Crafting Morrighana

New Beginnings

Okay, so the title of this post is very reminiscent of the one from a couple of days ago, but the post itself holds entirely different concept.  Well...perhaps not completely different.
Today we pagans celebrate Ostara or, our version of what most call Easter.  I won't go into the differences and similarities between the two, mainly because I think that no matter what your spirituality there are so many common elements that it only does damage to the relationships to point out the differences.  Why bother when what it comes down to is your own spirituality and your own beliefs.

So as I celebrate today, I wish you all wonderful beginnings at this time of year.  Here's a little of the lore of Ostara for you to contemplate if you so choose.  If you don't, well...hang in there cause there's some actual knitting content at the bottom to reward your patience!  Heh heh...
*please note that I have taken some of this description from a few websites but it was a while ago that I collected this information so if you are reading this and you wrote it, please email me and I will be sure to credit you!

Ostara...it begins.  (pronounced O-STAR-ah) is one of the Lesser Wiccan and Pagan Sabbats, and is usually celebrated on the Vernal or Spring Equinox right around March 21st (although because of it's origins, may instead be celebrated on the fixed date of March 25.)  Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Eostre's Day and the Rite of Eostre to name a few.

This is the time when we turn our thoughts to renewal and rebirth as the world awakens from it's cold slumber and fresh growth peeks through with a promise to give more.  At this time we think of renewing ourselves.  We renew our thoughts, our dreams and our asirations.  We think of renewing our relationships.  Those we may have lost along the way for various reasons, and those that are still with us from day to day.  This is an excellent time of year to begin anything new or to completely revitalize something.  This is also an excellent month for contemplating and bringing to fruition anything to do with growth.  (One of my favourite and most obvious being gardening!!)
Obviously you can see where symbols like the egg and the rabbit come in.  Ever heard the term  multiplying like rabbits?  There's a beginning and a half for you! Ha ha!  Eggs also show the promise of something new.  A hatching of ideas  and beginning of new life.  The flowers that come out this year are scooped up faster than you can say Easter simply because people have been yearning for the colour of daffodils, tulips and crocuses, so they can watch as the flowers explode open with fresh scents and the promise of more to come.

For Pagans and Wiccans, Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the birth of Spring and the reawakening of life from the Earth.  The energies of Nature subtly shift from the sluggishness of Winter to the exuberant expansion of Spring.  Eostre, the Saxon Goddess of fertility and Ostara, the German Goddess of fertility are the aspects invoked at this Sabbat.

Personally, my own goals have been to improve my overall health as I've mentioned, renew some relationships or at least add some spark to relationships that have been neglected or just need a little tune up (don't worry, things with Kev and I are just fine! :) ).  I am going to set some new goals for myself with my knitting as they've become a little fuddled between all of my projects. (Heh heh, Knitters ADD, anyone?) I have begun a new stage in my life of better handling my responsibilities with finances and the care of myself, my home and my family.  I love those winds of change...they always blow so much warmer this time of year. *grin*

Okay, so knitting content...Samus...Oi!  I haven't gotten much farther than the last time I posted about her.  She's going to be a beautiful cardigan when she is done, although admittedly, I'm worried about the zipper portion.  Eek!
Here is where I am so far.  I can't decide if I want to be done with the cabling or if I don't want it to end.  It is so neat to watch it knit up, but it is TAKING ME BLOODY  FOREVER!! Ha ha!
I actually took this picture over the weekend so the strip is actually double this length now! WOO HOO!  I seriously can't believe I'm knitting cables, dude...seriously...it's so freakin' cool!

And finally, Akira wanted to pop in to wish you all a wonderful Ostara, Easter or whatever you celebrate this time of year!

All good things,
Morrighana
 

She Said She Was a Magick Mama

Thank you ladies, so very much for your warm wishes.  It's nice to know there are others out there listening and I very much appreciate your comments and warm wishes more than you can know. *ANOTHER GROUP HUG*!!!
**grin**

Tonight, our fluffy friend Vinny came to visit us and stayed all evening on the porch.  He was very frisky so I ventured into the woods with him for the first time for a short walk to kick up some leaves and smell the crisp air.  It was hysterical to watch him stalk moths and fluttering leaves on the forest floor.  He was quite the predator, I tell you.

While we did that, Kev carved out our pumpkin on the porch (I think that's his favourite part of Samhain, heh heh!  Just check out this Jack-o-Pepper that he carved last year out of a red bell pepper!). 

