I know I haven't posted anything for a long time. No excuses really, except that it's summer and I'm lazy.
It has been so hot here lately that the heat has got me drained of energy. Tonight was the full moon and I had meant to do a ritual with the family and the kids were looking foward to a ritual, but it is too hot to breathe outside. Seriously at midnight it was still 80 degrees outside. Maybe tomorrow night???
Dewayne and David and Daniel went down to the river a week or so ago and got a bunch of new rocks to redo the family fire pit. The old was was over 2 years old and in bad need of replacing. It was hard for me to replace it tho because my sister Concetta helped to build it for our midsummer ritual 2 years ago. I miss having her here and hearing her drum and sing around our fire.
We let the boys build the pit and this one is much larger than the last one. I told them we would need trees not logs to fill it lol. Of course it has been so hot we haven't even dedicated it yet *sigh*
I am looking foward to the new school year. Since we homeschool, I am always preparing for new learning adventures. I found a GREAT bargin at a yard sale. For $3 I got a big boxful of teacher's books that came from a public school. It has something for all grades as well as both special needs kids (Allison) and gifted kids (David and Daniel)
I also lucked into some encyclopedias and science encyclpedias for free at a library. The first set in on Daniel and Hunter's level and the Science books will be for David.
Also at this library, I got as many National Geographic magazines as I wanted for free, the ones I got date back to the 70's. I even found the one for the month and year I was born!!! And these things are in excellent shape!! (ok I know I'm a geek for getting all excited over old magazines but I don't care)
Oh on a Magickal note, Dewayne and I did a money spell about a week ago. Since the ex isn't paying child support, money is very tight. Two days later he got a call from his lawyer and a lawsuit he got a judgement for is about to pay up and the other day a check came in the mail that was owed to him for an insurance premium he overpaid. Much thanks to the Lord and Lady for blessing us.
In the upcoming weeks, we have a camping trip planned with some Pagan friends. It is always fun to get together with like minded people. Also our Pagan study group will be holding Lammas Ritual (albeit a week late) in a couple of weeks. After ritual we always have a potluck and socialize. I am greatly looking foward to that. (more on Lammas and it's meaning later)
I am also going to try to do a Lammas ritual with the family after the camping trip. I think we will still be campe dout on the actual day of Lammas, but since we will be with other Pagans, perhaps we will do a lil something then?
So that's a quick rundown of life in this Pagan family.
Blessed Be!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tomato canning time
When my mother and grandmother were my age, and raising a family, having a big garden and canning and freezing the produce was comon place. It is just what you did to feed your family.
Now adays, most ppl get all of their produce from the grocery store or perhaps a farmer's market. Growing and canning your own food is fast becomming a lost art in America today.
This is the 2nd year we have had a garden. Dewayne and the boys have worked their butts off. We planted it on March's full moon and had a full moon ritual that night asking the goddess for her blessing and to provide us with a bountiful harvest.
Now we have just passed June's full moon and we have been harvesting for some time. We have been enjoying as well as freezing green beans, purple hull peas, corn radishes, onions, yellow squash, banana pepers, bell pepers, okra and best of all TOMATOES.
We have had fried green tomatoes, sliced tomatoes, tomatoes sandwiches and today we canned tomatoes. We still have LOTS of tomatoes left to harvest. Next week we plan to make and can spiced tomato juice.
It is very cool to sit down to dinner and know that you raised all of the vegetables on your plate. The kids are LOVING the fresh veggies. Lil Bit has almost made himeself sick on green beans lol
So we will continue this tradition, passed down from our grandmothers and hope someday our kids will do the same.
Blessed Be!
Now adays, most ppl get all of their produce from the grocery store or perhaps a farmer's market. Growing and canning your own food is fast becomming a lost art in America today.
This is the 2nd year we have had a garden. Dewayne and the boys have worked their butts off. We planted it on March's full moon and had a full moon ritual that night asking the goddess for her blessing and to provide us with a bountiful harvest.
Now we have just passed June's full moon and we have been harvesting for some time. We have been enjoying as well as freezing green beans, purple hull peas, corn radishes, onions, yellow squash, banana pepers, bell pepers, okra and best of all TOMATOES.
We have had fried green tomatoes, sliced tomatoes, tomatoes sandwiches and today we canned tomatoes. We still have LOTS of tomatoes left to harvest. Next week we plan to make and can spiced tomato juice.
