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OOPS! Try again: Purification&Consecration; Handfasting/SoulBinding *SilverChalice Wiccan 'Zine #56b
May 01, 2017

Silver Chalice Wiccan 'Zine

Purification & Consecration for Ritual and Magick
and
Wiccan Handfasting Ritual & Soul Binding

Summer 2017

May, June, July

SABBATS: Beltane & Litha / Summer Solstice


(OOPS ! !

Merry Meet again! Just wanted to let you know the last email went out with the wrong title... so I'm trying again.

Sorry for the confusion! Drat Mercury Retrograde!!! Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com )

Editor's Note

Merry Meet! Welcome to the Silver Chalice Wiccan 'Zine!

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape

The big news this month is Wicca-Spirituality.com is getting a swanky Brand New Logo & Header!

You may have seen the polls on the Wicca Spirituality social media pages — and if you cast your vote for a favourite, thank you for playing! Wicca-School Smilie Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com

The results were closer than I'd expected. So close, in fact, that I decided to get both of them! One will be the logo for my website, and the other for a new A Year & A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan logo.
ALT © Wicca-Spirituality.com

Okay, maybe you're not as thrilled about this as I am. Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com But I'm totally stoked! The old design is, y'know, so old! It hasn't been updated for a decade.

You know what that is in computer years?! Like an ice-age or something! Computer-stegosauruses were still wandering around the internet, way back then, grazing on My Space. lol

The new logos should be in place sometime in May, so please drop by the site then to see them. Or, in case you forget, I'll let you know in the next 'Zine.


Goddess Awareness Week

ALT © Wicca-Spirituality.com

Speaking of exciting additions to the website, there's a fresh section on Wicca-Spirituality.com about some of the most impressive ancient, prehistoric Goddesses...

I invented an event this year (did you catch it?)... Goddess Awareness Week. For one week in February, you could learn about a different ancient Goddess every day.

(You can see more about that in the What's New On The Site column in this issue. Or click on the image at left to go to the Goddess Awareness Week page.)

I feel good about getting at least that much done for the website. Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com Which brings me to the eternal question of the elusive Work/Life Balance.


The Chimera of the Work/Life Balance

Does it even exist?

Well, as long as we think of it as a dance or shifting stream, it's possible. It's not something we can achieve and hang on our wall: "There! Whew! Got my work/life balance! Finally, I can move on to other stuff." lol

No, it's an ongoing process, because we are ongoing processes. We keep shifting; life keeps evolving; work keeps changing. So the balancing act is always dynamic, adapting to the varying circumstances.

I know this. But still... it's such a delicate dance... taking care of my health and taking care of this Work. Truthfully, my focus this year is — necessarily — far more on the healing side than the Work side. But it's still a tricky dance.

What does it take to prioritise our health? This is something I think about a lot.

Even at this stage of my process, where I'm only barely beginning to notice improvement, it's all too easy for me to take that tidbit of energy and mental focus and spend it on work rather than health.

Sometimes it has to be done. Sometimes, though, I only think it has to be done. Sometimes I do the work because it makes me happy to be doing it. Sometimes I kinda sucker myself into doing more than I intended.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I wanted to share something with you, something hopefully inspiring or at least illuminating. Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com

Happy Floralia: festival of Flora, Goddess of Flowers © Wicca-Spirituality.com
I guess what I'm saying is, this is something that's really up for me lately, an awareness that I'm actively cultivating.

If I'd pursued this balance sooner, I suspect I wouldn't have fallen so far out of health / balance in the first place.

But that's the way life works, isn't it: we have these setbacks so we can find our blind spots and figure out a better way to go on.

Suddenly those internal issues leap from the back burner to an emphatic location in the spotlight of our lives (pardon the mixed metaphor)! And they require a lot more focus than we'd like to give.

The rewards, though, are immense! Because at the far end of these unpleasant journeys, we find our Power as well as a stronger, truer connection with our Source and our Deep Self!

