The Germanic Pagan Festival of Mjollnir celebrates the hammer of Thor. In medieval times, this day was considered to be a good day for ritual contest, such as trial by combat. Ascension, falling forty days after Easter, marks the completion of this spring cycle of holy days.
The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick
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)
Celtic Tree Month of Hauth (Hawthorn) – May 13 – June 9. Hawthorn month is a time of fertility, masculine energy, and fire. Also associated with the realm of Faerie.
Runic Half-Month of Ing (expansive, energy) – May 14 -28
Goddess of the Month of Hera – May 16 – June 12. Hera is associated with motherhood, marriage, the household, infidelities, beauty, luxury
The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick
Love
Peace
Family
Marriage
Beauty
Growth
Art
Social status
Passion
Music
Sexuality
A Spell Crafter’s Compendium
Terri Paajanen
Friday, May 20
• Although Saturn will reach opposition and peak visibility two weeks from today, observers will be hard-pressed to see it as inferior this week. The ringed planet rises shortly after 9 p.m. local daylight time and appears highest in the south around 2 a.m. Saturn shines at magnitude 0.1 and stands out against the relatively dim background stars of southern Ophiuchus. If you target the beautiful world through a telescope, you’ll see its 18″-diameter disk surrounded by a ring system that spans 42″ and tilts 26° to our line of sight.
Saturday, May 21
• The Moon looks completely illuminated all night as it reaches Full phase at 5:14 p.m. EDT. You can find our satellite rising in the east around sunset and peaking in the south at 1 a.m. local daylight time. The Moon passed 6° due north of Mars during the afternoon hours, and those two form a dramatic quadrilateral with Saturn and the 1st-magnitude star Antares throughout the night.
Sunday, May 22
• Mars lies opposite the Sun in our sky today as it reaches peak visibility for 2016. The Red Planet appears low in the southeast as darkness falls and grows more prominent as the evening wears on and it climbs higher. By 1 a.m. local daylight time, it stands one-third of the way to the zenith in the southern sky against the backdrop of stars in northern Scorpius. The world shines at magnitude –2.1, brighter than it has been since 2005. When viewed through a telescope, the planet’s ocher-colored disk spans 18.4″ and shows subtle dark markings along with a whitish north polar cap. The Red Planet actually will come closest to Earth eight days from now, when its disk will swell to 18.6″ across. For more details on viewing the planet, see “Observe Mars at its best” in the May Astronomy.
• The Moon’s eastward motion relative to the background stars carries it 3° north of Saturn in this evening’s sky.
Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 101.69° ESE
Sun Altitude: 48.50°
Sun Distance: 94.075 million mi
Next Solstice: Jun 20, 2016 5:34 PM (Summer)
Sunrise Today: 5:42 AM↑ 64° Northeast
Sunset Today: 8:00 PM↑ 296° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 18 minutes
Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 304.08° NW
Moon Altitude: -53.97°
Moon Distance: 251510 mi
Next Full Moon: May 21, 20164:14 PM
Next New Moon: Jun 4, 20169:59 PM
Next Moonrise: Today6:58 PM
Current Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 98.4%
Circle of starlight,
Circle of fire,
filled with enchantments
bright with desire.
Turning, turning,
beginning to end;
end to beginning
again and again.
Circle of wisdom,
Circle of love,
Silver with moonbeams
bright from above.
Circle of death,
Circle of re-birth,
Circle of the Mother Earth.
Shining, shining,
forever and ever.
Spinning, spinning,
ending never.
Weaving the threads
of the midnight hour.
Weaving the web of Goddess power.
AN YE HARM NONE, LOVE,
DO WHAT THOU WILT!
—- Unknown
I just happened to run across a tons of old Irish & Celtic blessings & prayers. Since I am Celtic (and missing my homeland), I automatically fell in love with them. I was wondering if you would mind if I shared them with you.
If you survive my Celtic tradition, feel free to let us know about your tradition. We will see what we can dig up and do the same for you. Post any and all information about your Path, Tradition or Religion we can find, all you have to do is ask.
So let’s get this party started, I hope I don’t give you Celtic burn out and remember if you want us to do the same for your Tradition, just let us know.
Have a blessed day, my sweets,
Love ya,
Lady A
What is a cure in small doses; is a poison in bigger doses and vice versa.
That is what an old saying tells us and its validity is confirmed once again.
A new homeopathic drug made of blue scorpion venom cures many types of carcinoma in humans, according to Cuban scientists.
Blue scorpion (Rhopalurus Junceus) lives on Cuba and it was named after its blue tail at the end of which is scorpion’s infamous sting.
Its body color is actually orange-red, so this scorpion is also sometimes called the red scorpion.
The idea that came from the natives
Scientists from this Caribbean island started examining scorpion’s venom in September 1997, encouraged by the findings that the natives have for centuries been using that substance for tumor treatment.
In comprehensive and thorough research, scientists concluded that venom’s compounds have analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects that prolong the life expectancy of carcinoma patients, alleviate the pain and sometimes even reduce tumor tissue.
“It took us fifteen years to scientifically prove the beneficial effects of scorpion venom. As we came to realize, the native’s beliefs in the healing properties of this venom proved to be correct”, doctor Guevara Garcia, one of the researches, said.
The result of this research is a drug called Vidatox 30 CH produced by a Cuban company Labiofam. It is believed that this drug reduces the spreading of cancer cells and prolongs patient’s life expectancy.
