Open Your Eyes? No, Open Your Ears!

Hello and Blessed Be!
It seems that too often we are told to "open our eyes", to see the God/Goddess in nature. I myself even alluded to this in a previous post (although I was going for more of a "open your mind" thing), but why? Why do we put such an emphasis on seeing? I know "seeing is believing", but what about touching, tasting, smelling or hearing?
Sit with your eyes closed for a minute and really listen, I bet you will hear things that your mind usually tunes out (whether it's the hum of the refrigerator or bird song outside your window) and because of that I would like to propose an experiment; some day this week I think we should all stop trying to see the divine/sacred in everything and start listening for it. This line of thinking has led me to write a poem about listening for the spirits of nature. While this poem is heavily influenced by my desire to go home and see my family (the things I describe in it are all sounds that are commonly heard in my hometown), I think it will help you realize what I mean.

Stop and Listen

Stop and listen, do you hear that tune?

It’s the nature spirits of old,

Hear them in the haunting calls of the lover loons,

And in the whisper of the falling snow.

Hear them in the creaks and groans of cedar trees,

In the bellows of a stag in rut,

Hear them in the summer song of buzzing bees,

And in the yips of coyotes on the hunt.

Hear them in the robin song of a bright spring day,

In the waves crashing on the rocks,

Hear them in the chatter of squirrels at play,

And in the wing beats of the mighty hawk.

Hear them in the ancient raven’s lonely call,

In the chorus of the peeper frogs,

Hear them in the rustling of the leaves of fall,

And in the drumming of woodpeckers on a log.

Open your ears and close your eyes,

Do you hear the spirits all around?

We much too often seek out the sights,

And ignore these sacred sounds.

P.S. If you do try the experiment let me know what you hear :)

Helping the Children of Hurricane Sandy

Hello, and Blessed Be!
There are a lot of great fundraisers and relief programs you can donate to for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, but there is one in particular that I would like everyone to consider helping out.
I'm not sure how many of you have heard of author and blogger Mrs. B (her blog Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom is awesome and I highly recommend it) but she is a wonderful lady who lives in one of the areas hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, and while her family made it through alright and are getting back on their feet, others in the area were not as fortunate. Being the awesome person that she is she has started a Holiday Drive to raise funds to fulfill the holiday wish lists of children who's families were hit especially hard. You can find out more about her fundraiser here.

A Shrine to Pan

Hello and Blessed Be!
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I have realized that I really want to build an outdoor shrine to Pan (well actually lots of shrines to various deities but Pan is my priority right now). Nothing fancy, perhaps a small wood or stone makeshift altar, with an image of Pan painted on a rock or piece of driftwood, decorated with pretty rocks, dried flowers, acorns, and pine cones. On the altar I would leave an empty space on which candles and incense could be burned, and offerings could be left. Preferably this small shrine would be built in a wooded area, although a field would suffice too and of course it would have to be on private land so as not to offend anyone and to protect if from being destroyed. Right now the only problem is, is that I rent an apartment and have no land, wooded or otherwise, on which I could build a shrine so this project will have to be placed on the back burner.
Pan and many other nature deities were never meant to be worshiped inside and my small shrine to Pan located in my apartment seems so disconnected from him and everything he stands for that I rarely use it. Ask yourself this, where would you prefer to worship (insert the name of you favorite nature deity/spirit), in a corner of a room in your home, or outdoors, surrounded by nature? If your answer is inside, then consider where would they rather you worship them? I know that not everyone has the luxury of owning land (I'm one of them) or having a natural area they could use, but if you did would you build a shrine there?
Has anyone ever built an outdoor shrine or worshiped/performed a ritual at one? If so how was it, did you seem more connected to the divines or the natural world? Is it worth it in your opinion?

Keychain Talismans

Hello and Blessed Be!
Today I wanted to share with you how to make a keychain talisman or charm. A talisman is an object (such a ring, caved bone or stone, necklace, etc) that has been charge with with powers with a particular purpose (such as protection, to improve health, to boost confidence, etc). These are usually worn or carried on a person in order to gain their magical benefits. A talisman can be charged with powers in many ways, some people inscribe or carve magical runes and sigils onto them, some people make them out of materials that are already known to naturally contain the desired powers/energies, some people focus their own energy and intent into the object, and some people use a combination of all three of these methods.
While talismans can be any number of objects I prefer to make my own keychains to be used as talismans. The reason for this is unlike jewelry (which may not look good with all clothes you wear), a keychain can be carried on your person at all times by attaching it to your key ring or backpack. Also unlike a stone or similar small object, a keychain is harder to lose because it is attached to something else. These are also perfect for children as they make fashionable backpack accessories. They also make great gifts for friends and loved ones (if you are going to give one as a gift make sure the person knows it is a talisman and not just a nifty keychain, not doing so can decrease it's effectiveness and is somewhat unethical).

