Wheel of the Year - Beltane

As the seasons change, the northern hemisphere is now experiencing Samhain, the gateway to winter, with all the fun of Halloween. However here in the southern hemisphere we are now entering Beltane, the gateway to summer, and summers here in the southern hemisphere get very hot.

Wheel of the Year (Southern Hemisphere)

Already there is a noticeable change in the weather with the days becoming warmer, though thankfully the nights are still cool and comfortable. Summer doesn't really hit here until the nights are about as hot as the days. Which is not a fun experience when you don't have air conditioning.

Above are all eight of my seasonal beads, you can read more about how I made these by visiting HERE. The beads for this season are pictured below with the Beltane card from my Witches' Wisdom Oracle deck. Although I tend not to use this deck for the oracle deck that it is, but more for display purposes, it is still a lovely deck that I enjoy using along with my seasonal beads.

Witches' Wisdom oracle cards - Beltane

Embrace The Magical

So in my last post I explained about living in the southern hemisphere and how here, October is not autumn and the lead up to Samhain or Halloween, but is instead the lead up to Beltane. I also mentioned how I prefer to celebrate the season as I experience them and not how the other side of the world may be experiencing them. And I stand my this, I do. But I just couldn't help but join in #embracethemagical.

Kelly from The Truth In Story started #embracethemagical on instagram, something she has done for a few years now to celebrate the magical and spooky month of October. Initially I wasn't going to join, as I said, I prefer to celebrate the seasons as I experience them, but then I thought that embracing the magical didn't have to mean October or Halloween. 'Embracing The Magical' was something that could be done any time of the year.

So for each week in October The Truth In Story will have weekly Tarot spreads available as well as daily keyword prompts for single card Tarot draws. These will be available on her instagram and also on her community tab on her youtube. If your interest in Tarot or other divination methods I recommend watching some of her videos. 

For this first week of #embracethemagical I am using the Deviant Moon Tarot, I know it leans more towards spooky Samhain then it does bright Beltane, but I only recently got the big book for this deck and really wanted to use it. To follow along with my 'Embracing the Magical' journey, visit my instagram.

The Tower card below from the Deviant Moon Tarot was the first card I pulled, a day before #embracethemagical officially began. A sign that, although I am experiencing Spring, it is fine to shake things up a bit with a dark and strange deck, for as surreal as the imagery might be, the insights found are quite positive and affirming.

Pocket Witch Dolls

So today is the 1st of October and for many people, mostly those in the northern hemisphere, it is a month of spooky and magical things in the lead up to Samhain or Halloween and the beginnings of Winter.

I however live in the southern hemisphere and here we are entering a month leading up to Beltane. It couldn't be more different and yet the weather here has been rainy and overcast of late and admittedly it does get lonely trying to follow the seasons when it feels like you are going against the whole world.

So as a sort of mash-up between what I am experiencing and what it feels like the whole rest of the world is experiencing, I made these pocket witch dolls. Little not so spooky but still very magical witchy dolls but with a spring floral twist.

These little pocket witch dolls are very small, the standing witch in her pointed hat is about 7cm tall and the witch on her broomstick is only about 5cm tall. Overall they feel like a good compromise to the season I am experiencing and the season most everyone expects it to be. To read more about how these were made you can visit my post here.

Wheel of the Year - Ostara

While most people living in the northern hemisphere are currently experiencing the Autumn Equinox, I am living in the southern hemisphere and here we are now entering the Spring Equinox. And although the weather had been getting warmer, today was very much a cold and wet day, not at all the celebration of Spring I might have hoped for.

Wheel of the Year (Southern Hemisphere)

Despite the colder weather felt today, it is most definitely Ostara, otherwise known as Easter. Although it feels as though I am the only one to acknowledge this as it seems to me most people where I live prefer to follow the seasons marked by the northern hemisphere and not by the actual seasons outside our windows here in the southern hemisphere.

Above are all eight of my seasonal beads, you can read more about how I made these by visiting HERE. The beads for this season are pictured below with the Ostara card from my Witches' Wisdom Oracle deck. Although I tend not to use this deck for the oracle deck that it is, but more for display purposes, it is still a lovely deck that I enjoy using along with my seasonal beads.

