High Holy Day Essay: Beltane

At Beltane, I attended a ritual held by the Order of the Red Grail. The ritual itself was very traditionally Wiccan, casting a circle, calling the four Elements and the God and Goddess, and was led by two High Priestesses. In preparation for the ritual, each member of the group had researched a deity associated with love or relationships and acted as that deity in the ritual; each giving speeches trying to prove that they were the 'best' god or goddess of love. I represented Aengus of the Irish pantheon, and had a fantastic time.

 After the ritual, the High Priestess crowned the May Queen (which I was rewarded for my stirring portrayal of Aengus!) and I led the group in a traditional Maypole dance – the pole was beautifully decorated with ribbon by the time we were finished. When the dancing was finished, we had a potluck and enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other's company. It was a very enjoyable ritual for me, though I think the most powerful part of the day was the dance – I always build a lot of energy and get great joy from simple easy exercise, especially when there are so many people to enjoy it with.

TC Blog Project: Calendars

Wheel of the Year from the 

Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle

Creative Commons license

Calendars - they can be such a touchy subject for Pagans!  For many outside the regular Wiccan paradigm, telling another Pagan that you don't exactly follow the Wheel of the Year (or even close) can lead to confusion and sometimes arguments.  I do follow the regular 8 holidays with my ADF grove and Wiccan coven, and the local Heathen group celebrates the solstices and equinoxes.  But in my family's practice, we have a bit of a different liturgical calendar.  I've posted before about my Anglo-Saxon holidays; this calendar includes my personal Gaelic holidays, some cultural holidays, and a couple to honor other deities.

Imbolc - February 1 (set out a brat to be blessed by Brighid, bless the house)

Ériu Day - March 17 (honor Irish ancestors, prepare traditional Irish food, honor to Ériu)

Cailleach Day - March 20 (bid goodbye to the Cailleach)

Earth Day - April 22 (ritual and offerings for Earth deities)

Arbor Day - April 25 (a big holiday in Nebraska, we visit Arbor Day Farms and discuss tree lore)

Beltane - May 1 (collect dew for holy water, ritually rekindle the household fire, decorate May tree with bright ribbons)

Midsummer - June 21 (tend a flame through the night, offering rushes to Manannán and milk-soaked bread to Áine)

Star Day - July 27 (a new moon, good day for star viewing, and honoring a star Goddess)

Lughnasadh - August 1 (honor Lugh, harvest the first fruits of the garden, make a large feast to share with the Gods, athletic fun and games)

Samhain - October 31 (honoring the Ancestors)

Totensonntag - November 23 (honoring recent Ancestors - this is a 19th century German holiday, and many of my near Ancestors came from Germany after that time)

Daily Devotionals

With three children and a crazy schedule, it's difficult for me to find the motivation to do daily devotionals.  But they're incredibly helpful when growing a spiritual practice - since I've been offering to different deities or spirits most days, I feel more connected with the earth and my spirituality than ever before.  But these are all simple prayers to just one deity or spirit, and I really feel the need to have a more consistent practice day-to-day.  So, I've taken the time to put together a daily prayer that hits all of the points I find important, and can be done in less than 10 minutes - that's less time than it takes to go through Ian Corrigan's guided Two Powers meditation!  Modified a bit, it can be a thanking prayer for night-time rituals, or even done twice daily, at morning and night.

I come here, on the earth and under the sky, to call the day to being.
I stand before my mothers and fathers,
before the spirits of land and place,
before the Gods and Goddesses,
to call the day to being.

Max, Hattie, George, Opal, 
Herman and Anna,
Lena, my namesake,
and all my beloved dead,
watch over me and mine on this day.

Nebraskier(1), prairie-grass,
oak, maple, garden-fruits,
rabbit, robin, house spirits,
and all the spirits of this land,
be friendly to me and mine on this day.

Nerthus and Manannán,
Brigid and Frige,
and all the honored Gods and Goddesses,
give freely of your blessings to me and mine on this day.

With reverence, I give these gifts
To my ancestors, the beloved dead,
to the spirits of this land and place,
to the Gods and Goddesses I honor,
as I call the day to being.

Let the day begin!

