You're invited to Imbolc!

You're invited to Imbolc! Notice that we have had to reschedule from our original time and date. Daniella, Jon, and Steph now work this Saturday, and are unavailable on Sunday morning... Ah well... :)

Anyway, here's the link. :)

Enjoy!

With love and blessings,
BrightWater (Jen Harlan)
jen.c.harlan@gmail.com
hillcountrygrove@gmail.com

Silent Night, Holy Night

Silent Night, Holy Night

 Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 7:40am

This poem was provided to us by @Charles Edmonson, who found it on http://www.blackheartferi.com/madpoetics

 

Silent Night, Holy Night was read aloud as part of this year's Yule Ritual. Enjoy! If you were unable to make it to this ritual, but plan on coming to Imbolc, please meditate on this poem and think of what you are calling into being at Yule this year. Make that thing a part of you for the next 6 weeks. At Imbolc, we will write down what you have created and send it into the cosmos. What you created will then return to you at Ostara.

If you have any questions, please contact BrightWater (512.989.0539 or 512.567.1465).

With love and blessings,
BrightWater (Jen Harlan)
jen.c.harlan@gmail.com
hillcountrygrove@gmail.com

Silent, Holy Night.

From the Depths of Darkness come Wisdom, Power, Surrender
From the Depths of Her Womb come Innocence, Power, Will

Ssssshhhhh. Be still

And hear Her calling in the silence
The birth cries ring through the longest hours
Across the generations of Time
The wide starlit expanse of heaven
The density of earth

Ssshhhhh. Hold on.

The womb/world/skies contract
Rippling
Rigid
Unbearable

Ssshhhhh. Breathe. Open.

And puuuuuuuuuuusssssssshhhhhh hhh

Through
Into the arms of Darkness.
Slippery, innocent, blinded by our own light.
We are Her hand-maidens
And Birth Givers ourselves.
We mid-wife the coming of the Light Bearer.
And we too, are Bearers of Light.
The Darkness of Night
Endings into Beginnings
The brightness of Noon
Silence and Song
Laughter into tears
Lover and Beloved
Mother and Child.

Ssssssshhhhhhhh.

Sleep.
In heavenly
Peace.

Rise up

And greet the Newborn Dawn
Light
Lugh
Lu
Luscious

Sila.

Yule Vigil and Ritual

Mothers' Night

Updates

Well, it's been a bit since I last posted.  A lot has happened since then.  The main reason I didn't post or get electronic invitations out for the last couple of events, is because my computer died.  It took 2 weeks to get it fixed and I've been recovering files and backups and getting caught up on a backlog of work ever since.
I am back up and working now and we should now be able to move on.

For those who haven't been keeping up, we now have 2 Dedicant's in the circle, Jonathan Peña and Stephanie (Princess Possum-Pee) Turner.  Both are working towards their 1st Degree in different wiccan traditions.

We have held the first 2 classes in our Magick 101 Series, Magickal Ethics and Circle Casting 101.  These classes went very well, being attended by Jon, Steph, Ashley, Ray, and myself, with Danielle leading the classes (with input from others as their speciality was focused on).  Those unable to attend were given notes from the Magickal Ethics class, which were posted here if you didn't get them yet.  The Circle Casting class is a hands-on class, so has no notes.  If you missed this class but would still like to learn this, contact us to set up a make-up class date.  Steph has finished her practical segment for this class, but we are still waiting on Jon to schedule his.  As soon as this is done, we will have new people capable of holding quarters at rituals and they can begin their rotation. :)  These classes are, of course, requirements of the 1st Degree.

We held Mabon on the evening of September 19th.  Due to my mother being in the hospital again, my computer being broken, and Danielle not having updated contact for everyone, this was a small ritual, attended by Danielle, Ray, Joe, Steph, and myself, but it went off beautifully, and we had a nice feast of chicken and dumplings with peach cobbler and wassail to finish off the evening.  For those wondering, Mabon is simultaneously the funeral/wake of the god, and the pagan Thanksgiving.  It is the second harvest ritual/festival, and is a time of plenty, and joy although not untempered by the sorrow caused by the sacrifices (both of the gods and ourselves) required to have the time of plenty.

We do have another class tentatively scheduled, as you will see in the next post.  Please let me know if  this date and time is good for you or not.

Our next ritual, of course, is Samhain.  This ritual will take place at 11:59PM October 31st.  This should give you time to spend partying or trick-or-treating or handing out candy and such earlier in the evening.  My recommendation is that those who are attending arrive no later than 11:30PM so that we can get prepped and begin on time.  If you can get here earlier, we would love to have you but we know that Samhain is a busy night for us all.

Please remember that Samhain is one of 2 CLOSED rituals in the Wheel of the Year.  Attendance is by invitation only, for circle and grove members.  Should you want to bring a guest, or are unsure if you or your guest are welcome, please contact me and we can discuss it.

More info on Samhain will be forthcoming very soon.  Look for an invitation in your email, as well as here on the blog, which will be full of the details lacking right now. :)

If you have any questions, please contact BrightWater (512.989.0539 or 512.567.1465).

With love and blessings,
BrightWater (Jen Harlan)
jen.c.harlan@gmail.com
hillcountrygrove@gmail.com

Lughnassadh Invitation (cross-posted with evite)

Please join us for a celebration of the first harvest of 2009!

