Imbolc Dream Pillow Ritual

Crows and their smaller cousins under the birdfeeder

 Imbolc is a holiday full of contradictions. It celebrates the first stirrings of spring growth deep beneath the surface of the earth at a time when for many of us, winter is still in full force. And it celebrates the returning of the light when the dark still holds us firmly in its grip. But that is the point, really. Imbolc reminds us to look forward with hope, to look for the small signs that spring really is coming, slowly but surely, just as the light grows a tiny bit every day.

If you go outside at night, you will notice that the sky seems different. The day dawns a few moments earlier and the sun sets a few moments later. There may be snow on the ground in many places, but deep below us, the earth IS stirring.

For us, it is still the time of the darkness; time to plan, and set plans in motion, but not yet act on them. In short, it is time our to dream. Imbolc is the perfect day on which to create a dream pillow to hold those dreams safe as we take slow, careful steps to reach our goals.

 If you want, you can start by casting a ritual circle. Or if you don’t feel like being that formal, simply find a comfortable spot, settle in with your materials close at hand, and focus on your dreams and goals for the year.

You will need: Either a piece of cloth or two pieces that can be sewn together to make a square about 2 inches on each side (the size can vary) or if you really don’t like to sew, you can use a drawstring bag. But the act of sewing is a good way to help focus the energy you put into the pillow. Bright colors are good, if they remind you of spring. A needle and thread (if you are doing this where the light will be dim, it is a good idea to thread the needle ahead of time). Small slips of paper and a pen. Something to stuff the pillow with. Optional—herbs that remind you of spring and/or help with dreaming, such as lavender. A white or yellow candle. You can start with the pillow already closed on three sides, so you only have to sew the last side shut after you’ve stuffed it.

Light the candle and greet the gods in whichever way suits you. Take a few moments to think about what your dreams and goals are for the year, then write them down on the slips of paper. All your actions should be slow and thoughtful—don’t rush through this. Stuff the pillow with whatever else you are putting inside, then add the pieces of paper. You may want to say each goal out loud as you place it inside. Then tie a knot in the end of your thread, to cement your intentions. As you sew the last side of the pillow closed (or pull the string closed on your bag), you may want to say “to mote it be” as you place each stitch. Remember that the stronger your focus is, the more powerful the spell. When you have completed your pillow, you can say the following (from my book, Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook, Llewellyn).

Dreams Come True Spell

I wish upon the stars above

And on the moonlight’s gleam

I ask the gods to send their love

And help fulfill my dream

Hard I’ve worked to get to here

This magic time and space

I know my dreams are drawing near

At Fate’s own measured pace

Bring to blossom dreaming’s fruit

I ask from heart and soul

As flowers spring from planted root

Let me achieve my goal

If you want, you can sit for a while, envisioning your dreams coming true. Then thank the gods (open your circle if you have done a formal ritual) and tuck your pillow someplace safe, like your altar or inside your bed pillow.

Magic the Cat living up to her name as she inspects our altar set-up for the ritual.

Happy Imbolc!

Feeding the Birds as a Spiritual Practice

When I moved into the house I’m living in now (about 13 years ago), one of the first things I did was to set up a couple of birdfeeders. I’d never been able to do this in the previous places I lived, either because I had outdoor cats—and it always seemed kind of cruel for me to put out food for the birds, knowing that some of them were going to get attacked when they came to eat—or because I was living in an apartment with no good place to put a feeder.

As a Pagan, I look at feeding the birds (and the other critters who are attracted to the seeds that spill onto the ground underneath) not just as a fun thing to do, but as a part of my spiritual practice. Allow me to explain.

Witches and Pagans follow a nature-based religion, for the most part. For me, the act of feeding the birds is a way of helping to sustain the creatures that live nearby, as well as adding beauty to my daily life. Instead of just observing the occasional passing flock, I become a part of their life cycle, and they become a part of mine.

