Beltane Gathering May 2nd, 2010

You are invited to our Beltane Gathering!!!
With: The Coven of the Sacred Stone People and The Sacred Valley Coven

Where: Willowhaven - Covenstead of Sacred Valley Coven - Home of Lady willow

At: 6860 E. Mockingbird RD. Sunizona AZ.

Directions: Hwy 191 to Hwy 181 turnoff at Sunizona (between Sunsites and Elfrida.) Take 181 past Ash Creek school. Turn left on Fort Bowie, then right on mockingbird ( East). For more details call :

Lady Willow 520-678-9784 or Lady Emery 520-364-6231
Date: May 2nd 2010

Time: 4pm - 6:30pm
Schedule: Meet & Greet - 4:00pm to 4:30 pm

Dance the May Pole - 4:30pm to 5:30pm

Ritual - 5:30pm to 6:00pm

Snacks and Goodbyes 6:00pm to 6:30pm
Coven members plan to stay for cleanup and short business meeting 6:30pm - 7pm
Snacks and drinks will be provided - Donations always appreciated
We hope to see you there!!

Samain

Samhain is almost upon us again.
what to do...
where to do it
how and who do with it with...

let us feast, and make merry and remember our loved ones as the new year approaches

Mabon

We are coming upon Mabon or the Autumnal Equinox. It is this time of year that I really begin to think about all that is wonderful about Autumn. The spices, the squashes, the aromas, the colors and the festivals.

The holiday of Mabon is called many things: Autumn Equinox, the Feast of the Ingathering, etc. It is ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognitions of the need the share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess. The name Mabon was coined by Aidan Kelly around 1970 as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology. In the northern hemishphere this equinox occurs anywhere from Sept. 21 to 24. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs anywhere from March 19 to 22. It is preceded by Lammas and followed by Samhain.

So grab a slice of pumpkin pie and a tall mug of cider and give thanks for all that we are about to sow in our lives. Mabon is HERE!!

Lord Oak's Reign

Now is the time for the Great Lord Oak to reign and bestow upon us all his worldly and otherworldly knowledge. May he truly "Suess" it up. :)

Here is what the tree Oak means to us.
Genus: Quercus alba
Folk Names: Duir, Jove's Nuts, Juglans
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Deity: Daga, Dianus, Jupiter, Thor, Zeus, Herne, Janus, Rhea, Cybele, Hecate, Pan, Erato
Power: Protection, Health, Money, Healing, Potency, Fertility, Luck

With this in mind remember that by choosing a magickal name, it imparts upon us those traits which the name carries. May Lord Oak carry this name well and guide us until Samain :)

Windtree Ranch

Windtree Ranch is a Sister Group of ours and I would like to promote it a bit here.

"Spiritual growth takes time. A vow to a monastic lifestyle was made in 1979. SummerLand Monastery, ATC was conceived in 1991. Incorporated as Summerland Corp. in 1994. WindTree Ranch was established as the mortgaged home of SummerLand Monastery, ATC in 1996. "Mortgage free in 2003" was our goal and we made it! Gas prices undermined our work on the land. Teaching off the land was accomplished from 2003-2008. In June of 2008 we moved to Mexico.
Now we are teaching rural subsistence farmer's children so that they will be able to support themselves in Mexico. We have lived on the USA/Mexico border long enough to know how non-productive a lifestyle can be when parents keep trying to "jump the border" for a better life. We are working from Central Mexico to increase educational levels from inside Mexico. "

If you would like to help Windtree Ranch accomplish their latest goal please visit their website at
http://summerlandmonastery.org/SM-main.php

Vision for the continuing education of our coven

If possible I would like to have you guys do some lessons on a book that you have read. I know that this seems like a book report of sorts but I promise that you will get so much more from it spiritually than reading "Catcher in the Rye".

I would like you all to search within yourself and find a topic that calls to you. Be it tarot or druidism or something else that you find fascinating or deeply moving. I would like for you to find a book on the topic. Not just any book on the topic though because otherwise you will be going to Hastings or Borders to find any old book.

I want you to find a difficult book on the topic. IE: if you are in to the idea of Stregheria. Look up Leland's Aradia. Think of something a little more textbook style and go from there. You will find that there is a real reward to struggling through a book written by people hundreds of years ago about magick and learning what they have learned rather than wading your way through a book that gives you the information like prechewed food.

Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh or Lammas is comming up in a couple of weeks. So here is a brief overview of what is going on with it. For ritual I would like everyone to bring something special that they can demonstrate how Lughnasadh makes them feel. It could be a sheaf of wheat or corn to illustrate the harvest. It could be a cornucopia to help in offering of a great harvest before winter. Let your imagination run away with you.

Lammas is a Neo-Pagan holiday, being a cross-quarter holiday between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and the Autumnal Equinox (Mabon). It is opposite Imbolc, which is celebrated on February 2nd in the northern hemisphere, and late July / early August in the southern hemisphere. Lammas takes place with the Sun near the midpoint of Leo in the tropical zodiac.

Lughnasadh was one of the four main festivals of the medieval Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltaine on the first of May, Lughnasadh in August and Samhain in October. One early Continental Celtic calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles, so the actual calendar date in ancient times may have varied.[citation needed] Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Among the Irish it was a favored time for handfastings - trial marriages that would generally last a year and a day, with the option of ending the contract before the new year, or later formalizing it as a more permanent marriage