February Esbat 2012

Our February esbat was led by Aislin, and we centered around the theme of self-love. With V-day coming up, it seems as though everyone is focused on love, but many times we like to focus on self-love, one of the keys to personal growth. Blessed be!

Evocation of the Mother- November 2011

Evocation of the Mother- November 2011
by Ivy

Bright mother moon,

Hung high among the treetops,

You shine through the cold November sky,

You are the mother.

Your breath is the crisp wind tearing leaves from their branches,

Scattering them onto your body, the earth,

You are the goddess.



As you illuminate the path on which we walk,

We ask that you be present in our circle this night,

You are who we honor.

Embrace us with your arms of protection,

Return to us the love we offer to you,

Guide us on the path, chosen by our will,

And be here with us this night.

October Esbat 2011

Last night, we celebrated the Hunter's Moon. Prior to the ritual, we had a short inner court meeting where we did some housekeeping and planned meeting content for the next two months. Our ritual consisted of a bit of healing and connecting with our spirit guides. Due to the content of the ritual, we did our ritual inside, and it was interesting to adapt to the smaller space. But if there's something we're good at, it's adapting. And potlucks.

September Esbat

Wow, the year continues to just fly by! I can't believe we're almost to the middle of September. Last night the Harvest Moon rose to her zenith and we celebrated her, and performed a house cleansing/blessing for one of our coven sisters last night. The picture here, is of our altar, with Lucky, the requisite (and outgoing) black cat! One of the most interesting things about last nights ritual and house blessing is that Eggy Sue came out to play after the house blessing. I haven't been able to pet Eggy Sue since Aislin moved into her apartment. When people come over, Eggy Sue usually hides under the couch. After the ritual, she came out, let me pet her, and even rolled around on her back. She sat at the back door, watching us, too. It's nice to see results, especially when they are practically instant.

August's Full Moon

We had a lovely full moon ritual and meditation Saturday night, after catching up for quite awhile. Hope your full moon was as lovely.

May Full Moon Altar

Demeter, we praise and honor you!

June Esbat 2010

Last weekend, the moon was full and we had a partial eclipse. Though we were unable to view the eclipse from our location, the energy always is just a little different from your average moon. We took this opportunity to say good-bye to our sister Rose, at least for now.

We are planning on opening up our outer court this fall, and as part of that our Lammas / Lughnasadh ritual will be open to friends and family. Below are some photos from our circle.

January Esbat and Imbolc 2010

Our first esbat of the year went wonderfully! We recieved a few unexpected gifts from the Goddess, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Imbolc was also great - our focus was kindling the spark of hope we have deep within us.  We honored Brighid, and began our ritual with a procession with our Brighid in her bed. Beth taught us how to make candle lanterns and we used them during our procession - so much fun! Of course it was followed by a potluck including Rayne's famed hummus pinwheels, roasted butternut squash, "lamb" in phyllo, BBQ "meat"balls, cookies, and tasty cake! Even though it was rainy, we had a backup plan and it all worked out amazingly.

We hope your Imbolc went well, and that Brighid kindles the spark of your hopes within your heart! Blessed be!

February Esbat 2008

This Wednesday night circle honored Brighid. On Her festival day we created candles, and it took much longer than expected. So, we honored Her on this moon, and asked for her blessings. We have an Imbolc tradition, and we continued this tradition at this circle. Here are a couple photos from this circle. Click here for a few more pictures.

November's Rune Workshop/ Esbat

Blessings to all who might be reading this during the beginning of holiday crunch time!

I just wanted to share what we did last weekend at November's meeting. Willow led an awesome rune workshop, and we made runes out of glittery fimo clay. They all turned out fabulous! Here is a picture of Nahimana's runes.





If we keep this up, we'll have a cupboard full of handmade tools. :) Our full moon ritual, led by Willow ended our really late evening.

Fire at the Beach!

We had our full moon circle at the beach last night. We ran into a few challenges lighting a fire without lighter fluid. (and wow, people are very grudging when they let you borrow theirs) We ended up with a fire, but it did take a little while to get it going. We had our circle and then roasted hot dogs and ate chips. I would have liked to go circle down near the water where no one was, but we didn't have anyone to watch our things.

I learned a few things, though:

• A dismantled smudge stick makes GREAT kindling
• Armor All Vehicle wipes are NOT flammable
• Ashes in your lungs are not good if you are reading a guided meditation
• If you throw sugar on the bonfire, it makes it BIG for a moment

Afterwards, we went over and hung out with our friends at the SoCalSisterWitches bonfire and drummed a little bit. A bonfire isn't a bonfire without drumming (or singing). At least thats the was *I* feel about.