Where I live in upstate New York, the winters can be brutal. Last night it was well below zero. There is very little growing that the birds and other animals can eat—a few berries left on bushes, the old apples still hanging from my trees, and whatever else they can scavenge. Obviously, the birds that hang around here in the winter are designed to be able to survive in this environment, but that doesn’t mean it is easy.

So I do my best to help out. It can get expensive (I attract enough birds that I can easily go through a ten dollar bag of birdseed in under a week), so I only do it from the end of fall to the beginning of spring, when they need it the most. And, of course, it isn’t always fun, having to go out into the cold and dig a path through the snow to get to the feeders to refill them. But I am rewarded with the cheery sight of a bright red cardinal when everything else outside in black and white or brown, and when I eat my breakfast, I can look out the window and watch the birds eating theirs too.

I get lots of other incidental visitors as well. I’ve seen deer (although more often just their tracks, since they tend to come in the middle of the night), rabbits, chipmunks, and of course, squirrels. Earlier in the season, I even had a grouse showing up on a regular basis. (A kind of wild game bird that looks kind of like a big chicken.)

I may be feeding the birds and their friends, but they are feeding me in return; feeding my spirit, filling my eyes with beauty and my heart with joy, and reinforcing my connection with the natural world. This seems to me to be an awfully good return on the investment of a few bags of birdseed.  

Rabbits!

Not everyone can feed the birds, of course, but you don’t have to do it on a regular basis to make it a part of your own spiritual practice. If you live in an apartment, they make feeders that attach to the outside of a window, or you can hang a small feeder outside if there is space—even on a fire escape. Or go to a local park and feed the birds there, if it is legal wherever you live. If you have a house, try putting up one feeder to start, or even a simple bird treat made from a pine cone rolled in peanut butter or suet, and then rolled in seeds. You can hang this kind of homemade feeder from a small branch or a stick pushed into the ground. Another easy-to-make disposable bird treat is an apple rolled in peanut butter, which can be hung from a string that is pushed through the middle of the apple. If you don’t want to spend money on birdseed, try just tossing stale bread or over-ripe fruit out where the birds can get it.

There are many ways for us to integrate the natural world into our busy lives, but for me, feeding the birds is a simple and satisfying way to keep my promise to the Goddess to treat Her creatures well and make them a part of my everyday life.

Do you feed the birds?

Garden's End

My plans for the weekend had been to do some cleaning, make a dump run on Saturday, go to the last farmer's market, and then spend Sunday writing. The Saturday schedule went about as expected, and I had a lovely time walking around the market, eventually coming home with these goodies:

Purple cauliflower, the last of the corn, fresh local apples, a pot of basil, organic bacon & sausage from local farmers

I came to find a large, fun box on my doorstep. Gods only know what my mail carrier thought when she delivered it. The lovely Robert Skinner, who made a special broom for me earlier in the year The Broom sent me a box full of broom-making supplies, so Blue Moon Circle could make one of our own together. He's even going to make me a "how to" video. We'll probably bless and consecrate the supplies at Samhain, even if we don't have a chance to make the broom itself until later.

Acme Broom Company--Contains 1 Flying Broom Kit

 My plans for Sunday changed when I woke up to this:

Kale with frost. Luckily, kale is hearty, and once the day warmed, it was just fine.

That's the kale, which is one of the few things left in the garden, covered with frost. It was the second serious frost of the season (and the second morning when the temps hit below 29 degrees), but it got really nice in the afternoon, so that made it Time to Put the Garden to Sleep for the Winter. I called my stalwart pal Ellen, and we spend a sunny afternoon clearing the remaining beds of debris, planting next year's garlic, and harvesting the herbs. (Plus the less appealing chores like rolling up and putting away hoses and such.) The lovely weather and good company made the work go quickly, and there is always something satisfying about having the garden all neat and tidy. The end of the season is bittersweet, but this too is part of the Wheel of the Year.

You can't see it now, but this is where the garlic will come up next year. And there's the kale, looking fine.

The fish pond, with the filter & fountain removed. A heater will keep it from freezing over later.

Lemon balm, chocolate mint, thyme, and rosemary for drying.

Miraculously, I even managed to get 2,100 words written later in the day, but boy, was I tired.

