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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in coven
Revealing the True Self: A Group Mask-Making Ritual

The elements needed for this ritual include:

• Posterboard, newspaper, water, and white flour to make a plaster-like paste, paint, glitter, feathers, sequins, colored markers, and sticks at least twelve inches long

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Rite of the Wise Age: A Ceremony to Bestow the Crown of Cronehood

The essential elements for this ritual are enough candles to represent every year of the crone’s life, flowers, silver wire, crystals, water, flowering branches, silver moon-shaped paper cutouts, and potluck food. The potluck food served at the party after the ritual will be even more special and good for all if they emphasize “women’s food” such as estrogen-filled yams, calcium-rich broccoli, and yogurt. Soy is recommended as well, and chocolate is essential.

The first part of the ritual takes place before the honored guest, the new crone, arrives. Working together, women should take the silver wire and form a round crown. Glue semiprecious crystals to this crown, attach charms and amulets, and affix the silver crescent moons. Make it beautiful and meaningful. The silver moon is a sign of the Goddess, and the new crone is a representative of the Goddess’s third aspect. The crystals, which are the stones and bones of Mother Earth, add power and the beauty of Gaia. Charms and amulets are for health, protection, good luck, and good life. As you make it and place the jewels and charms on the crown, state your intentions and hopes for the new crone. When the crown is complete, place it on a beautiful purple pillow or on the altar.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Croning Rituals

Our modern society has taken an unfortunate attitude toward aging, characterized by denial and shame. Rather than embracing the realization of their own highest wisdom, aging women are socialized into unhealthy regimens such as Botox and plastic surgery in vain attempts to turn back the clock. Women should feel good about aging; they should celebrate long, full lives. Women should be respected and honored for the wisdom they bring to the community. One of the roles ritual plays in the world is to change the dynamic between a person and her community. Therefore, croning rituals are the signal to the group that a woman has ascended into a new role of service and leadership to the family, the tribe, the village, and the sisterhood. Theories vary as to when a woman becomes a crone. Z. Budapest in her Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries says it happens to every woman at age fifty-six. Others say it is at age fifty-four, and priestess and writer Diana Paxson says it’s a range from sixty to seventy-one for the evolution from Queen to Crone. Often cronehood is confirmed at fourteen months past a woman’s last period, and when she has come to her second Saturn Return. A woman should decide for herself when she feels she has reached the age of “cronehood,” however; if she is not prepared to take on the title, then by all means she should wait until she is ready. Discussing it with other women will help authenticate what you know and feel inside. Support from the sisterhood is essential, and in many circles of friends and family, women who are of similar ages should sustain each other in life’s passages and honor each other as they wish to be honored.

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Comfort in Company: A Group Ritual to Prepare for Surgery

Call your friends together before the surgery. The ritual can be at your home or any place that feels safe and secure. I highly recommend raising healing energy at the home of the person who is to undergo the surgery, as it will create an aura of restoration. Ask each person to bring something to comfort, reassure, and cure the celebrant: soup, fixings, a soothing eye pillow, sleep balm, a hand-knitted scarf for warmth, body lotion, herbal teas, books, or lavender-infused slippers are all wonderful gifts. Form a circle of care around the celebrant and light candles. Unscented soy candles are probably best for health reasons (and if a gift is scented, it is wise to check with the healing recipient whether that’s okay in advance of the gathering). As you go around the circle, ask each person to give his or her gift of caring to the celebrant and say what it represents. As examples:

I give you this herbal tea mix so you can sip tea and draw from it

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Silver Magic Full Moon Gathering

The full moon is the most powerful time of the month and a critical time to celebrate with friends. This ritual will heighten your spirituality, your friendships, and your connection to the universal powers. As I write this, it is a full moon in Scorpio and I’m looking forward to getting together with my friends for a hullabaloo. We are waiting for the “witching hour,” midnight. There are thirteen of us, a perfect number for a coven, and we will gather in our favorite spot in the woods overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We have thirteen stones that mark each of our spots in our gathering place.

A larger stone sits in the middle, a natural altar upon which we will place a goblet of wine before an image of the goddess. We will all bring candles in sturdy, tempered glass votives to light our way, and we will perform a rite I learned from my elders.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Circle of Grace and Gratitude
I feel blessed by the people I have in my life, and, every once in a while, I make a point of showing my appreciation. Here is a surefire way to let your friends know they are loved. You will receive the blessing tenfold in return.

You will need: chairs, scarves or ribbons, fluffy towels, a big bowl, almond oil, hot water, scented soap, and scented body lotion.

Invite your friends over. The group need not be large; remember, smaller is more intimate. Begin by catching up, and after half an hour, form a circle with your chairs.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Cauldron of Fire Ritual

Here is a wonderful way friends can help each other get rid of fears, creative blocks, and the shrill voice of the inner critic. Ideally, this spell is done during the waning moon or on November 1 or December 31—the witchy holidays when the veil between worlds is believed to be thinnest.

Get a metal kettle and an outdoor firepot or little grill, and for each of the friends you have invited, a pen and two pieces of paper. Sit around the fire, relax, and talk about what challenges you face in attaining your artistic goals. Write on a piece of paper what comes up for you. Go around the circle and read from your list of blocks. Then, with great intention, place each paper on the fire. After everyone is done, silently meditate, and write your hope for the future. Now, reversing the order of speaking, go around the circle and share your dreams. Fold the paper and carry it with you in your purse or wallet. Your vision for the future will take on a life of its own.

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