PaganWitch

Tarot Tuesday – King of Cups

Kendra — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:07:45 +0000

Tarot Tuesday (err.. Wednesday)

King of Cups

Description:

A King dressed in blue robes stands. He holds a cup. His crown bears the zodiac symbols of Cancer, Scorpio & Pisces, with the Scorpio symbol the largest. The land around him is Winter. There is a stream nearby, but it’s frozen.

Interpretation:

That which is represented by card modified is at the point of creative urge. Some new emotion is coming and will be, but has not yet taken enough form. The Querent has chosen a direction for emotion, or feels the possibility of such. Querent may feel the urge to perform some act of divination. Reversed: Possible stagnation – nothing new has begun. If the modified card has to do with divination or scrying, the Querent may not be able to reach anything.

My Interpretation:

I look at this card and I see “Father Christmas” or Father Time. I feel like this is a time of reflection on what it is that I want to be, what it is that I want to become, and where I am going. A quiet time, waiting to see what the future holds for me. This is when I normally do my divinations to see if my path is clear, or if the signs that I’m seeing are accurate. This is also a good time to meditate on what the Universe, Deity, and my higher self is trying to tell me.

What is the card saying to you?

Wishcasting Wednesday

Kendra — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:04:00 +0000

It’s Wishcasting Wednesday!

What do you wish to give yourself permission for?

You can be a maker of magic and a tender of wishes. It’s easy. Answer the wish prompt above on your blog and then add a direct link to your post in the box at Jamie Ridler’s Website. Support wishes by visiting other participants, leaving a comment saying “As (insert name) wishes for her/himself, so I wish for her/him also.” It’s that simple. There is great power in wishing together.

I, Kendra, wish to give myself permission to be happy with myself and my life.

It’s funny, I would think that this should go without saying. Why do I need permission to be happy with myself or my life? Shouldn’t that just be automatic? Well, yes it should be automatic, but unfortnately it isn’t always the way things are. I’m sure I’m not alone in this feeling. Like you’re always waiting for someone to tell you your life isn’t good enough somehow, or that the things you value or want are somehow not up to someone else’s standards. Well, the reality is, that only YOU need to be happy and fulfilled by your life and the way you live it. You don’t need someone else’s approval. Just your own! That’s what I’m giving myself right here, is my own approval of my values, my ideas, my lifestyle, my life! I am happy with who I am and my life!

Tarot Tuesday – Two of Pentacles

Kendra — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:45:05 +0000

Today is Tarot Tuesday, where I draw a card from my Tarot deck and we learn about that card and what it means.

Tarot Tuesday – The Empress

Kendra — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:56:58 +0000

You are almost to the end of a cycle or project. All restrictions and obstacles are removed. Abundance, fertility, success, all around just around the corner. Reversed: You are about to begin a cycle or project. The urge to move is joined by the understanding of what to do. Ideas begin to formulate.

Review – The Earth Child’s Handbook – Yule Volume by Brigid Ashwood

Kendra — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:20:56 +0000

The Earth Child’s Handbook – Yule Volume by Brigid Ashwood

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of this amazing little book, The Earth Child’s Handbook – Yule Volume by Brigid Ashwood. This is a little book that she has available on her website for download, and at only $3 it’s a steal! There are a handfull of good pagan parenting books out there, and this is one book that I would suggest for any pagan parent, especially with smaller children.

This downloadable and printable e-book is 14 pages, with crafts, recipies, stories and other activities that are great for the Pagan family to do together for Yule. Actually some of the activities would be good for anyone at any age. I’m planning on doing one of the activities with my Wicca Class during our little Yule celebration. It’s a perfect little working for a small close knit group or family. I know my students will enjoy doing it and it will bring us closer together.

