Lots of noise, so much noise, soooo much fun. Our mabon ritual tonight was a house cleansing/blessing. We had a lot of pent up negativity in the house. So I cleaned the house the mundane way as best I could with the baby interupting constantly and some "real" world errands to take care of. We had a fantastic dinner with steak, herb potatoes, glazed carrots and Spiced Apple bread with dried cranberries. It was wonderful. As soon as it got dark we transferred the altar to the coffee table, and got right down to it.
There is no point in trying to have a serious formal ritual with a 4 year old and 1 year old. So we didn't bother. We chased the negativity out with noise. Lots of it. The witchlet on flute and D and the baby on tambourines. We wandered to every window and door in the house and made so much noise I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbors were all peeping suspiciously through their windows. When we got back to the altar in the living room, we chased the baby out of the candle, again (he learned before the end of the ritual what "hot" means. Lets hope it sticks) and then circled the inside of the house again. From room to room we carried sea water, salt and sacred smoke and asked for blessings of happiness and protection. Both kids really enjoyed it. My witchlet loved getting to participate like one of the grown ups. She sprinkled the water and we ran out part way through. She took up a silk leaf and start waving it around in each room and asking for her own blessings. It couldn't have been more perfect. The baby followed us excited, wondering what was going on, happy he got to go into rooms he normally didn't. This is why love including the kids in ritual. D carried the sacred smoke, a smudge stick we picked up at a reservation in Arizona. he really likes participating, but doesn't get to enough so he is always shy and unsure at the beginning, and commanding by the time we get back to the altar. The door blessing wreath the witchlet and I had made a couple days ago was on the altar and we all laid our hands on it, asked for one final blessing and closed the circle. We hung the wreath on the door and that was it. I can't say it enough. So much fun.
I can't wait to do more rituals with the kids and I hope D can participate in the next one. I am considering a birthday ritual for the witchlet in mid October. Then we have the Full moon, and then Samhain. A full month but one to look forward to.
Brightest Mabon Blessings
Witchy Momma
Friday, September 24, 2010
Nature Collecting, finally set up my altar, and loving fall
Ack, all this dust and cobwebs. I can barely see the screen. Tehe. Its been forever and I know I am really just talking to myself, but thats ok. I don't mind. I like talking to myself. I like talking to other people better, but beggars can't be choosers and we gotta talk to someone right? So. Happy Mabon, Lammas, Loaf Mass, Fall, and Autumn. I have been busy, busy, busy preparing for the equinox, and Samhain.
I have actually finally set up my altar. It took a while but I did it. I put
it on the 2nd shelf where my eldest witchlet could reach it but the baby couldn't. To the "uninitiated" it looks like a seasonal display. I made a cute little altar cloth. Its not craft show worthy, but its practical and has felt leaves in fall colors sewn to it. I also made a Goddess out of pipe cleaners wrapped in embroidery thread and silk leaves made into a dress. She's beautiful if I do say so myself. There is so much on the altar that is handmade for fall. I'm going to have to get busy with the Samhain setting. I hope I don't get burnt out. We put things we find in nature on it, some acorns, pine cones. Some beautiful blue bird feathers we've found while we've been out hiking or at the park. My daughter has enjoyed adding to it nearly every day and I love that it makes her pay attention to nature as she looks for things to add to it.
I have been reading Celebrating the Great Mother by Cait johnson and Maura D. Shaw. Its a great book with ideas for families in Goddess traditions. They have a wonderful fall craft. Its called a Door Blessing. It is made of anything you can find to represent the season. The book suggests using "indian" corn, or a grapevine wreath, even a tree branch. There is no set shape or design for it, whatever is right for you and your family. We made ours with some thin flexible
eucalyptus branches we gathered at a park near where we leave. We shaped it into a ring, then tied it with zip ties to keep its shape. Then we added some fallen leaves, acorns and bird feathers that we picked up while we were out on various nature walks. To finish it off I took a large flat (ish) piece of Eucalyptus bark, hot glued it across the front of the wreath and wrote our family name on it. I love it. I think we did fantastic on it. We'll be keeping it on our altar until after our mabon ritual, then we'll hang it on the door.
Brightest Blessings,
Witchy Momma
I have actually finally set up my altar. It took a while but I did it. I put
it on the 2nd shelf where my eldest witchlet could reach it but the baby couldn't. To the "uninitiated" it looks like a seasonal display. I made a cute little altar cloth. Its not craft show worthy, but its practical and has felt leaves in fall colors sewn to it. I also made a Goddess out of pipe cleaners wrapped in embroidery thread and silk leaves made into a dress. She's beautiful if I do say so myself. There is so much on the altar that is handmade for fall. I'm going to have to get busy with the Samhain setting. I hope I don't get burnt out. We put things we find in nature on it, some acorns, pine cones. Some beautiful blue bird feathers we've found while we've been out hiking or at the park. My daughter has enjoyed adding to it nearly every day and I love that it makes her pay attention to nature as she looks for things to add to it.I have been reading Celebrating the Great Mother by Cait johnson and Maura D. Shaw. Its a great book with ideas for families in Goddess traditions. They have a wonderful fall craft. Its called a Door Blessing. It is made of anything you can find to represent the season. The book suggests using "indian" corn, or a grapevine wreath, even a tree branch. There is no set shape or design for it, whatever is right for you and your family. We made ours with some thin flexible
eucalyptus branches we gathered at a park near where we leave. We shaped it into a ring, then tied it with zip ties to keep its shape. Then we added some fallen leaves, acorns and bird feathers that we picked up while we were out on various nature walks. To finish it off I took a large flat (ish) piece of Eucalyptus bark, hot glued it across the front of the wreath and wrote our family name on it. I love it. I think we did fantastic on it. We'll be keeping it on our altar until after our mabon ritual, then we'll hang it on the door.Brightest Blessings,
Witchy Momma
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