It's that time of year again as the Wheel turns once more. We welcome the rebirth of the Sun God as we gather warm around our fires, snuggled up in blankets to stave off the chill of winter. The Earth is asleep and the Yule Logs are being lit. Trees are being decorated and prayers for snow are being sent on silent wings up into the starry night.
Everyone has a certain tradition that they --or their family-- does to celebrate the Yuletide season every year.
Last year, my Coven accidentally ended up purchasing a pink tree (since we couldn't afford a real one at the time). We thought it was white, but it ended up being baby pink. We did a Yule Tree Blessing while we decorated it, of course it had myriad colors of candy canes, what kind of tree would it be without them?! We also baked small dough men to decorate the tree with, each one blessed. One for each member of the Coven. Since last year a very dear friend of the family passed away, Trung, who had twice been to speak with the Dalai Lama in private audience, he followed the Buddhist Faith with great reverence. In his honor, we did a Buddhist Food Blessing over our Dumb Supper --both in his honor-- and the pink tree was also dedicated to him since he was also a proud member of the Gay Pride Community.
This year, we have much more to celebrate and be happy about. New friends, new additions to the family, new relationships, etc...
So this year we went out and got a real pine (we'll plant it in the yard later on.) We'll be decorating it with garlands, possibly popcorn strings, ornaments, lights, and little dangling skeletons --just to be different! We always celebrate every Yule together as a family, with Coven and friends alike. We hold sabbat and then break fast for Yule Feast that has been cooking all day long. We laugh and chat, goof off and have a good time well into the night. This year we may do Karaoke, I'm writing down some Pagan-oriented Yule songs, perhaps I'll get a group together brave enough (or filled with enough egg nog) to sing achapella. xD We also have a Yule Gift Exchange. We have homemade incense, bath and body products also homemade, jewelry and other hand-crafted gifts to give to eachother.
So what are some of your traditions? How do you celebrate Yule? Christmas? St. Nicholas Day? I invite all of you, be you Pagan or Christian, Catholic or Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist, to share what your traditions are for this time of year!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Come, Yule! We Welcome You!
Yule 2010
Yule has never been a very happy time for me, not since the early 90s when I still knew what it was to have a sense of family and belonging. Ever since my family split apart and chose their stands, I always felt lost and out of place.
This year as I was sitting in the car on the way to Marietta for a Gift Sale party a friend hosted, it began to snow. Not exactly common place in Georgia. As it snowed, a song came on the radio, "Happy Christmas (The War Is Over)" by John Lennon. I began to think about Yules-past and all the trials and tribulations the Goddess has sent my way over the years. The things I had to do in order to work my way up to this point. I took a good look around at what I have done, all that I have accomplished...and the friends I have made.
I realized that I have never been happier in all my years. I found both friends and family with my Coven, and I couldn't help but smile as my Godson experienced his first snow. Or smile in deep appreciation of a mother's love for her son when my Godson looked up at Santa Clause for the first time, pat his hand thrice, and smiled at him. My friend could not hold the tears from her eyes as she watched her son smile at Santa. I found friends in the Pagan Community and they reminded me of that during the Gift Sale when my friend opened her home up to me and members of my Coven representing our business (jewelry, bath & body products.)
So this morning as I was settling down to bed, I stared out the sliding glass doors to the small lake behind our house, and the scene the Goddess presented to my eyes of a half-frozen shoreline with waved water beyond that, I thought of a poem. It's the first I've written in a long time, and I decided to share it with everyone who reads these blogs.
Yuletide Cheer 2010
'Tis the season to be jolly,
As we praise the Oak and Holly,
Fires burning in the candles,
Stockings hanging from our mantles.
Yule log in the fireplace blazing,
Memories of the Yules-past phasing,
In and out of memory go,
As we're making some hot cocoa.
Sacred Tree standing tall and bright,
Help us make the season right.
White for heritage, red for blood,
Tied to the tree with sleeping buds.
