I know that Bealtaine is still quite a while away, but I wanted to make sure that folks had enough time to enter this giveaway should they wish to, while making sure that there is enough time for the winner to get their pretties before Bealtaine.
Below is what will be listed in the giveaway:
- One $20 Cyber Gift Certificate
- 1/2 oz Mistress of Stag Incense
- 1/2 oz Herbwife Incense
- 1 oz Healer's Blend Wortcunning Powder
- 1 oz Dark Arts Blend Wortcunning Powder
- Four Packs of Seeds
- A Pair of Herbal Beeswax Votive Candles
- Feminine Herbal Beeswax Fertility Charm
- Masculine Herbal Beeswax Fertility Charm
- A Vintage Avon Jar Filled with Natural Pretties
- Resin Veggies {Craft Supplies}
- Summery Vintage Ribbons & Fabric Strips
$20.00 Cyber Gift Certificate
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I will email the winner a cyber gift certificate of $20.00 {CDN/US} value to the winner which can be used to either purchase from my Etsy shop or purchase services that are available on my website.
Mistress of Stag Incense
Mistress of Stags incense is an sexy mixture of sweetfern, cedar, patchouli, juniper berries, sweet woodruff and a few other forest plants. It is perfect for Bealtaine, as well as lusty spellworkings and as a burnt offering to spirits and deities of the wild wood. The winner will receive a half ounce in a re-sealable baggie {$4.75 CDN/US value}.
Herbwife Incense
I created my Herbwife incense to be burnt as an offering for Airmid, the Irish Goddess of healing plants, and for rituals involving herbcrafting and healing. This incense is a soothing combination of wild ginger root, lemon balm, selfheal, peppermint, and hawthorn berries {partial ingredient list}. The winner will receive a half ounce in a re-sealable baggie {$4.75 CDN/US value}.
Healer's Blend Wortcunning Powder
The Healer's Blend Wortcunning Powder is a nourish offering powder for healing plants. All the ingredients were either grown or sourced by myself and are completely natural and biodegradable. The winner will receive one ounce in a re-sealable baggie {$3.50 CDN/US value}.
Dark Arts Blend Wortcunning Powder
A blend of all natural ingredients to nourish plants associated with divination, spirit travel, death, ancestors and deities of the underworlds. All the ingredients were either grown or sourced by myself and are biodegradable. The winner will receive one ounce in a re-sealable baggie {$3.50 CDN/US value}.
Seeds
The winner will receive four packs of heirloom seeds that I collected myself from my own garden. Included are Small Sugar Pumpkins, Blue Jay Bush Beans, Purple Peacock Pole Beans, and a Wildflower Mix of magical perennials, biennials, and annuals. {$8.00 CDN/US value}.
Herbal Beeswax Votive Candles
These lovely votive candles are made with local beeswax and I have added premium essential oils and herbs and flowers from my garden. One has lilac blossoms, sweet woodruff leaves, and spikenard essential oil, and the other one has lemon balm, mint, as well as lavender buds and essential oil. The winner will receive one of each candle {$8.00 CDN/US value for the pair}.
Feminine Herbal Beeswax Fertility Charm
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A pretty charm made with a vulva-shaped milkweed pod, beeswax, rose pedals, a seashell and herbs associated with abundance and fertility. It could be buried in the garden for a Bealtaine ritual, used in fertility workings or put on a shrine for Goddesses associated with fertility and women's sexuality and health. The winner will receive one charm{$5.00 CDN/US value}.
Masculine Herbal Beeswax Fertility Charm
This fellow was handcrafted with beeswax and herbs associated with fertility and male virility. I will let you all use your imagination of what types of workings it could be helpful with or what deities might appreciate it. ;) It has a soft green coloured leather thong should you wish to hang it. The winner will receive one charm{$3.50 CDN/US value}.
Vintage Avon Jar Filled with Natural Pretties
A gaggle of little pretties that I found in nature in a vintage Avon jar {Crystal Facets Field Flowers Cologne}. In the jar is a dried rose, wee pine cones, a milkweed pod, seashell, sea glass, moss, and a small piece of turkey tail fungus.{$10.00 CDN/US value}.
Resin Veggies
For the winner's craft supply collection, I thought that these quality resin veggies would be great for making garden markers, or could be used for crafty projects such as fridge magnets {$2.50 CDN/US value}.
