Tag Archive | religion

Faeries, Pixies and Sprites

Giggle Goddess Art

From time to time, I’m asked to write a guest article for someone else’s blog or website. Last week I met Rhiannon, a lovely artist of faeries, mermaids and beautiful things. She wanted to inform readers about the fairies, mermaids and other magical beings that she often paints. I love doing things like this for other bloggers. I hope you’ll visit her site and bookmark her page.

The Magikal Faery Spirits Of Nature
by Springwolf D.D., Ph.D. for Rhiannon at Giggle Goddess Art

Pixie, leprechaun, faerie, brownie, sprite are all terms for mystical supernatural beings, thought to be helpful or harmful to people. These variations in name are often attributed to different cultures of the world using different languages to describe the same thing or similar mystical beings. From the Huldufólk in Iceland to the Tuatha Dé Danann in Ireland, and the Manitou of Native Americans, these are apparently intelligent entities that live unseen beside us. Faeries, Pixies and Sprites are generally small magikal beings that live amongst nature and are considered helpful when treated with respect. Brownies, Elves, and Leprechauns are larger beings that live in their own villages or mystical communities away from humans populations. They are known to play tricks on anyone outside their community, especially big people like you and me. Continue reading →

Tying The Knot With The Wedding Knot

Jul8

Rose Gold and Emerald Claddagh Ring

A Sunday Homily

Marriages around the world have a great many traditions. One of my favorites involves The Irish Claddagh Ring, which is one of the most widely known traditions around the world. The ring incorporates a set of hands representing friendship, holding a heart which represents love, and a crown on top of the heart to represent loyalty. It originated in the Irish fishing village of Claddagh, located just outside the old city walls of Galway, now part of Galway City.

According to Irish author Colin Murphy, the way in which a Claddagh ring was worn describes the wearer’s relationship status:

On the right hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is single and may be looking for love.
On the right hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is in a relationship.
On the left hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is engaged.
On the left hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is married.

The first records of production put the creation of Claddagh in the 17th Century. But the ring was not named the “Claddagh ring” until after the 1840s. There are several written accounts of the origins of the ring, each associate its creation with a famous Irish jeweler. None of which are particularly romantic and only one that I’d call interesting, but still not romantic. Continue reading →

Happy Fourth Of July

Jul4

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Continue reading →

A Unique Milestone For Reflections

Jun30

Post #1404

Post 1404

If you’ve followed my blog here for any length of time, you may know that Four has meaning to me. It’s my favorite number, my lucky number and it always catches my attention.

Tonight I posted a new article, “The Traditions Of The Tarot” and WordPress let me know this was the 1404th post on my blog. So I decided to mark the occasion with a little numerological insight.

Numerological Insight:
If you’ve seen my number insights before you know that Mathematics is the only language shared by all humans regardless of culture, religion, or gender. Numerology is the study of the divine or mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems, traditions and beliefs. Continue reading →

The Traditions Of The Tarot

Jun30

Wizards Tarot by John J. Blumen

New And Old Tarot Traditions

Today I saw an interesting picture on Facebook and it got me thinking about traditions. When it comes to the Tarot, there is a wide range of old traditions for how to keep the cards, how to use them, and who’s permitted to touch them. Added to those old “rules” are new concepts that have become common place and considered to be new traditions. But there’s no one single definitive or authoritative list of these ‘rules’. And some of these existing concepts even contradict each other. Here’s a short list from around the world as an example.

Keep your cards in a pine box.
Wrap your cards in silk or cotton.
Sleep with your cards under your pillow.
Never let anyone else touch your cards.
Only the querent should touch your cards at the time of their reading.
Always purify your deck in sunlight.
Only purify your deck in moonlight.
Sit the deck in a plate of sea salt to purify it.
Light a candle or incense before a reading.
Lay all your readings out on a pine board.
Always face east when doing a reading.
Always face your querent.
Shuffle and cut the deck three times to the left.
Don’t shuffle, cut once to the right.
Have only the querent shuffle.
Have only the reader shuffle.
Your cards must be gifted to you or stolen.
Never use a used deck.
If your cards are lost, they needed a new owner.

Continue reading →

We Celebrate Same-Sex-Marriage Equality

Jun26

News Release
June 26, 2015 : 11:53am

The Supreme Court rules gay couples nationwide have a right to marry. “Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. ~ Read the coverage at The Washington Post.

Everyone here at Springwolf Reflections and Spring’s Haven celebrate with the LGBT community on the Court’s decision to enforce Marriage Equality for all American people. This is a profound moment in the history of our nation. Love is Love in all 50 states of the U.S.

