Dance of the Harvest © Rik BerryTrumpets, harps, hollow-throated horns, pipers, timpanists, unwearied… fiddlers, gleemen, bone-players and bag-pipers, a rude crowd, noisy, profane, roaring and shouting.— Medieval eyewitness account of Lughnasadh festival at Teltown Happy Birthday today to Harry Potter and, coincidentally, Madame Helena Blavatsky, author of Isis Unveiled, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, and … Read more
Spring ChantBy Ivo Dominguez, Jr Joy In The Gold Buds Of Spring.Passion In The Greening Leaf,Joy In The Rising Day.Passion Neath The Glowing Moon,Come Swelling Tides Of Spring.Fill Me With The Promise Of Green. The Spring rites continue as many Pagans and Witches will be gathering over this weekend to celebrate the Full Moon Esbat … Read more
The Goddess Ostara © Mickie MuellerThe country habit has me by the heart,For he’s bewitched forever who has seen,Not with his eyes but with his vision, SpringFlow down the woods and stipple leaves with sun. – Vita Sackville-West Also known as Lady Day or Alban Eiler (in Druid traditions), on this day, night and day … Read more
Blessings of Imbolc This is the great moment in the Wheel of the Year when we take note of the first stirrings of Spring. Though snow may still blanket the ground in some places, and storms are sure to continue, the light is growing stronger every day, and new signs of the return of life … Read more
Triple Goddess, © BriarThere, at the foot of the tree, belonging to no man,A silver apple falls.There, amongst the branches, the mother sits.Weaver of dreams against the weft of the wood,Insight falls like gentle rain on a moon-bathed garden.— Song to Hecate, by Alison Jones Now is the time to prepare for Imbolc, sometimes called … Read more
Once more the liberal year laughs outO’er richer stores than gems or gold:Once more with harvest song and shoutIs nature’s boldest triumph told.— John Greenleaf Whittier This morning, before most North Americans had rolled out of bed, we moved into the time of perfect balance, the Equinox, taken from the Latin for “equal night.” It … Read more
What a wonderful life I’ve had! If only I’d realized it sooner! — Colette As Lughnassadh reminds us, the Wheel is turning, and while summer’s heat continues as if it will last forever, there is already a feverishness about it. The birds, the creatures of fields and forests, and even the Green Ones are now … Read more
Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faithby Mary Oliver Every summerI listen and lookunder the sun’s brass and eveninto the moonlight, but I can’t hear anything, I can’t see anything —not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,nor the leavesdeepening their damp pleats, nor the tassels making,nor the shucks, nor … Read more
When in still air and still in summertimeA leaf has had enough of this, it seemsTo make up its mind to go; fine as a sageIts drifting in detachment down the road. — Howard Nemerov, Threshold This is the eve of Lughnassadh, also called Lammas in the Christian revision of the Pagan rites. It is … Read more
Today is Midsummer Day in many of the Scandinavian and eastern European countries. In Finland, Latvia, and Estonia, for example, Midsummer Day is second only to Christmas as the biggest holiday of the year. Bonfires, feasting, parades, dancing and carousing fill the countryside. All sorts of divination and spells are common practice, and reveling outdoors … Read more