Month: February 2011

Lunar Lore

 Lunar Lore 

*

 An old moon in a mist
Is worth gold in a kist [chest];
But a new moon’s mist
Will ne’er lack thirst.
  – Collected in R. Inwards, “Weather Lore”. 

… 

And were the moon forever full
and ne’er to wax or wane,
Man would not strain his watchful eyes
to see its gladsome round.

 – “The Arabian Nights” (Burton’s trans.)
…

Ye stars and moon, that, when the sun retires,
Support his empire with succeeding fires;
And thou, great Hecate, friend to my design;
Songs, mutt’ring spells, your magick forces join;
And thou, O Earth, the magazine that yields
The midnight sorcerer drugs; skies, mountains, fields;

 – Ovid, “Metamorphoses,” Dryden’s translation

…

The naked Moon, full-orbed antagonist
Of night and dark, night’s dowry: peak to base,
Upstarted mountains, and each valley, kissed
To sudden life, lay silver-bright: in air
Flew she revealed, Maid-Moon with limbs all bare.
            – Robert Browning, “Pan and Luna.”

Current Moon Phase: WANING

Current Moon Phase: WANING

Time: Waning – From full moon to dark moon (approx.14 days)
Goddess Aspect: Crone
Associated Goddesses: Callieach, Banshee, Hecate, Kali, Morrigan
Magickal Attributes: BANISHING Releasing the old, removing unwanted negative energies, wisdom, psychic ability, scrying,
reversing circumstances.   Workings on this day are for banishing magick, for ridding oneself of addictions, illness or negativity, physical and  psychic cleansings.

Crone’s Corner – Your Sun Sign Success Colors

Crone’s Corner – Your Sun Sign Success Colors
Adapted from Earth Magic, by Claire Nahmad (Inner Traditions, 1994).

Colors can have a significant effect on our mood and behavior, and on
the ways in which others perceive us. When our color choices are aligned
with a deeper, more authentic self rather than with what is merely
fashionable, we radiate an aura of confidence grounded in who we are.

Find out which colors are in tune with your sun sign so you can truly
dress for success, or decorate your home to reflect more of your deeper
self.

Aries, March 21-April 19: Red, bright colors, especially green, pink,
white, and yellow.

Taurus, April 20-May 21: All shades of blue and green, turquoise, soft
rose-pinks.

Gemini, May 22-June 20: White, silver, yellow, spring green, pale gray.

Cancer, June 21-July 22: Pale blue, silver, pearl, glistening white,
emerald green.

Leo, July 23- Aug 22: All shades of gold, yellow, orange, vermilion,
copper, blood red, light green, white.

Virgo, Aug 23-Sept 22: Pastel shades of blue, gold, peach, yellow, and
amethyst; jade green, autumn hues.

Libra, Sept 23-Oct 22: Royal blue, cerulean blue, rose-pink, amethyst,
violet.

Scorpio, Oct 23-Nov 1: Deep, dark shades of red, russet-brown,
shadow-black, stone-gray.

Sagittarius, Nov 22-Dec 21: Lilac, mauve, purple, amethyst, violet,
indigo, vermilion, midnight blue.

Capricorn, Dec 22-Jan 19: Black, gray, violet, dark brown, dun, shades
of earth.

Aquarius, Jan 20-Feb 18: All colors of the spectrum, particularly
electric and ultramarine blue, electric green, deep violet.

Pisces, Feb 19-March 20: Purple, violet, amethyst, sea-green, turquoise.

Copyright: Adapted from Earth Magic, by Claire Nahmad (Inner Traditions,1994).

Copyright (c) 1994 by Claire Nahmad. Reprinted by permission of InnerTraditions.

