Celtic Ogham Tree Months: Alder

Celtic Name: Fearn (f-yarn)
Celtic Letters: F, V, GW
Dates: December 27-January 23
Animals/Totems: Kingfisher, raven, wren, dragon
Deities: Bran, Branwen, Merlin
Key words: Balance between masculine and feminine energies, breath, divination, guidance, healing, ideas, leadership, new beginnings, power, prophecy, spiritual protection, strength, strength in a dispute or battle, sunrise, words
Spellworkings: blocking unwanted forces, bravery, charm, concealment, divination, healing, leadership, masculinity, protection, spirituality
Actions: Listen to messages from totem animals, guardian spirits and allies. Reconnect to ancestors and spiritual lineage. Have alertness to synchronicities in daily life. Record dreams. Do divination readings. Develop inner sense of authority. Trust your feelings. Create a balanced life.

Last Quarter Moon in Alder

Date: Saturday December 29 2018 

Affects: health, endings/new beginnings, ancestry, protection, 

What It’s Good For: contacting spirits, totems, and ancestors for wisdom, overcoming a dispute, spiritual protection spells, closing/finishing chapters in life, letting go of past,
Offering: Incense

Charge: amethyst, aragonite, azurite, desert rose, green fluorite, lapis lazuli, selenite,

Waning Gibbous Moon in Rowan

Date: Wednesday December 26 2018 

Affects: questioning, discriminating, releasing, removal,

What It’s Good For: getting rid of bad habits, harvest what you've created, making space in hearth & home,

Charge: Amethyst, fuchsite, lapis lazuli, obsidian, selenite, 
Offerings: Grain or rice

Full Moon in Rowan

Date: December 22 2018
Affects: Divination, love, protection,
What It’s Good For: Divination spells, overcoming struggles, banishing negativity, powerful protection spells, embracing passion and ecstasy, pursue creative projects, take care of hearth,
Charge: Ametrine, amethyst, aquamarine (in bowl of sea water), copper, fluorite, moonstone, obsidian, olivine, peridot, selenite,

Yule Correspondence

Date: December 21

Deities: Brigid, Lugh, Oak King

Lore: Goddess dies giving birth to Sun God to ensure rebirth and renewal to the land, welcome the sun child,

Intention: Meditation, hope after darkness, lights to bring back the sun, rebirth, transformation, giving, merriment

Symbols: wreathes, yule tree, yule log, bayberry candles, evergreens, mistletoe, bells, antlers, fairy lights, gifts, glittery objects, gold pillar candles, clove studded fruit, poinsettias,

Colors: blue, gold, green, orange, red, silver, white, yellow,

Stones: Alexandrite, angel aura quartz, bloodstone, blue topaz, cats eye, chrysoberyl, citrine, diamond, emerald, fluorite, green tourmaline, clear quartz, garnet, jacinth, pearl, peridot, red tourmaline, rose quartz, ruby, serpentine, snowflake obsidian, tiger's eye, topaz,

Animals : bear, birds of prey, boar, buffalo, bull, deer, dove, eagle, elk, goat, geese, hawk, kingfisher, lapwing, moose, mouse, owl, phoenix, pig, raven, reindeer, robin, squirrel, snake, stag, tiger, wolf, wren, yule cat

Food/drink: Apples, beef, butternut squash, cinnamon cakes and cookies, cranberries, dried fruit, egg nog, gingerbread, ginger tea, goose, ham, kale, lamb, mulled wine, nuts, onion, orange, pear, pomegranate, potatoes, poultry, roasted meat, spiced meat, roasted apples, turkey, turnip, venison, wassail, winter squash

Herbs: ash, basil, bayberry, bay laurel, birch, black pepper, blessed thistle, chamomile, cinnamon, chestnut, chive, clove, cranberries, currants, evergreen, fir, garlic, ginger, hazel, holly, ivy, juniper, lemongrass, mistletoe, moss, mullein, oak leaves, orange, peppermint, pine, poinsettias, rosemary, sandalwood, sage, snowdrop, spearmint, willow, wintergreen, yarrow, yew

Incense/oils: bayberry, cedar, cinnamon, citrus, clove, frankincense, ginger, juniper, lavender, myrrh, nutmeg, oak, orange, peppermint, pine, pomegranate, rosemary, saffron, spruce, wintergreen

Celebrations: gift giving, sing pagan solstice carols, decorate yule tree, gather yule greens, bake yule log cake, burn ash wood, wassailing the trees, burn yule log

Spells: Happiness, hope, love (unconditional), peace, strength, world healing, world peace, personal renewal, honoring family & friends, festival of lights, meditation,

Yule Practices

Before Yule

· Knit or sew new clothes

· Prepare for winter

· Store food and herbs for winter use

· Take in potted plants and harvest last of herbs

· Go out and harvest from nature

· Arts & Crafts

o Make stovetop potpourri

o Make witchballs and hang them around home or on tree

o Use birch branches to craft a besom

· Cleaning/Cleansing

o While cleaning, visualize removing all of the negative energy from  your life

o Clean mirrors, windows

o Finish cleaning with smoke cleanse with sage, sweetgrass, pine needles or mistletoe, plus your favorite herbs

o Remove excess clutter in house

o Replace home's air filter

o Sprinkle floor with baking soda and vacuum

o Use a broom to sweep up dirt

· Decorating

o Add comfy white pillows filled with herbs to your sofa for meditation space

o Decorate tree and bless ornaments

o Hang golden suns around home

o Hang mistletoe for love and protection

o Hang sprig of holly for good luck and safety

o Make birdseed ornaments

o Light lots of candles to symbolize bringing light back into your life

On Yule

· Cooking

o Bake and cook with family and friends, blessing the food with intent of prosperity and happiness

