The Life of a Witch

MABON - AUTUMN EQUINOX

Merry Meet to All of You!

The Autumn Equinox and hence the Sabbat of Mabon is here, the end of summer and heralding of the autumn. The following video captures the spirit of Mabon in a great way, so I thought I share it with you.

Enjoy Mabon!




Autumn Blessings,

Ilona

LITHA - A REFLECTION

Merry Meet to All of You!

Here's a lovely video from You Tube as a reflection on Litha.

Hope you all had a great Midsummer's Eve/Day!!!




Summer Blessings,

Ilona

P.S. Foir another great clip click here

MAGICKAL LITHA

Merry Meet to All of You!

Midsummer is here!

Wishing you all a happy and magickal Litha and a great summer to come!

Midsummer Blessings,

Lisa & Ilona

THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR - LITHA

Merry Meet to All of You!

Nearly Midsummer, where is the year gone?!

With the Summer Solstice and corresponding Litha celebrations (21st June) coming up fast, Lisa and me are mapping out ideas what we could do for Litha, something meaningful but also fun, so our kids will enjoy it too.

Litha (Summer Solstice, St John's Eve, Alban Hefin) is one of the lesser Sabbats in the Wheel of the Year and marks the shortest night of the year, after which the hours of darkness will slowly start to increase again and the convergence of the Sun and the Moon, with the Sun being at its zenith but the Zodiac entering the water-sign of Cancer, the only sign ruled by the Moon.

Midsummer is a Fire and Water festival, traditionally marked by bonfires and ritual baths.

Midsummer's Eve is also known as the most magickal night of the year, again traditionally used for divination and to gather magickal and /or healing herbs and plants (fern seeds, for example, to be used in invisibility spells/potions, were gathered on this night and this night only). It is believed that plants are to be ideally picked at midnight or when the first dew forms.

The greeting of the sunrise is a major part on Midsummer's Day, so with Midsummer's Eve conveniently falling on a Saturday this year, why not stay out all night to celebrate, greet the sun in the morning and then roll into bed?!

This is certainly something Lisa and me have in mind (we're sure the kids will love it!) so we will be going out for a picnic or barbecue on the evening and then make merry through the night with games, music and magickal/divination activities.

As the colours of Litha are golden yellows and oranges, together with gold for the God and red for the Goddess, you could theme any food and drink you bring along these lines, for example colourful salads with carrots, oranges or sweet potatoes, washed down with a nice glass of golden Mead. For the kids you could make your own home-made lemonade or ice creams, which are really easy to make and so much nicer than shop-bought ones (for lovely recipes see: http://theherbalchalice.blogspot.com/2009/06/recipe-of-week-midsummer-goodies.html ).

Fun activities could include a tug-of-war game (symbolising the battle of the Oak and Holly Kings). You could get everybody involved to find natural materials, like twigs or pebbles and flowers) to build a face of the Sun, or make their own Midsummer flower-wreaths to wear.

Midsummer is also the perfect time to open the doors to the Faerie realm, so go out and find yourselves an elder tree (see: http://theherbalchalice.blogspot.com/2009/06/tip-of-week-magick-elder.html )!

If you want to do divination work on Midsummer Nights Eve, why not try a love-oracle:

1. On Midsummer's Eve, place a piece of wax in an unwashed sock and sleep with it under your pillow.

2. In the morning, remove and melt the wax.

3. Pour into a dish of cold water - the shape the wax takes as it cools will reveal something about your future love life.

(from: The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, Judika Illes, 2004, p.319)

Whatever you plan to do to celebrate Midsummer, have fun and enjoy yourselves as this really is one of the most joyous, happy festivals about!

For official midsummer celebrations go to the bottom of:http://theherbalchalice.blogspot.com/2009/06/midsummer-nights-dream.html

Summer Blessings,

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - FESTIVAL SPIRIT

Merry Meet to All of You!

Moving swiftly through the Wheel of the Year, Litha is coming up fast (21 June) and we will have a more detailed blog about it nearer the time.

In the meantime though, I would like to recommend two books to you, which give you background of all the eight Sabbats and more importantly, tips of what you can do to create a joyous, fun celebration!

