A combination of experiencing Spirit of Womongathering earlier this month and celebrating Summer Solstice has me reflecting on what I want to focus on in my life and what may be ahead on my spiritual path.

For some time now I have been thinking about exploring the possibilty of starting a healing circle – wiccan\pagan based, but all spiritual paths welcome.  On Summer Solstice I put forth the idea to the universe and will see what signs appear and what doors may open and see what happens. I posted about it on Facebook, and there was some interest.  However, a place to meet on a regular basis is what is needed most to get started (no cost and available one day a month - for example the first Sunday of every month).  My approach to this is to let things unfold slowly and if it is meant to be it will. I am not setting a time table  and I definitely want to keep it stress free.

I’ve also been reflecting on what it means to me to be a Witch.  As we experience life, learn and grow in awareness I find it is very beneficial to revisit one’s beliefs, assumptions, etc.  It is beneficial to see how one has grown and evolved, and also useful to re-energize and renew one’s commitment to a spiritual path.  

This is the inspiration that came to me, putting into words how I’ve been putting into practice “magic” and transforming myself for quite some time:

I am a Witch – Mother Earth is my altar (sacred space), my body is my temple, my senses\imagination\will\passion\integrity\words\thoughts and deeds are my magical tools. Everything else is just window dressing – window dressing is fun and love to have a few nice things, but definitely not necessary.  

It is the basis for keeping myself on track for reclaiming my health, such as eating healthier food choices and resisting temptations when will power is no where to be found.  This has also helped me over the time to gently retrain my thoughts and emotions on a daily basis.  Sure, I still get nervous, worried, frightened, depressed. etc. - but FAR less then I ever did before.  Whenever I find myself drifting to the old negative internal patterns, I gently remind myself that “my magical tools” are too important to waste, take some cleansing deep breaths and center, and focus on sending forth love to Mother Earth, my family and friends or focus my energy on doing something positive even if it something as simple as enjoying the cool breeze, or relaxing my body.

For me being a Witch means how I live my life every single day, every single interaction I have, and every choice I make - not just about how I celebrate the full moon or seasonal changes.  I don’t need to be perfect at it, and I can forgive myself for the past – there is no need for guilt or regrets.  Each day is a new beginning and opportunity to connect with Mother Earth, contribute to the positive energies of the Web of Life,  love and be loved by those around around us, and to learn and grow in mind, heart, and spirit.

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:inspiration, witch

As always there was a wonderful array of colors, textures, and magic at the Marketplace and dozens of talented, creative womyn.

Divine Dangles by Loona was the first booth I stopped at to say hello and shop. She was featured on our blog two years when we first met at Womongathering in 2008. She had a wonderful collection of dangles and new class, ceramic and wooden goddess centered spiritual tools and art. My mom and I both picked up a lovely dangle (Mama Kelly has a nice photo of mine – as soon as she uploads it I can get it posted).

Here are a few photos from Loona’s booth (glass, ceramic, and wooden goddess centered spiritual tools and art (contact info.:  703-525-9650):

Another lovely booth was Sweetwater Pottery by Susan Minyard (contact info. sweeth20@getgoin.net; 417-741-6630) – Hand thrown pottery decorated with our sisters dancing benath the moon, lampwork, goddess beads.

I’ll have more photos, merchant information, and other postings about Spirit of Womongathering 2010 over the next couple of weeks.

Bright blessings and Happy Summer Solstice, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:wicca, womongathering

Saturday and Sunday were filled with many wonderful activities, shopping, talking and taking photos of some of the merchants (will be posting about them also later in the week), and enjoying more workshops and rituals.

Saturday morning I attended Journey to the Chamber of Contratcs – part 2 of the workshop I begin on Friday with Journey to Chamber of Wounds. In this shamanic journey we began revisiting the Chamber of Wounds for those who may not have met a piece of their soul in the journey during the first workshop and\or to reconnect with one or more pieces, then continued on to the Chamber of Contracts where we are acquainted with the parts of the soul that have retuned and rewrite the “contracts” created at the time of their leaving in order to begin the process of healing and reconnecting.

