As we come to day 9 of our Imbolc countdown we are making one of our favorite crafts, earth candles. This is a simple craft that really embodies the ancient Pagan ways of how the they would prepare the land for gardening. During Imbolc, February 2 the ground is frozen the land surrounded feels dead. The Ancestors needed to start their gardens but could not work with the land since it was frozen. So the would burn a fallen tree over where they wanted their garden to go. If there was snow on the ground the fire would melt the snow and heat enough so that the ancestors would be able to work in plant their seeds for them to later harvest. All you need is a small pot you can melt your wax in. Beware you want me using it again except to make candles. Wax I use left over candle wax from candles I have. Wicks you can get them in Michael's And of course dirt! Heat your pot with the wax in it on low till it is fully melted. You can add essential oils if you like to make it scented. While it is melted create an indentation into the dirt the size you would like your then you set you wick in the center and slowly pour your melted wax into it. As you are pouring you are focus your desired magickal intent.
It takes about an hour to be solid just lift it up out of the dirt and you have your magickal earth candle.
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Today for Imbolc we made an Brighid cross. You may have two questions; who is Brighid and what is a Brighids cross. Brighid is a Celtic Goddess who watches over the hearth and home. A Brighid's cross is a woven from reeds or wheat. It has four arms tied at the ends and a woven square in the middle. A Brighid's Cross hung over a their hearth traditionally protected the home from natural disasters. It also keeps all who live thier healthy and safe. A Brighid's Cross was hung over the hearth (modern day kitchen) as a way of honoring Brighid. We gathered our straw reeds and let them soak in water for 30 minutes to make it more pliable. After it is somewhat dry we start making the cross. Folding one over the other. This can be a very frustrating craft so please try to not get frustrated if it doesn't work at first, keep going and it does get tighter. I like to watch an instructional youtube video it is shows you step by step. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq0ci42PnLc We had to delay our tree burning till today, because the weather was not agreeing us. So today we burn our Yule tree to officially really start the our journey to Imbolc. This is the time we burn our Yule tree that we saved from the Winter Solstice on the spot where our garden is going to go. Burning the tree is actually a very "green" way to get rid of your tree, because in a landfill when it decomposes it produces methane gas which is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Instead burning the tree just releases the carbon dioxide it stored when it was growing.
As the tree is burning we say a blessing: We honor your spirit and sacrifice and thank you for blessing our homes. From your ash new life will be born. As we watch it burn we drink our masala paal and eat our cinnamon sugar cookies. Both recipes can be found in the recipe section. As we prepare for another trip to Manatee Springs I decided to do a lesson on the Florida Manatee. The Florida manatee is a beautiful gentle giant that is very large and resides in the water. These mammals live in the warm waters surrounding Florida, they migrate inland towards the rivers in the winter months. The amazing creatures are essential for the environment they help to clean the plant growth that creates blocks in the water ways. Manatees are herbivores, which means they only eat plants just like their distant relative the elephant. Since 1967 they have been on the endangered species list. Like many animals humans are to blame, because of fishing net and most importantly fishing boats. They are very large, slow moving mammals so collisions with them are way to common. There are many things that we can do to help to save the manatees.
For this lesson plan the kids vocabulary words are:
I remember when I was in school we read the most amazingly inspiring book called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes By Eleanor Coerr. This story has always stayed with me. It is a true story based on a two-year-old girl named, Sadako Sasaki who was living in Hiroshima when the atom bomb was dropped. Ten years after that she was diagnosed with leukemia, thanks to the atom bomb. The Japanese culture has a legend that if a sick person creates 1,000 paper cranes, the Gods will make them well again. Sadako believed this and spent hours in bed, folding paper cranes, and never giving up that hope. She folded 644 before she died, her classmates finished the rest for her. In Japan there is a statue of Sadako holding a crane in Hiroshima Peace Park, and every year on Obon Day, people leave cranes at the statue in memory of their ancestors. The reason this story stayed with me is because it is a story of hope and faith. So I wanted my children to read this book and learn how make oragami. Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding, to create beautiful. Origami has many benefits:
Each kid has a box then pops it open and starts folding. |
As a mom of three boys who go to public school I started to notice that some things were not being taught in detail so I decided to create lessons for them. Many of these lessons cover science, history and of information about Paganism. I share crafts for the all different holidays and cultures as ways that they can learn and have fun at the same time.
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