New Moon Snows



The Pond in our backyard at 9pm on 1/9/2011

 Our Lady gifted us with a lovely snowstorm yesterday in North Texas.  Throughout the day, we enjoyed the teasing "tappitty-tap" of sleet and freezing rain which rapidly changed to the peaceful whisper of fluffy snowflakes quietly falling to frost trees and lawns.  Our pond's valiant little fountain/filter kept working the entire time.

The songbirds bravely and hungrily faced the odd weather (snow is NOT common in North Texas it would seem)--enticed to the yard by overfull birdfeeders, suet stations, and seed scattered on our patio and walkways especially for them.  Our friendly little squirrels were nowhere to be found--hunkered down warmly in their nests.  The chirps and twitters broke the silence in a melodious riot of joy for the hospitality.

For those of you being visited by the snows today and for those of you curled around cups of tea and cocooned in blankets this morning--snowed in your homes--the Lair empathizes.  Enjoy the beauty of the winter landscape, embrace the silence, and be safe. 

In the frosty silence of the waxing Moon...

A Forthcoming New Moon

A new Moon means new beginnings and the commencement of another two week session of increase.  So, this new Moon tomorrow echoes the mundane world's New Year.  New beginnings, hopes for increase and improvement, and positive attitudes abound at present.  We're three days into 2011 and the "world is our oyster" as it were.

Oysters only create their pearls, though, at the introduction of an irritant.  The bivalve then encases the nasty bit in a smooth coating to keep the irritant away from its delicate flesh.  Most people forget that little "gem" of a fact.  This past year was filled (as many of us in the community as well as on Blogger will attest) with limitless "pearl fodder."  Have we created pearls from them?

At the Lair, 2010 was full of unknowing...of changes...of anticipation and constant (seeming) deflation.  2011 enters with a new full-time job for the Lair's mistress's beloved.  The old house is soon to depart to another set of loving hands.  The Cottage is filling with more and more "inhabitants"--numerous songbirds have discovered the feeders, the squirrels have attained a shocking familiarity with the humans of the Cottage, the toads and fish of the Pond live in happy cohabitation.  Our furry family inside are quite calm and happy finally...though our youngest cat--Athena--has passed from kidney disease and is now buried under the feeders by our Pond.

So, as the new Moon approaches and the new year unfolds, the inhabitants of the Lair bid you to recognize the pearls which surround you...the beauty amidst the irritations of our lives...and to embrace the promise and potential!

In the light of the Moon...

Late Autumn's Splendor

Keats's "To Autumn" is called to mind on days such as these--

                   While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
                   And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
                   Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
                   Among the river sallows, borne aloft
                   Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies (lns.25-29)

Indeed, the day started out much as Keats would have us envision the final "chapter" of Autumn.  It was a quiet morning--a thin veil of mist rose from the hillocks and meadows surrounding our town.  Wildlife and livestock alike milled about in tentative awareness of a "something" in the air.  The newly-harvested fields lay fallow and clean.  Yet, as sensual as this season is, it could not be that softened. 

All the tumultuous passion of this season spent itself this afternoon and evening.  The sun burst forth from his dimming cloud bank to reveal the jeweltoned leaves on the Crepe Myrtles and Oaks in all their splendor.  Birds chirruped in the warming embrace of the life-giving rays.  Then, just as suddenly, the skies darkened with the threatening gunmetal-grey clouds of an approaching storm.  Breezes which has once teased the jeweled leaves from the branches now took on the guise of gusting winds--grabbing at still-verdant shrubbery.  The heavens opened and the rains came down--a downburst of perhaps ten-minutes' time.  As suddenly as it came upon this area, it dissipated as rapidly, leaving behind Nature's mirrors to reflect the season's effacement at its own hand.

We're in the "dark half" of the year indeed, my darling Lair visitors and friends--the season of preparation.  It's a "nesting" season for many of us--baking, tidying away, decorating for the festivities of Thanksgiving and Yule which are rapidly approaching.  We gather loved ones close and light the hearthfire to welcome the onset of darkness.  We embrace the sensual nature of the Season yet yearn for the coming of the light of Spring. 

Again, as with our Samhain preparations, sit back and truly treasure this time.  Enjoy the simple pleasures--a soft throw over your legs to guard against the chill of November; the smell of the sleeping garden as you sit outside of a pleasant afternoon and enjoy a lovely book; the comforting crackle of wood in a fireplace while the bracing winds and rains of late Autumn rage without.  Bake bread (always a favored pasttime at the Lair), create a comforting soup from whatever strikes your fancy, brew a strong pot of tea and share all with friends and family in celebration of the darkness which brings you together.  We've time...bounteous time in which to sit and reflect and recognize all that She has bestowed upon us this past year.  And yet, this time will end--the holiday season passes with a flash and a pop and then 'twill be another calendar year full of promise.

I pour you a cup of the Lair's blend of black tea--ripe with dried fruits and rinds and spices of the Holiday Season--and invite you once more to find solace and welcoming warmth here.  Thank you for joining me...I count you all among our many blessings bestowed this year. 

In the soft, misty light of the late Autumn Moon...

Samhain 2010

Once again, the blessed Samhain is upon us.  The secular giving of treats to little ones (and not so little ones) at the door is over and the familial work of preparation and remembrance may begin.  The Veil is thinning, the Circle is being cast, the candles are being lit, and the loved ones are drawing near from the Other World.  

As we close in on this moment--this particular ritual so familiar and so infinitely new each Samhain--feel the magick of this night.  'Tis the final Quarter of our Lady's journey through the skies before She makes Herself New on November 6th.  Things are slowing at this time...the Veil is parted, but we needn't rush our preparations.  There is time, my dear Lair followers...there is ALWAYS time.  

