Clearing The Gods

 I must have mentioned that Mike (our son) has arranged for an auctioneer to collect all our remaining Raven stock - when we have managed to get it all sorted out.

    So this last Saturday Mike and Eden (our grandson) came round to give Graham a hand clearing out The Gods (the loft).

    Now I haven't been up in The Gods for a few years - I can't manage the loft ladder - so gradually more and more of our day-to-day stock has been left in our bedroom, where it is more accessible to both of us. So I didn't think there was much stuff left up there.

    I knew the joss sticks were there, and a box of Egyptian statuettes and a box of silk squares, but I thought that was about it.

    Oh no!

    That wasn't about it!

    Graham and Eden went up in the loft. Graham moved boxes to the middle of the floor, Eden picked them up and passed them down the ladder to Mike.

    We'd already decided to stack them in our bedroom, with the rest of the stock we had already sorted. I was keeping out of the way - well playing World of Warcraft really - but as the 'Games Room' is next to the loft ladder, I couldn't help seeing the number of boxes coming down and being ferried into our bedroom.

    Soon the boxes were up to the ceiling and the bedroom window was blocked out.

    And still they kept coming!

    I was starting to get worried that we wouldn't be able to get to our bed, as the pile of boxes filled the floor and advanced on the door.

    'Don't worry, ' said Mike, 'They aren't all full!'

    But still they kept coming!

    I tried to ignore what was going on, but it seemed never-ending!

    Would the house fill up with boxes?

    Would we ever see the floor again?

    Would we have to sleep on the table in the living room as the only flat surface not covered in boxes?

    Eventually Mike declared that he had the last box and Graham and Eden climbed down the ladder to freedom.

    We thanked Mike and Eden for their help - it would have taken Graham days to do it on his own - had fish and chips for lunch, then Mike and Eden went off to the cinema, to see a 'Minecraft' film - Mike said he expected to sleep through it.

    After lunch Graham and I went to inspect the heap of boxes. As they were even piled up on our bed, we decided we had to make a start on sorting, just to try and get the number of boxes down.

    So that was our afternoon.

    Happily Eden understood 'box' to mean any size of box, big or small, full or empty! So we were able to quickly get rid of several empty boxes for a start.

    Most of our stock has been stored in old-fashioned cardboard fruit/vegetable stacking boxes, so that made keeping the piles neat much easier. And we were able to move bits from one half empty box into another, cutting down the number of boxes even further. So we did manage to clear the bed and enough floor space to be able to put the dog's beds down too!

    It took us a couple of days to sort out all the boxes - stuff to keep, stuff to go the auction, stuff that was just rubbish. But we came across things we hadn't seen for twenty years or more

Some Boxes

A lot more boxes

Shabiti

    Including a box of Shabiti figures Graham had made and I had painted a long, long time ago.

(Shabiti are ancient Egyptian spirit servants, designed to do work on behalf of you - rather like the idea of the Western magician or Witch's familiar).

Moon Names

 On our Facebook page I try and mention New Moons and especially Full Moons, and I have seen that these days there is a tendency to give the Full Moons names such as for the April Full Moon we find it listed as The Pink Moon.

This name is not a traditional one in any sense of the word. In the 19th Century the US Yankee Magazine  decided to create a list of Moon names for their 'Old Farmer's Almanac', in other words the journalists made them up, and for some reason these names seem to be ones that we are getting stuck with.

There are actually many truly traditional names, some dating back to Anglo-Saxon times and even Celtic beliefs and over the years I have compiled a list of these, which I use on Facebook to try and keep them alive. I have recently been asked about this and so I have decided to list them here, so that at least they are somewhere that people have easy access to.

Full Moons do move about each year, so some years some Moon names are more appropriate than others. Anyway here is my list:

January: Wolf Moon, Stay Home Moon, Moon After Yule

February: Storm Moon, Ice Moon, Snow Moon this can also be Wolf Moon same as January

March: Plough Moon, Wind Moon, Lenten Moon (Lengthening Moon, referring to the lengthening days) Chaste Moon

April: Budding Moon, New Shoots Moon, Seed Moon, Egg Moon

May: Mother's Moon, Bright Moon, Milk Moon (the Saxons called this month Thrimilch, because the rich new grass meant cows could be milked three times daily), Hare Moon

June: Mead Moon, Horse Moon, Dyan Moon, Rose Moon, Flower Moon, Honey Moon (where we get the wedding holiday name from).

July: Claiming Moon, Wyrt Moon (herb collecting moon), Herb Moon, Mead Moon (Meadow or the drink made from honey), Hay Moon

August: Dispute Moon, Grain Moon, Corn Moon

September: Wine Moon, Song Moon, Barley Moon, Harvest Moon (this is usually the name given to the Full Moon nearest to the Autumn Equinox)

October: Blood Moon (this was when herds were culled), Seed Fall Moon, Hunter's Moon (this is usually the Full Moon nearest to the feast of Samhain).

November: Mourning Moon, Darkest Depths Moon, Blood Moon (again), Snow Moon (rarely snow for us these days)

December: Oak Moon, Full Cold Moon, Moon Before Yule.

Hope this helps.

When is the Festival of Easter?

 This might seem a daft question, but for many Pagans and Witches this can be very confusing - and even contentious.

The eight main festivals of the Witches year are spaced roughly every six weeks or so throughout the year. The four main festivals are called the Cross Quarter Days - Samhain, Beltane, Imbolg and Llughnassadh. The four minor festivals are timed by the Sun, so they are the two Solstices at Midsummer and Midwinter and the two Equinoxes at Spring and Autumn.

The Spring Equinox falls around the 21st of March and (surprise, surprise!) celebrates the re-awakening of the Earth and the return of Spring.

The Spring goddess is known as Ostara, Eostre or Easter. So her festival is obviously the Spring Equinox.

But hang on a minute, there is another festival around this time which also bears the name of the Spring goddess. 

Yes, we are talking about the christian festival of Easter, which moves about each year because it is timed, not by the Sun, but by the Moon.

Now this starts to get messy as the christian festival is dealing with the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is: the death and resurrection of a god, but it has been given the name of the Goddess who welcomes the resurrection of the Earth.

So is this a christian festival, timed by the Moon?

Or is it a Pagan festival, originally timed by the Moon, which has been hijacked by the early christians?

Now I must admit, I don't have a problem with there being two festivals of Eostre, because I believe 'The more the merrier!'. That is why my facebook page is dedicated mainly to listing festivals for as many days of the year as I can find something for!

I am all in favour of a party and if the christians want to celebrate Eostre with eggs (ancient Pagan symbol of resurrection) and bunnies (messengers of the Moon Goddess) then I am all for it!

Traditional Witches (and I am one) have always celebrated both Witchy festivals and festivals of other religions too. Largely, I must admit, as a means of self-preservation in times of Witch persecutions - you are less likely to appear to be a Witch if you attend church regularly and participate in christian festivals.

But why limit yourself to four festivals, or eight or even twenty-four, when you can have something to celebrate every day of the year?

Spring is a Season, not a day.

So I reckon our Goddess of the Season is entitled to be celebrated more than once.

Happy Easter!