It is very cool to sit down to dinner and know that you raised all of the vegetables on your plate. The kids are LOVING the fresh veggies. Lil Bit has almost made himeself sick on green beans lol
So we will continue this tradition, passed down from our grandmothers and hope someday our kids will do the same.
Blessed Be!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Solstice; Celebrating Summer (June 21, 2010)
Summer Solstice, also known as Litha, Sun Blessing, Gathering Day and Vestalia is the longest day and shortest night of the year.
Litha, June 21, is the official first day of summer now a days....But in the ancient times, Summer began on Beltane (May 1st) and ended on Lammas (August 1st). So the solstice on June 21st was mid way between the two, hence it was called Midsumer.
I always wondered why the first day of summer was called Midsummer and why Summer officially began on the day when the sun's light begins to wane. It makes more sense doing it the old way.
For this Pagan family, Litha is a big deal. It is a night when the fairies are out and magick abounds. I have to admit it is one of my favorite Pagan holidays.
We try to celebrate in the old ways. For us, this means we have a bonfire. Yes I know it is as hot these days, but the old ones believed that the Litha fires possesed great power and prosperity and protection, so we had ourselves a fire.
We started celebrating at dinner, by having Solstice Salad. This is a salad we make with all kids of fresh veggies, smoked chicken brest, craisins and mandrian oranges.
After dinner, but before the fire was ritual. I sent David, Daniel and Hunter to find wild flowers, and we covered a circular table with flowers instead of an altar cloth. I filled my big cast iron cauldron with water and floated some flowers as well.
We then did a simple ritual that I adapted from one I found online. {ok here is where I confess that I have spent a miserable week suffering from sunburn from last week's boat trip and did not feel like writing one myself as I usually do}
Here is the ritual we did
(I can't remember where I found the original, but most of it is not mine, I only adapted. If someone knows the original author, I will gladly give credit as it is a beautiful ritual)
We all stand around the altar at sunset and I begin saying:
"Today is Litha, called Midsummer by the old ones
A time for celebration
Tomorrow the light will begin to fade
As the Wheel of the Year turns on and on"
Then we all face the East and I say:
"From the East comes the Wind
Cool and clear
It brings new seeds to our garden
Bees to the Pollen
And birds to the trees"
We now turn to the South and I say:
"The Sun rises high in the summer sky
And lights our way, even into the night
Today the sun casts 3 rays
The light of Fire upon the land, sea and heavens"
We now turn to face the West and I say:
"From the West the mist rolls in
Bringing rain and fog
The life giving water
Without which we would cease to be"
And finally we face the North and I say:
"Beneath our feet is the Earth
Soil dark and fertile
The womb in which life begins
And will later die, then return anew"
At this point we do what is commonly called cakes and ale. It is similar to Christian communion, except that it dosen't represent someone's body or blood
For cakes this year, I made rice crispy treats with chocolate chips. This was to represent the seeds of the dark winter (the chocolate chips) even in the bright summer (the light colored rice crispies.) And for ale, we of course, had Dewayne's home made wine.
I take the plate with 5 bites sized pieces of the cakes (the lil ones were already in bed) and I turn to the person on my left and pass him the plate and say "May you never hunger" He says "Blessed Be" takes his piece of cake and passes it to the person on the left and says "May you never hunger"
The cakes go around the circle ending with me, and then I take the chalise of wine and to say to the person on my left "May you never thirst", his responce is of course "Blessed Be" and like the cakes the wine makes its way around the circle ending with me.
*footnote, yes we use real wine, and yes the kids get a sip the same as catholic kids get a sip of wine in communtion*
We also have a fairy altar for Litha and we leave a bit of cakes and ale for the fae. Trust me you never want to piss off the fairies. They can be devious lil buggers if they feel they have been disrespected :)
After closing the circle, the formal part of ritual is over.
We proceede to the fire pit and consecrate the fire. As a throwback to our Native American ancestors we consecrate it with white sage and cedar.
Here is the prayer I recited as the fire was consecrated (again not mine)
"Today to celebrate Midsummer, we honnor the Earth. We are surrounded by tall trees. There is clear sky above us,and cool dirt beneath us and we are connected to all three. We consecrate this fire as the ancient ones did so long ago"
And then Dewayne, adds the cedar and sage to the fire. It is now a sacred and nothing but wood can be added to it.
