As a Wiccan woman, one goal is that in a circle I will be able to be the body that houses the Goddess.  Part of our faith is that the Goddess resides in us always.

Then came the thought of the Rede.  “In that it harm none, do what you will.”  I am part of those who I am not to harm.  My weakness for anything with high fructose corn syrup and every other form of “-ose” is harming me.  It is not good for me.  The Goddess would want more for me.  Don’t I owe it to myself and my respect of the gift of life I was given to care for the body that houses me?

Next, came the thought of “Know Thyself.” Those wonderful words from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.  If I keep private about what I do, I WILL cheat.  I will just keep wondering why I continue to be obese while sneaking Little Debbies on the way home from work.  So I am going to use the forums to keep me honest.  If I cheat I will post it.  If I follow a healthy diet, I will post that too.  Any others that care to join me are welcome.  Those sadists out there are welcome to watch the carnage.

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supporters will be able to be there to honor the life of a noble and energetic woman. She turned a personal tragedy into a cause that has helped pagan children and the cause of our pagan community.

The Complete address is : Bishop Park, 2701 Van Alstyne Blvd, Wyandotte, MI follow the link to google maps for more detailed driving instructions.

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How sad, how wonderful. For those of you who may not know, Denessa Smith has gone into the Summerland to be with her beloved daughter Tempest. Denessa devoted her life to the memory of her daughter,

Tempest, who was reviled and tormented in school because she was a Witch took her own life in 2001 and it was only after that that hundreds if not thousands of people joined with Denessa to perpetuate Tempest’s memory through the Tempest Smith Foundation http://tempestsmithfoundation.org/ assuring that other Tempests are not treated so cruelly.

Denessa fought bravely to live, but her body just couldn’t respond to the myriad of medical problems she developed after gall bladder surgery. Even with the magickal workings of many, many of her friends she was unable to prevail against the infections and continued drop in her blood pressure. Now she is gone from us, but awake.

There are so many issues that Denessa Smith’s life and death brings to mind. She fought against the hatred that many people inflict on magickal children. She fought against the injustice that Pagan people often face in their personal and work lives. She never wanted special privilege for magickal people, only equal treatment. It is sad that she will not see it manifest in her physical life.

There is another issue that concerns me about Denessa. She had a wonderful and faithful wife she shared her life with. I cannot image the loss that her wife feels now that so powerful a presence is gone. But we should be mindful of the discrepancies in our society regarding same-sex relationships. Was her wife able to make the same decisions on her behalf that any other married couples would be able to make? Did they have to have specific codicils to allow her to care for her lover the way that legally married couples can do as a matter of course? We need to think about this. Our society is hateful to gay couples and being silent about it only perpetuates that hatred.

Denessa championed her daughter’s cause and the cause of so many young Pagans. But Denessa was more than that. Her life was about equality and while her memory will be more focused on the Tempest Smith Foundation, let us not forget the other people in our Pagan and mundane society who are inflicted by the perverted “morals” of a dominate culture that will not let people be free and happy.

To my dear friend Denessa I send these words from the Pagan Book of Living and Dying….

O I can see the faces there - many ages, many colors-
as they gaze far away into the evening.
There are friends that I know and so many, many others,
and they’re eager for the journey to begin.
Some have come there with their loves, some have come alone;
they all embrace in the light and in the shadow.
And we say our farewells, with our arms around each other,
and you tell me I will see you again.
And you tell me I WILL see you again.

Well, I am happy for you then,
on your journey toward a new home,
but, when I wake, all that I know
is: you are gone.
And I can dream you in that place -
laughing, smiling, healthy, and strong,
but when I wake, all that I know
is: you are gone.
Some days, tears are all I have,
some days, anger and despair,
and sometimes, dreams are all I have
since you are gone.
You are gone.

So fly away, my love, on that violet ship of beauty,
fly away thought the night to the morning,
fly away, my love, on the silken, purple sails,
fly away through the darkness to the dawn.
Fly away into the night,
fly away into the stars,
fly away into the dawn,
to lovers’ arms.

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Sad to say we had to scrap the old website.  It was just not serving our needs.  If you are new to our web presence please register, sign up for the mailing list and enjoy.  If you are not new to the website please register, sign up for the mailing list (if you are not already on it) and enjoy.  We tried our best to keep most of the content we had on our old website, but we had to clear out the forums and the user log.  If you were a member of the old site you will still have to re-register in order to use the forums and comment on posts from the blog.  There are lots of new features comming soon. Please bare with us as we work out all the bugs.  If you find something you need help with or something that is not working please post on the forum about it and I will do my best to help you out.

Some of our outer circle have created an interesting podcast. Here is the description and link to their site.

They are a panel of 5 Pagans in Mid-Michigan discussing topics dealing with the Wicca and other forms of Paganism and Witchcraft from their own individual points of view, As well they talk about events that are going on here in Michigan

Episode #4 Features an interview with our very own Wayland Raven!
Link to their home page: http://midmichiganpaganpodcast.podcastpeople.com/

With its gift of heat and light it is no wonder that the sun has been worshiped as a deity by hundreds cultures with many different myths and just as many different names. It can be argued that the sun was our first deity to be worshiped.  Without his emergence in the east every morning we could not survive.

