Sunday, December 2, 2012

My Red Drum


This year I was gifted something very special by my wonderful sons for Yule. Yes, I got it early! With jokes about the end of the world LOL boys!

This drum is special and holds so much meaning for me in so many ways. It was custom made by a Bee Priestess from B.C. Check out her beautiful Drums and other sacred tools over at Red Moon Designs

Bees hold a very sacred place in my practice they are the messengers of the Goddess. I was taught at a young age by my Mom how to whisper to the bees and like her have the ability to hold them with ease. Although I am very allergic to honey the Bees and I have a wonderful relationship.
 
Its deep red color is the color of blood, the power of woman is in her blood. A Mother receives her greatest gifts with blood. Blood is sacred, Blood is life. This blood red color comes from an ancient dye process using beet and pomegranate juice.
Beets are a root chakra activator,they keep us connected to Mother Earth. They also stimulate  the heart chakra and help open ones heart and beets help heal old wounds from the past.
Pomegranates have been used as a symbol of the most fundamental beliefs, life and death, birth,
eternal life, fertility, abundance and prosperity. In my tradition the pomegranate is used in a very moving protection ritual.

The wood used in the frame is Canadian Cedar. The cedar tree has been revered throughout history for its spiritual significance and is related to longevity, protection, summoning spirits and prosperity.Cedar cleanses negative atmospheres and is used for the creation of sacred space.

The skin used was Elk. Elk tells us to be aware of subtle changes around us and to be ready for a quick response.Elk stands for stamina, strength, nobility, pride, and survival. Both my Mom and my Dad have Elk
as a totem.

So that's the significance of the make up of the drum it self. Powerful stuff eh!
My drum arrived in the mail the day before the Full Moon so the timing was perfect. I got to work and designed the ritual to consecrate it. The night of the Full Moon I cleansed and dedicated my new Drum! I always start with the basics, cleanse with the elements and declare intent. I Asked the Ancestors for guidance and blessing to speak threw the drum and guide it's song. I bound it to myself with a personal bind rune and placed the runes of protection, gateway and journey upon its frame in sacred oil. Then I drummed and drummed and let the song flow threw me and raised some amazing power! I look forward to the work I will be doing with my powerful new tool. My Red Drum :)

Monday, November 5, 2012

The Witches Market

We are blessed to live within an hours drive of a major city with a thriving Pagan community.  This year for the first time they had a Witches Market the week before Samhain. The Girls, my Mom and I made the drive into the city to attend and it was awesome!! The community responded so well that the organizers have decided to start having a Witches Market every 3 months :) I was thrilled to hear this news. It was a great day and because of the wonderful forethought of the organizers it was on the same day and only two blocks away from the famous Old Strathconas farmers market so we took in both. As an added bonus to our already amazing day I got to meet up with an old friend from high school that I had not seen in over 20 years. It was great to see her again and catch up a bit as we took in the markets together. Now let me show you some of our very cool purchases. We will start with the Witches Market...

This Dragon eye pendant was bought for King Connaher as a stocking stuffer for Yule

Aromatherapy pendant earrings.
 I have wanted a pair of these earrings for awhile now but could not find them in a color I liked. I bought these as a Samhain gift to myself :) I also bought my sister a necklace with one of these on it in black. We all wear these pendants in our family filled with thieves oil to prevent illness. They work really well and are made by a company called Pixie Glass Works

I actually squealed a bit when I found this amazing switch plate. It was bought for the light in the Spell room.

This one is for in our bedroom. The decor in our room is all Birch trees. Black and White

Neat little ceramic bats. They will go on the Yule tree.

These came with the bats. I only wanted the bats :) I will use these at Yule for gift tags.


Powdered Sweetgrass for making incense and a really cool smudge made with Sweetgrass, sage, cedar all wrapped in a tobacco leaf. This was bought for the Ancestors and used on Samhain. as a offering. They were very pleased :)


 Then we went for a short walk over to the Old Strathcona Farmers Market. On the way there we had the privilege of seeing a prayer protest by Buddhist Monks it was heart wrenching to hear the atrocities these peaceful people have had to endure. Then it was into the craziness that is the Old Strathcona Farmers market. I can't begin to describe the amount of people lol. There was so much to see and it took way longer than we expected to get threw everything. This is what we bought...


