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The Pendle Craft TPC is an ezine bringing informative topics, news, and events from the secular and Pagan communities.

The Pendle Craft Magazine, is happy to provide a forum and an event planner to those wishing to get their events and businesses out into the public eye. We long for people to share their everyday stories, recipes and other eclectic interests. However, should you wish to add to the magazine, please could you PM either myself, Aaron, or my partner, Tasha, in the members section under admin, leaving your name, age and email address.

Southern Hemisphere - 31st OctBeltaneBeltane, also known as Cétamain, is a festival to celebrate the beginning of summer...
25/10/2020

Southern Hemisphere - 31st Oct

Beltane

Beltane, also known as Cétamain, is a festival to celebrate the beginning of summer in Ireland and Scotland.

This fire festival is observed the first day in May with bonfires, Maypoles, parade, dancing, and feasting.

ETYMOLOGY AND ORIGIN

The term “Beltane” is derived from the Celtic god named Bel and Gaelic word “teine” which means fire. Together Beltane means “Bright Fire”, thus celebrated as the Fire Festival with bonfires to honour the sun.

In ancient Rome, the first three days in May were celebrated as the festival of flowers, known as Floralia. Participants wore flowers in their hair and gathered for communal dancing, feasting, and role playing.

According to lore in the British Isles, the Green Man was the one who welcomed the beginning of summer during the pre-Christian era. Today, some old cathedrals in Europe have the Green Man’s face as ornaments despite the prohibition of such pagan images. This was due in no small part to the carvers being Pagan, and if they were being forced to adopt Christianity, then when they went to “church” their Deity were there and they were honouring them.

In some Wiccan beliefs, this day marks the battle between the May Queen and the Queen of the Winter. Moreover, Norse legend depicts this time as the day when the god Odin hung from an Ash tree for nine days.

A number of deities, including Artemis the Greek goddess of hunting, Bes the Egyptian household protection god, Roman party god Bacchus, Cernunnos the Celtic god of vegetation, Roman goddess Flora, Greek goddess of fertility Hera, Greek agricultural god Pan, and Aztec fertility goddess Xochiquetzal are revered during this festival.

TIMING

Astronomically, Beltane falls half way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, (which is why astronomically it moves each year), the season called cross quarter days. For ancient Celts, Beltane was the start of summer since they believed in eight distinct seasons, instead of four.
For them, the Wheel of the Year turned during Beltane wherein energy was growing.

TRADITIONS AND PRACTICES

Like other Pagan sabbats, Beltane is celebrated with rituals of both ancient and contemporary influence. One of the common symbols used during this sabbat is the Maypole. Many contemporary Pagans associated fertility of the earth with this symbol since participants are usually young. For centuries, maypoles are said to be decorated with flowers and greenery like today’s practice. In the early twentieth century, dances under the maypole with coloured ribbons tied on top of the pole became popular in Great Britain.
Another Beltane tradition is Morris dancing in which participants listen and dance to the tune of drums and other instruments. In the mid-16th century, Morris dancing was labeled as “devilish” by the Catholic Church, but was revived in popularity in the 19th century, along with the Maypole.

In addition, many rural communities do the tradition of May King and May Queen during this Pagan celebration. May baskets filled with sweets and flowers are also set up during Beltane.

Days before the proliferation of Christianity, ancient Pagans used to decorate themselves with greenery and flowers during Beltane, thus creating the tradition of Jack in the Green.

At Beltane, ancient Celts traditionally drive cattle between two balefires for purification and protection before the summer pastures officially begin. To the Celts, Beltane was a time of purification, when impurities where driven away from themselves, their family, their animals, their home and their land. Spring cleaning, ritual baths, smudging of your home, fire rituals, are all part of banishing negative energies and baneful energies.

Being the fire festival, Beltane is celebrated with huge bonfires to celebrate the power of the sun. Rituals include communal dancing around the bonfire, burning of effigies, and fire dancers.
Aside from courtship and romance, Beltane is the time to celebrate love and sexualty associated to the god and goddess of marriage.

Beltane foods include sweets like honey, chocolates, and fruit pastries which represent love. Spicy food such as hot sauces and peppers symbolize the element of fire. In addition, maybowlor – may wine made of non-alcoholic grape juice or ginger ale – is customarily served during this event.

Others dress trees usually hawthorn, birch, and rowan.

