Imbolc, as promised

Merry Imbolc!
I really got behind on posting and I know that I said that I would post rituals and traditions to make your Imbolc meaningful and fun, but since it is now Imbolc...I don't really want to hang out on the Internet all day so I am going to be brief. Here are some things you can do today that will add meaning to your Imbolc festivities!

Prepare your altar as you usually would and ask the Goddess and God to bless your seeds for the upcoming planting season

Light candles in honor of the growing Sun God and the return to warmer days

Bundle up and take a walk in nature meditating on the first inklings of new life and spring!

Clean your home both spiritually and physically- throwing away old junk, as well as stale and negative energies leaving room for positivity and new growth!

Praise the Goddess and God in all the beauty of today, as you do everyday.

I know this was really brief, and not as detailed as usual, but I'm a witch on a mission and I have Imbolc things to do!

Brightest Blessings!

~S

Uhm...Everything that popped into my head at once

My Sabbats are going to be a tiny bit scattered as I hadn’t started this blog til after Yule and I plan on covering each Sabbat as it makes an appearance throughout the year. In order to avoid confusion, I would like to post a link to this blog which lists each of the Sabbats in order and gives a description of each. Those of you that are familiar with the Wheel of the Year need not bother with it; however, many new witches will find this helpful! Many of you are probably part of covens or are working toward your initiation. You will have many celebrations of the Sabbats to look forward to as well as people to guide you in proper practice. The rest of you are probably solitaries, like me * impish grin*.

I would like to point out that there is nothing wrong with being a solitary BUT it definitely makes the learning curve slightly more daunting without anyone to guide your steps. I had an absolutely fabulous mentor named Neil (not his Pagan name of course). With that in mind, I hope that the pages of this blog help guide your steps much as Neil guided mine.

I would like to start with some advice on what to avoid. Not all Pagan websites are created equal. In fact, a good portion of them are complete rubbish. Many new witches are eager to look for spells to try, and do so online. While there are some good resources for this, there are many that sell hoaxes. On top of this, even the sites that advertise free spells contain half spells. This can be very dangerous. Most witches include a catch-all in spells that they craft to ensure that the energy put forth does not produce effects that are undesirable. Such a catch all can be as simple as “an it harm none, so mote it be” which is what I, myself, use. It really depends on the witch.  Furthermore, these spells do not take into account moon phases, seasons, and many other things besides. Often these websites include spells to “transform into a vampire” or “flying spells” even spells to destroy one’s enemies. First, magic cannot go against nature. It is, after all nature. You cannot simply spell yourself into being a vampire with the simple and rather absurd spells found on the internet. Either you are, or you aren’t. As a witch, I can’t see why you would want to inflict such a curse upon yourself anyway. Spells for physical flight are also highly unlikely to work. I won’t say that they are impossible, but the simple spells produced here will not achieve that affect. Lastly I want to focus on spells that inflict harm, such as “spells against your enemies” or “revenge” spells as they are often labeled online. Even if these spells were complete spells, a true witch would never use them.  Why? Because three times what you send out returns to you. Most of these spells are pretty nasty and mean. Would you want three times whatever that would be? I certainly wouldn’t.

As a witch it is in your best interest to learn how to craft spells of your very own. And this may take some practice before you get used to it. Spells are a lot like cooking (which isn’t to imply that everything happens over a boiling cauldron…though I don’t want to rule that out), there are ingredients and intent and sometimes, if you aren’t paying attention, you may not get the results you had desired. That is why it is often best to start crafting small. The ingredients to which I am referring include: moon phase, time of day or night, season, herbs, the correct tools, candles, crystals, and a number of other things. That isn’t to say that you will need EVERYTHING known to witch, but knowing what tools to use and how to use them is the biggest part of crafting your own spells. The other part is figuring out how to put it all together in an order that makes sense, and articulating your will or intent (aka the chant). In the Book of Shadows section I will include a post on various magical tools, basic herbs and their uses, moon phases, basic crystals and their uses as well as crystal care, candles and color.  All of these things have their own energy which can lend themselves to your purpose.  Check the Book of Shadows section tomorrow for these descriptions, as well as for the promised Imbolc ritual ideas!

Always

~S

Imbolc

 

The sun is pouring through my window, Ralph and Henry lay in a heap on the floor soaking up the beams. This is their first winter and I can see their happy faces in the sun looking forward to spring. With Imbolc approaching heralding the coming of the spring planting season, I’m beginning to see the first stirrings of life. The trees are slowly putting forth tiny buds, wrapped up tight against the cold.  

As a solitary practitioner I have devised my own traditions for celebrating the recovery of the Goddess after the birth of her Son and the beckoning of spring. I won’t share all of them with you, but I will share something that I am really excited about! I’m going to be starting my first vegetable and herb garden. This is something that I’ve never done before and I am so excited. The instructions say to start the seeds inside in a sunny window. I’m going to keep them in a room shut away from the cats because many of the things that we eat and enjoy are poisonous to household furry friends.  I’m going to dedicate my organic garden to the Goddess and ask her to bless its fruits for this year’s harvest.  (Side note for those of you who are not aware, the Pagan New Year is Samhain which is what most people today call Halloween. The Pagan New Year does not begin on January 1^st.)

There are many other rituals that can be done during Imbolc.  Spring cleaning for a witch not only means organizing, throwing away trash, and cleaning (or repainting etc) the physical house. A witch’s spring cleaning also means airing out negative energies, bringing in positive optimism for Spring, and updating protection charms and other household spells. In the Book of Shadows section I will include some good household charms and cleaning ideas for your Spring cleaning. As a witch I try to keep even my physical cleaning spiritual. This means using natural cleaning products and not harsh chemicals. I will include some recipes and more in the BOS section of the blog.  I hope you all look forward to Imbolc as much as I do! Merry part for now my lovely lambs! (Lambs are a symbol of Imbolc, can anyone tell me why? Comment below if you know the answer or have a favorite Imbolc ritual of your own!)

~S