Hern

I was writing about planning a ritual for Litha on A Pagan Tapestry and for some reason Hern popped into my mind.  Perhaps too long since I did a ritual for him also. He is the only male deity that I regularly work with.
I will not be dedicating the Litha ritual to him.  I am thinking of dedicating it to a Sun Goddess.

Hern is very special to me and it is past time to dedicate a ritual to him.

Hern is not a son of the sun.  Hern is shadows and lush foliage.  Hern is the hush of a forest disturbed.  Hern is dark secrets and a path to light.  Hern is mentor to magicians and witches.  Hern is the enemy to any who seek to dominate nature, but he revels in the hunt, as it is the way of nature.  Hern is kin to the Greenman, or perhaps he is the Greenman in another guise.  Hern cannot be summoned or petitioned.  Hern will accept offerings but makes no promises.
Tell your secrets to Hern and perhaps he will share one with you.

a long pause in writing

I have been neglecting my favorite blog.  Not for lack of things to say, just the opposite, there has been so much going on that I haven't had time to write, share and just think about things.  I will have to make time for important things.

I will...

...remember to talk to my Spirit Guides today...and not just to ask a question.

belief and faith without dogma

My mother passed away in December. She was Catholic, but I discovered just recently that she had secret beliefs in folk medicine (magick), psychics and divination. Kind of hazy and overwritten with some guilt from her faith, but like me, she thought these things just existed, whether you acknowledge them or not.

I found myself unable to be terribly sad at her passing, at least in the weeping and wailing sort of sad. She was 85 years old, had cancer, believed that the cancer would kill her, and died peacefully in her sleep.

I found that my own deep set beliefs in the idea that this world and everything in it is just a passing educational step in our real existence precluded any sort of deep grief.
I find myself thinking that she liked being right and knowing things that others did not know. Now she has the real answers and knows things that the rest of us do not know. I bet she is enjoying it.

thought for the day...

I am a 59 year old woman with one foot planted in the business world, one in my personal life and both firmly planted on the path of the Goddess. I am a seeker, a left of center, tree hugging, dirt digging daughter of the Goddess, always have been, always will be, 24 hours a day.
I stand firmly opposed to the patriarchal, head in the sand, science denying, blindfolded, dogma driven institutions that want to pound us all back to the stone age. Whatever guise they are hiding behind.

a time for reflection and study

I am trying something different this year as far as a little adjustment to the wheel of the year.
Like many pagans, I have celebrated Samhain as the end and the beginning of the year. Last year there was some discussion on the blogs about this and a couple of people offered that they celebrate Samhain as the end of the year and Yule as the beginning. The time in between is used for....whatever.
I am doing that this year. I will celebrate the new year at the winter solstice, when the dark begins to change back to light. And I will use the dark part of the year for reflection and study.
My studies are already lined up. I have begun a course on chakra healing with my teacher and I am well into book one of Christopher Penczak's Temple series.
I will let you know how both of these progress.
I am also going to make time to do more magick, Christopher's books have magickal exercises for homework, so those two studies will go together.
I feel good about this, it seems to have a natural flow that appeals to me at this time.