Today is Friday, January 18th

Friday is the day of Venus. It takes it name from Frigg, the Goddess of love and transformation. She rules the spiritual side of a person that manifests in the physical. Because of this, Friday is often thought of as dangerously unpredictable. This is expressed in an old East Anglian adage:

Friday’s day will have its trick
The fairest or foulest day of the week.

Deity: Frigg

Zodiac Sign: Taurus/Libra

Planet: Venus

Tree: Apple

Herb: Vervain

Stone: Sapphire/Chrsolite

Animal: Bull/Serpent

Element: Earth

Color: Yellow/Violet

Number: 7

Rune: Peorth(P)

The Celtic Tree Month of Beth (Birch) (December 24 – January 20)

The Runic Half Month Peorth (January 13 – January 27

Goddess of the Month for January:  Freya

Source

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

The Lunar Almanac for Friday, January 18th

Moon Direction: 18.32° NNE↑
Moon Altitude: -31.27°
Moon Distance: 227667 mi
Next Full Moon: Jan 20, 201911:16 pm
Next New Moon: Feb 4, 20193:03 pm
Next Moonrise: Today2:38 pm
Moon Direction: 18.32° NNE↑
Current Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 91.0%

–timeanddate.com

Going Moon-Mad

People once believed that moonlight had a powerful effect on human behavior. Those who acted strangely were said to be “moonstruck,” and lunacy, a term for madness, comes from Luna, the Latin name for the moon goddess. The Japanese believed that the moon was a god with powers to foretell the future. Priests would study the moon’s reflection in a mirror, believing that if they gazed directly at the moon, it might drive them mad. Superstitions about the moon’s evil influence made some people refuse to sleep in a place where moonbeams could touch them. In the 1200s, the English philosopher Roger Bacon wrote, “Many have died from not protecting themselves from the rays of the moon.”

Published on Myth Encyclopedia

The Solar Almanac for Friday, January 18th

Sun Direction: 156.47° SSE↑
Sun Altitude: 28.84°
Sun Distance: 91.450 million mi
Next Equinox: Mar 20, 2019 4:58 pm (Vernal)
Sunrise Today: 7:05 am↑ 115° Southeast
Sunset Today: 5:04 pm↑ 245° Southwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 14 minutes

–timeanddate.com

Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse of January 2019: Complete Guide

By Doris Elin Salazar, Space.com Contributor 

Here, learn more about what makes lunar eclipses so special. [Rare Super Blue Blood Moon Thrills Millions Around the World]

Total Lunar Eclipse

During a lunar eclipse, a full moon’s bright facade will change. As the moon enters Earth’s shadow, all of the moon (or a section of it in the case of a partial eclipse) will turn a rusty color. Sunlight scatters to produce the red colors of sunset and sunrise when it enters Earth’s atmosphere at a particular angle.

What a lunar eclipse displays is the color of all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets reaching the moon, NASA scientist Noah Petro told Space.com. If someone stood on the moon during a total lunar eclipse, Earth would appear to have a reddish ring all around it, as the person would gaze at the 360-degree sunrise and sunset they’d perceive at that particular intersection of Earth and lunar orbits.

When the lunar eclipse begins, the bright moon dims as it enters the outer part of Earth’s shadow, called the penumbra. The deep tint of a full lunar eclipse is visible once the moon enters the deepest part of Earth’s shadow, or umbra. The bright-red color appears once the moon is fully engulfed in the shadows, and it’s the reason “blood” moon is a popular moniker for lunar eclipses.

To a certain extent, lunar eclipses reveal something about Earth, too. “Lunar eclipses … reflect our world,” astronomer and podcaster Pamela Gay told Space.com in an email. “A blood colored moon is created [by] ash from fires and volcanoes, … dust storms and pollution all filtering sunlight as it scatters around our world. A grey eclipse is clear skies.

“Our world can change the appearance of another world, and during an eclipse, the universe lets us see this color play,” she said.

The Jan. 20-21, 2019 total lunar eclipse will last 1 hour and 2 minutes, according to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center lunar eclipse projections.

The full experience, from the start of the partial eclipse to the end, will last 3 hours and 17 minutes.

The peak of the total lunar eclipse will happen shortly after day’s end on Sunday, Jan. 20, on the U.S. east coast, at 12:16 a.m. EST (0516 GMT) on Monday, Jan. 21. This peak is also known as the “greatest eclipse” and is defined as the moment when the moon comes closest to the axis of Earth’s shadow.

