The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring Tra La

One of the great things about my property is that when I moved in, a lot of my favorite flowers were already here, including a bunch of lilac bushes. Most of them bloomed this week, and I thought I'd share. Sorry you can't smell them!

I've also got all sorts of birds nesting in bird houses, and in one case, on top of a bird house (apparently it didn't like the house itself, go figure).

Plus I put in a new flowerbed where there used to be strawberries (they're in the main garden now). This year it has annuals in it, but I'm planning to plant some perennials for next year.

What are your favorite spring flowers?

Belated Weedy Wednesday: A Lovely Pile of...Poop?

Okay, yes, it is late Thursday night and by the time most of you see this, it will be Friday. What can I say, it has been a long week. Now that I'm back in the garden again, I'm hoping to start posting regular garden and yard pictures and updates on, you know, Wednesdays. For now, just work with me, will ya people?

As usual at this time of year, there is a mad dash to get everything in the ground in time to take advantage of the limited growing season we get here in Upstate NY. But this year the process has been complicated by Extremely Rude and Erratic Weather. It stayed cold long past the time when the planting season would usually have begun (there was still snow on the ground in early April, when I'd normally plant lettuce, spinach, peas, and such) and then it got insanely hot. Before getting cold again. (We've had a frost warning this week and there is another one for Friday night.) So the planting has all been compressed into an even smaller window than usual, and I'm just hoping for the best.

On the bright side, I got a huge truck load of 2 year old composted horse manure, which will give my garden a much needed boost (and no, it doesn't smell at all). This made me ridiculously happy. And since my garden is across the yard from where the pile was dumped, is negating the need for any visits to the gym anytime soon, as I shovel a load into a wheelbarrow, push it across the yard, then shovel it back out again inside the garden. I'm so happy about the manure, I don't even mind the hard work. Yes, I do realize this means I need to get a life.

Ye Olde Pile of Poop and a yellow wheelbarrow

Manure pile to the left by the barn. Garden to the right.

In we go

And a happy raised bed topped off with manure

The strawberries, and the garlic behind them, get sidedressed, which means that the manure is spread between the rows.

Some other early sights in the spring garden:

A handsome frog, sitting on the pond filter, looking unimpressed by my efforts

Fish, ditto

The big green patch is spinach that overwintered and the little bitty things are spinach and lettuce started this season. The long tomato in the cage has already had to be covered a number of times due to frost threat, so the rest go in later.

Eggplant plants on the left and onions on the right, from the local garden center. They're still pretty spindly looking.

Do you plant a garden? Or do you wish you could? What is your favorite thing to grow?

A Spring Prosperity Spell

Snowdrops in my yard

Spring is the perfect time to do prosperity work for the rest of the year. Nature is beginning to grow and burst into bloom, at least in most places, and we can use that energy to work towards positive increase in our own lives.

Keep in mind that prosperity doesn’t just mean having cash money in your hands (although that’s not a bad thing). If you ask for prosperity with an open mind, it may manifest in unexpected ways: a gift or aid from someone else, an unforeseen opportunity, or a situation that looks grim that turns out to be less so than expected.

For instance, I recently got a flat tire. While I was waiting for AAA to come and put on the spare, I asked the goddess to make the situation turn out as well as possible. You’ll note I didn’t specify “please don’t make this cost me any money.” There was a giant bolt in the side of the tire; even the goddess couldn’t fix that. But when I got to the place where I’d bought the tires, it turned out that there was enough tread on all the other tires that I only had to buy one, instead of two. And it also turned out that there was a road hazard warranty I didn’t remember, so the replacement tire only cost me $64 instead of $112. So in this particular case, prosperity meant that I was only out a little bit of money instead of the larger amount it could have been.

As another example, I was expecting a check from one of my publishers (an advance for the books I just sold, not huge, but enough to make a difference) and found out it was going to be delayed, possibly for months. My finances are precarious enough that this could have been something of a disaster, at least temporarily. Then I got word that I was getting an unexpected payment for books that had sold better than I’d thought. Again, not a huge amount of money, but enough to carry me through until the other check finally shows up. Ta da! A gift from the gods!

