Beltane

At Beltane, the Opposite Fire Festival to Samhain,the veil is again thin.

May 1st or the first Full Moon in Taurus. Is also the word for May's Eve and Fire of Bel in the Irish language. The Festival of Beltane is a celebration of the beginning of the second half of the ancient Celtic year, and the return of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. It is the beginning of the Mother's rule, and is one of the two most important Sabbats of the year. This is the compliment of Samhain, or All Hallow's Eve, the other time in the year that the veil between the Earth and the Otherworld is thinnest. At Samhain the Otherworld visits us, at Beltane we can visit the Otherworld.

Title the page, you can write it in English or Witches Alphabet. Spelling either Beltane, Beltaine, also spelled Beltine, Belltaine, also known as Cétamainor. Whichever you prefer.

To start this page, draw an BaleFire or Maypole.

We are not writing a Ritual, some things should be taught and not written down. But if you choose you can record a ritual after the rest.

For detailed information read here.

First and Foremost it is a feast and celebration


Make notes on your Altar, herbs you use. Deities.Incense recipe or Anointing oil.

For me the strongest connections to Ostara are Lilacs, Meadow-sweet and Rosemary. But that won't be the same for everyone. Put some thought into it. Here is another post that is a great reference.

April Full Moon

Actually called "The Growing Moon" It is time to look at your life and restore its' balance.

Like the Sabbats, this is less about writing the ritual and more about what sets the ritual apart. For the Esbat title the page.

In April, the thunderstorms of March are beginning to subside, and the wind picks up. Seeds are being blown about on the breezes, spreading life all around from one place to the next. In fact, this lunar cycle is often known as the Seed Moon. Trees have buds on them, spring daffodils and tulips abound, and the birds are nesting once more. Much like March, this is a time of conception and fertility and new growth.

This is the time to do those workings that release your energy out into the universe. It's the time to stop planning, and start doing. Take all those ideas you've had brewing for the past couple of months, and make them come to fruition.

Growth

Paint or draw magickal runes on your flower pots, on markers, or in the soil. The rune Berkana is particularly well suited for planting. Put crystals and stones in the soil to energize plants. Moss agate is the gardener's stone. Charged and placed in the soil, it will assure the abundant growth of your garden. Other agates and quartz crystals work fine as well.

Magickally charge the water used to nourish your plants. This can be as simple as saying an incantation over the watering can or setting water out under the full moon to charge. Sprinkle a few fertility herbs or a moss agate in the water while charging. Again, draw fertility runes on your watering can and charge it with abundance. Plant Marigolds as a good multipurpose magical plant.

MARIGOLD
G/P/E: Masculine, Sun, Fire.
Magical attributes: Prophesy, legal matters, the psychic, seeing magical creatures, love, clairvoyance, dreams, business or legal affairs and renewing personal energy.

"I bless this leaf, I bless this flower, 
I bless this root, For I endow.
From root and bough 
As you thrive and flower 
So too shall my power."

April New Moon

On the Celtic Tree Calendar this is the Alder Moon and a time of Spring Cleaning, and purification.

Like the Sabbats, this is less about writing the ritual and more about what sets the ritual apart. For the Esbat title the page.

The Alder moon  is a period that includes the Spring Equinox. Falling at the start of spring, this period symbolizes the reawakening of the Earth Mother’s fertility. Alder is a tree that can make one drunk with its lore. The Alder is a tree that supports and protects physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Its associations with both weapons and shields reminded the ancient Celts that part of the skill of the warrior lies in knowing when to take up the sword and when to take up the shield. Although an alder shield will protect you and give you courage and an alder-forged weapon will help you defend yourself, ultimately the most important aspect of the warrior is his or her intent. This is the key to success or failure. They alder reminds us of the need to blend strength and courage with generosity of spirit and compassion. There is a time to challenge things and a time to hold our peace. The alder teaches us this discrimination and the need to see beneath the surface of things. It combines the desire for self-preservation with the desire to serve and emphasizes the need for a firm foundation to stand on. The Celts referred to this month as Fearn.
.
Alder is mentioned in the Welsh tale "The Battle of Trees" as having been on the front lines, Associated with the God Bran and interestingly enough when cut this pale wood slowly turns red as though bleeding.