For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere Beltane is celebrated somewhere between Nov 1-7. Depending on fire bans bonfires may not be light but you can use a candle to represent fire. Never leave a candle or any fire unattended and always make sure any fire is probably extinguished.

Beltane is an excellent time for love and new adventures. Do you have a crush on someone? Then now would be a great time to ask them out. Feel like going on an adventure or start a new hobby, again now is the perfect time to do these things.

Bodies of water are often visited at Beltane as a way to honour the Earths fertility. If you can you could do a Beltane ritual near a body of water, maybe finishing up with a picnic. If not try to incorporate water in your ritual somehow. If you choose to make a wish whilst admiring the beauty of nature, then leave a gift that is pollution free such as rocks, flowers, birdseed and fruit or veggies.

Have an amazing Beltane.

Aussie Solitary Grey Witch Venus

Artist: "BELTANE" by Wendy Andrew
http://www.paintingdreams.co.uk/

Northern Hemisphere - 31st OctSamhain is a time-honored tradition followed by witches, Wiccans, druids and countless oth...
25/10/2020

Northern Hemisphere - 31st Oct

Samhain is a time-honored tradition followed by witches, Wiccans, druids and countless other modern pagans across the world, celebrated as October turns to November. Samhain is a festival of the Dead, meaning "Summer's End," and though you’re probably tempted to pronounce it "sam-hane," it’s actually pronounced saah-win or saah-ween. Tradition holds that Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year, and with this transition it’s also celebrated as the beginning of the spiritual new year for practitioners, which is also why it’s nicknamed "The Witches’ New Year."

Despite occurring at similar times and containing similar themes, Samhain and Halloween actually are not the same holiday. Halloween, short for All Hallow's Eve, is celebrated on and around October 31 and tends to be more family-focused. On the other hand, Samhain is more religious in focus, spiritually observed by practitioners. There are some more light-hearted observances in honor of the dead through Samhain, but the underlying tone of Samhain is one of a serious religious practice rather than a light-hearted make-believe re-enactment. Today's Pagan Samhain rites, while somber, are benevolent, and, although centered on death, do not involve human or animal sacrifices. Another difference between Samhain and Halloween is that most Samhain rituals are held in private rather than in public.

If you want to start honoring this pagan tradition, you might wonder when to start. Well, the timing of contemporary Samhain celebrations varies according to spiritual tradition and geography. Practitioners state to celebrate Samhain over the course of several days and nights, and these extended observances usually include a series of solo rites as well as ceremonies, feasts, and gatherings with family, friends, and spiritual community. In the northern hemisphere, many Pagans celebrate Samhain from sundown on October 31 through November 1. Others hold Samhain celebrations on the nearest weekend or on the Full or New Moon closest to this time. Some Pagans observe Samhain a bit later, or near November 6, to coincide more closely with the astronomical midpoint between Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice. Most Pagans in the southern hemisphere time their Samhain observances to coincide with the middle of their Autumn in late April and early May, rather than at the traditional European time of the holiday. In the end, it’s really up to you!

Samhain isn’t necessarily a creepy, morbid holiday obsessed with death, as some may conclude. Instead, it reaches for themes deeper than that, tying in with Nature's rhythms. In many places, Samhain coincides with the end of the growing season. Vegetation dies back with killing frosts, and therefore, literally, death is in the air. This contributes to the ancient notion that at Samhain, the veil is thin between the world of the living and the realm of the Dead and this facilitates contact and communication. For those who have lost loved ones in the past year, Samhain rituals can be an opportunity to bring closure to grieving and to further adjust to their being in the Otherworld by spiritually communing with them. However, it’s also a way to appreciate life, when you get right down to it.

There are many rituals you can partake in to celebrate Samhain. Here are just a few ideas (and none of them involve life sacrifice):

Samhain Nature Walk:
Take a meditative walk in a natural area near your home. Observe and contemplate the colors, aromas, sounds, and other sensations of the season. Experience yourself as part of the Circle of Life and reflect on death and rebirth as being an important part of Nature. If the location you visit permits, gather some natural objects and upon your return use them to adorn your home.