Outside the house the Covens sing,
Praises to Oak and Holly King!
Fresh white powder litters the ground,
While sacred circle gathers 'round.
Hailing the Watch Towers of the yore,
Just as we did Yule sabbats before,
Welcoming all Yultide spirits within,
The circle is cast--we can begin!
Dancing and singing the fire 'round,
Drummers drumming to the sound,
Footprints in the fallen snow,
Winged images on the ground below.
Chanting praises we jump and shout,
Throwing all negativity out!
We dance and sing until the 'morn,
As we witness the Sun God is reborn.
Walking through the portal North,
Mistletoe hanging from the door,
We gather 'round the table East,
To sit and celebrate a bountiful feast.
Settling 'round the fire South,
We snuggle warm to think about,
All the reasons to forgive,
And all the gifts that we would give.
Finally migrating off to West,
We trudge wearily off to rest.
Hoping with the coming morn'
We get to witness the Sun God reborn.
Never forget not to fear,
The changes that come with each new year,
And all the love that we begot,
While Yultide cheer our hearts besot.
Blessed Yule! --2010
Written by Jonathon Lowe
a.k.a: Sacred Little Flame.
http://www.facebook.com/jonathonslowe
MysticPhoenixTears@hotmail.com
Yule has never been a very happy time for me, not since the early 90s when I still knew what it was to have a sense of family and belonging. Ever since my family split apart and chose their stands, I always felt lost and out of place.
This year as I was sitting in the car on the way to Marietta for a Gift Sale party a friend hosted, it began to snow. Not exactly common place in Georgia. As it snowed, a song came on the radio, "Happy Christmas (The War Is Over)" by John Lennon. I began to think about Yules-past and all the trials and tribulations the Goddess has sent my way over the years. The things I had to do in order to work my way up to this point. I took a good look around at what I have done, all that I have accomplished...and the friends I have made.
I realized that I have never been happier in all my years. I found both friends and family with my Coven, and I couldn't help but smile as my Godson experienced his first snow. Or smile in deep appreciation of a mother's love for her son when my Godson looked up at Santa Clause for the first time, pat his hand thrice, and smiled at him. My friend could not hold the tears from her eyes as she watched her son smile at Santa. I found friends in the Pagan Community and they reminded me of that during the Gift Sale when my friend opened her home up to me and members of my Coven representing our business (jewelry, bath & body products.)
So this morning as I was settling down to bed, I stared out the sliding glass doors to the small lake behind our house, and the scene the Goddess presented to my eyes of a half-frozen shoreline with waved water beyond that, I thought of a poem. It's the first I've written in a long time, and I decided to share it with everyone who reads these blogs.
Yuletide Cheer 2010
'Tis the season to be jolly,
As we praise the Oak and Holly,
Fires burning in the candles,
Stockings hanging from our mantles.
Yule log in the fireplace blazing,
Memories of the Yules-past phasing,
In and out of memory go,
As we're making some hot cocoa.
Sacred Tree standing tall and bright,
Help us make the season right.
White for heritage, red for blood,
Tied to the tree with sleeping buds.
Outside the house the Covens sing,
Praises to Oak and Holly King!
Fresh white powder litters the ground,
While sacred circle gathers 'round.
Hailing the Watch Towers of the yore,
Just as we did Yule sabbats before,
Welcoming all Yultide spirits within,
The circle is cast--we can begin!
Dancing and singing the fire 'round,
Drummers drumming to the sound,
Footprints in the fallen snow,
Winged images on the ground below.
Chanting praises we jump and shout,
Throwing all negativity out!
We dance and sing until the 'morn,
As we witness the Sun God is reborn.
Walking through the portal North,
Mistletoe hanging from the door,
We gather 'round the table East,
To sit and celebrate a bountiful feast.
Settling 'round the fire South,
We snuggle warm to think about,
All the reasons to forgive,
And all the gifts that we would give.
Finally migrating off to West,
We trudge wearily off to rest.
