Those Magic Changes

With the first signs of Winter cropping up, including the winter holiday decorations in every store (and the catalogs beginning their yearly mailbox deluge), I've been thinking about this blog and what happens next. I'm a Libra- a planner and a ponderer. I've been meditating on this over the past week and the answer came to me in the silence (You have to stop asking the question to hear the answer!):


This blog has mostly been about the topics I've been researching or books I've been reading, or something congruent with the date or month or season. I practice my practice in reality, not just theory, but I don't always share that here. Next year I will be taking my practical work and discussing it here, likely on a weekly basis, with other posts added as the mood strikes.

I thought I should share this now. It feels right to put this energy out here and share the news with the Loyal Hoard. Speaking of, Thanks to all 20 of you who hit the reload button 1,000 times... We've reached 20,000 hits!

In the interest of sharing, here's a bit about my workings tonight: Earlier today I raked and bagged all of the leaves which were in my grove area and did some pruning. When I stepped outside tonight to check the weather, it was very cloudy and I pondered waiting. I got my answer to that rather quickly in the form of a very insistent sounding dog barking somewhere nearby lol I threw up my hands and said "ok ok! Out I go!" I grabbed my supplies, donned my lunar talismans, and went outside to work.

I found tonight's ritual structure very interesting. Does that sound odd? That I found my own ritual interesting? I don't script these things, I intuit a general plan and that plan often changes in the moment, depending on the forces who join in the rite. Things often come through that I wasn't entirely expecting.

Tonight I felt especially called to invoke the Archangels at the quarters. I don't often do that. I will leave this generally vague as to who comes in keeping the intention of calling in those who will help me- wether its Archangels or Watchers or the essence of the direction/element, or deities connected with the directions, I don't often decide before hand. Tonight it HAD TO BE the Archangels. I felt their presence keenly. Their entrances were grand. I could not see all of them, but the ones I didn't see specifically were manifested as fluctuating changes in energy which were suspended about 6 or 7 feet in the air.

Inspired words from tonight:

Ave Diana, Regina delle Streghe
Dacci tua luce, la nostra Madre.

Trova la nostra debolezza,
Fanno di questa la nostra forza.

Diana, Diana, fa di me degni a te,
Diana, Diana, il tuo votiva è fedele

Hail Diana, Queen of Witches
Give us your light, Mother of all

Take our weakness
Turn it into strength

Diana, Diana, find me (make me) worthy of you,
Diana, Diana, your votary is true (loyal)

Full moon in Aries

I was going to post this yesterday, but was asked to post The Halloween Witch, so here it is!

I was born as the moon waxed full in Aries. This is my favorite moon of the year! This year the full moon is within a few degrees of my natal full moon which makes it conjunct, so double yay! This is a tiny bit of a brain dump because I am high on energy and haven't properly grounded yet.

I was typing out a prayer I used as a toast during ritual tonight and three things happened at the same time: As I typed Diana's name, the clock struck midnight and a dog outside somewhere started barking! I'm still giggling about that.

Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail! Deck'd with a graceful robe and shining veil; Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,
Shine on these sacred rites with prosp'rous rays, and pleas'd accept thy suppliant's mystic praise.

 –Orphic Hymn to Diana.

Speaking of giggling... Ever since I began working with Mercury in earnest, my flow in ritual has changed, especially when I'm working with others, and especially when I'm working with others who are being too serious. It's like my goofball factor is proportionally inverse to the others' stick-in-the-mud factor.

This is not to say I can't be serious. When the work is important, the work gets done. But quite often, people need to lighten the fuck up. When I'm working on my own, there's no goofing around. Laughing at myself, perhaps, but it's not quite so mischievous. That is one aspect of Mercury which isn't routinely called upon: The Trickster!

Those who resist will be pursued! Can't find the funny? It will find you! Best to embrace it, to have a release for it. I was recently reminded of the old axiom "be careful what you wish for:" I was musing that I want to work on a show. I used to work in theatre but I left it many years ago for several reasons. However, it's not something you can really get over- it's like that ex boyfriend you hook up with occasionally long after you've broken up. I had really only mused that I'm in the mood to do a show. I didn't really refine that idea out loud. I talked about this with a friend, wondering where the feeling was coming from and how I could scratch this itch. I received an email the next day offering me a job on a show. Which show? Hansel and Gretel! Ummmmm erf... headdesk. Do I really want to do a show about a Witch who tries to eat children? Especially when it was changed from the original version where the parents were the real bad guys? At least the libretto includes fairies who protect the children. I suppose it all depends on the concept of the production. So I get something I wanted... kinda... Love you, Mercury. You are full of awesome ;)

The Mysterious Moon

The ancient calendar of Athens was lunisolar- it was based on both sun and moon. We know that their new year started on the first new moon after the summer solstice. We also know that the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated from this full moon until the new moon. Tonight begins the Descent of the Goddess.

I've wanted to talk about this and to not talk about this. I feel like this mystery cult was stolen from Sicily and somehow resent it. I'll get over it and come to a greater appreciation and understanding, but that's how I feel at the moment.

In rereading the papers on and history of Lake Enna and Pergusa in Sicily, I realized something: This is the time of year the Lake would turn red:

Situated in the province of Enna in a vast grain-growing region of Sicily, Lake Pergusa is one of very few natural lakes that remain on an island famed in antiquity for its wetlands. Pergusa's basin was formed eons ago because of the sudden sinking of the earth's rock layers and is fed only by rainwater and underground tricklings, which are slightly salinated and sulfurous. Italian scientist Sergio Angeletti has noted, "This lake represents a marvelous example in microcosm ... of the formation of the ocean four to five million years ago."

The lake periodically undergoes a remarkable reddening phenomenon because of the presence of a red, sulfur-oxidizing bacterium (Thiocapsa roseopersicina) in its waters. During summer months of years in which the sulfur content reaches a critical level, the bacteria proliferate to such an extent that the lake's waters turn either partially or entirely a deep red color, and the environs smell of sulfur for miles around. Over a period of several weeks, the bacteria reduce the sulfur level; they, in turn, are eaten by a tiny, transparent crustacean; and the lake returns to its normal color. The phenomenon, which has been documented only since the twentieth century, was studied in 1932 by Italian scientist Achille Forti, who dubbed Pergusa "the lake of blood."

If you haven't read Margurite Rigoglioso's research on this, you simply must. The above quote was taken from her well researched paper. I've posted it on the blog before, but it deserves to be posted again. Tonight is a quickie because I need to go prepare for tonight's full moon festivities! Tomorrow I hope to post about what's going on in the rest of Italy at this time of year, especially Rome's Ludi Romani.

I was going to leave off tonight with a quote from this paper, but I can't pick just one! If you haven't yet read Persephone's sacred lake and the ancient female mystery religion in the womb of sicily. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion | September 22, 2005 | Rigoglioso, Marguerite, please do. There will be a quiz later. With prizes. The prize is knowledge of a fascinating place and perspective!