A Wiccan Grove

Candelmas

Traditionally, in the Jewish and early Christian religions, this day is dedicated to purification of the Mother after she has given birth. In these traditions, at Candlemas, they pronounce her healed from the disease of birthing.

This day traditionally should have bad weather to mark the end of the restrictive period of the Mother. (The groundhog shouldn't see its shadow to forecast an early spring.)

Candlemas is the time to bless all healing oils, healing herbs, healing candles, healing hands, healing tools and all beings that require healing. Candlemas is also the day used to install a new Handmaiden.

Perform this ritual after the Drawing Down of the Moon and the Libation is complete. Place all the different colored controlling candles in the Eastern area of the Circle in front of the Altar. There should be one candle for each color of the rainbow. Light each spell candle from the same color candle blessed at this years' Candlemas ritual. The Handmaiden will light these candles at a ritual if she is present or the Witch herself if she is alone.

Place all the different colored controlling candles in the Eastern area of the Circle in front of the Altar.

The old Handmaiden says or the High Priestess says if the Handmaiden is re-elected:

ILLUMINE OUR HEARTS
ILLUMINE OUR MINDS
PURGE US, CLEAN US
GIVE US NEW LIFE

The new Handmaiden lights all the Candles and says as she does so:

I GIVE YOU ILLUMINATION
MY HEART TO YOURS
YOUR HEART TO MINE

Revive the incense. Each Witch carries it around the candles, tools, etc. clockwise in order of age; youngest first. They say what fire and purging means to them. They end the dialogue with a blessing of the fire. Insert the consecrations here or spells and prayers for healing if desired.

Close the Circle at the completion of this rite.

CANDLEMAS

Pelea
She is the All Mother.
Fire is Her tool.
She approves of much merry making and love making, music, games and feasting.
Her day is Candlemas Day and it is a day to bless candles for healing and for purification.
Pelea's color is white or emerald green.
Use two turtle-doves or two young pigeons or two fertilized eggs in Her rituals and spells.
She is Goddess of the Wild Things that are anything that is alive and wild, including ideas and inventions.
She lives on mountains and mountain tops.
Her dominion includes memory and thought.
Numbers 0 and 22 belong to Pelea.
Before a spell there must be nine days of purification to honor Her.
She is limitless and She is No-Thing.
Her perfection as Woman is in Her smell, and as Nu (the Hair).
She is a believer in faithfulness and justice.
Her other names and aspects are:

Egyptian: Ma, Maat

Hindu: Yama

Greek: Pan and Minos

Roman: Vulcan

Elephants are Pelea's animals.
Aloe and tobacco are Her plants.
The minerals that She favors are emerald and carbon.
She favors works of justice and equilibrium. The middle of the road works best with Her.
She is the Supreme Attainment.
She is the Circle.
Pelea has no particular morality. She agrees with what is right for the situation.
During the week Her day is Tuesday.
She governs the East Wind and the Eastern direction.
She gives favors towards new ideas.
The Truth beginning with the words:

There is Me
The Mother
Pelea
        I exist
                in mind
                in matter

CANDLEMAS is a Christian festival observed on February 2. It is in honor of the introduction of the infant Jesus into the Temple at approximately six weeks after birth. Six weeks is just about when mensis returns after birth. Candlemas is also in honor of the cleansing of the Virgin Mary after birthing. The festival was probably meant to replace the great feast of expiation and purification (februa). Februa was held in ancient Rome in Mid-February. The date of the pagan feast was then transferred to February 2, the fortieth day after Christmas. The forty-day period was according to the Jewish law that required the ritual purification at the Temple of every mother of a male child forty days after its birth. The Roman Emperor Justinian I is believed to have instituted the Candlemas festival in 541 or 542.

February 2, Ground Hog Day.

GROUNDHOG is the name in the United States for a marmot. In South Africa the aardvark is sometimes called a groundhog.

GROUNDHOG DAY is February 2 of each year. In rural American Tradition the groundhog leaves the burrow, on that day, where it has been hibernating to discover whether winter weather will continue. If the groundhog cannot see its shadow, it remains above ground, ending its hibernation. If its shadow is visible (that is if the sun is shining), there will be six more weeks of cold weather and the animal returns to its burrow. An old church tradition that a pleasant Candlemas means a cold spring probably inspired the legend. So, it comes down to this: You should have an unpleasant purification so that you can really feel purified.

MARMOT is the common name for any of the large, robust rodents of the Squirrel family. They are found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Marmots have blunt snouts, short ears, short, bushy tails, and short legs. The fur is coarse. The animals live in burrows and hibernate during the winter. The length of hibernation varies with the severity of the climate. Marmots feed on vegetation, and are sometimes destructive to cultivated crops. The cry of the marmot is a shrill whistle.

The common European marmot is found in the peaks of the Alps and Pyrenees. The bobac is the marmot of eastern Europe and Asia. The Common marmot of east North America is the woodchuck or ground hog. The American marmot is gray, streaked with black or brown above and paler below. It is about 2 feet long and one half feet tall. The whistler or hoary marmot, found in north west North America, is white and gray in general body color, and attains an overall length of almost 2-1/2 feet. Other species are found in south western United States.

Yule Spring Equinox

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