Find your inner child through art

Artist Cilla Conway is running her first workshop of the year on Saturday 15 March.

Art from the Soul: Return of the Child will focus on how to rediscover the purity of vision we had as children to help us express ourselves without self-criticism.

The loss of the child's simplicity and directness is a natural part of growing up - around the age of 8 the left brain kicks in and we learn to compare and analyse.

This workshop will help us unlearn these entrenched ways of thinking and developed an awareness that is like meditation but is at the same time active and purposeful -the paradox of creativity.

Art from the Soul: Return of the Child
Date: Saturday 15 March 2008
Time: 11am -6pm
Venue: Sutton, Surrey
Cost: £60 (concessions available for the unwaged)
Materials: bring your own art materials (acrylic paint, pastels, charcoal etc). Materials are available on the day for £5 extra.
To book: telephone 07949 766634 or email cillaconway@gmail.com

Fairy Tales: Good Fairies and the Spider's Bride

I’ve just finished reading two very different fairy stories. They are both novels, written for adults, with plots that involve the interaction of humans and fairy folk. They are both good. Apart from that, however, they are almost exact opposites.

The Good Fairies of New York,by Martin Millar, had been sitting on my shelf untouched for years before I finally started it a couple of weeks ago. I’m not quite sure why I waited so long, because I very much enjoyed his earlier novel, Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation, and I’m usually happy to read anything about fairies.

The Spider's Brideis the first novel by Debbie Gallagher, who I know and respect highly. Her book came out last year but I only recently managed to track down a shop that had it in stock. As soon as I got a copy, I started reading it.

I said the two books were opposites and I meant that in the manner of summer and winter, or day and night; which is quite appropriate for fairies, really.

The Good Fairies of New York is set in modern-day America. It starts when Morag and Heather, two young 18-inch high Scottish fairies with hangovers and a liking for punk music fly through the window of the worst violinist in New York and vomit on his carpet. Lost and with no way of returning home, they decide to stay and help out the violinist, his neighbour and other people in the city. They mean well, but have an unerring gift for causing havoc wherever they go.

What I like about this book is that as well as being a delightful tale about fairies it is also social comment. The cast of human characters are drunks, the unemployed, the insane and the chronically ill. The book shows their daily struggle against poverty, unemployment, homelessness and death – but it is also about their dreams, loves, hopes and ambitions. The Good Fairies of New York sounds like it should be grim, but instead it is a joyful midsummer romp with a feel-good happy ending.

The Spider’s Bride, on the other hand, is a midwinter tale of treachery, cruelty and sacrifice. When a woman picks up a severed finger that has been left on her doorstep, she has no idea that it is a fairy gift, which binds her to the Prince of Spiders as Bride and blood offering to the land. The story follows the machinations of the unseelie court as its courtiers vie for power, with the Bride a helpless pawn until she can learn enough of fairy magic and politics to make her own destiny.

What I particularly enjoyed about The Spider’s Bride is the way it brings to life the fairy world depicted in the paintings by Richard Dadd. “They stared at me, the beaked and cat-eyed, feathered and scaled, the winged and the webbed and the hooved: and some were people and some were flowers and some were insects or beasts or toys…”

Richard Dadd – artist, madman and patricide – is one of the protagonists of the tale as well as being a genuine historical person. In The Spider's Bride he is another human servant in the unseelie court, prized for his artistic genius and his iron axe, whose fate is intertwined with that of the Bride. I won’t tell you if this story has a happy ending or otherwise.

The Good Fairies of New York and The Spider’s Bride are both brilliant novels. If you haven’t read them already, put them on your wish list now.

Links
The Good Fairies of New York: With an introduction by Neil Gaiman
The Spider's Bride

Talk tonight

At The Moot With No Name tonight, Mark Pointer will be giving a talk entitled Of Heaven, Hell and the Seven-Headed Serpent.

He will be looking at Mesopotamian and ancient Iranian religions and their influence on Judaeo-Christianity. He will also be considering the symbolism of the Seven-Headed Serpent, which appears in many religions.

