How To Raise a Wicked Witch

The 'eh' holiday!

2010-09-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Mabon!!!!

The Witches' Thanksgiving!!!

Such a sad little holiday. It so often gets pushed aside in our joyous dash to Samhain. But Mabon can still be a fun reflective holiday that reminds us that we should be thankful.

This year we did Mabon amongst friends ... and then at home...and invited a few friends over. Which you should do. After all, I know that I am thankful for my friends.

It was a lovely evening that was ripe with fall air, but not so cold that being outside was uncomfortable. We whipped up some apple cider in the crockpot for ale and baked an apple tart for cakes.

We all gathered outside by the fire to have a Mabon ritual. To start we called the quarters in a different way. To carry the theme that we were focusing on our quarter calls we worked on visualization. We visualized the elements and how they present themselves in the fall. For me, I saw the East as a cold fall breeze. The South was the crackling fire and the blazing sunset. The West was the frost on my car window. The Earth....well the earth embodies the change by showing it to us in the most obvious ways. The changing leaves, the ripe gourds, the dying vegetation. All signs of fall.

We called the Lord and Lady with fall chosen words and then everyone settled into their seats to listen to my speech.

Mabon is not a traditional holiday. More a holiday brought about to bring balance to Ostara that had seen such a rise in popularity. It is also a healthy reminder that pagans love to party. Mabon is the middle festival of the harvest. A time to give thanks for all that we have in our lives and to take stock of what we are taking with us into the future. I shared my favorite sign of fall, the apple. The apple is such a lovely sign of both the season and the Goddess. I cut the apple in two and showed the group the pentagram inside. Then I told them the story of the most famous apple, the one Eve gave to Adam. We talked about how the original fruit was not named an apple but that it had become one over the course of time. I suggested that it was because the apple was sacred to the Goddess as well as the serpent. I suggest that the true crime of Eve was seeking out knowledge of Goddess worship. We talked a great deal about this and then we talked about another theory, that Lilith was the serpent that gave Eve the apple. I told the story of Lilith and how she was turned into a demon. I told of her journey and her struggles for equality. I told of how she resurfaced when women were ready to embrace her. I told of how on this Mabon...this Thanksgiving....I was thankful for Lilith.

Here is Inara lighting the Mabon incense.

Witchclass....revisted

2010-09-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Time to get back to those Witchclasses.

This most recent Witchclass has seen us heading back to basics. I noticed during a recent public ritual that everyone was following a different protocol when it came to calling quarters. Which they should. But, I also noticed that my family seemed a little vague on the quarters and I thought we should spend some time on that.

In my teachings I am guiding my students that quarter calls have three elements. There is the spoken word, the physical act and the mental visualization.

We are starting our lessons with the physical act of invoking pentagrams. Each place on the pentagram represents an element. When we call the quarter and invoke that element, we draw the pentagram in such a way that is unique for that element and references the location off the element on the pentagram. To be honest.....I have been putting off this blog entry because I have NO idea how to convey this image using the written word. When I talked to the witchlette and the hubby....I employed a picture to help with what I was showing.

This one....
http://asiya.org/article.php/InvokingandBanishingPentagrams

This site has a good visual of what I showed them and it translates well with all the fun colors. At home, we drew the pentagram and the elements on the mirror in the living room so that we could see it everyday and really commit those places to memory.

We also went over each direction and talked about some memory tricks that I use to remember which element starts from which direction. I think it worked since we gave Raven a pop quiz at dinner last week and she had them down.

The next element of quarter calls is the visualizations. We started working on that during Mabon.....which will be my next entry.....

The year of living dangerously....

2010-08-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

I mean....

The year of living in Witchcraft.

So, I have tried to split my focus for the past year and I failed miserably. I tried to take a part in my pagan community and 'give something back' as I was directed in my educational agenda. I also tried to spear head my eldest daughter's own education in the craft. While I made leaps and bounds in getting out there and trying to engage my pagan community (leaps weren't exactly positive, but they were leaps), I fell flat on my face for my child.

With that in mind... We are having the year of focus. From the festival of Mabon to Lammas next year we will be having a year of Witchcraft for teens. (And perhaps even for the hubby since he has been ignored lately.)