One of the books I have written about before, it's 'The Real Witches Kitchen' by Kate West and it is really good for recipes and "how to make merry", so click on the link to get the details of that.

The second book I would like to recommend is 'A Calendar of Festivals' by Marian Green (Element Books Ltd, 1991).

It guides you through the Wheel of the Year month by month, giving you background and ideas, including recipes and songs, for your celebrations. This book not only deals with the main Sabbats, but gives you information about 'in between' festivals, like Whitsuntide (Whit) and such.



Both of these books are good staples for your journey through the Wheel of the Year, so ... jump on the wagon and start celebrating!

Warm Blessings,

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - FLORALIA AND WALBURGIS

Merry Meet to all of You!

If you read the blog about Beltaine, you might have noticed that I mentioned Floralia and Walburgisnacht as two names for the festival, and I would like to explain their origins a bit further.

While Beltaine is the May festival based on Celtic origins, Floralia and Walburgis are rooted in Roman, respectively German traditions.

Floralia

Floralia was the festival of the Roman goddess Flora (Flora was indigenous to the Roman region, although her origins most likely herald from the Sabines or Oscans. Flora is the spirit of flowers and springtime, embodying the flowering and fruition of everything in nature, including us humans. All flowers are sacred to her, and often she is pictured with a cornucopia. Flora embodies both the pleasure of the moment as well as the promise of a fruitful future (with flowers leading to fruit and sexual intercourse resulting in babies).

The Floralia was celebrated annually from April 28th to the beginning of May and honoured the female body (Flora is sometimes understood as the original Queen of May). With its strong ties to fruition and sexuality, the Floralia were originally celebrated nude, until clothing was insisted on by the Roman authorities in the third century AD. They stopped being celebrated in the 4th century AD, when all pagan festivals were banned.

Walburgisnacht

Walburgisnacht, or Walburgis Night, is the German celebration of May Eve.

Walburgis (or Walburga) was a popular German women’s name in former times, but the original Walburgis (Walpurgis) was a spirit or goddess, who manifests as a beautiful lady with long flowing hair, a crown and fiery shoes. Her attributes are a spindle and a three cornered mirror, which reveals the future. Walburgis was involved in rituals to banish the winter and allow the emergence of summer.

In tradition, for nine nights before May Day, Walburgis, as the Lady of the summer, is chased by the Wild Hunt, so she seeks refuge among the people, who leave their doors and windows open for her to find safety from the hunt and the frost. Houses and barns were decorated with special May Eve plants, which carried the blessings of witch deities. Elder wood, Alder branches and Ground Ivy were among these. The lighting of fires, to keep the forces of the hunt at bay, was also part of the celebrations.

Under the influence of Christendom, Walburgisnacht transformed into a celebration to drive out pagan forces rather than the forces of winter, finally, in the 8th century AD, becoming a festival of a Christian saint, rather than that of a goddess of summer. (St Walburga was the niece of St Bonifaz and an English abbess, born around 710 AD in Wessex, who founded several religious houses in Germany during the 8th century AD. She was canonized after her death in 779 AD.)

The traditional rituals and decorations, like fires and plants, were now used to ward away witches and forces of evil, who were said to be out in force on the night of May Eve. Mass conversions (Hexentänze) were allegedly taking place on mountain peaks, of which the most famous is the ‘Brocken’ in the Harz region of Germany.

Enjoy May Eve,

May Blessings

Ilona

THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR - BELTAINE

Merry Meet to All of You!

Moving on swiftly through the Wheel of the Year, the next Greater Sabbat is just round the corner!

Modern May Day co-insides with the pagan Sabbat of Beltaine (Beltane, Bealltaine, Beltene, Beltine, Floralia, in German: Walburgisnacht), a celebration of summer and fertility and generally a time of merry-making and pleasure, which, in the form that it is most widely known as, is mainly based on ancient Celtic traditions.

