Imbolc Altar

Imbolc is on Monday, so for today, I will be showing you my Imbolc altar! Imbolc is the halfway point between Winter and Spring, and it is the celebration of lambs returning. Signs of nature are slowly popping back up, and the days are beginning to grow noticeably longer.

The main part of my altar is the bowl of dirt and salt in the back. I use this to represent the earth and the snow on the ground, and I put three candles in it to signify the warmth returning to the Earth,

Next to that is the Tibetan singing bowl that my boyfriend got me for Yule. I use it for meditative purposes, as well as to clear out negative energy. I used to use incense to cleanse my room, but I moved my birds in, and incense would mess with their respiratory systems.

Then I have my four element jars, feathers for air, chili powder/ashes for fire, a terrarium my sister made me for earth, and water for water.

Between the jars are my God and Goddess candles. I use tealights, and have a red holder for God, and a yellow/clear/amberish holder for the Goddess.

Candles Lit

In front of those is my offering bowl. My Mom had little dipping bowls that she gave to me. I am using them for offerings, and they are absolutely perfect.

On the left is a snowflake that my boyfriend painted for me, which is there to signify the snow that is on the ground, but will be melting soon.

On the right are two rocks I found at two of my favorite places, Swallow Falls State Park in western Maryland, and Camel's Hump State Park in Vermont.

In the very front are my crystals. For Imbolc, I am using clear quartz, Botswana agate, rose quartz, amethyst, citrine, and red jasper.

My altar cloth is light pink with brownish green spots, which represent new growth.

I am very excited for Imbolc, because it means Spring is coming, which is my favorite season! I'm also using it to make some early Valentine's Day gifts for my three best girl friends.

What's on your altar? Are you doing anything special for Imbolc?

Passion Spell Bottle

Winter tends to make me feel kind of stagnant. The energy I pull from the sun goes into hibernation, and I lose motivation very quickly. So, I created this spell bottle to help combat Winter blahs.

I got the inspiration for this project from here:
http://suzieridler.blogspot.ca/2012/03/tutorial-on-diy-spell-bottlespendants.html

I didn't have any cute bottles, so I used nail polish remover to empty out this bottle. I just carefully poured nail polish remover into the bottle, shook gently, rinsed, and repeated until clean. Fair warning, this uses a lot of nail polish remover, so in the future I will probably go purchase a little bottle so it has less waste or mess.

Since I wanted this bottle to help bring passion into my life, I tried to use ingredients that made me think of warmth and fire. I poured some olive oil in as a base, but again, through trial and error, I don't think I'll do that in the future, because it caused separation. I also added honey whiskey, and red pepper flakes. I put a dash of salt in for purification.

I swirled the ingredients around while focusing on my intent, and then I set it on my window sill to soak up some sun energy.

I use it to anoint things, for example I recently blessed a bracelet I have to help me be courageous and strong. I put a dab of this on the bracelet to help give i some extra umph.

This project was pretty easy, and its super customizable for whatever you wanted to put in it.

This was a fun little thing to do, and I'll probably post more crafts like this in the future!

My Humble Crystal Collection and Some Advice for Beginners

So here is my small but beautiful crystal collection. I began collecting shortly before I discovered paganism, and it was a huge part of me discovering my faith.

From the top, going clockwise, I have tiger's iron, green fluorite, sodalite, rutilated quartz, clear quartz, shungite, citrine, rose quartz, jade, malachite, and jasper. The stones in the center are red jasper, amethyst, and Botswana agate.

I collect mainly tumbled stones because they are usually more affordable than raw stones, and I like to carry them in my pocket, which is harder when the crystal has jagged edges. My clear quartz and fluorite are raw, and my little amethyst bit is raw.

I see a lot of people suggest to beginners that they get clear quartz or amethyst to start their collection, and while I agree that these are great stones, I wouldn't necessarily say that any stone is great for a beginner, because I think it varies from person to person.

My advice to people interested in starting their collection, is to go into the store with no preconceived idea of what you want. Just look at the stones and pick them up and feel which ones you like best. See how different stones affect you. For me, I had no attachment towards rose quartz for months, and then this past week I picked up a piece and immediately knew I had to get it.

My newest addition

After you choose one, go home and research it. Usually, you will understand why you picked it up. For example, the very first stones I bought were red jasper and sodalite. When I got home to find out more about them, I found out that red jasper is great for performing artists and sodalite is good for communication and creativity. As a theater major in college, I feel that both of these stones are good for me, and the red jasper is still one of my favorite go to stones.

I hope this helps any new people looking to begin their crystal collection! If you have a collection, whats in yours? Do you have any favorites?

My (Not So) Shiny New Book of Shadows

About two weeks ago, I visited Cleveland, Ohio, and left my Book of Shadows at the hotel, with my tarot notes in it! So there went about two months of tarot journaling. But it gave me the opportunity to re-do my BOS, since the other one no longer had the sections in it that I wanted.

I chose to keep mine in a binder because 1) I can add things to organized sections, and 2) I am a stage manager so binders are kinda my thing.

The binder option also made it very affordable, the binder was about a dollar, as were the divider tabs. The tabs I got are solid white, so I can doodle images that fit that section (or ask my more artistically inclined friends to do so.)

The sections I have divided it into are Beliefs, Sabbats, Esbats, Witchcraft, Divination, Crystals, Inspiration, and Miscellaneous.

I really like how its shaping up so far, and hopefully I won't leave this one several states away!

Welcome to "Little Miss Pagan"!

My name is Hannah, and I have been an eclectic pagan for almost a year. I started practicing my spirituality a little before Beltane in 2014, so I am using that as my 'pagan birthday.'

I am a duotheist, believing in a God and Goddess, which represent themselves in all things.

I began looking into witchcraft a few months ago, so I am by no means knowledgeable, but its something I am working on. I believe that witchcraft is very personal and there is no right or wrong way to do it, only what feels right for individuals.

I hope that maintaining this blog will help me open up to the community, as well as challenge me to explore my beliefs more deeply.

Thanks for reading!