Spring and Ostara fun!

Last Wednesday was Waldorf Homeschool day at Many Hands House! It was a super fun time! I just love the homey pandemonium there! We helped the kids make Spring baskets, with wheat berry seeds to grow wheat grass. Kevin checks his basket a couple times a day! It would grow faster if it were out in the sun I think, but it's been raining for several days so it's in the house, but still growing. Here's a picture of it from sunday night.

The grass is much taller today. I'll take another picture later with Kevin showing it off for an update. :)

Sunday was Ostara, the Vernal Equinox!
Kevin gets a Spring gift basket, usually with a few treats and some outdoor toys. Since his birthday and Yule are in the fall and winter, we save outdoor toy gifts for spring. :)

He loves the hula hoop and bubble wand. He's already gone through all the glow sticks! lol

I was so ready for Spring, but it would be nice to see the sun!
How did you celebrate the First Day of Spring?

The Crescent Moon/Diana's Bow - Time to cut hair!

It's a new crescent moon out, and here at our house, at least for me, it's time to cut hair!
When the moon is a thin crescent, just after the new moon, we call it "Diana's Bow". That's when the moon is about 3 days old.

Several years ago I read a book called "Living by the Moon" by Ute York. An article in the book about a Russian barber who arranged with some of his clients to only cut their hair on the full moon or the new crescent (Diana's Bow) for many years really left an impression on me. In the article the barber talked of how his clients hair seemed to slow down it's thinning and some clients' hair even thickened or when from straight to wavy over the course of several years.

For the last 15 years or so, I have only cut my hair on the full moon or Diana's Bow. Now, up until 5 years ago, I could safely say this totally worked for me. My hair had thinned as I'd gotten older, but when I started cutting it according to the moon phase, it slowed down it's thinning and even got a little wavier. Then I started taking pre-natal vitamins prior to getting pregnant, and my hair really started looking great (from the vitamins). After my son was born however, my hair took a turn for the worse - a bunch fell out and it thinned and lost most of it's waviness.


But I refuse to give up! I continue to cut my hair according to the moon phase. Here's the basic rules:


If you want your hair to GROW, cut it on the full moon or when it is 3 days old (3 days after the New Moon aka Diana's Bow).
If you want hair to slow down it's growing (like shaving legs, face, etc) then cut/shave on the New Moon, the 3 days prior to the New Moon and the days following the Full Moon.

So what do you think? Willing to experiment on yourself and change when you cut your hair? It takes a few years to see a difference but it does work!

Imbolc 2011

This post was moved from an old blog, and is from Imbolc (Feb 2) 2011.

Welcome Brigid! Brigid is Welcome!

And soon, we will welcome Spring!
A friend shared a little snippet on facebook: 

"Imbolc is the day the Cailleach — the hag of Gaelic tradition — gathers her 

firewood for the rest of the winter. If she intends to make the winter last a 

good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is sunny, so she 

can gather firewood. People are relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, 

as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over."

I love this!  Very evocative. We americans are used to the weather-divining with the groundhog but I really love the older traditions. By the way, the groundhogs in my backyard did NOT see their shadows today! haha!

I just recently parted ways with the coven I had been with for the past 16 years, so I found myself unexpectedly in a position to celebrate Imbolc on my own! My husband is not really pagan/witchy like me so I didn't want to spring any huge celebration on him or Kevin at such short notice, so I decided this year we would keep Imbolc low-key until we get into the swing of my new spiritual situation. I was inspired by one of my all-time favorite pagan families and a recent post on their blog. I thought the whole Irish Stew and soda bread idea to be an excellent one!

I started at my friend's blog with her recipe, but we are omnivores so I knew it would not please my hubby if there was not meat in the stew. So off I went researching other recipes for Irish Stew. I ended up not following any one recipe... I just threw stuff in a pot that I had seen in other recipes until I was satisfied with it. That ended up being onions, beef stew meat, sausage, potatoes, stock, Guinness and herbs and spices. I thought the stew turned out fabulous... I may have been a little heavy handed with the Guinness though, haha! I put one bottle in, then thought it would sure be nice to sip some so I opened another bottle and poured some more in the pot so I could drink the leftovers. haha!  I have to say though, that the Guinness gave the stew a nice rich flavor and thickness.

I love bread in all forms and soda bread seems to be the bread of the day! However, it had to be allergen-free for the kid! So I stopped at my favorite gluten-free recipe source and found her Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread recipe. The nice thing about most of her recipes is that they are also egg and dairy-free. However, I always have to up the baking time... not sure why but instead of 30 minutes to bake, this bread probably had to be more like 40-45... at least in my oven. It was good but not as well-received as the yeast bread version. But we still ate it up!

Kevin and I headed outside for a little snow fun. We weren't out long... the wind was sharp and cold! Kevin got stuck in snow too deep and his boot came off, so his little toes got super cold. He held out as long as he could to play out there, but had to give it up after about 25 minutes. 

I told Kevin a few stories for the season before bed and the day caught up to him quickly and off to sleep he went!

As for me, I have my own little observance of the holy-day. Mostly giving thanks! For my hubby's safe drives to and from work today! and that we were able to fix our furnace that broke down yesterday! 

Bright Imbolc Blessings to all!