Summer Homeschooling - Druid Week

Druid Week -

Druids are thought to have been these magical wizards who could control nature. They were the first doctors, chemists, meteorologists, botanists, and astrologists. The real King James IV (Jaime's dad) actually had a druid under his employment, and one of his tasks was turning lead into gold. This wasn't magic, however, it was just chemistry/physics. Lead (atomic number 82 on the periodic table) requires the nuclear release of 3 protons to become gold (atomic number 79).

Druids created the first medicines and used the sky to help society plan their crops. They appreciated and connected with nature in a way that is lost to us today, and throughout my journey writing Evelyn's story, I'm starting to bridge that gap within myself. Most of the holidays we celebrate today were created by the druids; this week, we will learn why.

So, were druids magical, or did they just know nature's language, Awen? What would you and I know or be capable of if we also learned it?

Monday: Druids

• Colors of the Wind
• Awen - On page 189, Baba Edith states, "Awen is the force that beats with the essence of life. It is the ebb and flow of all existence. You see, while inside the womb, we swim within it, but as we age, we feel as if we have lost that connection. It feels as though it is something to be searched for and obtained, but it is already inside every one of us..."
• Five elements: air, water, earth, fire, and spirit.
• The chakras (deep dive video), and what colors are connected to what:
• Root - anxiety disorders, fears, or nightmares; problems in the colon, with the bladder, or with lower back, leg, or feet issues.
• Sacral - feeling uninspired creatively, having emotional instability, fear of change, depression, addiction-like behaviors.
• Solar Plexus - low self-esteem, difficulty making decisions, anger or control issues; apathy, procrastination, vulnerability; tummy ache of some kind, such as digestive issues or gas.
• Heart - grief, anger, jealousy, fear of betrayal, and hatred toward yourself and others; emotionally closed off and find it difficult to get over past hurts and forgive; hard to give and receive love.
• Throat - hard to truly express oneself; hard to pay attention and stay focused or fear judgment from others; sore throat, thyroid issues, neck and shoulder stiffness, or tension headaches.
• Third Eye - trouble accessing your intuition, trusting your inner voice, recalling important facts, or learning new skills; act more judgmental, dismissive, and introverted.
• Crown - when unblocked, you have an exalted state of spiritual connection and enlightenment. It takes a lot of practice to unblock the crown chakra.
• Crystals - What crystals are you drawn to? This will tell you what you need.
• Anna - 
1. rose quartz (practical, reliable, strong sense of family values, unconditional love, inner peace, emotional balancing, purifies and opens the heart at all levels to promote love, self-love, friendship, deep inner healing, and feelings of peace)
2. garnet (determined and ambitious, attractive air of confidence, joy, forgiveness, love, happiness, creativity, prosperity, loyalty, commitment, regenerative, root, heart, sacral)
3. aragonite (patience, grounding, emotional strength, luck, centering)
• Chayton - 
1. amethyst (best grounding stone, your energy is high in the head, connected to the crown and third eye, protection against fear and feels of guilt, instilling calmness, alleviating anxiety, pleasant dreams, free, loving)
2. clear quartz (opens capacity to absorb, store, release, and regulate energy, straightforward, energetic)
3. tiger eye (courage, focus, prosperity, protection)
• Witchy pop culture:
• Looking into your crystal ball is just scrying; like a mirror or a candle, it's just meditation, visiting the astral plane, connecting with your spirit guide or ancestors
• Grimoire/Book of Shadows (sounds scary right?); Evelyn had her own in her hidden room - What is shadow work? Use shadow work cards.
• Potions in a cauldron (this is what they used to cook over the hearth, we have a Dutch oven) were the first medicines: tea, simmer pots, diffusers and essential oils
• Kitchen Witchery - Druids learned how to use food to heal us; medicine is all witchcraft
• elderberry syrup (boosts your immune system and cures sickness)
• willow bark is where aspirin came from; willow bark contains salicylate, relieves aches and pains, including headaches, and can save you if you're having a heart attack
• valerian root - Evelyn makes a tea to calm Eric
• snowdrops - contains galantamine used to treat Alzheimer's disease
• Druids stated that when you enter a forest, ask the trees for their secrets and for their permission to walk among them. They were considered the lungs of the earth, and the one thing humans cannot live without.

