for the Saturdays

With the lighting of this (black) Candle;  I call to the goddess  Aibell   (Goddess of Protection and Ecological Magick)  On this Day of Saturday 

Aibell, hear and bless
All beasts and singing birds:
And guard with tenderness
Small things that have no words.

for the Fridays

With the lighting of this (green) Candle;  I call  to the Goddess Cerridwen. (Goddess of Nature) On this day of Friday

May we live more wisely within our overlapping ecosystems.
May we cherish anew the wonder of clean waters and fresh winds.
May we more wisely tend and respect the animals and plants that nourish us.
May the sacred fires of Beltane guide us into new paths of hope.

to Start the Day

Mother of All, Father of All:
as I go through the day,
keep my eyes open wide.
May I not miss beauty.
May I not miss joy.
May I not miss wonder.
Keep me awake and aware of the world.

from;  2witchesblog

IMBOLC

IMBOLC (pronounced ‘im’olk’ also known as Oimelc) comes from an Irish word that was originally thought to mean ‘in the belly’ although many people translate it as ‘ewe’s milk’ (oi-melc). It was one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated among Gaelic peoples and some other Celtic cultures either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of spring.

It was traditionally a time of weather prognostication, the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens was perhaps a precursor to the North American Groundhog Day.

IMBOLC was one of the cornerstones of the Celtic calendar. For the Celts, the success of the new farming season was of great importance. As winter stores of food were getting low IMBOLC rituals were performed to harness divine energy that would ensure a steady supply of food until the harvest six months later.

Like many Celtic festivals, the IMBOLC celebrations centred around the lighting of fires as it celebrated the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. Fire and purification were an important aspect of this festival with fire being the more important than others, as it was also a holy day dedicated to the goddess Brigid. In Scotland the festival is also known as Là Fhèill Brìghde, in Ireland as Lá Fhéile Bríde, and in Wales as Gwyl Ffraed.   In the Christian period it was adopted as St Brigid’s Day, and even later was reformed and renamed ‘Candlemas’, a time when candles are lit to remember the purification of the Virgin Mary. 

Today, as many of us feel that human actions are best when they reflect the actions of nature, it is the time for the small tasks that are neglected through the busy year as the world slowly springs back into action. Most commonly, IMBOLC is celebrated on February the 2nd, since this is the cross-quarter day on the solar calendar, halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.

IMBOLC is still a special time for Pagans.  As people who are deeply aware of what is going on in the natural world we recognize that there is strength in cold as well as heat, death as well as life. The Horned God reigns over the Autumn and Winter and although the light and warmth of the world my be weak he is still in his power.

Todays rituals and activities may also include making of candles, planting spring flowers, reading poetry and telling stories.

A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:

Thig an nathair as an toll
La donn Bride,
Ged robh tri traighean dh’ an t-sneachd
Air leachd an lair.

“The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bride,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground.”

BRIGID; (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) is the goddess of poetry, healing, smithcraft fire, and fertility As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months

I am a wide flood on a plain

Ash is a large deciduous tree. It can reach a height of 45m and live for over 200 years.

In the language of flowers the Ash Tree symbolizes Grandeur and is the Scandinavian tree of universal magic.

It was referred to in the Eddas as the species of Yggdrasil – the ~World Tree.~

Folklore

It is said that the first man, named Ask, was created from the branches and flesh of the Ash tree.

According to the scared book of the north men, Edda, the great ash tree, under whose shade the gods held their court, represented the universe.

The Ancient Greeks thought that at the beginning of time, cloud-ash produced spawning small melia, which came together and resulted in man being created.

Celts used Ash for making spears which had greater magical powers, than the Wand.

It was a symbol of the Shamans willpower.

In North America, strips of black ash were split to make splints for baskets and hoops.

It was used in weaver’s beams and women would weave cloth.

The seeds of the Ash have been used in love divination. If the seeds did not appear on a tree the owner was said to have been unlucky in love, or a future venture would not be successful.

Finding a leaf by chance, success was doubly assured if the Ash leaf was kept or worn by the person.

Fresh ash leaves kept under the pillow stimulated psychic dreams.

In the North of England it was said that if a woman placed an Ash leaf in the left shoe, she would meet her future spouse immediately.

According to another English belief, if the winged seeds do not appear then a reigning monarch will die.

A Norwegian love story tells of Axel Thordsen and Fair Valdborg. They were not a couple in life but when they died they were buried next to each other. An Ash tree was planted on each grave. As the trees grew to the same height the branches inclined and became entwined.

