All About Litha
All About Litha: History, Chants, Poems, Recipes, Activities, Rituals, Spells, and More…
Posted and Edited by: Magickal Winds
Litha poems and chants
Summer Solstice
by Rhiannon Cotter
Summer Solstice, the longest day,
represents a turning point from Spring to Summer
during which the Sun God directs the ripening
and blossoming of the grain and fruit.
Here in the heat of the Summer,
the crops are transformed as are our actions, thoughts and plans.
All things are tempered by the heat of the Sun.
Blossoming and ripening of our works are manifested,
or they shrivel and die in the heat. All the while, sexual energy is growing.
The Sun God impregnates the Earth Goddess in a sweet
“petit mort“–as the cup is to the Goddess, so too is the athame to the God.
Midsummer
by JT
Midsummer –
Longest day
Shortest night
Longest light
Shortest dark
The world within
Echoes the world without
Lush foliage, leaves unfurled
Soft springy grass dotted with
Brightly colored flowers peeping through
The earth is green and bright
With warm sunny days
Clear velvety blue skies
Gentle cool breezes
Nature in glory
Our hopes blossom
Creativity flowers
With the season
The seeds of the fruit
Our desires will bear
Can be seen
On the stems
Of our dreams
Summer Invocation
by Trish Telesco
Fireflies and summer sun
in circles round
we become as one.
Singing songs at magick’s hour
we bring the winds
and timeless powers.
Turning inward, hand in hand
we dance the hearth
to heal the land.
Standing silent, beneath the sky
we catch the fire
from out God’s eye.
Swaying breathless, beside the sea
we call the Goddess
so mote it be!
Litha Short History
Litha is the Wiccan Sabbat that marks the Summer Solstice and usually occurs around June
21. It marks the first day of summer on traditional calendars, but it is actually the Midsummer mark for Pagans.
Litha marks the longest day of the year, the day when the sun reaches its apex and is aspected to zero degrees Cancer. This is a day that celebrates the God in all his glory.
It is also the time of year when the Goddess is glowing with motherhood in her pregnancy.
In Wiccan lore, once again the Holly King and the Oak King battle. This time, it is the Holly King who is victorious, and from this point on, the days grow shorter.
For those of you familiar with Shakespeare, you might remember the play centered around the Solistice: “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream“. It is believed that Midsummer Night’s Eve is a special time for those who believe in the Faerie traditions. Like Samhain, this is a day where the veils are thin between the realms of the Sidhe (the Faerie realm) and the world of mortals. It is a time for merriment and the making of wishes.
Litha marks the first of three harvest celebrations. This is the time to gather the herbs from your garden. Tradition suggests using your boline or a scythe to cut the plant by the moonlight. Some suggest chanting the use of the planet while doing so.
Honey is a popular symbol for this time (one of the names of the June Full Moon is the Honey Moon). Serving Meade as well as dipping your cake in honey during the feast part of your ritual, symbolizes the sweetness of life and the season.
As we’ve seen happen in the past, Christianity has tried to hone in on our holiday. They have declared it John the Baptist’s birthday. I’ve read that other Saints in the Church are remembered on the day they’ve died. But not so with John the Baptist. He is the only Saint recognized on his birthday. They celebrate the Solstice with the Jack–in–the–Green to the Feast of St. John the Baptist, often portraying him in rustic attire, sometimes with horns and cloven feet (like Pan).
Litha Long History
Litha, or Mid–Summer’s Day, falls on the Summer Solstice and is known as one of the ’quarter days’–Equinoxes and Solstices–that divides the year evenly into quarters. The Summer Solstice occurs when the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer, hence this is the date the sun also enters the astrological sign of Cancer. For the northern hemisphere, this is when the planet is tilted to give us the most sunlight. Although this day is the longest of the year it is generally not the warmest. It is the day that the sun overpowers the darkness, and it is this source of energy that we use in our magic with themes of power and protection. The date of the Solstice varies from year to year, falling sometime between June 20th through 23rd. Old calendars marked time from sunset to sunset, so you may want to start your celebration on the eve of the Solstice which is after sunset on the day before the Solstice.
Litha is a celebration of the bounty of Summer. There are many flowers, with the bright pastel spring blooms giving way to the rich intensity of Summer flowers. The fields have been seeded, the plants are growing, some early crops may be harvested but most of all there is promise of the larger harvest to come in both the field and trees. Now we must trust that there will be enough rain and sun, and not too much of either or of the wind, so that we may harvest sufficient amounts to see us through the coming winter.
The youthful energy of spring and Beltane have mellowed into maturity; emotional maturity and love now matches the sexual maturity or lust of the earlier season. If Beltane was the lustful courtship of the Lord and Lady, this is Their wedding. Their passion is no less, but has increased in depth. Love is now their guiding force, and Lust is merely the spice .
This day is also known as Midsummer, because, for the pagan community, Summer officially starts at Beltane (on May 1) and ends on Lughnassahd (August 1) with this day falling in between the two. Other names that this holiday is known as are Litha and St. John the Baptist Day. For those who are of the Christian faith this the date chosen for honoring John the Baptist, cousin and fore–seer of Jesus Christ. The Christian church began doing after realizing how widespread and ingrained the festivals of this day were. St. John, the cousin of Jesus of Nazareth, was considered one of the most important saints, leading you to see the importance that the Christian church put in “claiming“ this holiday. Litha is a word supposed to derive from one that is Saxon denoting the opposite of Yule.
Traditionally, Litha is a time sacred to the Sun King, for this is when He is at His strongest. The God is in his prime. He has reached the peak of His power, and His rays are such that none dare look at Him for fear of being blinded by His light. With this power comes the heat of Summer, the promise of fruit and grain, and a great harvest to come. His potency ensures the continuity of life in the face of the oncoming darkness. He is ever–living, ever–returning with virility, fertility and strength. He guides us in our own personal growth, just as he guides the crops and creatures of Earth. His marriage with the Goddess now makes Him Her protector as well as her lover. He is a full grown man, and due to the merry making of Beltane, a father.
At Litha the God can be seen in many different traditions and mythologies. In the Oak King/Holly King myth, the Sun King has two separate personalities. These personalities are so strong that, to some, they become different entities, the Oak King and the Holly King, each ruling one half of the year. The Oak King was born at Yule to the Great Mother, and in his light and splendor begins to turn the Great Wheel and start the lengthening of the days. The beginning of the sun’s decline is symbolized by the return of the Holly King, the Spirit of Winter, at the moment after the Solstice. It is on mid–Summer that the dark half of the sun god begins to gain power. Often, mock battles are played between representatives of the two gods who fight over the attentions of the lady Goddess. At the Summer Solstice the dark Holly King (to some beliefs as the Wren) slays his light twin the Oak King (to some beliefs as the Robin) and begins his half–yearly reign which ends with the Holly King’s death at midwinter when the scene is reversed and the Oak King is triumphant. The eternal dueling of these light and dark brothers gives life to the primary tenant of western Goddess worship, “there is darkness in the light and light in the darkness.“ Although the Dark God is defeated, he has weakened the God of Light who has now begun to die. As everything in nature comes to its peak and then declines, so too must the God in His aspect of the Sun. With decline comes transformation, and so it is with the God, who takes on many aspects and wears many crowns.
The Earth Mother is also at Her finest at this time. The Goddess is becoming Mother, the seed that was planted earlier in her womb is growing with the son/sun. She blossoms just as the earth blossoms with abundance. She basks in the light of her lover and grows with child each day. The land is glowing with flowers and ripening fruit as the Goddess glows and ripens, as well. Like the animals and plants, we feed off of this warmth, and take a moment to rest on this Sabbat.
Once again, thinking back to our ancestors, we know that they found this to be a peaceful time. The crops were planted, their animals had usually birthed by this time and they had a slight lull as they awaited the time of the first harvest. Among humans there is change in the type of energy. Where spring made us sprightly, Summer makes us passionate. Flesh is revealed; sensuality is at its highest expression; heat makes us languid, yet the cooler nights are energizing.
Mid–Summer is said to be a mystical time when the forces of magic are increased and fairies roam our world. Fairies, elves and sprites are purported to be most easily seen at Mid–Summer, dancing in fairy rings. As portrayed in Shakespeare’s “A Mid–Summer Night’s Dream,“ it is a night much like Samhain, when the veils are once more thin between the realms of the Sidhe (or fae) and the world of mortals. This is the night when mortals have strange experiences, and when faeries troop across the land. Litha is a “day outside of time,“ and the strange experiences one might have are likely to be comic, harmless, or even beneficial. Litha has an “upside down“ quality about it – things are often reversed or mixed–up. It is a time for merriment and the wish making. There is a tradition of celebrating Litha where one makes wishes after gathering flowers(especially St. John’s Wort) either to hang in your home as protection amulets or to tied onto the tops of roofs as a symbol of a wish that you want carried into the next world.
The Sun festival was a noisy time, with singing, dancing, and drumming lasting the whole night through. In some places in Germany, tall fir–trees were set up in open places and decorated with flowers, and red and yellow eggs. The younger folk danced around these trees during the day, and the older ones during the evening.
Homes would frequently be decked with such plants as birch, white lilies, roses, and Saint John’s Wort. Saint John’s Wort was of particular importance to the Mid–Summer celebrations and in addition to wearing it and spreading it about the house, young girls would often use it to help divine the future of their love lives. Mistletoe, Mugwort, Vervain, Basil and many other herbs are harvested in ritualistic manners to preserve their energies for use in the colder times on Litha. Amulets of the past year are buried or burned and new ones, often for protection, are made for hanging around and outside the house.
Mugwort, in particular, was gathered on the mid–Summer’s eve, to be worn as head wreaths during the next day; these were then hung on the house or barn to act as protective charms for the ensuing year. To gather this herb today you would be barefoot, ideally, and cut the stems with an iron–free blade or “snip“ them by pinching with your fingers.
First ask permission of the mother plant, explaining why and how you will use the plant; then offer something in exchange. Custom says silver, but compost, fertilizer pellets or a special stone are also fine “payment“. Don’t let the herb touch the ground once it’s cut, but place it on a white cloth. Act quietly and with reverence.
As the days start to lose their light from this point, many cultures encouraged the Sun to return. Bonfires were representative of the Sun and they are still used on this day for that reason. Other sources of flame would include lanterns carried by revelers “walking the march,“ who were often attended by dancers and costumed players dressed as a variety of costumes. Flaming torches were carried around the fields and orchards to drive off insect infestations and other detriments to a good harvest. In Germanic countries smaller lanterns were set afloat on rivers and lakes as well. In other areas people would extinguish their home–fires, and then re–light them with a flaming torch or brand from the Mid–Summer fire.
In many cultures the bonfires were attended by all the villagers. Each person who attended would have contributed to its blaze. Besides adding light for the nighttime festivities, the fires where thought to ward off ill–meaning spirits and leaping of bonfires for purification, health, fertility, and love was common with the height of the leap thought to govern the eventual height of the crops in the fields. The bon fires are traditionally kindled from fir and oak with assorted herbs throne upon the flames. This was a time that might also entail the members of a village straddling brooms, pitchforks or other tools and jumping as high as they could to show the crops how high to grow while circling the bonfire or the fields themselves. In Germany, Mugwort and Vervain were tossed into the Mid–Summer fire upon leaving it, with the words, “May all my ill–luck depart and be burnt up with these.“ Herbs were also used by some peoples as a smudge, the smoke clearing bad influences from crops, animals, and people. Pigs and cattle would be driven between two fires to preserve their health and ensure their fertility or they might be driven through the fires to cure the sick and protect the sound. Afterward, some of the ashes from the herbs and charred wood of these huge fires would be taken to spread in the gardens among the cabbages. These ashes would keep the cabbage worm under control and it is not known if it was done for this purpose, alone, or if this was merely a beneficial “side effect.“
In Europe, it was a festival of lovers as well as that of fire. As each young unmarried couple leapt the flames, others speculated as to who would marry within the year. In other traditions lovers would leap fires together, or throw flowers to each other across the fire. Both flowers and fire were used to give omens for love and marriage. It is not surprising that roses, which bloom at this time, were used in many festivals and divination rituals, for their fragrance was said to be as sweet as love.
In many places sun–wheels were common on this holiday and that of Lughnasadh. They were wheels that were often rigged with straw and pitch, set aflame, and sent rolling down the hills toward a stream, pond or other body of water. Two young men would do their best to guide it, while one or more followed with torches to re–light the wheel should the fire die out. The longer the blaze, the better the harvest. A successful roll, extinguished in the watercourse, guaranteed an abundant harvest, as well.
Saint John the Baptist also has much importance in relation to this holiday. It was the custom in England, on St John’s Eve, to light large bonfires after sundown, providing light for the revelers and warding off evil spirits. There would be feasting and partying, dancing, games, bartering and all forms of celebration and, as in other areas, leaping the fire was a common practice. It should be noted , interestingly enough, that St. John, though a Christian figure, was seen by the early Celtic–Catholic people as a very pagan one. He was known as “the Oak King“ and had a strong connection to the nature in the wilderness . He was often depicted as a horned figure and, at times, with the lower portion of his body as a satyr, as though people regarded him as a Christian Pan.
This may seem very odd to a modern person, but keep in mind the fact that the early Christians, particularly those it the British Isles often simply put knew names to old deities. Modern day Christians celebrate mid–Summer is Saint John’s Day and celebrates his birth, much as Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ in coincidence with Yule. The reason given as to why Saint John’s birth is celebrated when every other Saint’s day occurs at death is that John is a special case since he was born exactly six months before Christ to announce the coming of the Messiah.
In ancient Rome, a “festival of jollity and drunkenness“ was celebrated by the Plebeians and slaves in honor of Fortuna, the Roman Goddess who was the personification of good fortune. She was originally a Goddess of blessing and fertility and in that capacity she was especially worshipped by mothers. Because she was considered the Goddess of Luck the word fortune comes from her name. At first, she was regarded as a kind of fertility Goddess or bearer of prosperity but, gradually, she was invoked exclusively for good luck–or lamented to for the lack of it! As the Goddess of Chance, she was consulted about the future at her oracular shrines in Antium and Praeneste (now Anzio and Palestrina). A favorite subject in ancient art, the Goddess Fortuna is usually depicted holding a rudder in one hand and a cornucopia, or horn of plenty, in the other. The rudder signified that she guides the destiny of the world; the cornucopia, that she was the provider of abundance. Known as Tyche to the Greeks, Fortuna was worshipped extensively throughout the Roman Empire and had oracular shrines at Antium and Praeneste (now Anzio and Palestrina). . The festival involved features of both fire and water. (The water link is noticeable in the Church’s choice of St. John the Baptist for this day.) Events included foot–races and boat–races, and plenty of wine and merry making. During the Middle Ages, she was depicted as Dame Fortuna who, spinning the wheel of fortune, seemingly at random, would grant goodness to one while she beset others with misfortune.
In nearly every culture, the Summer Solstice has been recognized, revered and even feared. The Sun is at its height, but at the same moment begins to decline. Only hope, ritual and belief would ensure its return at the Winter Solstice to our ancestors. Litha is a time for healing of all kinds, and protection rituals. This is a good time for clearing away non–useful energies, and establishing a stable base. Litha is about joy. It is about being completely alive, as the earth is at its zenith. Everywhere you look, it is green and life is abundant. Weave flowers into your hair – dance and frolic, take a big, deep cleansing breath of Summer air. Pick summer strawberries or other early fruits and vegetables. Know how fortunate you are to be a part of this wonderful circle of life and the turning wheel of the year.
Litha Recipes
Shakespeare’s Tea for a Midsummer’s Night
2 cups mint (peppermint or spearmint or 1 cup each)
1/2 cup marjoram
1/3 cup whole savory leaves
1/4 cup lavender flowers
Mix thoroughly and store in tightly covered container. To use, steep one teaspoon per cup of briskly boiling water for 10 minutes or so to taste.
Potato Crust Vegetable Pizza
4 medium baking potatoes, peeled
1 medium onion
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup all–purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
2 medium yellow summer squash, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow sweet pepper, chopped
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 5.3–ounce package soft chevre (goat cheese)
16 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
Fresh basil sprigs (optional)
Finely shred potatoes and onion into a bowl of water; drain well, squeezing out excess moisture. In a large bowl combine potato mixture, eggs, flour, and salt; mix well. Press into a well–greased 15x10x1–inch baking pan. Bake in a 425 degree F. oven for 15 minutes. Brush with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil; bake 10 minutes more. Place under the broiler; broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the zucchini, yellow squash, yellow pepper, red onion, and garlic. In a large skillet heat the remaining oil; cook the vegetable mixture, 2 cups at a time, until vegetables are crisp–tender, stirring often. Spread goat cheese over potato crust; top with cooked vegetables and tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil and mozzarella. Bake in a 425 degree F. oven for 5 to 7 minutes more or until cheese is melted. If desired, garnish with basil sprigs. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Solar Tea
1 large jar with a very tight fitting lid
cold water
2 tea bags for each quart of water
1 orange, unpeeled, well washed, and cut into small pieces
1/2 lemon, unpeeled, well washed, and cut into small pieces
Fill the jar with water. Add the orange, the lemon, and the tea bags. Place in full sunlight for two hours. Refrigerate immediately. Serve over ice.
Cucumber Salad
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon chopped chives
3 small cucumbers, thinly sliced
Combine the sour cream, parsley, vinegar, sugar, and chives.
Gently fold in cucumbers.
Cover and chill.
Sun’s Up Cobbler
1–1lb 14oz can (3 1/2 cups) halved peaches
3 slices slightly dry bread (toast on light)
1 tbs. cornstarch
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Drain peaches, reserving 1 cup syrup. In a pan, combine cornstarch and salt and slowly blend in reserved syrup. Over med.–high heat, cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and cook and stir for 2minutes. Add lemon juice, butter or margarine and peaches. Heat JUST to bubbling. Pour into 10x6x11/2 inch baking dish.
Cut bread lengthwise into 1 inch strips. Dip into 1/4 cup melted butter, then into mixture of sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Arrange over peaches. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until toasty. Serve with cream (optional) Makes 6 servings.
Lunch Time Cranberry Sun Mold
2 –3oz packages orange flavored gelatin
2 7oz bottles ginger ale
1 1lb can whole cranberry sauce
2 oranges, peeled and sectioned
1 83/4 oz crushed pineapple, un–drained
1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
In saucepan, combine gelatin and cranberry sauce. Heat and stir until almost boiling. Stir in un–drained crushed pineapple and ginger ale. Remove from heat and stir until fizzing has stopped. Pour into round mold. Chill until set. Un–mold onto a serving dish with a layer of lettuce leaf bedding.
