Monday Make A – May Pole &/or Mosaic Flower Pot

Both of these were found on The Goddess Within – A Pagan Place For Women

Make Your Own May Pole

You can make your own small tabletop version of the May Pole, this apparently ancient pagan agricultural symbol around which much festivity and dancing ensues. Most agricultural cultures seem to have similar institutions.

Needed:

• Paper Towel Roll
• Paint
• Cardboard
• Ribbon or streamers
• Tape
• Scissors
• Flowers (optional)

Paint the paper towel roll a bright color and let it dry. Tape one end of the painted roll onto a small piece of cardboard so it stands up straight. Wrap colorful ribbon around the roll and secure with tape. Cut lengths of ribbon or streamer to hang on the outside of your May Pole. The ribbon pieces should be just a little longer than the roll. Going around the roll, tape one end of each ribbon length to the inside top edge of the roll. If you like, decorate the top of your May Pole with flowers.

Hand Mosaiced Flower Pots

You will need...

• mosaic tiles purchased from hobby store OR
• colorful plates carefully broken into mosaic-sized pieces
• 4 oz. bottle of tile Adhesive (purchased from hobby store)
• 8 oz. jar premixed grout (purchased from hobby store)
• Tile nippers (purchased from hobby store)
• Plastic Grout Spreading Tool (purchased from hobby store)
• Grout Sponge (purchased from hobby store)

Directions:
Dab a little glue on each of the four corners of each tile and carefully place tile on rim of flowerpot. Center the tile along the rim, a little below the top edge.  Continue gluing down the tiles until the rim is covered. The last tile may need to be nipped to fit. Continue gluing tiles onto the base of the pot so that they fit neatly together and the colors are evenly distributed. Continue working until the whole pot is covered in an attractive "crazy quilt" design. While the adhesive is still wet, tiles can be shifted with a craft stick until you are satisfied with the positioning. The adhesive will begin to dry within 5 to 7 minutes. Do not attempt to reposition the tile after the adhesive begins to set. The adhesive dries clear and can be peeled off, so don't worry if you get a little on the visible side of the tile. Make sure to keep your hands clean and free of adhesive while applying tile. Wash hands as needed. Allow the tiles to dry for at least 12 hours (overnight is better).

Grouting
Fill a container with water and have handy plenty of paper towels. Run strips of masking tape along the inner sides of the pot to keep off the grout. Using a plastic Grout Spreader Tool, scoop out grout and spread it over the tiles and into the 'crevices' between the tiles. Work the grout into the crevices until it becomes smooth and level with the tile surface. The best way to do this is by spreading the grout in one direction and then spreading it in the opposite direction. When you have finished applying grout, wait about 15 minutes for it to harden slightly. Dampen Grout Sponge with cool water and squeeze it. The sponge should be damp, but not soaking wet. Gently wipe the dampened sponge across the tile surface, removing excess grout from all surfaces. Wash out the sponge periodically while cleaning tile, as it really soaks up the grout. Allow to dry overnight. Gently loosen any remaining excess grout from tile with a wooden craft stick. Gently polish tiles with a paper towel or cloth. For extra shiny tiles, polish with a small amount of vegetable or olive oil. Give your pot as a gift or plant in it yourself!

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from `this blog.

Thursday This is Your Spell – Has Been Interrupted for Beltane Associations

Beltane Associations
Unknown source

Herbs: Honeysuckle, St. John's Wort, Hawthorn, All flowers
Incense: Frankincense, Lilac, Rose
Colors: Green, Soft pink, Blue and Yellow
Decorations: Maypole, Strings of beads or flowers, Ribbons, Spring flowers
Foods: Dairy, Oatmeal Cakes, Cherries, Strawberries, Wine Punches, Green Salads

Tools and Ritual Components:

Incense – Frankincense, Rose and Bluebells make a lovely scent to appease the Fey and bring trust and purification to your gathering.
Ritual Soap - Thyme and Rose for balance and beauty, and to tempt the faerie folk into joining your celebration.
Anointing Oil - Lily of the Valley, a traditional May Day flower.
Ritual Cup - Woodruff Wine to banish negativity, or Red Clover Tea, a Victorian favorite for spring.
Altar Decorations - Ivy, Rose, and Hawthorn adorn the altar, while fresh Marigold petals form the outer circle. Garnet is a symbol of union and may be placed central to the altar for fidelity, and friendship.
Clothing - Crown yourself with a wreath of Ivy. Wear bright, lively colors, especially the green of the forest to honor life and vitality.
Cakes - By May, strawberries have come into season. Why not enjoy them with Victorian popovers and a little cream? It's one way of thanking the Earth for her bounty. Candied Violets are also a traditional Victorian treat for this holiday.

* Nine Woods Used in The Belfire *

Birch - (Attributes: Protection of children, purification, creativity) Add to the fire to represent the Goddess or female principle.
Oak - (Attributes: All positive purposes, magic for men, fidelity) Add to the fire symbolizing the God or male principle.
Rowan, or mountain ash - (Attributes: Divination, healing, astral work, protection) Add to the fire as the Tree of Life. .
Willow - (Attributes: - Romantic love, healing, protection, fertility, magic for women) Sacred to Hecate, add willow to the fire as a celebration of death.
Hawthorn - (Attributes: Fertility, peace, prosperity, binding) As Tree of Purification and a Sacred faeries tree, add hawthorn to the Belfire for purity.
Hazel - (Attributes: Manifestation, spirit contact, protection, fertility) As Tree of wisdom, add hazel to the fire to gain wisdom.
Apple - (Attributes: Fertility. Tree of love) Add apple wood to the fire for the magic of love.
Vine - (Attributes: Faerie work, Joy, Exhilaration, Wrath, Rebirth) This is the Tree of joy so add vine to the fire for joy.
Fir - (Attributes: Strength, life and immortality, rejuvenation) As the Tree of Immortality, add fir to your Beltane fire for rebirth.

Sources:

A Victorian Grimoire by Patricia Telesco

Celtic Myth and Magick by Edain McCoy (link to the book online)

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Monday Make A - Beltane Paper Plate Flower Decoration

Beltane Paper Plate Flower Decoration

Got the Winter Blues..? Ready for Spring to spring? As I sit here watching the snow fall out my window (Yes, it’s snowing, today April 6 in Indiana…) This is a fast and easy craft you can do with your witchlings to chase away the doldrums :)

You Need:

• 6" paper plate
• You will need the following artificial foliage, available at any craft store – (you could probably get them cheaper at Walmart)
  • 8 leaves, the long skinny ones,
  • 4 oak leaves
  • 1 large flower,
  • 1 daisy
  • 5 small flowers of differing, complimentary colors
• 8” piece of complimentary colored suede cord
• deep lilac, robin’s egg blue, bright pink, or bright yellow paint
• masking tape
• white craft glue
• newspapers

Step By Step Instructions

Begin by covering your work area with newspaper. Using the paint, cover the surface of the plate. Remove the plastic stems from the backs of the leaves and arrange them around the top of the painted plate. Arrange them to your satisfaction – kids seem to have a natural talent for this kind of thing :) Using the craft glue, carefully lift each leaf, apply a thin line of glue to the part that will be on the plate, then put it back in place, pressing lightly to spread the glue and allow the leaf to “set” to the plate.

Cut as much stem from the flowers as you can without causing them to fall apart. Place the large flower in the middle of the plate, when you have it where you like it, apply a generous amount of glue and press it to the plate. Place one of the small flowers in the middle of the large one. Arrange the remaining small flowers around the bottom of the plate until satisfied, then glue the same way as the others.

When the glue is completely dry, cut the cord and secure it to the back of the plate for hanging. Tape it securely in place using the masking tape, and you’re done!

