Litha's Harvest

Here's a nice article that explains the science behind the old Pagan custom of harvesting herbs on the morning of the Summer Solstice


And there's another factor with herbs. Many of them hold their highest oil content at this time, before the heat of summer causes much of it to evaporate out of the leaves.

A cool, still midsummer morning is the traditional time to harvest herbs for drying and storage to use in winter. If they are cut all at once, quickly, before the rising sun hits the leaves, the maximum amount of oil is retained. Both sun and wind can cause oils to evaporate out of freshly cut material very quickly. For this reason, you want to cut herbs and get them into the shade before sunrise. The goal with herbs is to move them inside to dry right away. It's far better to cut some and move them indoors, then go back out and cut more. Otherwise, the herbs are likely to wilt as they build up in your cutting basket.

The entire article is well worth a read.

I will harvest mint and distill it in vodka for a full moon, then chill the vodka for drinking from glasses of ice on Yule morning. What will you harvest tomorrow?

Photo found here.

Parsley, Italian Flat Leaf And English Curly

About the only thing in my herb bed that's really loving all the rain we've been getting is the parsley. Parsley will grow for almost anyone and it's great in salads, green smoothies, chopped and sprinkled on peas or sugar snap peas, on new potatoes.

Summer Solstice by Donna Kane

The light stretched and tangy, up on its horse
and riding through the ripening meadows,
buzzing the leaves and the
birds who’ve been at it for hours.
Light that in its excess has become something else.
The way Cranberry Falls is so frothed with runoff
it doesn’t look like water anymore. The way you look
from a hill’s highest point, your head full of chlorophyll,
heart shucking winter like a clayload of guilt,
like pollen with its open fire policy
compensating loss. You exceed yourself,
tanked on the light and the birds
who’ve been singing forever.


Poem found here.

Picture found here.

A Sense Of Place

To add an important point to my post below about Stonehenge. I think that a certain bit of nostalgic romanticism is fine -- a good thing in fact. And it's certainly to be expected, in a religious movement that is, at least in part, about attempting to reanimate religious ideals that are centuries old, that its adherents will look to the past with a certain amount of longing and reverence.

But Paganism is, at least IMHO, a religion of place. It's wonderful to love Mamma Gaia and the entire planet, but the daily practice of Paganism is hugely involved, I think, in the business of being in deeper and deeper relationship with one's own particular landbase/watershed/genius loci. It's largely about becoming familiar with, listening to, doing right by, and helping to turn the wheel in concert with the particular spirits of your particular place. And that's something that I think that American Pagans, especially, haven't yet done or learned how to do, which may partly explain our longing for (insert your spot here) Stonehenge, Avebury, Bridget's Well, the Caves in Lascaux, Crete, the Parthenon, ancient Egypt, etc.

Part of it is that most of us are relatively "new" here. There is no "place" in America where my ancestors worshipped from time immemorial before me. My ancestors showed up here in the late 1800s, after Sweden experienced both a drop in infant mortality and bad harvests. They landed in NY and kept moving, often more than once in a generation. There are sacred spaces here in North America, (indeed, some of which are as sensitive to the Summer Solstice as Stonehenge) but they belong to the First Nations, and there's a large sensitivity to the issue of appropriation. Who are the American Goddess and Gods? I invoke Goddesses from ancient Sumeria and Greece in my daily practice. So, we tend to look back.

Part of it is that most of us now live in urban areas. It's difficult in the extreme to be in relationship with the large Slurpee-cup-littered concrete parking lot between your 8th floor apartment and the strip mall that borders the interstate. (Although it's needed there, maybe more than anywhere else.) Urban pagans can get away, sometimes, to more rural areas, but finding a way -- whether it's creating a balcony garden or adopting a nearby park or abandoned lot -- to be in regular, daily communication with the land is enough of a challenge for urban pagans that it can be easier, at times, to simply dream of living in a wattle hut near a sacred spring somewhere in Scotland.

Part of it is that many of us travel a lot. What's the point of investing in a relationship with a watershed that I know I'll be leaving in a year, next month, next week? What relationship does one have with interchangeable airports, hotels, conference centers, streets? Easier to avoid the whole problem on a daily basis and just return every year to the same 4-day festival held at a campground that eventually becomes holy ground (as if there were any other kind!). And there's nothing wrong with that, except that it can leave daily practice drained of an essential element of communication and working with the land.

