Rain

Alas... There's no pictures today. It's rained for two days straight so I haven't done a lot with the Great Outdoors. Of course, playing Fallout 3 in my spare time is a good reminder of how glad I am that my neighborhood hasn't been overrun with Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls.

Autumn Sky

I always enjoy the transition between summer and autumn. This is a time when the air is still warm by day but gets cool by night. The days are shorter than they once were but it's still light out by the time I get home from work.

The sky is different too. In a Baltimore summer, the humidity is very high and the temperature often exceeds 100 degrees. That makes the sky a cloudless, hazy white that is hard to look at. A summer sky in Baltimore gets so bright that it is actually painful to my eyes.

But an autumn sky is different. It's dimmer and yet seems to have more height. The colors of blue and pink and orange are vibrant at sunset. It is wonderful to behold.

Graveyard

So... I'm not the kind of witch that hangs out in graveyards. But the graveyard near my house always seems to attract my attention every autumn. There's a different energy to this place that is less pronounced at other times of year. I also really like the old, creepy tree that seems to stand as a silent sentinel. It seems to be like a guardian of some kind. It's really cool. :)

Flowers

Amazingly enough, it rained overnight and it made the temperature drop about 20 degrees. It finally feels like autumn. :)

Inaugural Post!

Hail and Welcome!

I started this blog as a place to put some of m thoughts concerning nature and Wicca. Of course, the two go hand-in-hand! I consider myself more of a "religious" Wiccan than a "spell casting" Wiccan. I love to write liturgy for rituals and I'm good at poetry. I also like taking hikes in natural settings. It wonderful to feel the energy of trees, boulders, shrubs, grasses, streams, and ponds.

I'm an officer of a very inclusive eclectic Wiccan group called Turning Circle. TC has some of the nicest people I've ever met. We have a Buddhist, several Wiccans, a Druid, two Unitarians, and an eclectic Shaman/Wiccan. The rituals never get old since we come from different traditions.

We celebrated Mabon this weekend. Technically, the actual holiday is earlier than September 24th, but we have to schedule our rituals around the second and fourth Friday of every month. On the bright side, we have an actual *building* instead of having to meet in someone's basement :) Turning Circle is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalists.

So, the Mabon ritual was held outdoors under the moonlight. It was pretty nice. Mav (one of the two co-coordinators) led the ritual. I tend to like outdoor rituals better than ones held indoors. It just seems more... natural.

Well... that's the mission statement for this blog: pictures of nature and thoughts on pagan spirituality. Enjoy! :)