The Alder Moon is associated with A master of the Isle of Britain, a cauldron-God, associated with a cauldron of regeneration which would revive the slain while leaving them voiceless. His cauldron destroyed, he was mortally wounded in a war to rescue his sister Branwen, he instructed his adherents to decapitate him, after many travels, bear the head to London and bury it (the site of the modern Tower of London.) where it would become a defense and a protection to the whole Isle.
"If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.".
As a time for purification, burn all old Magical Implements that may no longer be used. (Candle leavings, herbs well past their use, unlabeled incense.. etc) 


Talismans

Alder wood talismans provide strength to the words of the Witch. The wood provides the authority of her verbal skills and strengthens spell casting.

Take a naturally hewn  (Wind broken, not touched by blade) piece of Alder and drill it for stringing on a cord.


Ceremony of the Raven

Work within the ways of the partner totem of this night. The Raven. Raven magick is a powerful and can give you the courage to enter the darkness of the void, which is the home of all that has not yet taken a form. The void is called the Great Mystery. Great Mystery existed before all things came into being. The Gods/Great Spirit live in the void and emerge from the Great Mystery. Raven is a messenger of the void.

In your circle, position a black mirror and a single candle, visualize the Ravens wings closed around your torso and allow your eyes to unfocussed on the mirror.

"I am the Voice of the Raven Upon the Wind. My harsh cry echoes long upon the Earth and Air: Nothing is forever. Not life, not love, not death, nor loss. Only change is eternal, and only in destruction can the seed of creation form. My wings bear me between Darkness and Light, Land and Sky, the Garden and the Wildwood. I perch upon the Threshold of the Worlds, both flesh and spirit, gifting the Brave Seeker with the Visions and Magic of the Otherworld. To face me is to face your greatest terror, the Shadow of yourself, the unknown and dangerous. In chancing destruction, your fear loses its power to destroy. For only in acceptance of mortality will you learn the Secrets of Immortality as I, the Raven, possess. "

Tilt your head back and light your smudge stick on the candle. As it smokes and smoulders walk the circle:

"Mother Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Spirit; I ask thee to Cleanse my home of all negative energies."

Walk the circle again:

"Mother Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Spirit; I ask the to Free and heal my body from all negative forces."

Walk the circle a third time and while doing slowly speak your spell if you have magick that needs working. If not:

"Smoke that rises take away
Negative energy—
These thoughts can’t stay.
Anger, misery,
Worry and doubt,
Smoke, please carry them
Out, out, out!"

Extinguish the lone candle, and dispose of the smudge.

Throughout time and many cultures and traditions, Raven has carried magick. It is sacred, in the medicine ways of the Native Tribes, to honor Raven as the bringer of magick. If the magick is bad medicine, the carrier may be honored out of fear rather than respect. Those who fear Raven may do so because they have been dabbling in areas which they had no knowledge, and a spell may have backfired on them. Rather than analyzing the dark side of sorcery, realize that you will fear Raven only if you need to learn about your inner fears or self created demons.

In Native teachings the color black means many things, but it does not mean evil. Black can mean the seeking of answers, the void, or the road of the spiritual or nonphysical. The blue-black Raven contains an iridescence that speaks of the magick of darkness, and a changeability of form and shape that brings an awakening in the process.

Raven is the guardian of ceremonial magick and in absentia-healing. In any healing circle, Raven is present. Raven guides the magick of healing and the change in consciousness that will bring about a new state of wellness from the Void of Great Mystery and the field of plenty.

Raven is the messenger that carries all energy flows of ceremonial magick between the ceremony itself and the intended destination. For instance, if a ceremony is being performed to send energy to a disaster area where people need courage and strength, Raven would be the courier for that energy flow. The intention could be to allow the people of the devastated area to feel the concern and support of the participants of the ceremony.

Citation

March Full Moon

Actually called "The Wind Moon" Now is the time to be realistic when making life decisions.

Like the Sabbats, this is less about writing the ritual and more about what sets the ritual apart. For the Esbat title the page.

The earth awakens as the bonds of winter loosen. This windy month blows away the staleness of winter and with it we cast away the things we need to remove from our lives. Holding on to things that no longer belong in our lives can keep us from moving forward. Just as our homes need a spring-cleaning, so, too, do our emotional and spiritual lives.


The Witches Ladder

A witch's ladder is one of those things we sometimes hear about but rarely see, perhaps especially in the United States. Its purpose is similar to that of a rosary - it's basically a tool for meditation and ritual, or it may be imbued as a charm and used to bless or hex. Depending on the intentions of the Creator. Different colors are used as symbols for one's intent, as well as tokens (Runes, Bells, Feathers, Beads, Crystals, Buttons, Shells, etc.), as well as a varying number of knots.

At its heart though the Witches Ladder is Knot Magick and as such It may be used as a counting tool, because in some spell workings there is a need to repeat the working a particular number of times. You can use the ladder to keep track of your count, running the feathers, shells or beads along as you do so.