Adorable little fabric pumpkins

Mead made by a local company. I was so excited to get this as I LOVE mead and it was local and that is important to me. Then we tried it :( I was so disappointed. It was horrible and tasted like it was off, not sweet at all. Blech
This glass evil eye pendant is close to 3 inches across :) I was very pleased to find it. It will be the center of a really neat display I have been planning for the Spell room window.
Me with an old high school friend I had not seen in over 20 years in front of an Italian bakery booth at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market. Notice the aromatherapy pendant around my neck :) lol it matches my hair.

Our day was long and we were totally exhausted when we got home. It was so worth it tho :) and we are happily looking forward to the Yule market.
I will share a little secret with you....come the new year we will have a table at the Witches Market filled with all sorts of charms, talismans, potions, incense and more. I will keep ya posted

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Playing with the Air Elementals

Autumn brings windy days and it was such a day when the Bug went out to play with the Breezes.....We had been doing Fall themed crafts on the back deck when it became rather blustery so we packed up the art supplies and brought them in the house. The Bug wanted to go back out and play with the wind so away she went. The leaves were blowing off the trees and it looked like it was snowing leaves. She ran and ran and ran some more the whole while giggling and laughing as she jumped and twirled trying to catch the leaves on the breeze. Bugs middle name happens to be Breeze and she was defiantly in her element today :)






Of all the Elementals the Sylphs or Air elementals are by far the most playful and willing to interact with humans. So the next time they are out playing go join them and encourage your minions to go out and play with the Fae and a windy day :)

Friday, October 19, 2012

Magical spots in our world

Last year the kids and I took a trip to a magical place in our world,  Fairy Rock. I blogged about it on my no longer active other blog. http://avalonschildgaeasdragon.blogspot.ca/2011/07/pilgrimage-to-fairy-rock.html

A couple of days ago Willowtree got a new phone and as she was taking the info and pics off the old phone and putting them on the new one and she came across some pics from that day. Amongst them was this one taken with her phone as we drove past the rock.

It's all wobbally wavilly, timeally wimeally

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Thrift shop finds...

At one time I had another blog. One day my lovely computer froze up or dropped the connection while I was changing my password. I really am not sure what happened but in the end I could no longer access the account. I tried to get google to recover it for me but that did not work either. So for the next little while I will be linking the few posts I had done on it to this page and then continuing with it here.

I love second hand stores....so much that I can only go once in awhile as I ALWAYS find something :)
Here is my first thrift shop post http://avalonschildgaeasdragon.blogspot.ca/2011/06/thrift-shop-finds.html

On my last thrift shop trip I had my Mom with me. She found the most amazing find!!
These little Greenman plaques for 11 cents each
I know Wow!! I was thrilled when she showed them to me. We discussed it later at home and will be making them into Elemental protection guardians in the Grove I will do a post on it when we are finished.
I had two great finds...

This cool plate for 99 cents

and this tealight candle holder is a purrfect Samhain decoration. It already sits on the newly decorated Samhain mantle.
until next time Happy Thrifting!!!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Lughnasadh/Mabon celebrations

So this year we combined two of our family celebrations. We moved on Lughnasadh and just did not feel right missing our traditions and with Mabon also being a harvest festival we thought what the heck we will do them both at once. This works also because the part of Canada that we live in is still in full swing of the grain harvest when Mabon rolls around. So I got to work planning....I decided I still wanted to keep the rituals for both, the games, the feasting and the dance of the Horned God so I designed the itinerary for the day as follows.
Saturday Sept.22
Be at the acreage by noon
Noon - Lughnasadh Ritual
1pm - Games start
           Hammer throw heavy (distance)
           Hammer throw light (accuracy)
           Hunker down (balance)
4pm - Lunch: Chili, cornbread, Crunchy salad, Spinach dip, Watermelon
Games continue after Lunch
          Spear fighting
          Hand to Hand
          Greek wrestling
7pm - Ritual for Mabon
Fireworks
8pm - Supper: Roast Mutton, Buns, Crunchy salad, Apple pie, Cherry torte
After supper Bonfire, drum circle and storytelling.




