Beltaine eve

As the wheel turns once more I feel the drum beat, the heartbeat of the earth.

It is drumming through my feet and rising in a lazy spiral throughout my body.
Rising ever upwards and onwards. As we near Beltaine the beat quickens becoming faster and faster, whirling through me and filling me with tingles of energy.

I feel the generations of people hearing the same beat and feeling the same excitement
Tasting the fire and the passion.
May and Beltaine are almost here,can you feel the energies rise?
Feel the blood pounding through your veins
Don't waste the moment, be in tune with it
All that energy circling round, take some and pass it on.
Just feel, be in the moment, be part of the rhythm

Beltaine countdown

It is almost Beltaine eve and I can feel the energy rising. The earth thrums with it as I sit among the trees.
Everything is buzzing from bees to new flowers.
The Goddess is awake and we can be too if we tune into the rhythm of the earth.
New babies on the ponds, calling as they swim with their parents.
Barely hatched by the size of them.
Flowers everywhere you look. On trees, in water it matters not they all show the beauty of the Lady
Such vibrant colours to welcome the festival.
Secret grottoes to while away the hours, or to await the sunrise on May day.
More colour everywhere you look. So much joy to be taken from each moment. It just needs a little awareness and open eyes.
My Nan used to call this brides bouquet, she said it flowered in honour of the Lady and her consort. A bridal bouquet for a spring bride.
I used to lie beneath the branches and watch the petals fall softly on my face.
Doesn't it make you smile to see?
We too can honour the Goddess and the Green Man in simple ways. Just being aware is enough.
Nearly Beltaine, how will you celebrate?

Coven or solitary? A musing for Beltaine

In my younger days I followed a free path. I did what felt right and was right for that moment.

From a young child I'd always worked rituals with my nan as she made potions to help people with various ailments. She followed the wheel of the year in a country way, she lived on a farm and nature showed her the path.

You would call her a wise woman or wood witch I guess. I think I spent a lot of time with her because I was ill so much as a child and in and out of hospital. When home she took pity on me and my quest for knowledge and taught me what she knew.

As I grew out of my teens I started to read witchcraft books from the library, Crowley, Sybil Leek and others. I found that my path had a name. I embraced this and wanted to learn all I could of the different traditions.

So then I followed a more traditional route on my pagan path.

I became part of covens, I did a neophyte course with an established coven.

This involved much inner journeying and soul searching.
I suspect any traveller on the pagan path has this journey to make. Indeed I'm still on the path.

At times it felt as though my dream work was done to an established pattern. It is such a time in your learning so your dreams should contain this, kind of thing.

I ignored my inner voice of reason. The one that said this isn't you or what you want.

I was too young to speak up. They had been doing this for years after all so surely they knew best?
Eventually I realised that learning lines for rituals ,that appeared to be mere stage plays, wasn't for me. It wasn't who I am.

Some of that could have been nudged by the HP slapping my hands when I forgot her lines and spoke from the heart.

My path had to be a heart path.

Later coven forays were somewhat better and more spontaneous but still not who I felt I was.
The dressing up in robes was fun but I needed more.

I then began a casual circle. A get together to celebrate the turn of the wheel. Friends and their families celebrating with fun and games and feasting.

Honouring the old ways in a freer spirit.

Egg decorating at Ostara and egg hunts in the garden. Treasure hunts with clues to solve.

Yule tide games and gifts.

A joy for all ages and for me an honest attempt to follow the spiral .

Now I celebrate as I choose.

Free to sit in woods or by water. Free to commune with the old ones in any way that feels right.

I find this path now is far more magical for who I am.

Ritual simplified but none the less effective.

Calling on the elements and the aspects of the Lord and the Lady that are right for this now.

That changes as I change.

The traditional rigid path works for some, indeed for many.
But not for this witch.

I need the flow of energy of the land as it comes on the day.

The old ones do listen if you speak with respect and from the heart.

They hear you without any of the trappings of mask and robe.

Without lines learnt before hand.

Why not try it?
Speak the words in YOUR heart.

You maybe surprised at the reply.

Wonderwool thoughts and reflections

A colourfest.
A great meet up point for friends met and yet to meet.

Virtual friends made flesh.

Overwhelming choice of everything you can think of to do with wool and fibre.

Animals, yarn, fleece, rabbits, fashion shows, food and fun.

Learning how to spin thicker yarn, teaching how to make felt beads.
Finger knitting

laughing until my sides were sore.

Losing my voice from talking too much.

Hyper high then incredibly tired and very very sore.

So sore I could cry.

No sleep with the pain.

Hugs and kisses from so many friends old and new.

Gifts of fleece and yarn.


Purchases of fibre and orifice hook for me.


Fleece, fibre, orifice hook and cat buttons for Mr Mog.

Having my ongoing project scarf/maybe to be cloak admired by so many people.

Explaining to even more people how I made it, and to a couple why I actually wanted to make it.

Eating delicious fresh very cheap food.