Once completed the ladder should be hung from the branch of a tree.

March New Moon

On the Celtic Tree Calendar this is the Ash Moon an excellent for making Talismans..

Like the Sabbats, this is less about writing the ritual and more about what sets the ritual apart. For the Esbat title the page.

The Ash moon rolls in at the end of Winter.  In the Norse eddas, Yggdrasil, the world tree, was an Ash. The spear of Odin was made from the branch of this tree. This is one of three trees sacred to the Druids (Ash, Oak and Thorn), and this is a good month to do magic that focuses on the inner self. Associated with ocean rituals, magical potency, prophetic dreams and spiritual journeys, the Ash can be used for making magical (and mundane) tools -- these are said to be more productive than tools made from other wood. If you place Ash berries in a cradle, it protects the child from being taken away as a changeling by mischievous Fae. The Celts referred to this month as Nuin.

As the New Moon is its Dark phase preparing for growth so as an act of healing you are drawing into yourself, like taking Vitamins to insure future well being. Do workings related to improving yourself.

Five trees stood guard over Ireland, in mythology, and three were Ash. The Ash is often found growing near holy wells and sacred springs. Interestingly, it was also believed that crops that grew in the shadow of an Ash tree would be of an inferior quality.

Early in the season this is a great time to find those bits of old growth you may be able to utilize as a tool or talisman.


Protections

Words have power and by default so does each character, the Ogham for Ash is in itself a Protection.

You can also draw a single Ogham letter on a slip of paper and put it in a magick amulet or talisman.

Healing

The buds of the ash grow in a spiral formation symbolic of regeneration, healing, and rebirth. Therefore, an ash wand can be an important healing tool. To make a wand, search in spring until you find an “even ash,” or an ash tree with an even number of branches on each side. Cut a branch approximately twenty-four inches long, and say:

“Sacred ash, healing tree, give this magic wand to me.” 

Then pass the branch through a candle flame, sprinkle with water, and touch it to the earth, saying:

“Through fire, air, water, and earth, I consecrate this wand in the names of the Lord and Lady. Blessed be.”

Use the wand to channel power in healing spells and rites.  

Ostara

At Ostara, the Vernal Equinox, the light is equal to the darkness

March 21st, Ostara may have represented many complex, interrelated beliefs to our ancestors. The sun, or Maiden Goddess, was reborn from its winter banishment to thaw the earth, making it ready for the plow, or handfastings at Beltane. People felt reborn as well, escaping from close, snow-bound confinement into the new warmth. The Gods and Goddesses of fertility were active once again in the land, causing new growth everywhere. Ostara is the brightest and most joyful ceremony of the year. It is the time in which we celebrate the renewed presence of the Gods and Goddesses among us, and their marriages which ensure the fertility of the land.

Title the page, you can write it in English or Witches Alphabet. Spelling either Ostara or Ēostre can also be used. Whichever you prefer.

To start this page, draw an Egg or Flower.

We are not writing a Ritual, some things should be taught and not written down. But if you choose you can record a ritual after the rest.

For detailed information read here.

First and Foremost it is a feast and celebration


Make notes on your Altar, herbs you use. Deities.Incense recipe or Anointing oil.

For me the strongest connections to Ostara are Buttercups, Crocus, and sweets. But that won't be the same for everyone. Put some thought into it. Here is another post that is a great reference.

February Full Moon

Actually called "The Ice Moon" The time of growth and looking ahead towards the future.

Like the Sabbats, this is less about writing the ritual and more about what sets the ritual apart. For the Esbat title the page.

The growing light gives us hope, but there are still hard days of winter ahead. Even with the icy grip still upon the world, you feel the life-force awakening and know that your life must begin to quicken. Many things can unfold this year, but which way should you go? This is the time of the “seer” within. This month is touched by the rowan and ash. The Rowan brings magic and the protection of Brigid. As the Goddess who governs crossroads, Brigid can see all possible paths for the traveler.


The Seers Moon

Fill a cauldron or a large iron pot full of fresh water. Add Buttercup and Marigold petals (Calendula). Light incense of Rowan Berries, Wormwood and Thyme. Stir the pot gently three times (deosil)  then float three red strings on the waters surface while saying:

"Into the threads of time I cast my thoughts
One to become the Veil..
To catch a glimpse of what has been...
Another to conjure the seeming
Bring into my mind what will be...
And Lastly for that which will never be..
Gods of the Silver Oracle Light
In this iron pond I part the veil
Know me...
Show me, show me..."