Weekly Activities:

• Monday - Chakra Yoga - chakra meditation: Pick out a crystal from the metaphysical store, eat with your chakra, shadow work game
• Tuesday - Ostara Yoga - spirit animal (Spring - new life and new beginnings): write down your goals or aspirations for the rest of the year (and do a spell, calling the corners), pick up a hobby that you've loved but put down, when you clean, it's like a spell, you clear the energy, protect the house, declutter and donate; pick a bouquet, get a bouquet from the store (purifies the air); baked potato, roast veggies, fish/cured meats, beans/seeds, pasta/cheese sauce
• Wednesday - Beltane Yoga - higher self (Summer - celebrating nature's energy and life/the sun): cookout or have a picnic at a shaded park, campfire with smores, learn about the fae and how to find them, make sun tea, go the beach and watch the sunset
• Thursday - Lammas Yoga - astral projection (Fall - celebrating nature's bounties/the harvest): make a gratitude list, simmer pot, go to the farmer's market, get fresh fruits and veggies for dinner; bake bread, donate to the food bank; make a besom or see if Publix has them yet
• Friday - Samhain Yoga - hiraeth (Winter - celebrating family and tradition): Silly Feast - dress in animal masks, bob for apples, make salt dough ornaments, use family recipes from my mom's cookbook, learn family history, tell ghost stories, make wassail

Tuesday: Wheel of the Year/Imbolc/Ostara - Coloring Page

• The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals. The druids considered all things to be cyclical, with time as a perpetual cycle of growth and retreat tied to the Sun’s annual death and rebirth.
• Imbolc (High Winter) February 1st-2nd: 
• Imbolc celebrates the hearth and the home. The word Imbolc literally means "in the belly" and refers to the fact that ewes give birth to lambs and begin lactating around this time, symbolizing purification and cleansing. Take this time to honor the dormant potential within, and nurture the flickering flames of creativity and inspiration that have waited so patiently beneath the winter frost.
• Symbols: white flowers (snowdrops), sheep/lambs, milk, seeds (sow the seeds, whether crops or personal)
• Activities: set your goals and intentions for the year, rekindle creative pursuits such as painting, knitting, writing, etc., make candles, make blackberry jam or cobbler, have tea and a good book by the fire, enjoy home with friends and family, bake with milk and seeds, do community service (nursing homes, shelters, food banks, litter pick up, etc.), declutter and donate, take a milk bath, focus on self-care and healing
• Imbolc kitchen witchery
• Ostara (Spring Equinox, day and night are equal) March 19th:
• The Spring Equinox is dedicated to the fertility goddess, Ostara. She is notably associated with the symbols of the hare (fertility and messengers between the living and dead because they 'burrowed between worlds') and the egg (new beginnings, the cycle of life), and she is where the word Easter derived from. This is when Spring begins. The Earth is awakening, and it is a time of rebirth and new life. Attention is brought to the balance we need in our own lives, and it is a time to nurture our bodies with healthy nutrients and to cut anything harming their growth.
• Symbols: hares, eggs, spring flowers (white lilies), shamrocks (druids, realms of land, sea, and sky; interconnected aspects of mind, body, and spirit), butterflies (transformation, growth, cycle of life), scales (equinox, maintain balance)
• Activities: spring cleaning, planting your garden (egg shells provide good nourishment), decorating/painting eggs, fresh flowers around the home, baking hot cross buns (solar cross), taking a walk through nature, making a bird house or bird feeder, bake with lavender and lemon, do yoga outside in the grass, basket weaving or crochet
• Ostara kitchen witchery

Wednesday: Beltane/Litha

• Beltane (High Spring) May 1st: watch that episode of Men in Kilts
• Also called May Day or Walpurgis Night, Beltane is the fire festival of flowers, fertility, and delight. The word "Beltane" roughly translates to "bright fire," and as such, one of its important rituals concerns the lighting of the Beltane bonfire. Fire was seen as a purifier and healer, was deemed to have protective powers, and would have been walked around and danced/jumped over by the members of the community. Farmers would also have sent their cattle between bonfires to cleanse and protect them, before driving them out to the summer pastures.
• All household fires would have been doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. In this way, the community was connected to each other by the sacred fire, which was central to all. These gatherings would have been accompanied by a feast, and since it was a liminal festival (a time when the veil is thinnest between our world and the Otherworld), some of the food and drink would have been offered to the daoine sìth, aos sí (fae, descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann). 
• The Otherworld (called Annwn in Welsh and Tír na nÓg in Irish) is the supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance, and joy, occupied by the deities and possibly also the dead. It is described as a parallel world that exists alongside our own. It is usually elusive, but various mythical heroes visit it either through chance or after being invited by one of its residents. They often reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going underwater or across the western sea. Sometimes, they suddenly find themselves there with the appearance of a magic mist (or an invisible curtain in Aiden's case), supernatural beings, or unusual animals (like the ghost wolves).
• The fae: types of fae - The Enchanting Fairies of Celtic Lore - The History of Fairies | The Dark & Tragic Stories You Were Never Told
• Doors, windows, barns, and livestock would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. Beltane was and is ultimately a celebration of casting off the darkness and celebrating the light.
• Symbols: the May Pole, bonfires, fairies, flower crowns and garlands
• Activities: make a flower crown, have a picnic, dance to music, may flowers on neighbors' doors, bake cookies, leave offerings for the fae
• Beltane kitchen witchery
• Litha (Summer Solstice) June 20th: 
• Lithia celebrates the beginning of Summer and the longest day of the year. This is the turning point when we surrender to the darkness, and the days begin to grow shorter and the nights longer from here on out. 
• Symbols: sunflowers, citrine, sea shells, bees, mirrors
• Activities: sunrise yoga, camping, strawberry, peach, or blueberry picking, cookouts with family and friends, making sun tea, going to the beach, deserts with fresh fruit, watching the sunset, baking honey cakes
• Litha kitchen witchery

