The blessings of Beltane be with you (Samhain blessings in the Southern Hemisphere)
Traditionally celebrated by Celtic Pagans to celebrate the midpoint between spring and summer (May 1st), this period marks the planting time and is recognized as a time of peak fertility. We are now halfway between the Spring Equinox & the Summer Solstice.
During Beltane, we honor the spirits of the spring represented by a handfasting, or marriage ceremony. Today I re-affirm the vows and oaths of honour and heart I made to my wife for all of time, forever and a day. we are one
I find my pleasure in the moonlight while my feet dangle trailing in the flowing waters not for me the baking heat of the noon sun dazzling the day here in the lunar lit trees whose leaves sparkle with silver reflections I feel the mystery of power as energy flows between earth and sky and I watch the stream’s waters rushing in foam around the rocks blue in the moonlight and I listen to the sky as he whispers his blessings adorning my spirit with the treasures of nature and I feel them within me enhancing and enchanting the beauty of my soul
With corundum as a base mineral, sapphires are in close relation to the ruby with an iron pigment making it blue. Corundum gemstones are the second hardest of precious stones. In fact, sapphire has a range of colours, from blue to yellow to green to orange-pink.
Sapphires are mined from alluvial deposits, primarily in the USA, Australia, Thailand, China, Kenya, India, and Nigeria.
Sapphire is a stone of wisdom and knowledge and stimulates concentration, and creativity whilst promoting purity and deep thinking. It focuses and calms the mind removing unwanted thoughts, depression, and mental tension. Sapphire is the stone of new love and commitment and is useful in encouraging loyalty and faithfulness. It also brings peace of mind, serenity, and prosperity.
The sapphire is connected with the third eye and throat chakras where energy imbalances cause sore throats, headaches, and nightmare.
Affirmation: I can depend on my inner-knowing to guide me through every situation
A true rock, unakite is a composite of multiple stones and minerals giving it a moss-on-brick appearance. First discovered in North Carolina, USA in the Unaka mountains. It has also been found on the shores of Lake Superior and the rivers of Virginia.
Unakite
Unakite is a stone of vision and is useful for scrying. It is also a stone of balance and good for grounding the self while bringing the emotional and spiritual together.
Due to its use in vision and scrying unakite is closely associated with the third eye chakra and also the heart chakra due to its ability to balance emotions.
In healing, unakite is used to support convalescence from illness and is believed to aid the reproductive system aiding a healthy pregnancy and the growth of skin and hair.
Affirmation: I am open to receive useful insights and psychic vision
Sodalite is a group of minerals rarely seen in crystal form. It is predominantly blue but can also be found in red, white, yellow, and green. Sodalite is associated with the Third Eye and Throat Chakras. It is the stone of understanding.
Sodalite
Sodalite is associated with insight and mental enhancement and its vibrations can unlock intuition. Expanding mental energies allows us to tackle the mental hurdles that we struggle with in daily life. Sodalite enhances mental capabilities allowing the natural contradictions of the mind to slowly weaken as it delves into our subconscious, making us evaluate ourselves and highlighting our personal strengths and weaknesses.
Sodalite helps to develop the intuition with the stone’s vibrations aid the visualizing of truth and the ability to understand the self. It enables a calm and reflective state that aids in pulling out the negativity held within.
Sodalite works with the Throat Chakra, a key ley line within the body. It assists in the expansion of the communicative centre to enable the vocalization of internal thoughts. It is often a challenge to understand others, but understanding ourselves can seem even more challenging. Sodalite links the Third Eye and Throat Chakras enabling us to understand our thoughts better and communicate them correctly.
As we danced among the last falling leaves To greet chilling winds and the frosty ground In hanging of holly upon the eaves Awaiting for the Solstice bells to sound As silently the Wheel is turning round The long frosty nights of this wintertide Of stories and songs shared by the fireside The eyes of the sun looking forth to spring To bring new life where another year died But tonight, the Wassail voices will sing
Today’s crystal is the Ruby. Its red colour comes from chromium, and it is the stone of passion. species.
Ruby promotes loving, health, nurturing, knowledge, and wealth. The ruby is associated with the root chakra due to its red hues and the heart chakra as a stimulant. Although, it is a relatively expensive stone it is a worthwhile addition to a witch’s healing stones.
The ruby is connected with improved energy, concentration, creativity, loyalty, honour, and compassion. It can be used to protect the home, family, and possessions. In stimulating the heart chakra, the ruby brings spiritual wisdom while shielding the user against psychic attack.
Affirmation: I have the courage to move forward with passion and zeal.
