Lesson 13-Mythology

I have always believed that the stories of the various cultures all over the world are for the teaching of morals, for spiritual application, how we should live day-to-day life, how we are created, and where we go after we die. These stories, for all intents and purposes, are very similar, but names of the those in the stories are changed, the locations are varied, but the end "teaching" is inevitably the same. Look at the stories of the Great Flood.  The Bible has one, the Masai have one, the Altaic people, the Fijian people, the Kathlamets to name a few stories were that the flood waters came and the people either built a boat/ark or got into a boat and were saved from the flood waters . (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai.)  Those who did not, perished and everything else was destroyed.  Many of these a bird symbolized that the people could come back onto land.  They would then begin to live and populate the lands once more. 
 
For this lesson, I chose the Hopi myth of "Son of Light Kills the Monster" from the book "American Indian Myths and Legends" selected by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.  In this story, the monster Man-Eagle, an ugly, frightful monsters seizes women, girls, wives, and maidens and takes them to his home above the clouds to torture them for four days before he eats them.  One of the victims was the wife of Son of Light. He decides he is to go and rescue her.  Along his journey to rescue his wife, he meets up with the Pinon maidens, Spider Woman, and Mole.   They asked him where he was going and he told them he was going to rescue his wife.  Spider Woman told him that she would help him, but he must do what she tells him.  Mole nests in his hair and Spider Woman becomes a small spider and rides on his ear and tells him in his ear what to do.  They use the aid of three different birds of prey: a spotted Eagle, a hawk, and a red hawk to carry them to Man-Eagle's home. 
 
Son of Light sneeks into the house while Man-Eagle is sleeping; but Man-Eagle wakes as Son of Light is going to rescue his wife.  Man-Eagle challenges Son of Light and says that if he, Man-Eagle wins he gets to kill Son of Light and makes Son of Light's wife his. If Son of Light wins he may take his wife and go.  Man-Eagle challenges Son of Light to four challenges; all of which Spider Woman and Mole assist Son of Light so that he can win.  The last challenge involved Man-Eagle putting on a fireproof magic flint-arrowhead shirt of which actually was switched by Spider Woman.  The shirt that Man-Eagle put on was made of a resin.  Son of Light's wife was to ignite them.  Son of Light's shirt was coated with ice that melted and extinguished the fire; Man-Eagles ignited and burnt him to ash. 
 
Now Spider Woman told Son of Light to take her medicine into his mouth and then spurt it all over Man-Eagle's ashes.  Man-Eagle then arose from the ashes into a handsome man.  Spider Woman asked him if he had learned his lesson and if he would stop killing and eating people. If he would stop stealing women and abusing them.  He promised he would never do such a thing again.   Spider Woman also brought back to life all the people that Man-Eagle had killed.   Everyone was taken back to their homes on the backs of the birds of prey that had brought Son of Light to Man-Eagle's home.
 
The hero in this story is Son of Light who goes to rescue his stolen wife from Man-Eagle.  He goes through all of the challenges imposed upon him to win her back from the grasp of the evil Man-Eagle.  The Goddess or Divine in this story who is sympathetic to man, takes care of the natural cycles of life and death, and judges those works performed is Spider Woman.  The Elementals are represented through Mole and the Pinon sisters who assist Son of Light in rescuing his wife through their use of trickery against Man-Eagle during the time of challenge. For without the assistance and reliance on the Divine, Son of Light would not have succeeded and would not have killed the evil Man-Eagle.  But Spider Woman, having control over life and death, gave Man-Eagle another chance at life and he was incarnated into a handsome man and given a chance of renewed life.  She also incarnated those he had killed. 
 
I take this lesson to teach us that our successes often come about because of the assistance of others, whether Divine, Elemental, human, or animal.  We must always remember those who do assist us.  It also teaches us that we should give others a chance to change and help them transform. The Divine transforms us through allowing us to reincarnate into another life.  We are often, even in the current incarnation, to transform ourselves over and over again.  I know personally, the Gods have allowed me to transform and remake myself over and over.  One of these days I will get it right!
 
Until next time, Bright Blessings!
 
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow
Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/
Coven of the Three-Fold Path
rev.cslacey@hotmail.com
 

Lesson 7-Dowsing Charts: Part II

Finally was able to get my supplies to make my charts.  I am experienced with Dowsing (and the pendulum that I work with) , I just do not usually use the charts.  

WEATHER CHART: 

I asked my pendulum the following questions. (Answers given by pendulum are in CAPS following the questions-they were all right.)

What was the weather the night my grandson Timmy was born? SNOW.  We had blizzard-like conditions and a power outage.

What was the weather like the day my husband and I were married? ENOUGH BLUE SKY TO MAKE A T-SHIRT.