May the Goddess bless you with the gifts hidden within your challenges!


With Bright Blessings,

dragonsong signature; click to write to erin

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Table of Contents

Wicca Students Speak Out What Makes A Year & A Day Special?
What's New on the Site Goddess Awareness Week 2017
Website Highlights Litha / Midsummer / Summer Solstice
Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals Purification & Consecration for Ritual and Magick
Ask The Priestess Binding Souls: Wiccan Handfasting Ritual
Fave Quotes

Marriage & Family Quotes
Word on the Street I Was Brought Here for a Reason
Silver Chalice Details  


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Wicca Students Speak Out


Wicca School for Wicca Beginners © wicca-spirituality.com

Listen to what students
are saying about
A Year And A Day:
53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan...


"You are doing such a great service for people, like me, who are searching and trying to sort out gibberish from information."

~ T. T., USA

"[Other] books never explained the WHY of the traditions or even touched upon the theology."

~ Samantha S., USA

"The lessons have so much information and Erin has written so that they are easy to understand.

Unlike other books, her whole conversation is non threatening to a beginner."

~ Terri R., USA

"I have found the lessons I have done so far very empowering. 

I feel like I have control of my life and can get control of my health."

~ Beth J., USA

"Erin lays things out in a way that it is very easy to follow, in plain English, with explanations.

She is always uplifting with so much encouragement and sometimes a bit of humor thrown in which always gets me giggling.

This has been a wonderful experience."

~ Margo Rathbun, USA

"Wicca-Spirituality Year-and-a-Day lessons...  resonate with what I believe and give me the freedom to adopt their teachings to suit my purposes and life style. 

Erin Dragonsong pours her knowledge and spirit into each and every lesson. 

I feel truly blessed!"

~ J. Kessler, USA


ALT © Wicca-Spirituality.com



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What's New On The Site


ALT © Wicca-Spirituality.com



The first annual (I hope) Goddess Awareness Week premiered exclusively on Wicca-Spirituality.com this past February.

Every day for a week, a new prehistoric Goddess was added to the site, as well as posted / tweeted / whatever-the-heck-you-call-it-on-G+.

For the virtual festival itself, all the Goddesses were collected together on one page, but afterwards they were promoted to having their own individual pages. After all, each one has survived for millennia! They deserve their own special space. Wicca-School Smilie Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com

If you missed it, don't worry... you can still meet these incredible ancient Goddesses here.


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Website Highlights for Litha:
the Wiccan Summer Solstice Sabbat


Spotlighting some of the Wicca Spirituality articles you may not have seen yet!


Summer Solstice: A Shift of Power

Ah, Summer Solstice! The longest day of the year; the beginning of full-on summer weather. This is the Wiccan celebration of Midsummer, or Litha.

There is a fundamental shift in the Power of the Wheel at this time. The Life Force has been growing since Yule, and has reached its peak by the Summer Solstice. Now this Power begins to ebb.

Midsummer is a celebration of paradox. . .

  Continue...


The Esoteric Meaning of Summer Solstice

The other Sabbats are common times of Wiccan rituals, because they are more pertinent to the mundane plane of existence...

  • The birth of livestock and wild game

  • The planting of seed

  • The harvest of the grain

  • The huge change of pace at the fallow seasons

  • The rebirth of light

All of these are critical to physical survival.

Summer Solstice, however, holds its power on the level of the Spirit . . .

  Continue...


What Are the Major Wiccan Holidays, Rituals, & Sabbats?

Wiccan holidays are based on the major solar and lunar events on the Wiccan Wheel of the Year.

Wiccan rituals for the Sabbats, for instance, celebrate the Sun's influence on the Earth — that is, the seasonal growing cycle.

Wiccan Esbats honour the phases of the Moon, particularly the Full Moon...

This article includes a chart of the holidays for each season,
and a list of articles about the various sabbats.

  Continue...


