The Merry Month of May Begins!

To view the May and June Goddess Celebrations calendar, click on this link from last year:

http://witchofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-blessings.html
The dates for the Dark of the Moon and Full Moon will be different, of course. This year, the Dark Moon is on May 3  at 2:51 AM EDT and the Full Moon shines gloriously on May 17 at 7:08 AM EDT.


May begins with the great celebration of The Greening of the Goddesses and Beltane. My celebration last evening, was solitary and quiet, but very meaningful. The hedge was alive and stirring. 


Earlier, Sunday afternoon, I had a great longing to be out of doors, which I indulged with a visit to a local nursery. I picked up some herbs, including a nice stevia plant and a large oregano - a favorite herb! It is already very hot here in South Florida and I was sweating and blotting as I roamed about - oh the fifties, the sweat years of a woman's life! The heat felt good though, just what I seemed to need, I allowed the heat and sun to soak deeply into my bones. Listening to the fountains and looking at the water plants, I have begun planning an indoor water garden once again. We then went off to the garden department at Home Depot, where I picked up a sweet little Rabbit's Foot Fern and a little planter of mixed plants while looking at more fountain/pond materials. All plants are resting comfortably, including the oregano which is hanging close to my head!


While this celebration was quiet, the month ahead will be busy. Homage to Bona Dea and the Dark of the Moon on the 3rd, the Star Goddess on the 6th, Artemis on the 9th and the Rumanian Festival of the Fates on the 11th - that is one I never skip! All will keep me busy in the temple and at the hedge here at the Toadstool. On the Full Moon of the 17th, all over the world, devotees of Hekate will join together in The Rite of Her Sacred Fires for the second year. (http://sacredfires.co.uk/?p=297) Raven and I will celebrate that together and make whatever other magicks we can throughout the month, as time allows. Then... the Vestalia in June which I celebrate each year for nine days. You can read about my previous Vestalia celebrations here:  http://witchofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/vestalia.html   and here:
http://witchofstitches.blogspot.com/2009/06/vestalia-june-7th-15th.html


And just in case you think my needle has been idle, be at ease, that needle and my fingers have been flying. I am stitching a Hekate's Wheel on that lovely cognac colored linen I mentioned in a previous post, with black thread, which I will finish with a buttonhole stitch and little fringe around the edges. It will look lovely on our altar during the Sacred Fires Rite. Four projects have made it - finally!!! - to Cross Stitch Cupboard for framing. They have been lying in the basket of forgotten, finished needlework projects - well, at least it is a basket of finished projects! I continue with several dozen other WIPs (Queen of Perpetual Projects, that's me!) as well as making a scarf for my mother's friend and some collage and painting projects. Must not forget my Classics Challenge, I don't think I'll make the Master's Degree after all. I have finished three of my books and am half-way through the forth. Lizzie is busy.


If you would like to stitch a Hekate's Wheel for yourself, the free cross stitch pattern can be found, with two pages of charts of mystical symbols here:     http://crossstitch.about.com/od/freecrossstitchpattern1/ig/Wiccan---Pagan-Symbols/
The Hekate's Wheel is the last design on that first page.

 Earlier this morning, I drew a tarot card from The Tarot of the Crone deck. I chose Temperance... hmmm... how very interesting, I think!  A black-cloaked figure walks on a sliver of a green path under a dark sky illuminated by stars. On one side, a field of fire; on the other, a field of ice. The figure holds her hands out to each side, palms down, drawing up the power and essence of each.

This is a  card about mystical journeying to spiritual illumination. Although things may not be as clear as I would like them to be, in time the answers will come. Patience, balance and discipline - that is what is required and what I have. Really? I am finding the balance that I need in my life. From the companion book, I find more messages from this card: I draw in opposing powers and combine them to create what is needed and desired. Fire does not burn me, ice does not cut me; nor do I put out the fire or melt the ice. I know the hunger of fire and the bite of ice, but neither consumes me. I know the boundaries, but I do not allow them to to pin me in place. The power and passion is living within me, now is the time to use that power in all I do.

I am the one who brings beauty to life. I am the one to walk my path. Temperance is a dynamic process, a moving magick, and it makes a life full of meaning. Interesting, indeed.

I walk in beauty

I walk in power

And I create my path

With every step

And so the journey goes...

Blessings nine!