And part of it is that I think modern Pagan training fails to provide enough focus on the nuts and bolts of how to listen to land, how to be in relationship with the spirits of a place, how to work to turn the wheel along with those spirits, rather than simply alone or with other humans. Some of us get some of it intuitively; that may be part of what attracted us to Paganism in the first place. And some of us are lucky enough to make some contact and to then receive instruction from the land itself. But we could and must do a better job of teaching ourselves this essential skill, far more essential than learning herbal and color correspondences or learning which incense to burn with which spell.

I hope to blog more about this in coming months, but I'll make a few suggestions that I've found to be good beginnings. First, ground. Do it daily. Second, consider paying more attention to the land than to all the books in Llewellyn or to some teacher. We've all learned that the element of Water corresponds with the West, and if you live in England (or San Francisco), that makes sense. But here, on the East Coast, not so much. My brilliant friend E associates the element of Water in her daily practice with wherever the closest body of water is to where she lives at the time. Do you know where the closest body of water is to the place where you do you daily practice? How would you find out?

Photo of the SE corner of the author's garden

Unmanned Drones At Stonehenge Solstice Celebration

Summer Solstice (Litha) occurs here in the nation's capital at 1:45 am on Sunday, June 21st. Litha is one of my favorite holidays and one that, I admit, makes me a bit "homesick" for a place I've never been. Long before I knew that I was a witch, the Summer Solstice was firmly associated in my mind with Stonehenge. Pillar of the Sky, which I read in my twenties, is still one of my favorite books. I am sad to see how England plans to police this year's Stonehenge celebration.

A big police operation involving an unmanned drone, horses and drugs sniffer dogs will be launched at Stonehenge tomorrow as huge crowds descend on the ancient site for the summer solstice.

Because the celebrations fall over the weekend and fine weather is predicted, bigger crowds than usual are expected and Wiltshire police have said they will clamp down heavily on antisocial behaviour.

Restrictions are being placed on the amount of alcohol revellers can bring in and police have said they will not tolerate illegal drug taking or unlawful raves.

The force's no-nonsense approach, after a more relaxed feel in recent years, has raised fears that there could be clashes.

Some peace-loving druids have told the Guardian that they will be staying away because they fear the combination of large crowds - possibly more than 30,000 ‑ and the police's stance could lead to trouble.

Can you imagine any religious group other than Pagans that the British government would dare to police on a high holiday with unmanned drones, for the love of the Goddess?

The local police don't have a great history of dealing with those coming to Stonehenge.

Picture found here.

Go! Listen!

Katrina Messenger once told me a story about a time when she saw a beggar on the street. The man was wailing and complaining of his misery and, Katrina believed, probably putting on something of an act. And yet, coming upon this archetype of suffering, Katrina was forced to realize something not about the beggar, but about herself: She couldn't, being who she was, walk past someone in that much apparent pain, and do nothing.

I'm not sure why, but I was reminded of Katrina's story last night as I listened to this very inspirational podcast of a discussion between T. Thorn Coyle and Selena Fox. I am someone who can't listen to Selena's invocation without sobbing and recommitting to the cause, just as I cannot read the inscription "Equal Justice Under Law" on the SCOTUS without sobbing with love (professionally embarrassing on more than one occasion), or vote in the smallest local election without holding back tears. (Maybe the message is Katrina gives alms and I blubber, I don't know!)

You should listen to the entire discussion; it's well worth it.

It's awfully easy to get activists' fatigue, and I find that now, having worked like hell to elect a president of whom I can only say, this week, that he sucks less than McCain would have sucked, activists' fatigue is waiting for me around a lot of corners, ready to pounce at every opportunity. Listening to the work that Selena's been doing for years, as well as to her successes, is an incredibly good talisman to carry around in defense of activists' fatigue.

Of course, we witches say that the best spell for getting a job is filling out a job application. So one of the best magical talismans against activists' fatigue is taking some small, positive action.

Good talismans available right now include Sia's current post about micro-loans and my brilliant friend E's post about, inter alia, the D.C. Central Kitchen. And if you won't even, as Susie says: Call Them you've got bad activists' fatigue. And here's a great idea for simple activism in the waning part of the year.

