Happy Mother's Day! 5/11/08

Happy Mother's Day!

The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations are thought to originate in ancient Greece to honour Rhea, mother of the gods.

In Rome, celebrations to honour the mother of their gods, Cybele lasted 3 days. Christianity is thought to have adopted these special celebrations, substituting Mary, Mother of God and later the Mother Church as the focus.

It became Christian custom that everyone attended the mother church of their parish on this day. In the UK, the beginnings of the Mother’s Day celebrations as we know them began in the Middle Ages.

Overtime, Mothering Sunday as it was called then, was celebrated to honour your own mother on the 4th Sunday in Lent (3 weeks before Easter).

The origin of giving flowers on this day is thought to stem from the custom of servants given the day off to return home to celebrate, were often allowed to pick flowers from their master’s land to take home to their mothers.

Across the world Mothers have a special day. In Europe most countries honour their mothers on the second Sunday in May as do the Americans. May 10th is the day dedicated to mothers in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

 Greetings to all beloved manifestations of the Creator on the Earth, we honor, love and respect you sending our light to your aid now to enhance your inner light and remove limitations from your life. We come as the unicorns in unity and as a community from the higher levels of the spiritual world; we are of same energy vibration as the angelic kingdom; we too hold a vast heart swelling with love for humanity. We are your helpers, your guides, we are here to lead you forth, search for our bright shinning light that emanates from our energy horns at our third eye, and this is our beacon. When you truly believe in our energy and invoke us to assist you in your life, you will feel the energy force and attraction of our beacon of light pulling you forth along the correct spiritual path for you.

I took a breath
and heard the slight humming of unfurling ivy
that wrapped itself around something I once owned ~

there was always music here
at the edge of my thoughts
where trees saw through me
the way grandma used to

Adapted from The Phoenix Cards, by Susan Sheppard (Inner Traditions, 1990).

Gypsies have an ancient and mysterious history, and are associated in stories and legends with divination skills and magical practices.


If you have always been fascinated by Gypsies, and are drawn to their symbols and mysteries, read a description of the qualities you may share with them, right here.

You may be a gypsy at heart!

If you are deeply drawn to Gypsy people, you are an exceptionally clever person. You have an intelligence that stems from your shrewd ability to observe and judge character in almost any given situation. There is a strange beauty about you. You love clothes with unusual patterns and stunning designs. You home is our castle, and you like to carry parts of it with you. What might look like a mess to others represents the many special things that you love to be surrounded by. You may even carry photographs or comforting items in a purse or bag to remind you of the things and people you adore.

A Witch's garden
grows with the sun, flows with the rain
a flowering of air and earth
ancient is the knowledge of herbs
their properties and powers
a thing for Grandmothers, Midwives, Witches
flowers speak their own language
all but a few phrases forgotten

Risking

Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile soil.


The first seed said, "I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth's crust above me ... I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring ... I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!"

And so she grew...

The second seed said, "I am afraid. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don't know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts ... what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe."

And so she waited...

The Essence of Soul

The idea that there was something inherently different about the essence of man has been around for centuries, and in our society can be traced back to Greek civilization. Humanists concurred that there was something about the nature of man that set him apart from the other animals that run over the Earth. That "something" is man's ability to reason, and man's soul.

Prior to the Humanistic movement, literature and art were dedicated to the realm of the Gods: the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Titan stories, the Mahabarata etc. were all pieces of literature which contained the Gods or beings which were part God, as the main and central theme.

It was the idea of these earlier peoples that man was not a worthy topic for art or literature, for to dwell upon the nature of man was to worship man--to put him in a realm with everlasting specters which man simply could not compare to. It wasn't until later writers such as Sophocles, Euripides, Plato and Aristotle (more significantly Aristotle than Plato) that human nature began to be a suitable topic for aesthetic exploration. While we cannot be completely sure of the change in attitude of these peoples, we can probably attribute this change to the idea that man embodies a soul, and that soul is, in and of itself, Divine, making man an energetic and physiological manifestation of the sublime.

While the Greeks were not quick to say that man was God, this philosophical belief and understanding that man's soul set him apart is a crucial piece of information when we look at how our religion and our philosophy has progressed over time. Animals do encompass energy in the sense that we believe in as Wiccans. Plants, humans and animals all have some kind of Divine energy that course through them, as the energy of the Gods is present in all living things.

However, I do deny that there is nothing that separates man from animal.

What I will call "soul" is not merely the energy that permeates and connects all living things, but that which gives humans the power to reason, the power to cast spells and the power to invoke the Deities--when I say "soul" without clarification, I mean the soul of man, not the soul of another animal.

Therefore, in a larger sense, man is closer to the essence of God because of his ability to manipulate and guide that energy, while the simple animal cannot. (As far as we know)

Spiral into the Ecstatic May 1st, Beltane

 Color of the day:   Purple

 Incense of the day Mulberry

 The Pagan holiday of Beltane celebrates the vibrant attraction and union of the Goddess with the God. This meditation can be done quietly or can be part of a large exuberant ritual of daning and song. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Take three more deep, cleansing breaths. As you breathe deeply, find yourself outdoors in a beautiful, wild place. As you stand there, you feel the heatbeat of the Earth. It sounds like a drumbeat, and your blood throbs in harmony.

she

stands
on earth
grass beneath
her toes now damp with
a May morning’s sparkling dew

she

stands
watching
the sun rise
the sky shifting from
grey to pink purple tangerine

she

smiles
once the
sun rises o’er
the swaying treetops
waking blossoms fragrance the breeze