I knew that tonight was a Full Moon (10:30 pm EST) but had not been aware that it was also a Lunar Eclipse until I looked up what Cafe Astrology had to say on the subject:

On Wednesday night, a Lunar Eclipse occurs. A Lunar eclipse is an especially potent Full Moon. Lunar eclipses are relationship-oriented. The "crisis" that these eclipses tend to elicit is a crisis of lack--a time when we suddenly realize a great need or want. The impact of the crisis can act to sever a relationship--it's possible. But it can also bring two people together with a sudden awareness of a great need for each other. Although Lunar eclipses are more relationship-oriented than Solar eclipses, they are not always about relationships between two people. They can trigger awareness of need in other areas of our lives, such as our relationship to work, to our health and bodies, and so forth. This is a time when matters come to light--things that have been brewing under the surface.

In personal relationships, I'm not sure that I have much left that hasn't bubbled up, given that this has been such a focus of my energy for the past several months. In fact, I think those bubbles have popped and dissipated into the atmosphere. Do I "lack" a relationship? Well, that depends on what we're talking about when we say relationship. I certainly don't have the one I had before. It's actually been quite freeing to recognize that the energy I had been putting into that relationship is now available to me in a whole new way - to focus on things that I want to do for myself.

Perhaps this is the "crisis" and the relationship this Lunar Eclipse is forcing me to address - my relationship to self - but in a more active and outward-facing fashion than it has been up to now. I am aware that I've been procrastinating starting a new yoga practice. Perhaps today is the day I step out of my lethargy and into a yoga studio. But then, some priest in Poland will try to exorcise me, but I digress...

Lunar Eclipses are about relationships and polarities. With the Virgo-Pisces service axis involved, this Lunar Eclipse presses us to look more closely at our needs, lacks, and wants in our lives. We are pushed to find a balance between day-to-day functions and routines, physical health, and the need for order (Virgo) and vision, spiritual health, disorder, and the infinite (Pisces). Virgo rules the tools and techniques that we use to deal with day-to-day life, while Pisces rules the tools that we use to deal with our spiritual selves. This energy pits realism against idealism. Some sort of crisis (which can be a crisis of consciousness) or sudden awareness of a lack in our lives provides us with a golden opportunity to explore our emotional needs within the context of the house polarity where the eclipse occurs in our natal charts. Relationships may be challenged, broken, or strengthened dramatically at this time. Our discovery is emotionally charged and dramatic. Epiphanies are likely at this time as we become acutely aware of our lack. This understanding can propel us into positive action. With Saturn and Pluto involved, events or epiphanies are likely very practical and productive. They could feel burdensome, as increased responsibilities come to light.

To me this resonates as energy that needs to be focused outwardly, albeit in ways that could have strong emotional ramifications. Sometimes we experience the most emotional upheaval when we make even the smallest change to our daily routines. Erm - otherwise known as a rut? Shaking things up can be a good thing and now that we can sense Spring on its way, I think we're feeling antsy. Curling up in front of the fireplace doesn't have the same sense of satisfaction. My body wants to move.

I was reading Thorn Coyle today and she says a lot about the need to have a healthy body that can facilitate and embody a healthy spirit. Perhaps that is what this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse is all about for me. My training in the Feri Tradition begins soon and I want my body to be as ready as the rest of me!

This Lunar Eclipse gives us a cosmic push to make needed changes in our lives. The areas of life activated by the eclipse may see dramatic turns, after which the path is clear to move forward. Note that whatever "happens" at this time is nothing truly new. The issues have been brewing inside of us, and emotions have been building. Something comes to light at the time of the Full Moon, and if we get in touch with our emotions, we can get a better idea of what needs to change, or what needs to go.

It makes perfect sense to me that this especially powerful lunation comes at a time when it is most needed to support and complete a period of great - and necessary - change in my life. So many others have written of this too. All we have to do is pay attention to the political ads that have been running ad nauseum for the past few months to know that what everyone is yearning so desperately for is CHANGE! Astrologers say that the effects of this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse may be felt for up to six months; I'll think we'll be seeing a lot of change in that period of time.

Most references to Full Moon correspondences refer to February's Full Moon as the Storm or Quickening Moon. It is Moon of vision and astral travel and a time to plan a ritual to ask the Old Ones for help in planning your future. Go out and play with the Fey tonight. Me - I feel like dancing!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 5:03 PM | Comments (2)

Like the iconic Breck commercial, I love the way that bloggers pass along a great idea and before you know it countless of us across the cybersphere are adding our energy to a working, joining our sisters in a boundless circle of community.

I learned from Hecate about a lovely way to honor Brigid on Imbolc, her day, which is tomorrow. The event is the third annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading, started by Reya and publicized by Deborah Oak at Branches Up, Roots Down, among others.

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading



WHEN: Any time February 2, 2008



WHERE: Your blog



WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day



HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.



RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. Last year when the call went out there was more poetry in cyberspace than I could keep track of. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun.



Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers.

Thank you, Reya, for beginning what is now an annual event.

While it might be fun to try my hand at a bit of poetry, I think I'll spare myself the embarrassment and post something that is actually good. Tune in tomorrow! And be sure to make your way around the blogosphere to see how others are honoring Brigid for Imbolc.

Blessed be everyone!

UPDATE: All participants should create a link their blog poetry in a comment at this post by Deborah Oak. You can leave a link in comments here if you like, which would be lovely, but Deborah is the keeper of the thread.

May you feel Brigid's inspiration and the quickening of the Earth today!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:12 PM | Comments (2)

At 8:35 am EST this morning we had a Full Moon in Leo. If one of the things that this Full Moon represents is the culmination of things started at the New Moon, then I look back to my New Moon in Capricorn post, wherein I wrote about the many signs for positive change in the New Year that seemed to be appearing everywhere. I, for one, have seen positive change in a number of areas of my life since 2008 began - new beginnings that bring me much hope. What better way to celebrate such auspicious harbingers of things to come than under the influence of Leo?

This is a time of warmth and enjoyment. It is a time for romance and pleasure, with our emotions at the forefront of our consciousness. Rather than focusing on spellwork today, I'm drawn to luxuriate in the feelings Leo evokes and to savor the happiness that the last few weeks have brought me. And since Leo is ruled by the Sun, I want to spend my day (here in chilly New England) daydreaming of being on a lovely beach with someone I love.

Cafe Astrology says:

Mercury aligns with Neptune today, which adds to the mystique of the Full Moon. Our intuitive creativity is stimulated under this influence. Conscious reasoning can be distorted by subconscious matter, so concentrating on cold hard facts can be challenging. Daydreaming, visualization, and prophecy are stimulated.

While today may not be the greatest day to conduct serious business, it will be a perfect day for divination and other psychic work. Messages may be unclear or vague, but the energy is out there today to bring them to us in full force.

Leo is ruled by the Sun. He is associated with the tarot card Strength, the element of fire, and the color gold. To look up other correspondences for working with Leo energy, visit Spelwerx and Phoenix Rising.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)

The last week has been pretty crazy for me - story of my life these days it seems. I got a new computer and have been working to get it set up and files transferred from the old computer, etc. etc. I did make it to our community's Yule ritual, led by my teacher Christopher Penczak, which was wonderful, and spent a fun evening in the company of friends. The Full Moon completely slipped my mind. Today I'm off to spend Christmas with some dear friends, the family I chose.

If I have received one message from the many that have been swirling around me these past few days of thinking about what the Solstice means and what the new year holds it is that we, each of us, need to be our own Sun. May your light shine strong and bright.

Blessed Yule and happy holidays!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:11 AM | Comments (3)

On Saturday, December 22 we celebrate Yule and the Winter Solstice. There is a Full Moon in Cancer at on Sunday, December 23. It's a time both for reflection and for celebration as we think about where we've been and look with eager anticipation toward the new Sun and his promise for increasing light and warmth.

Ever since the Sagittarian New Moon on December 9th I have been feeling something building. Messages coming from everywhere are telling me that something big and life changing is about to happen. I had an amazing and extremely informative clairvoyant reading with Jessa, who was recommended to me by my dear friend Slade at Shift Your Spirits. Jenna Avery, in her newsletter The Art of Sensitive Living wrote an insightful and timely article about choosing the three big things that are most important to us in the new year (more on that later). I hadn't had any communication from her in months and suddenly yesterday I receive an email from astrologer Susan Miller that says:

On December 18, Jupiter will make its monumental move into Capricorn, and when it does, Jupiter (gifts and good fortune) will stay in that sign for a little over a year. This is the first time since 1996 that Jupiter has visited Capricorn. This means that you are about to enjoy a shot of new luck in a completely fresh and new area of your life in 2008 - a place you may not have seen much activity in over a decade! (For precisely where Jupiter will visit, check your December forecast for your rising sign and Sun sign.)

There's even more to be excited about! On December 23, we can look forward to the Luckiest Day of the Year when Jupiter and the Sun will meet in conjunction, an annual event that we all always enjoy. Jupiter and the Sun meet at different random dates each year, and in different signs. This year, the Sun and Jupiter will meet in Capricorn. Wow! This is a day you will certainly want to use to advance another of your dearest wishes!