Set Up A Samhain Altar:
If you’re new to the pagan tradition and don't have a permanent altar in place, you can easily set up a table to leave in place for the three days prior to Samhain. Decorate the altar with symbols of late fall, such as:

• Skulls, skeletons, grave rubbings, ghosts
• Harvest food such as pumpkins, squash, root vegetables
• Nuts and berries, dark breads
• Dried leaves and acorns
• A cornucopia filled with an abundance of fruit and veggies
• Mulled cider, wine, or mead

Samhain Ceremony
Start out by preparing a meal for the family, focusing on fruits and vegetables, and wild game meat if available. Include a loaf of a dark bread like rye or pumpernickel and a cup of apple cider or wine. Set the dinner table with candles and a fall centerpiece, and put all the food on the table at once. Consider the dinner table a sacred space.

Gather everyone around the table, and say this, "Tonight is the first of three nights, on which we celebrate Samhain. It is the end of the harvest, the last days of summer, and the cold nights wait on the other side for us. The bounty of our labor, the abundance of the harvest, the success of the hunt, all lies before us. We thank the earth for all it has given us this season, and yet we look forward to winter, a time of sacred darkness."

Take the cup of cider or wine, and lead everyone outside. Make this a ceremonial and formal occasion. Head to your garden (if you don’t have one, find a grassy place in your yard). Each person in the family takes the cup in turn and sprinkles a little bit of cider onto the earth, saying, "Summer is gone, winter is coming. We have planted and we have watched the garden grow, we have weeded, and we have gathered the harvest. Now it is at its end."

Collect any yard trimmings or dead plants and use them to make a straw man or woman. If you follow a more masculine path, he may be your King of Winter, and rule your home until spring returns. If you follow the Goddess in her many forms, make a female figure to represent the Goddess as hag or crone in winter. Once that is done, go back inside and bring your deity into your home. Place him on your table and prop him up with a plate of his own, and when you sit down to eat, serve him first.

Begin your meal with the breaking of the dark bread, and make sure you toss a few crumbs outside for the birds afterwards. Keep the King of Winter in a place of honor all season long -- you can put him back outside in your garden on a pole to watch over next spring's seedlings, and eventually burn him at your Beltane celebration. When you are finished with your meal, put the leftovers out in the garden as an offering for the dead.

Make an Ancestors Altar:
Honor your deceased family members with this ceremony. Gather photographs, heirlooms and other mementos of deceased family, friends, or even pets. Arrange them on a table, dresser, or other surface, along with several votive candles. Light the candles in their memory; while you do so, speak their names out loud and express well wishes and thank them for being part of your life or lineage. Sit quietly and pay attention to what you experience. Note any messages you receive in your journal. This Ancestors Altar can be created just for Samhain or kept year round.

Guide the Spirits:
Place a white seven-day candle in the window to guide the deadto the Spirit World. Light the candle and speak these words, "O little flame that burns so bright, be a beacon on this night. Light the path for all the dead, that they may see now what's ahead. And lead them to the Summerland and shine until Pan takes their hands. And with Your light, please bring them peace, that they may rest and sleep with ease."

Visit a Cemetery:
Another way to honor the passing of family and friends is to visit and tend their gravesite at a cemetery. Call to mind memories and consider ways the loved one continues to live on within you. Place an offering there such as fresh flowers, dried herbs (rosemary is one great choice), or fresh water.

Hit ‘Pause’:
As we mentioned, Samhain is also a time to celebrate life in contrast to death, which makes it a great moment to stop and introspect. Reflect on you and your life over the past year. Review journals, planners, photographs, blogs, and other notations you have created during the past year. Consider how you have grown, accomplishments, challenges, adventures, travels, and learnings. Meditate. Journal about your year in review, your meditation, and your reflections.

Hold a Séance:
Also as we mentioned, Samhain is thought to be a time of little distance between the living and the dead. If there’s anyone on the other side you’d like to communicate with, now is an excellent time, according to the pagan tradition.

Bonfire Magic:
Kindle a bonfire outdoors when possible or kindle flames in a fireplace or a small cauldron. Write down an outmoded habit that you wish to end and cast it into the Samhain flames as you imagine release. Imagine yourself adopting a new, healthier way of being as you move around the fire clockwise.

Divinatory Guidance:
Using tarot, runes, scrying, or some other method of divination, seek and reflect on guidance for the year to come. Write a summary of your process and messages. Select something appropriate to act upon and do it.

Divine Invocations:
Honor and call upon the divine in one or more sacred forms associated with Samhain, such as the Crone Goddess and Horned God of Nature. Invite them to aid you in your remembrance of the dead and in your understanding of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. If you have lost loved ones in the past year, ask these deities to comfort and support you.

