Herensugue

( Herren-Surge )
A Basque spirit in the shape of a seven-headed snake who must be appeased by offerings of human beings (in some stories) but in all it is like a dragon even able to fly when the need arises. It is written that it is born again and again. It grows one head for each year. On the seventh year, as the new head forms it leaps into the sky and falls into the sea with a great roar and steam arises for it is like a from an ember.

Amphisbaena

The Amphisbaena is a Greek serpent with two heads and eyes that glow like candles. It has a head at each end of its body. This is how it got its name which means “goes both ways” in Greek. It is also called the “mother of ants”, because it feeds on ants. If it is chopped in half, the two parts will join again. The medical properties of the Amphisbaena were recorded by Pliny. The wearing of a live Amphisbaena is a supposed  safeguard in pregnancy. The wearing of a dead one is a remedy for rheumatism. Medieval bestiaries also document the Amphisbaena as a two-headed lizard, and even a two-headed serpent-like fowl.

A Cleansing Light Meditation by Choalayna

Again, place yourself somewhere comfortable and relaxing. Take a couple of deep breaths to help clear the “mind chatter”. On this one, we want you to again use your visualization capabilities. This one you will need to focus on colors and then a bright light.

AUTUMN EQUINOX / MABON

North-September 21

South-March 21

 

The Fall Equinox, or Mabon, is celebrated as the final harvest of the season. This holiday was pivotal in ancient times, since a good final harvest was crucial to surviving the winter months ahead. This is the time of year where we truly reap what we have sown and we prepare for the long winter that lays before us. The day and night are again equal in time and the God has traveled at last to His place of rest. Now, He has sacrificed the last of Himself to provide us with a final harvest of food before the winter begins. Celebrants gather to mark the turning of the wheel and to give thanks for the ultimate sacrifice of The God, recognizing that He will be reborn at Yule. This holiday has been called “The Witches’ Thanksgiving” and is a time for feasting together with family and friends. This is also the time to welcome the season of the Crone. Kore’ goes to the Underworld to learn the secrets of the Crone (or in some stories she is kidnapped by Hades), and the earth is bare as Her mother, Demeter, mourns Her loss. But although the winter is before us, we know that the wheel will turn again, life will be reborn, and our blessings are bountiful.

Prayer for Guidance

The spirits of the mountain exist in strength.
Their roots are deep in the Earth,
their heads pierce the air and mount to the sky above.
They dance from flat to peak
and, spiraling, descend again.
Good Ones, when I come under your trees and upon your stones,
guide me.

The metaphors and rituals of place and time

– an introduction to liminality

or

Why Christopher Robin wouldn’t walk on the cracks

Bob Trubshaw

We are obsessed with boundaries. Places are divided and sub-divided in a complex web of overlapping patterns of ‘ownership’, ‘sacredness’, ‘historic interest’, ‘outstanding natural beauty’ and much else. A simple car journey will take us past signs marking the entry and exit of each parish, less frequently past county boundary signs or through the ‘portals’ of National Parks such as Derbyshire with its prominent millstones. Leaving the the road (note, again, the sense of boundary) will take us along rights of way allowing access through otherwise private property, perhaps with distinctive ‘Keep Out’ signs.

Mabon / The Autumnal Equinox

by Blathnaid (a/k/a Erin Scott)

 
Mabon is a Sabbat of celebration for the abundance of the harvest; a time meant for us to give thanks through song, dance and feasts. This is a time of balance, when day and night are equal once again; a time of meditation and introspection; a time to slow down the pace of our lives and to relax and recognize our own personal harvests during the year that is fast declining; a time to appreciate the connection we have with those around us, as well as those who have gone before us. It references the sense of community that this harvest festival fosters, for it’s through our kinship with those close to us that we endure through the long, dark, cold nights of Winter. The Autumnal Equinox is a time when we prepare our personal harvests, gathering those experiences transpired over the past year(s), bringing them within, making them a part of who we are – allowing them to die, regenerate into wisdom, and be reborn within.

A Warning

There Once was a time when Wild Magick was free,
Where everything existed and ceased to be,
Where Gods and Goddesses ruled the Earth,
And with their knowledge gave Birth,
Now dark times call once again,
A hero is needed to stop the Pain,
The world is dying because of us,
Now we must learn to wish and trust,
We must re-awaken magick forgot,
And loosen the world from its shackled knot,
Remember the Old ways and follow the lines,
Bring forth the past of olden times,
With their knowledge the Earth shall have life,
Without it nothing but pain and strife,
Don’t ignore the warnings of fate,
Act now I charge you before it’s too late.

Prayer for the Dead

May we walk upon this earth once again,
Once again beneath the same blue sky.
Then may our lives again entertwine,
And may we remember, you and I.

Estanatlehi

by Dr Anthony E. Smart

 
The sky goddess, wife of the sun. The twin sister of Yolkai Estsan, wife of the moon. The most respected goddess of the Navaho Indians, she is seen as the goddess of change, and it is said that she progresses through age to become an old woman, then becomes a young woman again. She passes through an endless stream of lives, always changing but never dying. Estanatlehi created the primeval pair of humans from maize.