The Moot with No Name meets on February 27 at 7.30pm. Entry is £2.

The Devereux is at 20 Devereux Court, off Essex St, London WC2. For a map of how to get there visit: www.multimap.com/maps/?&hloc=GBWC2R%203JJ

Material things

My laptop died on Sunday evening. I left it with a repair firm yesterday in the hope they could fix it and I have borrowed an old computer from a friend so I can write A Bad Witch's Blog, but I must say I am feeling upset.

It is more than the inconvenience and expense involved; I feel sad that I may have to say goodbye to something I felt attached to. My laptop was not just a tool, it was possibly my most valued possession - using someone else's computer isn't quite the same.

Giving up attachment to material things is one of those areas of spiritual development in which I admit I have a long way to go. It isn't as though Wicca teaches that it is necessary to transcend such things - that is more a Buddhist belief, I understand. However, I do believe that objects should be less important to us than, say, our friends and family. If I sulk and give my husband a hard time because my computer is busted, I would say my priorities are wrong :)

A few years ago, at a Glastonbury festival, a thief raided my tent and stole what at the time was my favourite item of clothing - a pair of purple-dyed combat trousers. I had found them at a charity shop, they fitted me perfectly and looked very unusual. I had never seen a pair quite like them before and never have since.

I expect whoever took them hoped there was money in the pockets, although there wasn't. I had known better than to leave cash or credit cards in my tent. I felt gutted. I was almost on the verge of packing up the rest of my stuff and going home.

In the hope the thief had abandoned the trousers after searching the pockets, I went along to the lost property tent and got talking to a man in the queue. I explained my loss and how upset I felt. He said: "It isn't that bad. You've got your arms, legs, eyes and ears. What more do you need to enjoy a music festival?"

He was right and when he said it I suddenly felt a great weight of anger and misery had lifted from my shoulders. I could almost say I had experienced a moment of epiphany - the realisation that material things might be nice, but they aren't as important as we often think they are.

I didn't totally give up looking for my trousers - or a replacement - but I did really enjoy the rest of Glastonbury.

So, if my computer can't be fixed, I will try to remember that lesson. Things are nice, but it is a mistake to get too attached to them.

However, if you see a pair of purple-dyed combat trousers anywhere, do let me know :)

Events this week at Treadwell's

26 February: Hecate Tango, One-Woman Storytelling Show
"How do you cure an addiction to sex? Tango? Travel? How do you crack your soul’s PIN code? Hecate has the answers. She was chucked off Mount Olympus for refusing to hail Zeus as the one and only. Now she sits in outer space doing cosmic sudoku on our behalf.”
Award-winning storyteller Xanthe Gresham brings the Goddess experience to life in today’s world. This is the third of three shows with Xanthe Gresham at Treadwell’s. 7.15pm for 7.30pm start. £8.

27 February: A Swish Bish with the Boys - Scandal, Sex and Spirituality in the life of CW Leadbeater
Charles Webster Leadbeater, an influential occultists of the 20th century, was sometimes called a “living saint”, but he was also accused of being a charlatan and having sex with his boy-pupils. Magician and author Phil Hine will examine the scandals of Leadbeater’s career and occult theories of sexuality.This lecture is held as part of LGBT History Month, focusing on the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/ 7.15pm for 7.30pm start. £5.

29 February Archaeologies of Consciousness – Essays in Experimental Prehistory
This is a book launch and panel discussion by Gyrus and friends. Besides editing and publishing Towards 2012 and Dreamflesh Journal, Gyrus has been writing about sacred sites, prehistory, altered states and shamanism for more than a decade. His first collection of essays has just been published, covering English landscape goddesses, academic research and magical engagement with sites. From 7pm. Free, but booking is necessary.

Treadwell's Bookshop is at 34 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. Tel: 020 7240 8906. Web: www.treadwells-london.com/lectures.asp

If you know of any pagan events that you would like mentioned on A Bad Witch's Blog, email me at badwitch1234@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Persecution

Usually, I am proud to live in a country that respects people's rights to hold their own opinions and to practice in peace whatever religion they choose without the risk of losing their livelihood or suffering persecution.

