a cornerstone?

Horatio did not much like being confronted by a ghost.  And he did not much like Hamlet saying to him:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

I think that somehow this must be a tenet of Paganism.

Isn't the unknown, unrecognized, undreamed of possibilities....what we are all about?

June Full Moon

The June Full Moon is at 7:30 am EDT.  
There is also a partial lunar eclipse earlier in the morning and visible from the Pacific.

Lover's Moon, Strawberry Moon, Rose Moon, Honey Moon, Flower Moon

Unlike some of the winter full moons, it seems that everyone wanted to name this moon.  But all names are about good things, abundance, beauty, love. 
Now is the time to take care of your garden, your job, your family, the things that are important to you.

This Full Moon feel like a good time to share ritual with friends.  The coven that I occasionally circle with is, I think, out on the mountain tonight.  I forgot to check their schedule.  The local Unitarian church is holding a circle in a city park.  I might join them.

I offer Full Moons to the universal energy, Goddess and do not usually bring specific goddesses or other energies into circle.   The white peonies bloomed very late this year and there are some left for my altar.  Peonies are spring flowers (usually) and can symbolize a prosperous life or marriage.

Full Moon blessings to all of you. 

Hekate

There is a new book out on Hekate, HEKATE Her Sacred Fires by Sorita d'Este, Raven Digitalis, and Vikki Bramshaw.  Cool, I am planning to read it.  But I am not building an altar for Hekate and declaring that I am now working with her as I order it from Amazon.  I follow a lot of blogs and all over the blogosphere I am seeing people popping up with this new found interest in Hekate and claiming a deep understanding and relationship with her.   And while some new to the Craft have always been smitten with the idea of Dark Goddesses, it is hard to watch.  I saw one blog this morning of a very sincere and quite inexperienced writer, who was delighted just a few weeks ago to find Cunningham's books, now writing about her new workings with Hekate.
I know a few, a very few, people who work with Hekate.  They are thoughtful, careful and respectful in their dealings with her.  Yes, they are excited about the new book too, but they are not basing their relationship on it. 
For anyone thinking of approaching a Dark Goddess based on one book or online chatter, Tolkien offered some very good advice, "do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."
Apply that to the Dark Goddesses and think about it before you ask one of them to dance. 

Mineral and Crystals

I have Cunningham's book on Gem and Crystal Magic, but I am looking for something along the same lines, but with more stones and crystals and more information.  Any suggestions?  I was thinking about the Crystal Bible, I have seen it in stores and enjoyed looking through it, but I found the mineralogists on Amazon pointed out errors in crystal structure, class etc.  Not really into that, but those things are easy to look up and if you don't get those right and your proof reader doesn't check, it has to make the rest of the information suspect.  I may be passing on a good book, but I would like to find something else.  Any suggestions?

Summer Solstice

BBC photo from Stonehenge, Summer Solstice 2010.

Unlike the Winter Solstice, which was and to some extent still is, a time of quiet desperation and hope.  The Summer Solstice is a time of celebration.  The harvest is coming, the days are long, the weather is warm.

Most of you know by now that I am more a digging in the dirt kind of pagan than a formal ritual kind of pagan.   I offer these few days of Solstice celebration to Amaterasu, Japanese sun goddess, who brought the dawn to the earth.  I spent a little time tending my poor neglected garden yesterday and today I am planning lunch in a park by a lake.  I will spend some time reading and thinking about the sun gods and goddesses and their role in human celebrations.
If you are engaged in formal ritual this solstice, may I suggest that you also go outside, put your feet in the dirt and turn your face to the sun and feel the life of this planet, this universe, coursing through you.

Scroll down to the next post for the story of Amaterasu. 

Amaterasu

Amaterasu

 The Japanese Shinto sun goddess, ruler of the Plain of Heaven, whose name means 'shining heaven' or 'she who shines in the heavens'. She is the central figure in the Shinto pantheon and the Japanese Imperial family claims descent from her ¹. She is the eldest daughter of Izanagi.She was so bright and radiant that her parents sent her up the Celestial Ladder to heaven, where she has ruled ever since.

When her brother, the storm-god Susanowa, ravaged the earth she retreated to a cave because he was so noisy. She closed the cave with a large boulder. Her disappearance deprived the world of light and life. Demons ruled the earth. The other gods used everything in their power to lure her out, but to no avail. Finally it was Uzume who succeeded. The laughter of the gods when they watched her comical and obscene dances aroused Amaterasu's curiosity. When she emerged from her cave a streak of light escaped (a streak nowadays people call dawn). The goddess then saw her own brilliant reflection in a mirror which Uzume had hung in a nearby tree. When she drew closer for a better look, the gods grabbed her and pulled her out of the cave. She returned to the sky, and brought light back into the world.
Later, she created rice fields, called inada, where she cultivated rice. She also invented the art of weaving with the loom and taught the people how to cultivate wheat and silkworms.
Amaterasu's main sanctuary is Ise-Jingue situated on Ise, on the island of Honshu. This temple is pulled down every twenty years and then rebuild in its original form. In the inner sanctum she is represented by a mirror (her body). She is also called Omikami ("illustrious goddess") and Tensho Daijan (in Sino-Japanese pronunciation).

