Today begins the Celtic Tree Month Of Willow & The Wind/Blood Moon

The Willow moon was known to the Celts as Saille, pronounced Sahl-yeh. The Willow grows best when there's lots of rain, and in northern Europe there's no shortage of that this time of year. This is a tree associated with healing and growth, for obvious reasons. A Willow planted near your home will help ward away danger, particularly the type that stems from natural disaster such as flooding or storms. They offer protection, and are often found planted near cemeteries. This month, work on rituals involving healing, growth of knowledge, nurturing and women's mysteries.

Also

In April, the thunderstorms of March are beginning to subside, and the wind picks up. Seeds are being blown about on the breezes, spreading life all around from one place to the next. In fact, this lunar cycle is often known as the Seed Moon. Trees have buds on them, spring daffodils and tulips abound, and the birds are nesting once more. Much like March, this is a time of conception and fertility and new growth.

 

Correspondences:
Colors: Bright primary colors -- red, yellow, blue -- and their combinations

Gemstones: Quartz, selenite, angelite

Trees: Hazel, forsythia, lilac, willow

Gods: Ishtar, Tawaret, Venus, Herne, Cernunnos

Herbs: Dandelion, milkweed, dogwood, fennel, dill

Element: Air

This is a good time to work on magic related to new beginnings. Looking to bring new love into your life, or conceive or adopt a child? This is the time to do those workings. It's the time to stop planning, and start doing. Take all those ideas you've had brewing for the past couple of months, and make them come to fruition.

 

Also Known As: Seed Moon

 

Examples:

Willow celebrated the Wind Moon by planting some seeds in small cups of soil.

via about.com


-The Crafty Witch

The Wiccan Rede

One of the most often quoted "laws of Wicca," a variation of the Wiccan Rede appeared in the writings of Gerald Gardner.

A similar rule is found in the work of Aleister Crowley around the turn of the century, in which he advised his readers, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, love under Will."

One version was made famous by Doreen Valiente in the early 1960s, and in 1974 a lengthier version, by Lady Gwen Thompson, was published in the Green Egg, a Pagan magazine. Thompson credited her grandmother, Adriana Porter, with the original work. Although there is no scholarly evidence for this claim, the work remains one of the most popular writings in Wicca today.

Thompson's version reads as follows:

 The Rede of the Wiccae

Being known as the counsel of the Wise Ones:

 Bide the Wiccan laws ye must,

 in perfect love and perfect trust.

 Live and let live, fairly take and fairly give.

Cast the Circle thrice about

 to keep the evil spirits out.

 

To bind the spell every time,

 let the spell be spake in rhyme.

 Soft of eye and light of touch,

 speak little, listen much.

Deosil go by the waxing Moon,

 sing and dance the Wiccan rune.

Widdershins go when the moon doth wane,

 and the Werewolf howls by the dread Wolfsbane.

 

When the Lady's Moon is new,

 kiss thy hand to Her times two.

 When the Moon rides at Her peak

 then your heart's desire seek.

 Heed the Northwind's mighty gale;

 lock the door and drop the sail.

 

When the wind comes from the South,

 love will kiss thee on the mouth.

 When the wind blows from the East,

 expect the new and set the feast.

 When the West wind blows o'er thee,

 departed spirits restless be.

 

Nine woods in the Cauldron go,

 burn them quick a' burn them slow.

Elder be ye Lady's tree;

 burn it not or cursed ye'll be.

 When the Wheel begins to turn,

 let the Beltane fires burn.

 When the Wheel has turned at Yule,

 light the log and let Pan rule.

 

Heed ye flower bush and tree,

 by the Lady Bless'd Be.

 Where the rippling waters go

 cast a stone and truth ye'll know.

 When find that ye have need,

 hearken not to others' greed.

 With the fool no season spend

 or be counted as his friend.

 

Merry meet and merry part,

 bright the cheeks and warm the heart.

 Mind the Threefold Law ye should,

 three times bad and three times good.

 When misfortune is enow,

 wear the Blue Star on thy brow.

 True in love ever be

 unless thy lover's false to thee.

 Eight words ye Wiccan Rede fulfill:

 An' it harm none, do what ye will.

 

reblogged

-The Crafty Witch