Below is a lunar eclipse timetable for several locations from which the celestial event is visible, based on information from timeanddate.com.

People in Hawaii and eastern Africa will catch the dramatic lunar eclipse as the moon rises and sets over the horizon, respectively. Those viewers will see a total eclipse, but not all of the partial eclipse that leads up to and ends the celestial event. All of North and South America, including the Caribbean nations, will see the entire event. People in countries in Europe such as Iceland, Ireland and Portugal will also get to view all of the eclipse. And although people in the Ukraine and Turkey won’t catch the whole eclipse, they’ll still wake up to an impressive lunar sight. [Total Lunar Eclipse Gets a Cloudy Halo in Cool Time-Lapse Video]

Lunar Phases and Eclipses

A new moon occurs roughly every month, when the moon’s far side is facing the sun and the moon’s near side is in darkness. Every time a viewer sees the moon, it’s always the same face, because the moon is tidally locked with Earth. So, when the moon is between the sun and Earth, a viewer doesn’t see the near side; it cannot be seen in the sky. New moons are the phases that produce the other major celestial-shadow event: solar eclipses.

A lunar eclipse occurs during the full-moon phase, the opposite phase to new moon. During lunar eclipses Earth sits in the middle, between the sun and the moon. That’s how the moon is able to pass through the planet’s shadow

Recent and Upcoming Total Lunar Eclipses

The last total lunar eclipse occurred on July 27, 2018, and was visible over Africa and countries in Central Asia such as India. Several months prior, on Jan. 31, another total lunar eclipse could be seen from Central Asia, the Pacific region and Alaska.

The first total lunar eclipse to follow Jan. 21’s event will occur on May 26, 2021, and will be visible over the Pacific Ocean, with viewing possibilities in North America, South America and east Asia.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter@salazar_elin. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Friday 18 January

• 11:49 am – Venus trine Mars from Monday to next Wednesday increases your desire for social contact and enjoyment. This is the best aspect this weekly horoscope for dating because your softer loving side balances out your raw sexual desire. Thus you can be direct without coming on too strong. You will genuinely be interested in friendship not just for sex but for companionship as well.
• 03:03 pm – Mercury conjunct Pluto at 21 ♑ 11 from Thursday to Saturday adds depth and intensity to your thinking and communications. This is a good time to get to the bottom of troubling issues. You can uncover secrets through study and research, or through probing and questioning others. You can more easily gain a thorough understanding of mysteries and occult subjects like astrology.
• 08:30 pm – Sun square Uranus from Wednesday to Sunday requires open-mindedness and flexibility as you enter a stage of uncertainty. You may start to feel an an uneasy and anxious feeling of impending change in the second half of your weekly horoscope. A buildup of nervous tension can result in unpredictable behavior on your part which can lead to abruptness, rapid changes in direction and even accidents.
• 10:43 pm – Moon enters Cancer

Sunday 20 January

• 3:59 am – Sun enters Aquarius
• 10:54 pm – Moon enters Leo
• 11:41 pm – Venus square Neptune from Saturday to Tuesday can lead to feelings of insecurity about yourself and how you look. It is possible that you will feel that others are looking at you oddly or think you are strange in some way. It is important to realize that any such impressions are distorted and do not match reality. A poor self-image at this time can lead to relationship difficulties. You can also experience disappointment in your love life by forming a distorted image of someone else.

–Astrology King

Current Planetary Positions

January 18, 2019
Tropical Zodiac

A Call To Lord And Lady

She lives and breathes upon the Earth
Her wheel spins round the hub of June
She is the web of life and birth
Her smile floats softly with the moon

Heart of life, and caring mother
Loving sister, noble princess
Firebird spirit, restless lover
Shadowy hidden sorceress

His strength is there in mountains high
His lightning flies from air and cloud
His horn heralds the wild hunt’s ride
He quickens forest, roaring proud

Children’s friend, protecting father
Watchful brother, noble fighter
Laughing wise one, dark magister
Player of pipes, thoughtful shepherd

Their faces many, countless names
Pan, Diana, Zeus, Astarte
Teachers from dreams, oracle’s flames
Speak, and guide us within our hearts

 

–J.A.B., Author
Published on Pagan Library

Oh, no, let’s talk! That means she is going to write a book. No, I promise I will try to keep this as simple as possible. As you all know, we packed up into the little clown car and went to the doctor with me. Good news and contrary to popular belief around here, I do not have any screws loose. Everything is still in place and looks good. Now for a few changes and a few apologizes.