In this case, my own hard work was paying off in unanticipated prosperity. That’s an important thing to keep in mind, since Witchcraft isn’t just about “wishing” for something better, but also doing the practical work that will enable it to manifest when the time is right.

Now that spring is here, be sure to start planting the seeds for your own prosperity in actions and intentions. And while you’re at it, you may want to say this spell, just in case you need a little extra help.

Note: You may want to put a vase full of lush flowers in full bloom on your altar as an offering, and/or place a coin in front of you to represent the prosperity you ask for. If you are using a candle, green is a good color for this. For an added boost, try doing the spell on the night of the full moon. If you are at all concerned about your prosperity coming at a cost to others, you can always add “For the good of all and according to the free will of all,” at the end of any spell.

God and Goddess, hear my plea

Bring abundance now to me

Let the blessings overflow

And good things come to all I know

Send me that which I desire

Help me lift myself up higher

Steer my path so I might gain

And true abundance now attain*

*Originally published in Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook: Wonderfully Witchy Blessings, Charms & Spells (Llewellyn, 2010)

The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, Tra La

One of the great "bonus" discoveries I got the first spring I was in this house (I  moved in in October, lo these many years ago) was that there were a lot of my favorite flowers, shrubs, and trees already here. There are a few apple trees and a flowering crab apple, some very prickly wild-ish roses, and among other things, these lovely plants, all of which are flowering right now--quite the balm to my soul after a long bitter winter.

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers--I like them even better than roses.

I grow chives to eat, but they also have lovely blossoms which the bees love.

I have about 7-8 different lilacs, in a variety of colors. This is one of the later bloomers.

This little white rhododendron was hiding under some heavy pines in the front yard. When the trees got trimmed back a couple of years ago, the blooms appeared for the first time!

This is a huge rhododendron that guards the front entrance. It's a little bit of a show off.

Here is the little one in its niche. I'm working on a shade garden under here.

A white lilac, at the end of its bloom period.

 

 

 And as requested, a picture of the "necklace of the week" I posted on Facebook. This one is turquoise, black onyx, and coral--a combination favored by many of the Native American tribes, which I love too.

I hope something lovely is blooming in your yard or in your life. Let me know if there is!

Signs of Spring

It's the first week of May and in theory, we are solidly into spring. The reality at my house is a little less...springy. It was 35 degrees out when I woke up this morning, and my heat had kicked on. Between the cold and the constant rain, I've barely gotten anything done in the garden. Lettuce and spinach went in a few weeks ago, and are barely showing bits of green above the soil. Last weekend I put in about 180 strawberry plants, thanks to my friend JC. Other than that, I've done a little clean up, but that's it. I don't even have peas in yet. (Hopefully this afternoon after work.) If it wasn't for the garlic, planted last fall, it wouldn't look like a garden at all.

But slowly, I'm starting to see signs of spring, so hopefully it will really show up at last. (They're calling for warmer temps by the later part of the week and weekend...along with chances of rain every day. Sigh.)

Still, there's this, seen out the living room window. I have lots of rabbits in my yard, and I often see them chasing each other around at this time of year. They're playing, right? Right?

 And chives, poking out of the ground through last year's leaves.

 The first crocuses.

Frogs in the garden fish pond.

 The return of a couple of last year's beautiful kestrals (a kind of small hawk). I had a family nesting in a hole in the side of the barn, and it looks like I may get a repeat this year.

 And then there is the ultimate sign of spring...shedding cats.

I spent about 20 minutes brushing Magic the Cat (Queen of the Universe, Shedder Extraordinaire). You can see the result. That's A LOT of fur. (She clearly thinks I did a sloppy job grooming her, and is finishing up the rest herself.) And no, you're not seeing things--my black cat sheds gray fur. Hey, she's MAGIC. Her brother and mother are both gray, and Magic has a gray undercoat, which is most of what she sheds in the spring.