Saturday afternoon I also attended Re-claiming Sacred SELF – Centeredness – “did your dreams get lost somewhere along the way to serving others?…feeling over-whelmed, under-nurtured, and generally depleted…discover connection to your circle of One, that sacred Center of inner wisdom and wholness that resides in every woman.” This was a beautiful workshop that combined discussion, worksheets, ritual and chanting to remind us all that nurturing and caring for ourselves FIRST is the most important, spiritually necessary thing we can do for our planet and loved ones.

Saturday Evening – Ritual Mystery of the Triple Goddess – an awe inspiring circle of drumming, singing, chanting and dancing honoring all three aspects of the Goddess.

Sunday morning was part 3 – Journey to the Chamber of Grace “a place of nurturance where we take the energy of your spark of light and emotional resources into your charka system and begin the process of healing old wounds. Grace is a hero’s journey that begins in this chamber, and it commences at the nergetic level when you absorb the soul part in through your charka system”

Sunday afternoon – Closing Ritual in the Meadow (“I am Goddess, You are Goddess”), followed by the Closing Circle at Sacred Fire (holding the vision and spirit of Womongatheirng in our hearts that it may shine brightly within our lives and be shared with our family and community).

Here is just a sampling of some of the other Workshops I would also liked to have attended had time permitted:
Clearing the Mother-Line Banishing the Ancestral Curse – “it is well established that we “inherit” many of our parent’s issues and fears. Using Celtic tirual…access our matriatchal lineagea nd discover how these dysfunctional behvaiors orginated…through guided shamnic journey and ritual banish the ancestral curse.”
Strengtheing Our Voice from Within: Releasing our Inner Critic – “release the hold of your inner critic and consciously create the way you think about yourself”
Stretching to Center through the Bones – “moving and breathing through your bones connects you to your essential self, the Earth and Spirit”
Wild Wonderful Witchy Wimmin – “honor the Goddess in ourselves, and within one another as the strong, amzing, joyful wimmin we are”
Riding the Om – “using vocals to bring out the inner divine”

Later in the week stay tuned for posts about the awesome merchants and other tidbits.

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:goddess, womongathering

The workshops and rituals at Womongathering are plentiful and varied, and at times it is difficult to decide which ones to attend because there is always several things going on at the same time or timing overlaps a bit but that is what makes the weekend so much fun.

There are also several special sacred places to stop in on at any time, including

• The Sacred Fire – “Around a Womyn’s Sacred fire as transformer, we magnify our visions of a womon honoring world manifested through our skillful co-creations.”
• The Red Temple – “In this space we nurture and are nurtured through storytelling, som, teatime, divination, healing, laughter and tears; all wom”yn no matter where on their minstrual or life-cycle are welcome.”
• Gyrlespace – a place for all the young maidens to meet and greet, play and enjoy fun activities while mom is busy.

Thursday evening, my first night at Womongathering I attended the Lighting of the Sacred Fire.  The Sacred Fire is one of the places I find myself drawn to all throughout the four days.  It is created and tended by the Sacred Fire Tenders.  It is a sacred space for all, with an altar set up at the 8 directions and this year the design was of a spiral leading into the center.  NOTE:  every Sunday at 8:30 p.m. eastern time, the Fire Tenders mediate together to heal our planet (and invite all womyn to join them in spirit and add their energieis) – “as we dance on a path of beauty, truthful to our spiraling self, let us reweave a web of light around planet Earth as we connect withone another, womyn and womyn’s groups all over Gaya’s Lap.  We then build togehter a Spirit Basket of who we are as a Spirit of Womongathering community and dream that Goddess takes body again in a living spirituality and culture in these Northern lands and all over the globe.”

Friday morning I attended the Opening Ritual which was held in the Meadow, and also weaving down to the Sacred Space and back again to the Meadow. Serpentessa brought Athena (one of her snakes) to the ceremony, and we all shared in a few sacred moments of “bellies to the ground” connecting to Mother Earth.

Friday afternoon I attended Journey to the Chamber of Wounds (part 1 of a three part workshop) – guided by a shaman (Alice Agostini) on a journey with your spirit guides and power animals to the chamber of wounds where you discover fragmented pieces of your soul, why they chose to leave, and bring them home. “Portions of the soul are free to leave the obdy, and do so while dreaming but also do so to protect itself from potentially damaging situations (such as abuse and extreme stress or trauma). The soul piece may not return on its own and the shama must intervene and return the soul essence.”

Alive and At Peace in My Body – “guided mediation, moving puia (prayer), and journaling to begin to re-establish and nurture positive connections with our miraculous bodies”

Friday evening I attended the Dedication of the Hearth I posted about Monday.