First, I would like to apologize to all the male witches in The WOTC. I am apologizing for the joke that I allowed to be put on here the other day in our “A Little Humor for Your Day” section. The joke was about Women vs. Men and it offended several of our brothers in our group. I take full responsible for allowing this joke to appear on our site. I deeply apologize for it offending our brothers, it was not my intent at all for this to happen. I would never intentional offend anyone on this site. But it has been called to my attention that this joke did offend the males in our community. For this I deeply apologize. My current state of mind is not in a humorous state. I depend on others to provide articles and information each day for our daily posts. I depend on them to find humorous material as well as informational material. I just glanced at the title, thought it might be funny and unfortunately it was not. It was offensive. Most of you who know me, know I am not one to bash others or even other religions. I am upset with myself for not taking time to fully read the article and even more upset that I hurt and offended some in our group. Along with the joke being called to my attention, I was once again called out for not giving more information on male witches in the Pagan community. I asked several of these gentlemen if they would like to write an article or two about what is it like for a male to be in The Craft and their personal experiences. I would like to extend that offer to all the male witches in our community. As you know, most of us here are female witches. We would love for some of the male witches in our community to speak out and write about their own personal experience and what witchcraft is like from the male’s point of view. If you would be interested in doing that, please let me know. I would love to have some male writers on here with us. By writing an article, you would open up the conversation on male witches and The Craft. Someone has to start it and I would love for it to be one of our own male witches to do so. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate, just something to get the conversation started and then maybe we will hear from more male witches. I would love to hear what it is like to be a male witch in The Craft. I know all witches face stereotypes and myths and I would imagine the male witches face even more than the female witches do. So I would love to hear from you and have you write an article. Again I am very sorry for this offensive joke and till my head gets back into a more humorous state, we have discontinued that section of our daily posts. Please accept my apologizes it was not our intent to offend anyone.

Next, we have received no articles on the topic of Imbolc for the newsletter yet. I would appreciate some recipes, some rituals, some spells or anything pertaining to Imbolc. Yesterday I tried blackmail, I am going to try it again. If you send in an article about Imbolc, whether it be a few home made recipes for potions or a meal, or anything pertaining to Imbolc, I will offer you this….anything in Magickal Necessities at our cost plus shipping. This is a good deal and you would be saving a lot of money as well as the wicked witch’s rump. So if you have anything you would like to share about Imbolc, please email it to: witches_of_the_craft@outlook.com. Your articles and input to the upcoming newsletter would be greatly appreciated.

Next, our new organization. Lady Beltane and myself had a long talk this morning and she told me she didn’t like the name of the organization, Pagans for Political Action. I had to agree with her, I never really liked the name for it either. But it was something that just popped into my head while I was watching the News one evening. We have now changed the name of our organization to…..Pagans In Actions. Which personally I like much better. We know we started the organization because of the current government shut down. But we wanted the organization to be more open to current events that might be effecting our world. I believe Pagans in Actions covers just that. We want to be involved in anything that might be harmful to our planet, abusive to our animals, injustices toward our veterans, political issues that do not benefit the majority as a whole, basically anything that is harmful to mankind and our planet. With Pagans in Actions, we can address a wide variety of issues and we plan on doing just that. Right now, we are hot and heavy on the government shut down, who knows after that we could go after the horrible treatment our veterans are receiving. If you find out a wrong doing or a miscarriage of justice even in your local community, then we want to know about it. We will address any and all issues that directly effect us and our environment. Don’t worry, your voice will be heard because we plan on having meetings every three months so you can come and voice your opinion. Let us know what is important to you, let us know where you concerns are, perhaps we can even come up with a way to address gun control in this country. Who knows the possibilities are endless. We have the power to change things and we are going to use that power to do just that. I believe it is high time we got off our broomsticks and started to weave our magick for the betterment of our world. Time for talk is over, now is the time for action.

The donations for The Government Relief Fund are starting to come in. We sincerely appreciate those but as usual we need more. I believe I read today the shut down is in day 27 and still no end in sight. For those of us who have jobs and are fortunate enough to be working, please give what you can. 800.000 people with no income coming in, can you believe that? I can’t. It is astounding to me to even think about that many people not having anyway to pay their bills, buy food or pay for the daily necessities. I listened to one federal worker this morning who was interviewed and they asked him how much longer he could hold out, without a paycheck coming in. He said two weeks, then he didn’t know what he was going to do. In two weeks time, there could be a possibility of 800,000 people starving and possibly put out on the streets. We all have families, we all have hearts, we can’t stand by and let this happen to our fellow man. We have to take action and that action is to donate what we can to help these people when they need it. So please, whatever you can give is deeply appreciated and will be needed in the days to come. *Also remember this organization is open to all Pagan groups who might want to get involved. I am going to fix a page that shows all the sites involved in our new organization. Join Pagans in Action, get free advertisement for your site, hey a plus, plus!