The first thing you need to do when making a keychain talisman is to select your intent or goal for it. Make sure it is something specific like "to strengthen my mind" and not something vague like "to improve my life".
After you have your goal picked it is time to select the materials. Natural materials such as glass, wood, clay, metal, shell, and stone work best because they hold energies better. Some people also say you should use a natural material such as raw hide or cotton thread to string everything onto but it isn't necessary and I actually prefer to use the jeweler's line that is similar to fish line since it is more durable, but you should use whatever you are most comfortable with. Remember that certain stones and metals are better for certain goals as are certain colors, this information can be found fairly easily online or in many books.
After you have your materials it is time to start making and charging it. Before you begin make sure you have a clear head and are focused on your goal (for example if you are making a talisman to help manage stress but are thinking about your stressful job while creating it your results will probably be disastrous). If you want to inscribe or carve any runes or sigils you should do that first, selecting ones that are appropriate for the goal and focusing your intent as you do it. After any carving or inscribing is done you will want to begin stringing each bead or trinket, charging each one as you go. I do this by holding each one in my power hand (your dominant hand) and while saying my intent out loud I focus my energy and visualize it moving into the object (for example I would say "I charge this black glass bead with the power to protect" while visualizing protective energy flowing from me to the bead), but you can use whatever method you are most comfortable with.
Once everything is charged and stung it is time to put on a clip or key ring. Usually as I do this I do a final charging, this time of the whole thing, to further ensure the talisman is completely charged with my intent. After you are finished with this step it is ready to use. You may need to recharge your talismans after long periods of use if you feel they aren't as effective as they used to be.

The talisman pictured to the left was designed to be charged every full moon with the moon's energy. Then it can be used to add moon energy to a spell, no matter what time of the month it is. This talisman is made of fish line, glass beads, metal discs, fresh water pearls, and a piece of stone shaped like the moon. For this talisman I didn't attach a key ring or clip to one end because I never intended this one to be carried on the person, there is a loop at one end however so that I can hang it up under the light of the full moon.

Another Revelatory Dream

Hello and Blessed Be!
So last night I had many dreams (as I kept waking up, falling back to sleep, and waking up again because of the cat) and one of those dreams stands out in my mind more than any of the others. I wouldn't really describe it as a typical dream as it was more like a montage of images and in each one there was the figure of  the Greek God Pan, either looking on or partaking in what was shown. Pan watched as the tree buds began to open, Pan was dancing around a bonfire with party goers, Pan stood among the cedars as the sun rose over the swamp, Pan was picking flowers with a little girl in a meadow, and the list of images I saw in my dream goes on and on. When I awoke I felt a sense of profound peace. This dream made me realize that the God(s)/Divine(s)/Spirit(s) or whatever higher power/energy you believe in isn't something that is intangible or out of reach but is something that is found all around us and within us. We can experience the Gods (or whatever you believe in) when the seasons change, during the first snow, when we hold someone we love, and in almost anything we see or do, we just have to open ourselves up to it.
This dream got me thinking about whether I had any revelatory dreams before (which reminded me of the ant dream and led me to write the previous post) and whether dreams can truly be more than just our brains keeping busy while we sleep. I'm still not sure of what I think about it but that feeling of having gained insight is hard to shake.
What do you think? Are dreams a portal to the soul or inner-self? Can we gain insight and learn personal and life truths from dreams?

Life Truths, Creation Myths, and a Dream

Hello and Blessed Be!

Awhile back I had an unusual dream. It was one of those dreams where you are not a part of it but are witnessing something. Anyway in this dream there was an ant, and on his back was a drop of dew and in that drop of dew existed our world. Now in my dream the ant continuously climbed up and down a mountain, going up one side, coming down the other, and then passing through a tunnel under the mountain to get back to the other side. At the top of this mountain lived the Sun and in the tunnel that ran through the bottom of the mountain lived the Moon. In my dream the act of the ant traveling up and down the mountain caused our days and nights.

