Christmas Eve 2025 - When the Uno game battled on for two hours and Mistress Ventress decided that we were done! One of my favorite New Year traditions...or perhaps chores...is filling out the new calendar.  2023 was foxes.  2024's calendar theme was deer.  2025 was baby goats.  This year, I was able to get a Witches Calendar--a favorite of mine that I usually go for. This year's chore had me re-evaluating my Sacred Year--my holy days.   Paganism is a very DIY path, and being eclectic, very  DIY.  Lots of trials, errors, adopting, tossing, tweaking, and self evolution.  My spiritual path is very different than it was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and even a year ago.  Which is good.  We're supposed to heal, question, and change.  We're supposed to evolve.  My Sacred Year has gone through many changes since I was a witchling. Wiccan to eclectic to spirit work to moon heavy to hearth focused to Hellenic to Norse to a mixture of...

Dec 1 : Today we’re having our feast. It’s just me and a heavy bird. Second time cooking turkey. It’s also a energy-sapping heavy ass moontime. Also also my sadist cat is clumsy af and cut up both of my legs shortly before dealing with this bird. Before I began, I put on some Pagan/holiday music and thanked the turkey, herbs, and veggies for their sacrifice, hoping that I honor them with good cooking. Then I asked for my Ancestors guidance and strength. And when I did start to get overwhelmed, They whispered, “Butter”, so I started on that step. As usual, They whispered to keep me on track and not forget anything as I went. No overwhelm. No freakouts. Pretty smooth. Then came time to put the turkey in the bag (also Peter Gundry’s ‘Lady of the Dawn (Nordic)’ just cut Lindsey Stirling off…I guess it really wanted to play). I was alone with a heavy, buttery, stuffed bird and a bag of veggies…and that I should’ve put the bird in the bag first. I asked the Ancestors for strength. …Then Loki...

 May 30, 2025: June 20, 2024 - Summer Solstice I know I attended Three Cranes Grove and a Virtual Fire Proto-Grove's Summer Solstice rituals, but I can't find my notes or photos! However, I also celebrated the First Day of Summer with my family, in ADF-style. For this ritual I honored the Norse Sun Goddess Sunna and the First Day of Summer. There was drumming, dancing, ribbon rings, and fun. We asked for blessings of joy and healing. I dedicated a small throw that I had crocheted to Sunna and in return she blessed it. This blanket was inspired by a quilt that Three Cranes Grove made that's blessed by Brigando every Imbolc. Inspired by them, I crochet myself a queen size blanket to be blessed by my Healers for the Fall and Winter months. Being too big and heavy for spring and summer, I put that one away and now pull out this throw that's blessed with joy and healing energies, too. Sunna was very present and gave us a joy boost, after months of mour...

 Last night, I performed my first ritual with Virtual Fire Proto-Grove, ADF: Honeysweet, a ritual that honors Bee and Agricultural entities, as well as the sweetness in our lives.  What a perfect ritual to be my first, since it was my first personal ADF-style ritual that I performed when I joined ADF in July of 2023. For this ritual, a new-to-me Deity named Austeja--a Baltic Bee Goddess--offered to come through to give the omen.  "Coming through" meaning consensual possession.  To what level of that possession I didn't know, but I gave attendees a heads up.  Sometimes it's light, like a channeling, and other times it's full on heavy, like a complete take over. My rituals are unpredictable.  Sometimes the Gods come through and change the entire thing, because Their messages are more important than my plans.  And my rituals are fair game--I am Their Servant, Their Priestess, Their Conduit.  For the rite, instead of doing the Omen before the The Work...

 

On August 1st, I celebrate Midsummer and Honeysweet. For me, the First Day of Summer is on the Summer Solstice, so it only makes sense that August 1st would be Midsummer, just as Nov 1st is Midfall, Feb 1st is Midwinter, and May 1st is Midspring. From My Personal Blog Book of Mirrors:  https://witchfire02.blogspot.com/p/sacred-days-2018.html Just by this screenshot from my Sacred Year, you can tell I'm eclectic af! My holy day rituals are a mixture of entities, because humans like boxes, entities do not give a shit about your limitations, and neither do I. Sometimes a ritual may focus on a specific hearth culture, but often there's a mixture. I've been practicing for 30 years, I've never heard a complaint from my deities--I'm a "godphone", I'd be hearing from Them! I've been editing my Sacred Year for a long time. Gotta find what works for you--otherwise what's the point? I don't care if my Holy Days are ancient or new, or if I'm alone ...