Garnish with orange and grapefruit sections. Top with alternating orange and grapefruit sections in a “pinwheel” array. Serve as salad or dessert.
High–In–The–Sky Sunny Sandwiches
4 French rolls
4 slices pressed ham
Butter or margarine, softened
4 slices salami
Several lettuce leafs
2 hard cooked eggs, sliced
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
French salad dressing
Split rolls lengthwise, cutting to but not through crust at back. Spread cut surfaces with butter or margarine. For each sandwich: Cover bottom half with a couple lettuce leafs, then slice cheese and cut lengthwise for julienne strips and add a few strips, fold slices of ham and salami and add. Place egg slices (3) atop folded meats. Drizzle approximately 1 tbs. of French salad dressing over each sandwich. Makes 4 servings.
Litha Activities and Ideas
Go berry picking. Have the children chose their best berry and throw it back into the berry bushes as they thank the Goddess and the bushes for the fruit.
Make a Wicker Man and burn him in your Litha bon fire.
Burn your remnants of your Yule Tree or Wreath in the bon fire or try using Wreaths of Vervain and Mugwort which were burned in ancient times at the end of the festivals to burn away bad luck.
Many families placed roses on the altar, as this is the Goddess flower for this time of the year. Try this yourself for a beautiful and fragrant decoration.
Leave out milk and honey as an offering to the Fae folk
Have a mock battle between the Oak and Holly King. Remember that this is part of the cycle and as the wheel turns the Holly King will rise again at Winter Solstice
Put a ring of flowers around your cauldron or around a bowl full of mugwort
Hang a bundle of fresh herbs out to dry and use them to spice up a Litha feast of cooked summer vegetables
Light a white candle and place it in front of a mirror. Say your own Litha prayer over it, and then let it burn out
Make a charm to hang around your neck with a seashell
Jump the balefire or cauldron
Offer a gift of lavender to the Gods in a bonfire. Pass St. John’s Wort through the smoke and then hang the herb up in the house for protection.
Make your own Stonehendge at the beach like you would a sand castle
Have an outdoor breakfast picnic to welcome the Solstice
Stay up and watch the sun go down on the longest day of the year!
Draw a picture of the sun at sunrise and sunset
Try a fire divination, stare into the coals of your bonfire as it settles or look for forms in the leaping flames.
Create a ritual to bring healing and love to Mother Earth
Dispose of those qualities that trouble you: project them into a burn–able (bunch of dry twigs, paper, etc.) and thrust the mass into a cleansing fire
make staffs
make dream pillows
make herb craft items like wreaths
make a witches’ ladder
Make a Catherine Wheel, or frame of sticks and withies (slender, flexible branches) with flammable material among the spokes. At the climax of your ritual, ignite the wheel and send it rolling down a hillside into a pond or lake. (obviously the hillside should be stone, bare earth, or covered with moist vegetation–no dry grass or underbrush!)
Litha Correspondences
Colors: gold, red, orange, blue, and yellow, green, white
Herbs & Plants: Apple, Chamomile, Chicory, Chickweed, Mugwort, Mistletoe, Heather, Peony, Pine, Roses, Vervain, Heartsease, Houseleek, Lavender, Rowan and Saint John’s Wort
Incense: Sage, Cedar, Frankincense, Lemon, Myrrh, Pine, Rose, and Lavender
Activities and Rituals: bonfire leaping, herb drying, protection, luck, health, transformation, community, career, and relationships
Tools: drums, rattles, bonfire, mirrors for reflecting the sun or bonfire, Earth circles of stone energy
Stones/Gems: all green stones, especially Emerald and Jade, Lapis, Diamond
Symbols & Decorations: flowers and fresh early garden produce, the spear or sword of the sun god and the bountiful cauldron of the goddess ringed in flowers, solar cross or sun symbols, fireworks, sea shells
Foods: all early summer fruits and vegetables, ale and mead, honey cakes, rose ice cream, melted cheese dishes, mangoes, whipped cream on fruit, red wine, strawberries
Deities: Fotuna, RA, Arinna, Bast, Grainne, Shamash, Helios, Mother Earth, Mother Nature Father Sun/Sky, Oak King
Animals: butterflies, caterpillars, sea creatures, wren, robin, horses, cattle, satyrs, faeries, firebird, dragon, thunderbird
Litha Ritual
Background
This is the time to rededicate yourself to your spiritual path and to ask for Lugh’s blessings. In this ritual marigolds are used to pay homage to the Lord. This flower has been associated with the sun since ancient times and abounds in stories of Apollo, the Greek sun god. Marigolds were believed to have magical properties, and that to look at them or smell their fragrance would remove sorrow and burdens.
The ancient people of Europe left their legacy in stone all over the Continent, the Mediterranean area, and the British Isles in the form of standing stone circles, alignments, and dolmens (chambers formed of standing stones). It has been known for a long time that these places mark the rising and setting of the sun at the Winter and Summer Solstices. They also mark lunar cycles, eclipses, and other astrological events.
It is worth noting that these sites were observatories as well as places of ritual. Science and spirituality were not separate compartments of reasoning and belief. Observing and honoring the natural world were integrated practices.
Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland are the most well–known sites, but the Brittany coast of France has the greatest number of standing stones. In this ritual, conjure up images in you mind and the energy of Carnac in Brittany where within a five–mile area there are 3,000 standing stones. Some are in circles, some are alone, but most are in rows that run for several kilometers. And for many centuries people danced and celebrated among the stones.
Setup
Items for this ritual include: Six candles for the altar; A basket of cut flowers; enough to lay out your circle (there can be space in between them); A basket of marigolds; Drums, rattles and other percussion instruments. If working solo or if these are not available you may want to use taped music such as Loreena McKennitt’s Huron “Beltane” Fire Dance; If doing ritual out of doors, find six to eight large rocks and set them in two rows with enough room for people to walk between to simulate the rows of standing stones at Carnac. If no large stones are available you may want to arrange a pile of smaller stones. If you are doing ritual indoors, use multiple baskets of flowers or potted plants. Be imaginative.
The Ritual
As you place flowers on the ground to mark your circle (large enough to encompass your “standing stones”) say:
Spring ends and summer comes upon the land. As the days grow in warmth, I ask the Lord and Lady to awaken the sacred flame within my soul. With this fragrant circle, sacred is this space decreed.
Go to the edge of your circle and face each direction, respectively. After speaking, light a candle on the altar. Face the altar when evoking the Goddess and God.
I look to the North and call on the powers of Earth to join me in my circle. Your body sends forth the blooms of early summer with rich sensuous colors. Be with me as a bright red flower.
I look to the East and call on the powers of Air to join me in my circle. Caress me with your warm breezes that sweeten my life with soft scented flowers and plants. Be with me as the fragrant Linden.
I look to the South and call on the powers of Fire to join me in my circle. Your growing heat transforms the world into a lush garden. Kiss me gently with your warmth.
I look to the West and the powers of Water. Your gentle rains banish thirst and wash me clean. Touch me with dew–filled mornings.
Sun King, Lord of Summer, I welcome you at your zenith, your last full shining. Tomorrow you begin your descent, but today I celebrate you.
Lady of All, Queen of Summer, I welcome you in your full mother aspect as the fields begin to ripen and you awaken a spark of divine love deep in my soul.
Stand facing your altar, and say:
This day I use marigolds to honor Lugh and ask for his blessing to further my spiritual journey.
Bow and then place a flower on the altar, saying:
Lugh, Beli Mawr, I thank you for your many blessings and reaffirm my spiritual path. Even though you will soon fade, your bright spirit will remain in my heart throughout the year. So mote it be.
Begin the taped music or do your own drumming and start a free–form dance weaving in and out among your “standing stones”. Chant:
I call to Lugh on Solstice Day,
Shine bright before you go away.
Sun King, Lugh, bring summer heat,
Blessed be and merry meet.
Continue until you feel the energy reach a peak, and then bring the music, drumming, chanting to a close. You may want to take time to meditate on your blessings as well as the reasons that you reaffirm your spiritual path.
Use your usual method for grounding energy or playback a recorded centering exercise.
Extinguish each altar candle before or after each devocation:
Lady of All, Queen of Summer, thank you Great Mother for the richness that unfolds around me and within me. I thank you for your presence with me this day and ask for your blessing as you depart. I bid you farewell.
Sun King, Lord of Summer, thank you for your bright spirit. I thank you for your presence with me this day and ask for your blessing as you depart. I bid you farewell.
Powers of Water, thank you for dewy mornings and gentle rains. I thank you for your presence with me this day and ask for your blessing as you depart. I bid you farewell.
Powers of Fire, thank you for your transforming flame. I thank you for your presence with me this day and ask for your blessing as you depart. I bid you farewell.
Powers of Air, thank you for warm breezes that sweeten long summer days. I thank you for your presence with me this day and ask for your blessing as you depart. I bid you farewell.
Powers of Earth, thank you for the sensuous colors and fragrance that enrich my life. I thank you for your presence with me this day and ask for your blessing as you depart. I bid you farewell.
And so my spiritual journey continues as the Wheel of the Year turns ever onward. My circle is open, but unbroken. May the peace and love of the Goddess remain in my heart. In faith and unity, blessed be.
Quick Palmistry
The Fingers
This area represents the mental element. If the fingers predominate, the subjects sphere has a mainly mental atmosphere.
The Upper Palm
This area represents the abstract element. If the middle portion of the hand is more pronounced, this would indicate the subject excels in ambition, shrewdness, and/or aggression tempered by prudence.
The Lower Palm
This area represents the material element. The development of the lower portion of the hand has a tendency to indicate a cultivation of not so nice motives, directed towards self–gratification and selfishness.
A hand with all three areas proportionate represents a bright and intelligent nature.
Seven Types of Hands
There are seven types of hands classified in Palmistry which relate to the general shapes. This is but a brief generalized overview.
The Elemental Hand
Often of the “clubbed” type with short thumb and stiff heavy fingers. To these hands belong war and colonization. Usually music lovers. Most are laborers.
The Square Hand
A square appearance as a whole including the palm and fingertips. Large thumb. This is the hand of practicality. Indications of a love of order, neat and tidy, courteous, patient and with an element of foresight.
The Spatulate Hand
The nail area of the hands give an appearance of a more or less flattened–out spatula. Usually large thumbs. Manual labor with a bit of love of adventure thrown in. Extremely self–confident, excellent leaders for a cause.
The Philosophic Hand
This hand has a large palm, the fingers are “knotty”. The top portion of the fingers have an oval egg–shape but appear flattened. When the hands are large, they incline toward analysis. They seek knowledge. The knotty fingers indicate a gift of calculation and deduction. Usually poetic in nature.
The Conic Hand
Also known as the Artistic Hand. Fingers are tapered, moderate sized palm, small thumb. Indicates he/she is impulsive, imaginative, a bit self–indulgent, and a lover of beauty.
The Psychic Hand
The most beautiful hand of all. Conical fingers, small, delicate, smooth and tapering. The upper phalanges are long. They tend to love beauty, are ethereal and imaginative. Poetic, enthusiastic but can also display a nervous tendency.
The Mixed Hand
Mixture of two or more types. A little of that one and a little of this one. The hand of versatality. “Jack of all trades”. Clever but has a tendency to be a bit erratic in his/her undertakings. Changing their minds constantly.
Major Lines
The Line of Life
The line of Vitality. Usually curving around the outer boundary of the Mount of Venus up towards the index (Jupiter) and middle (Saturn) fingers. Indicates constitution but also areas of major change in ones life.
The Line of Head
The line of Thought. Usually begins very near, with or above the Life Line at the base of the index finger (Jupiter). Indicates decision–making abilities, a strength of mental powers and concentration and your ability of thought processing. Can also show spine problems and upper thoracic pains.
The Line of Heart
Usually begins below your little finger (Mercury) through to the middle (Saturn) and index (Jupiter) fingers. Indicates both love (mentally) and condition (physical) of the heart. A h5 line shows mental and physical stability.
The Line of Fate
This line rises from the base of the hand up towards the middle (Saturn) finger. If this is deep, indicates perseverance against heavy odds. If it is a bit wavy, there will be ups and downs all through your life. If it goes all the way up to the Mount of Jupiter, success in everything you put your mind to.
The Line of Apollo
Also known as the Line of the Sun. This line runs up to the Mount of Apollo under the ring (Sun) finger. Indicates that with correct guidance and direction, you are capable of accomplishing much. A line of capability, possible accomplishments.
Purification Bath Before Ritual
Light incense and one taper candle. Place some sea salt in a white dish and water in a cup or vial (chalice). Make sure you’re not disturbed. No electrical lights, just light white candles. Pick up taper candle and make three passes over the water as you say:
By this element of fire, do I purify this ritual bath. May all impurities flee before its life.
Pick up salt and sprinkle 3 pinches of salt into bath water while saying:
By this element of earth do I purify this ritual bath. All impure creatures may not approach it.
Slowly pass the incense 3 times over the bath while saying:
By this element of air do I purify this ritual bath. May my hopes and aspirations rise upon the smoke to be carried by the winds to the Lady.
Pour the water into the bath next and say:
By this element of water do I purify this ritual bath. May the bath contain the waters of life that spring from the heart of the Mother.
Lay in the bath and let your troubles seep out of you and into the water. Dry off with a white towel and light clothing. Meditate if desired and apply any annointing oil.
Posted and Edited by Magickal Winds
Posted in Sabbats and tagged Chants, Litha, magick, Magickal Winds, magickalwinds.com, pagan, Poems, Recipes, Rituals, Summer Solstice, Wicca by admin with no comments yet.
SPIRIT ANIMALS AND POWER ANIMALS
SPIRIT ANIMALS AND POWER ANIMALS:
Posted by: Magickal Winds
Original contenet from: http://www.spiritanimal.info
What is the Difference Between a Spirit Animal and a Power Animal?
The terms “spirit animal” and “power animal” are often used interchangeably, even though they have slightly different meaning depending on the context in which they are used.
Spirit Animal Definition
Spirit animals are typically associated with traditional as well as modern Western shamanic practices. During initiations or shamanic journeys, the shaman would find one or several animals that she or another person is associated with. Traditionally, the spirit animal is used for guidance.
Think of your spirit animal as a guardian spirit or spirit guide. It can play the role of protector and provides guidance. It’s like a “personal guide or protector” that has a personal affinity with the person it’s associated with.
Power Animals
In addition, the spirit of the animal could unite with the person it “chose” in more personal ways and one will often find similarities in traits of personality, characteristics, and synchronicity between the two. As such, the power or essence of the animal can be felt or communicated. In that sense, spirit animals can also be referred to as “power animals”.
On this web site, the terms spirit animal, animal spirit guide and power animal are used interchangeably.
Connect With Your Spirit Animal
A spirit animal characterized by a personal relationship to the individual it is associated with. You can have one or several spirit animals throughout your life, during a specific phase of your life, or at specific occasions.
It is that connection at the individual level that differentiates the power animal from the animal totem that tends to symbolize a group or person’s identity. As such, power animals are the equivalent of animal spirit guides or spirit animals.
Your spirit animal often represents qualities and attributes that you may see in yourself. It is instructive to learn about the habits and characteristics of your power animal and see how they are reflected in your own personality and life.
How To Find Your Spirit Animal
There are many different ways to find your spirit animal:
- Meditation
- Going in nature and observing
- Calling the animal
- Process of self-inquiry
- Writing about it in your journal
- Imagination
- Journeying with sound
These are a few methods among many used to find the animal or animals you have a special connection with. >> Learn more on how to find your spirit animal.
When developing a meaningful relationship with your spirit animal, prepare yourself to explore a world where you can rely more on your imagination and intuition, rather than only using your intellectual abilities and rational mind.
When developing a meaningful relationship with your spirit animal, prepare yourself to explore a world where you can rely more on your imagination and intuition, rather than only using your intellectual abilities and rational mind.
Spirit Animal Symbolism
Animals are omnipresent in our lives whether they are pets or live in the wild, yet we often lack a clear understanding of their symbolic nature and what they could mean. When we relate to the spirit of animals, they may offer us powerful insight.
In the world of spirit animals, animals can symbolize:
- Aspects of your personality
- Skills or traits that we have cultivated successfully or have yet to develop
- A situation or emotions that have recently arisen
- Spirit animals can also offer guidance, an intuitive understanding
Search the list above for more information.
Spirit Animal Meanings
Looking for A Spirit Animal?
Posted in Animals and tagged magick, Magickal Winds, pagan, Power Animal, Spirit Animal, Spirituality, Wicca by admin with no comments yet.
There is no more simple Magickal charm in the universe than… “Blessed Be.”
Posted by Magickal Winds
Author: Ariel
Probably the most common phrase that we use in the Craft is “Blessed Be.” This phrase is possibly the major common denominator in all of the different Craft traditions.
It is something that is a unifying principle within Witchcraft and although it is the most often articulated saying we have, it seems to me to be the least understood one I know of.
When we say “Blessed Be, ” all too often it is simply new jargon, or a substitute for “Hi, ” “How are you?” or “Good Bye.” Yet, these two words comprise one of the most powerful and sophisticated sentences in the English language.
“Blessed Be” is an ultimate Zen phrase, “Blessed be that which is”; “All that is, is blessed”. We are recognizing a truth that all is inherently blessed. We are reminded that in the present moment, everything is perfect. There is nothing that needs to be changed, and nothing that needs to be improved.
In this moment, everything is sacred. Being at one with the sacred now is a blessed state indeed, and saying “blessed be” from that point of view is a potent statement of recognition of the perfection of this moment. There is no future to obsess about, and no past to regret.
There is only this moment; it goes on forever, and all is truly blessed.
Another important facet of this gem of a saying is that it is a constant reminder of our function in the Craft: We are here to bless.
Once we develop a significant relationship with Spirit, in whatever way it presents itself to us, we eventually come to recognize that what the world needs from us is our blessing. The only significant contribution we have to offer the world is blessing.
In any situation, with any person or group of people, we are here to say (and mean) “Blessed Be, ” either silently or aloud.
When we take an honest look at any problem in the world, it becomes apparent that the problem stems from a lack of blessing, and the only cure is to bless.
I know for myself, I can honestly say that anytime I have been less than loving or compassionate in my life, it was in response to a great deal of pain I was experiencing at the time.
What I didn’t need in order to turn my life around was more judgment, anger and criticism. What I needed was love and blessing.
I needed someone to say “Blessed Be” and mean it.
