The Summer Solstice

Today is the summer solstice - the peak of the summer and a very special time in the days of a Wiccan. To me it means the shift of power. The Sun King God is once more giving his mantle over to the Oak King. In their eternal struggle for supremacy, first one and then the other is vanquished and 'goes to ground' for a while. However, this is a positive thing, like everything else in Wicca. It is a time of renewal for the Sun King and a time to 'shine' for the Oak King.

The Maiden Goddess gives way to the Mother Goddess for the time of planting and tending is now at an end and it the time of nurture in readiness for the harvest. All things have their beginning and their end.

Are you like me in that just when you are used to a season, suddenly it is ended? I have been enjoying the spring, with all it's hope for the coming summer and now, all of a sudden it seems that summer is coming to an end. We have harvest to prepare for. We must look after the plants we have bought and grown. Already we are planning, saying 'those tomatoes are almost ripe' those beans are getting tall etc.

Tomorrow the day will be very slightly shorter and the night a little bit longer and so it will carry on until the end of the year. We must treasure the daylight. Years ago, before we had electric lights, the daylight must have been even more precious than it is now. We take so much for granted these days.

Let's not lose touch with the bounty that nature offers us in so many ways.

This is the perfect time for family and friends to get together and celebrate with parties and barbecues. It is the time for weddings. The courtship time is over and the more serious time is beginning.

I wish you all a very happy Summer Solstice.

Star

Hawthorn

We are just passing through the Celtic month of Hawthorn, known also as 'May'. This lovely bush has delightfully scented flowers which evoke many memories in me as I used to play near it when I was small. In England we separate our fields with hedges and there is a history attached to that, but I'll keep that for another post. It is possible to tell the age of a hedge by the number of species of tree and shrub that grow amongst it. Some are hundreds of years old.

Many legends are attached to the hawthorn.

" The most famous Christian legend concerning hawthorn is that of the Glastonbury Thorn. This sixteenth century story tells us that as Christianity entered Britatin, the Celtic spirit was moved by the spirituality it expressed and that this was emphasized when Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury. On Wearyall Hill he rested, leaning upon his staff, which during the night rooted into the ground and became a blossoming hawthorn tree. This was taken as a sign that the new religion of Christ was to be founded at Glastonbury and Joseph and his 12 disciples built the first Christian chapel there.

Joseph's staff became known as the Glastonbury Thorn, which ever after blossomed on Christmas Day in honour of the divine birth of Christ.

Hawthorn radiates qualities of growth and health. People have always approached it for healing, especially those trees that grow near wells and springs."

From 'Tree Wisdom' by Jacqueline Memory Paterson.

I like the hawthorn mostly because it reminds me of childhood. I remember looking for birds nests in it when I was barely tall enough to reach the branches. It is very good for keeping animals out and children in and when in the late 1970's I was living in the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, we had a large back garden surrounded by the beloved hawthorn.

Because it usually flowers in May, it is a favourite for making the crowns that go atop Maypoles, these representing the female, where the pole itself represents the male in the rituals.

Does the hawthorn play a significant part in your life?

My Pentagram

The pentagram has been used for many years and by many different faiths. It is not unusual to see a chair with a pentagram on it in an old English church.

The following comes from Wikipedia.

A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha or pentangle or, more formally, as a star pentagon) is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon), a noun form of πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos) or πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos), a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines".

Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia, and are used today as a symbol of faith by many Wiccans, akin to the use of the cross by Christians and the Star of David by Jews. The pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice Neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus,^[1][2] and it also has associations within Freemasonry.^[3]

The word "pentacle" is sometimes used synonymously with "pentagram", and this usage is borne out by the Oxford English Dictionary, although that work specifies that a circumscription makes the shape more particularly a pentacle.^[4] Wiccans and Neo-pagans often make use of this more specific definition for a pentagram enclosed in a circle.^[5]

I wear mine almost every day and it feels like a talisman, as if I won't be safe without it. Interesting, isn't it how we use these tools to aid our passage through life.

Collecting Spring Water

This is me collecting spring water from the hills at Clinton, Tennessee. Every year I collect spring water to put in a special flask. I keep the flask all year and use it in the full moon rituals at the west quarter of the magic circle.

Tonight is a full moon, so I will be offering up the water to be cleansed by the moon in order to make it even more potent for spelling in the coming year.

The water I am collecting has come straight down from the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee and just as I was wondering how to collect it from the water wheel directly, the lady at the mill decided to take her lunch break. She didn't want to leave the water wheel running while she was away so she diverted the water temporarily down the shoot you can see here, straight into the creek at the bottom. I believe I was very lucky to collect the water this way. It was a safe way of doing it and very timely.

The sound of water is very calming and relaxing, restoring our spirits and healing our troubled minds.

The Willow Tree - Healing

Tomorrow we start the Celtic tree month of Hawthorn, but before I leave off thinking about the Willow Tree, I want to visit one more time. This time I am thinking about the healing qualities of willow. Did you know that aspirin is derived from the bark of the willow tree? and where would we be without that, I wonder?

Willow has always been used to protect against diseases caused by damp conditions. The bark and leaves contain salicylic acid. Gypsies have long known of the qualities of the willow tree bark, giving it as a bitter drink for the relief of ailments like rheumatism, influenza and headaches.

Culpeper advises us to 'slit the bark from the willow in flower and collect the water from the tree.' which is good for problems of sight, dimness and soreness of the eyes. It is also good for clearing spots from the skin.

The Bach Flower Remedies, see one of my previous posts, advise using it to clear severe discontent, both with yourself and with others. Irritability, fault-finding, self pity, unhappiness and resentment as well as jealousy and other such negative emotions are dealt with by willow.

I like the idea of going back to my roots, trying to put myself into the position where I have to think about what I would do if, sort of scenario...

So, thinking about the willow and its affiliation with water, it is just one more step to see why the moon is so important to the willow. The moon is responsible for controlling the tides and willow is a water tree. Now, suppose I was an ancient being and I depended on rain to water my crops, it would follow that I needed to ask the moon and the willow tree for help. I wouldn't be able to tune in to the weather channel and see what sort of weather was coming my way. I would have to devise a different method. If I looked in the sky and saw no clouds, I would be worried. So by honouring the tree and through it, the moon, I would use the energy in me to make contact with the element of water and ask for rain.

A good way to do this would be to cut a willow knot. Use the knot as a visual aid to your wish, or spell; honour the tree and the moon (Goddess) and if the intent is for good, not evil, then your wish will be fulfilled.

There is so much we can do with what we already have instead of rushing off to the shop each time we need something.

There is so much more to the willow, but tomorrow I will be turning my thoughts to the hawthorn. Will you travel with me as I go down the country lane and discover what this next tree has to offer?

Source: 'Tree Wisdom' by Jacqueline Memory Paterson