Holiday Recap~Part 2

One of the gifts I gave to Sophie was new clothes for her doll, Jane. Some of which I posted about earlier. This one I am particularly proud of because it was my first attempt at knitting on four needles. I did it! I only had to take it out once, I then found a great tutorial online, at my hubby's brilliant suggestion and had no further problems with it. It was rather fun too.

Here is the finished pinafore, it fits her perfectly and looks so pretty. Sophie was thrilled when she opened it.

Here is my poor little dog....she was scared of the antlers and didn't like the santa hat either, so neither photo turned out well.

Sophie and her friend Andrew stringing popcorn, cranberries and peanuts for our solstice tree for the birds.

Sophie and made each of the four cats a very simple catnip "mouse". Sophie did a great job with the stitching, she worked hard on them.

A photo from late, late on solstice night.

Visions of Sugarplums....Holiday Recap

We had a lovely holiday at our house. Everyone was happy and healthy and we even had my oldest daughter, Laura come to stay a few days with us and be here for Christmas. We were delighted.



We have been quite the busy little bees around Witchwood of late, and our internet has been going in and out, so that explains the sporadic posting.



Sophie and I have done several rounds of baking and her dad and friend Andrew even got in on the act a few days before solstice.

Sophie loved making the cutout gingerbread people and animals and gnomes, of course. I found a delicious recipe for vegan gingerbread cookies online and they turned out great!

Sophie concentrating hard on sifting the flour and sugar.

Our beautiful Solstice full moon, we couldn't see the eclipse due to the clouds that came up but knowing we were underneath it was pretty cool.

More to come......

Noisy Sun Shakers

With only a couple of paper plates, some beans and markers and glue. We created these fun Noisy Sun Shakers to help us make some noise and encourage the sun to rise anew on Solstice Morn. Sophie has a lot of fun and so did I. We can't wait for the sunrise tomorrow. Happy Solstice!

Ummmm.....Gingerbread

Today Sophie made Gingerbread cookies. She has been looking forward to cutting out her favorite shapes from the rolled dough. This year it was gnomes, elephants, horses, ginger people and big hearts. She had a hard time deciding on her favorite shape, but I believe the heart won out..."because I love you". Sophie love modeling her new apron too, she felt very grown up. And all afternoon our kitchen smelled of warm, spicy gingerbread. Yummmmm!

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?

A New Favorite

I finally got my Winter Solstice and Christmas pictures downloaded from the camera. They are wonderful. Here is one of my favorites, all five of my kids, since Laura moved out on her own and Emily is always busy, its hard to ger them all together, so this is a special one to me. Emily, Sophie and Laura, Joshua and Jonathan.

Merry Meet and Welcome

Merry meet! Welcome to my space on the web. I decided to start this blog just to have a place besides my journal to document my days. I am a green witch and Goddess worshiping pagan. I live with my fabulous husband, four children and three cats, in a beautiful home that I call "Witchwood". Though I am beginning this blog just after the Winter Solstice, and I very much feel the need to hibernate, as the Earth Mother does during this time of the Wheel of the Year, I plan to post about my various hobbies, studies and dreams as often as I can. I hope that you will come by again soon.