And, usually, the Christians I meet are pleasant and friendly and hold the view that people should try to get on with their neighbours and not be the first to throw stones.

So, when I read about a Wiccan shop in Crewe that is being driven out of business due to harassement by fundamental Christians I feel very sad.

Sarah, who owns Lunacy at Sarah's, in Market Street, Crewe, told me that her shop has been repeatedly targeted by fundamental Christians over the past year.

She said: "A bible was left by our back door, with a passage marked about 'thou shalt not worship false gods'. We also had a booklet through the letterbox saying our souls are in danger and while I was in hospital last august my business partners had people from a church putting literature inside our pagan and Wiccan books that are for sale. Because of this, we are closing."

Those targeting the shop have not given their names or said which Christian church they represent, so cannot be contacted to comment.

Lunacy At Sarah's is at 6 Market Street, Crewe, Cheshire CW1 2EG. Tel: 07907 807850.

Eulogy for a fallen tree

Yesterday, I watched workmen fell a tree in the garden of my local pub.

The pub is being refurbished. It has been closed since Christmas and, as I pass it most days, I have seen the work progress with interest. I am certainly been looking forward to it reopening later this spring.

They have done a lovely job to the interior and have now turned to the garden but the hacking down of a large, mature tree took me by surprise and upset me.

I guess I am a tree-hugging hippy at heart, but the ones that grow in my neighbourhood are familiar faces to me. Every year I watch the leaves bud in the spring and turn gold in the autumn. I know the shapes of their trunks and boughs; some majestic, some creepy, some humorous. They are my friends and I silently say hello to them as I walk through the park or down a tree-lined street.

This particular tree was one of the funny ones. It looked like a giant pair of upside-down legs and buttocks sticking out of the ground. I liked it because it made me giggle. Now it is gone. I hadn't even photographed it to record it for posterity - although I had intended to.

In the morning, the workmen took a chainsaw to it. The raw stump was all that was left in the ground as I walked by. By the time I returned, much later in the day, even that had gone. The hole had been filled and a pristine new wall ran across the spot it had once stood.

I felt a great sense of loss.

I also believe that people shouldn't be allowed to hack down mature trees without a good reason. Trees help keep the air in our cities breathable. They are a necessity.

Sometimes one becomes diseased and needs to be removed before it crashes down and kills someone, but shedding leaves on someone's 4x4 or blocking a little sunlight from a garden is hardly a capital offence, in my opinion. At the very least people should be required to plant a new tree for every mature one they cut down.

I am still looking forward to my local pub reopening but, when I sit in its garden this summer, I will still be mourning the loss of a tree that made me laugh.

The power of the moon

It was a beautiful misty twilight yesterday. I watched the sky turn from pale blue to deep Prussian, the full moon low and dominating the city skyline, as I travelled on the commuter train home.

It seemed to me it had taken on a reddish hue long ahead of the lunar eclipse that was due later last night. I stared out of the train window, mesmerised by its beauty. My fellow passengers no doubt gave me strange looks as I craned my head to keep the moon in my sight and, finally, got out my camera to try to capture it.

Photographing the moon from a moving train is not easy. I eventually took a picture of it from the bridge over the station where I alighted, but it doesn't do it justice.

I read in my horoscope that the lunar eclipse would inspire me to creativity. Perhaps it did. I am certainly now determined to get myself a new camera to better capture scenes that awe me with their beauty.

With work again the next day, I didn't feel I could stay up until 3.26am to see the full lunar eclipse, but I did set my alarm clock. The sky was cloudy by then and I couldn't see the eclipse at all, but the night did feel strange and magical. I lay awake for quite a while, remembering things that had long ago passed and feelings that were buried deep. Perhaps that was the power of the eclipse, or perhaps just the kind of thing one thinks about in the dark time before dawn.

