lunar eclipse

I’m not a night owl. I love to sleep which is important to note as I have been up since 12:30am watching the eclipse.

There’s an overcast sky where I live, so I’ve had to resort to web feeds. It’s not as it should be but I am a child of the technology age as much as I am a child of the gods. So, it works.

I’m continually amazed at the beauty of nature. I watch these amazing changes in the shape and color of Mani and think what feer, confusion, rituals, and celebrations might have occurred during such previous events. How many siedhr and spae workers sat and watched lunar eclipses in past centures? How many sit and watch tonight. I know Yngona Desmond sits vigil. She’s posting lovely poetic phrases from her smart phone to Facebook. My, how the times have changed.

I’ve kept candles and incense burning. A fresh whiskey offering has been made. And the moon now an orange-red, veiled by clouds. Web traffic is high so I think I will finally rest. A modern pagan woman still needs to go to work in the morning.

I hope all that wished to see the eclipse was able to in some fashion. It a special Yule this year.

Hail the gods! Hail the ancestors! Hail to my friends and family! My heart to you all this night.

Notes from our November Work

The Catskin Sisters recently met to engage in a bit of Seith-Work, which we have not done for some months.  We kept things simple, each one of us taking the chair as seeress in turn, and answering questions posed by the others. 

We were without a drum or some other instrument to guide each Seeress into trance, so I spoke a chant for the others, and anisenamon spoke a similar chant for me.  I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was a little different each time.  This seemed to work passably, but didn’t seem (at least for myself) to lead to as deep a trance as being drummed or sung to trance would have.  Good in a pinch, however.  I believe I used words similar to :

Seeress, Seeress,

Waiting in worlds void -

Seek thou now the Tree!

Sink to roots or rise on rustling branch -

Sink or rise, Seeress,

Sink or rise -

Seek to knowledge,

Fare by your familiar paths,

…tap the stave three times when you are ready.

Interestingly, when guiding my fellow seeresses in, I could tell when they had entered a sufficient trance, just a moment or two before they signaled that they were ready to answer questions.  In anise’s case, her presence seemed to grow larger somehow, majestic, and filled the room.  With rtemis, she seemed somehow taller by at least a head.  And, when ladyofbones slipped into trance, it seemed as though she drew a great mantle around her shoulders.

I didn’t ‘see’ any of these changes, it was more like an intuition or sensing a subtle change in energy, but these impressions were also noticed by the others.

We used my Linden-stave in our session, and all agreed that it possesses good might.  I suspect this is because it shares an energetic connection with a living tree, also strengthening it’s rapport with the World Tree itself.

When it was my turn to take the High Seat, as I sunk into trance I seemed to be riding astride the staff I was holding, as a Witch would ride her broom.  At the same time, I felt as though It was a high branch on the World Tree that I was riding. 

Overall, a good session.  We hope to have several more during these dark months, when the veil is thin, and otherworldly vioces are most easily heard.

Frau Wode

Mother Fury rides the Hunt.

Her ice-tongued hounds bay,

Cold as the lips of children in her train.

Wide ranging under bright cloud-hunted moon,

Rushing with a grave-cold sigh,

The rattle of branches pass for hooves.

Ecstatic shudder, wind of Winter’s dusk,

The Hidden Host bear onward,

Close on the track of wandering souls.