December 23 is ALSO the date of the full moon in Cancer, beautifully aspected, making this year's lucky day even more dramatic, because the full moon will support the Luckiest Day of the Year with lots of good energy.

(Susan has lots more to say for individual signs, so be sure to check out her site, Astrology Zone.)

All of this information has my head spinning. I'm not quite sure how to process it or what to do with it all yet but my intuition is telling me if I can simply immerse myself in this energy and let it take me where it will then everything will change. Everything. And it will be good.

In the days to come I believe that the way will be revealed for me to take my own power into my hands to put everything I need into motion to make this new year full of abundance and happiness. With optimism, enthusiasm, sensitivity, an adventurous spirit, honesty, forthrightness and independence I will nurture faith, love, hope and vision for a new year full of real change. I will be brave enough to face my fears and act in the face of them to honor my true self.

May you find this time to be as inspiring and wondrous as I have. Blessed be.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

Yesterday I was indulging in a bit of blog wandering - you know that phenomenon where from one blog you click on a link to another from which you discover another, and so on. I discovered two great posts on Yule and the Winter Solstice and liked the blogs so much I added them to my blog roll:

Yule & Solstice Links from Full Circle

Winter Solstice Season Reflections at Celestine Musings

They've given me much food for thought as I contemplate the arrival of the Sun and what a new year holds in store for me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

Before Samhain was Samhain to me it was just Halloween. I loved Halloween (still do in fact) when you got to make a cool costume and go out into the cool, dark night and run around with a lot of other kids in costumes and beg strangers for candy, which you ate until you puked. Of course as an adult it's more like going out to a cold, dark bar to beg strangers for sex and drink until you puke, but I digress.

Was it because I always was a witch that I was so attracted to this day, the Wiccan New Year and arguably the most important of the Sabbats? Perhaps. But I think it doesn't take a witch to get excited by the energy Halloween brings with it, when the veil between the worlds is thin and anything can happen, the most magickally potent time of year.

Jason Pitzi-Waters wrote this week at The Wild Hunt that Halloween has become Better Than Christmas as more and more people in the US embrace the celebration of this holiday. He offers a variety of sources who suggest that Halloween's popularity comes from a fascination with the frightening and the macabre. He quotes philosophy professor Cynthia Freeland: "When we know that we are safe, we can explore this dangerous territory, deal with it in a vicarious way, and feel brave and bold that we have come to grips with some aspect of evil, some aspect of danger in the world."

There may be a bit of truth to that but I think it's actually much simpler. When the veil between all worlds - the Underworld, the Faery world, and any other world you can imagine - is thin and magick is all around, it is only logical that even those who don't usually connect with other worlds or even believe in their existence can hardly help but feel something different in the air. Everyone feels the presence of something magickal, even if they don't know what it is. They feel the excitement and it stirs their blood. To me it speaks to the power and magick of Samhain if it is so strong that everyone can feel it. What else explains such widespread allure?

It's been a busy couple of months for me and I'm not as prepared for Halloween as I would like. But I am ready for Samhain. I can feel it.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 6:10 PM | Comments (1)

Early Friday morning, 26 October 2007, at 12:52 AM EDT, we will have a Full Moon in Taurus. Since Taurus is ruled by Venus, a Full Moon in Taurus inclines us toward sensual delights and earthly beauty. Can you think of a better time to begin a romantic weekend away? Lucky me!

Cafe Astrology says:

Full Moons always pit opposite signs of the zodiac against each other, but also invite us to work to achieve a balance between the opposing energies. The contrast between earthy, practical, peace-loving Taurus and emotional, transformative, crisis-oriented Scorpio comes full bloom today. The Moon in Taurus wants us to find emotional fulfillment through the simple, tangible things in life, while the Scorpio Sun draws our attention to complexities, intangibles, and mysteries. The Full Moon illuminates this conflict between form (Taurus) and transformation (Scorpio), and between collecting (Taurus) and sharing (Scorpio). This is a passionate and creative Full Moon, ripe with possibilities and learning experiences. Intimate relationship matters, such as personal comfort levels and values as well as sexuality, figure prominently now.

(To learn more, be sure to check out This Week in Astrology.)

For me personally this Full Moon represents an important milestone. While happily timed to coincide with a romantic getaway, the circumstances behind this particular new romantic prospect are what make this Full Moon so significant to me - so thrilling, welcome and powerful.

Taurus V2 © 2007 Azurylipfe at deviantART

For one thing, I'm a Taurus, and having a Full Moon in my sign is generally an auspicious time. A time for getting out there and enjoying life, for luxuriating in all beautiful things, for embracing the earthy Goddess in myself. When that can be shared with a romantic partner, even better. I've also had a bit of unrest and disappointment in the love department lately and this Full Moon finds me happier than I've been in a long time, embarking on a new romance with a lovely new man who treats me like a princess. I so deserve this happiness. We know that the Full Moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment, an emotional time full of romance, fertilization, and relationships. This could not be more true for me right now.

While Cafe Astrology presents the contrasts between the energies of Taurus and Scorpio, for me this Full Moon marks a powerful confluence of all of these energies. Not only are they not in conflict but I find myself experiencing both transformation and emotional fulfillment. For the first time in a long time I feel the excitement and passion that comes from meeting someone new who excites me on an intellectual as well as a physical level. The first weekend away with this new man, happening as it does on this Full Moon, truly is ripe with possibilities and opportunities for us to learn more about each other in many ways. It's emotional and sensual, practical and passionate, tangible and intangible, peaceful and mysterious - all at the same time. It's what a favorite television heroine of mine referred to as "za za zou." I felt it before when we first met but this weekend I have a feeling that my cup will be running over with it.

What can this Full Moon mean for you? We all want to experience the best of Taurus' earthy qualities. The Full Moon is a time to realize that which was begun at the last New Moon, so think about what you have manifested for yourself and celebrate that. If you feel you need some transformation in your earthly world, use the Taurus/Scorpio dynamic to make that change happen. My own personal situation notwithstanding, this Full Moon seems particularly charged for dealing with intimate personal relationships. Make some plans for a lovely evening at home, with lots of special touches to make the most of Taurus' sensual nature and Scorpio's emotional one. Collect beautiful things and share them with someone special!

Do remember that Mercury is still Retrograde. This means that communications can be challenged. With emotions and passions running high, be careful not to say something you don't mean or can't follow up. On the flip side, a Mercury Retrograde is a good time to reflect, rethink and redo. It's actually a good time to return to things you wished you had a chance to do over or differently. Was there a job you applied for and never heard back? Give them a call - the results might surprise you. A love affair you wish you could rekindle? Now is the perfect time. Just be careful that if it's a new love you want you don't inadvertently call back someone you would be happier to leave in the past!

Continue reading "A Glorious Full Moon in Taurus"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:33 PM | Comments (1)

Today's Full Moon, which occurs at 3:45 pm EDT, is also this year's Harvest Moon.

The Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox and was called this because, rising within a half hour of sunset, it allowed farmers extra time to bring in the harvest, working by the light of the moon. The Harvest Moon always hangs low in the sky and often has an orange or pink cast. It seems to be larger and more beautiful than other Full Moons and gives a lot of light throughout the entire night. No other lunar spectacle is as awesome as the Harvest Moon. When it falls in September, the Harvest Moon is also known as the Fruit Moon.

The Full Moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. It is an emotional time—a time of romance, fertilization, and relationships. Energy is considered to be at it's highest right now and this is the perfect time for spells that increase psychic abilities and fertility. Celtic traditions saw the September Full Moon as the Moon of the Wise and associated it with manifestation and protection, as well as fertility.

Coming as it does right after Mabon, this Full Moon's association with fertility can be a powerful blessing for the seeds we've just sent into the loamy depths of the underworld. Lunar cycles generally focus on what may be manifested from month to month, but today seems to have the potential to affect us into the Spring, when the seeds we've planted will begin to sprout. My usual source for astrological insight into the workings of the Moon is Cafe Astrology, however that advice felt too fleeting to apply to the deep sense of importance instinct is telling me this Full Moon holds. So I decided to turn to another source for guidance - Celtic tradition.

The Celts used a more ancient lunar calendar that had 13 months instead of twelve. Each month was associated with a different tree, which was believed to be imbued with the energy and attributes of the spirit that inhabited it. And thus the character of each month, and the personality of those born within it, is influenced by its tree spirit. I found a great site that describes the Celtic Zodiac and offers descriptions of each of the trees.

Because the Celtic calendar doesn't quite correspond to our modern calendar, I had to use a bit of common sense and intuition when applying the principles of the Celtic Zodiac to an interpretation of the energy influencing today's Full Moon. If you go by today's date alone, September 26, it falls at the end of the Vine month. But the Vine month is generally associated with August, the tenth month in the Celtic Ogham, and Lughnassadh. The month that is associated with Mabon and the Autumnal Equinox is September, the eleventh month in the Celtic Ogham, the Ivy month.