Hail Libertas! Hail Justica!

Picture found here.

Daylilies

Almost no flower says Litha to me the way that daylilies do. They show up, on schedule, and brighten things up just as a lot of flowers are disappearing. They're wonderful symbols of impermanence. And they're good to eat, too. You can scatter the petals in a spinach salad to brighten it up, or you can stuff the blossoms with almost anything.


DAYLILIES STUFFED WITH ORIENTAL
CRAB SALAD
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and
sliced into matchstick-sized pieces
1/2 pound crab meat or crab substitute*
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
* Blanche the bean sprouts by dropping them in
boiling water for about a minute. Then cool nder cold running water. They should still
have a crunch.
* Combine all ingredients thoroughly and
refrigerate. You can even make the crab salad a
day in advance. *When you are ready to serve,
spoon several tablespoons of the salad into the
center of each daylily flower. You may also top
each filled daylily with a scattering of toasted
sesame seeds or finely chopped scallions for a
more colorful presentation.
* Smaller daylily flowers require less crab
salad, so this recipe makes enough to stuff two
dozen large daylily flowers or 30 smaller
flowers.












Recipe found here.

My New Name For A Blog

What Gus Said. Maybe it helps to have a background in working magic to understand Gus' point.

Back in a Minute

Normal blogging to begin again shortly.

We're Just You

Charge Of The Goddess

I Seem So Far Away Today. Let Me Tell You That I Love You And I Think About You All The Time

Play It At My Funeral, It's What I Am

When Death Comes

When Death Comes

Mary Oliver
From New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press, 25 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108-2892, ISBN 0 870 6819 5).

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measles-pox;

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Carrying Capacity

Obama Restaurant Watch -- Michelle And The Girls Edition

The Obamas like to eat out wherever they are.

On Monday, the Obamas startled and delighted the staff of The Audley pub in the Mayfair district across from the U.S. Embassy.

The Obamas made reservations for 25 people, although restaurant employees did not know in advance that the large party included the first family.

"We were all speechless when they walked in. I couldn't believe it," said Cintia Pinto, 24, one of the waitresses who served the Obamas.


The group arrived at 7 p.m. and was seated in a private dining room on an upper floor of the pub.

"They were all very friendly. Smiling and laughing. . . . the girls were so sweet and polite. They thanked us every time we brought them something. It was a real honor," said Pinto.

Michelle Obama ordered a sirloin steak while the girls both ordered a traditional pub meal of fish and chips, confirmed a restaurant representative.

Picture found here.

Obamafoodorama has more.

My New Name For A Blog

What Athenae Said.

Living In A Circle

For most of us, there are a few things that you hear about at some point in your life, and you say to yourself, "I've got to get me some of that." The reaction is visceral, instant, strong. It's a lot like falling in love. And, Goddess help you if you ignore that call; it will not go well with you.

When I first learned, pre-pre-pre internet, about the modern Wiccan revival, I had that reaction to the idea of being in a Dianic coven, being part of a circle of women who practice magic. It took me a long time -- longer than it would take in today's interconnected world -- but I did find just such a circle. And, as the poet said, "That has made all the difference." And I want to talk tonight a bit about the workings of a women's circle.

DC is a transient town. Some of us make it our home, but lots of people move here, work in government for a few years, move "back" home. You're asking for misery if you expect to be in a stable, permanent circle in DC -- at least one involving professional women. And so, around a fairly consistent core, my circle has seen its share of comings and goings. And we've learned, although imperfectly, to deal with the fact of permanent impermanence.

That's not to say that we like it A pillar of our circle gets told that, to move up in her federal government agency, she's got to take a two-year stint in a field office. And then, the housing market crashes, she's underwater out in the middle of bumfuck-nowhere-she-wants-to-be, and we're missing her on a regular basis. Our most musical member decides to go to NY to break into music in a real way, falls in love, moves to LA, and we get to see her sporadically when she's back here on tour or for a march or demonstration. One of our crones is badly injured on the job and finds herself more or less unable to do magic, to make it to meetings, to cope with magical demands. Nor will her pride allow her to accept any help. A brilliant witch, who never casts a circle but you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up and experience magic ALL AROUND, the kind of woman who centers circles just by being who she is, gets sent to Europe to manage a media conglomerate. She times her trips back home to be at as many Sabbats as possible and sometimes casts the circle from the banks of the Thames a day or so early so that it can float back across the Atlantic and up the Potomac to us.

