Spring comes to Minnesota in time for Beltane and the start of summer!

Last friday we saw what will hopefully be out last big snow fall of the year.

The exciting news is that the Leaky Cauldron is not leaking. My front porch and back deck are clear of snow. Once the rain stops, I will be able to start having my morning cuppa outside again.

Tinkerbell, my cat couldn't be happier. We have both been discovering that we have a fairly active frog population behind the barn. The swallows, wrens, and mallards have been active too. It is interesting to have some new totems for the property show up. Rabit, raven and squirel have all been active this winter along with the neighborhood stray cats and dogs.

I have started some rosemary plants for the front gate. This weekend I will start my wormwood, mugwort and hyssop seeds indoors. (For those not in this climate, we don't really plant outside until late May.)

Life, in a word is very much happy! Next post may even include some picturesof the various happenings around the trailer:)

Contemplative Cosmic Belly Button Lint of the Day/Week

I constantly mull around my own behavioral patterns and mental processes to help deal with all the crap that comes our way wither we want it or not. Lately, I find myself being equally angered and bewildered on how much I have let other people control my relationships (romantic, platonic, or otherwise).

I am embarrassed to admit that because of the years of emotional abuse and isolation, I have begun to feel that getting so have time with other people is a reward/punishment for how much my behavor has pleased my partner. Even if I know logically that I am not seeing someone because I am tired or other events in my or their life have superceded getting together there is still an underlying conviction that either the gods are punishing me for something or if it is the other party cancelling that they are punishing me for something. The degree of that conviction is usually equal to the amount of other events have been cancelled or denied that week or that day.

I am also ashamed to admit that I have been letting my inner Smeagol rule the response to said events. If Smeagol is an obtuse reference for you non Tolkein friends I join my previous detractors in a chorus of :"You don't have any friends. Nobody likes you."

So what have I been doing to stop Smeagol and possibily something you can do too?

I have been doing daily self blessing rituals. The one I like the best is something modified from the Garderarian kids....
Tools: Favorite candle color, favorite incense, favorite cake and ale offering

Ground and Center
Cast a circle if you desire
Call Watchtowers if you desire
Call God, Goddess of your choice
Call the ancesotors

Thank you Lord and Lady for creating me to be your divine daughter/son.
Blessed Be my feet that have brought me along the way.
Blessed be my knees that kneel at the sacred altar.
Blessed be my womb/phallus that issues forth life.
Blessed be my ears for hearing the words of the gods.
Blessed be my mouth for speaking their wisdom.

So mote it be.

Continue to think about all the good quaities you have and the friends and family you are blessed with. Continue to imagine the road and door open to receive positive relationships that are mutualy encouraging.

When you are ready, offer up the cake and ale offering and consume.
Dismiss the circle, etc and journal the experience.

move on when you are ready.


If you are involved in any reiki work, this is a good time to do an attunement on yourself. If you are a 2nd degree or high the use of the symbols and their names as a mantra can also significantly help.

Blessed Be.

Impatiently waiting for the thaw...

Its hard to believe that the spring equinox is around the corner. Hard to believe since in the frozen tundra we have feet of snow still. My hot water pipes are frozen again and we get positively giddy when we reach any number above 0.  However, I am assured there are signs of spring.

As the Lord and Lady have given birth to the divine child, we have the sale of girl scout cookies. The basketball season is slowly turning towards playoffs. The stores are full of the weird cross over of St. Patrick's Day and Easter/Ostara decorations.

So, I have hope that once again I will see green instead of white outside my front door. Eventually I will get to have coffee on my deck and contemplate life, the universe, and everything.

As assuredly as those girl scout cookies aren't going to eat themselves, spring will get here and we will be warm again.

Forgiveness and the Hierophant

It seems a little shallow to only focus a day on forgiveness issues and the Hierophant. The Hierophant is all about how organized religion, education and popular culture form our identiy and our views about outselves.

I don't know about you but I could spend years analysising how I was offended and hurt by organized religion let along school. Both experiences left something to be desired. But the exercise isn't so much about laying blame on other people but identifying the broken places and being willing to let go of the past and the dream that it could have been different. Even where the Church is concerned or our teacher from the 7th grade who didn't ahre our vision of world dominaion...er I mean peace.....

My point being, we all have things that we wish could have been different. If we live constnatly in the shadow of what should have been we blind ourselves to the possibilities that are and the future ibes that could be. The other interesting lesson in this is the following: we humans are prone to screw up by our very nature. We cannot possibly keep everyone's desires in focus, That type of demand is simply nerve wracking and crazy making. If we cannot find forgiveness for those in or out of power around us, we won't find it for ourselves. We can only find externally what we see internally.

I am not sure I will go through each card individually. It may focus more on the cards that I still struggle with ainterpreting.

Blessed Be.

Forgiveness and the Tarot Journey Part 1

Someone once defined forgiveness as the belief that the past could have been different and letting go of that belief.
Forgiveness is a deliberate act of compassion. Not so much for the other person or situation we are being offended by but for us, the individual letting go of the bitterness and hatred that has been build up over perceived or actual offenses.

There are a lot of issues that have lead me to choose to focus 2014 on the deliberate act of forgiveness. There is ritual and meditation involved for me to help remind me to let go. One of the tools I use is the tarot.

The tarot is its own mystery school with multiple systems for interpretation. I tend to use a key word or key phrase type of system for this work. It helps me to formulate questions for journal writing and ritual creation.

For this last week, I have been working through the first five cards of the major arcana: the fool, the magician, the high priestess, the empress, and the emperor.

The thing I find interesting is that all five of these cards reflect our sense of innocence connection with our personal power. Forgiveness on this level tends to focus on those that had us question our goddess given gifts and abilities. Forgiveness on this level, is not just about our parents, teachers, friends who had us second guess our talents but forgiving ourselves for not trusting what we knew to be true about ourselves. Intuition is a powerful for that way. It is not just about trusting what we are being told by "them" about the future but trusting what we believe about the future too.

Happy 2014

Happy 2014. 

While 2013 was an interesting year of transition, I am not sad to see it go.  I am greatful for the new loves in my life and moving along with some dreams and visitons.

So what is in store for the post this next year?

I am choosing to focus 2014 on forgiveness and letting go of past resentments. I will be doing a tarot journey through all 78 cards and walking through some reiki attunements as things progress.

I will be righting some more orignal rituals and other inspirational text and exploring some of my favorite divination techniques.

I am also choosing to focus on celebrating my creativity this coming year.

I am also going to be going through the process of remodeling my wee trailer home this coming year as this seems like a good year to do it in.

I have a better camera phone so more original photos and artwork.

I hope everyone has a prosperous New Year.

Blessed Be!

Blessed Solstice

Happy Yule, Blessed Winter Solstice:

Today we celebrate the shortest day of the year and the longest night. In mythology terms, we honor the birth of the divine child to the goddess and her consort. As much as most Wiccan based mythology talks only of the divine son, I celebrate the birth of divine twins, male and female.

This season I am celebrating being in my new home and settling in with my beloveds.

I am excited that when we get to the spring solstice, I finally have space for an indoor and outdoor garden.

For the interim, I will be changing the focus of the blog slightly.  There will be more discussions of healing practices and more of a divination focus.  Specifically tarot and eventually the elder futhark. It is my hope to also start studying the Ogham as a divination system.