Other workshops I would have liked to attend (but the times conflicted) included:

Singing Down the Moon – “chants of womon’s beginnings, fulfillment, and wisdom as we emboyd the Goddess through our sacred spirit-voices.
The Art of Blessings – explore blessing as a form of art
Getting in Touch with Spirit – mediate with dreams
Full Spirited Four Fold Goddess – embrace all four directions, elements and seasons and the four stages of womon’s life – maiden, mother, queen, and crone
Serpent, Moon, and Goddess Journey – journey with gentle live Sperpent into the cneter and mystery of your being (this class had a limited enrollment of 15, and was full by the time I went to sign up – but I hope to have the opportunity to attend next year).
Dancing Her Wisdom: Spiraling Into the Center – experience stories and wisdom of the Triple Goddess told in the ancient way, through tribal dance (learn 4 short stories and their accompanying dances)

There were many other activities to chose from as well, but these are the ones that stood out most for me.

And of coures the nightly opening drumming was wonderful – although I was too tired to actually attend, our cabin was so close to where the drums were played I drifted off to sleep each night with my spirit dancing to beat.

I will be posting about activities for Saturday and Sunday, more photos from the Hearth, highlighting a few of the awesome merchants, and more over the next few days so be sure to stop back again.

Bright blessings, Cynthia.

Written by Lady RoseTags:goddess, womongathering

One of the magical ingredients of Womongathering is the love, dedication and hard work of all the womyn who contribute to turning an ordinary campgrounds into a welcoming, nurturing, spiritual retreat.  This “magic” was certainly evident in the hearth (the dining hall). 

In the center of one wall was a “hearth” (photos below) with symbols of all some of the activities that brought womyn together around the hearths of old – such knitting, candlemaking, and of course cooking. There was a small tent with handpainted banners in the center of the oppositie wall and all along the walls were posters of various aspects of the Goddesss created by the many womyn who made the event possible (will post a few photos later in the week). 

One of the beautiful ceremonies I attended was the dedication of the Hearth.  It was a reminder to honor the sacredness of the hearth in our own homes.   With the rush of daily life and modern conveniences of today’s living womyn have lost touch with the warmth and sharing that was once shared around the hearth, as well as the opportunity for wisdom to be passed down from one generation to next as grandmothers, mothers, and daughters would sit shoulder to shoulder by the fire.   Lots of family don’t even have the time to share a calm meal around the dining room table together.  The closest most homes have to live flame in the home is the pilot light in our stoves, and most of those are now electric. 

However, we can reclaim the positive aspects of what the hearth represents in our own home by creating a sacred space to honor the sacred flame, even if it is simply creating a small shelf or space in our kitchens where we light a candle and welcome the blessings of the Goddess into our home and our lives while we are cooking and setting aside a bit of time as often as possible to spend quality time with our families, grandmothers, mothers, and daughters to share love and wisdom. 

Seeing how a few twinkling lights, a loving touch of decorative details, and splash of magical intent can transform a space was definitely inspiring.  In my home I have a fireplace that has needed repairs from the day we bought the house.   Hubby and I both agreed we probably would never use the fireplace  for an actual fire, so haven’t gotten around to paying for the repairs.  However, seeing how lovely the Womongatheirng hearth was I have been inspired to utilize the hearth in my home as a sacred space (even without an actual “fire”).

May the sacred flame burn brightly forever in your homes, bright blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:goddess, hearth, sacred flame, womongathering

Last weekend I spent an awesome four days at the festival Spirit of Womongathering – a long weekend of workshops, sacred fire, drumming, womyn’s spirituality, and awesome womyn. This year I brought my mom and she had a great time too.

We arrived about noonish on Thursday and were assigned to our cabin. After a quick unpacking we took a tour of the marketplace that had some of the booths set up already and went through the program booklet. As always it is difficult to decide what workshops to take or events to participate in because there is always so much to chose from and so many things going on at the same time.

The first thing to do at Womongathering is to visit the Gateway (photo above) – a sacred place between the worlds to pass through leaving behind what you want to leave behind from the mundane world, ground and center, and focus on what you want to manifest during your time at Womongathering. This year’s theme for Womongathering was the element of spirit, the direction of center, and all aspects of the Goddess. It is a warm, welcoming spot to visit. This year it included a large book for all to write in what they wished to have manifest and a large beautiful box filled with inspiring quotes by women that everyone got to reach in and pull out a piece of paper with words of wisdom on it.

