For those who don’t know, here at COFF, we follow astrological timing for our Wheel of the Year. That means that for us, Beltaine falls on May 5, at 15 degrees Taurus. Beltaine (pronounced “bee-all-tin-uh” < Proto-Celtic *Belo-Te(p)niâ Bright Fire) is the first day of summer. In Wales, it is known as Calan Haf (Calends of Summer).
A wonderful old tradition on May Day involves the giving of flowers and candies. In England, this tradition is called “Bringing in the May.” This is the time to go out and pick budding flowers off trees and bushes, such as forsythia, lilac, magnolia, and the like to bring in the spring.
In ancient times, it was often very difficult to tell the Celtic and the Germanic tribes apart. They frequently intermingled, adopted the customs, clothing, weapons, and deities, etc., of the other, and so on. The Germanic/Norse God Wodan/Óðinn, for example, is believed by scholars to have evolved from the Gaulish God Lugos (the Irish Lugh, the Welsh Lleu). Sometimes, Germanic tribes even had Celtic Kings. Perhaps this was the result of marriages between the tribes. Regardless, all were fierce warriors.
Several years ago in a group I was in, we studied Hoodoo. Hoodoo is not a religion; rather, it is a magical practice, a way of life. It originally derived from African spiritual beliefs and throughout history was influenced and modified by Christianity, Pow Wow, Native American spirituality, Irish and Scots spirituality, and other practices and traditions.
One of the many tools in our magickal repertoire are magickal alphabets. Not only can they be used to keep our work secret, but they can also be employed to help us focus on our work. The energy and concentration it takes to write with a magickal alphabet force us to pay close attention to the work.
Many (if not most) Pagan rituals are extremely poorly written (and that’s not just my own humble opinion, by the way, but one shared by many Pagans). That’s because the people writing them are not usually professional writers, or even amateur writers. So they frequently largely lack even the most fundamental knowledge and understanding of the elements of narrative writing: theme, characters, archetypes, symbolism, setting, time, plot, conflict, resolution, point of view, tone, and style. Rituals also need another element: mystery. We are, after all, working with the Mysteries.
WitchCrafting is a unique word. The word “craft,” in fact, conjures up all sorts of fun, creative ways to add some magick to your life — if, of course, you are a practicing witch. In reality, when anyone makes anything, there is always a little piece of themselves in their work, whether they are aware of it or not.
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