Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice, Litha,  Alban Hefin

June 21st

  Summer Solstice and I don’t get along.   It’s not that I have had a bad ritual experience with this solstice because I have not.   I do not feel that I have the proper schematics for this holiday. Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year.  It is the day with longest period of sunlight from sunrise to sunset.   After this day, periods of sunlight will be getting shorter, and nights will be getting longer.  It doesn’t mean that its getting any cooler, in fact, it is going to get hotter which seems to be a contradiction of the promise of longer nights.   
  Unfortunately,  there is not much lore to go on from Celtic sources regarding this high day and much of what has come through has come from Norse influences (ADF Publishing 62), and Christian influences where the high day is celebrated on  St. John’s Day eve which would be June 23rd.    Fairs, festivals, and bonfires mark the day and night. The Welsh consider the night of the summer solstice one of the three great spirit nights, and on the Isle of Man, it is tradition to pay Manannán Mac Lir the rent due in the form of bundles of reeds, grasses and herbs. Kondratiev mentions torch lit processions through the crops to bring the sun’s light to the growing plants (Kondratiev, 190) and Kirk Thomas in the June 2012 issue of Oak Leaves mentions dancing under the pole reminiscent of Maypole dancing in Northern Wales (Thomas 19).
The energy of Summer Solstice is chaotic and frantic.   It is the death of the Oak King, so often passion played or the jealous fury of Diancecht.   It is the tipping point of life and death, but offering the promise of future harvest.

   
  ADF Publishing. Our Own Druidry. Tuscon: ADF Publishing, 2009.

Kondratiev, Alexi. The Apple Branch. New York: Citadel Press, 2003.

Thomas, Kirk. "A Welsh Wheel fo the Year: Part 3." Oak Leaves Summer 2012: 19-22.

Home Shrine

     My home shrine is conveniently located on the corner of the desk in my bedroom.   The computer takes about half the space and my shrine the rest.   Above my altar, is a sign which cannot be seen which says, “Sit a Spell”.  My shrine is an eclectic mixture of store bought pieces and inherited items.   My tree is an artificial tree with a star on top.    Pieces of yarn and knitting which were made as offerings to the ancestors sit in the branches.   The little red cupid was found in a box of tea.  The cauldron was given to me by a friend.   The white well was made by son, as was the purple offering bowl down at the bottom.   The oil lamp and the coaster it sits on have been dedicated to the Shining Ones.   My fire is represented by a white candle in a selenite candle holder in a blue, green, and silver bowl; thus, I have a dual representation on my desk, of both the microcosm and macrocosm.   Candles to represent, land, sea,  and sky line the wall,  along with clusters of amethyst,  some citrine,  a quartz point,  and a piece of tektite.   The hand-knitted bear is my representation of my work with the Nature Spirits and my animal guide.   It has a working space for omen taking, writing, and larger offerings.
     I am very comfortable with the spot that it is in, because I do most of my writing on the computer.   Eventually I would like to get a couple of shelves to put up family portraits and pictures of the ancestors.  I am also contemplating moving the “Sit a Spell” sign to over my bed and moving the metal triskele wind chime over the shrine, but have not done so yet.

Bunny vs. Human (Round Two)

     A rabbit was back in my garden this evening when I went out to water.   I have a feeling it was contemplating eating one of my green onions, and then to hide its mischievous nature sat on it when I came out the door.   The stalk was broken,  of course.   I said good evening to my hopping friend, and pointed it to my son who was oblivious to the brown fur ball sitting in my onions.   He decided to be helpful and chase it out.   As for the green stalk, I quietly harvested and washed it.   The little one had his first taste of home grown green onion and winced.    I took a taste and immediately thought of my twice baked potato recipe.   We both said prayers of thanks for the first fruits of garden- his to the garden angels and mine to Don and Beli and the nature spirits.   I left what was left of the onion as an offering.   It was gone a few hours later.   I am not sure who won this round whether or not it was me or the rabbit.    Perhaps, we both got a taste of the goodies yet to come.  

Bunny vs. Humans (Round One)

Last night, I went out and checked on my garden.   I found a medium sized rabbit sitting in the midst of my lawn, nibbling on grass and weeds.   I tried to have a long talk with it.   I admired its beauty and I admired its bravery.  I even encouraged it to nibble on the grass and weeds, but leave my garden alone.   We could be friends,  I thought -just don't touch the garden.   It just sat and watched, it's nose occasionally twitching.   Earlier in the week, after my cucumber seedlings went missing, my son and I had teasingly made remarks about bunny stew:

"Please, my garden you should eschew

Or you shall be made into bunny stew".