We are children of divinity–children of the Mother and Father, of Spirit, of God, or whatever you choose to call it. As divine children, we are here as expressions of our parents. We are here as lights in a dark world. Our function is to recognize the light and divinity in everyone else.
“Blessed Be” can also be another way of saying “The divine love in me recognizes the divine love in you”. We are here as healers of this world. Whether we take this job seriously or not will determine what direction our world takes.
We have the power to transform the world in every moment just by seeing any situation from the point of view that we are divine beings here to bring blessing.
It isn’t a question of whether or not we have the power to bless, it is a question of whether we choose to use it or not.
If we say “Blessed Be” consistently and mean it, this planet can heal very quickly.
One thing that I have learned in my life is that there is enough pain in this world. We all know what pain is. We have been to hell already; we don’t need to indulge in pain any longer in order to know we want something else.
I can honestly look at my life and say that what I really need is not more misery. I see that what many of us are doing is indulge in misery out of habit, or addiction. It takes a great deal of determination to understand that our addictions are not serving us any longer and then decide that we are going to relinquish our investment in them.
Unfortunately, like any addiction, we often wait until we hit rock bottom before we realize that we have a problem. In Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step to sobriety is for the alcoholic to recognize that they are powerless over alcohol, and that there is a higher power who can restore them to sanity.
This is what blessing is all about. Whatever our wound, the healing comes about from blessing.
If we have a strained relationship with another person, our greatest work to bring us happiness in that relationship is the honest blessing of that person.
If we have a problem with our job, the healing comes about from blessing the job, and all the people in it on every level.
The act of blessing that I describe is not an abdication of power; it is a reclaiming of power.
Some might worry that we need to protect and need to defend ourselves, and that if we are blessing all the time, it will just leave us vulnerable to attack. This worry comes from the erroneous point of view that Spirit is ineffectual. We would do well to remember that the power of love is fierce.
Spirit is intelligent. It knows what to do. When we bless the world, we are in a position of ultimate power. Just as when our physical immune system is healthy, it takes care of all the viral and bacterial activity without us needing to know what is happening.
The Craft of blessing results in building a spiritual immune system that is so strong that nothing can touch us. It is not necessary for us to carry out punishment (curses) on others in order to be safe and protected. In fact, cursing is a domain in which we leave ourselves the most open and vulnerable to attack.
Cursing is very subtle stuff. Curses aren’t necessarily consciously cast. Anytime we desire the pain and destruction of another person for any reason, we are withholding our blessing, and are by default cursing.
Resentments and grudges do come up however, and I am not suggesting that we are supposed to just suppress our feelings and pretend like we are not feeling rage when we are feeling it.
What I am suggesting however is that when we are feeling anything other than love for people that we recognize it and bring it to Spirit to heal.
This is the ultimate magic: transformation.
When we are feeling anger toward another person, we can say “Goddess, I am really pissed of at so-and-so, and want to crush their big fat head right now. Please heal this situation. Please bring me back in harmony with your compassion. Show me what I need to do in this situation, let me know what to say in order that this situation be healed.”
We aren’t denying our rage, but we are embracing our ability to move beyond it. A curse is when the rage and desire to destroy are kept within us to fester.
Curses are psychic malignancies.
Blessing is a silent art. Just because we bless someone doesn’t mean we have to have lunch with him or her.
Blessing is not about forcing our personal wills on any situation. It is simply recognizing the people and situation before us as divine, and seeing the love at the heart of whatever is going on regardless of the drama that is being played out.
We simply access the Spirit within us and ask for its will to be done in our presence. We withdraw our preconceived notions of what is supposed to happen, or what we think we want to have happen, and allow ourselves to invoke the presence of pure love.
When we are facing a problem, and we think we have tried everything, it is very important that we ask ourselves whether or not we have given our blessing. Often this is something that we have overlooked.
I can’t count the number of times I have been in the throes of misery and the one thing I have NOT tried is asking Spirit directly to take the problem and heal it for me. Once we renounce our addiction in the pain, we are transformed.
We have shifted our plane of experience from one of cursing, to one of blessing.
There is no more simple, or more powerful magical charm in the universe than “Blessed Be.”
Posted by Magickal Winds
Posted in Origins and tagged Blessed Be, Blessings, Charms, magick, Magickal Winds, pagan, spells, Spirituality, Wicca, wiccan by admin with 1 comment.
November 16, 2009 is “The Night of Hecate”
November 16, 2009 is “The Night of Hecate”, this year, it is also The New Moon and The Void of Course Moon (2:14 PM EST)
Posted and edited by Magickal Winds
Days of Hecate are August 13 which She is honored and prayed to in order to not send fierce thunderstorms and ruin and the crops. November 16 is the Night of Hecate which begins at sunset. This is the night of the Three -formed Goddess (but not the only night, she is always Three-formed): Hecate is part of the most ancient form of the triple Moon goddess as Crone or Dark Moon. This is also the night of Hecate’s supper at the Crossroads. People who worshiped Hecate honoured Her by preforming Sympathetic Magick and holding a supper at what they believed to be the Crossroads; in addition, it is said they sacrificed animals in honour of Her. (As a Wiccan, I do not believe in the sacrifice of any living thing and I am sure neither did our Gods and Goddesses.) November 30 is Hecate-Trivia–the day of the Crossroads. The 29th of each month is the Moon of Hecate.
Hecate
Posted and edited by Magickal Winds
Hecate: Short Biography and Offerings
Short Information on Hecate
Attributes: Fertility mother goddess, with double aspect: protectress and destroyer, mighty magical Queen of ghosts and loving and helping corn-mother like Demeter. Triple Aspect of the Goddess: Maiden, Mother and Crone. Shares many attributes with Morrigan, Kali and the Inanna.
Representation: Triple-Shape of body and/or face, carries torches and is followed by a pack of hounds. Appears most of the time as a maiden or younger women, only in later images is she the crone or the old woman.
Relations: Hecate is a Titaness, daughter of Perses and Asteria, Helper of Demeter in her search after Persephone, mighty protectress of Medea
Offerings: Sacrifice of dogs, puppies, Food at three-way- crossroads, burned torches and candles.
Sacrifice: Dogs, in Rome: black bulls wearing yewtree leaves.
Food laid down at crossroads, known as “the Supper of Hecate”: One source says eggs and fish; another fish, eggs, or roe; still another, goat cheese and bread.
Candles, Torches, Incense burned to worship her. Honey cakes and chicken, hearts on their door steps, or at crossroads. Sacrifices were regularly offered to Her, including dogs and female lambs.
Hecate’s Role
“The Chtonian” was a -still in roman times- very popular Greek goddess, often accombined with Artemis or Persephone, who’s role -like mentioned before- transformed from a goddess of fertility, childbirth, protectress of mankind and all other earth-aspects from groth to death into a Queen of ghosts, a mighty and scary Goddess of Magic, Nights, the time of the waning moon, where she could could give vision and assist in magical procedures.
She was the Goddess of the three-ways (crossroads), where she protected people from taking the wrong road. And she protected the Gates from any evil spirit to enter. She also guides travellers in general and sailors in particular. She held the keys to three roads: to Hades, to Heaven and to a lucky life on earth.
In later times she became the patroness of witches, magicians and sorcery. The Question is not, that Hecate did not have these aspects in her nature, it is whether these are her only aspects.
Many today-pagans worship either the wonderful, loving and caring, sweet and gentle good Goddess or the lunatic, dark aspects of the Goddess. My opinion and believe is that these aspects can only be seen as a whole and that Hecate combines all these aspects of nature as an incarnation of the Great Goddess.
Her annual festival in Greece was on August 13th/14th was a propitiary one, to avert the harvest-destroying storms which the Moon was apt to send at around that time.
One of her festivals celebrated in the city Stratonicea in Caria was called: Hecatesia.
As a goddess of the Moon she is often set equal to Selene. As a goddess of growth and fertilitiy, she is seen equal to Demeter. As a goddess of the hunt and the wild animals, she is seen equal to Artemis. It is more than obvious that her attributes and her role have some similarities with Lilith and the dark sides of Ishtar and Astarte.
Goddess of witches – the Dark Mother
I have heard much about this great Mother. Both good and bad. I was unsure what to believe until I “heard” and “felt” Her call. Her robes were dark blue, Her hair dark, Her skin was fair, Her eyes were soft and caring. She seemed to speak to me with Her eyes. I could feel Her say, “I am the Great Mother. “She was gone. I have had the chance to speak to several people who follow Hecate. They also shared similar stories of a visitation. Some saw Her as Maiden, some as Mother and some as Crone. She comes to people as the Goddess that they work best with. For me this was the Great Mother.Being the most triple of all Goddesses Hecate can come to all in that one form that we will understand best. I come to Her in the dark moon. This page is dedicated in honor to Her, that perhaps, others may learn.
Hecate’s Signs and Symbols
All wild animals were sacred to Hekate, and she was sometimes shown with three animal heads – the dog, snake, and lion, or alternately the dog, horse, and bear. This aspect refers to her rulership over the ancient tripartite year of spring, summer, and winter. However, her primary animal form and familiar was the dog or wolf. Wolfs, Dogs, Snakes
Torches are Her symbol, for the Dark Mother also holds the light which illuminates the Unconscious and reveals its treasures.
Sacred Plants: Yewtree, the tree of death (greek: taxus),
Hemlock (see f.e. Shakespeare: Macbeth IV, 1.25) Key (to the Underworld), Rope, Dagger.
The Moon, especially the full or the dark moon.
For divination, the Greeks used an instrument called ‘Hecate’s Circle’, a golden sphere with a sapphire hidden inside it.
The hallucinogenic medicinal plant, Aconite, once called, “hecateis”, and produced by the saliva of Cerberus, belonged to Her. This herb reached mankind when Hercules forced Cerberus from Hades, spraying the Earth with the hound’s spittle.
Greek Cross – Before Christianity, the Greek Cross was an emblem of Hecate as the Goddess of Crossroads. Like the infinity sign or the ankh, it also represented union of male and female principles as vertical and horizontal members, respectively. Then it became a plus sign: one-plus-the-other.
Crossroads – Witches were said to hold Sabbats at crossroads, for the reason that in the ancient world crossroads were sacred to the Goddess Hecate, the Lady of the Underworld in pagan belief, the Queen of Witches in Christian belief. Her images and those of Hermes and Diana stood at crossroads throughout the Roman empire, until they were replaced by crosses during the Christian era. The Roman word for crossroads was compita, and the Lares compitales or crossroad spirits were regularly honored at roadside shrines during festivals called Compitalia. Christians continued to honor the chthonian deities at crossroads until they were persecuted for doing so, when the elder (Hecate) deities were newly defined as devils. In the tenth century A.D. it was ordered that any woman must be sentenced to a three-year fast if she was found guilty of dedicating her child at a crossroads to the Earth Mother.
We know the Crossroads are Hecate’s, but here is some amusing information:
The classic Greek herm was a phallic pillar dedicated to the god of magic and of crossroads. Hermes, whose head appeared at the top. Herms were usually plain shafts without projections except for the realistic phallus in front; some, however, had short crossbeams, probably drawn from identification between Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, his counterpart in the south, whose image was the ankh or Key of Life. Hermes guarded nearly all the important crossroads of Greece and the Roman empire, where they were named for the Roman Hermes, Mercury. Hermes and Hecate were worshiped together as lord and lady of crossroads, which were magical places because they always symbolized choices. Sometimes the herms were called Lares compitales, the crossroad spirits, to whom offerings were made and for whom there were special festivals called Compitalia. In the Christian era, the numerous herms at crossroads throughout Europe were replaced by stone crosses.
A mysterious incident occurred in 415 B.C. – at the height of a very patriarchal period in Athens, where public thoroughfares were protected by hundreds of herms. The night before the Athenians were to launch an expedition against Sicily was what came to be know as the night of the Mutilation or Castration of the Herms. In the morning, almost all the city’s herms were found with their penises knocked off. The culprits were never discovered, but it is believed they were militant Athenian women, using this threatening magical gesture to protest against the war.
Amulet – A Greek text gives directions for preparing a phylacterion or “amulet of undertaking”. It is to be a lodestone, cut in the shape of a heart and engraved with an image of the Goddess Hecate.
Basket – Basket-making was a female craft, so baskets were often sacred to the Goddess as agriculturist and harvest spirit. Baskets were carried by Moon-goddesses like Diana and Hecate, of whom Porphyry wrote: “The basket which she bears when she has mounted high is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops which she made to grow up according to the increase of her light”
Gate – Hecate was viewed as the guardian of both crossroads and gates – especially the gate of birth, since the Goddess was represented as a divine midwife and frequently invoked for assistance in childbirth and as the Goddess of the underworld “Destroyer” who ruled the gates of death. Much allegorizing was employed (by the Christian church) to conceal the fact that the gate was another emblem of female genitals, the gate through which life emerged at birth, and into which at least a part of a man might pass (to a higher vibration into the mysteries, symbolic death of phallic spirit).
Fairy – Yes, Fairy – read on… The fairy-tale image of the fairy as a tiny female sprite with butterfly wings and antennae seems to have been drawn from the classic Greek Psyche, which means “soul” and also “butterfly”. Like elves, the fairies were originally the souls of the pagan dead, in particular those matriarchal spirits who lived in the pre-Christian realm of the Goddess. Sometimes the fairies were called Goddesses themselves. In several folk ballads the Fairy Queen is addressed as “Queen of Heaven.” Welsh fairies were known as “the Mothers” or “the Mothers’ Blessing.” Breton peasants called the fairies God-mothers, or Good Ladies, or Fates from which comes fay (la fee), from the Latin fata. They claimed that, like Medusa or Circe, a fairy could transform a man into an animal or turn him to stone. Most medieval sources reveal, however, that the fairies were perceived as real women, of ordinary size, with supernatural knowledge and powers. Their Queen was their Goddess, under such names as Titania (Gaea, ancient mother of the Titans), Diana, Venus, Sybil, Abundia (“Abundance”) and Hecate.
Hounds – It seems that women were the first to domesticate the dog, because dogs were companions of the Goddess in may cultures, long before gods or men appeared with canine companions. Dogs accompanied Hecate in Greece. Dogs were accredited for being able to see the dead (ghosts) and other spirits. The ancients were also very impressed with canine keenness of another sense, the sense of smell. Pairs of dogs ere stationed at the gates of death (as on the Tarot card of the Moon) to detect the “odor of sanctity” and decide whether the soul could be admitted to the company of the gods. Three-headed Cerberus guarded the door of Hecate’s underworld.
Frog – Frogs were sacred to the Egyptian midwife of the gods, the Crone-Goddess Hekit, prototype of the Greeks’ Hekate (Hecate). The frog probably represented the human fetus, which it roughly resembles. Because little frogs, appearing with the first signs of the annual Nile Flood, were heralds of life-giving fertility in Egypt, people placed frog amulets on mummies to help them find rebirth. Mother Hekit’s “Amulet of the Frog” bore the words, “I Am the Resurrection.”
Henna – Also known as Egyptian privet or mignonette, henna produces a red dye that was very important to the women of antiquity. Its red color was associated with their own life-giving “magic blood.” They identified themselves with the Goddess by staining their hands and feet with henna. This was a custom of Greek women who worshiped Hecate.
Wolfbane, Aconite – The classic mythological origin of aconite was the saliva of the Three-headed underworld dog Cerberus. The plant sprang up when drops of slaver fell across the fields when Cerberus was dragged up to the earth’s surface by Hercules. Because it was originally sacred to Hecate, the queen of the underworld, the plant used to be called hecateis
Willow – Willow wands are used for divination and casting of the circle. The Greeks virgin form of Hecate was Helice, meaning “Willow”. Helice guarded Mount Helicon, the home of the Muses. Her willow wand was a cosmic symbol connected with the stars. The pole-encircling constellation of Ursa Major was sometimes known as Helice’s Axle..
Excerpts from “The Woman’s Dictionary, Symbols and Sacred Objects” by B. Walker
Sacred to Hecate
Key, torch, cauldron, dogs, owls, wild animals,
Attributes –
Poppy, animals dog, willow, star
I have encountered Hecate many times in my life. Those times when things are going smoothly and all of a sudden they take a turn, and I have been thrown into the throes of chaos. She was there when I closed the doors to my youth, and closed the doors to my past of pain and suffering. When we re renewing our life we have to learn to let go of the old…the past. And like the three fold goddess..we have to look to the past…to the present…and to the future.
I feel she was there sucking the blood slowly from my abusers. She kept me comparably safe, maybe allowing me to go through what I did to learn my lessons on the future…
I truly believe we have to walk the dark, unknown path in our lives before we can enter the light. We have to face the dark side, and make the decisions that will be right for us for renewal. She has been inside me when my intuition was working over time.
Hecate: Biography & Other Names
Greek Queen of the Night, Goddess of Witchcraft and the Underworld. Hecate is a shape-shifter.
Hecate, the Dark Goddess. Hecate, the Dark Mother. Hecate, the Triple Goddess. Hecate of the three faces. Hecate Antea, the sender of nocturnal visions. Hecate, protectress of flocks and sailors Hecate, Goddess of the Crossroads. Hecate, Queen of the witches. These are but a few of the names that Hecate is known by.
Each of these names has a special significance to every person that calls upon this the most feared of dieties. To begin to understand Hecate the Dark Goddess one must look back to the history of the ancients. Many are of the understanding that Hecate is purely Greek of origin. This however is not so. For She has been from the begining of time, from all ages.
Hecate was a Goddess of pre-Olympian time, Thracian of origin. She was however placed into the Greek and Roman pantheons. This placed Her in the Olympian’s war against the Giants. Hecate is the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria which are both symbols of shining light. In later times She was said to be the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hecate has also been said to be one of the lovers of Hermes. “For behold, I stand at the edge of the lake to lead you home”……… One of the entrances to the land of the Shades was Lake Averna in Campania. This was where a departed soul would be lead by Hecate as they began their next existance. The hills around the lake used to be covered with trees sacred to Hecate. These were the Yew and the Willow or Osier. Hidden in the forests around Lake Averna were the caves through which one summoned the souls of the dead. Witches besoms were traditionally bound with Osier (willow). Without this they were said to be helpless.
Of all the Greek Goddesses Hecate was the most triple. She was seen in all three phases of the moon and especially the dark moon. To the Romans this triple Goddess was called Diana Triformis. This was made up of Diana, Persephone and Hecate. To the Greeks this triple Goddess was made up of Persephone, Demeter and Hecate. Hecate was depicted as a figure with three faces each facing a different direction, or as one with animal heads of a horse, dog and boar. Lethbridge wrote in “Witches, page 26” that these three animal faces may be totem animals from Hecate’s primordial past. Dogs were with Hecate perhaps from their habit of howling to the moon and their path finding skills. At times Hecate was portrayed as a whelping bitch. She also shared with Herne of the North the reputation of leading the Wild Hunt of ghostly hounds through the night.
