SECTION II - FAMILY ISSUES

Promoting Pagan Family Values - Selene SilverWind
The Animals and the Sky People - Lisa Z.
Childrens Book of Shadows - Baboo Kyra Finch

Promoting Pagan Family Values
by Selene Silverwind
Slvrwind@aol.com

Spring has sprung, at least in some places. For the rest of you, spring may still be around the corner. Here are a few ideas to hurry it along and get the most enjoyment out of the season.

Now is the time to have your children make Ostara baskets. Gather fresh flowers (daisies are nice and inexpensive), ribbon, and a basket with a handle. Let your children decorate the baskets however they want. Anything they do will be attractive, and it's really the intent that's important. On Ostara, let your children cast the circle by walking around the outer edge placing hard-boiled or chocolate eggs on the ground. At Beltane, they can cast the circle by tossing flower petals from their baskets to mark your sacred space. If you don't fancy the idea of having a child cast your circle, include them in the cakes and ale portion of the ritual by placing sugar cookies in the basket for the children to hand out. Hard-boiled eggs also serve well here.

Flower hats make a good school project. Bring a few flower patterns with you for the children to trace onto the construction paper, which they will then cut out. Next, they can either paint a popsicle stick green, or glue on a strip of green paper for a stem. Glue the flower to the top of the stick and attach paper leaves along the stem. Measure a strip of construction paper to fit snugly on each child's head and tape the ends together. Tape or glue the popsicle stick to the inside of the headband. Proudly sporting your flower hats, lead a parade around the school yard to invite spring to return.

Spring is the growing season, as we all know. Why not get a few neighbors or your coven together and volunteer at a local environmental organization? Examples of hands-on organizations in Los Angeles are the Tree People, which frequently sponsors neighborhood tree-planting events, and Heal the Bay, which sponsors beach clean-up days. If you can't find similar organizations in your area, check with the Nature Conservancy at tnc.org. Click "Volunteer Opportunities" under the "How You Can Help" section for a state by state listing of upcoming events. If you live outside the United States, try envirolink.org for international opportunities.

The warm days are returning and there is new life everywhere! Get out there and enjoy it, nurture it, and do what you can to ensure that our environment flourishes.

The Animals and the Sky People
By Lisa Z.

One night, a long, long time ago, all the animals were having a meeting at the top of the gathering hill. All of a sudden, just as the debate between the herbivores and carnivores was starting to grow heated, a burst of thunder shook the forest. The skies opened up and the animals were soaked to their skins as they dashed for cover. After two days of rain and mud,the sun suddenly appeared from behind the clouds and began to bake the earth. It melted the ice in top of the mountains and flooded the shelters the animals had hastily thrown together.

All of the animals marched up to the gathering hill and took their places in the circle. Bear began as usual, "Fellow creatures of the forest, something must be done. We can no longer live at the mercy of the sky people’s whims and selfish moods!"

Wolf was next to speak, "I have just had pups. Our den and our dinner were washed away by the overflowing river. My babies are hungry and cold!"

Stag piped in, his face drawn with hunger, "All of the berries are rotten from the rain, the leaves are brown and crispy from the burning sun. Why can’t those sky people show some kindness?"

Snake’s voice shook with anger, "I am tired of dealing with these cruel and selfish creatures!" She coiled around a tree trunk and cocked her head towards Eagle. She stared deep into his eyes, "Eagle, you are up there all the time with them. What is going on up there? Are they insane, sadistic, or what? We are suffering down here and nothing is ever done about it!!"

Eagle took a deep breath. He was used to being the target of the animals’ anger towards the sky people. It was true he did spend time with them, but he didn't understood their feelings towards the animals. The sky people seldom spoke. The only thing he had ever heard them say about the animals was when Rainbow sadly remarked one morning, "They never seem to look up anymore."

But suddenly an idea started to bounce around in his head. Maybe there was something he could do. Eagle turned to the animals and said, "Maybe we can try action research."

Immediately, the room erupted in protest. Stag raised his voice above the rest, "Oh no! Owl has already tried the ‘research’ stuff with us. We all remember her big group of so-called experts who observed us for one day, and then read us a long list of confusing ‘recommendations’, none of which made any sense. The one thing we did try, hollowing out the trunks of trees so that the big animals could use them for shelter too, made the oaks so mad they refused to feed anybody for a year."

The owl tried to defend herself. "Whooooo asked me to call in those people in the first place, huh? Whooooo lied to the researchers because they were so embarrassed about our powerlessness?"

Eagle replied, "No this is different; the only ones making decisions in this kind of research are the ones who have to live with the consequences: the animals and the sky people. Our choices will be recorded so that others can use what we learn from our accomplishment."

"Or failure," grumbled Owl.

The animals were muttering among themselves when suddenly the tiny voice of the rabbit, who never spoke at meetings, surprised everybody into silence. "It would be good", she said, "to at least find, out why the sky people do what they do. We’ve never tried that before. Perhaps they would they listen to us."

The animals agreed that they had nothing to lose. At the very least they would all learn something new, something to help them live better lives in the shadow of the sky people. They talked into the night and, as the sun’s first ray warmed their fur and feathers, they thought maybe, just maybe, this could work.

