My Birthday Altar and Wishes Spell

Today is Valentines Day. But not only that. It's my birthday. and this year i decided to do something that I have never done before. I created a special birthday altar.

As I'd never done one before I had a look around on Google to see what others had done and I found almost nothing except one a mother did for her 5 year olds birthday. So in the end I just used my experience.



My Birthday Altar

The birthday altar will probably be one of your most personal as this altar literally reflects you. Or it should do. After all, this is YOUR day. So firstly I looked at the month I was born. For me violet is the key word in colour, flowers and incense and in crystals Amethyst. And it's also Valentines Day. So I started with:

• A cloth that was violet in colour
• An Amethyst crystal
• And for my incense I chose Lavender. It's the closest in colour to violet. But for my it's a favourite flower and scent. Remember this is a personal altar
• A picture of Brighid as my birthday falls in the month of Imbolc
• A tarot card The Star as is this represents my birth sign Aquarius The Water Barer
• Hearts scattered on my altar and hanging on the wall for Valentines Day
• A lavender candle
• And of course it's my birthday, so a small cake with a candle (for the spell)

After those choices everything is literally personal to me. So this is also what is on my altar.

• A picture of myself as a baby with my Grandad Newton
• A picture of myself with myself. I used this picture because I have a camera in my hand and like Doctor Who, it has been with me all my life, photography not that camera lol I am a creative individual and photography is just one outlet for that creativity. The younger me in the picture is 5 years old
• I wanted flowers on my altar, so I chose yellow tulips. Again a personal favourite.
• A green cloth and a single green ribbon because I love green
• The is a small Buddha, because it was because of Buddhism I found the path to Paganism
• A TARDIS because Doctor Who has been with me all my life and I am still a fan
• A Torchwood ID card with Captain Jack Harkness, This represents two things. I became a fan of Torchwood via Doctor Who and it was because of John Barrowman aka Captain Jack, that I stepped out of the closet.
• A Rainbow googly eyed thing (I have yet yo identify) it's something I was given at the last Gay Pride I attended last year. Because I am gay

So that's my very personal altar. I set it up last night and when I sat and looked I confess to shedding a tear because this was part of who I am. Not all of me, but a part and it's very emotional I think when you see it like that. Especially when it's yourself that has done this.

So remember, when you do your birthday altar it's YOU that you should see there. Some of the things that mirrors the person you see yourself as.

Of course this wouldn't be a birthday altar with out a birthday wish spell!

Birthday Wish Spell

Firstly, i don't claim this spell as my own. I liked it because it's a lovely and in truth, a very old spell as we have been doing this for a very long time. So nobody can claim it as their own on the internet.

So now, nobody wants to be doing too much on their birthday. You want to relax and chill out with those you love, and this lovely and simple spell reflects that. This is all about the wish. now you could do this when you have your party. But for me this was personal moment. So I chose to have a small cake in my room. And an extra one for my party :P

For this spell all you need is:

• A candle. This doesn't need to be a big candle. One you would have on your cake is ideal. This technically should be a colour that represents you, such as your birth colour. In my case that's violet. But it's not always possible. So I chose a white one and has another candle that was the right colour on my altar (to tell the truth I wanted a candle on my cake :) )
• A cake. Well of course! It's your birthday! Mine is a red velvet cake. again reflecting the Valentines Day theme.

As I said, this is all about the wish. So light your candles. I lit all mine on the altar, as well as the one on my cake.

Close your eyes and think about your wish. When you have it, say the following and then blow out the candle.

"A year has come,

A years has passed,

I'll make my birthday wish at last,

Magic powers old and new,

Make my birthday wish come true!"

Blow out your candle!

I then added:

"I cast this spell with harm to non,

so mote it be my spell is done!"

And there we are. One simple spell, that is as old as the hills themselves! Enjoy your birthday! And now I shall join my family and await my sister Raven Moon and her hubby to arrive!

Beannachd

Pagan Hare

Imbolc - 2nd February

~*Imbolc*~

2nd February

We have entered the first celebration of what is one of my favourite times of year, spring. Though it is not officially here, we are at the very start of it and some of the first signs are showing as the daffodils, snowdrops, crocus's etc are breaking through the cold earth. And on the trees and bushes the first signs of leaf buds are appearing. Imbolc is when we celebrate the reawakening of the Earth. We are now entering a point on the wheel of the year when we become our most active, and nowhere is this more evident than in nature 

herself.