Herbs and Spices:
There are many plants that tie in closely with Samhain. To name a few: allspice berries, broom, catnip, mountain ash berries, mugwort, mullein, oak leaves, acorns, rosemary, sage, pine cones, and straw. Find creative (and safe; research each before consuming) ways to use them in your cooking and around your house as decorations.

Community Connections
Connect with others. Join in a group ritual in your area. Organize a Samhain potluck in your home. Research old and contemporary Samhain customs in books, periodicals, on-line, and through communications with others. Exchange ideas, information, and celebration experiences. Regardless of whether you practice solo or with others, as part of your festivities, reflect for a time on being part of the vast network of those celebrating Samhain around the world.

(From Gaia)

Wheel of the year for both hemispheres 🌏
25/10/2020

Wheel of the year for both hemispheres 🌏

Hope you all enjoy your day
31/10/2019

Hope you all enjoy your day

15/10/2019

Touch the sentence inside the brackets
(YOU'RE THE BEST) 🥰
Let me know if it worked😉

22/09/2019

In Memory of those who were hanged in Salem on this day September 22, 1692, Samuel Wardell, Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott, Martha Corey, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator and Mary Estey. RIP (KH)

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How TPC Grew Into A Success

In 2014 a lot of things were going right...Tasha, my partner, had agreed to marry me and had moved from Australia to the UK, I was launching my own business thanks to the help and support of my disability employment advisor at the time. The nature of the business I was creating was an online store, “Divine Mystic Cauldron”, and everything was going as planned. But one afternoon as I trawled through Facebook and chatting to friends, I said to Tasha that I would like to set up a page on Facebook similar to a magazine in style, just to bring information to people on the fringes and not sure what Paganism and Witchcraft was all about. We discussed the idea with a few friends, who thought it was a great idea. We threw names around for the page title and someone suggested we look at where we were living and what we practised and see about putting the two together. At first I did not understand what they meant. We lived in the Pendle area and we practised witchcraft. That was when I was given the proverbial forehead slap - “Pendle” and “Craft”, The Pendle Craft. And so it was born. At first we only had a handful of likes over the first couple of days, but they soon became a few hundred before the week was out and over the next few weeks we went into the thousands. That was when Tasha suggested taking it to the next level. To become a digital e-zine. None of us were journalists. We had no experience at this sort of thing. How were we going to do it. Tasha and I went through Google, researching everything we could about making a digital magazine - software to use, where to publish, how to publish, etc. We approached various people in the Pagan community who had experience at this sort of thing and they were a great help. A couple from other Pagan magazines even offered their services in finding articles, readers, and contributors; through them we suddenly reached a team of 30 volunteers all giving up their time each month to give us an article, our job was to use software such as Adobe Indesign to lay everything out. How hard could that be, right? Little did I know. Our first issue came out on April 2nd 2015, in time for Easter (Ostara) and it was an instant success. People wanted more. And so we gave them more. It was soon after that we met John Robinson, soon to be our magazine photographer. John had helped run a local hospital radio and had a passion for photography. John soon became not only part of the TPC Family, but also mine and Tasha’s family, becoming like a second father. Through his advice and creative eye, things changed a lot. However, in November 2015, I had what is thought to have been a suspected stroke and fell down a flight of stairs at our home and this changed everything for us. The fall left me needing full time attendance from carers and my partner, Tasha and it meant I had to give up on the business, but what about the magazine? Tasha was determined not to let that collapse, as she said at the time “it was Aaron’s dream and I was not letting it turn into a nightmare.” Discussions with John brought about the idea of setting the magazine either to every second month or every third month, depending on what I was needing or could manage. I was learning to read and write again, I was learning to follow youtube videos and learning to talk again. Between November 2015 and 2018, I would spend another five times in hospital as doctors learned what was wrong with me and how to treat me. In 2016, we left our Pendle home and moved to Scotland to be closer to family that could give Tasha the help and support she needed. In the first year, Tasha and I stressed of our readership dropping, but if anything we doubled instead. People still wanted our magazine, so I handed the reigns to Tasha and our very good friends, John Robinson and Monique Reichert, our Editorial Manager. From then until now, we come out every three months and are in the process of a brand new website. So, please keep reading, and keep enjoying each issue. Thank you to all our loyal readers.

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