Somethign for you all to watch while we wait for our beloved forum to come back up.



Starring Armand, Mr. Molloy, Lestat, David Talbot, Benji, Marius and Mael.

Blessed Be
Lilith (aka Poppy Pine).

Someone who'd dishonest in a realationship.
Someone who can't do their own work and has to copy yours.

Damn THE is nice band.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Where ever you are, i hope you had a wonderful one.



Blessed Be
Lilith.

Here be me new Video player. be off direct to me Gackt videos. Other people made thse but presently, I be loadin' one 'o me own. Which i'll message before I ship out that be all I can take.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Why is it a bad idea to get mouthy to a vampire about their orientation? Because they can kick your arse, that's why.

Before I got on there was this little "genius" who decied to bait Danny. Danny Molloy that is.

Hands up those of you who think this is a real idiodic idea? Apart from the fact there was Pandora, Benji and Louis on as well as him.

I adore that vampire to bits and their first ever thread on the forum is...Daniel is a; it was edited by the time I got there. Most people when they join the forum do an intro thread to say hi, I'm here, love the forum, I love these vampires, etc, etc, but not this person.

It makes me wonder what the point of all that is. I would have thought it was a no brainer not to piss off the vampire mods. So here's a little vid for you all.



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I'm rather fond of this song. I'm dedicating to to Danny since he was getting a bit of flack today, which hs so did not deserve.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

...the following.

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I'm beginning to think their server went down. Just when the barney between Benji and Danny was getting interesting. *laughs* Lovely lads.



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Blessed Be
Lilith.

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I think the cat says it all.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Get yours here: http://forum.laurellkhamilton.org/showthread.php?t=26037

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com



As I am trying to put this all together, I hope to bring about an
understanding that Witchcraft, like any religion, has undergone
it's changes throughout the centuries. It is my personal
feeling, however, that the religion of Witchcraft has undergone
far fewer changes than any other in history.

As the song sung by Neil Diamond starts:
" Where it began, I can't begin to knowin..."

Witchcraft, sorcery, magic, whatever can only begin to find its
roots when we go back as far as Mesopotamia. With their dieties
for all types of disasters, such as Utug - the Dweller of the
Desert waiting to take you away if you wandered to far, and
Telal - the Bull Demon, Alal - the destroyer, Namtar -
Pestilence, Idpa - fever, and Maskim - the snaresetter; the days
of superstitution were well underway.

It was believed that the pharaohs, kings, etc. all imbued some
power of the gods, and even the slightest movement they made
would cause an action to occur. It was believed that a picture,
or statue also carried the spirit of the person. This is one of
the reasons that they were carried from place to place, and also
explains why you see so many pictures and statues of these
persons with their hands straight to their sides.

In the Bible, we find reference to "The Tower of Babel" or The
Ziggurat in Genesis 11. "Now the whole world had one language and
a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in
Shinar (Babylonia) and settled there. They said to each other,
`Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used
brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. Then they
said, `Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that
reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves
and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.' But the
Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were
building. The Lord said,`If as one people speaking the same
language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do
will be impossible for them. Come let us go down and confuse
their language so they will not understand each other.'" It goes
on to say that the tower was never finished.

In other references, we find that the "Tower" was in fact
finished, and that it was a tower that represented the "stages"
between earth and heaven (not a tower stretching to the heaven in
the literal sense.) From this reference, it was a tower built in
steps. A hierarchy on which heaven and hell were based. It was
actually a miniature world representing the Mountain of Earth.
.pa
Each stage was dedicated to a planet, with its angles symbolizing
the four corners of the world. They pointed to Akkad, Saburtu,
Elam, and the western lands. The seven steps of the tower were
painted in different colors which corresponded to the planets.
The "Great Misfortune:, Saturn, was black. The second was white,
the color of Jupiter. The third, brick-red, the color of
Mercury, followed by blue, Venus; yellow, Mars, gray or silver
for the moon. These colors boded good or evil, like their
planets.

For the first time, numbers expressed the world order. A legend
depicts Pythagoras traveling to Babylon where he is taught the
mystery of numbers, their magical significance and power. The
seven steps often appear in magical philosophy. The seven steps
are: stones, fire, plants, animals, man, the starry heavens, and
the angels. Starting with the study of stones, the man of wisdom
will attain higher and higher degrees of knowledge, until he will
be able to apprehend the sublime, and the eternal. Through
ascending these steps, a man would attain the knowledge of God,
whose name is at the eighth degree, the threshold of God's
heavenly dwelling.

The square was also a "mystical" symbol in these times, and
though divided into seven, was still respected. This correlated
the old tradition of a fourfold world being reconciled with the
seven heavens of later times.

It is thought that here was the start to numerology, but for this
to have developed to the point where they had taken into
consideration the square as the fourfold world, it would have had
to have developed prior to this.

From Mesopotamia lets move over to Persia.


Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com



Preparation
Long ribbon or soft rope (~ 3 feet)
Vows to exchange (written by the couple)
Small gifts (or rings) to be exchanged by the couple.
5 rose candles (Quarter and god candle (god candle can be red))
1 white candle (Goddess candle)
Gifts from the coveners/guests for the couple.

Ritual
Cast the circle normally.

Invoke the Goddess and God normally, or as below.

HPriest: We call upon you in the guise of Eros,
Kindler of desire,
Bringer of love,
to join us here and witness the bonding
of and .

