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A Spell for Beltane:

Gather up some soft petals
and hold them to your lips.
Let them whisper to you of pleasure.
Do not let it fade away.
May you connect to those things
that bring you pleasure,
those things that bring you joy,
let them speak to you of
the wellspring of joy that rests within.
Let them sing to you of wonder and delight,
of your own magic,
of things once lost
that can be found.
Breathe deep
and make a vow of commitment to your life
as it breathes now,
to your body
as it stands now.
Make a promise,
deep and silent,
secret and strong
to your own magic nestled within.
Take one petal for pleasure,
one petal for joy,
one petal for delight,
one petal for magic.
Press them against your skin,
let them soak in.
One by one,
the spell is done. 

May we nourish seeds
of possibility and joy.
May we tend to seeds of connection
and seeds of ideas.
May we nurture seeds of genius
and sparks of change.
May we gather up
what we’ve created
and hold it lovingly
and then open our hands
and let go.
May we plant what we can,
savor what we can,
harvest what we need to thrive,
and love where we are now,
hearts alive
and hopes extended.
May we be as full of promise
as a nestled seed,
lying in darkness
at the fiercest edge
of cracking open,
ready to see what grows.

Imbolc brings an invitation into change,
to step into the forge of transformation,
to sink into the holy well of healing,
to open ourselves up to an evolving path
of growth and discovery.
It is now that we remember
we are our own seeds of promise
and while there is time yet
to stay in the waiting place
biding our time
and strengthening our resources
so we have what we need to grow,
soon we will feel the wheel
urging us onward,
the call to set forth
becoming unmistakable and strong.
Let us settle ourselves into center,
nestle into trust and determination,
and extend outward from here
feeling the sweet wind caress us
and the fiery forge beckon us
as we heed the summons to roll on,
the path opening up before us as we move.

Ancestor Day

This year, my kindred decided to combine Disablot and Alfablot and hold Ancestor Day. Disablot is supposed to be for the female ancestors and Alfablot for the male ancestors. Yes, Alfablot means elf sacrifice, but the line between the elf mound and the grave mound was fuzzy for the heathens of historical times. Even though it's traditional, separating the ancestors by gender just didn't feel right to me, and I asked the rest of my kindred if they would like to combine the two days into one Ancestor Day. Everyone liked the idea so we planned it.

Rounding out the year's posts on the holidays of the reconstructed pagan religion Ridnoveri, here are the winter holidays coming up as 2022 turns to 2023. And if you're using this calendar in a leap year such as 2024, be sure to add in the Leap Year day! I'll be posting about that specifically as it gets closer. 

 December

In September 2022, Amanda planned and led Haustblot for our kindred. Amanda is the first gythia I trained. Haustblot is an autumn seasonal and harvest ritual. When my kindred was creating our ritual calendar for 2022, I asked the kindred members if we wanted to do Rainbow Season for fall again this year, and Amanda volunteered to do Haustblot instead. Just before the ritual started, Amanda, I, and some of the ritual participants posed for a Heathen Visibility Project photo.

I'm so proud of Amanda. I'm delighted she worked a pomegranate into the ritual since it came from my tree. I still got in a Rainbow Season toast to Heimdall on behalf of Tom, and also a toast to Tom, during the sumbel portion of the ritual.