Magic and Rituals
The use of ritual in magic and meditation can be as elaborate or as simple as you desire. From the extensive preparations of a high ceremonial mage researching the appropriate correspondences and preparing his workings in esoteric languages with complex calculations, to the almost reflexive folkway of throwing spilled salt over your left shoulder, ritual is pervasive in all cultures and throughout all times.
What we have provided here is a collection of seasonal rituals in a bare-bones kind of format. As with Myths, our reasoning is that the ease of understanding offered by familiarity with seasonal changes as well as the very real benefit of remaining grounded in the eternal cycle of the wheel of the year is a powerful combination not to be ignored. By offering a "skeletal" construction of some ritual basics associated with the seasons we hope to both inspire and guide both seasoned veterans of spiritual meditations and newcomers alike.
Again, we would advise you of the single most important component as you construct your own ritual observations. What works for you is more effective than anything else. Now, a whole lot of fluffy headed little wannabees have interpreted this to mean "anything goes". It doesn't. What it does mean is that your line of reasoning as you select the individual correspondences of any meditation, prayer, or magic ritual will have the greatest impact on your outcome.
Here is a simple example of this principle. If, in your heart of hearts, you believe the color red to signify anger, destruction, war, and bloodshed, you may not be satisfied with the results you get from using this color in a meditation or magic ritual intended to result in "peace". First, you must ask yourself how you have arrived at your conclusions about this correspondence. If the answer is "I read it in a book somewhere." then you had better try again. You really need to explore your own intuitions and reasonings where appropriate correspondences are concerned. Now, maybe, you come up with a deeper understanding. Something like "red is the color of blood, and blood is spilled in battle, and battles happen in wars, and wars are a result of anger, and anger is an outgrowth of conflict..." well, now you are applying the kind of reasoning necessary to understanding for yourself that just because some author has suggested meditating on a "rich peaceful red" color to attain inner (or outer) peace doesn't necessarily mean that this association will ring true for you. You may want to keep the idea of "rich peaceful colors" for your meditation, but substitute something that confers to you (again, it is best if you know "why" this association works for you) closer associations with the concept of "peace".
If you wish to return to return to the Goddess of the Month, please select the image icon to your left.
Winter Magic
Birth and Re-Birth
There is no question that this is a mysterious time.
The journey through the mysteries of the seeming death of winter is the most magical part of natures' rich pageant and this hints at the the power of transformation embodied in the secret cocoon of winter.
The energy of winter is richly suited to magical transformations of the very essence of our world.
Is walking on water a miracle? With the aid of this season, and the magical transformation of water's nature from liquid to solid, it can become an everyday miracle.
Is needing protection from the cold under a blazing sun in a cloudless sky an unexpected mystery? Not if you understand the power of winter to transform even the heat of a mid-day sun to something of a different nature entirely.
It is this power, the power to transform the nature of things to something completely different, that is at the heart of the magic of this season.
It is wise then, to move along with the currents of this power, and use this time to transform those influences in your life which require a complete change in their nature.
This is the time to address addictions, weaknesses, and inabilities and change their nature to freedoms, strengths, and abilities.
This is the time to transform idle dreams into active possibilities, and empty wishes into fulfilled accomplishments.
This is the time to transform the nature of even the most stubborn difficulties to fluid solutions.
The mystery and magic of winter is that of the deepest kind. This magic can make the impossible a reality.
Just as the secret magic of the cocoon serves to transform the caterpillar into a butterfly, the secret magic of winter will yield the opportunity for complete transformations to all who choose to work with the mystery of this season.
If you wish to return to return to the Goddess of the Month, please select the image icon to your left.
Spring Magic
Fertility and Growth
This is a time of great energy.
Just as the mystery of transformation is at the peak of potency during winter, the season of transformation, so is the energy of life found to be the most powerful during the spring.
The return of life to the world after the deathlike stillness of winter brings the powers of fertility and growth to all cultures and belief systems and is the foundation and source for every hope.
The vigor and power of the seedling is nothing short of miraculous as it taps into living energy to grow many thousands of times it's original size and establish, through growth, many thousands of times it's original strength.
From the little acorn springs the mighty oak. This is the message and the magic of spring.
This means that the best use of the swelling tides of spring is along the lines of fertility, waxing power, and growth.
This is a time perfectly aligned to the devotion of energy into new ideas, plans, and beginnings.
Those things which were transformed through the depth of winter to become possibilities must now be nurtured in a way that will establish the strongest growth.
New ventures, new life, new ideas, renewed plans, refreshed skills, births and rebirths of all kinds are well aspected during this most energetic of times.
Just as babes are kicking in their mothers womb to be released, and buds are bursting from the branch to be revealed, so too is the tremendous energy of renewal pushing through your world offering the promise of potential to all who choose to work with this energy.
If you wish to return to return to the Goddess of the Month, please select the image icon to your left.
Summer Magic
Abundance
This is a most powerful time.
The full strength of the life re-born out of winter and nurtured in spring is revealed in the heaviness of the ripened vines and the brilliance of the color streaked wildflowers. The air is richly scented with the perfume of blooms at the peak of abundance and power.
This then, is the time for making the best use of the abundant gifts all around us.
What is the point of nurturing a garden if you do not harvest? What is the point of nurturing a blossom if you do not inhale the scent? What is the point of wasting the magical powers brought to maturity during this most abundant of times?
Just as you would pick the fruits of your fields rather than let them rot you now need to harvest the fruits of your efforts.
Have you been studying? This is the time to graduate on to the next phase of your journey.
Have you been working toward a goal? This is the time to evaluate your progress, celebrate your accomplishments and put your plans into action.
Have you been wishing, hoping, dreaming, for some secret desire? This is the time to gather as much of the stuff of desire as you can and work it into your reality. This is the time to declare "I AM!". Just as a whisper can build to a shout, so can the simple intent of your declared desire build, with the power of summer's abundance, to complete fulfillment in the world of all who choose to work with the magic of summer.
If you wish to return to return to the Goddess of the Month, please select the image icon to your left.
Autumn Magic
Death and Regeneration
This is a time for preparation and preservation.
The abundance found through the full power of summer must yield to the harvest of autumn in preparation for the mysterious journey through the death of winter back to the re-birth of spring.
This bittersweet season has always combined the pleasure and satisfaction of culmination with the costs and compromises of decline.
Just as the scythe must mortally wound the fields in order to bring home the harvest, so must the harvests of our inner spirit be severed from the abundance of growth to ensure preservation.
The decline of autumn calls for the separation of what is worthy of preservation and necessary for survival from what needs to be discarded. In this process of letting go we gain the opportunity to evaluate that which serves us well, from that which hinders our true path.
This then is a time richly suited to getting rid of things that hold us back and weigh us down. Old hurts and grudges should be sent to feed the balefires of autumn along with the thoughts, behaviors, and fears that only drain your life of richness.
These things are not worthy of preservation. Indeed, their only use can be to feed the bonfires of autumn, becoming the quick ash of disappointment, renewed through this transformation to an agent of fertilization for those hopes, dreams, and plans to be reborn with the next turn of the season cycle.
For all who choose to work with the energy of preparation embodied in this season, there will be a greater understanding of the mysterious interplay between death and life, joy and sorrow, the shadow and the bright, yesterday and tomorrow.
If you wish to return to return to the Goddess of the Month, please select the image icon to your left.