The power of the Ivy lies in its ability to cling and bind, making it a potent symbol of determination and strength to the Druids. Ivy has been known to strangle trees and was once a portent of death and spiritual growth. Being evergreen in nature, the Ivy represented the perennial aspects of the human psyche. The Celts associated Ivy with their Lunar Goddess, Arianrhod, and their ritual to this deity marked the opening of the portal to the OtherWorld...or the Dark Side of the Moon. This door symbolized an entrance to the Realm of Faery and thus, the Ivy was representative of the mysterious and the mystical. Ivy was once carried by women for good luck and used to aid in fertility. When used correctly, it was said to heal headaches, muscle cramps and assist in the art of prophecy. Ivy was symbolic of the journey of the soul and the spiral toward to the self. It encouraged assistance toward others in their search so that they, in turn, might offer assistance. Considered to be powerful indeed by the Celts because of its ability to kill even the mightiest Oak, the Ivy has a tendency to create dense, inpenetrable thickets in the forest. It was regarded to be much more powerful than the Vine and rather sinister in nature.

Taken in the context of other correspondences to the Harvest Moon and the spiritual significance of Mabon (knowing too that Samhain soon follows), I think today's Full Moon belongs to Ivy. For me, Mabon was not the joyous celebration of abundance that I felt it should have been. Instead, I'm turning my thoughts to the promise of something new for a different harvest yet to come. Reading the description of Ivy above, I am eager to work with its energy, to call upon its spirit, to walk into the faery realm. I remember what Christopher Penczak said in his description of his Mabon ritual about calling upon plant allies to aid us as we descend seed-like into the Underworld and winter. What more powerful ally to have at my side as I take on this work than Ivy?

Today feels like the beginning of an energetic and spiritual dance toward Samhain and a new year. One of my sources on Full Moon correspondences lists trooping faeries as the nature spirits associated with September's Full Moon. I'm going to call upon my faery guides and crow sisters so that we can wrap ourselves in Ivy and troop together on this journey.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:00 PM | Comments (1)

Once again, the chaos that has become my life has swooped in and taken over. I can't find time for eating, much less for blogging. My apologies to friends and readers who have come to expect more from Blogickal and whom, I realize, I've been disappointing lately.

Today is Mabon, the Autumnal Equinox and the last of the Wiccan harvest festivals, the Witches’ version of Thanksgiving. This is a time for spiritual reflection on the past year, what it has brought to us and what have we sown and harvested in our lives. It is a time to give thanks to the God and the Goddess for what we have been able to accomplish and it is an opportunity to cut away the chaff, the useless things and situations that are keeping us from realizing our truest potential and greatest happiness. Since we are coming to the end of our Pagan year it also is a time to imagine what we hope and plan to accomplish next year. These things are our modern "harvest."

There have been some good things for which I am truly grateful. But when I look back over the past year, it's with a fair amount of pain and disappointment. Mabon finds me quite literally in a place I hadn't planned to be and at a point where I'm being forced to face the reality that one particular seed, which I've been nurturing for so long, is simply not going to reach fruition. It's difficult to explain grief for something that was only an idea, a hope, a dream, but the experience of that grief isn't any less real.

Last night my teacher, Christopher Penczak, led ritual for our community, which I missed, being headachy and exhausted. The theme for the ritual was "focusing on the seeds descending into the dark, and calling upon plant allies that are balms, banes and trees to aid us in understanding our own seed-like nature that must descend in the winter and weather the cold and ice." Descending into the dark was something I just wasn't prepared to face last night. The promise of a balm was not enough to overcome my fear of the dark.

In addition to my blog, my faith is one of the things that I've been neglecting lately, one of the losers in the conflict between what I really want to do and what I can actually accomplish with the limited personal resources I have at the moment. I have not been a good tender of seeds.

This morning I read about Dianne Sylvan's Harvest in her Seed Post #8. She too experienced a year that failed to yield everything that she had hoped. Yet she had this to say:

. . . before you lament those things left undone, those ideas gone feral, and those best-laid plans that went spectacularly awry, remember that this, too, shall pass. Both the beautiful and the harrowing pass. Success and tragedy, life and death, all pass.  Trying to hold on to any point on the Wheel won't stop it turning. Those things we harvest one year must be sown again as seed the next.  We are not owners, but conduits; we are both the weavers and the woven, but the tapestry is never finished.

All things are temporary, and there is a wonderful freedom in that thought--for all things change, and they can always change for the better, if we are willing to be more than passive observers of our own lives.

Freedom. Perhaps the most important thing that I am harvesting this year is freedom.

Christopher wrote a chant for the ritual last night:

Dark God Light God
Father and Son
Turning the Wheel
Your Time Has come
God of the Hunt
God of the Seed
With your death
we are freed

The things that we realize through great personal sacrifice and struggle are usually the ones that we come to value the most. It certainly has been hard-won and not something I asked for, but the Wheel turns whether we're ready or not and if Freedom is to be the bounty of my harvest, then I thank the Gods and Goddesses for their wisdom in knowing the blessing that I needed even if I didn't. I will go into the dark with the seed of my Freedom and think of the things that I can accomplish with it in the coming year.

Wishing you a blessed Harvest Home.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:09 AM | Comments (4)

Reading Hecate's reminiscences of canning in August made me think of my own mother, who used to keep a magnificent garden and can everything in sight. I too regret that I didn't appreciate it when I was young and this time of year always makes me want to ask my mother to teach me to can peaches.

Lammas is a joyous time of year to celebrate the fruits of the first harvest, to enjoy the waning days of summer while the bees still lazily buzz among clover and flowers; the beach feels like the right place to be and nothing is more satisfying than sitting down to supper to a tomato fresh from the garden (or for the urbanites among us, the farmer's market). As a Wiccan Sabbat, it's also a time to relish abundance and harvest of a more spiritual or metaphorical nature.

So with all these thoughts of canning and laying up food for the winter ahead, I wonder, what would we choose to "lay up" in a spiritual Ball jar?

Image from Restaurant Widow

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:00 PM | Comments (6)

Today I have a meeting with a client to discuss expanding my role - this comes after working on this account for over a year and bringing some good successes to them through my work. It seems fitting that this meeting should take place on Lammas day, for it truly represents a rewarding harvest of sorts. When I stop to think about it, I have much to harvest this Lammas - a wealth of personal bounty ready to reap after much patient sowing and tending - and I'm feeling very blessed.

Since today is a busy day, I will beg indulgence to simply offer you some words from two of my favorite Pagan bloggers:

Another great post from Hecate, Lammas, Touching The Subject of Faith

and T. Thorn Coyle's Musings on Lammastide in San Francisco.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:21 AM | Comments (1)

I have been so consumed with moving plans that I completely forgot that tomorrow is Lammas until I read this post from Hecate. I'm feeling like a very bad, bad witch these days. May I refer to my posts one, two, three and four from last year?

One of my favorite comments on the spiritual side of this Sabbat, also known as Lughnasadh, comes from Christina Aubin at Witchvox in herLughnasadh Overview:

Lughnasadh is a time of personal reflection and harvest, of our actions and deeds, events and experiences, our gains and losses. A time when we begin the cycle of reflection of that which is our life. A period for personal fertility magic to ensure the bountiful harvest of life's gifts and experiences, that which we have reaped though trial, tribulation, enjoyment, joy, love and loss. As my Elder once said to me, "We can not know what we have not experienced." Such is the truth of life - we become not by chance but by experience. Each experience opens a window into ourselves, into who we were, who we are, and whom we are choosing to become.

I am about to embark upon a new phase of my life wherein I am placing my faith in the very idea that "we can not know what we have not experienced." I am hoping to move into a phase of great personal abundance, full of enjoyment, joy and love.

I also find this part of Lughnasadh tradition, as provided by Celtic Spirit, particularly intriguing given current circumstances:

This was also an occasion for handfasting, or trial marriages. Young men and women lined up on either side of a wooden gate in a high wall, in which a hole was carved, large enough for a hand. One by one, girl and boy would grasp a hand in the hole, without being able to see who was on the other side. They were now married, and could live together for year and day to see if it worked out. If not, the couple returned to next year’s gathering and officially separated by standing back to back and walking away from each other.

I know very well who is on the other side, without the protocol of grasping a hand in a hole. I do hope that our relationship is successful for more than a year and a day!

In the midst of my hectic schedule, I will make sure to take time tomorrow to offer blessings to those forces who have supported me along the path to reaching this personal harvest. Wishing everyone happiness and abundance at this blessed time of year.

More about Lughnasadh:

Continue reading "Good Goddess, Tomorrow is Lammas"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:52 PM | Comments (0)

This is the Midsummer altar I set up yesterday morning to do my worship, devotion and consecration. I wanted to charge my new Yellow oil with the energy of the Sun and to reconsecrate my wand, which I associate with Fire. I had bought a special Midsummer candle when I was in Salem the other day, upon which I carved Dag, the rune of opening, which lets in the beneficial, but keeps out the negative.