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Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals



Purification & Consecration for Ritual and Magick


Excerpt from A Year & A Day: 53 Weeks to Becoming a Wiccan
(Please Note: This material is protected by legal copyright)
Sneak Preview from Upcoming Wicca School Course © Wicca-Spirituality.com


Purification and Consecration (P&C) is a ritual cleansing — the process by which Wiccans prepare ordinary objects to be used for sacred purposes.

It's also used to cleanse ritual items of negative energy, or energy picked up through prior use (e.g., from an old magickal spell).
Purification and Consecration © Wicca-Spirituality.com

Sometimes simply called consecrating or sanctifying, it always implies purification as well. After all, you wouldn't consecrate a dirt-stained cloth and then put it on your altar: you'd wash it first! Unless, of course, you were giving the dirt to the Divine as an offering. Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com

Wiccans practice ritual Purification and Consecration not because some rulebook says we should, but because we work on the level of subtle energy (i.e. spirit) and magick.

We know these energies are real because can sense them, so it's not a tenet of faith that things need to be cleansed.

To a Wiccan, Purification and Consecration is just as practical as washing a dirty cup before drinking out of it.

. . .   Continue to the full article...


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Ask The Priestess:


Binding Souls: Wiccan Handfasting


Dear Priestess,

I hate to be a bother but I can not find ANY information about this anywhere...

My girlfriend and I got engaged about 4 months ago. I want to have a wiccan/pagan ceremony to bind our souls eternally before we get married. I want it to be a pre-marriage type of thing, but I can't find any practices of this.

Do you have any information? Advice? Would we have to make up our own ceremony?

JC


Dear JC,

Binding souls is not something that is done instantaneously.   It's a process that occurs as you live, and love, and care for each other; as you learn to set aside your own desires as the most important thing and put someone else in the centre of your life.  

A soul should never (likely could never) be bound by anything except for love, and that kind of binding can't be done by magick.  

Love is its own magick!  

1   Since I know people are going to ask: handfastings themselves are not legally binding in the eyes of governments.

However, you can have a licensed official, like a Justice of the Peace, at a handfasting to be legally wed at the same time as you're being handfasted.

Make sure you check with the official beforehand, so they know what you're wanting and to find out what their requirements for the ceremony are.

These days, thank Goddess, you can find understanding, willing officials in many cities.

I think a ceremony is more meaningful if it's performed by someone in your community that you respect... ideally someone you Circle with. But I know that's not always possible. And you might not wish to officiate at your own ceremony.

If you're in that situation, you might want to hire someone to perform your handfasting. I've found only one list of people who perform handfastings. It's pretty limited, but if you live in one of these areas, this might be of help to you.


2   How many strands? Good question!

There are different ideas about this (naturally: any 3 Wiccans will have at least 4 different opinions on any subject! Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com ).

I'd recommend using at least two, symbolising the entwining of the two souls.

Three is even better (and often claimed to be the traditional number), bringing a strand for the Divine into the union.

Others may use 9 or more: usually 3 strands woven into 3 different cords, which are then woven together.

Of course, you should find what's most meaningful for you and your beloved, and then do it that way.)

Wiccans have handfastings, which traditionally last for a year and a day, not for eternity. Still, when we forge a bond of real love with someone it does endure beyond one lifetime — love literally never dies.

So if you want to bind yourselves to each other, a handfasting is an established and effective way.

This can either take the place of an official wedding, or as originally, you can have a handfasting as a betrothal before the legal wedding.1 It can be like an engagement celebration.


Binding the Souls:
Wiccan Handfasting

Handfasting may be just the kind of binding ceremony you're looking for. Handfastings, like any weddings, strengthen love. Wiccans, generally being magickal by nature, often incorporate symbolic ways to weave two lives together.

The handfasting cord (or ribbon) itself is a symbol of entwining together two souls in love.

