Yule

Happy Yule!

What do I have planned? I'm afraid that it's not much. This pregnancy is getting to the point where I ache all over and where I'm not aching I'm being pummeled from within or experiencing lovely Braxton Hicks contractions from the time I go to be until roughly 4 each morning. So any ritual or magick that I participate in will be the barest of the minimum. Perhaps a shared cup and a sun shaped cookie to offer the goddess and the god. As for the lunar eclipse tonight, we'll see how things go.

I wish you all a most beautiful celebration tonight.

dark days

Hormones are playing a big part in my day to day lately. Tears seem to be the norm and at least I know that they are being triggered and are not coming from out of left field because that would be bad. We're in the home stretch with the Bean and I'm not comfortable and I'm not able to focus on the things I'd like to do for Yule, and getting ready for the rest of the holidays just seems like too much work so I'm taking the pressure off.

Last year I packed one or three fun holiday related activities in each week leading up to Yule and christmas, this year we've managed one fun thing each week and this weeks was wrapped up with the hospital tour; we rode the bus home and looked at all the holiday lights on the bus route home.

I'd feel guilty about my lack of activity on this blog too, except that, again; I'm taking the pressure off. What I am doing is taking some time here and there, as things allow for it, to think forward to what I want to accomplish as the wheel of the year travels back towards longer days. I'm also considering all the things that I had put ahead of me over this last year. During the Yule ritual last year I put my intentions out for growth. Growth in my garden, growth in my creative life, growth in my spiritual path. Over all growth has been decidedly achieved, our family will grow by one in the new year. Our first garden was both a learning experience and a success. I'm looking forward to this year's planting. Over the last year I've made time to be creative more consistently and I've seen the benefits in both my personal life and in my spiritually.

So as the days become shorter, I hope to collect my thoughts about what I want for the next year.

Let it begin with each step we take

Sunday night I attended the 18th annual Vancouver Reclaiming Spiral Dance. I've gone to this public ritual on and off for the last 11 years and I always get something out of it.

The first year I went was especially powerful for me because during the meditation portion of the ritual I was able to connect to my Dad, who had passed on 12 years before. It was a very healing and cathartic experience and I look forward each year to passing through the thinning veil to connect with my beloved dead.

This year was the first time I've participated in the Spiral Dance while pregnant; with the Peanut I was out of town for the ritual and held a private ritual where I felt and welcomed her spirit into my life. I can still sometimes feel her spectral hand inside mine; a sensation that stuck with me as I traveled back through the veil after my visit to the Summerland that year. At the time I thought I was welcoming her spirit to come within the new year; little did I know she was already nestled inside and her hand was there in mine to tell that secret instead. My trip to the Summerland wasn't as specific this year as with the Peanut or my first trip. I felt the pull of more than one spirit when I stepped onto the shore and instead of a one on one or small gathering I felt enveloped in joy which was exactly what I needed.

The spiral this year was very energized and energizing; our intentions as well as the greater work of bringing healing to our earth fed into the cone and I could feel the room vibrating at the end with the energy and joy that the dance had built up.

I'll be keeping my personal work simple as usual. I'll take a moment to honour my beloved dead again on Samhain night and I'll be working some divination to see what's ahead this coming year. I like to use the time between Samhain and Yule to consider what seeds and goals I want to give birth to over the new year. One of those goals is to start incorporating a permanent altar space. How do you celebrate the new year of the Witches?

Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom: Giveaways

Not that I'm in any shape to wear one of them right now but Mrs B's first contest of the day is pretty snazzy:
Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom: Giveaway from Crazy Dog T-Shirts!: "This giveaway is from Crazy Dog T-Shirts! The winner will receive their choice of t-shirt!

Dragonfly's Laughter has some amazing Heating pads and up for grabs today are a pair of lovely earrings:
Giveaway from Dragonfly's Laughter: "This giveaway is from Dragonfly's Laughter! The winner will receive Ocean Side Earrings!