Still, it was a very satisfying weekend, for the most part. What did you do with yours? Did you put anything away for winter? Harvest anything good?

The Baba Yaga--guest post by Gail Wood

My writer pal Gail Wood put up a great post on her The Rowdy Goddess Blog about the mythology and spirituality of Baba Yaga, and how she and her coven were using Baba Yaga energy to help them get through the bitter winter. (She might have mentioned my name a time or two as well...) And since we've spent some time here talking about my Baba Yaga characters in the upcoming novels, I thought you folks might like to see it. Thanks for sharing, Gail!
(And no, that's not a picture of the lovely Gail, it's a picture by amazing artist Kinuko Y. Kraft of Baba Yaga. Silly people.)


This eternal winter, dubbed the Polar Express by the press, has turned into a polar depression for many people.  The persistent cold and sudden snow squall is peppered by blizzards, traffic accidents, and cruel, teasing almost-thaws.  It can lay siege to our hearts and our nerves.  How do we melt our frozen wills?  By celebrating.

Our circle celebrates the hag.  We laugh, we kvetch, we keen, and we laugh some more.  Two of our witches have decided to bypass the wisdom of the crone and, as they say, “go straight to hag,” because the hag doesn’t care.  She wears what she likes, she says what’s on her mind, and she does as she pleases.  If children cross the street to avoid the hag’s house?  So what, the hag views that with glee!  And that is what the hag has become for us:  a woman of a certain age who stands in her power and acts as she wills.
Each quarter this year, we are identifying a Witch of legend and lore to celebrate and explore.  In the grip of a cold, harsh winter, we celebrate the Hag, Baba Yaga.

There is no character in folk-tales or mythology who is so irredeemable and wicked as Baba Yaga. She is a fearsome, ugly old hag who lives on the edge of the forest. Her house is surrounded by a fence of bones and topped with skulls whose eyes glow red in the dark. The house itself is set on chicken legs and can move around with great noise and frightening disruption.

The hag herself is not a pretty sight. Her nose is so large, it is said that it touches the ceiling when she sleeps. She has iron teeth and is frequently called, Baba Yaga Boney Legs. While she is said to have no control over the pure in heart, she does have a reputation for baking young children in her huge oven and crunching on their bones.

She rides around in a mortar using a pestle to propel her and when she arrives a great winds begins and stirs up the world around her. When she leaves, she removes all traces of herself with a broom made of silver birch. Sometimes her conveyance is a huge kettle. Other times, she appears as a kindly old crone, assisting people in distress.

Like so many legends and stories of the mythic creatures and the gods, there is great power underneath. Who was she before these stories; and who will she become as we work with her. The author Deborah Blake describes her journey of creating a modern-day story with Baba Yaga in it. You can read it at her blog. I am very much looking forward to reading her first novel published by a major house–it now has a cover.

As Blake points out, John and Caitlin Matthews in The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures have researched the story behind the story of Baba Yaga, pointing that although she is portrayed as an “archetypal bogey-woman, she is actually a primal goddess. The mortar and pestle are symbols of creation and destruction, and her broom cleanses and cleans.

She inhabits the borderlands, those places between life and death, the places between this world and other worlds. She gave Koshei the Deathless, a dragon with human shape, his mortality. She also controls another fire-breathing dragon, Chudo-Yudo who guards the Water of Life and death.  She has fierce companions and friends.  She befriends the friendless and empowers the powerless.  She is one of those teachers you strive to meet her standards, because she hold the bar high and demands your achievement.

It’s obvious she’s a great witch of power.  I met her during a healing journey.  She was fierce, strong, and in good fighting shape.  She gave me strong words of wisdom for my protection and healing.  I’m working through a lot of uncertainty and sorrow at this point in my life, and she made it clear that she was at my back.  She joked about the chicken legged house, saying a lot of disruption and noise is not a bad thing.  She changed her visage from kindly old crone, to girl, to hot chick and back to fearsome hag before me; and then told me people see what they need to see where she is concerned.  She gave me some advice about some of my struggles and then said “I leave that with you to do or not do.”  Then she gave me a very fierce hug and was off again.

