Travel, travel, travel... and bringing your space with you

I won't try to hide the fact that I adore traveling.   I love flying, I love trains, I love long car trips... just being out in the world, seeing things I haven't before, wandering places that I don't know - it's one of the reasons I like the job I have now; I can take time off without a lot of issue and travel.

Recently I gave a lecture on bringing your sacred space with you to work, and incorporating your practice to your daily life.  So how do we do that while traveling?  You're in hotel rooms, airport gate areas, train cars, rental cars... a myriad of places that have hosted a myriad of other people.  How do you protect yourself? How do you honor the sacred and not open yourself up to the excess of other people?

There are a few different methods, but for me having a pouch of blessed items with me has worked the best.   Native Americans call it a medicine bag.  Other traditions call them gris-gris, charm bags, spell bags and the like.  Name it what you will, but they're very useful tools to keep your head on straight and your energy going the correct direction.  The contents are very personal, and (as with many other things) it is impolite (and sometimes dangerous!) to ask what is inside.

Creating them is a ritual unto itself - and keeping them is easier than you think.  A simple ritual to create one is below... and as with other how-to's that I've posted, this is general and should be personalized as you go.

Creating a Charm Bag
 You'll need:
-- a drawstring pouch in the fabric and color that calls to you that's about the size of your hand OR fabric of the correct size to make hand sized drawstring pouch (and the needle and thread to sew it)
-- a white candle (I like short pillar candles, votive candles, or tea lights in plastic cups not metal) 
-- representatives of the 4 elements
-- items for your bag, such as
    - stones
    - shells
    - string
    - charms or pendants
    - sage/ resin/ etc (star anise is a good thing to add to these.  See Cunningham's Herbal for descriptions) 

Focus on the pouch, placing your intent for safe travels and all the hope for safe and careful handling of your bags into the fibers of the fabric, seeing it weave in and around and through until the pouch is complete with it.  

Place, one by one, your items into the pouch and while you do, think about why you chose that item.  Recall a story about the item, or a reason that the item is important for protection.  

Light the candle and let the wax pool for a bit.  As you draw close your bag, picture the protection sealing itself.  Tie a knot in your drawstring and then dip the knot in the wax.  Don't soak it, that's not necessary, but just let it get a little wet with wax and let it dry without touching it. As the wax cools, see the seal form and meditate on the completeness of the protection encased there.  

Carry it with you when you travel.  

I have three of these - one that stays in my checked bag, one that stays in my purse and one that stays in my car.  They're all a little different, and they're all very effective.

Snow, snow, and more snow.

Here in the frigid Northeast we are buried under feet of snow, with more on the way.  Looking outside I can't even see the tombstones in the historic graveyard behind my house, and the picnic table in my backyard is gone in a sea of white.   The deck railing is barely visible, but there is no difference in height between the snow on my deck and the topmost visible section of railing.

The snow is everywhere - in the house, around the house, in our cars, our shoes, our hair.  The roads are slushy and frozen, the glare of early morning sun makes it even harder to see out of our already dirty windshields and the banks on either side threaten to topple over and restrict our ability to see what's coming worse than blinders on a racing horse.

In short, we're really sick and tired of being cold and snowed in.

So how, in the midst of all this loathing (and it really is, make no mistake) do we seek out and cling to the light that was promised to us at the equinox?  We know that Spring is coming, the sun is showing more between the heavily laden clouds.... so how do we hold onto that instead of slipping into the cold and dark?

I was talking to a few of my friends online back near Imbolc, and one of them mentioned how they never really grabbed onto Yule as the "big Winter celebration" because it isn't at the start of winter that we need to be celebrating.  It's now, when the world is frozen solid, that we need to be having people over and celebrating and feeling the warmth of family to stave off the ugliness of the weather outside.   I sent her a smiley and replied with "well, look at it for Candlemas instead.  Light things up!  Make a huge meal, have people over and light every freaking candle in the house when you do."  I reminded her that Candlemas was the point in winter where there would be a huge party if they had an abundance of supplies.  It was to celebrate that they'd gotten that far through winter without having to tap their deep stores.  You celebrate that the earth is warming, the sun is stronger.  You look at your seeds for spring and know you'll be planting soon.  It is a perfect time for a party, and a very necessary one too.  My sister was up and visiting for Imbolc this year, and we cooked a lot, ate a lot and reminisced a lot.  It was a lovely way to spend the holy day.

