my own hearth practice, Beltainne happens either after the last frost of the season, or when I am done with the majority of planting.  I may also time it with the blossoming of my lilac bush, but I am still testing that theory.  Either way, it is about being in tune with and in touch with the spirits of my land and the rhythms of the seasons where I happen to live. However, for a religion to be public rather than hearth, some agreement is needed, and most people have already celebrated it communally.  While I'm waiting for the funds for the last bit of planting, I decided to do a reading for Beltainne.  This can be for the community at large, or for whomever it speaks to, and quite likely it is both. That is the way these things work sometimes. I am using the combined Druid Plant  and  Animal Oracle  by Stephanie and Philip Carr-Gomm deck.  While my primary reading for others is via the runes, I like to learn a vari

And not a moment too soon!  Technically, there is an hour and ten minutes before the sun and earth and relevant celestial bodies are in the right spot for the Vernal Equinox to occur.  And the sun just finally came out for a bit...but not for long. The temperature does not exactly scream spring, but it is also not freezing for a change.  I am also on spring break from my day job, and have spent the last two days preparing for a home Spring Equinox rite. I prefer to refer to almost all of the solar days by their astronomical names, with the exception of Yule. I have no idea why this is. Druidry, as ADF practices it, is a religion of action.  The central concept is one of hospitality with the spirits (called by us the Three Kindreds).  We give offerings (or sacrifices....a topic for another post is the difference between the two) at nearly all rites, and ask for blessings in return. In my own practice, this happens at my daily devotionals, our weekly hearth family rite, and then hi

I am actually sharing this from my friend Ian Corrigan, who's blog Into the Mound you can link to at the right there.  I highly encourage you to check this out.  In the meantime... Attention Pagans - repeating this bullshit makes us look stupid. This stuff comes from half-wit anti-Catholic literature of the 19th century - it is worthless in light of modern scholarship. Let's do this in detail: 1: Ishtar is not pronounced 'eester' - silly. 2: Ishtar was a goddess of fertility and sex, also war and sovereignty. While the Spring equinox season was important, it was not her par ticular feast. 3: There are no depictions of her with eggs or rabbits. 4: Constantine did not Christianize the Roman empire, he only made Christianity legal.I can't say whether Ishtar was still in business during Constantine's time. Most specifically, "Ishtar" has nothing to do with 'Easter' Easter was said by the early medieval scholar, Bede (and only by him) to be derived

Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin, Offered, myself to myself I scarcely believed the words left my lips.  I was meditating.  I was at a coven gathering, where we were experimenting with different kinds of recorded music and meditation or trance.  At the time, I wasn't very good at that, but through this exercise I discovered that simple music (a single Asian flute) works best, and I found myself on Yggdrasil.  I decided, in my meditative mind, to head towards Alfheim, having been told in a seidhr that I should sit with Freyr for a while.  On my way, there was a man hanging, upside down.  As I approached, he begged me for some water.  There was a bucket with a silver ladle nearby, and I reached down to get some water, I stopped. Me:  You aren't supposed to have this. Himself:  Please.... It was then that I quoted the above back to him and then continued.  (Special note: In real life I cannot qu

One of the key things about any spiritual or magical undertaking seems to be this one.  Know thyself.  Who am I?  By way of introductions for those who don't know me, here we go. First and foremost, I am a Child of the Earth.  I mean this literally.  There is a chant I learned early on in my pagan days that goes: Earth my body Water my blood Air my breath and Fire my spirit I think that sums it up fairly well.  There are a whole bunch of other meditations and conceptualizations connecting the human body to various aspects of nature, mirroring the creation of the cosmos in some mythologies out of the body of the primal being. I am a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, daughter-in-law, great-aunt (oy), and friend.  I'm not always so successful at all of those all the time, what with the being human and all.  But I place great store by my place in the social web.  I try to be loyal and supportive; but I am also not a doormat.  I don't turn the other cheek; I wo