Ever the wheel turns....

I have not posted in a long while. Much has happened and some I am still processing. I am ever more dedicated to my path and grateful for the love and support of all my good friends. We can never anticipate the journey life takes us on. Right now my house is full of the sounds of my kids laughing and chattering while they eat dinner. I am trying to purge things that no longer sever my good and are filling my cupboards, closets and drawers. My home is decorated for the coming Samhain holiday. Fall is a time of year I love, on the heels of summer it can never come soon enough. I need it cool gentle breezes, the cleansing rains and the the introspective time of healing and renewal. This summer has shown me my need to purge not just things but people, ideas, perceptions and compulsions. The summer heat refined me, never a fun. This season the Goddesses that have reached out to me have been Brigid, she is always with me in her many aspects. Athena not my usual pantheon but her wisdom, diplomacy , cool head and refusal to surrender what she knows to be right has seen me through rough days and nights. Elen of the Ways, getting to know my name sake and for Her light to shine into my darkness and confusion.
There is much joy on and horizon. Darkness and Light, I have need of them both as I walk this path of mine. To all my earthly goddesses and gods who have held my hand, hugged me, talked with me, listened as I talked and cried and talked some more. You can never know how much your love support has meant and continues to mean to me. In this season of Harvest and abundance, I have wealth beyond measure.

The end, a new beginning

People come and go in our lives. We have very limited say in either. Today I had to release and forgive people who have for one reason or another are no longer my friends. The situations really don't matter, there is nothing that can be done to change any of it now. Today I sat in my car and spoke with the Goddess and thanked her for the letting the people come to my life, for the lessons and things they brought to it and to bless them as they go. To help me release them with love and forgive them the hurt they caused and that may forgive the hurt I may have caused, however unintentional. Sometimes I think that there is something wrong with me, or at least the way I deal with new people. Perhaps this the Goddess teaching me to pace myself, open to people slowly, not rush head long into friendships and connections. Or just to get better letting go when the time comes for them to leave. I will have to meditate on that, ask for guidance. Life is lessons and i for one would rather learn sooner rather than later. Blessings for the departed, greetings to those who are to come.

Portable altar for my favorite Pict

Greetings. I wanted to share some pictures of a recent project. A dear friend, The Pict, is in the military and has all his pagan supplies are in storage. So I was inspired to make him a small altar kit. The Altar cloth is hand dyed linen, dyed with indigo. I felt impressed that this need to a be a project done by hand so I hand stitched the hem with a blessing said with each stitch. Given my friend Celtic nature and to pay homage to a lovely gift he had given me years ago. I used ogham to write the four elements and then added a stone at each direction to "anchor" the word to the fabric. Each stitch was done with intent and blessing. Knowing his favorite color was green I had reserved a dark green box and used a leather cord as a closure for it. In it I put all the basics I thought he might need or use.


A bundle of spell candles, gold, silver, white, black, red and green.
Two white ceramic candle holders and matches.
Incense sticks, a blend for peace and serenity, and a bottle of loose incense for love, protection and harmony.
A white sage smudging bundle.
Elemental representations; a small wooden screw top box full of salt for Earth. A pelican feather for Air. A tea light candle for Fire and a small white sea shell for Water.
Small bottles of blessed oil for anointing and blessed rain water.
A small silver chalice.
a bone Goddess figure and a horn ax for the God
a bar of his favorite soap I make.
Charged and blessed triskele pendant to trade him for the pentacle I had given him that past fall.

This all came together in a mater of days and was such fun to put together. It might qualify as a deluxe basic altar kit, but he deserves nothing less. I hope that is serves him well and with it he can find to to honor his path and heritage. I am proud of the man he is and his dedication and willingness to serve. I hope to see him one last time while he is on the same coast as I am. Soon he will go back to his Home state and seeing him in the flesh will become a rare thing indeed.
Much love, light and blessings to you my Favorite Pict.

Hand Fasting

My posting was sporadic cause I was also trying to make all the preparations for the Hand fasting of two of my dearest friends. It was an honor that they choose me for this job. I had more fun than I should getting ordained as a non-denominational Reverend. ( that I am a reverend makes me giggle) The whole process was a growing one on so many levels. I grew closer to my favorite water witch sister and her hunky druid fiancee, who just happens to be the brother of my spirit. To say this was a labor of love doesn't come close. I didn't feel like I was doing that much really. Just a few things here and there. Til I started to add it all up. But even with it all in front of me it didn't seem like an excess. Just what I would do for those that I loved to have the best day of their lives.