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GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives  and

Pagan Studies – Pre-Spring Cleaning Ritual

Pagan Studies  –  Pre-Spring Cleaning Ritual

 
What is cluttering up your home, both literally and metaphorically? Now is a good time to clear your home of clutter and to clear whatever blocks your progress. Begin with your altar. Is it cluttered? Clear it, put down a fresh altar cloth, and place a new white candle on it. Take a cleansing bath or shower with sage, lavender, or hyssop, chanting “Pure, pure, I am pure” as you bathe. (Purity was very important to the priests and priestesses in ancient times.) At dusk, light the candle. Look into the candle flame and meditate on its solitude and purity. Feel burdens slip off your shoulder, and open the shades so you can see the Moon. Promise the Moon and Virgo the Virgin that you will focus on what is important in life and remove whatever is blocking you. Set aside the time between the Full and New Moon to clear clutter from your life.
  
By: Denise Dumars 

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GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives  

Today’s Goddess: MINERVA

Today’s Goddess:  MINERVA

Terminalia (Rome)
  
Themes: Earth; Home
Symbols: Owl; Geranium
  
About Minerva: This Etruscan/Italic Goddess blended the odd attributes of being a patroness of household tasks, including arts and crafts, and also being the patroness of protection and of war. Today she joins in pre-spring festivities by helping people prepare their lands for sowing and embracing the figurative lands of our hearts, homes, and spirits with her positive energy.
  
To Do Today: In ancient times, this was a day to bless one’s lands and borders. Gifts of corn, honey, and wine were given to the earth and its spirits to keep the property safe and fertile throughout the year. In modern times, this equates to a Minerva-centered house blessing.
  
Begin by putting on some spiritually uplifting music. Burn geranium-scented incense if possible; otherwise, any pantry spice will do. Take this into every room of your home, always moving clockwise to promote positive growing energy. As you get to each room, repeat this incantation:
 
Minerva, protect this sacred space and all who live within. By your power and my will, the magic now begins!
 
Wear a geranium today to commemorate Minerva and welcome her energy into your life.

GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archive 

Seasons of the Witch! Ancient Holidays (and some not so ancient!)

Seasons of the Witch!   Ancient Holidays (and some not so ancient!)         Venice: PANCAKE DAY. Pancake tossing, pancake races. King Carnival is greeted with much ceremony. He is a very fat man, his straw body stuffed with explosives. He is burned at midnight.

Live each Season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. ~Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)  

Terminalia – On this day, Romans honored boundary god Terminus. Neighbors met at the boundary stones between their properties, with the women bringing torches ignited on their hearths, the sons with baskets of produce from the property and the daughters with special honey cakes. The women kindled twin altar fires made of neatly interlaced sticks. The sons held their baskets over the fire and the girls shook them three times to scatter its contents into the flames, then fed the cakes to the fire. Employees stood by dressed in white, wine in hand. The two landowners slaughtered a lamb and a suckling pig and let the blood spatter on the stone. Then the two families sat down for a feast.

A good day to honor boundaries of all sorts, from property boundaries to personal boundaries. How can you mark and define your space? What tokens will you set up to show others where your boundaries are? And how will you honor these?   Rufus, Anneli, The World Holiday Book, Harper San Francisco 1994

St Mildburga – This sixth century Shropshire saint was associated with plowing and sewing from an early date. She protected a newly-sown field from the depredations of worms and geese. While fleeing from her enemies she caused water to spring up out of the ground and a field of barley to grow to maturity in one day. Her feast day falls in the middle of the spring wheat sowing season in Shropshire. Berger, Pamela, The Goddess Obscured, Beacon Press 1985

St Polycarp – The LaPlante sisters recommend St Polycarp as the saint to invoke when looking for a parking spot, although the connection between his life (he was a student of the Apostle John, a Bishop of Smyrna and martyred at the age of 86) and parking places is obscure. They suggest the following prayer: “Polycarp, find me a spot.”
LaPlante, Alice & Clare, Heaven Help Us: the Worrier’s Guide to the Patron Saints, Dell 1999

 Resources : GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives 

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NOTE: Because of the large number of ancient calendars, many in simultaneous use, as well as different ways of computing holy days (marked by the annual inundation, the solar year, the lunar month, the rising of key stars, and other celestial and terrestrial events), you may find these holy days celebrated a few days earlier or later at your local temple .  