Imbolc is one of the fire festivals, though we celebrate the returning light rather than celebrating the sun itself. The days are growing a little longer and the sun rises that little bit sooner. This helps to bring warmth to the earth and the trees and so encouraging them to break free their succulent leaves and flowers. 

But it is also when we honour the Goddess Brighid. At this point of the year Brighid is recovering after giving birth to her child, the Sun God at Yule. At Imbolc we are entering into a new season and clear away the evergreens of winter; this we do by ritually burning the holly and ivy from Yule in our cauldrons and then scattering the ashes at the base of fruit trees. (I would suggest scattering at the base of an apple tree as Brighid owned an apple orchard in the Otherworld and so would add more significance to the moment). This is our opportunity to clear away the cobwebs of life such as old habits and unwanted possessions.We ritually sweep the ground with our besoms to ready ourselves for new beginnings and a new start.

It is at this point in the year we plant seeds to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers. And just now as we plant these seeds for the potential of growing something new for our gardens, we plant metaphysical seeds in our lives to bring growth in all our new ventures, be it a new home, family, business ventures or simply trying something new such as crafts.

At such times we dress our altars to reflect the festival and find ways to celebrate. Here are a few ideas. 

Colours

The colours for Imbolc are white, red and orange. Some also use silver, green and brown. Choose some of these colours for your altar cloth, ribbons and candles.

Candles 

This is a fire festival, so candles play a big part in the celebrations. The number and size if 

your candles will depend in the space you have for your altar. If you only have a small spacethen tea lights of appropriate colours will be fine.

Milk

"The name ‘Imbolc’ comes from the old Irish “i mbolg”, meaning “in the belly”, referring to 

the time of year when sheep and goats are pregnant, carrying their young. Other etymology includes “oimelc”, meaning “ewe’s milk”,"  (quoted from the following site Alison's AlembicBlog Spot)

Substitute milk for the traditional red wine. And if, like myself, you are lactose intolerant, then use your usual milk substitute - I am sure the Gods will be forgiving.

Other Drinks

Of course you may not wish to use milk for your celebrations. So you could also have 

sparkling white wine, fruit teas, champaign, sparkling mineral water or lemonade

Brighid's Cross

 

Sit quietly and make a Brighid's Cross. This is traditionally made from rushes, but you can make one from other materials such as wool, raffia or vines. I have provided a couple of

link to a site that shows you how to create your own.

Fish Eaters

As you are weaving your cross say the following words:

As I weave the cross of Brighid,

To new beginnings let men take heed,

Leaving unwanted past behind,

A brand new world so let me find.

(From The Wheel of the Wiccan Year by Gail Duff)

Plants and Flowers

A nice vase of spring flowers such as daffodils and/or (depending on the size of your altar) a pot of planted bulbs such as daffodils or hyacinths. Another nice flowers idea, that would incorporate candles, would be a glass bowl filled with water with glass stones in the bottom and spring flower heads and floating candles.

Brighid

Find an image of the Goddess and place it on your altar.

Seeds

A small basket with packets of seeds you are going to plant.

Other Altar Items

• A mini Besom to represent cleaning away the old read for the new
• Brighid is also known as the Star and so making this tarot card ideal on the altar. It is also perfect as a focus for any imbolc meditating you may wish to do.
• Crystals - Amethyst, bloodstone, garnet, onyx, ruby, turquoise
• Herbs - Angelica, basil, bay, benzoin, heather, myrrh, rowan, dill
• Incense - Basil, bay, benzoin, cinnamon, myrrh, vanilla, violet
• Animals - Bears, eagle, groundhogs, owls, ravens, sheep, snakes, stags
• Mythical Animals - Dragons, firebirds, phoenix.