She was called the 'illustrious ancestress of the Emperor' prior to 1945. At that time, the Japanese Emperor disclaimed any form of divine ancestry and polytheistic ancestor worship was no longer permitted.


This article by Micha F. Lindemans found here.

Healing prayer for the gulf

Perhaps more useful than sending all our anger blasting out into the universe.

Dr Masaru Emoto's healing prayer:

"I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings. To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, planktons, corals, algae and all living creatures...I am sorry. Please forgive me Thank you. I love you."

source: Donnaleigh de LaRose on Facebook

Our repeating New Moon Ritual

New Moon is June 12 at 7:15 am EDT
the new moon is in Gemini

You will need:

One candle to honor the Goddess in her new moon, blue or white is nice, any color is fine. I have a large pale blue/green candle that I use for all moon rituals.

Incense or sage for cleansing the area.

A small unused notebook and a pen.

Four items to honor the elements.

I sometimes use:

a small bottle of sand for the element of earth

a feather for the element of air

a red candle for the element of fire

a small cup of water for the element of water

When I am in a candle mood I use candles for the elements:

brown or green for earth

yellow or pink for air

red or orange for fire

blue or white for water

Cleanse the area with incense or sage. I create sacred space by simply grounding and centering and visualizing an area around myself filled with energy, closed to random or chaotic spirits and open only to those I invite.

Call the Elements.

I start with Earth. If you are using candles, light them as you call each Element.

Calling them can be as simple as 'I call the Element of Earth to attend and add energy to this sacred space' or as elaborate as you wish.

After calling the Elements, take a moment to honor Goddess, ask her to look favorably on this ritual that you offer up to her and light the candle for her.

Take a few minutes to sit quietly. Reach out to the Elements for additional energy and power. Fill the space around you with their power and energy and reflect on the new moon as an opportunity for new beginnings. An opportunity that we are offered over and over again.

Take your notebook and write something along the lines of:

I will manifest these things that I desire and need in my life and I will do so without harm to anyone else.

Then begin to write down what you need to create in your life. It can be a few things or many. Large or small, tangible or not.

Concentrate on manifesting these things in your life without harming anyone else.

Release the energy that you have created with this work and send it out into the universe to do your bidding.

Thank the Goddess for her presence in your life and put out her candle.

Thank the Elements for loaning you their energy and ask them to return to their own realms, putting out their candles (if any).

Bring yourself back to normal time/space, ground the energy creating your sacred space.

_____________________________

On the full moon take your notebook and cross off any items that have manifested in your life since the new moon. On the next new moon create a new list, leaving off the things that have already arrived. Do not just cross off and add to the old list, each new moon write down the new list.

On her blog Liz has a cleansing ritual bath that would be a wonderful way to prepare for this ritual. Check it out at Lizzie's Logic.

book: Druid Magic

I found a copy of Druid Magic by Maya Magee Sutton in a used bookstore for a couple of dollars.  I leafed through it, it looked like it might be fun to read and there was a section on Druid history.  Since Druid history is a highly debated subject I thought it might be interesting to get this author's take on it so I bought it.  I admit I also felt bad for it all alone on an entire wall of Christian writings and one book by Edgar Cayce.  It obviously needed a home.
I looked it up on Amazon and found reviews all over the place.  By far the majority liked it.  Some liked it with reservations and a few really tore it to bits.  The best I could tell, the main criticism wasn't so much what was written but rather that it wasn't scholarly enough.  At least two critics who really hated it suggested that readers stick to authors like Ellis. 
Hmmmmm.....  I have The Celts: A History and Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Beresford Ellis.  He is the acknowledged authority in the field and I have manage to plow through these books and probably will read his books on the Druids.  BUT, his writing is academic and can be pedantic.  It is not for light reading with some education thrown in.  Druid Magic, from what I can tell just leafing through it and reading the first few pages, is not intended as a serious scholarly work, but rather as an informative and relatively easy read.
If everything about the Druids is supposed to be written in the most arch and academic style possible in order to be worth reading.......then it isn't going to be very interesting.  Even I know that real information on the Druids is sketchy at best and therefore some writers go to extreme lengths to defend their hypotheses.
I also know that reconstructionists believe that the Druids were the scholars and record holders of their day....but does that mean that everything has to be on the far side of serious?   I learned more history from the history professor who thought that history was a hoot than from the one that droned on and on about it.

I'm just starting to find things to read about the Druids and already questioning the wisdom of the self identified high mucky-mucks of the tradition.   Oh wait, don't tell me.... Wiccans aren't the only ones who go online with preposterous titles and awe inspiring resumes and wait for the masses to swoon at their feet.

Summer Solstice

Hibiscus Moon had these wonderful Summer Solstice Sachets in her Etsy store and featured on Facebook.  I just had to have one.  Citrine, pyrite, lavender, meadowsweet, sage, heather and more.  All some of my favorites.  I could have put it together myself, but as you can see, she puts a lot of energy and care into her work and I am happy to include that energy in ritual.
Now I am starting to plan a ritual for Litha and I am pondering selecting a deity that I don't usually work with to honor.  A Sun Goddess.  The only male god I work with is Hern and he is not a sun god. (a few words about Hern here)
It's early yet.  Any suggestions for a Sun Goddess?