Lammas Altars To Share

Here is a smattering of Lammas/Lughnassadh Altars for you to check out and get ideas and inspiration from. I haven't yet had the time to create my own Altar for this year, but when I do, I will be sure to photograph and share it with you all here. Actually, I may just slice an hour or two of time for that this afternoon.

Unfortunately, the photos of some of my Altars from the past several years, are still locked away on my old computer, so I am only now in the process of rebuilding my stock of personal Altar photos. So these that I share with you now are not my own creations, but were gathered instead from the awesome store of images available online.

I love the diversity of these Altars. They really show that this can be as simple or elaborate of an offering as you wish. Anything from a grouping of Late Summer Vegetables and Wildflowers, to a full scale Ritual Offering is appropriate.

Some years I have had an entire table display, others, a simple tray display or a bouquet of Wildflowers. Let your imagination and heart lead you; rather than the directions in some book. Let this be an act of playful worship. There is no right or wrong way, (unless you belong to a Coven or Tradition with specific correspondences- but even then, most allow for personal freedom in the celebration of the Sabbats.)

I hope that these inspire you to create your own special Sabbat Altars. ~Enjoy!

My Own Creation Story

In the beginning was the swirling blackness of The Void. All was pure potential. Only I, The Creator of All Life existed.

I was whole unto Myself, yet I craved company. Something deep withing Me yearned to create. So I reached into Myself and drew upon that yearning; and from that deep longing I created The Heavens.
I called The Heavens, "The Above". This established the first Direction. Naturally, from "The Above, came "The Below". This was all part of the unfolding Universe, that I named, "The Heavens".

I sprinkled Stars in the Heavens, and Planets; and even a great fire, called "The Sun" for the Planets to orbit around. For each of the Planets I created Moons to orbit around the Planets themselves.

I put the Moons there to reflect the light of the Sun into the Night Sky. This reflection would wax and wane depending upon how much or how little the Planet blocked the light of the Sun. This was an expression of the cycle of growth felt unfolding within me.

I saw that the Heavens were good, and felt pride swell up within Me. From that pride came my next creation, The Earth; the very First Element. The Earth had form, and that form was stability. I populate the Earth with rocks, dirt, minerals and crystals. Each of these ad their own power and name.

I built upon that initial feeling of pride that I had felt first from the creation of the Heavens, and now from the Earth. I molded and twisted that pride until it had a form that pleased Me. That form became the mountains and valleys and plains of the Earth. I poked and played with it.

In fact, it is something that I enjoyed so immensely, that I continue to reshape the surface of the Earth to this very day. Sometimes I get frustrated when my Earth sculpture isn't turning out the way I intended. That is when I like to 'shake things up' and start over again. (I think you Humans call that an "Earth quake"; but I am getting ahead of Myself here.)

The form that I had created inspired Me; and from that inspiration, I filled the earth with Water, and that Water became the Second Element. When I first felt the coolness of the Water, I experienced refreshment, and yearned to create again.

The swirling of the Waters gave me an idea; and from that idea came a thought. From that first thought, came the Element of Air. The Air pleased Me greatly.

I was so inspired, pleased and refreshed, that a new feeling came upon Me. From the combination of these feelings, and from the interaction of the first 3 Elements..a new feeling burst forth- Love.

From this swelling love that I felt for My creations a Fire began to burn deep within Me; and I placed that Fire in the center of the Earth. This Fire began to erupt from the peaks of the mountains I had created, and poured down them in rivers of lava.

I observed My creations, The Heavens, The Above, and The Below, The Earth, Air, Water and Fire, (which became the Four Elements and also the expression of the Four Directions); and I was overjoyed with the cleverness of My creations.

But as I observed all of these Elements, it dawned on Me that they were still empty, for there was no one but Me to witness and enjoy them. This is when I realized that creation without Spirit is empty. Happiness, without someone to share it with is empty; as is inspiration without someone to share your creations. Even refreshment is better when one can be hospitable and share it with another. And love...love is the ultimate expression that must be shared. Self Love is important; but only so that one can be strong enough and whole unto themselves to spread that love to others.