Last but not least, since I have a ton of things to do and we are running so late today, we are posting the horoscopes and everything over on the Gazette again. The Gazette has joined our efforts in raising  money for the Federal Workers. They also have a donate button on their site in case you are over there and want to donate. I hate to have you hop all over the place but I have tons of stuff I have to get done. I have to get together Imbolc information, I have to build a new website for Pagans in Action and make a new banner. I told you yesterday that the banner I showed you was a rough draft and boy was it rough. We decided to change it. So I have tons of stuff to get done and this is about the easiest way I can think of to get your horoscopes to you. Besides there is some other interesting stuff over there, for instance information from the Old Farmer’s Almanac. I love the Almanac it is always chalked full of info. Come on over in a bit and see what’s happening for the rest of the day and tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing and I will hush and get to work or else I won’t get anything done today. I have decided to put my talents to work for the relief fund. Since I am continuously broke and want to contribute like everybody else, I have decided to go into the website making business. You need a website built contact me and I will give you a price and the total proceeds from that job will be donated to the Federal Workers Relief Fund. Should be able to add to the fund rather quickly that way. Just contact me, we will get together, talk about what kind of website you want and go from there. You will not only be getting a great website(I know don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back) but you will be helping out a great cause at the same time.

Now I am through talking your ear off. We will back here tomorrow posting as usual and hopefully I will have the new addy for Pagans in Actions at that time.

Till then, my sweets,

Love ya,

Lady A

*Forgot to add, Lady Beltane is a pretty smart witch. The funds we are collecting for the Federal Workers Relief fund, she has opened a savings account and the funds are now drawing interest. Which is something I would never have thought off but the donations are making money which means more funds for the workers when they need them. Now pat her on the back, lol!

Good Wednesday to all our precious family & friends! How y’all doing this morning? Me, don’t ask, I have to go to the doctor today for my 3 month check-up. It is just to make sure all the nuts and bolts are still in one place. Or as they say around here, “to see if I have any screws loose,” suppose to be a joke, yet I haven’t found the humor in it. Due to my going to the doctor, we won’t be on the internet today.. Still haven’t figured it out, they all have to pile in the car with me to go to the doctor. It is like they don’t trust me to actually go to the doctor. It is hilarious watching us all pile out of my little Sonic, it looks like a clown car when everyone starts climbing out.

That was the first thing I wanted to tell you, didn’t want you to think we had skipped the state for a warmer climate(with the cold front coming in, that really wouldn’t be a bad idea, lol!). I wanted to remind you about our “Federal Government Employee Relief Fund.” Lady Beltane called last evening and told me we had received our first donation. She didn’t mention who it was from but I want you to know we appreciate it. That donation is a start but we still need more if we are going to have any effect in our effort to help these government employees.

I just got through watching the News and there is still no end in sight for the government shut down. People are starting to feel the crunch of this shut down. I know locally we have a yearly Christmas in the Park deal and it raises money and can goods for the local food pantries. The food collected from that drive was delivered yesterday to our local food banks, which was a saving grace. Unfortunately, not all areas in our country have these food banks. That is why this program we have started is so important. Your donations will not only help with food, but it will also help with paying electrical bills, water bills and any other need that might arise during this crisis. Crisis, that is a hard word to use. To think of the country I grew up in and now what it has become, it is disgraceful. What bothers me the most, this is only the start of it. What if there can be no compromise? This shut down drags on for months and months, I can’t even to begin to imagine these families’ horrors and fears. I know I have been in a pickle but there has always been a bright spot at the end of the tunnel. These people don’t have that, they are basically stuck in limbo. That is why our organization, your organization is so important right now. We have to help our fellow brothers & sisters caught in the middle of this crisis. If you are a landlord, put off their rent to they go back to work. If you have some pull at your local utility company, try to work something out so their power or water won’t be turned off, for the others of us who can’t do that, write a letter to the President or Congress. We have supplied you with all the information you need to contact them. Write them today. Tell them what you are seeing and how the American people are being effected by this shut down. We have to act to help these government workers and I can’t emphasis that too much.

