In our house, Midsummer is Manannán and Fand’s Day, and for the past few years (since we gave them the day officially in our Household Religious Calendar) I’ve been wanting to go to the beach for the closest weekend to it… but alas, this year we once again couldn’t make that work out. The closest actual bit of the ocean is about a 3.5 hour drive, and with a 1yo who hates care rides and two busy weekends, it just didn’t happen.
Instead, we went to a riverside park, hoping that would be acceptable. When we got there, we saw a heron at the end of the dock, who remained there the entire time we did, even when we threw the apples into the water as an offering. I’m pretty sure that means it was acceptable!
Yeah, it’s a little blurry, but this is a phone photo
After spending some time next to the water, we wandered off in search of a restaurant for dinner, and found a neat little nautical themed bistro. I had fish tacos, which were super tasty! I didn’t have a prayer prepared, but we nodded a bit to Manannán and Fand and had a little holiday dinner. Afterwards, we went for ice cream, and then walked back to the park. The heron had left, and the apples were nowhere to be seen, so we headed back to the car and drove home. Not very flashy, but it was comfortable, and I’d be happy to make visiting that park a new family tradition. Though one of these years we are definitely going to make it to the beach…
WOW this month has been busy so far! And our Beltaine celebration started that off, pretty much.
We were hoping to have a Beltaine-eve bonfire with local pagan friends but the host unfortunately got sick, so we had another small hearth celebration, like we did for the Spring Equinox. The deity of the occasion for us this time is Áine, the Fairy Queen, and we also celebrate the fae (particularly the Seelie and nature-aligned ones) for this holiday.
Our meal consisted of a spring green salad with berries and goat cheese and honey with a berry vinaigrette dressing (YUM!), and gluten free angel food cake with home made strawberry topping for dessert. We also picked up a package of violet flavored chocolate covered marshmallows on a whim at the grocery store, so that’s the other thing on the plate! And we finally got Áine her own candle for the shrine shelf.
I used the prayer from the Spring Equionx again, altering it for the new holiday, and though I didn’t write it down at the time, I’ve recreated it as closely as possible below:
Beltaine has arrived, and the days are growing longer than the nights,
Plants are unfurling their leaves, and some have begun to bloom!
Spring has now reached its height, and the season is turning again
We stand at the balance: Spring becomes Summer
And on this day, we honor Áine
Queen of the Fae, Lady of Golden Light
Come to us now, and join in our celebration!
We offer you food, and drink, and merriment!
We ask in return for your blessings.
Help us to continue to grow and to bloom in this season.
Áine, Hail and Welcome!
A couple of days later, we took part in a ritual planned by a local pagan friend of ours that focused on the Green Man as a metaphor for the growth of the coming season. My role was that of a quarter call, in which I invoked local waterways, tying us back to the local environment. (The details for that are probably best left for a post on local cultus.) Here’s an image of the altar at the end of the rite (unfortunately by that time, the Green Man face we had constructed together was beginning to lose leaves!)
Here at the Blue House*, the Spring Equinox is an occasion to honor Arianhrod, and in keeping with my desire to come up with hearth traditions, we made a meal for the occasion, with a Welsh dish called Anglesey Eggs as the centerpiece.
I started the day before, with homemade slow-cooker mashed potatoes using Yukon Golds and lots of Irish butter and garlic salt. Yum! I also boiled a half dozen eggs, and dyed them in blueberry juice. They turned out quite lovely, though I forgot to crackle them ahead of time so the colors would seep through! Oops.
The day of our celebration, I sautéed some leeks in more of that lovely Irish butter with some more garlic… and then realized that it was going to be impossible to mix them into the cold mashed potatoes without heating it all the way up first… oops again. So instead, I just put them on top of the mash, and put the sliced boiled eggs on top of those.
I’d had grand plans for roasted lamb or a lamb meatloaf, but couldn’t find what I wanted in a price range that would fit our tight budget, so instead I browned about a pound of ground lamb in a skillet with some herbs (mint, rosemary, savory, and thyme) and then sprinkled that around the eggs before I added the cheese sauce and bread crumb topping. It was DELICIOUS.