Other leavings are less -- what's the word I want? -- satisfactory? Clean? Magically appropriate? A young member simply stops coming to Moons, Sabbats, Stitch-n-Bitches, doesn't respond to calls or e-mails, finally admits that clubbing is more important to her right now than the circle. A woman for whom we've made a lot of exceptions finally says, "Look, I'm busy. And, I'm just not that in to you." She's unavailable for a ritual to bless her and acknowledge her separation from the circle. Members overcommit themselves, want to be involved in so many different things that there's realistically no way for it to work, want constant support from the circle but are seldom available to support the work of the circle.

Those of us who form the "working core" can find ourselves resentful, and, at the same time, feeling guilty about being resentful: after all Sister X is having a rough time/raising a young family/caring for an aged parent, etc. And, yet, people make time in their lives for the things that matter. Like pornography, we can all "just tell" when it's working and when it's not, when someone would be here if she could and when she's choosing more often than not to not show up. And, like life, magic is 80% about showing up.

Our coven doesn't have "leaders," nor are we, as one of our "core members" who came to us with almost no background in Wicca will attest, a teaching coven. But it's still with interest that I read Bronwen Forbes' article on Witchvox entitled: So You Think You Want To Be A Coven Leader? Ms. Forbes asks some questions of prospective High Priestesses that apply, IMHO, just as well to those thinking of joining a coven.

How good am I at forming group cohesion?

How many hot meals am I ready to miss?

Is my home usually clean enough to have rituals in?

Do I have my own act together?

Are there other obligations in my life that . . . need me more?

How good [am I] at saying no?


Being in a circle of women is a constant exercise in loving the other women with a deep and profound love and being about ready to strangle at least a few of them at any given time. You know, like having sisters. (The Goddess knows, I often wonder why my circle sisters haven't thrown me out; I would have.) Certainly, it can be a learning opportunity and can help you to grow. But if your need to control is overweening, perhaps the life of a solitary suits you better.

"Hot meals" is, for me, a metaphor for "other bits of my life." Can you juggle your work schedule when needed? Will you be able to make other arrangements, either with a significant other or a dependable sitter you can afford, for young children, aged parents, sick pets? Regularly? Can you adjust your schedule at the gym, budget enough money at the end of the month for gas, supplies, and food, say no to that tarot class or reiki training session that conflicts with the Sabbats? Are you willing to go home early the night before in order to be well rested on the night of the Full Moon? (Real magic is serious, physical, intense work. You're not being fair to yourself or your sisters if you show up exhausted, unready, not in shape.) If not, maybe some general public rituals, where it won't matter if you don't show up, are best for you right now.

Similarly, "a clean home" is a metaphor. Perhaps the circle will never meet in your home, but is your life together? Can you find your supplies? Do you have a comfortable, stable base from which to operate? Is there somewhere where you can do the prepatory meditations and the daily practice required of circle members?

This is aligned with the question of whether you have your own act together. If the magic depends upon you showing up with red and black ribbons and incense made of ground rose petals, and you don't show up, or you show up shrugging without supplies, well, you know, karma. Again, do you have a way to squeeze out 8 Sabbats, 13 moons, and a few other meetings a year from your work, family, school, inviolable tai chi schedule? If not, are you honest enough to admit that, or do you still live in a world where you "hope" you'll meet your obligations? A wise witch once said that if your word's no good on this world, why on Earth should you expect it to be accepted between the worlds?? I'll add that "having your life together" is often a big challenge for a lot of Pagans. One can speculate about why, but I think that a huge magical undertaking, one with the potential for immense magical growth for many, many, many of us, is to determine to, within a set period of time, "get your life together." There are dozens of books and tons of classes that will allow you to get control of your work, financial, possessions, health, family, and social lives. Go do it. It's a way of grounding par excellence.

Are there other obligations that need you more? We had a lovely woman who asked to join our circle, became close to us, developed a relationship. Then, it turned out that, in order to complete her graduate practicum, finish the reiki training for which she'd signed up, and deal with her daughter, she wasn't going to be available for any Moons or Sabbats for over a year. Information it would have been nice to know before we wrapped our circle around her. Be an adult. No matter how much you want to, you can't do everything at once.