1) I use the name the Otoe Native American tribe gave to the local river as Her name.  I struggled with this for a long time - whether it would be more disrespectful to continue to call Her by the name European conquerors had given Her, or to use the name She had been called for years and years though I have no affiliation with the Otoe tribe.  I chose to use Her Otoe name, though I know it's not a choice everyone would make in this circumstance.

Book Review: The Clann Bhride Book of Hours

Logo for Clann Bhride

It's no big secret that my home-away-from-home on the internet is the eCauldron forums - there's always interesting discussion and good people to talk to.  I'm also a member of the Cauldron's Cill, a group of people devoted to flametending for the Goddess Brighid.  Some members there have been working on beginning a Brighid-specific religious group separate from the forums for awhile, and recently they launched - the group is called Clann Bhride.  It's not what I'm looking for in a religious group, but I very much respect the people behind it and their tremendous efforts; so when they released a book of prayers, rituals, and essays surrounding Brighid and Her lore, I immediately downloaded it.

The Clann Bhride Book of Hours, written by Aster Breo, Finn, Gilbride and Sage, is a fantastic resource (and free!) for anyone interested in the Goddess Brighid (and may be of interest to many others, for reasons I'll get to in a moment).   It's a fairly quick read, clocking in at around 140-some pages on my Kindle, but is absolutely packed with prayers, rituals, lore, and reflective essays.  It is a very practical guide to a spiritual practice devoted to Brigid.  The book begins with a dedication ritual, and then gives possible prayers that can be used throughout the day; and then goes on to describe occasional prayers and practices, such as flametending.  A new concept that I hadn't heard of before is called well tending - caring for or donating towards the care of a body of water.  Of all the possible practices laid out in the book, this was my absolute favorite, and I'm already thinking of how to incorporate it into my life.  Various festivals (generally Celtic) and their relation to Brigid are discussed, and some possible rituals and prayers for life events such as births, deaths, and rites of passage are given.  In the second part of the book, there are some wonderful essays discussing both practical practice and theology surrounding Brigid.  My personal favorite was "Brigid: Lady of Our Hearths, Lady of Our Hearts", in which the authors present a wonderful list of all the different deities, saints, and mortal women in the Celtic lore who bore a name or title etymologically related to Brigid; and the general idea of their stories and attributes.

The main issue I had with the book - and it can hardly be called an issue, as for some it will certainly be a positive point - is the tendency of the authors to universalize Brigid, associating Her with Goddesses such as Vesta and Minerva.  This is not necessarily a problem - and happily makes the book applicable to those who worship a hearth or fire related Goddess - but is far enough from my personal view of the divine that many of the prayers would need some modification to work in my personal practice.  She is also often associated with the creation of the cosmos, and also the moon and stars; which doesn't apply to my experience of Her.  I want to reiterate that these things are only a drawback for me personally - I imagine these aspects of the book will actually open it up to many others who aren't drawn to honor Brigid in a Celtic-specific or hard polytheist manner.

Overall, I think the Clann Bhride Book of Hours is an excellent resource, and I can't say enough good things about the people behind it.  Full of beautifully-written prayers, wonderful practice concepts, and brilliant essays; it's absolutely worth a download - especially at its current price of FREE.  There's also a paperback version available for a small fee to cover printing a shipping.  If you're even remotely interested, pick it up!  It's absolutely worth the time.

Imbolc with Prairie Shadow Protogrove ADF

Logo by Amber Doty

On a bitterly cold February evening, Prairie Shadow Protogrove ADF hosted our first Imbolc ritual.  Luckily, the wonderful Amber managed to find us an indoor location, so we stayed warm!  A Celtic ritual, I put it together to honor Brigid, an Irish Goddess commonly associated with Imbolc.  I was so excited, because this was our first ritual with some real participation!  We had volunteers who welcomed the Earth Mother Danu, and also helped with opening the Gates.  To me, it helped the ritual feel that much more communal - less a performance, and more of an actual gathering to honor the Kindreds.  We invited Manannán mac Lir, my favorite psychopomp, as Gatekeeper - and I didn't spill any water anywhere!  After Yule's water disaster, I'm very grateful.

