Lately I've been contemplating the fact that I really am a very earthy being. For one thing, there is a preponderance of astrological evidence - I'm a Taurus with Virgo rising and my moon is in Capricorn. It doesn't get much earthier than that! There are other aspects to my chart and to my personality that suggest that I have a fair bit of the other elements mixed in there too, but when it comes right down to it, I am a essentially a creature of the earth.

So I ask myself again a question that has come up before - how did I end up with the name Nixie? I'm an earth fairy of Scottish ancestry, not a German water sprite!

When I began to study witchcraft and discussed the choosing of a magickal name, many sources suggested that as you change over time and become the witch you are going to be it is not an uncommon practice to change your magickal name. I chose the name Nixie before I actually started my formal training. It seemed to fit at the time and I liked it. Is it time to reconsider?

I do love the water. I'm drawn to the ocean and often feel at peace there. I also love the feeling when the waves are crashing on the beach and the wind is blowing all around. I also possess the intuitive qualities that the element of water tends to manifest in us, so it is not entirely inappropriate to think of myself as a partly watery woman.

In her book Tarot for Beginners my friend Susan Levitt offers the most accessible discussion that I have found for understanding the concept of elemental alchemy, at least for beginners. Very simply, she explains the symbolic significance of mixing the four elements. For example, she describes the mixture of fire and water as "an alchemical balance of emotion put into action, or action stemming from strong emotion." The mixture of air and earth "is the alchemical balance of making ideas reality and changing physical reality through ideas, values, thoughts and beliefs." What she fails to tell me, however, is what happens when you mix earth and water.

Well, any child can tell you what happens when you mix earth and water. You get mud!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:24 AM | Comments (2)

Really, any goddess. Just grab her and thank her the best way you know how that today is finally Friday. The work week is over. Mercury goes direct tomorrow. And all is right with the world.

Banana daiquiris anyone?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:32 AM | Comments (0)

Last night I participated in an online Ostara ritual conducted at one of my favorite blogs, Street Prophets, led by one of the more active pagans on the site, Taliesin. Various pagan members of the Street Prophets community have taken to conducting these online rituals as a way for those of us who know each other only in cyberspace to celebrate Sabbats together, but also so that the general community there can learn more about our spiritual path - since that is part of what the mission of Street Prophets is all about.

This Ostara ritual was a great way for me to observe the Sabbat in a more meaningful way since I had missed the ritual that Unicorn Books held in Cambridge on Saturday. As I've been writing about Ostara, I've come to realize how significant its blessings are for me this year and was eager to participate in a formal ritual - albeit online. Then there was the simple matter of creating my altar!

Yesterday, as I was out gathering the various items that I would need, I started to feel very excited - like a little kid preparing for a party! I couldn't find a yellow pillar candle on which to carve an image of the sun, so I got a white one with two yellow tapers instead. I bought 8 pink tulips - to symbolize the eternal nature of love. When I got home I started pulling out the special little dishes that I've collected over the years that leant themselves perfectly as vessels for water and salt. I actually went through the steps to color eggs - although I only colored one - a dark, magickal violet. I included on the altar the mixture of blessed soil and seeds that I got as part of the full moon ritual I'd gone to last week. Ganesh took his place, as he always does, and my altar was complete.

The excitement I felt carried me through the evening. For some reason this surprised me, but it was a wonderful anticipatory feeling. I took a purifying shower and dressed in white. Since I knew that Taliesin would start the ritual late, I nourished myself with some salmon, asparagus and white wine. I put on a cd of of chants from Robert Gass, using From The Goddess, which is a beautiful chant that celebrates the feminine spirit, sung by women from On Wings of Song with sound of the ocean at Big Sur. And then it was time to perform the ritual!

You can follow the ritual at the Street Prophets site - link. It was promoted to the front page by Pastor Dan - he's good that way about acknowledging the posts that are significant to others in the community.

This ritual was very special and powerful for me. Thanks to Taliesin for hosting it for us. I encourage everyone to follow the pagan contributions to Street Prophets, to join our little community there, and to meet some of the folk from other faiths who are wonderful, liberal and most of all, fun!

Blessed be!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:01 AM | Comments (1)

My favorite online Ostara reference is Christina Aubin's excellect overview posted at Witches' Voice. Christina writes about Ostara with much more authority than I could hope to at this point and her article includes all of the essential information about lore, symbology, practices and spiritual significance that we need to know about this Sabbat.

Pagan News also has a nice overview of Ostara - I particularly like their discussion of colored eggs and their correspondences.

Illustration by lachrymose-dollfie at DeviantArt.