HPriestess: We call upon you in the guise of Aphrodite,
Always desirous one,
Sensual lover,
to join us here and witness the joining
of and .

Grounding meditation.

The HPriest and HPriestess motion the two people to be handfasted
to join them before the altar.

Couple faces the altar.

HPriest: (to one of the couple, the female if the couple are of
opposite gender) Do you join us here of your
own free will, to acknowledge before the Lord and
Lady the bond that is shared between yourself and
.
Person1: (responds (hopefully this will be a yes :) if not,
go to closing).

HPriestess asks the other the same thing and gets response.

Couple turn to face each other and join their left hands.

Each now recites the vows they have prepared.

HPriest: (taking the joined left hands, and the rope)
Here before witnesses, and have
sworn vows to each other. With this cord, I bind
them to the vows that they each have made. (wrap
the cord loosely around both arms) However this
binding is not tied, so that neither is restricted by
the other, and the binding is only enforced by both
their wills.

Couple: (turning to face each other, in unison)
Heart to thee,
Soul to thee,
Body to thee,
Forever and always,
So mote it be.
Coven: So mote it be.

Couple unbind thier left arms.

Couple exchange the gifts they have brought for each other.
Coven members and guests give couple good wishes and/or gifts.

Great rite and Cakes and Ale.

Bid farewell to God and Goddess as usual, or as below.
HPriestess: We thank you Aphrodite, for your presence among us,
And as you take your leave, we ask that you leave
among us, in each of us, the ability to each be
Sensual lover, and desirous one.
Hail and farewell.

HPriest: We thank you Eros, for your presence here this day,
And ask, as you take your leave, that you leave in
each of us, the ability to be
a Bringer of desire, and kindler of love.
Hail and farewell.

Dismiss the Quarters, and open the circle.
Relax, talk, and party :)

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com




Wicca: A modern Pagan religion with spiritual roots in the earliest expressions of reverence for nature. Some major identifying motifs are: reverence for both the Goddess and God; acceptance of reincarnation and magick; ritual observance of astronomical and agricultural phenomena; and the use of magickal circles for ritual purposes.

Wicce: Synonymous with Wicca. In some circles, Wicce is used for women and Wicca is used for men.

Witch: A practitioner of folk magick, particularly that kind relating to herbs, stones, colors, wells, rivers, etc. It is used by some Wiccans to describe themselves. This term has nothing to do with Satanism.

Witchcraft: The craft of the witch - magick, especially magick utilizing personal power in conjunction with the energies within stones, herbs, colors, and other natural objects. This belief system also has nothing to do with Satanism.

Pagan/Neo-Pagan/Paganism: General term for followers of Wicca and other magickal, shamanistic, and polytheistic Earth-based religions. Also used to refer to pre-Christian religious and Spiritual belief systems.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess;
she in the dust of whose feet are the hosts
of heaven, and whose body encircles the universe

I who am the beauty of the green earth,
the white moon among the stars, and the mystery
of the waters call unto thy soul;
Arise, and come unto me.

I am the soul of nature who gives life to the universe.
From Me all things proceed, and unto Me all things must return.
Before My face, beloved of gods and of men, let thine
innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.

Let My worship be within the heart that rejoices,
for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.
Therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion,
honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.

To thou who thinkest to seek Me, know that thy seeking and
yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the Mystery.
If that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee,
thou wilt never find it without.

For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning; and
I am that which is attained at the end of desire."

- from Doreen Valiente's "Charge of the Goddess"

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com


I am the radiant King of the Heavens,
flooding the Earth with warmth and encouraging the hidden
seed of creation to burst forth into manifestation.

I lift my shining spear to light the lives of all beings
and daily pour forth my golden rays upon the Earth,
putting to flight the powers of darkness.

I am the spirit of all beasts wild and free.
I run with the stag and soar as a sacred falcon against
the shimmering sky.

The ancient woods and wild places emanate my powers,
the birds of the air sing of my sanctity.

I am the harvest, offering up grain and fruits beneath
the sickle of time so that all may be nourished.
For without planting there can be no harvest;
without winter there can be no spring.

I am the thousand named Son of creation.
Know that by all names I am the same.

The spirit of the horned stag in the wild, the endless harvest.
See in the yearly cycle of festivals my birth, death and
rebirth and know that such is the destiny of all creation..

I am the spark of life, the radiant Sun, the giver of peace and rest.
I send my rays of blessings to warm the hearts and strengthen the minds of all.

Author Unknown

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com

Author: Andrea Behr (San Jose Mercury News)
-----
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
B L E S S E D B E
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Touching The Power Of Witches

By, Andrea Behr (San Jose Mercury News Staff Writer - 11/28/87)


When I look back on it, I think I may have been a witch even
as a kid.
Although I recieved no religious training as a child, something
in me, some sense of connection or gratitude, demanded expression. I
tried to believe in God, as I understood him. I would stare at the sky
and try to convince myself that some real entity was staring back at me.
I'd manage it - for a second or two.
The stars were certainly real, though, and miraculous enough. I
could imagine them looking at me.
When I was only about 8 or 9, I used to go alone to secret places
in empty lots near my suburban house to commune with plants and trees.
Without knowing that anyone had ever done it before me, I celebrated the
solstices and equinoxes with rituals. I would stand on a certain boulder,
for instance, and say certain words to greet the new season.
It mattered to me when the season changed. New moods would sweep
over me; everthing smelled different; the world shifted. I had a mystical
relationship with each season.
Twenty years later, when I encountered witches and their religion,
known as Wicca, I realized that they were doing with their full adult power
what I had done instinctively as a child.