Though I didn't write the ritual (more cobbled it together from ADF sources), the idea for our main working was my own, and one I hope was as powerful for others as it was for me.  Both some Germanic and Celtic tribes had a tradition where all the hearth fires in the village were extinguished, and re-lit from one common fire - this tradition in Kildare is centered around Brigid's eternal flame.  Though this is a tradition attested to around Imbolc, Beltane, and even Samhain, the NeoPagan celebration of Brigid and Her flame at this time of year makes it seem an appropriate custom.  Though we had to use LED candles as our Fire given open-flame restrictions, the idea and energy were strong - the Fire was built of several large candles and many tiny ones, making it a lovely source of light.  After the Blessings, each participant came up to take their own piece of this communal Fire, to carry it back home to their own practice.  In this way, our bonds as a community were strengthened by tying us all together not only in ritual, but also outside of it.

As our third official ritual, Imbolc felt much less new-and-exciting, and more a standard, enjoyable ritual with a nice group of friends.  We had some new faces, and some previous attendees unfortunately couldn't make it, but the Protogrove is starting to form a core group of sorts, and I love it.  Despite the weather and some other cancellations, twelve people attended!  After the ritual, we held potluck as usual, and I had a great time chatting with all the awesome people who came out.  We talked blogs, Pantheacon, being new to Paganism, and parenting - a great range of topics, and I really enjoyed hearing some new perspectives.  I also got to try some homemade hummus, which really made my night.  All in all, it was a lovely time, and I'm so grateful to everyone who made it - especially, as usual, the best Grove Organizer ever!

High Holy Day Essay: Imbolc

For Imbolc, I once again put together a ritual for Prairie Shadow Protogrove. We had a Celtic ritual honoring Brigid, held in the study space of a local metaphysical store, since the weather was unfortunately below zero. We had a processional through two candles, purifying the participants with fire. We honored Danu as the Earth Mother, gave offerings to the Fire, Well, and Tree, and welcomed Manannan mac Lir as the Gatekeeper. We welcomed the Three Kindreds to join us, and invited Brigid as the Being of the Occasion. The omen was read, and stated that our offerings were accepted, and the Kindreds gifted us with strong, creative passion in the coming days. We asked for the Blessing on the Waters of Life, and gave some to each participant. Afterwards, each person came up to take a bit of the Fire, so each person could take home a piece of the community flame. We thanked the Kindreds and each deity and spirit we had invited, and closed the Gates.

 After the Yule ritual, I felt much more confident about performing public ritual. This time, I wrote the script to include another more participation from another ritual leader, and also included a few parts for any attendees who volunteered to read. I feel like opening it up to more participation really helped the ritual to flow better and encourage the energy contribution of those attending. Also, I made sure to include many key phrases that I had put in the last ritual - especially phrases the participants were asked to repeat - and I feel like the growing familiarity of the Core Order of Ritual among those attending changed the feel of the ritual greatly, so that it felt truly profound, as I imagine most liturgists and ritual leaders hope ritual will feel. We had twelve people attend despite snow and bad temperatures, and the potluck afterwards was great to get to know those who were there for the first time, as well as to talk more with those who I'd seen before.

A Prayer for Manannán mac Lir

Photo by Robert Herring
Used under a Creative Commons License

As the winter drags on here on the cold and sunlight-starved prairie, I tend to lose a lot of my motivation and drive.  I'm naturally an introvert, so one of the first things to go is my desire to get out and engage in social things.  Some days I have a hard time bringing myself to open Facebook.  It's times like these that I find myself drawing inward, finding more time to sit and think rather than rushing to finish whatever task is next on my to-do list.  As I focus more on my personal spirituality, I am drawn more towards deities I honor that also have a strong sense of inner and spiritual work.

In contrast to the crochet I do for Frige, the house cleaning I try to maintain for Brigid, and the everyday writing I do for Ogma, in my UPG Manannán is a much less concrete deity.  I know for many He is like a favorite uncle, a God largely of laughter and good times - and He is that for me also, at times.  But much more often, He is the deity that calls to me when I am sinking in the dark depths of the proverbial ocean.  When I need to step back from the world for a bit, He is there to guide me to the deep sea - where no storms stir, where no light penetrates - only the solitude that is so refreshing to me.  In an effort to build a more consistent devotional practice, I've taken to writing prayers for each deity I honor; this I wrote for Manannán.  It is based on Ian Corrigan's call to Manannán in ADF's solitary Celtic ritual template, with the wavelets inspired by a baptism charm from the Carmina Gadelica.

