How to Become a Witch (8 page)

Think about the moon as well; her phases can represent the Maiden/Mother/Crone aspects of womanhood or a man’s Youth/Father/Elder within. What face are you showing the world; what’s your main role in life right now? And can you access the others—if you are a maiden, can you act as the nurturing mother or wise crone when you need to?

For men, it’s a good season to get in touch with your nurturing, compassionate feminine side, what psychologist C. G. Jung called your
anima
. When you accept all parts of your nature—when you are a whole spiritual being—then your power will be complete.

Activities for Ostara: Decorate hard-boiled eggs with magickal symbols, then hide and hunt them. Make or give out stuffed bunnies. Drum up the sun. Plant things with your family or friends. Tell stories about lunar deities and the moon hare.

Deities for the Season: Some springtime and lunar deities that you may want to meet:

Maiden Goddesses of Spring:
Eostre, Kore, Persephone

Moon Deities:
Selene, Diana, Hecate, Luna, Sin (Mt. Sinai is named for him), Khonsu

Beltane

Beltane arrives around May 1; hence, it is sometimes called May Day. It is the celebration of love, lust, sexuality, sensuality, and the burgeoning life force. All the plants are growing, the animals have given birth and their young are kicking up their heels, and only brief snows are expected (we participated in one festival appropriately nicknamed
Snowtaine
).

The springtime work continues, but we pause to celebrate and enjoy. The May King and May Queen are crowned, the maypole is danced, and some couples slip away to a woodland bower for more private festivities. Centuries ago, babies born of a May Day union were considered specially blessed, and they were often named Robin.

What It Means to You: It is a time to rejoice in the warm new season! Enjoy your body—in sexual intimacy if you have a partner or lover, or by indulging in solitary sensual experiences. You can enjoy a foamy hot bath, a wild dance to your favorite music, good chocolate, or a simple cuddle. What will bring you pleasure? Also, how do you give and receive love in general? Do you show a face of loving kindness to every sacred soul you meet? Do you accept love and say thank you when someone shows you love?

Activities for Beltane: Dance the maypole. Make “May gads” (wands decorated with bells, flowers, and ribbons). Have a procession with a fool, a hobbyhorse, a Green Man, and everyone with their May gads. Dip strawberries in melted chocolate. Play active games that require a kiss to set “prisoners” free. Tell romantic stories about famous lovers.

Deities for the Season: Get acquainted with the gods and goddesses of romance, passion, and life:

Love Gods:
Eros, Cupid, Kamadeva

Love Goddesses:
Aphrodite, Venus, Freya, Erzulie, Astarte

A Divine Loving Couple:
Krishna and Radha

The merrymount maypole scandal

One of the early maypoles in the New World was set up by Thomas Morton in 1626, at the colony of Merrymount in Massachusetts. It was 80 feet tall, and the dances and feasting brought settlers and native people from miles around. Unfortunately, the local Puritan elders had no patience with such heathen goings-on, and in 1628 they sent Miles Standish to arrest Morton and burn the great maypole. Morton was exiled to Maine, where he spent the rest of his life. We have no record as to whether he erected any maypoles in Maine.

Litha

Litha is the Summer Solstice, around June 21, and marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. The Oak King and the Holly King battle it out again, but this time the Holly King wins to reign until Yule, when we decorate with his shiny dark leaves and bright red berries. Litha celebrates the full height of the summer sun and the Sun God in his glory, his warmth and energy pouring down on the crops as they ripen.

It also brings the Sun God’s transition to Grain God, as sun and earth together bring forth the grains, vegetables, and fruits.

What It Means to You: This is the ideal time to focus your power where it will bring you the greatest harvest. What are your priorities? These are the longest days of the year, so you have more hours to work—and play! Call upon your favorite solar deity to help.

Ask yourself: What are my sources of power? What are my strengths? Am I using them to my best advantage? What new sources of energy can I cultivate in myself now, while the sun is high? Remember your own radiance; like Aten in the ancient Egyptian Hymn to Ra, you can “Rise in splendor, fill every land with your beauty.”

For women, it’s a good season to get in touch with your active, accomplishing masculine side, what C. G. Jung called your
animus
. Cherish all parts of your nature; when you are a whole spiritual being, your power will be complete.

Activities for Litha: Use sun tea and summer wines to toast the solar gods and goddesses. Bask in the heat of the sun. Set off fireworks. Honor the sun. Tell stories long into the evening light.

Deities for the Season

Sun Gods:
Ra, Horus, Helios, Apollo, Bel, Shamash, Sol Invictus, Holly King

Sun Goddesses:
Amaterasu, Bast, Sekhmet, Hathor, Arinna, Sol, Sunna, Saule

Bonfires on the hilltops

In olden days, people would often celebrate Beltane and Litha by building bonfires on hilltops. The word
Beltane
means “Bel’s fire,” Bel being a sun god worshiped in many lands.

Bonfire
may have come from “boon-fire,” a fire made from wood asked as a boon, or gift, or “good fire” (French
bon
or Scots
bonny
), or “bone fire,” since bones burn hot and long.