-----
Modern witches worship the physical world - the earth, their own bodies, the
cycles of the sun and moon, life and death, light and darkness, and change,
according to Starhawk, a San Francisco witch and writer. They have no deity
but nature, though they use as a symbol and focus the earth Goddess, who was
worshiped in various forms by people in ancient times.
-----
Witches such as Starhawk believe that re-creating a modern version of the
old pre-Judeo-Christian, female-centered religion is the best way to heal
ourselves and others, find power and wholeness, and perhaps rescue the
earth from the successes of its dominant species.
Witches for centuries have suffered persecution at the hands of those who
have labeled their craft evil, heretical or satanic. I never rejected Wicca
on those grounds. But at first I was skeptical, even satirical. I'd lived
in California long enough to have had my fill of vaguely beatific people
who don't believe in using the brains they were born with.
-----

But the witches I met seemed surprisingly solid and sensible, and
they radiated a sense of power - and a sense of humor - hat attracted me.
"Witchcraft has always been a religion of poetry, not theology,"
Starhawk has written. It doesn't have a great deal to offer the intellectual.
On the other hand, you don't have to "believe in" anything other than
yourself. The rituals and practices tap into archetypes that speak to deep
psychological truths.
I liked the way Starhawk and her followers combined their political
passions - anti-nuclear work, environmental issues, feminism - with their
religion. They seemed to be having fun, too: cutting loose, getting bigger
and deeper as people. I felt a kinship with them.
But in my life, people don't go around talking about the Goddess,
saying "Blessed Be" and singing songs to the moon, not to mention casting
spells. It was embarrassing. It was dumb. I was torn.
Finally I took a deep breath and signed up for a weeklong workshop
in "Goddess spirituality." I drove to the Quaker Center in Ben Lomand on
a warm Sunday evening in August in a cold sweat of anxiety.
I felt as if I were about to jump off a cliff.
There were about 45 of us - including several men - ranging in age
from about 20 to about 60, about equally divided between gay and heterosexual.
We came to the workshop from many directions, and not just geographically.
There were former radicals, professional witches, lesbian farm couples, a half-
Indian punk-rock enthusiast, a middle-aged West German man, a quiet woman who
lived in her mother's house in a small town in Illinois and talked to trees.
I feared that I was the most "normal" person there.
That first, utterly black new-moon night, we formed a circle in a
clearing sheltered by redwoods and performed a ritual.
We faced each of the four directions in turn and called in the
elements - air in the east, fire in the south, water in the west and earth
in the north. We "cast a circle" around us to create sacred space, imagining
a boundary of energy separating us from the rest of the world and binding us
to one another. We sang simple songs over and over to invoke the presence of
the Goddess in her triple aspects of maiden, mother and crone. Then we called
on the Horned God, her child-lover, who, in the Wiccan tradition, dies and is
reborn.
Of that first ritual, I mostly remember the strangeness and beauty,
the way I felt that half of me was outside the circle, making fun of how silly
it was, while the other half was doing it anyway, and feeling something stir
inside.
That internal war raged all week. Making magic required the most
delicate suspension of disbelief. I struggled to quiet the howls of outrage
from my rational, tough-minded side in order to reap what I wanted from the
practices I was learning.
I also sometimes felt overwhelmed. So much was being addressed to me,
so much dug into and stirred up, that I sometimes felt that I couldn't
contain it all. It was like trying to stuff a rhinoceros into my back
pocket.
Those of us in the beginning track - "Elements of Magic" - spent the
first part of the workshop learning a basic ritual in slow motion.
We did a grounding exercise, imagining roots growing from the bottoms
of our feet, down through the earth to its center, and then imagining "earth
energy" being sucked up through our roots into our bodies.
Then out teacher blessed some slat and a bowl or water, mixed the
salt into the water with her athame, or magical knife, and told us to project
into the salt water and negative emotions, stray thoughts or physical
discomforts that might distract us from the ritual.
We imagined the water being tranformed and filled with light. When
we felt ready, we each touched the water or tasted it, to take in the purified
energy.
Next it was time to become acquainted with the elements:
- Air, the element of thought, morning, spring, childhood, the sky, the
eagle, laughter, clarity and knowledge.
- Fire, the Goddess' "bright spirit," the element that corresponds to
passion, energy, noon, summer, and the will.
- Water, the element that represents emotions, twilight, autumn, the
ocean, everything that flows and adapts, courage.
- Earth, the element of mystery and darkness, strength, midnight,
winter, the body, begetation, the power to listen and keep secrets.
I got pleasure from the poetrly of the elements, and I explored their
correspondences in myself.
Once the circle was cast, we danced and sang and beat drums. Toward
the end of the ritual, we "raised a cone of energy" through our voices, making
sounds together that rose to a peak we could all feel and then fell away.
One morning, Starhawk led us in a drum trance. She tapped a drum softly
while she told us the story of our lives, puncuated by chants that we sang
over and over.
After a while, I really did fall into a kind of trance, mesmerized
by the singing, the ceasless drumming and Starhawk's hypnotic storytelling.
We started, oddly, with the death. We were asked to imagine what it
would be like to let go of life right now, leave everything unfinished, pass
it along to others. I became frightened, almost paralyzed. Some people wept.
The she described a beat, a rythym we could hear even in stillness;
next, a sense of structure coalescing in the darkness. Soon we were growing
and forming, and then being born.
We sang the song of our parents: "Welcome little one, we are so
glad to see you." Some of us now were weeping with joy.
As she talked us through our life spans, I realized that Starhawk
was describing life as it would be if everyone's human needs were honored.
What if babies were always cherished? If puberty were celebrated publicly
as the advent of a new kind of power, and young people were expected to
search out and accept their unique spiritual path, and then were welcomed
formally into the circle of their elders as equals? What if everyone had
work that helped the community, and when we were old, we were allowed to
rest and were honored for all we had learned?
As I listened, places - desires, maybe, or hopes - that in me, as
in most people, are closed tight in despair began to unfurl a little.
By the time the week concluded, I felt as high as if I had taken a
drug. The highway traffic, it occurred to me as I drove home, was a ritual.
Here we were, tooling down the road in close formation, trusting our lives
to one another's ability to do the right thing moment to moment - except
this time out magical tools were huge metal juggernauts, and the ritual
was far riskier than anything we'd tried in the woods.
When I got home, I took a walk, thinking on the way that by
participating in Wiccan rituals, I had gone out on a limb. We had pledged
ourselves to pass on the healing arts we had learned and had committed
ourselves to keeping the energy we had raied rippling out into the world.
Some of the participants had expressed what I thought were rather grandiose
ideas about healing the earth and transforming society.
I'd been defensive about that part of the work. It was true that
as a single, childless person, I often felt dissatisfied about living so
much for myself. But I could see no path, no bridge to something wider.
As I walked home, I watched admiringly as five boys whizzed past me
on skateboards. Suddenly, one boy hit an obstruction about a block ahead
of me, flew into the air and crashed onto the sidewalk.
He was pumping his legs in agony and his arm we bent at a horrible
angle. Blood was dripping slowly onto the sidewalk. His friends were
standing over him with pale faces. No one else was nearby.
I asked whether they'd called an ambulance. They nodded.
I actually took another step, thinking, "It's taken care of," thinking
half-consciously, "This is a pre-adolescent black kid. He won't want any help
from a white woman. He'll be too proud. He'll be embarrassed. He'll be too
hostile."
I looked at him, crying on the sidewalk. and in an instant I knew
that those were crazy, alientated thoughts and that I had just spent a week
trying to fill myself with something much more useful than that.
I sat down on the sidewalk, held him and soothed him, using techniques
I'd learned from the witches, until the ambulance came.
Then I went home, lay down trembling in the back yard and thanked the
Goddess for her message.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com

