My Latest Tattoo

One more tattoo in my tattoo addiction/collection. This is a Triple Moon, in honor of the Great Maiden. Mother, Crone. With the words to my favorite chant added.This is on the front of my left thigh.

Wheel of the Year

Here, finally is a picture of the finished wheel of the year, that I had painted on the temple ceiling. I have to thank David, for the idea and painting the outline; Mare, Emily and Josh for adding some of the color. I am very happy with how it turned out and it serves to make the temple even more unique than it already is. Thanks and blessings.

The Night and the Sun

This activity goes along with Starhawk's story, "The Rebirth of the Sun." We create ctand-up paper figures of Night cradling the Sun within the circle of her arms, and the Sun, refreshed and reborn for the coming year.

Sketch Night on black construction paper. This figure is exaggerated in arm length, as they will be joined in a circle. Cut out and lay flat.

Draw Night's face with a white crayon: downcast eyes, the suggestion of a nose, and flowing hair. You might decorate the arms as sleeves, and add bracelets and a necklace. Bring the arms together into an embracing circle, and fasten with tape on the back. We like to cut out a crown and tape it on.

Cut out the Sun from a sheet of sun-colored paper, with a diameter of about fourinches. Draw on a sleeping face. Tuck the Sun within Night's arms. This make s alovely addition to the season altar.

Building Mother Winter's House

Instead of the usual, generic gingerbread house, consider building a gingerbread house as an offering, thinking of all the gifts of the Goddess you are grateful for and choosing candy and decorations to represent them. The house then becomes a symbol of the abundant wonders we've received from the Mother--and the empty space inside can symbolize the unknown gifts we hope for in the future.

Here is Sophie and her brother's version this year. :)

A great story to read along with making this house is Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root.

In it Grandmother Winter lives all alone with her snow white flock of geese. When she shakes out her downy masterpiece, the flakes begin to fall, sending nature's creatures scurrying for cover. A beautiful book about the nature's seasons.

Here is a lovely version of the story of Mother Winter and the Goddess Holle.

Mother Holle is an old pagan Goddess. She was associated with the darkest nights of winter. She rode on the winter winds, bringing purification to the land. This winter purification caused the land to bear good harvest and brought abundance to the people. Frau Holle name means "Beneficent One." She was the protector of the hearth and was gifted at spinning of flax. Her sacred objects were the distaff, flax, coal, the goose and a feathered quilt. The distaff, a tool of spinners, was used to keep the flax in place before it was spun into wool. Wise women used many times the distaff as a magic wand to create good blessings.

The sacred time of the Old Goddess Holle was winter, when it was time to honor ancestral roots. She could be found in the forest, grottoes, fountains and crossroads. She brought her blessings to the newborn and to the dead that were leaving this world. She flew across the skies at Winter Solstice nights with her spiritual host who rode brooms and carried the harvest sickle, shaped like the crescent moon.

But she also appeared as the Virgin on the holidays of Saint Lucia when young girls dressed in white with a crown of evergreens and candles balanced on their heads. They served sweet breads to their family and neighbors, bringing the light on the shortest days of the year.
The Goddess Holle was known to initiate young women into the mysteries of womanhood. She brought blessings to those who proved themselves from their acts of compassion, generosity and forgiveness.

Grimm’s fairytale connects Mother Holle with the old woman who lives in the forest with her flock of geese. She is associated with Mother Goose and Goosefoot Bertha. When she shook her goose feather quilt, the snow would fly. An old proverb says, “The Old woman is feathering her geese” when the snow falls.

Mother Holle brought blessings to the fields of flax and the Spinner. Goddess Holles' power of Spinning is symbolic for the creation of matter. She weaves the atoms of light that have awakened our Consciousness in this human form. We can also be weavers of light by thinking positive thoughts and using our prayer power to create the life of our dreams.