o Brew cider infused with herbs and fruit that correspond with prosperity and happiness

o Cook a feast of winter foods

· Spell-casting & Divination

o Cast spells for peace, introspection, wishes, and new beginnings

o Do winter solstice tarot spread

o Cast spells for light, purification, renewal and rebirth

o Divination centered around messages and omens

· Other Activities

o Burn a yule log in honor of the sun, toss in a sprig of holly to burn away the troubles of the past

o Give gifts

o Go carolling

o Make holly water, by soaking the leaves overnight in spring water under the full moon

o Collect snow to use in spells

o Walk under the full moon and record any important thoughts or visions

o Tie up loose ends in your life

o Volunteer in your community or donate old belongings

o Write about your reflections of the past year and what your goals are that you'd like to achieve by the end of the coming year

After Yule

· Do not make new plans

· Sleep as much as possible

· Take care of your body

· Take hot baths and moisturize your skin

New moon in Rowan

Date: December 7/8 2018
Affects: insight on changes, wards, taking care of self, new projects, self expression,
What It’s Good For: Self care, banishing spells, creative endeavors, reflect on self, meditation

New Moon Spread

Card 1: Where you have been
Card 2: Where you are
Card 3: Where you want to be

Goddess Brigid Correspondence

Titles: The Exalted One, The Bright One, Fiery Arrow, The Powerful One, The High One,
Goddess of the Sacred Flame, Lady of the Healing Waters, Goddess of the Fertile Earth, Mistress
of the Mantle, Flame of Inspiration, Flame of Creative Consciousness, Bringer of Prosperity,
Goddess of Fertility, New Growth and Birth, Goddess of Healing Grace, Promise of Spring,

Variations: Brighid, Brigit, Brid, Brighde, Bride, Brigantia, Briginda, Brigdu, Ffraid,

Area of Influence: Abundance, agriculture, animal husbandry, childbirth, creativity, divination,
farming, fertility, forge, healing, hearth, herbalism, inspiration, midwifery, music, philosophy, poetry,
smithcrafting, teaching, wisdom,

Symbols: Eternal flame, mantle, well, thresholds, fire, forge, candles, bell, springs, corn dollies,
cloaks, number 19, harp, triple spiral, cauldron, green cloak, bells, sandstone rock formation,
Brigid's cross, midwifery, springs, serpent, anvil, sacred wood,

Element: Fire, water

Color: Red, orange, yellow, gold, green, blue, white, black,

Temples, Important Locations: Kildare, Shrine at Faughart Hill, Bride's Mounds, St. Bride's Ring,
Bae Sain Ffraid

Festival: Imbolc

Day: Sunday

Time: Sunrise

Planet: Sun

Crystals: Agate, amethyst, azurite, carnelian, garnet, jasper, peridot,

Metals: Gold, brass, silver, steel, copper,

Plants: acorns, angelica, bay, broom, chamomile, cinnamon, corn, crocus, cypress, daffodil,
dandelion, fennel, field flower, grains, goldenrod, hawthorn, heather, lavender, meadow
flowers, mugwort, myrrh, oats, pumpkin seeds, rosemary, rushes, sage, shamrock, snowdrop,
sprouts, straw, trillium, violet, wisteria

Trees: Apple, birch, oak, rowan

Scents: Apricot, carnation, heather, heliotrope, lemon verbena, musk, neroli, olive, sweet pea,
violet, wisteria

Oils: Basil, chamomile, cinnamon, cypress, fennel, frankincense, jasmine, lavender, myrrh,
rosemary,

Animals: red-eared cow, lambs, dairy cows, bees, owls, serpents, hibernating animals, swan,
goose, linnets, oystercatchers, vultures

Food: Blackberries, dairy, honey, seeded breads, dried fruits

Offerings: Coins, fire, blackberries, milk, white flowers, shamrock, bread with butter, honey,
blackberry jam, oat cakes,

A Fresh Start

Good morning viewers who have decided to browse this blog of mine. This blog is a mental and physical fresh start, as we've just began getting into the Celtic New Year. The reason for me being here, aside from my last website losing its marbles, is that I want a place to hold myself accountable for my daily rituals, habits and long term aspirations.
Previously, I had mostly been reposting "others contents" because it "seemed appropriate," but I want to use this to dive more into my practice and create my own content. Images, spells, posts, just like this.
I suppose to those of you who aren't following me from my previous blog, a bit of background on me would be nice. I am Jayce, a queer autistic ftm witch. I follow Celtic paganism, specifically following the Fire Goddess Brigid. As of now, I have been formally following her for a year, as it was this time last year that she became my permanent deity. I feel a connection with Brigid, as well as the Celtic pantheons, on various levels.
Whenever I describe Brigid to a friend or partner, I start off by saying she's like mother nature meets Rosie the Riveter. She's soft, humble, caring for others, and she knows how to stand up for herself. She's very feminist empowering and is a binding goddess for basically all of the Celtic Isles. She has emotional strength, humility, and determination, that make her a passionate and admirable goddess to follow.
In addition to being the handful of things I mentioned previously, there's going to be a lot of different spell content that I will be posting about. Some of my areas of interest for spells and posts will include, but are not exclusive to; spoonie topics, hearth, kitchen, queer and lgbt content, autism/ADHD/Neurodivergency, herbalism, gardening, and various pop culture references.
I hope you all have a great day, I'm off to work. I'll try and post content 3 times a week