Category: Thanksgiving

Lammastide and Gratitude

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Blame Sannion, Lammas, Mabon, Thanksgiving1 Comment

Hello Friends,

So we are betwixt and between the Calendrical and the  Astronomical Lammas right now.   Most traditionally a time of coming together with friends and family and community.   Now I realize that Mabon is the time when I as a Witch am supposed to be thinking of Giving Thanks… but Gratitude is on my mind right now.

It is only slightly less than a year since the Big Guy broke up with me.  It is also a little less than a year since I cast the most fervent prayer/spell I have ever cast.

At the time I decided, sometime in the first couple of months, that I we feeling a LOT of grief and that the thing I needed most was time.  So I gave myself a year.

In that year I have grieved, faced a number of challenges, worked, prayed and done a lot of reading and thinking.  I have had touching messages from friends I have met face to face and friends I (currently) know only through the Internet.  I have had laughter and made new friends face to face and begun finding the pieces and parts of myself that I left behind in the move to Florida and that were knocked out of me when the Big Guy dumped me.

I take a moment to breathe in life force, and to exhale gratitude into my connection with all life.

Everything can be a lesson, every moment can make us wiser and stronger and happier and healthier… if we put in the work and are open to the inspriation.  I have so much more to learn in this particular lifetime, but I feel like the last year has helped me put together puzzle pieces of a number of my life’s lessons so far, and taught me strange and new things.  So this Lammas-tide I find myself Grateful, and looking forward to Mabon and to the Secular Thanksgiving Holidays even as I make my offerings of incense and libations to the Holy Powers in the regular rhythms of my life.

Blessed Be,

Pax / Geoffrey

What Hecate Said…

On By PaxIn Brigid, Imbolc Poetry Blogging, remembering, Thanksgiving, The Goddess, witcheryLeave a comment

So Hecate, (no not Her, the only-slightly-less-awesome blogger of the same name) said some amazingly eloquent and wonderful words about, well, words; and in Honor of the Imbolc poetry slam shared her favorite copy of a particularly special poem.

I’ve shared a couple of favorites in years past, but as I am reminded by Hecate’s words, there is a poem without which I would not be here, either writing as a Witch, or even living.

There was a point in my life where I contemplated ending it, in the deep aftermath of my mothers death I went through a time of depression.  I was walking along a busy roadside and thought to myself

“I could just step off of the side-walk and into traffic and it would all be over….”

my very next thought was,

“…Well, I would have to deal with all of this again in my next lifetime… I may as well deal with it now…”

In all likelihood, I would not be alive today if it were not for the fact of my being a Witch.  One of the things that drew me to Witchcraft was the eloquence and beauty and power, that core feeling of rightness and an internal “Yes!” in response to a particular piece of invocational poetry.  So I owe my life, in part, to the same poem that Hecate lovingly referenced in her post, I love that poem too.

I too have a version I cherish and use myself, so inspired by Hecate, and with the deepest and most profound thanks to Doreen and the Lady for penning it; here is that version…

Charge of the Goddess

By Doreen Valiente

“Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who of Old was known amongst men as Artemis, Astarte, Athena, Isis, Cerridwen, Diana, Melusine, Brigid, Kwan-yin, Bast, and by many other names.”

“Whenever you have need of anything, once in the month, and better it be when the Moon is full, then shall you assemble in some sacred place and there adore the spirit of me, who is Queen of all Witcheries. There shall you assemble, and you who would learn all Magic, yet have not gained its deepest secrets, there will I teach you things yet unknown. You shall be free from Slavery; and in token that you are truly free you shall be naked in your rites.

Sing! Feast! Dance! Make music and Love all in my praise and presence. For mine is the Spirit of Ecstasy, and mine as well is joy on Earth, and Love Unto All Beings in My Law.

Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it; let nothing stop you or turn you aside.

For mine is the Secret Door that opens upon Youth; Mine is the Cup of the Wine of Life, that is the Cauldron of Cerridwen, that is the Holy Grail of Immortality. I am the Gracious Goddess who gives the Gift of Joy unto the Heart of humanity. Upon Earth, I give knowledge of the Spirit Eternal and beyond death; I give peace, freedom, and reunion with those who have gone before. Nor do I demand Sacrifice; for behold, I am the Mother of all things, and my love is poured forth across the worlds.”