Witches' Wisdom oracle cards - Ostara

Ogham - Sail

Sail (sahl) Willow Tree          S
ogham name (pronunciation) ogham meaning              symbol                       letter

Sail = Willow Tree 'dirty, grey'
Tree Association = Willow

Green Man Tree Oracle - Willow

Kennings: 1 Morainn mac Moin (MM), 2 Maic ind Oc (MO), 3 Con Culainn (CC)
1 Pallor of a lifeless one OR Hue of the lifeless
2 Sustenance of bees OR Strength of Bees
3 Beginning of honey OR Beginning of loss, that is, willow

Auraicept Translation: "The colour of a lifeless one i.e. it has no colour, owing to the resemblance of its hue to a dead person."
Auraicept Notes: Willow in the forest.
Notes on MM: Hue of the lifeless, i.e. hue of one dead, so that he is not living but is dead: or that is Sail, willow.
Notes on MO: Activity of bees, that is willow, for its bloom and for its catkin.

Associations and Cultural Context: The pale hue of the tree and its leaves; some associations with bees and willow pollen.

My Interpretation of the Kennings: Willow Catkins
1 willow catkins become off-yellow in colour once pollinated allowing fertility/new life from death of the old, also the 'dirty grey', off-white/bluish-grey colour of underside of leaves and sallow grey appearance of the bark.
2 willow catkins provide pollen and nectar to sustain bees, enabling growth and reproduction.
3 willow catkins provide pollen and nectar to bees enabling the creation of honey through their own demise, demonstrating the cycles of life.

My Keywords: Cycles, Flow & Intuition

 

Ogham Home

Ogham - Fern                                                                                              Ogham - Nin

The Kennings, Auraicept Translation, Auraicept Notes, Notes on MM and Notes on MO are all found in Auraicept ne N-Eces The Scholars Primer. An online copy of this book can be found HERE.

My Interpretation of the Kennings and My Keywords were formed from information found in the Auraicept ne N-Eces The Scholars Primer as well as researching the meanings, history, lore, folklore and attributes of each ogham as described in the Kennings.

Harmony Tarot Key 0 - The Goldfinch (The Fool)

The Goldfinch keywords (from the book)
Simplicity ~ Travel ~ Freedom

The Fool keywords (general)
Beginnings ~ Innocence ~ Purity ~ Spontaneity ~ Free Spirit ~ Potential

The Goldfinch meaning (my summary from the book)
Freedom, adventure and new experiences are the main themes of this card. There is an emphasis on simplifying your life and finding order in an effort to achieve more freedom and to allow new experiences and opportunities into your life.

The Fool meaning (general)
The Fool represents unlimited potential and carries with him everything he truly needs, which in reality is very little. Being numbered 0 and standing outside of the major arcane, or on cliff edge, The Fool is able to embody the freedoms found in breaking away from social norms and conventions. The Fool is also representative of the beginnings of an adventure, or the possibilities for new beginnings that are present within each moment to bring fresh energy to any given situation. There is also an element of wisdom and enlightenment found within The Fool that comes from obtaining a sense of innocence and being unburdened with material matters.

The Goldfinch imagery (meanings I found in the image)
GOLDFINCH ~ represents infinite possibilities and foreknowledge and is an emblem of endurance, fruitfulness and persistence.
THIRD EYE ~ represents a state of enlightenment, mystical intuition and insight.
LADYBUG ~ represents good fortune, happy resolutions, true love, innocence and the need to make the right choices. They also promise positive transformations.

 

Harmony Tarot Home

The card meanings and associations found here are my own and make sense to me. While being heavily influenced from the accompanying guidebook, they have been further developed through research and study, as well as personal experiences and workings with the cards. Your own associations and opinions about these card meanings may differ.

Pictish Swirl Alphabet

The Pictish Swirl Alphabet was named for the Pictish peoples, but was not actually created by them. The Picts were a real group of people from the early middle ages living in what is now known as Scotland. It was believed to be the Romans who named these peoples Picti, meaning painted or tattooed people. As so little is known about these people, it is not known what they actually called themselves, so we are left with calling them Picti or Picts.

As there is so little known of these people that the Romans called barbarians, their true history and mythology is a mystery, and unfortunately susceptible to misinformation and misrepresentation. This I fear is what happened when Raymond Buckland wrote his book Scottish Witchcraft and Magic: The Craft of the Picts. Here he introduces the term 'PectiWita' for his neopagan religion based on Wiccan practices and what he claims to be Pictish witchcraft.

Despite the obvious inaccuracies and liberties taken in Robert Buckland's work, there is the creation of the Pictish Swirl Alphabet that, although not ancient and with no historical basic, is a fun way to introduce a magical element into magical working. It was this Pictish Swirl Alphabet that I used in creating my Goddess Rainbow Dolls, there are 15 handmade dolls in total, visit Set1, Set2 and Set3 to see these dolls and how I made them.