Full Hunter Moon at Dragondale

A magickal time in the Great Grove

Last nite we circled in the Redwood grove around a blazing fire to hunt.  We made spears out of green branches of walnut, madrone, oak and redwood ritually harvested by our Priestess and Priest from their own property.  In the dark, by the light of the fire and Elemental candles, we selected our spears; chopped down the rough points with a hatchet; sharpened them with smaller blades; hardened them by roasting carefully in the hot coals and then used them as anchors for a guided meditation. 

We were led into the forests of our hearts and sent down separate paths to hunt out what has been eluding us. We were left in silence to hunt, capture, cure or adopt what we had hunted and then brought back to the group by the voice of our Priestess.  This ritual was created and led by new students to FireDrake Feri and they rock!!! I am gifted with being able to share the Redwood Grove and Alison’s teachings with such amazing folk!

Blessings of the Full Hunter Moon to you all! May what ever has eluded you be now within your grasp.

Wearing Blue

Some of you may have noticed that I rarely wear blue.  It has never been a particular favorite of mine for clothing.  Usually, if I am wearing any variation of that color I am teaching or priesting a water ritual or dressing in costume as a Dark Fae.  Alison, my beloved mentor, loved blue and wore it a lot.  I have decided to begin wearing blue more often, and when I do, it will be in honor of my beloved teacher.   The 7^th anniversary of her death is this June.  I miss her always.

Dearest

Blue as your eyes,

Blue as the great ocean waters,

Blue as the night sky over the hills of your home,

Blue as the thirteenth moon,

Blue as the tiny iridescent butterflies in your orchard,

Blue as the blueberries we loved to devour,

Blue as the forget-me-nots that grew in your field,

Blue as the God you never taught me about,

Blue as my Black Heart you helped to liberate,

Blue as the first dawn in winter,

Blue as my wandering path without you,

Blue as your eyes,

Blue, blue, blue,

I love you,

Alison Harlow

I love you, blue.

My 60th Birthday Party

I know this is a “long time coming”, but I really want to share this and give thanks for all the wonderful people in my life.

On Feb 12th, 2011 my daughter and my friends gave me a 60th birthday party. It was truly wonderful and even surprising. The party started just a few minutes before I was actually 60 years here on the planet.

My coven sister Q and my daughter Betsy did a bunch of the planning, including asking folks to tell me stories about how I have been present in their lives (at least I think that was the direction, as it was what folks shared). Q and Rynn made an Isis cake that looked really cool and tasted fabulous too! Q and her husband Jordy made soup and chili, lots of folks brought drinks and OF COURSE...nearly everyone came in costume as I had requested.
We had super heroes…Bat Girl & Robin; Wonder Woman & Green Lantern; Clark Kent; magickal creatures; Lovely Ladies; Gods; cowgirls; a Cardinal; a dance hall gal; a skater; Renaissance Man; Skeleton boys; Dark Fae; Beautiful Babes ; young folks; Crone folks; little folks; classy folks and many more! We filled Betsy’s apartment to the brim and then some.
There were people I have known for 20+ years and folks I met just a few months ago and every variation in between.

After most folks had arrived; tasted the marvelous food; visited and had a drink in their hand, Q asked folks to begin the stories.

I was completely touched by all of the stories and tears came to my eyes. I laughed so hard at some of the tales that I needed to drink more champagne… such a hard life! I had no clear idea of how I have touched so many people. It seems from the stories, that I am kinder and more companionate person than I think I am. My community is amazing and my heart was so full of the love and laughter folks shared that night.
Folks brought lovely gifts, many purchased from my Wish List at Air and Fire in Boulder Creek and gifts from the Sacred Grove in Santa Cruz. Dragons LOVE presents!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dear friend Holly snatched up my camera at the beginning of the party and took more than 200 photos…so wonderful to have a photo journal of the story telling and partying folks I love! I have put names to most of the pixs in the picassa album that is linked to this post.

It has taken me far too long to post this, but here is it FINALLY!
My deepest thanks to my daughter and my coven and my dear friends. You are all a very rare gift in my life.
J’té

Help Anubis Greatheart

Friendship and Teaching

So sad just now.

Someone I thought I knew used an email to drop out of an advanced Witchcraft, thirteen month class I am teaching. Everyone in the group made a commitment for the full thirteen months and we are only in month five. It leaves the other students in a lurch, as there are assignments and projects that have been assigned to pairs of students.

It leaves me appalled and hurt. Just sat down to tea with this person last nite …with no hint of a reference to dropping out of the course.This is a person I took into my life, my world and my community as a very close friend. Just as we completed the session focused on Emotion (Water element), this friend dumps their commitment, avoiding ‘face-time’ with teacher and friend. I am really surprised and still in shock, trying to get thru a day at work. So what to do???

The old axiom “when hurt or sad or depressed … learn something'” lights up in my brain and off I go…reading Neil Gaiman’s latest blog …reading about art printing …reading about something new!!

Read, learn, grow… center balance … choose

Do I really want to have any friends who use email as a replacement for face-time communication? I must say NO, the direction I take is that sometimes-rocky path of honesty and clarity. I wish well to my once-friend, may the path they find help them to what is needed.

One-Trick-Pony becomes Broken-down Old Mule

Not doing  “the same ol’ thang” AGAIN!!!

Lordy, Lordy  … let us not fall into the trap of “oh that worked once, so let’s just keep doing it” when it comes to ritual presentations, especially public offerings.  As Priestess and Feri, when I see this occur, I wonder what actual thought is going into that sort of choice.

Yes, I DO know that it is a great deal of work to conceive, create and present something new every time, but the intensity and evolution in that work outshines what’s available doing ‘repeat performances’.  There is always the risk that folks may not like what you present, or get your intention, but those risks are worth the rewards, in my experience.  I can back up that opinion with 7+ years of participating, helping to plan, cat-herding, stage managing and (several times) being the concept person for large ritual presentations at Pantheacon and at the Faerie Mid-summer Barter Market.  It really is scads of work, especially if you want to have a substantial group of Priests working together, props and costume pieces … all to support and present that new ritual. 

The juice of current that follows thru both Priest and Participant when something new and unique is shared grows the sweet fruit of magick in every heart it touches. That experience, however ephemeral, leaves an incisive mark of change and growth. This is what doing public (and private) rituals is really about, as far as I am concerned.

Offering the Witch community experiences diluted by watered-down recycled rituals seems to engender the opposite result and we start to look like other, ‘organized’ religions that offer repetitive, hide-bound monophonic experiences.

So, here is my ‘soap box’ slogan this week:

Let us all work toward creating and sharing those experiences that grow us in all our parts.

As a good friend of mine says, “May the winds of change blow up all of our skirts!”