Fire Magic

Now that we have arrived at the longest day of the year, I thought I might write a bit about fire magic; some practicalities of it, as well as how fire is used in magic in my neck of the woods.

Of course, there is candle magic, and most of us modern Pagans have a sense of what candle colors are used for this or that need. However, it is more traditional in the Ozarks and Appalachians to just use a plain white candle. Whether its a taper or glass encased candle is often a practical matter of availability and affordability. Also, nuances of the working can’t always be narrowed down to a color theme. Working with a small glass-encased candle has the added benefit of being a little less of a fire hazard, and no dripped wax. Whereas one would carve the name of who the spell is for on a taper candle, with a glass-encased candle the name could be marked with a grease pencil or marked in cloth and tied to the candle, or marked on pure paper (brown paper bag) and pasted to the glass. For a taper candle, one would anoint it with oil while rolling it toward oneself for increase, or away from oneself for a spell of decrease. For a glass-encased candle, a bit of oil can be placed on top of the wax.

Then there’s the issue of whether you adhere to the notion of letting a spell candle burn all the way down. If you are in a position to keep an eye on your candle for long periods of time, this may not be an issue. Otherwise, you may want to either set a certain time interval to burn it and call it finished, burn it in stages (snuffing the flame between intervals, not blowing it out), or choose a fast burning candle to get your magics did and done. A chime candle can take two and a half hours to burn all the way down, a (3 inch) Hanukkah candle takes 30 to 40 minutes, and the average birthday candle takes a little over 14 minutes. You can use a shot glass or a votive holder to encase a birthday candle. Find a small raised washer that fits the end of the candle. Fasten it to the end and you can just stand the candle up in the middle of the glass. Of course, birthday candles may be too small to carve something on, but you could still put something on the glass, or put a small spell paper under the glass. You could also surround a picture or symbol with candles for your working, three or four around it are traditional.

Some people like to use an oil lamp instead of candles. For this, you would wash out the basin of a lamp with saltwater and fill it with the herbs and spell items you’re using. You can even attach a spell paper to the wick with a clothespin before you pour in lamp oil. Whisper into the basin your prayer or spell and blow three breaths into it before placing the top on and continuing with it. Say your words of power again as you light the lamp, and adjust the flame to burn small. You’re never supposed to let a lamp burn out it’s oil, or let anything touch it’s chimney. 

Aside from candle or lamp magic, there’s the simple act of burning something. As I have mentioned before, a traditional Ozark curse-avert was to tangle up some yarn and throw it in the fireplace. Folks have tossed a bit of salt into a fire for the same purpose. Before there was reliable medicine to bring down a fever, Ozark healers used to burn some black feathers under the bed of a patient.

Burning something can be an act of symbolically ridding oneself of something or manifesting something. It can also be an act of offering or celebration, as when we burn sun symbols at the Solstice. If you don’t have a fireplace and can’t have an outdoor fire, a burn-pot may be just the thing. For mine, I used a small copper cauldron I found in a thrift store and filled it about halfway with sand. A votive candle goes in the middle and I use that to light my spell paper. Though brown (bag) paper is usually my preference for spell tokens, if I’m burning it indoors, I use a small square of really thin tissue paper (the kind of tissue paper that goes in the top of gift bags). And, whereas I would normally fold a spell token three times (toward myself for increase, away for decrease), in this case, I fold it accordion style and light the entire edge, letting it catch full well before dropping it in the sand. This material and this method seems to be the fastest burning with the least amount of smoke (plus, tissue paper can be snipped into neat little sun images and burned for the Solstice). The only thing faster I’ve found is flash paper, and I only get that for special occasions (like a burning bowl ceremony at my UU church), since it’s a bit too flammable to keep around all the time.

Speaking of which, with all fire spells, remember– never leave a flame unattended.

Happy Solstice!

The Bear King and the Goddess

When I was first exploring the Waincraft’s Lord of Plenty, it took me a while to truly understand what was meant in their description of this Power. Waincraft specifically describes him as a bear god, but in the deity names listed, he seems to be a bear in name etymology only (Mathgen, Math ap Mathonwy, Matunos…), for in the Celtic myths, I couldn’t find anything that described him the way that Waincraft does. 