The dining hall was bustling and we had a lovely vegetarian meal. Later in the evenig was the lighting of the Sacred Fire ceremony. After a long, but wonderful day my mom and I headed back to our cabin to drift off to sleep while listening to sound of drumming coming from the building just across the way where the nightly open drumming session continued well into the night.

I’ll be posting more about Womongathering over the next few days.

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:goddess, womongathering

by yours truly, Mama Kelly aka Jia

Written by Mama KellyTags:healing chant, the Gulf

I was planning on watching the recent “The Witch in the Wardrobe” episode of Bones and writing a long and drawn out response to and analysis of it.  But Jason over at The Wild Hunt summed it up so well that instead I will simply share my thoughts and feelings.

My family and I love the show Bones.  I love the characters, I love the whole crime drama aspect, I love the comedic moments. Despite this, I knew based on the previews that odds were I was not going to enjoy the episode very much.  I knew going in that I was either going to be annoyed at the portrayal of Paganism or downright furious.

Allow me to say simply that the show lived up to my low expectations.  Considering the cast of characters are supposed to (for the most part) be intelligent, educated, and worldly I found myself amazed at how often the Wiccans were mocked or made fun of.

Aside from that though I was disappointed that once again Wiccan practice was portrayed as something totally “out there.”  While I understand the need for shock value as a marketing tool or as a ratings booster I am frankly tired, after all this time, that we have yet to see Wicca treated with the same respect afforded other faiths.

I came to Wicca at the age of 18 and have been following the path for over two decades.  Don’t get me wrong, I accept that some aspects of Wiccan practice can be construed as odd or even strange.  Circling skyclad beneath the full moon is not something that most people do.  But, never in the past 22 years did I come to use bat bones as a regular part of my practice.  And while I did once cast a circle by sprinkling cornmeal I cannot say that rye flour, or any other grain, has been “often used” in my rites.

Aside from Bones failing to portray my faith in other than the Hollywood version, I have a bone to pick with them about the science behind the solution to the crime itself.  In the end of the episode it is revealed that the entire Wiccan coven fell victim to ergotism when they attempted to cast a binding spell on an evil witch in their community.  Now since the rye flour was used to draw a circle around the “evil one’s” abode one can assume that they contracted it via inhalation.  Since the entire coven was revealed to have murdered the evil witch while all under the delusion that she was a demon this would mean that the entire coven inhaled the same dosage.  However, despite the fact that ergot poisoning causes a whole host of other symptoms including cramping, nausea, and muscle spasms the only affect seen was the group hallucination they experienced.

All in all not one of my favorite episodes and probably one that I will skip on watching again in the re-runs.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Bones, wicca, witchcraft

Written by Mama KellyTags:Candlemas, crafts, ideas, Imbolc, videos, youtube

A wonderful way to start off the New Year is finding ways to honor the Goddess in Her many aspects throughout the year. I found a nice collection of Feast Days for various dieties (list was extracted from pantheon.org) that is very useful. 

Below are some days for January and February, for the complete list for the year go here: Feast Days.

JANUARY
January 2 – Advent of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of love.
January 3 – The festival of Pax the Roman goddess of peace.
January 6 – Feast of Kore, the celebration of Kore’s, the Egyptian of fertility and grains, return to earth after six years of exile in the underworld.
January 7 – Sekhmet, the Egyptian New Year’s Day.
January 8 – Festival of Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice.
January 11 and 15 – The Carmentalia, festival of Carmenta, the Roman goddess of childbirth.
January 16 – The Festival of Concordia, the Roman goddess of harmonious relations.
January 17 – Good Luck Day, the festival of Felicitas, the Roman goddess of good luck.

February
February 1 and 2 – Imbolc, the Celtic festival marking the period of lactation of the ewes.  Also the festival of Brigit, the Celtic goddess of healing, fertility, and patroness of smiths.
February 12 – The Festival of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt (known as Diana to the Romans).
February 17 – The festival of Fornax, the Roman goddess of bread-making.
February 22 – The festival of the goddess Concordia, the patron of good will and favor.

Bright blessings now and always, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:goddess