Now for the part the kids like best. We turn on some Pagan music and sing and dance around the fire. This year we listened to a really cool Pagan artist I have recently been turned on to called Kelliana. (I recommend her music to anyone pagan or not) and we also had one of our favorite Solstice songs "Solstice Call" by Gaia Consort.*see lyrics below*
Dewayne and I continued to drink wine, and sing along as the kids danced and frolicked. The kids got to stay up late, which of course the loved.
Lyrics to Solstice Call be Gaia Consort {one of my favorite solstice songs)
Come all ye young maidens, come all ye old sods
Bring your pimply faced boyfriends and glowering Dads
Bring your brothers and sisters and grandparents too
Your lunatic Aunty and drunk Uncle Lou
There'll be bonfires from Kalaloch to Portland tonight
To celebrate summer and sing out the light
All come all come - all come along
We'll strike up a quick tune to call out the boys
One to hike up your skirts to and make lots of noise
We'll play out a waltz to encourage romance
And we'll make it a slow one so the old folks can dance
All come all come - all come along
Starch up your linens or come without clothes
For no matter what covers we'll dance in our bones
Come, timid young virgins and old libertines
For it's mid-summers eve and we've come here to dream
All come all come - all come along
Leave off your prayin' and leave off your hate
For there are none of us sinners and none of saints
We'll feast and we'll dance and we'll stay up too late
And if the Reaper comes knockin' he'll just have to wait!
All come all come - all come along
There'll be bonfires from Kalaloch to Portland tonight
Litha, June 21, is the official first day of summer now a days....But in the ancient times, Summer began on Beltane (May 1st) and ended on Lammas (August 1st). So the solstice on June 21st was mid way between the two, hence it was called Midsumer.
I always wondered why the first day of summer was called Midsummer and why Summer officially began on the day when the sun's light begins to wane. It makes more sense doing it the old way.
For this Pagan family, Litha is a big deal. It is a night when the fairies are out and magick abounds. I have to admit it is one of my favorite Pagan holidays.
We try to celebrate in the old ways. For us, this means we have a bonfire. Yes I know it is as hot these days, but the old ones believed that the Litha fires possesed great power and prosperity and protection, so we had ourselves a fire.
We started celebrating at dinner, by having Solstice Salad. This is a salad we make with all kids of fresh veggies, smoked chicken brest, craisins and mandrian oranges.
After dinner, but before the fire was ritual. I sent David, Daniel and Hunter to find wild flowers, and we covered a circular table with flowers instead of an altar cloth. I filled my big cast iron cauldron with water and floated some flowers as well.
We then did a simple ritual that I adapted from one I found online. {ok here is where I confess that I have spent a miserable week suffering from sunburn from last week's boat trip and did not feel like writing one myself as I usually do}
Here is the ritual we did
(I can't remember where I found the original, but most of it is not mine, I only adapted. If someone knows the original author, I will gladly give credit as it is a beautiful ritual)
We all stand around the altar at sunset and I begin saying:
"Today is Litha, called Midsummer by the old ones
A time for celebration
Tomorrow the light will begin to fade
As the Wheel of the Year turns on and on"
Then we all face the East and I say:
"From the East comes the Wind
Cool and clear
It brings new seeds to our garden
Bees to the Pollen
And birds to the trees"
We now turn to the South and I say:
"The Sun rises high in the summer sky
And lights our way, even into the night
Today the sun casts 3 rays
The light of Fire upon the land, sea and heavens"
We now turn to face the West and I say:
"From the West the mist rolls in
Bringing rain and fog
The life giving water
Without which we would cease to be"
And finally we face the North and I say:
"Beneath our feet is the Earth
Soil dark and fertile
The womb in which life begins
And will later die, then return anew"
At this point we do what is commonly called cakes and ale. It is similar to Christian communion, except that it dosen't represent someone's body or blood
For cakes this year, I made rice crispy treats with chocolate chips. This was to represent the seeds of the dark winter (the chocolate chips) even in the bright summer (the light colored rice crispies.) And for ale, we of course, had Dewayne's home made wine.