Waincraft says of the Lord of Plenty; “Across ancient Europe, he was the Bear-King, ruler of the most noble, sacred and mysterious creature in the cultural imagination of the time. He is the protecting and preserving force that ameliorates the harshness of his brother’s realm.”

The parallel concept in Correllian traditions is the King archetype; “The King is the God passed from warrior to leader, nurturing family and community rather than merely himself.”

I came to think of the Lord of Plenty as a strong, kind, and generous King archetype, much like the character of the ghost of Christmas present in the Dickens story A Christmas Carol– but in the 1970 movie adaptation titled “Scrooge”.

And then I came across another bear connection quite by accident. I was looking up American folktales and found the story Whitebear Whittington from the book Grandfather Tales by Richard Chase. I immediately fell in love with this tale that is a cross between Beauty and the Beast and East of the Sun, West of the Moon. I was overwhelmed by the feeling that this is a sacred story full of metaphor- a deeply meaningful mythology disguised as a fairytale, and it opened up a deeper level of understanding for me.

I especially love the story Whitebear Whittington, perhaps partly because the story is a traditional Ozarks and Appalachian tale, so it feels very homey and personal with the imagery and the way it’s told. But I’ve also come to realize that a lot of other bear fairytales have the same kind of archetypal symbolism. In these stories, the bear is always a wealthy prince or a king- a figure of abundance and power. However, in Whitebear Whittington, he seemed to simply be a well-off guy– a strong and gentle man who is also a good provider. 

I think a lot of the abundance and comfort feeling of the character comes from the physicality of his bear aspect. On one hand, bears are big, powerful, and scary- so to have a bear as a protector would be very comforting. But bears are also big (abundant) and soft. I’m reminded of the story Snow White and Rose Red, in which the sisters’ mother lets a bear into their home to warm up by the fire. 

“The bear said: ‘Here, children, knock the snow out of my coat a little’; so they brought the broom and swept the bear’s hide clean; and he stretched himself by the fire and growled contentedly and comfortably. It was not long before they grew quite at home, and played tricks with their clumsy guest. They tugged his hair with their hands, put their feet upon his back and rolled him about…” –-Grimm’s Fairy Tales

So this image we have of the bear is that of strength and power, but also softness, gentleness, comfort, and abundance. He is a hibernating animal, a very earthy god- he sleeps when nature sleeps. He wakens with the spring. In the tales, he has a dual man/bear nature, until at last the enchantment is broken. If we were to think of these stories as a tale of the seasons, perhaps the spell would be broken in the spring- a peek from the cave at the Winter Thermstice (Imbolc), and full emergence at the Spring Equinox. Then the Bear King becomes a Young God- Hero/Lover- Maponos once again. 

In Whitebear Whittington, he tells his bride, “Now I got a spell on me and I can’t be a man but part of the time. From now on I can be a man of a night and stay with you here and be a bear of a day, or I can be a bear of a night and sleep under your bed and be a man of a day. Which had you rather I be?”

This is another reason I like this particular version of the bear fairytale. Whitebear does not try to hide his enchantment, his dual nature, from his bride. She is given quite a bit of choice in the nature of it even. Neither is she held there in fear, for upon arriving at their home, he says, “This house and everything in it belongs to you now, and there’s nothing here to hurt you.”

The bride is never named in this particular tale, but we know her well. She is Youngest Daughter of three sisters. As the story begins, she is a Maiden. As the story progresses, she becomes a Mother. When the story takes a turn, she visits, and wins the favor of; the Crone.

At some point in many of the hero myths, the hero often sees the colors white, red, and black, (such as red blood on white snow, and a raven feather) and decides his future bride must have those colors. 

Now white is a symbol for purity, but also for light, and youthful deities of the light half of the year, such as the Maiden. Black symbolizes death and the Crone, but also the substance of decay which creates the fertile conditions for new life to grow, and the dark half of the year. Red symbolizes life blood and fertility and is often a symbol of deities of the ripening season, and the Mother. 

