Being a Solitary
A solitary is a practitioner that works their magick alone. I am such a person.
I perform my Feast Day rituals, moon phase rituals and any other spell work by myself in the privacy of my alter room. Before beginning I cleanse my body & mind. I enter my alter room, don my ceremonial wear (cloak, necklace) and prepare the alter.
To begin any ritual or spell work the first thing I do is cleanse my area. I light some sage and call on the four elements as I make a circle. The North is the Earth, the East is the Air, the South is the Fire, and the West is the Water. With my circle cast I can begin my body of work.
I light my Black Power candle and speak an incantation. I light the candles for the deities (Goddess and God), I light an incense stick. I open my Book of Shadows to the appropriate page (depending upon what ritual or spell work) and begin.
For Feast Days I gather the food that will be prepared and any items that represent the feast (pictures, flowers, etc) and perform a self-designed ritual using candles and crystals. There are 8 Feast Days that I celebrate - Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain. Each feats has its own menu, colors, crystals and spells. Each Feast also has its own Goddess and Consort (God). I honor them with the pair of lit candles after I cast and open my circle.
For the moon phases I have four - New, Waxing, Full, & Waning. I honor Morrigan, the Triple Goddess when I perform my moon phase rituals. The New Moon I honor all three. The Waxing Moon I honor Macha, the Maiden. The Full Moon I honor Anu, the Mother. The Waning Moon I honor Badb, the Crone. Each phase has its own spells, colors & crystals that I work with. Each Goddess has her own strengths & power.
The Mórrigan, usually referred to with the definite article, was a great warrior-queen goddess in Irish-Celtic mythology . She was most associated with inciting war, then stirring up the fury and frenzy of battle, and finally, as the bringer of death.
Mar 18, 2023
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Earned my first Black-Belt at 16.
Studied many different arts over the years.
Some bordered on the mystical.
Mind/body/spirit can be very potent when coordinated.
So true. I strife for balance.
Sorry if the quest for balance brings you strife ;-D
Yeah - sorry about the typo... not been a good week for me - I am going to lock myself in my room for mediation tonight.
Would you give us some background on these Feast Days. I think I know Yule (Christmas), Ostara (Easter), and Samhain (Halloween). The holidays I put in parentheses are not the same as the Feast Days but I know they are celebrated around the same time of year as the Christian holidays are.
Thanks!
who do you think the f'n thumpers stole these holidays from?
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Always admired the Pagan ability to party down.
the late 60's and early 70's were a lot of fun...
I can do that.
Yule is the beginning of the new year. It occurs on the Winter Solstice (usually falls between Dec 20th to the 23rd). It celebrates the arrival of the longest night, and from this point forward, each day will grow longer and warmer. We celebrate the fact the light is returning. I make ham, potatoes a Yule Log cake, and Wassail. We decorate with reds and greens, an evergreen tree and lights.
Imbolc is celebrated between Feb 1st and 2nd. I usually do so on the 2nd. It is the midway point between the Winter Solstice and the the Spring Equinox. Food is usually what is left in the winter stores (root veggies, some smoked meat) so I prepare a hearty Potato soup with bacon & cheese, honey glazed carrots, some old fashioned Irish Soda Bread, and bannocks (similar to scones). AND of course wine. It is a time to gather the family close to the warm hearth and be happy that the light is returning.
Ostara occurs on the Spring Equinox (usually between March 20th and the 23rd). It celebrates rebirth, reenergizing and the Sun God. It is is associated with fresh beginnings, optimism, and hope by sweeping out the negativity and letting in the light. I usually do a total spring cleaning, saging and seed planting. For the feast I do ham, roasted potatoes, carrots, honey bread, and wine.
Beltane is celebrated on May 1st and is a fire celebration. It is the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is also my hubby's birthday so he sets the menu (usually stuffed pasta and carrot cake). I do add the wine. It is the day we have our first bonfire of the season. Bonfires were probably used to symbolize the sun and to drive away the evil spirits trying to bring harm to crops and/or livestock. We do bonfires for fun. It is also associated with sexuality, prosperity, protection, and lust. Hubby loves Beltane.
