The aquatic witch, Peabody, is a mysterious and intriguing character from the depths of the ocean. Known for her unique abilities and magical powers, she has captured the imaginations of many. Peabody's affinity for water is undeniable. She derives her powers from the ocean, harnessing its energy to perform incredible feats. As an aquatic witch, she can manipulate water, control marine creatures, and even communicate with them. Her connection with the ocean is what sets her apart from other witches.

Our Little Thanksgiving

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about my family’s emerging Thanksgiving traditions. In my opinion, it was golden. There are few things I would change today.

A couple of my kids have grown up and gone their own way and don’t always come to my house for this holiday, so we’ve scaled down food-wise… we make fewer starchy dishes, and just add dried cranberries to the dressing, instead of making the fresh uncooked cranberry sauce. Also, we make Turkey Breast of Wonder in the crockpot. Its so delicious, much less fuss, and frees up the oven for other baking.

We still use our Thanksgiving playlist, and the fourth season Thanksgiving episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still optimal viewing. Later, per my youngest daughter’s request, we go see the lights on the town square. I hate the cold, but its worth it to get to the square for kettle corn and hot chocolate.

We try to remember to make toasts. If I can remember to buy cider (Angry Orchard hard cider for this mamma), and get out the goblets, then I can usually remember to initiate making toasts. I hope you and yours are having a lovely holiday. Here is my favorite toast…

Hail the Gods, Ancestors, and Nature Spirits!
From the Kindreds, we receive
and to the Kindreds, we give.
Together we share,
and from this we live.

My Family’s Thanksgiving Traditions – A Work in Progress

Thanksgiving used to be one of those holidays I didn’t care much for. After all, it’s a feast-based holiday that doesn’t even fall close to a harvest time. It’s completely culture based; a celebration of our European ancestors‘ survival in the new world. Thanksgiving may seem redundant to us Pagans/Heathens who celebrate the themes of thanks-giving on other harvest holidays like Lúnasa, the Autumn Equinox, and Samhain.

But lately I’ve kind of gotten into the Thanksgiving spirit. What meaning can Pagans/Heathens derive from Thanksgiving? First in my thoughts are that it links us to our American culture (as opposed to ancient/ancestral culture) and our to our immediate family. It can also be a time to reflect on the other harvest holidays. But most of all, I agree with my daughter when she says, “I like it because it’s a thing. We eat these certain foods just on this day, not any other time of the year.”

But I want to make this Thanksgiving more than just the food. For those of us not interested in football, Thanksgiving can turn out to be a rather boring holiday if we don’t strive to do something about it. So this year, I’ve decided to pep up our celebration a little.

The way I was raised, Thanksgiving was just about the feast, there was no praying or saying what you were thankful for. Now, not to knock other people’s traditions, but I always hated being a guest at someone else’s Thanksgiving and being trapped into saying what I was thankful for. Being put on the spot like that really ruined a few holidays for me. I was trying to think of what a suitable alternative to this would be that would give the feast a bit more ceremony but not put anyone on the spot. So I came up with making toasts! I’m going to get out the goblets for our drinks and anyone who wants to can make a toast; to something/someone they like (or are thankful for), or a hail to a deity or ancestor, etc. I think it’s a great alternative to a formal prayer or statement of thanks, and will be lots of fun. And it’s not going to be a go-around-the-table-it’s-your-turn-you-have-to-do-it thing. Besides, it’s a good way to “heathen it up”; the International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture says toasting “is probably a secular vestige of ancient sacrificial libations in which a sacred liquid was offered to the gods…”

After the toasting, I thought it would be nice to have some good Thanksgiving themed music to listen to while we eat. But there’s a serious lack of decent Thanksgiving songs (compared to Xmas) except for Christian hymns (forget that!). However, I did a little searching for pop songs with a thankfulness or harvest theme, or just songs that seemed to have a Thanksgiving mood attached to them. Here is the play list I came up with:

