SIPA Yule 2015

Some pictures from the ritual yesterday! It was held indoors at Gaia House, although at a balmy 65⁰, we could pretty easily have had it outside. 

Table decorations for the post-ritual potluck.

Holly leaves inscribed with some Japanese phrases denoting what I want to grow in the coming year. (Other people used runes, but Japanese felt more applicable to my practice.) They say, よろこび (joy) 愛 (love), and 平和 (peace). The one saying joy I wrote in yellow, hence the fact that it doesn't show up in the picture. 

One of the members brought her pet Tegu, named Walter! I got to hold him - he's a real snuggle bug.

Getting ready for the gift exchange.

A Yule Carol booklet, with lots of the rewritten classics.

My gift from the gift exchange - three colored glass jars!

They look so pretty on my altar!

December 12th, 2015

The semester's winding down, which is good, because I'm exhausted, but even as school is giving out, the holidays are picking up. I did some shopping for gifts last weekend, and ended up getting myself a few things as well. Earthbound always has some great stuff.

I got this pentacle ring with triquetras on the sides.

And then they also had these lovely Quartz crystal ornaments on ribbon, so I got one for my mini Yule tree.

SIPA had their Yule ritual a bit early, seeing as many people go home over the winter break, so I went to the store yesterday and picked up some drinks to take. They also were doing a gift exchange, so while I was at the store, I found this lovely box of incense. It comes with six scents, both as sticks and as cones, with a flower-shaped burner to go with. I thought it was real cute and appropriately witchy!

November 19th, 2015

I'd just been thinking this morning that I needed to post some more, but haven't really done much spiritually this month. It's been very busy with working on projects for my classes. However, then when I went for brunch, I was sitting in the dining hall and a big buck of a deer, antlers and all, went bounding through the field outside and jumped over the creek. It happened too fast for me to take a picture, but it was a good reminder from deity to take some time for reverence today.

One other thing I had been meaning to share is that my model of the Temple to Athena Nike is being displayed in the design building. My professor really needs to go back and reorganize the other projects in the window, but here's what it looks like at the moment:

November 3rd, 2015

A few, improved, photos of Saturday's ancestor altar were posted to Facebook, so I thought I would share them, since mine turned out quite blurry.

Left side; those are my contributions near the corner.

Center

Right side

November 1st, 2015

And as of today, the Samhain season is over, and we move on towards the rebirth of Yule. I was thinking a lot the past few days about why we consider Samhain to be the "Pagan New Year", and the conclusion that I've come to is that the sabbat is really the final celebration of death on the Wheel; from Lughnasadh to Mabon to Samhain, we're considering the harvest and the autumn and the gradual shutdown of nature. 

Now, in the month and a half before Yule, is a fallow period of quiet contemplation. We can determine our goals for the next year, get our things in order, and be ready to begin again like the sun on the winter solstice. If we imagine the Wheel of the Year as a tree, then this period is the acorn, lying dormant under the soil. Above the surface, nothing appears to be happening, but beneath the earth, there is so much potential ready to sprout. 

I did a bunch of cleaning today, as well as redecorating. I had a lot of Samhain decorations to take down, and a few little Thanksgiving items to replace them with. It feels far too early still to decorate for Yule, and besides, those things are all at home; I'll have to be sure to pick them up over Thanksgiving break. 

I wanted to redecorate my altar, and so I shifted everything around a bunch. I've decided to try keeping an ancestor altar up year-round, and my crystals also wanted to be switched out. Then I had some sugar maple leaves I'd pressed, so I set those around as well. 

It feels a lot calmer in here after the fact, and I opened my essential oil bottle for a bit this morning, so the whole room smells like frankincense.

This is the Quartz point I received at yesterday's ritual. Since it has such a strong tie to banishing magick, I decided to set it on my altar facing one direction, with my other, invoking Quartz point facing the opposite direction. It struck me as a good way to balance out the energies.

SIPA Samhain 2015

Wow. I cannot even begin to describe tonight's Samhain ritual. It was just so cathartic on so many different levels.

The evening started off sharing an organic pomegranate with some new friends.

The site looks so different from how it did at Mabon, with all the leaves changing colors and falling.

We hung a pair of tarps across the front of the shelter to provide some privacy from passing traffic.

There was a potluck dinner, to which someone brought these adorable zombie cupcakes. The meat cleavers were candies.

Jack-o-Lanterns

A better picture of my Harry Potter pumpkin

Sacred fire

More pumpkins

Wolf pumpkin; we actually heard a pack of coyotes barking and howling during the ritual!

Group ancestor altar

(Blurry) image of my part of the ancestor altar.

I was also gifted with an absolutely gorgeous Quartz point, which I will cherish. 

I won't get into the details too much here, because it was an extremely personal ritual, but it was something special, that's for sure.

SIPA Bonfire

My local Pagan friends got together at Gaia House tonight as part of a community event to talk a bit about Samhain and the origins of Halloween. I wasn't able to make it to that because I had work, but I met up with them for pizza afterward, and then we drove over to the Touch of Nature center for a bonfire!

We didn't stay out too late, because we all had things to get ready for the ritual tomorrow, but it was nice to see everyone and have kind of a laid-back Samhain Eve.

There was also a ton of wildlife out tonight! We saw a raccoon, an opossum twice, three deer, and a bunny rabbit! 

It's probably going to rain on us tomorrow, but we have a shelter reserved, so we shouldn't get too wet. If anything, maybe it'll lend some ambiance. I'm just hoping it's not freezing cold! 

October 30th, 2015

I carved my other pumpkin last night!

The electric candle doesn't show it very well, but it's Harry Potter! I'm taking it to the Samhain ritual tomorrow, and will be able to light it with a real candle then. I also made up another batch of pumpkin seeds to take.

Today, the dining hall is all decked out.

The cider is locally made and delicious. I could drink the entire vat of it.

They also have a coffin cupcake display, which is fun. 

Tonight, I'm planning to go to a bonfire with some friends, and then tomorrow is Samhain! I can't believe how fast October has flown by, but it's been so much fun this year!

October 28th, 2015

I took my pumpkin over to a local historic site tonight for my Architecture History class. We got extra credit if we carved a famous structure and brought it there for an evening open to the public to enjoy. 

That's mine on the left.

They got a fire going, and there was candy and apples for those who wanted to snack. There was even a very fluffy orange cat darting around that let me pet it, right before it climbed inside one of the volunteers' cars.

St. Basil's

Big Ben

Rose window

The front of my pumpkin (the Itsukushima Shrine torii gate)

The side of my pumpkin, with the Itsukushima kanji

Fallingwater

Sydney Opera House

There were some really fun pumpkins, and we had a couple of families bring their kids out to see them. It was nice to get to share some of the season's cheer with the community. Three more days to Samhain...

October 27th, 2014

I carved my first pumpkin of the season tonight! Check out the Itsukushima torii gate!

I only had an LED candle, so it wasn't very bright, but I'll light it with a real one tomorrow night, and hopefully that works better. I had a little accident with the thin piece in the middle cracking on the right side, but I've got it sort of propped up, so hopefully it stays.

I also roasted my pumpkin seeds!

It's a really easy recipe. Rinse the seeds, and then for about every two cups, add a teaspoon of oil and a teaspoon of salt. You can also add other seasonings; garlic is a good one. Then pour them onto a microwaveable plate and microwave on high, stirring every two minutes until they're nice and crunchy. It will probably only take between five and eight minutes of cooking, total.