This volume includes the following crafts, projects and information:

Yule Altar ideas
Yule Facts and Correspondences
Yule Ritual
Yule Log Cake Recipe
Wassail Recipe
Yule Log
Wassailing Info
Holly Wreath Craft
Snowflake Ornament Craft
Cinnamon Solar Cross Ornament Craft
Yule Wrapping Paper
Coloring Pages, Maze & Word Search

Some of her other books include:

The Heavens, Stars, God & Goddess

Mother Earth & Elements

The Wheel of the Year – A Sabbat Primer

Samhain

And others to come soon.

I highly recommend checking these wonderful books out for yourself and your family!

New Crafts Just In Time For Yule

Kendra — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:52:13 +0000

I know I’ve talked about some of the items that my altar still needs… the main thing is the Pentacle tile for blessings. I’ve been trying to find one to buy, but none have really called out to me. So my sweetheart suggested I make my own out of tile samples from Lowes or Home Depot. Well, we didn’t get around to getting any, but one of my students said she had some tiles from her house laying around and would let me have some. She brought me five! That would be plenty! I could make one for the class to use, which would be a simple pentacle with the elements listed at the correct points of the star, and then the others I could make for my personal altar, the boys, and even have one left over to make to give away at the Yule raffle! So this weekend, that is exactly what I did. These are the pictures of how they turned out, except for the class one, which is just a basic one, no need to show that one off. LOL!

This is the one I will be giving away at Yule for Ecclasia. I made one like this for my youngest son Jack, as well.

This is the one that Roger picked for himself. It’s a golden circle around branches that make up the star with leaves coming out of the end of the branches. Originally I had the circle in yellow and red, but I really didn’t like the way it looked so covered it with the gold pain instead.

This is the last one that I made. It’s a celtic knotwork circle, with the colors of the 4 elements and silver rings and the star is gold.

I had a lot of fun making all of these pentacles and may very well decide to not only make more for gifts, but to sell them on etsy and ebay. What do you think? Is anyone out there interested in hand painted pentacle altar tiles like these?

My New Athame

Kendra — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:34:49 +0000

While I was on my “quick trip” to Southern California for Samhain, I picked up my new athame. I went to The Enchanted Crystal, which is up in Running Springs, CA. and was looking around, mostly for an athame, but well… it’s a New Age store, I”m a pagan, do I really need to explain why I was in the store? LOL! Anyway, I saw this really great “hidden” athame, which looked like a tree but the top branch came out and was an athame. I looked at the price and it was well within my budget. AFter about 5 minutes of me staring at the athame, Zenah, the owner of the store, came up and started talking to me about the athame. She asked me about what other things I had on my altar, and then suggested I look at other athames in the store for comparison. That’s when she showed me this one!

The entire peice stands about 18 inches to the top of the hilt of the dagger. The dagger comes out of the dragons hand, which makes for a very impressive flare during a ritual. The blade is dull and is actually a letter opener, but it’s heavy and feels good. It’s made of stainless steel as well. The dragon base is, I think, pewter or maybe ceramic.. I don’t know what it is, but it’s cool. So there it sits on my hearth. Since the new moon is coming up on Monday, I am doing a cleansing and consecrating ritual this weekend to bless and consecrate my new athame. Then the next class that has a full moon, we’ll be doing a ritual and I’ll use my new athame in the ritual. I can’t wait!

I’ve been looking through all my books and online to find a good athame consecration ritual. There’s alot around, but nothing that really struck me as the right words/actions. So I’m going to come up with my own. I know that’s what I should do anyway, but I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel if I didn’t have to. I’m lazy and pressed for time, so I didn’t want to try to come up with stuff. But the Goddess wants me to and isn’t letting me get away with being lazy, so fine! I’ll write my own damn words! LOL!

Which reminds me of one of my favorite pagan poems ever!

Butt Prints In the Sand ~ Anonymous

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of the Goddess they were,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
and I asked Her, “What have we here?
These prints are large and round and neat,
But much too big to be from feet.”

“My child,” She said in somber tones,
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.”

“You would not learn, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt.

“Because in life, there comes a time
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand.”

