Green Man, Where art Thou? - Finding Your Patron God and Matron Goddess

When first entering Pagan traditions, you’ll often hear of people honoring specific Gods and Goddesses or even entire groups of Gods and Goddesses called pantheons.

If you have a specific God, Goddess, or pantheon in mind – awesome! You’re ahead of the game. Some people are already aligned with Gods and Goddesses who are the patron saints of their life goals. Musicians may choose to worship Apollo, those who have vowed to help women in childbirth may worship Brigid, and if you feel that your life purpose is to maintain peace then perhaps you honor Baldur.

Gung ho new pagans might feel like they have to choose a set to worship, but if you have no one specific in mind then I say wait.  

Feel the energy of the God and Goddess (or many of them).  Wait for signs to pop up. Some people smell certain scents such as cinnamon or roses when a God or Goddess is around. Some people see certain symbols or animals more frequently like horses or ankhs when a God or Goddess is trying to get their attention.

Like many, I tried to force myself to honor a specific pantheon. The Norse Gods seemed pretty freakin' awesome, but then the Celtic Gods have cool names. None of them really felt like they clicked with me though.

My first real experience with a matron Goddess was with Athena.

I first realized that Athena was with me when I meditated and asked for guidance. I wanted to know who my guides were in my life and following the advice of one of my favorite bloggers, I asked. In addition to two other guides that I’d known about for a long time, I was surprised to feel the presence and “see” the name Athena in my mind.

‘Cool!’ I thought. I had heard of Athena, she’s a pretty popular Goddess after all, and I knew she had something to do with wisdom. At the time I didn’t put much thought or research into it. Shortly after that, I decided that it would be really cool to start collecting owls; It was a random thought. I started seeing owls everywhere. Knickknacks, on TV, in art… and then I researched Athena. It turned out that Athena was frequently depicted with an owl.

My Goddess had found me.

If you are looking for yours, be open and don’t be afraid to ask the divine…

If you’ve already found yours, don’t be afraid to share your story with others. Perhaps that other person isn’t recognizing the signs in their life and your story will help them to do so.

Deck the Halls - It's Time for Yule

Yuletide carols being sung by the choir…

 

Lighting the Yule log…

A lot of people associate Yule as being synonymous with Christmas, but for Pagans, it’s its own holiday. Christmas and Yule were actually merged together around 1000 A.D. during the conversion of many Pagan people to Christianity. The reason for the merging is actually that it was easier to convert the Pagans if the changes to their holidays were not so drastic. Those that celebrate Christmas get tree decorating, Yule logs, and wassailing/caroling from Pagan traditions.

Yule is the day of the Winter Solstice and this year it fell on December 21^st.  It is the shortest day of the year, followed by the longest night of the year.

To the Wiccans that follow the Celtic legend, Yule is about celebrating the triumph of the Oak King over the Holly King. The Oak King is the King of the Light. With his triumph over the Holly King, the days become lighter as the sun shines more. Also, some Wiccans celebrate Yule as the day the Sun King is reborn. There is not a battle that goes on, but throughout the year the Sun King is born, grows, becomes the maiden’s consort, grows old, and dies on Samhain, to be reborn again at the winter solstice.

 

There are many ways to celebrate Yule:

 

Yule logs are the most common centerpiece in pagan tradition for Yule. Yule logs are traditionally received as a gift or recycled from last year’s tree. As always, different woods have different magical properties and many choose to select their Yule log based on the type of tree it is cut from. Ours is always left over from last year’s Christmas tree (we celebrate both holidays in our house). Yule logs are decorated with holly, pinecones, mistletoe, dried cranberries, ribbon, small cuttings of pine trees, and many other natural and season-themed decorations. It is encouraged that you only decorate with things that have fallen to the Earth, as it is a waste to take live cuttings from plants. The Yule log can be left as a decoration or actually burned. Without a proper fireplace or backyard in the past, we usually leave the Yule log as a decoration and light a candle. This is done to welcome the return of the light and to keep light during the longest night of the year.

Rituals are a main focus of the Yule time tradition. Whether yours is formal, informal, skyclad, clothed, adults only, with the family, or even includes the pets… the general theme of these rituals is to celebrate the abundance of life and light that surrounds you. Altars can be decorated with the same decorations as the Yule log. Other decorations include cloved oranges and apples, pine boughts sprinkled with flower, and colored ribbon. Gems and candles associated with this holiday are generally ones in colors of red, green, white, and gold.  After the ritual, a feast is held and includes beverages such as mulled wine and cider.

Yule is also the traditional day for pagans to give gifts, instead of Christmas.

This year, I was told of a tradition similar to that of the Advent candles that I grew up with in Christian church: Each of the four weeks preceding the solstice, a candle is lit and an additional candle is added. By the solstice, there are four candles burning and on solstice a fifth candle is lit. Each candle represents the growing light that is coming and helps give power to the Oak/Sun King. I thought that this was a really neat tradition and we just might borrow it next year.

For this solstice, we only had the youngest child and only on the night before Yule. That night we shared some apple cider, read a story about the Holly and Oak Kings and then lit a candle that burned until the morning of December 22^nd. We also taught him a little rhyme:

Sun shining bright,

Shortest day,

Longest night.

Hopefully this very brief overview of Yule was helpful.

