SIPA Imbolc

Since SIPA always has a potluck with their rituals, I borrowed a pot and made up some soup this evening; it wasn't anything fancy, just a mix from the convenience store and some tomato puree, but it turned out pretty decent.

I've hardly ever used the dorm's communal kitchen, but this seemed like as good a reason as any. I even got a bonus view of the sunset.

This little framed painting was, I think, unrelated to the ritual, but it was sitting out in Gaia House, and I liked it. "But still, like air, we rise. ~Maya Angelou"

The main altar; I love the cloth, I need to see about getting one for myself sometime.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of the Air elemental altar. All the elemental altars were nice, but the one for Air was just so pretty - it had a bunch of crystals, including a gorgeous Quartz cluster, a drawing of a deity who I think was Hermes, and a Pegasus statue. A very elegant set-up.

Ritual fire in the fireplace; I took this right after it had been lit, so it hadn't quite caught yet.

The main portion of the ritual was spent chanting while making Brighid's Crosses. They came out looking more like God's Eyes, but it was a lot simpler for a large group to do than trying to teach everyone to weave straw the traditional Celtic way, so it worked out.

My Brighid's candle, which I lit in the last part of the ritual.

The potluck was afterwards, with lots of good food, and then I headed back to my dorm room. Great night!

New Year's Purification Bath

As hectic as my life has been, I have tried to keep some magickal things going. The main one was a purification bath I set up on January 1st. 2016 was a disaster on multiple levels, and I knew I wanted to come out of that making 2017 a much better year. This was my first step toward doing so.

I started by collecting bath supplies to represent each of the four elements. I used bath salts for earth, a bath bomb for air (because it's fizzy and makes air bubbles), and some bath confetti for fire; it was pink and heart-shaped, so it seemed to convey the idea of fire's emotional passion. For water, I used a very special ingredient. Back in 2015 when there was that major Super Blood Moon Eclipse event, I charged a bottle of water in the moon's energy, focusing on capturing its qualities of profound transformation. I had never used any of it, wanting to save it for particularly significant moments, but I don't know that I can think of a time that has needed more transformational power than 2016 going into 2017, so I poured some of my Blood Moon Eclipse Water into the bath as well.

As always, these ingredients are just things that I used. I had all of them on hand, and did not go out of my way to source anything. Feel free to make substitutions as you like - other bath products, herbs, crystals, whatever works for you. If you don't have your own Eclipse Water, substitutions there are also perfectly acceptable. You could use Storm Water, if you have some, or just empower the water that's already in the tub.

Once I had my ingredients together, I ran the bath water, and then added everything, invoking each element as I did so. I used a small lamp for mood lighting rather than the overhead, and then took my bath! I also find that it's helpful to shower after doing something like that, to make sure that all the soap is out of my hair, but in terms of set-up, it's quite simple. My only other note would be to then thank the elements once the bath is concluded.

October 30th, 2016

Yesterday was a wonderful, busy day. After volunteering at Habitat for Humanity in the morning, I got changed and ready to go to SIPA's Samhain ritual. Tara met me outside my dorm around 2:45, and we drove over to Crab Orchard Campground for the event.

The ritual had originally been going to be at Devil's Kitchen Lake like Mabon, but apparently that area is now undergoing construction, so the parks department gave us the Crab Orchard spot instead. Quite honestly, it was probably a better site, anyway - for one thing, the peninsula was huge, and we had the whole thing to ourselves. There was no designated shelter, which, granted, would have been less fun had it been raining like last year, but fortunately, the weather was perfect. The sky was clear, and it was 80 degrees in the afternoon.

I explored the site a bit, and found this strawberry plant growing a baby strawberry! It seemed a little late in the season, but as warm as it was, I suppose the plants didn't mind.

Because the area was so large, we had a lot of options for where we held ritual. Tara originally wanted to use this spot, right on the lake, which had a cool, star-shaped tree stump in the ground. However, it was quite windy, and there was some concern about whether or not things would blow over, so she decided instead to use an area further back in the trees, but which still had a view of the lake.

As always, there was a potluck. I brought soda, since there hadn't been enough drinks at the last ritual, and enjoyed pizza, vegetables, pasta, cupcakes, and cookies. There was also a home-grown watermelon which I had some of later - very tasty - and apple cider.

Look at these cool Samhain cupcakes! They were filled with raspberry sauce, too, mmmm....

I hadn't been expecting to get to use my construction skills at all at the ritual, but as it would turn out, there were some pieces to construct for the Circle setup. Sean designed these elemental doorways, built out of 2x2s and fabric, which we put together using his battery-powered staple gun. This was Air, in the East.

A close-up of the elemental altar beyond the Air doorway; people had the opportunity to banish from their lives anything relating to the element Air by writing it down and then tying the paper to the wreath like a dreamcatcher.

The Fire doorway; problems relating to the element Fire were written down and the papers burned in the cauldron.

The Water doorway; problems relating to the element Water were written down and drowned in the water inside the vase.

The Earth doorway; problems relating to the element Earth were buried in the tray of potting soil.

There was also a central bonfire for burning any problems related to Spirit, or to issues not clearly covered by one of the other elements.

These were the items I brought for the ancestor altar; we've had some deaths in the family this year, so I had quite a bit more to bring than I did last Samhain.

We held the ritual after the sun went down. It was windy enough that it was impossible to keep the candles lit, but I saw a shooting star right after everyone had finished honoring their ancestors, and it was a really good, contemplative ceremony. There were also some reporters from a local newspaper who came to talk and photograph, so I may be in the newspaper sometime this week!