Colors for Handfasting Cords

The colors of the handfasting cord are symbolic, however there's no "official" version of the colours that every Wiccan uses.

Instead, you're encouraged to choose colours that are meaningful to you. (See this article on The Meaning, Symbolism, and Energy of Colors.)

Traditional Handfasting Cords

Cords are made of different strands2 — thinner cords or ribbons twined together. Using silk and natural materials is preferred for magick as well as tactile comfort and pleasure.

They are traditionally 9' in length, as Wiccan cords are.

And the ends are either knotted or tied off with thread to prevent the cords from unravelling.

And Let's Not Forget the Handfasting Ceremony!

In the ceremony, your sweetheart and you stand facing each other, hold each other's right hands together (and, if you choose, your left hands together as well, forming another symbol of the infinity knot).

The handfasting cord is then wrapped around the clasped hands of the lovers, creating an infinity loop. This knot, like in knot magick, seals and makes fast this unity.

Some people leave the cord on until the end of the ceremony, while others remain linked together by the hands until the handfasting is consummated. (For the latter, I'd really recommend only tying the right hands! Wicca-School Winking Witch © Wicca-Spirituality.com )

Other parts of the ceremony are up to you. You can include jumping the broom if this is your official wedding, or you can work the handfasting into a secular or some religious weddings — if anyone objects, you can tell them that handfasting has been practiced at least since the Middle Ages, which was very much non-Pagan.

Or you can keep it very simple and short.

A lovely way to wrap up is with a love song or chant of blessing for the couple and the community.

Whatever you choose to do, it will be just right for you.

I wish you both all the best for your marriage!



With Bright Blessings,

dragonsong signature; click to write to erin


Do you have a question you'd like answered? Email the Priestess and your question could be answered in a future issue.

(Note: questions may be edited for brevity or clarity. No real names will be disclosed. For reasons of legality, all questions become the property of Wicca-Spirituality.com.)

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Fave Marriage & Family Quotes


But at the last it doesn't matter whether we agree or not, or who’s right. What matters is what goes on between the two of us . . . are we always changing, are we growing and loving each other more? That’s what matters. …

~ Richard Bach


A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other.

~ Richard Bach


It’s tempting, when something like this happens to someone so young, to say that life’s a bitch and then you die. But to do that would dishonor the very reason this is all so sad—which is that life is wonderful, and most wonderful for its smallest splendors: good coffee, children who smell like rain, bickering about whether to fix the linoleum.

~ Jacquelyn Mitchard


Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.

~ Virginia Satir


Giving yourself some quality down-time and self-care is as much a gift for your family as for yourself.  

~ erin Dragonsong


What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.

~ Mother Teresa


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Word on the Street



What People Are Saying About Wicca-Spirituality.com:


I just wanted to thank you for taking the time and energy to put this wonderful site together. I was raised Catholic and as I've grown older, I've gradually drifted from the Church and tried to come up with my own alternatives to spirituality and worship.

It was a shock to find so many of my own beliefs and ideals laid out in one place, especially when I'd grown up thinking Wicca was evil. Finding your site was a whim I never expected to come to anything, but now I feel like I've been brought here for a reason.

I've always wanted to be close to God, but I always felt like I never truly could be unless it was through a man. I never understood why God couldn't be a Goddess, and all I've ever really wanted was to feel connected to that Mother aspect. Not really possible when women seem to be second class, let alone divine.

I still have doubts, and I'll admit there is still some fear, but for the first time, I feel Her.

It's only a step, and I've so very much to learn, but thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping me to find that path.

It feels like I was working towards it all along, but your site was the direction I needed.

Thank you. I really can't begin to describe how much it means to me. Thank you for taking the time to put your class together. I'll be enrolling for that Friday. Thank you for showing me and so many others that there's another way. I'm excited to learn all I can.

~ D.S. in USA


Thanks for writing!! I appreciate hearing your feedback! HeartLoveGlow © Wicca-Spirituality.com



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