What was the weather like this past Saturday morning? RAIN.  It rained enough that the ground was soft enough for us to have to move the wedding we were officiating indoors that evening.

MAP CHART:

Where in the world do I live?  It swayed back and forth over the USA. I did not get real specific.

NUMBER CHART:

Tell me my street number.  It swayed over the general area of the number chart and then I asked it specifically the numbers for the range of the "slice" of the numbers.  It gave my street number.  This one did take a while.

YES-NO CHART:

Am I a Capricorn? YES.

Is my husband a Pisces? NO.

I did ask other personal questions for which I will not post here.

The most difficult part of this assignment was just doing the measuring for the charts.  I ended up using a protractor to assist.

Dowsing, in my opinion, is the easiest form of divination and the easiest to pick up on.  Or maybe it is just hereditary.  My father is a water dowser.

Blessings,

Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow

Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/

Coven of the Three-Fold Path

rev.cslacey@hotmail.com

Lesson 12- More About the Holidays

Hello Once Again--

 

My comments regarding the Lesson:
 
1)I find that the Esbats are more of a time of reflection and that Sabbats are more of celebration and honor of life itself. 
 
2)One thing that I learned from my family regarding the moon is that you plant by the moon.  Above ground plants are always to be planted on the waxing moon or Full and root or below ground plants should be planted during the waning or New Moon. I personally try to pay attention to what phase the moon is in if I am going to plant anything. Besides that I bless the Garden every year with a Garden Blessing Ritual, I also plant by the phase of the moon.  To this end, it has always been effective and my garden flourishes.
 
4)I also find that when I am in balance, my female cycles are also in rhthym with the moon.  At the waning moon, I begin to menstruate until that time of my cycle is completed.  When I am out of balance, I notice that my cycles are off and usually I do not feel up to par.
 
5)Some additional notes/names of the Full Moon's are as follows:
 
January: Moon of Vanities, Old Moon, Ice Moon
 
February: Moon of Renewal
 
March:  Harmony Moon, Wishing Moon, Crust Moon, Death Moon
 
April:  Moon of Reinvention, Pink Moon, Awakening Moon, Egg Moon
 
May:  Shadows, Milk, Grass
 
June:  Purple, Rose, Dyan, Strawberry, Flower
 
July:  Venture, Buck, Rose, Hay, Thunder (boy have we had some of this, "Hail Thunor"!)
 
August:  Spirit, Sturgeon, Lightening, Grain, Dog Days
 
September:  Nothing to add new
 
October:  Artful Moon
 
November:  Futures, Beaver, Tree
 
December:  Sage, Cold (duh!) Moon
 
6)As far as esbats and sabbats, we need both to maintain balance.  Esbasts are associated with the feminine, the moon, dark, night; Sabbats are associated with the masculine, the sun, light, day.  We cannot have one without the other.

 

7)How I celebrate the Sabbats:

 

a)Samhain-This is the most sacred time of the year.  This is my time of celebration and I relish in all the festiveness by dressing up for parties and for our ritual(s).  We host a ritual/Samhain (Halloween) party and dress up, play games, honor our dead.  We take time to prepare for the upcoming winter.  This year, our Coven is hosting a Samhain Celebration at a lodge and opening it to the public.  We will have chili with all the fixins and seasonal pies; have a ritual to honor our ancestors; raffle/fundraiser to raise items/funds for Operation Circle Care for our pagan soldiers. I personally love to decorate my home in those amazing fall colors and use those delicious fall scents of autumn leaves, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie.

 

b)Yule-I usually participate or host a ritual in which we recognize that Winter is upon us and that it is a time of inward reflections of what we have accomplished over the past year and to take the time to rest.

 

c)Imbolg-We start thinking about spring and renewal.  We may host a celebration or meetup for this time of year.  Usually fairly low key.

 

d)Ostara-Usually see the first stirrings of spring and perform rituals that celebrate and prepare us for fertilizing our hopes and dreams.

 

e)Beltaine-This is the second public sabbat we do every year.  It includes working with another pagan group and focuses on the action of fertilizing our hopes and dreams.  Last year there was the Maypole dance, the ritual with a May King and May Queen, a raffle to raise funds for school supplies for needy children, and tarot readings to raise funds for the charity as well.  The year before we camped in addition to the celebration.

 

f)Litha--This past year we held ritual to honor the masculine aspect of Divinity and maleness in general.  In Wicca, we often place so much focus on the Goddess, that we do not honor our Consorts.  A good time was had by all!  We also recognized that this is the time of strength in masculinity and the Power of the Sun (Sol); the apex, the warmest time of the year; and time for all those outside activities. 