The Thanksgiving Song – Adam Sandler (so silly, maybe a little inappropriate, but had to include it)
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
Thank You – Led Zeppelin
Corn Rigs – Paul Giovanni (The Wicker Man)
Turn!Turn!Turn! – The Byrds (I know its Biblical, but I like it anyway)
Thanksgiving Theme – Nince Guaraldi Trio (Peanuts Thanksgiving)
Kind and Generous – Natalie Merchant
Lovely Love my Family – The Roots
In My Life – The Beatles
John Barleycorn – Steeleye Span
Be Thankful for What You’ve Got – William DeVaughn
Thank U – Alanis Morissette
The Scythe – Gaia Consort
Meadowlarks – Fleet Foxes

Oh and the food! You know, I’ve seen a lot of recipes that try to take the usual Thanksgiving fare and “fancy it up”, or combine two or more dishes (pecan pumpkin pie, chocolate chip pecan pie, etc.), but we usually like to have the classics… roasted turkey (not ham, that’s for Ostara!), crock-pot cornbread dressing, green bean casserole with French fried onions, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, and of course pumpkin pie (never forget the cool whip!) and pecan pie. The only thing I’m fancying up this year is the sweet potatoes; instead of making our usual candied sweet potatoes (never mashed, never marshmallows!), I’m going to make roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon meringue topping. I’m also reviving my old recipe for a fresh (uncooked) cranberry sauce; it’s basically fresh cranberries ground up with an orange, maybe an apple, and some sugar.

I found out the hard way years ago that I hate having all the food on the table and having to pass it around. When I was a kid I was impressed by the iconic image of all the food dishes on the table- we had every meal “buffet style”. Now I know why. Also, when I was growing up, we always had our Thanksgiving meal at noon (dinner), then the leftovers for Supper. We still do. Maybe it’s a Southern thing. Recently I heard that some people save the whole thing for the evening?! I don’t know how anybody can wait that long.

And of course there are other things that make the holiday more to our liking… its fun to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV while the food is cooking. It wouldn’t quite be the same without it. We never used to snack before the big meal on Thanksgiving, but I saw a snack mix recipe I thought would be neat to have between dinner and supper that includes bugles and candy corn.
Then later, if the weather is nice and if we’re not all zonked out on tryptophan, we could go outside and take pictures in the fall foliage, or play Pokean, a Zuni shuttlecock game that’s kind of a cross between hackey-sack and badminton.
More likely though, we’ll want to veg in front of the TV. I’d like to see “Leif Ericson: The Boy Who Discovered America”. If its good maybe it will become one of our Thanksgiving traditions. Another idea is starting a collection of Thanksgiving episodes of favorite TV shows. I thought of this after watching the Thanksgiving episode from season four of Buffy the vampire Slayer. Classic.

Controverscial.Com

When Americans think about Thanksgiving, we usually think about Pilgrims, turkeys, the Mayflower, and a shared feast with the Native Americans. Many of us also think of large family gatherings, a huge supper, and football watched through a tryptophan-induced haze. As Pagans, we think about thanksgiving in many different ways. There is, of course, the traditional American Thanksgiving, but there are other traditions of thanksgiving as well. Most are related to a harvest or a turning of a season, a thank you to Mother Earth for her bounty. It is a human tradition, regardless of race, religion or culture, to give thanks. Welcome to a celebration of Human Tradition, and the glue that binds it, Thanksgiving.

Way back in the 1600�s the Church of England was having problems. The Church of England wanted to stay as it was, its own entity with many lingering remnants of Catholicism still incorporated within the liturgy. There were two factions, the Separatists and the Puritans. The Puritans thought that the church was salvageable and still wanted to work with it to blend their beliefs with the Church�s, to �purify� it. The Separatists, however, didn�t believe anything was salvageable and wanted to split off into their own church. Unfortunately, back in that day, it was treason to do so. The Separatists pushed their agenda and the Crown pushed back. Queen Mary, also known as �Bloody Mary,� wanted England to return to Catholicism and persecuted the Puritans and Separatists severely. Queen Elizabeth strove to unify England and tried to be accepting of the different religious views, but she liked her church just the way it was and although she did not actively seek out the dissenters, she did nothing to change the laws.