Arianrhod’s plate and glass
I am definitely doing this again next year, though hopefully with lamb meatloaf! I had also planned on making welsh cakes with currants but I ran out of time and energy, alas. Next year, for sure!
Once the casserole was hot through and all the cheese was melted, we brought it to the table and served each of us a plate, with one on the side for Arianrhod, as our esteemed guest for the occasion. We also opened a bottle of bubbly and poured everyone (except the baby) a glass! When the food was served, I read aloud a prayer I had written for the occasion:
The Spring Equinox has arrived,
And the days are now as long as the nights.
The Plants are awakening from their slumber,
And green things are growing again!
No more is Spring only a promise of things to come,
But not yet is the world awash in flowers.
Here we are at the balance–
Mid-Spring, between Midwinter and Midsummer!
And on this day we honor Arianrhod,
Lady of the Silver Wheel, who dwells in Caer Sidi.
Come to us now, and join our celebration!
We offer you food, and drink, and merriment!
We ask in return for your blessings:
Help us to grow and to manifest the seeds we have planted.
ARIANRHOD, HAIL AND WELCOME!
And that was pretty much it! Good food, good drink, the family together. We shared the meal with our house spirits, we poured some drink for our other gods, and had ourselves a homey little celebration of the turning of the seasons.
How was yours?
*that’s what I’ve taken to calling our home, since both Scott and I have the color blue in common, spiritually.
Our Imbolc started on January 30th, with a small gathering of pagan friends on the night of the super blue full moon! It was beautiful, but alas I did not remember to charge and bring my good camera, so I have no photos. I shall endeavor not to make that mistake again.
We did a bit of moon gazing, and then did our usual around-in-a-circle sharing what we’d been up to, spiritually and otherwise, since last we all met in thunder, lightning, or in rain. It was too cold this time for us to be outside for long, so no fire to burn offerings in, but we offered Brigid and the Cailleach (our deities of the occasion for this holiday) a scone with some honey whiskey poured over it, on a rock near our host’s front door instead.
I started with this box of blueberry scone mix (gluten free, of course), and added some lavender and lemon peel, and made them with buttermilk instead of whatever the box recommended. They were pretty tasty!
I do think I really ought to start planning food for the holidays ahead of time, though. I’d like to create something that the Acorn Sproutling can grow up with as a family tradition. Scones seem pretty good for Imbolc – but maybe lemon poppyseed instead, with a honey glaze? Made with buttermilk again, of course!
A few days later, we met another group of pagans at a restaurant for a meet and greet, sort of continuing the season. On Imbolc proper we did a little bit at home, but not much, because our ritual was last Sunday, with the pagan group at our local UU Church. That was organized by a woman who was just getting to know Brigid, and it was really heartwarming to see someone dive into the lore surrounding a goddess I’ve come to love. The ritual itself centered on the participants writing “seeds” of things they wished to manifest on pieces of paper, which were then tied on sticks (to be shared) or tied around one’s neck (to remain secret). It was quite creative, and the whole thing really brought together a few different strains of Imbolc traditions and lore about the goddess herself.
Now that Imbolc has passed, I expect I’ll begin to really feel the return of the light soon – Spring is almost here!
This year for Wep Ronpet I was (once again) out of town – this time, at my brother’s wedding. Same as last year, I blogged pictures of offerings (votive offerings for the modern age) for the Birthday Kids during the Epagomenal days, and offered them a shot glass of cool water in front of my travel shrine. On Wep Ronpet, I did a red paper execration (no throwing a pot this year, drat), took my ritual meditative bath, dedicated my new statues of Bast and Sekhmet, and came away with the following pledges as my oath for the new year:
I will light my shrine candle(s) weekly, attempting to do so each Sunday.
I will answer one of the new prompts in my list of 45 Kemetic Prompts every Sunday, though I may skip some weeks and catch up on others as long as I am finished before next year’s Epagomenal Days.
I will make a larger offering on the Bright Moon, because as the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun, so too am I a reflection of their power. I have a three-day window, and if I am sick or there are extenuating circumstances it may be as small as a single stick of incense.
I will channel an oracular message (for myself but also the wider world) on the Bright Moon (again with a three-day window), and it can be tarot-assisted but I should pull the cards after, not before.
