It's been... far too long

   I haven't been posting, or writing up, anything for quite some time. I was doing well, chugging along, but my homesickness, depression, and overall ADHD brain has been making it a struggle. So, today, March 29th, we are working on getting a game plan up and running again. This does not have to be a struggle, no matter what my stupid self says. Love to all, pray for me Brighid!

Catch up Post

 This is a quick little accountability post. Due to an epic vacation, recovery from said vacation, and a greatest hits mix of pain and depression, we are a couple of weeks behind. It's doable for a catch up, if I start today. I have a lot of homeschool grading to do as well. I am very much hoping that the ibuprofen I took doesn't make me curl up in the fetal position again, as that was no fun, and I would like to avoid that in future. I think my St. John's Wort is not working for me. I get bad gut pain and gas from it. Need to order the original brand I did before. Anyway, this is supposed to be short, so I can get my Druidic butt in gear. Bright Blessings!

Lunasa Essay

 Lunasa 

August 7th, 2022

  Lunasa is an Irish harvest festival, that is said to celebrate the funeral of Lugh of the Long Hands stepmother, Tailte. It's a first harvest kind of event, and traditionally there would be games and such. It's part of the cross quarter days Fire Festivals, like Samhain, Imbolc and Beltaine. Bare bones, this is what the festival is.

  I had intended to celebrate this holy day on the first of August, as I usually do, but ended up having a lot of appointments and no time to celebrate. I spent the rest of the week putting finishing touches on the ritual then, and held ritual on Sunday the 7th. Originally, I was going to hold it outside in the same spot I held the summer Solstice ritual, but ended up at my altar in my room instead. I also was going to do a smaller ritual, with just a few prayers and such, but ended up doing the whole ADF COoR. 

  This holy day ended up being a lot of  "intended to's", and looking back, it seems that things worked out for the best that way. It rather makes me laugh.

  During the week, I did a bit of research on Earth Goddesses. As we are in Germany, I wanted to honor the Earth with Her local(ish) name. Normally I call upon Danu, or Anu, but it just felt slightly "off". I found that a Germanic name for the Earth is Hertha, and so when I did my call to the Mother, I used that name, and definitely got a good feeling from it. Henceforth, for as long as we are in Germany, that is the name of the Mother I will be using in rituals. 

  I once again used Rev. "Skip" Ellison's solitary ritual, and called upon Hertha as Mother Earth, Brighid as my Bard, and Lugh as the deity of the occasion. Mananna Mac Lir was my Gatekeeper, and the more I ask Him to do this, the more connected I feel towards Him. I gave offerings of silver, sweet herbs, and cornmeal, as well as brot kracker for the harvest offering. I am hoping that at Samhain I will be able to do more for celebration than just ritual; I would like to have a feast too! 

  The omen this time was taken using my Druid Animal Oracle deck. I normally only choose one card at a time, but this time drew three. They were as follows: the Horse, the Dog, the Ram (reversed). I interpreted this as the Divine, loyalty and love, and sacrifice accepted. It certainly felt positive, unlike the last omen from the solstice, which was a little vague. I really do attribute it to the "correct" name for the Mother here. 

  All in all, this ritual flowed a bit smoother, and I am finding the COoR to be more comfortable than before. I have been using it off and on for a few years now, but it is finally starting to make more sense. I am hoping that I can have more of it memorized for Samhain, and that by the end of my year of study, I will be comfortable enough to not need notes. 

  Bright Blessings!