“Now hear the words of the Star Goddess, the Dust of whose heels is the Host of Heaven and whose body encircles the Universe”

“I who am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon among the stars, and the Mysteries of the Waters, and the Desire in all hearts, call unto your soul. Arise and come unto Me! For I am the Soul of Nature, who gives life to the Universe. From me all things proceed and unto me all things return; and before my face, beloved of Gods and Mortals, let your innermost self be enfolded in the ecstasy of the Divine!

Let my Worship be within the Heart that rejoices, for behold, All Acts of Love and Pleasure Are My Rituals.

Therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, and mirth and reverence within you. And you who think to seek me out, know that all your seeking and yearning shall be to no avail unless you shall know the mystery; that If That Which You Seek You Do Not Find Within, You Shall Surely Never Find It Without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of all desire.”

~compiled from various published versions, and with a few touches by Pax

As noted this is my version of The Charge, for the original text go here!

Peace, Poetry, and Blessings,

Pax

Toasting the Bountiful Harvest ~ Beaujolais Nouveau

On By PaxIn Culinary Pagan, Dionysus, Food of the Gods, Religio-Americana, Thanksgiving1 Comment

Dear friends and Pagani,

I dedicate this Thanksgiving post to Night Wandering Dionysus and the rest of the Theoi Daitioi (Gods of Feasting).

Folks who look at the evolution of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday will often point out that the Pilgrims weren’t farmers or they would have had arranged to arrive earlier and harvest in October.   Luckily for us, they didn’t know much about farming; and however much the pilgrims really had to do with the evolution of the U.S. Thanksgiving, we get the opportunity to enjoy a superlative wine with our Civic Harvest Festival!

For U.S. Pagans, Beaujolais Nouveaux is the perfect wine to toast Thanksgiving in its aspect as a Harvest festival, as it is usually only a matter of weeks before that the wine in the bottle or glass was grapes on the vine waiting until the growers detected that they were at their peak, and ready for harvest.

Beaujolais Nouveau is the briefly fermented first batches of wine pressed from the current years wine grape harvest, Gamay grapes to be specific.  Beaujolais grapes are picked only by hand, as are the grapes of the Champagne region; both of which are strictly regulated under French law.  Beaujolais Nouveau also under goes a specialized fermentation process known as carbonic maceration, where most or all of the grapes are left whole and very little fermenting must is added, the weight of the grapes themselves helps crush the grapes on the bottom and aids in a fermentation process where the grapes ferment individually and relatively little of the harsh tannins present in the grape skins are pressed into the resulting wine, as is usually the case with longer aged and more traditionally pressed red wines.  All of this results in a fruity and light flavor profile.

It debuts in the Third Thursday in November, no matter when the Harvest begun, and its flavor profile tends to blend well with rich and hearty foods of the type common to the Beaujolais region, or of the sort that we in the U.S. associate with Thanksgiving and the Winter Solstice feasts!  The average quality Beaujolais Nouveau should be able to last a few months, and may take you as far as a celebration in March or even May.  An excellent vintage (in a good year for the grapes) you could very well keep it for a year!  Consult a wine professional or expert near you for advice if you are not sure.

In looking at a Beaujolais Nouveau you should be aware that the California wines marketed as a Gamay Beaujolais, or similar title, will tend to use a different variety of Gamay grape, and as they are grown in different land and microclimates the California Beaujolais will tend to have a different flavor profile than the French, in the end, try both and see what you like better and which blends better with your Holiday feasting!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Pax / Geoffrey Stewart

Some informative links…

 

Beaujolais Nouveau Wikipedia Entry

Beaujolais Nouveau: History Behind the Third Thursday in November

10 Fascinating Facts About Beaujolais Nouveau

Its Party Time for Beaujolais Nouveau

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!!

Giving Thanks to the Elders

On By PaxIn An Important Message..., Community Building, Pagan Values Blogging, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

(This is an open letter to the Elders and Leaders of every Path and Faith and Tradition within the contemporary Pagan Movement)

Dear Elders, Living and amongst the Mighty and Honored Dead,

 

Thank you.  Thank you for blazing the trails so many of us now walk.  Thank you for weathering the storms of controversies past.  Thank you for the courage and strength it took to keep moving along your own paths in the face of the many metaphorical slings and arrows (and occasional rocks through the windows) aimed at you; both from outside, and sadly sometimes from within, our communities.  Thank you for your scholarship and for your creativity and inspired inventions.  Thank you for your inspiration.  Thank you for your leadership.  Thank you for teaching and sharing your words and hard won wisdom and lore.

Thank you, thank you, a thousand-fold thank yous!

Sincerely,

Geoffrey D. Stewart, known as Pax