We started prep a week in advance decorating and getting the yard ready.
4 days before we dug the pit for the pit BBQ 5 feet deep and 8 ft by 5ft
3 days before we started to burn in the pit to prepare the coal bed. we had to burn for 2 days straight to have a coal bed 3 feet deep. The Minions and I did alot of research before we started. There is no room for error when feeding 20+ people.
2 days before we started marinading the meat.
The night before we got the mutton ready and put it in the pit to cook.

All week I asked the Gods to please let us have a beautiful day and I could not have asked for a better one. We woke up the morning of the 22 to a beautiful warm sunny day and started to cook the last minute things we needed for the rituals and feast.

Bread God ready to be baked for the sacrifice

MMMMMM GOD SAUCE nuff said

Golden Bread God fresh out of the oven
getting ready for Lughnasadh ritual

Me explaining why we are there. We had over 20 guests join us for our celebrations and for a few of them it was the very first time they had been to a Pagan ritual.

Everyone gets smudged with sweetgrass sent to me by my bestie Darlene
Circle was cast and offerings made to the Goddess, God, Ancestors and Fae

We talk about and give thanks to the God for the sacrifice he is about to make. Then the young men of the family go off to find a suitable sacrifice.

They return with the sacrifice of Grain baked into Bread  made into the form of the God
The Bread God is torn apart in sacrifice to be shared amongst the guests

Then the Harvest Maiden comes forth and offers to share the Gods seed with the land.

The boys share the bread with the circle and the Harvest maiden goes round with the bowl of God sauce for dipping. We go around the circle and share what we have sacrificed this year.
Then one of our favorite parts, The dance of the Horned God! My nephew donnes his horns

Zed only had one lol we were calling him Elliot from the movie Open season

This dance can get pretty crazy. they boys act like stags in rut and dance around as we clap and chant Hoof and Horn. This is a good example of sympathetic magick as the boys energy and acting are offered for to the Earth for its renewal and fertility in the Spring.




Then we sang the circle closed and declared the games started!
First was Hunker down
This is a medieval game that tests balance.

You stand on a small raised platform and hold a rope. Then it is basically tug o war until one pulls the other off their platform.

Light Hammer throw.

This one is all about accuracy

Line up for the light hammer throw :) The games are always so much fun!
Spear fighting

King Connaher dominates in this art

Heavy Hammer throw

This one is all about distance.
Some hand to hand

Both my son and nephew and trained martial artists. King Connaher dominates again.

Wrestling

King Connaher also dominates this sport

My boys play rough
Champion of the games King Connaher!! Makes his mama proud :)

Spectators :)
 Then as night fell we gathered in the Grove again and turned our thoughts to the celebration of Mabon
More smudging and the circle is cast.
Some of our guests

Explaining the significance of Mabon. Giving thanks for the harvest of the fruits and vegetables.
Offerings are made to The God, The Goddess, The Ancestors and The Fae
The cup is shared as we share what we are thankful for. Then we closed the circle and watched the fireworks.
Then it was time to feast!! We dug out the meat and OH MY did it smell amazing!!
We did two legs of Mutton and one shoulder and we only had a small plate of leftovers. The Mutton was so tender it fell off the bone. Mouth wateringly delicious!! We will defiantly do it this way again.

Mabon feast. Roast Mutton with mint jelly, buns, grapes, figs, crunchy Greek salad, potato salad, chicken soup and bannock
 After we feasted we relaxed around the bonfire roasted marshmallows, shared stories and sang. Our family sang Rabbits song for our guests. King Connaher recited the Story of John barley corn complete with Scottish accent. My nephew Spencer recited the prayer to the Horned God and I told the story of Mabon. We had an amazing celebration and I have already started planning for next year :)
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