My Midsummer's day was lovely. Everything I could have hoped for with a bit of a surprise. For anyone who doubts that clearing space and shifting energy have the power to effect great change, then I am here to say "think again." I'm keeping mum on the particulars for now; I may feel like sharing soon.

May the great Sun continue to shine his light upon you and may you know peace and joy as we move into our Waning year.

Blessed be.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:20 AM | Comments (2)

Today we celebrate the Summer Solstice, known as Midsummer or Litha, when the growing Sun is at its peak. Midsummer is rich with traditions and associations. It is the first of the harvest festivals; on Midsummer morning the Druids went out to collect magickal herbs and it was the time when people harvested the herbs from their gardens. People lit bonfires to stave off decay and for purification, and they made pilgrimages to holy wells to solicit cures or to make offerings to the resident deity. It was a time for handfasting, love magick and celebration of the Flower Bride. This day symbolized the marriage of Sun and Earth and the fertilization of the Goddess by the God. Anna Franklin writes in her book, Midsummer: Magical Celebrations of the Summer Solstice:

In the Craft the solar year is often seen as being ruled over by two opposing kings. The Oak King rules the waxing year from midwinter solstice to summer solstice . . . [and] the Holly King rules the waning year from summer solstice to winter solstice . . . At each solstice they battle for the hand of the Goddess and the honor of ruling the land. The summer solstice begins with the Oak King in power, but this is relinquished to the Holly King at the close of the festival.

Partly because this is the day when light gives way to dark, it is a day when the veil between worlds is thin. Much magick is possible on this day. It is a time for herb craft, fairy contact, divination, and spell work. Because the Sun is at its peak, it is the perfect time for empowering magickal tools and spells with solar energy.

From Anna Franklin's book, here are some important Midsummer correspondences:

Basic Midsummer Energies: Power, Creativity, Inspiration, Love, Divination, God energy, Healing, Fertilization

Midsummer Symbols: Sun wheels, Sun, Fire, Bonfires, Roses, Rosettes, Daisies, All rayed flowers, Herbs, Equal-armed crosses, Torches

Midsummer Rune: Dag, the rune of opening. This represents the good door that lets in the beneficial but keeps out the negative.

Midsummer Ogham: Duir, the oak. Duir means "oak" or "door."

Animal Totems: Bee, Butterfly, Bull, Cow, Deer and Stag, Eagle, Falcon and Hawk, Goose, Horse, Lizard, Reindeer, Rooster, Snake, Swan, Woodpecker

Colors: White, Red, Yellow, Gold, all colors of the sun and flames

Gems: Tiger's Eye, Clear Quartz, Topaz, Amber

Tools: Wand, Cauldron, Spear

This Midsummer holds particular significance for me, as I have been working over the past few months to shine the warmth and happiness of the Sun into the dark corners of my life. So the day that is the true zenith of the growth of the Sun also comes at the time when I, personally, am recognizing the culmination of my work to cultivate light of my own. Today I will consecrate my Yellow oil and will use the Sun card from my Fey Tarot deck as a talisman to remind me of my own strength, joy, power, glory and light.

The Sun, The Fey Tarot

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:40 AM | Comments (3)

Tomorrow at 1:15 pm EDT the Moon will be Full in the harmonious sign of Libra.

Cafe Astrology tells us:

The Aries-Libra polarity is a relationship axis, where Aries represents "self" and Libra represents "other". Where Aries is about self-assertion, Libra is about compromise. The energy of the Libra Moon is the awareness of the need for relationships and all that comes with maintaining them--compromising, negotiating, graciousness, and balancing. The Aries Sun, on the other hand, is self-assertive, leading, and personally courageous. This Full Moon urges us to strike a balance between meeting our personal needs and tending to the needs of a significant other, and between independence or autonomy and dependence or companionability.

As we are enjoying a season when the burgeoning green and blossoms represent the opportunity we have to bring abundance into our lives, what better time to use the energy of this Full Moon to concentrate on realizing abundance in our relationships in a balanced and healthy way. Helping us along in this endeavor is Venus' current dalliance in Earthy Taurus.

Holding Hands © 2007 LetThereBeLove at deviantART

As I've been reading Dianne Sylvan's The Circle Within, her philosophy around "living" our faith is resounding with me big time. She says that "if you live a magical life, one filled with spirit and in contact with Divinity, you won't need so many spells." With that in mind, perhaps some of the relationships we may want to work on at this time are with our personal spirit guides, the Gods and Goddesses who call to us or to whom we feel drawn, ourselves as divine beings.

From now leading up to the actual moment of the Full Moon is your chance to use the remaining energy of the Waxing Moon to perform any magickal work dealing with manifestation and growth. Rather than hustling to whip up a spell to perform tonight at midnight, what if the magickal work is simply to light a candle, put some flowers on your altar, invite the Divine to join you, and read a simple devotional geared toward the area in your life that feels like it needs a little attention? I can't tell you how many Full Moon opportunities I've let pass by because I didn't plan ahead to buy candles and ingredients to perform a particular spell. There are times and places for that work, to be certain, but the idea of simplifying the process of devotion appeals to me mightily at the moment.

If abundance is what you seek, again, I quote Dianne:

Through daily practice and constant mindfulness of the deep connections between us and all that lives, you can find a way to reach up and take the hand you are offered.

E.M. Forster said it best: Only Connect.

Continue reading "Only Connect: A Theme for the Full Moon in Libra"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:30 PM | Comments (1)

Today we celebrate the return of the Goddess to Earth, the arrival of Spring, life's reawakening and the annual process of renewal. The God begins to shine his warmth and light upon us to banish the darkness of Winter. Ostara (Eostre) the Goddess of Spring, presides over this day. As the second of the three Wiccan fertility festivals, this day is rich with symbols of fertility - eggs, rabbits, seeds.

A Prayer In Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not the think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid-air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

Robert Frost

Wishing you the blessings of this day. May you be filled with a joyful sense of renewal and light.

Ostara by Christina Aubin at Witches' Voice and Christina's Ostara links

My post on Ostara eggs

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:19 AM | Comments (1)

Tonight at 6:17 pm EST is a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse. More than simple astronomical and astrological events, for witches Full Moons are times for spiritual and ritual observance known as Esbats. When we are new to the craft we buy books that teach us how to be a witch and they tell us about Esbats; we accept their importance and we learn rituals to observe them. But how many of us stop to wonder, "What is an Esbat?"

According to Wikipedia:

An esbat is a ritual observance of the full moon within Wicca and other Wiccan-influenced forms of Neopaganism. Some groups extend these celebrations to include the dark moon, or even the first and last quarters. Traditionally, the Sabbats are times of celebration, while magical work is done at the esbats.

There are thirteen canonical full moons each year, although some years will have only twelve, because a synodic lunar month is more than twenty-eight days long (actually about 29½ days). A "blue moon" is popularly defined as the second full moon in a calendar month, although some define it as the second full moon while the sun is in one sign of the Zodiac.

In The Witches' Goddess, Janet and Stewart Farrar note that the Babylonians considered the new moon to be the time when the Goddess was menstruating, and it was bad luck to do work on that day. In Jewish culture, this is the first day of the month, called Rosh Chodesh, and is still observed by some as a holiday for women.

The term esbat is probably a recent adoption, dating to the writings of Margaret Murray. It is derived from French esbat (modern ébat), meaning roughly "frolic, romp", with some sexual connotations. This term was used during the European witch trials to describe the supposed behaviour of witches engaging in Devil worship, and it has been claimed that Murray was misled by the word's coincidental resemblance to the word sabbat.

You learn something new every day.

In an effort to focus on the more spiritual and philosophical aspects of being a witch, rather than analyzing the correspondences of this Full Moon for spell working I wanted to explore the basis for recognizing a Full Moon for its spiritual significance. Turns out I've been right all along to focus on the various ways that Full Moon energy can best be used for magick.

Hare, by Modern Society at deviantART

March's Full Moon is known as the Hare Moon. The hare is sacred to the Goddess, in particular to Eostre, symbolising rebirth and renewal, abundance and good fortune. She is the commonest witch familiar, teaching divination and clairvoyance under the moon's influence. Associated with moon deities, the image of the hare in the moon appears throughout spiritual traditions the world over.

Dancing Hare has a great overview of the hare's role in mythology, her association to various gods and goddesses, and practices around the world that center around the hare.

Because of its fertility (one doe can produce 42 young a year), the Rabbit or Hare is an emblem of fertility, abundance, good fortune, sexuality, lasciviousness, lust, procreation, puberty, renewal, spring, rampant growth, excess, and love gods and goddesses such as Venus, Aphrodite, and Cupid. Philostratus said the most suitable sacrifice to Aphrodite was the Hare as "it possesses her gift of fertility in a superlative degree". Pliny the Elder even prescribed its meat as a cure for female sterility. Hares genitals were carried to avert barrenness. Folk magic says that if anyone eats hare flesh for seven days it will make them beautiful. Pliny reported that people thought that if you ate a hare your body would be sexually attractive for nine days. The Hare is addressed in an Anglo Saxon poem as "shagger"!