The Mother Holle is considered a Black Goddess. She teaches us the way of trimming our lives of unwanted habits or belief systems that no longer serve our growth, just as the winter wind releases the leaves of autumn from the trees. Her voice can be gentle when we listen to her closely. But when we ignore the gentle voice of the Dark Goddess, she comes as a strong winter storm into our life experience. Her violent storms remove the dead wood from a tree or the dead wood in our life. Mother Holle is an ancient memory. We can still feel her presence in the coldness of the winter winds on a dark Solstice Night.

Yule Countdown

Welcome December! Today begins the countdown to the Winter Solstice, or Yule, as the ancients use to call it. The longest night and the shortest day of the year. In northern climates this is the darkest and coldest time of year. The sun seems weak, even dying, and we fear winter will last forever. But as soon as the solstice passes, the days begin to grow longer again. The Solstice is a turning point on the wheel of the year, when the sun symbolically dies and is reborn from the womb of the Goddess.

As we countdown the days til Solstice this year. I hope to share with you some of the meaning and myths of this sacred time of year. Let's begin.

Clean House

Everyone in the family can help clean house before Solstice. Be sure to sweep under the rugs and shake out any feather beds you might have! When you empty the dustpan or throw out the vacuum cleaner bag, name some of the things you want to get rid of. Then steep some rosemary and bay leaves in hot water and add the scented water to the pail when you wash your floors, to bring protection for the new season.

What inner cleansing do you need to do at Solstice time? What is left over from the past year--what dust lurks in your corners? What would you like to get rid of or leave behind?

Patchwork Cloak Update

The piecing is finished! All of the patchwork pieces are basted down to the lining fabric, and the hood is basted on just to see how it fits. This was all done by hand. It took me about 8 hours of sewing, I guess, over the past week. Next comes the FUN. The embroidery! I found some fabulous iridescent floss called, "light effects" it shimmers. It's going to make fantastic embroidered stars, spiderwebs, and moons. Oh I am so excited! It may not be finished by my August 10 year 'pagan-versary', but it will definitely be done by September, and the Harvest Gathering. More updates as I progress on the embroidery.

Red Tent Temple

I want to invite you all to check out my new blog Red Tent Temple of TN. Where we hope to bring together the maidens, mothers and crones to share with each other, our stories and lives. if you have not heard of the Red Tent Temple, you will. This is a much needed sacred space for women to gather in community. Lots of information on the website. Blessings.

Beltane Celebration~as promised

Last night my circle had our Beltane celebration. It was wonderful with a potluck feast and much socializing, May pole and Beltane fire dancing.

Ribbons in the wind.

Spiral Goddess bread

Table with fresh flower headbands

The children having their feast

Sophie loves her headband

Getting ready to weave the ribbons

Nearly there

Finished May pole ~ lovely

Our Beltane fire

Our drummer ~ yeah ~ thanks John

Fledgling drummer

Beltane dancing

Dancing around the fire

Musings on My Life

The one who started it all.

I realized early this morning that this summer will mark two very huge milestones in my life. First is my fortieth birthday in July, which I have posted once about. And then also there is the tenth "anniversary" of my beginning on the Goddess Path. Wow! Really major and big to me and I would love to mark them in some special fashion. Needless to say, I will be doing some more thinking about it and would welcome any suggestions for celebrations that use as little money and earth resources as possible. Thanks.

Goddess shrine update

Here is the next installment in my creation of the goddess shrine out of the little box, that David gave me. I have decided that I will create a portable altar/shrine for use in the death midwifery path that I have been called to. I have glued black velvet inside the box. Around it in the picture are some of the things I have gathered to use within. The photo of Isis/Nephthys is because She is one of the Goddesses who calls to me. I also have an incense cone and censor, a tiny statue of Kuan Yin, who is the Goddess of compassion, of whom a death midwife would have need of, I'm sure. There is a tea light and holder to represent fire, a bell to represent air. There will be a crystal of some sort to represent earth and a vial of water or a shell, for water. I am thinking of using tiny eye hooks to hang the three goddess pendents(Nefertiti, Spiral Goddess, & Venus of Willendorf) from the top of the open box. I think I have a good start and it will all be easily packed into the box and taken anywhere that my calling takes me. So what do you all think so far? Any suggestions?

