Happy New Year

Here I am again - been a while! I've been busy Yule-ing and Christmas-ing, busy building a puppet theatre for the kidlets, busy playing, busy being on vacation... and now back to work and the regular day-in.


Laurel beside the monstrously huge puppet theatre



My performers

The Puppet Theatre!

Crappy pictures to the sides (taken with a phone) - better pics to follow eventually!

Hubby figures it will be a puppet theatre for about a month, and a fort forever after... meh - s'all good!

In other news:

Courtesy of my friend D at :: this blessed life ::, I'm embarking on a self│52 photo project. You can check out my Flickr stream here. The goal of the project is, in D's words:

As I undergo a year of existential change and growth, reflecting on identity and the notion of self will be an ongoing practice. With that in mind, I'm embarking on my own photo project: self|52. Every week during 2012 I will post a self-portrait I've taken. My aim is to challenge myself both as a burgeoning photographer and philosopher. How will I use this medium to reflect my identity? What is the state of my concept of self and how can I depict that?

 

Want to join? I've created a Flickr group here and I also encourage you to comment and link to your self-portraits, wherever you may be posting them. I'd love to see your reflections on yourself.

 

I've started mine with my favourite self-portrait, taken a few months ago. Next week's will be current, as will all pics thereafter.

 

 

Continuing projects...

 

I had an initial meeting with a Spiritual Director in late November, and will be meeting with her again some time this month. The ever-moving target of my personal spirituality continues to shift and elude me, and my pendulum-swinging between Paganism and Christianity continues to addle my brains. . .







Hauntings

This song is absolutely haunting me lately!!

Other hauntings...

My sweet sister Lizzabetha's stories from Bluegrass Symphony... It is such a rare treat to read the stories of an author you have grown up with... so much fun to see my Lizzabetha between the lines of these stories.... and so wonderful to be able to meet some of the characters who have been living in her head :-)

A bit early...

A bit early, but i'm getting into the mood...

Happy turning of the wheel!

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. 

~ Ode to Autumn ~

John Keats

 

Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads...

... fish heads, fish heads, eat them up YUM!

Well, that's what Cohen *would* have done if we'd let him!

A little story: Cohen is obsessed with fish. When we go to the grocery store, if he catches sight of a whole fish at the fish counter, he wants me to buy it. He's not happy with nice little fillets - no, he wants the whole fish, head and all. Guess that's boys for you.

So a few days ago when we were in the Chinese marketplace near our house and had stopped at the fish section so that the kids could check out the live crabs and lobsters and assorted shelled and finned beasties, Cohen started asking for a fish. There was a variety of whole fish to choose from, amongst them Pickerel. I had never cooked a Pickerel before, but as they are rumoured to be the "tastiest of the freshwater fish," I decided to give one a try.

The guy at the fish counter scaled and gutted it for me (thank you!) and after he handed me the bagged fish body, Cohen insisted on holding it. He held on to that bag all through the store - "my fishie!!" - and I swear I caught him cradling it like a baby. LOL

Upon our arriving at home, Cohen wanted to eat it NOW. I told him it was for tomorrow's supper, and after the fit that resulted from the fish being put into the fridge, Cohen was content to simply talk about the fish. Non stop.

When we woke up the next day, the first thing Cohen asked for was the fish. "Can we have it for breakfast?" "No, hon, it's for supper." "Oh, OK. Mom, I think I want to eat his tail." "Alright then." "Mom, I think I want to eat his head." "Um, you can't really eat his head, hon." And on it went throughout the day.

Fast forward to supper time. I get the fish out of the fridge, wash it up, attempt to debone it (key word being attempt... I think it's much easier to do after the fish is cooked - will try it that way next time) and get it in the oven. As we sit down to eat, Cohen requests the head. I tell him that he can't eat the head, but he can eat the fish that is on his plate. "No," he says, "I want the head here. I want him to watch me!"

Um.... ok, that's a little creepy... LOL

 

So, I complied. I put the creepy baked head on a plate and brought it in to the dining room. (Am I fuelling a future serial killer? haha) I'm sure that at the age of three and a half he doesn't exactly grasp the concept that he wanted the head of the dead and cooked fish to witness his flesh being eaten. Only the two grown-ups at the table understood the creepiness of the request. Cohen, in his innocence, was simply being a gross boy.

He even talked to it...

Then Laurel wanted a turn...



Wee friggers even argued about who would have a turn next!

So there you have it. Our strange family (well, our strangeass kids!)

For the record, Pickerel isn't all that great. We'll stick with Trout and Salmon. And I still can't get that song out of my head... ♪ ♫ Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads, fish heads, fish heads, eat them up YUM! ♫ ♪

And burn him we did...

Ready for the burning





Laurel with our Wicker Man

Laurel and the twins (Kelidh and Kiara)



Just lit. The Wicker Man was stuffed with papers bearing the intentions of our sacrifices.

 



The smouldering of our sacrifices



 Our ritual:

Opening:

By the Land beneath us,

By the Sea surrounding us,

By the Sky above us,

We come unto the Gods.

“The Wheel rolls more, and Autumn returns. Cooler the rain; the Sun lower burns. The coloring leaves presage the Year: All things move into harvest’s sphere. I vow to savor fruits first picked; nor into grief shall I be tricked. I vow to offer what once I spurned, and face the Turning reassured.” - Asleen O’Gaea

Circle Casting:

We are a circle, within a circle,

with no beginning,

and never ending.

http://www.bornpagan.com/upca/song_cycle/03%20-%20We_are_a_circle.mp3

Quarter Calls:

May there be peace in the east, the ancient land of prosperity. Powers of East, of prosperity, of earth. Powers of the Salmon, the wise one who knows how to return to the source of all things, we welcome you into the circle, please be with us now.