From these realizations came the first creatures of the Heavens, the Earth and the Waters. I liked what I was making so much, that I made many different species for all purposes under Heaven and Earth.

I saved My best creations for last. When I had perfected the creation of the Animal Kingdom, I created the Human- first Woman, and then Man. I made Man and Woman in such a way that they needed each other. They were whole unto themselves; but when they worked together,they could reach a higher form of wholeness, true expression of love.

I created them in such a way that they could come together and form a union. From this union of the two, would come a third- their very own creation that springs forth from their expression of love...their Child.

I made Woman in My image, to be the Life Givers and the Healers. I created Man to be the Providers and Protectors of the Women and their offspring- the Children.

I gifted them with Hearts, Minds and a Soul. These people, as I called them were not to be the rulers of this domain, for that is My job alone- they were to be the protectors and the guardians of it. Each Human had its own purpose and reason for being. It was their job to discover that purpose and to bring it to fruition.

I worried that they might abuse their powers- so I gifted them with one final blessing. Deep within their ind, Heart and Soul, I placed a piece of Myself. This bit of Myself is called the Spark of Divinity. This Divinity is a power, such as I , Myself posses. It is the Power of the Gods.

I designed it in such a way, that only by developing all three of these gifts, the Mind, Heart and Soul; could one gain access to their final gift- their Spark of Divinity. I knew that only those Humans who had fully developed each of their gifts, and found the balance, would be wise enough to harness this great power.

I realized that it would be impossible for the Humans to develop these gifts completely within one Earthly lifetime; so I created a pattern of evolution of lifetimes, called Reincarnation. So that throughout a series of lifetimes, the Humans could gain enough Experience, Knowledge, Wisdom and Love, that one day they would be strong enough, and responsible enough to discover and use this Divinity that hides within each of them.

Only then would they become strong enough to wield this Great Power of Divinity themselves. Then the Humans would evolve, leave their Earthly bodies and Physical Plane; and become Gods and Goddesses themselves. Then My Children would join Me in the ruling of this Universe; and in the creation of new ones.
As the Humans began to evolve, I was joined by some of them. These were the best, the brightest, and the most loving of all the souls that I had created. From them, whole Pantheons of Gods emerged, and guided the Humans still living in the Earth Planes.

These Gods acted as examples and inspired the Humans to do good works and to live good lives. They also inspired them to create poetry, and great works of art. They instructed them in ways of protecting the Earth, the heavens and the Waters. They showed them how to use Magickal energy to aid them in the progression of their Souls. They showed them the patterns of the Earth and Heavens; and taught them the Myths that would act as maps to guide them. They divulged the secrets of Science and Medicine, so that the Humans could help each other. They instructed them to build great Temples on sacred land. These Temples would be repositories of Divine Energy for the Humans to draw upon for the good of themselves.

I now am a very old Goddess, and the Universe I have created is nearly as old as Me. I am quite pleased with My creations, and I have incredible love for each of them. I stay connected to every one of my creations through the Spark of Divinity- that piece of Myself, that I placed within them.

However I have become troubled and saddened by some of My Human creations. For, while I knew that not all of them would feel and search for their Divinity; it seems that over the eons, that less and less of them are feeling their connection to Me the Earth, and to each other. It seems that they have been deceived by others who have told them that I do not exist; and worse- that there is no purpose fr them here.

These people think that they are here as rulers, instead of guardians. They worship Power Greed and make War amongst each other. They desecrate their sacred lands. They abuse themselves and the precious resources that I have placed here for all to enjoy. They hurt the land, the animals and each other. They cannot feel the presence of their Spirit, or Myself that tries to guide them Home.