This ancient color symbolism is often repeated in fairy tales as well, but more so just red and white, and sometimes dark green is in the place of black. There’s three sisters and the color symbolism is frequently present in the dresses they choose. In Whitebear Whittington, those colors are attached to Whitebear himself. (An earlier telling included the color symbolism of black as well; it was a crow that dropped feathers to lead Youngest Daughter to Whitebear. Chase changed it in the book to a white bird with red speckled feathers.) Then there’s the three drops of blood that were shed on his white fur. These colors indicate that this is a story of the mysteries of light, darkness, and the life in-between. This is Youngest Daughter’s blood, and it marks Whitebear as her own. He is hers and she must reclaim him, awaken him from his enchantment. 

Returning again to imagining the story of Whitebear as a seasonal narrative; one could conclude that it could serve as a year-round story. (Though in the actual tale, as it’s told, the events happen one after another and the time of year is unspecified.) But imagine… you could say the white rose was picked on Spring Equitherm/May Day (a time when mates are chosen), then Youngest Daughter was taken as Whitebear’s wife at Summer Solstice (June- a traditional time to get married). Their three children symbolize the harvests of the year. Whitebear’s wife leaves to visit family sometime after Autumn Equitherm/Hallows Eve and soon realizes Whitebear is gone. It would be at Winter Solstice that she receives three golden magical nuts (perhaps symbolizing a Winter Solstice triple sunrise, or their three children & three harvests of the year) from the Crone (out of the darkness, light). At Winter Thermstice/Imbolc (the time of ritual cleansing) she spots him and washes the blood from his shirt, but does not yet have him back. Then finally she finds and wakes him from his slumber and enchantment at the Spring Equinox.

Naturalistic Terms for Pagan Holidays

Many of the most popular Neopagan terms for the holidays we commemorate are problematic. This is largely due to those specific names being popularized after being published in the Green Egg in the 1970’s. Don’t even get me started on why “Mabon” isn’t a good choice of naming for the Autumn Equinox. If you don’t already know, you can go see John Halstead’s article, the Worst Named Pagan Holiday. 

Many of these names have very cultural/mythological based themes. In the past, I am someone who has explored several of the cultures of my ancestors as inspiration for my Pagan practices. But in recent years, I’ve come to the realization that I need to turn my focus to my own here-and-now culture. No matter how much they inspire me, I will never be a part of those other cultures. I am separated from them by an ocean and by hundreds of years. 

My aim is to live the best aspects of my own culture, as much as possible. So I began using some of my culture’s names for holidays, but they’re incomplete, and sometimes Christianized. There are also instances in which there is no equivalent holiday in my culture, but I want there to be one to complete the seasonal narrative. (I mean, we have “Groundhog’s Day” but no equivalent of Lùnasa at the opposite end of the year? What’s that about?!)

Now I know there will be those who are quick to point out that there was never a single ancient culture that commemorated all eight holidays of the modern Neopagan “Wheel of the Year”. Yet, they are events in Nature. Having evenly placed commemorations in the cycle of seasons seems highly appropriate for a Nature-based spirituality (though I know not all Pagans are Nature-based). There is something in Nature to celebrate or commemorate at every turn of the cycle. If there are no outward signs of its marking in my culture, then that needs adjusting.

So my solution for the names I use for the holidays– for the solstices and equinoxes, it’s simple, as they have long established scientific names. But a little lesser known is that the Cross-Quarter days have similarly established naturalistic or scientific names. They are the thermstices and the equitherms.

So the solstices mark the extreme points of the daylight cycle for the year; Winter Solstice is the shortest day and longest night, and Summer Solstice is the longest day and shortest night. Then, the thermstices mark the extreme points of the thermal cycle for the year. This is because the thermal/heat cycle lags the daylight cycle- it takes a while to feel the effects of the solstices. So… Winter Therstice is the approximate coldest part of the year, and Summer Thermstice is the approximate hottest point of the year. 

It’s along similar lines for the equinoxes; the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes are times of equal day and night, but the Spring and Autumn Equitherms are when that equilibrium has caught up in terms of temperature, as days that are likely to feel truer to the season.

Just as the dates of the solstices and equinoxes change from year to year, so do the Cross-Quarter dates of the thermstices and equitherms, and they’re often on different dates from what cultural customs dictate. The scientific method of determining the date can be more complicated than just finding the exact middle between two dates as it also takes into account local terrain shifts. You can find accurate Cross Quarter dates for your region, as well as the solstice and equinox dates for any given year- on the archaeoastronomy website.

