This week's theme seems to have emerged as one of being on the right path- missing it, finding it, getting back on it, etc... that, and altars..and sandwiches ;)
So grab your cuppa and let's dig right in.
In the News
Area non-profits host Pagan meetings
Descendant of accused Salem witch writes book about her ancestor
"Satanic" inmate sues for Pagan diet
Witchcraft and 'Bad' Medicine in Ghana
Committee set up to oversee reintegration of alleged witches detained in six witch camps in North Ghana
Witchcraft and PNG's Disappearing Health Service
HEXFEST 2015: MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW
Pagan Lore with Karen Szabo
Sunday, May 11
On this date in the year 1659, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned all celebrations of Christmas in the New World after declaring the event to be a Pagan festival of superstition and "a great dishonor [sic] of God." In England, Christmas festivities had been banned by the Puritans seven years earlier. It wasn't until the year 1660 when Charles II was restored to the throne that the law banning the celebration of Christmas was repealed.
Monday, May 12
On this date, the annual Cat Parade is celebrated in Belgium in honor of the furry feline, an animal sacred to the ancient Egyptians and known as a familiar of Witches. Aranya Sashti, a god of the woodlands, is honored in India on this day with an annual festival. He is identified with the Pagan honored deities Pan and Cernunnos.
Tuesday, May 13
On this date in the year 1917, the Goddess in the guise of the Virgin Mary appeared to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal. The event, which was the first of six divine appearances from May 11 to October 13, drew worldwide attention.
Wednesday, May 14
The Festival of the Midnight Sun is celebrated annually on this date by Pagans in far northern Norway. The festival, which pays homage to the ancient Norse Goddess of the sun, begins at sunrise and marks the beginning of ten consecutive weeks without the darkness of night.
Thursday May 15
On this date in ancient times, the Romans performed an annual purification rite consisting of the "sacrifices" of twenty-seven straw puppets to the river god of the Tiber.
Friday, May 16
On this date in the year 1918, f amous Italian spiritualist-medium Eusapia Palladino passed away. She was best remembered for her ability to enter a state of trance and levitate during seances.
Saturday, May 17
In the Philippines, a Neo-Pagan fertility ritual is celebrated every year on this date by married couples who wish to have children. The rites, which are dedicated to Santa Clara, continue until the nineteenth of May.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Karen
If you're looking for quality skin care, makeup, fragrances, bath & body items, as well as fashions, footwear, and home decor, come see what's available in my Avon eStore at http://youravon.com/karenszabo -- and thank you!
Sparkle & Shine with Sosanna
Today I wanted to share with you little known festival, in fact I had never heard of it until I started the research for this post, called Mercuralia. This festival falls on May 15th and is held in honor of the Roman God Mercury. Water from a sacred well in the city of Porta Capena was sprinkled on shop locations, ships and even on the bodies of businesses to get good luck.
Mercury, later becomes Hermes in for the Greeks. Hermes is often tied to Hecate due to a connection to the underworld and Persephone. Both are also associated with dogs as baying hounds usher in the presence of Hecate while Hermes is said to be the god of guard dogs.
For years, I have never really felt a connection to any sort of male energy in my magical workings. I have to admit, this could be related to the issues I’ve had with males in my life. When I sat down to write this piece I struggled with what exactly I wanted to write about. I decided to take this one head on and look at Mercury in his Greek form and see what exactly Hecate could help me understand about him.
Looking at the basic descriptions of each deity, even after finding more and more connections with Hermes I still did not feel a real connections to him as any type of male deity for me. I then turned back to Mercury. I found the standard information on him. Messenger of the Gods. God of Thieves, Merchants and Commerce. I found it really interesting that the “god of thieves” would also be the “god of merchants”. I even found a site that stated they would also pray for the ability to continue to cheat customers during Mercuralia.
As a proprietor, I have to say that I wouldn’t say that a successful year, would be one in which I cheated customers. In fact, I’ve turned around to and driven back to return incorrect change. But it appears that if you’re not, you can pray to Mercury in order to get forgiveness.
I like the fact that I learned something today writing this. Green and growing.