Blood Moon

Tonight there will be a full lunar eclipse and it will be visible from the UK.

The eclipse will start in the early hours of 21 February at 00:34 GMT and end at 06:17 but the most exciting part - the total eclipse - will last nearly an hour between 03:00 and 03:51.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are on opposite sides of the Earth. The Earth casts a shadow over the moon, making it turn red and giving it the name Blood Moon. A eclipse only happens when the moon is full.

The time of the full moon is traditionally when witches are supposed to gather to cast their magic, but what should they be getting up to when there is an eclipse?

Opinion varies.

Some people say that the eclipse heightens the moon's natural feminine energy and that its red hue is a symbol for menstrual blood, meaning it is a good time for female rites and initiations. Some also believe the wisdom of the dark mother can be called upon to help solve mysteries or to reveal secrets. It is a time when emotions run deep and profound life changes can take place.

On the other hand, others say that the sun has taken its light away from the moon and so lessens its power. And, of course, there are those who view any strange goings-on in the sky with foreboding and look upon a blood red moon as an omen of doom and disaster.

When it comes to magic, I am of the opinion that one should do what feels right - so long as you harm none, of course :)

At the very least you should make a point of staying up late or set your alarm clock for 3am and watch this rare celestial event in all its glory.

For more information, follow these links:
www.nmm.ac.uk/rog/2008/02/eclipses_in_february_2008.html
www.hermit.org/Eclipse/2008-02-21/

www.astro-sphere.co.uk/EclipseChronology.htm
www.astralaspects.biz/shopscr705.html

www.mysticminds.co.uk/magickMoon.php

www.astrology.co.uk/news/LunarEclipse.htm

www.flamesfirepit.org/CelebRituals/harvest_moon_eclipse.html

The blood moon picture was supplied by: www.freefoto.com/

Fox tales

Yesterday, I saw a fox in my garden. Urban foxes are not an uncommon sight these days and back in November one was regularly using a pile of leaves by my back fence as a bed.

I wrote in my blog that I was worried about the fox. Its tail was bare of fur and its rump looked sore.

The fox I saw yesterday was fine and healthy but, checking this picture against the photograph I took in November, it is clear they are not the same animal.

As pleasant as it is to see this wild creature in my garden, I am still worried about the former resident of my leaf pile.

Scientology and the occult

The Church of Scientology comes under scrutiny tomorrow evening at The Devereux pub in London.


An ex-Scientologist will be discussing his own experience of this controversial organisation and talking about L Ron Hubbard's involvement in an occult group connected to Aleister Crowley before he developed Scientology.

The talk is on Wednesday 20th February and starts at 8.30pm, upstairs at the Devereux pub, 20 Devereux Court, off Essex St, London WC2. The doors open at 7.30pm. Ticket price £2. The talk is organised by The Secret Chiefs, London’s longest-running pagan talks forum.

Links:
www.pflondon.org/html/secret_chiefs.html

Witches Broom

A friend emailed me this picture of a tree at with a growth known as witches broom, which she took last weekend .

Witches broom is a disease or deformity that sometimes occurs in trees, where the natural structure of the plant is changed. A dense mass of shoots grows from a single point, resulting in something that looks like a birds nest or, if the shoots grow straight, like a broom.

It can be caused by a fungal parasite or poor pruning and can persist for several years, but is rarely harmful to the tree.

In the UK, witches broom is most often found in birch trees - the same type of tree used to make besom brooms, or traditional witches' brooms.

Magically, witches broom is supposed to multiply the attributes of whatever tree it forms on. On a birch tree, it would be a symbol of fertility.

If you have any more information about the effects of witches broom on trees or its magical use, leave a comment below.

For more information:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3700261
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch%27s_broom
http://www.kent-treecare.co.uk/modules.php?name=5_Reasons

Magical Festival

The Magical Festival 2008 takes place at The Landmark Centre in Deal next weekend.