Oh Manannán, powerful son of the sea,

holder of the magics of the crane bag:

a wavelet for sweet dreams,

a wavelet for laughter,

a wavelet for good song,

nine waves for Your graciousness.

Oh Lord of the Otherworld, bearer of the silvered apple branch,

I ask that you hear my call:

a wavelet for grief,

a wavelet for tears,

a wavelet for the dead,

nine waves for Your graciousness.

Mist-shrouded rider of the maned waves,

clothed in the sea-shifting cloak:

a wavelet for solitude,

a wavelet for wisdom,

a wavelet for oneness,

nine waves for Your graciousness.

C is for Cold and the Cailleach

Creative Commons license.

While browsing Facebook recently, I came across an article listing the 20 coldest big cities in America.  I've spent my life in two cities that both reached the top 10; where I'm living now apparently has an average of 143 days of subfreezing temperatures a year (it's okay, in the summer the average is a toasty 90 degrees).  I know a little something about winter.

And oh, how I hate it.  I know, I know - as a Pagan I'm supposed to love all parts of nature, but I just can't love the cold.  The snow is pretty from indoors, but having to shovel sidewalks or drive in the stuff is a huge pain.  The cold sneaks in the windows and the wind roars like a living thing, cutting with tiny shards of ice.  Before my daughter started school, there were weeks I didn't leave the house.  But the cold is part of this land, and since I am part of this land, it is also a part of me.  The cold fights, it perseveres, and it makes those who endure it stronger.

There are different schools of thought on what exactly the Cailleach is.  Is She the mother of the Fomorians, ancient foes of the children of Danu?  Is she a Jotun-like figure, completely hostile to humanity?  Or could She be called a Goddess, both because of Her obvious divine power and the seeming obligation of the people to offer Her shelter?  According to Frazer's The Golden Bough, the last farmer in a village to finish that year's harvest would be the one awarded the questionable honor of sheltering and feeding the Cailleach through the winter.

This year, I have been forming a relationship with Her, and I'm still not sure of Her true nature, or that She can be classified at all.  I feel similarly about Her as I do the winter that many say She personifies: I'm not overly fond of Her, we're not friends.  But She makes me stronger.  I give offerings to propitiate Her when I hear a cold front or a storm is coming through, and sometimes the storms come and sometimes they don't.  Sometimes it's a pain in the ass, and sometimes we'll lose power for a few hours (or rarely, a few days).  The cold and the snow are in Her nature.  She is part of this land, and I am part of this land, and for that I honor Her.  The animals and the plants of my home have evolved to endure Her, and some of them could not live or reproduce without Her.

As I strive to become more in-tune with the Earth, more adapted to the land around me, I realize that being a part of nature doesn't mean liking it.  I don't know if the mouse creeping in the prairie grass near my home feels appreciation for the beauty around him; but I'm almost certain he does not acknowledge the majesty of the hawk as she swoops down and captures him in her talons.  The winter is.  There's no reason to feel any particular way about it, only to realize and accept its existence.  So it is with the Cailleach.  I do not worship Her as I might other deities who bring more welcome gifts; but I acknowledge Her.  She is dangerous, ancient and wild, and though like those old farmers I may not wish to be the one to welcome Her in, welcoming Her is the way of things on the prairie.

Source: Bride and the Cailleach

B is for Birch

Photo by Cassi Saari.  Creative Commons license.

I have always had a closeness with birch trees.  The stark white bark of many varieties is strikingly beautiful, especially in the midwest where colors rarely vary from green or brown.  I first began to take special note of them when reading JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion, specifically his myth of the Two Trees, one gold and one silver.  From the silver tree descended the White Tree of Gondor, and my youthful mind conjectured all birch trees must have come from that noble line.  Later, as I began learning more Germanic and Celtic lore, I noticed the birch tree figured in cultures' lettering systems.

Proto-Germanic Rune Berkanan

The birch is repeatedly associated with birth and new beginnings in both Germanic and Celtic cultures, and this is intrinsically tied to the mundane nature of the tree.  They are known as a pioneer species: when a forest fire or other natural disaster happens, the birch tree is one of the first trees to colonize the bare land.  In grazing pastures or open areas, birch seedlings are those cleared most often.  We can see this reflected in the meaning of both the Proto-Germanic rune Berkanan, as well as the Ogham letter Beith.  The pure white bark of the birch, combined with its association with fire-cleared land, explain why it is believed by many to be a purifying tree.  Its rapid colonization of bare land tells us why this tree is associated with birth and new life.  As above, so below is an ancient concept: what a thing does in the mundane world is a good representation of its function on the spiritual or magical plane.