According to a Scandinavian legend a giant once instructed a community to place the Ash tree on a church altar, in order to destroy the church. The people did not follow his instruction, but instead put the Ash tree on top of a grave. It immediately burst into flames.

I am a stag of seven times, or I am an ox of seven fights

There are 50 species of Paper and White Birch trees and shrubs.

It is associated with the deities – Frigg and Idunna and is the first tree of the Ogham.

Birch is considered feminine and is associated with the planet Venus, the element water, the God Thor, and imbued with the powers of protection, exorcism, and purification.

It represents new starts and new journeys.

The Birch tree symbolizes Gracefulness; Meekness; Self sacrifice; Devotion. Every part of the tree is edible.

It is one of the three pillars of Wisdom (Oak, Yew, Birch). The ~Lieschi~ or ~Genii of the Forest~ are said to dwell in their tree tops. These creatures were said to view the world from the top of the trees. Placing Birch branches in a circle with the points towards the centre was said to provide a way of the forest devils appearing.

Folklore

Birch twigs were fixed above a lover’s door on May Day in Cheshire, England, and placed in stables and houses to promote fertility. Young men, women and cattle were struck with birch twigs for this same purpose. Strips of the bark are used in love magic. The bark was also used in ancient times for writing.

Russian folk would hang a stem tied with a red ribbon to rid themselves of the evil eye. Another Russian tale believes that the Mother of God sits on top of a Birch tree on the Island of Buian.

Many farmers planted Birch around their houses to protect against lightning. Modern Druids burn it to cleanse and purify themselves during ceremonies. By binding together birch twigs and gently striking possessed people and animals with it, the haunting spirits can be exorcised. In Scandinavia, switches of birch are used on the bodies to stimulate the process of purification in the sauna and in Britain a Birch rod was used to purify criminals of their sins and misdeeds, and to expel evil spirits. It was also used as the schoolmaster’s/mistress’ rod. Birch represents the first moon of inception and in rituals, of deciding which spiritual seeds one should plant in the year. To communicate with the Goddess, one has to meditate in a Birch grove. It is used to make sets of runes for divination by gathering the wood during the waxing of the moon. Witches made their traditional brooms out of Birch. Cradles and canoes were made from this wood.

According to an Estonian legend, a man sleeping under the birch tree was woken by a peasant to save him from the approaching storm. The man thanked the peasant who told him that, ‘When, far from thy country and experiencing homesickness, thou shalt see a crooked Birch, strike it and ask, ‘Is the crooked one at home?’. It is said that later, when the man became a soldier in Finland he was homesick. Remembering what the peasant had said, he was surprised by the appearance of a crooked birch. As the soldier was repeating the expression, he was shocked to see the peasant appear. The peasant called upon the spirits that were known to him. He asked the spirits to relieve the man’s suffering. Instantly the soldier was transported to his home with a knapsack full of shining silver.

the Moons

Celtic Tree Calendar

The Moon is humanity’s oldest calendar. Evidence of ancient peoples keeping time by the phases of the moon have been found carved into rocks and cave walls the world over. The famous tree calendar of the Celts was such a time-keeping device, and, like other tribal cultures, the Celts found names and associations for their moon which were developed and codified over many years of ritual and experimentation. Each moon phase was assigned a corresponding tree, each tree being sacred to either feminine energy and to the Goddess, or to masculine energy and to the God.

The lunar tree calendar of the Celts has long been a source of controversy amont Celtic scholars. Some even claim it was never a part of the old Celtic world, but was an invention of author/researcher Robert Graves. The Druids are generally given credit by other researchers for creating this system. There seems to be no scholarly evidence to prove otherwise, yet many Celtic Pagans feel that the system pre-dates the time of Druidic influence over Celtic religious matters. It is probably reasonable to believe that the truth lies somewhere in between these three extremes. It is most likely that the tree system was in place, with minor regional variations before the time of the Druids who experimented with it, discovered the magickal properties of each tree, and codified all the information into the system we have today.

The trees the Druids selected for the thirteen months were already trees which were sources of magick and myth in Celtic folklore. Several of the trees are said to be attractive to faery folk, and others were sources of magick herbs or medicines.

Today the counting of the Celtic tree calendar begins with the full moon nearest Yule. Perhaps it once began with the full moon nearest Samhain since, until the influence of the Norse, Samhain marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year. When you have pinpointed the full moon closest to Yule, count off the thirteen moons of the lunar year and mark them with their Tree Calendar names.