Seasonal Altar

Gethin at 3 1/2 has only just started showing much interest in this idea.  Obviously some children will want to get involved sooner, some later.  Like most Pagans we have altars in our home which change from time to time to reflect what we are currently focussing on.  I also love the Steiner inspired idea of Seasonal tables; basically a nature table displayed attractively to reflect the changing seasons, to encourage children to notice the changes going on in the world around them.  The idea is that they are for the children to get hands on, collect items for, touch and play with as well as for looking at.  The obvious step for us to take was to combine the two ideas, so we created a family seasonal alter.  It doesn't differ much from anyone else's altar, the only difference being it's on a shelf at small person height.

This was our altar just before Yule.  It's gradually evolving and will have an overhaul for Imbolc later this week.  As you can see, we are brave and have some breakable statues; Gethin is allowed to touch gently, but not pick them up and so far he has respected this.  He's allowed to touch and play with anything else on there and enjoys adding ingredients to the cauldron. We may have to temporarily move it all to a higher spot or replace the statues with something less fragile when Gwydion becomes mobile though... 
And just because I love it so much, here's a photo of my little wild thing from the weekend. x

A beginning...

Let me start by making it very clear that this is not a blog to show how wonderful we are, what a good job we're doing as parents and how we have it all sussed.  We most emphatically do not.   As I write this, my children have just been put to bed following a day where we only bothered to change out of pyjamas after lunch because we needed to get some food before the shop closed. We watched so much Cbeebies I had to endure 'Justin's House' twice.  We are no better or worse than any other family.
Sometimes, though, there are moments, hours or entire days of such wonder and beauty I almost forget to breathe.  Yesterday, we walked in the footsteps of our Gods on the shores of Llyn Tegid.  We made offerings and sang the Awen, we watched our eldest son suck three drops of lake water off of his thumb and pretend to be Gwion Bach.  We are a Druid family.  I know there are other such families out there with young children; there are none in our immediate locality.  In sharing some of our own ideas, successes and failures I hope to encourage others to share theirs with us.   Maybe we can learn from each other.