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Family Values: Thankfulness Values in relation to family building are defined as: “one’s principles, priorities, or standards.”  Values are what is important to us, what we give meaning to in our lives, and how we delegate the priority of our time, of ourselves. Words that are considered values are thrown around in our speech daily.  Respect, kindness, honesty, fidelity…but as we use these words do we actually live them?  Are they buzz words, or ideals?  And how do we live these ideas as pagan parents and enact them within our family, as an example to our children? As an ongoing series in Pagan Parenting Every Day I will be exploring…

The Fool (0) “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Chinese Proverb Image Description: The Rider-Waite deck portrays a young traveler dressed in colorful motley clothes. Tied to his staff is a nap-sack; in his free hand is a single rose. The sun, in all its glory, shines behind him, and a small, lively dog follows his heels. Walking toward the edge of an impending cliff, the Fool seems blissfully unaware of the fall awaiting him. Symbols: Young Person (Youth): Naivety, innocence Single White Rose: Purity, nonsexual love Sunrise: New beginnings Staff: Active creativity Cliff: ‘The Fall’ into worldly experience Hills/Mountains: Struggles, adversity Motley Dress: Foolishness,…

It is the full moon, the right silvery globe, dazzling and dangling from the heavens, that beckons me to stay awake, and not sleep the witching hours away. As I lay tossing and muttering sleepless phrases the shadows play and warp with the changing of clock numbers…2, 3, 4, 5… With futile, uneventful and perilous (to sanity) sleepiness, and exasperation, I stumble out of bed and greet the daylight hours with a finesse likened only to a very depraved expression…much like one freely given to an annoying driver on the freeway. So begins my day, and yet it makes perfect sense that the Moon should take prominence. It is the…

with ReikiAwakening.com’s Alice Langholt Welcome to this month’s Reaching Reiki column. This month’s topic is Patience. Patience is very hard for most of us, because we want to plan, control our destiny, shape our lives. We have a desire to know what’s coming and prepare for it, because doing so helps us feel more confident and ready. I know, because I am very much like this in personality. I envy those who can easily surrender, having faith that things will work themselves out, and that the Universe has a plan in motion. This is a wonderful state of being, just living in the present, without the anxiety of trying to…

Guy meets girl. He’s charmed by this innocent-seeming cutey, & as a result turns into a total caveman. He thumps her over the head with his club & drags her off to the cave, expecting her to be thrilled about a life of domestic servitude. Everybody is at least roughly familiar with the story of Persephone. Her father’s Zeus, the all-powerful king of the Olympian Gods. Her mother’s Demeter, the grain Goddess. To make a long story short, Hades, lord of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone  & abducted Her. Eventually she came to terms with her new living arrangements. Demeter, being the ultimate overprotective mother, was consumed by…

Do You Take Your Faeries With or Without Wings? Not very long ago, a new reader of my blog wrote me the following: I have to say that whenever I come across a word that is new to me, such as “Faerie”, I immediately “iconoclast” the current definition I have for it out of respect (which would be in my mind a faerie is “a feminine sprite of metaphysical quality, mischievious [sic] and clad somewhat in pink” with alternate spelling)… “Clad somewhat in pink.”  That description gave me a good giggle, but he left out wings.  What do you think about faeries with wings?  Are faeries with wings a valid…

The Unicorn Tradition I’ve had many conversations with people over the years about differing Traditions and what their personal experiences have been.  The focus for this month’s article is the Unicorn Tradition. A good friend of mine is a member of this tradition and it’s always sparked a great deal of interest for me because of the way it is structured and their take on certain aspects of Wiccan teachings.  We have often discussed and debated topics with her perspective having come from a very traditional and structured background and my own eclectic learning here in the Midwest. The Unicorn Tradition stems from Atlanta, Georgia and was founded by Lady…

“Lovespoon Rite” This rite is an enchantment of a wedding and/or handfasting gift. Supplies One wooden spoon Q-tips A picture of the happy couple Essential and carrier oils of your choice 2 dram amber-colored empty bottle Small funnel and dropper God and Goddess candles and holders Offering of food and drink Wood carving tools Matches Preparation Find out what flowers the couple are including in their wedding/handfasting ceremony. Try to locate an essential oil of one of the floral scents. Using a small funnel and dropper, mix 3 drops of the essential oil with some carrier oil in a 2 dram amber-colored bottle. Place the cover on tightly and shake…

The name is derived from Novem, the Latin word for nine, as November was the ninth month in Rome’s oldest calendar. THE SNOW MOON The ninth month in the old roman calandar. In Celtic traditions it is the beginning of the new year, considered a month of beginnings and endings. Astrological Signs: Scorpio, Sagittarius. Nature Spirits: Banshees and other beings who carry messages between worlds. Herbs: Ginger, hops, wormwood, hussop, patchouli, mugwort, nutmeg, star anise. Colors: Black, white, purple. Flowers: White lily, dahlia, chrysanthemum. Scents Rosemary, dragons blood, lilac, pine, wisteria. Stones: Topaz, obsidian, onyx, Apache tear. Trees: Pine, cypress, yew, elder. Animals: Bat, wolf, sow, dog, snake. Birds: Owls,…

Financial Abundance with the Help of Mawu Mawu, pronounced MAH-woo and sometimes alternatively spelled Mahu, is a West African Mother Earth creator goddess associated with both the sun and moon.  Sometimes she is seem as a moon goddess, the twin sister-wife of the sun god Liza (alternatively spelled Lisa), but sometimes “she” is seen as one androgynous or hermaphroditic deity, Mawu-Lisa.  When seen as two separate deities, Mawu and Liza are the children of Nana Buluku and the parents of Xevioso. Mawu is said to have created all life on earth with her husband Liza, but after doing so, she worried that it might be too heavy, and so she…