• The Sumerians called him Shamash.  Shamash was tortured to bring light to humanity.
• The Egyptians called him Aten during their short lived monotheistic period.
• The Persians called him Mithras. He was worshipped in Mithraea, artificially constructed caves that represented his birth-cave. The ceiling looked like the starry sky and at the sides benches where placed for the ritual meals.
• The Romans called him Sol. and pretty much stole all their imagery and believes from the Greeks.
• The Greeks called him Helios - Each morning at dawn he rises from the ocean in the east and rides in his chariot, pulled by four horses through the sky, to descend at night in the west. He was represented as a youth with a halo, standing in a chariot, occasionally with a billowing robe. In early Christian art, Christ is sometimes represented as Helios, so not only the Roman pagans but the Roman Christians were borrowing from the Greeks. In all fairness they also called him Apollo so maybe they had enough sun gods to spread around.

Those are just the highlights, when I started to research this I found a website with over 100 names on it of sun gods and goddesses.

For thousands of years our ancestors have gathered together on this day.  Their purpose was to acknowledge the summer solstice.  On this day the sun blesses us with his presence for the longest time of the year.  If that isn’t a reason to celebrate I’m not sure what is.  We are pagans we celebrate everything.

So let us dance and raise us up some energy.  We are going to do a spiral dance to the tune of “You are my sunshine”  When singing think about the energy you want to channel and how you will choose to use it.  My son asked me to buy some Sunny Delight a little while ago, when I asked him why we needed sunny D he said and I quote “Because it’s made from the power of the sun”  How can I deny that, we went to the store and picked some up the next day. It is a season for growth and prosperity, use the power of the sun as your personal tool to guide your own growth and prosperity.

Cricket leads
Spiral Dance

We all sing - You are my sunshine
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You’ll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away

By -Governor Jimmy Davis of Louisiana

Bring the circle back to a close.
Now that we are all full of the power of the sun lets talk about another aspect of Litha.  Fire, yes fire has been the means of celebrating mid-summer by countless societies.  And why not, it has the gift of light and the gift of heat.  Kind of like a mini earthbound sun right at our disposal.  Usually huge fires are set in honor of this occasion.  Today we are going to concentrate on the mini sun idea.  We are handing out your own personal mini sun.  When you get one I would like you to look at the flame, reflect on the things you would like to flourish.  Take the light in your heart and make those things happen.  When your done please extinguish your sun (blow it out).  You can keep your sun, bury your sun, or add it to the larger fire of the pit.

end announcements - food - donations

Close circle.

Relax into Alpha, tighten and relax the muscles. Take several deep cleansing breaths. Send roots into the Earth and draw energy up through the Chakras. Recite the charm, letting it build into energy as you do. Send out the energy. Then take your circle down.

The Armouring by Liafal (Druidic Version)

I gird myself with the Two Powers,

The Deeps of the World’s Chaos,

The Height of the World’s Order,

And I between them,

Like the World Tree.

I gird myself with the power of the

Magic Cauldron,

With the inspiration of the

Fire of Magic,

With Love to draw all good to me and mine.

I gird myself with the Power of the Spirits -

The might of the Shinning Ones,

The wisdom of the Ancestors,

The joy of the Elder Tribes,

All meet in my soul.

Today I gird myself

With the Elements of the World.

The stars behind my eyes,

My thoughts the clouds,

The Sun my face,

Cool Moonlight my mind,

My breath the wind,

The sea my blood,

My hair the green bounty,

My flesh the warm soil,

Eternal stone my bones,

All the world is in me,

And I am in the world

I gird myself with with my Goddesses’s power to direct me,

With my God’s wisdom to bear me up,

Their eyes to watch over me,

Their ears to hear me,

Their voices to speak to me.

Their hands to open my ways,

Their shield to ward me and those I love

From the snares of spirits,

From peril by land,

From peril by sea,

from peril by sky,

From all who wish me ill,

Far or near

Let theses powers be upon me and in me,

Upon my Tribe and in my Tribe

To make us equal to any challenge,

To come between us and all that threatens

Our bodies or our spirits,

That we may have the wisdom of the Wise,

The love of the Loving,

The power of the Powerful,

That we may be known, and with honor,

In the inner realms.

Know me, O Mighty, Noble, and Shinning Ones;

For my name is………

Power above me,

Power below me,

Power on my right hand,

Power behind me,

Power on my left hand,

Power before me.

In every eye, in every ear,

In every mouth, in every heart,

My magic is established.

I gird myself and my Tribe with ninefold magic;

The Fire, the Well, the Tree, the Land, the Sky, the Sea,

the Gods, the Dead, the Sidhe (”shee”)

Dwell with me and in me

With my Tribe and in my Tribe

Forever

So be it !