Second High Holy Day, Lunasa

 

High Day Celebrated: Lunasa                          Location: Home shrine/altar

 

Date Celebrated: August 7th                            Time Celebrated: Noon

 

Who Led the Rite: I did                                    Grove Name: __________________

 

Other ritual officers: ______________________________________________________

 

Number of Attendees: 1                                   Gatekeeper: Manannan Mac Lir

 

Deities of the Occasion (Patrons): Lugh, Brighid, Hertha (Mother Earth, German)

 

Omen Method (i.e. runes, ogham, tarot): Druid Animal Oracle deck

 

Omen (as read, with interpretation):

The Horse, The Dog, The Ram (reversed)

The Goddess, Loyalty, Sacrifice (as in the offerings/sacrifices were accepted)

Devotion has been seen and welcomed

Any Magical Workings Done or Oaths Given:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

 

Impressions/Other Comments/Notes:

It was very quiet, and I could feel the different deities with me. I called upon Hertha as Earth Goddess, because we are in Germany, and it felt like I should do that. It was received very well, and I felt like I did what I wanted, and needed, to do. While again, I do not worship other gods and goddesses, I do honor and respect them, and welcome their aid when they appear. 

I need to do a full write up, but am running into a bit of a depression rut, and so this will do until I have a chance to go back through my notes of the day and do an actual essay. I am still pretty much on track.

My Altar and Shrine

   One of the requirements of the Dedicant year is to showcase your personal home shrines and altars. We are to show how they grow and change as we grow and change in our journey. I have shown my shrine and altar many times in many places. Currently, my space has grown to take over most of a large window shelf. I used to have just a central altar, where I had my icons and elements and did all my works. Now, I have the space to add shrines, as it were.

 

This side, the left side, is my "magic" shrine. It is here that other gods/goddesses/spirits are honored, and other magic is done. Currently it has a Spellbook which only holds one of my devotional prayers and my ADF member card. Eventually it is to hold prayers and such. I also have my Druid Animal Oracle Deck book on this side, mostly for balance, as it doesn't really work on the right side where I keep the actual deck. I also have a candle, candle snuffer, incense burner (for looks only, it was my mom's and it has a crack in it), my Athame, and two necklaces. One is a carved reindeer horn piece devoted to Elen of the Ways. It was a gift from a grovemate just before we left on our journey as a military family. She keeps us safe in our travels. The second is a small token style necklace with an imprint of Aries on it. I was born on the 31st of March, so an Aries I am, haha! The cloth is a pretty scarf that I got long ago... I can't recall from where, though!

This is my central altar, devoted to Brighid. I started fully worshiping Her exclusively about 16 years ago, devoting myself to Her on Imbolc of 2005. The icon in the back is a drawing I did in a fit of Imbas of Her, and have used it on every shrine and altar ever since. I was going to color it, but never did. The brass swan is a piece that my inlaws gave to us in a large cache of brass objects, and it was the only piece that spoke to me. (the rest of the brass when to others who wanted them, and to a recycling yard) I have a candle in the back, little bottles that once held water from Her site in Kildare, shells from Taiwan and Coco Beach FL, fused glass plate for my incense burner disc, a bowl with water and river stones, a wooden acorn, and a rock of hematite. All these little things have personal significance to me, like the shell from Coco Beach, which was the first time I had been to the ocean. I also have my wedding ring and a small Brighid's Cross pin that I wear sometimes, and received from the founder of a Brighid order I used to belong to. The cloth is a scarf with wheat motifs on it, and I love the color. It all sits on a large brown wooden box that holds extra things, like cloths and candle holders. 

This side is my divination and ancestor's shrine side. I have a large river rock that I painted my Lady on, in Her guise as the Saint (I will explain later in this post). I keep a small set of prayer beads on this stone. I have a hand dyed silk scarf that sits under it all. The deck is the Druid Animal Oracle deck, and I use it almost daily for inspiration/motivation. It sits in a small wooden box that my eldest child brought back from Taiwan (it was the perfect size!). I have a handmade Ogham set, which I don't use nearly as often as I should, a pair of Faery earrings from a friend to represent the Good Folk, 2 family bibles covered in family costume jewelry as my Ancestors shrine, and a pair of silver bracelets that are personal connections to the past. 