Beltaine celebrations begin with the Moon rising on the evening before the 1st of May. In metaphysical context it is understood as the moment when the Earth’s generative, reproductive and sexual energies are at their highest.
Beltaine also initialises the ‘bright half of the year’, with fires traditionally being lit to symbolise the sun’s power on Earth.
These fires were called ‘bel-fires’ or ‘bale fires’ and they convey the force of fire in its magical, energising and healing capacities.
People used to dance around these fires or jump over them to gain from these positive and radiant energies, traditionally, livestock, e.g. cattle was also driven through them to heighten their fertility and productiveness in the future months.
The main goal of these fire ceremonies, for humans and animals, were the prevention of disease, to ban bad luck and to increase fertility and creativity.
Beltaine was celebrated as a happy and raucous feast, with sexuality playing an important role (who hasn’t heard of ‘fornicating in the fields’?).

The joyous aspects of Beltaine have been integrated into modern Wicca, with the devotion to the sun, human sexuality and the regeneration of life being emphasised. Some Wiccans celebrate ‘High Beltaine’ by enacting a ritual union of the May Lord and Lady.

If you would like to celebrate Beltaine, why not go out into nature on May Eve, with some food and drink and find a spot to light your own bale fire (a portable barbeque is the best base for your fire, so that it doesn’t spread beyond your control!). Take some musical instruments, if you have some, or just upload your I-Player with invigorating ‘fire’ music*, and dance and be merry, celebrating happiness and the coming summer (I let you decide on the fornicating bit)!

There are organized celebrations of Beltaine you can go to, one not far from Richmond (North Yorkshire), at Thornborough Henge near Masham. If you would like to find out more about this, click here:

http://www.sacredbrigantia.com/

Here's a link which gives you details of other Beltaine festivals:

http://www.witchology.com/contents/april/events.php

For more information about the Sabbats and Beltaine, click here:

http://www.twpt.com/celebrations.htm
http://www.proteuscoven.org/proteus/sabbats.htm

So, enjoy the upcoming Sabbat and the summer which follows and have fun celebrating Beltaine!

Warm Blessings Ilona
* Music tip: Loreena McKennitt, ‘Huron Beltane Fire Dance’, for CD details see:

TIP OF THE DAY - OSTARA INCENSE

Spring is finally here!

And what a wonderful first day it has been so far, with the sun being out and the air mild and fresh!

Lisa and me (and our own little sprites, called Miranda and Liam, 7 and 9) have been at the banks of the River Swale at sunrise for our own little Ostara celebration, complete with candle, flower seeds, painted eggs and incense. It was just a wonderful, serene entry into spring and we all (kids included) enjoyed being in midst nature, seeing rabbits and our first Easter lamb.

As I said, we took incense with us for our celebration, which really added to the mood.

If you fancy making your very own special Ostara incense, here is a little recipe out of Scott Cunningham's book "The Complete Book Of Incense":

OSTARA INCENSE

2 parts frankincense

1 part benzoin

1 part dragon's blood

half part nutmeg

half part violet flowers

half part orange peel

half part rose petals

charcoal block

incense burner or pot (fire-safe)

Grind the materials in a mortar and pestle to a smudge, burn in an incense burner.

Hope you have a great Ostara and enjoy the lovely weather!

Bright Spring Blessings

Ilona

OSTARA - THE SPRING EQUINOX

Merry Meet to all of you!

Following the Wheel of the Year, we have a Sabbat coming up this weekend, The Spring Equinox, the festival of Ostara, celebrated around the 21st of March (depending on the exact time of the equinox).

The name Ostara is derived from the Germanic goddess Ostara or Eostre (Teutonic/Anglo Saxon names) and was later adopted by the christian church into Easter. Ostara is pictured as a beautiful young woman with flowers in her hair, accompanied by her male consort in form of a rabbit. Sacred attributes of the Goddess are children, rabbits and painted eggs, two of which have been integrated into the 'christian' celebrations of Easter.

Ostara is in essence a spring festival, falling on the first day of spring, celebrating the rejoicing of nature after the long winter and the triumph of light over darkness, as day and night finally reach equal length.
The Spring Equinox often represents the beginning of a new year, in the zodiacal calendar for example the sign of Aries starts on this day, the first sign of the Zodiac.

In wiccan ditheism Ostara marks the rejoining of the Mother Goddess with her male consort who spent the winter months in death or the returning of the Goddess to her Maiden aspect.

There are different ways to celebrate Ostara, which in folk tradition was done with singing, bell ringing, flowers and new fires being lit at dawn.

You may want to celebrate with a traditional wiccan ritual, an example of which can be found in "Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft" (Raymond Buckland), which happens in a coven based environment.

