my 1st blót

September 22, 2011 at 2:53 pm (Chants & Songs, Holidays, spirituality)
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As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, I’ve been very drawn to Norse Paganism for a while, so much so that I’ve decided to start making Asatru/Heathenry a part of my life, having Celtic Reconstructionist rituals and traditions for the Celtic High Days, but following Heathen ways for other holidays. Today I had my first Heathen ritual; a solitary blót (blessing).

This was a bit of an emotional ritual for me, since I was kind of “introducing” myself for the first time to the gods/goddesses of my German and English ancestors. I’ve been reading Norse mythology and the Eddas, as well as listening to music about the Norse gods on The Heathen Songbook Online. This has given me a really good feel for what the gods are all about. The stories are so detailed, I feel like it has all “come to life” for me more than any other pantheon/tradition has. Although I am quite new to this, I was very satisfied with this ritual.

My Winter Finding Blót (on the eve of the autumn equinox 2011)

Warding
For the warding, I didn’t want to do a hammer rite; I’ve heard that the hammer rite may be simply a Wiccan carry-over. But I found  something called the “Anglo-Saxon Hallowing Charm” and it seemed really right. So I lit the candles on my tree candelabra and walked around the house carrying it singing that charm, holding it out from me, sometimes circling it. This is a new tradition for me, and it felt really right and powerful. That tree candelabra is heavy and it seemed just the right thing to use for this. Not only does the tree symbolize Yggdrasil,  but also oak trees are sacred to Thor, so it could also be considered his symbol. Though the leaves on this metal tree look a bit more like Yggdrasil ash than Thor’s oak.

Purpose
This is where I said:
“I stand here today upon this holy earth and speak for the first time to the gods and spirits of my German and English ancestors. I stand here today upon this holy earth to give thanks at the harvest time of the year, and to give offering and praise to the Aesir, Vanir, Landvaettir, Alf and Dises.”

Invocation
This is where I said:
“Aesir, Vanir, shining gods and goddesses of my folk from time unknown, hear my call. Come share a drink and hear my praise. Spirits of the Land, and Spirits of my Ancestors, hear my call. Come share a drink and hear my praise.”

Hallowing
I marked the sign of the hammer over my cup of cider and raised it aloft for a moment. (I’m making mead for rituals like this, but it isn’t ready yet.)

Blessing/Libations
I sang both “Gods of My Life” and “My Gods, Your Love”. After each stanza I took a drink and poured some in the libation bowl. I admit that second song got me a little teary eyed. After the songs I did some ad-lib personal toasts and libations, hailing and thanking individual gods and goddesses for the harvest and for coming into my life. I did the same for the Landvaettir, Ancestors, and especially the Disir, the ancestral mothers.

Offering
This is where I poured the rest of the cider into the libation bowl, then took it outside and poured it’s contents onto the ground at the base of a shrub and said:

“From the gods to earth to us, from us to the earth, to the gods.”

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A MID-AUTUMN RITE

September 18, 2011 at 6:43 am (Holidays, spirituality)
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(A part of my “little ritual” series.  Materials from, and adapted from ADF, the Carmia Gadelica, and other sources.)  Bring a cornucopia of first fruits to this ritual in addition to the usual “little ritual” supplies.

*(Edited to note: I wrote this ritual when I was a Celtic Reconstructionist and scheduled it for this later date. For info on how to convert this ritual to an ADF format, see the “little rituals” article highlighted above.)

Circumambulation (Circle ritual area three times. Skip this if ritual is at home.)

Purpose
“I am here to keep the old ways
and honor the Kindred at the time of Mid-Autumn.”

Three Realms Blessing
“As it was, as it is, as it evermore shall be —
I stand at the Center of Earth, Sky and Sea.”

Fire Lighting
“I kindle the sacred fire in wisdom, love, and power.”
(light fire) “Sacred fire, burn within me.”

Hail to the Spirits
“Hail, Earth Mother, whole and holy, honor unto thee!”
(touch the earth if outside, give offering)
“I offer now as the ancients did to the Kindreds Three!”
“To the Fair Folk, I give offering and welcome.”  (place offering in bowl or fire)
“To the Ancestors, I give offering and welcome.”  (place offering in bowl or fire)
“To my Deities, I give offering and welcome.”  (place offering in bowl or fire)

Greeting to the Autumn Equinox
(from the Celtic Devotional by Caitlin Matthews page 95)

Cornucopia
Hold up a small cornucopia of fruits and say:
“Earth, Holy Mother, Source of Nature,
you feed us while we live, hold us when we die. 
Everything comes from you, everything returns to you. 
What else could we call you but Our Mother? 
Even the Gods call you that.  Without you there is nothing. 
Nothing can thrive, nothing can live without your power. 
Queen and Goddess, I invoke you. 
You are all-powerful and my needs are so small. 
I ask that you pour forth your blessings
into these fruits to bless me and mine. 
We will receive in love and gratefullness
all that you bless us with.” 
Eat a sampling of the fruit, slowly, mindfully.
(Reserve the rest for the family.)

