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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in sabbat

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

         In Western Minnesota, there's a big ridge of Sioux quartzite that rises abruptly out of the prairie. (If it were in England, they'd call it a tor.) It's a local landmark, called Blue Mound because the red rock is covered with blue-green lichen. Over the shoulder of the mound is a stone row of unknown age that points to equinoctial sunrise and sunset. At the highest point of the ridge is a tall outcropping called Eagle Rock.

         Once when I hopped besom and flew off to the dream sabbat, I followed the sunset westwards and ended up at Blue Mound. There was a big fire burning at the foot of Eagle Rock, with lots of different people dancing around it: red, white, black folks all together. (They say that the sabbat is the great equalizer.)

         Sitting there cross-legged on top of Eagle Rock was, of course, the Old Buck himself, Mr. Splitfoot mon amour. Out east here, he mostly wears antlers, but there on the prairie he had, as one would expect, the shaggy red head of a buffalo bull.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Our Sabbats provide a framework of meditation and insight that can deepen and transform our lives if we pay them any serious mind.  Wiccan Sabbats have three dimensions, one links us to the universal cycles of the sun, another to our being people of the earth, and both take us to the experience of our own lives. Yule, Ostara, Midsummer (or Litha), and Mabon are our solar Sabbats. Brigid or Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain are our Sabbats rooted in the earth. They reflect the agricultural cycles of Celtic lands and so immerse us in the experience and blessings of living in this world.

As light and darkness and the changing of the seasons form parts of an eternal cycle within which life takes place, so life itself repeats this cycle with birth followed by childhood, the vigor of adulthood, the slow decline of old age, and finally death, to be repeated again.  In the process beauty, love, and delight are brought into being and repeat themselves in endless variety. 

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Gus diZerega
    Gus diZerega says #
    Thank you Rose. I liked it. It somehow reminded me of an adaptation of my favorite scene from Disney's second Fantasia. I do not
  • Rose
    Rose says #
    Very nice! I shared your response with Glenys. I think she'll like it.
  • Rose
    Rose says #
    Gus: I think yon may enjoy Glenys' work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mRiI2Nz2go a Pagaian ritual from Down Under.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

The time of Lughnasadh, or Lammas, is nigh. The basic Wiccan definition tells us that this is the celebration of the first harvest, so that the Solar God (Lugh, in this instance), Who has been waning since Litha, is now sacrificed as embodiment of the grain we humans depend upon. The theme is, as all harvest festivals, gratitude for the bounty of Mother Earth and Father Sun.

Because my path is Earth-centered, I believe it is less important to hold to the "traditional" meaning of the sabbats than it is to attune to the energy of the place where you actually live, where (hopefully) your own food is grown. The seasons of Ireland are a far cry from the seasons of the Ozark Mountains. Here, gardens and farms are in the fullness of activity and production (Goddess willing). We have been harvesting many crops for weeks now - including the native Three Sisters: corn, beans and summer squash. August, while indeed a time to harvest, is also a time for planting the fall short-season crops. Therefore, my "locavore" version of Lughnasadh recognizes that this is also a time for renewal: strengthened by the warm soil and full bounty, we can plant new seeds in our lives and communities.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Imbolc Spread: The Well and the Forge

This coming Saturday, February 2nd I am celebrating Imbolc. This year I believe our group is focusing more along the lines of the healing and water aspects of the goddess Brid (Brigid), but last year our sabbat used the dual aspects of Brid as the keeper of the well and forge (water and fire).

Respecting the dual aspects of the Well and the Forge, I have created a simple two-card tarot spread. Imbolc is an excellent time for divination, so I hope you use this spread during this time!

1st card: The Well: What situation do you need greater compassion in? Healing? Emotional empathy?

2nd card: The Forge: What situation do you need more drive in? Aggression? Force of will?

Let us not forget that the realm of fire can purify just as well as destroy, and water can destroy just as easily as heal. Please feel free to use this tarot spread as a jumping off point for your own personal tarot spread creations.

Blessings, and Happy Imbolc,
Hilary
www.tarotbyhilary.com

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  • Janet Boyer
    Janet Boyer says #
    Excellent points about Fire and Water, Hilary. In Tarot, I think many (women?) tend to castigate the masculine suits (Swords and W

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Yule and the Winter Solstice

Yule and the Winter Solstice are two separate events for me, with Yule being celebrated around December 21-25 just to keep up with family that celebrates Christmas, and the solstice being celebrated when it actually occurs, which for 2012 (5:12am CST) and 2013 (11:11am CST) is December 21st where I live. I wrote an article already explaining why I try to get so exact with the date/time of the celebrations, if you’re interested.

On the Winding Path, I have a couple of different rituals that are done around the time of Yule, besides the main one, because this is such an important time of year. Although I live in a climate where it’s unusually mild for this time of year this time around, there have been years of great hardship from harsh weather here. It is in the balance between all of those cold and mild winters that I place my mind when thinking of the Winter Solstice because it represents the breaking of the grip of winter upon the land. In northern climates, this was more true because they hardly if ever saw the sun around this time. There are symbols from the times of our ancestors which have been carried through to today, even by the usurpers of our traditions, like the use of evergreens, or celebrating for twelve days. On the Winding Path, we don’t celebrate for twelve days, but evergreens do play an important role in ritual and just a decoration because it reminds us and signals to us the promise of the return of spring.

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