The hare, along with the egg, is a traditional symbol associated with Ostara, the Sabbat that celebrates fertility and abundance. This Full Moon would be an excellent time to work spells to bring fertility and abundance into your life; literal fertility if what you want is to have a child in lucky Pig Year, or metaphoric fertility if there is something else you hope to manifest.

In Jungian theory, the Rabbit or Hare can symbolize the mother archetype. Jung's Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious displays a photograph of a window in the Paderborn cathedral in Germany, in which three hares move clockwise within a circle, which Jung says represents consciousness "scenting or intuiting" the unconscious and the center/Self.

A Full Moon is always a good time for performing divination and tapping into the power of this lunation to work on psychic skills. If self-analysis is what you want to work on at this time, use the hare's power and energy to help you.

This is what Cafe Astrology has to say about the effects of this particular Full Moon:

This month's Full Moon is a Lunar Eclipse. Lunar Eclipses are about relationships and polarities. With the Virgo-Pisces service axis involved, this Lunar Eclipse presses us to look more closely at our needs, lacks, and wants in our lives. We are pushed to find a balance between day-to-day functions and routines, physical health, and the need for order (Virgo) and vision, spiritual health, disorder, and the infinite (Pisces). Virgo rules the tools and techniques that we use to deal with day-to-day life, while Pisces rules the tools that we use to deal with our spiritual selves. Some sort of crisis (which can be a crisis of consciousness) or sudden awareness of a lack in our lives provides us with a golden opportunity to explore our emotional needs within the context of the house polarity where the eclipse occurs in our natal charts. Relationships may be challenged, broken, or strengthened dramatically at this time. Our discovery is emotionally charged and dramatic. Epiphanies are likely at this time as we become acutely aware of our lack. This understanding can propel us into positive action. This Full Moon urges us to strike a balance between work and service, practicality and impracticality, criticism and acceptance.

Crises and epiphanies can be useful to overcome challenges and move forward in more positive ways. What were you working on at the New Moon? The Full Moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. A Full Moon is a time when our tendency is to focus on romance, fertilization, and relationships in any case.

Virgo Babydoll Tee ©2003-2007 Novokain at deviantART

For those of us who are working on relationships, this is good information to keep in mind. It's also important to remember that Mercury is still in Retrograde (and will be until late in the evening on March 7). Communication may be challenged but it's also a good time for reflection and to revisit old issues. While we're talking about relationships, sometimes the energy of a Mercury Retrograde brings things back to us. I'm just saying.

When the Moon is in Virgo it is a good time for intellectual pursuits, more so for those requiring critical detail rather than innovative creativity. This is also a good time to take care of any matter that requires painstaking attention. People may become shy and retiring with the Moon in Virgo, but they also tend to be discriminating, fastidious and overly critical. These influences lead to concern about food and health as Virgo rules the intestines and the powers of assimilation. Many people feel the urge to clean their homes at this time, which is a good way to channel Virgo energy.

Spring cleaning anyone? Want to start a diet or health regimen to get ready for swimsuit season? Virgo's influence over the energy of the Full Moon make this an excellent time to concentrate on workings around these goals as well.

Correspondences

Correspondences that can help make your Full Moon in Virgo magick more effective are listed below.

Continue reading "March's Hare Moon - A Full Moon Lunar Eclipse"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:18 AM | Comments (1)

Today is Imbolc, the first celebration of Spring in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. It is a day that belongs to Brigid, Celtic goddess of art, creativity and inspiration, and a day when we rejoice in nature's first signs that winter is waning and the warmth and abundance of Spring is on its way.

Lamb in a coat ©2005-2007 foolhound at deviantART

Historically, in agrarian cultures, Imbolc - a word which refers to the lactation of ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces of spring - is the time when lambs were born and soft rain brought new grass. Ravens began to build their nests and larks were said to sing with a clearer voice. In Ireland, the land was prepared to receive the new seed with spade and plough; calves were born, and fishermen looked eagerly for the end of winter storms and rough seas to launch their boats again. In Scotland, the Old Woman of winter, the Cailleach, is reborn as Bride, Young Maiden of Spring, fragile yet growing stronger each day as the sun rekindles its fire, turning scarcity into abundance.

Brigid is among the oldest and most worshipped of the Celtic goddesses, whose cult may have extended over the entire empire of Brigantia, including parts of the British Isles, Spain and France. She is also known as Brigid, Bridget, Brighid, Brighde, Brig or Bride and some scholars consider her name originated with the Vedic Sanskrit word brihati, an epithet of the divine. She is patroness of poetry, arts, crafts, weaving and inspiration. She is usually depicted as a triple goddess, with her two sisters, who also govern smithcraft and medicine. Collectively they are known as the "three mothers" or the "three blessed ladies of Britain," and carvings of the three goddesses are common throughout the Celtic lands.

Candle ©2005-2007 chaosdesignz at deviantART

The Romans later identified Brigid with Minerva, also a goddess of wisdom and handicrafts. Both also possess a warlike aspect, for Brigit's more active followers became known as brigands, from the old Irish briga or "warfare." The name Brigid appears to mean "bright one" or "bright arrow." At her temple in Kildare in Ireland, an eternal flame was guarded by a group of nineteen priestesses. This place later became a convent famous for learning.

Christians were not fully able to eradicate her worship and were forced to canonize her as the famous Saint Bridget or Bride. Brigid's ancient festival on February 2, Imbolc, became known as Candlemas in the calendar of the Christian church. Worship of the great goddess Brigid still survives in folk magick and popular belief, and she holds a revered place for most Wiccans.

For a wonderful overview of the Celtic history of Imbolc and the role of the goddess Brigid, read The Wheel of the Celtic Year: Imbolc

Not only is today Imbolc, but it also happens to be a Full Moon in Leo. What lovely synchronicity to have our first Spring festival fall on an Esbat whose astrological sign is ruled by the Sun and whose energy brings enjoyment, warmth, kindness and generosity of spirit!

The Full Moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. It is an emotional time—a time of romance, fertilization, and relationships. Particularly under the influence of Leo, it is a time when people crave affection and recognition. The energy of the Leo Moon is creative self-expression and the boost to the individual ego that we receive through pleasure and romance.

For more information about the Full Moon in Leo, and the other astrological influences that are affecting us today, see Cafe Astrology's This Week in Astrology.

Imbolc is traditionally a time of purification - clean your house! If you have any Christmas greenery lingering, burn it now. Make your own Brighid’s crosses and hang them up, especially in the kitchen where her influence can bless your food. Put out food - cake, buttered bread and milk will do - outside your door: Brigid and her cow walk through the neighborhood tonight, and will appreciate your offering. Leave a silk ribbon on your doorstep for Brigid to bless; it can then be used for healing purposes. Meditate upon what you would like to see grow in health and strength this year, for yourself, your family, your community, the Earth, and ask for Brigid's blessing upon your prayers.

With Brigid's creative inspiration and Leo's energy for self-expression, this should be an extremely fertile time for the imagination, resulting in wonderful poetry and works of art. And under the influence of this romantic Full Moon in Leo, it is the perfect time to be with someone you love and let Brigid stoke the fires of passion.

Wishing you a blessed Imbolc!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:58 AM | Comments (3)

2007 was ushered in by a Waxing Moon in Gemini. Tomorrow, we'll have the first Full Moon of the new year in the emotional sign of Cancer.

Cancer - The 4th © 2006-2007 The Zodiac Club at deviantART

When the Moon is in Cancer it is a time of intense emotions and great sensitivity, with people responding to life through emotions rather than reason. During this very vulnerable period be cautious not to emotionally wound others or allow yourself to be wounded. The holidays can be an emotional and stressful time for people, for a multitude of reasons. This week, as all of that holiday excitement winds down, be gentle with yourself and those around you. Use Cancer's nurturing influence to do something nice for yourself or for someone for whom the holidays may have been a difficult rather than a happy time.

I'm growing increasingly fond of the way that Cafe Astrology shows us how to balance the energies of the Full Moon with those of the Sun:

On Wednesday morning, the Moon is full, as the Cancer Moon exactly opposes the Capricorn Sun. The Cancer-Capricorn polarity deals with the balance between the private life, domesticity, the need for a home base, and nurturance (represented by Cancer) versus the public life, career, reputation, and accountability (represented by Capricorn). Attachments and love are ruled by Cancer, while achievements and rewards/punishments are ruled by Capricorn. In some ways, this polarity deals with the balance between unconditional love and conditional love. The Cancer Moon encourages us to value our home base and our roots, while Capricorn persuades us to consider our sense of duty and responsibility along public lines. While Cancer may be content to be dependent, Capricorn urges us to be grown-up and responsible. Neglecting either end of the axis will surely backfire on us. Ideally, a balance should be found between the two energies, and this is what the Full Moon invites us to do. This Full Moon is about balancing our commitment to our career and families. Something has been building inside of us, and now is the time when the energy of the cosmos fairly demands that we let it out. Over the next two weeks, we will discover what this means for us. For now, we can't sit on our feelings. We need to express them.