Come my witches, come cast our magic spell This Samhain night there’s so much to be done Bring the tools of flight, bring them one by one Come my witches and stir the cauldron well
Oh Maybel have you got the aconite The bubbling potion brewing still awaits Don’t just stand there holding those empty plates No belladonna we can’t make the flight
Still Maybel dances naked neath the moon As in her heart there burns a wild desire A witch she is dancing around the fire With pure intent she’ll learn her magic soon
As for the freedom of flight we now go By taxi and train heading to Heathrow
Inspired by and written for What Do You See – thank you, Sadje
I see the wise path of the old ones meandering through nature’s serenity to the echo of the earth’s rhythm.. Going with that…
Pagan Footsteps Form: Tuckerman’s Sonnet
Take the unused road, so the poets say Follow paths untouched by another’s feet Listen to the earth and dance to her beat For living is finding life your own way Today is different, time to retreat On to the beaten track to hear them talk The ancestral path I follow today To hear them speak such a beautiful treat
For the old ones wise to the game to play As in the shadows they return to me To ease my pain so I can understand And as they talk the talk I walk the walk Be strong enough to face what Fate has planned To follow their love, their wisdom to see
Inspired by and written for Simply 6 Minutes – thank you, Christine
Wow, the image is hitting my chakras, it feels profound and spiritual. A sacred magic circle is a place out of time and space, a spiritual link between the worlds of physical and spiritual. Here goes…
Elements of Magic Form: Beymorlin Sonnnet
The circle cast by three inviting peace And spirits gather keeping demons out Commune in whispers there’s no need to shout The arcane words as time begins to cease
Lady Moon, Father Sun, dance wild and free In love and light, there is nothing to fear As spirits gather there is magic here And their crystal orb is surrounding me
My body in robes and the altar set I welcome them all to my sacred place And hear their wisdom never to forget For they grant me, love, throughout time and space
In elements of magic, I’ve made mine Earth, Air, Water, Fire my spirit combine
Inspired by and written for #Writephoto – thank you KL
Namaste, KL.
Yesterday was the beginning of the sabbat of Mabon (21-23 September), the blessings of the harvest with everyone reading. Farmers and nature are busy as the wheel turns from summer to autumn I think I will stay with that train of thought. Here goes…
Farming – Image by KL Caley
Autumnal Insight Form: Sonnetina Cinque
The wheel is turning what do you see? Fields harvested of their crops Sustenance for the winter ahead As we dance on this Mabon night What do I see?
I see the colours changing on the trees Greens fading into vibrant golds and red I feel a coolness on the breeze As days move towards Samhain night And the darkness of winter must surely come
Mother Earth is preparing her rest Her quilt of vibrant colours brings her warmth And the Sun King is ready to go For Mother Moon is taking charge Yet their message of love is clear
Ask me again what do I see? The first golden leaves drifting on the breeze Wise trees letting the past go In the autumn beauty what I can see Letting things go is where my peace will be
I practice divination, and while I will never say it gives you the complete picture of the future or one’s destiny, it can provide a useful peek into what is possibly to come, and if needs be act on things to change the direction as oft happens. Well, here goes…
A Little Foresight Form: Free verse
Cards, runes, and crystal ball open my eyes to see potential coming into view black silk and sparks of light bring the universe into my sight with arcane words of ritual magic spoken across the blue before simple questions asked in truth seek the answers within starlight senses soaring into the sky into destiny where my soul can fly but what of the shadows haunting the light where the end of days isn’t quite right open my eyes to all that is wrong so I can be free from that negative grip releasing my heart’s darkness to another place hold me in the universal embrace to walk my path of sacred bliss Father Sun and Mother Moon unto my journey’s end protect me in love and light
Cold, grey stone in formation stand, Old standing stones, they gathered round, Around the magic close to hand, Old hands that grasped the Pagan ground.
The joyous come to dance and sing, They sing the tales the ancients told, The stories told by bards of spring That spring shall come end winter's cold.