In Lebor Ogaim, also known as the Ogham Tract, is at least as old as 1390; and it tells an account of Ogma's invention of the Ogham alphabet.  Seven Beiths inscribed on a birch tree was the very first message ever recorded using the Ogham script.

The symbolism of purity and new beginnings as embodied in the birch tree has not stayed solely in the realm of Celtic or Germanic Pagans, but has become a symbol recognized by many under the Pagan umbrella.  It has also become strongly associated with mother-type Goddesses, but there is no evidence to suggest that Goddesses such as Brigid or Frige were ever explicitly linked with the birch tree.  The theory that Berkanan's shape is a pictogram for a pair of breasts is probably also nothing but conjecture, considering that its shape was likely adopted from a Latin letter which as far as we know had no relation either to the birch tree or the concept of motherhood.  Nonetheless, it has become so ingrained in Neo-Pagan culture that it is worth acknowledging that this symbolism is helpful to many people.

As with all nature spirits, my opinion is that the best way to get a feel for its energies or to bring its spirit into your life is to go out and get to know one!  Birch trees are often used as an ornamental tree here in the midwest, and so are easily found in public parks or arboretums; I advise finding a particular one that seems most open to interaction.  I find offerings of water are often appreciated by tree spirits, but you may want to bring only a poem or song depending on where the tree is located.  If nothing else, they are fascinating trees to study, and a Pagan can rarely go wrong spending some time beneath trees!

Cheap Religion: Salt Dough Deities

If you are a parent or someone trying to be a more thrifty Pagan, and you haven't tried salt dough, something is wrong here and we have to fix it quick.  Here's a recipe for the simplest clay anyone's ever used - you probably won't even have to go to the store, because there's literally three ingredients and they're in almost everyone's kitchens.  Salt, flour, and water.. did I mention cheap?  You can make just about anything out of it, it's super cheap, dries pretty quickly, and if you give it a coat of paint or a sealant it'll last at least a few years.

I've been wanting to do a series for awhile about doing Paganism less expensively, because let's face it: Paganism, especially in the beginner 101 books so many start with, tends to be pretty commercialized.  You don't need much but a bible to start out as a Christian, but pick up a beginner Pagan book and there's all kinds of lists of things you might need - wands, different colored candles, divination tools, deity representations, and on and on.  A lot of that stuff is actually really helpful to your practice, especially a person like me who is both very tactile and visual.  But Pagan and New Age stores tend to be expensive, sometimes prohibitively so if you're a Pagan on a small budget, or a Pagan with children who aren't the best at looking but not touching.  Trust me, it is hellish trying to do a ritual with small children when you're terrified at every second that someone is going to break an expensive something.  This is also helpful for those Pagans who honor obscure enough deities that finding a decent representation is next to impossible.

Try not to leave your receipt on the counter when taking pics!

Salt dough deity representations are super easy to make, even if you're like me and terrible at sculpture.  Your first step is to pick a picture of the deity you're crafting a representation for - it can be something you draw, or a picture you like from the Internet (copyright law doesn't cover a few pictures printed at home that aren't for sale - though if the artist is selling their pictures, it's courteous to actually buy it).  For my representation of Ogma, I chose a carving on the US Library of Congress's doors, which you should totally check out because there's representations of writing or scholarly gods or people from many cultures and it looks awesome.  It's usually a good idea to print your picture the day you make the salt dough, giving both the dough and the picture a chance to dry so the ink doesn't run.

But if you do, just add a cute heart - no one will notice.