Solstice Sun Shirt

All you need to make this festive sunny attire is a sun-colored shirt (perhaps one you’ve tie-dyed in light sunny colors), contact paper, scissors, an iron, a piece of cardboard the width of your shirt, and fabric crayons.

Prewash the t-shirt and iron out any wrinkles, if necessary. Insert the cardboard inside the shirt to give you a hard surface to work on. See my tutorial for making tissue paper sun faces, and use that method to cut out a design with the contact paper, keeping the design simple.

Next comes the tricky part– peel off the back of the contact paper and lay your resulting sticky stencil on the front of the shirt. Use your fabric crayons to color in the features of the sun face and other details, and along the edges, fading as you go out from your design. For best results, use colors that contrast the colors of your shirt, so the design will show up. When finished coloring, peel off the stencil. Follow the directions that came with your fabric crayons for setting your design permanently into the fabric.

For more Summer Solstice fun, see Kids’ Activities for Midsummer / Summer Solstice.

easy drawstring bags

I’ve been making some drawstring bags for the kids of my grove to use for the Midsummer sun coin hunt. These sturdy little bags made from sunny bandanas are so simple to make. To make one, all you need is: a bandana, matching thread, sewing needle (or sewing machine), scissors, iron, a ruler, pins, a safety pin, and a 30 inch cord or ribbon.

STEP 1: Iron creases out of your bandana and turn to the faded side. Bring the corners in to meet in the center, or as close as they will get, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Iron the edges to make a crease.

STEP 2: Flip the bandana over and bring corners to the center again. Iron edges to crease.

STEP 3: Measure about and inch in, all around the outer edges. This is your sewing line. Mark with pins.

STEP 4: Sew all the way around, through all layers, by hand or with a sewing machine. Don’t sew the corners closed- this will be a casing.

STEP 5: Attach a safety pin to the end of your cord to thread it through the casing.

STEP 6: Thread it all the way around to the beginning and tie it to the other end of the cord.

STEP 7: Pull cord to gather the top of the bag closed. You can pull some of the cord out at the opposite opening to create two handles for your bag. Attach trinkets (beads, buttons, bells) to the ends of the cord, if desired.

Notice the inside of your bag has eight little side pockets! The layers created in folding helps this bag stand up on it’s own.

For more Summer Solstice fun, see Kids’ Activities for Midsummer / Summer Solstice.

Midsummer Flower Boat

Making a Midsummer flower boat is a fun and memorable way to commemorate the Summer Solstice, that kids especially love. For your paper boat, you can use any kind of paper. Why not use something you were going to throw into the recycle bin anyway? Newspaper or what we call “good on one side paper” is fine. A rectangular shape works best.

1. Fold paper in half with the fold at the top.

2. Fold the top two corners down to meet in the center.

3. Fold one layer of the bottom strip of paper up.

4. Flip over and fold the back bottom strip of paper up to be even with the front. (Right now you have a hat!)

5. Open it up, turn it on it’s side, and press down flat.

6. Fold bottom point up to meet the top point.

7. Turn over and do the same to the back.

8. Open, turn on it’s side, and flatten again.

9. Open up into a boat!

Decorate the boat and dip the top of the sail and side ends in oil. Fill it with flowers (and prayer slips, if you like). Set it in a stream and light it on fire at the top and sides. Watch it sail it off, blazing like the summer sun, to carry your prayers and wishes to the realm of gods and spirits.

Green is Gold.
Fire is Wet.
Future’s Told.
Dragon’s Met.

For more Summer Solstice fun, see Kids’ Activities for Midsummer / Summer Solstice.

salt dough sun plaque

With the Summer Solstice coming up this month, I thought I’d share this fun little sun plaque craft.

I used strong salt dough, because I had a batch on hand, but you can use regular salt dough as well. After mixing and kneading the dough, I rolled it out thick and cut it into a five inch circle using a lid for a template and cutting around it with a pizza cutter. I made a circle indention in the middle with a small jelly jar, for the face. The nose is just a small coil shape placed in the middle of the circle face and smoothed down with dampened fingers at the top. (Remember to dampen the surface of the salt dough before adding pieces.) I used my fingertip to make indentions for the eye areas. The lips are made from three tiny balls of dough pinched up on the ends. I attached two flattened dough balls for cheeks. I found two little amber-colored beads to press in for eyes. Then when it came time for the sun rays, I looked around my kitchen for something triangular or sun-ray shaped and spotted the ends of my fine mesh metal sifter- perfect! If you decide to make a sun plaque with your little ones, remember to press a hole in the back for hanging when you flip it over to air dry the back. If you have leftover salt dough, make some little sun medallions!

