SECTION I: FAMILY ISSUES
5. Promoting Pagan Family Values - Selene
6. Pagan Parenting - WindSeeker
7. Kid's Corner - TBA
Ostara for the Children
by WindSeeker
The egg represents birth, fertility, balance and eternity in mythology around the world. It represents everlasting life. The egg stands for the season of spring, new life, new beginning, new year.
ACTIVITIES:
Go to a field and randomly collect wildflowers...(thank the flowers before picking them). If you can't get to a field, go to the florist and purchase some flowers which touch you. Once home, find the meanings of these flowers in your books or through the Internet.....these flowers tell you about yourself and your inner thoughts.
Plan a walk through gardens or forests or some other form of nature. There should be no mission other than just to walk and to celebrate nature itself.
This is a great time to plant seeds or work on that magickal garden. One suggestion is to bury a dyed egg in your garden to ensure
fertitity.
Ostara Egg Symbolism:
Check out this page. It has tons of symbolism, colors, meanings, and more. I am going to use these ideas to do Ostara eggs. This amazing site can be located at
http://www.netexpress.net/~knanna/Ossymbl.html
Story
A Beautiful Easter Morning
By: Thad N. Z. Horrell
http://goddess.coe.missouri.edu/~thad/ostara.html
Foods:
Seeds such as sunflower, pumpkin and sesame and pine nuts
Sprouts
Leafy Green vegetables
Flower Dishes
Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns!
One a penny,
Two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns!
If you have no daughters,
Pray give them to your sons!
One a penny,
Two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns!
Hot Cross Buns
This recipe will make 2 1/2 dozen buns.
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 1/2 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup dried currents
1/2 cup raisins
----------
2 Tablespoons water
1 egg yolk
----------
1 recipe Icing (below)
Have the water and milk at 110-115 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the warm milk sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, nutmeg, and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture well after each addition. Stir in the dried fruit and enough flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and turn over to grease the top. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Punch the dough down and shape into 30 balls. Place on greased baking sheets. Using a sharp knife, cut a cross (or X) on the top of each roll. Cover again and let rise until doubled (about 30 minutes). Beat the water and egg yolk together and brush over the rolls. Bake at 375-degrees F.
for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Drizzle icing over the top of each roll following the lines of the cut cross.
ICING: Combine 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 4 teaspoons milk or cream, a dash of salt, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. Adjust sugar and milk to make a mixture which flows easily.
Easter Crown Bread
To decorate this pretty Easter crown, you will need 5 colored eggs but they must be UNCOOKED. Be sure to use non-toxic dyes as you color them.
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (divided use)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup warm milk
2 Tablespoons softened butter or margarine
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped mixed candied fruit
1/4 cup chopped blanched almonds
1/2 teaspoon aniseed
----------
5 uncooked eggs
Non-toxic egg coloring
Vegetable oil
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Add the milk and butter and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes on medium. Add the eggs and 1/2 cup flour and beat on high for 2 minutes.
Stir in the fruit, nuts, and aniseed, mixing well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 6 to 8 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Meanwhile, color 5 eggs (leave them uncooked) with non-toxic dyes. When dry, lightly rub them with vegetable oil.
Punch down the risen dough. Divide in half. Roll each half into a 24-inch rope. On a greased baking sheet, loosely twist the two ropes together. Form into a ring and pinch the ends together. Gently split the ropes and tuck the 5 colored uncooked eggs into the openings. Cover and let rise again until doubled (about 30 minutes). Bake in a 350-degree F. oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a golden brown. Remove
from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
Home Cooking at miningco.com - This site has tons of info including history of pagan and Christian history of Easter, egg decorating, easter foods which includes the recipies above, and more!
http://homecooking.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa040698.htm
Song List
Garden Song by Dave Mallet
Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All you need is a rake & a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
Till the rains come tumbling down
Pulling weeds, picking stones
We are made of dreams & bones
Need a place to call my own
for the time is near at hand
Grain for grain, sun & rain
Tune my body & my brain
to the music of the land
Plant your rows straight & long
Temper them with prayer & song
Mother earth will make you strong
if you give her love & care
An old crow watching hungrily
From his perch in yonder tree
In my garden I’m a free
as that feathered thief up there!