So recently, I have sent a new breed of Human Incarnates to the Earth. These are the Lightworkers, or Indigo & Crystal Children, as you call them. I have been sending them for the last 60 years, in order to balance the increasing negative souls. I hope that these Lightworkers can sway these misguided Humans, and can turn the tide.

For this is my last cycle of creation for this Earth. As with all things that expand, they too must contract. It is now time for that contraction; this calling Home of the Souls, so that I can ready Myself for My next cycle of Creation.

I have decided that there will be no new groups of Human incarnates. The Crystal Children, the products of the Indigo Children are the last ones. This Planet has become sick and unsustainable- the only chance for the Humans who are left here is to evolve. To leave their Physical Form and to join Me in the Heavens.

Only those Souls who are left here in their current incarnations will have this opportunity. It is their special purpose to bring the Spirit of Divinity back to the Earth, and to help the remaining Humans find it within themselves. Those who succeed will evolve and join the others who are in Spirit Form. Those who fail will be left.

In the end, I will take back what is Mine, and start from scratch with a new creation somewhere else. Those who are left here will be destroyed and reabsorbed along with all life on this Earth.

Oh- I may leave the Planet itself- but the people will not be present or welcome upon it. I have been sickened by what these Humans have done to each other and to My Earth; and I do not wish to see it continue.

I too have grown and evolved- I think I may have a better plan for the next Worlds. I am older, and wiser, and have learned from My mistakes as well. Who knows what or where I will create next?

Catchin' Up With Crafty Chick & Gaia Art To Share

Hey There Blog Friends~

Summertime is in full swing for us now, and my scarcity of blog posts is evidence of that! We've been busy with the usual Summertime activities, and play dates; along with some Birthday Festivities this last week for my son J.D.

Little Man turned 6 on Monday, July 13th. While he will be having his big Birthday Party in 2 weeks; Mom had to come up with something special for him for the actual day of his Birthday- you know how it is.

So I got busy with some surprises. He opened his sleepy little eyes to a mini pile of presents, amidst a grouping of photos of him as a baby, and through the years, along with his Birthday cards.

Then, alongside of his breakfast, I served the kids a treat of powdered donut gems, with a candle in his, and the obligatory Birthday song.

After I had sufficiently pried my eyes open with enough iced coffee, we were off to the Lagoon for a little Birthday Beach BBQ with sun, fun and friends...add cake, root beer floats and SpongeBob SquarePants for a memorable day!

What turned out really cool, was that I knew it was my girlfriend's daughters B-Day too. So, in the morning I rustled through my Birthday Bag of Tricks From Parties Past, and found an extra number 6 candle, and some Little Mermaid cake toppers to add on the SpongeBob Beach cake. That way she could feel special too.

So that turned out nice, and the favor got reciprocated, when later that night my friend took along my kids to their Chuck E Cheese Party, and included my son as another Birthday Kid.

Yay for Team Mom! Our kids had stellar Birthdays, and we got Mama Brownie Points redeemable for guilt trips and extra kisses galor!

We have had some other fun as well. A few projects here, and outings there. I have one to share with you all now, and some for later. The one I want to share today is our family's Gaia Altar Project,

I'm sure I have already mentioned it, but I finally have the picture to go with it, and a bit of time to write the post. I just wrote up my Gaia Paper, made the meal, the pictures from the projects, and turned it all in for my grade. So although I shared the first part of it back in April, (the correspondence and Gaia's myth) I will follow it up with the project now.

I am also throwing in these extra photos of some Gaia art and sculptures, because they are just so beautiful, and I didn't have them all yet when I wrote the first Gaia post.

I've been having so much fun with my studies. I wrote the 6 Paths Papers for my school. 2 each on Stregheria, Louisiana Voodoo and Asatru; and I got a 100% on all of them! Yay Me!

I also just finished a few of my Goddess Papers and Projects as well. So far I have done Gaia, Yemaya and Spider Woman for my Goddess Project Class. Isis is next.