  

Other Ways To Celebrate Imbolc

• Give your home and life an spring clean. Removing anything that is no longer wanted or needed. Once you have completed this follow it with a ritual of cleansing and smudging
• Make a new wand
• Bless any seeds that are to be planted
• Cleanse your crystals and tools, including divination, and reconsecrate your tools
• You can also cleanse your gardening tools
• Write poetry, chants or prayers about Brighid, Imbolc and spring and read out loud during Imbolc ritual
• Take a walk in the woods or your local park. Look what is happening to nature around you
• Start a nature diary making notes and sketches about your walks and recording your observations. This will help you to get closer to nature and all her beauty  

I thought I would share a picture of my altar. It's not a very large one and my Brighid's Cross has been created using pipe cleaners. This is simply down to life and not getting a chance to source more appropriate materials. But it shows that you utilise what you have.  

Of course there will be many more ways you can celebrate or you may come up with some of your own ideas. What ever way you choose to celebrate, enjoy this wonderful time and celebrate all that is new. Step outside and breath in the fresh new air that is the oncoming 

spring.

Blessed Be

Pagan Hare

Preparing for Samhain

Article from A Pagan's Blog

Tuesday October 26, 2010

I've been busy polishing our ritual script for Samhain (pronounced "Sow-win"), which we will celebrate the 30th. I hope every other Pagan reader of this blog will have an opportunity to observe and celebrate this time as well. I think it is one of our two most important Sabbats.


Wicca celebrates and honors the Sacred in all its manifestation throughout life, for it is the Divine as it manifests in the world that serves as our "sacred text." We focus on the meaning within phenomena as symbols of a larger context toward which they point. Life is a cycle, and we see it symbolized throughout the course of a year here in temperate zones. On the equator we would need different symbolism to bring this insight alive, a sign that variety is itself Sacred. Along with the Sacredness of variety, I believe our world's other most fundamental teaching about the Sacred is its eternal linkage of life and death. Everything that lives, dies.


Samhain is when we honor death, as six months previously we honored life at Beltane. Then light was rapidly increasing, each day longer than the one before. Now night is becoming dominant, each night longer than the one before.


In NeoPagan and Celtic traditions Samhain is the last day of the year, as sundown is the end of the day and the beginning of the next. For Wiccans such as myself, the time between Samhain and Yule is the time when death is the dimension of Spirit most present at least symbolically.


For the rest of this article click on the following link: http://blog.beliefnet.com/apagansblog/2010/10/preparing-for-samhain.html

Samhain Blot

Our Alter taken by Chris ~ The photographs are my maternal grandparents

I and some friends had a beautiful Heathen blot last Saturday. It had been a while since we'd been all together for a blot due to family things. Nearly all of us had suffered a death in the family, some closer to us that other. Originally it was going to be our usual Penda Blot but because of our-loses and that we'd not been together for a while we decided to focus mostly on Samhain.

We are only a small group, but we are very good friends who enjoys one another’s company and so we're not just a bunch of pagans but a circle of friends. Paul had added a segment about friendship and an oath of friendship. All this signified by both words and a special ring he had made that we all hold. We said the oath together and then individually made a toast to our circle of friends drinking mead from the horn.



Chopping board decorated by Chris and on the left the pictures of my grandparents



We always have a rune that is appropriate to the blot and we chant it to add power to the circle and to aid this myself and Chris rhythmically hit our drums starting slow and steadily increasing the speed of the chant. It can be a very emotional and powerful moment when we do this.

We also bring something written to share with one another. We go round reading what we have fetched. It can be a song, poem or what ever we feel is appropriate for the blot.

This was one of the best blots so far and most definitely the most emotional. And made all the more special because of the people I share the circle with!

A Solitary Samhain

Note from Pagan Hare ~ Just to say that this is not my own ritual as I tend to be rather free when I do mine!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Many covens and circles celebrate this most sacred of pagan holidays as groups, often opening their circles to non-initiates and others who wish to participate. I find myself preferring a solitary ritual, perhaps with some socializing earlier or later in the evening. For me, much of the meaning of Samhain suggests such a practice, though traditionally it is a communal celebration.

Samhain is pronounced as sow-in (in Ireland), sow-een (in Wales), and sav-en (in Scotland). It marks the end of the harvest, the end of the year, and the death of the god. Self-reflection becomes not simply a custom, but a necessity. One cannot (or at least should not) allow the Wheel of the Year to turn without some kind of examination of what has occurred. How have I spent the last year? Did I grow or remain stagnant? Did I live according to the values I claim to embrace? These are questions which must be addressed in solitude and solemnity.

