Full Moon and Samhain ritual!

Last Sunday the Neo-Pagan Alliance gathered for our first ritual of the semester. It was a wonderful occasion. Full moons always seem to be a great ritual to have bonding experiences. It was a great chance to gather and celebrate in a new way and share sacred space with others. For this ritual we went out to Kachina Village outside of town and I honestly did not know what to expect. Katie one of our memebers suggested the location (I believe she has done ritual there before or just hung out) and it was amazing!

To be honest one of my top three places I think I have seen in Flagstaff for ritual. It lwas a mini mountain/clif/huge rock thing. I don't know how best to describe it. We walked up one side of the mountain and it was fairly easy to get up, we wondered through some lava rocks and came to the clifs edge area. It was a beautiful open space as you can see in the picture. The cliff was about I would say 2 stories high. When you faced north on the plateau you look down and see a big pond with tons of reeds. It was honestly beautiful. In the middle of the plateau there was a huge rock that we used as our altar and it was absolutely designed for that purpose. It had a place to put all of our candles, sage, and items to charge in the full moon light!
Before the ritual started Katie told us that there were caves below the cliff and that we could get to them. I was super excited and said take me there now please! It was awesome. The cave kinda looks like a giant took a slice out of the middle side of a cake.
It formed an acute triangle and was perfect to sit under. There was also a crack from the cave to the top of the plateau so of course I had to climb up it. Mark and I decided to go through it. Ps check out his blog it is called Behind the Vines. A few people were still down in the caves while I was looking at hte lake and was starting to focus on ritual, when all of a sudden, one of our members started playing her flute. It was magnificent. She was hidden in the cave so it reminded me of a movie. It was a lovely song that fit the mood perfectly. The wind was blowing Erins dress. She looked like Eowin from Lord of the rings! It was magical.
We gathered everyone together. Discussed what we were going to do in the ritual and then waited for it to get darker. As the light dimmed and the temperature dropped the group was ready. We found two rocks that we used as an entrance way to our ritual area and where we were saged. Liz did the saging for the group and then we went into calling the directions. Mark did west, Caitlin did north, Erin did east and Becca did south. I really enjoyed Becca's call to the direction of the south, I found it moving and inspirational. With the directions invited I cast the Circle. I used a circle casting from my mentor Madrone. It is a wodnerful circle because it focuses on each direction as part of the goddesses body. I also used a flash light as a modern day wand if you will. I was using the flashlight to focus the energy and represent the light of the full moon!
Once that was done we were going to light some candles on the altar for our ancestors and I had a feeling that everyone should light a tea light candle for there own personal ancestors. It was one of those ideas that the goddess sent down and I just went with it.
It was very nice and to have the rock altar all lite up like that was great! Next Becca did the invocation of the goddess and then played another song. We had some alone time to meditate and clear our minds. A time to appreciate the silence and cold and start the introspection process of the dark period of the year.
Mark lead our calling down of the moon. We each had a cup that had water in. The water was Katie's sacred water so that was special. We blessed the water to make our three wishes. On the full moon my mentor taught me to make three wishes. One for yourself, one for someone else, and one for the Earth. I don't know of many other witches who does this but I love the tradition.
So I pass it on to who ever I can. The magic of the moon is amazing and can help heal many wounds. I was very stressed that day but during the ritual I relaxed. I calmed down and allowed myself to observe what was around me. Knowing that the group was holding sacred space for each other was comforting. I was so happy to be apart of thsi experience. After the wishes I am pretty sure everyone was very cold so we took down the circle and said goodbye to the directions and the goddess.
Afterwards we shared some wonderful moon cakes that our member Kelli made. She couldn't be at the ritual but her cakes were there and she was also there in spirit.
Over all a wonderful experience.

Tonight is my big Samhain ritual and I cannot wait! I am really excited to strip my soul to the bones and start over for the new year. Update on the ritual soon to come!
Blessings to you all!

Inspiring Witches

AS mentioned in the post before I am participating in two blog parties this Samhain season. This post is for the blog party ran by the wonderful blog A College Witch's Experience.
This post is about the witches real or imaginary who inspire us on our journeys.
I have decided to post about one real witch who inspires me and a set of witches that are from a TV show.
I will start off with the TV show witches. If any of you know me then you will know I am talking about the Charmed Ones! The Charmed ones are a set of sisters who have some amazing powers. In the 8 seasons that I watched them I was sent through all emotions and back. I survived the death of a sister, birth of 2 baby boys, gods, hordes of demons, and lovers that took the ladies to hell and back! This was a show that I honestly can say I was emotionally invested in. For the first 3 seasons the Charmed Ones actually have experiences with "real" everyday witches. They learn what the holidays are about, they connect with their ancestors, and they visit city witchy shops. From the fourth to the 8th the show took off. The ideas became crazier but were not to disappoint. My favorite episode out of all the seasons was the season finale of the 5th season. The sisters became Goddesses and I think it was great. Of course it is every gay boys dream to one day become Aphrodite and attract all the men in the city. All the sisters had amazing powers but they also wee excellent spell writers (I have actually used some of their rhymes in my spells) and the made amazing potions. I do wish that potions had the effects that theirs did.

Enough with the fake witches, written by some man who probably does not know the first thing about the craft, now onto the real deal. The woman who inspired my whole path and who is responsible for how I have come to finally trust myself and stand in my own power. MADRONE!!


For me Madrone is not only a mentor for my spiritual path, but she is also my spirit mother. She and her partner Rich have invited me to events at their house, introduced me to their friends and answered every question I have had about anything they show me. Madrone is the woman who introduced me to Starhawk's book The Spiral Dance, which jump started my journey. She introduced the goddess to me through the Goddess of the Cinder Moon circles and has shown me the wonders of rituals that are planned and heart felt. She has helped to instill confidence and trust in myself and my intuition. She has opened many a portals for me to gaze into and I have learned a great deal from those journeys. Madrone has been there for me as more than just a mentor, she has become my friend. I am so grateful that 2 and a half years ago I nervously entered into a goddess circle with friends and met the woman who would show me the way back to finding myself.

Thank you Madrone!