Hecate was to both Greek and Romans the Goddess of the Crossroads, where the traveler would face three choices in their life. At crossroads statues of Hecate would be placed where people could leave offerings to Her. People would take food offerings to these statues in the dead of night on the eve of the full moon. This was known as “Hecate’s Supper”. Once the food was placed the person would walk away without looking back. For no one dared to confront the Goddess face to face. Hecate’s annual festival is on August 13th in Greece, (and that of Diana on the same day in Rome). This annual festival was done in honor of Hecate in hopes of averting the harvest destroying storms which the moon would send around that time of year.
Hecate was also known to haunt graveyards as She would lead the souls of the departed across the lake. She also would haunt the scenes of crimes as a Goddess of explanation and purification. Hecate is the Dark Mother in both the positive and the negative sense. She can send demons to torment men’s dreams. She has also been known to drive men mad if they are not well integrated enough to cope with Her. But to those that dare to welcome Her, She brings creative inspiration. To this She is known as Hecate Antea, the sender of nocturnal visions. She also has a son that many do not know of. He is Museos, the Muse-Man. It is also legend that Hecate is the Mother of Marianina, who rose for a time to become Marianina, goddess of the sea. The Greeks would use for divination an instrument called “Hecate’s Circle”. This was a golden circle with a sapphire hidden inside of it. This was Her “mysterious moon” concealing the bright seed of understanding. Her symbol is the torch. For She, the Dark Mother, holds the light which illuminates the unconscious and reveals its treasures. Thus we are given the statement of….”In the shadows there is great light”…. Shakespeare used Hecate in his works. His witches’ deity was not Satan as some modern authorities claim, but the Dark Goddess. For She had the power and wisdom to pierce the darkness, bring visions, call back from the past, illuminate the present and give warning or promise of the future. The Goddess of moonlit crossroads, Hecate of the Three Faces.
Other Names and Titles
Like many goddesses she who’s name means
“The From-a-far-Powerful” had many names and titles.
Chtonian (Earth/Underworldgoddess),
Crataeis (the Mighty One),
Enodia (Goddess of the paths)
Antania (Enemy of mankind),
Kurotrophos (Nurse of the Children and Protectress of mankind),
Artemis of the crossroads
Propylaia (the one before the gate)
Propolos (the attendant who leads)
Phosphoros (the light-bringer)
Soteira (“Saviour”)
Prytania (invincible Queen of the Dead)
Trioditis (gr.) Trivia (latin: Goddess of Three Roads)
Klêidouchos (Keeper of the Keys)
Tricephalus or Triceps (The Three-Headed)
Hecate – High Priestess
Priestesses of Hecate
According to Euripides in “Iphigeneia in Tauris” “Iphigeneia was a priestess of the goddess, worshipped in Tauri.
Circe (Kirke), the mighty hag in the Odyssee (Homer) was believed to have been a priestess of Hecate too.
Medea was also a priestess of Hecate and a mighty witch which is told in the Argonautica-Book. She called upon Hecates name in Colchis and Corinth to guide her:
Medea then going from chamber to chamber in search of her sister, for Hera detained her within that day; but beforetime she was not wont to haunt the palace, but all day long was busied in Hecate’s temple, since she herself was the priestess of the goddess.
Medea as a mighty witch:
“Son of Aeson, thou wilt despise the counsel which I will tell thee, but, though in evil plight, it is not fitting to forbear from the trial. Ere now thou hast heard me tell of a maiden that uses sorcery under the guidance of Hecate, Perses’ daughter. If we could win her aid there will be no dread, methinks, of thy defeat in the contest; but terribly do I fear that my mother will not take this task upon her. Nevertheless I will go back again to entreat her, for a common destruction overhangs us all.” (ll. 475-483)
And again:
“My friends, this indeed is left us at the last. But I deem that there will come to you some timely aid from my mother. Wherefore, eager though ye be, refrain and abide in your ship a little longer as before, for it is better to forbear than recklessly to choose an evil fate. There is a maiden, nurtured in the halls of Aeetes, whom the goddess Hecate taught to handle magic herbs with exceeding skill all that the land and flowing waters produce. (THE ARGONAUTICA BOOK III , here: ll. 523-539)
Medea as priestess of Hecate, worshipping her with sacrifice:
For Medea bade them land and propitiate Hecate with sacrifice. Now all that the maiden prepared for offering the sacrifice may no man know, and may my soul not urge me to sing thereof. Awe restrains my lips, yet from that time the altar which the heroes raised on the beach to the goddess remains till now, a sight to men of a later day (THE ARGONAUTICA BOOK IV(ll. 241-252).
Hecate was the daughter of Titans, Perses and Asteria. In later times her parentage was given as Zeus and Hera.. The Greeks called her “The Hag of the Dead” . She was also called “the most lovely one” a title of the moon.
Hecate dwelt in the Underworld, but had power elsewhere. She was a goddess of the Moon, of the Underworld, and of Magick. Also she was considered the protectress of flocks and of sailors.
The owl was her messenger, and the willow was her tree. And she rode a chariot pulled by dragons.
Hecate was also considered the goddess of crossroads. She belonged to the class of torch bearing deities, and was conceived as carrying a burning torch to suit the belief that she was the nocturnal goddess of the moon and a huntress who knew her way into the realm of spirits. She was depicted wearing a gleaming headdress of stars. All the secret powers of Nature were at her command. She had control over birth, life, and death. Because of her power in the three areas of nature, heaven and earth she was represented as a triple form. She was called the triple goddess. The three phased moon. She was depicted as three female figures or as one with three animal heads. Of horse, dog and bear, or sometimes of three dogs. All wild animals were sacred to her.
Her main area of work was goddess in the world of the dead, of night and darkness, mistress of all the witchcraft and black arts. We must remember that before Christianity the underworld was not the evil place it is considered today…then, it was the resting place of the dead.
During the Middle ages, Hecate became known as Queen of the Ghostworld, or Queen of Witches. She was especially diabolized by Catholic authorities who said the people most dangerous to the faith were precisely those whom Hecate patronized: the midwives. Her ancient threefold power was copied, however, by priestly writers who reassigned it to their own deity” The threefold power of Christ, namely in Heaven, in earth, and in Hell.”
Hecate was looked upon as a goddess of fertility, whose torch was carried over freshly sown fields to symbolize the fertilizing power of moonlight. In women’s agricultural mysteries her trinity took form as Kore the green corn, Persephone the ripe ear, and Hecate the harvested corn.
In later times Hecate took on the form of a pillar called Hecterion. One statue shows her with three heads and six arms, bearing three torches and three sacred emblems. A key, rope, and dagger. With the key to the underworld, Hecate unlocks the secrets of the occult mysteries and knowledge of afterlife. The rope symbolizes the umbilical cord of rebirth and renewal. The Dagger or Athame is a symbol of ritual power. Hecate was the protectress of far off places, roads, and byways. At night during the dark moon, Hecate could be seen walking the road of Greece with her howling dogs and torches. Statues of her stood at crossroads where the traveler faced three choices. Food offerings called “Hecate’s Supper” were left there late at night on the eve of the full Moon. The person leaving the food walked away without looking back, for they were afraid to confront the goddess face to face. This was a way of honoring the threefold goddess where on could look three ways at once. Hecate was accompanied by her dogs, Hermes, and her priestesses, Circe and Medea who it is said in some histories were Hecate’s daughters. Her dog, who was her sacred animal had been offered to her as a sacrifice. The appearance of black howling dogs at night meant that Hecate was near, and their barking announced her approach.
Then, earth began to bellow, trees to dance And howling dogs in glimmering light advance Ere Hecate came.
-Aeneid, Book VL (Dryden)
Hecate and her dogs are said to journey over the graves of the dead to search for souls of the departed and they carry them to refuge in the underworld. Hecate also enjoyed the company of the Furies. It is said that the Furies hounded and punished offenders who broke the taboo of insult, disobedience, or violence to a mother.
Festivals
A festival was held every year in the island of Aegina. Mystery rites were held in her behalf. Another festival was held on August 13 in Greece at the House of Storms and Fertility. It was held to aid in keeping the harvest storms from destroying the harvest.
And still another was Hallowmas held on October 31 to honor Hecate at a time when the veil between the world was the thinnest.
In Italy by the lake of Avernus, there was a scared dark grove of Hecate. In private worship to her followers were offered Hecates suppers. The leftovers were placed outdoors as offerings to this goddess and her hounds.
Hecate Ritual
Taken from “Moon Magick” by D.J. Conway
Your will need a ritual dagger, small cauldron, an apple, a piece of black cloth, and a small bit of salt, in addition to any other ritual items you use. Put the apple in the cauldron and cover the cauldron with the black cloth. Cast your circle. With the wand tap the cauldron five times and say:
Hecate, Wise one, I ask your blessings. Lift the Veil for me that I may greet my spirit helpers,
Long-ago friends from other lives, and those who are new.
Let only those who wish me well enter within this sacred place.
Uncover the cauldron. Take out the apple, raise it in offering, and lay it on the altar.
Hecate, your Magick cauldron is the well of death and rebirth
An experience each of us under goes again and again. Let there be no fear in me, for I know your gentleness, Here is your secret symbol of life in death
Cut the apple crosswise with the dagger. Contemplate the revealed pentagram in the core. Put the two halves of the apple back into the cauldron and cover them again with the black cloth.
Only the initiated may know your hidden Mysteries. Only the true seekers may find the spiral way. Only those who know your many secret faces May find the Light that leads to the Inner Way.
Put a pinch of salt on your tongue:
I am mortal, yet immortal. There is no end to life, only new beginnings. I walk beside the Goddess in her many forms. Therefore, I have nothing to fear. Open my mind and heart and soul To the Deep Mysteries of the Cauldron, O Hecate.
Do a meditation on seeking the Dark Moon goddess. Listen to her messages. Be aware of any new guides and teacher who may come through to help you.
So Mote It Be
Lo, I am with you, moved by your prayers, I who am the mother of the universe, the mistress of all elements, the first offspring of time, the highest of all deities, the queen of the souls, foremost of the heavenly beings, the single form that fuses all gods and goddesses; I who order by my will the starry heights of heaven, the healing-giving breezes of the sea, and the awful silences of those in the underworld: My single godhead is adored by the whole world in varied forms, in differing rites and with many diverse names. Apuleius Metamorphoses Book 11, 5
In my many years of study and growth I have met many great teachers. It has been during this time that I learned of the many paths that we all follow. Each path takes us on a new adventure in becoming one with the Universe. Along the path of Hecate I have found numerous traditions that branch off from Her greatness.
For us to truly find growth and wisdom we must learn to understand and accept each other.
The time is at hand for us all, each coven, circle, grove and solitary to join hands united as one.
May our circle grow ever stronger.
So mote it be
Hecate – In The Greek Pantheon
Relations in the Greek Pantheon
Hecate is a pre-olympian greek earth goddess. It is certain that her origin is Asia Minor (Karia). The greek sources don’t have a similar story of her parents or her relations in the greek pantheon: Sometimes Hecate is a Titaness , daughter of Perses and Asteria, who is a mighty helper and protector of mankind. She is a Titaness who was not banned into the underworldrealms after their defeat through the Olympians, because she was the only Titan that aided Zeus.
It is also told that she is the daughter of Demeter or Pheraia, which appears understandable due to the fact, that Hecate like Demeter was a goddess of the earth and fertility. Or that she may even be a daughter of Zeus.
Like many ancient mother or earth-goddesses she remains unmarried and has no regular consort. On the other side she is the mother of many monsters, f.e. of Scylla.
THE ARGONAUTICA BOOK IV (ll. 783-832):
Ausonian Scylla the deadly, whom night-wandering Hecate, who is called Crataeis, bare to Phoreys, lest swooping upon them with her horrible jaws she destroy the chiefest of the heroes.
But most sources agree that she is a goddess, who was never part of the Olymp or the olympian family, but still powerful and worshipped. She aided Demeter with news about her robbed daughter Persephone:
But when the tenth enlightening dawn had come, Hecate, with a torch in her hands, met her, and spoke to her and told her news: (ll. 54-58) `Queenly Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of good gifts, what god of heaven or what mortal man has rapt away Persephone and pierced with sorrow your dear heart? For I heard her voice, yet saw not with my eyes who it was. But I tell you truly and shortly all I know.’ (ll. 59-73) So, then, said Hecate. And the daughter of rich-haired Rhea answered her not, but sped swiftly with her, holding flaming torches in her hands. (Homeric Hymns).
Leads Persephone back from Hades to Her mother, Demeter and gets reward:
Then bright-coiffed Hecate came near to them, and often did she embrace the daughter of holy Demeter: and from that time the lady Hecate was minister and companion to Persephone (Homeric Hymns, ll. 438-440) .
The close connection between Hekate, Persephone and Demeter is interesting in that one could suspect that the threesome is probably the earliest example of a triple-goddess involving Hecate.
She is also a mother-goddess who wears the lunar disk and carries a torch, referring to her role as lightbringer.
Hecate is the Triple Death Goddess, who lives on an island guarded by Willow trees. In the ancient calendar Her day is the one before the Winter Solstice. She holds the keys to safe passage through the Underworld.
As Hecate She is the darkness before the New Moon appears. She is the Moon Goddess of the Witches and Queen of all Hags. Statues of the Triple Goddess have three heads of a dog, a serpent and a horse. She has six arms carrying Her sacred symbols – three Torches to illuminate the Way in the Underworld, Her Athame of Ritual, Her Key to the secret passageways, and the Scourge with which She whips souls into Her Underworld realm. When souls arrive at the triple cross-roads of the Underworld it is Hecate who decides which realm they are fit for – the Asphodel Meadows of the Grey Annwn, the dark waters of the Black Annwn or the Apple orchards of the Middle Light. As an archetype She is vital to the understanding of our unconscious natures.
The Crone is also Mary Magdalena in Her role as the Death Goddess. It is She who anoints the Chosen One with oil, signifying the Sacrifice to be made. In paintings and sculptures the Magdalena often appears with a skull at Her feet. For many She is the main incarnation of the Black Goddess, the Sophia or wisdom of the Gnostics.
This painting of Mary Magdalene on the front of the altar in the Church dedicated to Her at Rennes-le-Chateau in France, shows Her with a skull at Her feet, symbol of the Death Goddess.
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MABON: ALL You Need To Know
ALL ABOUT MABON :
History, Recipes, Correspondences, Activities and Much More!
(A Diverse Collection of Mabon Information)
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Mabon
The Time of Change is upon us again –
the Equinox comes, the Wheel turns…
The Goddess and the God prepare for
Their journey to the Otherworld,
as the Earth and all of Her children
prepare for the Time of Quiet and
Reflection that lies ahead…
May we use this Autumnal period
to seek for the strength and power within
to assist us on our own quests for
vision, feeling, and peace…
May we see and feel the presence of
the Goddess and the God within, though
without, the Earth begins Her slumber…
Keep us in Your light…
Who Was Mabon?
by Dana Corby
Lady Autumn
author unknown
Lady Autumn, Queen of the Harvest,
I have seen You in the setting Sun
with Your long auburn tresses
blowing in the cool air that surrounds You.
Your crown of golden leaves is jeweled
with amber, amethyst, and rubies.
Your long, flowing purple robe stretches across the horizon.
In Your hands You hold the ripened fruits.
At Your feet the squirrels gather acorns.
Black crows perch on Your outstretched arms.
All around You the leaves are falling.
You sit upon Your throne and watch
the dying fires of the setting Sun
shine forth its final colors in the sky.
The purple and orange lingers
and glows like burning embers.
Then all colors fade into the twilight.
Lady Autumn, You are here at last.
We thank You for Your rewards.
We have worked hard for these gifts.
Lady Autumn, now grant us peace and rest.
Mabon History
Celebrated on the Fall Equinox.
Celebrated with wine, apples, garlands, gourds and cornucopias. With decorations of orange, russet and maroon. Honoring the aging Gods and Harvest deities.
Mabon History
Mabon (May-bawn) is also known as the Feast of Avalon and the festival of
the Wine Harvest. To the Celts, Avalon is the mysterious place for the land
of the dead. and literally means the “land of apples”. Thus this is a holiday for celebrating the bounty of the harvest and the desire for the living to be reunited with their deceased loved ones.
But the holiday is also named for the Welsh God Mabon. Mabon means the
“great son”. He was the son of Modred, kidnapped at the age of 3 and later
rescued by King Arthur. His life represents the innocence of youth, the strength of survival and the growing wisdom of the elderly. Perhaps it is this view of the cycle of life that brings Mabon to his most popular role, the King of the Otherworld and the God of Darkness.
His myths overlap with other Gods such as the Welsh God Gwyn Ap Nuad, which means “white son of darkness”. He is seen as the God of war and death, the patron God of fallen warriors. Once again this is a representation or connection to the Land of Avalon.
The Purpose of Mabon
As a holiday, Mabon represents the time of honoring the dead, visiting burial sites, giving thankfulness for the end of the harvest season and the bounty it provides. These are the themes of closing, letting go and remembering. For the year, the harvest and for those who were lost to land of Avalon during the year.
Although many view the Harvest season as a celebration of life, it is also a celebration of death. The bounty you gather from your garden provides nourishment for you, family and friends. But it is also the death of those plants and vegetables which have been harvested from that garden. Thus Mabon is a celebration of the cycle of life.
Mabon Celebration
There are many ways to give honor during this 2nd harvest festival. One old
traditional way is to visit the burial sites of your loved ones, placing an apple on their marker. This represents the promise of the Great Spirits for renewed life (a new incarnation).
This is a Celtic festival of thanksgiving, so what a better way to give thanks than to prepare a meal with the harvest of your garden. Those that indulge in wine can brew a new batch of this home made nectar of the Gods. Those that do not indulge, can brew preserves and jellies from grapes, raspberries and blackberries. Don’t forget an apple pie for dessert.
A main course can consist of meats, most often red meats. But this is just a suggestion. In this day and age of healthy eating, you should prepare a meal that fits your personal lifestyle. However, your side dishes should consist of late summer and early fall vegetables.
During your meal, share tales and happy stories about those you lost during the year. Or share your experiences and review the lessons you feel you have learned during this past season. Reflect on your deeds and actions and give thanks for the gifts you were given.
