Hare´s Tail…

It was a beautiful new moon last night and, with the sound of the first night of our village festa playing in the distance, I decided to walk the labyrinth at about midnight.  I have very poor night vision, so to walk the uneven ground without a torch is a great test for me.  It makes me concentrate, really focus on the earth beneath my feet. 

A strange phenomenon of our labyrinth is that it always seems to take about twice as long to walk in to the centre, then to walk out.  I wanted to give up as I was walking the longest, outer circuit, which is also the darkest, narrowest and most uneven part of the labyrinth.  As the labyrinth is an accurate symbol for life, in the end one has no choice but to keep going, following the path.  It´s a great analogy for my life and many others´ right now.

In the centre, at an impulse, I decided to remove the citrine crystal that has been hanging there, gathering solar and lunar energies, since the solstice.  I put it on, reasoning that it would help me focus on my power and reserves of energy that I will be needing at the Boom Festival next week.  I also decided to collect the hare´s tail and I thought I would carry it in my power bag.  Stroking the soft fur is extremely soothing and meditative and I thought it would be a potent protective symbol as well as a comforter. 

I sat a while in the centre, facing north and thinking of my ancestors and their gifts to me.  I sensed the white hare, Geàrr, behind me in the south and thought of this snatch of poetry:

In the black furror of a field
I saw an old witch-hare this night;
And she cocked a lissome ear,
And she eyed the moon so bright,
And she nibbled of the green;
And I whispered "Whsst! witch-hare,"
Away like a ghostie o’er the field
She fled, and left the moonlight there.

(19th century children's poem by Walter de la Mare)

After I walked out, I decided to pop the hare´s tail in the jar of Hare Smoke incense (it pongs a bit!) that I prepared on the day Billy caught the hare.  I thought I would share the recipe, which comes from an excellent witchcraft resource: Traditional Witchcraft A Cornish Book of Ways by Gemma Gary. 

Angelica Root	½ tsp
Bay Leaves	1 tsp
Cinnamon EO*	1 drop
Copal	1 tsp
Frankincense	3 tsps
Juniper (I used berries)	2 tsps
Lavender EO	15 drops
Lemon Balm	1 tsp
Oak bark	1 tsp
Rosemary	2 tsps
Rose petals	1 tsp
Sage	2 tsps
Vervain	1 tsp
Alum	1½ tsps

*I didn´t have cinnamon EO, so added 1 tsp cinnamon powder.

I have added 3 pinches of Lucifer´s Magick Tea to the blend.  Lucifer´s tea is another whole, long story that I may share with you sometime ;-D.

Hare Smoke, if you decide to make it, is used for “bodily healing, acts of cleansing, purification, the removal of negative energy and encouragement of positive energy and strength”.  Just what I need right now!  It also, by the way, smells gorgeous!!