~May 2008 Pagan Mamas~

[Pam_and_Abigail]

Good Morning and Happy Beltane! I thought I'd start the thread, since I might not be so active next month, with little babe around.

Our plans for the day:

I was going to wash my face in the dew, but it's hovering around freezing, so I think I'll pass on that. Any dew is likely more frost.

Pancakes for breakfast

We're making May Day baskets, but since not many flowers are out yet, we're filling them with nature treasures in general (dd1 found a tree that is just starting to sprout leaves)

We're making some kind of treat (either cookies or cupcakes I think) to take to our fairy circle in the woods and have a tea party near our fairy houses.

We'll probably dress up and read some books too.

Oh, and I usually try to put together some kind of maypole thingy... I don't know if I have enough wide ribbon though.

[BurtsGirl]

Happy Beltaine everyone!!! Unfortunately DW is working extra this week and all weekend so it looks like it will just be a celebration for one. Although I'm hoping to attack her tonight!

[Maiasaura]

well, i am unpartnered and i'm not willing to go snag someone just for beltaine, so i'm just going for fertility for the land

i think in a bit, i will go out and procure some ribbons and sparkly things to dress up the trees and bushes. :

dunno what's for dinner. any ideas? we are omni. i have an organic roast thawed. i was thinking crockpot, but maybe for tomorrow. i think later i will gather some wild food for salad-- i know we have dandelion, i think chickweed, mint, plantain, dunno what else; i will have to go out and see!

happy beltaine!

Maiasaura

[Arduinna]

Can't believe it's May already. Wow.

My back is up and down still, sigh.

Hope everyone has a great day, I have no plans except laying on the couch reading.

[GoldBerry]

: Happy May Day all! :

I plan to spend some time in our woods today- just me and the woods. On Earth Day I took a walk in there and found tons of garbage (why do people think any slope= garbage pit?), so I have decided it is my job to focus on cleaning it up. In the afternoon, the girls and I will put up the prayer flags and make flower crowns. We're all in the mood for lamb pot pie, so that is what I'm making for dinner. Hmmm, what about dessert? Not sure yet...

: Bleassings of Flora and the Jack in the Green to you all.

ETA: You know I can't resist links:

A Celebration of M A Y D A Y by Mike Nichols

Weather Doctor/ Celebrating May Day

[eilonwy]

It's really really cold here...: Like, it was freezing last night. And it's not like I live in northern Canada or something, it ought to be warm by now in Pennsylvania.

I'm very excited about the weekend. I'm going to run errands and get the kids packed up for tomorrow. :

[Indigo73]

Happy May Day, everyone.

I am so proud of myself, got myself over here and hunted up the new thread on the first day (after spacing on it a couple months).

Not much going on today, as I am in the office all day. But ds and I checked my tomatoes and they seem to be hardy despite two days of frost warnings.

Going to play outside and dance around a maypole this weekend. Can't wait!

[DaughterOfKali]

Happy Beltaine!

I've been singing from the song Halantoe this morning. It's one of those songs that you can't get out of your mind.
Hal-an-toe,
Jolly lum-a-loe.
We were up,
Long before the day-o
To welcome in the summer.
To welcome in the May-o.
For summer is a-comin' in
And winter's gone away-o.


Enjoy the day!

(I'm trying to keep my mind off sad stuff today. Trying.)

[aweynsayl]

Originally Posted by Pam_and_Abigail

I was going to wash my face in the dew, but it's hovering around freezing, so I think I'll pass on that. Any dew is likely more frost.

LOL! we have no dew here... unless you count the water left on the plants after i water... i cant remember the last time we had rain! it's been so parched.

salvia-- thanks for those links! i read some fun stuff a while back.... speaking of-- did anyone see my post about the may bush? i'd love to do one, but i just cant find anything to cut! (mesquite just doesnt really seem right...) boo. i'm really longing to live somewhere with "real" plants.

our sweet peas are BONKERS, though. i send you all virtual bouquets of them! that's about as close as i'm going to get to doing may baskets this year, though i am remembering how grandma and i would go out and cut arm fulls of sweet peas on may day, make paper "baskets", and take them to the "shut-ins". sigh. the woman really was a delightful pagan disguised as a methodist.

i wrangled myself some alone time last night and had me a little ritual. very nice.

have a wonderful day, all!
:

[wombatclay]

Happy May Day! It was (is) cold and gloomy here too, but we had fun a'maying this morning...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wombatc...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wombatc...n/photostream/

(pictures of the may pole at the little pre-school... we went with my "ribbons and tree" idea, but it will get taken down tonight since the "ribbon" I brought was actually crepe paper and it's supposed to rain. Ah well, don't want our toddlers being too fertile, now do we?)

We'll be having a yummy dinner tonight, and working on our family ribbon goddess... I wanted to do the project last night but it was SUCH a rotten day I just didn't want any of that energy staying around.

I tried to gather dew this morning but it was...well... frozen.