Namaste and Blessed Be,
Sosanna
)O(
www.sosannascloset.com
www.confessionsofamodernwitch.blogspot.com
Magick in Motherhood with Autumn Noel
I hate getting older and I hate time marching on. I don’t know why or when I got this way, but it’s been like this for as long as I remember. I find myself frequently pining for my childhood/teenage years but at the same time always looking forward to the next season, holiday and sabbat (…I’ve seriously been pining Halloween things on Pinterest for three days now). I took down my Easter decorations the other day and they’ve been sitting on my dining room table for a while now… it always seems so final when they go back into the box for next year. I get emotional when I have to put away clothes that don’t fit my peanut anymore. And I scream at the TV when season finales starting airing on prime time… ITS ONLY THE FIRST WEEK OF MAY!!!!!!!!
….How did I get so angry at the passing of time?
Having a baby (..okay let’s be honest, having a baby and starting Lexapro) has helped me some. And I handle getting older a little better these days. I remind myself that not everyone gets to greet a new day with a healthy child, another one on the way, and living their domestic dreams of cooking, cleaning and child rearing, thanks to their ever supporting and loving husband. I have such a nice life. I really should be grateful that I can love every busy and hectic moment if I choose to, and that I have such a happy childhood to look back on fondly, that is easily missed. I read something the other day, about how it’s okay to have a “poor me” attitude for a minute every now and then, it’s just not okay to camp out there for hours on end. .. so I give myself a glimpse of my childhood once in a while, smile and try and move on. Or I may look at Pinterest, at the cutesy Halloween things for just a second or two…but then it’s time to pick up, tend to my little one (she’s growing right before my very eyes) and live in the moment. I don’t want to miss out on right now because I’m living in the “then”.
I’m very big on positive thoughts, meditations and prayers… and I’ve been using one a lot lately for myself that I used for my baby when she was transitioning to her own bedroom. I used to focus my energy and words on her, sending them through the bedroom walls, visualizing my arms wrapped around her... sure enough it would work and calm her down, soothing her to sleep. I’ve changed the words a bit to suit my current needs, but for myself I sit quietly in front of my altar, with candles lit and repeat to myself the following…
I am calm
I am safe
I am happy in this moment
I am loved in the present
I am blessed today
It’s a little simple, but it’s helped me battle my recent bouts of nostalgia...that, and a big sloppy kiss from my little peanut!
brightest blessings
-Autumn Noel
Sunshine's Meanderings with Kathleen Lane
Did you ever have one of those moments of blinding clarity when everything just seems to go "CLICK" and you realize that you have totally gotten off on the wrong path? For me it was my 30th birthday. It was a miserable day and I spent the entire day in a blue funk and refused to celebrate the day at all.
I was divorced, a single parent, hated my job and had somehow totally lost my "way". I left my daughter with my mother for the weekend and ran away to the beach where I spent two days meditating on how and where I had gotten so lost and how I could fix it.
When I got home, my way was clear. I packed my belongings and quit my job and took my daughter and moved halfway across the country to the Colorado Rockies. I got a job working at a camp up at 9600 feet in the Rockies and turned my back on everything that had pulled me into the wrong path. No TV, no worrying about what other people thought I was supposed to be doing with my life and I simply existed with nature and peace and no one but me to answer to. It was a spiritual cleansing and a growing experience. It let me get back in touch with who I really was and let me throw off the boundaries that I had allowed other people to set for me.
Never let the expectations of others determine who and what you are. Go to that secret place inside and find what makes you happy and at peace and then center yourself there. If you find yourself stepping off on a wrong path, stop and look at that path. Is it one you would have chosen for yourself or are you letting someone else make that decision for you? If it isn't your path, step back and decide where your own path is. Does it make you happy and fulfilled? Does it leave you with that sense of knowing that you are where you are supposed to be? At some point in life, we all get off onto those wrong paths, but it is never to late to stop and make a change. We owe it to that spark of the Mother that is in all of us to be the best and happiest we can be.
There and Back A-hen: Just a bunch of clucking nonsense with Melissa "Chicky" Cassick
We all have our pet peeves about spelling and grammar, and we all have our own “downfall” words that we never seem to get right. I guarantee if you see “becasue” or “myslef” -- oh, that’s my writing. Those are just words that, for whatever reason, I never get right on the first try.
A fellow writer here at the Stew pointed out the word “alter” in a piece of writing, where the author had clearly meant “altar.” It definitely was a mistake that jumped right out at the reader, since the intended readers were pagans, who use the word frequently, and would be expected to know how to spell it. It may just have been a slip of the left hand, however; and of course any spelling correction program would not highlight it, since it is a usage issue.