Then you gather up your supplies, and get to work!  First roll out the dough like you would at the beginning of a pizza or sugar cookie recipe - careful not to make the dough too thin (it will rip!) or too thick (it might never dry).  This takes a bit of experience, but if you have ever done pizza or cookie-cutter cookies before, you'll be able to feel the tension of the dough and the thickness it needs. Pick it up and lay it flat as you can on a flat plate.  Using a knife, cut out a rough square (it helps if the corners are rounded rather than sharp) and peel off the extra dough you won't be using.  Use the extra dough to fashion a "stand" of sorts to stick to the back of your square, making sure the two pieces are connected well and the bottom is flat.  The salt dough recipe I use then recommends microwaving it for about 3 minutes, and afterwards I usually let it dry overnight.  You may need more or less depending on the size and thickness of your square - the smaller one for Ogma took just 3 minutes, while the bigger one pictured on the plate took about 9 and then I let it sit for three days.  Be warned - you may get some air pockets that form bubbles, and the bigger the surface area of your project, the bigger they will get.  It's my theory that adding another flat object on top of the dough would help with that, but I don't have anything the right size that's also microwavable.

After everything is dry, you can use a paint brush and some Mod Podge or other glue/sealant combo to stick your picture to the flat surface of the salt dough. You can get creative and paint different colors around the picture to create a more colorful look, or just leave the color plain.  Again, print your picture the day you cut out the salt dough, because the colors may run when using the sealant otherwise.  I ran into this problem on my first attempt, and the results were more like modern art than the pretty pictures I had envisioned.

So there you have it!  It's probably not the best representation of Ogma that ever sat on an altar, but the fact that I made it for less than $1 makes me love it a lot more.  Even if you're a broke Pagan or worshiping Slavic deities for whom no statues have been made, you can have an altar that works for your spirituality.

A is for Altars

As a busy person, altars are very important to me.  In fact, I think my altars are actually the lynchpin that holds my spiritual life together.  I love my grovemates and fellow members of ADF, and I love ritual with them, but that's only once every six weeks or so.  I love the members of my coven, and I love ritual with them; but again, it's only a few times a month.

When first discovering Paganism and moving on from Christianity and that idea of religion, I had trouble understanding why most beginners books only had ritual or prayers for the High Days or the Full Moons.  Having been raised to practice religion every day - bible reading in the morning, prayer at meals and at night - I couldn't understand how this more present, accessible Divine was only acknowledged about twenty-one times a year.  It's something I continued to struggle with for many years, often letting my practice lapse to just those twenty-one days and ignoring my spiritual side for the other three hundred and fourty-four.  It obviously wasn't working for me.  Then I discovered ADF, Druidry, and Heathenry.  Though ADF is as formal as you make it, one big advantage for me is the option to make it very formal.  I don't usually go through a full Core Order of Ritual for my daily devotions, the template was incredibly helpful to me in forming a daily practice.  The other crucial piece of the puzzle?  My altar.

It's there every day.  It's a physical reminder of my spirituality, of the hospitality due to the Gods and spirits that I have invited to be part of my life.  With the representations of these beings sitting in my room or my kitchen, they truly feel like guests in my home and life.  Even in the busy rush-rush life of being a mom to three, I can make time to stop and say a prayer of thanks to Nerthus while preparing dinner, because Her altar is right there in my kitchen and I'm reminded of Her every time I go to open the fridge.

Here is the portion of my Dedicant Path work where I wrote about my home shrine(s), including some pictures.  It is quite long, as we are asked to describe the purpose of every item.

On one counter in my kitchen, I keep a shrine to the spirits and Goddesses of the home.  On the far left is a cute small-scale home in a box, which I use as a place to give offerings to my house spirits.  The next statue is a representation of Brigid, and is where I will leave a candle for my flamekeeping shifts or give offerings to Her.  The next statue represents Frige, and is where I will place offerings or say prayers for Her.  To the far right is a representation of a chalice made by my middle daughter at Sunday school, representing our family's dedication to the ideals of Unitarian Universalism.  I thought it appropriate to place it here, because UUism is our "family" religion that all who live in our home can agree with.

On the other side of the kitchen, next to the fruit bowl which is full of oranges and bananas this time of year, is a shrine to a few Earth and land Goddesses.  On the left is a representation of Nerthus, the Earth Mother of ancient Germanic tribes.  She is also strongly associated with water, and so I chose a statue that emphasized that aspect of Her.  In the middle is a figurine that's easily recognized as the Venus of Willendorf, which I use as a representation of the Goddess of the Platte River watershed.  Behind Her is a bottle of sacred water made from water from the Ogallala aquifer, a creek near my house that drains into the Platte River, and the river Herself.  To the right is a representation of the Goddess Yavanna, who many would argue is a "character" in JRR Tolkien's mythology; but who I experience as a distinct divine Goddess.  All of these representations are primarily used as placed to make prayers and offerings to the respective spirits.

