***From 'The Crone's Book of Charms & Spells' by Valerie Worth
The Sunflower, whether growing wild or boldly planted in the garden, may bestow great strength upon all who attend it. Let one plant be observed from day to day, and when its fire shall cool, its growth cease, and its seed be firm, cut the bowed head off with a hand's length of stalk remaining. Tie this tightly with a cord, and thus suspend it from a hook fixed to a ceiling within your house, that it may hand there all winter be well preserved. In the Spring take it down, remove the seeds, and plant all but one of these in a great circle surrounding your house. The remaining seed you should then crack open and swallow the kernel thereof, thus to become one with its Sun-engendered flesh, while you live thereafter encircled by the new flowers that grow------yourself the fertile center of their solar influence.
Freya was a warrior goddess, a Valkyrie, and also the goddess of sensual love. Though this captivating goddess had numerous lovers, she was the wife of the mysterious Norse god Od. Freya was a spectacular beauty known for her appreciation of romantic music and stunning floral arrangements. That was her softer side; she was also known as the goddess of war and death.
As leader of the Valkyries, she had considerable power. She had the right to claim half the souls of the bravest warriors who died in battle. Actually going onto the battlefield, she would gather them up and take them back with her to spend the after-life in her home in perpetual rest and recreation. A sweet and generous woman, she always invited their wives or lovers to come and live with them.
The other half of the heroic warriors, who belonged to Odin, would be gathered up by the Valkyries and taken to Valhalla where they were able to live in comfort and honor.
She was also called upon to comfort those who were dying, to ease their transition into Valhalla (the "otherworld"), serving as a guide and companion on the journey to Valhalla for many Viking heroes who had died nobly.
When Freya and the Valkyries rode forth on their missions, their armor caused the eerily beautiful flickering light that we know as the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.
Freya and Od were wed, but soon after their wedding Od disappeared and all feared that he was dead, perhaps killed by the ruling deities for disobeying their orders.
Freya was distraught and cried tears of gold, but refused to accept that he was dead. Putting on a magical cloak made of falcon feathers that allows the wearer to fly across vast distances very quickly, she rose into the sky and searched all over the earth for him. Indeed, Od had not died but had been banished and lost at sea. When Freya found him he had already degenerated into a sea monster. Hideous as he appeared, Freya stayed by his side and comforted him.
When someone stumbled upon the sea monster and killed him, Freya was enraged and threatened to take her revenge for the slaying the most noble of the gods. Fortunately it all worked out as Od was admitted to Valhalla even though he had not died in battle, and was allowed to have conjugal visits from Freya so that the two were never separated by his death.
Freya's name was "The Lady" or "mistress", and may be the source of our name of the fifth day of the week, Friday. With her twin brother, Fryr ("The Lord"), these divine twins were the Norse deities of untamed nature.
Freya had many other lovers, although she deeply loved her consort Od. (Remember, monogamy had not been invented yet and infidelity was the social norm.) Aphrodite's amorous escapades pale by comparison with those of Freya, whose unbridled sexuality was legendary.
Usually depicted as a strawberry blonde with stunning blue eyes, none could resist her. To make matters even worse, like the Greek goddess Aphrodite, she possessed apparel that made her irresistible to men. . . a magical necklace reputedly made of amber and rubies that was called a "brisling" or "brisingamen".
Freya had left it a bit late to leave her friend's house to start home. The sun set, and it began to snow. Soon she was becoming disoriented and frost-bitten. Luckily she was found by four dwarves who rescued her and took her to their home. The dwarves were named "North, South, East, and West".
Freya volunteered to pay them for their hospitality and the four dwarves cheerfully agreed, saying that they would like to be repaid by having her sleep with each of them for one night. Freya wasn't at all interested and promptly declined.
Until . . .
She saw the incredibly beautiful necklace that they had just made. She had to have it and offered to return after the storm and pay for it in gold. They may have been dwarves, but they weren't stupid -- they told her it was not for sale at any price, but countered with an offer that they would be delighted to simply give it to her if she were willing to pay their price for her room and board during the storm.
When Freya returned home after the storm subsided, she was wearing the stunning "necklace of desire".
The goddess Freya's passions were abundant, vigorous, and unrestrained. Clothed or not, she is usually shown in sensual poses.
She is often depicted riding her golden chariot through the skies, the chariot pulled by two large blue cats who were a gift from the Norse god Thor. Freya chastised Thor soundly one morning for awakening her from her beauty sleep with his boisterous and noisy preparations to "go fishing" for a sea dragon. While he was on the way to his fishing spot, Thor kept hearing lovely song-like noises that seemed to be lulling him to sleep.