With guests including Gail Duff, author of of the Wiccan Year, belly dancer Electra and musician Tony King, it will a great chance to hear music, storytelling and talks, watch dance performances and enjoy tarot readings and complementary therapies. There will also be stalls selling everything from jewellery to books. The closing ceremony will be a spring ritual dedicated to Brigit.

The Magical Festival is on 24 February at The Landmark Centre, High Street, Deal, Kent CT14 6BB. Tickets are available on the door and tickets cost £2.50 for aduts with under-12s getting in for free.

For more details, visit: www.magicalfestivals.co.uk

William Blake in London: A Green and Pleasant Land

The day before yesterday was, I read in the paper, the hottest February 13 on record.

I'm not surprised. I spent my lunchtime on Wednesday sitting in a lovely enclosed garden a short walk from where I work.

The garden is a peaceful haven amid the office blocks and busy city streets but it was the first time this year it has been warm enough to sit there for more than few minutes without wearing my gloves and turning up my collar against the cold. The sun was out, one tree was thick with white blossoms and others were sprouting tiny green buds. Birds chirruped among the crocuses. It was hard to make myself return to the office and I thought how perfect it would be if it was like that on Valentine's Day.

Except that it wasn't.

February 14 was overcast and bitterly cold. More like a normal February day, in fact. So, instead of spending my lunch hour sitting in a lovely spring garden I went for a walk.

I had thought of engaging in some Valentine's Day retail therapy but, for some reason, my feet lead me instead to Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.

You might think a cemetery is a strange place to go on Valentine's Day, and I admit I felt I was giving in to my inner goth when I walked through the wrought iron gates, but I don't regret it at all.

Bunhill Fields has been a burial ground for more than a thousand years and the name is derived from 'Bone Hill'. It was designated as a public open space in an 1867 Act of Parliament and, as a leaflet I picked up says, "The four hectares of Bunhill Fields are an oasis of calm and greenery in a busy, congested locality just north of the City of London's Square Mile."

It was the perfect antidote to the commercialised festival of love that is February 14 in our modern world - the tawdry pink tat in every shop window, the flower sellers hawking hothouse roses for £30 a bunch on street corners and the newspaper adverts telling us how we still aren't too late to book up an expensive evening for ourselves and our loved one.

At the centre of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground I came across the gravestone of the artist, poet and visionary William Blake and his wife, Catherine. I hadn't realised it was there at all. When I stopped to photograph it, I saw that people had left offerings - coins, leaves, even a chocolate bar. I felt humbled. In the heart of a bleak and cold part of London people were showing their love for someone who rejected greed and commercialism and who dreamt of an England that was a green and pleasant land.

Bunhill Fields is between City Road and Bunhill Row, London. The nearest stations are Old Street and Moorgate.

Visit: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/corporation/living_environment/open_spaces/

Fancy a shag...?

...Or maybe a cormorant?

The fashion for celebrating Valen­tine's Day as a time to reveal feelings of love began in medieval Europe because at that time February 14 was believed to be the date birds selected their life mates.

I saw this seabird displaying his ardour to a pair of females last weekend. I rushed to get my camera, but was too late. By the time I took this picture the ladies had swum off and the male was left on his own looking a bit sorry for himself.

Perhaps he'll get luckier this Valentine's Day.

For more information:

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/valentine.htm
www.mystical-www.co.uk/animal/birds.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shag_%28bird%29

Valentine's Day: Sex and sacrifice

Valentine's Day might now be a time to send your partner a soppy card and take them out for an overpriced meal, but the pagan origins of the festival of love are far more visceral.

In ancient Rome, a fertil­ity festival called Lupercalia was celebrated on February 15. It was dedicated to the twin-founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, who were raised by wolves, according to legend.

By modern standards, Lupercalia was a bloodthirsty event. Crowds would gather to watch a goat being sacrificed. The officiating priest would then rub blood from the knife on to the fore­heads of two young people and cut strips of hide from the sacrificed animal. These were called Februa (a derivative of the word February). The youths would run though the streets whipping women with the bloody strips and daubing them with gore. It was believed this would increase fertility.