Osiris Affirmation

Osiris Affirmation

OSIRIS – to be displayed in the light, channeling HH
I stepped into your life,
to prompt you to over-
To consider where in your life you
‘re not in your midst.
How often Do you watch it, the
the thoughts which then in
Words come from the mouth,
actually words of truth,
of love and of peace?

I am Osiris, a sign of strength, omnipotence, fertility and life after death. do I stand in the service of humanity, which all of the links to know the universe and know everything is stored in you, even in every cell of your body!

All you studied in the outside already improved in yourself and your life is constantly under your will and desire development.
You are light and come out of the light, light is vibration, so you’re oscillation. Through this program, we are the source of all being.

So, why do you ask your light under a bushel, you’re something special, your body radiates from now life force, energy and vitality! Open your heart and let the light from his lamp, try not to play but his salvation salvation!

You have the right to a successful, rich and happy life in abundance, so please activate your inner divinity and the liver what are YOU!

You can easily learn new, your life is filled with so many new options, and move up to a time full of great fame and love, I support you there!

The healing light of the source of all existence is flood up and activate your self healing powers, I am your God OSIRIS friend and companion.

‘May we live in peace without weeping. May our joy outline the lives we touch without ceasing. And may our love fill the world, angel wings tenderly beating.’
 
The Universal Heart Center
 

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for 2/23

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for Everyone:

51: Shock

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Hexagram 51

General Meaning: One hears thunder unexpectedly! First comes fear, then a sharpening of one’s vision. Recall a close brush with danger — a falling branch, an automobile accident barely avoided, an escape from a potentially violent confrontation. Such incidents arouse every nerve fiber in your body in a brief wave of terror, but soon, once the danger has passed, give way to a heightened awareness of the world. The same process also occurs with other types of shock — the loss of a job, the sudden departure of a loved one, business failure and so on.

The lasting impact of a major shock can either be stimulating or debilitating, depending upon one’s strength of character. The critical factor is the ability to shake off fear, thereby transforming anxiety into a laser-sharp perception of the world around you.

When overtaken by crisis, the wise search their hearts for inner strengths in order to face their life with courage. This often means daring to take an unexpected path — to bounce back quickly and self-confidently after failures, to have faith in the eternal when confronted with death.

We tend to think of shock only in the context of unpleasant events. We can also be jarred, however, by the sudden release of tension that comes with unexpected joy or success. To keep your bearings in the aftershock of either trauma or victory, it is essential that your inner compass be aligned with ‘true north’, that magnetic force which guides you toward fulfillment of both your deepest desire, and your highest destiny.

Today’s Tarot Card for 2/23

Today’s Tarot Card for Everyone:

Temperance

This Tarot Deck: Golden Tarot

General Meaning: What is traditionally known as the Temperance card is a reference to the Soul. Classically female, she is mixing up a blend of subtle energies for the evolution of the personality. One key to interpreting this card can be found in its title, a play on the process of tempering metals in a forge.

Metals must undergo extremes of temperature, folding and pounding, but the end product is infinitely superior to impure ore mined from the earth. In this image, the soul volunteers the ego for a cleansing and healing experience which may turn the personality inside-out, but which brings out the gold hidden within the heart. (This card is entitled “Art” in the Crowley deck.)

Daily Horoscopes for 2/23

 

General Daily Horoscope

 

We are swimming in a watery world now that impulsive Mars has joined Chiron, Mercury, the Sun and Uranus, all in emotional Pisces. Additionally, the complex Scorpio Moon deepens the intensity of our feelings. The astrological environment has shifted dramatically from a few weeks ago when the emphasis was more intellectual. We are each like individual fish, separate yet connected to each other as the great ocean of consciousness flows through us.

 

Aries Horoscope
Aries Horoscope (Mar 21 – Apr 19)

It’s usually challenging to slow down enough to explore your feelings, for you often are on to the next thing before you are finished processing the past. However, your key planet Mars is in directionless Pisces now, so you aren’t as anxious to go anywhere at all. Luxuriate in the present moment; allow time to wash away any desire you might have to move on right away. You might even enjoy yourself once you get the hang of it.

