Garden Witchery (18 page)

Lay the wreath out first. Take your time and arrange things to your liking. Have fun, relax, and enjoy yourself. Remember that it's much easier to shift pieces around
before
you glue them on than it is to pry them off afterward. If you are incorporating twigs or viny things like bittersweet into the wreath, try to work them into the grapevine for a more natural look.

You may use different colors of ribbon to decorate the wreath or to weave a pentagram inside of the circle. Experiment with coordinating colors for certain needs and to align with the elements.

Ready to get started? Before I turn you loose, here are several seasonal projects for you to try and to get the creative juices flowing. These projects are meant to be a starting point for you. Change them around and add to them according to your tastes.

Spring Wreath:
A moss wreath would be an interesting choice for the base, or a grapevine. Add silk lilacs and dried rosebuds. If the wreath is going to be for Ostara, try tulips and daffodils, and use dried baby's breath and yarrow for fillers. Tuck a tiny faery in your wreath so she's peeking out from the flowers. A decorative bluebird with a tiny nest would be very spring oriented. You could add some mini garden tools or tie on a tiny watering can.

Lamas Wreath:
I like a straw wreath for the base, it seems more summer oriented. Decorate this wreath with sunflowers, either dried or silk. Add stems of wheat, black feathers, or a small decorative silk blackbird. Use dried yellow yarrow from the garden, marigolds, and purple statice, which looks great with these colors as a filler.

Harvest or Samhain Wreath:
Begin with a large grapevine wreath. Add dried golden yarrow, red cockscomb, and miniature ornamental corn. See if you can work in a few miniature pumpkins or gourds. (Use floral picks for the heavier items and glue them in securely.) Weave in bittersweet or rose hips and dyed oak leaves. Embellish with a few gilded acorns. For Samhain, weave an orange or black pentagram into the center of the wreath.

Yule Wreath:
A live or artificial pine wreath as the base is traditional. Pine cones add texture and are easy to find. Add sprigs of holly, dried rose hips, seed pods, nuts, and acorns. Small twigs spray painted white and then sprinkled with iridescent glitter are a sparkling addition. Add a silk red bird (cardinal) to your wreath. How about a partridge and a few small artificial pears? Lastly, tie on some bundles of cinnamon sticks for a prosperous new year.

It doesn't matter whether you grew the herbs and flowers in your own garden and dried them yourself, found them while scavenging, or bought them in the craft store. There are many resources for materials. Searching is half the fun. Enjoy creating your magickal wreaths and keep your eyes open for those little treasures of nature. The Goddess is eternally bountiful. Walk gently, open your heart, and see what you find. Happy wreath making!

A Garden Witch's Book of Shadows

Now that you have all these wonderful creative ideas and spells swirling around in your brain, where are you going to put them? I hope you have been writing your own charms and recipes. I bet you went out and made a faery garden, didn't you? How did it go? Did you notice any changes in the yard? In your magick? Are we keeping track?

Remember that spiral notebook that you started taking your first garden witch notes in? Let's jazz it up a little and make it into a garden witch's Book of Shadows. A Book of Shadows is simply a witch's recipe book—a listing of notes, correspondences, and tried-and-true favorites.

Every BOS is unique, as is each witch or natural magician. The difference here will be that we are going to be adding plant information and our gardening notes. Sounds like another excuse to be magickally creative, doesn't it ?

Either use a binder or locate a blank book or journal. This is your magickal journal, so make it however you want it. Try writing out your spells and recipes with different colored pens and decorating the pages with rubber stamp art. Magickal themes such as faeries, witches, and wizards are classic. Keep your eyes open for Halloween rubber stamps and stickers too.

If you go the three-ring binder route, check out the scrapbook sections at the craft store and look for interesting computer paper to print your spells out on. Take a look at celestial, floral, and garden motif stickers for embellishing the pages.

Add photos from your own gardens, pictures of your spouse, children, or pets, and anything that is special to you. Clip out flower photos, gardening quotes, and magazine articles on gardening and plant folklore that appeal to you and glue them in (I recommend using a glue stick for this).

I don't advise placing dried, pressed flowers in the journal, unless you put clear contact paper over them. I tried to glue dried, pressed pansies in my BOS once.They looked great until I closed the book and the flowers crumbled apart. It made a hell of a mess altogether.