 

g)Lughnassadh--Pretty much the first harvest; also a time to display and sell crafts. For some other interesting information go to http://twopagans.com/holiday/Lughnasadh.html.  We typically go to the Dublin Irish Festival where there is a Druid Rite which is one of several religious services going on for the Sunday morning services.  We view all the harvest and craft items and select some to make our very own. 

 

h)Mabon--This year we will celebrate by completing a two-part ritual that was begun at Ostara.  At Ostara, we had a ritual to prepare and begin to bring to fruition what we wanted to see in our lives over the next few months.  Mabon this year, will be the completion of that ritual to see if we have reaped the fruits of those seeds planted.

 

As far the Esbats, our celebrations are based on what I see as HPS of the Coven is needed so that each person grows spiritually with the Gods and Goddesses.

 

Until the next lesson,

 

Blessed Be,

 

Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow (HPS RavenMoon)

Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/

Coven of The Three-Fold Path

rev.cslacey@hotmail.com

 

  
 
 

Lesson 11-Holidays Part II

Good Evening All--
 
Points for this lesson:
 
1)The link for the NORTHERN LIGHTS SEARCH ENGINE is no longer available-defunct.
 
2)If you would like to locate the article about THE DEATH OF LLEW you can find it at this link: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos052.htm.
 
In reading this article, I personally thought about the solstices as a time of birth and the equinoxes as a time of death.  But if one thinks about it, it makes perfect sense.  The solstice is representing something that is beginning: the Summer Solstice is the beginning of Summer, of the warm months; the Winter Solstice is the beginning fo Winter, of the cold months. Also, the word "solstice" refers to the sun, "sol".
 
The equinox represents a time of death.  So, the Autumn Equinox represents the death of Summer; the Spring Equinox represents the death of Winter.  Both of these days represent that the light and dark of the day are at equal lengths (equi); the part that refers to night (nox) is representative of death, the dark part of the soul, of diminishing, etc.
 
As far as Llew and Goronwy, Lugh and Balor, the Oak King and the Holly King, it is representative of the battle of the seasons or representation of the cycle of life, death, rebirth, and death once more.  These stories try to explain what is happening at various times of the year and the seasons. 
 
3)http://witchhaven.com/celticwolf/mabon.htm is no longer a valid address.
 
My Coven and I personally try to honor all the Sabbats.  Ostara is seen as a time to focus on birth/rebirth of new ideas, to begin to sow the seeds to prepare for fertilization in the future. Really a time to get your "house in order" before the fertility rites (the activities that bring to fruition the desired results).  Beltaine is a time to actually fertilize those desires.  Litha, we should be seeing a ripening of what was fertilized during Beltaine. At Lughnassdad, we should be starting to see our efforts begin to birth and begin to harvest some of what was planted. At Mabon, most of the harvest should be complete.  Samhain, we should finalize our harvest and prepare/store up for the winter and hard times.
 
Until next time,
 
Blessed Be!
 
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow (HPS RavenMoon)
Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/
Coven of the Three-Fold Path
rev.cslacey@hotmail.com
 
 

LESSON 10-HOLIDAYS PART 1

Each of the Sabbats hold a festive feel for me. The two most sacred to me are Samhain and Beltaine.
 
Samhain is my most favorite of the Sabbats.  I love the colors (those brilliant fall colors), the smells (cinnamon, pumpkin pie), the laughter of the children (and the adults too) dressing up in costume, and all the decorations (both fun and scary).  But I also hold it sacred and honor my ancestors.  We take a time to reflect on those recently deceased and to remember those who have been gone some time.  We also start prepping for the winter and our time of "hibernation".  We hold public ritual for the community and look forward to the fellowship with other Pagans in the community. At this time we raise funds for a charity we have selected for the season.  This year it is Operation Circle Care.
 
Imbolc is fairly low key and I look to taking my Yuletide decor down if I have not already.  We celebrate that winter is soon to be over.  We have a tradition to always have a Brigid fire.  We look for the first signs of spring.  Here in Ohio, it gets a little crazy.  Sometimes, it looks like we are going to start to have an early spring; others winter just seems to have a hold with no sign of spring whatsoever.  Workings usually focus on rebirth.
 
Beltaine is another favorite.  We have a blast and celebrate a time of fertilizing our hopes and dreams (and yes, some on making babies).  We usually have a public ritual for beltaine as well and act out the May King and May Queen rites with dance and festivities.  And of course, decorating the Maypole.  What a blast! Sometimes we camp overnight.  We hold a raffle and raise monies for local charities to give back to the community.
 
