Feathers in Ritual

I've been on a quest to find a perfect crow feather for both my medicine bag, as well as to use in ritual, and anyone in my life with ears (regardless of whether they even give a damn or not) has heard my endless kvetching over how lacking my magickal life is without this feather. I have all sorts of found feathers from all variety of birds: gull, jay, starling, robin, duck, chicken, male cardinal, and even an enormous and lovely wild turkey feather. But not a single crow, despite the woods behind my house being full of crows. It was suggested I gently ask the birds for a feather and perhaps leave an offering for them in return, but alas, still no feather has appeared. Now, the turkey feather is beautiful, and I know Ben Franklin was madly in love with the wild turkey (even going so far as to try to talk all his cronies into making it our national bird instead of the eagle), but to be honest, turkeys just don't for it for me. Not in any way, magickal or not. I want a crow feather and for me nothing else will do for the crow speaks deeply to me on so many levels.

Used in magickal ritual, feathers can channel energy and as they are ruled by the element of air, bring more open communication to your ritual, thus making your incantations more successfully heard. Calmer species of birds bring a sense of peace to a ritual, while those from more aggressive birds or hunters are ideal for defensive magick and spells that require more oomph. Likewise, the color of the bird's feather is equally as important as the species. Some of the more common bird feathers to be found and used are:

blackbird: ancient wisdom, inner knowledge and hidden insights

blue jay: courage to speak one's personal truth

cardinal: confidence

chickadee: joy and cheer

chicken: sacrifice, fertility

crow: magick, mystery, messenger from the realm of Spirit

dove (this includes pigeons): peace, gentleness and feminine energy

duck: emotional balance

eagle: spirit and power

hawk: strength, a messenger from Spirit

hummingbird: joy, boundless energy, hope

owl: wisdom, magickal visionary energy, feminine energy, secrets

robin: new beginnings, creative energy

sparrow: fertility, home

turkey: blessings and generosity

woodpecker: sacred rhthyms, hard work

With spring just around the corner, now is the time to keep your eyes open for freshly dropped feathers to use in your rituals. And to give thanks, be sure to leave a small offering that busy nest-building birds will appreciate.

Photo courtesy of hedgewytchhaven.com.

The Day of the Dead

Here are some images of my ancestor altar for this year's Samhain celebration and for the Day of the Dead. I try always to use things that are very person-specific on it, objects that belonged to a loved one who has passed or items which speak very strongly to me of that person's character. I like to use loads of photographs too, sometimes using multiple different images of the same person, especially when it's someone who is still incredibly important to me, despite they're no longer being on this earthly plane. I also tend to use things in threes: candles, apples, pumpkins et al, as to me this represents the three stages of the life cycle: birth, death and rebirth.

This year's altar had big paper flowers to represent the powerful marigolds that are no longer available here in New England at this time of year, nine tarot cards chosen for this day and year, strands of orange fairy lights (I never did find a way to use those purple ones that were giving me fits a few weeks back), three candles in basic black as well as three of my favorite tri-color ones in black, orange and white, seven skulls (another magickal number) to represent the souls of all my loved ones and ancestors past, and three green apples for health, three pumpkins and small bundle of three strawberry corn cobs to represent the harvest of Samhain. My altar also had on it my beloved crow (he's fake but incredibly well done) who is always in the center of this particular altar to represent this sabbat's magick and mystery as well as to stand as a messenger from the realm of the spirits. And in honor of my full-blooded Native American ancestors I always have a small cup of ground cornmeal and a small cup of pure, organic loose tobacco. Those are then scattered on the earth afterwards as an offering to Grandmother Moon and Grandfather Sun.

As exciting as this sabbat is, there is also a certain sadness that lingers after it's all over for this year. There comes on the heels of the wonderful witch's celebration a feeling of sorrow, of wishing for loved ones passed, of the darkness that falls a bit earlier and earlier each night, of the death of the God and the harvest. It isn't particularly unpleasant, but it isn't exactly happy either, sort of like a restless feeling in one's soul. But this cycle of sorrow too will pass as we roll along towards the upcoming sabbats of the year, and this melancholy will be replaced with joy. Everything in balance and everything just as it should be.

Blessed be to all of you out there and the loved ones you are honoring this day.

Decorating for Samhain

With Samhain just over two weeks away, I've been busy decorating for the New Year's celebration. I'm not big on lots of gaudy hoo-haws strung everywhere, but I did buy several lengthy strands of fairy lights in a vibrant orange and a soft purple. The only trouble is, I wanted them for indoors and I've yet to figure out where to string them. I've tried a few places, and even spent some time wrapping two strands together so the orange and purple could play off one another and they looked lovely all lit up, but I still hated them where I had put them and so after all that fussing, I ended up taking them back down anyways. For now, all those sweet lights are sitting in large snarled piles on my dining room table, looking rather forlorn.

I also bought a strand of tiny jack o' lanterns that light up and that I put on the mantel over the main fireplace in our house, letting them meander where they chose. And with a few of the little pumpkins hanging whimsically off the face of the mantel and with some small sized real pumpkins and a few little skulls, I'm pleased with the way they look. Thank goodness, as it would have been really depressing if I couldn't make anything work to my liking.

I use my sideboard in the dining room for my ancestor altar and today I pulled from my cellar the boxes labeled "Samhain" and began going through the items that I traditionally place on my shrine to those I love- and those I never knew but am bound to by blood- who have passed. Crows, skulls, large paper flowers I made years ago to replace the live flowers traditional to "Day of the Dead" celebrations and which are unattainable in New England at this time of year, candles, items that were personal to some of the people whose photos grace my altar, and more. I usually start to set it up about a week or so before Samhain and take it down on November 2. In the last days leading up to the sabbat I'll add fruit, vegetables and vegetation fresh-cut from the wild.

For me the act of going downstairs, pulling from my cellar the cartons where I store all my Samhain items during the year, bringing them up into the house proper and opening them is much like opening gifts on Christmas morning. I always get a small thrill when I see all these beloved things that have shared with me the passing of the seasons and likewise so many loved ones, and who in their own inanimate way have marked the years I have spent in the Craft. This is my favorite sabbat of the year and I can't wait until it's October 31.

Even if I never find a spot for those damn fairy lights!

October

I don't believe there's a more spiritual way to welcome the month of October than this.

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the

fall; Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes' sake along the wall.

Robert Frost, 1913

Photo courtesy of b3nut on flickr.