Keep us bookmarked as we make our journey.

Failure to thrive....

2010-06-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

We haven't stopped learning in this house.... I just stopped blogging about it.

So, what have we been up to?

I got another level of the Wheel of the Year done. And then all my labels either fell off the wall, or were torn down by the wee one.

My intention was to make the labels for the holidays and the dates removable so that the girls could be tested on that information. Alas, the labels didn't stick. I will have to go back to the drawing board, but I am already thinking of Velcro.

We have been continuing with the God/Goddess of the month and we have accumulated quite the long list of deities. So far we have studied Athena, Janus, Cupid, Holda, Papa Legba, Hathor and Zeus.

Normal Witchclass has taken a back seat to Raven's regular school work since she has really had to give it her full attention to get her grades up. It has been a rough couple of months and I am hoping that the summer reprieve will give her brain a chance to catch up. Even though we often have her do homework during the summer, she won't be learning new concepts. Just reinforcing the old ones.

We have managed to squeeze in a discussion about the three faces of the Goddess and what they mean. The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone. This was a concept that was easier to teach now that Raven has reached puberty. The idea that a woman has 'phases' of her life isn't so foreign anymore.

I will plan a more formal post on a lesson once we have one. **wink**

A Saltwater Purificiation

2010-04-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Last night's Witchclass was brought to you by Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle. Since mommy is doing a book study, it works well to teach from there.

One of the first things we do when casting the circle is to prepare a saltwater cleansing for the area and tools. Raven has practiced this twice before during ritual, and with this exercise we focused on that act.

Coyle's exercise was a little more in depth in the act, which is a nice direction of energy so that we can be in the moment of doing it and perhaps hone intent a little more with our every day ritual space cleansing. The words are far more simple and would be easier for a child to remember. But alas, I am old school and I like the grand declarations of intent. But getting rid of all the words helped to focus the actions. There was also no use of ritual tools. Again, this helps to focus intent. Energy was shared via breath and not tool, an interesting change.

Fill a bowl with clear water. Say, "Blessed be, creature of water." Breathe across the surface, watching your breath make ripples, connecting you to this element. Pour a small amount of salt into your hand. Breathe across it, saying, "Blessed be, creature of salt" Pour this into the bowl of water, stirring, counterclockwise, the direction of banishing energy, and say, "May I be cleansed." Bow breathe out all that keeps you from your work.
Once you feel clear enough to do your work, begin to stir the water clockwise, the direction of invocation. "Inner and outer, may all be transformed." Breathe across the water again, and anoint yourself with some. Pour the rest out to cleanse the sidewalk in front of your home, or pour it into a sink to clean your drains.

O Circle of Power....

2010-03-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

I conjure thee, O Circle of Power, that thou be a boundary between the world of man and the realms of the mighty ones; A guardian and a protector, that shall preserve and contain the power that we shall raise within thee.

Raven's first memorization project.

This is the part where I offer my wisdom of 'been there, done that'. I set off to teach Raven the reason behind setting a circle as being similar to why Christian's go to church. Unfortunately, Raven has no church experience and has no idea why Christian's go to church. That was a total fail.

So, we started over again.

Setting a circle serves the purpose of creating a spiritual place that isn't just spiritual in name, but in feeling. The very act of setting the circle for communion and honoring of the Gods over and over again sets the stage for the next time. It is in the repetition of the action that puts your mind in the right frame to do spiritual work.

We decided to talk about the Circle by dissecting the evocation.

I conjure thee,

YOU are raising the circle with your own energy. Bringing it into creation.

O Circle of Power,

It IS a circle of power. But we should point out that it isn't really a circle. It is a sphere. The sphere is created using a circle and that circle extends both up and down and meets to form an enclosed space.

that thou be a boundary between the world of man

That would be the world of the mundane where we reside day to day.

and the realms of the mighty ones;

The world of the astral plane. (Gonna have to figure out a better explanation for that one. Perhaps one of those dozen of books I have.)

A guardian and a protector,

What does a guardian do? He guards the entry. What does a protector do? He protects the structure.

that shall preserve and contain the power that we shall raise within thee.

