Ostara

March 21st/22nd

A point of perfect balance on the journey through the wheel of the year.
The natural world is coming alive, thanks to the growing days, and warming sun.
Ostara's energy is expansive and exuberant, the first real day of Spring.

Ostaras name comes from the Germanic Goddess, Eostre or Ostara - a goddess traditionally honoured in April with festivals to celebrate the cycle of rebirth and fertility. (Fun Fact it's where the name for the female hormone oestrogen comes from.)

Ostaras symbols are all revolving around the idea of fertility; both the hare and the egg.
Flowers are used a lot on Ostara altars, and are wonderful to have throughout the house to mark this sabbat - daffodils, pussy willow, crocuses, primroses, violets to name a few.

Ostaras colours are; bright green, yellow, and purple.

This is the festival of new life.

It is also the Spring Equinox - a time of harmony, a time of balance between light and dark, day and night.
As we move into this time of new life, and beginnings, a wonderful way to bring things into being involved planting in your garden.

Find a type of flower or plant that really calls to you.
Buy a packet of seeds for this type of plant.

Getting a new pot, which you can paint sigils or runes on to aid your magic, fill it with soil.

On a piece of paper write down a wish.
A dream for yourself.
Something you want to manifest into your life with spring.

Using your bare hands, hold the paper after folding it, and dig deep into the soil you've just potted. Place your paper about a third of the way up from the base of the pot.
Cover it back up, before planting your seeds above it, as instructed by the packet.

Take some time in nature with your pot, and meditate on the thing you want to bring forth.
You could say something like; 

"Lord and Lady, with the turning of the wheel new beginnings come.
Sewn with the seed, I ask my wish be done.
As it grows, green and true;
May my dream grow too."

Water, love and tend to your growing seeds.
As your plant grows, it will manifest your desire into being. 

Mabon

Otherwise known as the Autumn Equinox; the sabbat Mabon looms closer. Falling on the 22nd of September, this sabbat is all about giving thanks for the harvest that has come, and thanks for the harvest yet to come. With the fields nearly empty, it is a time of abundance and a time for gratitude.
The word 'equinox' comes from latin, and translates to 'equal night' - on the equinox the earth receives the same hours of light, as it does dark; which is why they are times of balance.

There are certain types of magic, that are most prosperous at Mabon.

• Home and Hearth Magic - a perfect time to protect your home with a witches bottle; or give the house a thorough cleaning, now is the time to rid everything from your home that no longer serves you.
  A ritual such as this ~~ https://www.thoughtco.com/mabon-ritual-for-home-protection-2562297 ~~ is lovely around this time.

• Whip up some kitchen magic - Use foods of the season, and the harvest, like apples and bread, to get hot in the kitchen. As you bake or make, pour your intentions for a happy, healthy family into the ingredients. Feasting at the times of harvest is an age old tradition, so anything you bake, can be shared between to spread the magic you've put into it.

Foods of Mabon

• Bread
• Apples
• Squash
• Pumpkin
• Grains
• Root Veg
• Corn
• Cider

• Prosperity Magic - Use this time of balance to draw in money and abundance. You can refer back to my blog post on 'Money Magic' here ~~ http://jadeaddismagicmusings.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=money+magic ~~ on simple tips to bring prosperity in.

Blessed Be,

 Jade xoxo

Walpurgisnacht

Beltane Blessings
&
Happy May Day

"Witches Night"  is the last night of the dark half of the year, in which the moon rules the sky. The Moon embodies the mystery, the subconscious, and the unknown. Beltane Eve begins at Midnight on the 30th of April, and ends when the sun rises on the 1st, carrying us into May Day. All things in life and nature are in a delicate balance of dark and light. This duality brings a wholeness to the cycles of the year.

At Beltane we thank the Green Man for his protection throughout the Winter, and celebrate the joining of The Maiden and The Young God, as they come into power. Due to it being a pivotal point in the wheel of the year, Beltane is one of the more widely celebrated, and powerful sabbats - second only to Samhain.
Similar to Samhian this period of festivities, is known for having a thin veil between our world and others. Magical workings performed around Beltane, are likely to be more powerful.

For Beltane this year, I visited Glastonbury. The company Glastonbury Dragons have began holding rites for Samhain and Beltane for the last few years. I adore the precession through town, with the giant red and white dragons.

Accompanied by the 'Pentacle Drummers', whose drumming put fire in my belly and music in my heart.

I stopped again in the healing springs at the very very base of the Tor, and across from the Chalice Wells.
Gods the energy in this place is always electric and grounding all at once.
I left an offering on the shrine/altar for Pan/The Green Man, which you can see photographed below.

I hope everyone had a brilliant night, and are welcoming in the new season well on this blessed May Day.

xx

Samhain

The Pagan new year.
A sabbat to honour our ancestors, and those who've passed over. A time when the veil between this world and the next is thinnest.
A time for reflection; look at what we can leave behind us, and what we can take forth into the celtic new year.
A time when we welcome the Crone aspect of the Goddess, and the Horned God.

Traditionally this time in the Wheel of the year, is great for séances, or ancestoral meditation. It's also important, to give thanks for the harvest we've received in the old year, and ask for protection in the upcoming winter.
As a fire festival it is the perfect time for a bonfire, and working fire magic. A long nature walk, enjoying the autumnal changes you see, is for some enough to honour in the new year.

The best thing about Witchcraft is that their are no right or wrong ways to practice, as long as what you do harms none. Annually the way I celebrate the different sabbats changes, but there are some things that are routine now, and my rituals wouldn't feel correct without.

Here is a list of my must haves for my Samhain Celebration;

• An Apple (to cut in half, segment some to eat, and then bury the rest in the earth)
• An Orange Candle
• A Black Candle
• My Rose Quartz Chunk (which I used in a goodbye ceremony for my faithful childhood dog, Sheba. I use this to meditate upon, and connect with her and others passed)
• A Paper and Pen (To write down all the things you wish to banish in the new year. I then burn them.)
• Tarot Deck
• A Small Pumpkin
• Wine (To drink to the Crone and The Horned God)

            ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Veil is thinning -
The invisible curtains are being drawn aside.
Whispers filter through.
Voices of those long passed, are carried on the wind;
Caught in the tumbling leaves.
Ghostly presence occupies space,
The Spirits walk among us.
Now is the time for divination,
The hours to ask for guidance.
When the moon is high in the night sky,
Raw energy can be harnessed.
Loved ones beam at you unseen from the curtains shadow,
Opaque and shimmering.
Answer the voices,
Hone in your power,
This shared energy...
The bewitching hour.
Feel them
See them
Use them.
Be grateful and reward them.
Pull your cards knowing that today they have decades, centuries, of magic and energy penetrating them from the Otherside.
Turn your runes with assertion.
Sip your tea, and gaze at the stories the leaves have to tell.
Open your mind,
But...
More importantly,
Open your heart.
They're waiting...