 

Taurus Horoscope
Taurus Horoscope (Apr 20 – May 20)

There are people in your life now who seem to be more passionate than you are. You might want to avoid them because they can complicate things; however they can also teach you something important about yourself if you let them. Although you are tempted to build a wall of safety around you, this strategy will only make you feel lonelier. Even if you’re trying to keep your life free from drama, it’s wise to remain open to powerful emotional connections.

 

Gemini Horoscope
Gemini Horoscope (May 21 – Jun 20)

You slippery Geminis are champions of sailing across turbulent waters, without being overwhelmed by the emotional intensity. Today, however, the power of the currents can carry you into unfamiliar depths. Nevertheless, fighting against the prevailing tides will likely wear you out, so it’s best to relax and go with the flow. Don’t panic, you will be able to make your way back to familiar ground later on.

 

Cancer Horoscope
Cancer Horoscope (June 21 – Jul 22)

Although you may be fearful about surrendering to your feelings, a familiar sense of security will comfort you if you can release your worries and be one-hundred percent present in each moment. Fortunately, there is no need to figure anything out now; the time for analysis has passed. You ocean-going Crabs are equipped with gills and can therefore breathe under water. Deep diving is the best way to replenish your soul today.

 

Leo Horoscope
Leo Horoscope (Jul 23 – Aug 22)

It’s challenging to retain a sense of playfulness today because a primal emotional interaction may raise serious issues. You might even question your own wisdom, especially if your recent strategy hasn’t brought you much happiness. But don’t make any drastic changes to your plan just yet. Your perspective will change in the weeks ahead and you might realize then that everything is on course, even if you cannot see it that way right now.

 

Virgo Horoscope
Virgo Horoscope (Aug 23 – Sep 22)

You are able to make the best of a difficult situation now, even if your partner or a friend doesn’t follow your preferred course of action. Although you may have been shocked recently by someone’s unexpected behavior, you’re prepared to do what you can to make your life a success. Fortunately, what you learn will ultimately increase your self-confidence and help you to clarify your priorities.

 

Libra Horoscope
Libra Horoscope (Sep 23 – Oct 22)

You aren’t thrilled about getting involved in a drama that you would rather avoid today. But it seems unlikely that you’ll be able to outsmart fate now, and an unimportant interaction can suddenly turn into the main event. Instead of subordinating your needs to someone else’s, focus on yourself for a change. Hold fast to your beliefs and don’t let others lure you away from what you value most. If you maintain your integrity, things should turn out for the best.

 

Scorpio Horoscope
Scorpio Horoscope (Oct 23 – Nov 21)

Although some conversations could be quite awkward today, there are still more topics of agreement than conflict. Unfortunately, something still feels out of control and you may not be able to stop digging until you reach the source of your concerns. Fortunately, you aren’t required to discover any ultimate answers right away. If you are progressing in the right direction, you will have more time than you realize to keep on searching.

 

Sagittarius Horoscope
Sagittarius Horoscope (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Although you may have a new sense of purpose today, it’s based on an intangible feeling rather than a pragmatic idea. You intuitively know what sounds right, yet you are uncertain how to best manifest your dream. Don’t push your current fantasy along too quickly; just revel in the idyllic beauty of your imaginative meanderings and see where they take you. You can always circle around later and create a concrete plan to reflect your new vision.

 

Capricorn Horoscope
Capricorn Horoscope (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

You are thinking about taking a little spiritual retreat today, but you cannot escape your responsibilities, nor can you resist the many interesting temptations. However, you could become frustrated if you run around being busy without accomplishing what you promised. Do your best to stay focused on your obligations and leave your mini-holiday for another day.

 

Aquarius Horoscope
Aquarius Horoscope (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Your personal finances continue to be a major issue and, thankfully, you’re now ready to do something about it because warrior Mars is in your 2nd House of Money. However, the best of intentions still may not be enough to fix the problem right away. Don’t fall for your own overly simplistic solutions that are based on unrealistic hopes. Instead, make a solid plan and put it in motion, but allow sufficient time for tangible results to manifest.