Drinking gallons of water and many cups of tea.

Admiring weird and wonderful wheels but loving my Traveller more.

Returning home.

Sad it is over but with memories to keep through the year.

Wonderwool

Wonderwool well over par
amber moggie way under par:(
more soon

Beltaine approaches

Beltaine is nearly here. Can you feel the energies rising?
I feel it as a pulse within that increases as the days draw nearer.

A drumming within my body that has excitement, energy and heat as part of it.

Betaine is a fertility festival and yes fertility has it's sexual side and that is a good reason to celebrate;)
But fertility can be a creative urge in other ways.
A need to make things, to plant seeds, to open ourselves to the rising energies and to welcome their effect up on us spiritually and physically.

When you see flowers and trees showing the earth's fertility doesn't it make you smile and feel joyous?
It does for me
Everything is awake now, it hears the Goddess calling. Wake up calls come to us as well.
We just have to listen for them.
Can you see the recumbent lady waiting for the Green Man to come and wake her? She has been sleeping away the winter but now is the time to don her spring gown and go out to play.
My favourite musical has always been Camelot and I love the May day scene. A nod to the pagan rites and something that I felt all those years ago when but a child. I knew Beltaine was a special part of me and my contact with the land.
Each time I am within woods or by the sea it becomes a ritual occasion. I can feel the Lady and the Lord around me. I can sense the great mystery and my small part within it.
This past few days have been like a return to the past in some ways. Clear blue skies, not a plane or vapour trail to be seen.

A return to the magic of wood and water, trees and earth.
Skies that go on forever, especially if one is somewhere such as beach or woods.
No cars then, no planes.
Magic is all around and touches us if we stand still for that touch.
If we are in the moment. Not thinking of where we go next or what we have to do.

Just being there, waiting for the magic that is never far away.
I look at the drums I have around me and I want to play loud, throbbing music. Something to try and emulate what is within me.
A slow beat, becoming louder, faster and more insistent.

To try and capture one fraction of what I feel.
I want to be on lonely beaches drumming softly as the tide comes in, barely heard sound, just a murmur here and there.

That is what the tide feels like to me.


I want to be on a mountain top as the sun rises and the breeze swirls around my face. Then I'd drum louder, louder as Sol rises. Feeling the power of the sun, the warmth and the energy.

I know that the mountain top can sadly only be a dream, no way for me to climb such heights now. But in my mind I'm there, I'm drumming and I'm dancing.

Because it is in my mind and not actually happening doesn't make it any less real.

How do you want to celebrate Beltaine?

Sunshine for femmes

The femmes now have their boots and as it was so sunny today they decided they would like to try a trip into the sunshine:)

Tailtu was quite at home in the buddleia bush.


Their cloaks remind me of exotic butterflies as the sun reflects the shimmering designs.


Airmed was checking out the herbs to see if they are ready to harvest yet. A little early methinks.

Her hair reminds me of the fennel sprigs as they start to grow once more.
They were all eager to try the broomstick but as you can see Nimue got there first.

Blodeuwedd thought her green boots matched the garden perfectly, I suspect she may be right.

Nimue was trying to catch a lift on the train that Mr Mog was sending round the garden but it wouldn't stop at the station for her. Guess she will have to use the broomstick after all

Damona keeps her face hidden most of the time, she looks inward for answers and the questions that go with them.


I love the way the sunlight shows through the felt

They danced in the breeze like exotic birds of paradise.
If any speak to you and you wish them to come and live with you then feel free to leave a comment
Doesn't Airmed blend well with the green man mask Mr Mog made some years ago?
Be well and enjoy the light and the green energies

les femmes du printemps

I haven't shown you any femmes for awhile have I?

I thought you might like to see the Spring (Printemps) ones. They are awaiting boots but I'm sure you won't mind that:) For some reason this group are of a Celtic nature, hence the tribal designs on their cloaks.

The first one is Tailtiu, named in honour of the Celtic earth Goddess. She wears a fox's head upon her chest. She brings grounding and the bounties of earth with her.

The designs upon her cloak reflect the path she walks, always a spiral as the journey goes onwards never staying still


Secondly we have Blodeuwedd, named in honour of the Spring flower Goddess. As you can see she loves her flowers:)


The colour of her cloak reflects the colours of Spring, her season with all its new growth and beauty. She brings this new energy and inspiration with her.



This is Airmed, she was known for her extensive knowledge of herbs and their uses. Her gift is knowledge, use it wisely.

She wears a Celtic brooch with stones of earth to protect and shield.


Here you see the lady Nimue, lady of the moon. She links with tides of water and woman. Her gift is the ability to work with the phases of the moon. She knows that new beginnings are for the waxing moon as letting go is for the waning.


She carries an image of the great Goddess with her always.

This is Damona,Goddess of fertility and healing. Her spring colours bring hope after the chill and dark of Winter. Hope and promise of brighter days come with her.I hope you like les femmes du printemps:)