Hoping with the coming morn'
We get to witness the Sun God reborn.
Never forget not to fear,
The changes that come with each new year,
And all the love that we begot,
While Yultide cheer our hearts besot.
Blessed Yule! --2010
Written by Jonathon Lowe
a.k.a: Sacred Little Flame.
http://www.facebook.com/jonathonslowe
MysticPhoenixTears@hotmail.com
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Entry 002 -- The Pagan Community Bands Together Once Again!
Recently my coven and I have been getting to know Taryn Anu, owner and creator of Twitchy Tidbits (http://www.twitchytidbits.com) better over the past two months. She even ordered from our shop, MyDragonfly Rose Gifts (http://www.facebook.com/mydragonfly.rose.gifts) and was thus far pleased with her purchase! We also delivered some complementary sample bath and body products (soaps, lotion, and bath salts.)
In getting to know Taryn we have come to realize her passion for educating children, something that we all probably share in common.
The latest news is that Taryn is starting a pagan-oriented youth group called Sun & Moon Youth Group for kids ages 2-18. (http://sunandmoonyouth.blogspot.com/) It is a wonderful idea and some of the members of the Pagan Community are banding together to help make this wonderful youth group possible!
"At Sun & Moon we want to enrich children's spiritual lives while providing them with the tools they will need to make their own choices in their spiritual life and growth." -Taryn.
The youth group is affordable! Tuition covers the cost of transportation and material provided to your child. It also covers any instructional material that may be used in the class (i.e. books, videos, music).
Rates are as Follows:
Spiral Tots (2's & 3's) $10 per class
or
$35 full-term payment 30% discount!
Circle Children (PreK-Grade 6) $5 per class
or
$17.50 full-term payment 30% discount!
Lords and Ladies (Teens & Tweens)
FREE
Donations for time are appreciated.
Also, don't forget about the Pagan Pathways Festival this month! Contact me at mysticphoenixtears@hotmail.com or http://www.facebook.com/jonathonslowe for more information! June 26, 2010 @ Red Top Mountain State Park, Cartersville, GA. Group Shelter #2.
I'll post a separate entry all about the Festival soon! PS. We're still looking for volunteers, so if you're looking to volunteer to work a shift at the festival, let me know ASAP! Volunteers get in free but must work their full shift.
In getting to know Taryn we have come to realize her passion for educating children, something that we all probably share in common.
The latest news is that Taryn is starting a pagan-oriented youth group called Sun & Moon Youth Group for kids ages 2-18. (http://sunandmoonyouth.blogspot.com/) It is a wonderful idea and some of the members of the Pagan Community are banding together to help make this wonderful youth group possible!
"At Sun & Moon we want to enrich children's spiritual lives while providing them with the tools they will need to make their own choices in their spiritual life and growth." -Taryn.
The youth group is affordable! Tuition covers the cost of transportation and material provided to your child. It also covers any instructional material that may be used in the class (i.e. books, videos, music).
Rates are as Follows:
Spiral Tots (2's & 3's) $10 per class
or
$35 full-term payment 30% discount!
Circle Children (PreK-Grade 6) $5 per class
or
$17.50 full-term payment 30% discount!
Lords and Ladies (Teens & Tweens)
FREE
Donations for time are appreciated.
Also, don't forget about the Pagan Pathways Festival this month! Contact me at mysticphoenixtears@hotmail.com or http://www.facebook.com/jonathonslowe for more information! June 26, 2010 @ Red Top Mountain State Park, Cartersville, GA. Group Shelter #2.
I'll post a separate entry all about the Festival soon! PS. We're still looking for volunteers, so if you're looking to volunteer to work a shift at the festival, let me know ASAP! Volunteers get in free but must work their full shift.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Entry 001 --The New Life
5.21.2010
I just got back home from my girlfriend's graduation ceremony. She lives about an hour from me. She's finally finished with grade school and is ready to move on to college. I graduated March 18th, 2010 however I walk to get my diploma next Friday, May 28th.