The stone does need a bit of explanation. I have seen my Lady in many guises, either in intense visions or subtle feelings. The red haired woman in a green mantle is usual for many, I know, and I have seen Her this way, but I have also seen Her garbed like the Mother of God. I wondered if I was seeing Mary at the time, but no, very intensely it was Brighid. I have also seen Her, standing very similarly, like the priestess statues from Minoa, arms outstretched, clad in hard metal plates of copper, hold a wavy knife, point down. Her hair was hard and wavy as well, and also copper. Again, She was very distinctly Brighid. So, I have different ways of envisioning Her, and sometimes I think She does it to be how I need at that time. Many would not see their gods in the Christian guise, or in any other pantheon, and for good reason, but for some reason She seems to choose how She wants to be at different times and stresses in my life. A theory I have is that the Divine comes to us as we need, and not necessarily how we want. But I digress...

  Every high holy day I clean my shrines and altar off, dusting things and shaking clothes, etc. I wash the bowl properly, and change some small arrangements of the items. Again, it has grown since I last wrote about my area, mostly because I have room to spread things out in one place. This arrangement will most like last the entire 3 years we are here in Germany, and depending on the space we have in our next duty station, might look entirely different. 

  This is my altar space, with adjacent shrines, as of August 2nd, 2022.

 

Keeping up with my weekly schedule

 This post will be a bit of a catch all: I won't call this an essay, but rather how I have been actually doing my weekly work.

  I am using the DP Through the Wheel of the Year guide to keep me on task, and I am only slightly behind on my reading. That's ok, I have time to get caught up, if I manage to budget myself this week, haha! Yesterday was Lughnasadh, and I was unable to celebrate that holiday on the day. I am, however, going to celebrate it this weekend. I am a little sad, since my friend has gone back to the States, so this might be a bit solitary, unless my husband and sons want to participate/attend. 

  Last week I was supposed to work on the 2 Powers meditation, but I was unable to do so. However, I do a daily devotion/meditation in the morning before breakfast, and will journal what that entails to be used as part of an essay. Here it is in a nutshell:

  I first clean the incense burner off, and replace the water in my small bowl. I set up new incense, and then light my candle to Brighid, while reciting the first part of the flame lighting prayer from Clann Bhride https://clannbhride.org/ . Then, I light the incense, and continue the prayer, blowing out the flame on the incense at the line, "give me the power to bear Your light"... it was one of those Imbas things that I had months ago when starting this devotion practice. I then recite the rest of the prayer, holding my hands partially folded, using my thumbs and first fingers to create a circle over my belly. I didn't intentionally start doing that; my hands kind of naturally ended up that way, and I have kept it. I take a deep breath through my nose, hold, then exhale, relaxing my shoulders and back (I am almost always standing when doing these devotionals), and then I start the Caim of Brighid that I have memorized, using visual elements throughout to create a protective aura around me. I learned how to cleanse my aura while in Viriginia, patching holes and whatnot, and found that the words of the Caim worked well with it. At the end, I take another deep breath through the nose, hold, then release from the mouth. I have added a third prayer, the Hearth Keeper's Prayer from the Saint Brigid of Kildare group in Calgary, Canada. I started using this prayer after the Uvalde shooting, and intend to memorize it as part of my morning devotions. At the end of the prayers, I do one more breath in and out, and stand silent for a time. Some mornings are more connected than others, but they are never bad. I don't do this every single day, however; some days I need a break, or have early morning appointments/obligations that get in the way of doing them. It's ok, though, as sometimes one needs a break, and She knows I think of Her even away from the altar. 

  So, the notes here are to be my reference when I do my meditation essays and journaling. I haven't officially started noting them down, although I should, as I need 5 months of "practice". The nice thing is I already have this habit of devotions, which are meditations, and I just need to get into the habit of writing down how it is working for me. Coming up in the next couple of weeks will be the learning, and mastering, of the 2 Powers Meditation, which I have used, modified, in the past in Open Circle, to help center the students for the ritual at hand. Getting better at leading meditations is a good plan.

