The Earth Mother Gaia

The Greek Goddess Gaia is a Earth as well as a Mother Goddess, Gaia was the first Deity, and all other beings are from her, she is the creater of all life mortal and immortal, all of creation sprang from her union with the Sky. Gaia was born from Chaos, but not a birth in the normal sense, as Chaos receded, Gaia came to be.  She first emerged at the dawn of creation, along with Air, the Sea, and the Sky.  She is the Great Mother of all life on Earth, she is Mother Earth, she is the Earth. She is represented by Plants and Flowers, the Ocean and Rain are her tears, the soil is her skin, the rocks are her flesh, and all Plants and Animals live on her and in her, for she is the Mother of life in it's self.  Gaia is Mother of the Gods & Goddesses of different Pantheons as well as the Titans, Uranus was her first creation, who then became her consort, he was cruel to Gaia, so Gaia had her other children help her subdue him.  Cronus, her son, took a flint sickle and castrated his Father Uranus, and tossed his severed genatels into the great sea.  The Goddess Aphrodite was born from the combination of the sea foam and Uranus's blood.

 Gaia went on the have many more children with many other mates.  Gaia appears as a beautiful and voluptuous Woman, sometimes she appears half buried in the Earth.  She is also seen very pregnant with the Earth.  To honor Gaia requires no Religion, all you need to do is be aware of her presence around you, and be appreciative of all her wonderful and beautiful manifestation in everything we see, hear, smell, and feel in the beauty of Nature.  Although Gaia loves all her children on Earth, she grows very angry at what the Human children are doing to her and to each other..wars, hatred, Religious fantantics who hide behind their God to harm others and use this to justify their actions, the way she is being destroyed and her beloved wildlife is dieing as the result.

Her tears run hard as she looks on with growing sadness feeling helpless at the weakness of her Human children as they ruin her, our precious Earth, our Great Mother is crying out in pain she knows the clouds are gathering around her and all that live on and in her, she knows she must be strong inspite of her endless pain so she can protect the lives that can not protect themselves.  She hopes that one day her human children will rise above their weakness and anger and realize she is precious and needs to be protected and honored. Lets all hope one day Gaia will heal from her pain and will survive the Human destruction done to her.

Wheel Of The Year

Winter Solstice, Yule, December 20-23, varies on the standard calendar according to when the Solstice will occur astronomically) The name "Yule" derives from the Norse word for "wheel". This is the longest night of the year and the turning point when the days shall afterwards grow longer as winter begins its passage into the coming spring. It is the time when the Goddess (in her Divine Mother form) gives birth to the Sun God Child who shall eventually become her lover and father of the next child in the coming solar cycle. The Goddess, after giving birth, once more assumes her Virgin/Maiden form. Others celebrate the victory of the Lord of Light (or the Oak King) over the Lord of Darkness (or the Holly King) as the turning point from which the days will lengthen. Winter Solstice is a time for feasting and exchanging gifts. Traditional adornments are a Yule Log (usually of oak) and a combination of mistletoe and holly.

Imbolc, February 1 or 2, Many American Wiccans celebrate on the 2nd probably because of a confusion with Groundhog's Day) Originally celebrated on February 1st, this ancient Irish holiday was called Imbolc which means "in the belly". This festival is often called Brigid after the Celtic Fire Goddess Brigid, to whom this day is sacred. Her threefold nature rules smith craft, poetry/inspiration, and healing. Brigid's fire is a symbolic transformation offering healing, visions, and tempering. This is the time of Waxing Light. The infant Sun God born at Yule begins to grow and manifest His light as our days grow longer. It is a time of individuality, new beginnings, inspiration, returning light, purification, and chastity. Some traditions hold this to be the time of initiations. 

Spring Equinox, Ostara, March 20-23, varies on the standard calendar according to when the Equinox will occur astronomically) The Germanic Goddess Ostara or Eostre (Goddess of the Dawn), after whom Easter is named, is the main deity of this holiday. The Spring Equinox defines the season where Spring reaches it's apex, halfway through its journey from Candlemas to Beltane. Night and day are in perfect balance, with the powers of light on the ascendancy.  The God of light now wins a victory over his twin, the God of darkness.  In the Welsh Mabinogion, this is the day on which the restored Llew takes his vengeance on Goronwy by piercing him with the sunlight spear. For Llew was restored/reborn at the Winter Solstice and is now well/old enough to vanquish his rival/twin and mate with his lover/mother. The coloring and giving of eggs at this time is a common pagan tradition. Eggs are clearly one of the most potent symbols of fertility, and spring is the season when animals begin to mate and flowers and trees pollinate and reproduce. In England and Northern Europe, eggs were often employed in folk magic when women wanted to be blessed with children. The great Mother Goddess, who returned to her Virgin/Maiden aspect at Imbolc, welcomes the young sun God's embraces and many wiccans believe that she conceives the new Sun Child now. (to be born 9 months later at the Winter Solstice).