Have fun!

[BurtsGirl]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

working on our family ribbon goddess...

Clay, can you give more details on this?

[Indigo73]

Originally Posted by BurtsGirl

Clay, can you give more details on this?

Was going to ask the same thing.

[wombatclay]

Sure! It sort of relates to this...

On Earth Day I took a walk in there and found tons of garbage (why do people think any slope= garbage pit?), so I have decided it is my job to focus on cleaning it up.

Our new property is full of slopes and was a short term rental for about 7 years so there are LOTS of "surprises" in the woods left by people who only lived there for a month or two (so they had NO stake in keeping things healthy). Piles of burnt books and melted beer bottles, heaps of rusty cans, several tires, a half buried bat of insulation, etc. I've been trying to take a garbage bag out into the woods every morning with the girls... Laia plays and I gather garbage. I figure that at the speed of one bag a day (or every other day since the weather is still twitchy) the woods will be trash free by this coming winter. Slow but sure, right?

Anyway, I found the metal hoop from the top of a big metal drum/barrel. It's about a foot and a half across. I didn't find the barrel, just the hoop, and for some reason I didn't want to throw it out... it just seemed like there was something it could be used for. And then I had this image of a ribbon goddess similar to the goddess project in Celebrating the Great Mother. One of the Beltain crafts in that book is for each member of the family to build a "goddess figure" out of this and that, parade them around the house, and then "plant" them in the garden as a cross between a fertility blessing and a scare crow. And I had a mental image of the hoop covered in ribbons, transformed from garbage to goddess and blending the energies of the woods with that of the house.

My plan is to take the metal hoop and loop ribbons over it so the ends of the ribbon flutter free all around the hoop... sort of like a wind sock maybe? We're all coming up with blessings and promises to write/draw on the ribbons so the wind will lift those thoughts out and over our land. I'll also "weave" wire back and forth across the opening sort of like a spider web, hanging beads, bells, and other bits to catch the wind/sun. Going with the "garbage to goddess" fertility theme I'm using some of the trash I collected to do this... there were piles of rusted nails and weird melted glass blobs and small stones from the stream that I'm wrapping with wire to hang with the beads and bells. Sort of blending all the things I've found into something new/sacred/healing.

I'm thinking we'll hang it from a branch where the woods begin (about 15 feet behind our house). I'm planning on building a small family altar/circle there and this is the first step.

It may turn out pretty ugly, but I promise to post pictures once it's done!

[aweynsayl]

oooh, i love it! sounds kind of like the may bush idea.

jumping ahead a little bit, but i wanted to share these two fun ideas for taurus new moon rituals.... both are venus-related... both sounded fun!

this one... which she says to do the 4th or 5th

and, this one.... which it sounds like should be done tomorrow! not sure i can find flowing water (freeee wa-wa!) without a long drive, though....

[BurtsGirl]

Oh Clay, I can't wait to see the pic of these. What a wonderfully creative idea!!!!

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

I'm thinking we'll hang it from a branch where the woods begin (about 15 feet behind our house). I'm planning on building a small family altar/circle there and this is the first step.

It may turn out pretty ugly, but I promise to post pictures once it's done!

I think it'll be gorgeous! Happy May Day friends :

[Sage_SS]

Happy Beltane!

We spent a good portion of our day reinventing our homeschool plan.. a rebirth of sorts if you will.

LOL..eilonwy! I live in Canada (tho not Northern Canada) and we didn't get frost this morning. The day belied the weather forecast tho, its been sunny most the day! Yay!

[eilonwy]

Yeah, it finally got sunny but it was still unseasonably cool for Mayday.

I suppose I should introduce myself.. I just kind of jumped in. I'm Rynna, and I have four children and a Michael (as listed in the sig). I'm a Jew by birth, and have been practicing Chaos Magick for a loooooong time... though I didn't have a name for it until about a year and a half ago. I do all sorts of things, ritual-wise, and right now I'm on my way out of a really really really rough patch. As many people do when they experience such an upheaval, I'm doing some spiritual growth things. Insanity and depression and miseries make an awful lot of people devout... but devotion to faith means something a bit different to a Chaote.

[UnschoolnMa]

Clay that's a great idea - I can't wait to see the pics.

Happy May ladies! Dd and I made candles at 1 am and they are lit up on the altar as I type this. We made two kinds of oat cookies and they turned out nice.

It's been a long time since I did anything too specific, but I am taking advantage of this sabbat's energy and a new candle to hopefully help calm or otherwise help some stormy times for my Dh and I and our marriage. I'll be carving some things into it and printing out some things etc. It sat in the sun all day and hopefully it soaked up a lot of good vibes.

I am exhausted and tomorrow is kind of busy so I hope to get some good rest. Peace all.

[maeveypoo]

Happy May everyone! I completely missed posting yesterday since I spent the entire day prepping for another event this weekend. (Neverending process that is!)

Hope you're all having lovely sunshine!