However you choose to celebrate Yule, I hope that it is a merry and blessed day for you and your family. 

 

Next Sabbat: Imbolc (February 2nd)

Have a Blessed Yule!

Zero Hour - 3 a.m.

I have Elton John’s Rocket Man stuck in my head right now – and yes, I do know that the correct lyrics describe zero hour as 9 a.m. Here on the west coast, the winter solstice occurred at 3:12 a.m.

I don’t really like to get into the whole Mayan “end of the world” hype with people, but the other day I had a light bulb moment.

As I’m writing this, the end of the world should have already happened. I knew it wouldn’t, but my light bulb moment didn’t involve zombies and earthquakes anyway. It involved a connection with Yule and a new period for the Earth.

The Mayan “end of calendar” and Yule both coincided on 12/21/12. In some Pagan traditions, Yule is the day when the Sun King is reborn or when the Oak King defeats the Holly King. Both the Sun King and the Oak King are bringers of light. They signify the light defeating the darkness, when the days become longer and the nights become shorter.

What if… just what if… that’s what the Mayan end of the calendar meant? What if it meant that the people of Earth are about to enter a time of enlightenment or lighter times?

Even if it’s not what it means and it really is just the way the Mayan calendar was made, it’s a nice thought isn’t it? It would be nice to see a more “enlightened” masses where the majority of people focus on helping each other and the Earth.

That is my hope for this year’s reign of the Sun God.

Pagan Baby on the Way!

A baby pagan will be born July 1^st! That’s right, we’re expecting. The hubby and I are so excited to be bringing our first child together into this world. We both have sons from previous marriages, but this one is made by both of us.

This is also the first child for both of us that will be raised with pagan values since birth.

What is fun is that there are so many interesting pagan traditions for pregnancy and birth. Creating a birth altar, having a blessingway, burying your placenta under a tree, or a naming ceremony are a few different ways to celebrate the new life you are expecting.

Birth Altar

Birth altars can be created anywhere in the house. These can be especially helpful if you are birthing at home. They can be your center or power, your visual reminder of your goal, and your source of calm. Fill your birth altar with lots of baby items, rattles, stuffed animals, ultrasound pictures, pictures of your family, and baby-related stones and herbs. Meditating at your birth altar regularly will make it a sacred place and a center of power.

Blessingway

Blessingways are a Native American tradition. They celebrate and honor the woman becoming a mother. Similar to a baby shower, these are planned by someone close to the mother. The planner typically invites other women who are close to or who have been influential in the mother’s life. http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/blessingway.html has a lot of ideas for a blessingway. My favorites are:

• Beads: Have each woman invited (and even those too far away to attend) bring/send a bead for the mother. The beads should be specifically picked out with the mother in mind. These beads are then strung into a necklace or bracelet for the mother to wear during labor. These beads will be a reminder of the support she has around her. They can empower her and give her strength and peace.
• Hair brushing and feet washing: The group of women brushes the mother’s hair and washes her feet in warm water. Who doesn’t like having their hair brushed, right? It is soothing and a great bonding activity. I also feel it’s symbolic of the gentle, nurturing ways of mothers.

As I read the many ideas for the blessingway, I got hormonally teary-eyed to think of the support and caring these ideas would bring to a mother-to-be.

Placenta Burial

Many cultures utilize placenta burial such as the Maori of New Zealand, Indonesians, the Ibo of Nigeria, and Samoans. Burying the placenta symbolizes the connection between humans and the Earth. In Euro-pagan traditions, the placenta is buried under a tree. Trees are sacred to pagans and in connection with the God and Goddess, the symbology goes that a boy’s placenta is buried under a nut tree and a girl’s under a fruit tree.  The placenta nourishes the tree and helps it grow tall and strong. It is the hope that the life of the child will also be strong and healthy.

Naming Ceremony

A naming ceremony is a formal ritual in which you introduce your new child to the community and give them their name. A naming ceremony is also called a Wiccaning or a saining. This can be for their legal name, but you can also use it to give the child their second or Wiccan name. Pagans and non-pagans alike can attend, but you may want to give the non-pagans a heads-up if they don’t know what they’re in for. Invoking spirits or saying blessings can be surprising to someone who has never seen it done before. As with most rituals, it is preferable to do this outside, but if you can’t then make sure you have enough space for everyone inside. At the ceremony you can share the birth story, background of the name choosing, and anything else meaningful about the child and your family. The parents can also take this time to formally dedicate or bind themselves to the child as well as name the guardians or god-parents of that child.

I can’t wait to bond with my baby and use these new (to us) traditions and ceremonies. For my son, we had the traditional baby shower, but nothing that bonded me to my son like these traditions would. This is yet another reason I’m drawn to Wicca – I have never had the experience that celebrates and honors mothers like this.

We're Back!

I had taken a hiatus from the internet for a while. There were many things going on, which I suppose I should have written about. It might have helped.

Since Samhain, we have experienced our nephew moving out of our house and back in with his mother, finding out I am pregnant, a “miscarriage”, my grandmother passing, finding out I’m still pregnant, arguments with the exs (both my ex-husband and my hubby’s ex-wife), and a few other crazy events.

It has been a roller coaster of emotion and I thank the Lord and Lady that our core family is strong and healthy. I am so glad that I am still pregnant.

I just wanted to take a moment to bring myself back to the internet-world. Hello web!