This makes it official...spring really is here.

What signs of spring are you seeing?

Spring has Sprung--Time to Reboot!

You know how sometimes you have a problem with your computer or some other electronic gizmo, and you can fix it by simply turning it off and on, or unplugging it and plugging it back in? Don’t you wish it was that easy to reboot our own lives? I know I do. Of course, life doesn’t exactly work like that. But there are times when it is easier to give the process a jump-start, and this is one of them.

The Spring Equinox arrives this year on Thursday, March 20^th—not a moment too soon for those of us who have struggled our way through a tougher than usual winter. And while spring on the calendar isn’t always reflected outside our windows, the energy of the season makes this the perfect time to reboot your body, mind, and spirit.

The energy of the natural world varies with the seasons, and different times of the year can give our endeavors a boost if we work with that energy instead of against it. We’re just coming out of winter, which tends to be a slow and quiet time, where the land rests and the light is dim. This can make trying to get things done pretty difficult if your to do list doesn’t say: eat, nap, eat, read, go to bed.

The spring, however, is an entirely different story. The energy in this season is all about coming up and out of hiding, new beginnings, and growth. It is the perfect time to start new endeavors, or to give yourself something of a personal reboot, if you will.

Most of us have issues or goals we aren’t making as much progress on as we’d like. You know, things like losing weight, quitting smoking or other bad habits, devoting more time to friends or family or spiritual activities so that our lives are more balanced. (Coff:get more exercise:coff). Try taking advantage of spring to give new energy to old ambitions, or come up with brand new ones instead. As the world around us wakes up from its long winter’s sleep, we can hit the reboot button on our lives and wake up too.

Take a look at your life and decide which aspects of mind, body, and spirit could use a jumpstart from spring’s vibrant inclinations towards growth and rebirth. Then push the reboot button, and give it all you’ve got, while spring is bursting out all around us.

What will you reboot this year?

Spiritual Spring Cleaning

Spiritual Spring Cleaning

Ritual: according to the Encarta Dictionary, the observance of actions or procedures in a set, ordered, and ceremonial way.

We all have rituals. Some of them are practical, like the routine we have before we go to bed. (In my house, that goes something like this – lock the doors, turn off the computers, clean the litter boxes, turn off the lights throughout the house, brush teeth, pee, go to bed with a book. Yes, I lead a glamorous and exciting life…why do you ask?) Some rituals are spiritual, whether that means observing a particular holiday, or lighting a candle on an altar.

Some are a combination of both. In many ways, these are my favorite kinds of ritual. I’m a pragmatic kind of woman…if I can accomplish two purposes with one act, I’m a happy camper.

One of my yearly rituals is something I like to call “Spiritual Spring Cleaning.” You might say that this is something of a specialty of mine. I’ve given workshops about it at Pantheacon and other Pagan conferences, written about it in my various books, and in articles in the Llewellyn annuals. All that means, really, is that it is one of my favorite things to do, and I like sharing it with others.

You don’t have to be a Witch to do spiritual spring cleaning. It just requires  mindful focus and a little extra effort. This is how I do it, but as with everything else, you are welcome to change my approach to better suit your own needs and inclinations.

The Purpose: To cleanse your personal space (home, apartment, whatever) on a level that goes deeper than simply sweeping the floor and dusting off the spider plants.

Why Do It: Some kinds of clutter and mess are obvious, like that pile of papers on the table and the laundry you meant to put away three weeks ago. But energy gets cluttered too, and by clearing and cleansing the space you live in, you can often lift yourself out of ruts you didn’t even know you were in, and clear the way for new and rewarding pursuits.

What You’ll Need: A sage smudge stick (or the cleansing incense of your choice), salt and water in a small bowl, a broom and some magickal cleansing oil and/or more salt & water mixture  or lemon juice (optional). If you have sea salt, that’s great, but even regular old table salt will do.

How You Do It: It couldn’t be easier.