To preserve means to maintain at the same level. Contain means that the quantity remains.

By breaking down the call and talking about each element we strengthened our understanding of what it meant.

Next we talked about different ways to erect the circle. We talked about how some people envision a blue light extending from a tool of choice such as the sword, the athame or even the index finger. We talked about creating a circle buy taking each of the elements around the circle parameter.

While I know that the circle is a complex subject matter, but this is really just laying some ground work. We will cover more in depth circle techniques and philosophies later.

Update on Positive Affirmations.

2010-03-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Raven's teacher called her over on Friday morning and wanted to 'talk' to her. She wanted to tell her how proud of Raven she was because her grades have come up so high, so fast.

What to talk about.

2010-03-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

`Lex and I have been kicking around a more structured learning platform. We have decided on a regular basis of study.

New moons are for naming the month's God/Goddess and holding inner circle to welcome the new deity.

1st quarter - Lesson (may include homework assignments)

Full moons are for honoring and learning of the God/Goddess of the month in an open ritual.

3rd quarter - Lesson (may include homework assignments)

Sabbats will be held on their traditionally observed day.

But ....

What to teach.

Here is a starter list of random topics I wish to cover. (They are in no order)

The element of Air
The element of Water
The element of Earth
The element of Fire
Why do we erect the circle and how.
Ritual construction
The Goddess
The God
The purpose of words
Raising energy
History of the craft
Yule
Imbolc
Lughnasadh
Beltane
Litha
Samhain
Ostara
Mabon
Meditation
Divination
Phases of the moon
Working with herbs
Working with stones
Ritual tools

I will most likely continue to add to this list.

A starter lesson

2010-02-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

Every good witch knows that magick starts from within. You must believe it to create it.

Today's lesson was in positive affirmations.
(for those of you NOT raising witches, here is an excellent lesson for your younglings)

An affirmation is something that you tell yourself over and over. Sometimes it's positive and sometimes it is negative. Raven has been battling her grades for a long time. It recently occurred to me that the reason is because she pumps herself full of negative affirmations. I am forgetful, I don't understand, I am stupid. When you say these things to yourself your mind does two things. The first thing it does is acknowledge that you just gave it permission to continue to be those things. After all, you have already made excuses for all future acts. The second thing it does.....is believe it. When you start to believe those things you have worked the magick to make it so. When you add positive affirmations to your daily routine, you begin the transformation of turning yourself into that positive person.

Although this is an excellent lesson for everyone, it has special weight for witchlettes. This is beginner magick. You must learn that you have this kind of power over your being before you can begin to exhibit power over things outside of yourself.

Now before we get to the act of creating and implementing the affirmation, we should point out a crucial element about the wording. You MUST phrase an affirmation in the form of the present. That means, you CAN NOT say "I will be a model employee". That future tense will do you no good. Your mind will never reach its goal because you have put it into the loop that you are always going to be on the path to success and not actually BE successful. You must say 'I AM the model employee."

On to the magick of making things happen.

To start Raven's track back to school success. I asked her to define a good student and make a list.

What does being a good student mean to you?:
Focusing
Striving to better myself
Doing my best work
Organization
Caring about my grades

We decided that her affirmation was going to be 'I am an AMAZING student!" By defining what a good student is, she has a clear image in her head every time she says her affirmation. I do think this is an important element. You can't just say "I am a good person" but not know what makes a person good.

We used a dry erase marker to put that affirmation on her bathroom mirror so that she could run it over and over again in her mind as she brushed her teeth. She also added in down the side of the mirror all the things that we defined a good student as.

I told her that if she used this affirmation every day and believed it, her grades would come up by the end of the year.

The Wheel, Part 1

2010-02-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

It isn't hard for a child to grasp that Christmas and their birthday come once a year. But how do you cement the 8 sabbats and their order?

The Wheel of the Year. The Wheel is a wonderful tool that most adult pagans have seen, digested and moved on from. We don't often get it back out to review despite the fact that it is in almost EVERY Wicca 101 book.

I found the base line for this idea in the Raising Witches book by Ashleen O'Gaea. Her recommendation had been poster size, but I say COMMIT!!!