 (Copy/paste from my Druidry Blog ) The Summer Solstice is in a couple of days and I'm excited. I've been feeling the Norse Solar Goddess Sunna poking at me over the last few months. I'm working on a kid-friendly ritual to honor Her with my family, without the wasps and sudden possession this time! Yes, last year, I hosted a Summer Solstice ritual with a local group (before I joined ADF).  We had the ritual in a shelter at Delaware State Park (Ohio) and I was unknowingly standing under a wasp nest that was beneath a sign.  I was stung 5 times--once on my thumb and 4 on my thigh.  Some of the attendees were surprised by how I handled it.  I wasn't crying, cursing, or hating the wasps or myself.  After some ice and a few minutes to sit, I just moved the altar and continued.  Don't get me wrong, it hurt!  But whether I was sitting or performing the rite, it'd still be hurting, so I decided to go on with ritual that I had worked so hard on planning....

  Happy Midwinter, yall! This evening, with my family, we'll be honoring our family's Hearth and Home Entities, as well as some Winter ones, too. Hestia - Greek Goddess of Hearth and Home. First and the Last. Fire Keeper. Key Bearer. I have been a Daughter since I was at least 8-years-old, and a Hearth Keeper since 2015. Vesta - Roman Goddess of Hearth, Home, and City. The Living Flame. She's been in my life since I was a child, too. Sometimes you may see me hyphenate Their names, because sometimes They appear as one Goddess and sometimes two. I am one of Her Daughters and a Vestal. Hekate - Titaness, Goddess, Key Bearer, Torch Bearer of Land, Sea, and Sky; of Witchcraft and Spirits; and yes, even a Hearth Deity. Kind of like the Celtic Brigid, Hekate governs over many areas. I am one Her Children, as well as a Torch Bearer and Priestess. Frigg - Norse Goddess. Key Bearer. Wife of Odin, mother of Baldur. Practitioner of magik and prophecy; sees much, shares none. Loki - Nor...

The Vestalia is a Roman festival honoring the Hearth and Home Goddess and the Living Flame Vesta; I also honor the Greek Hearth and Home Goddess Hestia and the spirits of the Vestals.  I've been celebrating this holy time for a few years, since learning about it back in the early 2010's, when I was exploring Roman and Greek Paganism.  The festival is from June 7th or 9th to the 15th.  This is one of my most important holy times, especially now as a Priestess of Hestia-Vesta (a Hearth Keeper for Hestia and a Vestal for Vesta--Their words, not mine).  You may notice that I often hyphenate Their names, because sometimes They appear as one goddess and other times as two, purely a personal choice, not a historical one. My Vestalia Shrine. June 9, 2023 Starting in the back, left to right: a statue inherited from my grandmother representing family love, a satchel of my kids' altar stuff, a red protection satchel sitting in a bowl one of my kids' made, a Vestal, Vesta (at He...

" Vesta, Bless this hearth and home. Bring health to our bellies and strength to our bones. Bless those whose arms are empty and long for a babe to nourish and bring up to love and honor the Goddess in her many faces. Bless those that hunger, and guide our hands to serve them. Bless us all with love and peace, and help us to remember you in all fires and flame ." - By Jade, Order of the White Moon Every March 1st, I honor the Roman Lady of the Living Flame and Her Priestesses, the Vestals.  Today is a day of renewal. In this post, I'll be explaining a bit about what the Flamma Vesta is and do a reading from the Goddess and the Priestesses to see what messages They may have for those who feel a connection. Also as I typed this, Alicia Keys' Girl On Fire came on my phone.  Good ole shufflemancy! What is the Flamma Vesta?  It's a day that's half inspired by the Roman New Year and half inspired by Debra Macleod's New Vesta Tradition .  For the ancients and ma...

  Blessed Full Moon Yall!  Tonight is a full moon, also known as an esbat in some spiritual/practitioner circles. This day is also a holy day for some people who work with the Greek Goddess Persephone. Some folks believe that on September’s full moon, Persephone returns to the Underworld for Her winter stay with Hades, returning to the surface in March. Others may see Her Descent occurring on the Fall Equinox (September 20-22) or on the Dark Moon (September 25). I invite you to also look into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which was/is a week long festival honoring Demeter and Persephone. I believe there are other festivals honoring Demeter and Persephone around this time, but all of my Hellenic Polytheistic binders are packed away.   Persephone's Descent, September 2021 Most people are familiar with the story of Persephone and Hades—the Flower Maiden named Kore (“maiden”) who was viciously kidnapped by the evil Death God, and tricked with 6 pomegranates to remain in Hades. A ...