Vintage Ribbons & Fabric Strips
I included these strips of summery vintage cloth and ribbons of various colours because I think they would be great to create a May bush or garland, or perhaps for a mini Maypole {$2.00 CDN/US value}.
How to Enter the Giveaway
For those who are interested in entering, all you need to do is to either share your favourite gardening or Bealtaine lore, rituals or superstitions. All entries must be submitted to the comment section of this post; you can either just type it out there or link to a video or blog entry that is posted elsewhere. Previously some folks were having issues posting in my comment section, so I will accept entries that are emailed to me {unfetteredwood at yahoo dot ca} and I will post them in the comment section, along with listing who the name of the person it is for. The winner will be drawn at random right after the closing date. Below you will see the vitals:
- Only one entry per person.
- Entrants must be 18 years or older.
- The giveaway is open for all countries.
- To enter you are not obligated to purchase anything from me or to subscribe to any of my social media haunts.
- All entries must be submitted by Monday April 22nd, 2013 at 3pm EST.
- The winner will need to provide a mailing address to receive their pretties. The information provided will not be used for any other purpose than to receive their winnings. The information will not be given to anyone else, or sold to a third party.
All right so I have some lore / ritualistic Welsh May Day ( Beltane / Calan Haf / 1st of May )traditions
ReplyDeletefrom this lovely website -> http://www.applewarrior.com/celticwell/ejournal/beltane/wales.htm
which will explain it better than I ever could, I will say I had to dig a little bit to find a site that had the tradition I knew of, ( its hard to search for stuff you honestly don't know the name, but the subject of )
"Bonfires were lit on May Eve, in South Wales until almost the middle of the nineteenth century and I can do no better than quote the words of an informant to Marie Trevelyan at the beginning of the 20th century who still remembered the practice:
The fire was done in this way: Nine men would turn their pockets inside out, and see that every piece of money and all metals were off their persons. Then the men went into the nearest woods and collected sticks of nine different kinds of trees. These were carried to the spot where the fire had to be built. There a circle was cut in the sod and the sticks were set crosswise. All around the circle the people stood and watched the proceedings. One of the men would then take two bits of oak and rub them together until a flame was kindled. This was applied to the sticks and soon a large fire was made. Sometimes two fires were set up, side by side. These fires, whether one or two, were called coelcerth or bonfire. Round cakes of oatmeal and brown meal were split in four and placed in a small flour-bag, and everybody present had to pick out a portion. The last bit in the bag fell to the lot of the bag-holder. Each person who chanced to pick up a piece of brown meal cake was compelled to leap three times over the flames, or to run thrice between the two fires, by which means the people thought they were sure to have a plentiful harvest. Shouts and screams of those who had to face the ordeal could be heard ever so far, and those who chanced to pick up the oatmeal portions sang and danced and clapped their hands in approval... As a rule, no danger attended these curious celebrations, but occasionally somebody’s clothes caught fire, which was quickly put out. "
I really just enjoy growing herbs when I feel spring around the corner. Right now I have my garden started and the hardest part is keeping the cats from eating the sprouts. The reason I grow my herbs are for cooking purposes. My boyfriend uses a lot of cilantro in his dishes so I hope to save a decent amount by having our own herbs to add to our dishes.
ReplyDeleteMy entire college celebrates Bealtaine every year. We have a giant may pole and dance to music chosen by our local pagan groups. There are stands with flowers and leaves so that everyone can weave their own garland. Me and my friends basically dress up, grab a picnic blanket, and spend the entire day outside listening to the festival. My favorite bit of lore is how at the beginning of the festival a bonfire was lit. Then the embers from that bonfire were taken from town to town to light the rest of the bonfires. Then to bring good luck and fertility cattle were usually driven between the fires.
ReplyDeleteI always sing to my plants when I water them or hum when I am doing my weeding. I grew up believing that made them grow better.
ReplyDeleteFor Beltane I dress up my house with branches of flowering hawthorn and I save some wood each year to start my fire the next Beltane. On this wood I will write things in my life that I want to get rid of or what I want to come into my life. When I was a kid I was told that on Beltane angels or fairies will grant you wishes when you blow on a dandelion.