The persecution fed the fires of righteous indignation and martyrdom. The Separatists had no option but to leave. They went to Holland for several years where they enjoyed their religious freedom. Then the new world became an option in a commercial venture. These Separatists did what they needed to do. They commissioned two ships, the Mayflower and the Speedwell. The Speedwell ended up being a leaky ship and did not make the journey. After setting sail, both ships turned back to England where they left the Speedwell behind. All the people crammed into the Mayflower and they came to the shores of North America late in the fall of 1620. The 66-day journey was fraught with storms. They ended up landing way north of where they were aiming. Their settlement was supposed to be in Northern Virginia.

They arrived at Cape Cod in November to find they were totally alone. They did what they had to do to survive, but by the time spring arrived, only half of the Pilgrims had survived the harsh winter. It looked like the new settlement may be doomed.

It was in March of the New Year that they met the Native Americans. Samoset, a member of the Abenaki tribe from Maine, had learned to speak a bit of English from British fishermen. He walked into the camp and welcomed the Pilgrims in their own language. Later he introduced them to Massasoit, chief of one of the local Wampanoag tribes. It was with Massasoit a treaty was struck and for as long as he lived, the Native Americans and settlers lived in peace.

The Native Americans taught the settlers how to fish, plant corn and hunt game. In the fall, when the harvest was brought in, the settlers and the Native Americans held a three-day feast to give thanks to their respective gods for their bounty. By English accounts, they gave thanks �according to English custom,� a custom handed down over the ages from ancient Pagans. By Wampanoag accounts, the feast was one of four thanksgiving celebrations held by that tribe over the course of a year, each coinciding with the changing of seasons or a harvest.

The Wampanoag people have lived in southern New England since the glaciers began to recede northward, at least 10,000 years. Wampanoag means, �Eastern People,� or �People of the first light,� because they live so far east and see the sunrise before those who live more inland. By the time settlers came, they were fishermen, hunters, and planters. They grew the crops known as The Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash. Every day was a day of thanksgiving for them.

Although every day was a day of thanksgiving, the Wampanoag honoured four major Thanksgiving celebrations. One was late in winter, a thanksgiving for the maple trees that give up their sweet sap to make syrup and sugar.

Summer is celebrated with Strawberry Thanksgiving when the first wild berry ripens. This is a favourite. Legend has it that there were two children, orphans who lived with their grandmother. They were very close to each other and were constant companions. One day, though, they argued. The boy stormed off to the west, in the direction of the sun, and the girl went east.

After a time, they both began to feel bad and asked the Great Spirit for forgiveness and a way back to each other. The little girl asked for something to take back with her to show her brother that she was sorry. She looked down, and there amidst the straw and grasses were red berries. She filled her basket with them and brought them to her brother. They ate them in peace together.

Thus the thanksgiving of the strawberries is also about being thankful for forgiveness and peace. As the celebration is held today, no one comes to the party with a grudge against another. The strawberry is a symbol of a peace offering.

The Green Bean and Green Corn harvests come at midsummer. When the people found that they could eat the beans green as well as ripe, they found another reason to thank the Great Spirit. At this time shellfish were a main staple of the diet so a clambake with shellfish and green beans became the tradition.

The last thanksgiving celebrated by the people coincided with the traditional Thanksgiving we know today. It�s the only one the Wampanoag told the settlers about. For them it was a celebration of their harvest, the fields, woods and meadows.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the Chinese were celebrating Autumn Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival. It is one of two important festivals on the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year. Autumn Moon festival goes back over 3,000 years and is a celebration of the harvest, abundance and togetherness.

Mid -Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month on the Chinese calendar, which coincides with the autumn equinox on the solar calendar. Traditional activities for this festival are eating moon cakes in the moonlight, carrying brightly lit lanterns, a dragon dance, and lighting incense to the moon goddess, Chang�e.

