The Direction South

January 21, 2013 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

The Direction South

South

Fire represents South, which is the spark of life and the energy that gets things done. Fire is associated with the will. (The will is defined as: “The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action.”)

To represent fire, place in the South corner one of these things: a lit candle, dragon figurine, or a hot chilly pepper.

South associates with noontime, the peak of the day’s hustle and bustle. Many people and animals are most active and awake at this time.

Summer represents South. It’s the growing season and hottest time of the year, when things flourish.

South represents the adult phase of the life cycle. We can take care of ourselves and take on more responsibilities. Our lives are at the peak of health and strength.

Blessed Be

Moonwater SilverClaw

The Direction North

January 7, 2013 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

Compass North

The Directions

The four directions each have their own equivalent in these categories: element, time of day, season, and time in life. When you cast your circle, you call out the directions. You move in a clockwise direction (or deocil, pronounced JE-shil). When you cast your circle you do not merely call out North (for example), you are calling upon all of the facets that North represents. Let’s look at North:

North

North’s element is Earth. Wiccans associate Earth with stillness, strength, and stability. Earth forms the foundation of our lives both physically and metaphorically. We literally stand on it. Soil, rocks, and crystals represent Earth. You can place one or several items in your circle in the north quarter standing in for Earth. When we talk about the twenty-four hour day, North rests at midnight when everything is still. At this time most beings sleep tucked away in slumber for the night. We peacefully sleep, waiting for the next day’s beauty. In the cycle of the year, North’s stillness continues as Winter. Beneath blankets of snow, many creatures hibernate. The earth sleeps until next Spring. In the life cycle, North manifests as the time of death for us and animals. We spoke of Winter, and many animals die during the frost-bound months. This corresponds to the time the spirit is in the Summerlands, where the soul can rest until its rebirth into a new life.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

The Law Of Three

December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

The Universal Pond

The Law Of Three

Let’s talk about the Law of Three, or the threefold law of return. Whatever energy you send out into the universe will get magnified three-fold and then returned to you. It is a simple principle. But when we observe this principle in action, it proves complex.

Imagine that we have a pond which we’ll call the “universe pond.” You have some stones in your pocket. The stones represent the actions you take in life and in turn, the energy you send out into the universe arising from those actions.

You drop a stone into the pond. Ripples move out from the stone’s entry point to the pond.

As energy created from your action, the ripples spread into the universe and grow in magnitude. Eventually they hit the edge of the pond and bounce back to you in their magnified form.

So the stone you dropped in the pond, (action you took in the universe, whether it was a positive action or a negative one,) comes back to you. Just like nature, the universe has a self-regulating system, many people call this Karma.

So carefully choose your actions.

May the ripples return to you three-fold in positive energy.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Yule and Blessing Baskets

December 17, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

Yule Tree

Yule

Yule is when the god is reborn from the virgin goddess. The goddess turns once more into her youthful form, as the young virgin mother. At Yule the goddess is the new mother and the god is her child.

Yule is also the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. In early human history, people feared that the sun would not reappear without help. With this belief began the custom of lighting candles and fires to lure back the sun. It was believed that this ritual would help the god to be reborn from the goddess, by helping the goddess to have an easy delivery.

Evergreen trees are associated with the Yule season. Our ancestors revered evergreens. Why? Evergreens were seen as proof of everlasting life. They saw that evergreen trees were the one source of life that continued to live and stay green throughout the year. Even in the deepest winter. They didn’t die with the rest of the plants during the cold months. They were special. Beginning with the Celtic Druids of central Europe during the Late Bronze Age, evergreens became sacred due to their representation of everlasting life.

The people of the day brought evergreens into their homes and decorated them with small gifts to the god and goddess. Candles were placed on the bows of the trees (I do not recommend this due to fire hazard). This is where Yule trees come from, and, incidentally, where the Christian’s get their Christmas tree. The Yule tree was so popular that the Church couldn’t stamp out the practice. The rest is history.

For Wiccans, Yule logs are another nice custom of at Yule. The pagans of northern Europe began the custom of cutting off a piece of a Yule tree (usually an oak tree) to save for a ritual the following year. For the ritual, people would gather on a hillside for a sacred bonfire and celebration. Afterward, they brought home a lit branch from the bonfire to light their fires at home, which had all been extinguished prior to the sacred gathering. They would then light their last years Yule log in their fireplace to bless their home. This tradition continues today.