It got me thinking though -- well, what doesn’t? The two words certainly mean different things, but substituting the verb for the noun could be a subconscious suggestion of just how an altar should be used.
I went traipsing through online dictionaries, looking for some root words. Ironically, I actually searched “alter” twice, having spelled “altar” wrong when conducting that search!
Dictionary.com
ALTER - Middle English < Old French alterer < Late Latin alterāre to change, worsen, derivative of Latin alter other
ALTAR - Middle English alter, altar (influenced by L), auter (< Old French aut ( i ) er ), Old Englishalter (OE also altar; compare Middle Dutch outaer, Old Saxon, Old Norse altari, Old High German altāri ) < Latin altāria (plural), of disputed origin and formation, but probably akin to Latin adolēre to ritually burn, Umbrian uřetu let it burn
Oxford English
ALTER - Late Middle English: from Old French alterer, from late Latin alterare, from Latin alter 'other'.
ALTAR - Old English altar, alter, based on late Latin altar, altarium, from Latin altus 'high'.
Merriam-Webster
ALTER - Middle English, from Medieval Latin alterare, from Latinalter other (of two); akin to Latin alius other
ALTAR - Middle English alter, from Old English altar, from Latin altare; probably akin to Latin adolēre to burn up
Interesting. All three sources seem to agree that “alter” derives from the Latin root, “alterare,” meaning “other”.
However, there appears less consensus on the origin of “altar.” Two of these sources tell me that is derives from “adolere,” “to burn”, but one of them claims it come from “altus,” meaning high. Both of those, considering the use of the word altar today, seem reasonable. An altar frequently holds things like candles or incense, and it is also frequently raised.
Yet all three definitions list the spelling as having once been the same for both words.
Well, isn’t that the purpose of an altar -- to alter us in some fashion? To create within us a mindfulness, a sense of purpose, in order to create change? The altar exists to draw us further in to our understanding of the mysteries of our faith, and to connect us to it.
How has my life been altered on this path? How different would my life have been had I not taken charge of my own soul, and left it entrusted in the hands of others -- regardless of how good their intentions? While I am content to work under capable management and take direction in a career environment, I am not content to allow another person to direct my spiritual destiny. I needed an alteration: a hem, a gusset, some pockets added to hold my new views. And I needed an altar-ation as well -- a place to hold the new instruments of my faith, a place for objects connecting me to the seasons, a surface upon which to collect the oddments and relics of life.
It’s a great idea to alter your altar throughout the year, but your altar should alter you right back.
Mid-Air Moxie with Adelina Soto Thomas
On May 11, 1981, at the age of 36, legendary Reggae artist Bob Marley passed from this world. He was a devoted political and social activist who incorporated his beliefs into much of the music he wrote. He sang songs of freedom from political and social oppression as well as songs of love, redemption, spirituality and revolution. His songs were meant to inspire the masses to change their world as well as move their feet to dance and have a good time.
Being a Rastafarian, there were many misconceptions about Bob Marley’s spiritual beliefs, mainly due to Rasta practice of smoking marijuana to bring them closer to Truth and God (called ‘Jah’) through cosmic consciousness. Rastafari is rooted in the Judeo-Christian religion and Jah is also is seen as the Holy Spirit incarnate in man. Many Rastafari refer to themselves as ‘I and I’ instead of ‘we’ when making reference to the Holy Spirit that resides within them. It is from his Rastafarian beliefs that Bob Marley preached of universal and spiritual love and peace. He brought attention to the violence and poverty of the Jamaican ghettos and urged political uprisings along with enlightened spirits.
