Lessson 5: The Pentacle Homework ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1. Read and share your thoughts on Lady Hawkwinds article. 2. Pentacle Meditation - The Five Stages of Life (from Spiral Dance by Starhawk) Note: if you do not already have a pentacle (as you may not yet if you are planning on crafting one in this class!), simply draw one on paper for this meditation. Journal and share your experiences as homework for this lesson. Ground and Center. Hold your pentacle in both hands. Breathe deep and feel the power of earth, of the body. The pentacle is your own body, four limbs and head. It is the five senses, both inner and outer. Be in touch with your own power to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch. The pentacle is the four elements, plus the fifth - spirit. And it is the five stages of life, each an aspect of the Goddess. 1) Birth - the beginnning, the time of coming into being 2) Initiation - adolescence, the time of individuation 3) Love Ripening - the time of union with another, of full adulthood, sexuality, responsibility, and love 4) Reflection - the time of advancing age, of repose, integration, wisdom 5) Death - the time of ending, letting go, of moving on toward rebirth Look at your pentacle, or draw one on some paper. Label the five stations, going clockwise around the points, and experience each stage in turns, as it occurs in a life span and within the span of each new activity or relationship. Trace the interlocking lines and reflect on their hidden meanings. Love is linked to birth and death, death is linked to death and initiation.   In the Goidelic (Gaelic Celtic) tree alphabet, each of the five stages was symbolized by a tree, whose name began with one of the five vowels. A: Birth - "Ailm" (silver fir) O: Initiation - "Onn" (gorse or furze) U: Love - "Ura" (heather) E: Repose - "Eadha" (aspen) I: Death - "Idho" (yew) Chant the sounds of the vowels and feel the power of each stage in turn. Touch your pentacle to your body and let the life force of your own flesh flow into it.