Awen, Bardic Arts, and the Ancestors

The Druid's Garden

The time between Samhain and Yule is always a time of deep reflection for me. As a homesteader, this represents the end of the season– the first frost happened in the week I was drafting this post, making everything curl up and die. By the time late November comes around, any major outdoor projects are complete for the year. We anticipate, even embrace, the winter months when snow carpets the ground and all is frozen and still. While in the light half of the year, I spend most of my spare time gardening, doing various permaculture projects, or just being outside in the summer. In the dark half of the year, this is when I turn to more inward-focused bardic arts, more intense practice of my magic and journeying, and learning from books of all kinds. So as we move into the dark half of the year, I’ll be spending…

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La Befana Cake: Honouring The Old Witch of Winter – Gather Victoria — Good Witches Homestead

According to Italian anthropologists and authors Claudia and Luigi Manciocco, Befana’s origins back to Neolithic beliefs in a great goddess associated with fertility and agriculture. Author Judika Illes writes, “Befana may predate Christianity and may originally be a goddess of ancestral spirits, forest, and the passage of time.” In the book Vestiges of Ancient Manners […]

via La Befana Cake: Honouring The Old Witch of Winter – Gather Victoria — Good Witches Homestead

Seasonal Yule Wreath

Reasons for the Season

A Little Yuletide Crystal Magic

By Krista Mitchell

Yuletide Blessings & Season’s Greetings!

We’ve made it through the darkest time, and longest night, of the year.
Slowly but surely the sun will begin to wax, and while they still feel far away, the warm days will come again.

We’re moving into a potent phase of intention setting and manifestation magic from the 25th to the 6th (the original 12 days of Yuletide or Christmas), when our thoughts and hopes will look to a fresh start at the new year.

According to the ancient Celtic and Druidic calendars, the month of Birch begins today. The birch tree symbolizes new beginnings, rebirth, and resurrection. In the runic language of the old Norse, it symbolizes fertility, healing, prosperity, and the feminine mysteries.

A Little Yuletide Crystal Magic

To consciously welcome in the magic, healing, and blessings this time brings:

Place a candle in your window at twilight, the magical “between and betwixt time” revered by the Druids. (An LED candle is fine, safety first!)
Using your saliva (or a sacred oil) and your index finger, draw the runic Berkana symbol (meaning “birch”, pictured above) on your window.
Hold a piece of quartz and whisper your desires for healing, renewal, fertility or prosperity into the quartz.
Leave the quartz beside your candle throughout the night, symbolizing the light of your dreams blazing through the darkness.
Keep the quartz with you, place it on your altar, or bury it in your garden after the Spring thaw.

May magic, healing, love and hope bless you and yours this holiday season!

Warmest wishes,

Krista

Making A Yule Log/Having A Old Fashioned Christmas

Good Witches Homestead

Make this Yule Log use as a handcrafted herbal gift for family and friends this holiday season.

Yule Log Recipe

The Yule log is traditionally burned on New Year’s Eve to usher in good fortune for the coming year. It is created in the spirit of prayer or ritual for the fulfilment of dreams, hopes, and wishes for prosperity, happiness, peace, or whatever you want the New Year to bring. As you create the log, perform each action with intention for your dreams to come true.

1. Start by tying a red ribbon around the middle of a large piece of firewood. There are many items that can be used to decorate the log such as moss, rosemary sprigs, cinnamon sticks, whole nutmeg, rose hips, frankincense resin, fir branches, pinecones, or prayers written down, rolled up, and tied with pieces of string.

2. Attach all of the ornaments with drippings…

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Wildcrafted Winter Solstice Decorations with Conifers, Holly, Ivy, Bittersweet, and More

The Druid's Garden

Decorated mantle with greenery, ribbon, and a nice candelabra

Part of the fun of the holiday season is “decking the halls” and decorating for the season. By bringing the symbols of the season into our homes, for festivity and communion, we are able to deeply align with the living earth and her turning seasons. And the symbols of this particular season, at the winter solstice, span back millennia: deep red berries and dark green conifers, trails of ivy, mistletoe, and other evergreens. Adding to this, the symbols of the season are also reflected in mythology, such as the battle between the Oak and Holly king and the Goddess Frigga’s wheel of the year. These symbols have been with us for centuries in one form or another, and weaving in and out of whatever dominant tradition that is present. And so, in this post, I will explore how we might…

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Winter Tree Lore

Good Witches Homestead

ELDER (Sambucus spp.) – The Latin name Sambucus is derived from a Greek word for a wind instrument made from the elder. Also known as Ellhorn, Elderberry, Lady Elder. Sacred to the White Lady and Midsummer Solstice. The Druids used it to both bless and curse. Standing under an elder tree at Midsummer, like standing in a Fairy Ring of mushrooms, will help you see the “little people.” Elder wands can be used to drive out evil spirits or thought forms. Music on panpipes or flutes of elder has the same power as the wand. The pith can easily be removed from the small branches to make a flute. Elder re-grows damaged branches with ease and can root rapidly from any part. A tea for purifying the blood can be made from the flowers and wine from the fruit, but in general, the tree is poisonous. In Norse mythology, the Goddess Freya chose the…

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Doe, A Deer, A Female Reindeer: The Spirit of Mother Christmas

Gather Victoria

Oh wondrous headed doe… Amongst its horns it carries the light of the blessed sun…” Hungarian Christmas Folk Song

Long before Santa charioted his flying steeds across our mythical skies, it was the female reindeer who drew the sleigh of the sun goddess at winter solstice. It was when we “Christianized” the pagan traditions of winter, that the white bearded man i.e. “Father Christmas” was born.

santareindeer

Today it is her beloved image that adorns Christmas cards and Yule decorations – not Rudolph. Because unlike the male reindeer who sheds his antlers in winter, it is the larger and stronger doe, who retains her antlers. And it is she who leads the herds in winter.

reindeer100-001

So this season, when we gather by the fire to tell children bedtime stories of Santa and his flying reindeer – why not tell the story of the ancient Deer Mother of old? It was she…

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Lore of the Christmas Rose

Good Witches Homestead

COMMON NAME: Christmas Rose
GENUS: Helleborus
Species, Hybrids, Cultivars:
H. niger “Angustifolius”-small flowering, pure white form. H.n. “Praecox”-blooms September-February. H.n. “Major,” H.n. “Multiflorus”-smaller flowers.
FAMILY: Ranunculaceae
BLOOMS: Winter
TYPE: Perennial
DESCRIPTION: This plant, which grows to a height of 12 to 8 inches, has interesting evergreen leaves that are slightly toothed and divided into seven to nine leaflets. The large white flowers are 2 inches or more across, with bright yellow stamens in the center. The blossoms turn pink or purplish as they age.
CULTIVATION: Christmas roses prefer sandy, neutral soil rich in humus. They do best with a bit of winter chill, and they need heavy mulch to protect them from the summer heat. Protection from winter storms and severe weather will also benefit the plants. Winter sun, summer shade, and ample moisture throughout the year are the perfect conditions for the Christmas rose. Plants can be divided in…