At Yule celebrations, we gather with our loved ones to enjoy the merriment of the Sabbat with food and drink. We open gifts and sing songs about the god’s return.

(Note that those without fireplaces can drill holes into the top of a Yule log and burn candles. Commercially made Yule logs with candleholders are also available.)

What You Will Need

Blessing Baskets

Blessing Baskets are a great tradition I’m starting up for this Yule. A Blessing Basket consists of a small basket that you hang on the Yule tree. Place the Blessing Basket somewhere special and prominent on the tree. What do you put inside the Blessings Basket? Small treats like candies and such, plus a small gift. Most important, include a piece of paper inscribed with a blessing of good fortune.

How to make a Blessing Basket

What you will need:

One small basket

Tissue paper preferably in red and or green.

Red ribbon

Candy and small gift.

Slip of paper inscribed with a blessing of good fortune.

Putting it together:

1) Take the basket and decorate it in whichever fashion you like, keeping the inside empty, here mine is already decorated.

One small basket

2) Take the tissue paper and lay it flat on the table.

Tissue Paper Open On Table.

3) Place candy and goodies on the tissue paper.

Scoop Candy

Place Candy on tissue.

4) Place the slip of paper inscribed with the fortune and a small gift in the middle of the tissue paper.

Place gift and paper now ready To wrap.

5) Gather corners of the tissue paper and bunch the corners together.

Gather the edges.

6) Use ribbon to tie up the bundle.

Tie Ribbon

7) Place inside the basket.

Place In Basket

8) Make a loop to hang your Blessing Basket on your Yule tree.

Finished Blessing Basket

On Yule each person picks a basket that they did not assemble. The person reads their blessing of good fortune which brightens their Yule season.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Jason Pitzl-Waters of The Wild Hunt

December 12, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

The Wild Hunt

Recently I had the pleasure of talking with Jason Pitzl-Waters, founder of The Wild Hunt. He answered questions I had about his journey and his work. I truly feel Jason does a great service to our community and so I would like to introduce him to you.

Moonwater: How did you start on the path to Wicca?

Jason: I was first introduced to Wicca in high school when a friend loaned me a Raymond Buckland book (the big blue one). That moment was a completely life-altering moment. While I was dissatisfied with mainstream religion, and always interested in pre-Christian mythology, I had never thought that the worship of pre-Christian gods was something that people could do. From there I never looked back.

Moonwater: Who has influenced you the most on your journey with Wicca and why?

Jason: I would say my friends were my biggest influence on me, it was together that we fumbled through learning and experiencing Wiccan ritual. Later, I would meet formal covens, and a variety of experienced practitioners, but I think those early days shaped me in ways that persist to this day. Beyond that? I found the writings of Margot Adler and the Farrars pivotal in my early years.

Moonwater: What led you to blog for the community?

Jason: A dissatisfaction with the Pagan media led me to trying to do it for myself. This was the early days of the Internet, before social networking became dominant, and even before blogs were something pervasive. I remember wanting to know what was happening in our community, to know what our leaders, clergy, philosophers, were thinking about important issues. There were some useful sites, Witchvox, for example, but nothing that captured the sort of advocacy journalism I yearned for. So I became the change I wanted to see in my community, and here I am!

Moonwater: What book or books have influenced you in your practice of Wicca the most?

Jason: Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, A Witches’ Bible Compleat by Janet and Stewart Farrar, The Spiral Dance by Starhawk, and later, The Triumph of The Moon by Ronald Hutton.

Moonwater: For someone who is just starting on their own path with Wicca, what would you tell them was the most important thing to know about it?

Jason: The interconnectedness and sacredness of nature, and by extension, the turning of the wheel of the year. Everything springs from there, our wisdom, our joy, our fertility, and our gods and goddesses.

I just want to say thank you to Jason for his time for this interview. Please visit The Wild Hunt to see what Jason has to say on the pagans days events.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Jason Pitzl-Waters

Jason Pitzl-Walter’s Biography:

Since launching “The Wild Hunt” in 2004, Jason Pitzl-Waters has become one of the leading voices for analysis and insight into how modern Pagan faiths are represented within the mainstream media. In addition, “The Wild Hunt” has also conducted in-depth interviews with prominent figures within modern Paganism, academia, and religion journalism. Jason wants to raise the level of discourse and journalism on important issues within the modern Pagan and Heathen communities, while advocating a broader commitment to encouraging religious multiplicity and solidarity (where appropriate) with surviving indigenous and non-monotheistic faith groups.