Your garden witch BOS may be used to record gardening trials and triumphs: what plants grew well, which plants sulked, varieties that you'd like to try next year, and so on.

Basically, your garden witch BOS should reflect you. Take your time and build your BOS up slowly over the years. If you want it to be more gothic and witchy, try your hand at calligraphy and go for it! If you enjoy a botanical theme, or happen to have a thing for flower stickers (which I am guilty of), indulge yourself.

All of the projects in this chapter are designed for you to have a little fun experimenting with the crafty side of witchcraft. Go ahead, try your hand at being artistic. No one is going to grade you. Do you think all of my craft projects, magickal or otherwise, turned out splendidly over the years? Wait a minute, I have to glare at my husband for laughing at me.

Anyway, be daring! Live, laugh, and learn. Most of all, just enjoy the creative process!

Laugh, and the world laughs with you.
Sing . . . and the hills will answer.

Ella Wheeler

At-a-Glance Plant Correspondences

Prosperity

Color:
Green.
Element:
Earth.
Plants:
Acorns, bayberry, bergamot, cinnamon, cinquefoil, heliotrope, honeysuckle, mint, nuts, oak leaves, pine, poppy, tulip, wheat

Love

Color:
Red.
Element:
Fire.
Plants:
Catnip, clove, dill, geranium, lady's mantle, meadowsweet, orange rind, pansy, rosemary, rose, rose hips, tiger lily, violet, yarrow

Healing

Color:
Blue.
Element:
Water.
Plants:
Angelica, bittersweet, carnation, geranium, juniper, lavender, meadowsweet, mullein, oak, rosemary, rue, St. John's wort, tansy, thyme

Creativity

Color:
Yellow.
Element:
Air.
Plants:
Aspen, grapevine, horehound, iris, lavender, lily of the valley, nutmeg, periwinkle, rosemary, rue, sage, spearmint, sunflower, wisteria

Protection

Color:
Black.
Element:
All.
Plants:
Betony, cloves, cypress, dill, foxglove, garlic, hydrangea, rose geranium, rowan twigs, rue, snapdragons, yarrow, sweet woodruff, violet

At-a-Glance List for Crystal and Stone Magick

Amethyst:
Peace and psychic power—a good stone to keep with your Tarot cards

Aventurine:
The gambler's stone, prosperity, and good luck

Bloodstone:
Health, good luck, and healing

Carnelian:
Love, lust, and health

Citrine:
Psychic abilities

Hematite:
Grounding and healing

Lapis Lazuli:
Healing, love, psychism, bravery; this stone is sacred to the Goddess Isis

Lepidolite:
Peace, protection, and brings good luck in new ventures

Moonstone:
The Goddess, moon magick, safe travel, self-analysis

Malachite:
Cash, business success, healing, and protection

Obsidian:
Grounding, deflects negativity, and protection

Quartz Crystal:
Power, this will magnify any other crystal or stone added to the charm bag

Rose Quartz:
Love, self-confidence, friendships, and warm fuzzies

Tiger's Eye:
Protection and success

Turquise:
Protection and healing, friendship and good luck

Magickal Color List

I thought this index might come in handy for all of your garden witch craft projects. As you choose fabric for your charm bags or decorate your wreaths with assorted colored ribbons, you may care to refer to this magickal color list. Note: This is also a handy reference guide for candle magick.

Red:
Passion, love and healing, the element of fire, and the Mother Goddess

Orange:
Energy, action, communication, and intensity

Yellow:
Creativity, conception, studying, spring, and the element of air

Green:
Prosperity, healing, gardening, herbalism, faery magick, and the element of earth

Blue:
Peace, hope, healing, and the element of water

Purple:
Psychic powers, to increase personal power, and magick

Brown:
Grounding, happy homes, pets, and garden magick

Black:
Breaking hexes, banishing illness or negativity, and the Crone

White:
All-purpose, the Maiden Goddess, peace, calm, and hope

Grey:
Bindings, banishing, invisibility spells, and glamouries

Silver:
The Goddess, women's mysteries, the moon, and intuition

Gold:
The God, riches, wealth, and fame

Pink:
Love, warm fuzzies, friendship, and children

Baby Blue:
Comfort, children, and harmony

Lime Green:
Warding off jealousy, seed blessing, and springtime magick

Lilac:
Clairvoyance, Tarot work, and faery magick

[contents]

My mom's a witch and my uncle

married the Easter bunny . . .