Beltane April 31 or May 1) This is the last of the three spring fertility festivals, the other two being Imbolc and Ostara. This festival and it's counterpart, Samhain, divide the year into it's two primary seasons - Winter and Summer. Whereas Samhain is about honoring death, Beltane is about honoring life. This festival heralds the beginning of summer and honors the joining of the God and the Goddess. Those wiccans who don't place the conception of the new Sun Child at Ostara place his conception here at Beltane. As such it is a common time for wiccan engagements and trial handfastings (a year and a day). Beltane translated means "fire of Bel" or "bright fire". Bel is known as the bright and shinning one, a Celtic Sun God. Beli is the father, protector, and the husband of the Mother Goddess. On Beltane eve the Celts would build two large Bel fires lit from the nine sacred woods. This is an invocation to the Sun God Bel to bring His blessings and protection to the tribe. The Bel fire is a sacred fire with healing and purifying powers. The fires further celebrate the return of life, fruitfulness to the earth and the burning away of winter. The ashes of the Beltane fires were smudged on faces and scattered in the fields. Household fires would be extinguished and re-lit with fresh fire from the Bel Fires. Another prominent part of Beltane is dancing around the Maypole. The Maypole is a tall phallic pole decorated with long brightly colored ribbons, leaves, flowers and wreaths. Dancing the Maypole during Beltane is magical experience as it is a conduit of energy, connecting all three worlds at a time when these gateways are more easily penetrable. As people gaily dance around and around the pole holding the brightly colored ribbons, the energy it raises is sent down into the earth's womb, bringing about Her full awakening and fruitfulness.

Summer Solstice (Litha, June 21st or 24th) Directly opposite Yule on the Wheel of the Year, this is the Longest Day of the year and the time when we honor the Sun God as He ascends to His height of power before beginning His descent towards death and rebirth. The Mother Goddess is now heavily pregnant with the divine Sun Child representing the growing bounty on Earth. Couples in the Old Ways often didn’t get married until after they had a baby on the way, incidentally; it was necessary for farming couples to have children to help work the farm, and if a woman and man couldn’t prove themselves fertile before making a promise to stay together, it would not be a blessed marriage. That is why the Goddess is impregnated at Beltane but not actually married until Litha. In some Wiccan traditions, this is also the time that the Oak King (Lord of the summer) will be killed by the Holly King (Lord of the winter) turning the Wheel from the summer half to the winter half of the year. Midsummer Eve is the evening for harvesting your herbs for the coming year. It's also the best time to gather branches and make new wands and staffs. The herbs and flowers gathered this night are considered exceptionally potent. St John's wort, burdock, thorn, and nettle, harvested on Midsummer Eve are hung on doors and windows and placed around the home for protection. Couples who handfasted the year before at Beltane, tend to marry in a more formal handfasting at Midsummer or Lughnasadh. Divination on matters of love are especially powerful Midsummer's eve. 

Lammas (Lughnassadh, August 1-2) Lughnasadh, which means "Lugh's assembly", is named for the Celtic deity Lugh who presides over the arts and sciences. Lughnasadh, in fact, has an even older name, 
Brón Trogain, which refers to the painful labor of childbirth. For at this time of year, the earth gives birth to her first fruits so that her children might live. Thus this is one of the four great celtic fire festivals, this particular one having it's emphasis on the first harvest. Now is the time when the powerful gods of the grain harvests are honored. One traditional Lammas custom was the construction of the kern-baby, corn dolly, or corn maiden. This figure, braided into a woman's form from the last harvested sheaf of grain, represented the Harvest Spirit. (In America, the tradition is continued in the making of corn husk dolls.) The doll would be saved until Spring, when it was ploughed into the field to consecrate the new planting and insure a good harvest. This is just the first of the Three Harvest Festivals (the second and third being Mabon and Samhain). This is a time of waiting, the Goddess now waits for the new Sun Child to be born and changes aspects from Mother to Crone as She oversees the harvest of the Earth.

