Beginning My Journey PBP week 4

I have always felt a cretin connection with the earth and animals but never really knew what it was until one day while surfing the Internet I came came across a few Wiccan/Pagan sights. Reading the lines underneath I decided to click on the link and my world really opened up I needed and wanted to know more so I continued to read, I then had my mom take me to the library to see if I could find anything else.
    I picked up a few books by Scott Cunningham and really started understanding more and more but in a way didn't know if this was the right path for me.
     The day I truly knew I was on the right path was when we took a summer vacation to Salem Mass. and went in to learn about the Salem Witch Trials, as I sat there listening I felt I had actual lived it and wanted to learn even more so when we came back from vacation that's when I truly started Beginning My Journey and haven't looked back since. As of today I am still learning about myself and my path, the one thing I have learned in recent weeks is that I may be somewhat of a Human Empath so I know this is just another road to Begin  down and for that I am thankful and know there will be many more Beginning's for me!

Beltane- week 3 letter B PBP

Celebrating the Fertility of Spring


   Held on May 1st Beltane is also known as May Day, on this day
many hold a ritual to celebrate the coming of spring and fertility. Most festivities begin the night before on the last night of April, this is a time to welcome the abundance of the fertile earth, and a day that has a long (and sometimes scandalous) history.
   There are many ways to celebrate this sabbat  and I will link them here at the end but first lets learn a little more...
    Beltane nearly always focuses  on fertility, It is the time when the earth mother opens up to the fertility god, and their union brings about healthy live stock, strong crops, and new life all around.
    There are a lot of Different Influences behind Beltane....
     You have....

• The Roman Influence
• The Fires of Tara
• A Pagan Martyr
• The Greek and Pynteria
• The Green Man Emerges
• Jack-in-the-Green

     Also you have the Symbols and Modern Rites

     Today we celebrate Beltane much like our ancestors did. The ritual usually involves lots of fertility symbols, including the obviously-phallic Maypole dance. In some Wiccan traditions it is a day which the May Queen and the Queen of Winter battle one another for. There are some who believe Beltane is a time for the faeries and for many contemporary Pagans, Beltane is a time for planting and sowing of seeds.

     Certain trees are also associated with May Day such as the Ash, Oak and Hawthorn.

      If you have been wanting to bring abundance and fertility of any sort into your life Beltane is the perfect time for magical workings related to any type of prosperity.

    Here are some Rituals and Ceremonies you may want to think about trying and remember any of them may be adapted to your needs.

• Maypole Dance
• Beltane Bonfire Ritual
• Family Abundance Rite
• Goddess Ritual- to honor the Sacred Feminine
• Planting Ritual
• Hand fasting and Weddings 
• Beltane Prayers

Some Crafts and Creations that can be done are:

• Floral Crown
• Maypole Alter Centerpiece
• Faerie Chair
• May Day Cone Basket
• Magical  W
• Weaving and Braiding
• Beltane Fire Incense

Now for the food! You can have:

• Scottish Bannocks
• Early Summer Salad
• Southern Style Peppery Green Beans
• Fertility Bread 
• Green Man Cake

And last but certainly not least here are your Fertility Deities of Beltane and their orgians

• Artemis (Greek)
• Bes (Egyptian)
• Bacchus (Roman)
• Flora (Roman)
• Hera ( Greek)
• Kokopelli (Hopi)
• Pan (Greek)
• Priapus (Greek)
• Shiela-na-Gig (Celtic)
• Xochiquetzal (Aztec)

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/beltanemayday/a/AllAboutBeltane.htm

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/beltanemayday/p/Beltane_History.htm

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/beltanemayday/a/BeltaneDeities.htm

Amethyst

Knowing we have to stay with letter "A" again this week I decided to write about Amethyst.

Although I have not personally worked with Amethyst Crystals I decided to write about them because it is one I would like to know more about myself. As I was doing my research I found that it is and can be used for many things.

1) Spirituality and Contentment

2) Connected with deities Bacchus, Dionysus (Gods of wine and libation) Diana

3) Meditation, peace and healing

4) Psychic stone

5) Attract Love and happiness

6) Affiliated with the element of water

7) Associated with the planets Neptune and Jupiter.

Knowing all it can do now I believe I would work with it more for meditation and opening the third eye and Spirituality work it also has also been known to help people become sober and I believe that is a good thing especially for anyone who wishes to stop drinking.

As I read up on it I learned it has a lot of ability's that most do not know about.

I got most of my information from this sight here: http://www.alleghenycandles.com/

but I'm positive you can find more great information out there and that is one thing I will be looking to do.

I myself love working with crystals and will defiantly be adding this one into my work. Not only for meditation but past life regression, astral projection, and dream work!

Before I end I also want to add that it is a crystal known to have mysterious energy!

Animal familiars

When I first started reading books on Wicca/Paganism I always saw a section on Animal familiars but never thought too much about it until we got our new kitten after my beloved cat past away. I knew some had them and others did not and wondered what it would be like to have one but also thought that if I was meant to have one it would find me.

The thing about it is in an odd way I believe my first cat and now my kitten are my familiars. I think this because when I set back and think about it when ever I'm meditating or doing some type of ritual work they are/were there in the circle with me.

Now I know a lot of people don't have one and they seem to ask why but I think its because they are to find you not you find them. All animals are scared in the craft one way or another and they all have their place its just we have to let them show us what place they belong.

Do all of us need these animals no we don't but that doesn't mean anything it's just that maybe some are more drawn to certain people then others but then again we may never know since when all of this was brought up it was first believed that the devil was supposed to be the one handing familiars out to Witches and then we go into the Salem Witch Trials but there isn't much work there. Do I believe the hype that was and still is thrown at us no because we have taken the time to understand all of it and a lot of other ones haven't.

New to This

So I was looking around my e-mails and saw an interesting one for a Pagan blog post and somehow new this was and is something I need to do. I am Still learning day to day but in this path that's what happens you always lean something new.

I have been following the path since "00" and like I said I am still learning. There are a few stores here where I live and that is great I don't get to go to them often though. Cretin friends and family know my path and are fine with it I hope I get better at this as time goes on so please bear with me :)