Thursday: Lammas/Mabon

• Luchnassad/Lammas (First Harvest) August 1st: 
• The name Lammas (contraction of loaf mass) implies a feast of thanksgiving for grain and bread, which symbolizes the first fruits of the harvest. It is celebrated by baking bread and eating it.
• Activities: bake bread, make corn dollies, have a beer/ginger beer, dry lavender, make berry preserves to use throughout the winter
• Lammas kitchen witchery
• Mabon (Autumn Equinox, day at night are equal) September 22nd:
• Mabon is the druids' thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth, celebrated with a feast of locally grown fruits and veggies. Mabon is the second equinox, so it is a time of balance and harmony.
• Activities: make a gratitude list, go apple picking, collect fallen leaves, volunteer at the soup kitchen or donate to the food bank, make your besom or a cornucopia, drink apple cider or cinnamon tea, take a bike ride through the woods, meditate, talk to the woodland creatures and leave them offerings, bake an apple pie
• Mabon kitchen witchery

Friday: Samhain/Yule

• Samhain (High Autumn) October 31st: 
• Samhain ushers in the "dark half of the year," and that is when the cattle would have been brought down from the summer pastures and livestock would have been slaughtered. Like Beltane, it was considered a liminal festival, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld blurred. Also like Beltane, a druid priest would have lit a communal bonfire, and all household fires would have been doused or allowed to die and then re-lit from the Samhain bonfire. This bonfire would have been used as protection from evil spirits since they could attend because of the darkness, but light warded them off.
• Since the beings of the Otherworld were said to walk amongst the living during this time, offerings of food and drink were left for them, to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. Mumming and guising were also part of the festival, as a way of imitating and disguising oneself from the fae, and children would go door to door, reciting verses in exchange for food or soul cakes.
• Samhain was also considered a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and respect was paid to ancestors, family members, friends, pets, and other loved ones. At this time, the ancient burial grounds were opened (seen as portals to the Otherworld), and deceased loved ones were invited to attend the feast and festivities, having a place set at the table for them during the meal.
• Because the veil was so thin, divination was also popular at this time, and this usually involved nuts and apples, which is where bobbing for apples came from.
• Jack O' Lanterns (Jack of the Lantern) - the story of Stingy Jack; the devil gave him a spare ember to see his way through the dark and scare off other evil spirits in his wake; this legend ended up with the living carving pumpkins and placing candles inside to ward off evil spirits.
• Activities: research family history, use family recipes, connect with your elders, visit graves, make squash soup, bake a pumpkin pie, bob for apples, bake soul cakes, carve a jack-o-lantern, brew divination tea, look through old photo albums, scrying and divination, tell ghost stories, eat caramel apples
• Samhain kitchen witchery
• Yule (Winter Solstice) December 21st-January 1st: 
• Yule is a winter celebration of the shortest day of the year, and as such, the return of the sun and the beginning of longer days. It is a time of peace, stillness, and healing.
• The 12 Days of Christmas:
• 20th, Mother's Night (Yule's Eve)
• A celebration of the Disir, protective female spirits of fate and fertility; ancestral grandmothers who blessed, protected, and provided prophetic counsel to the clan. This is a night for holding vigil through the dark to honor female ancestors.
• 21st, Winter's Night (the Winter Solstice)
• Celebrating the longest night and the return of the sun, heralding the lengthening of days and the promise of spring.
• The Yule Log: A Nordic tradition of burning a tree or log in the home for the entire 12 Days of Christmas, allowing the flame of the old year to ignite the new year. The ash from the log was sometimes used for rituals such as blessing crops, protecting against storms, and healing the sick.
• 22nd, Father's Night
• A night to honor male spirits, the Alfar—male ancestors.
• 23rd, The Silly Feast (counting the blessings)
• Loki's Silly (Seelie) Feast - a party or feast while wearing your animal masks, probably where our NYE masquerades come from. A time for exchanging gifts, turning social rules, and setting up the Yule Tree.