For many people I know, something indeed has been building, glimpsed at Samhain and percolating and taking form during Scorpio's influence over the darkness between Samhain and Yule, intense and frightening at times but pointing to some major changes to come in the new year. We've been waiting for this chance to express our feelings; the energy of the first Full Moon of the year can help us to manifest the change we've been making ourselves ready for.

The January Full Moon is known as the Moon After Yule, Old Moon, and Wolf Moon. The Celts saw the January Full Moon as the Moon of Inception; the Moon of Beginning. They associated this moon with the Birch tree and used its energy for purification and protection of children.

Spellwork

The Full Moon is one of the most powerful times for magickal work. While the Moon is still in its Waxing phase, moving toward the moment of complete fullness at 8:57 am EST, it is an ideal time for magick designed for increase, calling something to you, or creating something new in your life. Any spells worked between now and tomorrow morning will enjoy particularly strong support from this Cancer Full Moon energy; the closer you get to 8:57 am the stronger the energy will be. One thing to keep in mind is that at the moment the Moon reaches its fullest point, it will turn void-of-course until it moves into Leo at 4:14 pm EST on Thursday, at which point it will be in a Waxing phase. Many witches believe that you shouldn't perform any magick while the moon is void-of-course. If you want to use the strength of the Full Moon to work decrease or banishing spells, you may want to wait until Thursday afternoon to do your work. The energy of the Full Moon will still be strong enough to aid you at that time.

With the Moon in Cancer, its ruler, lunar influences are at their strongest and are easily expressed when focused through Cancer. The Moon greatly influences the personality, the subconscious, emotions and instinctual behavior. The Moon in Cancer pinpoints need, supports growth and nurturance. Trying to find a way to word your spells in the context of Cancer's influence will help to make them stronger. One thing is certain, using Cancer's energy is an excellent way to help you intuit what it is that you truly need and to ensure that what you are working to manifest at this time is for your highest good.

Correspondences

Some common correspondences with Cancer and the January Full Moon are listed below.

Continue reading "Full Moon in Cancer"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:21 PM | Comments (1)

Well, if you consider coverage in the Boston Globe to be the big time.

On Thursday, the Globe ran an article, Ho, ho, no!, highlighting some of the alternative holiday celebrations in the area:

Sure, everybody says ‘‘Happy Holidays,’’ but do they really mean it? Do any of your sensitive secular friends and relations have any idea what people do if they’re not waiting for Santa under the mistletoe? Whether you’re ready for a quiet evening by the fire, a ritual to honor ancient gods and goddesses, or a singles dance, all of winter’s delights await you. Be merry — but only if you want to.

The article included a brief interview with my friend, Carolyn, and a mention of tonight's Yule celebration:

YULE CIRCLE Dec. 23

Yule, or the winter solstice, is the longest night of the year, when many Pagans celebrate the rebirth of the sun. ‘‘It’s a very spirited, happy time,’’ says Carolyn Kepes, director of Lap of the Goddess Productions, which hosts a Yule ritual that night. To help people reflect on the seasons, spirits, and their lives, celebrant Christopher Penczak will ritually form the circle, then tell the story of Yule, when the young sun god emerges from the dark. Drumming, chants, and a guided meditation will help participants discover ‘‘what it is within ourselves we are rebirthing at this time,’’ Kepes said. The group will share sweet cakes and drinks to celebrate the ‘‘sweetness of community’’ that helps people survive this dark time. Participants are encouraged to wear festive dress, and newcomers and people of all faiths are welcome: The entire ritual will be explained before the ceremony begins. ‘‘Lots of people can relate to Yule,’’ Kepes says.

Masonic Hall, 1950 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 617-591-0209. Preregistration at 6:30 p.m.; ritual runs from 7-9. $15-$25 (sliding scale).

Since Unicorn Books in Porter Square closed its doors a few months ago, our local pagan community has been without a physical location to meet and hold classes. But Carolyn, through her fledgling production company In The Lap of the Goddess, has continued to hold Sabbat rituals, Full Moon circles, classes and other events in various locations around the Boston area. As a PR and marketing professional, I appreciate what a great boost this coverage will bring to her and her company

Carolyn's dedication to our community and the effort she has taken to keep us together is tremendous. It's wonderful to see her, our community and our Yule event receive such prominent recognition. We hope to see a few new faces at ritual tonight.

Wishing everyone a Blessed Yule!

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

Tomorrow, Monday, December 4th, the Moon will be Full in Gemini, starting at 7:25 pm EST.

Recently I was reminded that, more than astrological events and energetic influence for magickal work, Full Moons are spiritual markings of time, known as Esbats. Witches use the Esbats to celebrate the cycles of our lives reflected in the cycles of the Moon through the seasons. Each month brings us an opportunity to experience the energy of the Moon’s movement through the Wheel of the Zodiac. Each Full Moon is a time to explore these different energies and to think about how we can use them to expand our awareness and our magick. With the Moon full and bright in the sky, we can experience symbolic "illumination" in our own lives.

Gemini, © 2005-2006, Milkgap at deviantART

The Full Moon also is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. Remember that the last New Moon, on November 20th, fell in the sign of Scorpio and much of the past few weeks have been spent in dark contemplation of our personal mysteries. The December Full Moon in particular represents a time of completion. When the Moon is in Gemini, our basic instinct is to communicate, think, and learn; we feel extremely adaptable and changeable. This is the ideal time to take what we've learned from all of the intense introspection done under Scorpio's influence to use the power of our shadow selves to grow, to create ourselves anew, to complete the cycle of personal transformation. Just as the Sun will return soon after its journey through the Underworld, we have an opportunity to emerge with a shiny, bright new self.

I am learning a lot from Cafe Astrology's discussions of the dynamic relationship between the position of the Full Moon and the Sun. While looking at the Full Moon energy is crucial for spell work, examining this relationship between the Moon's position and the Sun's helps us to better understand the ways these aspects will effect us on a personal, psychological level.

On Monday evening, the Moon is full, as the Gemini Moon exactly opposes the Sagittarius Sun. The Gemini-Sagittarius polarity is a mental axis, where Gemini represents the "lower mind" and Sagittarius represents the "higher mind". The Gemini Moon encourages us to think logically, while Sagittarius persuades us to think in a far broader manner. Sagittarius symbolizes the quest for meaning and ideas that expand upon the here and now. Gemini is quite comfortable in his or her immediate environment or neighborhood, while Sagittarius stimulates us to venture beyond. Neglecting either end of the axis will surely backfire on us. Ideally, a balance should be found between the two energies, and this is what the Full Moon invites us to do. This Full Moon is about communication, attitude, and our sense of adventure. Something has been building inside of us, and now is the time when the energy of the cosmos fairly demands that we let it out. Over the next two weeks, we will discover what this means for us. For now, we can't sit on our feelings. We need to express them.

The Full Moon is generally an emotional time—a time of romance, fertilization, and relationships. We have the sense of emotions bursting forth into our consciousness, which may be happening more powerfully than usual during this Full Moon, coming so soon on the heels of a period of such intense introspection. Doubtless emotions and relationship issues have been among the things we've discovered and this can be a very good thing.

Under Gemini's influence, we feel light-hearted, breezy, and curious, but it can also make us restless and fickle. A spontaneous expression may be true only for the moment. Part of the Gemini focus on intellectual pursuits is the desire to play mind games and when emotions are running high, it can be possible to imagine things that are not there. Remember that the mind can play without playing tricks and take care to protect yourself and others from this possible flip side of Gemini's energy. As eager as we are to move from darkness into light, we want to remember to keep ourselves in balance. Gemini is an air sign, which in the tarot is represented by the Swords. Think of the Knight of Swords; part of his message is to caution us against acting hastily without thinking first.

Continue reading "Full Moon in Gemini"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:36 PM | Comments (0)

I know, I know - we're already inundated with holiday decorations and merchandise everywhere we go and we're barely beyond Samhain. In the drug store the other day they were playing the most awful, smarmy Christmas music - it was without a doubt more powerful than syrup of Ipecac.

Still, Yule is the next celebration on the Wheel of the Year and it will be here before we know it. But we don't have to buy into our culture's frenzied slide into the holidays. Instead, we can make the next few weeks a fun, celebratory series of opportunities to get creative, enjoy the arrival of a new season, cultivate a festive atmosphere, and make our Yuletide full of meaning and magick.

We can start with Dorothy Morrison's book Yule: A Celebration of Light and Warmth as a source of inspiration:

There''s just something magical about the Yuletide season, no matter where you live or who you are. As bright candlelight mingles with the smells of pine and warm cookies and we perform our yearly rituals of song and family gatherings, the spirit of peace and goodwill seems to reach the heart of even the most cynical Scrooge.

In the pages of Yule, Dorothy Morrison presents a wonderful potpourri of holiday lore from around the world and throughout history, along with fun crafts, delicious recipes, even a calendar of celebrations for every day in December.