I take the plate with 5 bites sized pieces of the cakes (the lil ones were already in bed) and I turn to the person on my left and pass him the plate and say "May you never hunger" He says "Blessed Be" takes his piece of cake and passes it to the person on the left and says "May you never hunger"
The cakes go around the circle ending with me, and then I take the chalise of wine and to say to the person on my left "May you never thirst", his responce is of course "Blessed Be" and like the cakes the wine makes its way around the circle ending with me.
*footnote, yes we use real wine, and yes the kids get a sip the same as catholic kids get a sip of wine in communtion*
We also have a fairy altar for Litha and we leave a bit of cakes and ale for the fae. Trust me you never want to piss off the fairies. They can be devious lil buggers if they feel they have been disrespected :)
After closing the circle, the formal part of ritual is over.
We proceede to the fire pit and consecrate the fire. As a throwback to our Native American ancestors we consecrate it with white sage and cedar.
Here is the prayer I recited as the fire was consecrated (again not mine)
"Today to celebrate Midsummer, we honnor the Earth. We are surrounded by tall trees. There is clear sky above us,and cool dirt beneath us and we are connected to all three. We consecrate this fire as the ancient ones did so long ago"
And then Dewayne, adds the cedar and sage to the fire. It is now a sacred and nothing but wood can be added to it.
Now for the part the kids like best. We turn on some Pagan music and sing and dance around the fire. This year we listened to a really cool Pagan artist I have recently been turned on to called Kelliana. (I recommend her music to anyone pagan or not) and we also had one of our favorite Solstice songs "Solstice Call" by Gaia Consort.*see lyrics below*
Dewayne and I continued to drink wine, and sing along as the kids danced and frolicked. The kids got to stay up late, which of course the loved.
Lyrics to Solstice Call be Gaia Consort {one of my favorite solstice songs)
Come all ye young maidens, come all ye old sods
Bring your pimply faced boyfriends and glowering Dads
Bring your brothers and sisters and grandparents too
Your lunatic Aunty and drunk Uncle Lou
There'll be bonfires from Kalaloch to Portland tonight
To celebrate summer and sing out the light
All come all come - all come along
We'll strike up a quick tune to call out the boys
One to hike up your skirts to and make lots of noise
We'll play out a waltz to encourage romance
And we'll make it a slow one so the old folks can dance
All come all come - all come along
Starch up your linens or come without clothes
For no matter what covers we'll dance in our bones
Come, timid young virgins and old libertines
For it's mid-summers eve and we've come here to dream
All come all come - all come along
Leave off your prayin' and leave off your hate
For there are none of us sinners and none of saints
We'll feast and we'll dance and we'll stay up too late
And if the Reaper comes knockin' he'll just have to wait!
All come all come - all come along
There'll be bonfires from Kalaloch to Portland tonight
Father's Day 2010
This year we spent Father's Day on our boat, and out on the lake. We took some time to swim at a small beach we found.
We motored across the lake to get to Heber just to say we did it, even tho with a 30 horse power motor it took over an hour. It looked like we might be headed into a storm for a bit and we battened down the hatches and prepared for a storm on the lake, but the goddess was with us and we didn't get so much as a sprinkle. Altho we did get into some wind and a little bit of choppy waves.
But as we got back to port, the clouds parted and the sun came out...
Blessed Be!
Pre Father's Day Ritual (June 19)
We have a ritual that we do every year on the day before Father's Day.
No, it isn't a religious ritual. It is something that Dewayne's family does every year and has since he was a kid. They go out to the cemetery to clean and redecorate the family graves.
Dewayne has done this since he was a boy. His father passed away when he was 11 and since then it has had even more meaning to him.
I remember the first time I went with him, thinking that I was going to the end of the world.
This is not just some drive to a cemetery. It is a LONG treck down one side of a step mountain road, across a rickety one lane bridge (that Im convinced will fall into the water at anytime) and then up the other side of the steep mountain road, all of which is dirt.
We try to get to the cemetery early because the heat is so bad. We arrive around 9 a.m. and meet a cousin of his. She used to babysit Dewayne when he was a baby and she gets a kick out of seeing how much like him Lil Bit looks.
Dewayne gets out the hoe and remounds his father's grave, and the graves of his father's parents who died before he was born. Then we put the new flowers on the graves. This year both Allison and Lil Bit joined in.