 

Just as Samhain ends the old year, it must begin the new, though many witches do not celebrate the New Year until Yule. Reflection should continue during this dark time, but reflection should be accompanied by a growing sense of the changes to be made and the light to be sought. I sometimes make many lists during this time -- lists of what I have accomplished and what I still want to accomplish, things I have neglected and those I have tended, and other similar lists. Samhain symbolizes both the past and the future, illuminated by the cycle of the seasons, forever linked as steps on the journey we must all make.
 

The Goddess tells us: "And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without." We must look inside ourselves for self-knowledge and for the spirit that will sustain us in life's trials. Silence is one of the keys to seeking truth, for we cannot hear the answers in the midst of this noisy world in which we walk every day, nor in the noise of holiday celebrations however joyous.
 

Samhain is also said to be the time when the veil between the living and te dead is thinnest, allowing us some communication with those who have departed. How befitting this is for such a time of endings and beginnings. Reflections on death can be as instructive as the self-examinations just mentioned. When we think of those who have died, it reminds us of time passing by and of things we could have or should have done. These reminders, coupled with our lists of past and future actions, encourages us to take our New Year's resolutions far more seriously. We know our time is limited, and most of us have much to do in our alloted time. Most of us have to make a living somehow, but death reminds us that we had better spend some of that time in pursuit of our other dreams lest they be lost in the struggle merely to survive.
 

Samhain Ritual

The Samhain rituals I follow change a little from year to year. I don't like to have a set of mandatory words or actions that might prevent me from exploring new possibilities in meaning. However, I do include the traditional Samhain rituals of sharing a feast (even if I am alone) and some form of divination. Since it is best that you write/say your own words in performing rituals, I will only include an outline here.
 

Prepare your house or room
Use black and orange candles, pumpkins (carved or not) and other traditional "Halloween" items if you wish (most are actually traditional for Samhain).
Prepare a table for the Feast of the Dead. It should be covered with a black table cloth and set with black dishes (black paper plates will do just fine). Place a chair at the head of the table, drapped in black cloth, to represent the spirit. The spirit's place is set with a plate with a white votive candle on it. Set places for each of the dead that you hope will join you., and place black votive candles on their plates. Plates for the living (in my solitary ritual, just one) are empty, of course, awaiting the feast food to be served. 


Food preparation
My feast is usually very simple: bread, fruit, nuts, and juice or wine. If you've invited living guests, it is common to make the feast potluck. However, since the actual feast will take place in silence, try not to have too many things that would have to be passed or requested.

Light the candles and turn out the lights

Call the quarters (ask the Guardians of the Watchtowers to witness and protect your circle).

Cast a circle (use whatever method you've been taught).


Invite the deities
There are certain Goddesses that I always invite to my rituals. It seems especially important to invite them on Samhain, as I will want to thank them for their help during the past year, and of course, ask that they continue to help me in the coming year. If the departed loved ones were especially close to any deities, I invite them as well.
 
Feast of the Dead
Light the candles on the plates of the dead and the spirit. The feast should take place in silence so that you can think about your departed friends and relatives. Think of their passing and your hopes for their joyous return. If someone is recently departed, try to put aside your sadness and think of that soul as well and happy in the presence of the Goddess.

Speak in silence an invitation to these loved ones, asking them to join in your feast. Use your own words for this. You know these individuals and can speak to them in a way to which they are likely to respond.

Sit at your table and eat the food you have brought to it. Feel the presence of those who have joined you and rejoice in their presence. Allow them to speak to you of whatever they want to communicate. Take as long as you wish at the table, listening to those you have invited and speaking to them in silence.


When the feast is over, thank your spirit guests for coming, bid them farewell, extinguish the candles on the plates, and leave the table.
 

Banishings and Resolutions
Now is the time to bring out one of those lists! Before Samhain, write a list of things from the last year that you want to banish: bad habits and addictions, unkind feelings toward others, unkind feelings toward yourself .... anything you do not want to carry over to the New Year. Light a black candle and burn the list, asking the Goddess and God to help you get rid of these and all negative things in your life. If you prefer, you can put about 1/4 cup of alcohol in a cauldron, light it, and burn the paper there. Speak to the deities (you can speak aloud now) about your sincere wish to remove these things from your life. Use a banishing chant, if you wish.