The excerpt here is from a section in Christina Aubin's article that resonated most powerfully with me. For those of you who know me well, you will understand why now, in particular, this message carries so much importance and why the message of hope, growth and new possibilities is so meaningful.

The Vernal Equinox is the season of new and renewed life, of new fire and new spark. The gentle, slow awakening of the Earth that began at Imbolc accelerates with almost lightning speed. There is an intensity, a fervor to the energies of this time; it is as if all existence suddenly is whirling its way in a pinnacle climax from which all life bursts onward in its own determination to keep the circle of life spinning.

With such whirlwind fervor one can understand the necessity of spring cleaning, the channeling of such immense energies into productive, worthwhile tasks on all levels of our lives. It is a time of clearing away that which is static to prepare for the dynamic force of the new and renewed substance of life. Clearing the fields, if you will, to make possible the seeding.

Seeding, of course, has a multi-level meaning, for the seeds we plant can be on the soil of our Being as well as the soil of the earth. It is the time after the final harvest of fields and of self during Samhain, the contemplation during the fallow periods of winter, to plant the new seeds given from our experience, pondered and understood. A time to begin to create new life, from the seeds of experience past. A life rich in the wisdom of experience past, brimming with the promise of times future.

Spring Equinox is also celebration as well as a practice of balance. For it is not quite Spring and yet not quite winter, it is the time when we are perched magically between the two seasons. The trees and plants are stirring with renewed life, and yet we still receive the March wintry storms. It is a time to remember our balance in the greater scheme of things, we are an important part of all that happens around us, our actions and inactions, our deeds and not, all have effect on the Earth, Her people, and the Universe. So it is the time of the year when we understand our need to walk in balance with the Universe much more clearly.

The Vernal Equinox also reminds us that there will be times in which achieving balance is easier than at other times in our lives. As the seasons of nature are cyclical so are our lives; we individually mirror the movement of the whole. The Vernal Equinox also serves to remind us that there are times when we must individually "clean house" in order to maintain fertile ground, clear out our outdated conceptions and misconceptions, our grievances and hurts, our self-perceived many times self-inflicted wounds, regrets of our past actions and inactions, our grudges and resentments, our inability to forgive others and ourselves. By clearing house we create the room for new experiences, new understandings, new hope and new joy that would elude us had we not cleared the way and made room for them to occur.

Spring speaks to our soul in messages of hope, of growth or new possibilities realized.

While the messages we learn from Ostara are important and significant for all of us, the blessings of this Sabbat could not be coming at a more significant time for me. I recently was engaged. My fiance and I have had our difficulties and are still struggling with some of them. But we have made our way through the worst of them together and find ourselves this Ostara at a very good place for a new beginning.

Today I will celebrate Ostara at a discussion group with my witchcraft class friends. I missed the Ostara ritual over the weekend, so this small gathering will be my opportunity to share good thoughts and energy for new things to look forward to in the year to come, including the beginning of Witchcraft II later this week!

I wish you much hope and happiness for all of your new beginnings and wish you a Blessed Ostara.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)

Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been - the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. While not the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and thousands of their subjects in the "Holy Wells" that still bear this name.

Interestingly enough, the person who was to become Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385 and his given name was Maewyn. Far from being a saint, until he was 16 he considered himself a pagan. At that age, he was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders who raided his village. During his captivity he became closer to God and later decided that it was his calling to convert the pagans to Christianity.

As was often the case in those days, rather than attacking paganism, Patrick used pagan symbols to win converts. It is said that he used the three-leafed shamrock, the traditional pagan symbol of spring, to explain the concept of the Trinity; hence its strong association with his day and name. He superimposed the pagan symbol of the sun onto the Christian cross giving the celtic cross its shape.

So then, how should we pagan-leaning folk view Saint Patrick?

Certainly some could see him now as merely a symbol of Ireland and the celebration of Saint Patrick's Day simply an expression of pride of heritage. Although the Irish do celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, it is the Irish-Americans who seem to place such significance on the observance of this holiday. (A fun excuse to drink Irish beer and eat corned beef and cabbage?)

Do we pagans see Saint Patrick as an enemy, contributing to the downfall of a religion that we consider part of our spiritual heritage? Do we actually thank him for being one of those who by incorporating pagan images and practices into early Christianity actually preserved them?

As a part of Celtic history, there is certainly much that could be and has been written about Saint Patrick. This is one of the more interesting web pages I found that discusses his history and includes lots of pagan tidbits (not to mention some fun stuff about leprechauns).

Not being Irish myself, when I was in high school I enjoyed flouting tradition by wearing orange to school on Saint Patrick's Day. You can imagine how well that would go over now that I live in Boston! Today, I'm just going along with the general celebratory spirit of fun by wearing a green t-shirt under my sweater and using today as an excuse to wear my pretty peridot beads.