“The first wedding I officiated was for a same-sex couple.” Spring explained. “It has always bothered me that the wedding wasn’t “Legal” here in Virginia at the time. Not only for the couple, but as a minister licensed in this Commonwealth there was something lacking in the celebration. It was my first official wedding and there was nothing to mark the occasion.” Continue reading →

Merry International Faery Day!

Jun24

Niamh and the Raven
Lavender And Lark

June 24th Is International Faery Day

May all the Faery’s in your world greet you with smiles and glee,
May you share a laugh, comfort a sorrow and toast with me,
To the beautiful mystical Faery folk who live in the magikal tree.
© 2015

Celebrate by leaving a small plate of fresh fruit, nuts and sweet treats in your yard or garden for your faery friends.

Right about sunset, read them a poem, a story or tell them a tale from your imagination. You can even tell them a dream you’ve had about them.

Thank them for helping you in your garden, yard or even bringing you some magikal smiles into your life each and every day. They’ll appreciate the entertainment and the gratitude. But remember this is their day to be honored. Don’t use the time to petition them for help or ask for something. Save that for a New Moon ritual. Continue reading →

Merry Mid-Year Solstice

Jun19

Happy Solstice Celebration

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the Summer Solstice on June 21st or 22nd. The Summer Solstice rings in the waning year and begins the slow good-bye of the sun as the days become shorter and the darkness returns to the land.

In the Southern Hemisphere the mid-year solstice it falls on December 21st or 22nd. Which rings in the slow hello to the Sun as the days become longer and the darkness becomes shorter.

In both cases, the Sun is honored with bonfires and celebrations of the Holly and Oak Kings. But this year coincides with the celestial conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent Moon. Making this a very special holiday to honor and celebrate.

Everyone here at Springwolf Reflections and Spring’s Haven
wish you and yours a very Merry and Joyful holiday celebration.
May the Faeries in your home and garden
bless your evening and all the days of your life.

You can learn more about the Summer Solstice through these articles here on Reflections:

Mid-Summer Festival – Celebrating The Summer Solstice
The Summer Solstice – A Time For Faeries – Walnuts For Wishes : A Recipe and Ritual For Faeries
A Solstice Conjunction for 2015 – An Amazing Summer Solstice Event

A Solstice Conjunction for 2015

Jun19

An Amazing Summer Solstice Event A sparkling triangle of Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent Moon will grace our night sky this Saturday June 20th. This spectacular conjunction will be visible from the later dusk hours to the first hours of full darkness. For Pagans, this is an extra special event, because it coincides with our Summer Solstice celebration.

Conjunction from February, 2015. Credit: NASA

The Summer Solstice The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since Neolithic times. In Anglo-Saxon form, the holiday is known as Litha. A Germanic word for June and meaning mid-summer. In Irish form Meitheam. (From Old Irish mithem (“midsummer, June”), from Proto-Celtic *medjo-samīno- (compare Welsh Mehefin)). ~ From Celebrating the Summer Solstice Continue reading →

Ordering Readings On Spring’s Haven

Jun18

Spring’s Haven News Release 06/16/2015

Our Online Services Ordering System Is Back Up And Running Properly!

Back in April we were notified of an issue with our online ordering for services.

When you order any of our services, you’re linked to PayPal’s secure transaction site. But the ordering window is adding a Shipping and Handling charge where it hadn’t been doing so before. Nor should it be doing that at all.

We contacted PayPal and reported the issue back in April. We’ve been exchanging emails, but we’re not getting anywhere with PayPal. I’m not exactly happy with their customer service right now.

Today I reviewed what we had learned and started doing my own search for a solution. I went through their entire site, instructions, frequently occurring problems and update notifications and finally found an obscure notation from another seller having the same issue. They said an update to the system, duplicated the “selling price” into the “shipping price” and here’s where they fixed it. I followed what they did and tada…sure enough I found the same thing and was able to zero out the shipping and handling costs.

We’re doing a final test this evening and we should be ok for online ordering tomorrow.

Come by our website at SpringsHaven.com and check out our Online Services.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

"Believe In Yourself, Even When No One Else Does."
~ Harvey McKay ~
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“Take a chance on faith. Not religion, but faith.
Not hope, but faith.
I don’t believe in hope. Hope is a beggar.
Hope walks through the fire and Faith leaps over it.”
~ Jim Carrey ☆ 2014
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“I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less. And I am one of the seven billion human being. Basically we are the same… your emotion, my emotion, your mind, my mind.., same physical. So I always look [at it] that way. We are the same.”
~ Dalai Lama 2012 ~
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"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
~ Bruce Lee 1971