Now you should speak to the deities about those things you want to bring into your life in the New Year. I do these things rather informally, but there are many poems and prose pieces in books that you might want to use. Asking the deities for future rewards must be accompanied by resolutions as to how you will accomplish your goals. They will help you if you are sincere in your efforts to help yourself.
    Divination
Because the two worlds are so close at Samhain, it is the perfect time for divination. I prefer to use a cauldron of water for scrying, since the cauldron seems to fit the mood of Samhain (not to mention Halloween tradition). You may prefer Tarot cards, a pendalum, or runes....whatever method works best for you. Obviously, the goal of this divination is to see what lies ahead in the next year.
 

Meditation
All of my rituals include some form of meditation. This is when I ask my personal Goddesses to guide me, advise me, and generally keep me on the right path. I also use this time to thank them in a more personal way than by reciting a poem of thanksgiving. At Samhain, I thank them for all their gifts in the last year and ask them to continue helping me in the New Year.

Sometimes this part of the ritual takes the form of a shamanic journey in which I am taken to a far away place (sometimes familiar, sometimes not) and where I may be given signs that will help me know what I should do (either in general or in specific situations). Take as long with your meditation as you need.
    Thank the Deities
Give thanks to the deities you have invited by offering them food. I usually say something like "all things come from the Earth and to the Earth they must return." Whatever food and drink I offer (usually bread and wine), I eat a little and save the rest to place or pour on the Earth later.


Open the circle

Thank and dismiss the Guardians

Blessed Be!

Solitary Ostara Ritual

Preparations


For decorations use dyed eggs and pink and green streamers. Include a soil-filled cauldron, sword (or athame) a small shovel (trowel), a small pot a few of your favorite seeds and all your altar tools.


Ritual


Cast the circle.

After casting the circle, say:


“Here I am on this day, Ostara, Lady day, Rite of Eoster, The Vernal Equinox
and the first day of the planting season. I am here to understand life,
death, and rebirth, and to give reverence to those who have endured each.”

Bow your head to think about how Ostara fits into the three groups above and


how it fits into the wheel of the year. Say:


“I stand at the gate between the living and the dead on this night where
both light and dark are equal. I am here to witness the union of the Goddess
Mother Earth, the Waning Lady of the Moon, Of My God, Green Man, the Waxing
Lord of the Sun. Conception…a necessary transition on the wheel of the
year.”


Unite the blade of the Athame with the depth of the cauldron. Symbolizing
the Great Rite. Leave the Athame Standing. Hold the God candle and let the
flame become on with the Goddess candle’s flame. Replace these on the altar


and set them closer than they were before. Say:


“Elder Gods wish to bestow upon us the gift of knowledge. Thus they shall
speak.”


Use the small shovel to transfer soil from the cauldron to the small pot. As
you are planting the seeds, you should be thinking about your goals as
though they were the seeds. You can now conclude the ritual. Say:


“May these newly planted seeds material spiritual, and symbolic bring me
plentiful fruits and bounties.”


Close the circle and serve eggs and apple juice in your simple feast. Leave the cauldron and athame at the altar until Beltane to remind you of the seeds sewn on this day.










http://secretsofawitch.wordpress.com/2006/03/19/solitary-ostara-ritual/

Ostara Law

Ostara

Spring or The Vernal Equinox

Also known as: Lady Day or Alban Eiler (Druidic)

March 21

As Spring reaches its midpoint, night and day stand in perfect balance, with light on the increase. The young Sun God now celebrates a hierogamy (sacred marriage) with the young Maiden Goddess, who conceives. In nine months, she will again become the Great Mother. It is a time of great fertility, new growth, and newborn animals.

The next full moon (a time of increased births) is called the Ostara and is sacred to Eostre the Saxon Lunar Goddess of fertility (from whence we get the word estrogen, whose two symbols were the egg and the rabbit.

The Christian religion adopted these emblems for Easter which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The theme of the conception of the Goddess was adapted as the Feast of the Annunciation, occurring on the alternative fixed calendar date of March 25 Old Lady Day, the earlier date of the equinox. Lady Day may also refer to other goddesses (such as Venus and Aphrodite), many of whom have festivals celebrated at this time.