Fall Equinox (Mabon, September 21) The autumnal equinox is commonly called "Mabon" after the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron, which means literally "son of mothers." Another name for this festival is from the Gaelic, Alban Elfed, or "Light of the Water." Now, as at Ostara, the days and nights are equal once again. This is the second of the three fall harvest festivals. Mabon marks the completion of the grain harvest begun during Lughnasadh. Celebrations revolve around the gathering of crops and thanksgiving for the abundances of the harvest, and rituals to insure the success of next year's harvest are characteristic during this harvest time. This is a time for reflection on the past year, a time to slow down a bit and ponder on the meaning of life and death. I suppose you could call this the Wiccan Thanksgiving. 

Halloween (Samhain, October 31) From the old Gaelic meaning "summer's end", this is third and last of the harvest festivals. Lying directly opposite of Beltain, this is one of the two great Celtic holidays which separates Summer from Winter. Many traditions consider this the eve of the New Year (as day begins with sundown, so the year begins with the first day of Winter). This is the best night for all forms of divination because the veil between the world of the seen and unseen is at it's thinnest allowing us to better see the unknown. This is the time to revere our ancestors and to say farewell to those that have passed this last year. The Crone Goddess, the ruler of the Otherworld,  bids farewell to the Sun God as He passes over into death to face His rebirth at the upcoming Yule. As the Sun God journeys to the Underworld, He gathers unto Himself all those who have passed over to death since the previous Samhain to guide them on their way to the afterlife. 

Yule Snow Queen

"Before going to bed 

After a fall of snow

I look out on the field

Shining there in the moonlight

So calm, untouched and white

Snow silence fills my head

After I leave the window. 

Hours later near dawn

When I look down again

The whole landscape has changed

The perfect surface gone

Criss-crossed and written on

Where the wild creatures ranged

While the moon rose and shone. 

Why did my dog not bark?

Why did I hear no sound

There on the snow-locked ground

In the tumultuous dark? 

How much can come, how much can go

When the December moon is bright,

What worlds of play we'll never know

Sleeping away the cold white night

After a fall of snow.

Twas the night before Yuletide

Twas the night before Yuletide and all through the glen
Not a creature was stirring, not a fox, not a hen.
A mantle of snow shone brightly that night
As it lay on the ground, reflecting moonlight.

The faeries were nestled all snug in their trees,
Unmindful of flurries and a chilly north breeze.
The elves and the gnomes were down in their burrows,
Sleeping like babes in their soft earthen furrows.

When low! the earth moved with a thunderous quake,
Causing chairs to fall over and dishes to break.
The Little Folk scrambled to get on their feet
Then raced to the river where they usually meet.

“What happened?” they wondered, they questioned, they probed,
As they shivered in night clothes, some bare-armed, some robed.
“What caused the earth's shudder? What caused her to shiver?”
They all spoke at once as they stood by the river.

Then what to their wondering eyes should appear
But a shining gold light in the shape of a sphere.
It blinked and it twinkled, it winked like an eye,
Then it flew straight up and was lost in the sky.

Before they could murmur, before they could bustle,
There emerged from the crowd, with a swish and a rustle,
A stately old crone with her hand on a cane,
Resplendent in green with a flowing white mane.

As she passed by them the old crone's perfume,
Smelling of meadows and flowers abloom,
Made each of the fey folk think of the spring
When the earth wakes from slumber and the birds start to sing.

“My name is Gaia,” the old crone proclaimed
in a voice that at once was both wild and tamed,
“I've come to remind you, for you seem to forget,
that Yule is the time of re-birth, and yet…”
“I see no hearth fires, hear no music, no bells,
The air isn't filled with fragrant smells
Of baking and roasting, and simmering stews,
Of cider that's mulled or other hot brews.”

“There aren't any children at play in the snow,
Or houses lit up by candles’ glow.
Have you forgotten, my children, the fun
Of celebrating the rebirth of the sun?”

She looked at the fey folk, her eyes going round,
As they shuffled their feet and stared at the ground.
Then she smiled the smile that brings light to the day,
“Come, my children,” she said, “Let's play.”

They gathered the mistletoe, gathered the holly,
Threw off the drab and drew on the jolly.
They lit a big bonfire, and they danced and they sang.
They brought out the bells and clapped when they rang.

They strung lights on the trees, and bows, oh so merry,
In colors of cranberry, bayberry, cherry.
They built giant snowmen and adorned them with hats,
Then surrounded them with snow birds, and snow cats and bats.

Then just before dawn, at the end of their fest,
Before they went homeward to seek out their rest,
The fey folk they gathered ‘round their favorite oak tree
And welcomed the sun ‘neath the tree's finery.

They were just reaching home when suddenly it came,
The gold light returned like an arrow-shot flame.
It lit on the tree top where they could see from afar
The golden-like sphere turned into a star.

The old crone just smiled at the beautiful sight,
"Happy Yuletide, my children," she whispered. "Good night."