In Israel, the Sukkoth, an autumn festival of thanksgiving has been celebrated for over 3,000 years. In Korea, Chuseok is celebrated on the same day as the Autumn Moon Festival. This is when Koreans return to their ancestral homes and pay respect to their ancestors who provide rice and fruits. They visit ancestral tombs and offer food and drink to their ancestors.

The list of Thanksgiving traditions goes on and on. As human beings, we give thanks to Mother Earth, the Great Spirit, the God of Abraham, Allah, Buddha, the Goddess. one does not have to be American to celebrate it. One does not have to be Pagan. One just needs to be a human being with a heart full of gratitude.

� 2008 Lillian Norman

Lillian Norman lives in northeast Ohio and is a solitary pagan witch. She has been a member of EW since 2005.

First published in the Mabon/Autumn Equinox 2008 newsletter "The Controversial Cauldron" produced by the Yahoo group "Email Witches." A copy of which can be downloaded free from my website below.

The Wiccan Life

In my previous posts on the origins of our contemorary holidays, we learn how many of them have roots in Paganism. The holiday of Thanksgiving is hardly different and it was certainly not the first feast celebrating the harvest.

In school, we are taught that in the year 1621 the Pilgrims established Thanksgiving to share their abundant harvest with the local Wampanoag tribe (“People of the Dawn”) who were a civilization of hunters, farmers and fisherman. Although the Pilgrims and Wampanoagans celebrated the first actual Thanksgiving itself, the tribe had its’ own feast day in which they gave thanks for their abundant crops as they honored Kiehtan, the Creator. Future Pagan immigrants brought their harvest festivals to America as well.

By the time Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a National holiday in 1861, other Europeans had also settled in America and brought with them their own traditions, some Pagan. Harvest festivals were celebrated by European Romans at Cerelia by giving thanks to Ceres, the Goddess of Harvest. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Pagans celebrated Lughnasadh and Mabon, which as Wiccans we know, is also the First and Second Harvests of the year. The Greeks honored Demeter during the Thesmohoria and the New Englanders’ Pagan ancestors celebrated Harvest Home (the first reaping of crops in August). This was a time for gratitude and reflection followed by singing and dancing, after which everyone enjoyed a wonderful feast.

A special wish for everyone and their families and a very Happy and healthy Thanksgiving! Blessed Be!

Her connection with the ocean is what sets her apart from other witches. Legend has it that Peabody was born in a small coastal village that was plagued by the wrath of the sea. Growing up, she witnessed the destructive power of the ocean firsthand, which led her to seek ways to protect her community.

In her quest to find a solution, she discovered her innate talent for water magic and embraced her destiny as an aquatic witch. Peabody's abilities extend far beyond simple manipulation of water. She can create powerful storms and summon massive tidal waves with a mere wave of her hand. Her spells can heal and purify polluted waters, restoring balance to marine ecosystems. Many believe that she possesses the power to control the very currents of the ocean, using them to guide ships to safety or drag them to a watery grave. Living in harmony with nature is one of Peabody's core beliefs. She is deeply connected to the creatures of the sea and dedicates herself to their protection. Through her telepathic abilities, she can communicate with dolphins, whales, and other marine life, understanding their needs and concerns. This unique bond has made her an advocate for marine conservation and a guardian of the ocean. Despite her formidable powers, Peabody is not without her vulnerabilities. She draws strength from the ocean, and being away from it for extended periods weakens her abilities. Additionally, she is susceptible to dark magic that can corrupt her connection with the sea, turning her powers into a force of destruction. The aquatic witch, Peabody, remains a mysterious enigma of the maritime world. Her presence serves as a reminder that the ocean is a powerful and untamed force, capable of both great beauty and devastating fury. With her abilities and empathy for marine life, Peabody stands as a symbol of hope, dedicated to protecting the fragile balance of the underwater realm..

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