If you are going to do a regular spring cleaning, as I do, you can do the spiritual spring cleaning either before or after (I like to do it afterwards, once you’ve stirred up all the stagnant energy by physically cleaning). Otherwise, you can do this by itself, at any time. In reality, I often do this in the fall, as well as the spring, to prepare my home for the long winter hibernation.

Starting either at the bottom of your house (the basement or first floor) or at the front door if you have an apartment, walk from room to room wafting your sage smudge stick and visualizing the smoke clearing and cleansing the space. Take extra care to go around all doors and windows, and any other entrances such as chimneys, since negative energy can come and go through these areas. If you can, open all the windows before you start, and visualize any negative energy or unwanted crap (yes, that’s the technical witchy term) going out the windows. If, as is often the case where I live, it is too cold to open them all, you can just open one window a crack at the end. Be sure to shut the window (s) once you have gotten rid of all the bad stuff.

Repeat the process with the bowl holding the mixture of salt and water, sprinkling it around the rooms with the tips of your fingers or a feather. In this case, you should visualize bright protective energy springing up wherever you walk. Again, take special care with doors and windows, and any spots that just don’t feel “right.”

For an extra boost, dip a broom (magickal or mundane) in a little water with either magickal protection and/or cleansing oils in it, or a squeeze of lemon juice (which is both cleansing and yummy smelling). Sweep your house as you normally would, but as you go, visualize any negative energy or old bad feelings (left over from arguments, bad days, whatever) being swept away as you go.

When you’re done, feel how light and clear your home feels, and open yourself up to new and wonderful things as they waft in on spring breezes.

Ritual—not just for holidays (or bedtime). Happy spring!

Happy Spring Equinox!

Today is the first day of spring--and after a long, tough winter, I couldn't be happier to see it arrive! Here in upstate New York, it is still cold (and they are calling for an inch or so of snow tomorrow), but the sun is shining and most of the gigantic piles of snow have melted. The red-winged black birds are out in force, the geese have returned to the creek across the street, and buds can be seen on a few of the bushes. Spring is here! Huzzah!

Most cultures have traditionally observed both equinoxes and solstices throughout recorded history. For modern Pagans, the Spring Equinox (also known as Ostara) is one of the eight Sabbats, and a time to celebrate with ritual and feasts.

The spring equinox is one of two days during the year when the day and night are in perfect balance, which makes it an especially good day for working on balance in your own life. It is also a time to plant the seeds (metaphysically speaking, if not actual seeds) for the plans and goals you intend to work on in the year ahead.

Here is an Ostara ritual from my first book, CIRCLE, COVEN AND GROVE. It is written for a group, but can easily be adapted for use by one person.

Spring Equinox Ritual

For many of us, it is still too cold to celebrate the Spring Equinox outside. This ritual is designed to be performed indoors. If you are lucky enough to be able to do it outside, just skip the part about walking through the curtains.
*****
Supplies needed:
2 curtains or large pieces of cloth—one white (sheets works fine), one flowered.
A bell or gong.
Seed packets (enough for everyone in your circle to get two or three, unless it is a large circle—then one each is good)—20 to 30 total
Slips of paper to attach to seed packets (write on each a different way to grow: see list at end of ritual)—one for each packet
Oil for anointing
******
Note: You can decorate your altar with fresh flowers, and decorated eggs. We used chocolate malted eggs that looked like robin eggs…fun, and you can eat them when you’re done!
******
ALL gather in an outer room
Circle member sits in an inner room with a bell. (At my house we went from the dining room into the living room, but you can enter from any space large enough for you all to gather into any space large enough for the ritual)
One by one, participants walk toward two curtains hung in doorway (first white, then flowered). HPS or HP pulls back white curtain and says: “Pass from winter into spring, and blessed be,” then pulls back flowered cloth so that participant can enter the next room.
As people enter the room, a circle member anoints them with oil, saying: “Enter into this sacred space, and blessed be”
he circle member already in the room rings altar bell as each enters. (This is to signal that they have moved into a sacred space.)
Once in circle, participants drum quietly until everyone has entered the circle. (If you have a large group attending, it is not a bad idea to have a circle member go in first and start drumming to set an example)
HPS or HP enters last, is anointed, and then anoints the circle member who anointed her/him. Drumming stops, and all stand.
HPS: “Welcome to our celebration of the Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara. This is a time of hope and renewal, growth and rebirth. As the wheel of the year turns again to bring us out of the darkness of winter, and into the light of spring, we are given the chance to start fresh, and welcome new energy into our lives.”
Pass sage to consecrate and cleanse the circle
Pass salt and water around the circle
HPS/HP casts circle: (walks around circle with /athame) “I cast the circle round and round, from Earth to Sky, from Sky to Ground. I conjure now this sacred place, outside time, and outside space. The circle is cast, we are between the worlds.”
Call the Quarters
HPS/HP invokes God and Goddess:
Great Goddess, Bright Maiden, Lady of the Growing Things, bless our circle with your presence as we celebrate the coming of Spring. Lend us your wisdom and your grace as you help us to grow to our full potential. Welcome, and blessed be.
Great God, Green Man, Lord of the Wild Things, bless our circle with your presence as we celebrate the coming of Spring. Lend us your strength and your determination and help us to become all that we wish ourselves to be. Welcome, and blessed be.