Oh, you probably noticed our little banner at the top. It is just a rough draft. I was playing around and seeing what I could come up with. I will have the html code at the end of this for you if you would like to put it on your site, Facebook page, Twitter, Tumbler or wherever, just help us get the word out. I use to know some people at Yahoo News and they did occasionally cover me and some of my rants I went off on. I am going to see if I can’t get a hold of them and get some publicity for our organization and what it is trying to do right now. I was going to wait till I had the website built for Pagans for Political Action but the need is now and frankly, I have overloaded my little rump. Which leads to the next thing, I want to talk to you about…..

You have heard Lady Beltane talking about the newsletter coming out for the next Sabbat in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Well I sort volunteered myself to do the Northern Hemisphere, I need help. We are running short handed here. The ones that are here are busy making phone calls and writing letters for our relief effort. Due to that and building a new website, I have spread myself to thin. Lady Beltane was wanting some articles, recipes, poems and anything else I could think of about the North Hemisphere’s next Sabbat which is Imbolc. I would definitely appreciate it, if some of you would save my rump. If you would like to write an article about Imbolc, a ritual, a spell, a poem or a recipe, then please do so. I always manage to stretch myself to thin. I definitely need your help in this though. We want the newsletter to be a success and you can make that happen also. If you have a group, write an article or submit a ritual, then you will get credit along with your site. Hey, basically free advertisement for your site, can’t beat that and beside you will have one grateful witch here. So please, please submit some articles or whatever you would like to use for the newsletter coming up. Could make this a friendly competition (I love competition). Coven Life’s members are contributing to the newsletter, why not The WOTC? Let’s say which ever group contributes the most gets a huge discount in Magickal Necessities or I could buy you all a steak dinner but then again I would have to rob a bank to do so, lol! But please help me out, send in some articles about Imbolc. I would definitely appreciate it.

I think that fairly well covers everything right now. I am going to put the html codes at the bottom for the donate button and the banner at the top. Remember the banner is just a rough draft right now, still have a few tweaks to make to it. The reason I am releasing the rough draft is because we have to get the word out about our organization and it has to be sooner than later. It is going to get to the point that families are going to have to rely on organizations like ours just to feed their children or keep the power on so those children will stay warm and won’t freeze to death this Winter. Please grab the banner and the PayPal button and put it on your site, we would definitely appreciate it. Unfortunately, I don’t see the shut down ending anytime soon. The images that have been sent to me about what is to come are horrible. That is one of the main reasons we are pushing this so hard. I don’t want to see our great country reduced to a third world power. I don’t want to see families being evicted from their homes and most of all I don’t want to see children going to bed hungry. The images I am seeing if this shut down continues for months are…. people fighting in the streets, shop windows being broke out and robbed of food, burning buildings and much, much more. I can tell you it hasn’t been easy for me to sleep for the last few nights with these images floating around in my head. The government can prevent this from happening but they won’t. That is what they want to do, divide this country even more. It would tickle them to death, if there was fightings in the street and it is horrible to say but it would probably delight them to see families going hungry and losing their homes. They don’t care about us, they have already proved that. They won’t take action, we have too. If they won’t help the American people during this crisis and prevent all the horrors I have seen to come from happening, then we have too.

Remember, write those letters, even write the President today. If you have an extra nickel or dime, remember our organization and what we are trying to do. Now I have got to hush and run back home, take a bath and get ready to go to the doctor. Just think over what I have said  and decide for yourself what needs to be done. If you want to see fighting in our streets, blood shed, groceries being robbed just to get food, home invasions, the crime rate go up, then do nothing. If you want to keep this from happening and want to help these government workers, our brothers & sisters, during this crisis, then donate.

Thank you and I love you,

Lady A

*Also feel like writing a piece about Imbolc, do so. I would definitely appreciate the help. Now for the html codes.

The banner:

<img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-176839″ src=”https://witchesofthecraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/pfpc-1.jpg&#8221; alt=”” width=”305″ height=”426″ />

The PayPal donate button. Oh by the way this button works in case you would like to make a donation at this this time.

HTML Code for this banner:

<a href=”https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=Sj7-7w1-rx8OaddY0CLYNPEXZmCVAQzNQUNgxNnhenPA68Z97Eu1OxM3UoRtTnzm9C7bn0&amp;country.x=US&amp;locale.x=US”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-290″ src=”https://thegrovepromotionsandproductions2.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/federal.jpg&#8221; alt=”” width=”226″ height=”264″ /></a>