When we got back, Vinny had a great time pawing at the pumpkin guts and prancing around the patio.  Yes, he was definitely in fine feline form this evening.  I couldn't help but laugh at the little performer.  He seems very much at home here...I only wish I could let him inside.

We were expecting a friend of ours who is a very jovial, warm and wonderful woman (and is also very adept at Tarot card readings) to come over to teach me a little bit about how to read Tarot cards.  She came by around 7-ish and stayed until about 11pm.  We had a really good time and lots of laughs.  It felt so good after the past few days to have a real smile on my face.  I learned so much while she was visiting and it was such a relaxed evening.  She even had me try to do a reading for her at the end of it to try out what I had learned.  I have to say, for someone who couldn't keep the bloody suits straight yesterday, I did a damn fine job of the reading for her if I do say so myself! Ha ha!  It felt good to finally understand some of the details that had been eluding me for so long.  This woman made things make sense to me without even trying.  She's so humble about it,too.  Not condescending, not picky about detail, just humble and relaxed and full of laughter.

While we were inside, I think Vinny must have gone to find our new little feline friend, Pookah in the woods.
Pookah is a small little black stray kitten (this one is definitely a stray because he is so terrified of people) that has taken a liking to Vinny.  He's probably only a few months old and appears to live in the woods.  He only comes out at night to eat the food that we leave out for Vinny.
We call this little kitten Pookah because for the longest time, I would see him when I looked out the window, but whenever I called Kev over to look, he would run away and be out of site by the time Kev looked outside!  According to Kevin, a Pookah is a fictional sprite of some kind that (ironically) only comes out at night, lives in the woods and comes around close to Samhain.  So the name stuck and now this adorable little thing is named Pookah. 

Yes, I know, I'm wierd...Ha ha!  I am just a HUGE sucker for animals, especially strays.  Don't worry, as much as I would LIKE to let them in, I don't.  Eesh, could you imagine the vet bills?  Heck even the FOOD bills if I let all these animals inside? Yikes!  Besides, it's only two cats right? Hee hee!
At any rate, Pookah is very wary of us right now, but is coming a little closer every day.  He will now actually approach us if Vinny the cat is nearby.  Then he's all brave...well, unless we look at him. *LOL*.  I think Vinny must be telling Pookah what a sucker I am for poor little cats in the dark. Hee hee!

Long story short it was a really nice Samhain this year.  We actually got kids coming to the door this year (didn't get any last year) so we were pouring out the candy, learning to read the tarot and laughing it up with our friend by candlelight while Vinny and Pookah played on the porch all evening.  (I was glad they stayed close to the house, what with all the awful stories I've heard in past news stories about some of the wierdos out there on Halloween night every year *shudder*)

So today ended on a happy note and I just wanted to share that.  I can't imagine a better way to spend Samhain than with good food, kids in costumes at the door, a little mystery and a black cat.
I hope the evening was full of tricks and treats for all of you.  Night night!
All good things,
Morrighana

Samhain

To all Pagans everywhere I wish you a blessed Samhain.  As promised I am posting a little something in honour of this Sabbat of Samhain.  It seems a good description given the current events of my life and my recent conflict with an old friend.
To those not familiar with Samhain, I offer you a bit of an explanation as to why this is such an important day in the life of a pagan.  I post this with all due respect to all religions everywhere, in the hope that you can read this with an open mind and accept the differences in religion that make us all unique.

Here's a description someone on the net has written on the Sabbat that I felt best described this Sabbat for me:

Samhain (Halloween)
October 31st
Theme:  New Year; Feast of the Dead
Honouring the Ancestors

Samhain celebrates the final harvest.  This is a time to assess the harvest of our lives.  To inventory the blessings of the preceding year, and to take stock of the abundance in our lives, trusting that these blessings will sustain us through difficult or less fruitful times.

With the end of the harvest, the last yields of Summer give way to the coming Winter.  Samhain reminds us that all things pass away in time.  Just as the leaves fade and fall from the trees, so we must allow for loss and passages in our lives.  This is a time to celebrate all the aspects of our lives that are dropping away from us...the relationships, the situations, the pain, the emotions, the old identities that once served us, are now passing away to make room for new growth.  Samhain is an ideal time for releasing old conditions in our lives that are constricting and experiences these situations have brought you, and then bid them farewell.

In old Europe, Samhain was the celebration of the end of the Old Year and the start of the New.  More accurately, it is the space between the years - the olld year is dead and the new year has not yet begun.  It is a time out of time... a space outside of the natural order.  As such, it is a time when the division between dimensions or levels of reality are thinnest.  This division is referred to as "the Veil between the Worlds".  Therefore, Samhain is an excellent time for divination (reading tarot cards etc).