Goddess shrine

I am so excited! David brought me this little box. It was a sewing machine parts box, dated on the top "patented 1889". I am going to make a portable goddess shrine out of it. I am going to line it with black velvet, and put photos of goddesses on each panel. Then it can be taken anywhere, and set up on a table to display the goddesses, also inside can hold a number of sacred objects, and such things as, a tea light, stones/chrystals, elemental objects, tiny amulets, etc. I will post photos of each step in the development of this lovely little goddess shrine/altar. Stay tuned.....

In case you missed it.....

...in yesterday's last post, my new round bread board, made of European hardwood, I found it on clearnace at the local home center. I am so excited about it. I have coveted a round one for years, the circle being a symbol of the Goddess and life. Life is a circle. We are born, we grow up, and we die. But death is a part of the circle, not a final end. When we die, we are told, our spirit goes to a place where we can rest and grow young again, and be with the Goddess and the old Gods. When we are ready, we are reborn in some new form. The moon, too, is born as a silver crescent, grows to be round and full, and wanes away to darkness only to be born again. The seasons change from warm to cold and back to warm again, or from rainy to dry to rainy. Baby plants grow up as green shoots from the earth, grow tall, blossom, set seed, and die. The seed falls to the earth and goes underground, only to rise again in the spring. The circle of life. The circle is sacred in many cultures. In the book Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance, author Iris Stewart writes, “The circle is perhaps the most ancient of mystical symbols and the most universal of all dances. It is the earth and the sun in eternal movement, an unbroken, unbent line symbolizing continuity and eternity. The circle dance represents wholeness. The dance brings life full circle.”

Sacred Baking

The smell of baking bread blesses every corner of the home, and nothing tastes as good as fresh, home baked bread. Bread and bread making are part of our most ancient rituals. In Athens, people baked round cakes, representing the moon, to honor Artemis. In ancient Assyria and Babylonia, special sacrificial cakes were offered to Ishtar. Bread pans in the shape of Astarte excavated in Israel are evidence that baking was part of ancient sacred ceremonies there as well. Making bread brings us close to a common but profoundly transformational process. We work with the living loaf. We learn quiet secrets as the dough becomes supple under our hands, then grows larger with warmth and time, and is finally served to nourish and delight. Baking bread also gives us the opportunity to create symbols that literally become part of us. We combine simple elements to make the loaf, shape it to reflect what is special about a moment of time, transform it with fire, sacralize it on our altar, bless it in our circle, and then share the bread, joining with the past and teaching those to come. The bread, consecrated on our altars and blessed by the circle, symbolizes the nourishing earth and sanctifies the simple act of sharing food.

(Excerpt from, "Circle Round, Raising Children in Goddess Traditions")

I have always loved baking bread, and I have been doing it since my oldest daughter was a baby. Nearly twenty years now. Wow! I still love it. There is just something about holding the pliable dough and kneading it into something alive and tangible. From such humble ingredients as flour, yeast, sugar and water, I can make something warm and wonderful and nourishing for my family. I have tried a number of recipes over the years and found my current favorite in, of all places, "Laurel's Kitchen" cookbook, the original 1970's edition, found while thrifting last fall. The recipe is so simple and produces the best tasting, whole wheat bread I've ever had. Sophie and I enjoy making bread together now, just as her sisters did when they were young. Mixing the ingredients and rolling out the roll and kneading and punching and forming it into shapes or braiding it, or putting into pans. This evening, Sophie and I made dinner rolls from the recipe and we are going to enjoy them with our dinner tonight and probably with butter and jam at breakfast in the morning.

In trying to use more Waldorf-inspired ideas for daily life with Sophie, and a sort of home preschool environment, I have come up with these goals.