Then for my Greek and Roman Goddess Class I have done Flora, Maia, Doris, Juno and am now working on Cybele. This has been really great for me, because several of these Goddesses are ones that I love and have been working with for years. So getting to study and work with them more in depth has been a special treat.

I have so much that I want to share with you all here, but for some reason, every time I try to cut & paste my work into Blogger, it shuts off and restarts, and wont let me do it. What is weird is I haven't always had this problem- so if any of you computer savvy Folks out there know what I might be doing wrong, please share; because I have a slew of work of share with you, and I really don't want to have to retype it all!

Okay Guys, thats about it for this post- and I will be following this up with my Gaia Projct post, so be sure to sheck for that one as well. I hope you all are having a nice summer too, and I will be sure to try to get back over here more often. With all of this school work, I sure do miss out on my Blogging time! But, alas- there is only so much of me to go around! LOL. Bye Ya'll!

Our Family's Gaia Altar Project

Well, really my Gaia Altar that turned into a Family Project! LOL!
And that is fine by me, because I am always more than happy to find oppourtunities to share my spirituality with my Kids, and make it fun as well! It also helps that my Kiddos are totally into crystals and gemstones; and that my Son enjoys learning about the Goddesses and other countries too. So here is our Gaia Altar Project that we created to go along with my Gaia Paper and the Gaia Meal. (I made a 'Gaia Gazpatcho Soup', with Caesar Salad and 'Gaia's Goodies' Garlic Bread.)

This is the picture of the full Altar. I will try to describe what we used and why.

First, I started with the Green Tablecloth to represent the land, grasses, etc. I laid this on the base of the Altar. For the back, (and to cover the ugly heater vent on the wall!), I used a Blue & White Patchwork Cloth (really a skirt of mine!), to represent the Oceans of the Earth.

At the top, I placed a Cobalt Blue Sun, to honor the Sun's role in making everything grow, and turn green. I also placed up there, 2 Sea Life Collectors Plates. I thought this a fitting begining, since all life is said to have originated in the Ocean. I tucked a few Quartz Crystals and Silk Morning Glory Flowers up there as well.

Then, the real fun began! The Children and I scoured our home for 'Earthy' objects to include in our Altar. We chose Plants, Stones and Animals that represent the Earth to us.

Once we had our objects, I began layering and arranging them on the Altar. Lets see, we used:

~Globes and Earth Balls/Pictures; one is a stuffed globe, an the other 2 are Earth projects that the kids have made at school) They love seeing their art used over and again for my little seasonal 'arrangments'

~Turtles of all sizes and materials, from my Turtle Collection, because Turtles represent the Earth Element, (as well as crawl the Earth carrying their homes on their back!)

~A Rosemary and A Sage Plant, both very Earth oriented herbs

~A Scented Candle with Pressed Flowers inside

~A Mushroom Candle (what is more Earthy than a Muhroom?)

~A tiny Blown Glass Mushroom

~My Jar of Blessed Sea Salt, with a Shell scoop inside

~Little Peices of Bone and Bone Beads

~A Bear Claw

~A Little Nest filled with Tiny Gemstones (most of these tiny stones are from my Children's fledgling crystal collection. They are becoming quite the 'rock hounds'. It is nice to see them takng such an interest in the things that I have loved since I was their age!)

~A Little Abaone Shell filled with Tiny Gemstones.

~A Wooden Pig (after all, pigs live in the dirt and are pretty Earth animals!)

~Sea Shells: Cowry Shells, Abalone, Swirly Shells that I obviously don't know the name of! Ha ha!

~A Mother Angel and 2 Little Praying Lambs: My kids wanted to add these because they represent 'Us'. The Mommy Angel is me, and the 2 Lambs are my 2 Kids, Makayla and Jeremiah- and, as they 'reminded' me , "Mom, we are Children of the Earth too!"...from the mouths of babes!

~Silk Flowers: Morning Glorys and Sun Flowers

~Assorted Seed Pods

~Jeweled Insect Brooches, A Flower Bouquet Brooch and a Jeweled Leaf Brooch that I have from my Great Grandmother's Colection.

