More candles.  As before - I do not own the art I have used, and I am not claiming it as mine. I only make these labels for personal use. They are not for sale.

Third night of Full Moon, December 2012 - New Year’s altar.

(I put this up on the 29th and let it carry the full moon energy over to the New Year.)

My husband returned home from work last night bearing this massive piece of quartz; a gift for me from one of his co-workers. It is roughly pyramidal in shape, probably weighs a good 6 or 7 pounds, and is 6” tall, 7” wide, and 4” thick.

It’s got a lot of charge, wherever it’s been before now - it feels overstimulated? Overclocked? Something like that. I’m hoping to bring it down a notch to something a little more sedate.

It has one little flat notch on the top, just to the one side - I like that. A spot to balance things on.

‘Clearing the Way’, November 2012.

Clear quartz in the center, and each candle holder is surrounded by appropriate stones.

• Red: Garnet, ruby, red jasper, red tiger’s eye.
• Orange: Carnelian, sunstone, mandarin garnet.
• Yellow: Golden calcite, tiger’s eye, citrine, imperial topaz.
• Green: Green garnet, tourmaline, rhodochrosite, aventurine, bloodstone, seraphinite, chrysoprase, green quartz.
• Blue: Turquoise, aquamarine, blue topaz, chrysocolla, celestite.
• Indigo: Lapis lazuli, blue sapphire, iolite, kyanite, apatite.
• Violet: Amethyst, moonstone, sugilite.

I keep repeating myself with this space, but it has changed slightly since the sabbat, and so I’m posting it again.

Part of my sabbat rite involved a grey candle. Now, I’m typically picky about my materials. And I have never had a good experience with palm wax candles. It’s probably been ten years since I last used one. I don’t like them, because they don’t burn nicely. I distrust them. But the only grey candles I could find in time for the sabbat were palm wax.

At one point, I moved this grey candle from my working altar, to the autumn altar. I watched it carefully, put a dish under the candle holder, trimmed the wick frequently. And when I took a couple minutes to use the washroom, it had a complete and total meltdown, all over the altar cloth. I’m grateful it didn’t start a fire. And it was a good sharp reminder of the primary reason I don’t use bloody palm wax.

The palm wax could not be removed from the altar cloth. I couldn’t pull the wax off enough to try ironing it out, and I couldn’t even scrape it off with a utility blade. So I ended up losing my favorite black cloth, as well as having a mess. :\

So. The autumn space now has a dark blue cloth. I’ve swapped the stones out a bit - lapis lazuli, iolite, labradorite, jet, obsidian, dark amethyst, raw copper. A transition to October; deeper colds, stronger winds, darker days, a particular shade of blue water.

Today is another serene grey day. The natural soft dim light always makes me feel comfortable and relaxed. I tend to leave the electric lights low, and light some candles. 

Today it’s the Lord and Lady shrines on the working altar. They seem pleased at having a renewed space.

A bit of sunlight in the room as we begin to approach the solstice season.

The Goddess candle is anointed with labdanum oil; The God’s is heliotrope. The herbal mix in the bowl is something called ‘Secret Garden’ - it’s lavender, rose, hyssop, mint, and rosemary, with some oils. I usually use it for a bath tea.

The crystal matrix is made up of things I associate with solstice, and sunlight - clear and golden quartz, sunstone, mandarin garnet, ruby, fire agate, golden calcite, chrysoprase, jade, and raw copper. Tucked alongside the tallest pillar is my little carved raven.

Leaves at the Wildwood Shrine, June 2012.

The ‘leaves’ are small bottles that used to be filled with maple syrup.

Full Moon Shrine, June 2012.

I had fully intended to light the shrine completely last night, as I usually do. But it didn’t happen. It had its’ own glow, the bowl and the matrix, but I didn’t light more than that.

I suspect it was intuitive. The eclipse, which I hadn’t given too much thought to beforehand, cleaned house last night. It was unexpected, unpleasant, cathartic, and needed. It leaves me in a very different space today.

So the shrine is fully lit now, undimmed, that the eclipse has passed.

Full Moon Shrine, June 2012.

These were taken prior to lighting the shrine. I did not end in lighting the full shrine last night, but rather just my beeswax candle bowl and the matrix candle. I had hoped for flowers, but nothing is blooming in my yard yet; soon, I would think.

Stones are clear quartz, chrysocolla, aquamarine, rainbow moonstone, and kyanite.

Kinship.