Samhain is also known as the Feast of the Dead.  At this time, ancestors and departed friends are honoured.  Memories and stories are shared, and it is customary to set out extra places at supper for departed loved ones.  Since the Veil between the Worlds are thinnest on this night, it is believed that it is the best time for dead souls to make contact with the living.  People sometimes use this time to make contact with those on the other side.  This should be done in a spirit of invitation or opening the channels for any voluntary communication the dead may wish to send with the intent deepening understanding or closeness with departed loved ones, never to control or command.

I hope all is well out there for you guys.  I had yet another letter from this friend of mine, and to be honest it really seared through me.  I'm really not feeling myself today having been up so late and unable to sleep.  It was a very emotional evening and I didn't bother to respond to what she had to say.  Mainly because I don't know  what I can say to someone who doesn't want to listen.

So, I'm sorry this couldn't be a more creative or more positive post.  I don't know if this friendship is meant to be repaired.  She doesn't seem to feel that I am worth spending time with or speaking to with any sort of respect for our friendship.  I don't know if the friendship is salvageable anymore, maybe I just need a few days to work this over in my head and let us both cool off.

And maybe it's just fitting that all of this should come to a head at the time of year when we should be taking stock of our relationships, blessings and fortunes.  I can't really say.  All I know is that right now I am hurting more than I have in a long time, and my only solace is this blog, and my husband.  I know things will get better but right now I feel inclined to go into hibernation.

If I do respond to her, rest assured I will maintain respect for her and her feelings and speak to her in a way that isn't condescending, nasty or hurtful...or blunt, as she feels is such a valuable way to communicate.  I don't think it would be worth it to make things worse by allowing myself to get angrier, no.  That would make things much, much worse.

Until then...I will do my very best to post up something silly for you all later today to lighten the mood.  I just really needed to get this off my chest.  Thanks for reading.
All good things,
Morrighana

Hints of Samhain

So we are coming up to my favourite time of year.  Fall, cooler weather and my favourite of all Sabbats in the pagan world, Samhain (pronounced Sow-een). This is the time of year when we get the chance to acknowledge those who have passed before us and to acknowlege the end of summer.

I promise that I will post more on Samhain closer to it's actual date, but I mention it today perhaps because I'm starting to feel the weather changing and that feeling I get each year at this time is starting to come to me almost daily now. There is something in the air this time of year.  I always feel more connected to the earth somehow.  There is something about watching the earth slowly put itself to sleep for the winter that is so gentle, yet a little sad.  I wouldn't say that there is something "supernatural" around me, only that I always look forward to the little yearly rituals that happen this time of year. I adore the changing colours of the leaves here in Ontario.  I love going for hikes through the woods, raking up the fallen leaves and smelling the fires burning in the area from people clearing out dead brush from their gardens and fields.  The air gets crisp as the days get cooler and the clouds begin to change their shape in order to bring the snows of winter.  I get a funny fluttery feeling in my chest and I feel so alive, even though all else is heading into hibernation. 
Even dear Persephone...
There is also a very large murder of crows (that's what you call a large flock of crows...a murder...nice huh? Hee hee!) that sits at the top of the trees in the forest next to my house and calls to eachother loudly.  I love that sound in the fall.  I call it the song of Morrighan.

An old friend emailed me the other day, whom I haven't heard from in quite a while.  She happily reminded me of our own little ritual that we always did together each year in high school of buying new sweaters and new art supplies.  I'll have to call her up and see if she wants to head out to our favourite art supply store in Guelph to do this soon.  It's one of the things that happen in the fall that makes me feel very nostalgic.  It's just something that we've always done together.

Sorry this post is so rambling...I'm trying to put it up at work so I don't have a lot of time.  I'll post more later though. :) All I ask of you, my readers (if I have any *grin*) is that you look around you as the fall season begins and take in the beauty of it.  As we get closer to Samhain, hopefully I can show you other things that I appreciate about this time of year and perhaps you can share with me here, what it is that you love so much about this time of year.

OH! And I finally got my new necklace from Sacred Kiln!!  It is Morrighan's raven with a little pentacle in the middle.  They ordered it in specially for me from the artist at Dryad Design.
Here is the necklace that I got from them!!  Isn't it gorgeous??

All good things and brightest blessings, Morrighana (This post was actually made a little while ago on an old blog of mine.  I wanted to move it here to add to my archives, so if it seems out of sync with the other posts, that's why. *grin*)