  I will, this week, get the ritual for Lughnasadh together, and do it probably on Saturday. I will probably use Skip Ellison's solitary ritual for it; he lays things out very neatly, and it is easy to follow. One day I will be comfortable enough to write my own. 

  Today I shall use for catch up on writing, and reading, with a bit of housework thrown in for good measure. I am determined.

  Oh Brighid, I pray You help Your daughter in her studies and life! Blessed Be!

First essay, High Holy Day #1

 

High Holy Day:

Summer Solstice, June 21^st, 2022

 

  The Summer Solstice, also known as Litha in Neo Pagan circles, is the high point of the summer. The longest day and shortest night is important in the Northern hemisphere, as it marks the slow slide down to the Winter Solstice, when we have our shortest day and longest night. Reading up on this holiday has been an adventure, as I have been part of many different kinds of groups and traditions, who view this with different deities, etc. My particular hearth is Irish Pagan, specifically centered around the worship of Brighid, and it doesn’t factor in as important, other than some historical/archaeological interest. A site in Carrowkeel, Co Sligo, has many neo-lithic cairns, where at least one has a “roof box” that lines up with the midsummer sun. Whether this was to mark it for religious significance, I cannot say, but it does show that the ancients were aware of the marking of the middle of the year.

  Currently, I don’t normally celebrate equinoxes or solstices, as they don’t “speak” to me in the same way that Imbolc, or Samhain, do. Part of this year long study is to find ways to incorporate these holy days into my own practice, so I can better serve those who come into my life.

  As I am married to a military (U.S. army) chaplain, I am obliged to move frequently. We are currently at our second duty station in Germany, and unfortunately there is not an Open Circle the way there was in Virginia. I am basically on my own at this time, with the help of my wonderful husband. So, when celebrating this holy day, I wasn’t expecting any kind of audience. 

 

  The day was beautiful: sunny, warm, with a strong breeze. I had picked out a site near our apartment building on base, a gazebo with a cement block “oven”. It wasn’t large, and the oven was in the East, which was a bit annoying, but we work with what we have. I set my altar up (a small two tier table) facing the  East, and placed my icon of Brighid on the actual oven. I used the small bowl I use as a Well on my indoor altar, and my altar candle as my Fire. My Tree was the walking staff I decorated with ribbons, and placed to the North. I used cornmeal, lemon and ginger herbal tea for sweet herbs, and olive oil from Italy that my friend brought with. I also had filtered water, but because of the wind, was unable to light incense.

  I followed the Core Order of Ritual, using Rev. “Skip” Ellison’s version from The Solitary Druid as my basis. I only changed a few things, such as not using the binary for the patrons of the day, but otherwise I found it to be easy to follow. I called upon Danu as Earth Goddess, Oghma as my Bard, Manannan mac Lir as my Gatekeeper, and Brighid as the “deity of the occasion”. All the presences were felt in different ways, such as solidity for Danu, confidence with Oghma, the movement of place with Manannan, and as always the warm comforting presence of my Lady.

   I did not have much memorized, but had hand written out the bulk of it into a notebook that I intend to use for this year journey. It went relatively smoothly, but as I had two “newbies” there, I didn’t just do the ritual, but explained each part, and whom I was calling, etc, as I did it. When I asked them about it afterwards, they both said it was very helpful, and didn’t feel like it interrupted the flow at all. It really helped me as well, as this was my first ritual, by myself, in a long time, and I was reassured that this was a good start.

  I am still having some trouble with the omen I took. I used the Ogham sticks I created a couple of years ago, and pulled Uileann (reversed), Ruis, and Duir. The impression was one of neutrality/positivity, so I took it that way. I have been wanting to dive into using the Ogham more, so this might be the nudge I need. Overall, it was a positive beginning, and I am glad I started on the longest day with my Path.

Alyssa Johnson-Glassel