Imbolc

Imbolc is truly magical sabbot. This year more so then in years past. Imbolc is a holiday of faith. A time when we celebrate the coming of a spring that has just barely begun to show itself. I Love Imbolc in part because of the it's close ties to the goddess Bridgit who is known by many other similar names. She is a goddess that as a druid I often work with. A goddess, a friend, who is close to my heart. I feel that the fire of inspiration and compassion that burn with in me are her blessings. This Imbolc was especially nice because my b'loved and I combined the celebration with the group of pagans with whom I meet with weekly for study, with a house warming for our new home. We entertained guests from 2:00pm to 1:00am! We were tired at the end, but not in a bad way. The day started with the house warming and included both pagans and non pagans, though most were pagan of one type or another. At 6 the non-pagans left and at 7 we began the rites of Imbolc. This ritual was written by a kitchen witch who I have the deepest respect for. She did a most splendid job of it. Some thing I am grateful for since by her taking the lead in this allowed me to focus on my studies. In this ritual we also had two self initiations onto the wiccan path and at the end we tried some thing new for our group, a spell of prosperity and protection for the business where we hold our monthly meetings. In an acorn, the process went like this; I guided the participants through a meditation in which they gathered the energies of the natural world, and projected them all to the high priestess who then took it all in and focused it into the sachet we made and set the intention with her words of power. I used my staff to focus and direct the energies I had raised, and I felt the most intense tingling of the hand. After the spell was cast we all returned in doors (the ritual and spell were done outside) and commenced with the feast and laughter. Oh there was so much laughter! Everywhere in the house people were smiling and laughing. Earlier in the day, another magical event took place. A healing between two members of the pagan community. It happened spontaneously, and I am glad that our home served to facilitate that. Time will tell us what the ripple affect of this healing will be.
On a different note, last night I had a dream that I think may prove to be a an omen. Without going into to long of a story, the dream was followed up by my first time seeing an image in a crystal ball in an attempt to scry. After discussing what I had seen with a witch, it is felt that the omens are telling me that some thing hidden is coming to an end, or something is ending that needs to remain hidden. At this point all I can do is wait and see for I have no idea at this time what they signs are referring to.
In my schooling, I feel it's time to redo my spell to improve my spelling, and I need a new spell. One that will dredge up my knowledge of mathematics from my junior year of high school!
Gwynt-Siarad

You can take the boy out of the woods, but not the woods out of the boy.

This weekend I got a chance to go to Las Vegas with my b'loved. It was her 40th birthday and she wanted to spend it there. I had been to Vegas only once before many years past now, and I spent my time there in a Martial Arts tournament and never got out ot see the strip or much of anything else. So in effect this was my first trip to Vegas. I saw whole other life I never really knew existed but had heard about. I saw several things that will leave an impression on me forever. One would be the blank faced woman with the "game card" that is attached by a rope to her cloths, presumably so it wouldn't be stolen or lost, yet what I saw was a woman "chained" to her addiction. A woman chained to a self imposed torture. Gambling, I just don't get it.
I have been to dance clubs in the past, but that was long long ago. I must have changed a lot since then. This one was so crowded and packed that I actually felt claustrophobic, and I am not a claustrophobic person. I was able to find my inner grove and peace there, but I so much prefer a camping trip with friends around a fire then a dance club. Oh and deer don't spill alcoholic beverages of unnatural coloration's on you.
In the end, yes I had a good time and got to see an amazing show of acrobats that really opens your eyes to just how awesome the human body is, I laughed a lot, and most importantly I gave my b'loved the present of great memories.
Gwynt-Siarad

Success!

The last few days my b'loved has suffered from a nasty ear infection. Yes it was silly of her to ignore it for so long. Last night her spirits were very low and she was tired of the uncomfortable pain and lack of energy as her body did it's best to wage war on the invasion. Though I had offered to do healing work several times she finally asked for it. So I set up and did a formal druid grove and spell to heal her ear. It was a bit spur of the moment for me, and I felt that I made a number of "mistakes". To top it all off, for some reason I couldn't get into a spirit-walk at end. Despite all this it seems that the spell portion of the work succeeded. Though it wasn't a miraculous recovery, she quickly started to feel better, most notably though I could feel her spirit strengthen again as if it had rallied itself. Immediately after the work she reported feeling much more relaxed. Then I noticed she seemed more energetic and happier. After about an hour she reported that her pain was much less and she felt better. This morning she went back to work after being off for two days. Not sure what more confirmation of a successful healing I could ask for. I do love it when a spell comes together.
Gwynt-Siarad

Place of peace

Deep within the still center of my being may I find peace.
Silently within the grove may I share peace.
Gently within the greater circle of human kind may I radiate peace.

This druid prayer of peace has in a short time been very helpful to me in times of difficulty. However tonight I truly feel at peace. A deep peace that wells from within and flows out to my outer world. For right now, in this moment, all is still, all is as it should be. On this winter's night.

My magical practice and meditations continue daily. My heart gates are easier to open each day and love flows more freely too.
Did some energy and massage work to help a friend with a headache today.
The other day, I and another member of the pagan meetup found a fantastic spot to hold public rituals. We were blessed with a visit of Coyote while we were there at mid morning. We took this as a good omen.
Gwynt-Siarad

recharging the druid staff

This morning I did some enchanting. I re-dedicated my druid staff. It felt good to work with the elemenal energies and the spirit in this way as it's been some time since I have done this sort of working. Now that it's done I feel almost as if the energies had grown stagnant with in me, but I was unaware of it. It occurs to me that perhaps I need to do such energy intesive works more often to keep the stagnation from happening and to keep me in good energetic shape. In the working I was given the name of my staff. Sorry can't share it. Also in the working I could see a subtle auric body begin to eminate from the staff. I am betting that in time with use, that aura will grow. At the end of the working I did the body of light exercise. Nothing special there, but it does still feel good. I did an Ogham reading agian and well, it was a more posative reading it seems I'll have some sort of struggle ahead of me today that requires decisive action.
Gwynt-Siarad

The Monday that ate me.

Some days are just plain old tough. Today it was my turn. I won't bore you all with the details, the gist of it though, at least that pertains to this blog is this; My ogham divination that I did for myself asking "what is the most important thing I need to know about today" was extremely accurate. Still it didn't keep me from making the predicted mistakes, but they snuck up on me. The other thing I got out of today was that some days it is a battle to keep the gates open and the spirit hopeful. Some days it seems the gods just are trying to beat down the Mabon inside us. Sadly I didn't get to do the meditation and spell work today that I had hoped to do. I guess I'll shoot for the morrow.
Gwynt-Siarad

The Body of Light

In my most recent Gwers I was given this exercise to do called the body of light. It is an exercise that I have done in different versions many times in the past, so doing it the way described was not very difficult for me. Simply I imagined and then felt light eminating from my body staring with the soles of my feet and working my way up. Simple though that it was, it felt really good! After thinking on how I felt during and aftewards it occurs to me that I should use this exercise when I am feeling down, especialy when the weather has me feeling down. During the meditation and exercise I had the druid prayer for peace come to me unbidden from the depths of my mind. I also worked on opening up the gates of my heart some more. In other words "Love and light". Heh.
Gwynt-Siarad