ReplyDeleteI spend most of my time outside on Bealtaine. I love tending to my garden and being around nature. I love to grow herbs especially parsley and dill. I use those herbs in my salads. May is my birth month! I was born on Mother's Day. May is a time for nurturing. At night I might light a fire and enjoy the company of my husband and maybe make a s'more or two.
ReplyDeleteThis entry comes from Jenna:
ReplyDelete"I'm a Hellenic Pagan. Whilst I don't consider myself Wiccan at all, I do honour the Wheel of the Year calendar as I simply don't understand enough about how the Athenian calendar system works... I'd like to think my Gods of choice understand. So for Beltane... it feels natural to honour Aphrodite. Especially by spending time tending to my garden. Homer tells us that where Aphrodite walks, flowers spring up under Her feet. In Athens, Aphrodite was worshipped in gardens, for She was a personification of the generative powers of nature. The best way to honour Her is simply to love. Self-love counts too. So whilst I'm out there removing any dead plants or tidying things up etc I actively visualise myself cutting ties to relationships or situations that are no longer good for me. As I care for my beloved "green babies" & pretty things up outside I thank Her for Her ongoing presence in my life & ask for Her continued blessing."
Whenever I start planting, I always place a moss agate in with each plant to help them grow better. I also sing to my plants and sing to their water. I feel like the joy in my voice will be carried into my plant water and nourish them from within.
ReplyDeleteHere in the north of Sweden, the spring is new at Beltane, nothing is green yet; the earth has just woken... and during the days she sun is warming the earth, our bodies, letting us feel the temperature rising... we have had a long, dark cold winter but now it's time to wake up... the blood in my veins are getting warmer and I useally do a big house cleaning, then I collect beautiful branches and other pieces from nature, and place them with lots of fresh flowers (from the shop, as I said nothing grows here yet..)everywere in my home. And I do a ceremony to welcome the Lover Goddess, the Horned God, invites them to dance with me, to bring their fertile powers in to my life <3 I then make a fire down by the lake and jump over it, releasing all old energies, and often I make a mandorla-shaped figure with flowers on the ground, and rise a pole in it.. Life, lust and fertile energies has now return! Hail ad welcome, Goddess of Love! :))
ReplyDelete// Lola Ravenstar
At Beltane I clean my place outside. I always do that then because at night I will preform my ritual. Taking in all the fertility that the spring brings to my cold country.
ReplyDeleteWhen its getting cold I will go inside and continue my ritual there by preforming a cleansing of the house.
So thats my Beltane day/night )O(
My favorite lore about Beltaine is the marriage or courtship of the "May Queen" and the "King of the Forest". I'm not a practitioner of Wicca, but I've always loved this particular rite. I think it's because, for me, it harkens back to my favorite book of adolescence, The Mists of Avalon, in which The Virgin Huntress lays with the man who is able to kill the King's stag. I always loved that visual, that idea, and what it stood for. May is the time for the Earth to open up and become full of seed, it is the time of the Mother in my personal practice, and as such I love to sing a cradlesong when I transplant my seedlings into their beds. I've often given each plant a name, and am always amazed at how the named plants live on and on and come back year after year. Beltaine is my favorite holiday.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Beltane activity is collecting dew in the morning with my younger sisters. I told them about it once and they make me do it every year. It may turn into a water fight, but it's certainly a way to wake up!
ReplyDeleteI also like making bannocks (or doing the best I can at making them) for after dinner snacks.
As for superstitions, I won't deny that I might carry some iron with me on that day...
For May Day I sing greetings to the rising sun and collect flowers to make crowns and wreaths. We also have a may pole on our property and have event with other witches.
ReplyDeleteThis entry comes from Jill Snyder:
ReplyDelete"I am new to wicca and this is my first time celebrating the Beltane sabbat. We are having a fairy tea party with some friends and their children. We will be planting a garden for the goddess and for the fae."
This entry comes from Puck Morningstar (Brian Alliston):
ReplyDelete"Some members of my GLBT pagan group will be going on a camping trip. Men and women will hold rituals separately to honor the Horned Lord and Lady Green Gown. We will then come together to hold a feast and a bonfire."
Every Bealtaine I normally walk around the edge of the garden, saying hello to everything around me while stroking each plant, giving some reiki to each of them to help them grow a little bit better.
ReplyDelete