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Natural Rituals

Sometimes I work with a ritual structure, especially if I am leading a group ritual.  Something along the lines of casting the circle, calling the quarters, inviting deity then working magic & raising energy then closing it all down in reverse.  This format can work very well for wild witchcraft if you want it to.  The elements are after all the basics of nature itself so inviting them in makes sense.  Inviting deity to join you could be in the form of a specific goddesses and/or god that fits with your intent or perhaps a nature deity.   You may even choose to just invite Mother Earth and Father Sky to join you.  And casting the circle can be done with natural items such as autumn leaves or flower petals. It really is all about working with your intuition and going with what feels right for you. 

Today we're going to discuss the different ways we might work with crystal to increase the vibration of our non-human family (and how they likewise might enjoy these interactions). We'll talk about cats, dogs, fish, birds, plants and trees...

CATS AND DOGS

Cats and dogs react to crystals in different ways. For example, my friend Renee has a bowl of crystals that her cat likes to touch. She said it uses its little paw and moves them gently here to there.

All my life, I've heard people complain about the Christians who take the stories in the Bible literally rather than as allegory or symbolic storytelling. A few days ago, I realized that Pagans sometimes do the same thing, and I think they probably have for centuries, right back into ancient times. Case in point: the Labyrinth.

The Greeks, who are ancient to us but who lived centuries later than Minoan civilization, figured that the Labyrinth must have been an actual physical structure of some sort. And they assumed that the Minoan inventor/smith god Daedalus, whom they viewed as a mortal man, had built it. The Greek historian Herodotus, who lived a solid millennium after the fall of Minoan civilization, wrote about a huge temple building in Egypt with hundreds of rooms and winding passageways, and he called it a labyrinth (yes, it's a real thing - archaeologists have found it). Then, when Sir Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of the Minoan temple complex at Knossos a century ago, he was sure he had found the original Labyrinth, the famed home/cage of the Minotaur, built by Daedalus.

Greetings, friends! Thanks to Anne for inviting me to share my views on the intersection between Paganism and politics in this blog. First, let’s get acquainted.

I am a feminist atheist solitary Pagan Witch. I am primarily of Western and Central European ancestry, with some North African thrown in. I am pansexual, cisgender, and celibate and single by choice. I work primarily with Celtic goddesses (Welsh and Irish) plus lots of fictional characters like Princess Leia and Lao Ma and others from Xena: Warrior Princess. I also call on archetypes from the Robin Wood tarot deck and the Celtic Book of the Dead by Caitlín Matthews.

"Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle." ~ Annie Besant, early twentieth century mystic.

 I grew up reading my father's boyhood books--pirate stories, adventure tales, and exciting classics by Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexander Dumas. Long summer days of my childhood were spent pretending to be an adventurer exploring the wilderness and discovering treasure.

Faerie Shamanism . . . and Joss Whedon?

Connecting a Lot of Supposedly Unrelated Dots:

It occurred to me today that several actors who appeared in Joss Whedon's TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to do their own things in remarkable ways. 

Examples I can think of offhand:

It is late afternoon and the slanting light is filtering through the redwoods.  I am barefoot feeling the redwood roots intertwined and alive under the trail.  We are laying a maze/labyrinth with rooms of challenge and healing for our community of witches of all genders to move though later this night as part of our evening ritual.  I move off the trail and begin building a altar of bee healing, using a low redwood stump.  There is honey to drizzle on skin with an invitation to feel its sticky goodness before licking it off, pieces of honeycomb to break off and roll around in their mouths, healing honey salve to work into rough skin, a lantern draped with a floral cloth illuminating this place since the ritual will be held after the sun sets in the west.