If you read my general blabberings around BackWash you will have heard of Eric, my boyfriend. He is still pretty new but we are getting along great.

Anyway, I haven't really talked with him about Pagan ideas and what it means for me to be an Earth Witch. That is some sort of limbo in everything. I don't mind leaving it there, for awhile. But, I have wondered what he really thinks.

We went for a walk on the frozen beach and while he was testing the thickness of the frozen lake (testing his luck I thought at the time) I was drawing a pentacle in the sand. I used a piece of driftwood and 6 smooth stones from along the beach. I placed the stones around my drawn pentacle. It was something special for the day, for my Grandmothers and for St. Patrick's Day.

Eric noticed it when he came back, not drowned luckily. He said something about it, nothing much. I think just noting that I had drawn it or used stones, something easy going. But I wondered what he was thinking. Anyway, I left it at that. I didn't push it or go into lengthy explanations. It was something personal to me and though I didn't feel I needed to hide it I still wonder what he thinks about this element of me.

How do you begin to share this with someone you care about? Is it something you leave lying on a coffee table for him to find? Is it something you bring up right away and make into a big issue? Or do you let it simmer on a back jet, there and yet not getting in the way? I'm not exactly sure how I want to handle it. So, I will do what I usually do when I'm not sure, I will ask him. Not quite yet though. There is time and space, too much of both right now. We will see.

The magic circle, sounds so mystical... But it's like many things in Witchcraft, it's adaptable to your own style, your whims and personal needs of the moment.

Witch/ Wiccan rituals take place in a circle. Not always, it's not written in stone with blood or anything really dramatic. But, it does make things tidy in it's own way. You draw in power and you keep it to yourself, out of the way of others. Then, when you're done you release it. It goes back to nature and the powerful parts of yourself.

We draw the circle and then we close it. Some people cast the circle and banish it at the end of the ritual. I tend to think of it as drawing and closing the circle. When you draw your circle take a moment to bless each of the elements at each of the 4 directions. Yes, you might need a map to know where north, south, west and east are in relation to your location. If you choose, bless the goddess and god too. Then bless the Earth and life, those are most important to me. When you close your circle just do the steps in reverse order. Gather your pebbles, erase your chalk, whatever you used as you go around in the 4 directions again. Sounds too simple? Why shouldn't it be simple. You're welcome to make a bigger production out of it. I like it simple.

You can use chalk, hemp rope, embroidery thread, pebbles, sand, dust bunnies, anything really. Consider a circle of jack o lanterns for Samhain, wouldn't that be fun! It depends on how fancy you want to be or how close to natural elements. My personal choice are pebbles. I love them. I collected them from a beach here in Ontario. Took my time to find stones I especially liked for their shape, colour or some markings on them.

The circle represents wholeness, the cycles of life and the seasons, the wheel of life to make it simple. In theory it is without beginning or ending and perfect in it's completeness.

To draw the circle is to make a place set apart and sacred. Where ever you are- living room, backyard, beach, clearing in the woods - the circle becomes a place where we focus on magick in ourselves and the Earth around us. The circle is a pure place where we can think, make notes in our Book of Shadows, create and practice rituals, anything. It doesn't have to be dramatic and you don't have to feel you must do something special. It's your circle, your dime.

This summer when I have a road trip out to the beach I want to cast a circle on the beach. Using a piece of driftwood to draw my circle and some stones to point to the directions. I don't even know what ritual I might do. I just want to sit in a circle of my own creation and enjoy the world, life and being alive.

In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. - Charles Lindbergh

I take thee, herb, to cure my ills or perhaps while dancing pon the hill. I'll dip you in the cauldron fine Then asperge a circle in the pines. I'll make you into teas and brews when picked from 'neath the morning dews, or hide you in a pillow seam to guard me close, come night and dreams.

• Marian Loresinger

The original link is 404 now, as are all sites from Geocities.