My main altar is constructed in three tiers to represent the Three Realms.  On the bottom tier is my Well, a simple black bowl; and also a shrine to my Ancestors, seen on the right.  It features a box handed down by my great grandfather, a handkerchief made by my great grandmother, a skull made of quartz, and a statue of a woman to represent my Idesa (female ancestors in Anglo-Saxon culture).  The bottom tier is also a bit of a catch-all because of its size, and has (from left to right): a chalice to hold the Waters of Life when doing Core Order of Ritual, three candles for the Three Kindreds in Himalayan salt candle holders, a statue of the Goddess Varda (also featured in Tolkien's mythological cycle), two pitchers containing oil and water respectively for offerings, an incense burner for offerings, and a blue ceramic candle holder filled with sand which holds spent matches.  In the center is the Well, as described, and a small plate which holds items of spiritual significance to me: a vial of cinnamon oil gifted by a friend, my homemade set of prayer beads, and a candle inscribed with the symbol of Sunna from a recent Solstice ritual.  The left of the bottom tier features Ancestor representations already discussed, and also a brass incense burner for making offerings.

The second tier features my representation of the Tree, seen there in the center, and also several representations of local Nature spirits.  Here are leaves and a bit of twig from each tree in my yard, a stone I dug from the garden, and feathers my children have found.  There are also some stones of various types gifted to me by friends.  The carving behind the Tree is a seashell, a tree, and a feather; representing the realms of land, sea, and sky so prominent in Celtic cosmology.  On the left side I have grouped representations of the Anglo-Saxon deities I honor most; Woden, Eostre, and Thunor.  In front of Thunor is a sachet I made of several protecting herbs and a quartz crystal that I asked to be blessed by Him, and my hammer necklace.  On the right side are my Celtic deity representations:  a glass horse representing the Goddess Macha, a carving from the doors of the Library of Congress depicting Ogma, and a representation of the sea god, Manannan mac Lir.  In front of Manannan is a necklace I wear dedicated to Him.

On the top tier I keep my Fire, a grouping of three candles usually colored appropriate to the seasons.  I also have a plaque with the words "Fire and Well and Sacred Tree, Flame and Flow and Grow in me".  The cloths used are also colored seasonally; since it is nearing Imbolc at the time I'm writing this, I have used snowflakes and the color white to represent the winter that will begin to fade soon.  I also have a few crystals hanging from pegs, which are there because I am very pleased by things that shine and sparkle.  I feel they help bring the aesthetic of my altar together. 

In the future, I'd like to finish the carvings and staining that I had originally planned when I began constructing my three-tiered altar; including carving representations of each of the Three Kindred.  I'd also like to acquire a better representation for Macha, perhaps a horse made of stone that fits in better with the size and aesthetic of the other figures.  Since I have been connecting more with the Cailleach, a Celtic winter Goddess, I'd also like to find or make a representation for Her.  I would also like to hang a shelf in my kitchen next to the door that leads outside to house the representations of my Earth Goddesses, so they aren't relegated to a rather crowded corner of my kitchen counter.

Resource for Children's Rituals

While stumbling about the internet today, I came across a wonderful resource for children's ritual that I had to stop by and share!

The website of Charter Oak Grove ADF has an entire section devoted to rituals for each of the High Days designed specifically for children.  While the rituals are written according to ADF's Core Order of Ritual, there's also a nice amount of resources for Pagan children of any path that honors Celtic deities.  Their book about the Kindreds (ancestors, nature spirits, and gods and goddesses) is available in print from Lulu.

I hope this is helpful to some parents and groups out there who might be having trouble coming up with ritual ideas for children!

X is for.. I'm tired and sick, let's talk about Healing!

For the past week, my family, including three kiddos five and under, has been suffering.  I don't know where it came from or even what it was, but all of us were having trouble moving, thinking, and retaining liquid.  Lovely, I know.