This morning, however,  I felt sickened.   I found a rabbit and a small mouse carcass around the house.    I doubt it was the rabbit from last night.   It was probably a few days old, but for the most part it had been stripped bare.   The mouse had been a rather fresh kill.   I felt guilty.   Had I unwittingly invoked something which was killing the cute fuzzy suburban creatures?  Kill them before they eat my garden-suburban warfare?   Or was this just nature's way?   It's most likely the latter, but being the softy that I am, I feel guilty.   I realize that the rabbit fed something else, and that there is probably an overpopulation of rabbits in the area.  I saw the flies and the ants eating away at the carcass.  They, too, needing food.   I understand it on a  rational scientific level, but sometimes, watching it and feeling it in action are two very different things.   This is what I am trying to wrap my head around.  Perhaps, its just the recognition of it, too.  It's not something we think about on a normal basis.   Later today, I will try to gather some rabbit fur, and leave an offering for the spirit of the rabbit.  May the rabbit spirit find its peace.

Blessings!
Stonegiver

Old Oak

 My neighbor's oak trees :) 

Nine Virtues: Piety

As defined by the Handbook: Correct observance of ritual and social traditions,  the maintenance of the agreements, both (personal and societal), we humans have with the Gods and Spirits, Keeping the Old Ways through ceremony and duty.  

piety -n,  pl -ties 1. reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religous obligations.  2) the quality or state of being pious.  3) dutiful respect or regard for parents,  homelande, etc: filial piety 4) a pious act, remark, belief or the like. (Webster's Universal College Dictionary -1997 Gramercy Books Random House New York New York

Religion is  a semi-solitary activity.  We each struggle with our own available resources.  Piety is our day to day interactions with the spiritual realm, and our intent and actions  in recognizing them and making them holy.     It's the time sitting at our shrines making offerings, its about attending the eight sabbats and keeping them sacred,  and its about keeping our spiritual lives organized and tidy.   I was recently chastised about not walking the walk in my faith.  Its not always about attending a weekly church service, especially in the case of paganism.  It is the talks to the deities, ancestors, and nature spirits and making those connections, and keeping those connections open.   It is the meditations and following through of our oaths: 

I , Cat take the name Stonegiver in honor of the patrons who bless my paths.    I promise to forge pathways with the spirits, Shining Ones, and ancestors.   I take an oath to finish the Dedicant’s path, and follow the guidance of the powers towards  whatever paths they may lead.   I take an oath to make room in home and hearth for all powers gathered here.    I promise to stay steadfast in my devotions and to keep the light of the Gods in my heart. 

It is doing the legwork to understand our religion and the beings that inhabit those realms.  

   

   

Nine Virtues: Wisdom

Wisdom: good judgment, the ability to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the correct response (ADF Publishing 15).

 

Wisdom is the state of being wise.   It is gained by a combination of knowledge, experience, and intuition, and using this combination to make decisions and act in situations.   All actions feed into the totality of experience that affects wisdom, but not all actions are wise ones.   Unfortunately, there is not a nice equation that reflects proportions of knowledge, experience, and intuition that result in wise actions.  Wisdom is not easily obtained, and generally one recognizes true wisdom after the fact.  I know that I don’t normally go around spouting sage advice, but when I have been considered wise, it is because I looked into the totality of the situation.

 For the most part, I am in agreement with Wisdom as a virtue, but I dislike the definition, wisdom doesn’t always mean the ability to perceive people and situations correctly, sometimes wisdom can come from looking at a situation completely different perspective, but it does not always mean that it was correct.  Copernicus was a great astronomer, who reasoned out a heliocentric model of the universe at a time when a geocentric model was definitive.   He was, however, partially incorrect, and it would take Kepler a couple of hundred years later to determine.   This does not mean Copernicus was any less wise, it meant that he was dealing with incomplete information which can affect us all.    Therefore, I might redefine wisdom as the ability to perceive people and situations correctly at that given moment; deliberate about and decide on the correct response. 

Works Cited

Publishing, ADF. Our Own Druidry. Tuscon: ADF Publishing, 2009.