Learn where the traditions of the season originated. For instance, did you know that the ringing of bells was meant to drive away the demons who inhabited the darkest days of the year? That leaving cookies for Santa mirrors the old tradition of leaving a loaf of bread on the table overnight to bring prosperity in the new year? That the Yule log can be traced back to the ancient Greeks?

Need a recipe for wassail or plum pudding? Tips for your holiday party? Want to make the season special by making your own decorative crafts and gifts? That''s just a sampling of what''s inside.

Best of all, Yule shows that the spirit of the season is universal and, however we chose to celebrate and worship, we can all join together in the spirit of peace, love, and harmony at this special time of year.

This year, you can also celebrate the season with a special Blogickal Yule t-shirt! Soft, 100% cotton, long-sleeve t-shirts printed with a custom Yule design by yours truly. You know how good one of these will look with your favorite flannel pajamas! They also would make perfect gifts for coven-mates and witchy friends (as well as supporting Blogickal - every little bit helps keep the server serving!).

Another way to make this Yule special: Dedicate a Tree. Through TreePeople's “Gift of Life” Tree Dedication program, holiday shoppers can order a gift that will last for generations and benefit the environment. In celebration of an earth-based faith, what could be a better gift or expression of thanks to Mother Earth than dedicating a tree? Instead of killing a tree to decorate your house, why not plant one instead?

I usually dread the winter holiday season. I'm trying to embrace Yule this year with a different attitude and something akin to happy anticipation. Despite my intense disdain for the commercialization of seasonal celebrations in our culture, there is something to be said for planning ahead. I bought some cute gumdrop candles the other day. I'm thinking of making Yule cards (but I'll be happy if I can just get some sent this year). I might even try my hand at making gifts for family and friends. No humbugs here! I'm looking forward to Yule.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)

Cafe Astrology has the full scoop on today's Full Moon:

A Full Moon in Taurus occurs today at 7:58 AM EST. Full Moons always pit opposite signs of the zodiac against each other, but also invite us to work to achieve a balance between the opposing energies. The contrast between earthy, practical, peace-loving Taurus and emotional, transformative, crisis-oriented Scorpio comes full bloom today. The Moon in Taurus wants us to find emotional fulfillment through the simple, tangible things in life, while the Scorpio Sun draws our attention to complexities, intangibles, and mysteries. The Full Moon illuminates this conflict between form (Taurus) and transformation (Scorpio), and between collecting (Taurus) and sharing (Scorpio). This is a passionate and creative Full Moon, ripe with possibilities and learning experiences. Intimate relationship matters, such as personal comfort levels and values as well as sexuality, figure prominently now. With the Moon full and bright in the sky, symbolic "illumination" occurs in our own lives. However, these feelings and revelations are emotional ones, as there is a sense of emotions bursting forth into our consciousness. It's time to express ourselves, and to let things out of our systems. Of course, we might want to exercise some care while doing so, knowing that what is coming out of us is not particularly rational as yet. As well, it is wise to exercise patience with others and to be as non-judgmental as possible, as the expression of disappointments is likely now with Neptune figuring strongly in the equation.

There is some informative and powerful stuff to work with here. Is anyone else feeling the effects of this conflict? I know I am. Personally, as a Taurus, I think the Sun's Scorpio energy is creating these conflicts for me during this time of the year, not just at the Full Moon. With the moon illuminating everything today, the issues are brought into particular clarity. What the Full Moon is offering us, though, is the energy to strike the balance and possibly to have a transformative experience that ultimately will fulfill us in a tangible way.

It's also important to remember that Mercury is still in Retrograde, meaning that while we may be doing a lot of processing of emotions, expressing them can be a tricky business. We say things we don't mean or we later change our minds. Think before you speak is certainly the way to go until Mercury goes direct on November 17. If what you have to say has the potential to affect a relationship in a really profound way, do your thinking now and your talking later. On the good side, this Retrograde motion makes it easy to reflect and return, giving us access to information from the past that we might have glossed over the first time around. Maybe some of the "possibilities and learning experiences" will be ones that Mercury is allowing us to revisit.

The Full Moon is the culmination of the Moon’s cycle, and the beginning of the Waning phase. During the two weeks following the Full Moon, the Moon decreases in light. This is a good period for working on ourselves, finalizing things, processing information, wrapping up, and letting go of the things we don’t need any more. With this Full Moon occurring so close to Samhain, the veil is still thin. Call upon the ancestors for their help and guidance as you do this work.

Spellwork

The Full Moon can be an opportune time for casting fertility spells. With this Full Moon in the Earthy sign of Taurus, the time is particularly ripe (pun intended). There are other forms of fertility besides sexual fertility; if a baby is not in your plan, what else would you like to bring into your life? Fertility translates into abundance. Now would be an excellent time to plant seeds for a new job, a new home, anything that will manifest those simple, tangible things that make us feel fulfilled. Any time the Moon is in Taurus is a good time to work magick for love, real estate, material acquisitions, and money. Taurus rules ; now is the time to perform healing rituals for ailments of . It can also be a good time for healing of the throat, neck and ears.

At this time on the Wheel of the Year, the God is deep underground, resting in the rich, dark Earth, waiting for Spring. Use the energy of this November Full Moon in Taurus to let new things take root, to prepare. Things begun now last the longest, tend to increase in value, and become hard to alter. It can be a powerful time for transformation. Strengthen communication with the God or Goddess who is closest to you.

Correspondences

The November Full Moon is known as the Frosty Moon, the Beaver Moon, the Snow Moon and the Mourning Moon. It is sometimes also referred to as the Moon of Buoyancy or the Moon of Resilience, doubtless stemming from the need to stay optimistic and resilient during a long, cold winter. The Celts associated the November Full Moon with Ivy and used its energy for healing, protection, cooperation and exorcism.

Other November Full Moon correspondences:

Deities: Kali, Black Isis, Nicnevin, Hecate, Bast, Osiris, Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Skadi, Mawu
Nature Spirits: subterranean faeries
Herbs: grains of paradise, verbena, betony, borage, cinquefoil, blessed thistle
Colors: gray, sea-green
Flowers: blooming cacti, chrysanthemum
Scents: cedar, cherry blossoms, hyacinth, narcissus, peppermint, lemon
Stones: topaz, lapis lazuli
Trees: alder, cypress
Animals: unicorn, scorpion, crocodile, jackal
Birds: owl, goose, sparrow

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

Pagan dance honors roots of Halloween, San Francisco Chronicle

A Blessed Samhain, The Wild Hunt

Making the Most of Samhain's Inner Voice, Witchvox

SAMHAIN 2006, The Gods Are Bored

The Real Origins of Halloween, Isaac Bonewits

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 2:53 PM | Comments (0)

Samhain (sow-ihn) is an Irish Gaelic word that means "summer's end." Today is the witches' new year, the most important of the eight Wiccan Sabbats, the final harvest festival in the Wheel of the Year, and a day to honor the dead. Those of us who are celebrating Samhain tonight still enjoy the festive atmosphere that comes with Halloween, but for us, this is a particularly holy day, when the veil between the worlds is thin and much magick is possible. Around the world tonight, witches will be meeting to communicate with their ancestors, to release the past year, to ask the ancestors for their guidance in the next, and to celebrate with seasonal food and drink, always leaving a place for the one who is no longer with us.

Celtic Spirit has a great overview of Samhain.

For me, tonight will be about connecting with ancient Scottish ancestors I've recently discovered and with the grandmother who is my namesake. The Scots refer to tonight as Samhuinn Oidhche Shamhna (sah-vin uh-ee-hyuh how-nuh), or Samhuinn Eve.

In an old book I found, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Scottish Highlands by John Gregorson Campbell, 1902, Samhain, or Hallowmas, is described:

The coming of winter was hailed with more fun and merriment than any other season of the year. The cold was now fairly set in, the fruits of the summer, down to the very nuts, were gathered, and the young became desirous of learning their fate with regard to that subject of anxiety in every age, their future husbands and wives. This natural welcoming of winter explains the ceremonies of the day, and the games of the evening. Hardly any of them have reference to the practices or deities of the nations of antiquity or to Scripture, and this explanation must be sought for in Pagan times.

The Raven, © 2004-2006 Tattoed at deviantART

Campbell's obvious Greco-Roman bias regarding "deities of the nations of antiquity" is really rather amusing. There are a number of Celtic deities one can associate with Samhain, particularly The Mórrígan, a triple goddess represented by the Raven. While Mórrígan is a powerful warrior goddess, she is also regarded as a protector of her people and in one aspect is a goddess of the land and of fertility. One legend has Dagda, the Father God of ancient Celts, coming upon Mórrígan one Samhain, bathing herself in a stream. The two have sex, reminding us of the Samhain ritual marriage between the leader of the tribe and the goddess of the landd to ensure prosperity for the coming year. Mórrígan warns Dagda of an approaching enemy army and counsels him on how to defeat the enemy king, thus securing victory for the Tuatha Dé Danann, the race of divine beings who inhabited Ireland prior to the coming of the Celts.

