Discussions

well i really have to push some more effort into this (sorry not always online for long) but i will add a few posts, perhaps our discussions could also include

servitors

sigils

tactile telepathy

energy flow

and what are the best list of basics to give to newbies

My wand is actually made from a sturdy Oak Tree that was struck my lightening. The tree itself though had a very strong feminine energy to it though, and oddly enough only girls ever stood underneath it. The funny story about that tree on the school grounds was that any girl who stood beneath it couldn't be harmed by any male because the roots would rise up and trip them up, or the branches would bend and catch their clothes or hair.

Not really sure if that had anything to do with it, but honestly it just feels feminine in nature to me.

My wand is made from a Beech tree. The tree is torn down now, i harvested it before it got tore down because of the space needed at the city's oldest graveyard. My city is called Pettau (Ptuj in Slovene) and it's the oldest city in Slovenia...first settlements in stone age then some Celtic settlements in iron age (some important trade center for the ancient Rome too) anyway, this is the city's oldest graveyard and i always loved it and the tree too...i am very in tune with nature and i have an essence of a druid in me...to me harming a tree is massively bad karma. Anyway, i asked for a branch for my wand and it seemed to me like the tree was weeping as if it would be saying: "I'm about to die. At least you can do is give me a purpose now that i lost it". I communicate with trees not verbally though it's kinda like transferring vibes...anyway, i believe that the essence of that tree is in my wand. Which reminds me...I must take my wand back to that cemetery someday...i think he'd like it =)

No I dont use the feather for journeying be it physical or spirtual, but I do feel like it does contain the spirit of the crow, I found it walking to my youngest's kids school which is very busy around the entrance and it was right in front of me laying right in my walking path in perfect condition so I picked it up and took it home, I just felt like it was given to me.
I keep it tucked in a dream catcher now above my bed.

The reason its my journey totem is because the path im on just now started with me noticing that crows seemed to be around me alot, and in pictures, films...even some of the music I listen to would have crows either in the song or on the cover art!

Life is a journey, not a destination from the wisdom of Lao Tzu and Aerosmith :D

Love and Light

Thanks to everyone who particpated in this discussion. It would be great to get everyone asking each other questions or raising new ideas within these debates as well, so please bear that in mind.

Who would like to pick the next topic?

With Yule Right around the Corner, what ways does everyone celebrate?

I will occasionally put together a Yule log and I celebrate Christmas with my family as well since me and my husband are the only witches in the family. We always put up a tree, but for multiple reasons we use a fake one. We decorate it with ornaments from travels and lights and my grandmother loves to put her little angel on the top to (as she says) "Watch over the presents".

The main thing I really like to do though, is actually divided into 2 things. I love to do a ritual for healing for people who are close to me at this time who need it, and I love to buy little toys, like teddy bears for needy children (Toys for Tots of my grandmothers church).

This year a little girl and her mother's story of hardship touched me so much so, that I found a cute panda bear for her made of recycled material and added a little card with it. I will also be sending her family positive energy this year in hopes the next will improve for them.

So you all know what I'm doing, in what ways do you all celebrate the season?

I celebrate the way most people do at Yule, as in the putting up the christmas tree with decorations that my kids and me decorate not all the time but sometimes we bake christmas shapes that we will decorate and hang on the tree aswell and get all the family together for a christmas dinner, I haven't of yet got a ritual of any kind of magical vaule yet but as the years go on I may well change that, and we just try to be open loving and kind to the people that need it.


Love and Light

I also prefer to celebrate Yule with the traditional Christian way, because it is in our family. We put up a tree also fake for other reasons(usually inside but we have one planted outside as well to decorate), but we exchange gifts (there usually aren't any because my family doesn't really believe in the commercial abuse lol) on the Christmas evening and not the next morning and we have a holiday dinner. My mother and I do a ritual at midnight and after it she goes to bed and I go out to a friend's party and have a little fun =)
I suppose we all have our own ways...interesting how the same holiday can differ in families =D

I've always celebrated Yule in the traditional Christmas way. However, this year I'm hoping me and my older sister can get together and do a Yule ritual in addition to our usual Christmas celebrations.

My husband's Asatru so we have the full tweleve days of Yule to play with. We start with Mothersnight on the 20th, on which we go and collect greenery for the household and I start baking mince pies and a chocolate Yule Log. In the evening we light a gazillion candles in the kitchen and have a small rite then leave some food and milk out for Frau Holda.

On the solstice we honour the god and goddess that we jointly worship in a morning ritual, getting up while it's still dark and drumming the sun up. After the rite we then have a nice breakfast and exchange gifts and then go for a walk. In the evening we have a feast.

On twelfth night we light a fire outside (weather permitting) and burn the dried out greenery in it.

Question for anyone who cares to answer it.

AT the winter solstice there is a great emphasis on the birth of the sun. Despite being the time of greatest darkness, many published rituals concentrate solely on the birth of The Mabon (divine child of light). Does anyone do anything in ritual to honour the spirits of winter, coldness and darkness as well?