Wicca & Witchcraft Quarterly: Spring 2022

Wicca & Witchcraft Quarterly SPRING 2022

ISSUE NO. 1

OF BONFIRES AND MAYPOLES PAGE 4

THE GREEN MAN PAGE 10

BELTANE RECIPES PAGE 12

W & W QUARTERLY Spring 2022 Publication

PUBLISHER JD Hossman

CONTACT wwquarterly.weebly.com wwquarterly@gmail.com

Contents Quarterly Calendar

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Sabbat Spotlight

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Of Bonfires and Maypoles

Photography

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Flowers of Spring

Nature

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Grounding Using the Elements

Deities

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The Green Man

Esbats

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Super Flower Blood Moon

Recipes

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Honey Mead Beltane Bread

Arts & Crafts

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Mini Maypole

Enchanted Emporium

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QUARTERLY CALENDAR Spring 2022

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May

June

July

May 1: Beltane – Celebration of fire and fertility (Southern Hemisphere: Samhain – the Witches’ New Year) May 13: Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn begins May 16: Full Moon in Sagittarius – Flower Moon Lunar Eclipse.

May 30: New Moon in Gemini

Jun. 10: Celtic Tree Month of Oak begins Jun. 14: Full Moon in Sagittarius – Strawberry Moon Jun. 21: Litha – The Summer Solstice (Southern Hemisphere: Yule – The Winter Solstice) Jun. 29: New Moon in Cancer

Jul. 8: Celtic Tree Month of Holly begins Jul. 13: Full Moon in Capricorn – Buck Moon.

Jul. 28: New Moon in Leo

WELCOME SPRING!

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OF BONFIRES AND MAYPOLES Herald the arrival of spring with friendly bonfires and time-honored Maypoles. - By JD Hossman

Beltane, which is celebrated on May 1st and also called Mayday, heralds the arrival of spring. So many things bloom in spring be it flowers, animal babies, or love. One way to celebrate spring is with a handfasting ritual. A handfasting ritual isn’t just for new love.

Even if you’ve been married for ten years, it can be a way to renew your spiritual connection with your partner. It can be as simple or as extravagant as you’d like, with no guests or a gathering of your closest friends. Some things to include in your handfasting ritual could be cakes and mead, a flower procession, and heartwarming words from or to friends and family.

Of course, if you don’t wish to plan or participate in a full-blown handfasting ceremony, you could always just “jump the broom”. In earlier times, if a couple couldn’t afford a church wedding they would jump the broom together as a symbol of the threshold of their new life together. Honey mead and cakes would follow with friends and family to honor the couple’s journey.

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Beltane is synonymous with bonfires. Fire is generally used in rituals for cleansing. In the past, druids would make two large bonfires and drive their cattle between them to protect the animals from disease. Today, bonfires are a symbol of friendly gatherings and laid-back celebrations. A bonfire can be the center of a simple get-together or the focal point of a celebration for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Fond memories bubble forth of a large bonfire as a gathering point for festival participants to meet and socialize after a long day of instruction and shopping, not to mention the samplings from the mead vendor.

The old tradition of going “A-Maying” involved couples wandering off into the woods to participate in ‘merry making’ and returning with the season’s first blooms of hawthorn blossoms to decorate home and hearth. Now that’s a tradition I think needs reviving!

The Maypole was traditionally made from birch and represented the potency of the God. A ring of flowers placed at the top of the pole represented the fertile Goddess. I’m sure at this point you can see the symbolism for yourself. Bright and colorful ribbons were hung from the ring of flowers and young maidens, with ribbon in hand, would dance around the pole both deosil (clockwise) and widdershins (counterclockwise) weaving the ribbons by ducking around their oncoming counterparts. What a sight to see!

Some ways you may honor Beltane on your altar would be to include; hawthorn blossoms, ribbons or candles of red, green, white, and silver, spring flowers such as daisies, dandelions, tulips, oak leaves, birch bark with a spell written on it, items related to fertility such as decorated eggs, and even your favorite goddess statue. Don’t forget the mead and cakes! You can add honey to tea if you don’t partake of any of the mead varieties.

There are many ways to celebrate Beltane. You can customize your ritual festivities in any way that fits into your life and beliefs. Use our free spell/ritual grimoire page template to create your own. Any way you make it, spring is a commemoration of new life blossoming all around us in an explosion of color and activity. Go outside and breathe in the air of creation.

What a great time to be alive!

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FLOWERS OF SPRING

by Lisaann VanBlarcom Permunian

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THE GREEN MAN

The God most associated with Beltane is The Green Man. He is a symbol of rebirth, representing spring growth. He has been depicted in folklore, carvings and pictures as far back as the 11th century. He is drawn as being covered in the greenery of dense foliage. His image is thought to associate with the deities of the Horned God, the Celtic Cernunnos and the Greek Pan. Make the Green Man part of your spring ritual by creating a mask of leaves. Wear it as you walk through a forest while honoring the rebirth and awakening of the earth.

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May's full moon is traditionally called the Hare Moon, or Flower Moon. This year it falls on May 15th. In Wicca, the hare represents the fertility of the earth and all of the new life that bursts forth in the spring. This is a time to use magick for health, love life, and wisdom.

SUPER FLOWER BLOOD MOON The embodiment of all moon phases at once. By JD Hossman

It's also a great time to learn a new divination practice or to enhance the one you already know.

This year's Hare Moon will be particularly powerful because we will have a total moon eclipse, which is also called a 'Blood Moon' because of the color the moon turns while in eclipse and is at its closest position to earth.