I will answer at least two oracular requests, if I have received any, again on the three-day Bright Moon, unless I am sick or otherwise out of spoons.
I will perform at least two heka requests, if I have received any, again on the three-day Bright Moon, unless I am sick or otherwise out of spoons.
I will complete one major research project a year, to include such projects as: read and review a book on Ancient Egyptian religion, do in-depth research on one topic, etc.
I will celebrate both Wep Ronpet and the Sailing Holiday.
On Wep Ronpet, I will purchase one shrine upgrade or magical tool and dedicate it, and I will renew my oath for the new year.
Well, it turned out that I mostly ended up doing a very short meditation on the deity in question on the day-of, after queuing most of the shrine images and the “about this deity” posts on my kemetic tumblr in advance. Then I pulled a single card from my Lo Scarabeo Egyptian Tarot deck, as a message from the deity. If you want to see those posts, check out this link. The messages were overwhelmingly about hospitality and working together, so I think I’m going to be working a bit more with the Kemetic pantheon in the coming year.
I didn’t manage to see the star rise, unfortunately, because it was cloudy, but I was awake and I did my brief meditation at that time or a little after. I did the execration on Wep Ronpet itself, because rain made our other plans for the afternoon and evening somewhat delayed, and by the time we had eaten and everyone had written on the pot, I was much too tired. So the next morning I donned my whites (my casual whites – I decided a nice white tank top was a better idea for camping than my new white dress), took the pot, declared it to be isfet, and offered its destruction to Bast and Sekhmet, Eyes of Ra! Then I handed it to a friend who has some serious things she needed gone, to smash because I was still not quite energized enough to really slam it. But she slammed it. Gods did she ever. And then a bunch of us picked up the pieces and tossed them in the trash where it belongs. Good fucking riddance, isfet.
Then Glasreo and I headed home from our lil druidy camping trip, and the next day I had a New Year’s bath in honor of Bast and Sekhmet. I used a “yoga” Bath bomb from Lush – that’s in the posts from the link above, too. I realized that my original oath of service to Bast has expired… I am due to re-oath myself, this time to both of them, and I did, briefly, but I need to write out a more formal contract sometime soon, to honor my role as an oracle-priestess-in-training. And I may need to figure out an Egyptian phrase for that.
All in all, it was a very excellent first holiday, and you can expect more Kemetic holiday celebrations getting written up here in the future.
I’m attempting a Kemetic New Year celebration for the first time this year! I’ve been a devotee of Bast and Sekhmet for a while now, and I decided it’s finally time to really start doing holidays. Previously I had not done much by way of Kemetic holiday celebrations in large part because the calendar is pretty complicated – the new year is calculated starting from the first day the star Sirius can be seen in the pre-dawn twilight, ahead of the sunrise. That requires staring at a lot of star charts and comparing dates to find the first day… and then calculating how many days between Wep Ronpet and any given holiday in the calendar, and adding that many days to your calculated Wep Ronpet date… and honestly, it was bit overwhelming. But this year, I bit the bullet, and I’m doing Wep Ronpet. I’m using the date for DC even though I live a bit into Virginia – and that date is August 7th, at 5:42 am. That means that the five Epagomenal Days start on August 2nd, with the Birthday of Wesir (Osiris), followed by Heru-Wer (Horus the Elder), Set, Aset (Isis), and Nebhet (Nepthys) being the final birthday on August 6th. That evening I’m also planning on doing a red pot execration, similar to the one I described in a previous post. With any luck I will also rise early enough to see the star herself rise, ushering in the new year.
Although I will be camping with druidy friends for Lughnasadh for most of that week, I am setting up a follow-along for the Epagomenal Days and Wep Ronpet on my Kemetic tumblog, so check that out if you’re interested. I’ll also post a reflection once it’s all over.
I am very excited and I hope this will be the beginning of a year with many new holidays for me! (Especially if the Egyptian Daybook is actually released soon.) I have stuck a few into my calendar already: the Festival of Bast and Sekhmet (Nov 19), the Sailing of Bast, Sekhmet, and Anubis (Jan 3-5), and the Festival of Chewing Onions for Bast (Apr 16). I don’t know what I’ll be doing for all of them, yet, but I think Bast and Sekhmet have big plans for me this coming year.