Traditional Foods:


Leafy green vegetables, Dairy foods, Nuts such as Pumpkin, Sunflower and Pine. Flower Dishes and Sprouts.

Herbs and Flowers:


Daffodil, Jonquils, Woodruff, Violet, Gorse, Olive, Peony, Iris, Narcissus and all spring flowers.

Incense:


Jasmine, Rose, Strawberry, Floral of any type.

Sacred Gemstone:


Jasper


Special Activities:


Planting seeds or starting a Magickal Herb Garden. Taking a long walk in nature with no intent other than reflecting on the Magick of nature and our Great Mother and her bounty.

Copyright © 1997-99 Akasha, Herne and The Celtic Connection wicca.com. All rights reserved.


________________________________________


http://www.wicca.com/celtic/akasha/ostara.htm

Solstice Sun Stone

This is a very easy project for most children and can be extended to other pagan symbols. This stones are lovely for alters or in the garden.

What You Will Need:

A flat river or sea stone - about 4 to 6 inches in length (note: Always ask for your gift and leave an offering as a thank you)
A light pencil - HB should be fine
Gold Hobby Paint
Fine Paint Brush

What To Do:


Make sure your stone is clean and dry

Lightly draw your sun design onto your stone. (Younger shildren may need some guidance for this part).

Now carefully paint your design and allow to dry. If pencil lines are showing gently go over the first lot of paint again.

Note: You might want to do a small concegration ceremony once it is completed.


Other Ideas:

Tripple Moon Symbol - Use Silver paint for this

Pentacle - You could make your very own alter pentacle using a lovely stone. Natural things are always nice for your alter.

Totems - you could create some animal totem stones. Keeps your images symple. Take a look through google for idea.

Runes - Pebbles always make lovely runes

Full Moon ~ 5th October 2009

This, like my Mabon ritual, had been the first Full Moon Ritual I’d done in a while. I kept it simple, nothing too over the top or elaborate, that is some thing I don’t do, as I don’t feel it necessary to be honest. This ritual started at about 11:30 and not finished around 1am.


I found out my simple white cloth for the table, my crystal ball, a lovely glass globe paperweight that has a moon like bubble within it and my clear glass marble that I sat in a silvery tea light burner that has a lid with a star on top.

I then retrieved my scrying bowl from my bedroom alter. It’s been the home of my smudge stick and so has a duel purpose. I would imagine now that there will be those who will read this and be completely aghast at my total disrespect for the scrying bowl. Well to me and for me, tools can and do have multiple purposes. Such as today’s athame in days of old would not just have been a tool of ritual, but a tool of the kitchen too. It would have chopped vegetables, meat, as well as herbs and possibly flowers. The besom would not only, if they did such a thing, cleanse the ritual space, but swept the kitchen floor and outside entrance. So for me today is no different. Oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t cut my food, unless it is ritual food, with my athame. But I don’t have a special knife for cutting such things as herbs. I use my athame for that, so therefore my athame is sharp!

So, after my small detour of subject, we return to the subject in hand, the full moon ritual.

I filled my bowl with water from the stream and placed a single, open, white rose in the centre. It is as beautiful and as fragrant as the moon (not that the moon smells you understand, but you get the point I am sure). After gathered and placed my white and silvery items I started to placed other items: candles in lanterns, my decorated oak wand, my shaman shaker (I use this to cleanse the area), my goblet filled with cider, my wood pentacle, drum, my burner with some paper with a list things I wish to rid myself of and my Celtic lady who represents the Goddess. This evening is dedicated to Rihanna who is the Celtic Goddess of the Earth, Stars and the Moon.

I then lit my candles and sat for a while to gather my thoughts and look up at the moon. After a short while I picked up my shaker and starting on the outside and walking in a deosil spiral, I worked my way towards the centre all the time shaking my Sharman shaker. Once I’d reached the centre I turned to face east and shuck the shaker in its direction, I repeated this for south, west and finally earth. I replaced upon the alter, the shaker and then I started to light the 4 incense sticks; dedicating each to ancestors, family, pet friends, protectors of our home, spirits and the Gods.

When it came to things I said I cannot share as I don’t remember. I never wrote anything up for the ritual; it was off the cuff, as you might say. It was something spontaneous rather than planned. After my verbal dedications I picked up the bowl and sat down with the moon light reflect in it. I did the same with my crystal ball; making mental notes of thoughts and feelings.