So in these days, not so long after that February 1st celebration, I look at my candles and light them, holding my cold hands over the warmth of their flames, and remember the warmth of the sun that grows stronger each day.  When I see the sun, I smile at it and remember the snow won't last forever.
I also take a moment and thank the snow and the cold for the good they do for the earth - the sharpness of the seasons are important.  Without the frigid temps now, we wouldn't appreciate the heat of summer - and alternately we wouldn't appreciate the cold if not for the searing temps in summer.  We look longingly for the moderate Spring and Fall, for the burst of color those two seasons bring.  We need the changes in season as much as the earth does, and must thank each in their turn.

So light your candles, drink a warm cup of tea, and smile at the snow drifts, and know they're melting even as the snow falls, from underneath where the earth warms as she turns toward Spring.

Wicked Faire!

You may not have heard, but I'll be presenting two panels next weekend at Wicked Faire in NJ.

http://wickedfaire.com/category/entertainment/panel/

Give a scroll down that page and you'll see my two panels: Everyday Druidry and Herbalism and Hedgecraft for Beginners.

A big shout out to the event staff at Wicked Faire for being so incredibly easy to work with, and also for the opportunity to  present on these two topics that are so dear to me.  It's my first time at Wicked Faire, so I'm really looking forward to that too.  I hope to see you there!

Stuck at home... but not really stuck.

I am, right now, equal parts frustrated and elated.

Why?  Well, for the umpteenth time this winter I'm stuck at home instead of able to go to work - the snow, which is dominating our landscape and obliterating landmarks in seas of white, has again trapped us all inside.

I really dug down and called on the Goddess for this one - I'm upset for mundane reasons about having to miss work but if I let that distract me as it has in the past, well, it'd be 1pm and I'd be 5 episodes into an Agents of Shield marathon, instead of having gotten a ton of chores done today, finished the layout for a painting project, worked on some paperwork for a set of presentations I'm making later this month, and managed to get the dishes done somewhere between the second and third cups of coffee.

So, with a little help, I've put aside my mundane concerns and focused instead on the creativity I've denied for so long.

You know that feeling you get in your gut (or, in my case, in the side of my throat) that something is poking into you, like a bone, just stabbing you little bits at a time?  That's what my creative blocks feel like.  They pain me, and the point is that I'm supposed to pay attention, create and let them go so I can get the art out of my head.  Well, that doesn't always work - mundane concerns get in the way, and then it's Friday and all I want to do is sleep.  I get tired from the worry and stress, and nothing creative gets done.

Well, not today!

So how do you get over this?  Call it out.  Stop ignoring the boney pains and give in to them instead.  Maybe it's giving yourself permission to be creative, maybe it's putting aside the doubt and going for it... but a few herbal aids can help with that.  Peach tea, either with ginger or with mango, is a great creative booster.  Every time I see the pit of a peach, it looks like a little dried brain and honestly, it bolsters me.  It reminds me of the connection between myself and the land.  I can taste that in the tea no matter what time of year it is... and when you're blocked by mounds of snow and can't go wiggle your toes in the grass to move those creative blocks, tasting Spring and Summer can be a life saver.

If you're allergic to pitted fruits, or to ginger, try this instead - <insert fruit tea here>.  No really, fruit tea of your choice.  The goal is to find that taste of summer and heat that you miss in the middle of winter and drink it into your bones.  Drink two or three cups, and keep that scent around as you work.
So today I'm drinking mango and peach tea like it's going out of style, thanking the gods for their aid and creating till my fingers ache!

Should old acquaintance be forgot...

and brought no more to mind?  

They say in the days leading to the New Year you should do the things you want to be doing most that year.  Some say that it's only on New Year's Eve that you should be doing what you want to be doing in the coming year.  For others the New Year passed at Samhain, so we see this as a chance to reinforce those things that we want in the coming year. 

This morning was spent doing exactly what I want to be doing in the coming year, lying safely in the arms of the man I love, in the home we're creating together.  