Still in my fuzzy pajamas (that I've been wearing for two days now), I manage the strength to stagger weakly over to my kitchen altar where I keep Brigid's shrine.  Taking a moment to block the air flow to my nostrils so I'm not nauseated by the kitchen food smells, I open my prayer book and scan for something that might work as a healing prayer.  Of course, I've never taken the time to make something like that easily accessible, so I mumble a few words to the effect of "Brigid, please help us!", realize my lighter isn't around, and crawl back to the couch totally defeated.  Not exactly the fantastic, elaborate healing ritual I'd imagined on more healthy days.

These experiences leave me with a few questions.  When suffering from an illness, it can be difficult to summon the concentration or energy make a spell or prayer very effective.  I believe the number one help here would be preparation.  Not preparation of a fantastic, elaborate healing ritual - nobody has time or energy to do that when feeling sick enough to need the healing!  Have some emergency unscented candles sitting in a drawer just in case smells make you feel awful.  Write a short, simple prayer wherever it will be easy to find when you need it, and stick it in there.  Here's a lovely prayer to Brigid from Brigit's Forge by Hilarie Wood:

Be the cross of Bride between me and all bad spirits

That move invisible.

Be the cross of Bride between me and all ill,

All ill-will and ill-mishap.

Be the compassing of Bride around me,

From every spectre, every evil,

From every shame that harmful moves,

In darkness, in power to hurt.

Be the compassing of holy Bride

Shielding me from every harm,

Keeping me from every doom

Coming towards me this day,

Coming towards me this night.

Be the fiery sword of Bride

Defending me from all black swarms,

Be the shield of blessed Bride

Protecting me from all sharp edges,

Be the cloak of gentle Bride

Encircling me.

Be the compassing of Bride about me,

This day and every day,

This night and every night.

One other thing I wanted to mention about healing from a Heathen perspective is this: you don't have to call on a God or a Goddess to help you.  After my disastrous attempt at a prayer to Brigid, I found myself laying in bed and looking up at my ancestor shrine.  If anyone in the world is going to have sympathy for your plight, isn't it most likely to be your female ancestors?  Just as many of us had our mothers care for us when we were sick in childhood, we can extrapolate that feeling to our grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and so on who have passed on.  In Anglo-Saxon, these ancestors are called our Idesa.  Since I'm feeling a bit better this morning, I've taken some time to compose a quick prayer to the Idesa that can be used for a family or modified to fit an individual.

Mothers who mourned when your merry ones were ill,
my children are crying, chilled and feverish.
Help us, heal us, hold us together,
so fit and fierce, we will face the day.

Brigid, the Hearth Fire, and the Furnace

This time of year, it starts to get cold here on the prairie.  For a few weeks, we can get away with turning on the individual heaters in our bedrooms at night, but the time comes when the thermostat must be switched from 'cool' to 'heat', and the furnace is lighted and used for the first time that year.  I don't know much about mechanics and I don't know how my current furnace works - I switch the switch and a few minutes later the heat comes on, though it smells a bit funny that first time.  But as a child, our furnace had a pilot light, and if it ever went out (which it did often), it got cold.  We'd wake up two or three times a month during the winter season to find that the pilot light had gone out overnight and it was now under 50 degrees in the house.  A few times it got below freezing, and once we had the pipes in our basement all freeze up - my father the handyman wasn't very happy when we finally got the heat back on and water started spraying everywhere!

This experience in my youth has given me an appreciation for the harshness of winter, and our utter helplessness when faced with the loss of our warmth.  The furnace (or fireplace if you're lucky enough to have a working one) is the most essential part of a house in the winter-time.  It keeps the home cozy, keeps water flowing freely, and protects us from the dangerous elements outside.

In Pagan times, the hearth fire was often seen as a personified Goddess, the most sacred part of any home.  There are many Goddesses in the Indo-European group of pantheons who combined the sacred flame with the domestic business of the house, among them Hestia, Brigid, and Vesta.  I honor Brigid as my hearth goddess, most often at Imbolc when I am clearing things out and doing some spring cleaning.  But it occurred to me as I turned on the furnace for the first time this weekend that She deserves special recognition as the bringer of warmth as well.

And so began a new family tradition.  As the weather turns cold and we retreat into our houses more and more, as we light our first fires and turn on our heaters, now we recognize the Goddess who blesses us with this heat, and all the feelings of warm, cozy family and filling meals that go along with it.  In the cold, dark winters, all of these things go hand in hand; just as Brigid is both domestic and fiery.