Share this with others:

]]> http://www.ravenscoven.org/2008/07/the-armouring/feed/ http://www.ravenscoven.org/2008/07/a-message-from-the-goddess/ http://www.ravenscoven.org/2008/07/a-message-from-the-goddess/#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:27:11 +0000 Evermore Raven http://www.ravenscoven.org/?p=118 I saw this some time ago and it was titled “A Message From The Goddess”

It originated from the oratory of Epictetus a Roman born Greek Slave and Stoic. 55ad - 135 ad

I SHALL NOT CARRY YOU NOR HINDER YOU, NOR KEEP YOU FROM HAVING THE SAME OPPORTUNITIES AS MY OTHER CHILDREN. YOU ARE FREE AND SHALL NOT BE CODDLED LIKE BABES IN A STORM. IF YOU HAVE TRUE DEVOTION AND DESIRE THEN ANY OBSTACLE SHALL BE OVERCOME.

To start; a brief explanation of the name might shed a little light on what roads we might venture upon. Evermore is what I heard when, years ago I listened to a recording of Poe’s “Raven” I was certain that the line was “Quoth the raven evermore” some time later I saw a printed version and was so certain that what I had heard originally was correct, that I looked for another copy so I could point out the obvious printing error. Obviously I was wrong, still I thought that Evermore sounded quite correct, and would have written to Poe suggesting the change. Poe though had apparently left this world content with what he had written.

“and my soul from out that shadow that

lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted-Nevermore.”

Shall be lifted-Evermore…(I still kinda like that)

I shall use Evermore to distinguish this Raven from Poe’s Raven. This Raven is in the process of re-reading works that I first visited long ago. I am finding that there is much that I had not gleaned from the works of Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente, Janet and Stuart Farrar, and others. The first surprise that I have had is that the Rituals that are presented in the older style of English, now seem more vibrant and powerful. They flow smoothly and hold more meaning for me than they did years ago. Back then I was not completely comfortable using ‘thee’ and ‘shalt’ and other wordings, now I feel the connection that forms when words, incantations, and forms have been used millions of times. There seems to be an energy created and we can tap into that specific pattern when we do use those rites. I do look forward to doing so. The ‘old words’ are also beginning to become clearer and easier for me to speak. I will present the oldest and this that follows is from Doreen Valiente’s book “Witchcraft For Tomorrow” page 163

A note Upon the Words of Power

ABRAHADABRA is the true version of the ancient Word of Power, of which the popular ‘abracadabra’ as used by conjurers is just a faint and far-off echo. It is a word of eleven letters, five vowel-sounds and six consonants, signifying the Great Work, the union of the Microcosm (five, the pentagram), with the Macrocosm (six, the hexagram). Its Cabbalistic numeration is 418, and much more elucidation of it will be found in the Qabalah of Aleister Crowley. It is the numerical equivalent of ATh IAO ‘the essence of IAO’ and also its digits added together, 4+1+8, add to 13, the Witches’ number, the Cabbalistic equivalents of which are Achad, ‘Unity’ and Ahbah, ‘Love’.

It also contains the meanings of ‘the voice of the Chief Seer’ and ‘Speak the Blessing’.

IAO is the ancient magical name of the Supreme God, containing both the masculine and feminine elements within Itself.

Namaste, Evermore

Along with the wedding that I performed, the open gathering and being Captain of a paddle wheeler Sunday night, the Viet Nam Memorial Wall was in Genesee County and I had to be there as often as I could be. One of my best friends is on that Wall and each time it has come to Michigan I print off his photo and put it by panel 41 so that people see a face to put with the name Rodney Roat. After I left the open gathering I stopped by the Wall again, this time wearing my red shirt with the pentacle and the words “Tried By Fire, 21st Century Witchcraft.” There are veterans from a number of wars who help support the project and nobody even blinked at my shirt. I wore it in honor of Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart, 113th Aviation, D company, Mustangs, of the Nevada National Guard, who gave his life for his country. He was killed in action in Operation Enduring Freedom when the helicopter he was in was shot down in Afghanistan by Al Quada terrorists. It was Sgt. Stewart who was used by Circle Sanctuary to obtain the right of Wiccans and Pagans to have the pentacle placed on military headstones.

To me our Coven of the Raven open gatherings are a focus for community in Southeast lower Michigan. I am always amazed at the good people who join us and enjoy the openness of our fire. While we should all have pride in our covens and traditions it is clear to me that we must always be mindful of how these organization should lift us, not separate us. Over the years we have made steadfast friends with people who are not affiliated with the Ravens and we are better for it.

I try to get around to everyone at the gatherings, new friends and old. I am not always successful, but sometimes it actually works. I was so glad to visit with our new friends from Saginaw. I am pleased when the word gets around and people make their way to those beautiful woods to share our ritual, food and friendship. That is the way it should always be.

Between gatherings I hope everyone will join us on our forums, blogs and chat rooms. There are also many links to other people and organizations and if you would like your organization placed there, just send a message to our Webmaster. If you know of events or issues of importance to the greater Pagan community, please let us know.

If you want to contact any of our members, you can send them a message on the site. They will be happy to hear from you. I can be reached on the site or at WaylandRaven@GMail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Enjoy your summer and we hope to see you at Samhain.
Wayland Raven