2023 Theme

“The life and breath of the Dandelion as it travels through the seasons”

By Hemlock ShiningCoil + Pidge Fletching

The dandelion flower represents 3 celestial bodies: sun, moon and stars. The yellow flower resembles the sun, the puff ball resembles the moon and the dispersing seeds resemble the stars. How might we call upon these heavenly bodies within our earthly ones?

The dandelion flower opens to greet the morning and closes in the evening to go to sleep. We too follow the rhythms of nature.

In Winter, we are called to deep rest, to turning inward, and to rooting down. In this season, the dandelion teaches us rest as we work on storing our magic and investing in ourselves.

Every part of the dandelion is medicinal: root, leaves, flower. It can be used for food, medicine and dye for coloring. Animals such as birds, insects and butterflies consume nectar or seed of dandelion. Dandelion flowers do not need to be pollinated to form seed. How can we learn to use what we have to its fullest?

In Spring, we move out of hibernation and into the strengthening sun, tender and glistening, we greet the world anew. The season of spring is perfect for harvesting dandelion root and flower.

In the early spring, before they flower, the dandelion root helps us to emerge from our winter slumber to a smooth and delicious brew that helps us clear away toxins that are built up in us. The leaf also is most tender in spring before flowering and provides us with nutrients for the busy year ahead.

In late spring the warming sun starts to waken the land more and our yards and green spaces burst with yellow. The joyous flower of the dandelion can be used on the skin to repair and refresh and eaten as a semi sweet morsel that refreshes and nourishes the body.

Dandelions have one of the longest flowering seasons of any plant. What might we learn from blooming over and over again?

In Summer, we are blooming, enjoying the bright sun, the warm breezes, watching our gardens grow and mature.

The dandelions are also enjoying our garden this season, in the early summer we experience a rare day of what looks like snow. However, this unseasonable flurry is the seed of the dandelion dispersing itself only to rest a short spell and bloom again in mid summer if they are kept short.

If you mow dandelions, they’ll grow shorter stalks to continue their work. How might we learn to adapt to our changing environment?

In summer we focus on the jovial properties of this Jupitarian plant and once again turn to its roots to soothe the liver in the hot summer sun and to enjoy the nutty and smooth iced tea that they can provide.

Dandelion seeds are often transported away by a gust of wind and they travel like tiny parachutes. Seeds are often carried as many as 5 miles from their origin. We too may be dispersed and far – our magic ties us to a single source.

In Autumn, we harvest our work, we shift again, our seeds of change, resilience, and our wishes dispersing and landing in yet unknown places.

This season we prepare the dandelion for rest, we store up our harvests from the year and give gratitude for the years work this little plant does with ease. This is the time to process oils and tinctures made in the spring and summer and to turn them into salves and medicines for the cold season ahead.

Dandelions are masters of learning to thrive where you have landed, so many lessons for us witches to learn.

2022 Theme – The Velveteen Rabbit

Submitted by: Boneweaver

The full text of the story The Velveteen Rabbit can be found on the Project Gutenberg site here: gutenberg.org/files/11757/11757-h/11757-h.htm

Elemental Magic – 2021 Theme

Submission by: Pigeon

This year we will be exploring the magic of the elements! This theme will be woven into the rituals, skill shares, conversation on Discord, and magic we invoke throughout the 2021 cycle.

We are in the process of conjuring accessible community events during the pandemic!

A safe container is very important to us. While we know that public rituals and human contact are desired by our members, it is imperative that we honor the CDC’s guidelines at this time. This means staying home, choosing not to attend large public gatherings, and wearing a mask over our noses and mouths to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The gift of this theme is that all of these elements can be found within our immediate surroundings. Here are a few ideas of things you can do to begin creating our sacred container for this year’s magic. Your contributions are important and necessary for the magic of the whole!

A bold showcase of the elements behind text that shares Reclaiming Pittsburgh's theme for 2021: The Elements! A jagged, brown boulder (top left), a breeze of purple clouds at sunset (top right), a blazing fire (bottom right) and tiny raindrops rippling in a pond (bottom left.)

★ Create altars of found objects that inspire a deeper connection to earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. Spells and change begin in these sacred spaces.

★ Allow your awareness to focus on a single element or a couple of them for a few moments when they catch your attention. Breathe, touch, feel, create, and be present in those precious spaces of potential.

★ Chat with the people you love about air quality, ocean discoveries, permaculture, campfire songs and the causes that you care about. Talk about the elements in their physical and mythic forms to connect to with their potency.

★ Dream of the magic to come in 2021 as all of the simple, yet intentional choices we make this year influence the whole. Seen or unseen: what we do matters. The elements are the allies here to support us!

Do you have other ideas of how we, the Reclaiming Pittsburgh community, might invoke the elements during these challenging times? We would love to hear from you! Comment below to stir the pot and join our collective elemental story as it begins to simmer…

2019 Story

✨ ————- ✨ ————-✨————- ✨

Soul’s Forge: The Wheel of Brighid

Story By: Otter RiverRider

Brighid, Celtic goddess and saint, is a resilient and enduring religious figure of the British Isles. The Bright One is still alive and present in life across the land, with shrines and wells frequented by people of many faiths.

Brighid is known primarily as a goddess of fire, smithcraft and poetry—the bright spark of inspiration and vitality. Many traditions have recognized her in many other capacities throughout the years: Brighid, “exalted one”, who teaches us of just governance and self-sovereignty; Brighid of the Holy Wells, a healer and midwife; Brighid the embroiderer and embellisher, illuminating the mundane; Brighid, protector of animals and children; Brighid of the hearth and community; Brighid, patron to storytellers and ancestral knowledge; Brighid of Three Rivers (Brigit, Braint and Brent) that cut through the U.K.’s green hills; Brighid of Far-Seeing and Divination; Brighid, the bright flame in the depths of winter; and Brighid, light offered to guide human potential.

How might we modern witches realize Brighid of the Gael echoing in Reclaiming Pittsburgh’s work?

Pittsburgh, Workshop of the World, a place born of makers, forgers, and shapers, calls to Brighid—may we work together to build what we seek.

Pittsburgh, Sanctuary City, a place of hearth keepers, calls to Brighid—may we tend fires of welcoming and safety.

Pittsburgh, City of Three Rivers, a place where waters congregate, calls to Brighid—may we plumb the depths of compassion and healing.

Pittsburgh calls to Brighid.

Exalted mother of morning sun and kindling hearth, the roar of the forge, the wisp of flame in dry grass: let this collective burning bring just change. Now is a time of realizing our potential. Now is a time of speaking truth and holding our government accountable to its people. Now is a time when we must step into our power and bring our marginalized closer to the warming fire and healing waters. Now is a time of birthing the stories we want to pass to our descendants.

We step into the fire and witness our transformation.

Brighid’s Tools of Transformation

Bellow’s breath: Brighid as bard, poet, truth-speaker. We kindle the work of the year with words of art and justice.

The Crucible: Brighid as fire-keeper, Smith. We dance into the fires of transformation, ready to release that which does not serve us.

The Quench: Brighid as healer and the spirit of healing wells. White-hot from the forge, we plunge into the restorative depths.

Brighid’s Mantle: Brighid as the land, community, justice. We spread our works across the region where we find inspiration.

2018 Theme