I was, twice, pleasantly disturbed by my hedgehog friend. The first time he made me jump a tad as I was focused on my work. I heard a rustling behind me and then spotted him scuttling about three feet away from me; heading to the old bonsai house. I watched him for a while and then carried on with what I was doing. I also did some dowsing to feel the energies in my circle. During this I discovered my darling Tibby was near by. I felt she was and this had confirmed it. I even heard, for only a moment, purring. This was incredibly emotional for me. Marmalade was also there, watching over the proceedings.

Before I was getting ready to finish; I had a second and final encounter with my friend. Once again I heard him behind me, but this time he moved within a foot of me. He stopped, his features lit up by the silvery moonlight. I could see every detail. He watched me for a moment and started to make a low grunting sound. I slowing reached to my side and grabbed a little bread and put close, but as I turned back to him he was scuttling back towards the bushes.

Now it was time to bring the proceedings to an end. I read out my short list, towards the moon and then burnt it in the burner, and watched the smoke gracefully float towards the sky. I then used the cider to send my blessings to the spirits, the Gods and so forth, drinking a little each time and then finally pouring what was left into the Earth as a thank you.

I took the shaker once more and moved to the centre and started to walk in a widdershins spiral back to the outside edge, shaking the shaker as I slowly moved around. I then shook it at each of the elements; starting with North and finally finishing at East.

I was a very special evening, full of emotions and delightful encounters, and one I hope will be as special next month.

Mabon 2009

It has been a while since I last did a full on ritual, on my own! I have had SO much happening in my life the past few years, most of it not very nice as it has involved the loss of a loved ones? And so I found myself feeling lethargic and not feeling like taking too much trouble.


(Alter: The ribbons are attached to my Oak wand. For some reasone I didn't take a picture of this lol!  The pentagle at the back was made from a wood chopping board)

All I have done is make token alters and no real ritual. Nothing of any substance in my opinion. Nothing to make your spin tingle and make you stop amd think! For the past year I have been part of a Heathen group, and think. For the past year I have been part of Heathen eventhugh I am not actually a Heathen. I found myself in this group because I have three very good friends who happen to be Heathen. They could have just as been easily Wicca or Native American. For me the link and being part of a Pagan group was more important, than being part of my "own kind" what ver that bloody means! I've kidded myself, for a while, that it doesn't REALLY matter if I do or do not do a ritual and yet to an extent I think it does matter. I feel I have drifted away from who I am, and that ritual is a part of who we are.


(Alter: to the right of the bowl is my goblet I bought from Steve the Potter at Thornborough and a close up of my pentagle)


My ritual lasted around an hour and took a day to plan, gathering materials and making items of spiritual importance. The preparation, in truth, was part of the ritual. I had the ritual written out before me in black and white, and yet I let it flow in what ever direction it felt it needed to go. I don't cast a circle as my home and garden is already protected from anything that may cause harm, mischievousness and so forth. And so I don't feel any need to do so. It was both moving and powerful and I loved every minute of it. When I started to clear the area I found myself walking, whilst shaking my shaker, deosil in a spiral from the outseid to the centre. It just seemed the right thing to do; and I always believe in going with the flow. When I finished I did the same thing, only widdershins. In both cases I felt very emotional and empowered.



(Alter: Not sure if you can see it. But there's a wood shavings Headgehog poking it's nose out of the basket! My lovely Oak Greenman is sat in front of the basket)


I did all my ritual, with extras and spent much time just thinking. When I'd completed the ritual I invited my parents to come outside and drink some wine and eat bread and giving blessings to the harvest. That was lovely and is something they are more than happy to do. Although they are, in principle, are pagan, they don't do rituals. It's more their belifs and attitudes. It is something they always do for me when I've finished a ritual, no matter how great or small.



(Alter: My beautiful Celtic lady. I use her as a goddess symbol and often place things in her cauldron as offerings. She normally sits on my out side alter, which is hiding under and behind this table alter)


All in all it was a beautiful ritual and I am now going to prepare for Samhain! I don't plan in doing things in small doses again!


May the darkened months be blessed with happiness, good health and prosperity.


Beannachd xxx