SIPA Beltane 2016

SIPA hosted their Beltane ritual this afternoon, which I was fortunately able to attend! I missed it last year because of a build day for an architecture group I'm in, and this year I was concerned it would overlap with set strike, but fortunately the times worked out. It was also supposed to storm today, but the weather turned out to be beautiful! All in all, we couldn't have had a nicer set-up for a ritual.

Today's ritual was at a shelter in Giant City, which has a lovely creek running past it. The shelter was smaller than the ones we've been at before, but since it was so nice out, it didn't matter.

Me before ritual, all dressed up with robes, a cape, Quartz necklace, and the flower crown I bought at Fairy Fest last summer.

The maypole; SIPA uses theirs three years consecutively and then burns it at Samhain. This is this maypole's second year.

Elemental banners around the Circle.

There were several dogs at today's ritual, including this little lady, Serenity.

Blowing bubbles and grilling bratwurst.

Dogs!

West side of the creek

East side of the creek, with Zeppelin the dog.

One of many red ochre rocks in the stream bed. I looked for fossils, but didn't spot any.

Waterfall into the creek.

SIPA's banner, which was incredibly difficult to hang. The gentleman on the left had to give me a leg up to tie the grommet to a nail in the wood, and then he climbed on the other guy's back to staple up the other corner.

Tying this year's ribbons to the maypole.

Our drummer getting in a good stretch so he's ready to go.

So many ribbons! Mine was a dark blue, to match my outfit.

Erecting the maypole (not my photo, I didn't have my phone during ritual).

Everyone getting ready to dance (also not my photo; that's me in the foreground). We wove in thoughts and intentions of things we wanted to grow this year. It was super fast-paced and a little chaotic, but...

...it turned out great! Our maypole, all braided up!

We had a potluck afterwards with a ton of food, and I was completely stuffed. I got back to campus around 4:00, which left me plenty of time to get ready for set strike at 4:30. I am very tired now, but it was a good day!

O hí Lughnasadh

I haven't done an actual Lughnasadh ritual in at least four years because I'm always spending the weekend at Fairy Fest. This year, however, with Destiny coming over, we're planning to do something in the evening. As such, I figured I ought to get my altar set up ahead of time.

I rather like this design. I might edit it a little still before next week, but I think I've got a nice, solid foundation.

On the left, I have my chalice, gourds, (plastic) grapes, a cup and saucer for water, salt, and a pair of dried corn cobs.  I also have a "corn dolly" goddess figure (actually made out of taffeta) which I put together several years ago. 

In the center, I've my elemental candles all sitting around the direction plate I got at the auction last month. In the center is the tea light from Rebekka, as well as a tiny incense holder and my new Selenite wands. 

Over on the right side of the altar, there's a god figure to match the goddess one, as well as my wand, athame, and a feather. There are more gourds and grapes, and I filled my cauldron with some festive potpourri I found. A seasonal fairy hangs in the back, and up front sit pieces of Orange Calcite, Citrine, and a crystal which I've finally identified as Aragonite. 

All of this is sitting on an orange tablecloth with a smaller green swatch in the center. The orange is one which I've generally reserved for Samhain in the past, but I decided that I might as well use it since I likely won't even be here for Samhain, and I wanted some more color. The green is actually a piece I got in Japan during a high school calligraphy class. Hidden under my elemental items is the Japanese kanji for "festival"; it's really just as well that it's hidden, because I didn't do the neatest job of writing it. C'est la vie.

Still not entirely sure what our ritual is going to consist of - I'll continue researching that this evening - but I'm excited!

July 3rd, 2015

We're still getting things unpacked from our vacation. Today, I opened up a box and got out two things which my mom had won in an auction but hadn't wanted (she got them in a box with some other things). The first is this:

It's a very heavy metal disc, probably cast iron, with the directions marked on it. It's probably meant to go out in a garden, and maybe one day I'll have a garden of my own to put it in, but for now it's lying in the middle of my altar as an additional elemental alignment.

Then there was this small plate. Made in Scotland, it carries a 6-9th century Celtic knot pattern on it. I've tried researching the manufacturer a bit (St. Andrew's?), but so far I have been unable to find additional information on it. That being said, it's a lovely little dish, and in very good condition. 

I love auctions - they're a great place to find unique witchy stuff at good prices!

June 4th, 2015

It's been a quiet day of crafting for me. I made a birthday gift for my mom, and then decided I could finish up an older project (by "older", I mean "abandoned for two or three years"). I made three of these little knitted bunnies ages ago and started on the green one, but then lost motivation halfway through. Later it occurred to me that the colors I had picked at random were actually elemental colors. 

I went ahead and finished the green one today, and now I have them situated around my room according to their corresponding direction.

Green, of course, is earth and North, yellow is air and East, red is fire and South, and blue is water and West. 

If anyone else is interested in making their own elemental bunnies (they also make great herb satchets, cat toys, etc.), the pattern is available for free download here.

April 6th, 2015

I ended up going back over to the spiral garden yesterday to add some paintings to the stakes around the outside. I also stopped by the labyrinth out back on my way to grab the hose and water the plants.

Some of the architecture students built a geodesic dome around the labyrinth, which was kind of interesting, and then it was surrounded by lots of spring flowers.

I chose a sort of elemental color scheme for my paintings, and also tried to note the cardinal directions. Not only does it have elemental connotations that way, but it will also help planters figure out which side of the garden will be getting sun at which time of day.

North:

East:

South:

West:

It really seemed to brighten things up - I hope other people like them as much as I do!

If you have a garden of your own, you can of course add painted stakes like I've done here, but other decorating options include adding lengths of colored ribbon to stakes or fences, hanging bells or wind chimes nearby, and adding rocks or paving stones decorated with meaningful words or symbols. Just try to make sure that the supplies you use are environmentally friendly!