dance today with the Goddess Laka

Today is a day to celebrate the Goddess Laka.

Sister of Pele, goddess of the hula, of dance, of rain, of herbal healing and of tradition. She urges us to keep our treasures and our jounals in order so that they can be passed along to the next generation.

Her altars are temporary and are built of ferns, flowers and herbs.

She celebrates life and encourages us to do the same.


photo found here: Powers That Be

New Moon

The New Moon was last night, Tuesday 2/24/09 at 8:35pm EST.

I missed it, did you?

New Moons are about new beginnings. If you are starting a new project, a new phase in your life, or just need to cleanse and feel new yourself, go ahead and do a ritual or spell today with that intent. We are still under the influence of the new moon and the universe listens to intent.

A Witch's Primer

A Witch's Primer is a podcast of basic 'how to' for newcomers to the Craft. It is nondenominational, there is no agenda and it is an excellent podcast. (It is also put out by my personal favorite podcaster, Ariel). It is wonderful information for anyone new to the Craft, for any solitary who is figuring things out alone and for all of the rest of us who could use a refresher or just find it interesting. There is a real need for this information and I personally applaud Ariel for taking on the project.

A Witch's Primer was available on iTunes but it came to the attention of some of the religious zealots and attracted hate mail and negative comments on iTunes. Apparently there was some response from it's loyal listeners and a flame war was in the making. Since this was not the intent of the project, Ariel removed the show from iTunes, hopefully temporarily.

I really believe that this information, in this format, is essential at this point of the evolution of the Craft and I would like to ask everyone who reads this blog to help to get the word out, within our community, that this podcast is still up and running, it is just not on iTunes any more.

The show is at A Witch's Primer

Please help spread the word, and you might like to tune in and listen for yourselves. I do and I enjoy the show a lot.

Gardening by Moon Phase

The Craft, magick, your connection to the earth and the moon can be part of your everyday life.
Be aware of the mystical happenings around you, just as you are of the mundane. The weather and moon phases will straddle both worlds if you let them.

The Moon is in Aquarius today, moves through Pisces and into Aries this week.

This is a week to prune trees and shrubs. Remove dead branches, branches that cross another branch and branches that appear to be diseased or infested with insects.
Do not prune trees or shrubs that bloom in the spring.

Saga

Saga, an attendant of Frigg, is a Scandinavian goddess whose name means seeress. Saga is a student of the Universe, ever watchful and ever instructing us about the value of keen observation. She is directly connected with the sign of Pisces (Pisces begins today); which governs artistic expression, psychic abilities and sensitivity toward others' needs.

In artistic representations, Saga bears a long Viking braid, an emblem of womanhood and honor. According to the Eddas, Saga lives at Sinking Beach, a waterfall, where she offers her guests a refreshing drink of inspiration from a golden cup. Later her name got applied to the sacred heroic texts of the Scandinavian people.

To do today:
Tend your sacred journals today. Write about your path, your feelings, where you see yourself going and where you've been. Saga lives in those words - in your musings, memories and thoughts - guiding them to the paper to inspire you now and in the future.

from 365 Goddess by Patricia Telesco

New Podcasts!

I found two great new pagan podcasts last night. I went through most of the pagan podcasts on iTunes to see was what current and find any new ones. My life is not really as boring as that sounds, this is a project that I promised that I would do......ummm....a while ago.

I found two new podcasts. OK, one new podcast and one that started at the beginning of December, but it is new to me. I also found several that I had never heard of that were only one or two episodes, early in 08 or even earlier. Some of these had great first shows, it is a shame that they did not continue.
So...what I found last night....


First up:
Foxtayle's Proud Pagan Podcast. This one is going to be great (assuming it continues).
Foxtayle has a great conversational style and interesting things to share. Only one episode out so far, I am waiting for the next. Her's are scheduled for the dark moons. You can contact Foxtayle through her website.



And second:
The other, that started in December, is Lakefront Pagan Voice hosted by Scarlet. She is doing an every other week podcast and has some interesting topics. She is also laying it all out there, revealing her own personal feelings about the topics. This one will be good also. The only drawback to this podcast is that, as far as I can tell, you can only contact her if you join Facebook, My Space or PodBean. So I was not able to leave her a comment. If anyone has any other info, please let me know.

I have added both of them to my list in the sidebar. Speaking of that, I am going to be cleaning up the sidebar list. Any podcast that hasn't has a new episode in 6 months is coming off of the list. There are several now defunct podcasts that are well worth listening to, and they are available on iTunes for anyone interested to find. I am going to keep my list focused on current casts and the ones that I personally listen to. The list of pagan podcasts is growing and I think that is absolutely wonderful, but I can't honestly recommend them all and I am going to limit the list to those that I can. No offense to anyone, but there are a couple that I do not care for and there are several, perhaps many, that I like but I simply do not have the time to listen to. I recommend iTunes for a (hopefully) complete list. Also, Hedonsdog's index list will be a more complete list.

of Valentine and Lupa

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial — which probably occurred around 270 A.D — others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. www.history.com

Many Christian celebrations occur at the same time as the earlier Pagan rituals. Sometimes this was a deliberate attempt to co-opt the festivities, other times seasonal celebrations were celebrated by all regardless of religion. Since there are conflicting stories about exactly who Valentine was, if he existed at all, this celebration may have been an attempt to distract the population from their rural roots and turn attention to the church.

Regardless of the intent, mid February has been dedicated to the idea of love, fertility and spring since very early times, under various names and with diverse customs.

Romans sacrificed a female wolf to Lupa (the she wolf who nursed Remus and Romulus) to petition for fertility. Valentine apparently was good with letters and poetry. Modern witches put 5 bay leaves in their pillow to dream about future lovers.

If you want to bring Venus into your relationship, find a tall tree with a large rock nearby and sit there with your lover. Venus will visit while you are there, sharing her lusty joy with you.

Full Moon, Storm Moon

The February full moon is the Storm Moon, sometimes called the Death Moon. Solstice has passed, Imbolc with its hopeful signs of spring has come and gone, but still winter is dangerous at this time of year. In a good year this moon was a time to ask the Goddess for fertility, in a bad year this was the time to ask for strength to overcome hardship.

The full moon here tonight was beautiful, skipping through the light cloud cover, surrounded by a pink ring, colorful and breathtaking. Our winter has been mild so far and the full moons visible in all her glory.

The Storm Moon is full on Monday, February 9 at 9:49am EST