* Lots of reading and books (we already do this, but there could always be more)
* Music, all kinds, listening and making our own (I add to our music basket regularly)
* Art and crafts, (Sophie is becoming quite the crafter)
* Encourage more dress up & make believe, ie; play kitchen, animals & dolls
* Free play, she gets a lot of this and uses her imagination wonderfully!
* Outside- everyday, no matter the weather (I am now on a search for a child's raincoat and hat, more difficult than you might imagine)

I also plan to add some Montessori inspired "real" work; cleaning up, cooking, (with Mollie Katzen's "Pretend Soup and other recipes".), setting the table and dusting, folding washcloths and sorting socks, etc. Things that she is capable of doing that actually need to be done, to encourage her to have a sense of her importance in the maintaining of the family and home.

And gardening, we are building a couple of raised beds to grow a few vegetables, ( carrots, peas, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes & peppers) for Sophie to learn about Mother Earth and Her cycles and seasons. Along with the herbs and flowers we already have, she should be able to get a good grasp of tending the Mother.

Favorite Corners of My Home

Here is another photo of a favorite part of my home. This is Sophie's reading chair by her bed.

It is a pink pinstriped chair, we call it the candy cane chair. In it is a felted wool pillow that I made for her before she was born, welcoming her to the family. We are all represented in paperdoll form. On the floor is her "Dora" rug, and current favorite books; "Child of Fairie, Child of Earth", "The Gingerbread Baby", "My Lucky Day", and "Pigs Love Potatoes". We read several books that she chooses every night before bed. We are amassing quite a collection of "pagan-style" children's books. I will add a list of them soon. There are more and more that relate to the earth centered lifestyle, I am happy about that. Whenever I see this little corner of my home, I can't help but smile and think of the bedtime/storytime cuddling with my little poppet.

I hope everyone had a Blessed Imbolc/Brigid's Day. We had a lovely celebration as a circle. I can't begin to say how wonderful it feels to have a circle of sisters that I know I can count on and who can count on me. Its such a blessing to know these women and to grow together as a circle with each ritual we share. I love them all deeply and I am learning a lot about myself as I learn about them. So a heartfelt thank you to my circle sisters, Glorymoon, Wolfsong, Mari, Tumbleweed, and Rachel. Blessed be.

Temple

I promised a post about the temple I created in my home, so here goes. The space is an alcove created when the previous owners converted the double staircase into one. It came with two second floor windows and a wall of shelves. I painted it royal purple, because I love it and because purple is know to enhance spirituality. Along the ceiling there are stenciled names of the Goddess from many cultures. In between those are semi-precious stones. Symbols for the four elements are painted on their respective walls. The altar is in the east and changes with the seasons and festivals, this was at Winter Solstice. A gorgeous Celtic tapestry, gifted by one of my circle sisters, Mari, hangs across the open end to act as a door. The walls are covered with beautiful artwork done by myself and other members of the circle. Its a peaceful, beautiful space and I love spending time there. It is a wonderful place to do yoga and meditate. I like to read and study there occasionally too. The shelves hold all of the books and other reading material related to my spirituality and also related to women centered pursuits, beading, doll making, knitting, writing, child care, crafts, art, etc. Also on several shelves are dolls which are ancient symbols of ourselves, some I made myself, so they are there to honor my creativity and that of all women. There are also some from my childhood, for obvious reasons. All of the figures of various Goddesses that I have collected are on the shelves. I am always coveting more. My favorites are Aphrodite and the Minoan Snake Goddess. The Goddess prayer flag above the window is one I did, based on a design I saw at an art shop. The large mosaic piece of Inanna was done by circle sister, Glorymoon, and is on loan to the temple for now. Isn't it gorgeous!? There is also a six foot diameter, Wheel of the Year on the ceiling, in progress. I will post a pic as soon as it is done. Be sure to click on the pics for a larger view. Blessed be.