But back to our dear Mr. Campbell. Despite some of his prejudice, his book is a wonderful accounting of Scottish traditions associated with the Wheel of the Year. It's interesting to note that for all of its Christian whitewashing, the book is largely a compendium of the very Pagan practices and origins that Campbell takes pains to dismiss. To continue with his description of the Samhain celebration:

On the last day of autumn children gathered ferns, tar-barrels, the long thin stalks called gàinisg, and everything suitable for a bonfire. These were placed in a heap on some eminence near the house, and in the evening set fire to. The fires were called Samhnagan. There was one for each house, and it was an object of ambition who should have the biggest. Whole districts were brilliant with bonfires, and their glare across a Highland loch, and from many eminences, formed an exceedingly picturesque scene. Some find in them traces of the worship of the invariable Baal, but there is no reason to look upon them otherwise than as the natural and defiant welcome of the season, in which fires are most required, when the heat of the year is departed, and cold and frost and rushing winds cover all things with gloom. Bonfires are kindled on all occasions of public rejoicing, or excitement, and Hallowmas fires are a natural extension of the change of the season. It is possible a deity was originally associated with the practice, but there is now no trace of him in name or practices of this day.

Deity indeed! As with other Pagan festivals and Wiccan Sabbats, the gods draw near to Earth at Samhain, so it is traditional for people both ancient and modern to make offerings to them in thanksgiving for the harvest and to take this opportunity to communicate with them for a variety of reasons. Campbell's reference to Baal as a particular god may be a misuse of the generic term baal, which is a semitic honorific title, like "lord," given to a variety of gods and spirits. The lighting of fires at Samhain, and at Beltane, is symbolic of the Druids' practice of lighting the fire for the new year, from which all members of the tribe would light their own hearth fires. Pagan spirituality, and Wicca in particular, is rooted in the cyclical movement of the seasons and following the Sun on its journey into the dark and back into light again; the Sun God dies, is born again and rises to glory. At Samhain, while the Sun is dark, there is a seed of hope that he will return again in the new year. As we light fires at Samhain, we feel a kindling of new dreams for the year to come. These fires are often used to send personal prayers, or petitions, to the gods and ancestors for the things we need or want in the new year or to help us banish bad habits that we don't wish to bring into the new year with us.

As the evening wore on, the young people gathered to one house, and an almost endless variety of games (cleasan) were resorted to, with the object in every case of divining the future lot of the company.

The Tarot Spread © 2006 amkfoto at deviantART

Divination is another important aspect to Samhain. Because the spirits are so close, it's the perfect time to ask for their guidance and wisdom. Campbell lists in his book a long and entertaining list of customary methods of divination from Scottish folklore, many of which center around questions of marriage. Surely, this would have been a natural source of curiosity for young people - and still is! I also think that Campbell thought that divination about marriage was inoffensive enough for what he considered to be his Christian audience. Most Pagan references to Samhain include divination methods particular to this holiday, like Apple Magic and Dreaming Stones, but tarot is also a typical and popular tool. SFGate had a great article on the subject of divination at Samhain: Finding My Religion: A pagan priestess talks about Halloween and the Tarot

Many of the practices and traditions associated with modern-day Halloween are stalwart Pagan hold-overs from ancient times, so important was this holiday to the people. Halloween was always my favorite holiday growing up. I'd like to think it was the Pagan in me instinctively celebrating when the veil was thin and the ancient ancestors and spirits were able to reach me. Tonight, I look forward to reaching out to them.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:32 PM | Comments (1)

Tonight's Full Moon, occurring at 11:13 pm EDT, is the annual event known in the northern hemisphere as the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox and was called this because, rising within a half hour of sunset, it allowed farmers extra time to bring in the harvest, working by the light of the moon. The Harvest Moon always hangs low in the sky. It seems to be larger and more beautiful than other Full Moons and often has an orange or pink cast. When you gaze at it, it looks very large and gives a lot of light throughout the entire night. No other lunar spectacle is as awesome as the Harvest Moon.

The Harvest Moon, when it falls in September, is also known as the Fruit Moon. When it falls in October, it is sometimes called the Hunter's Moon because October is the month when large animals, such as deer and moose, are hunted for the winter's meat supply.

In Celtic traditions, the October Full Moon is known as the Blood Moon, not from blood sacrifices, but from the old custom of killing and salting down livestock before the Winter months made it impossible to feed them. Only the choicest stock was kept through the cold season. It is the Moon of Celebration and is associated with courage, protection, prosperity, healing, inspiration, and spirituality. The Gaelic word for fortune comes from "that which denotes a Full Moon." The Druids believed that when the circle of the Moon was complete, good fortune was given to those who knew how to ask the gods for it.

Other names for the October Full Moon: Blood Moon, Shedding Moon, Winterfelleth (Winter Coming), Windermanoth (Vintage Month), Falling Leaf Moon, Ten Colds Moon, Moon of the Changing Season.

This year, the Harvest Moon falls in the passionate and bold sign of Aries -- inspiring us to take action and follow our desires. I think Cafe Astrology provides the best information on the implications and effects of tonight's Full Moon:

Continue reading "Harvest Moon"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:35 PM | Comments (0)

The Wiccan celebration of the Autumnal Equinox is known as Mabon. This name comes from Celtic legend. Mabon ap Modron, the Son of the Mother, in his story from birth to kingship, is a recurring theme found throughout Celtic mythological and legendary literature.

Caer Australis presents the most complete overview of the Mabon myth I have found.

The Mabon theme is that of the birth of a miraculous - divine - boy, born to a remarkable or significant - divine - mother, who is lost to her, performs amazing feats to attain manhood, and wins the hand of a beautiful - also divine - maiden. Mabon is the Celtic child solar deity; his mother the Celtic tripartite goddess in her mother aspect and the maiden the goddess as maiden. His story has a seasonal aspect, for we can identify the time of birth of the Celtic god's nativity, and also of his union with the goddess: these are recorded in the myths quite clearly.

Mabon literally means 'son' and comes from the Celtic 'maponos' now found in 'map', 'mab' and 'mac' (meaning 'son of') in the extant Celtic languages. Likewise, Modron literally means 'mother', from 'matronae', 'the Mothers', the Celtic tripartite Goddess.

A key element of the Mabon myth is the story of how he is taken from his mother into the underworld. Modron enlists the help of King Arthur and his knights to rescue her son and in the course of their search they enlist the help of many mythical and magickal creatures:

The party began their search for Mabon by asking the Ousel of Kilgrwri: "Do you know anything of Mabon son of Modron, who when three nights old was stolen away from between his mother and the wall?" Though the ousel was old enough to have worn down an anvil to the size of a nut working with nothing more than its beak, it did not know anything of the man they sought. It did offer to guide them to a more ancient creature who might be able to assist them.

Sequentially, and asking the same formula question, and obtaining the same answer and assistance, the party meets more and more ancient creatures, namely the Stag of Rhendevre (as old as a forest), the Owl of Cwn Cawlwyd (as old as three forests), the Eagle of Gwernabwy (who was so old that he had worn down a rock which he pecked at the height of the stars to the size of a hand) and finally the Salmon of Llyn Llyw.

It was finally the Salmon, through his wisdom, who knew where the knights could find Mabon. They battled his captors to rescue him and were able to return him to his mother.

This story is one of many representations of the universal pagan belief that as the Wheel of the Year turns through the seasons, the God is born, grows to vigorous manhood, dies and then is reborn again. The Goddess, as mother and consort, ushers him through this process. It follows the cycle of the agrarian life led by the ancient people from whom the many myths come.

As it falls on the Autumnal Equinox, Mabon is the other time of the year, along with the Vernal Equinox in the Spring, when night and day is in balance. This day begins the sign of Libra and it is no mistake that Libra's symbol is a set of scales. This is a time for spiritual reflection on the past year, what it has brought to us and what have we sown and harvested in our lives. It is a time to give thanks to the God and the Goddess for what we have been able to accomplish and it is an opportunity to cut away the chaff, the useless things and situations that are keeping us from realizing our truest potential and greatest happiness. How can we work to bring more balance to our lives? Since we are coming to the end of our Pagan year it also is a time to imagine what we hope and plan to accomplish next year. These things are our modern "harvest."

Mabon is the Witches’ version of Thanksgiving and we celebrate the coming of the Autumn and the end of the year with the "Harvest Home" celebration. The Wheel continues to turn, the nights will get longer, the days shorter and the weather cooler. For the night of the Mabon ritual, we know that we accomplished much and the hard work is done. The light from the sun is as golden as it will ever be and the feasting is a sumptuous buffet with wine and good company to share it with.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:38 PM | Comments (1)

Although the Autumnal Equinox is still nearly three weeks away, today is the day that many of us think of as the first day of Autumn. It is the day after Labor Day; the day when summer houses are closed and children return to school. Somehow we can just feel the presence of Autumn already in the air. And soon