Parting Blessing
“I offer my thanks to the Mother of All. 
I offer my thanks to the Deities, Ancestors and Fair-Folk.
May the Three Sacred Kins bring joy to all beings,
and renew the ancient wisdom.
As it was, as it is, as it evermore shall be.”

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A Lughnasadh Feast Menu

July 31, 2011 at 6:08 am (Food, Holidays)
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Dingle Pies
Champ
First Fruits Platter
Bannock
Blueberry Crisp with Ice Cream
Blackberry Wine or Punch

~~~
Dingle Pies (traditional meat pies sold at Lammas fair in county Kerry, Ireland)
Pastry ingredients:
5 cups flour
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup very cold water
Filling ingredients:
1 lb boneless lamb
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 potato, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper

For the pastry, cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender until mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the chilled water and mix briefly. Turn the pastry out onto a floured surface and knead briefly. Wrap tightly and chill briefly while preparing the filling.
Cut meat into small pieces. Place in a bowl with the diced onion, carrot, potato and celery. Mix well and season well with salt and black pepper. Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut one-third off the pastry ball to save for the lids of the pies. Roll out the rest. Use a small plate as a guide and cut the dough into six circles. Lay these out flat on the work surface and divide the meat and vegetable mixture among the six circles, piling it in the middle of each one.
Roll out the remaining pastry into six smaller circles. Lay these on top of the fillings. Brush the edges of the larger pastry circles with a little water and roll them inward along with the smaller circles, pinching the upper and lower layers together to seal them.
Pierce a small hole or cut a slit in the top of each pie so that the steam of cooking can escape. Brush the pies with beaten egg: place on greased baking sheets. Bake for one hour. Serve hot or cold.

Champ (Poundies)
Champ is mashed potatoes, Irish-style, with butter and green onions. Instead of gravy, they are traditionally served with a well of butter in the center for dipping each bite.

4 pounds potatoes
1/2 pint milk
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
Salt and black pepper

Peel potatoes and cook in boiling water. Drain potatoes and mash thoroughly. Add milk, green onions, salt and pepper, and half the butter.
Champ is served piled high on the dish, with a well of melted butter in the center. It is eaten with a spoon from the outside, each spoonful being dipped in the well of melted butter. Makes: 8 servings.

Berry Punch (use whatever berry is in season)
2 qt. berry juice of choice, chilled
1 can (6 oz.) frozen concentrated pink lemonade
1 bottle (32 oz.) sparkling water, chilled
2 ice cube trays filled with frozen berry juice
fresh berries

Mix juice and lemonade concentrate in punch bowl. Just before serving stir in sparkling water and frozen juice cubes. Top with berries. Makes 25 servings.

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Happy Autumn Equinox!

September 22, 2009 at 6:56 am (Holidays)
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 cornucopia
Melody of Autumn,
Heart-beat of Harvest,
I set forth to your music this day.
                                           –Celtic Devotional, Caitlin Matthews

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Autumn Equinox Feast

September 18, 2009 at 7:28 am (Food, Holidays)
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Menu:
Shepherd’s Pie
Seasoned Beans
Chow chow
Stuffed Squash
Baked Apples
Pumpkin Gingerbread, Pecan Pie

And to wash it all down:

Harvest Home Punch
2 cups grape juice
2 cups apple juice
1 bottle blackberry or muscadine wine
1 cup berries
2 cups ginger ale
Grape bunches
Combine juices, wine, and berries.  Allow to sit at room temperature long enough for flavors to mingle- about ½ hour, then chill.  Combine with ginger ale in a punch bowl.  Garnish edges of punch bowl with bunches of grapes.

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More Autumn Equinox Activities for Kids

September 11, 2009 at 7:53 am (Arts & Crafts, Chants & Songs, Holidays, Pagan Parenting)
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leaf stained glass
Lay down several layers of newspaper on a flat surface.  On a large sheet of wax paper, let you child arrange pressed leaves in a design or pattern.  Place another sheet of wax paper over this.  Iron the layers together with an iron set on low.  Trim the edges and hang in a window.

Here’s three rhyming games for younger kids:
Autumn
Autumn winds begin to blow (blow)
Colored leaves fall fast and slow (make fast and slow motions with hands)
Twirling, whirling around in mirth(twirl around)
‘Til at last, they touch our Mother Earth (touch ground)

This is the Way We
This is the way we rake the leaves rake the leaves, rake the leaves
This is the way we rake the leaves in the middle of Autumn.
This is the way we jump on the leaves, jump on the leaves, jump on the leaves
This is the way we jump on the leaves in the middle of Autumn.
This is the way we throw the leaves Throw the leaves, throw the leaves
This is the way we throw the leaves in the middle of Autumn.
This is the way we rake the leaves rake the leaves, rake the leaves
This is the way we rake the leaves in the middle of autumn.

Leaves
Little leaves fall gently down
Red and yellow, orange and brown. (flutter hands like leaves falling)
Whirling, whirling around and around. (turn around)
Quietly, without a sound. (put finger to lips)
Falling softly to the ground (begin to fall slowly)
Down and down and down and down. (lie on ground)

