Candlemas/Imbolc

Imagine my delight and surprise when I realized that February 2nd is Candlemas! What a wonderful time time to usher in my new-found path with light to guide my way!

Candlemas marks the midpoint of winter - halfway between the shortest day at the Winter Solstice (December 21st) and Spring Equinox (March 20th). Also on this day is celebrated Imbolc, a festival marking the Goddess' cyclical change from Crone to Maiden. It's a time to celebrate the increased strength of the sun as winter is giving way to spring. It's time to pull out the seed catalogs and gardening journals and start dreaming about bountiful gardens and blooming flowers.

Candlemas commemorates the presentation, by Mary, of Jesus in the Temple, forty days after giving birth to him. Jesus, quite literally was and is, the light guiding us out of the darkness. It's a time to buy your candles for the coming year and do a blessing over them (I buy black and orange Samhain candles in the fall for the following year as it's hard to find them now). Here's a simple candle blessing ritual . . .

Candlemas
Candle Blessing Ritual
Items Needed - candles, annointing oil (I like Frankincense, Myrhh, Sandalwood, Cypress, Elemi, and Lavender in a blend)

Hold the candle in the centre with the wick towards you and rub the anointing oil into the wax starting at the middle of the candle, turning the candle deosil (clockwise) and work your way up to the top as you say:

Lord Jesus,
You are the Light of the world.
I praise You and ask You to guide my steps each day.
Help me to love You and serve You faithfully,
and to carry my daily cross with You.
Now turn the candle so that the base is towards you, holding it in the centre, rub the anointing oil into the wax starting again in the middle, turn the candle deosil (clockwise) and work your way up to the top as you say:

Bless this candle,
and let it always remind me
that You are my Light in the darkness,
my protector in danger,
and my saving Lord at all times.
Hold the candle between your hands and say:

Lord Jesus,
I praise You and give You glory,
for You are Lord for ever and ever.
Amen.
And so this Candlemas I'm going to begin the day with pancakes (representing the sun), I'm going to a Vision Board Party (how serendipitous is that?), and I'm going to clean out the fireplace and enjoy a fire with my hubby contemplating our hopes for the year. And when I lay my head down to go to sleep, I'm going to offer a prayer to the God and Goddess, Jesus and Mary, thanking them for all the blessings in my life and for all the things I'm grateful for . . .

Elemental Rosary Prayer

Hello and Merry Meet everyone!

I'm full of anticipation awaiting the arrival of my new rosary. It is being custom made by Jayne Wood of Infinite Spirit who makes the most divine traditional and non-traditional rosaries. I have a few custom rosaries by Jayne, one being my Goddess Rosary and the other my pink quartz lotus mala. I love both of them and use them frequently.

My new Rosary is an homage to the elements and a wonderful rosary if you follow a nature-based path as I do. So while I wait patiently for my rosary to arrive, I went ahead and created a prayer to go with it. It is adapted from several poems from different authors, notably Dorothy Morrison, Ralph Metzner and a lovely young woman called Kamonra.

I hope you enjoy using this prayer and be sure to check out Jayne's site at the link above. I'll be posting pictures of my new Rosary here and on the Rosary blog once I get my hands on it!

Pentacle Rosary by Jayne Wood, Infinite Spirit

Elemental Altar

Hello and Merry Meet everyone! I hope you're all finding your way over here to my new blog from 'I Heart the Goddess'. I had an URL from Godaddy that unfortunately has lapsed because I didn't want to renew it and so it's not available to view online anymore. Ah well, out with the old, in with the new!

I've been struggling spiritually for about the last six weeks and have been attending mass with my friend hoping to find what I seemingly lost. I even went so far as to think of joining the Catholic church. Chalk it up to menopause, the realization of a past life experience and the fact that I really haven't been acting upon my faith as a Wiccan. Realizing that I have not been following through with Sabbatt and Esbat rituals and it's no wonder I feel empty and lost.

So, with this newfound realization, I am, so to speak, back in the saddle. I am planning a Blue Moon ritual for August 31st (the second moon of this month) and am also planning for Mabon. My altar will begin it's transformation towards the end of this month and I'm planning on making a Mabon thanksgiving upon my return from Canada at the end of September. A few days late, but still celebrating the Sabbatt.

I'm also connecting with the elements. I'm spending more time outside and today I'm even going to the pool to hang out in the sun and water. My spirit is saying (actually it's yelling) YES! I've also created an elemental altar in my kitchen window. I've put some stones there that I gathered from Sedona, creating a cairn. I have a crystal quartz cluster that I received in my Reiki class. I also have an angel that a new friend gave me at the end of our time together in Sedona. And, I'm having a new Elemental Rosary made (more on that in another post).

I'm feeling better than I have in weeks and all because I've reconnected to my true path. I had wound myself up so tightly thinking that going back to church and becoming something I'm not would feed my soul. I was wrong. What feeds my soul is what I've been doing for the last two years. Only now I realize that the Goddess has called me to action. No more laying around thinking about doing ritual or saying prayers. It's time to break out the candles, incense and athame and put myself to rights . . . and for this I am truly blessed!