For the next several weeks, Eagle flew around talking to all the animals. He discovered that the little animals, Rabbit in particular, had some good ideas for how to cope with the weather.

He also spent his time in the sky talking to Sun and Wind, Rain and Clouds, trying to stay impartial and just learn about them and their lives. He discovered that the sky people were cared deeply about the animals appreciation of their creations which they considered art. Though they were nervous about facing criticism, the sky people decided that it might be important learn about their audience, especially if they were have the difficulties that Eagle described.

For the first time, they looked downward toward the earth. They were surprised at the hardships they had caused.

Eagle finally arranged a meeting at the stone circles atop gathering hill. Eagle greeted everybody; tensions floated across the circle as each participant tried to approach the task a hand sincerely and respectfully. Then Eagle, in his wisdom, unexpectedly stepped out of his leadership role and introduced Mother Nature to lead the meeting instead. All the animals and sky people relaxed, they knew she understood their problems well and would be fair, honoring each member equally.

First everybody introduced themselves and then the agenda was presented. Both the animals and sky people had some suggestions and Eagle amended the agenda while Mother Nature outlined the rules and spoke about today’s objectives. She explained that the point of today was simply to define and describe the problem, not to solve it. "I know that you all have strong feelings about this important issue, but I urge you to try to form personal relationships, to cooperate, be sensitive, honest and accepting of our wonderful diversity.

All of the participants were divided into groups of six, three animals and three sky people. Mother Nature was particularly mindful to include animals, both small and large, as well as sky people, both talkative and quiet in each group.

She vigilantly, yet diplomatically squelched Bear, Wolf and Sun’s constant attempts to dominate the conversations, insisting on consensual decision-making for every issue.

For a long time the groups worked. Everyone was surprised by what they learned from each other. Eventually, each group came up with the answers to the following questions: Why are we meeting today? What is the purpose? What is the problem? What is happening? How does it affect our lives and work? Who is being affected? Where are the things happening? When do they happen?

They then presented and compared their findings with the other groups. They discussed and asked questions about the explanations.

By the end of that first meeting, everyone was getting excited. The problem didn’t seem quite so hopeless. The animals and sky people were surprised at how well they could get along, and some of them even liked each other.

Bear, Rabbit, Owl, Sun, Lightrain, and Puffyclouds were selected by everybody to form a working party. These creatures would sort through and analyze the pictures the groups had composed and come up with a single synthesized representation of the problem. They would continue to use the who, what ,when, where, why and how format.

Mother Nature and Eagle were particularly amazed at the way Rabbit’s confidence seemed to be growing. Her voice increased in strength and she held her self with pride. It may have been the first time she was ever taken seriously and her evolving self-confidence suited her well.

Generally, the group decided that they were meeting to figure how weather conditions could be adjusted so that the animals could enjoy, rather then dread, the sky people’s sky art.

But the sky people felt that spontaneity was crucial to their artistic statements. They hadn’t realized the degeree to which this impulsive spontaneity was causing earth dwellers severe problems like hunger, illness and homelessness. With their very survival at stake, appreciating sky art was the last thing on the animals’ minds. The artistic needs of the sky people must be balanced with the day to day environmental conditions needed for the animals to thrive in order to have time and energy to look to the heavens in awe and wonder.

This analysis was distributed to all the animals and sky people. Another meeting on the gathering hill was scheduled for the full moon. This time the goal would be problem solving.

It was truly a beautiful night, the sky was clear and the stars twinkled like fairy dust. Everybody came together at the top of the hill and a nervous excitement filled the balmy air.

The sky people and animals exchanged greetings with each other. Conversation flowed freely contrasting the awkward silence of that previous meeting. Eagle and Mother Earth made observations of the new sense of relationship, as opposed to distance, that now characterized the entire group.

Mother Nature opened the meeting by speaking briefly of her pride in the cooperation and reciprocal respect being demonstrated by all. She then asked for brainstorming to formulate a list of the priorities, goals and tasks necessary to improve the current situation.

Each was then discussed and either unanimously accepted or discarded. Everyone finally agreed that the animals’ safety had the highest priority. With this concession by the sky people, the animals were willing to acknowledge the sky art with a ritual honoring the work of the sky people. With Rabbit’s urging, the other animals even went so far as to validate the artists’ right to spontaneity and include this as a priority.

Then everybody discussed their ideas for solutions and responsibilities. It was Moon, with her knowledge of cycles, who proposed a circle of four general weather conditions, which would be called "seasons". Each season would be dominated by the art of certain sky people, but there would still be enough room within each season for spontaneity and surprise.

Bear loved this idea because it allowed for enough predictability to enable the animals to plan for housing and food supply.

He suggested that the animals could celebrate the unique art of each sky person with celebrations for each season. "We can take a little time out of our lives to focus on the glory of their creations. That might be good for us too!" And so, everyone agreed to try it.

And so it was decided that each full moon the animals and sky people meet at gathering hill to evaluate their agreement and enjoy each other’s company. The mutual accord has been the rhythm of nature ever since.