HPS: “Spring is a time of growth. Not just for the grass and trees, but for us as well. Tonight we turn our energy and the energy of this circle to the goal of growing in all the positive and beneficial ways available to us. In this circle, our intent is focused, our power immeasurable. And together, we can invoke positive change, not only in our own lives, but in the world surrounding us.”

Pass a bowl filled with slips of paper that are attached to seed packets. Each person should take a seed packet, read the slip aloud, and pass the bowl to the next person. The HPS starts. (Ex.: “May we grow in spirit” “May we grow in health” – May we grow in…prosperity, wisdom, courage, faith, love, community, forgiveness, power, joy, openness) When the bowl has gone around once or twice (depending on the size of the circle) the HPS finishes, saying: “May we grow in peace” So Mote It Be.

HPS/HP or circle member leads meditation (feeling growth come up from the earth):
Close your eyes. Take a slow deep breath. Feel the peace of the circle surround you. Take another slow breath and let go of the tensions of the everyday world. These things have no place here. Here there is only calm, and silence and love.
Listen to the slow breathing of those around you. If you listen carefully, you can hear the breathing of the earth as she awakens. The birds call. The trees rustle. The earth stirs.
Send your awareness down. Down through the floor, down beneath the house. Move into the earth. Feel the roots of the trees shifting deep within the earth. Feel the small, subtle stirrings of the bulbs and seeds. They have lain dormant all winter, storing their energy, waiting for their time to grow and blossom.
Now that time has come. All around us, the earth is coming back to life, rising, stretching, growing. Reach out for that energy. Feel it with all your senses—full of potential, unlimited, positive and powerful.
Open your whole self to this beneficial energy. Let yourself be filled to overflowing with the potential for change and growth, health, prosperity, abundance and joy.
Send gratitude out to our mother the earth for this gift, and feel yourself filled with the bountiful energy of spring. Feel yourself begin to blossom and grow, and know that all things are possible.

Take a moment of silence, then starts drumming to wake up the earth, and get that energy flowing -- if you want, you can do a chant [“She changes everything she touches” is a particularly good one for this ritual. See Chapter 17 for more chants.]

When drumming has reached its peak, take the energy deep within, and send what is left out into the universe. Ground any excess energy by putting your hands on the floor and sending it down into the earth.

Pass Cakes and Ale (pomegranate juice is perfect for this ritual, because of its associations with the myth of Persephone, devilled eggs or seed cakes are good too)

Pass the Speaking Stick—each person can talk about how they want to grow or mention some practical plans for self-improvement
Dismiss the Quarters
Thank the God and Goddess
Open the circle

Have a feast!!! (Don’t forget to include spring food and your decorated eggs, if you have them.)


Happy spring, everyone! What are you doing to celebrate?