From: walkea@vccnortha.its.rpi.edu (Alexander Spencer Walker)
Date: 4 Oct 1993 01:34:45 GMT

Notice: I wrote this essay for newcomers to magick and browsers of
this channel. It contains some things that have helped me in the past
years on the path.

A person desiring to practice magick that either doesn't have
the luxury or the desire to join an organization and/or gain personal
instruction can still learn this art/science safely and effectively.
The only limits are the excuses that come from daily life that neither
afford time nor resources to practice any sort of spiritual living.
Studying, work, and stress always seem to conspire together to
disallow anything but a mundane and embittered outlook on life. For
those solitary practitioners (and perhaps those who aren't can gain
something from this) who find time and resources hinderances in their
practice, I have found some things that have been a great help to me:

[1] Never allow excuses. If you make an excuse to skip
practicing no matter how dire the circumstances, it
can and will degrade into a slump.

[2] If time truly is short, simple daily practices such
as the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram can
be done imagining the temple, the tools and the garb

[3] If you have to do the above often, schedule a time
at least once or twice a week where the ritual is in
full garb.

[4] In class or at work, practice one's asana. I don't
mean any fancy contorted positions, rather simply
being aware of one's posture, keeping the spine erect,
both feet flat, your mind attentive (i.e. not day
dreaming), and your breath simple and regular.

[5] Practice the adorations described in Liber Resh vel Helios
or as re-presented in Donald Kraig's "Eleven Lessons
in the High Magickal Arts". They are excellent reminders
during the day for keeping focused on the Great Work.

[6] If you can, try to love everything and everyone you
come in contact with remembering not to condemn,
paraphrasing my favorite liber, for how do you know
that you would be any different given the same
conditions (many of which you could never know not
being that person/group).

[7] If 6 is too difficult to do on a truly sincere level,
try simply appreciating everything's and everyone's
place in the scales and balance of the universe.

[8] Train your will by making oaths (starting small at
first). Ones I've used are not eating any junk food
for one week, not arguing with so-and-so no matter
what they say for 24-hours,etc,etc. Creativity helps
here (and truly everywhere).

[9] Affirm daily that the goal of all these practices and
more that you are doing are nothing less than the Great
Work. And that the enlightenment and spiritual
development that hard work in these areas make available
are truly the only things in existence that really matter
when you boil everything down.