Baba Yaga

I am the wild, untamed nature of the world
I am the whirling music of nature
And the strange heartbeat
Of life and death.

I fly the world in my vessel of change
Propelled by creation and destruction.
I sweep from this world to the others
Clearing and cleansing the way.

I am in love with the unusual
Finding beauty and interest in the odd.
Wonder and curiosity move me
From marvel to marvel.
Shift your vision and you will see it too!

May the paralysis you feel about certain things be melted in glee, delight, and fierce determination

You can find Gail on Facebook too. 

A Pollyanna Winter

Looking down the driveway while shoveling. Again.

Years ago, when I was going to counseling to overcome long-standing depression issues, the fabulous psychologist I was seeing taught me one simple tool which made me look at the world differently. Not only did it help me to become a much happier person (lalalalalala), it changed the way I dealt with everyday frustrations. Like, you know, this Winter to End All Winters. (It is currently snowing. Again.)

Need some ice for your martini?

What's that? Oh, the simple tool was this: every time you have a negative thought, recognize you're having one, and replace it with something positive. For example... "I hate all this snow!" Oopsy, negative thought. "At least it's not sleeting!" [Hey, I told you it was simple. You were maybe expecting rocket science?]

Shoveling a path to the birdfeeders. Have been unable to train birds to do it themselves.

The only downside of this is that sometimes I tend to be a little Pollyanna about things. Always seeing the upside. Still, there are worse ways to live. Mind you, this winter has made it a bit difficult to stay positive at times, but I'm doing my best. If the bad weather is getting you down, here is my Pollyanna View of This Winter:

1. Wherever you are, someone else probably has it worse. (Unless you're in Minnesota. Sorry, Elysia.)
2. All this snow means we definitely don't have to worry about drought come summer.
3. The bitter cold means less bugs like mosquitoes and ticks (which have been terrible here after a few mild winters in a row).
4. The extended bitter cold also means less ragweed in the fall. (Huzzah!)
5. Shoveling snow is like having your own personal gym, conveniently located right outside your door.
6. It is really beautiful--especially when viewed from the couch while holding a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other. But seriously, beautiful.
7. We'll REALLY appreciate spring when it finally gets here.
8. It gives us an excuse to hide out and hibernate, taking some time to be quiet and introspective. (See #6, above)
9. Harsh winters can make us truly appreciate all the modern conveniences we have to help us through. Think about doing this kind of winter without electricity, running water, or grocery stores. Not to mention indoor plumbing!
10. If you like winter sports or making snowmen, you are really in luck!
11. Only 31 days until the Spring Equinox! Not that anyone is counting...

Winter will never been my favorite season, but I try to appreciate it for its part in the Wheel of the Year, and go with the flow.

So, can you add to my Pollyanna Winter list? What is good about this winter for you, if you are in a place that's dealing with it?

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Okay, it can stop now.

We got hit by a winter storm this weekend, like much of the rest of the eastern half of the country. not too bad, really, by Oneonta standards: about 11 inches of snow, but most of it fell overnight.

Believe it or not, there was a patio and a driveway under all that. Sometimes I shovel it myself, but it is a long driveway (this is just the back bit, not the part that runs from here down to the road, next to the house), but thankfully I have a Knight in Shining Truck for the big dumps. (I have to pay him, of course, but it's worth it!)

The storm didn't really bother me, other than the fact that I had to spend a lot of time on the phone from Friday night through Sunday morning, rearranging the schedule at The Artisans' Guild to get local folks to cover from those who come from further away, or live on unplowed back roads.

I spend part of the weekend finishing the last of the wrapping, packing of packages, and other gift-giving chores, and on Saturday before the storm hit my friend Ellen came over to watch (or rewatch in my case) the Doctor Who special, and help me put up my few decorations for the Yule season.

I also did some really helpful brainstorming with writing partner Lisa for the Baba Yaga prequel novella I have to start writing yesterday. And of course, there was a certain amount of this. (Those are my legs, underneath book, cat, and fuzzy blankie.)