Which leads to the question of whether or not you're good at saying no. No, I can't work late tonight. No, that's not a good night for a date and, if that means the end of our relationship, well, fare thee well; I need to be in a relationship that honors my need to be in a circle. No, I can't go out the night before because then I'll be wrecked the night of the ritual. No, I can't join this new group planning public rituals because, well, there are only 8 Sabbats and we all celebrate the same ones. (Or, you can join that group, but then you owe it to your old circle to say, "No, I can't continue to carry my weight with you and I want you to bless me and let me go.") No, I adore G/Son and want to spend time with him, but that night I've got the witches coming over for Litha; how's the next weekend? No, I won't be able to stay home with the kids that night; let's arrange for a sitter.

In the end, for me, the advantages so far outweigh the costs, that I'd choose being in this magical circle of magical women over almost anything. I'll move heaven and Earth to make it work. I've left work, gone to ritual, and gone back, aching and drained from magic, the way that magic can leave you, and drafted briefs for another 18 hours or so. I've worked every night for a week to get my home ready for ritual, and I demand that women be able to enter a clean, peaceful place with polished silver, chilled wine, lovely flowers, space -- before they are ever called upon to do magic. I've gotten up early to do required meditations, turned down conferences that conflicted with the Sabbats. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat to stand skyclad with these women beneath the full moon, to run skyclad with them out onto the deck and to howl at the dark moon, only to be answered back by something wild and free in the middle of a city of marble, to do political magic with them in the heart of the capital of the world.

What would you do to be in a circle?

How would you answer Bronwen's questions? To what extent do you understand that it's not just like joining a class or a book club or a church choir?

Picture found here

Relationship With The Land

And so, i went out tonight, to walk widdershins in the waning moon around my new circle of stones. And, there she was. There was the first firefly of summer, dancing with such lovely laziness around my circle of stones.

Years ago, when I first moved into this magical cottage, I was, pax cancer meds, v depressed. But one night, all unexpected, I came out onto the porch in the deep night and looked out into the woodland surrounding me and, there, there She was, there was the Goddess, blinking and dancing and making love to me in a thousand points of light. It was not the beginning of joy, but it was the end of despair.

And so, each year, although I watch through snow for the fox, and through March for the crocus and hellebore, and through April for the daffodils, and through May for the sage and woad and jack-in-the-pulpit, and through June for the roses and lilies and gardenia, although I watch just up to Litha for all of them, I do begin in June to watch for the fireflies. And, tonight, there She was. She was gentle, blinking light, dancing in between daylilies and crepe myrtle, in between beech and mint.

Welcome, lovely light.

Voting In Virginia

Virginia is having a Democratic primary election on Tuesday. Not that anybody's hankering for the witch's endorsement (No, really, please. Vote for my opponent; and be sure to tell everyone that you're doing so!) but here's how I'll be voting:

Governor: Brian Moran. Why? His website says: As a legislative leader, he consistently fought to uphold a woman’s right to choose. Brian has a strong pro-choice record and will take that record and his commitment to women’s rights to the governor’s office. Can't find anything on Craig Deed's site about his position on choice. And no way I'm supporting McAuliffe in the primary.

Lieutenant Governor: Mike Signer. Why? Nothing on his website about choice, but that's true of his opponent, as well. So generally, I'd go with Jody Wagner, because we need more women in Richmond, but Son knows Signer and assures me that Signer is solidly pro-choice. He'd better be.

For Arlington's Delegate: Alan Howze. Why? His website says: Strengthen Workplace Protections
Support the right of women to receive equal pay for equal work.
Strengthen workplace discrimination laws
Strengthen whistleblower protections

Protect Reproductive Rights
Fully support a women's right to choose.
Support efforts to reduce abortions through family planning and making contraceptives affordable and easily accessible
Support access for morning after contraceptive without a prescription
Support teaching age appropriate sex-ed in schools
Pharmacists should be required to provide all medicines prescribed by doctors and should not be allowed to deny women reproductive control by choosing not to fulfill selected prescriptions

The other candidates either don't mention women's rights or tuck them away and give them little emphasis.

Get to the polls on Tuesday.

Image found at wikipedia.