Stopping to investigate the source of the odd sounds, he found them coming from a nest of mewing blue kittens being tended by a tomcat. The sound that Thor had heard was the male cat singing to the kittens, "Sleep, sleep, my dear little ones".
Thor suggested (in forceful terms) that the cat stop singing the lullaby and the cat sassed him back, suggesting that Thor had no idea how difficult it was for a single-parent male to rear his children and asking if he knew any women who would be willing to take them in.
Immediately Freya came to mind, and Thor agreed to take them to her. Like all cats, this one was not quick to show appreciation and added that, being blue, they were very unique cats and deserved an especially fine home. Thor took offense at the comment and thundered back at the cat who, not the least impressed, bared his claws and then turned into a bird and flew away.
Kindly Freya was enchanted with Thor's present and did the kittens honor by letting them accompany her on her daily rounds across the sky.
In archetypal psychology, dwarves often represent the parts of self that we have neglected or even rejected.
The goddess Freya reminds us to explore and acknowledge all of our emotions, longings, and traits, even those we wish we didn't possess.
Kansas City Pagan Pride Day was a great success!! We raised over $800 in the Silent Auction, plus the physical donations to go to the Health Clinic. The clinic not only treats people who are without health insurance or the funds for medical attention, they also treat special cases such as people with Hep C, HIV and Aids.....a wonderful charity to support this year!!
The Sonic Sidhe Tribe and their spinners put on an excellent performance!!
A Proclamation was read from the Mayor's office honoring the 10th Anniversary of Kansas City Pagan Pride Day and acknowleding the Pagan community!!
We had a wonderful turnout considering the temperatures were in excess of 100 degrees! The pavillion sat on top of a hill and the breeze passing through made the day quite comfortable!!
I was able to purchase some nice things in the silent auction....a new deck of tarot cards, a book on Urban Shamanism, a Witchy cookbook and a banana nut bread candle!!
The organizer of the Kansas City Witch Meetup that I belong to baked cookies in a solar oven...they were coming out every 10 minutes!!
I had a tarot reading done that was amazing!! I have been going through some struggles in my personal life and instead of putting it in the hands of the Lord and Lady, I was taking it all on myself! I have been 'dragging' my feet getting back to my studies, I think it was out of fear that I had lost my connection with diety.....For the reading, I had the question (in my mind) of 'what do I need to know to guide me back to my spiritual path'.....with the first card, she told me that I have been struggling and having a tough time getting to where I wanted to be....she said that diety is telling me that I am ALREADY there...and stop trying so HARD!!!!!
It was a very spiritual and exciting day for me!!!
A benefit for: Southwest Boulevard Family Healthcare Helping your family navigate to good health Donation suggestions: *baggies with children's toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss *baby wipes *diapers *baby blankets/quilts
City Park Corner of 26th & Park Drive Kansas City, KS August 2nd, 2008 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Admission is free.
**Silent Auction (bring items to donate!)
Special appearance from the office of Mayor Funkhouser
Music performance by Sonic Sidhe Tribe
Special Lughnasadh Ritual
Food by Cat's Corner Cafe
Take I-70 to the Park Drive/38th Street exit. On Park Drive go east about half a mile and you will see a small green sign pointing to the entrance to the park. Turn right and go all the way up the hill.
A Witch who combines many elements of Traditional Witchcraft and Nature Witchcraft, as well as Shamanism and healing, with a more rural tone to their practise. A hedgewitch studies herbalism, nature, shamanism, healing lore, hearthcraft, nature oriented magick and anything else she may find useful. She will study both magickal and medicinal herbalism. Hedgewitches study and practice their rituals and magick anywhere they may, but prefer to in rural or wild areas. They also tend to live in more rural places. She will have a garden if she can, but prefers to gather plants and magickal materials from the wild. She may know a lot about what grows in the wild, as well as about wildlife and livestock. Her tools will be a mix of different useful items, as well as natural items and shamanic tools. Such as walking sticks and staffs, wands, rattles, a medicine bag, pruning shears, cooking pots, besoms, and the tools of herbalism, such as a mortar and pestual. Her shrine/altar can be placed anywhere in her home, garden or yard, and she may have special places set up in her favorite wild places, or a corner of a farm field. Her patrons will be deities of nature, the wild, and agriculture, healing, the harvest and the Underworld.