After your meal, share the chore of cleaning up. This is a way of showing honor and respect to your host and hostess. Think of it as a physical action to show that you understand the interconnection of all life and the desire to respect what you have been given and thanks for receiving those gifts.
During the evening hours you can continue the festival with a formal holiday ritual. There are as many ways and suggestions for conducting such a ceremony as there are people on this planet. But if you need a detailed example you have two places on our network to look. For a simple Celtic Ritual or Ceremony Outline or I invite you to visit our Wiccan Star site and review the Mabon Sabbat Ritual.
End your evening in private reflection. It is important for anyone practicing a spiritual life to reflect on his or her actions. Record your thoughts, your emotions and your experiences. This is the true value of your book of shadows. And there is no better time to take stock of yourself and your life than during a High Holy Day.
Mabon
The Wheel of the Year holds several purposes, both theological and practical.
Theologically, the story of the Wheel often varies depending on the Tradition. The Wheel gives the accounts of the mythological events that repeat throughout the year as well as a vague “history” of the Gods and Goddesses involved within the pantheon. For the newbies, by “Tradition” we mean “denomination”; for example Wiccan, Celtic, Druid, Native American, etc. On the more practical side, the Wheel trains us to be able to deal with death and the inevitability of re-birth that follows. Paganism teaches that death, a natural function of the universe, is a part of life; a dramatic change that is the beginning of a new experience, and something to be celebrated at the proper time not feared (not condoning Suicide!) Through the ideas of Heaven and Hell, Christianity teaches a deep fear of death, and this spurs our society’s horror of death. We are always trying to find new and improved ways to beat death, but we will never succeed. It is sad our society portrays death as such a terrifying experience; we would certainly have less emotional pain and suffering in the world if death could be seen as what it is: a transformation, nothing more.
In this section you will find a rendition of the upcoming quarter of the Wheel of the Year. Included will be the mythological lore and some traditional practices for the celebration, along with some ideas for activities and decorations.
*Date/Name:
September 21st or 22nd holds the date for the next Sabbat: Mabon (pronounced “MAY-bon”) marks the Second Harvest of the Celtic/Pagan year.
*Background Information:
Mabon marks the Second Harvest, the end of the grain harvest (which begun at Lughnasadh), and rests on the Autumn Equinox. The Equinox mirrors dwindling of life (and eventual progression to rebirth), as well as the struggle for balance; day and night are equal for a single day. The pagans of antiquity didn’t have the ability to determine astrological positions as we do today. The European peasantry, therefore, celebrated this Sabbat on September 25th; actually, the Celts marked their days from sundown to sundown, so the Mabon celebration actually started on the sundown of our September 24th. Today, with the help of our technology, we can calculate the exact day of the Equinox; the date when the sun enters the sign of Libra, the Balanced Scales, which appropriately fits the Equinox.
September 25th is a medieval holiday which the Church Christianized under the label of “Michaelmas,” a feast in honor of the Archangel Michael. It is thought that the Roman Catholic Church at some point considered assigning the quarter dates to the four Archangels, since they had assigned the cross quarters to the four gospel-writers. Making the Vernel Equinox a holiday called “Gabrielmas” was taken into consideration in honor of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary on Lady Day. This Sabbat can also be known as: the Second Harvest Festival, Feast of Avalon, Cornucopia, Wine Harvest, the Fall Equinox, Harvest Home, the Autumnal (or Autumn) Equinox, Festival of Dionysus, Alban Elfed (Caledonii, Druidic), Winter Finding (Teutonic), or Equinozio di Autunno (Strega). The full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox is called the Harvest Moon, and farmers would harvest their corps by this moonlight as part of the Second Harvest celebration.
*Meanings:
Mabon is very much like Thanksgiving. Most of the crops have been reaped and abundance is more noticeable than ever! Mabon is the time when we reap the fruits of our labor and lessons, both crops and experiences. It is a time of joy, to celebrate that which is passing (for why should we mourn the beauty of the year or dwindling sunlight?), looking joyously at the experience the year has shared with us. And it is a time to gaze into the bright future. We are reminded once again of the cyclic universe; endings are merely new beginnings.
Since it is the time of dying sun, effort is also made to celebrate the dead with joyous remembrance. It is considered taboo to pass a burial site and not honor the dead. Natural energies are aligned towards protection, wealth, prosperity, security, and boosting self-confidence. Any spells or rituals centered around balance and harmony are appropriate.
*History/Mythology — Celtic/Welsh:
The tale of Mabon ap Modron, the Welsh God, (the “great son of the great mother”), also known as the Son of Light, the Young Son, or Divine Youth, is celebrated. The Equinox is also the birth of Mabon, from his mother Modron, the Guardian of the Outerworld, the Healer, the Protector, the Earth. Mabon was taken after he is a mere three nights old (some variations of the legend say he is taken after three years). Through the wisdom of the living animals — the Stag, Blackbird, Owl, Eagle and Salmon — Mabon is freed from his mysterious captivity. All the while Mabon had rested within his mother’s womb; a place of nurturing and challenge. With strength and lessons gained within the magickal Outerworld (Modron’s womb), Mabon is soon reborn as his mother’s Champion, the Son of Light, wielding the strength and wisdom acquired during his captivity.
Also, (from a variation in legend) the Equinox is the day of the year when the god of light, Lugh, is defeated by the god of darkness, Lugh’s twin and alter-ego, Tanist. The night conquers day. The tales state that the Equinox is the only day which Lugh is vulnerable and the possibility of his defeat exists. Lugh stands on the balance (Autumn Equinox-Libra) with one foot on the goat (Winter Solstice-Capricorn) and the other on the cauldron (Summer Solstice-Cancer). He is betrayed by Blodeuwedd, the Virgin (Virgo) and transformed into an Eagle (Scorpio).
Two events occur rapidly with Lugh’s defeat. Tanist, having beaten Lugh, now takes over Lugh’s place both as King of our world and lover to the Goddess Tailltiu. Although Tanist now sits on Lugh’s throne, his official induction does not take place for another six weeks at Samhain, the beginning of Winter, when he becomes the Dark King, the Winter Lord, the Lord of Misrule. He mates with Tailltiu, who conceives, and will give birth nine months later (at the Summer Solstice) to her son, another incarnation of Tanist himself, the Dark Child.
Lugh’s sacrifice represents not only the sun’s dying power, but also the cycle of
rebirth, his energy remaining within the corn we have since harvested. A incarnate (of Lugh) corn spirit was thought to specifically reside within the last stalk (or stock), which was traditionally dressed in fine clothes and decorations, or woven into a wicker man-shaped form. This symbolic decoration was then harvested and carried from the field to be burned with rejoicing for the spirits release and Lugh’s upcoming rebirth.
*Mythology — Greek:
In Greek mythology, Autumn begins as Persephone returns to the Underworld to live with Hades, her husband. The myth says that Demeter’s daughter, Kore, had taken a day to pick flowers in a meadow when the Earth opened up, and Hades pulled the girl into the Underworld to become his bride. Kore’s name became Persephone when she married Hades. For nine straight days, Demeter searched for Kore, with no success. In misery and despiration, Demeter questioned Helios, the Sun God, who informed her that her brother, Zeus, had given the girl to Hades. Furious, Demeter left Olympus to roam the Earth disguised as an old woman, ending up settled in her temple at Eleusis. Soon after, she cursed the Earth so it would yield no crops. Zues sent her a frantic message inquiring as to why she had prevented growth on the planet. She replied that there would be no regeneration of vegetation on the Earth until her daughter, Kore, was safely returned.
Zeus immediately dispatched Hermes into the Underworld to retrieve the girl. Hades, not wanting to relinquish his bride permanently, convinced Persephone to eat some pomegranate seeds before she returned to her mother, Demeter. Demeter was yet again distraught when she learned of this trickery! Finally, Zeus declared that Kore-Persephone would live with her mother during one half of the year and return to her husband, Hades, during the other half. In thanks, Demeter lifted the curse on the Earth, creating Spring. Every year hence, during her time of greatest sorrow, Demeter renews the curse, as her daughter returns to Hades and the Underworld.
*Mythology — Wiccan:
Day and night are equal and the God prepares to depart and begin the journey back to the strength and development within his mother’s, the Goddess’, womb. Both sad and joyful, the Goddess lovingly awaits her God’s rebirth.
*Decorations and Activities:
Activities vary with region and tradition, as well as personal preference. Some ideas include making a Sun Wheel as described in the Lughnasadh document. Also, one could mirror the Celtic tradition of dressing a corn stalk in cloths and burning it in celebration of the harvest and upcoming rebirth.
Simple altar decorations can be obtained by taking a calm “pilgrimage” through your local woods and collecting leaves, acorns, berries, and other things symbolic of nature’s bounty. Some chose to sprinkle Autumn leaves around the house and on the sides of walk ways as decoration, though this may not be convenient if one lives in the city or doesn’t enjoy the cleanup. Alternately, the changing leaves can be dipped in paraffin and put on wax paper. After the leaves dry, they may be placed around the house or in large jars with sigils of protection and/or abundance carved lightly into them.
Going through your personal gardens with thanks and lovingly harvesting what is ready is also appropriate. Breads may be baked in the shape of the Sun, combining fruits or vegetables and grains, incorporating both of the major aspects of this Harvest. The seeds of various plants are stored through winter for replanting, and therefore, the plant’s rebirth in the Spring. A feast for friends and family always provides a cheerful abundance of energy and thanks.
Additional seeds and grains can be set out as offering to our fellow creatures, and
provide a healthy chance for birds to join in the celebrations as well. Symbolic designs can be made out of the sprinklings if one chooses. Those less fortunate should not be omitted from the celebration. Small, meaningless (to you) packages of food and drink gifted to a homeless person will make their day!
To honor the dead, it is traditional to place apples on burial cairns as symbolism of
rebirth and gratitude. Furthermore, it is a time to honor the elders, who have devoted so much time and energy to your growth and development. Something special is in order for these gracious people.
*Symbolic of Mabon:
• Foodstuffs: Grapes, Acorns, Wheat Bread, Goat, Indian Corn, Horn of Plenty, Cornbread, Corn, Root Crops (ie Onions, Carrots, Potatoes, etc.), Nuts, Dried Fruits, Apples, Beans, and Squash.
• Drinks: Wine, Ale, and Cider.
• Colors (for those who work with Candle Magick): Red, Deep Gold, Orange, Brown, Maroon, Violet, Russet, Yellow, and Indigo.
• Animals: Dogs, Wolves, Stag, Birds of Prey (especially the Blackbird, Owl, and Eagle), Salmon, and Goat.
• Mythical Creatures: Gnomes, Sphinx, Minotaurs, Cyclops, Andamans, and Gulons.
• Stones: Yellow Topaz, Carnelian, Sapphire, Yellow Agate, Lapis Lazuli, and
Amethyst. Also, river or stream stones which have been submerged for the Summer may be used.
• Plants: Vines, Garlands (made of these various plants), Gourds, Pine Cones,
Acorns, Wheat, Dried Leaves, Corn, Pomegranate, Ivy, Hazel, Hops, Cedar, and Tobacco.
• Herbs: Myrhh, Thistles, Tobacco, Oak Leaves, Hazel, Mums, Hops, Acorns, Marigold, Roses, Sage, Milkweed, Solomon’s Seal, Asters, Ferns, Honeysuckle, Benzoin, Passionflower, Pine, and Cedar.
• Incense would include: Aloes Wood, Cinnamon, Cloves, Benzoin, Jasmine,
Frankincense, Myrrh, and Sage.
• Dieties: All wine Deities (especially Dionysus and Bacchus), the Mother aspect of the Triple Goddess, Persephone, Thor, Modron, Morgan, Snake Woman, Epona, Pamona, Muses, Mabon, Thoth, Hermes, Hotei, Harvest Deities, and Aging Deities.
• Other: Burial Cairns, Rattles, and Sun Wheels (which can be found in this document).
Mabon
Autumn Equinox, 2nd Harvest, September 21st or 22nd
Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon, or MAH-bawn) is the Autumn Equinox. The Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally, and we all take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark. We also give thanks to the waning sunlight, as we store our harvest of this year’s crops. The Druids call this celebration, Mea’n Fo’mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.
Various other names for this Lesser Wiccan Sabbat are The Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Alben Elfed (Caledonii), or Cornucopia. The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time from the Sabbat to Oct. 15th, Winter’s Night, which is the Norse New Year.
At this festival it is appropriate to wear all of your finery and dine and celebrate in a lavish setting. It is the drawing to and of family as we prepare for the winding down of the year at Samhain. It is a time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection.
Symbolism of Mabon:
Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance.
Symbols of Mabon:
wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty.
Herbs of Maybon:
Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, solomon’s seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.
Foods of Mabon:
Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.
Incense of Mabon:
Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage.
Colors of Mabon:
Red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, and gold.
Stones of Mabon:
Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.
Activities of Mabon:
Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over.
Spellworkings of Mabon:
Protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence. Also those of harmony and balance.
Deities of Mabon:
Goddesses-Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Pamona and the Muses.
Gods-Mabon, Thoth, Thor, Hermes, and The Green Man.
Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World. Considered a time of balance, it is when we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hussle-bussle of everyday life. May your Mabon be memorable, and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing!
by Akasha
Mabon, The Witch’s Thanksgiving
by Gordon Ireland
To Autumn
O Autumn. Laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance,
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
-William Blake-
Mabon, (May-bon) is known as the Autumn Equinox, Harvest Home, Second Harvest, the Witches Thanksgiving and Siring Fate. (Mabon in Welsh means son.) This reference usually refers to the son of the Welsh goddess Madron, Mother and Son. The Mother and son aspect is the most common among the neo-pagans, and fits well with in the Wiccan perspective of the Holly King mythology. It should also be noted that McCoy (page 185) claims that the Celts did not call Mabon by this name but rather it was originally a Norse festival. Though adopting other cultures, festivals and Gods fits in with the Celtic adaptability and mentality.
Autumn Equinox refers to a time of the year when day and night are equally balanced. The sun is in the process of crossing the equator and in astrological terms is entering the sign of Libra. The sun is the focal point of energy (along with the moon) and such; its life force pushes us to discover more about ourselves. This movement into the Libra puts a congenial, cooperative outlook on that time of year, just what was needed by the communities, as they all worked together to complete the harvest.
Harvest Home is an Anglo-Celtic version of the original Mabon, and fell in-between the First (Lugnasadh) and the Third (Samhain) Harvests. Harvests festivals were a very important part of the pre- industrialized culture. It was a time of relief and of rest. Relief that the crops were in and rest to catch their breath before the work of preparing for winter began. This was a time to give thanks.
The Witches Thanksgiving, according to McCoy is one of the oldest holidays known to Europe. On this I will have to disagree, first the author mentions that Mabon is actually a Norse holiday, then contradicts herself with the above statement. Actually I believe she is trying to draw comparisons between the Witches Thanksgiving and the American Thanksgiving. There are similarities, though the reason she states about the time differences are not the same. The American Thanksgiving is celebrated at the time of year it is, not because the Puritans choose that date to distance themselves from the Pagan Mabon, but rather because they had a late harvest and an early winter. Thus celebrating it when they could, survival being more important then distancing themselves from European witches Thanksgiving.
(McCoy page 185- 189)
Autumn is over the long leaves that love us,
And over the mice in the barley sheaves;
Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us,
And yellow the wet wild-strawberry leaves.
The hour of the waning of love has beset us;
And weary and worn are our sad souls now;
Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us,
With a kiss and a tear and dropping brow.
– W.B. Yeats (page 14-15)
Siring Fate according to King, are claims that this is the true name of Mabon. Using Greek Mythology, the story of Persephone and Madron and Mabon. Claiming that the name Mabon is the son’s name, not the Sabbats. He bases his claim on the fact that, Mabon, mates with his mother Madron, thus siring the new season. He uses the story of Persephone to back up his assertion, stating that when Persephone leaves her mother to be with Hades, the new season begins. While there may be similarities to these myths, King is making the common mistake of associating cultures based on similarities rather than the uniqueness of each myth, or culture. He Claims, as did Caesar and others, that the Celts, Gods, heroes, Legends and Myths, were in actuality Greco-Roman.
Mabon is a celebration of life and death, and giving of life again, the cycle of the
seasons. Mabon is a time to enjoy the fruits of a hard year’s labor, to stock up for the long winter. No matter how you celebrate Mabon, or how it came about, or whatever it’s true name may be, it is important to know that Mabon a time for giving thanks.
FOODS
Roast Mutton
1 Lam leg 7-8 pounds
2 teaspoons dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 clove of garlic
Set oven at 325 F, for 3 1/2 hours for well done.
Sprinkle roast with seasonings, take knife and make several small insertions, place pieces of garlic in Roast. (Remove cloves before serving.) Place lamb, fat side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan.
Roast till desired pink(ness). 7-9 lb.: rare: 15-20 minutes, Medium: 20-25 minutes, well: 25-30 minutes per pound.
New Small Potatoes
Wash potatoes lightly and leave whole. Heat 1 inch salted water to boiling. Add potatoes.
Cover and heat to a boil; reduce heat. Boil to tender, 20-25 minutes; drain, and butter.
Citrus Salad
1 1/2 cups of boiling water
1 package (6 ounces) lemon flavored gelatin
2 cups ginger ale, chilled
4 oranges
2 grapefruit
Pour boiling water on gelatin; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Stir in ginger ale.
Refrigerate until slightly thickened.
Pare and section oranges and grapefruit. Cut sections into 1-inch pieces; stir into
gelatin mixture. Pour into 8-cup mold. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours; unmold. Garnish with additional orange sections and salad greens if desired.
Rum Cracker Torte
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon rum flavoring
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup fine graham crackers
1 cup of finely chopped nuts
1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate, grated
Rum-flavored Whipped Cream
Heat oven to 350 F. line bottoms of 2 round pans, 8 or 9X1 1/2 inches with aluminum foil.
Beat eggs whites in 21/2-quart bowl until foamy. Beat in 1/2 cup of sugar. 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beat until stiff and glossy. Beat egg yolks, oil and rum flavoring in 11/2 quart on low speed until blended. Add 1/2 cup of sugar. Flour baking powder, cinnamon and cloves; beat on medium speed 1 minute. Fold egg yolk mixture into egg whites. Fold in cracker crumbs, nuts and chocolate. Pour into pans.
Bake until top springs back when touched lightly, 30-35 minutes. Cool ten minutes. Loosen edge layers with knife; invert pan and hit sharply on table. (Cake will drop out) Remove foil; cool completely.
Split cake to make four layers. Fill layers and frost torte with Rum Flavored Whipped Cream. Refrigerate for at least 7 hours.
