Ostara Home Blessing

Spring is upon us and it has been glorious.  Friday we went to enjoy the Cherry Blossoms, and for the past two days we have been beautifying our own yard.  About a week ago, I came across an Ostara Home Blessing, and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun.  Here is the blessing:

Take four raw eggs; bury them at the four corners of your property (you can use more, if you need to).  While burying the eggs say something like this:

Bring thee seeds of new life

Ease all pain, and end all strife

Ancient Symbol of Fertility

Bring to us great harmony

Love for all upon the ground

For here is where the light abounds

Joy, happiness, life, and love

Surround us from below and from above

Seeing as we were just about to turn up the ground for new planting, I thought it was the perfect time to perform this blessing.  Both my husband and my son, were totally into it, so we each took turns burying an egg while another quoted a verse.

Here is the interesting thing:  I mentioned to the kids that I wanted to do this blessing earlier this week, and my daughter says "well, I'm not Wicca just yet."  I told her, "that's okay, you don't ever have to be Wicca if you don't want to be, I just thought this would be fun.  Does this bother you?"  She said, "I don't know, it just doesn't feel right."

My husband and I have been trying to puzzle this one out.  It is sometimes hard to lead small ones on a spiritual path, when you are still searching for one yourself.  I think one of the most important things that kids can learn; however, is that you are on one.  We still go to church on a regular basis, and I want the kids to have some spiritual nurturing, but this is where my hubby and I start to part ways.

I love my current church family.  They are the reason that I continue to go to church.  But if those people were to leave, I'm not sure that this is where I would continue to find my faith.  Obviously, I am already finding it in other places.  But how much of this journey do I share with my family?  Part of my own trouble with my Christian upbringing is the worshipping of the story of Christ, rather than the words that Christ spoke.  To be totally honest, I'm just not sure how much of the story I believe.  Let me be clear, I don't think it matters if I believe it or not, it seems to me that the important parts are in the lessons that Christ teaches, but how are my kids hearing this?  And I still can't figure out what about the above blessing may have offended my 9 year old daughter.  Hubby is not comfortable with them being in on all of our Wicca rituals, which I agree with, especially since I don't really know what I am doing yet, but I also don't feel like I can just turn them over to the church and say, teach them what you will.  Let's face it, that's how I grew up, and I sometimes feel a bit betrayed by the whole thing.  Certainly, this is not the same path that I want for my kids.  Truth be told, I want them to find their own way, and I'm sure they will, but not right now.  Right now, I am their guide along with my husband.  It is not a job I take lightly.  My hope is that they learn love, forgiveness, and joy in their lives.  Right now, I think it is all I can offer.

In the meantime, we have most of our herb garden and shade garden planted.  A new bush by the back gate should help keep the neighborhood dogs from trying to barge in for a visit with our very popular pooch.

I am off to meditate and give thanks for this glorious day.

Happy Spring, and Blessed Be.

A Year and a Day

I am continuing on my exploration of my spiritual path and it has led me to Wicca.  If you are reading this for experienced information, I will tell you to move on.  I am a Newbie with a capital "N".

Having been raised Christian, and being several times disillusioned by the religion, I have rejected, re-accepted, and rejected it again many times.  There are many reasons for this, but the overwhelming trouble I seem to run into is the feeling of being lied to over and over again.  I'm not saying that I have a problem with the Christians using Pagan rituals and holidays as the basis for their own, but feeling like we aren't up front about our history.  The Christian history is supposed to come straight from the Bible which seems less like an historical document than I'm comfortable with.  The history of the Bible itself remains a mystery, at least to me.  That's all I'm going to say on this subject at the moment.

The reason I began looking into Wicca is really a rather funny one.  I had an audition for Voice Over work for a witchcraft website.  As far as I know, I didn't get the job, but I did visit the site.  It was not what I would call a reputable website - they were really just trying to sell spells, but I started to look around, and what I read increased my interest.

"A New Earth" by Ekhart Tolle had been a life changing book for me.  That along with "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie, and "The Secret", all of which talked about living life in the Now, and to the fullest.  Of course, there is a lot more to these books, and I would recommend any of them, but here I was finding a religion that truly embraced all of these concepts that had been mulling around in my head for the last couple of years.  Concepts which include a divine energy that truly lives in everything around us and inside of us.

So am I now Wiccan?  I don't know.  But I am looking into it.  So here starts my Book of Shadows.  A recording of my journey.  A log of meditations, rituals and spells I might try, as well as, a diary of thoughts and feelings I have along the way.  Let us embark on A Year and a Day.