You don't have to be a member of a coven to pay respect to Ostara though, a simple celebration on your own or with friends, in which you include what feels right to you is as valid.

As Ostara is a spring festival, if you have the opportunity, go and have your celebrations outside, to be close to the reawakening nature. Song, dance, prayer and meditation can all be part of your festival, as well as little rituals you can devise yourself. For example, take some painted eggs (the decorating can be part of your celebration, or prepared beforehand) and visualize your dreams for the year to come while holding one of them, imagining your wishes to enter the egg, ready to be hatched. Then bury the egg, so your dreams can grow from it.

Another thing you can include is an Honouring ofVenus, like the one described in our Tip Of The Day earlier this week.

However you decide to celebrate Ostara, make sure it feels right for you and makes you happy doing so!

Enjoy your Spring Celebrations!

Warm Blessings

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - HONOURING VENUS

The Roman goddess Venus (also known by her Greek name, Aphrodite) is commonly known as a goddess of beauty and love. However, in her aspect as Venus Columba she is a goddess of peace (symbolised by a white dove). Venus Felix is 'lucky Venus' and Venus Verticordia is the 'changer of hearts'. It is Venus Verticordia who turned into a spring goddess, since her festival, the 'Veneralia' was celebrated on the 1st of April in ancient Rome.

Venus is a goddess of fertility, both for women and for nature in general, so it is appropriate to celebrate her around the time of the spring equinox. Why not do something in her honour as part of your Ostara celebration?

In 'The Book of Goddesses' by Roni Jay, I found the following simple little ritual to honour Venus in her own element - Nature:

Put some flower seeds in a scallop sea shell and sprinkle the seeds where you want them to grow. The scallop sea shell is associated with Venus, and any flowers associated with love, such as Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella Damascena) are good to use for this ritual that can be performed either the first day you 'smell spring in the air,' on the day of the spring equinox or on the 1st of April.

Bright Spring Blessings

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/

The Wheel of the Year

Hello and Merry Meet everyone!

As the wheel of the represents the idea at the heart of our group, we thought we would post a little summary of its history and main events.

The idea of the wheel of the year as a representation of the changing seasonal and solar aspects of the year constitutes a very ancient common heritage of humanity, with its origins possibly reaching as far back as the neolithic era. Depictions of wheels in stone are quite common, and may as well represent the turning of the times (their intended meaning is not known to this day).

So, as part of an underlying earth-based spirituality, the idea of the wheel of the year has accompanied humanity for thousands of years.

In this context of earth-based spirituality, as in Wicca or paganism, the Wheel of the Year represents the major events in the natural year, such as the seasons, solstices and equinoxes, which are celebrated in eight Sabbats, the four greater and four lesser ones:

In general, the Wheel is divided in two main parts: summer/light and winter/darkness. The two major deities of paganism and Wicca, the Goddess and the God, rule superior at specific times, with the Goddess dominating the summer months (the growing season) as the goddess of fertility and abundance, while the God dominates the winter months as the god of hunting and death (with hunting having been the major source of fresh food during these times).

The eight Sabbats divide into two categories, the seasonal and solar festivals.

The four greater Sabbats celebrate the natural shift of the seasons, with Beltaine and Samhain representing the main divisions between summer/winter, light/darkness. Imbolc and Lammas mark the midpoints in between, recognising specific occasions in the agricultural year, Lammas for example being a celebration of harvest.

The four Lesser Sabbats are solar festivals, marking the events in the solar calendar, the solstices (Litha and Yule) and equinoxes (Ostara and Mabon).

There is no singular way in which to emphasise or celebrate these Sabbats in the wiccan or pagan community. Some groups, for example, may concentrate on the seasonal (Greater) Sabbaths, while others put their emphasis on the solar festivals.

As you progress on your spiritual journey, you may be intuitively drawn to certain Sabbats and decide to only celebrate those important to you, or you might choose to treat all eight with equal reverence - the choice is yours!

As we are progressing through the Wheel of the Year, we will blog on each of the upcoming Sabbaths in more detail, giving you an overview of their meaning and tradition as well as ideas on how they might be celebrated, so do stay tuned for the blog on Ostara, coming shortly.