lughnasadh

I am not going to try to top this...read and enjoy

The Gods are Bored

and I am off to the Farmer's Market.....as previously planned and posted!

I got mine, so screw you....

"The New York Times and Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox lead with new polls that show the American public is growing increasingly concerned that an overhaul of health care would have a negative impact in their own lives. The NYT highlights that the percentage of Americans who describe health care costs as a threat to the economy has gone down in the past month, suggesting that the public isn't buying one of President Obama's central arguments for the plan. The WSJ points out that last month respondents were evenly divided on the merits of the overhaul but now support has declined, particularly among those who are already insured."

Slate Magazine

anybody placing any bets on this mess?

panel discussion from the Florida Pagan Gathering

If you like panel discussions with some pagan elders, you will love this...

Elemental Castings Podcast

(subscribe to this podcast: via iTunes or RSS)

Episode #19, Florida Pagan Gathering, 7/24/09 download
Paganism: Past, Present and Future: A special podcast from the Florida Pagan Gathering. Thorn talks with Margot Adler, Chas Clifton, Gavin and Yvonne Frost and Lydia Crabtree.

separating the wing-nuts from the Christians....

Sometimes it seems easy to get them mixed up, the wing-nuts are so LOUD.
Good read on Down with Tyranny. I recommend it.

a turn of the wheel

Last year I started this blog just a few days after Lammas.

It has been an interesting year. Sometimes interesting in the way of the ancient Chinese curse..."may you live in interesting times." Sometimes in a more positive way of learning, experiencing and observing.

I have joined a community that I didn't know existed, a community of bloggers who take time out to congratulate, console, encourage and spur each other on to better writing.
I have made friends online, people that I would never have had the opportunity to meet in person.

My spiritual path has widened, taken some interesting turns, run me around blind corners into wonderful surprises. Often these experiences were prompted by this blog, someone else's blog or a comment on a blog.

I am less Wiccan, but more Pagan than I was a year ago. I am just me without stressing over explaining my spiritual path to anyone. I have a new mantra that explains a lot, thanks to Hecate.
'Dogma is not so important, compared to ritual and experience.'

The original intent for this blog has been completed, but I do not feel that the blog is finished. In fact it is just beginning to explore the big wide world of paganism.

Lughnasadh or Lammas

The neo-Pagan festival of Lammas may be based on the ancient Celtic celebration of Lughnasadh.

Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions. Both old Celtic and new Pagan calendars are based on lunar and solar cycles and but others also celebrated the first harvests at this time so it is not positive that there is a relationship between the two festivals. This is another important date that the Catholic Church gave up trying to suppress and started it's own blessing of the wheat on this day.

This year I am planning a day long ritual to celebrate the peak of summer, the first harvest and the turn of the Wheel.
First I am going to go to my favorite walking park and instead of walking fast for exercise (it is 3.5 miles around a small lake) I am going to saunter, take the dogs, watch the water skiers and the runners, the waterfowl (which will be leaving soon), the trees and plants.

Then I am going to my favorite farmer's market, which sells only produce grown on a few neighboring farms and doesn't import anything. I am going to pick up a little of whatever looks good.

For dinner I am going to cook what I bought at the market and offer the day and my appreciation of it to the goddess.

If I had my own garden this year I would offer the first produce to the goddess, but I don't, so this will have to do. And if I lived out in the rural area where I used to live, I would just walk for hours. But the city park will have to do this year.

We don't have to be rural dwellers to appreciate nature, the seasons, the harvest and the deities.

Plan a great day for yourself. You have a whole week to plan.

Lughnasadh or Lammas is next Saturday, August 1.

Way to go, Mark...

From my favorite, out of control columnist.

God is not your bitch

New Moon

Yesterday was the New Moon.

Spells during the waxing moon are best done for attaining, acquiring, new beginnings, new projects.

The first days of the waxing moon are the most powerful for this kind of magick.

Now might be a good time for ensuring continued success at work.
Use a yellow candle for focus. Yellow is the color of the Element Air, of intellect, of confidence and gentle persuasion.

Perform as simple or as complex a ritual as you wish. Ground, center, focus your intent on maintaining or improving your position at work. Visualize your continued success, call on Air to assist and add power. Gather power, focus on the candle, use the color to help you focus your intent, call on Fire to add intensity to your energy. Focus. Send your gathered energy out into the universe to do your will. With harm to none, so mote it be.

podcasting....the good, the bad and .....