Lugnassad is another time of celebration.  We usually celebrate by going to the Dublin Irish Festival for the Lugnassad Rite during the Religious Services time on Sunday morning.  There are several different service going on to include a Catholic Mass, Traditional Christian, and Modern Christian.  There was so much work trying to get a Pagan organization into the Dublin Irish Festival that many of us go regardless of what tradition we practice just to show our support so that we can have Pagan groups represented as far as our religion and spirituality.  We take food items to donate which goes back to the community.  I love the atmosphere and since I am of Celtic descent (Irish and German) and my husband is of Irish and Scottish descent, it is a way for us to celebrate our heritage.
 
Until next time,
 
Blessed Be!
 
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow (aka HPS RavenMoon)
Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/Coven of the Three-Fold Path
 
 

Lesson 9-Reincarnation

Robert--
 
Sorry, little behind on some of my studies.  Between working, illness, and trying to maintain my ministry/coven, just been slightly a little overwhelmed.  Anyway, just a few comments.
 
1)There are some links within the lesson that are not working.  I always look at any references or links if I can access them. The only one working in the lesson is : http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm.
 
2)My understanding of death in the Egyptian Pantheon is like this:  After one dies, their works are measured and weighed (Weighing of the Heart). If the heart was shown to be in balance, then you would enjoy the afterlife with the Gods. Those works that are bad/evil/not worthy are eaten by the Devourer and based upon this would determine the soul's end.  I do have a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, but unfortunately, have not had opportunity to read and study it. 
 
3)Native Americans follow a tradition known as the "Red Road". I have a friend who was adopted into the Native American tradition and follows this path.  He does have Native American ancestry.  He is both a drummer and dancer and these positions are not taken lightly.  They are sacred.  As far as the afterlife, this is not a topic that I have discussed with my friend, but will for future reference.  Here is a link for those interested in Native American or First Nations people view on death: http://dying.lovetoknow.com/native-american-death-rituals.
 
4)My personal belief on Reincarnation is that when we die, we do go to the Summerlands or to Valhalla. It is here that we we review our life and the lessons that we learned.  From there we take a rest and then decide if we are going to return for a new incarnation.  I do know that I am an old soul.  I have done some past life regression and there are things that I do remember that I cannot explain in this life.  I also believe that many of the souls that return into a carnation come in family groups (or find each other in this life).  There are people that are in my life now that I feel that I have always known them (even though in this incarnation I have only known them a short while).   My husband and I know we have been together in previous lives as lovers in one and as siblings in another.
 
Well, until next time,
 
Blessed Be,
 
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow
(aka HPS RavenMoon)
Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/
Coven of The Three-Fold Path
rev.cslacey@hotmail.com

Lesson 8

When I first came to Wicca many years ago, I came to it through the study and use of herbs and crystals because I had been so ill for quite some time and no medication, surgery, or therapy seemed to resolve how I felt. I discovered metaphysical energy through alternative healing methods and by the use of crystals and herbs (everything having this bioelectrical energy that could be utilized methaphysically).  I learned to meditate and I learned this very technique you have instructed in the "baby exercises".  I was amazed at the warmth and comfort I felt. 
 
As studied further and discovered that I had been doing some of this healing by "laying on of hands" for many years and instinctually.  My grandmother had this gift as well and was known as the "granny lady" that people would come to for miles around (she was Pennsylvania Dutch and practiced "Powwow"-not Indian powwow). This gift had been passed to me.  It has been amazing that some of the things that I had learned growing up or felt or knew actually had a name. 
 
I recently held a tea and healing ritual for a small group of people.  We set up our altar and conducted our ritual.  We felt very powerful energy during this time.  We left the altar when we were finished and while we were having our tea inside, we noticed a great deal of smoke coming from the direction of the altar.  Everything had been destroyed.  Now, my husband likes to look at things soooo scientifically; I look at it from a metaphysical perspective.  The fact that most of our candles, altar cloth, and the table were destroyed tells me that the battle was fought at the altar.  One of the women in my coven was doing ritual work for a healing for a grand child; I was doing ritual healing work for my heart condition; another was doing some in-depth searching for some healing emotionally and mentally.  Within a few days we receive answers-the grandchild was healing by leaps and bounds; I received word that my heart was healing very well after having my heart attack; and the other had some answers to some issues that she was working on.  These issues were destroying the quality of our lives; but these issues were battled for us. One of the gals present is a Reiki Master and she told me the intense power she felt while we performed this ritual. (If anyone wants a copy of the ritual, please email and I will send.) 
 
You mention that you put Air in the North, I always put it in the east.  My reasoning is because the East and Air represent projection, intuition, and inspiration. 
 
One question: Do you see the Stars as also representing an aspect of Spirit?
 
Bright Blessings,
 
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow (HPS RavenMoon)