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Friday Form A Circle - Solitary Sabbat Spring Equinox Ritual

De-Anna Alba's Solitary Sabbat Spring Equinox Ritual
Written by De-Anna Alba from Pagans Online – but the link is dead – well not dead it takes you to a search engine now…

A Pace-Egging Ritual

The use of eggs in Spring Equinox rituals is a centuries-old custom. Our Pagan ancestors first used eggs in Spring fertility rituals in a variety of ways. With the coming of Christianity, the use of eggs was transferred to the celebration of Easter. The Greek Orthodox church uses red colored eggs to this day. They say the red color represents the blood of Christ shed for us in anticipation of the resurrection. (I feel there is a much older, more accurate, and certainly more Pagan explanation. It symbolizes the blood of birth that happens all over the animal kingdom at this time of year in the northern hemisphere. And by extension, represents the whole cyclical theme of death and rebirth, with an obvious emphasis on the rebirth part of the cycle.)

The use of eggs was also transferred to the "childish" celebration of Easter, including the Easter egg hunt, the Easter bunny (another fertility symbol), and various other sensuous treats like chocolate kisses, cream-filled eggs and jelly beans. (In other words, the fun and fertility were taken out of the original celebration and given to the children, while the adults concentrated on sin, suffering and getting their mortal souls saved via the crucifixion and resurrection of one divine sacrifice.

Modern Wiccans and Pagans have been reclaiming the fertility symbolism of the egg in their Spring Equinox rites for some time now. It usually takes the form of garden/seed planting rituals for those born with, or encouraging, a green thumb. Or, the use of colored or decorated eggs to encourage fertility to happen in their lives in one form or another--fertility of mind, body, spirit, whatever. This ritual is a variation on this last theme.

The ritual is to take place on, or near the Spring Equinox. If you are not able to do this on the actual day of the Equinox, or would prefer to do it on a weekend, I'd suggest you do it the weekend before the Equinox instead of after it. Part of the intention behind celebrating the Sabbats of the Wiccan year is to participate in and encourage the actual turning of the Wheel of the Year - to make sacred the cycle itself. If you wait until after the holiday, you've lost the opportunity to participate in the sacred turning (although you can still honor this after the fact).

Depending on your time, inclination, and perhaps your physical capabilities, you can do this ritual in one of two ways. It's intended to be a ritual that includes some walking and/or driving around. If this seems too much for you for whatever reason, you can simply eat the eggs over a period of days. Read on to see what I mean. The purpose of this ritual is to seed things you would like to have come into your life during the upcoming season of birth, growth, maturity and harvest. You will decorate one egg for each of the things you wish to have bloom or bring to fruition in your life. Take some time during the week before the ritual to decide what those things will be. If you're like me you'll need to write them down so you don't forget. Think about any colors, symbols or designs you might associate with each thing you want to manifest in your life. Write them down as well if you need to.

Conveniently enough, Easter is coming soon, so you'll be able to go out and buy egg dying kits. Just be sure the kit you choose includes one of those wax crayons for drawing on the eggs. You know, the kind that writes in invisible wax on the egg and then the writing (or drawing) magically appears on the egg when it is placed in the coloring medium. If you're planning on doing the pace-egging part of the ritual, you'll need to locate a small digging trowel or trench-shovel as well. The object here is to symbolically decorate each egg and then take it to a place associated with the things you'd like to bring into your life and plant it there. For example, if you want to bring more psychic ability into yourself, you might want to take an appropriately decorated egg to a body of water and drop it into it. Water is associated with things psychic. If you need to slow down the pace of your life, you might want to bury an egg dedicated to that purpose at the base of a slow growing tree, like an Oak If you want to bring love into your life, trying burying the appropriate egg in a spot beneath the intertwining branches of two trees. You get the idea

On the day of the ritual, hard boil your eggs. That night, gather together all the things you will need to create the number of eggs you'll need. Set it all up in your ritual space. (On a practical note, you may wish to turn your kitchen table into your altar for the night so that you'll have plenty of space in which to work and access to other things you might need from the kitchen that you may not have anticipated, like water, spoons, towels, etc.) Have your usual altar accoutrements there as well. Once your altar/work area is set up, take a few minutes to mentally / physically prepare yourself for ritual. (Ritual bath, meditation, smudging, whatever you usually do.)