Meditation, consuming fewer chemicals, and reading about
magick, religion, philosophy, and other topics from many different
points of view are also great assets to the solitary ceremonial
magician. Remember, in the last analysis, your path is between you
and you (you and your True self, your Holy Guardian Angel) and though
others can suggest helpful things, its your responsibility to
enlighten yourself.

Blessed Be, May all attain, Love is the Law,

Live without Restriction,

Alex Walker
===

From: vrauls@crl.nmsu.edu (goddess)
Date: 3 Oct 93 22:17:47

[Quoting point 6 and 7 from above.]
I am not too involved with ceremonial magick, but these two points
struck me as being something that lots of people could benefit from.
I would like to add a third point:

Be happy. If you are actively and deliberately happy
(even if it's hard) you not only get in the habit of being
that way, you affect other people around you. They tend
to be happy in return and treat you with more kindness and
respect than they would normally. This is potent magick...
just try it in the post office or -- if you are a seriously
dedicated mage -- the DMV (this one's way beyond my meager
powers).

Venus

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com

Select four candles in colours representing the four elements. Try
using red for Fire, brown for Earth, blue for Water and white for Air.
Anoint the candles with oil. Decide on your goal or request and which
candle is best for represents the need. (ie money, business, material
objects, grounding matters would be Earth. Matters of sex, breaking
habits, purification, protection, strength would be Fire. Matters of
love, psychic awareness, healing, friendships, beauty, spirituality,
meditation would be Water. Matters of movement, travel,
communication, teachings would be Air.) Place three candles in a
triangle and put the assigned candle in the centre.

Meditate on your desire as you light all four candles. Visualize the
outcome, concentrating carefully on that which you wish to happen.
Let all candles burn go out by themselves.

For best results, do this candle burning during the hour of the day
that will aide you and during the correct Moon phases. The Waning
Moon is good for banishing, the Waxing will help things grow.

Above all use extreme care when doing ANY form of Magick that entails
the use of Fire.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Touch the Darkness

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


April 30th -- Beltane
Also known as Roodmas or May Day




Beltane has long been celebrated with feasts and rituals. Beltane means fire of Bel; Belinos being one name for the Sun God, whose coronation feast we now celebrate. As summer begins, weather becomes warmer, and the plant world blossoms, an exuberant mood prevails. In old Celtic traditions it was a time of unabashed sexuality and promiscuity where marriages of a year and a day could be undertaken but it is rarely observed in that manner in modern times.

In the old Celtic times, young people would spend the entire night in the woods "A-Maying," and then dance around the phallic Maypole the next morning. Older married couples were allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. May morning is a magickal time for wild water (dew, flowing streams, and springs) which is collected and used to bathe in for beauty, or to drink for health.

The Christian religion had only a poor substitute for the life-affirming Maypole -- namely, the death-affirming cross. Hence, in the Christian calendar, this was celebrated as 'Roodmas'. In Germany, it was the feast of Saint Walpurga, or 'Walpurgisnacht'. An alternative date around May 5 (Old Beltane), when the sun reaches 15 degrees Taurus, is sometimes employed by Covens. (Both 'Lady Day' and 'Ostara' are names incorrectly assigned to this holiday by some modern traditions of Wicca.)

Think of the May pole as a focal point of the old English village rituals. Many people would rise at the first light of dawn to go outdoors and gather flowers and branches to decorate their homes. Women traditionally would braid flowers into their hair. Men and women alike would decorate their bodies. Beltane marks the return of vitality, of passion. Ancient Pagan traditions say that Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desires the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite. The Goddess becomes pregnant of the God. To celebrate, a wedding feast, for the God and Goddess must be prepared. Let Them guide you! Breads and cereals are popular. Try oatmeal cakes or cookies sweetened with a dab of honey. Dairy foods are again appropriate...just make a lovely wedding feast and you are sure to enjoy yourself! An early morning walk through a local park or forest could be fun for everyone. Gather up some plants or flowers to display in your home. Mom and daughter could braid their hair, and weave in a few tender blossoms.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Feel free to read the goodies I'll be posting tonight. Comments welcome. Images will be attached. Taken from my BOS.


Touch the Darkness

Enjoy.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

( Read more... )

Image not work safe.


LEGEND OF THE HORNED GOD

Long before man walked the green earth, the horned god of the sun fell from heaven and lived upon the earth. His crime of pride was being absolved by occasional incarnations in human form, until such time as his people would once more take their place beyond the stars. His death during these incarnations was always sacrificial, and at the hands of his own people.

His first death is recounted in the following legend.

"The horned god was lashed to a T-shaped oak cross in a glade of the wildwood. His body was pierced with yew darts to cause the blood to flow onto the ground. His limbs were bound with cords tangled into thirteen magickal knots. The animals of the wildwood led the Lady to her dying god. She cut his thongs with her dagger which was carved from moon crystal. Gnomes, elves and faeries helped carry the god on a flower strewn bier to the Lady's crescent shaped boat moored on the River of Death. She ferried the horned god to that secret cavern within the hollow hill, to which we all must travel at the closing of the shadows. There she awakened him from Death's chill sleep with a kiss from her chaste lips. He remains there, enthroned, ruling his dark kingdom with the phallic staff of authority. As a measure of his gratitude to the animals of the wildwood, he placed them under his special protection so that none should harm them without engaging his wrath."