For more Summer Solstice fun, see Kids’ Activities for Midsummer / Summer Solstice.

Countdown to Midsummer – Holiday Planner

May 23rd – 29th

• Decorate home for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

• Line up Summer Solstice activities for the kids.

• Make a Midsummer playlist.

June 1st – 8th

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Make sun medallions (if using), as well as any other salt dough or papier-mâché projects (such as a sun-shaped piñata) so they will have time to dry.

June 9th – 15th

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

• Find a place to pick/obtain herbs for making an herb (or herb & flower) chaplet for your Midsummer ritual. (See this School of the Seasons newsletter on magical Midsummer herbs and their uses.)

• Make a sun wheel to bun in Midsummer fire. (Like the giant sun weaving on the summer crafts page at Twig and Toadstool, but perhaps on a smaller scale.)

June 16th – the Solstice

• Shop for menu items.

• Prepare feast.

• Obtain herbs to use in ritual and make herb chaplets, etc.

• Have ritual, make merry, and feast.

Sun Medallions

With Summer Solstice coming up in a couple of weeks, now is the perfect time to make sun medallions for a treasure hunt! I first came across this idea well over a decade ago in the book “Wiccacraft for Families” by Margie McArthur. My older kids and I had so much fun making them. Once we painted sun symbols on wooden disks, but then found it was much more fun to use salt dough. I even found sun-print fabric and made little drawstring bags for them to put their sun treasures.

Its been a while, but I’m making some again! I rolled out a batch on my own today, but will probably make more with my teenagers later- they’ll have fun hiding them on Solstice for their little brother!

I used regular strength salt dough for this:

1 cup salt
2 cups flour
¾ cup water
yellow food coloring
gold glitter

First, I mixed together the salt and flour. Then I tinted the water with food coloring and worked it into the flour, kneading in more food coloring to get the color I wanted. Then I kneaded in a bunch of gold glitter. (The medallions we made when my older kids were little were made with just plain salt dough, then painted when they were dry. Doing it this way saves that step.)

I rolled out the dough (not too thin) and cut out medallion shapes with a small biscuit cutter. I used a cookie spatula to move the disks to a pizza box lid.

I used some of the samples of sun symbols from Margie’s book, but also, just dug around in the kitchen for things to use as imprinting tools. I used a gluestick cap to make medium circles, a skewer to make dots, a butter knife to make lines, and a jumbo bendy straw to make some of the sunrays. I also had some sun stamps, but they didn’t leave a very deep impression. (I may have to sponge some darker paint into the depressions when they are dry.)

Now is a great time to make these, because they’ll have plenty of time to dry before the Solstice.

*For more ideas on celebrating the Summer Solstice with kids, see my article Kids Activities for Midsummer.

A MIDSUMMER RITE

(A part of my “little ritual” series.  Materials from, and adapted from ADF, the Carmia Gadelica, and other sources.)  In preperation for this ritual, gather some midsummer herbs and flowers and fashion into a circlet to wear on your head, in addition to 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.)

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

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, 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 Summer Solstice
(from the Celtic Devotional by Caitlin Matthews- page 71)

Walk or dance around fire, singing, praying.  Leap over the fire for luck.
Lift the herb and flower circlet from your head and hold up to the sun while reciting the following:

Prayer to the Sun
“The sun is high above all- shining down upon the land and sea,
making things grow and bloom.
Great and powerful sun, I honor you this day
and thank you for your gifts.
Aine, Belenus, goddesses and gods of light and life,
you are known by many names.
You are the light over the crops,
the heat that warms the earth,
the hope that springs eternal, the bringer of life.
I welcome you, and honor you this day, celebrating your light,
as we begin our journey once more into the darkness.”

Burn herb circlet as offering to the sun.  Watch it burn completely before ending ritual.

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.”