The Gemstones and Crystals we used are:

~An assortment of Quartz Crystals

~Geode Slices

~An Adventurine Heart

~A Green Stone Globe (for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of this one!)

~GREEN STONES: Adventurine, Jade, Green Jasper, Moss Agate, Malachite,

~BROWN STONES: Tiger's Eye, An Itty Bitty Tiger's Eye Sphere, Agates

~RED STONES: Carnelian, Garnet, Red Jaspers, Rutilated Jasper

~BLACK STONES: Onyx, Obsidian, Hematite Heart, and Hematite Stones,

~BLUE STONES: Turquoise, Blue Lace Agate, Sodalite,

~YELLOW/ORANGE STONES: Amber, Citrine,

I am sure that there is probably something that I forgot...but you get the idea!

We all had a lot of fun finding all of the goodies to add, talking about what they were made of, what they represented, and finding the 'right' place to put them. It is funny, I had only intended the Gaia Altar to stay up for a few days, maybe a week- but it has been there for over a month now, and is evolving and growing as it goes. We have added fresh flower bouquets, new gemstones as we aqquire them, little beads and trinkets, and more seeds and pods. I even added my little Yemaya Shrine to it, when I was done photographing it.

The kids are now looking forward to what our next Goddess Altar will be! In fact, when they were away for the weekend, andI went ahead and made the mini Yemaya Shrine without them- they actually got MAD at me for doing it without them! Lesson learned! I thought that was really cute that they took such an interest in it, especially since Altar/Shrine creation is one of my favorite things!

My Son, Jeremiah really enjoys hearing about the various Goddesses and their myths. (He is not quite so interested in the Gods though...lest anyone think I am biased- I HAVE tried to teach them about both!)

He loves to sit with me and go thru my little collection of Goddess Cards, and asks me to tell him their stories, again, and again. And he has taken to asking me every few days, "Which Goddess are you working on now Mom?", and "What does She do

I think it is just great! Especially when I overheard him talking to his buddy one day. The boy was asking him "Who the Goddess was" because he had only heard of God, and Jesus...and my Son said, "Duh! The Goddess is Mother Nature! She's the one who GAVE BIRTH to Jesus and God! YOU KNOW! - Mother Mary."

I tell you, I was SO PROUD of him that day! I don't even care if his Mom thinks I am crazy! LOL.

And it was also pretty funny when the other day, my Daughter was asking me what names to name her digital puppy on her Nintendo game, Yemaya or Isis? Ha ha ha ha! I love it!

So my friends...if any of you are looking for ways to bring your spirituality home, and share it with your Kids- this is one of many ways to do just that. Altars are not just fun for us to create- but they are fun for the Kids as well, and can be a great springboard for conversations about the Gods and Goddesses. Or even just Nature, and The Earth, or Solar System.

And try not to be too controlling over the process when the want to add their toy cars or stuffed animals to the Altar! Cause it happens! Or when they are acting out the Myths with their Barbie Dolls and GI Joes! As long as they are not performing the Heiros Gamos, of course! J/K!

And for those of you who don't have Kids, or whose Kids are grown- don't underestimate how healing and inspirational and afternoon of Altar building, or Myth reading can be for yourself. You can even turn something like this into a Ritual or a Spell.

And remember, an Altar needent be a big elaborate thing- it can be something as simple as a widowsill with a few shells, or a plate with a photo and some flowers on it. Even a jar, with sand and sea shells can serve as a shrine. I have made lovely Fairy and Mermaid Bottles, and Matchbox Shrines; and these are perfect gifts for our Pagan frinds who are either in shared living conditions or in hospitals or nursing homes!

Next time I want to share with you the original Creation Story that I wrote for my Goddess Class. I have scheduled that to go out on Friday, so be sure to check back later this weekUntil then- Brightest Blessings from me and My Little Tribe!