Rum-flavored Whipped Cream
Beat 2 cups of chilled whipping cream, 1.2 cup powered sugar and 2 teaspoons of rum flavoring in chilled bowl till stiff.
The above Article by Gordon Ireland
Mabon Incense Recipe
Mabon is the time of the autumnal equinox and coming up soon (September 22nd, 2008). Here is a great incense recipe to celebrate this time of year:
Mabon Incense
Recipe by Scott Cunningham
2 parts Frankincense
1 part Sandalwood
1 part Cypress
1 part Juniper
1 part Pine
1/2 part Oakmoss (or a few drops Oakmoss bouquet)
1 pinch pulverized Oak leaf
Burn during Autumnal Equinox, September 22nd, 2009, or around that time to attune with the change of the seasons.
(This ‘Mabon Incense’ recipe is from “The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews” by Scott Cunningham, Llewellyn Publications, 1989)
Mabon Recipes
Recipes on this page: Fall Sabbat Incense, Stuffed Acorn Squash, Mabon Incense, Fresh Apple Pound Cake, Wild Rice with Apples and Walnuts, and Sweet Potato Casserole.
Fall Sabbat Incense
3 parts Frankincense
2 parts Myrrh
1 part Rosemary
1 part Cedar
1 part Juniper
Burn during fall and winter Sabbat rituals.
Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 acorn squash, washed and cut in halves
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup of crushed Ritz crackers
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
11. Wash and cut acorn squash in half from stem to bottom
12. Scoup out the seeds and rub the inside and cut parts with butter
13. Put the acorn squash on a cookie sheet
14. Melt the butter, and mix in the walnuts, brown sugar, and crackers
15. Place in the holes of the squash and bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes or until done.
Mabon Incense
2 Parts Frankincense
1 Part Sandalwood
1 Part Cypress
1 Part Juniper
1 Part Pine
1/2 Part Oakmoss (or few drops of Oakmoss Bouquet)
1 Pinch Pulverized oak leaf
Burn during Mabon rituals.
Fresh Apple Pound Cake
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 cups firm apples, diced
3 cups plain flour
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
32. Mix together sugar and oil.
33. Add eggs and beat well.
34. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
35. Add to oil mixture.
36. Stir in vanilla, apples, nuts, and mix well.
37. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch tube pan
38. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until cake is done.
Icing:
1 stick margarine
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat margarine and sugar together over low heat. Add milk and let come to a full boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Drizzle over the cake.
Wild Rice with Apples and Walnuts
1 cup wild rice
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Cook rice and oil in water for 50 minutes.
1 cup walnuts
1 rib of celery, chopped
4 chopped scallions
1 cup raisins
1 red apple, peeled and chopped, set aside in lemon water
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
Combine nuts, celery, onions, raisins, drained apple and lemon rind and set aside.
3 T. lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t. salt
1/3 cup olive oil
pepper, to taste
Whisk together juice, salt and pepper, garlic and oil and add to cooked rice.
Add fruit mixture to the rice (to which has been added oil, spices and juice) and mix well. May be served cold or heated.
Sweet Potato Casserole
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and steamed until completely soft
3/4 cup orange juice
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
Mix juice, eggs, sugar and spices and blend thoroughly with potatoes using an electric mixer. Spread into a greased 9″x13″ pan.
1/2 cup flour
1/4 c plus 2 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. chopped butter
1/2 c. chopped pecans
Mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and nuts until crumbly, spread on top of sweet potatoes and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
by Stella Maris
Bountiful Fall Bouquets
author unknown
Autumn gardens are filled with the makings for bouquets and arrangements that can be placed outside or, when it turns cooler and the holidays approach, brought inside for a centerpiece. Try an arrangement with the following late-blooming flowers, vegetables, berries, fruits, and leaves:
Flowers:
Sunflowers
asters
dahlias
zinnias
hydrangeas
September flower
sage
autumn bugbane
Vegetables and herbs:
Pumpkins
winter squash
gourds
peppers
winter wheat
dill
sage
Berries and fruits:
Cranberries
beautyberries
nandina
baneberries
porcelain berries
crabapples
blue cohosh berries
apples
pomegranates
mandarin oranges
Leaves – Colorful leaves from trees such as:
maple
oak
magnolia
Leaves – Colorful leaves from bushes like:
viburnum
burning bush
vines such as:
grape leaves
porcelain vine
Hollow out the pumpkins, gourds, apples, peppers, or squash to create a natural vase for the other items, or cradle the goods in a basket or bowl. You can create a more formal arrangement by using only one type of flower, or combine different flowers, berries, and leaves to create a mixed bouquet in the spirit of the bountiful fall season.
Vegetables Sacred To Mabon
author unknown
Because there are so many varieties of veggies, only a very few of the more interesting ones…so in alphabetical order you have:
CARROT
Latin name: Daucus carota
Part Used: Whole herb.
Herbal uses: An infusion of tea made from whole herb is considered an active and valuable remedy in the treatment of dropsy, chronic kidney diseases and affections of the bladder. A strong decoction is good for treating flatulence. Carrot seeds are carminative and a stimulant.
Associations: Carrot is associated with the planets Mercury and Mars, and with the element of the earth. As a vegetable it is one of the sacred Druidic herbs of Mean Fomhair (also called Mabon).
Magickal uses: The Carrot is used for sex magic
CELERY
(Wild)
Latin name: Apium graveolens
Common names: Smallage, Wild Celery.
Parts Used: Ripe seeds, herb and root.
Herbal uses: celery is useful in treating hysteria, and promoting restfulness and sleep. It is said to be very good for rheumatism, and for treating swollen glands.
Associaions: Celery is a plant of the planet Mercury and the element of fire. As a
vegetable it is one of the sacred Druidic herbs of Mean Fomhair (also called Mabon).
Magickal uses: Celery is good to use in spells done for weight lose. Celery seeds can be used in divination and Celery is also used in sex magic.
Cucumber
Latin name: Cucumis sativa
Common names: cuke, Cowcumber
Herbal uses: Cucumber seeds are distinctly diuretic. It is also said that cucumber peel if bound around the head will cure a headache.
Associations: Cucumber is associated with the moon and the element of water. As a vegetable it is one of the sacred Druidic herbs of Mean Fomhair (also called Mabon).
Magickal uses: Cucumber is used in healing and fertility magick. For a fertility spell: keep a cucumber in your bedroom, and replace it every seven days.
Lettuce
Latin name: Lactuca virosa
Parts used: leaves
Herbal uses: Lettuce juice is useful for promoting sleep and relaxation – the juice can be ingested or can be rubbed on the e forehead. It also can be used as a lotion to treat acne.
Magickal associations: Lettuce is associated with the Moon and with the element of water.Lettuce is also associated with Adonis (he met his fate in a bed of lettuce)…. and Lettuce also seems to have a lot of associations with death and sterility in the minds of the Greeks. The Greeks considered lettuce a “wet” plant, and this wet nature suggested to them bogs and decaying corpses. In fact, in one of his comedies, Euboulos wrote, “Lettuce is a food for corpses.” As a vegetable it is one of the sacred Druidic herbs of Mean Fomhair (also called Mabon).
Magickal uses: Lettuce is useful in tranquility, protective and money magick.. It is
protective when grown in a garden. Lettuce can also be eaten in spells done to cool down lust.
Onion
Latin name: Allium cepa
Herbal uses: Onions can be used as treatment for infected wounds and for baldness. A roasted Onion is a useful application to tumors or earache. Drinking Onion juice is a protection against lung illnesses, colds, flu, and the plague.
Associations: Onion is associated with the planet Mars and the element of Fire. The Onion is also often linked to the Moon, mostly due to color and shape of an Onion. As a vegetable the onion is one of the sacred Druidic plants of the Sabbat of Mabon.
Magickal uses: Onion is useful in magick for exorcism, protection, clairvoyance,
cleansing, contacting other planes, divination, healing, lunar rites, purification and
spell-breaking. In protective magick, just as in cooking, onion is often combined with garlic. Onion combined with Garlic is said to fend off witches (But, why? Oh, why would you want to fend off a Witch?) and demons. Place cut onions in a sick persons room to absorb the illness. Leave them overnight and throw away in the morning.
Radish
Latin name: Raphanus sativus
Parts used: root
Herbal uses: Radishes are an excellent food remedy for jaundice and cough.
Associations: The Radish is associated with the planet Mars. As a vegetabl the Radish is one of the sacred Druidic plants of the Sabbat of Mabon.
Magickal uses: Use Radish in spells for strength or protection.
Herbs Sacred To Mabon
author unknown
Acorn / Oak
Latin name: White Oak – quercus alba; Red Oak – quercus rubra; Black Oak – quercus velutina; etc.
Celtic name: Duir (pronounced: dur). Duir means ‘door’.
Herbal usage: Oaks are known for astringent tonics and therefore tea made from Oak is a good remedy for hemorrhoids. White Oak bark tea helps in sinus infections since it helps unclog congestion. Acorns can be peeled and used to make various homeopathic potions used to treat alcoholism, bad breath and constipation. Acorns can also be dried, crushed and made into flour from which bread can be made.
Associations: The Oak is associated with the element of fire and is ruled by Mars and Jupiter. The tree is sacred to Bridghid and the Dadga. The Druids were said to have worshipped in Oak-groves in Gaul.
Magickal usage: The Oak is the tree known as “The King of the Grove” and was one of the sacred three: ‘Oak, Ash & Thorn’. It bestows protection, healing, financial success, masculine virility, fertility and good luck. Uses of Oak in magick include carrying a piece of Oak for protection. Acorns placed in a window can ward off lightning or creatures that go bump in the night. They also can be carried to prevent illness and to bring good luck. Oak branches can be made into wands or staves. When gathering Oak, be sure to pour wine on the roots of the tree to thank it for allowing you to take a part of it. Acorns should be gathered in the daylight, and leaves and wood by night. A waning moon is the correct time to harvest Oak.
Benzoin
Latin name: Styrax benzoin
Part used: Benzoin is a gum (resin) collected from a tree that grows in Java, Sumatra and Thailand. The gum or resin, called storax, is collected much like rubber is, permitted to harden and then ground into a powder.
Folk names: Benjamin, Gum Benzoin, Siam Benzoin
Herbal usage: The powdered resin can be diluted with water and used externally as an antiseptic skin wash. Taken internally (10 to 20 drops in water or tea 4X day) itrelieves fart gas. Used in a vaporizer, Benzoin can relieve sinus congestion and bronchitis (thanks to Free for telling me about this).
Associations: Benzoin is associated with air, and is ruled by the sun.
Magickal usage: Benzoin is a powerful herb of purification. Add Benzoin powder to incense to sanctify the area or better yet, add a drop or two of Benzoin oil on a burning charcoal block. This will make billowing smoke that will cleanse and clean the area. Benzoin, in a tincture form, is also used as a fixative to preserve magickal oils. Benzoin can also be added to incense blends to attract business – just combine the Benzoin with basil, peony or cinnamon. As an oil, Benzoin can be used in calming spells since the oil brings peace of mind.
Fern
Latin name: Male Shield Fern – Dryopteris Filix-mas; Bracken Fern – Pteris Aquilina;
Moonwort – Botrychium lunaria.
Common name: Fern
Herbal uses: The Male Fern’s root can be used in a powdered form to make a remedy that will kill tapeworms
Magickal Associations: Bracken Fern is associated with Mercury and Royal Fern with Saturn. All ferns have an earth association.
Magickal Uses: Male Fern can be used to bring luck and prosperity. If it is carried, it will attract women to the carrier and if it is burned outdoors it will attract rain. If the Fern is dried over a balefire on the day of the Summer Solstice, it can then be used as a protective amulet. The ‘seeds’ from a Fern are said to render one invisible – but only if the seeds are gathered on Mid-Summer’s eve. Moonwort is an herb of immortality and must be gathered by moonlight if it is to work. Moonwort aids in opening locks – Culpepper says: ‘Moonwort (they absurdly say) will open locks and unshoe such horses as tread upon it; but some country people call it unshoe the horse.’ Moonwort was also said to have been was used by the Alchemists, who thought it had power to condensate or to convert quicksilver into pure silver.
Grains:
Barley
Latin name: Barley – Hordeum Pratense
Herbal uses: Barley is especially useful in treating shattered nerves and is good for getting rid of bladder and kidney problems. In fact Barley is just a good general tonic. Barley is one of the best feeds to put weight on a thin horse – the barley is cooked on a stove until the kernels split, and then fed to the horse warm.
Associations: Barley are associated with Saturn and with Venus. Its elemental association is with the earth. It is associated with the full moon of the month of August (The barley Moon) and as a grain is one of the sacred Druidic herbs of Mean Fomhair (also called Mabon).
Magickal uses: Barley can be used in Love, Healing, and Protection spellwork.
Corn
Latin name – Zea Mays, etc.
Common names: Indian Corn is often called Maize or Squaw Corn.
Parts used: Seeds, silk, husks
Herbal uses: Corn silk is a mild stimulant, diuretic and demulcent, useful in the
treatment of bladder irritation and has also been employed in gonorrhea treatments. The seeds are also diuretic and mild stimulants. A poultice can be made from the seeds to treat ulcers, swellings, and rheumatic pains. An infusion of the parched Corn can help control nausea and vomiting in many diseases. Cornmeal makes a palatable and nutritious gruel and is an excellent diet for convalescents. Corn oil is used in treating arteriosclerosis and high cholesterol. Mexicans of today are very skilful in making fermented liquors from Corn – ‘Chicka’ resembles beer and cider, and a spirituous liquor called ‘Pulque de Mahis,’ is made from the juice of the stalk.
Magickal Associations: Corn is a sacred Druidic herb of Mean Fomhair (also called Mabon) and of Samhain. Corn is associated with the element of earth and the planets Venus and Saturn. Because Corn was such an important part of the food supply of many early cultures, almost every ancient religion had a Corn God or Goddess. Some of these Corn deities are: Annonaria, Roman Goddess protector of the Corn supplies; Cerklicing, the Latvian god of fields and Corn; Kurke, the Prussian God of Corn; Nepit, an Egyptian Corn Goddess and Neper an Egyptian Corn-God; Nodutus, the Roman god who was held responsible for making the knots in the stalks of Corn; Nzeanzo, the Sudan god of rain, medicine, Corn, fertility and metal-working; Robigo, a Roman Goddess of Corn; Iyatiku, the Pueblo Corn Goddess; and Gabjauja, the Lithuanian Goddess of Corn (with the advent of Christianity She was, as were so many other Pagan deities, reduced to a demon).
*Magickal Uses: Corn can be used for spells protection, luck, and in divination. Corn on the altar represents the power of the Corn Mother, She who blesses and nourishes all Her earthly children. Often Corn husks and Wheat straw are used to create what are called ‘Corn Dollies’. These are usually in the shape of a doll or are woven into various other shapes and are carried as charms or put on an altar. Corn dollies can be hung from the rafters of a house to offer protection for the house and all those who dwell within. Corn can also be used in many forms of fertility magic. One Corn Fertility spell is used if you want to get pregnant…. it requires that you eat Corn on the cob while saying:
“Bless my womb,
this seed of earth,
grant to me,
a healthy birth.”
Corn can be worn as jewelry or in amulets to make the wearer closer to the spirit of the earth. Corn can be used to divine the future. An old folk spell said that if a damsel found a blood-red ear of maize, she would have a suitor before the year was out.
Remember that when harvesting Corn for magickal uses it is important to say thanks you to the grain spirits:
“Mother of Corn
I harvest thee.
In spring thou wilt
A maiden be.”
Oat
Latin name – Avena Sativa
Herbal uses: Oat tincture forms the basis for all nerve tonics and a mixture of cooked Oats and Slippery Elm powder make an excellent poultice for skin troubles. Oatmeal is ideal food for sick folks and a tea made from Oats will clear up chest congestion.
Associations: Oats have a planetary association with Mercury and Jupiter. The Oat is one of the sacred Druidic herbs of the Sabbats of Lammas and Mabon.
Magickal uses: Oats are useful in money and prosperity spells. Oats can be used on the altar in their grain form or straw form, and Oat flour can be used to bake Oat cakes as offerings to the Goddess.
Wheat
Herbal uses: Wheat germ and Wheat germ oil are excellent dietary supplements.
Associations: Wheat is associated with Venus and Jupiter.Wheat and other grains are associated with Gods and Goddesses of death and resurrection. Tammuz (Sumerian) and Adonis (Assyrian, Babylonian and Phoenician) are both Grain Gods. The Greek Grain Goddess is Demeter and Ceres (where the word ‘Cereal’ comes from) is the Roman equivalent of Demeter. Freya is ‘The Lady’ or ‘Giver Of The Loaf’ in Norse religions. As a grain, Wheat is one of the sacred plants of the Druid’ s for the Sabbat of Mabon.
Magickal uses: Wheat can be used in Fertility and Money spells. You also can do Wheat flour divination – first dampen a surface (wood is good), then sprinkle Wheat flour onto the damp surface while concentrating on your future, then use unfocused eyes to see what patterns show up in the flour.
Honeysuckle
Latin name: Lonicera caprifolium, Lonicera Periclymenum.
Common names: Woodbine, Dutch Honeysuckle, Goats’ Leaf.
Parts Used: Flowers, seeds, leaves.
Herbal uses: The Honeysuckle is a favorite food of goats. Used as a herbal remedy, Honeysuckle has an effect on salmonella and streptococcus. It can be used as an antibiotic to treat colds, flu, etc. Honeysuckle has expectorant and laxative properties. The flowers (in syrup form) have been used against diseases of the respiratory organs and in the treatment of asthma. The leaves (as a decoction) have been used to treat diseases of the liver and spleen.
Associations: Honeysuckle is an herb of mercury and mars, and is associated with the element of earth.
Magickal Uses: Honeysuckle is an herb of the mind and prosperity. When the fresh herb is rubbed on the forehead, psychic abilities are heightened. In much the same way, if Honeysuckle oil is dabbed on the temples, the person will think quicker and clearer. Honeysuckle also adds memory. Honeysuckle is an important herb to use in prosperity spells and attract money spells. A green candle can be ringed with Honeysuckle flowers to attract money to the spell worker. In fact, Honeysuckle can be added to all prosperity incense or sachets. Honeysuckle is also an herb of devotion, fidelity and affection, and those who wear it will dream of their own true love.
Marigold
Latin name: Calendula officinalis
Common names: Calendula, Husband’s Dial, Holigold, Marybud, Caltha officinalis, Golds, Ruddes, Mary Gowles, Oculus Christi, Pot Marigold, Marygold, Fiore d’ogni mese, Solis Sponsa.
