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Lavender Lavender (Lavendula officinale or L. Vera) is also known as Elf Leaf, Nard, Nardus and Spike.   The name is said to come from the Latin “lavare” which means “to wash”. Lavender is very common these days – its uses include sleep pillows, oils, teas, moisturizer and flowers.  Lavender is a perennial and can be grown very well, though it struggles with cold temperatures. In ancient times, Lavender was used as a religious herb.   It had been by selected by King Solomon to purify his temple.  It was a sacred herb that’s use has been traced back to pre-Christian times.  It had been thrown into the fire on St. John’s…

The Air – so crisp and clear. It tells me what I need to hear. It encourages me to think deeper. It whispers the truth in my ears. The Earth – so solid and strong. It takes on my pain, transforming it. It helps me to stand strong. It loves me like a mother would. The Fire – so passionate and light. It brings illumination to what I need to see. It burns away the hurt and pain. It keeps me warm when I feel the chill. The Water – so cool and refreshing. It washes me of all my worries. It glides me along the current of my life.…

Song of a Daily Druid: How I Found a Home in Druidry In the beginning, I was a wild child, a woodsy child, a child who could concentrate all of my attention on holding perfectly still so as not to startle the robin in the grass. I could disappear into the tense air of rapt attention, forget my own little body completely as my eyes widened and my breath stilled. Once, the robin’s twitching eyes turned towards me, and I thought I heard it whisper… Cheer-up. Cheer-up, calmly, almost with amusement, you know, I can see you. That was when I was a very little girl. As sometimes happens, eventually…

Lord is an Australian heavy metal band that is really a mix of styles from all over the world with their own unique spin on it that’s hard to quantify exactly. I would say more than anything you can hear a hunger and a drive in Australian metal because the scene there is so small, and to be a cut above anyone else and to make a real go of it you need to be up there with the best in the world or you have no hope of making the leap from small bar band to international touring act. That hunger trickles down from the top tier of international…

Psyche – the Goddess of the Soul The Goddess always has lessons to teach us based on their experiences.  Today, we look at the transformation through the Greek Goddess Psyche’s story of winning her husband Eros back. Psyche was a mortal – a stunning beauty, no less.  She wasn’t interested in love and romance, which upset Aphrodite, the Love Goddess, greatly.   Aphrodite decided to teach Psyche a lesson so she sent her son, Eros (known also as Cupid in Roman Mythology) to shoot her with one of his arrows.    However, when Eros went to do the job, he stumbled and got hit with his own arrow.  He immediately fell in…

Warm tones glazing over wharves of receding lands, join the procession of men in saffron robes. Dragon’s fire, knotted roots, whispers of sandals through leaf-molded earth, chant, chant, chant against all darkness opposing. Silas has come to die today, in that ditch by the meadow, thirteen miles in where the woods wind into the semi-circle of a dark green grove. With silent lips by huddled masses, the priest weeps, hungry for the low lisp of a cricket’s call. White animal bones, ritually placed under the thick fog of a winter’s moon, reflect the light of sudden frost. Oh Magus martyr, sleep! Cernunnos blesses you with solace as nature holds up…

The wind grows cooler As I grow older The Earth grows distant From the sun I seek balance Night to the day Everything around me Falling In shades As I grow grey Shadows shifting, moving and lifting Revealing the Moon Yielding To the Underworld And I learn How apples become stars Lighting the night with Promises Full of life

A lot of what goes on in our faith group seems at first glance to have little to do with religion or magic; it most often is a social activity.  It’s not uncommon to call a meeting for no reason other than to get together with people we enjoy being around.  In fact, this sort of thing is usually where newcomers get interested in Paganism.  For those who have taken on the mantle of the priesthood, this may seem almost frivolous.  Why waste time with coffee hours when there’s ‘real work’ to be done? Well, let’s see… First off, these ‘coffee hours’ are where most of our growth comes from. …

Your Own Faery Garden Faeries aren’t as cute and innocent as authors like Shakespeare has made them out to be. Granted, there are good faeries but with the good, you always have to expect the dark side :o) If you believe and love faeries, then you may want to attract them into your home at times other than Midsummer.  A good way to attract faeries to you is to give them their own little garden.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate (keep in mind they don’t like metals, iron, etc.). As a matter of fact, a small container garden would do just fine. Here’s a list of flowers that are…

Recently our oldest daughter had a double balloon valvuloplasty on her ventricular heart valve. She was born with this heart defect, where two of the three leaflets in her heart valve were fused together; this procedure inserts a tiny balloon catheter into her artery in her leg, runs it up to her heart, and very gently blows it up to help ease the two leaflets apart. With all the technical mumbo-jumbo aside, let me get to the real issue here. Leading up to the surgery, my main worries were ones of allergic reactions, recovery time…the fact that my baby was going under the “knife” even though she had no open…