~~ 

As Pagans we celebrate two New Year milestones - one on Samhain and one on December 31st/January 1st.  This is a perfect chance for us to solidify the wishes we have for our new year, to talk to the Goddess/God and contemplate if we've stepped onto the correct path in our new year.  What we started at Samhain will start to take root now, and we can see the shape of what we're creating for the near future.  If this shape isn't what we're looking for, then we can make those changes that are needed now, in a time of powerful change when so many are focused on that very energy.  

The world as a whole looks to change in January - it's a smaller number that keep that change steady into the following months.  What changes did you enact at Samhain?  Have those changes held?  Did you slip?  Is the shape of your future not what you wanted?  For as close on the heels of Yule that Samhain feels, it's a rather long time.  A lot has happened.  A lot is still to come.  But there is time.  

One of the things I love about winter is that there is so much time.  And there really isn't any more than there is in the summer, but in the winter you can just sit and relax and no one wonders why you aren't out doing things.  There is time to reflect, to stare, to think and to breathe.  

So take some of this time to be still in the cold of winter.  Make the shape of the change you want to happen a solid and tangible thing, a touchstone for the year that can help you enact the change.  

Ways to spend a Solstice

You can spend it solitary, in quiet contemplation.

You can spend it with your circle, in a day full of rite and ceremony.  

Or, you can spend it taking moments out when you can to listen to the Goddess between loads of laundry, dishes, cooking, packing and cleaning so you can be ready for a 6pm flight after you get off work tomorrow.  ;)  

Guess how I spent mine!  

But really, it wasn't as rushed as all that.  In the flurry of things to be done, I heard the Goddess.  In the pot pie that I made for lunch I spelled for health and happiness in the coming days.  In the cleaning I did I banished the old and brought in peace and tranquility.  In stopping to look at our brilliantly lit tree I welcomed the light back and thanked the dark for it's role in my life.  

In simple chores you can find the voice of the Goddess, sometimes more clearly as your mind is distracted just enough.  

And to top off the day, I joined friends for a feast that night, many courses of wonderful food and amazing drink and many hours of wonderful conversation.  It was a perfect way to celebrate the Solstice for us.

As I sent my energy out last night, a quick ceremony in a busy place, the energy flowed well and my intention for healing went out strong.  

So as the light grows, in the coming days I wish you all blessings and happiness and rest.  Gods know the spring will be on us soon enough, and we need these days of winter to rest up and be ready for growing when the season is on us.  

Out of the Kitchen and into the world

I don't think I have to explain what's all over the news right now - most everyone who finds this will know.  It's everywhere... whether you want to see it or not.

We're in Winter now, and the hem of the Crone is where I find myself when the weather turns cold and the landscape glittering in ice and snow.  On Yule I often bundle up in layers of wool, throw on my cloak and go sit outside to listen at her feet.  It's gotten me plenty of odd looks over the years, but it's always worth going.  Silent, in the cold of evening, you learn a lot about yourself and about the Goddess.

As our society is being tortured right now, as injustice and hatred and fear are gripping people still (I've heard this called "new" and I just want to scream.  This isn't new, this just has a spotlight now.) I think about sitting at the hem of the Crone and wonder what I'll hear from her this year.  I wonder what the land will have to say to me.  In truth, I'm outside less this time of year and so listening to the land is more difficult... it's hard to hear what it's saying when you don't walk it.  So part of going outside to sit on Yule is reconnecting on a night with so much significance.

You can't turn on the tv, or go to your social media of choice, without seeing the pain in the world.  It's going to be hard to heal this, if it can be healed at all, but it is something we must try to do.

This year, as Pagans, we need to be that healing.  We have a unique perspective on healing, and in the Winter when the land sleeps to build it's strength for the growing in Spring, we can use that time to store up the energy we need for the healing to come.  We have all, in our time, mended the land, mended our friends and family, mended ourselves.  We have all, as needed, joined together at one time of day across many places and sent our energies out in waves to do what is needed.

I think this is that time again.

This Yule I'll be doing just that.  Once the sun is full down, and night is upon us, I'll be standing outside and sending my energy, my hopes and healing, across the land, into the Earth, and to all who need it to help ease the pain.

I urge you to join me, whether you let me know or not.