Parts Used: Flowers, herb, leaves.
Herbal uses: Marigold is chiefly used as a local remedy. It is useful in the treatment of chronic ulcer, varicose veins, and jaundice. A Marigold flower, rubbed on the affected part, is a remedy for the pain and swelling caused by the sting of a wasp or bee. A lotion made from the flowers can be used for sprains and wounds. The leaves can eaten as a salad and a yellow dye has also been extracted from the flower, by boiling.
Associations: Marigold is associated with the sun and the element of fire.
Magickal uses: Magical attributes include prophesy, legal matters, the psychic, seeing magical creatures, love, clairvoyance, dreams, business or legal affairs and renewing personal energy. Be sure to gather your Marigolds for magickal workings at noon. A fresh Marigold flower can be worn to court for a favorable outcome of a trial. If you place Marigold in your mattress, you will have prophetic dreams… and if you place it under your mattress it will make whatever you dream come true. Since the Marigold embodies the sun, it can make a person more attractive and confident. Add Marigold to your bath water to make this happen. A vase of fresh and bright Marigolds in a room brings a renewed surge of life to those in the room!
Milkweed
Latin name: Asclepiadaceae
Parts used: flowers, bud, sap, root
Herbal uses: The Milkweed root is powdered and then used to treat bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. It has a very milky juice, which is used as a domestic application to warts (I’ve done this, and it works!). The root taken in tea is said to produce temporary sterility. The tender buds can be eaten when steamed and are said to taste like broccoli. Milkweed is TOXIC if too much is taken internally.
Magickal uses: Both Monarch butterflies and fairies like milkweed. If Milkweed is planted in a Witches garden, the fey will always be in the area. The silky tassels of the Milkweed pods can be added to a dream pillow to not only make it softer but also to make you dream of fairies. In the summer when the pods are bursting and the fluffy seeds are flying across the fields, a wish is granted for each seed that can be caught and then released again.
Myrth
Latin name: Commiphora myrrha
Common names: Mirra, Morr, Didin, Didthin, Bowl, Karan, Mirra Balsam Olendron, Gum Myrrh.
Part Used: The oleo-gum-resin from the stem.
Herbal Uses: Myrrh is gathered from trees grown in Arabia and Somaliland. It has uses as a disinfectant wound wash. Used internally it increases circulation – although prolonged internal use causes kidney damage. It also is an excellent insect repellent and as a tincture it is good for bad breath and gum problems
Associations: Myrrh is associated with the Moon and Jupiter, and with the element of water. Myrrh is sacred to the Goddess Isis and is also associated with Adonis, Ra and Marian.
Magickal uses: Myrrh is used in magick for protection, peace, exorcism, healing,
consecration, blessing, meditation and heightening spirituality. As an incense Myrrh can be used to help deepen mediation and to aid contemplation. Myrrh can be used in any ritual to the Goddess Isis, since Myrrh is a Goddess plant of the moon’s sphere and is sacred to Isis. Myrrh can also be burned so that its smoke can purify and protect an area, and the smoke can also be used to consecrate and bless objects like rings, amulets, and ritual tools. As an essential oil, Myrrh can be used to purify, protect and also for hex breaking. If you are having trouble with pesky spirits or unwanted magickal energies sent to you, annoit your house both first thing in the morning and last thing at night with Myrrh for protection. Myrrh can be used in charm bags with Frankincense too, since combining it with Frankincense increases ts power. Any use of Myrrh – either as incense, oil, or carried as an amulet – will help raise the magickal energies of any spell work that is done.
Passionflower
Latin name: Passiflora incarnata
Common names: Passion Vine, Granadilla, Maracoc, Maypops.
Part Used: The dried herb, collected after some of the berries have matured.
Herbal uses: Passionflower is known to be a depressant and so can be used to treat insomnia and hysteria. It is said to be work well in controlling epilepsy. Its narcotic properties cause it to be used in treating diarrhea and dysentery. Some varieties produce edible fruits used in jellies and juices. Passionflower can also be used as a brain tonic when combined with Lady’s Slipper, Valerian and Skullcap.
Associations: Passionflower is a sun herb. It is associated with Venus and with the element of water. The Deities that are associated with this herb are Flora, Feronia and Venus.
Magickal uses: Passionflower has uses in protection and love magick. When Passionflower is used, it calms and brings peace to the home. You can sprinkle dried or fresh Passionflower over the doorsteps of your house or apartment to keep harm away. If you carry some of the herb in an amulet bag, you will make friends easier since it will work to increase your personal charisma making you more attractive and more likable. Place Passionflower in a dream pillow and it will help you get a good nights sleep. place it in power bundles and use in love spells to attract love. You can also burn it as an incense to promote understanding.
Rose
Latin name: Rosaceae
Common names: A Rose by any other name would still be a Rose.
Some General Rose Information: More than 10,000 kinds of Roses are known to be in cultivation but only three types of ‘Rose’ odors are recognized (those of the Cabbage Rose, the Damask Rose and the Tea Rose ). However because of how many hybrid rose types there are, every gradation of odor is possible.
Parts used: flowers, hips.
Herbal uses: Rose petals are known for their mild astringency and tonic value, but they are today mostly used to impart their scent to other pharmaceutical preparations. When Rose petals are used as a medicine they are used to treat stomatitis and pharyngitis.
Honey of Roses can be made from clarified honey and fluid extract of Roses and is popular for treating sore throats and ulcerated mouths. Rose Vinegar, prepared by steeping dried Rose petals in distilled vinegar, can be used to treat headaches. Two French liqueurs also have Rose petals as one of the chief ingredients. Ointment of Rose-water, commonly known as Cold Cream, is used as a soothing, cooling application for chapped hands or face and minor skin abrasions. Rosehips are a good source of vitamin C and a tea can be made of them which is good for treating colds and flu.
Associations: Rose is associated with the element of water and with Venus, and is known as a ‘Goddess Herb’. The Deities that Rose are associated with are: Venus, Hulda, Demeter, Isis, Eros, Cupid, and Adonis.
Magickal uses: Rose is known as *THE* herb of love. Add Rose bud petals to bath water to conjure up a lover. Put red Rose petals in a red velvet bag and pin this under your clothes to attract love – or you can wear Rosehips as beads to bring love to you. Rose oil and Rose incense are both used in love spells. If you wash your hands with Rose water before mixing love potions, the potions will be stronger. Rose is also good when used in healing rituals and spells. Burn Rose Petals in your bedroom before going to sleep and this will guarantee you a good nights sleep. Roses are loved by the fey so you can plant Roses in your garden to attract fairies.
Wild Roses are best for this purpose and you need to say the following spell as you plant your baby Rose bush:
“I ask a fairy from the wild,
To come and tend this wee rose-child.
A babe of air she thrives today,
Root her soul in the Goddesses’ good clay.
Fairies make this twig your bower,
By your magic shall time see her flower!”
Different color Roses have different meanings so you can use Roses to give someone a message magickally.
These are what the different Rose colors mean:
Red – I love you
White – I love you not
Yellow – I love another
Moss – I admire you from afar
Pink – My love for you is innocent
Orange – I love you vigorously
Amethyst – I will love you forever
Wild – I love you because you are fair and innocent
Sage
Latin name: Salvia officinalis
Common names: Sawge, Garden Sage, Red Sage, Sage spice
Herbal uses: Sage is used as a spice in many recipes (often in Thanksgiving turkey stuffing). It can be used as a tea to aid in digestion, and to relieve the discomfort of measles, dizziness, colds, fever, and headaches. An infusion can be made with Sage and honey and used as a mouth wash to help cure mouth sores and sore throats. A strong wash will help in cases of skin ulcers, rashes, and dandruff. It acts as a stimulating tonic to the digestive tract or nervous system. Rub fresh Sage leaves on the teeth to whiten and clean them. Sage is also used as an insect repellent, sending away flies and, in the garden, cabbage moths and carrot flies. It attracts bees, and the result is a very aromatic honey.
Associations: Sage is associated with Jupiter or Venus, and is associated with the
element of Air.
Magickal uses: Sage is used for fertility, longevity, wishes, wisdom, protection, money attraction, purification, healing, and health magick. Sage that is being gathered for magickal use should not be cut with a metal knife or athame. It is said that if you eat Sage you will become more wise and also immortal. Sage is often an herb used at handfastings since it will help bring about a long life and domestic virtue for the happy couple. Sage can be added to almost any healing spell. A good healing amulet may be made by putting a clove of Garlic, a bit of Eucalyptus and Cinnamon, two pinches of Sage and one pinch of Saffron into a small blue bag. This bag can then be worn or carried to promote healing. Sage can also be placed in with Tarot cards or Runes to protect and keep them ‘clean’. Sage can be used for attracting money and for wish manifestations. One of the most common magickal uses of Sage is as a purifier of sacred spaces, living areas, and magickal tools. Sage is often used as a main ingredient in “Smudgesticks” and “herb bundles. If you can gather and dry your own wild Sage for smudging, do so. Native Americans believe that Sage should never be bought or sold, as this ruins the spirituality of the herb. To purify a house of unwanted spirits or energy, just light a sprig of dried Sage and carry it from room to room, visualizing any negativity being replaced by the purifying fragrance of the Sage. Another way to do this is to burn Sage in a incense bowl and then brush the smoke around the room by using a feather as a fan.
Solomon’s Seal
Latin name: Polygonatum multiflorum
Common names: Lady’s Seals, St. Mary’s Seal, Dropberry, Sealwort, Sealroot
Part Used: Root.
Please note: this is an endangered species. Gather it with reverence and only when you find a large patch (take only a few, leave at least seven healthy plants).
Herbal uses: Solomon’s Seal is an astringent, demulcent and tonic. Combined with other remedies, Solomon’s Seal is given in pulmonary consumption and bleeding of the lungs. It is useful also in female complaints. It is a mucilaginous tonic, very healing and restorative, and is good in treating stomach problems. The powdered roots make an excellent poultice for bruises, piles, inflammations and tumors.
Associations: Solomon’s Seal is associated with Saturn and with the element of fire.
Magickal uses: Solomon’s Seal has excellent qualities of cleansing and purification. To exorcise evil or unwanted spirits from your home, sprinkle a bit of this dried herb in each corner of every room. Then anoint the door knobs and window sills with Solomon’s Seal protection oil. You can also add nine drops of this oil to your scrub water and wash around all entrances thoroughly. Solomon’s Seal can be added to incense so that the smoke can cleanse and purify a sacred space or can be scattered to the four winds to purify a large area.
Thistle
There are many different varieties of Thistle so these are a few of the best known
ones…
Latin names: Holy Thistle – Carbenia benedicta; Milk Thistle – Silybum Marianum
Common names: Holy Thistle – Blessed Thistle; Milk Thistle – Marian Thistle, Our Lady’s Thistle
Part used: Holy Thistle – herb; Milk Thistle – Whole herb, root, leaves, seeds and hull.
Herbal uses: The Holy Thistle can be used as a liver tonic and also is useful in migraine headache relief. It can be made into a salve for canker sores and warts. The Milk Thistle is also a liver tonic but is also useful in helping cure depression. It is used in Germany for curing jaundice. The decoction when applied externally is said to have proved beneficial in cases of cancer. Thistle was also said to cure “bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts.”
Associations: Thistles are associated with the planet of Mars and with the element of fire. Milk Thistle is associated with the Virgin Mary (Milk Thistle gets its name from the white veins in its leaves. Legend has it that one day Mary stopped to feed the Holy Child, and was so tired from her long ride that she fell asleep. The babe was also soon slumbering, and some drops of milk escaped from Her Breast, and fell upon a Thistle, which forever bears the imprint of this accident.) The Thistle is also associated with Scotland and is in fact the nation’s national emblem (When Scotland was ravaged by Viking invaders, the attacking Vikings crept up upon the sleeping Scots – unfortunately the Vikings stepped in Thistles with their barefeet and their cries of pain woke up the Scots who were able to fight off the attackers).
Magickal uses: Thistle has great value in protection spells and also is used to bring spiritual and financial blessings. If Thistle is thrown into a fire, it will protect the thrower from being struck by lightning during summer storms. Thistle can be carried in an amulet bag for joy, energy, vitality, and protection – in fact men who carry Thistle become better lovers! A shirt with Thistle woven into the cloth will protect the wearer from evil spirits. Thistle can be burned as an incense for protection and also to counteract hexing. Thistle powder can also be added to ritual baths to give added protection. Thistle can be grown in the garden to ward of those dreaded vegetable thieves, and a bowl of fresh Thistle will give off such good strengthening energies that it is the perfect thing to have in a sickroom. Thistle is a wonderful material to use to make magick wands for spirit conjuring and magickal walking sticks. In England, the wizards of old were said to select the tallest thistle and use it as a wand or walking stick. For a Witchling child, a thistle wand would be good because it might protect him or her from giving in to peer pressure. If you have a dream about Thistle this is a good thing because Thistles are good omens in dreams. Boil some thistle, then remove it from heat and lie or sit beside it as the steam rises. Listen carefully, and you should be able to get the spirits to answer your questions.
Traditional Harvest Game
author unknown
This game which is actually a fertility rite, is a boisterous but authentic addition to an Autumnal Equinox Rite.
Ideally there should be equal numbers of men and women. Children enjoy taking part too.
You will need to wear old clothes, and bring something to change into afterwards. Towels are also an essential part of the equipment.
Find a place to represent Home, where there is a low wall or perhaps a large rock which an be used as a table. It is best if this table can be approached under cover from several directions. This place is secret: the men must not be told where it is, for part of the game is trying to find it.
Killing the Bright Lord:
A sheaf of corn, decorated with a red ribbon, is taken to a place some distance away from Home, out of sight and hearing. The men go off to Kill the Bright Lord, represented by the sheaf. They carry copious amounts of ale and an old sickle. They set up the sheaf in a cleared space and sing songs like “John Barleycorn” in the most macho voices they can manage. Forming a ring around the sheaf, each man steps four paces from the center, one for each winter month, and one for luck. The jug of ale is then passed round. Each man must drink before taking a throw at the sheaf. As each one throws the sickle he must say something to the God he intends to slay. This goes on until someone knocks or cuts the sheaf down. The men then split up to attack Home, coming from as many directions as possible. This approach is silent at first, and then wild cries are heard as they reach their objective.
The Cave of the Goddess:
The women, meanwhile, are busy preparing the table. This represents the cave of the Goddess to which the slain hero is brought. They lay out a feast, and prepare devious deterrents for the invading men. Buckets of milk and water, and sometimes plates of crazy foam, green slime and soot are added. These delightfully messy ingredients are placed in all kinds of booby traps: buckets, paper plates and so on. You can see why a change of clothes is required.
Attacking Home:
Once the men have launched their attack, it is essential that they are all made as wet as possible-especially the man carrying the sheaf, for he will be the one who has cut it.
This part of the game usually ends in a frontal attack, as the men pass the sheaf between themselves like a rugby ball or American football. Everyone sings:
Let us welcome home the fallen
To the Goddess all return
The seed shall fertilize the womb
So that life shall be re-born
The women defend Home with everything they can lay their hands on until one of the men succeeds in placing the now-soaking sheaf on the table. He is designated priest for the remainder of the rite.
A harvest feast:
The women who scored the first hit becomes the priestess. This couple now hang the sheaf suitably dowsed with clean water, from a branch. They bless the food and wine or ale and are the first to eat and drink-uttering whatever thanks they think fit. Everyone joins in and you all get down to some serious feasting.
Balance:
After the feast the sheaf is either taken down and buried or kept until the spring when it should form part of the Imbolc fire. Either way it must eventually return to the Earth. This festival has a serious side, for it is one of balance. It points up the need for balance in the relationship between the two sexes, and their mutual dependence.
13 Ideas For A Family Mabon
by Heather Evenstar Osterman
(Heather Osterman is the Family Services Coordinator for the Aquarian Tabernacle Church.)
This is a gorgeous season. Nature is a blaze of color and everything seems to come into balance. Night and day are again equal. There is a bountiful harvest to be thankful for, yet we must plan for the sparse times ahead. This is a time of generosity and conservation. So, how do you share these values with your children? You can plan Mabon activities for the whole family to enjoy.
Mabon (also Harvest Home, Alban Elfed or Winter Finding) is celebrated at the Autumnal Equinox. This is the second harvest festival of the year, that of fruits and vegetables. Mabon is the Welsh God of all things wild and free. He is also associated with the Sun God whose power dies on this day.
We also give thanks to the spirit of vegetation for the sacrifice made so that we can live through the winter. The Goddess at this Sabbat is the grandmotherly crone, warm and wise. Here are some ideas to get your family started in celebrating this season:
*Have a potluck feast with a group of friends and loved ones to celebrate the abundance of the season. Feel the warmth of being part of a community.
*Adopt someone in a nursing home. As a family, take your special person baked goodies and colored pictures. Read them books or tell them stories.
*Walk around your neighborhood picking up garbage. Do what you can to improve your home and prepare for winter.
*Pick a subject that interests the whole family. Go to the library or find other
resources and study that subject. Together, share what you’ve learned.
*Look at old family photo albums or scrapbooks. Try to tell stories about each person in the pictures.
*Leave an apple on the grave of an ancestor. Cut an apple in half to show your children the star inside. This is a reminder that all life is renewed in some way.
*Bake cored apples filled with butter and cinnamon as a special treat.
*Create decorations for your front door out of colored leaves, pinecones, nuts, acorns and Indian Corn bundles.
*Take a walk in a wild place. Gather seedpods and dried plants. Sing songs and talk about all the things you’ve done over the summer. Make plans for the winter.
*Honor the birds and small animals in the wilderness or by your home by making a
birdfeeder or mandala filled with seeds and grain.
*Make rattles out of empty gourds and sunflower seeds or seeds collected from nature walks. Use the rattles to make music or scare away bad dreams.
*Look at your family habits and figure out what you can do to improve your conservation habits. Can you use less water or recycle more of your garbage?
*Make a Vine God (stick-type male figure with a hollow body) filled with foil-wrapped cornbread and sacrifice him on the campfire (or barbecue!).
Give thanks to the god for his sacrifice and enjoy the cornbread!
