Beltane paper very rough draft

                                                                                                          Sonja 

                                                                                                          Humanities

                                                                                                          11.00-11.50

I will be discussing Beltane, a Celtic fertility festival, held on 1 May. Beltane literally means, Bright Flame.  It is a Sabbat to honour  Beli, the Celtic god of the Sun, the father, protector and husband of the Mother Goddess, Belisama  

 Beltane is a cross quarter day, meaning that the Sun is midway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is also a sabbat honouring Life (as opposed to Samhain, which is honouring the deaths of those who have gone before us), and is when the Sun is released from his winter sleep and is able to rule over the Summer and life once again.

Maypoles are danced around as an obvious symbol of fertility and bonfires are started the night of 30 April. The main bonfire started is called the Fires of Tara and all other fires are lit from it. In the past the ancient Celts would drive cattle into the fires as a sacrifice, but now we use the smoke to cleanse ourselves before preforming the rites.

This cross quarter day goes back to ancient times when the Celtic peoples were honouring their Gods and goddesses in the hope of having a fertile summer. Crops and animals as well as the Celts themselves were praying that the land would yield plenty of food to get them through the winter as well as to increase their own population. 

The four ways of knowing (sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling) are seen in the celebration of Beltane by:

The Celts sensed and thought that through their beliefs and worship, the gods would be pleased that they honoured them, and so they would grant the requests of the people by allowing them to have plentiful harvest and many children.  The Fires of Bel gave them a way to purify themselves for the Gods and ready themselves for the gifts that the Gods would give them. The ancients believed (thinking and sensing) that the Wheel of Life would not turn without their intervention, which took form in sacrifice and prayers to the Gods. They believed that they could to encourage the Sun and his growth, so fire was an important component of the ritual (feeling and intuition).

The Celts were using synergy by using prayer, bonfires and sacrifices as well as dancing to gain the attention of and amuse their Gods and Goddesses. Synergy is the interaction of elements that when combined produce atotal effect that is greater than the sum of the individualelements, contributions,.  They came together as a culture to persuade the Gods to give them the gifts of life. In 44 BCE the Romans began invading lands held by the Celtic peoples, by 305 AD they had conquered all but the Highlands of Scotland (incidentally these are the people that I am from which I descended) and Ireland. The Romans adopted much of the Celtic religion, but renamed the Sabbats and the Gods and Goddesses. Even though the Romans renamed everything, the values and the rites were pretty much the same.

I chose this project because it coincides with when it is due, this Sabbat is held on 1 May, as well as because I am a Celt and I too celebrate the Celtic Sabbats and follow most of the ritual myself.  It has a high level of value for me as it is a part of my own faith to honour not only my Celtic roots, but my faith as well. Every time I perform the rites I learn more about the deities as well as myself as a Celt. I would most definitely do this project again and learned more in detail about where the maypole ritual came from (the Germans) as well as which deities are being celebrated and why we have the bonfires.


A Beltane ritual is beautiful and rather simple. First a circle is cast ( to contain the magick and energy that is raised during the ritual). Then the large Beltane candle is lit and Beli and Belisama are called to the circle (this can be changed to honour whichever deities one honours). Purpose of the rite is stated, remebering that this is the observation of the marriage between the God and Goddess and is also for fertility and life. The sybolism of the deities is shown in the chalice (the Goddess) and the dagger (the God) and they are united.  Multi-coloured ribbons are then tied to a tree with a wish being given to each ribbon, the ribbons are braided together after being passed through the smoke rising off the Beltane candle. Each wish is meditated on before going to the next. Food and drink is enjoyed in the circle with prayers and meditations. When the individual or group feels that the rite is complete, the candle is extinguished and the circle is closed.

http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/deitiesb.html

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/synergy?s=t
http://www.ehow.com/how_2317966_perform-beltane-ritual.html

My best friends: Margarita Thompson and Cathy Mills

Faith

I have been reading The Secret and it's sequel The Power and what comes across to me is FAITH. Not a religious faith, but a faith in one's self and faith in their practice. I am a witch, so my faith would be in my craft. I know that not all Pagans are witches and vice versa, so this blog comes more from what the word means to me.
Faith is nothing more than belief and for anything to come into being it must be believed that it will happen. Even the bible says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
I am reaching for a dream of something that to a lot of people would be stupid, but it's important to me and I have faith that not only am I right, but that I will have this and more! If nothing else, my craft has taught me that I must have faith in myself and what I am doing or I am gonna get jack sh*t! And yeah, some of my spells have gotten me exactly that. I didn't have the faith, belief or vision when I cast them, so I got from the Universe EXACTLY what I asked for!
I am working on faith and being faithful to myself and my craft. I really want to learn daily devotionals because I think that's an important component, but I really don't know where to start! Any ideas would be entertained...I have faith in my readers!!

Much love!!

being Eclectic

I was curious to know, what does it mean to be an eclectic witch? One of my besties (LOVE her!) posted about being eclectic and I was like, Hell yeah, that's me! I hope she will forgive me if I copy her a little (after all what's a little plagiarism amongst besties?? hehe).

Webster's Dictionary defines eclectic as: 

1: Selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles

2: Composed of elements drawn from various sources

I am definitely eclectic! I worship/honour the Celtic deities, but I also honour the Blessed Virgin (she is always welcomed into my circles), a few archangels and guardian angels, my ancestors and a very special ghost! I will often find something (especially right now in Humanities class) in the oddest places that make me say, Hey, I need to incorporate that in my life! My most recent ah-ha moments were whilst I was reading my Humanities book (The Humanistic Tradition) and we were discussing in class Taoism and the actionless action (meditation). The second was reading the book The Power (by the authour of The Secret), the whole book was an ah-ha for me!