I’m a little Black Seed (to the tune of I’m a little teapot)
I’m a little black seed, plant me in a row
Water me & feed me, watch me grow
From little seed to seedling, flower to fruit
I’m a happy little plant from tip to root.
This Glorious Food by Patricia McKernon
Thank you for this food, this food
This glorious, glorious food
And the animals & the vegetables
And the minerals which made possible!
Nature is a Wheel (sung to Row, Row, Row your boat)
Nature is a Wheel
Life has no end
When the cycle is complete
We begin again.
Hoe, Hoe, Hoe Your Row (sung to Row, Row, Row your boat)
Hoe, hoe, hoe your row
weeding as we go
Till it in, Plant the seed
This is how we grow
GoddessChild Mailing List. GoddessChild is designed for children ages 8-16. If your child would like to participate, have them send an e-mail message to
goddesschild@earthlink.net
The subject line MUST say: GCL subscribe
They should include their first name, Pagan name or nickname; their age, state or region they're from, and why they want to participate (a few sentences are fine). This information will be used to introduce them to the other members of the listserv.
I hope you enjoy the Spring Celebrations.. I know I will. I am
attempting my first herb garden. I ordered 70 dollars (Canadian) worth of herbs and gourmet veggies! I will be letting my girls choose what they would like to grow, and of course I will be helping them take care of their plant. Since I am a beginner herbal gardener, my girls and I will be learning all about herbs together...It will be a fun experience! I will be doing the usual tradition that I do each year, and that is the Easter egg hunt. I will also be attempting to create egg painting using ideas from the Ostara egg symbolism page above. I am also new to the homeschooling experience. I have many questions about it. So in my research, I have some links to help your children get the proper education. At
Delphi.com, you will find lots of forums and discussions on homeschooling. I would recommend participating in these forums.
Check out this forum at Delphi. “Everyone is welcome to buy, sell, & barter new and used books, curriculum, supplies, magazines, toys, and family oriented items right here!” Great for homeshooling families!
http://forums.delphi.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=cheap
Pagan Homeschooling page
http://members.aol.com/barbooch/
Home Schooling Daily: Let’s Celebrate Spring! - packed with lotsa neato stuff!!
http://www.infinet.com/~baugust/spring.html
Home Schooling Daily. check out the site for tons more info and
activities!
http://www.infinet.com/~baugust/
School is Dead; Learn in Freedom. There is some very good info on this page.
http://www.learninfreedom.org/
Dreaming Wolf's Pagan Homeschooling Page!
http://members.tripod.com/~Dwmorrigan/index.html
The Witches.com Pagan Parenting and Homeschooling page.
http://thewitches.com/parent.htm
Homeschooling FAQ links
http://homeschooling.miningco.com/msubFAQ.htm
WELCOME WITCHLINGS Pagan Homeschooling -Magical Teachings for all Children of the Goddess
http://members.aol.com/Shahara9/witchlings.html
*NEW* Global Pagan Parents & Families Contact List:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/5464/
Kid's Corner is in the works. We hope to be ready by the next issue.
SECTION I: HOLIDAY LORE
* Ostara - StormWing
* Oestre - Baboo Kyra Finch
* A Druid's Pondering - LadyToad
* Spring Equinox - Sarolta
SECTION II: FAMILY ISSUES
* Promoting Pagan Family Values - Selene
* Pagan Parenting - WindSeeker
SECTION III: STORY TIME
* CatCorner - Sorcy SummerWind
* Fiona & Julian - Selene SilverWind
* Meagan Stories - Kat Dyer
SECTION IV: ASK AUNTIE AHN
* Online Help Corner - Ahneke GreyStone
SECTION V: RESOURCES
* Herblore - Dor (Poem by Kyra)
* Wicca 101 - Rhiannon Diana
SECTION VI: PAGAN HAPPENINGS
* Events List - Selene SilverWind
SECTION VII: THE CAULDRON
* When the Goddess Hides Her Face - Samantha
* Critters - Baboo Kyra Finch
* Return from the Shadows - Riversong Drusea'
* Wise One - Samantha
