A fun pic I took of the rising "Strawberry Moon". I usually take pretty good pics, but this was snapped before I had things set and without a tripod, and it seems to have given it a very mystical or even eerie look.
I suppose this would be primarily for "ecclectics" or "solitaries", or those initiated into covens without BTW lineage or Gardnerian/Alexandrian.
Secrecy: Keeping quiet the details of the coven and its membership.
Silence: Keeping quiet the teachings, rites, lore, and maxims of the tradition.
Eliphas Levi named the Fourth Pillar "To keep silent". Trad Wicca covens (the "older" ones) are all oath-bound. In the Lady Sheeba (modified Alexandrian) books there is The Old Laws speak of Secrecy, and "The Charge to New Initiates" spells out the "importance" of Silence with the prosaic:
[In discussion regarding] "thy belief in the Gods so do thou, for the most part, keep silent. For there is a great risk of those who straightaway vomit up that which they hast not digested... And as sheep do not bring their food to the shepherd to show how much they have eaten but digesting inwardly their provender do bear outwardly wool and milk, even so, do not display the maxims to the vulgar, but rather the works that flow when they are digested."
What do you think of Secrecy and Silence?
Listening to this is a Pride tradition for me, being a rural person...
What is your favorite chant/song for Circle (celebration, ritual, rite, gathering, what have you)?
I don't mean recorded songs like folk or pop or whatever, I mean the songs we sing together in Circle. Over the years I have visited a lot of other groups and covens and groves et al, and found some standards (many from reclaiming, really) and some beautiful unique ones as well.
So, what are your chants/songs?
********
I will give a couple to get things started...
One I picked up at Starwood:
I am spirit and I flow in you;
You are spirit and you flow in me;
We are the Circle, moving
One with each other, flowing
We are the Circle, we are One.
A standard elemental chant:
Air I am
Fire I am
Water, Earth, and Spirit I am
Another fun elemental and seasonal chant:
Air moves us, Fire transforms us,
Water shapes us, Earth heals us;
And the balance of the Wheel goes 'round and 'round,
And the balance of the Wheel goes 'round.
I could go on, but hopefully others will add some. Blessings!
Today, May 31 is a "Blue Moon", the second full moon in this calendar month. I have heard of many marking Blue Moons as special, in that they are a "rare" occurrence and a special time. This full moon exists outside our current marker of time - our calendar - making it what some call the "Moon (or month) Outside of Time".
In addition to being a Blue Moon, this MOT also falls in between the day of the Sun - Sunday - and the day of the Moon - Monday. True, the full moon technically occurs on the 31st, but experiencially, since Esbats tend to be celebrated in the evening or night (when the Moon is visible), it sits between them. Anyway, this point of occurrence in the balance or tension between the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine - the God and Goddess - is a time that is in obvious resonance with the Wiccan Mysteries.
So what a time! My own view of this special event refers to a "bounce back moment between oscillations of the internal currents that give rise to the emergent path", but what are your thoughts on this Moon? Also, what plans does anyone have for it?