Bonfires brought warmth and light, and they were wonderful for dancing around, or for cooking food for the feast to encourage the sun, or for magickally burning away illness. A bonfire is a staple at many Pagan festivals today.

Lughnassad

Lughnassad, or Lammas, is the first of the three harvest festivals, celebrated around August 1. This is the harvest where the god of the grain gives his life so that we may live through the winter. The themes are self-sacrifice for the community or individual initiation to a higher level of spiritual existence.

Other themes are abundance and how we allocate, store, and use resources. The wise management of wealth becomes an issue at harvest time, when we once again have material prosperity.

This is also the special day of Lugh, a Celtic sun god who was also High King of Ireland and the Tuatha De Danaan, “the people of the goddess Danu.” He is a master of all skills: warrior, bard, healer, blacksmith, and more. According to legend, he started Olympic-style games in honor of his mother, Tailltu.

What It Means to You: Celebrate your projects that have come to fruition. Finally, you are reaping tangible results from all your work—or if not, why is your personal harvest delayed? Or are you harvesting something you didn’t plan for?

Once your harvest is on track, you can think about preparing for the winter ahead, whether that means storing food, getting a new furnace, or weatherproofing your house.

Think about self-sacrifice. What sacrifices will you make for your family and community? What sacrifices will you make in order to learn, grow, and stretch yourself?

Remember that Lugh mastered many skills; maybe it’s time for you to add to yours. Have confidence, be willing to sacrifice time and effort, and you can master the new skills you wish.

Activities for Lughnassad: Bake special breads to share. Hold your own “Taillteann Games” with contests and prizes. Make corn dollies out of wheat stalks or corn husks. Make a corn man with whole ears of corn, “sacrifice” him in the bonfire, and eat buttered corn on the cob. Find stories about Lugh’s adventures and tell them around the fire.

Deities for the Season: In addition to Lugh, you may want to meet:

Dying and Resurrected Gods:
Baal, Adonis, Melqart, Osiris, Mithras, Dumuzi or Tammuz

Deities of Many Skills:
Mercury, Hermes, Minerva (Goddess of a Thousand Works), the Walawag Sisters

Earth and Grain Goddesses:
Gaia, Mahimata, Pachamama, Changing Woman, Ceres, Demeter, Taillte

Mabon

Mabon, the Fall Equinox, is the second harvest festival, about September 21. The gardens and orchards are giving up their ripening bounty. The days are growing noticeably shorter—the days and nights are of equal length, and there is an autumn crispness in the air.

It is a time to share our abundance and be grateful—the “Pagan Thanksgiving.” We are moving toward completion of our goals, tying up loose ends. But we’ll make time to eat, drink, and be merry.

The holiday is named for Mabon ap Modron, who appeared in
The Mabinogion
, a collection of Welsh myths. He is a divine son. According to legend, King Arthur needs Mabon’s hunting skills to track a great boar, but the young man is missing. After many trials, the king and his men rescue Mabon from his prison, and he aids them in their hunt and the fulfillment of their quest.

What It Means to You: You are reaping the rewards of your efforts. It is time to “count your blessings” and show your gratitude to all your family, friends, and coworkers who have helped you on the year’s journey. This thankfulness could infuse your whole perspective on life if you can take joy in what you have received and experienced instead of focusing on your losses and disappointments.

It’s also time to finish up this year’s projects. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, in the
Tao Te Ching
, said: “The wise are as careful in the completion as in the beginning of a task; thus, they do not fail.” Make your priority the careful completion of your work before Samhain.

Remember that Mabon is best known as the son of the goddess Modron, or Dea Matrona. Consider the experience of being a son or daughter—what does that mean to you? If being the child of your parents or guardian was a good time in your life, take joy in that and show your appreciation. If growing up was difficult, then ponder how you can learn from that and do better for the next generation. For your sake, if not for those who raised you, work to forgive and release.

Activities for Mabon: Cook special dishes for the thanksgiving feast. Decorate the hall with cornucopias and harvest colors. Talk about your year and your harvest. Tell stories about Mabon and other Celtic heroes.

Deities for the Season: There’s not a lot of information about the god Mabon, but of course most deities are sons or daughters of divine parents.

Gods Who Are Especially Known as Sons:
Horus, Jesus

Goddesses Who Are Especially Known as Daughters:
Persephone, Athena, Ushas, Vishnumaya

Samhain

Samhain (
sow’-wen
) is the most solemn of the sabbats and almost always celebrated on October 31. It is the third harvest—the animal harvest, when domesticated animals not likely to make it through the winter were killed and their meat preserved for the winter. This was also a time for hunting, to cull the old and infirm from the wild herds.

At Samhain, the veil between the worlds is thin, so that it becomes easier to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Therefore, it is a time for remembering our ancestors and those who have died in the last year. In some traditions, a “dumb (silent) supper” is held to honor the departed, or shrines are set up for loved ones who have passed on.