This great sacrifice made by the horned god is an example to his people of the lesser sacrifices they must make as they traverse the woodland path toward the hollow hill which lies beyond the setting sun. The shining light which he bears as lord of the sun guides the true seeker onward by day, while the elfin glow of the moon guides as the lantern of the Lady through the night.

LEGEND OF LILLITH

"My name thou knowest not,
and yet shall know,
And know too late.
But, know thou this indeed:
Joy is my sister. Sister I, to Death."


It is said that Lillith was the twin sister of Adam and dwelt with him in the Garden at Paradise. Adam was king of Eden and Lillith wished to be co-ruler with him, but the Lord of Light permitted it not. Lillith was beautiful and wise. She wearied of her brother, Adam, who was less wise than she. Lillith refused to bear children from Adam. The Lord of Light was angered and turned Lillith out of Paradise. Samuel, an angel of the Lord of Light and a son of god, fell in love with Lillith. To Samuel, Lillith bore three half-god, half-human children, all called the nephilim. Their wisdom, power and beauty was so great that the children of Darkness were afraid of them and called them monstrous names to defile them. Lillith would not be defiled. From her beloved Samuel she learned the wisdom of the Lord of Light and became the first witch. She lived as a daughter of the night mother, calling the people to dance and be joyous by the light of the moon. Her symbol was the night owl, and those who followed her called her Arionrhod. The children of Darkness trembled and barred their doors at night seeking to protect themselves lest Lillith take them and teach them the ways of the wise ones, the witches of old.

The Sun-God Theme

The Sun-God rules the sky during our hours of activity. His rising and setting effectively mark the time in which we can work because we need his light to see by. He is also the Sky Father whose light fertilizes the earth and the hostile sun that makes the desert barren. In Wicca we trace his life through the seasons. At Yule, he is born as the embodiment of innocence and joy, of a childlike delight in all things. His is the triumph of the returning light. At Candlemas his growth is celebrated, as the days grow visibly longer. At Eastra or the Vernal Equinox, He is the green, flourishing youth who dances with the Goddess in her Maiden aspect. On Beltane, he is the young man who has fallen in love and takes the Goddess as his bride. Their marriage is celebrated with maypoles and bonfires. At Summer Soltices he consummates the marriage in a union that is so complete it becomes a death. He is named Summer-Crowned King instead of Winter-Born, and the crown is of roses: the bloom of culmination coupled with the stab of the thorn. He is mourned at Lammas, and at the Autumnal Equinox He sleeps in the womb of the Goddess, sailing over the sunless sea that is her womb. At Samhain, he arrives at the Land of Youth, the Shining Land in which the souls of the dead grow young again, as they wait to be reborn. He opens the gates that they may return and visit loved ones, and rules in the Dreamworld as He too grows young, until at Yule He is again reborn.



The Oak King and Holly King Theme
The Oak King and Holly King are twin gods that represent the cycle of fertility. Each of them rules for half a year, fights for the favor of the Goddess and dies. Yet the defeated twin is not truly dead; he merely withdraws during the six months of his brother's rule into Caer Arianrhod, the Castle of the ever-turning Silver Wheel.


The Oak King ,who is the light twin, rules from midwinter to midsummer. He represents expansion and growth. His tree, the oak, obviously symbolizes strength and longevity; its acorn is expressively phallic; and its roots are said to extend as far below ground as its branches do into the air - showing that the god has dominion over Heaven, Earth and the Underworld.



The Holly King, who is the dark twin, rules from midsummer to midwinter. He represents withdrawal and rest. His tree, the holly, has leaves that are evergreen and its bright berries glow red when all else is bare of fruit. Thus while his reign is one of withdrawal culminating in apparent lifelessness, his symbology reminds us all the time that he is his brother's other self and holds life in trust while it rest.


The Horned God





The Horned God is a natural-fertility figure. He is Oak King and Holly King, the complementary twins seen as one complete entity. He is a vivid expression of the son/lover of Mother Earth - swift-moving, wide-roaming, concupiscent, ever free. He is a hunter and yet he is respectfully killed to feed other creatures. And although he dies, he eternally reappear as strong and splendid as ever. He is that which impregnates the earth, and shepherds and defends her creatures. His is the true wisdom of cosmic and terrestrial law. He is truly Lord of the Dance, for he represents the rhythms of life, growth, death and rebirth. But mostly he is the "Horned" God who reminds us that divinity and nature are not separate. His very appearance teaches us this by combining animal and human aspects.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of Gods

ADONIS (Greek):
God of vegetation.

ANUBIS (Egyptian):
Jackal-headed God of Protection.

APOLLO (Greek):
God of the Sun, Light and the Arts.

CERNUNNOS (Celtic):
Horned God and consort of the Lady.

EROS (Greek):
God of Romance and Passionate Love.

HORUS (Egyptian):
God of the all-seeing eye and healing.

HYMEN (Greek):
God of marriage and commitment.

LUCIFER (Italian):
God of the Sun and Light. Soulmate and brother of Diana. Father of Aradia.

MITHRA (Persian):
Sun God and bringer of Light. A soldier's God.

ODIN (Scandinavian):
God of Wisdom of psychic sight.

OSIRIS (Egyptian):
Over-all God form including vegetation and after-life.

PAN (Greek):
God of Nature and the woods, laughter and passion.

POSEIDON (Greek):
God of the Sea.