Mabon Celebration Teen Recipes
Sea Turtle Wisdom Bread
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. sugar or honey
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
Raisins
1 egg
Water
Green food coloring
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Whisk in sugar/honey, salt, and oil. Slowly fold in flour, as it becomes harder to stir, turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop and dust the dough with flour. Knead the dough by folding it in half and pressing it with the palm of your hand until it springs back when you poke it lightly with a finger. Form into ball and place in lightly greased bowl. Dust dough with flour and cover it with a clean cloth towel. Let it rise for 30 minutes. (Shouldn’t spring back, now)
After the dough has risen once, punch it down and form balls for the shell (6in.
diameter), head (3in.) , and legs (2in.), and assemble on a greased cookie sheet. Etch a crisscross pattern on top of shell with a knife. Use 2 raisins for eyes. Let rise for 30 more minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush lightly with egg wash ( 1 egg whisked with 1 tbs. water and couple drops green food coloring) and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes 2 turtles
Harvest Morning Muffins
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated apples
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-muffin tin or line it with paper liners. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the eggs, sugar and oil until well combined. Stir in the grated apples and carrots. In a separate bowl, sift the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Blend the dry ingredients with the apple mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.
Lunch Crumble
5 apples
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tbs. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 tbs. apple juice or orange juice
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking pan or a casserole of the equivalent size, then dust it with flour. Peel, core and slice the apples, and arrange them in the pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, salt and allspice on low speed until it forms a coarse meal.
Crumble the mixture evenly over the apple slices and sprinkle with the juice. Bake for 35 minutes.
Makes 6 servings.
(Serve warm with chilled fruit and vegetable plates, buffet style.)
Cinnamon Apple Butter (–N-Turkey) Sandwiches
9 to 10 apples, peeled and cored
2 tsp. apple pie spice
(or 1/2 tsp. each nutmeg and allspice and 1tsp. cinnamon)
1 cup apple cider
Cut the apples into 1-inch chunks. (Don’t worry about making them perfectly sized.) Place in a large, nonreactive saucepan and pour cider over them. Cover the pot and cook for about 30 minutes over low heat, until the apples are soft. Cool the mixture, divide it into two batches and puree each in a food processor or blender. (At this point, you have an unsweetened applesauce, which makes excellent baby food). Pour the pureed fruit into a large baking dish, sprinkle with the apple pie spice, and stir. Spread mixture evenly in a 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. Bake in a 300-degree oven for 2 to 3 hours, until thick and deep brown. Stir every 20 minutes.
Cool the apple butter and then scoop it into a clean jar with a sealable lid. It will
keep for up to two months in your refrigerator.
Makes 1 1/2 cups.
Create your favorite turkey sandwich buffet with slice turkey breast, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado wedges, sprouts, etc. Use CAB* instead of butter or mayonnaise.
Share the Wealth Applesauce
24 tart apples
Juice of a lemon
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup raisins (optional)
Peel and core the apples, then cut them into chunks. Place the apples in a large
nonreactive saucepan, and add the lemon juice and water. Stir in the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes or until the apples are soft. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the cinnamon and raisins, if desired. Stir light for a chunky sauce and rigorously for a smooth sauce. For a pink applesauce, use red apples and leave the skins on. Once the apples are soft, you can strain out the skins or lift them from the sauce with a fork.
Makes 2 1/2 cups.
( Pour into resealable jars, decorate to give as Harvest gifts to relatives, friends, and neighbors.)
All Things Harvested Pot Roast
4-5lb pot roast
1 stick butter
1 large onion sliced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
¼ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. salt
2-10oz cans French onion soup
4 large potatoes, quartered
1-8oz package raw baby carrots
1-16oz pkg. frozen broccoli/cauliflower mix
In dutch oven or oven safe pot w/lid brown both side of the roast, using half the butter.
Set the roast aside. With remaining butter, saute’ the onion, garlic, and celery until onions are tender and beginning to brown. Add the the thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and pepper. Mix well and then return the pot roast to the pan. Sprinkle salt over the roast and add the french onion soup. Cook at 325 degrees for 4 hours. Baste meat as needed. Add potatoes and carrots and salt to taste. Cook for another 45 minutes. Add broccoli/cauliflower mix and cook for 20 more minutes. Serve with hot bread.
Makes 8 servings
Mabon Caramel Apples
1 package Kraft* Caramels
6 red or green apples, de-stemmed
6 popsicle sticks
Melt caramels slowly in a double boiler. When runny in consistency, stick popsicle sticks into top center of apple, and dip apple into caramel sauce, making sure to cover entire apple with a coating of caramel. Place dipped apples, stick up on wax paper covered cookie sheet an refrigerate till caramel hardens.
Makes 6 servings.
Remember, an apple a day keeps the dentist, doctor, and dermatologist away!!!!
Adapted by Akasha Ap Emrys
Mabon Celebration Small Childrens’ Activity Planner
Mabon is the Sabbat that celebrates the second harvest. Along with the grains, fruits and vegetables are harvested and stored for the oncoming winter, (or dark half of the year). This is a good time for parents to start planning inside activities for their small children.
BeanBag Dolls
Materials: That one glove in the bottom of the closet or drawer that lost its mate over the summer. A small ball, some dried grain, yarn, and a needle and thread, and 2 buttons.
Tuck the ring finger up inside the palm of the glove and stitch the hole closed. Fill the glove up to the stretch cuff with rice, beans, popcorn, etc, and tie it off with a piece of yarn. For the doll’s head, place a small ball (ping-pong) in the cuff and sew the glove closed. For hair, wrap the yarn around your hand several times, tie the loops together at one end with a strand of yarn, and cut the other end. Stitch the tied end to the top of the doll’s head. Finish the doll by stitching on some button eyes. (Explain to children that although we all look different on the outside, we are all the same inside. Tell how the God/dess made each of us with love and care.)
Animal Brethren
Materials: An apple, paring knife, lemon juice, whole cloves, pencil, jar, glove, felt
scraps, glue.
Peel the apple and remove some of the core from the bottom. (Parents) To carve the animal’s face, cut two holes for the eyes, slice two triangle flaps for the ears, cut a deep “X” for the nose and mouth, and some shallow slits for whiskers. Soak the apple in the lemon juice for about 15 minutes, then remove to a paper towel to dry. Insert cloves into the eye holes. Push the pencil into the bottom of the apple, and set it in a jar to dry. To hasten drying process, a food dehydrator works great! As the apple dries, lift the ears so they dry upright. When the head has dried, use the glove and felt scraps to make the body. Glue on markings and paws. Cut off the middle finger of the glove, and drop the pencil through it, with the head attached. Have the child grab the pencil with their 3 middle fingers, while using the thumb and pinkie for the animal’s forelegs. ( Discuss the habits of different animals during the winter months. Explain why we leave bird food and other tidbits out for our winged and furry brothers.)
Edible Autumn Leaves
Materials: 1 bag each of semisweet chocolate and white chocolate morsels (chips), broad leafed herbs such as mint, basil, celery, etc.
Select your sprigs of leaves in the produce section of your grocery store or from your garden. Wash leaves thoroughly and pat dry. Melt chocolate with 2 tsp. of butter, stirring until smooth. Pour chocolate into small bowls and give each child a clean small paintbrush. Paint the underside of the leaves with the chocolate and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Refrigerate until firm. Slowly pull real leaves away from chocolate leaves. (Explain to children how art is a reflection of the true beauty of Nature.)
Woodsy Flower Vase
Materials: ¼ inch diameter sticks, scissors, an empty plastic (p-butter) jar, 2 thick rubber bands, ribbon, glue, and pinecones.
Break or snip sticks to about 1in. longer than jar. Place rubber bands around jar, 1in. from top and 1in. from bottom. Tuck the sticks under the rubber bands, placing them together as close as possible. Once the jar is surrounded by sticks, push the rubber bands to the center of the jar and cover with autumn colored ribbon. Ribbon can be tied into a bow. Glue on a few pinecones and fill the vase with flowers. (While hiking and looking for sticks, explain why fallen sticks are more Earth friendly, but if live branches are needed, to take only what is needed and thank tree for gift.)
Harm None Paper Bouquets
Materials: Autumn colored tissue paper, scissors, crayons, and pipe cleaners.
For each flower cut eight 3-1/2 in.squares. With side of crayon color down 2 opposite sides on each square. Lay on flat surface with colored sides at top and bottom. Start folding from the top, like a paper fan. Each pleat should be approx 1/2in wide. For the stems, bend a pipe cleaner 1-1/2in. from one end to form a hook. Place the pleated squares in a stack, and place the stack in the hook. Twist the hook around the stem. To open flower to full bloom, twist the petals a half-turn near the stem. (Thank children for beautiful vase of flowers that can be used on your alter for the Mabon ritual, and later a table center piece.)
Begin Again Eggheads
Materials : A couple of eggs per child, felt-tip markers or crayons, grass seed or bird seed, some soil, a nail, and some plastic wrap.
Have children draw funny faces on their eggs with the markers or crayons. Take the nail and make a hole at the top of the egg, keep working on hole until about the size of a quarter. Drain and rinse inside of egg and spoon some soil into it. Put in some grass/bird seed, moisten soil, and wrap in plastic wrap. Set in a sunny spot to sprout.
Once grass starts sprouting, remove the wrap and water daily. (Explain to children that although the egg is no longer what it was originally, it has gone through a death and a rebirth as something else living and part of Nature.)
Animal Guide Totems
Materials: A sheet of construction paper, plastic spoon, small water-based paint set, markers, paper towel tube, and glue.
Fold the sheet of paper in half, and have the child drop spots of paint along the fold. Fold the paper, lay it flat, and gently rub it. Re-open the paper and have the child tell you all about the animals, fish, and birds that they see in the paint blots. When the paint dries, help the child outline these creatures with the markers. Cut out and around the blot characters and glue to the paper towel tube to make the totem stand upright.
(Discuss the different Animal Guides, and the qualities we learn from them.)
Song of the Early Autumn Goddess
author unknown
Blessings of my first frost on you
Blessings of the goose-stitched sky
Blessings of the trees in sunset glory
And warm hearths at the end of the day.
Blessings of the harvest set before you
Blessings of the food that comfort brings
Blessings on the fire that stays within you
Blessings on the fire that cannot stay.
Harvest Meditation
by: Angelica
Please take a seat and clear your mind of what fills it now and hear my words:
As you are sitting, close your eyes and feel the yellow of the sun..Reach up with your arms and let your fingertips touch that yellow..Now, lay back, with your arms extended and become a ray of the sun..As we all lay in a circle, we form the sun – we are all rays of this vivid starburst.
Look down to the Earth and see the fields ripe with the summer’s abundance..Find your self in the center of this abundance holding a large willow basket, eager to begin your autumn harvest.
Step first into an expanse of sweet corn..See the erect, regal, green stalks of
corn..Observe a ripe ear on a particular stalk which extends to you..Under its scruffy whiskers kernels that sparkle like gold shine through. You are reminded of your own riches – both tangible and intangible..Reach out and pick this ear and put it into your basket.
Leave the corn field and enter an orchard; an apple orchard..See the beauty of these trees, these majestic symbols of the Goddess..Feel the fullness of her boughs – full of ruby red apples of knowledge..Reach up, way up, and pick two. Put one in your basket and eat the other. Taste and enjoy this fruit – for in this garden tasting an apple is not forbidden.
Now move toward an onion field which beckons you..Once green, now browning spikes point up to you, tempting you to dig below…Pull gently and the ground gives birth to aniridescent, opal bulb, full of body and character and strength..A vegetable with the power to make you feel the power of tears..Add this to your growing harvest.
Notice ahead thick bushes of ripened raspberries..Sharp brambles protecting their
precious, succulent garnets..The sweet nectar of these berries remind you of your own sensuality – your own ability to feel, express, extend all that is soft and loving and warm to others..Take your time here and pick plenty of these supple jewels for your basket.
Step away now and look around you..Find a patch of fruit or vegetables that appeals to you..Enter it, admire its offerings, select a precious gem of your own to harvest..Choose a resource to sustain you in the rapidly upcoming time of cold and darkness…Capture some warmth and light and savor its presence.
With your arms now laden with this basket of bountiful treasures, it is time now to
rest..Take your harvest to the grassy knoll in the sun just beyond and sit and bask in the glory of its healing heat..Rest in contentment knowing you have collected that which you need to give you strength and nourishment in the winter days to come.
Put yourself back in the sky now..Become the sun once again..Shine down upon yourself and your gatherings..Absorb the energy of the fruits of your labors, bless these seeds you planted in the Spring and nurtured to fruition through the summer..Be the sun..Shine down upon all that is good and good-giving..Give the light of hope to all you shine upon.
When everything you have touched with your rays is full of your brightness, open your eyes and rejoin our circle.
Posted in Sabbats and tagged Autum, Fal Equinox, Fall, Mabon, magick, Magickal Winds, pagan, Sabbats, September, Wicca by admin with 10 comments.
The Elements And Their Correspondences
The Elements
by: Midnight Aura from Magickal Winds
Air
Elemental Air Symbols
Maiden
Astrological Rulers: Jupiter, Mercury
Keys: Life Principle, Intellect
Raphael (instructor, traveler, healer)
Rules: mind, essential qualities, spiritual plane, knowledge, abstract learning, theories, windy or high places, breathe, speech
Plegmatic: Thinking; weak inhibitory
Virtues: gregarious, diligent, optimistic, dexterity, joie-de-vivre,
persuasive, friendly, healthy, knowledgeable
Vices: frivolity, boasting, absent mindedness, rootless, easily distracted, loquacious, tends to intellectualize emotions (rather than experience them)
Spring & sunrise
East, Eurus
Colour: yellow
Symbols: topaz, galbanum, aspen, frankincense, vervain, birds, eagle & hawk
Tools: wand (in some traditions), censer (arrow stabs air & conveys message Outer to Inner)
Spirits: sylphs under Paralda (very hard to see & know, teach mind control and how to level out your thinking processes)
Shortage: mind blank, shortness of breath, non-comprehension of known data
Excess: “gas bloat”, inability to focus attention, “spacey” thoughts
Fire
Elemental Fire Symbols
Temptress
Astrological Rulers: Sun, Mars, Jupiter
Keys: Light Principle, Action
Michael (victor over ignorance)
Rules: force, energy, spirit, heat, mental plane, blood, sap, life, will, surgery, destruction, purification, hearth fires, volcanoes, explosions Choleric; Intuitive; lively
Virtues: courageous, self-assertive, chivalrous, enthusiastic, passionate, experienced, virile
Vices: self-centered, ruthless, fanaticism, vindictiveness, anger, hatred
Midsummer & noon
South, Notus
Colour: red
Symbols: fire opal, almond (in flower), garlic, hibiscus, pepper, olibanum
Tools: scourge, sword, athame (in some traditions)
Spirits: salamanders under Djinn (elusive & hostile, teach power over fire & energy)
Shortage: body heavy or chilled, thoughts draggy, unenthusiastic
Excess: hot, hyper, flitting thoughts, insomnia, anger, snappishness
Water
Elemental Water Symbols
Mother
Astrological Rulers: Venus, Moon
Keys: Love Principle, Fertility Gabriel (turns force into form)
Rules: emotions, love, sorrow, courage, astral planes, clairvoyance, tides, oceans, pools, streams, wells, womb Melancholic; Feeling; strong, excitatory
Virtues: compassion, tranquility, tenderness, forgiveness, modesty, fluidity in creativity, receptivity, influence
Vices: self-indulgence, negligence, cowardice, indifference, instability, moodiness, infatuation, easily put upon, delusions
Autumn & sunset
West, Zephyrus
Colour: blue
Symbols: willow, dolphin, fish, water snakes, sea birds, myrrh, ferns, rushes
Tool: cup or cauldron (depending on tradition)
Spirits: undines under Neksa (elusive at first, flowing & difficult to understand, watch politely and learn)
Shortage: deep body dryness, hotness, mind & body feel separated, no empathy
Excess: body puffiness, sinus (etc.) flows, mood swings, “touchiness”, apathy
Earth
Elemental Earth Symbols
Crone
Astrological Rulers: Venus, Saturn
Keys: Law Principle, Solidity
Auriel (“Lord of Awe”)
Rules: birth & death, body, growth, nature, stones & metals, material things,
caves, chasms, silence, graves, fields
Sanguine; Sensation; calm, imperturbable
Virtues: strength, endurance, commitment, responsibility, thoroughness, practicality, wisdom, patience, sense of timing
Vices: dullness, lack of conscience, melancholy, boredom, inertia, stagnation, hoarding of resources (including information)
Yule & midnight
North, Boreas
Colour: green
Symbols: oak, rock crystal, salt, bull or cow, stag, grains, comfrey, ivy
Tools: pentacle, altar stone (body of Anima Mundi)
Spirits: gnomes under Gob (friendly & easy to reach, teach access to own depths & caverns & how to mine & work the vein of gold therein)
Shortage: spaciness, hyper-activity, instability
Excess: body heaviness, general lack of energy, inertia, etc.
by: Midnight Aura from Magickal Winds
Posted in Elements, magick, Wicca and tagged correspondences, Elements, magick, Magickal Winds, pagan, spiritual, Symbols, Wicca by admin with no comments yet.
Tattoos and Magick!
This was sent to me by Mulysa Mayhem – Magickal Tattoo Artist/GQ. I think this is a very interesting topic that has been greatly overlooked…
Mulysa Mayhem – Magickal Tattoo Artist/GQ wrote;
“Blessings to my Brothers and Sisters of the Magickal Community – if you have an interest in tattoos and magick then please join me!
I will be a guest on SEPIA RVP Radio on the Para-X radio network (a division of CBS radio) with host Eric Dionne discussing the Magick of Tattoo.The show will be broadcast on MONDAY – APRIL 6th – 10PM EST. Go to http://www.para-x.com to tune in! the number to call to join us is:910.338.1062
In the modern world tattoos have been commonly perceived as marks of rebellion or of identifying lower class counterculture group members. Today with shows like “Miami Ink” and “L.A. Ink” they’ve become a mainstream fashion trend decorating everything from the ankles of soccer moms & full backs of corporate executives to the lower backs of giggling 18 year old girls.
We see tattoo designs on handbags, energy drinks, t-shirts & now even baby clothes – but before tattooing was the mark of “ne’er-do-wells” & a popular fashion novelty, they were important & powerful marks of transformation and identification. They adorned the bodies of powerful chieftains, kings & queens, sacred dancers & musicians, priests & priestesses, warriors & soldiers alike. Used to bring protection, healing, wisdom, strength & more into their lives. Magickal people the world over – Witches and members of Secret Societies – still to this day brandish the magickal mark & we will chat about how & why.
Come join the fun! BLESSED BE! / 93!”
Posted in magick, Tattoos and tagged CBS Radio, magick, Magickal Winds, pagan, Para-X radio network, spiritual, Tattoos, Wicca by admin with no comments yet.