~~~

apple crafts
The first weekend of October is apple festival time in Lincoln, Arkansas!  Though apples are usually in season for us here by Autumn Equinox, apple crafts are great for either an Autumn Equinox or Samhain activity.
Apple prints- cut open an apple horizontally to reveal the star pattern made by the seeds.  This can be dipped in paint and used as an art stamp.  Dried apple garlands/wreaths- slice apples ¼ inch wide, soak in 1 cup of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon salt for 2 hours.  Dry on a cookie rack in a 200 degree oven for 2 or three hours.  Let cool.  Poke a hole in the edge of each to string onto ribbon to make a garland, or glue onto a cardboard circle to make a wreath.  You could even try making apple dolls with the instructions at appledolls.org.

Cornhusk Shuttlecock Games
To play this game, you will need a pokean- a shuttlecock made of corn husks and feathers.  Gather together a few corn husks, some twine, and three large feathers.  Lay two large husks on a flat surface in the shape of a sun cross.  Fold a third husk into a square and place it in the center of the cross.  Fold the ends of the husks up over the center and tie with the twine.  Stick the ends of the feathers into the top of the pokean.  One simple way to play is to see who can toss the pokean into the air the most times in a row with the palm of the hand.  More games and an illustration on the pokean can be found on the nativetech website.

Here are some nice picture books about the Autumn Equinox and harvest celebrations around the world.  (I found them at my local library.)
We Gather Together by Wendy Pfeffer
The Autumn Equinox by Ellen Jackson

Another fun little thing is this autumn kaleidoscope.

See my previous Autumn Equinox activites page for more.

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Autumn Equinox Crafts for Kids

September 8, 2009 at 7:29 am (Arts & Crafts, Pagan Parenting)
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bean necklaces
Soak beans of various colors in water overnight.  In the morning, they will be soft enough to be pierced through with a needle and string to make necklaces and bracelets.
 

papier-mâché cornucopias
To make this project, first you will need to make some paper ropes.  Here’s how:
1. Lay a full size sheet of newspaper flat and drizzle with thick flour and water paste or glue.  Use a scrap of cardboard to  spread the paste over the entire sheet.
2. Lay another full size sheet of newspaper on top of the paste, 1 inch lower than the sheet below it.
3. Starting from the bottom, roll the 2 sheets together into a tube.
4. Twist the paper tube into a rope.
Now, to make the cornucopia, place a small bowl upside down on your work surface. Wrap one of your paper ropes around the bowl rim with the bowl upside down on the work surface. Cut off any excess length and paste ends together.  Let dry.  (You may need to tape it in place until it dries.)
Next paste one end of another paper rope to ring around bowl, leaving other end free. Attach 7 more ropes around ring in the same way, spacing them evenly.
Bring free ends together over bowl. Pull then off center to form a curved horn shape and paste in place. It will look a little bit like a tomato cage in structure.  Let dry, then remove bowl.
Make more paper ropes to weave into the cornucopia.
Paste end of a new rope to one of the cross ribs near top of basket. Weave other end of this new rope in and out of ribs, repeating with new lengths of rope until all spaces are filled in, using paste or glue where needed.
Let dry, then paint/decorate how you wish.  Fill cornucopia with real or papier-mâché fruits and vegetables.

