Giveaway! Handmade Yule Candle from Montserrat!

In honor of Yule this upcoming month, I decided to host a giveaway for a Yule related item. Thanks to Montserrat, at the Sacred Feminine, we have a beautiful handmade Yule candle to giveaway! As some of you may know, Montserrat has donated some of her great products to us before. We appreciate her generosity by donating one of her products again!

I had the chance to speak with her about her lovely candles, here's what she had to say:

1. How did you get started making candles and for how long?I started making candles in 1996, just for me, when I could not find the right kind of candles in the stores. Then, I began to give them to friends and they all said that I should make them available to everybody. I took my first batch to a local store and they sold right away, and the rest is history :-)

2. Which candle that you make is your favorite?
I don't have a particular candle that is my favorite, but I really like my latest one called
"Expect Miracles".

3. Can you explain the item you are giving away?
I am giving away a Yule candle. It is very pretty because it comes with a little holly charm tied to the candle with raffia. It's scented with pine, mulberry, juniper and cinnamon. Smells divine!


Ok so here are the rules: To enter the giveaway, go to Montserrat's Sacred Feminine site, find a few items that you like, and come back here to comment on them. For extra credit, you can start following Montserrat on twitter and post here that you are following her. The giveaway will go on for one week, then the winner will be announced. Please make sure to add contact info like your email in your entry! I will select the winner randomly with random.org. Good luck to everyone who enters and thank you again to Montserrat for donating her beautiful candle! Thanks for playing!

Blessings )O(

Kali, Dark Mother Goddess of India

Kali is the Hindu Goddess of time and change. Also known as "the black one" she is associated with eternal energy, time and death. She is depicted with four arms, her tongue sticking out and a garland of heads around her neck. In her most famous myth, Kali is shown fighting the demon Raktabija, but every time he is killed, he reproduces a clone of himself before there are many demons to kill. Kali kills everyone of them and licks up their blood in the process. In celebration of her victory, she then dances on the battlefield, stepping on the corpses of the slain. Her consort Shiva lies among the dead beneath her feet.

Although Kali may seem to some a fierce and evil Goddess, she is actually seen as a Mother Goddess in the Hindu religion. In Bengal, she is seen as "the divine Shakti representing both the creative and destructive aspects of nature". And though she is associated with death, the meaning is much deeper. Kali is known to bring the death of the ego. She is said to remove our attachments to our bodies, because they are only temporary. According to Hindu belief, it is the attachment to our bodies that give rise to our ego. Kali, as a Goddess of death and change, helps to liberate us from our ego's, therefore keeping us on our path to spiritual enlightenment.

One of her famous festivals known as Kali Puja, is held on the new day of the Hindu month, which is the seventh month of the Hindu calender, usually ending up in Autumn. So the date for this celebration is different every year. Although Kali is worshiped throughout India and Nepal, she is most popular in Bengal. Here you can find her most famous temple just outside of Calcutta.

To work with this dark mother Goddess, call on her when you are seeking spiritual enlightenment in your own life. Or when your in need of change and need to let go of your ego. On your altar to Kali, have bones, red flowers and candles, jewelry, hibiscus flowers, honey, incense and a picture or statue of her.

For more info on the Goddess Kali, check out : Kali Goddess

Blessings )O(



Photo courtesy of : ReligionFaith.com

Book Review: Hekate Her Sacred Fires

Hekate is my matron Goddess, so when I found Hekate Her Sacred Fires by Sorita D'Este, I knew I had to have it! The book itself is quite large, with a beautifully illustrated cover, and pictures throughout. The first part of the book gives you some background on the Goddess Hekate, like her history, stories, herb and crystal associations, offerings and much more. Then the rest of the book consists of personal experiences people have had with the Goddess. These people come from all over the world and they have shared their story of how they discovered Hekate. I found these stories to be very interesting, inspiring and comforting.

The book was fantastic, and all the individual stories really touched me. What I found interesting, is that once you've read a few of them, you start to see a pattern forming. That even though each story is very different, the core feeling and experience is the same. What I also found interesting, is that I too experienced the same feeling when I discovered Hekate. Reading this book has really helped me to understand why Hekate has come into my life, and what her message is for me. Because it is different for everyone.

It was also very comforting to listen to these different people talk about their experiences, because we can relate. And it helps us as individuals to understand and have a stronger relationship with the Goddess. I think this particular style of book is a great idea, and I hope that Sorita D'Este will plan to do another in the future. It is so valuable in all the information it gives. Not just info on the Goddess, but experiences with her, which mean so much more. Experience in this field means the most. You can learn all you want about the Goddess and her history, but until you experience it, you will never truly understand her ways.

At the end of the book, Sorita gives you the Rite of Her Sacred Fires to perform on your own. It is to be performed on the night of a full moon.

For those of you who love Hekate, or just started learning about her, this book is for you. I highly recommend this book for anyone on her path. Sorita has recently developed The Covenant of Hekate, for those who would like to take their relationship with this Goddess to the next level. In order to join you must first perform the rite of Her Sacred Fires, then mail in your info.

Enjoy learning about this wise dark Goddess! Thank you Sorita for another great book!

Blessings )O(

The Goddess and the Serpent

The serpent is an ancient symbol of the Goddess, and has been used by many different cultures since the beginning of time. Although in modern times, the snake has been demonized as an evil and deceitful creature. This new view of a once sacred animal was imprinted on us by Christianity in their tale of Adam and Eve. This was not the case for our ancient ancestors. Many cultures including the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Hindus and many more, revered the snake as a symbol of rebirth and fertility.

In Minoan Crete, people worshiped a snake Goddess. Scholars associate this Goddess with that of Ariadne, who is Mistress of the Labyrinth and Goddess of the moon, and stars. A famous figurine found, assumed to be a priestess of this snake Goddess, is shown holding a snake in each arm up to the air in ritual fashion. Whatever magical ceremonies took place based on this figurine, is still somewhat unknown. One things for sure, that these people among many others worshiped the snake as a sacred symbol of rebirth.

There are also many Goddesses who are associated with the symbol of the snake, such as Hekate, Wadjet, Angitia and the ancient Celtic Goddess Corchen. Wadjet is the cobra headed Goddess of lower Egypt. In other parts of Egypt, she was worshiped as a vulture Goddess. She was seen as a Goddess of fertility, and protector of the pharaohs. The Celtic Goddess Corchen, is a very old Goddess, and not much is known about her. All that is really known, is that she was a Goddess of rebirth and fertility, and she was depicted nude with two snakes on either side. Angitia was an Oscan Goddess from east of Rome in the Apennine Mountains. She was a Goddess of snakes and magic and was known for her ability to heal those who had been poisoned by snakes.

The Hindu's form of snake worship comes to us as the Kundalini. This is also known as the sacred feminine energy that lies dormant within each of us. It is said the Kundalini, which was a Hindu Goddess, is a sleeping serpent coiled around the base of the spine. According to Hindu belief, when opening up your chakras, the serpent climbs up, chakra by chakra until she reaches the crown. It is said that then, the person will be awakened to the feminine energy within. Essentially, discovering the Goddess.

From what I've seen in my research, every symbol of the snake is associated with the core symbolism, of feminine energy and the Goddess. From shedding its skin to represent rebirth, to the coiled snake representing the spiral of life, to the feminine energy that lives within each of us, the snake is a very important symbolic creature for our Great Mother.

For more info on the symbol of the serpent, check out Wikipedia

Blessings )O(



Photo courtesy of Pamela Matthews Goddess Tarot Deck