Writing challenges and spring

I have a confession to make: I don't usually struggle much with my writing.

That's not to say it is easy, exactly. But for the most part, the writing usually flows pretty smoothly. I don't generate the amount of ideas that some of my writer pals do [at one point my friend Alex Bledsoe was writing seven books at a time--one for every day of the week!], but when I am working on a novel, the writing normally flows with relative ease.

I am discovering, however, that starting the second book in a series is a challenge.

I have written three novels so far (we're not counting the nonfiction books in this-completely different process). The first two were also meant to be series books, and I have notes for the books that would come next, but I've never actually started the second book in either series. [My friend Mindy Klasky says you should never write the second book until you have sold the first one, and I followed this advice. Good thing, too, or book three--which got me my agent--would never have been written. Which is her point, I believe.]

But since my agent is confident that we'll sell PENTACLES AND PENTIMENTOS, I have started working on the second book in that series, tentitively called PENTACLES AND PREDATORS. Here is the problem:

With the second book in the series, you have to remind the folks who read the first one of what happened, while also making it clear for anyone who didn't read the first book. You don't want to bore the first group, or confuse the second one. Nor do you want to have what is referred to as an "info dump," which is when an author basically plops a bunch of "you need to know this" information in the middle of the first chapter--usually to the detriment of the pacing and the plot.

None of this is simple. Or easy. In fact, it is a great big balancing act. I have already rewritten chapter one twice, in fact. After going back and forth and getting some feedback from my wonderful critique partners and writing friends (*throws big kisses to Lisa and Candy*), I think I am FINALLY getting the hang of it. Whew. The rest of the book should go as smoothly as the others, I think.

I guess we'll see. I'd love to hear what other writers have done to deal with this issue, if anyone has run into it.

In the meanwhile, I am really pleased with the way my online writing class is going. As usual, I have an absolutely wonderful bunch of participants and they make it both fun and inspiring to be teaching the class.

Other than that, I am eagerly awaiting spring. The massive amount of snow is slowly melting, and the days are warmer than usual for this time of year (although quite gloomy at the moment). The time change will help, with more light in the evening, too. And the red-winged blackbirds are back!

Happy one week until spring, everyone!

April news and the EMILY Best of the Best Award

Hi All,

Happy “theoretical” spring! Here in upstate New York, we are still doing the moody swing between sunny and 60 and raining/snowing/30 blech.

But I have news to brighten the darkest day, so I don’t care!

I was notified that I won the EMILY contest “Best of the Best” award. They take the winners of all the various categories (I won “Romantic Suspense,” although my novel is really a paranormal with romantic suspense) and pick, well, the best of the best. And that was ME! I’m still over the moon about it.
Better yet, my prize was that I got to send the 1st 3 chapters of WITCH EVER WAY YOU CAN to Leis Pederson, at Berkley. Let’s hope she likes it!

I am hard at work editing my second novel, KING ME! – a humorous paranormal romance about a modern witch who accidentally brings back King Arthur to save the world. Oops. Many thanks to my “First Readers”: Judith Levine, Caere Dunn, and my two writing partners, Robin Wright and Saoirse Redgrave. You guys rock! As soon as I get through the first round of edits, I’ll be sending the first 65 pages or so to fabbo author and professional editor, Mindy Klasky.

Speaking of my pal Saoirse, she got great news, too. (Way better than mine, really.) Her YA werewolf tale, 13 TO LIFE, which won the Textnovel.com contest, has been “snapped up” by a great publisher! More details later when everything is official, but in the meanwhile, big cheers for Saoirse!

I’m more than midway through writing my fourth book for Llewellyn, THE EVERYDAY WITCH A TO Z SPELLBOOK. Today I started working on the “Q” spells, so it’s moving along nicely. And of course, book 3, THE GODDESS IS IN THE DETAILS: WISDOM FOR THE EVERYDAY WITCH comes out in May!

Booksigning news next time J

Many bright blessings, and may spring bring you good news, too!
Deborah