In the evening, names would be drawn from an urn and the selected couples paired off as lovers. The Romans did enjoy an excuse for an orgy.

In 496 AD, the Christian church replaced Lupercalia with the Festival of St Valentine. St Valentine had the reputation of being a friend to sweethearts by performing secret Christian marriages in Rome at a time when weddings had been forbidden by Emperor Claudius II. Claudius II believed marriage prevented men from being good soldiers. Upon hearing of Valentine's defiance, he had him put to death.

St Valentine was eventually removed from the Christian calendar in 1969 but the celebration of Valentine's Day had already long been distanced from Christian overtones.

One of the earliest forerunners of the modern Valentine card was written by a French­man, Charles, Duke of Orleans. Imprisoned in The Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415, he sent poems and rhymed love letters, or Valentines, to his wife.

The first commercial Valentine card appeared around 1800. By the 1830s they contained messages and were highly decorated, often with ribbons and lace. Symbols such as cherubs, cupids, hearts and flowers replaced the Christian icons of the celebration.

For more information on Lupercalia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia

www.manygods.org.uk/articles/essays/lupercalia.html

Legends of London

Tomorrow, The Moot With No Name is hosting a talk on the history and myths of ancient London.

Rob Stephenson, founder of London Earth Mysteries Circle, will be delving into the past of the city, which legend says was inaugurated by the Trojan leader Brutus who built a temple to Diana on the spot that is now St Paul's Cathedral.

The Moot with No Name meets on February 13 and the talk, entitled Capital Myths, starts at 7.30pm. Entry is £2.

The Devereux is at 20 Devereux Court, off Essex St, London WC2. For a map of how to get there visit: www.multimap.com/maps/?&hloc=GBWC2R%203JJ

For more details: www.pflondon.org/html/moot_with_no_name.html

Frosty February

Today began foggy and cold. The early morning commuters were huddled in coats and hats on the way to the station or scraped ice from their car windscreens.

Now, the sun is out and it seems warmer than some days last summer.

More and more buds are appearing too.

This untended corner of my local park has wild flowers in bloom while the long grass and heaps of last autumn's leaves are white with frost.

Astrology for Lovers

A couple of days ago I was given Astrology for Loversby Jonathan Dee, a boxed set containing a little book and a pack of divination cards on the theme of love. I admit I am something of a collector of fortune telling cards - I have far more sets than I need but I am always delighted to get another. This one certainly makes a nice Valentine's gift for a witch.

Astrology for Lovers is not a tarot deck, but a set of cards relating to astrological sun signs, moon signs and predictions based on planetary combinations.

You don't need to know a lot about astrology to use the deck and the first part of the book is a clear and simple introduction to astrology, explaining the significance of the sun, the moon and the planets and their positions in the sky.

The cards are also different from many divination decks in that the words on them are more important than the pictures. Each contains a detailed explanation of what it means, with images to complement the text rather than the other way around. This would be good for those who like a clear and precise explanation of a card rather than trying to remember what a specific card indicates, having to work it out from the picture or look it up in a book.

As the name suggests, Astrology for Lovers is specifically designed to answer questions of the heart. It suggests seven different ways to lay out the cards in order to find the right answer whether you are single and want to know about the eventual partner of your dreams or are in a relationship and would like to know where it is heading.

The last part of the book analyses the romantic compatibility of different sun signs. It tells me the match between myself and my hubby could be made in heaven or could be made in hell. I refuse to comment on that, on the grounds that I may incriminate myself :)

Astrology for Lovers (Book & Cards)is published by Cico Books. You can order it from Amazon.

Feeding wildlife

This morning I hung a bird feeder in my garden. I bought the feeder during the winter and, seeing a bird building a nest this morning, I thought that I really should put it up before too long. Still, I suspect I looked a little silly trying to climb an apple tree before breakfast in my dressing gown and a pair of Crocs.

Birds appreciate extra food in the winter when the trees are bare and in the spring when they are breeding. I hope it will attract some extra wildlife to my garden for me to watch and photograph.