I let my feelings tell me if what I'm doing is right, if I feel skittish about a spell or what someone says a witch should do, I look at it, get to the root of my feelings to see if it's fear or that I truly feel it's not right, then I go by what my gut tells me to do. I have rarely ever been wrong when I listen to my inner voice!

Having been in 'organised religion' and being wholly irritated by the mandates set, I much prefer being able to pick and choose what I wish to accept for myself! I choose eclectic and chaos! lol

D

I don't know how far behind I am, but I remember I was on a D. This is going to be an uphill for me, but I figured since it's Spring Break, may as well give it a go!

This comes from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and whilst I know that is a fiction-ish book, the 3 Ds are something in my own practice that I try to concentrate on! The 3Ds according to Wilkie Twycross (through JK Rowling) are:
Destination
Determination
Deliberation

Destination: Where am I trying to be for this spell, summoning, Sabbat, etc? You have to know where you're going (doesn't have to be a physical location) to know if you have reached your destination. What do I wish to accomplish in this spell? Who do I wish to summon? What do I want to focus on for this Sabbat? Those are questions I ask myself before I even come up with any kind of ritual.

Determination: By focusing my will on what I am doing I am determined to cause something to happen for me. This is also known as intention and is a very important component to ANY witchcraft!

Deliberation: I deliberately, through my intention cause a thing to come into being. If my intention and thoughts are scattered, I get scattered or even reversed results (yes, I am having to live through and reverse a scattered spell right now. Not a lot of fun, but VERY educational). By taking my time, thinking the spell, etc through in it's entirety, feeling what I want to happen and believing that it will happen EXACTLY as I am laying it out is deliberation!

Well, I doubt that many people see the world the same way I do and probably don't read Harry Potter and other paranormals in the same way I do. Often something will just hit me right and I have an ah-ha moment in my Path!!

D is for the Dagda

Ready for another Celtic deity? I know I am!! :) While I would love nothing better than to devote all of my honour to the Scottish deities (yes, I'm Scottish & more), I just don't find a whole lot of them on the internet :( 

The Dagda (DOY-dah)

Old Irish: Dag Dia; Modern Irish: Daghdha, name means Good God

The Dagda is the chief father God (also called Allfather) and spouse of Morrigan (Celtic triple aspect Goddess) and leader of the Tuatha de Danaan. He carried a club that could kill 9 men with one swipe and restore them with the handle of the same. The Dagda dispensed bounty from an enormous cauldron (similar to Zeus’ horn of plenty). He also had a harp that could extend seasons, as well as play music that would put people to sleep, make them grieve or laugh.

The Dagda was revered by Druid priests because he bestowed wisdom on those who wished to learn.

There doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of information on this father God. Being as how the Celts were worshiping these deities way before there was a written language, it’s really not all that surprising! 

I keep thinking these will get longer and more in depth. I always laugh at myself when I look at how short my "great ideas for the blog" end up being!! :)

C is for Cupid

Yep, I went there!! I am so not a fan of Valentine's Day (like since I was in middle school), but since it's the season, I thought I would take a look at the man with the wings and bow and arrow!
Cupid is the Roman God of desire (Cupido: Latin for desire), affection and erotic love. In legend Cupid is the son of Venus (goddess of hope) and Mars (god of war).
The story of  Cupid and Psyche: When Venus became jealous of the princess, Psyche, because Psyche was so loved by her subjects that they forgot to worship Venus, she ordered Cupid to shoot Psyche and make her fall in love with the most horrid thing possible. While he was sneaking into Psyche's room to shoot her, he accidentally scratched himself with the golden arrow and fell in love with her.
Cupid visited Psyche every night, but told her never to try to see him. She, in curiosity and spurred on by her sisters, who told her he was a monster, tried to look at him angering him so that he left.
Psyche looked all over the world for him, until Jupiter the leader of the gods, gave her the gift of immortality so that she could be with her beloved Cupid. Together they had a daughter. The name Psyche means "soul".

Well, I really don't have anything to say or add after that!

C is for Crystals

I started to type, C is for cookie LOL!!!
Crystals are something I have always been attracted to, without really knowing why. Because I am an Earth worshiper, I decided to take Geology when I started college in January! It is proving to be the most difficult class I have, yet is the one I love the most! We just studied minerals in class and our labs have been centred around minerals, touching, playing with and getting to know the minerals and their habits and forms is a lot of good education and just plain, old FUN!!!
I've never really worked magick with crystals before, but I would like to learn! So, I am hoping that this blog educates, at the very least, me!
Quartz is the most abundant, silicate in our Earth's crust. It is composed of just 2 elements...Silica and Oxygen. That is all. To me that says a lot about why it is used in magick. It's a very simple straight forward mineral (not a rock...never a rock!), that comes in many colours, yet at it's core, it is still just silica and oxygen! Sounds like humans, eh?
Things I have learnt from the web on crystals and their uses in magick:
Cleansing, use in wands for directing power, to use when divining, to define a sacred space.
I even read that crystals can be steeped in water, like a tea. One charges the crystal with intention, places in a glass of pure spring water, and set it out in the sunlight, or moonlight (depending on the purpose). Give the 'tea' the full day or night, then remove the crystal and drink the water.

I really love this one and am going to give it a go (assuming I can find a crystal)!! Crystals have the ability to communicate with you and with other stones. Carry one with you when you attend a lecture or class; it will absorb the information and help you to remember what was discussed.

I know there is a lot more to discuss on crystals and I welcome your thoughts, experiences and guidance on using crystals in my magick!! I have another blog to post (bad witch, skipping a week) and homework to do!!

Brightest blessings :)