In addition to his work with The Wild Hunt, Jason has also written for newWitch Magazine, PanGaia Magazine, Thorn Magazine, and Llewellyn Worldwide. He also maintains a weekly podcast entitled“A Darker Shade of Pagan” that explores underground music from a Pagan perspective.

Jason is a former Board of Director member of Cherry Hill Seminary, and is coordinating The Pagan Newswire Collective, an open collective of Pagan journalists, newsmakers, media liaisons, and writers who are interested in sharing and promoting primary-source reporting from within our interconnected communities.

You can contact Jason at jpitzl at gmail dot com

What do you want to hear about next?

December 10, 2012December 10, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

Wicca Wheel Mandala

Please take a quick poll. I want to hear from you.

What is a Magick Circle?

December 10, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

Stone Circle

A witches’ magick circle is one we create out of energy. We set up this circle, or “cast a circle,” before any spell or ritual. By the way, we apply the label “a working” to any spell or ritual.

Here are reasons we use a magick circle:

To hold all the energy that we create, we use a circle to contain all the energy we raise within it. Therefore, no energy dissipates before we can use it.

As a sacred space, the circle functions as a temple to worship the gods in.

The circle moves us between the mundane world and the realms of the gods, so that we may communicate with them easier.

The most important thing that a circle does is function as a protection or barrier from unwanted entities that may want to “feed” off the energy we have raised.

When do we raise a circle? For rituals, meditation or handfasting ceremonies (Wiccan marriages). You always close your circle when you are done with it. If you leave it up the energy will eventually become unstable and will become dangerous.

A circle forms our sacred space for doing our workings. We can set up our circle as our temple wherever we find ourselves in the world.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

The Element Water

December 3, 2012December 4, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

The Element Water

Water

Water corresponds the direction West. Like Earth, water is a feminine element. The Earth’s oceans represent the womb of all life on the planet we call mother. Wiccans look upon sea water as a representative of the goddess’ womb.

A mother’s womb holds a sacred water that is saline similar to the salinity found in sea water. So Wiccans apply sea salt to water to create their holy water.

The Undine is the elemental of water. The Undine can manifest in many forms, from mermaids to sirens of the sea.

Wiccans use various things to represent water including sea shells, sea weed, water, sponges, and fish.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Autumn Harvest

November 20, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

Autumn Leaves

Merry Meet.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The trees change into their autumn colors, readying for their long winter slumber. We take this moment to reflect on our lives, looking at what we’ve accomplished and how far we’ve come.

If last Fall someone would have told me, “You will be a blogger,” I would have laughed. Yeah right, a dyslexic blogger.

Well, I feel called to write this blog. And thank you for reading it.

Looking at this season and the blessings I have, I’ll share what I am harvesting now.

First, I appreciate my readers, without whom I’d have no reason for this blog to continue. I wish to serve my community and you’re helping me do it. Thank you.

I also wish to educate those who don’t understand what the craft is about. Some people may not yet identify themselves as pagan, but they’d like more information. I wish to be as open as I can to those who truly wish to learn.

Second, I am thankful for my editors, who guide me to improve my writing. I am now harvesting my editors’ kindness and patience. So thank you.

These are just a few of the things residing in my cornucopia this year. What’s in yours? What things are you harvesting right now?

Book Update

My book, The Hidden Children of the Goddess, is coming along nicely. The book has been “ping-ponging” between my editors and me.

The book is now in round three of the editing process. Soon my editor will return my manuscript with her notes. Then I’ll continue to refine it. This book writing road has been a lot longer than I had expected. I’m hoping the end product of my labors will be sweet for my readers.

It’s important to me to serve those beginning the path of Wicca. I am hoping that my book educates and inspires those who seek the Path.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

The Element Air

November 19, 2012 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

Clouds Represent Air

Air

Associated with the direction East, air is a masculine element. Air represents the flowing thoughts of our minds. We take in new thoughts like we take in a new breath into our lungs. Air goes hand in hand with fire, which is also a masculine element. Without the air (specifically oxygen) to support it, fire dies.

What is the elemental of air? It’s the sylph, often depicted as a human figure sporting wings. Numerous people report seeing Sylphs in cloud formations.

Representations of Air include feathers, birds of all kinds, clouds, dust devils, wind chimes, and incense smoke. Any of these items can be placed in the East quarter of your circle. Be creative.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater SilverClaw