A Favorite Family Saying at My House

9

Sabbat Celebrations for Families

T
rue statement. Seriously, it is. During an Easter Sunday brunch celebrated at my parent's home several years ago, my mom and dad thought it would be the most wonderful idea to go and visit my brother and his fiancée while they worked at an Easter buffet. My parents wanted the kids to be there specifically because my brother's fiancée, who stands just at five feet tall, was going to be dressed up as the Easter bunny.

My children were less than thrilled. There was that coolness factor to be considered, after all. They were too old to believe in the Easter bunny. My husband and I had to watch them carefully that year, to make sure that they didn't make any comments about how colored eggs and the white rabbit were actually archaic symbols for the Goddess of Spring. Some Pagan kids hit that age and are ready to tell
anybody
who will listen what those Christian holidays are actually based on. (You know, just to prove to others how smart they really are.) Well, at the time, all three of mine were going through that phase.

So we loaded up the troops and off we went to the hotel where my brother and his fiancée both worked. The troops consisted of the parents, my sister, her infant son, and my brood, who were about eleven, eight, and six years old at the time. When we arrived at the hotel, it was packed. My dad scouted out my brother quickly enough and, in a few moments, what to my wondering eyes should appear but my future sister-in-law in a white, furry bunny costume, complete with ears.

She had to be miserably hot, as it was one of those costumes that has a full head and you look out through the mouth. My daughter, who was to be their flower girl that May, thought it was pretty funny. Kat was six years old at the time, and she thought she was way beyond the Easter bunny thing. She had helped dye eggs that year for the first time—why, she was practically an adult. My mom wanted to make sure the new baby could see the bunny. My nephew was only about a month old, he was completely oblivious.

My two boys were just praying no one that they knew would see them there, talking to the Easter bunny. Thankfully we didn't stay too long, and before we left, my brother in one of his usual moves gave the Easter bunny a big dramatic dip and kiss. My brother is about six foot four, so it was pretty funny to see him dip a five-foot-tall white rabbit.

As we loaded the kids up into the car, I looked over at my husband and told him that I could just hear the kids on the psychiatrist's couch now . . .

“No, really, doctor, you don't understand. My mom
is
a witch and my uncle married the Easter bunny.”

Our families are important to us. We want to share our beliefs with our children and make them a part of our celebrations. The majority of us were not raised Pagan, but if your parents, siblings, and now their children are practicing Christians, you may find yourself walking a very slippery road. Religion can be a sticky subject for some families. It doesn't have to be. I am a firm believer in possessing a good sense of humor. Laugh, dammit! It's okay to look at things from the lighter side.

When our children were small, my husband and I were both concerned with the kids feeling left out of the rest of the families' holiday celebrations. In an effort to blend in, we started to celebrate double holidays twice a year, at Ostara/Easter and Yule/Christmas. The kids made out like bandits and they loved it. It also taught them to respect their grandparents' beliefs. We made the effort to teach them how their grandparents' beliefs were similar or different from our own, so that they would know. Information is always a good thing.

The biggest problem that I usually had was on Easter Sunday. That was when they traditionally show the movie
The Ten Commandments
on TV. We have Easter dinner over at the in-laws' and the TV is normally left on. My husband's family is huge, so when the kids were small I figured anything unusual they said probably would be drowned out in the roar of the crowd. Still, I knew my kids . . . so it made me nervous anyway.

Now, I happen to adore that old movie—great costumes, big sets, tons of extras, and melodramatic acting. (Yul Brynner as Rameses was such a hottie!) The problems began when my kids would get upset at the Passover scene when “they killed all the poor Egyptians.”

My daughter used to cry every time. When the pharaoh lays his son's body at the temple, my middle son shouted out, “Hey, Mom! Isn't that Anubis?” My in-laws all turned to look suspiciously at me. What is a witch supposed to do? I just smiled and said, “Yes, it is.” After a few moments, conversation resumed. By the Goddess, aren't kids great?

We celebrate Yule quietly at our home by lighting the Yule log and having the kids do their gift exchange with each other on that night. We make a special dinner or sometimes go out to eat. Yule has become our night for just us. It's quiet and a nice way to spend some quality time together. At our house, gifts come from Santa on the morning of the twenty-fifth.