Tonight at the ceremony, during the school's Alma Matter when everyone pointed their right index finger up in the air, I noticed in the crowd one of the family members of the Seniors, who had a tattoo of a pentacle on his right hand, haha. He was open and proud!
Ok, so you're probably wondering why the title of my first blog is "The New Life." I came out of the "broom closet" to my family several years ago, and have been a practicing and studying Witch and Wiccan for 10 years this past Beltane (May 1st.) Growing up I always had to struggle through life to get to where I wanted to go....fought my parents all throughout school in order to graduate and successfully made it as the first member of my family to ever graduate with a High School Diploma! I went through the normal teasing some high schoolers go through, with the added rocks thrown and boots kicking from people finding out I'm pagan. I have always been out and proud about who I am. I wasn't always quite so loud about it as I was a very shy person, but I'm much more loud now! --As some of you in the Pagan Community may know!
I recently moved away from all of my birth family, and moved in with my spiritual family --my coven. My girlfriend and I are both members of the same coven. They were there for me during a bad time for me, when my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and my grandmother was slowly and painfully dying from double-pneumonia with COP'D and Emphazima. Don't worry, my grandmother is now alive and kicking...for the most part. She's bedridden now and stuck in a nursing home permanently but I visit her more frequently these days. My mother caught the cancer in time to have it removed--this time--but she has a mass on her other lung and we're not sure what it is so we're still on guard.
Since moving, however, I have been accepted into college at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Art Institute of Atlanta, I'm working on my driver's license, I'm helping my friend Laurie with her business MyDragonfly Rose Gifts --I'll touch more on that later on-- and I have been getting more and more active in the Pagan Community.
I joined a group known as NGS (North Georgia Solitaries) a while back and have thoroughly enjoyed conversing with them, and sharing sabbats with them. To-date, I have volunteered to work at the Pagan Pathways Festival in order to raise funds for the Pagan Assistance Fund, helping Pagan families in crisis. If you'd like to find out more about this, please visit the web site for the Festival at http://paganpathwaysfestival.eventbrite.com/ we are still accepting volunteers, so hurry! Volunteers get in free! (Except for the parking fee since the festival is in a state park, we have no control over that, but it's only $5.00)
Mydragonfly Rose Gifts (advertised by the wonderful Taryn Anu at www.twitchytidbits.com on her Podcast) is a small business selling hand-made one-of-a-kind semi-precious jewelry, as well as hand-made all-natural Face, Bath & Body products! Check us out at www.facebook.com/mydragonfly.rose.gifts ! You can check out our 2010 lineup for jewelry (more soon to come!) as well as samples of our Face, Bath & Body products.
For custom orders, you can email Laurie Bates (Owner) at lalalauralie@msn.com , Me (Jonathon Lowe) at MysticPhoenixTears@hotmail.com , the business email at MyDragonfly_Rose@msn.com , you can leave orders on our facebook via messages at www.facebook.com/mydragonfly.rose.gifts , or you can call us at 706-629-8155 and ask for Laurie Bates or Jonathon Lowe, but please PLEASE do not leave messages on the machine, there are teenage children in the house who are terrible at delivering messages!
Thank you for reading this blog --if you're still reading, I give you props! It wasn't the most exciting blog, but I promise things will get much more interesting as I start delving deeper into the goings-on of the Pagan Community.
Please check out Taryn Anu's pagan podcast Twitchy Tidbits and follow her blog at www.twitchytidbits.com , links to her podcast can be found on her blog, and she's now on Twitter! Follow her there to get constant updates on Twitchy Tidbits and goings-on in the pagan community from her end, as well as interviews, shop reviews, and wonderful segments on Pagan Parenting and so much more!
Brightest Blessings everyone, until next entry,
Jonathon Lowe -- "Sacred Little Flame"
I just got back home from my girlfriend's graduation ceremony. She lives about an hour from me. She's finally finished with grade school and is ready to move on to college. I graduated March 18th, 2010 however I walk to get my diploma next Friday, May 28th.