Make offering

May there be peace in the south, the ancient land of harmony. Powers of South, of the dark mystery, of the waters of the goddess, of music, of arts, of the great boar and sow, show us how to root into the dark of ourselves to find truth and inspiration, please be with us now.

Make offering

May there be peace in the west, the ancient land of wisdom. Powers of West, history keepers, poets, and those who transport us across the nine waves to the otherworld, in life and in death, in song and in story, Great Stag who heralds the changes of the seasons,  please be with us now.

Make offering

May there be peace in the north, the ancient land of strength. Powers of North, bright spear of Lugh and sword of Nuada, fire from the place where the sun never sets, Mighty eagle who teaches us courage and vision, please be with us in the circle.

Make offering

May there be peace in the center, where all the worlds meet. Now, and in the times yet to be discovered Powers of the Center, of Sovereignty and firm rulership, teach us mastery and judgment, balance and true seeing please be with us in this circle.

Make offering

Invocation of the Goddess:

We honour the great Goddess, the Corn Mother, the Harvest Mother, whose womb makes the earth fruitful. She who is known as Freya, Goddess of the Loaf; Demeter, Goddess of Grain. Join us on the Feast of Lugh. As summer ends, the harvest begins. Be with us in our revels. Blessings and Welcome.

Invocation of the God:

We honour the Corn God, who sacrifices himself so all may partake of his bounty. We honour Lugh, the Sun God, without whose light there would be no harvest. He who is also known as Adonis, Osiris, Tammuz. As summer ends, the harvest begins. Be with us in our revels. Blessings and Welcome.

Honouring the Great Spirit:

We now make offering to the Source of All. Source of All, from whom all flows, and to whom all returns in the great way of things, we make offering to you.

Offer water to the land.

Wicker Man Sacrifice:

Often we are faced with sacrifices that we must make. We come to realize that something we have must be given to others in order to open space within lives and souls for new growth. In thinking of what that may mean for you, you have placed the symbol of your personal sacrifice within this "Wicker Man," symbol of the sacrifice of your God. Meditate upon your own sacrifice and offer it willingly to the fires of Spirit with your pledge that you will go forth to carry it out also within your Life.

 Today we honour the passing of the light and the reaping of the grain. But the mystery of life is that, as the wheel turns, all that dies shall be reborn.

[Burn the wicker man, chanting to raise energy for our sacrifice.]

Chant:

We all come from the Goddess

And to Her we shall return

Like a drop of rain

Flowing to the ocean

We all come from the God

And to Him we shall return

Like a spark of flame

Rising to the heavens

Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn

All that dies shall be reborn

Corn and Grain, Corn and Grain

All that falls shall rise again

Blessing the bread (group focusing, hands above and below)

Powerful God of the Harvest, Bless this bread and infuse it with your strength, By your many names, we bless and consecrate this bread.

~ I pass to you this gift of the first harvest. ~

Blessing the cider (group focusing, hands above and below)

Gracious Goddess of Abundance, Bless this wine and infuse it with your love By Your many names, we bless and consecrate this wine.

~ Drink of this wine and know the cauldron of rebirth!  ~

Quarter Farewells:

Spirits of the North, Spirits of the fruitful earth, we thank you for joining our harvest celebration. Go if you must, stay if you will. Blessings and Farewell!

Spirits of the West, Spirits of the summer rain we’ve seen lately, we thank you for joining our harvest celebration. Go if you must, stay if you will. Blessings and Farewell!

Spirits of the South, Spirits of late summer’s warmth, we thank you for joining our harvest celebration. Go if you must, stay if you will. Blessings and Farewell!

Spirits of the East, Spirits of balmy summer breezes, we thank you for joining our harvest celebration. Go if you must, stay if you will. Blessings and Farewell!

Farewell to the God and Goddess:

Lugh, Lord of summer’s harvest, Lord of the light, we thank you for your presence here this evening. We thank you for your physical and spiritual bounty which sustains us. Go if you must, stay if you will. Blessings and Farewell!

Goddess of the Corn and Grain, Harvest Mother, we thank you for your presence at the Feast of Lugh. We thank you for your fruit and your wisdom. Go if you must, stay if you will. Blessings and Farewell

Thanksgiving Prayer and Circle Opening:

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.

We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to the sun which has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,

in Whom is embodied all goodness,

and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

As we have given honor today to the old ways, so will we do again in the Future!

May it be so!

Go in peace to the Feast! The rite is now ended.

May the circle be open but unbroken

May the peace of the Goddess be ever in your heart.

Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again!!!



"We're gonna burn him!"

I spent part of Saturday morning making a miniature Wicker Man for our group to burn in sacrifice at our upcoming Lughnassadh ritual. He turned out pretty well, I think:

The next day, one of our neighbours was out front, and mentioned to me that he had watched me over the back fence (he's a bit of an odd duck - harmless, but a touch weird) for about 10 minutes while I was making this. My daughter piped up right away with, "He's a Wicker Man," and our neighbour said, "Uh-huh?" in an I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about kind of way, and picking up on his confusion, Laurel continued on with, "We're gonna burn him!" LOL Didn't clear up his confusion any... ahahaahahaha!

I love my kids!