Herne's Twisted Fitness

Herne's Twisted Fitness is a small business my husband and I started to help promote healthy lifestyles. We've found that far too few of us witches realize that there is a simple truth:

We all understand that the Earth is sacred - it was given to us by God and Goddess, and we must treat it as such. But we all forget that we, too, are sacred. Our bodies were given to us by God and Goddess and we must treat our bodies like the temples they are!

Herne's Twisted Fitness is dedicated to the Body Temple, and our website is set up in a way that you don't even have to live in the same state or even country as us to benefit. Our website offers custom nutrition profiles, meal plans that often offer a cheeseburger for lunch! and customized workout plans - that can be tailored to those of you who don't have access to exercise equipment!

Visit our website!

I researched it, I did. And I couldn't find a damn thing online about any modern valentine rituals/celebrations. The only thing google came up with when I typed in any sort of blend of pagan and valentine, or even witch and valentine, was the ancient Roman custom of the name jar.

So anywho, I decided to write my own. I wanted to have a circle on Valentine's Day/Night that would celebrate love in all its forms.

Our altar was set up in the living room on the big table we usually use for gaming - I know, le gasp! - but we wanted to have plenty of room in case the rest of the coven showed up. We haven't done a whole lot with the coven lately, and the circle was very impromptu, so no one showed except for my husband and I, but it was lovely.

The center of our altar was filled with love: our silver chalice with Riuniti red wine, our pink quartz that we've been filling with love to use on the altar when we renew our vows, a vanilla candle, the first pentagram we bought together, and our incenses were cinnamon and dragon's blood.

The circle itself used a shamanic sphere instead of simply calling the quarters:

"I call on the North, Guardians of Physical Love, to join us."

"I call on the East, Guardians of Intellectual Love, to join us."

"I call on the South, Guardians of Passionate Love, to join us."

"I call on the West, Guardians of Emotional Love, to join us."

"I call on the Powers Above, Guardians of Pure Love, to join us."

"I call on the Powers Below, Guardians of Primal Love, to join us."

"I call on the Powers of Center, Guardians of Self Love, to join us."

I chose to call several deities, none by name, allowing all who served our highest good to join the celebration:

"On this night of Valentines, I call on the Deities of Love to hear us and join us, to lend us their power to grant our wishes. Hail and welcome."

Then I shared the history of Valentine's Day:

http://wyldwytch.com/weavings/forums/index.php?showtopic=852

Then I had each person share something they'd learned about love this past year, and then write a love-related wish on a scrap of parchment, which we burned in the cauldron.

Afterward we released the deities, and the quarters, and opened the circle. Each person was left to perform their own version of the Great Rite as they so pleased, on their own time. ;)