PTAH (Egyptian):
God of creative enterprise with the hands.

SHIVA (Hindu):
God of the universal cycle of birth-death-rebirth.

THOR (Scandinavian):
God of sky and thunder.

THOTH (Egyptian):
God of Reincarnation, science and wisdom.

Added Extras.

HORNED GOD OIL

2 Parts Frankincense
2 Parts cinnamon
1 part Bay
1 Part Rosemary
1 Part Musk

HORNED GOD INCENSE

2 Parts Benzoin
1 Part Cedar
1 part Pine
1 Part Juniper berries
few drops Patchouly oil

HORNED GOD INCENSE 2

7 drams tincture Benzoin
1/2 dram Sandalwood oil
1/2 dram Myrrh oil
1/2 dram Frankincense oil
saltpeter
1 oz pwd Charcoal
pinch of dried Asafoetida
pinch of dried Blessed Thistle
pinch of dried Peppermint

INVOCATION OF THE HORNED GOD & WHITE GODDESS.

I have been a stag of seven tines, running
I have been a flood across a wide plain, flowing
I have been a wind over a deep lake, whispering
I have been a tear from the brilliant sun, glistening
I have been a hawk in my nest above the cliff, watching
I have been a wonder among the lovliest flowers, blooming
I have been a god with smoke to fill the head, blazing
I have been a spear that roars for blood, flying
I have been a salmon in a clear pool, swimming
I have been a hill where poets walk, singing
I have been a boar upon the hills ruthless and red, roving
I have been a breaker from the winter sea, thundering
I have been a tide of the ocean, delivering to death and returning...
Who, but I, knows the secrets of the unhewn dolmen?

I am the womb of every holt,
I am the blaze on every hill,
I am the queen of every hive,
I am the shield for every head,
I am the tomb of every hope...
Who, but I, gives birth to all that was, is and shall be?

Chants.


Goddess Chants
We All Come From The Goddess (Key of D)
By Z. Budapest

We all come from the Goddess
And to Her we shall return
Like a drop of rain
Flowing to the ocean


Horned God Chants
Herne Who Hears (Key of E)
By Ivo Dominguez, Jr.

Herne Who Hears All Living Things - Hear Our Call To You!
Herne Whose Name All Nature Sings - Hear Our Call To You!
Moon Stag, Horned One, Green Man, God;
Draw Near, Come Here, Be Here, Now!

Sources:
http://www.tylwythteg.com/dynionmwyn/lesson1/thirteen13.html
http://www.angelfire.com/co/felinedreams/horned.html
http://www.unc.edu/~reddeer/white_goddess/00_white.goddess.invocation.html
http://www.witchscauldron.net/cauldron/chants.htm

Reference:
http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/herne_the_hunter.htm

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Very little I suspect as they're banning places to Celebrate New Years. That and it has been advised not to go out, due to bad weather.


Touch the Darkness

Besides, staying in for New Year's isn't a bad thing.

Blessed Be
Lilith.

Buried at PhotoCasket.com

2007 became the special year to Gackt. A/the reason is the appearance to a/the large river drama "a/the wind forest volcano", although it is obvious now. Meeting the highest persons up to now even a nonexistent experience did. It is the memorial work that did the musical piece of "the cancer dam" that it loves フルリメイク, to round off the special year. Gackt tells this 1 from year and this.
《主語なし》"I look back 1 year.., it was the year of ね, study when are so. One of the player called the great authority been, in the scene of a/the large river there were the many place where are the general trend and even the stimulation learns. Influence of the players that was able to meet in a/the large river big"

《主語なし》This year, I appear in a/the large river drama "a/the wind forest volcano". 《主語なし》I received an/the influence to many players. It is the existence of a/the tip form fist big that, especially also in the inside.

《主語なし》"It is amorous, it is man っぽ and do. 《主語なし》If it is even when I feel insanity I am also the person like a calm quiet lake face. 《主語なし》It is together and be not such enjoyable person って. Therefore, it was enjoyable to go to the scene every day. 《主語なし》I took the trouble to cause to notice a/the tip form a nonexistent feeling me heretofore. 《主語なし》There be the activity of a self for everybody of a/the fan until now, and all of the activities of the self existed, for the ideal that the self wants to grant, due to the faith that I must pass, because self is troublesome. 《主語なし》It was not honest feeling って other than it. However, the face that 'this person is pleased it wants to observe, while meet, be various and have that taught and also, talk a/the tip form', have come to think って that wants to be praised' by 'this person. There was such a feeling in, a/the self who was surprised. 《主語なし》....It is な whether it is such a father って feeling. Because there was not enough that I thought so to a/the father"

Apart from such a feeling, the experience in a/the large river has rebounded to music. 《主語なし》It is the concept album '0079-0088' of strongest on, cancer dam history when it was coded レ after it cranks up.

《主語なし》"It is timing or be breathing or, expression or (笑) although it is ね, song that have linked that it did it in a/the large river. 《主語なし》It is one even nonexistent how a life って useless case after all. However, the self shall be a musician, that s/he felt it more strongly than what this time. 《主語なし》Because it was away from from a/the music activity long time,"

《主語なし》Gackt, that is known even for favorite a/the cancer dam '0079-0088', is "surrounding あ the movie theme songs "the crosses of the sand", "the 哀 combatant", of 6 tunes and, first base cancer dams who collaborated with a/the cancer dam up to now it does" フルリメイク and constitution. 《主語なし》If it is a cancer dam fan I sound, sing the tune with affection, with the method that is possible only to Gackt to, the sound of now furthermore even than what. "" (笑) that was suffering remarkably and it is the said person.