True, there were some years when the sky people got overly zealous and inconvenienced the animals. There were other years when the rituals were half-hearted at best. But, all in all, the new system still works pretty well and all the stakeholders have made interpersonal connections they would have never expected.

This work of action research, was passed on to me by the researcher Eagle in hopes that we can use it as a guide to solving human problems. Eagle wishes us the best of luck and reminds us to plan ahead so that we may have time to look up and enjoy the art.

Childrens Book of Shadows
By Baboo Kyra Finch

BOOK OF SHADOWS can be a Pagan equivalent of a Baby Book. It's a record of your children's growth and development into strong, creative, and psychic individuals. Keep a copy for yourself for as long as they will allow you to do so. I recently found some stories and drawings by my older daughter from her grammar school days. One is a picture of Morgana Le Fay, her namesake. The story is about a magick necklace lost by a Witch and found by a young girl. Her birthright is clearly shining through the pages. I prefer using a loose leaf notebook with page holes reinforced. This way you can keep sections organized according to topic. If this is too anal for you, do whatever works.

Have your child decorate the binder. It will create a sense of ownership from the very beginning. Book should contain stories, crafts, pressed plants, spells, drawings, chants, and so on. Just remember whose Book it is. You can make your own! Include your kid's favorite folk stories and faerie tales and her illustrations. I have some wonderful drawings of Baba Yaga's dancing house done by my camp kids.

Put in all the stories he creates, preferably dictated and transcribed in his own words. Read these together, often, from the Book, adding to them, making changes. Keep the originals intact. I like to leave several blank pages between each entry for this purpose. Date everything. The beauty of this is in watching the changes take place.

Learning how to create poetry is especially important. Poetry turns into spells and chants. Rhyming words have a great deal of power. A person who can think in rhyme can harness their Will efficiently. Start with simple rhyming words. Progress to couplets and limericks. Use a drum to teach rhythm. Put everything into the book. Date it pictures at all the Sabbats. Take pictures of all altars. Have your child describe ritual robes, items on the altars, and the purpose of the ritual as she sees it. Write it down. DATE IT! As you have probably guessed, I am very bad at dating things. Learn from my mistakes. It's hard to brag about what an amazing Witchlet your child is if you can't remember whether he drew the picture when he was three or nine years old. Oh, if you can't remember, say three. It sounds better.

Keep a separate section on herb lore and healing. You can get plastic covers to protect pages of glued on, pressed plants. Otherwise, you're likely to find a fine powder and some fat silverfish instead of a plant sample in a few years. It's a good idea to have only one or two plants on each page. Date it. Note the names (Latin and common) of the plant, where it was found, what it is used for and any myths or folk lore attached to the plant. On the back of the page, you can write down recipes, cautions, and the results of personal use. Does it taste good? Does it sting? Did it work? What's the best way to use it: tea, tincture, salve, or poultice?

You should be merely a secretary. All information should be in your child's own words. It's also interesting to have samples of the same plant taken at different times of the year. Note when it flowers, fruits, and goes dormant. Plants can look remarkably different from location to location, and in different seasons. It's a good idea to learn to identify plants from one or two consistent characteristics. Write these down and keep track of the usefulness of the information. For example: poison hemlock smells like a dirty mouse den -- wild celery smells like celery, wild carrot (Queen Anne's Lace) smells like carrots; comfrey smells like cucumbers -- Foxglove does not; Nettles' leaves look like they were cut with pinking shears and they sting. Plantain has veins that come from the center of the stem, rather than branching from a central vein; it has concave stems and grows from a central cluster.

Learning to look at plants gives a real sense of how the wheel of the year turns, the Goddess Changes, and the Green Man is born, grows old, seeds and dies and is once again born in the spring. You can make similar entries for feathers, noting the bird it came from, when you found it, and what it represents. Owl feathers are striped and denote wisdom. Raven feathers are longer and more blade shaped than Crow feathers. The Red Breasted Flicker has bright orange feathers. Find special rocks. Try to identify them and enter the information along with the date and circumstances under which you found them.

Ask about the deities and the Sabbats and transcribe what your child tells you. Take pictures of your child dressed as Gods and Goddesses.

This is a good place to start teaching your child the runes and other secret alphabets. I've found that children who start learning to read and write before four absorb the ability as a language rather than a skill. They stash it in a different part of the brain, a deeper part, and never remember not knowing how to do these things.

I think that children with several languages, including American Sign Language and the scribing languages, perceive the world in a broader and more varied manner. They don't just think in terms of sound, but with their eyes and bodies as well. When you have added the non-spoken languages to their repertoire, you have people who think and communicate in many different dimensions. This increases psychic abilities.(book is a journal, not of the mundane world but the world of Spirit.

Treasure the pages you've copied. You can share it until the day the book's owner tells you that it is private. At that time, go in your bathroom and have a good cry. Your baby just took another snip out of the umbilical cord.

My grandfather read to me daily. My mother and grandmother told me stories, took me to the ballet and other forms of theater. This is how I learned about the deities, and how I taught my children.