There is no reason why a Wiccan/Pagan child can't enjoy Santa . . . who is, after all, a very magickal guy. He hangs out with elves. He has eight—count 'em, eight—magick flying reindeer. We could stretch that a bit and say he has a reindeer for every sabbat. Of course, that would play hell with the rhyming of the traditional poem “The Night Before Christmas,” so . . . let's not.

There are so many different versions of Santa from around the world that it makes Santa a multicultural folk figure. Have you ever taken a good look at all the different varieties of decorative Santas that are available at stores? There are woodland Santas surrounded by animals and the English Father Christmas in a long green robe, wearing a wreath of holly. He reminds me of the Holly King. Papa Frost from Russia, attired in white, silver, and ice blue, makes a good choice. I even found a Santa that looked like Merlin all done up in celestial robes of gold and royal blue. Perfect for the solstice. You bet I bought him! Any of those characters make a great Pagan-friendly Santa, if you ask me.

Most Pagans and Wiccans have holiday wreaths, a decorated tree, and lights on their houses, and we all know where the traditional holiday decorations originated from, so why not enjoy? In all the rush and excitement of opening presents with the family, hauling your kids to Grandma's house and assorted other family homes, why worry? Just savor the season.

This rest of this chapter will be divided up into eight sections, one for each sabbat. Included are natural decorations and suggestions for relaxing sabbat celebrations for your family.

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
If Candlemas day be gray and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.

E. Holden

Candlemas/Imbolc

Candlemas is celebrated on February 1 or 2, depending on the tradition. This is the cross-quarter day between the winter solstice and the vernal (spring) equinox, and is also known as Imbolc and Brigit's or Bride's Day. Here in the States we know this as Groundhog Day. This is the day of the Virgin Maiden Goddess. The Crone has cast off her shroud and has renewed herself as the Maiden, even though winter is still holding the garden in its grip. But if you look closely, you will see signs of the garden and nature renewing itself. The days are getting longer, but some of our fiercest winter storms happen now.

Usually by this time of year I've been driving myself crazy looking at all the seed catalogs. I start to work my seed list down to a workable amount. I pacify myself by purchasing a blooming cyclamen plant or African violets. They come in handy for holiday decorations.

For household decorations, the colors of white and purple seem appropriate to me. I decorate with a few African violets or other blooming plants, and candles. Lots and lots of candles. I like to keep my Candlemas decor simple; several white candles and a blooming plant or two.

A short, sweet, and simple way to observe Brigit's Day, the sabbat of Candlemas, is to try going outdoors to watch the sunrise. Even if you are only outside for a few moments because of inclement weather, make the attempt to get outside anyway. Light a small tealight, place it in a fireproof jar or candle holder, and nestle it down into the snow. Fill up the bird food in the feeder, hang up some suet for the birds, or leave out some crusts of bread for the animals. Greet the sun as it rises and ask for Brigit's blessings. If you absolutely cannot make it outside, then light a fire in the fireplace or light a new white pillar candle and ask for Brigit's protection for your home and family. Allow the candle to burn until it goes out on its own.

Even though it is winter, get outdoors and have an outing. Celebrate nature, no matter what her season. Perhaps you could ski or go sledding. Check with your local conservation department and see what's happening with the wildlife in your neck of the woods.

In my part of the country, the bald eagles are returning to their winter home along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. If you want a crash course in “brisk wind,” try standing on the banks of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in early February with binoculars to watch the eagles.

My family drives over to Illinois for the day, and takes a drive down the great river road. We pack a lunch, load up the crew (who really enjoy fighting over the binoculars), and off we go for the afternoon to do some eagle watching.

And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Charles Algernon Swinburne

Ostara/Spring Equinox

Ostara is a movable festival. It is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox. This usually falls around March 21. This is the festival of the Goddess Eostre. Eostre is the Norse/German goddess of the spring and the sunrise. Her symbols include the white rabbit, flowers, and, of course, colored eggs.

You could hang decorative eggs from your trees to celebrate on the morning of Ostara. I accidentally started a trend in my neighborhood by doing just that. I used to go out at sunrise on the morning of Ostara and hang a dozen pastel-colored plastic eggs from ribbons on the bottom limbs of the oak tree in the front yard. Usually, by the end of the day, many neighbors had done the same. In the garden, the snowdrops and the crocus should be up and blooming by now, as well as the earlier varieties of daffodils.