Litha is the Summer Solstice (usually June 20th to the 23rd). It is a celebration of the longest day, but also a mourning for the loss of light as the days begin to grow shorter. It is the end of the planting season. I usually make kabobs on the grill. Chicken, ham, kielbasa, shrimp, and veggies. Also have to have wine. I usually make Fairy Cakes (fried honey cakes) - some of which are left for the faeries & others are eaten. I also serve berries.
The last three feasts of the year are what we call Harvest Feasts.
Lughnasadh is celebrated on August 1st (midway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox). It is the first harvest feast and consists of grains & corn. I grill corn on the cob, make a man shaped homemade pizza (many just shape a bread loaf into a man - but my family loves my homemade pizza). If the radishes are ready I usually pull some of those, same with the carrots. If the tomatoes are ready I pull them as well. I usually make sausage stuffed zucchini and grill some summer squash. I usually do a wine (berry or dandelion) It is feast with thoughts of gratitude, renewal, giving, and reaping what was sown.
Mabon, the Autumnal Equinox (between Sept 20th to and the 23rd). It is the second harvest feast. It is a prepping for winter. It focuses on home, gratitude and the loss of the light. I usually do a apple chutney with pork chops, roasted potatoes, apple cobbler, and apple wine. Apples are the star of this feast along with any garden items, like carrots, radishes and tomatoes.
Samhain, better known as Halloween or All Hallow's Eve. It is the final feast of the year and the final harvest feast. It is the night when the veil between the planes is at its thinnest. It is the time when practitioners try to reach the others that have passed over. It is the most important day to work magick because the veil is so thin. The feast I do is bigger than the rest in celebration of the biggest Sabbat. I do a roast (usually pork, unless I can get my hands on a good venison roast), potatoes, beet chips, carrots, green beans, squash (all kinds), scallops (because I like them), applesauce (homemade if I have time), apple pie, and again apple wine.
The days are very short, the light is fading earlier & earlier - looking forward to the Wheel of the Year to start all over again.
Thank-you! I can see now where some of the other things we celebrated are related to your feast days. May 1 (Beltane) was always May Day where we usually celebrated the coming of the summer months and the spring planting.
The Summer Solstice is a big thing in Alaska, probably sprouting from some ancient Inuit traditions.
Now I have other days to cook a good meal and a reason besides my stomach
Arvo Veronica..so everything for us would be the opposite seeing we are in the Southern Hemisphere...the best one I might add...
Y'all vacation here and we vacation down under seasonally.
Y'all have way too many lethal critters for my taste.
Y'all won't even let me carry a gun when I come to visit.
Think I'll just stay on my sofa and watch Crocodile Dundee.
There is no beginning and no end of this wheel.
The 'seasons' are all one gestalt that flow together.
Evening CJ..nah..you don't need a gun.. anything grabs you just poke it in the eye..
Like the guy up North did the other day when a croc grabbed him then tried to drown him as well as eat him..
He poked it in the eye and it let him go.. applies to sharks too. He is still in hospital, will be for awhile....but he'll be right..apart from a few scars..😁
I want to go to Australia but my daughter won't go with me
Evening...you would be perfectly safe. Hmm maybe there is something Veronica can do to protect travellers etc..I know of St Christopher I had a Medallion for 1.5 years while I travelled the UK and Europe..
In my entire life of 62 years I have run into three snakes here...all tigers...no harm done to me or the snakes..no crocs I live in the wrong area...sharks well yes they are here and are the very large Great Whites..
But as Veronica pointed out basically if you are in tune with Nature and you respect it there is never normally a problem..well sometimes, maybe, perhaps, usually not..but there is that odd time..😬
I respect snakes and spiders. I think fear kangaroos more than any other animal in Australia because those beasties look like they could bench press a dump truck
You down unders..... Always the opposite.
There is a continuous rotating of the wheel just like the Mother Earth.
Interesting stuff and I'm enjoying the series.
Thank you.
me too.
As am I.
Thank you for giving us a view of the Wiccan way of life. Remember the line from Leonard Cohen's poem-song 'Anthem'. "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." You have cracked the secrecy of Wiccan practice to provide us with a glimmer of knowledge we might never have otherwise encountered.
Thank you for stopping in. I am of a mind to try to educate people on the true meaning of Wicca. We don't eat babies or sacrifice them. Harm none is my motto.