Twilight Spiral Coven

This past Saturday, we gathered to celebrate Beltane with fun, food and circle dancing!

We began our social hour with a few appetizers, wine and pink lemonade, while we finished setting up our ritual space. We had brought our ribbon windsocks, made at the air workshop a few months ago, to hang on the tree. In the tree also were decorative flowers of tissue paper. The tree would end up much more festive at ritual’s end.

Lighting of the ritual fire was done while singing a magickal song.

We honored the Lord and Lady of the Greenwood during our ritual, and offerings of berries and flowers were made. Also honored were the fair folk. Poems and the lore of Beltane were read, as well as the story of the Lord and Lady of the Greenwood. We celebrated the day with a circle dance with ribbon wands, and festooned the apple tree with ribbons. A lovely meditation focusing on being one with nature was read, and divination was done  using the cards of the Robin Wood tarot.

After ritual, we feasted on delicious food! Our feast included a delicious pasta salad with tomatoes and olives, scalloped potatoes, a spring salad with homemade cheese, berries and nasturtiums, spanikopita, caprese sandwiches, maypole cupcakes and brownies. Chelsea set a lovely table and by the time we sat down to eat, it was lovely, breezy and cool in the shade.

It was a lovely day for a May celebration!

Last night, we gathered together under the full moon to honor the Goddess, and perform a working for fertility for one of our sisters. The moon was extraordinarily bright last night, and it was a cool, clear night.  Hayley led last night’s working, and it was creative and amazing.

During most of the circle, there was a spider hanging from the eaves, as if she was watching us Work. Spider represents female energy, ancestral matriarchs, cycles and creativity. She is a good omen of creation and manifestation. We were lucky to have her as a guest. Even before circle, she made her presence known by spinning her web upon the rim of the large wooden bowl placed upon the altar.

Our ritual and working surely were blessed with the energy of Grandmother Spider.

Last Saturday night, we headed out to North Hollywood to visit our sister coven, Coven of Midnight’s Flame. Aislin led us in a craft where we created clay goddesses out of air-dry clay. Also hosted were visitors from a local university who were researching Wicca for a paper. It was a great time, and I feel that we all got to know eachother a little better in our discussions.

Last Wednesday night, we performed a dark moon esbat ritual. No details will be shared here, but for a photo of our altar.

This past Saturday morning, we held our Ostara ritual. This year, we’ve decided to time our rituals to align the energy of the earth with the energy of the turning of the wheel. This means morning ritual for Ostara and Beltane, noon ritual at Litha, and then afternoon ritual for Lughnsadh and Mabon.

We were able to host Coven of Midnight’s Flame at our Ostara ritual, brunch and egg hunt. We honored the sacred bees during our Ostara ceremony, and spoke about how we as a coven, form a sacred hive. Cakes and ale were homemade mead and honey cakes. After ritual, we brunched on a myriad of different food- vegan quiche, honey couscous, waffles, fruit, sangria and much more. Following brunch, we had an egg hunt- inside the eggs were crystals of varying sizes, herbs, and jewelry. We met new sisters, and connected with sisters we’ve missed- it was a lovely morning and afternoon.

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