The Hearth

Folklore

For ancient cultures, the hearth was the center of the home.
It was the provider of warmth through the harsh winter months,
and also provided heat for cooking all meals. It was the
gathering place of the household.
Fire has a special attraction for all of us. Within its
smoke and flame lie the origin of many religions.
Fire, the element of transformation, causes change to occur. It can be
destructive, but through destruction comes creation.
The fire in the house was never allowed to die. It was considered
unfortunate if the household fire went out during the night.
If this occurred, hot coals would need to be borrowed from neighbors.
If the coals died while being transported home, it was an omen
that the family would have an unlucky future.

…more

I'm not a Buffy or Angel fanatic but I do follow the series, more or less. I like Faith, that character. I've thought about her even after the credits are rolling and the next show is starting. Of all the characters Faith has the least faith. She is distrustful and destructive. At least for awhile.

I've been thinking about faith, what that is and where it comes from and where it goes to. Kind of interesting. Having faith basically means believing in something without real proof that your belief is justified.

I once read about a woman who was charged with murder. She went through the trial and in the end the verdict was handed out as 'Not proven'. That was something they used to do, ages ago. Not any more. But, it was interesting. For her and her life she always had that black cloud of suspicion hanging over her, not proven. Neither guilty or innocent, just some limbo.

Faith is like that too. If you take an idea to heart it's hanging in limbo but if you have full faith in it it's proven. If you are in doubt it's not proven and you don't have real faith, not blind, trusting faith anyway. There are levels of faith. I think that's good. You shouldn't close your mind to new theories, options and chances. Keep looking for more questions and their answers. Faith isn't a permanent thing, written in blood or chiseled in stone. It's subject to change.

The woman in the book had to live with people who were suspicious of her. She had trouble getting a job being allowed to go to church and being accepted by the community at all. It wasn't fair, she wasn't guilty after all. But, they didn't have faith in her. They needed that final solid verdict to put her on one side or the other. you don't get that with things you have faith in though. Pagans and Christians and all the other Faiths don't get to see their gods or the heaven or hell they put faith in. We don't get a preview or screenshot. It's taken on faith.

But, it comes from within you more than something you read or are told. It has to seem realistic and practical, possible. We don't put faith in something completely out there. Faith is too precious to just give away so easily.

Now that I've rambled on and on... the woman in the book did finally get her verdict of innocent. But, it came late in her life. Someone else confessed when they were dying and wanted to get all the skeletons out of their closet.

I have mixed feelings about healing. It seems to me that people take it too lightly. As if you can heal anything with the right words, the right herb the right touch, etc. I don't believe that's true.

Healing has to come from within. You can add things and hear things and understand things but that alone won't heal you. There aren't instant cures for healing the mind or the body. At least that's how it seems to me.

When people are in pain they want it to stop. That's why any kind of instant cure is hoped for and paid for. But, that doesn't mean it will work or that the same problem isn't still there, just buried or masked.

Yes, you can take Tylenol to get rid of a headache. But the headache goes away when your blood thins due to the Tylenol, but not only that. The body is a mystery, still. We know what's connected to what and how things work in a basic way. There is so much we don't know. So much to do with the power of our own minds and thoughts. Positive thinking.

I hear people talking negatively and I cringe on the inside. It's a mistake to be negative and then to express that is adding to the problem. Expressing it gives it a chance to exist, to have it's own energy. To become part of the world in a more physical form.

Not that I haven't expressed my share of negativity. Sometimes I express it to purge it from me. I get rid of it by giving it a name. When I name it I then know where to find it inside of myself and that's a start to ridding myself of it or the original problem.

Healing is complicated. Just as people and life are complicated. But, people make life more complicated sometimes more complicated than it would ever be on it's own. Too many rules that must be obeyed. Rules are too unbending. In order to heal you have to bend and be free to let go of some things and accept others.

Sometimes I get writing here and I think I'm making no sense at all and contradicting everything I write as I go. But, it's all theory, opinion and ideas. Take them as they are and make what you will of them.