• The Yule Tree: A Germanic tradition of decorating trees with greenery and ornaments (wish ornaments - salt dough with your hopes for the coming year, symbols of gratitude and joy). The yule tree signified abundance in the coming year. You decorate the outdoor trees for the animals and the indoor tree for you.
• 24th, The Wild Hunt (Christmas Eve)
• A ghostly parade of spirits riding wildly through the night, marking a time of mystical energy. Nowadays, the Wild Hunt is known as a terrifying ordeal, where fae attack or capture anyone in their path. On the other hand, some believe it is a fae celebration, which can still be pretty scary since they're more rambunctious and violent than those on this side of the veil.
• Santa was known as a fae, whose clothes matched the red-capped mushrooms that grow through the winter snow beneath the evergreen trees. Shaman or šamán means "one who knows." Bells call the spirits and fairies (that's why Santa has them on his sleigh). Milk and cookies were offerings left for the fae, for Santa, in exchange for presents.
• The Deer Mother takes to the skies, carrying the light of the sun in her antlers, bringing rebirth to the land.
• Also, the Yule book flood takes place, where people gift books to each other and read through the night.
• 25th, Protecting the Home (Christmas Day, letting light and hope in)
• Lighting candles, decorating with ribbons and garlands, and hanging mistletoe in doorways for protection in the coming year.
• Evergreens: Evergreens were revered because they lasted even in the heart of winter. They were hung over doors and windows, as their greenery in a time of bleak cold was believed to ward off negative energies and illness.
• Wreaths: The Yule Wreath had dried orange for strength, oak for wisdom, holly for hope, evergreen for rebirth, clove for prosperity, cinnamon for protection, laurel for success, and mistletoe for fertility.
• Mistletoe: The druids held nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree that bears it, the oak. They call the mistletoe "uil-ìoc," which means the all-healing. A kiss under the mistletoe represents the promise of love, life, and renewal.
• 26th, Honor to the Hearth
• A day for feasts, particularly lamb stew and leaf bread, as kin gather together to share warmth and nourishment before the winter's grip tightens.
• 27th, Protecting Outside the Home
• Making offerings to wildlife and spirits of the woods, preparing for the coming winter. This day is also marked by the creation of protective wards for the coming winter, ensuring a shield against unseen forces.
• 28th, Ritual of Completion (close out everything for the year, clear any debts)
• It is a time to conclude tasks left undone, a moment of closure and preparation for the impending new cycle. Plum (figgy) pudding is a culinary symbol of completion.
• 29th, Day of Contemplation (looking into the new year)
• Approaching the year’s end, the penultimate day invites a gaze into the future and an appreciation of nature’s wonders. Create open spaces for relaxation, meditate on the year to come, and engage with preferred divination tools, seeking insights for the unfolding future.
• 30th, Good Luck in the coming Year 
• Wassail is made, and wassailing occurs.
• Wassailing: The house-visiting wassail is the practice of people going door-to-door, singing, and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in exchange for gifts; this practice still exists, but has largely been displaced by carol singing. The orchard-visiting wassail refers to the ancient custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions, reciting incantations, and singing to the trees to scare away evil spirits and promote a good harvest for the coming year.
• 31st, Hogmanay (spiritually and physically cleansing the house)
• Homes are blessed for protection (saining), and the home is cleaned from top to bottom. 
• Drinking, dancing, and feasting ensue, and a massive torchlit parade occurs. Nowadays, Hogmanay (New Year's) rings in at midnight with fireworks and "Auld Lang Syne." The first person to visit on New Year's is called the "first-footer," and he should be a tall, dark-haired man bringing coal or shortbread.
• Activities: decorate your home with candles to bring light into your home, go foraging, decorate with dried fruits and evergreens, bake a spiced yule log cake, have a cup of wassail, put a lantern on your porch or a candle in your front window, hang peanut butter and seed coated pinecones for the birds, make gingerbread
• Yule kitchen witchery

Saturday: Field Trip to go blueberry picking.