 

Pisces Horoscope
Pisces Horoscope (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Your energy level is strong now, and it’s important to do something positive before your stamina begins to wane. Meanwhile, setting the tone for the coming month is crucial because spontaneous Mars stays in your sign until April 2. Mars also symbolizes physical exercise, so upgrade your workouts while it still matters. Don’t wait for a better time to act; this is it.

Meditation Tip for 2/23

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Self-realization is not the end
nor the achievement of a spiritual path,
but the disappearance of ego, of struggle,
of search and of creating problems.
This is the beginning of a journey
in simplicity, peace,
infinity and wonder.

Dharma

I must confess I’s been a bad witchy…..

After stopping to look at the TV again, I have to be down-right crazy to watch this show everyday. In case you haven’t guessed it by now, I am talking about “The Jerry Springer” show. You can bet your last dime that at 1:00 every afternoon, I have grabbed the old laptop and resume my spot in front of the TV.

Everyone talks about how bad the show is. What you can see on there is appalling. Then it comes out, “They Watch Jerry Too!” My mother-in-law had her cable taken out for a little bit and I had to buy her a special pair of rabbits ears were she could get the Springer show. Then when I worked for my cousin up in the boonies, he wanted that channel Springer came on but he was too cheap to pay the bill every month. So he came to work with a bunch of coat hangers one morning. The building was a two-story building and he had got the measurements from the landlord. He told me to grab an end and stretch the wire out. Well it got straight to the proper length, I sit a tire on my end and went back to work. It took him all morning and half the afternoon but by, george! he made himself one helluva TV antenna. He got the ladder and put it up on the building, ran the wire and then came into sit down and watch Springer. After all the trouble my cousin went through, all he ended up with was sound. It was hilarious and pitiful, he came stuttering in through the door, with a grin from ear to ear asked, “Well how is she(TV) working now, got a good picture I bet?” I politely told him I wasn’t a betting woman. Well he knew it couldn’t be his coat hanger antenna causing the problem. It had to be that old TV set. So I bet you can imagine the rest of the story!

I wonder if Mr. Springer knows what kind of reaction he has on people. I would love to meet him, perhaps before I am a 100 and still have sense enough to know who I met, lol!

Y’all have a good one,

Lady A

Runecast for Tuesday February 22

Today the rune is Kenaz of Freyja’s Aett Kenaz pronounced “kane-awze” (K: Beacon or torch) Vision, revelation, knowledge, creativity, inspiration, technical ability. Vital fire of life, harnessed power, fire of transformation and regeneration. Power to create your own reality, the power of light. Open to new strength, energy, and power now. Passion, sexual love.

Spring comes and the snow melts. Winter’s debris becomes visible. Purification is needed. A warm season of your life arrives when your circumstances will be more beneficial and you will have no need to spend your energy as before, defending yourself from the cold. New interesting possibilities are appearing, but some of your activities which were permissible or even necessary during the “winter” are becoming unacceptable now. The light is switched on in some important area of your life. It gives you the possibility to do much more than before, but you may now appear less perfect to yourself than you previously thought, while you were in the darkness. It becomes important now not only to know what you are doing but also how you are doing it.

Kenaz Reversed or Merkstave: Disease, breakup, instability, lack of creativity. Nakedness, exposure, loss of illusion and false hope. (Note: the reversed or merkstave definitions are included only for reference as they apply to a multi-rune cast and not to a single rune that’s drawn blind from the pouch)

As with all, take only what feels right to you and disregard the rest.

**a portion of today’s rune meaning/description was kindly provided by Ingrid Halvorsen at sunnyway.com and used here with her gracious permission**

In the Light…

Tom

SoulDiscoveryThruReiki
“Music is a release from the tyranny of conscious thought”
— Kevin Burke
Insanity is inherited, you get it from your kids…