 

markerpointsamplermarker point samplers
This is a simple and fun art project I found in Family Fun Magazine last year.  All you need are markers in various colors, a pencil, and graph paper.  First, use a pencil to lightly mark out letters and designs on the grid paper.  This example says “give thanks” but if you want to be more elaborate you can spell out “happy harvest” or anything you like.  When you are happy with your design, use markers to X in your design then go back and erase pencil marks.

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Autumn Equinox

September 4, 2009 at 7:10 am (Food, Holidays)
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The Autumn Equinox is coming up in about 2 ½ weeks.  For those unacquainted with this holiday, there are two equinoxes a year, one marking the beginning of spring (sometime around March 21st-24th), and this one, marking the beginning of autumn (this year its September 22nd).  The equinox occurs when the sun crosses the equator, making day and night approximately equal in length.  Celebrating the harvest and feasting are big themes for the Autumn Equinox, but many people do something to celebrate the theme of balance (because of the equal night, equal day thing) as well.

Most Pagans call this holiday Mabon.  I don’t and I’ll tell you why…
This holiday wasn’t always called Mabon.  The name Mabon became connected to the Autumnal Equinox because Grad student Aidan Kelly named it such around 1970, as part of a religious studies project.  (The use of the name “Litha” for the Summer Solstice is also attributed to Kelly.)  He later became a co-founder of the “New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn” and the name for the holiday caught on in the rest of the Neo-pagan community in the U.S.  It was in reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology.  It appears that Aidan wanted to follow the tradition of naming holy days after deities.  But it doesn’t really make sense for this holiday to be named for a Celtic deity.  The big feast days for the Celtic peoples were Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.  There is really nothing that links the god Mabon to the Autumn Equinox.  And there is no historical evidence of Mabon being worshiped on the Autumn Equinox. 

Other names for this holiday used by the modern Pagan community are “Second Harvest Festival”, “Wine Harvest”, “Feast of Avalon”,  “Alben Elfed”, and “Cornucopia”.  I like the name Cornucopia, or just plain Autumn Equinox.  I used to call this holiday “Harvest Home”, but Harvest Home is actually the name of a Christian harvest festival started in the mid-1800s in England that was celebrated at the end of harvest, not necessarily on the equinox. 

Having said that, I do like this holiday, regardless of whether or not the ancient Celts celebrated it or what it’s named.  September is a wonderful time of year in Arkansas.  So many delicious foods are ready for harvest- apples, pears, cantaloupes, cucumbers, muscadines, peaches, pumpkins, summer squash, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and watermelon, just to name a few.  (It’s also paw-paw time, which I’ll post more about tomorrow.)  The heat is tapering off a bit, making this a great time for picnics.  Autumn Equinox has been called the “witches’ thanksgiving”.  I think it should be made our nation’s official thanksgiving.  I would sure vote for it.  According to Mike Nichols, most European peasants were not accomplished at calculating the exact date of the equinox, and so they celebrated the event on a fixed calendar date, September 25th.  That’s even better.  I vote that we should move our nation’s thanksgiving holiday to September 25th.  (Now who is going to put it on the ballot?)  Wouldn’t that be great though?   Everyone would have that day off of work.  The weather would still be mild enough (in much of the country) for an outdoor feast.  Also, there would be about six weeks dividing up the last three holidays of the calendar year.  It makes a lot more sense than what we have now for the official /national holidays.

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Harvest Doll

July 30, 2009 at 3:31 pm (Arts & Crafts, Holidays)
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harvesthomeThe following craft could be made for the fall equinox / Harvest Home ritual instead.  A lot of people like to make these for Lughnasadh/Aedrinia, though.

Craft:  Harvest Doll
For this craft project, you will need string, scissors, lots of dry, yet pliable, natural materials such as wheat stalks, straw, vines, tall grasses… use what is in your garden or growing wild near you- harvest isn’t just the yield of the cultivated garden, but of the wild world too.
If you are using wheat stalks, soak them in warm water until they bend without breaking, then pat dry with a towel. Take a long bundle of your materials and fold in the middle.  Tie a piece of string in a knot around where you’d like the neck of the doll to be.  Split the body section of the doll into three parts; the two on the outside should be smaller than the one in the middle, and they should be about equal in thickness to each other. These will become the arms. Trim and tie off at the wrists.  Tie a string in the middle section where you’d like the waist to be.
You can put braids or twists in the arms and body before tying off, adding objects that represent the harvest for you.  You can make the doll male or female, or you can make one of each.  Leave the bottom of the doll loose to represent a skirt, or divide in two and tie off at the bottom to represent legs.
When your doll is complete, set it at an honored place at your table, to be the Queen/King of your Harvest feast!

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