Bob Marley used his music to bring together opposing political leaders for a peaceful celebration. Despite being shot, he spent much of his career promoting religious and cultural tolerance and understanding. He has been revered as a political emissary, reggae prophet, a visionary poet and cultural icon. Above all, Bob Marley’s music had the ability to bring people together, just to dance and have a good time. The power to inspire….love…revolution…peace….change….Bob Marley had it all. When he died of cancer on May 11, 1981, he left us the gift of his songs…his inspiration. I will leave you here with two of my favorite Bob Marley songs. One for the Rebels…the other for the Lovers…
‘Get up, Stand up”….awesome revolution song. This is a song I still hear at many rallies and grass root demonstrations. This song speaks to the power of the people to believe they CAN change their world for the better…
The Magical Gardener with Johanna Lawson
Every gardener, magical and otherwise, has joys and heartaches, successes and disappointments, dreams and nightmares in the garden. Sometimes we await a plant’s return in the Spring, checking it daily for any sign of green, scratching our heads and wondering when it began its growth last Spring. We sketch pictures of what we want our gardens to look like on scraps of paper in Winter, only to discover them missing come April or May. We often page through gardening magazines, read an article that contains information for future gardening adventures, bookmark the page, and, when we need it, we suddenly remember that the magazine went out in the recycling months ago. Every now and again, we plant something, do everything right – soil test, plant it under the right growing conditions, water it, prune it – and our little green friend still withers and dies. If only we had noted which plants returned and when, put that sketch somewhere we would know it to be later, clipped that article and placed it in a folder, or noted the daily care of that plant that died. All of these are reasons (and I am sure there are more) to keep a garden journal.
A garden journal can be a simple marble copybook or a fancy bound book with pages made from recycled paper or even a binder filled with loose leaf paper decorated with a few pictures of flowers. Some gardeners may choose to make a photo journal of what is happening in their garden, documenting the seasonal changes there or taking before and after shots of landscaping projects. Others may take to the blogosphere, sharing their gardens through writing and pictures with others on the internet.
The journal can be a place for daily, weekly, or even monthly notes about the garden. In the Winter, it is where we dream up our gardens, writing and sketching out our plans, keeping our lists for new additions and chores to be completed, and noting ideas we find in books, in magazines or on the internet. It can also be used to keep track of the weather and how it is affecting our gardens. Through the Spring, the journal becomes a log of all of our plants, shrubs and trees, their growth and their health, a place to turn in years to come if we forget when those coneflowers usually come up again or when we last pruned the lilac bush. Photos can be added to remind us of all the beauty of this time of the year. Summer is a time to write about our successes and failures, because we usually have a good idea by early July if our tomato plants are healthy or if the herb garden is properly protected from hungry critters.
As we turn toward the end of the Summer and into early Autumn, the garden journal becomes a bit sad as we begin to write about the final harvesting of our fruits, vegetables, and herbs, the dying back of the flowering perennials, and how we are putting our gardens to sleep before first frost dates. The final days of Autumn can find our journal pages full of seed catalogs to order, notes on what we learned this year in our gardens, and maybe the last pictures of some of our feathered friends in our shrubs and trees before they depart for warmer climates. As the wheel turns back to Winter, we then turn again to dreaming up our gardens.
For magical gardeners, the garden journal takes on a deeper meaning. In it, we note spells, charms, meditations, and herbal recipes and record our encounters with the elemental spirits or garden faeries. We write about our sabbat and Full Moon celebrations held in our yards, surrounded by the scent of our blooming flowers. We fill the pages with the magical properties of plants, flowers and trees and the lore that surrounds each one, moon phases and their corresponding garden chores, and astrological influences in our gardens. Throughout the journal, we can place pictures of the Full Moon hanging over our gardens, the butterflies dancing among the flowers, and the magical statues and decorations around our yards. We may decorate the pages with magical symbols. We can press sprigs of our favorite magical herbs between its pages, scenting our journals with the magic of nature.
A garden journal is a place for us to record all that is happening in and around our gardens, day in and day out, from month to month, and through the seasons. It is a history of our plants and our weather, of nature itself, our own personal almanac. We can look back through the pages and stroll again through each year of our gardening and magical lives. In the cold dark days of Winter, as we long to walk through our blooming gardens, we can wander through the pages of our garden journals and be transported back to the sunny warm colorful days of Spring and begin to plan ahead. We can travel through the wheel of the year and all of its magic, a garden grimoire to pass down to our future magical gardeners.
Blessings in journaling your magical garden!
My Blog: http://johanna-villagewisewoman.blogspot.com/
Saga's Spirit with Loren Morris
Aaaaahhhh, Spring is FINALLY in the air. And by Spring, I mean pollen.
The bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and the pollen are zipping happily through the air. Why? Flowers! The flowers have returned to us. They are becoming more and more abundant and they are making the gray of winter just a memory. We have green fields dotted with pinks, reds, yellows, blues, whites and purples. The soft petals are drifting through the wind and lying about on the pavement. The flowers are showing how much life they have in the velvety decor on the ends of their green stems.
May's full moon is the Full Flower Moon. The reason, of course, is the arrival of the flowers. Our flower beds are filled with them and more are arriving every day. I just love it. I have Fall as my favorite season, but Spring is definitely my second.