Every so often I do a search of iTunes, podcast alley and other sources looking for new pagan podcasts. I nearly always find some, they are nearly always good.

Well, the bad news is, I have to wonder if we are reaching a saturation point. We have lost some really good ones in the last few years....Deo's Shadow, Catnip Brew, The Broom Closet....one fairly new one that I thought would be good has apparently gone....Foxtayle's Pagan Podcast.

It seems that for every one that goes, nowadays several more crop up in its place. Unfortunately, some of the new ones just....well......just aren't great.

I found one otherwise interesting one that explained that witchcraft is the 'left hand path.' *sigh*
I suppose that witchcraft can be the left hand path, but not necessarily and not as practiced within the structure of a spiritual practice, and not as practiced within Wicca.

One of two giggling young ladies who explained that they had nothing to say so they needed emails from fans so they would have something to talk about. Turned out to be true.

Inexplicably, a podcast that reminds me of a rolling frat party, complete with belching into the microphone carries on and on and on.

Several that are two or three people talking to each other with lots of inside jokes and tag lines to personal stories. These are mostly college kids and maybe these shows are appreciated by other college kids and that's fine, but I can't listen long enough to recommend them.

I am so glad that there are so many pagan podcasts that you have to choose, but like any commodity that is overstocked, the quality seems to diminish.

On the good side, I found one jewel of a podcast...Media Astra ac Terra.
Available on iTunes and libsyn. Great information, well thought out commentaries, no drama. This is a good podcast that I hope will continue and become a great podcast.
The show notes are here.
And the link is in the links section in the right hand column.

deep cleansing breath...

and a shower

warning...political rant!

Listening to the senate hearings today.....

How on goddess green earth did Jeff Sessions ever get elected to anything?
The man is an idiot. See the books in the picture? They have to have been airbrushed in....he cannot ever have been that close to a book. Any book. Ever.

He cannot read (stop moving your lips and don't sound it out in front of the committee, Jeff) and he apparently cannot comprehend the spoken word either. Is the south degenerating into total illiteracy and ignorance? Isn't it embarrassing to live in a state that would send someone like this to Washington DC?

I was wishing that the hearings were not broadcast at all, how humiliating to have the world hear this incoherent blathering.

a world without witches...

Can you imagine a world without witches,

A world with all people the same?

Where the only known dragons are hiding in books,

And children are terribly tame?

A world without magic would be sad indeed.

I cannot imagine the pain

Of having a world where there's no Santa Claus,

Where wizards are searched for in vain.

Can you imagine a world without spells,

That science and businesses run?

And think of the sadness a unicorn feels

When he no longer plays in the sun.

Can you imagine a world without witches,

No elves and no magical pools?

And can you imagine how dull it would be

If all that we had were the schools?

I cannot imagine a world without witches,

A world with no magical wand.

A world without beauty, or even a dream,

Or a wood sprite of whom to be fond.

They say I should grow up and be more mature,

Like a normal adult ought to do.

But I'd rather, at night, go to dance with a witch,

And I'll bet that you feel that way, too.

Can you Imagine?
By Robert F. Potts

daily affirmation

I am a Witch!

I am at One with the Earth, The Universe and the Divine!

Let this day be free from Strife and Fear;

Let Only Joy and Love come near;

With Blessings given and received

I walk in Peace in Word and Deed.

~Ann Moura~
image found here

cross posted from path of the goddess blog

meditations and candles on the web

Over at Spotted Wolf Wisdom, spottedwolf (who visits here) is very generously offering to share some wonderful guided meditations. Scroll back to his July 2 post for the first one and you will find where he offers suggestions for how to use the meditations. I will be recording these myself, I love the first one. Thanks so much for doing this, spottedwolf.

And if you are stuck behind a computer all day and really need 5 minutes to light a candle and meditate or offer a prayer, Debra at She Who Seeks found this wonderful free site created by a Benedictine monk, all spiritual seekers welcome at Gratefulness.org
After you light a candle you can open a minicandle and a tiny screen with your candle will appear on your desktop. Thanks for finding this, Debra.

July Full Moon, Mead Moon

July Full Moon is called the Mead Moon, mead is the nectar of the gods. It is also sometimes referred to as the Lightning Moon or Thunder Moon, which seems more appropriate for this area as we have been experiencing thunder storms every afternoon.

My circle met on the mountain last night, I was unable to attend, I am sure it was beautiful.