Which diseases does this drug effect?
Researchers claim that Vidatox enhances life quality of people suffering from breast, liver, spleen, lung, brain, cervix, prostate and other types of cancer.
This drug has been tested on patients from Europe, USA and Cuba, and no severe side effects have been reported.
The venom contains low molar mass proteins which can prevent tumor cell occurrence and spreading.
According to Cuban doctors that support Vidatox treatment in oncology, active ingredients of scorpion venom block certain cell enzymes and prevent angiogenesis, i.e. the creation of new blood vessels inside tumors.
Without new blood vessels, tumor cannot be fed and there is a potential that the tumor will die.
Such effects have been confirmed during laboratory testing on tumor cells in Mexico.
Drug production
The venom is taken from living scorpion that is electrically stimulated to release two to three drops of venom. The drug is produced by taking five to six doses of venom using the aforementioned procedure.
Collected venomous fluid is diluted in distilled water and venom concentration in solution depends on the cancer type and the patient’s condition.
This drug is applied orally and during the treatment patients have to obey special diet instructions created for better absorption of drug’s active compounds.
Cuba is famous for scorpion usage in therapeutic purposes since the beginning of the 20th century.
At that time, scorpion oil came into use. That oil was considered useful against urinary retention, bacterial infections, tumors, and inflammations.
Venom or cure?
Scorpions, as other venomous animals, use their venom for catching prey, for the defense and the subjugation of partners during mating.
Scorpion’s venom contains numerous compounds, some of which target the nervous system.
Each of 1500 scorpion species has slightly different venom which is powerful enough to kill scorpions prey, usually small animals.
Twenty five species, including blue scorpion, have venom that is also dangerous for people.
The most dangerous one is considered to be Arizona scorpion that injects large amounts of venom into his victims.
Consequences of scorpion sting include:
Although the scorpion’s sting can be deadly, homeopathic drug Vidatox has not exhibited any negative side effects on the health of patients.
~~~
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Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2016 May 19
The Surface of Europa
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SETI Institute
Explanation: An enhanced-color view, this image covers a 350 by 750 kilometer swath across the surface of Jupiter’s tantalizing moon Europa. The close-up combines high-resolution image data with lower resolution color data from observations made in 1998 by the Galileo spacecraft. Smooth ice plains, long fractures, and jumbled blocks of chaos terrain are thought to hide a deep ocean of salty liquid water beneath. Though the ice-covered alien ocean world is outside the Solar System’s habitable zone, new studies show the potential chemistry driving its oxygen and hydrogen production, a key indicator of the energy available for life, could produce amounts comparable in scale to planet Earth. Hydrogen would be generated by chemical reactions of the salty water in contact with the rocky ocean floor. Oxygen and other compounds that react with hydrogen would come from Europa’s surface. There water ice molecules would be split apart by the intense flux of high-energy radiation from Jupiter and cycled into the Europan ocean from above.
Tonight, look for Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. The night sky chart at the top of this post presents the view toward the northeast in mid-to-late evening during the month of May. It’s the view from mid-northern latitudes. It’s by looking in this direction that you can get a good look at the bright star Deneb, which should be visible even in tonight’s moon-drenched skies. This star is part of not one but two striking star patterns. And it’s one of the most distant stars we can see with the eye alone, well over 1,000 light-years away. Follow the links below to learn more.
Deneb is part of the Summer Triangle pattern
Deneb is also part of a smaller, cross-like pattern
Deneb is part of the Summer Triangle pattern. Deneb – along with the stars Vega and Altair – is part of the famous Summer Triangle asterism, which will be well up in the east in mid-evening next month. On these Northern Hemisphere late spring evenings, you might not be able to see the whole Summer Triangle until later at night. The star Altair will be the last of these three stars to rise. But you can see the bright star Deneb to the lower left of Vega, the Summer Triangle’s brightest star.
Deneb is also part of a smaller, cross-like pattern. Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. If you look at the cross-like pattern indicated on the chart at the top of this post, you might be able to imagine Deneb as the point marking the short tail of a long-necked swan flying toward the south. This is how early Arabian stargazers saw it. The name Deneb comes from the Arabic and means tail, and in skylore Deneb is often said to be the Tail of the Swan. The little star Albireo marks the Swan’s Head.
But there’s another way to see this pattern of stars that works equally well. In more modern skylore, this pattern is sometimes called the Northern Cross. It looks like a cross, right? If you prefer to see the Cross instead of the Swan, Deneb marks the head of the Cross. Cross or Swan … this is a lovely pattern to pick out on the sky’s dome.
Astronomers know that Deneb is one of the most distant stars we can see with the eye alone. The exact distance to Deneb can only be estimated, with estimates ranging from about 1,425 light-years to perhaps as much as 7,000 light-years. At any of these estimates distances, Deneb is one of the farthest stars the unaided human eye can see. It is so far, that the light that reaches the Earth today started on its journey well more than 1,000 years ago.
More about Deneb: Among most distant stars visible
Bottom line: The star Deneb is part of the Summer Triangle asterism. And it’s part of the constellation Cygnus the Swan, which can also be seen as a Cross. Look for the star Deneb tonight! At well over 1,000 light-years away, it’s one of the most distant stars we can see with the eye alone.
The EarthSky team has a blast bringing you daily updates on your cosmos and world. We love your photos and welcome your news tips. Earth, Space, Human World, Tonight.
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