It has been a long time since we’ve been on here, and that’s been due to several factors.  The last couple weeks of 2011 we got the Internet working. We hooked up a new router  and we were in business.

We have passed Imbolc or Brigit, the day sacred to my patroness Brigit. She is the Goddess of the forge; of healing and midwifery, and of poetry.  Brigit/Imbolc, which means “in the belly,” the time of sheep and goats giving birth and lactating. Every year her priestesses of Kildare light the Brigit flame. She was so sacred, powerful, and close to the hearts of the people that the Christian church could not eradicate Her, or demonize Her as they did with our other deities, but had to co-opt her as a saint. A story was told that St. Brigit was the midwife who delivered the Blessed Virgin Mary of St. Anne.

Next up is Lupercalia. We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day because Valentine was a persecutor of Pagans and Witches. If he died a martyr’s death, he deserved to die. Instead we celebrate Lupercalia because wolves mate for life. Luperca was the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus. The Luperci used to run through the streets on that day clad only in wolf pelts, and hit with birch twigs all the women who wanted babies.

Now look forward to the spring equinox or Ostara. The Christian holiday of Easter gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre. Apparently she saw a bird suffering from the cold and attempted to warm it. The bird still dies, but from its corpse arose a rabbit that laid eggs. Then there is the March hare that goes nuts in the early spring because it is during its rutting or breeding season. While we’re on the subject of Alice in Wonderland, the Hatter was mad or crazy because the glue they used to fasten the hats together was toxic and caused brain damage.
Lyraluna would each spend a certain amount of money on her favorite springtime candies, and put the baskets together. It was a bonding experience for the women, and everyone profited from the experience the next morning when the baskets were distributed. Everyone got one, adults and children because we indulged the child inside everyone.

I’ve said of Ostara, “It’s a very popular Sabbat in faery circles (cf the Fairy [sic] Ring Oracle by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason).

Hedgecraft is as old as the proverbial hills. I call it the “magickal power of the woods.” Both Europe (including the British Isles) and North America used to be covered by thousands of square miles of forests. Having woodcraft could make the difference between life and death. Which plants were good eating? Which plants were medicinal, and at which dosages, depending on the mass of the patient? Which plants were toxic? Which mushrooms were edible? Which mushrooms would send you on a trip from which you would never return? Dosage was all important. Hedge Witches per force were generalists and polymaths. They had to know a lot about everything.

The hedges also symbolized the boundaries between the worlds. The hedge Witch learned to ride the hedges to travel between the worlds in order to gain healing for her people. This is where the shaman aspects of hedgecraft or hedge witchery come in.  One has already been mentioned; riding the hedges for the purposes of soul journeys. The other shamanic aspect is shapeshifting. The hedge Witch had to be conversant with the ways and habits of all of the creatures in her area, her neck of the woods, so to speak so that s/he could call on their aid when needed, and also to become one of them and see the world through their eyes. Certain of the medicinal plants could aid in this. But the hedge Witch had to really know her plants, and which dosage would do the job as opposed to which dosage was dangerously toxic. The hedge Witch was just as spiritual and religious as any other practitioner. Many of the .plants had magickal names attached to them, which led directly back to deities. S/he would call on these deities when dealing with the plants. Then there was the cottage aspect of hedgecraft. Making magickal objects, potions, brews, oils, and incenses from found objects is a big part of hedgecraft, as is kitchen witchery.

Who shall you read about hedgecraft? Besides Hedgewitch, by Silver RavenWolf, there are several books in the general area of hedgecraft by such authors as Scott Cunningham and Ellen Dugan.

Have a good Ostara.