There's a lot of beautiful creepiness going on in Agony's Decay:
Giveaway from Agonys Decay's Creepy Crafts!: "This giveaway is from Agony Decay's Creepy Crafts! The winner will receive their choice of ring from the shop!

I've been contemplating getting a cute little apron, ever since the Peanut got one for her birthday two years ago!
Giveaway from Apron Frenzy!: "This giveaway is from Apron Frenzy! The winner will receive a Halloween Half Apron!

More Earrings these are simply fantastic:
Giveaway from Talog Witch!: "This giveaway is from Welsh Witch Emporium by Talog Witch! The winner will receive a pair of Samhain Earrings!

Plus the Haunted Blog Tour destination is chock full of fabulousness: I'll be joining her following
and the guest blog is worth a read

The Veil Thins

This year (and last year too); I've noticed that my dreams this have been featuring some of my beloved dead. My cousin who passed last spring has been a frequent visitor as have grand parents and others. Last year the I could feel the veil thinning too. I've been trying to keep track of what is said during these dreams and to be honest; waiting to see my Dad in one or more of them. Samhain marks my annual meeting with him in the Summerlands, I look forward to sharing that time with him under the apple trees.

In the past; before we moved into a house and were living in an apartment building the thinning of the veil didn't feel so immediate throughout the month and any contact I had with my ancestors took place at the Samhain ritual. I have to say that I prefer the gradual opening to the one night approach since it reminds me that the year is a wheel that turns progressively through out the seasons.

What about you? Do you feel the veil beginning to thin too?

Alive and Thankful

If you read my other blog you know that I've been super busy launching a new product line for one of my Etsy shops. I don't like to spend a lot of time on the Etsy stuff with this blog; mainly because this blog isn't about pushing my art. But that's what's been taking up my time lately. Well that and the whole building a whole new little person. My focus has been a little scattered lately.

But it's Mabon and I wanted to mark the day.

Last Yule I planted a few seeds for the coming year; the year that is coming closer to it's end now. Since Mabon is all about thanksgiving and the harvest, I've decided to take stock of the seeds that I planted last December; the ones that are ripening and the ones that have come to fruition.

This year we planted our first garden. We've started to reap the benefits of growing our own food and already have plans to expand, dig out more space, grow more next year.

I have put more focus on being creative; hence the new product line and a steady (for the most part) stream of projects ranging from photography to painting and glass work and also some embroidered mixed media. Of course with the Bean making an appearance the steadiness has met a few bumps. Of course it could be said that baking the Bean is another type of creative act.

As for thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for; The Peanut and the coming Bean and the health and happiness of both (as far as I know the Bean is both). The strength of my relationship with the Husband over the last year and how close we have grown. It has not been a simple as pie year but compared to 2009 we're sailing.

As is the case with most of the Sabbats and Esbats we celebrated simply. Dinner was a simple vegetable based soup made with some of the herbs from our garden served with corn muffins. Had Gestational Diabetes not been a factor I would have added a baked apple dessert to the feast as it is next year will see one on the table. The Peanut and I went for an after dinner walk and talked about what we are thankful for; her list of thanksgiving included dinosaurs and recycling.

How has your harvest been? What did you do to observe Mabon?

TIme

it seems to get away from you during the summer. Between running to appointments and heading out to the beach these last months have drifted away with not too much to show for them except a bulging belly and a bucket full of memories. My plans for gardening, making art, going for walks in the woods, revisiting the elements and connecting with them, heading out with the Peanut for picnics at the playground have all melted away in a haze of mid day naps and aforementioned beach days and appointments.

I could feel guilty about that but I don't have a lot of energy to spare on guilt. To be honest it's been a fabulous summer and other than a few moments of wishing that I could crawl inside the refrigerator with a tall glass of lemonade and a big bowl of ice cream; I don't think I'd change how I've been spending my time.

As the days grow shorter and the air becomes cooler, I expect my focus will return. I also expect that my days will start to have a little more shape than the loosey goosiness of the summer.