I usually am so burned out in December, I indulge in rereading a favorite author, instead of trying to digest something new. This season, it is Trisha Ashley, a British romantic comedy author. I have been hoarding her new one, but I think it's up next, since I'm finishing off the last of the older books I own. Samhain doesn't seem to care one way or the other. As far as she's concerned, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

Oh Yay, It's a Winter Wonderland

As in, I wonder why I still live in Upstate New York...

This is the view out my back door.

I'll admit, it really is beautiful. The snow is so light and fluffy, it almost looks like someone from Hollywood came by and made it.

Of course, it is also a whole fifteen degrees (f) outside, up from the eight degrees it was when I got up. Brrr....

And they're calling for a winter storm to hit pretty much the entire East Coast Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing with it mixtures of freezing rain, sleet, ice, and snow. Thankfully, I don't have to go more than about ten miles away for Thanksgiving dinner at my pal John's house (and Thursday itself is supposed to be okay), but I have lots of friends who are traveling. I worry.

So if you have travel plans for the holidays, I hope you travel safe, and no matter where you are, I hope you stay warm.

And So It Begins

I'm enjoying my Hibernation Vacation, and actually resting and reading a lot. I just started my friend Nancy Holzner's latest, HELLHOUND which is impressing the crap out of me. (If you haven't read this urban fantasy series yet, you're missing out.) I just whizzed through a contemporary romance by one of my favorite Brit authors, Trisha Ashley, called Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues, and a mystery by the wonderfully humorous Donna Andrews called Duck the Halls which nicely put me in the mood for what I saw when I woke up this morning:

 

Not much snow, thankfully, but enough to make it feel like winter instead of late fall. I guess it is time to put the rest of the little pumpkins on the compost heap. Sigh. But I have to admit, it is beautiful, in its own way.

Don't forget there are only two days left to enter the ongoing contest. There is at least one option you can do every day, if you have already entered. It doesn't look like we are going to meet any of the goals, alas, but don't worry--I'll still give away at least one prize anyway. I appreciate my loyal followers, every one!

Spread the word, if you are so inclined, and I'll be back to chatting about something later in the week.

Feline Friday: The It's Still Winter Version

This is what I woke up to this morning

Eight inches of snow, and it is still falling. I'm going to have to keep this short, since my plow guy hasn't shown up yet, and I may have to dig out the LONG driveway to get out to work. Yes, of course I'm going. I live in upstate NY. We don't let 8 inches of snow stop us. (Although it might slow us the heck down.)

I have a long driveway. The top picture shows the section behind the house, and then there's this part that runs next to the house down to the road. You know, where the big plow has already deposited plenty of snow. (And this pic is from yesterday, when it was just starting, hence the NOT 8 inches of snow. I had such hopes...)

On the bright side, I also got a pleasant surprise when I looked out at the bird feeder before breakfast.

It's hard to tell, between being shot out a window, and the falling snow, but those are red-winged black birds one of my favorite birds and also the first bird to herald the return of spring, arriving about a month before the robins. So it may look like winter out there, but spring is coming!

You can tell that Magic the cat is very impressed.

Samhain is just happy that it is still cold enough to run the pellet stove. That's her favorite winter-time perch.

Here's hoping that your Friday brings you a pleasant surprise (like red-winged blackbirds) and not 8 inches of snow. Unless you happen to like snow, in which case, you can have mine!

What is out your window today?

Finished! Snow! And Your Feline Friday Fix!

In today's news...

I finished writing the new Llewellyn book, A Broom for Every Witch, last night! Huzzah! (Working title only, of course. These things change.)

Happy dance time!

I'll spend today (and maybe some of this weekend, depending on how long it takes), reading over the manuscript for boo boos [yes, that IS the technical writing term, why do you ask?], and then send it off to Elysia, my fabulous editor. Who started doing her happy dance last night when I messaged her on Facebook to tell her it was done :-)

In other news, they're calling for snow here. A LOT of snow, although not nearly as much as Boston and some of the other coastal areas are looking at. I've seen reports ranging from 6 inches to 16 inches. Er, I'd like to put in my vote for less, please?