Unfortunately, I expect my cats will appreciate it too.

The trousers of change

It being Chinese New Year I decided to learn a bit about the I Ching, otherwise known as The Book of Changes, so I took down something I've had on my shelf for some time, but never previously read called Introduction To The I Ching by Tom Riseman.

It is a slim volume with a short introduction describing how you use the I Ching and then 90 or so pages describing what each of the hexagrams means.

The I Ching is an ancient system for divination with its roots in Taoism. The idea behind it is that change is a constant force. To understand a given situation, it is necessary to understand the forces of change at work, otherwise known as the complementary yet antagonistic principles of Yin and Yang.

To use the I Ching you throw three coins (or, traditionally, yarrow stalks). Heads are Yang and have the value three; tails are Yin and have the value two. You throw them six times, adding the numbers each time. Six is old Yin, seven is young Yang, eight is old Yang, nine is young Yin. You draw a line to represent each number and the set of lines drawn is called a hexagram.

Then, you look up the hexagram and can read its meaning. You are supposed to carefully think of a question before throwing the coins. I must admit, I didn't. The hexagram I got was Ku or Reparation of the Spoiled. It meant destruction was imminent but hard work can correct it.

At that moment, the button popped off my waistband. I guess, without realising it, I must have just done a reading for my trousers.

Later, I foretell, I will put away the I Ching and I get the sewing box out.

Chinese New Year

7 February 2008 is the Chinese New Year and the start of the Year of the Rat. It is supposed to be good for business endeavours. Considering how awful last year was, with the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the run on Northern Rock and pundits talking about recession, I would say businesses need all the good fortune they can get.

Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, is the main annual Chinese festival and it is not a religious event. The Chinese calendar has a cycle of twelve years named after animals, much like the signs of the zodiac. The New Year always falls at a new moon.

In China, people clean their houses in the run-up to the New Year, to sweep out bad luck. New Year's Eve marks the start of the celebration and families usually have a special meal. On New Year's Day, people give presents of money to their children. They are handed out in red packets, called Hong Bao. It is a day of goodwill and visiting friends and neighbours. The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns with singing, dancing and lantern shows.

If you are in London, you can watch the lighting up of Chinese lanterns at Oxford Circus tonight, 6 February.

This Sunday, 10 February, central London will be holding a Chinese festival, starting with a parade from the Strand to Shaftesbury Avenue at 11am. In Trafalgar Square from noon until 6pm there will dragon and lion dances and performances of traditional and contemporary Chinese arts. There will also be stalls, shops and other entertainment throughout the day in Chinatown and, after dark, you can watch fireworks in Leicester Square.

I am looking forward to the Year of the Rat. Being born in a Year of the Rat myself, I am hoping for a year of opportunities and good prospects. However, I'm not going to tell you exactly which Year of the Rat I was born in - a witch does not reveal her age :)

For further information about Chinese New Year follow these links:
www.topmarks.co.uk/ChineseNewYear/ChineseNewYear.aspx
www.chinese.new-year.co.uk/history.htm

To find out more about the Year of the Rat, visit : www.paranormality.com/rat.shtml

For details of events in London, visit www.london.gov.uk/mayor/chinese_ny/index.jsp
www.london.gov.uk/mayor/culture/china/index.jsp

Pancake Day

Today is Shrove Tuesday, what we call Pancake Day in England. In other countries it is Carnival or Mardi Gras. Whether you are eating up the last of the sugar and butter or getting dressed up for a masked ball, it is a day for having a party before the austerities of Lent.

Lent, of course, is a Christian tradition, a time of abstinence before Easter, and you might wonder why a pagan is mentioning it. Well, I am happy to honour pretty much anyone's god if it means a party. I am also partial to pancakes.

If you look hard, you can find some links to paganism within traditional Shrove Tuesday events. Someone pointed out to me that the round, golden pancake is a solar symbol and may once have been made in honour of Apollo, the sun god. Mardi Gras and Carnival may hark back to Roman Saturnalia, which was also a time for dressing up and putting on disguises.