GO ALL OUT!!!

PAINT IT ON THE WALLLLLLL!!!

So I did.

We have a play room for the girls where they can hang out with their toys. On that wall, big as Dallas, I have painted the wheel. In my next post I will give more details, but I wanted to give you all a little sneak peak.

(No, you do NOT have to paint it on the wall to have a valid commitment. You just need to have it where they can see and absorb it on a regular basis. Painting worked for me because I had a ton of paint laying about the house.)

Dedication

2010-02-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the excerpt of Raven's dedication ritual - -

Priestess:

Young one, do you wish to be dedicated

to the journey of learning of the Gods and the craft?

Raven:

I do.

Priestess:

Do you promise to immerse yourself into study of not just the Gods

but to all areas of education that will enrich your spiritual path?

Raven:

I do.

Priestess:

Blessed Be your eyes

That they may see truth and wisdom.

Raven:

Blessed Be my eyes.

Priestess:

Blessed Be your ears.

That they may hear the words of the Goddess and the God.

Raven:

Blessed Be my ears.

Priestess:

Blessed Be your mouth

That it may speak the truth. May you always speak with honor.

Raven:

Blessed be my mouth.

Priestess:

Blessed Be your feet

May they never lead you down the wrong path.

Raven:

Blessed Be my feet.

(Raven kneels in front of the altar and lights the candle)

Priestess:

O Great Athena,

Please accept this young witch and guide

her and shape her.

Bring her wisdom

Bring her strength

Bring her the passion to focus her life

that she can achieve the highest goals

and the be a beacon to those who

see her.

Priestess:

Do you Raven, pledge yourself

to the Goddess Athena?

To love Her and to hold her in high regard?

To honor Her?

Raven:

I do

Priestess:

Do you also pledge yourself

to honor the God?

To be open to his lessons and

to seek to find the balance he offers?

Raven:

I do

Priestess:

Do you pledge yourself to keep silent

Of what you shall learn

And to respect that which is taught to you?

Raven:

I do.

Priestess:

Then you shall be taught to be wise,

That in the fullness of time

You shall count yourself

Among those who serve the Gods

Among those who belong to the craft,

Among those who are called the Mighty Dead.

Let your life, and the life to come

Be in the service

Of our noble Lady.

May this moment in time mark your life

That you shall be a child of the Gods

And that you shall learn of them and embrace them.

Priestess: (anoint the dedicant)

May the Goddess Athena accept you as her charge.

A quick reminder:

2010-01-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

Don't force it...or yourself....on your Wicked Witchlet.

Me to Husband: I need to come up with a good education Goddess for Raven's dedication.
Husband: Why not use Athena.
Me: Eh. She's a warrior Goddess.
Husband: She is a scholarly Goddess.
Me: I don't remember that bit....
Husband: Yes...she is.
Me: I was thinking of picking a different Goddess.
Husband: Why? She is already connected to Athena.

This is an important lesson. I didn't need to pick a patron Goddess for her, she already had one.

Are you committed?

2010-01-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

Step two.

Are you committed to raising a Wicked Witch? This isn't one of those endeavors where you 'expose' your offspring to random circles and teach them a few Greek myths. You NEED to commit to making this an everyday thing. You need to decide if you are willing to take on a student that is getting a purely extracurricular education in YOUR beliefs for the purpose of directing their future spiritual lives with intent and not so much a open door policy.

But every day? Ok, not EVERY day. But don't let it become a casual interaction. There should be lesson plans and tests. There should be objectives. There should be intent.

hhhmmmm.....

Perhaps I should go start on that.

How To Raise a Wicked Witch

2010-01-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

In the beginning....

No seriously. We must start at the beginning so we will start with the definition of a wicked witch so we know where we want to end up.

A wicked witch is a passionate individual who seeks to rely on her own abilities to mold the future.
A wicked witch is a person who is comfortable in their own skin.
A wicked witch is someone above the petty reactions of emotion.
A wicked witch can still act on emotion if need be.
A wicked witch can use all her skill set to find peace in her life and future.
A wicked witch never stops learning.

A wicked witch is apt named because there are not enough wicked witches in the world.