The eclipse will peak at May 16 at 04:11:28, which will be just after midnight if you're in the EST time zone.

In Wicca, a full lunar eclipse is believed to embody all of the moon's phases at once, so it is effective in your magickal workings for removing something negative while growing something positive in its place at the same time. Since this full moon eclipse falls in May, it's also called the Super Flower Blood Moon.

There are conflicting reports about charging crystals and manifesting during a lunar eclipse.

The lunar eclipse energy is considered chaotic and will not go as expected if used to do these things. If you do decide to enact these practices just be aware that this type of energy may cause great changes and you have to ask yourself if you're ready for that much change. If you have charged a crystal with the lunar eclipse, be sure to cleanse and recharge it during the next full moon. However you participate, at least get a glimpse of it. Blood moons are a magickal sight to see!

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GROUNDING USING THE ELEMENTS

by Freya

Everyone has their own journey in the craft and how we ground ourselves. Some like to use candles, incense, music, singing bowls, and the outside elements to soothe the soul and mind. For me, nothing is more calming than walking barefoot with my feet in the grass, feeling the earth beneath me, hearing what it’s saying, and taking in the energy.

We have two older oak trees in our two-corner lot we own on the outskirt of a small town in Southeast Iowa. My spot used to be underneath them, sitting, breathing in and out, letting the earth speak to me, and listening to everything around me. I started to notice a shape or figure out of the corner of my eye when grounding, but if I turned in that direction, nothing was there.

It was the same when I was gardening in my Peonies. There was always a figure out of the corner of my eye and I could hear a voice, but never made contact.

As you ground yourself using the elements, listen to and learn what is being said to you. I learned that the falcons and the red-winged blackbirds are my friends and they are everywhere I go in and around our yard. If you’re being pulled in a direction to sit beneath a different tree, then do that because you never know what information mother nature has for you. If you’re being pulled to walk on a different path, there is a reason. Mother nature is speaking to you.

Open up to her and let her into your soul as you ground.

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I have learned while I am outside and communing with the plants, to listen and trust what I hear. The next time you want to ground, grab your favorite drink, head outside, and sit in your chair or on the ground, no need to be barefoot if you don’t like that sort of thing. Breathe in, then out. Now, relax and imagine your feet are roots reaching into the earth. Run your fingers through the grass if you're sitting on the ground. Listen and take it all in. Mother earth is right there waiting for all of us to trust her. Happy Grounding!

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RECIPE BOX Beltane Bread

This recipe for Beltane bread is thought to have originated in Scotland. It has also been adapted

by Native Americans for their fry bread. It contains no yeast, and eggs are optional.

There are many ways to make this recipe. You can use sugar or honey, or leave it out altogether. You can also add desired herbs or even fruit. You can use different flours such as oat flour as well. The basic recipe is as follows: Ingredients: 4 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 to 1 tablespoon sugar (optional) or honey 4 tablespoons oil or butter 1-1/2 to 2 cups water

Mix the dry ingredients together first.

Next, add the oil, then the water and mix until it has the consistency of bread dough.

Roll the dough on a floured surface and knead 10-20 times.

Heat enough oil in a skillet on medium to cover the pan. A cast iron skillet works well in this recipe.

DIvide and flatten the dough into palm sized pieces that are ¼ to ½” thick.

Fry the dough on both sides until it is slightly browned. If the inside is still doughy, fry it a little longer.

Drain the bread and as an option, you can toss it in sugar or a sugar and cinnamon combination.

This dough is also a popular campfire staple.

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RECIPE BOX Honey Mead

Nothing goes better with your Beltane ritual than honey mead! This is the easiest recipe I’ve ever found. *Note - You may substitute any frozen berries for the blueberries. Raspberries work well too.

Ingredients/Items needed: 1 gallon glass bottle 2 ½ pounds of honey 1 bag frozen blueberries 1 box raisins 1 package wine yeast Cork with rubber stopper with a hole in it Clean, new hose that fits into cork hose Water

Clean and rinse 1 gallon glass wine bottle.

Add honey into the bottle.

Fill with water to the bottle's half way point and shake.

Add blueberries, raisins, and wine yeast in that order.

Cork with rubber stopper.

Wash and clean the house.

Fill another bottle or jug with water.

Push one end of hose into the stopper, place the other end of hose into the jug with the water.

Ferment undisturbed 2 - 3 weeks or until bubbling stops.

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ARTS & CRAFTS CORNER Mini Maypole

Why not decorate the center of your altar, or any surface for that matter, with your very own mini maypole handmade craft? You can also use it as a handheld ribbon wand for your Beltane ritual or favors after your handfasting ritual.

Steps: Using the push pin, secure your ribbons at the center point into the top of your dowel rods or glue them atop your wooden chopsticks.

Using the hot glue gun, glue small flowers of your choice around the push pin. You might even use glue to secure your push pin in place.

You can leave the ribbons to hang loosely or even weave them part of the way down the rod/chopstick and secure the woven section with glue.

You can make this craft as small or as large as you’d like. They even look great in your garden!

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You will need: 12’ wooden dowel rods, or even wooden chopsticks Ribbons in red, green, white and silver, or any color of your choosing Push Pins Fake flowers Hot glue gun

ENCHANTED EMPORIUM Businesses of the Craft

We support small business. If you have a personal business and you create items related to the craft, we would like to promote your products. A small ad with your business photo, name and contact information or website is free. Please contact the publisher for more details.

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