Tag Archives: gathering

The Wheel Turns to Ostara 2014…………

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.

~Proverb

Merry Afternoon my friends. Hope that you are all doing great this blustery March day?! Well, we had a taste of Spring for a couple of days here in Ohio. It was in the 60’s and the Sun was shining! It was the kind of day that I had my daughter and grandkids over to play outside, windows were open and letting the house air out of old stagnant Winter weather, and we even grilled out for dinner! Today? A whole different day LOL. Winter has come back with snow flurries, freezing cold weather and blustery winds. *sigh* Well, it was nice while it lasted….and it will be back and SOON!! 🙂

I have spent some time today getting ready for Ostara. My Circle has decided to meet for brunch on the Sunday after Ostara ( Ostara is the 20th by the way!) We will have pastries and fruit and lavender lemonade! I’m working on my altar as well. I love the Ostara altar..it’s one of my favorites. Pastel colors, eggs, rabbits, tulips or daffodils, and baskets just lift my spirits in it’s brightness and lightness! I’ll also set up a kitchen altar as well!

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                                                        *Part of my Ostara altar from 2011

Some of the things I love to do for Ostara is to, of course, color eggs and bake breads. Egg recipes are popular for light lunches and breakfasts as well. Egg salad, deviled eggs, quiches, and omelets especially! Another thing I’m doing is perusing my seed catalogs, garden books and magazines and planning for when I can get outside and start working in my gardens again! For the seeds, I love to do a seed blessing ritual..to bless them to grow strong and healthy and to carry powerful Magick within them as well! You can bless and consecrate your seedlings and young plants as well of course! My hands long to dig in the dirt and my barefeet long to be planted on Mother Earth! Can’t wait!

Ostara is also a great time to finish up any Spring cleaning you didn’t get done at Imbolc. Cleaning windows, curtains, throw rugs and blankets are high on my list of things to do as Spring arrives. Also, carpet cleaning, if you have carpets, is good to do too! I also check the condition of my outdoor bird feeders to see if they need to be replaced for Spring/Summer. Winter is hard on them and I often invest in new ones this time of year. I’m also shopping for a new bird bath this year! 🙂

I thought that you all would enjoy my recipe for Lavender Lemonade to enjoy for your own Ostara feast. It is also posted in the Sunday Stew I told you about last time I wrote. I hope that you have gone and checked it out! It is well worth your time.

lav lemon

                                                         *picture courtesy of Simply Recipes

 

 

Lavender Lemonade

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1-2TB dried lavender flowers (organic, chemical free)
*chopped fine

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup fresh lemon juice

In a large saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add lavender flowers. Cover and let stand for one hour.

Strain lavender from sugar water and discard lavender as you wish. Stir in additional cold water and lemon juice. Pour into a pretty pitcher and add ice and sliced lemons.

Makes 6 servings

Don’t forget to type in Ostara or Spring Equinox in the search box on the right here to find all my past posts and recipes..there are a LOT!  I’ll be back soon too.

As much as Winter still has a grip on us, there has been some Spring in the Air for most of us I think.  Enough to remind us that it’s coming and soon!  In the meantime, do some spring cleaning,  set up your altar, buy some seeds to start in your Sunny window, and color some eggs.  Soon it will be Spring in your heart and you will feel lighter!  Honest! 🙂

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

 

Blessings and Love, Autumn

 

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Filed under Altars, Flowers, Gardens, Herbs, Holiday, Mother Earth, Nature, Ostara, Quote, Recipe from my Kitchen, Seasons, Spring, Winter

Blood Moon and the Drumming Circle

Merry Meet my friends!  I hope, like me you all are enjoying a fabulous Autumn Saturn day!  The weather here is amazing…breezy, sunny, clear blue skies, and low 60’s.  It smells fabulous too! People are burning leaves or have a fire going in their fireplaces.  We are at about peak color too but grass is still green and still growing from all the great rains we’ve had. The nights have been clear and starry and the Moon bright!   It is a truly magickal time right now.

Speaking of magickal, I had the most wonderful experience and I thought I’d write about it today.  This past tuesday night, the night of the Full Blood Moon, I was invited to a “Full Moon gathering” by a new facebook friend who lives in the little village I love to go to…10 mins away.  Now I had no idea what to expect at all but I knew that it was for women only and that she owned a yurt..and that is where the gathering would be.  She sent me directions and times and I told her I’d be there. 

Oh ..this is a yurt by the way…….

 

Well, I asked my daughter Kate to come with me but she couldn’t this time and I asked my sister, who Did come with me.  So on tuesday night we found our way down a long gravel road til we saw an amazingly large,  beautiful yurt standing in the yard of our friend’s house.  Needless to say we were a little early and a little nervous 🙂  As we got out and were meeting our friend and introductions being made, another car pulled up and 3 women got out of the car…then they pulled out the djembe drums!!  I looked at our new friend and said..Oh…is this a drumming circle???  LOL  She looked at me like I should have known that..but a thrill went right thru me.   I had always wanted to go to a drumming circle but did not know there was such a thing in our area! 

We settled into the yurt on big cushions that sat in a circle on layers of area rugs.  Goddess flags and twinkle lights were all around us, an altar was set up to one side and sage was burning.  We watched as 40 or more women of all ages piled in and took their seats..some hugging and greeting each other and some maybe were new to this experience like us.  The women were as young as 6 and as old as 70 or so.  Many of them pulled up drums, some tamborines or maracas, and some had no instrument.   My sister and I were handed a couple of extra drums.  We were cleansed with the sage and a couple of women started drumming a slow steady beat..then more chimed in…then chanting and singing began.

I kid you not..for the first 20 mins I had goosebumps all over!  It was so amazing to me that I was sitting there in that circle.  Well, if you’ve ever been in one, then you KNOW what it’s like and what happened.  The songs got louder and the beat got faster and more joyful.  Women got up and danced with great joy and abandon.  The pace would slow..then grow again..then slow again.  The songs were so uplifting and wonderful.  It was one of the most joyous spiritual experiences I ever had.  and YES!!  I want to do it again and again!!

As the night wound down, good byes and hugs were said and we piled out to see the Blood Moon sliding in and out of the clouds and I felt so joyful, emotional and Blessed by the Goddess.  I was told we were welcome to come as much as we wanted to….told about New Moon gatherings as well..more meditative and quiet..no drumming, and that every Full Moon gathering was like this one 🙂  You can bet I will be there..and my daughter and sister as well!!

Oh yes, I’ve bought a djembe drum and so did my daughter 🙂 …and I plan on using it often..even when I’m alone.  The energy that drumming helps to build up is like nothing I had experieced…you can feel it with your heartbeat..in your core.  I’d like to suggest that if you get a chance to go…Go!!  You won’t regret it!  I feel so blessed to have met my new friend and the wonderful women I connected with that night.  The Goddess was very much present for us on that Blood Moon night!

This is my new drum 🙂 

 

Blessings and love,

Autumn

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Filed under Autumn, Drum Circle, Full Moons, Goddess, My Writing