July Full Moon is the time for enjoying your hard work thus far and for doing herbal prosperity magick. Some of this year's herbs may be ready, dried herbs work just as well. Take action to ensure that your work brings you prosperity.

full moon at 5:21am EDT

stereotypes, bigotry and ego...

Over at Angels in the Whirlwind Peter Vaughn posted "Paganism is the New Christianity."
I made a feeble, nitpicking argument over his singling out Wiccans for this honor, but in general I agreed with his post.

What is going on with Pagans? Paganism, witchcraft, magick are all about individual exploration of ourselves and our universe. How can we get so caught up in ritual and, dare I say it, dogma that we become judgmental of others?

Such huge strides have been made in the last few years.
The broom closets are emptying fast.
More and more people are not afraid to talk about earth centered spirituality, the goddess, celebrating the seasons, walking away from dogma and pettiness and establishing their own path to the divine with out intermediaries.
Pagan authors and speakers and teachers are coming to the attention of the media and being treated with respect and not as crackpots.
Healers are talking about their beliefs and techniques and not maintaining the silence that made them suspect previously.
Life coaches and motivational speakers have so much metaphysical talk in their speeches that our beliefs are becoming mainstream without us lifting a finger.

How then can we turn around and act like the dogmatic, patriarchal religions that we have so roundly criticized? How can we be judgmental about who is supposed to be allowed to join in the public discussions? Wiccans and Druids only? What about Chaos Magicians and Ceremonial Magicians? What about Christian and Jewish Mystics...who have more reason than pagans to stay hidden? Name your tradition, is it going to be welcomed into a larger public community of pagan?

Or are we going to self destruct because we cannot shake off the trappings of "religion" and the bigotry and discrimination that goes with it?

image found here

Happy 4th of July

Hecate's blog says it all. Here.

Ceridwen

Ceridwen is sometimes portrayed as an entity of the triple goddess. Her story is part of Welsh mythology, but she has been appropriated by many who honor the Celtic gods and goddesses, including myself. For me Ceridwen is the keeper of the cauldron of life, she is femininity and life and she is outrage and revenge. A powerful goddess, not to be trifled with, treat her with respect but do not be afraid to approach her.

Here is her story...

According to the late medieval Tale of Taliesin, included in some modern editions of the Maginogion, Morfran (Ceridwen's son) was hideously ugly, so Ceridwen sought to make him wise. She had a magical cauldron that could make a potion granting the gift of wisdom and poetic inspiration. The mixture had to be boiled for a year and a day. Morda, a blind man, tended the fire beneath the cauldron, while Gwion Bach, a young boy, stirred the concoction. The first three drops of liquid from this cauldron gave wisdom; the rest was a fatal poison. Three hot drops spilled onto Gwion's thumb as he stirred, burning him. He instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, and instantly gained great wisdom and knowledge.

Ceridwen chased Gwion. He turned himself into a hare. She became a greyhound. He became a fish and jumped into a river. She turned into an otter. He turned into a bird; she became a hawk. Finally, he turned into a single grain of corn. She then became a hen and ate him. When Ceridwen became pregnant, she knew it was Gwion and resolved to kill the child when he was born. However, when he was born, he was so beautiful that she couldn't do it. She threw him in the ocean instead, sewing him inside a leather-skin bag. The child did not die, but was rescued on a Welsh shore - near Aberdyfi according to most versions of the tale - by a prince named Elffin ap Gwyddno; the reborn infant grew to became the legendary bard Taliesin.

Ronald Hutton suggests that Ceridwen was created solely for the Tale of Taliesin, the earliest surviving text of which dates to the mid-16th century. However, references to Ceridwen and her cauldron, and indeed to Taliesin as the bard of Elffin, are found in the work of the Poets of the Princes, and thus can be dated to the 12th century.

Wikipedia

Day of the Corn Mother

Today is the day of the Corn Mother. Attributed in many writings to the Seminole people of the Southeastern US, the presence of the Corn Mother is widespread throughout Native American mythology.
The Corn Mother is the spirit of the corn plant itself and freely shares her bounty with us. The Green Corn Dance celebrates the fertility of the earth. Release your stress to the Corn Mother and she will show you how to turn it into a bountiful crop as she takes waste and turns it into corn.
Use corn in your rituals, cornmeal to define your circle or tossed into the wind to celebrate her spirit. Keep a dried ear of corn in the house to bring the protection of the Corn Mother into your life.

image found here