Samhain – Ritual Review – Ecclasia

Kendra — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:06:02 +0000

One of the things that I was taught in Ecclasia is that every Sabbat Ritual should be discussed and critiqued by the students. I've always loved this because it solidifies my memory and confirms the things I liked and disliked about the ritual itself. Those are always good things to remember for your own refrences when you are creating your own rituals.

A Blessed Samhain

Kendra — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:58:40 +0000

Most people consider tomorrow, October 31st, or Sunday November 1st, Samhain. However, the reality of it is that Samhain doesn’t fall on a specific date. It falls on an astrological occurance, which is 15 degrees Scorpio. Which isn’t until November 7th this year. This is an interesting fact, which I wasn’t aware of until recently.

Samhain (sow’ en) – Major Sabbat, 15 degrees of Scorpio
So, if you’re like me, instead of waiting till next week to celebrate, you’ll be celebrating from tomorrow until next Saturday. LOL! I think it’s only proper to have a week long celebration. I for one will be going to two public Samhain celebrations, the brown cording ritual (which will be on the Full moon on Monday) and I will also be doing a little family celebration as well. whoohoo! I love it when I can have continuous celebrations for the holidays, especially my favorite holidays.So what are you going to be doing for Samhain? Will you be celebrating only on Oct. 31, only Nov 7th, or the entire week? Let me know what you’ll be doing for Samhain. Whatever it is, may you have a wonderful, blessed and safe Samhain!

Cords, Knots, & Braids…. Oh MY!

Kendra — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:36:36 +0000

I was going to talk about cords in my last post because I mentioned the boys going through their Brown Cording next week. Then I realized that if I talked about cords, that post would end up much longer than I really wanted it to be. So, I figured the best thing to do was dedicate a whole post just to cords. This is that post.

Cords – What Are They Good For?

In Wicca cords, knots and braids are used in magic a lot. Actually, they are used in society a lot for all types of magic. If you’ve ever “tied a ribbon on your finger” to remind yourself of something, you’ve done a little knot magic. Ribbons being tied around packages are remnants of old magic and rituals. And for the “serious” witch, you’ll use knots and cords in magic for bringing all sorts of good luck, wishes, and various outcomes to your life.

Although there are lots of different spells that can be found for tying knots (including the marriage knot), I’m not going to be talking about that here. You can find that information just about anywhere. What I am going to talk about are the cords that we wear in ritual.

In Wicca, but most specifically in the Ecclasian tradition, we wear cords of various colors during our rituals. These cords aren’t just pretty belts to wear around our robes. These are used for several reasons. One reason is to show your standing or rank within the coven. The other is to help keep you grounded and centered within the circle.

The Colors & Their Meanings:

Brown – Just finished the beginning Wicca course and is dedicated to the Wiccan path.
Black – Given at Wiccaning – a person who has gone through the “Threshold” and is on the path to Initiation into Ecclasia
Silver/Gold – A Silver or Gold strand is added to the Black cord at initiation, symbolizes a 1st degree initiate. The choice of color is up to the initiate, Silver symbolizing the Goddess and Gold symbolizing the God.
2nd Silver/Gold – A second strand of either Silver or Gold is added to the Black cord at the 2nd degree. Must be the opposite of what was chosen at 1st degree (i.e. If Silver chosen at 1st degree, Gold must be taken at 2nd.)
Red – is add to those who choose the Teachers path in Ecclasia
Blue – Added to those who choose to be healers
Yellow – Added to those who choose to be diviners
Green – Added to those who choose to be Herbologists
White – The white cord is only given to those who go through 3rd degree training and have become elders in the path.

These are two examples of cords within the Ecclasian tradition.

Brown Cording

The Brown Cording ritual that my sons and the other students in the Beginning Wicca class will be going through is this coming Monday. I obviously can not tell you anything about the actual ritual, but needless to say it’s a big step for anyone on this path. They will be affirming their dedication to the Wiccan path and starting the Threshold into further studies. I am proud of my sons and my students for taking this step and I am looking forward to guiding them further onto this path. I’d like to thank each of them for allowing me to be their teacher and guide and I can’t wait to work with each of you further!