When I awoke from this dream I had the very odd sensation of having learned a great truth. After the grogginess of sleep wore off I felt silly because the dream had effected me in such a profound way and I am well aware of how we really have day and night and I know about our solar system and all that. That feeling got me thinking though.

I started thinking about mythology, especially creation myths and the importance of dreams to many ancient cultures. If I had been born into another time and culture perhaps this would have been seen as a sign from the Gods. Who knows, maybe this would have even started a religion based off of the belief that the world was carried on the back of an ant, and perhaps that religion would have flourished and today we would have a subset of Pagans worshiping a modern day version of it in which ants are considered sacred.  I had always believed myths were created as a way of explaining the unknowable while also enforcing traditions and morals/beliefs. However I had never really considered how they came up with these myths which can appear pretty outlandish by today's standard. Now I am thinking perhaps these myths started off as someones dream, a vision brought on by psychedelics, trance work, or meditation. Or maybe not, we have no way of knowing.

I was still puzzled by my feeling of having received some great truth until I had a different dream last night (I shall write about that later) and am now pretty sure that my ant dream wasn't meant to show me how the world really works but rather to get me to realize an important life truth; you don't have to be big, powerful, strong, well know, etc to achieve great things and that we should take note of the little things in life because they can have huge impacts.

Has anyone else ever had a dream which showed you something important you needed to realize in life or perhaps had epiphany brought on by meditation? If so I would love to hear about them or about your thoughts on the merits of dreams in general.

My Samhain

Hello and Blessed Be!
Samhain (the witch's new year and a time to honor the dead) has just came and passed so I figured I would share with you how I celebrated it.
I had planned to go to the local grave yard and clean the leaves off of some of the older/unattended gravestones but the weather didn't permit it so I spent my entire evening inside. I still honored the dead however by having a "dumb" supper, which is where you eat your food in silence and leave a plate out for any spirits who may be wandering that night. It wasn't much, as money is tight right now, but I think any wandering spirits appreciated the bowl of tomato soup and the mug of green tea with pomegranate, especially since pomegranate is one of the foods of the dead.
Over all the night was pretty uneventful, we got a few trick-or-treaters who were brave enough to venture out in the snow but other than that all was quiet. I used the peace and quiet to meditate and do a bit of candle wax drippings divination.  For those of you who have never done candle wax drippings divination I highly recommend it, all you need is a bowl of water, a pillar candle, and a bit of imagination. First you light the pillar candle and let it burn until you have a good amount of melted wax, then you carefully pour the melted wax into the bowl of water and interpret any signs or symbols it may form. This is where you need a bit of imagination as often times you get a bunch of indistinguishable blobs, however occasionally you will get a few clear images. If you want to do more than just a general divination of the future concentrate on what it is you would like to know as the candle burns and as you pour the wax into the bowl.
I hope everyone had a pleasant and safe Samhain and I would love to hear how you celebrated it! :)

Hello and Blessed Be

Hello and Blessed Be!
I am known to my online friends as Raven Song but you can also call me The Pagan Raven, and as you may have guessed this is my new online home, or "nest" if you prefer. I am creating this blog as a way to further my own Eclectic Wiccan tradition and to hopefully help others out on their own path.
I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which is both a great and terrible place to be a Pagan. It's great because you are literally surrounded by nature even in our cities and we experience four very diverse seasons which is nice for someone who celebrates the Wheel of the Year. It is a terrible place however because, as with everyone else up here, we are widely spread out making large scale events almost impossible. Also the population is largely Christian so many people are in the "broom closet" for fear of discrimination, and there are very few shops tailored for our needs (something I plan to change, but more on that in another post). As an Eclectic Wiccan who worships the Greek and Egyptian Pantheons my posts will have a largely Wiccan flavor and will often mention Greek and Egyptian deities. However I am very eclectic and am interested in other mythologies and the various Pantheons of the world so you can expect some variety. My posts will also usually be gender neutral, but since I am a woman I am sure to get the urge to write about womanly topics from time to time.
I hope you enjoy my musings, rantings, and monologues that are to follow and I also hope to receive feed back from you because it is through the exchange of ideas that we all grow on our paths.