On the bright side, I should be home well before the worst of it hits, and have no place I need to be tomorrow, so I should be fine except for the shoveling... And I'm sure it will be pretty. Also, in even more news, it's winter in upstate NY. So, there you have it.

If you live in the area that's being hit by snow, check in and let me know you're okay tomorrow, yes? You know how much I worry.

And here it is, your Feline Friday fix! That's Samhain on top of the pellet stove. She seems to have nabbed it as her spot this winter, and who can blame her? Stay warm! Stay safe! Have a great weekend.

The Gift of an Hour of Joy- Brigid’s Cauldron of Creativity

We just finished celebrating Imbolc, so I have been thinking a bit about Brigid, the Celtic goddess who is most commonly associated with the Sabbat. Brigid is a triple fire goddess, known for her patronage of the fires of the forge, the fires of the hearth, and the fires of creativity. In the middle of cold winter, all that warmth is truly welcome!

It’s the creativity part that’s my focus today. After all, creativity is important—it feeds the soul and nourishes the spirit. One might even argue that it is one of the elements that makes us human. Certainly a spark of creativity makes us more well rounded people, and allows us to express our inner selves, or to relax and let go a little.

The problem is, many of us don’t take the time to be creative. We have all those things to do: people depending on us, jobs that won’t wait, work, cooking, cleaning, kids or animals or significant others making demands on our time and energy. Sometimes creativity feels a little too much like playing hooky. We don’t have time to just stop and have fun.

Or do we? I think it’s vital to feed our own fires, or in the end, we burn out and don’t have anything to give to anyone. (And if you can’t do it any other way, try sharing the hour with your family, and have everyone do something creative!)

I’m as guilty of this as most people are. Don’t get me wrong—I do creative things all the time. After all, I make part of my living from writing and jewelry making, both creative endeavors. The problem here is that they ARE part of my living, and hence, work, not play. I enjoy doing them both, but because they’re work, they don’t really count as relaxation and down time. Creativity needs, in part, to be an escape from the rest of our lives. So I’ve decided to make the time to do something else occasionally. Something creative that isn’t work. Something…dare I say it…fun.

Here’s what I’m going to do, and I’m hoping a few of you will try it to, and come back here to tell me if it works for you.

I’m using a small cast iron cauldron, since the cauldron is one of Brigid’s symbols, but you could use any bowl or dish you happen to have handy. Or even treat yourself to something new and special, just for this.

In the cauldron, I am going to put a number of slips of paper. Each one of them is going to have the name of some form of creative activity that I enjoy. I might even put in a few that I’ve been meaning to try out, and haven’t gotten to (you know—because I was too busy WORKING). My cauldron slips are going to include things like the following: paint a picture, write a poem, learn a chord on the guitar, learn to spin,  learn to crochet (again), sew something, put on music and dance for no reason. There might even be a few options that are a little less creative, but more about just relaxing: take a bath with a book, meditate, do a picture puzzle.

The main point is that I will be gifting myself with a space in time that isn’t about work, or achieving something concrete, or pleasing someone else. Brigid’s cauldron will give me the gift of time spent at play, something many of us forget to do as we get older.

Your cauldron may have completely different thing written on its slips of paper, depending on which creative things excite you: journaling, drawing, knitting, singing, playing a musical instrument, decorating things around the house—whatever makes you happy.

I’m going to start by committing myself to an hour, once a week. That doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a start. And you can do that too, I’m sure. One hour a week, as a gift to yourself. You’re worth it. Don’t believe me? Just ask Brigid, and I’m sure she’d say the same.

And if you feel like it, I’d love it if you come back here and tell me what things you’ve put on the papers in your cauldron—and then tell me what you ended up doing and how it made you feel.

Let’s all dive into Brigid’s cauldron of creativity together, and let Her fire spark a flame in our own spirits…no matter how cold it might be outside.