Cast your circle, call the quarters and invoke Goddess (or do whatever it is you do to create sacred space and call on/up the divine). Now begin creating your eggs. Be sure to concentrate on/visualize what you want to have happen as you create them. Repeat affirmations to yourself about each one if you find that Magically useful. When you are done with all of them, place them in a basket or cauldron and say a spell over them that summarizes all the actions/things you'd like to have manifest. Dismiss your circle, etc.

Now take your basket of eggs, your trowel, and anything else you think you'll need, and "plant" each seed/egg where you think it Magically belongs, thinking about the egg's intent as you "plant" each one. This could take place within the space of a couple of hours or over the space of a couple of days, depending on your own preferences. If, for whatever reason, you are unwilling or unable to take your eggs out and "plant" them, simply put them in a basket and place them in the refrigerator. Then eat one each day for breakfast until they are gone, visualizing the Magic of each egg being planted within you and beginning to take root and grow at once.

That's it! If you have children you can have them make eggs with their own wishes for themselves on them. Then you can hide them as in the traditional Easter egg hunt, and have them find them. Be sure to tell them that the finding and eating of each egg will be the trigger that releases the spell on each egg to begin coming true in their lives.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions / recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Wednesday Whatever – More Dream Stuffs

I remembered, this week!

Colors In Dreams
Experts believe that almost everyone dreams in color. If a major portion of your dream reflects a consistent color theme, this could have some type of meaning in interpreting that dream. Below are the major colors and what they could mean.

Black
Black symbolizes the unknown, unconscious, danger, mystery, darkness, death, mourning, hate or malice. If the feeling in the dream is one of joy, blackness could imply hidden spirituality and divine qualities.

To dream in black and white, suggests that you need to be more objective in formulating your decisions. You may be a little too unyielding in your thought process and thus need to find some sort of balance between two opposing views. Consider the views and opinions of others. Alternatively, black and white dreams are signs of depression or sadness. You may feel that there is not enough excitement in your life

Blue
Blue represents truth, wisdom, heaven, eternity, devotion, tranquility, loyalty and openness. The presence of this color in your dream, may symbolize your spiritual guide and your optimism of the future. You have clarity of mind.

Depending on the context of your dream, the color blue may also be a metaphor of "being blue" and feeling sad

Brown
Brown denotes worldliness, practicality, domestic and physical comfort, conservatism, and a materialistic character. Brown also represents the ground and earth

Gold
The golden color reflects your spiritual rewards, richness, refinement and enhancement of your surroundings.

Green
Green signifies a positive change, good health, growth, healing, hope, vigor, vitality, peace, and serenity. Green is also symbolic of your strive to gain recognition and establish your independence. Money, wealth and jealousy are often associated with this color. Dark green indicates materialism, cheating, deceit, and/or difficulties with sharing. You need to balance between your masculine and feminine attributes.

Gray
Gray indicates fear, fright, depression, ill health, ambivalence and confusion. You may feel emotionally distant or detached.

Orange
Orange denotes friendliness, courtesy, lively, sociability, and an out-going nature. You may want to expand your horizons and look into new interests.

Pink
Pink represents love, joy, sweetness, happiness, affection, kindness. Being in love or healing through love is also implied with this color.

Purple
Purple is indicative of devotion, healing abilities, loving, kindness, and compassion. It is also the color of royalty, high rank, and dignity.

Red
Red is an indication of raw energy, force, vigor, intense passion, aggression, power, courage and passion. The color red has deep emotional and spiritual connotations. Red is also the color of danger, shame, sexual impulses and urges. Perhaps you need to stop and think about your actions.

White
White represents purity, perfection, peace, innocence, dignity, cleanliness, awareness, and new beginnings. You may be experiencing a reawakening or have a fresh outlook on life. However, in Eastern cultures, white is associated with death and mourning

Yellow
The color yellow has both positive and negative connotations. If the dream is a pleasant one, then the color yellow is symbolic of intellect, energy, agility, happiness, harmony, and wisdom.  On the other hand, if the dream is an unpleasant one, then the color represents cowardice and sickness. You may have a fear or an inability to make a decision or take action. As a result, you are experiencing many setbacks

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions / recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.