Tonight at the ceremony, during the school's Alma Matter when everyone pointed their right index finger up in the air, I noticed in the crowd one of the family members of the Seniors, who had a tattoo of a pentacle on his right hand, haha. He was open and proud!
Ok, so you're probably wondering why the title of my first blog is "The New Life." I came out of the "broom closet" to my family several years ago, and have been a practicing and studying Witch and Wiccan for 10 years this past Beltane (May 1st.) Growing up I always had to struggle through life to get to where I wanted to go....fought my parents all throughout school in order to graduate and successfully made it as the first member of my family to ever graduate with a High School Diploma! I went through the normal teasing some high schoolers go through, with the added rocks thrown and boots kicking from people finding out I'm pagan. I have always been out and proud about who I am. I wasn't always quite so loud about it as I was a very shy person, but I'm much more loud now! --As some of you in the Pagan Community may know!
I recently moved away from all of my birth family, and moved in with my spiritual family --my coven. My girlfriend and I are both members of the same coven. They were there for me during a bad time for me, when my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and my grandmother was slowly and painfully dying from double-pneumonia with COP'D and Emphazima. Don't worry, my grandmother is now alive and kicking...for the most part. She's bedridden now and stuck in a nursing home permanently but I visit her more frequently these days. My mother caught the cancer in time to have it removed--this time--but she has a mass on her other lung and we're not sure what it is so we're still on guard.
Since moving, however, I have been accepted into college at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Art Institute of Atlanta, I'm working on my driver's license, I'm helping my friend Laurie with her business MyDragonfly Rose Gifts --I'll touch more on that later on-- and I have been getting more and more active in the Pagan Community.
I joined a group known as NGS (North Georgia Solitaries) a while back and have thoroughly enjoyed conversing with them, and sharing sabbats with them. To-date, I have volunteered to work at the Pagan Pathways Festival in order to raise funds for the Pagan Assistance Fund, helping Pagan families in crisis. If you'd like to find out more about this, please visit the web site for the Festival at http://paganpathwaysfestival.eventbrite.com/ we are still accepting volunteers, so hurry! Volunteers get in free! (Except for the parking fee since the festival is in a state park, we have no control over that, but it's only $5.00)
Mydragonfly Rose Gifts (advertised by the wonderful Taryn Anu at www.twitchytidbits.com on her Podcast) is a small business selling hand-made one-of-a-kind semi-precious jewelry, as well as hand-made all-natural Face, Bath & Body products! Check us out at www.facebook.com/mydragonfly.rose.gifts ! You can check out our 2010 lineup for jewelry (more soon to come!) as well as samples of our Face, Bath & Body products.
For custom orders, you can email Laurie Bates (Owner) at lalalauralie@msn.com , Me (Jonathon Lowe) at MysticPhoenixTears@hotmail.com , the business email at MyDragonfly_Rose@msn.com , you can leave orders on our facebook via messages at www.facebook.com/mydragonfly.rose.gifts , or you can call us at 706-629-8155 and ask for Laurie Bates or Jonathon Lowe, but please PLEASE do not leave messages on the machine, there are teenage children in the house who are terrible at delivering messages!
Thank you for reading this blog --if you're still reading, I give you props! It wasn't the most exciting blog, but I promise things will get much more interesting as I start delving deeper into the goings-on of the Pagan Community.
Please check out Taryn Anu's pagan podcast Twitchy Tidbits and follow her blog at www.twitchytidbits.com , links to her podcast can be found on her blog, and she's now on Twitter! Follow her there to get constant updates on Twitchy Tidbits and goings-on in the pagan community from her end, as well as interviews, shop reviews, and wonderful segments on Pagan Parenting and so much more!
Brightest Blessings everyone, until next entry,
Jonathon Lowe -- "Sacred Little Flame"
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