We all pose for pictures that his cousin Lisa wants to take and we small talk for a bit. But the heat drives us all back to our air conditioned vehicles.
On the way home, Dewayne drives us passed the house he grew up in, and passed the land his family used to own. He shows us the field his uncle used to work with just a mule, a plow and a whole lot of determination. He also shows us the rock building that used to be a one room school house where his father whent to school. And he shares with the kids and I stories of his father's family and of growing up on the mountain.
This is the 4th year I have gone with him and the 4th time I have been passed these places and heard these stories, but I know that this is something very important to Dewayne and so we will go every year and in this way, the kids will get to know family that lived before them and hopefully learn some respect for family rituals such as this.
Blessed Be!
No, it isn't a religious ritual. It is something that Dewayne's family does every year and has since he was a kid. They go out to the cemetery to clean and redecorate the family graves.
Dewayne has done this since he was a boy. His father passed away when he was 11 and since then it has had even more meaning to him.
I remember the first time I went with him, thinking that I was going to the end of the world.
This is not just some drive to a cemetery. It is a LONG treck down one side of a step mountain road, across a rickety one lane bridge (that Im convinced will fall into the water at anytime) and then up the other side of the steep mountain road, all of which is dirt.
We try to get to the cemetery early because the heat is so bad. We arrive around 9 a.m. and meet a cousin of his. She used to babysit Dewayne when he was a baby and she gets a kick out of seeing how much like him Lil Bit looks.
Dewayne gets out the hoe and remounds his father's grave, and the graves of his father's parents who died before he was born. Then we put the new flowers on the graves. This year both Allison and Lil Bit joined in.
We all pose for pictures that his cousin Lisa wants to take and we small talk for a bit. But the heat drives us all back to our air conditioned vehicles.
On the way home, Dewayne drives us passed the house he grew up in, and passed the land his family used to own. He shows us the field his uncle used to work with just a mule, a plow and a whole lot of determination. He also shows us the rock building that used to be a one room school house where his father whent to school. And he shares with the kids and I stories of his father's family and of growing up on the mountain.
This is the 4th year I have gone with him and the 4th time I have been passed these places and heard these stories, but I know that this is something very important to Dewayne and so we will go every year and in this way, the kids will get to know family that lived before them and hopefully learn some respect for family rituals such as this.
Blessed Be!
Been MIA
I have been MIA for a while. I went out of town for a bit, then have been busy...but will catch up on the blog...I wil do one for each day I thought of blogging but didn't and put the date in the title...
BTW, to my one follower...it means alot that ya missed me...perhaps someday I will have many followers but you, dear Kel, will always be my first follower.
Blessed Be!
BTW, to my one follower...it means alot that ya missed me...perhaps someday I will have many followers but you, dear Kel, will always be my first follower.
Blessed Be!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Getting Organized... and a tale of two frogs
I did it!! Yesterday, despite being tired, I did something that has been a goal of mine for a long time. I sat down and planned an entire week of meals, wrote out the shopping list and got all of the ingriedents for said meals!
I have been trying to get things more organized around here. Somedays I feel like I am just treading water and making no progress. But yesterday was definitely a BIG step in the right direction.
When I feel like all I am doing is treading water, I will remember a story I once heard somewhere. Two frogs fell into a bowl of cream and could not get out. They tried and tried to jump out but we unable to. One frog said to the other "It's useless, we are never going to get out of here." And he gave up, stopped trying and sank to the bottom and drowned in the cream.
The second frog kept trying and trying, and he tread in the cream all night long. By the morning, he had tread so much that he had made himself a blob of butter and sitting on his butter, was able to jump out of the cream.
So just for today, I am trying to be like the second frog....
I have been trying to get things more organized around here. Somedays I feel like I am just treading water and making no progress. But yesterday was definitely a BIG step in the right direction.
When I feel like all I am doing is treading water, I will remember a story I once heard somewhere. Two frogs fell into a bowl of cream and could not get out. They tried and tried to jump out but we unable to. One frog said to the other "It's useless, we are never going to get out of here." And he gave up, stopped trying and sank to the bottom and drowned in the cream.
The second frog kept trying and trying, and he tread in the cream all night long. By the morning, he had tread so much that he had made himself a blob of butter and sitting on his butter, was able to jump out of the cream.
So just for today, I am trying to be like the second frog....
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