All seasons turn upon the wheel, The wheel of life that never ends, At winter's end the warmth we feel, All feeling the path springtime wends
Inspired by and written for Simply 6 Minutes – thank you, Christine
This just takes me to my spiritual home, Avebury. It’s so close to my actual home too. To get there we have to travel through a patchwork of fields, lavender and crops. Is it an ancient temple, well, for many of us Pagans it sure is now. Blessed be. Here goes…
In ancient wonder I found sacred peace Fair Selene, called my name, I’m not alone My back against rock as life stresses cease In the silence of the mind’s arcane dream Where ley lines cross amid mystic stone And the grass dances in her lunar beam A reminder here I’m not on my own For time stops, standing still inside this place And the spirit soars as the heart can gleam To smile again upon her silver face Once more her light shines down a bright stream Her glory shining on her chair, her throne For this is her time and this is her space Fair Selene, called my name, I’m not alone
Inspired by and written for Simply 6 Minutes – thank you, Christine
Wow, an awesome photo and such a perfect reminder that all life is held within her hands. Call her Gaia, Mother Nature, goddess – the Ancient Mother carries and grants all life – here goes
I hear her calling on the cooling breeze Those unspoken words of the ancient tongue Of her hands where nature’s beauty sprung From the mountain peaks to powerful seas The mother of life within Earth itself Her bounty given to nurture our health Her heart beat in a universal sigh And still I hear her voice among the trees As rustled whispers echo all day long As I listen to her mystery song For in her divine love I find my ease It’s in her hands that the future must wait Mother of earth and mother of the sky Into her hands once more I place my fate
Gort (G), Ivy, is the twelfth tree of the Ogham and symbolizes a warning with the energies of a determined power, binding, restricting, freedom and union.
Ivy Energy
There is a fierce and determined power to the ivy that has the ability to bind many trees together and to restrict passage through the woods, It can, in time, smother and kill a tree, even the mighty oak. If an ivy thicket appears to be dense in our other world travels, we need to stop and take stock of the motives, either there or in life. The destructive aspect of ivy is a warning about doing without thought and giving our attention to the “whys” and “how’s” of what we are doing.
The ivy also represents the search for self and the spiritual and emotional wanderings of the soul in the quest for enlightenment. It links us to others through the group collectiveness of the spiritual self.
It is our decision to understand whether our wanderings are restrictive and binding, or uniting. Stay with one tree, one idea would be restricting and eventually damaging whereas embracing many ideas and energies brings deeper confidence and unites us with our own freedoms and inner resources.
Freedom is going where we choose to go, but where we choose reveals our true inner perspective. What we decide to do with our freedom reveals the aspects of self that need healing.
Inspired by and written for Simply 6 Minutes – thank you, Christine
Well I can’t deny it, and never would, the picture just took my Pagan heart and took me to one of my favourite songs – and of course a moon sonnet for the sacred Mother Moon herself. Blessed be, in love and light )O(
Mother of tides lend me your song Over the seas echoes of grace Open my heart and keep me strong Night-time lady show me your face Lace my dreams in the ways of light Invite my soul to go your way Grant me peace in this world of fight Hold my heart safe until the day To trust in your love I am bound Seeing truth in your lunar glow Senses burning on silver ground Oh lady moon I feel your flow Never-ending rhythm of life Gentle touch in a world of strife
Muin (M), the Vine, is the eleventh tree of the Ogham and represents the energies of union, teaching, instinct, determination, and the loosening of inhibitions.
Vine Energy
As the vine grows it interweaves with other trees and that provides the clue to its essential energy. It unites the other trees together as it grows from one to another, uniting the teachings of each into a whole united concept.
This interlinking and weaving union is a key to understanding the human learning process. Links are formed between different parts of the self and they become united. With its determined energy, the wine can be used as a teacher. Helping to encourage and guide others without controlling them. It is a vital lesson to learn that not everyone has the same views and it is important to respect another’s point of view even when we disagree with it. To be a good teacher it is better to inspire others than force them to accept our views. Each person has to be able to find their own path.
The vine brings an awareness of the different levels of interaction and, also, an awareness of the connection between the conscious and the subconscious mind. The vine enables our subconscious instincts to come to the surface and it is up to us to trust and act upon them when they do. We have all been conditioned to follow logical intellect and the vine teaches us that it is important to abandon the self to instinct as it is a conferred and inherited right of power.
Written to the following prompt and what a prompt – thank you, Sue
Be still, my heart, this one is going to be a sheer joy to write to
“Embrace the seasons and cycles of your life – there is magic in change.”~ Bronnie Ware – well no point denying it I feel that quote echo throughout my heart, mind, body, and soul – so mote it be!