"It thinks and be it, if I want to sing as it is, in covering. 《主語なし》However, it is not exceeded time in it. 《主語なし》It is って if I do not remake it from the beginning if I want to express now. ....I do want respond to their feeling, even though be everybody, cancer dam fan of a fan in, it and be also my fan and even I myself the thought that the halfway work does not want to leave was strong to leave the work that is related to a/the cancer dam, because the cancer dam likes. 《主語なし》Even from which musical piece a/the self made up to now as a result, time it required that the conversation that is able to laugh, ね that is"

《主語なし》I continue Gackt while showing a/the smile occasionally.

"The first 'a/the 哀 combatant' from work have stopped. After put time for a while and become cool be' 'surrounding あ even became a good form. With, that was a problem be 'the cross of sand'. This tune is too magnificent ね (a/the bitter smile) what it says. 《主語なし》Whatever it does it the atmosphere does not come off. 《主語なし》It may be good even to make an/the in strike and try to fit as the scene of a/the cancer dam, if it is and change the head that. 《主語なし》There is the scene that says って'! because I am 'a baby boy in a/the bar after シャア killed ガルマ and decided the tune that is flowing from the record of the bar to make. シャア thinks of place that says what at one time to a/the tune and began to make"

《主語なし》It does not change so from the figure of the cancer dam fan that sometimes even Gackt encounters, when I take out a/the talk about a/the cancer dam. 《主語なし》Hot, long, and I understand if "I see it finally".

《主語なし》"Is it the charm of a cancer dam? It is because it is making the one that says human being って a/the theme. 《主語なし》It is and there is only the image of persons って, robot animations that do not know a/the cancer dam and do and ょ. 《主語なし》It, are many in the world and fight and also transform and also say って. There are many persons who the cancer dam does not know a/the human being drama, it. 《主語なし》It is (笑) because it is the な thing that wants to observe the privilege of the person that knows ね, even though you do not have to know. But, that speaking, children think that they are because they are the animation that expressed that must say for the first time, to want to say why a/the cancer dam is loved such. 《主語なし》It is, アメコミ that proposed a/the heel, goodness and evil absolutely with a/the hero to it, or did not pass on the extension of the animation of America. 《主語なし》It is the meaning, brainwashing with it って. ね that is and differ actually. 《主語なし》Person wa, each to justice and evil there is, goodness and evil in chat able to not remarkably complicated part obj having be not? a/the the that is I it, as for and Cancer dam って easily speaking it is an/the ace hurler pilot アムロ of the hero with a/the war movie. Although he is a hero he is doing it for the ego of brainwashing and grown-up although he is disagreeable, without being hoping it. Therefore, it is って that does not want to fight' in さ inside of a/the war 'anymore. 《主語なし》It is the feeling of a docile child. Because the things like that were for the first time children who were watching a/the program at that time were not able to understand that. 《主語なし》Therefore, it became discontinuation. However, children who, come to be understood through time and react appeared. 《主語なし》When it says like a/the cancer dam children who have question frankly to children, grown-ups who awake as a new type increased. 《主語なし》I think that that is our generation. Cancer dam released the heart of a/the child"

"Another charm be that it continued to ask it. For example, シャア discards all the feelings for the purpose called revenge, until it reaches to 'シャア of a/the counterattack' and fixed preparedness to what a/the self should do. シャア has faith and there is not perplexity and there are few words and be able to judge a/the fact clearly and be the ideal of a man. A human part has appeared with that that, met アムロ. 《主語なし》It is アムロ that became a grown-up while discovering a various thing even though it is シャア and, perplexity that went in the direction where has a feeling from the place without a/the feeling. アムロ grew until "it comes to say to って シャア that is 'シャア of a counterattack' and be" ego. Which which may be good and is a real figure? ってね.... Groaning ど if you become this, without saying an/the answer you are talking long time toward a/the TV viewer at one time to think how. That is a cancer dam"

As settle a/the space and do not cut a/the cancer dam conversation continues. "A halfway thing explains the reason that chatted strongly sufficiently as" without possible this heat and 止まら nonexistent ness, first. 《主語なし》Furthermore, it is a future conversation in the meantime, although it is the place where I want to continue.

《主語なし》"I soak music anyway next year and be スゴ and think that a/the work appears. It is 1 piece of punctuation to say って in 2010 in me and run anyway so far. 《主語なし》The thought that wants to be going to make the one that likes and be able to push the back of everybody long time is able to do the stage where I am doing now until it dies, even though it is as a desire to sing there is not the self-confidence if it says at one time. 《主語なし》Because it is limited even now it is (笑). 《主語なし》It is 2010 years because it is, whether or not it is possible in 4 additional 3, if it is the style of now. 《主語なし》Doing it if I think that it is possible after that, I get off a/the stage suddenly if I think that it is not possible. 《主語なし》Therefore, it only runs now"

《主語なし》"It is an/the all one's energies dash always. 《主語なし》It is not a marathon" and it is Gackt. 《主語なし》It is attention to run っぷり in next year.


Blessed Be
Lilith.