Hold fast to your kith and kin this beauteous Night of Samhain.  Keep both those of this world and those of the next ever close.  Feel the warm embrace of She who unites us for this loveliest of moments.

Blessed Samhain, my dears.

In the waning light of the Moon... 

Approaching Samhain 2010

Today, in the most bizarre of manners, I was made aware of Her presence in all our existence--of Her wisdom.  This is the final week prior to Samhain.  From Mabon to Samhain, we of the Path (whichever branch you happen to travel on) acknowledge the coming Darkness...and prepare ourselves accordingly.
In all the preparation we make for our "New Year" celebrations/rituals, however, some folk tend to get so wrapped up that we lose sight of Her soft aura which guides our days and our darkness.

So it was this morning.  Once again, I was busily preparing for my day--waken, shower and go through my rote-ritual of the morning, pause at the altar to center, rush about madly gathering tea and texts and laptop, drive "under the radar" to the first location at which I teach.  At the end of that first course, however, I was "slapped in the face" by our Lady's gentle presence.  An announcement came over the intercom--"Would all teachers and students please report to the foyer at this time" {Me--slight grumble at the interruption} "Our Special Olympians are about to depart for their tournament and, in the tradition of ______, we are sending them off through a ________ Victory Line."  {Me--smile...and wait for the inevitable}

(*For those of you who don't know, I'm a college professor who is "loaned out" to an area high school to teach college courses for BOTH senior English credit AND collegiate English Comp I and II credit)

My students looked at me and, without a blink, said "can we go?  They're the real heroes around this school."

I didn't have to say a word...they saw the approval on my face.  In a rush, they were out the door--26 of the school's best and brightest--to encourage and support some of the "forgotten."  Theater students, football players, cheerleaders, etc., all ran from the room and lined up along the hallways from the entrance of the building to the Special Education classroom, yelling Friday night cheers to their Special Olympian peers.  

I've NEVER known 17- and 18-year olds with that much compassion.  The football players at the back of my room rushed to the front of the that line and "high-fived" every single one of those Special Olympians...no one snickered, no one guffawed, no one did ANYTHING but cheer and clap and yell names out of pure support and cameraderie.  I was humbled, touched, and very much felt Her presence--the simple smiles and heartfelt encouragement in that entryway meant more than any "centering" or "drawing down" or ritual in that moment. 

So, as we fast approach the Thinning of the Veil and the accompanying Night, please remember that the compassion we show our dear ones who have since crossed over to the West does, indeed, return to us.  What I witnessed was compassion returned.

In the softness of the waning Moonlight...

The New Moon Riseth

'Tis been a while since the Lair was visited.  I think you all, dearest guests, will understand that, with the move and the process of unpacking (finally) and organizing, my other pursuits (such as this haven) had to take a secondary role.  That established, the house is organized (or at least "stowed away") and the Lair is officially housed in a quaint '50s bungalow in the historic district of our town. 

It seem highly appropriate that the Lair's relocation is happening at the turn of the seasons.  This is the opening of the "nesting" season for us all.  We've begun to turn inward in our rituals and Craftings--preparations are more internal than public.  We're more aware of the seasonal shifts than at the height of the Summer.  Mabon preparations are underway and Samhain is quickly approaching--our new year.  Here at the Lair, the organizing and placing of our things (housed in a storage shed for a year) was accomplished in rapid order...and then we turned our attentions to something that has been in the offing for a year--our altar. 

Though it's still being tinkered with and not all the needed items are on it, we "inherited" a dear little alcove in the main hall of our new house--it was originally a telephone cubby--that is a perfect spot for the altar.  Our Goddess and the basic materials we needed were placed there--a quiet spot on the way out of the bedrooms each morning to reflect, center, and garner the strength and energies for the day. 

Since moving into the Cottage, establishing the altar, and being able to focus freely on our Paths (for my husband follows a separate Path from mine...complementary, but unique to his energies), our helpers have returned.  The sparkly faes are quieter (we have cats and dogs...the faes are reacclimating to life with furry critters), but our Cottage has a pond filled with fish--and that pond has become the meeting ground for doves, sparrows, finches, chickadees, toads, and one VERY pleasant squirrel.  The out-of-doors is once more open to us.  The shade tree in the side yard has offered us new wands (vines twisted around branches beckoned to us), the pond has yielded shells (who knows from whence they came), and the resident cowbirds have gifted us with a single reddish-black feather. 

The Lair is opening its arms once again.  The energies here at the Cottage are invigorating and embracing.  Nature has welcomed us with wide-stretched arms!  It finally "feels right."  Thank you, my dear friends...and Blessed Be!

In the softness of the Moonlight...

The Mockingbird

It's past midnight and all the mundane world has settled to it's slumber for the night.  At the Lair, all is resting save a lone mockingbird calling its cacophony of melodies across the ebony skies.  It's chaotic song rings across the night breezes.

Tonight, one my friends passed--suddenly but somewhat expectedly--of a rapid-onset cancer.  He had just been taken into Hospice care...he and his beloved wife were looking into options to buy him quality as the end approached far too soon.  He was honored by his peers just yesterday.  He passed this evening. 

So, dear ones, may my friendly mockingbird's chant ring out over the rooftops and across the meadows and ranchlands--far into the black corners of our Lady's nightly mantle.  May it's chorus carry to the Summerlands where he is being welcomed--whole and healthy--to bask in Her hospitality.  Although he was not of the Old Paths, may She watch over his family and may the soft night breezes soothe the pain that's in so many hearts tonight at his passing.  So, SING, darling Mockingbird, SING his passing and sing our loss....but sing evermore the hope for tomorrow!

In the softness of the ever-present Moonlight...