My blessings of love and light for Beltane in the Northern Hemisphere and Samhain, happy new year in the Southern Hemisphere. Let the fun begin
As I live in the Northern Hemisphere Beltane, 1 May, is just a few days away so it has to be the fabulous Inkubus Sukkubus (twice)
Wild Pagan Heart Form: Chant
The longest night, Solstice night Reborn the king of the sun Rejoice, rejoice, a baby’s cry For soon the Winter will be done Cast your magic well, my love
In the deep-hearted mist Awakens the sun No longer a babe For Winter is done Cast your magic well, my love
Wake up the sleeping trees It is time to glow With Beltane’s blossom The time has come to grow Cast your magic well, my love
Sing to the flowers To the grasses and trees The summer is coming On a sun-kissed breeze Cast your magic well, my love
Dance around the festival flame To the music of nature’s song To the rhythm of Gaia’s drum For nights are short and days are long Cast your magic well, my love
Instincts whisper to the soul As gently as butterflies flutter Indigo children see the fields glow With breezy ripples golden as butter Cast your magic well, my love
Swing the scythe from side it side As to the harvest, we must reap The summer’s end is coming fast And Samhain’s secrets we too shall keep Cast your magic well, my love
This holy night we celebrate As the dead re-join our throng The veil is thin as bonfires burn The days are short and nights are long Cast your magic well, my love
The longest night, Solstice night Reborn the king of the sun Rejoice, rejoice, a baby’s cry For soon the Winter will be done Cast your magic well, my love
May the blessings of Beltane be upon all who read In love and light Raven
Reflections in moonlight entwine with the echoes of equinox calming the soul as it rides sublime intuition amid the forgotten marble remembrances and the whisperings of the dead and the wild flowers bloom where tears were cried so long ago beneath the ground lie bones crumbled by time there is only peace here on this blessed Sabbat night
Each stick should be made as you contact the tree. Do not use old wood that is lying around at the bottom of the tree; however, a recently cut or broken branch is good. The stick needs to have the vibrational energy of the tree with in it, so if there is no recently cut branches it is better to ask the tree if you can take a stick. Listen closely to the tree’s response, if it is a strong sense of ‘no’, try again another time. If it is ‘yes’ always thank the tree after, and treat it with love and respect
With secateurs cut a piece of wood about a centimetre in diameter and 8-10 centimetres long. It will shrink considerably, but with twenty sticks in total, it’s better to keep them small. If you want to strip some or all of the bark from the twig then it should be done as soon as possible so the bark doesn’t shrink onto the wood. Leave the twig in a dry place to dry out for a week or two before carving, shaping, or sanding, whatever you want to do with it. The Ogham symbol can be carved, painted, or inked onto the stick.
Ogham Alphabet
While working with the stick re-establish the conscious link between you and the tress you received it from. This will help in understanding and knowledge of your sticks. Ogham sticks should be stored in a bag made of natural fabric.
Beithe (B), the Birch tree, is the first of the trees in the Ogham, and therefore marks the beginning of this journey through the trees,
Birch Energy
The birch tree is also the first tree to colonize new ground, depositing its leaves and twigs to provide nourishment and enrichment to the earth for other trees to grow. Symbolically it is seen as a tree of great life-giving properties, vitality, and nourishment.
Beithe is indicative of a new beginning or opportunity, a journey whether physical or spiritual. It is a time to prepare for changes and make ready to begin in any new situation by consciously putting the self in a different frame of mind. On a spiritual level, it might mean being prepared to leave behind old habits and dreams. Beithe empowers self-cleansing and drives out that which is no longer good for the spirit. As the birch sheds its bark, we need to shed these old unhelpful influences in our lives to make way for the new to come in.
Beithe indicates whatever must be done should be done now with the intent to clear the way, cleanse the aura, cleanse our space, and cleanse the tools we use. By finding our own ways to clean out and clear out we are prepared and ready for change and give ourselves the vitality and strength to welcome the new beginning.
It is often difficult to deal with change, and the loss of that which is familiar in our lives, however, Beithe teaches us to trust that all will be well and to let go of the fear of the unknown. During this time of preparation, we learn to nourish ourselves and those around us and with the love we put into that we will ensure we are on the right path.
Talking to Beithe
It may seem obvious but the first thing to do is find a birch tree that you can visit with ease and return to whenever you need to. It can take time and patience to find your trees where you can sit with them undisturbed. Trust your senses, eventually, the energy of a tree will call you, inviting you towards them. Get to know the tree and its surroundings as you sit with your back against its trunk. Allow your senses to feel the tree’s special vibrations. There are a myriad of different ways to be with and talk to trees. What is important is to trust in your own instinctive responses and what feels right for you.
Make your intentions and questions known to the tree. Using whatever ritual practice, intuitive means or simply being with the tree do so with an openness ready to receive the tree’s wisdom and healing vibrations. When the time comes to end the communication do so slowly and with gratitude for what the tree may have given you. Keep a record of your feelings and communication with the tree, and let the relationship develop.
Jezzie G 