Flowers are life. They have a use by the plant they adorn. In turn, they also give life to the bees and the butterflies and they hummingbirds, and of course to us. We wouldn't have fruit and veggies without those little flowers.
They are also written about by poets and authors. They are used to mark celebrations. Birthdays, parades, anniversaries, graduations, births, deaths.....they all are decorated with flowers. You tell people that you love them, that you are sorry, congratulations, happy birthday, I miss you, I hate you, I like you, welcome back, and toodles with flowers.
I thought we would take a look at a few quotes about flowers, the meaning of some, and then make a floral altar box.
Read more: http://sagascottage.blogspot.com/2014/05/full-flower-moon-and-altar-box-craft.html
My spirit boards: http://lapuliabookofshadows.com/product-category/spirit-ouija-weejie-boards/
The Spice with La'Trice Lott
Ultimate Veggie Sandwich
Ingredients:
A handful of your favorite greens (lettuces, arugula, spinach)
½ an Avocado
Thin slices of tomato
Thin slices of cucumber
Roasted Red Peppers
Slices of Mozzarella
2 Slices of hearty 7 grain
Directions:Scoop out the avocado, lightly mash and spread on the bread slices. Top with greens, then assemble in whatever order tickles your fancy. Serve with a side of sweet potato chips and enjoy.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!
This Week in Astrology
Planets in Retrograde (Rx)
Mars - until May 19
Saturn- until July 20
Sunday, May 11
All's quiet on the homefront
Monday, May 12
8:45am-9:06pm Moon Void of Course (VoC) then moves into Scorpio
Tuesday, May 13
All's quiet in the heavens
Wednesday, May 14
3:15pm Full Moon in Scorpio
3:15pm through the rest of the evening, Moon VoC
Thursday, May 15
1:45am- VoC ends, moves into Scorpio
Friday, May 16
Moon VoC from 3:45am through the rest of the day
Saturday, May 17
4:11am VoC ends, moves into Capricorn
Weekly Horoscopes from DarkStar Astrology
The Weekly Divine with Kallan Kennedy
Kallan Kennedy is a professional tarot/totem intuitive with more than 20 years of divination experience. She offers private readings to her clients via her website, Secret Services. Order your personal reading today!
Weekly Tarot: Page of Pentacles
This card is all about reveling in the delight of physical pleasures of all kinds as well. Having a childlike sense of wonder and excitement are keys to realizing your dreams.
This is an all around feel-good card. Enjoy this week!!
Weekly Totem: Whale
Key Words and Phrases: Creativity, Exploration, Finding Your Song
"Whale is very much like a swimming library. Whale carries the history of Mother Earth and is said to have been placed here by the Ancients from the Dog Star, Sirius. Biologists say that Whale is a mammal, and very possibly lived on land millions of years ago. In tribal legend, Whale's move into the ocean happened when the Earth shifted and Lemuria, the Motherland, went below the waves. All of our petroglyphs speak of the Motherland, Mu, and the disaster that brought the red race to North American from the West, beyond the great waters. The symbols in the pertoglyphs speak of the rivers and mountains crossed by our ancestors when they sought solid ground as the water receded."~Medicine Cards, Jamie Sams and David CarsonWhale is one of the most interesting totems to study. Whale teaches us about going within, finding our own song, exploring our creativity and ancestral birthrights, and sharing our gifts with the world.Countless cultures around the globe associate themes of creation, birth and rebirth with the whale.
"Those who are magnetized by whale energy will tend to be incredibly deep in sensitivity." ~ Avia Venefica
"Singing is one of our most powerful and creative acts, linking us to the underlying substance and being, and is a means by which we can enter into a relationship with our most spiritual powers and abilities. It awakens our healing energies."~ Ted Andrews, Animal Speak
Whale's message is about finding who you really are by going within. Once you find the real you, embrace your true self and sing your own unique song. Take your time, whales don't rush. This week's message is about more than just acceptance. It is about welcoming your truth, your song, your unique abilities and qualities that are unlike anyone else's. Tap into your ancestors, find out what makes you special. Help heal the threads of the world with what only you can bring. You are a gift from the Universe to the Universe. Stand up and take your authentic place in the fabric of the web, and proudly sing your song.
That's it for this week's Stew. Mull. Digest. Enjoy!
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