I'll have to think more about how I feel about Saint Patrick later.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

This morning, coming home from my daily latte run, I noticed that the name on the mailbox for the apartment above me had changed: Sprite. So, my new neighbor, arrived at last, is a sprite!

Image of earth sprite courtesy of Zejeni at DeviantArt.

Last night, I heard activity going on up there and assumed that the new tenant had begun the move-in process. I wondered what he could be doing at 10:30 at night. And from the sounds coming through my ceiling, he doesn't sound very sprite-like.

This will be worth investigating! I wonder what kind of sprite he is. Do you think he looks like this?

What do sprites like to drink? Of course I shall have to be neighborly and invite the sprite down for a bevvie.

What has been your experience with sprites?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)

You all know that we have been living with Mercury retrograde in Pisces for the past week or so, which has been working to make any communications fraught with emotional overtones and nearly guaranteeing that any communications of matters of the heart can be easily misconstrued. For those of us not able to just stay hidden under the covers until Mercury goes direct on the 25th, caution is the operative word.

Tomorrow is the Full Moon in Virgo and a Lunar Eclipse to boot. I found a great website, MoonCat's Astrology, that has a lot to say about the astrological significance of eclipses:

The eclipse seems to stop time, stop energy and stop movement - while also focusing energy. Where once there was light filtering through the elemental forces of the zodiac and into the earth's aura - there is suddenly darkness, nothingness - a temporary lack of input from the Sun or Moon that serves to bring our awareness closer to the energy of the Solar or Lunar season, and thus intensify it.

Lunar energy is internal, maternal, nurturing, deeply emotional - and absorbed and internalized by our astral bodies.

When a lunar eclipse occurs, the earth is passing between the Sun and the Moon, creating a Full Moon as we experience every month - but in this case, the alignment is perfect - the occultation of the Moon complete. The intensity of the Full Moon is great, yet she is totally covered for about an hour by the earth's shadow. The Sun and Moon are occupying opposite Astrological signs, therefore emphasizing the particular polarity inherent in those signs.

During the period of occultation, the Moon's reassuring light is temporarily suspended and withheld. We experience a crisis of lack, and the particular sort of lack depends universally upon the astrological sign in which the eclipse occurs, and personally upon the natal astrological house (realm of influence), as well as the major aspects made to natal planets.

This eclipse is particularly relationship oriented - and our connections with others can be severed, challenged, or suddenly welded together as the shock calls one to action. We may deeply consider our feelings and needs within the context of the house, sign and planetary aspects affected. To fully appreciate the potential in the lunar eclipse, we must explore both houses and signs that are brought into play. Where the Moon is - we can confront our demons, old habits and fears, and where the Sun is we may find the means to embrace a release from whatever bondage we experience in life through our creative efforts. In any event, there are opportunities for deeper understanding, and finding a balance in our lives.

What I find intriguing about this idea that during the lunar eclipse the energy of the moon is blocked for a short time is that this could be just the break we're looking for during this Mercury retrograde. The energy of a Full Moon in Virgo could lead us to be overly critical. While I recognize that sometimes critical thinking is a good thing, when you are negotiating a tenuous relationship issue (as I am) and Mercury retrograding in Pisces is already affecting communication, critical Virgo energy isn't likely to be helpful. Perhaps during the eclipse tomorrow we have a serendipitous window of opportunity. Those of us who have any romantic affairs to which we are attending might be well advised to time any sensitive discussions for the precise moments when the eclipse is keeping that Virgo nit-pickiness at bay.

Paying particular attention to what MoonCat is saying about lunar eclipses being relationship oriented, I think that we have an interesting astrological confluence of energy going on tomorrow and if we pay attention, we can use all of this energy to good advantage. But be careful! It's going to be a wacky ride and we want to make sure we find ourselves up wind of the shit storm!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

To put this post in some context I'll start by saying that it is essentially a cross-post from a blog I read a lot, Street Prophets. A writer who is one of the stronger representatives of pagan religions on that site had written a diary, Stages of Neopagan Reactions to Christians. Although the site is predominantly Christian, people of many faiths share stories and information about their religions so that we can all learn about each other's faiths and build a stronger sense of community and participation. For those of you unfamiliar with Street Prophets, it's a site run by a very cool pastor friend of mine, the purpose of which is to bring together people of faith who care about what's going on in our country (politically, for the most part). This site has become a tremendous community of great people and I count many of them as my friends.