As the ritual is on a work night we will begin at promptly at 7:30 PM, please be here between 6:30-7:00 PM. Sunset is at 8:18 PM that night, so we will work for a culmination of the ritual at that time.

In circle, we will be creating corn dollies that will house the spirit of the grain during the dark half of the year. Traditionally, these corn dollies were kept at the hearth or near the front door for protection of the home. For this part of the ritual, you will each need to bring ribbon, thread, or string (the color is symbolic of something that has come to fruition for you at this harvest and you wish to use this energy as the seed for next year's Wheel of the Year spell) for use in constructing your corn dolly. The dolly will be planted with your seeds/plants at Ostara to power your harvest spell in the next turn of the wheel.

There will be a Circle Meeting after ritual is completed (approximately 8:30 PM). The format will be the same as we used for Litha. We will need to keep the meeting brief.

The afterparty will begin directly after the adjournment of the Circle Meeting.

For the afterparty feast - please bring a dish that symbolizes the first harvest. Jen will be providing corn, and the circle itself will provide a meat dish. Any dish with grains and/or Fall fruits and vegetables would be very appropriate.

(Btw, since this has been a problem in the past, please remember that dishes for the feast are meant to feed everyone at the ritual, not just yourself. If you cannot contribute a dish, it is expected that you be on hand for prep and cleanup.)

If you have any questions, please contact Jen (512.989.0539 or 512.567.1465).

With love and blessings,
Bright Water (Jen Harlan)
jen.c.harlan@gmail.com
hillcountrygrove@gmail.com

Lughnassadh Rescheduled!

Hi guys, we've run into a snag with the Lughnassadh ritual, and are rescheduling for 7:30PM on Sunday, August 9th. I know that for a couple of you that will present a hardship, but them's the breaks folks! ;)

The ritual will begin at 7:30 and culminate at approximately 8:18 (sunset), and the afterparty and circle meeting will begin right afterward. We will be done with everything important to the circle as a whole by 11PM. If this is going to be difficult for you, my suggestion would be: take a nap during the day.

For the afterparty feast - please bring a dish that symbolizes the first harvest. Jen will be providing corn, and the circle itself will provide a meat dish. Any dish with grains and/or Fall fruits and vegetables would be very appropriate. Btw, since this has been a problem in the past, please remember that dishes for the feast are meant to feed everyone at the ritual, not just yourself. If you cannot contribute a dish, it is expected that you be on hand for prep and cleanup.

More info will be provided as we get closer to time. Just post a comment if you have any questions at the moment. :)

With love and blessings,
Bright Water (Jen Harlan)
jen.c.harlan@gmail.com
hillcountrygrove@gmail.com

New Blog & Post-Midsummer Info

Hi guys, I am creating this blog because our online communications have been a little wonky lately. Evite has been failing me miserably and with the costs of stamps and printing going up, it is just too expensive to keep sending out paper invites (especially having a graphic designer as our HP... ;).

If you can read this blog, then you have been invited as one of the authors, and may post here as well. :)

Here is a recap from the meeting we had after Litha. :) Enjoy!

For those of you that missed our circle meeting, we decided to purchase a fridge/freezer to put in my garage for Circle use, and we are requesting between $10 and $20 from those of you who attend rituals on a regular basis. We have learned over the past few months that my fridge and freezer is simply inadequate for what we are trying to do here. All circle members will be able to store properly labeled personal stuff in this new fridge for short times, and all circle food and drink will be stored there as well. Stephanie Turner (now known as Princess Possum Pee) has also offered the use of her deep freeze as well.

Our Lughnassadh/Lammas Celebration and Ritual will take place on August 1st in the evening. We will have more details to follow.

Jon Pena, our Circle Guardian, will be graduating from the Army Mental Health Specialists School on June 29th and we will be holding a celebration for him that evening. As Jennifer Chapman’s (Embers-On-Wind) birthday is June 30th, we will be celebrating her birthday as well. More details to follow.

One of our circle members, Monica, is moving to Dallas on June 27th, and has asked for help in loading the truck (or for those who have the time and energy, for unloading the truck in Dallas). If you would like to join us, we will be meeting at Monica’s Saturday morning @ 10AM. Contact me or Monica for details.

We decided today that we will be having monthly gatherings (not including Sabbats and assigned esbats). Our gathering in July will be a house blessing and warding for Stephanie and Joe Turner at their home.

Our proposed date for this is July 5th. Please let me know (ASAP) if this date will work for you and if you would like to attend. You can also propose a different date as we all have weird schedules.

I recently attended the Red Oak Fellowship’s Midsummer Faining. This is a Norse group that was referred to as something like the Kindred by several of the members. Our contact with this group is Jay Bolton, and he has invited those of our circle who are interested to attend their gatherings. If you are interested, let me know and I will get you in contact with Jay.

While attending this gathering, I was able to take part in their Cumbel (sp?). This community based activity was very powerful, and I have borrowed from it to put to use in our circle meetings. Our first attempt at this went very well today, and everyone who participated in it definitely seemed to get good energy from it. I believe that we shall continue with the practice. For more info, contact me later.

For those of you that are interested in other types of energy work, Danielle is taking a class on Middle-Eastern Dance and has proposed that those interested begin working on this with her. Contact her for more details. Also, Friend of the Circle, Lana Toporek has offered to work with any who are interested in either Yoga or Martial Arts.

With love and blessings,
Bright Water (Jennifer Harlan)
jen.c.harlan@gmail.com
hillcountrygrove@gmail.com