Today is Imbolc (Lady Day or Feast of Brigid)….February 2nd

Have a Sprightly Imbolc (Lady Day or Feast of Brigid)….February 2nd

Imbolc, pronounced: EE-Molc, (is an old Celtic name).
Incense: Rosemary, Frankincense, Myrrh, Cinnamon
Decorations: Corn Dolly, Besom, Spring Flowers
Colours: White, Orange, Red

This holiday is also known as Brigid’s (pronounced BREED) Day. One of the 4 Celtic “Fire Festivals. Commemorates the changing of the Goddess from the Crone to the Maiden and celebrates the first signs of Spring.

This is the seasonal change where the first signs of spring and the return of the sun are noted, i.e. the first sprouting of leaves, the sprouting of the Crocus flowers etc. In other words, it is the festival commemorating the successful passing of winter and the beginning of the agricultural year. This Festival also marks the transition point of the threefold Goddess energies from those of Crone to Maiden.

For more information, go to the source: http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_wheel_of_the_year/imbolc.asp

Deity…by Diane Tegarden

Deity

Tell me of your deepest fears,
your vivid dreams and fantasies.
Can you tell me of these?

Must I force you to reveal yourself,
to give up that which you hold dear?

Can’t you see I will know anyway,
without you whispering a word?

My role is not to answer every question with a yes,
nor to fulfill your every wish,
but to know what you will need
as you become yourself.

Believe in me or not-
deny that I will provide for you.
Stand alone in your need.

But once you accept me as your own,
you will feel my hands
steady your stumble.

I will not let you fall,
too far.

I’ll surround you with the opportunity
to live life as a complete,
beloved,
living

Deity.

(C) 2007 by Diane Tegarden

 

 

Origins of Mother’s Day

Dear Wordmeisters,
According to the http://www.care2.com website:

Mother’s Day celebrations date back at least as far as ancient Greece, where worshipers observed a spring day in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the gods.

In 17th century England, Christians celebrated “Mothering Sunday,” the fourth Sunday in Lent, to honor the Virgin Mary and other faithful Moms.

The first Mother’s Day celebrations in the USA took place in West Virginia in 1908, at the urging of Ana Jarvis. Ana’s own mother had passed away several years earlier, and it had been her dream to reunite families divided by the Civil War with a day dedicated to Mothers.

The idea quickly caught on, and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday of May to be the official Mother’s Day.

To put it simply, Moms are the BEST!

Huge hugs,
Diane T. and furfamily

Blessed Beeee this May Day (Beltane)

Wade and I wanted to be married on May 1st, an ancient celebration of love, but that week in 1990 it fell on a Monday, so we were married on Saturday April 29 so that all our guests could attend.

We usually go to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire on May Day to celebrate our nuptials. But this year we couldn’t go because I’ve got some problems with my feet, so we stayed home for our 22nd wedding anniversary (and our 27th year living together!)

Here is some info on Beltane:

Beltane/ May Day/ May 1st
by Gabrielle Diana Laney

In the ‘Wheel of the Year,’ a concept that is becoming a tradition among neo-pagans, much has been written on the ‘cross-quarter’ days. These are the festivals that fall between the solstices and equinoxes. While the solstices and equinoxes mark the sun’s place in the wheel, the cross-quarter days, which were more important to the ancient peoples, are not merely halfway marks in the sun’s progress through the year.

Beltane is celebrated on May first, (in Scotland May 15th) but sometime between May 5th-11th, the goddess Brigit brought in the fire of rebirth, fertility, courtship, and the opening of Summer.

In his book “The Living World of Faery”, R.J. Stuart states: “The rising and setting of the small star group, the Pleiades, is used worldwide to mark the pivot of the year, when they rise in the Northern Hemisphere they are setting in the southern hemisphere and vice versa. The modern dates for this relativistic event are close to May 1st and November 5th, the Celtic feasts of Beltane and Samhain, or May Day and Halloween, the two portal fire-festivals. These pre-Celtic festival dates are not, as is often stated incorrectly, solar events. The Celts did not use a solar calendar but a lunar one. Nor did the pre-Celtic and megalithic people base their time patterns on the seasons and the sun, but upon stellar and planetary patterns linked together.”

To read the whole article go to:
www.avalonvisions.com/beltane.html

Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet again!

Happy Eostre Egg Hunting All!!

The ancient origins of Easter/ Eastre/Eostre

According to http://www.care2.com:

The name Easter comes from Eastre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor. Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-Christian spring festivals. Others come from the Passover feast of the Jews, observed in memory of their deliverance from Egypt. The resurrection of Jesus took place during the Passover. In the early days of Christianity Easter and the Passover were closely associated.

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. They issued the Easter Rule which places Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox (first day of Spring). Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny also originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The Goddess, Eastre, was worshiped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

The Easter Egg
The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians. The egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Happy Eostre Egg Hunting All!!

Happy Spring Equinox!

Scrying…a look into the future

If you’d really like to “see into the future”, try this method. You can do it at home and it doesn’t cost that much.

Have a quiet time and place set aside where you won’t be disturbed. Create a quiet, meditative environment. Set out a candle in the middle of a small table and compose yourself to relax (this may be the hardest part).

You can have on soft music, but hopefully it won’t have words, or your mind will start sending you thousand of annoying, distracting messages again.

Start with a few deep calming breaths, but not too many, the idea isn’t to become light headed, but clear headed.

Next, clear your mind of mundane thoughts and simply look at the candle flames, trying to quiet the incessant mental chatter. Once you can quiet your mind, just sit for a few minutes, allowing your mind to wander in a serene calm, and see what comes to your mind naturally.

This is a kind of meditation, part future seeing (scrying) and partly just to help you gather calm energy for the day ahead. If the candle technique doesn’t work at first, give it time to become part of your weekly routine and you may be surprised what eventually happens.

Alternately, you can use a bowl filled with water, or a mirror as the scrying surface.

Energetically, Diane Tegarden
“How to Escape a Bad Marriage-A Self Help Divorce Book for Women”;
“Light Through Shuttered Window”; “Anti-Vigilante and The Rips in Time” at BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, firewalkerpublications.com

Blessed be this Imbolc Day/Feast of Brigid/Candlemas Day

Blessed be this Imbolc Day/Feast of Brigid/Candlemas Day!!

“The First of February belongs to Brigid, (Brighid, Brigit, Bride,) the Celtic goddess who in later times became revered as a Christian saint. Originally, her festival on February 1 was known as Imbolc or Oimelc, two names which refer to the lactation of the ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces of spring. Later, the Catholic Church replaced this festival with Candlemas Day on February 2, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and features candlelight processions. The powerful figure of Brigid the Light-Bringer incorporates both pagan and Christian celebrations.”

To read more about this fascinating feast day, go to:
http://www.chalicecentre.net/imbolc.htm

BTW, current tradition has changed this feast day into the contemporary holiday, “Ground Hog Day”. As with most ancient holiday traditions, the original meanings have been changed and the original deities co-opted to fit the current faith of contemporary people.