I took offense at one of the commenters who said that information being presented on the history of goddess religions in a class he took on religious identity was "very strange" and was taking the position that it was all bunk. He went on to say:

Fact is, there has been rather a lot of nonsense put out there, I call it neo-feminist pseudo-history. And I haven't a lot of patience with people that are simply making this stuff up out of whole cloth.

I don't know exactly what was presented to him in his class, so I can't make any comments on the validity of the information being taught. However, there is much historical basis for acknowledging goddess worship as among the earliest religions.

Here is a good overview provided by ReligiousTolerance.org.

To add further historical perspective on goddess religions and the persecution of their adherents, here is an excerpt from the introduction to a scholarly work on the history of goddess worship When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone:

In prehistoric and early historic periods of human development, religions existed in which people revered their supreme creator as female. The Great Goddess - the Divine Ancestress - had been worshipped from the beginnings of the Neolithic periods of 7000 BC until the closing of the last Goddess temples, about AD 500. Some authorities would extend Goddess worship as far into the past as the Upper Paleolithic Age of about 25,000 BC. Yet events of the Bible, which we are generally taught to think of as taking place "in the beginning of time," actually occurred in historic periods. Abraham, first prophet of the Hebrew-Christian god Yahweh, more familiarly known as Jehovah, is believed by most Bible scholars to have lived no earlier than 1800 BC and possibly as late as 1550 BC. Most significant is the realization that for thousands of years both religions existed simultaneously - among closely neighboring peoples. Archaeological, mythological and historical evidence all reveal that the female religion, far from naturally fading away, was the victim of centuries of continual persecution and suppression by the advocates of the newer religions which held male deities as supreme.

The reason that you would have been told that "goddess worshippers" were persecuted during the burning times is that the Christians were burning at the stake those people they viewed as a threat to their authority and those whom they believed to be witches. It was usually women practicing the old ways who were believed to be witches and therefore a large proportion of people who were persecuted during the burning times were women.

Traditionally, it was women who were skilled in how to use herbs to cure, were midwifes and practiced many other things that were construed as magic. In fact many people of Wiccan and other pagan faiths view the folk magic traditions practiced by the healers and mystics of early European peoples as the basis for their faith.

The commentor at Street Prophets remembered being told that Glastonbury Tor was the oldest religious artifact and believed this to be "bizarrely untrue." As far as Glastonbury Tor is concerned, I don't know enough about it even to speculate, but just a cursory glance at this website about it suggests that in the context of early pre-Christian religions there is enough evidence to suggest that it certainly is an archeologically important site, whether it is the oldest religious artifact or not. (In fact, I found it to be so interesting that I am planning to write a post on it later.)

It is not "neo-feminist pseudo history" to talk about the persecution of women throughout history because there is no disputing that fact. And it seems to me that the commenter missed the point entirely of the discussion of early goddess-worshipping cultures. On a site like Street Prophets, where the whole point is learning about and celebrating each other's religions in the contect of coming together as a community of people who care about what's happening in our world, I found the comments offensive.

On a site like Blogickal, I couldn't resist sharing my proud moment of righteous indignation!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:16 AM | Comments (1)

What is the most magical experience that you had this week?

On Tuesday, I had a job interview that went particularly well. I was feeling an incredible energy afterward - not only because I was enthusiastic about the prospects of working for this company but because I enjoyed meething the people there and was very happy about how the interview went. I was buoyed by this energy and eager to get a tarot reading from my friend Carolyn to see what the cards had to say about this potential new job.

During our reading, Carolyn begain to have a vision of the man I interviewed with who would be my boss if I got the job. She saw him perfectly and could have drawn a picture. She said that this man would be very significant to me - that he would have much to teach me and that even if I didn't get the job I should stay in touch with him because there was something about him that was very important for me.

This blew me away. I wondered what was so powerful about this man, about my experience with him, that brought this image into our reading. Was it the energy I was creating around my good interview? Was it the power of a connection I had made with him? Was he sending his own energy to me because he was feeling a similar connection to me? Trippy things, all.

The reading also revealed the Queens of Pentacles and Wands and other encouraging cards relating to the job. I'm keeping fingers crossed that I'm called back for a second interview. But the most magical thing that happened this week was Carolyn's vision of this man and the thought that all of the various circumstances that led to me having a job interview with this particular company led me to a person who was clearly meant to be in my life somehow.

Now before you get all excited - he is married and I'm engaged. This wasn't a love connection. But we've all met people who have turned out to be a powerful influence in or somehow a significant part of our lives. It was magical to me to have this revealed to me through the tarot, clearly a product of that energy that I was feeling. It made me feel magical.

Thank you to Witches Weekly for the Q&A.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:33 AM | Comments (0)