I grew in my ability to write a ceremony. It was a collaboration for sure and I did "borrow" from those who came before but with little tweaks here and there I feel I made it reflect them and still sound like something I would say. It is the best ritual I have ever written hands down.

I learned to trust in myself. I fear failure, I am terrified of it. To let myself down is one thing but to let down others terrifies me. I wanted to live up to the trust placed in me. I was trying to not sound spazzy as the day approached but this was the biggest thing I had done and was doing in front of friends and family of the bride and groom who are not Pagans. I was not just representing my friends hopes and dreams of their much planned for wedding day but an example of what and who we are to those unfamiliar with our ways. NO PRESSURE. Plus added to that was a extra sprinkle of pressure as two dear friends who had originally planned on marrying them, who had to back out for completely understandable reasons, would be there as well. So I wanted them to feel like I had done a good job. Thanks to tools taught to me by the bride and groom and the love and support of my newest soul friend, My very own Windy Witch and my dear loving husband. I was able to make it thru the set up and day proceeding with very manageable levels of anxiousness. I hope a day will come when I can just sail thru these. However in one way I feel that if I didn't feel anxious, then I don't care. The wedding ceremony went as prefect as anything should. People were deeply moved and the bride and groom were thrilled with it. It was a proud moment and memory I will carry with me always.

At the reception, which was just too much fun, the groom and bride held a symbel, a toast of sorts. They thanked family and friends for their part in the wedding and in their lives. The groom gave a lovely hail to me, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever felt/heard. I wish I had known it was coming so I could have recorded it. So on dark days I could replay it. I know that the Goddess brought me here, I know that this Tribe that i see growing around me is my reward for breaking away and making my way on my true path. I am profoundly honored by the wealth of friends I have, true friends, people who are the family of my heart.
That weekend by the sea was a joy and a blessing as so much of what we do together.
It was like a faerie dream full of flowers, butterflies, a princess and her prince.

Brightest Blessings

A poem I wrote for Beltane

She has fully roused from Her slumbers.

And longs for the touch of Her Beloved, She seeks Him everywhere.

His call finds the hollow of her ear, it is carried on every warm wind.

It causes the petals to flutter, as does her heart.

And branches and trunks to sway, like her round supple hips.

To the rhythm of his love songs She dances with growing abandon.

life in all is forms bursts forth from each foot fall

Warm love grows like the rising sun at dawn

More ardent with each passing moment.

He has found her, his love, His Queen.

At long last they are one.

All creation rejoices at the divine union;

basking in the glow of a love that burns eternal.

Harvest

Spring has sprung and my garden is lovely. Flowers blooming, green things full of life are reaching for the sun. What more could a Earthy witch like me hope for! This years spring has been on a pregnant pause and so the glut of milder and wetter weather has my plants all kinds of happy. I have been going out and harvesting mint, catmint, calendua, chamomile, lavender and of course roses. While that may seem like a lot, I have left so much still to harvest. The Goddess is generous with me. I am grateful for my affinity to the growing things the fill my world. I am never so happy or peaceful as when I am out among my plants. A toad has moved in, I hope that my new bumpy friend finds the accommodations pleasant and we will hear the distinctive croaking in the warm nights to come.

A dear friend, one of my anam Cara (soul friends) lost her grandfather yesterday. I was so glad I was able to go and be with her as she paid her respects and offer a bit of my own to a man I never knew but having lost a dear grandfather I empathized deeply.
As I was putting into jars today, the herbs I have gathered up and dried, something struck me. Like these beautiful plants, we all will one day meet our end; and like these potent herbs not all we are ends when our life ends. I will use what remain of these plants to heal, soothe, nourish, bless and purify. Just as we ourselves and those we love can continue to influence, guide, protect, heal, and sooth others when we have laid our mortal bodies aside. To those plants who give of their lives so that I might live better I offer my gratitude and love. To my loved ones who have passed on, and continue to love, guide, protect and inspire, I offer my love and gratitude. From the Goddess we come,and to the Goddess we return. Blessed be.

Prima

So here it is, my blog! I wanted to lend my voice to the chorus of voices out there calling out their tales to the fours winds. So that others like me will know that we who walk a different path than most are not alone. I hope that what I post here will help you and maybe inspire you and on occasion, make you laugh. There will be typos and spelling mistakes. You have been warned. Brightest Blessings.