In England, the Alnwick Shrovetide football match, at Alnwick in Northumberland, possibly dates back to pre-Christian times. It is played between the residents of the two parishes of Alnwick in the pastures below Alnwick Castle. Hundreds of people take part in this free-for-all scrum with few rules except to get the ball away from the opposing side. Gory legend has it that in ancient times this was played using a human head for a ball.

Here are links for more information on Shrove Tuesday traditions:

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/curious/calendar.htm
www.cardfountain.com/holiday_info/carnival.php

Here is a basic pancake recipe: www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/basilpancakswithsuga_66226.shtml

The pancake picture was supplied by: www.freefoto.com/

Blue skies

Yesterday, there was beautiful turquoise dusk sky at around 5.30pm. The days are definitely getting longer.

I love this time of year. January is over, crocuses and snowdrops are out and there is the rest of the spring to look forward to.

A spring evening can make even an ordinary urban landscape seem like a place of magic. I felt I had to stop and take this picture.

This week's talks and events

Tuesday 5 February: Egyptians Meet their Gods in This Life and the Hereafter

Joyce Filer, a lecturer at the British Museum, will be talking about religious practice and belief in ancient Egypt. Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. Tel: 020 7240 8906. Web: www.treadwells-london.com/lectures.asp 7.15pm for 7.30pm start. Tickets £5. Admittance by ticket only. This is likely to sell out quickly.

Wednesday 6 February: Black Ravens and Green Dragons

An introduction to alchemical symbolism by Paul Cowlan. Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. Tel: 020 7240 8906. Web: www.treadwells-london.com/lectures.asp 7.15pm for 7.30pm start. Tickets £5. Admittance by ticket only. This is likely to sell out quickly.

Wednesday 6 February: The Bard: Creating Gods for Fun and Profit
Tony Lee, a magical practitioner and comic writer, talks about his work. Upstairs at the Devereux pub, 20 Devereux Court, off Essex St, London WC2. Web: www.pflondon.org/html/secret_chiefs.html Ticket price £2, no need to book in advance. The doors open at 7.30pm. The talk is organised by The Secret Chiefs, London’s longest-running pagan talks forum.

If you know of any pagan events that you wiould like mentioned on A Bad Witch's Blog, email me at badwitch1234@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Imbolc: Celebrating the start of spring

February 2 is Imbolc - the festival celebrating the start of spring, half way between mid winter and the spring equinox.

In 2008 it falls on a Saturday, which is great news for pagans with jobs as it means we have more time to do something to celebrate. Wouldn't it be great if the main pagan festivals were national holidays?

Brigit is the Celtic goddess associated with Imbolc. Her shrine at Kildare, in Ireland, had a perpetual flame and a sacred well that were tended by priestesses. In Christian times this became a nunnery and the goddess became Christianised as Saint Brigid.

Traditionally, people would take part in well dressing ceremonies at the start of spring. This involved decorating holy wells with a few petals from early flowers and tying clooties - strips of cloth - to the branches of trees close to the water. Brigit is the goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft, so it would be appropriate to ask for help with an ailment, a creative endeavour or a work project for the coming year.

As Brigit is associated with both fire and water, a lovely and easy way of celebrating Imbolc would be to do some candle magic, perhaps using a floating candle. I wrote about how to do candle magic on November 13 last year. To see it, click on this link: www.badwitch.co.uk/2007/11/candle-magic.html

Another suitable thing to do would be to buy a bird bath and place it in your garden under a tree. You could then write a wish on a strip of cloth and tie it to the tree as a clootie. The rain should soon fill the bird bath and encourage wildlife to your garden later in the year if we get a dry summer.

Here are some links to other Imbolc rituals:
www.seventrees.co.uk/Imbolc%20Dedication.htm
www.paganpath.co.uk/spells_rituals3a.htm
www.btinternet.com/~boadacia/imbolc.htm