Category: Daily Posts

A Little Humor for Your Day – Circle Etiquette (varied sources)

Circle Etiquette (varied sources)

  • Never summon Anything you can’t banish.
  • Never put asafoetida on the rocks in the sweat lodge.
  • Do not attempt to walk more than 10 paces while wearing all of your ritual jewelry, dream bags and crystals at the same time.
  • When proposing to initiate someone, do not mention the Great Rite, leer, and say, “Hey, your trad or mine?”
  • Never laugh at someone who is skyclad. They can see you, too.
  • Never, *ever* set the Witch on fire.
  • Looking at nifty pictures is not a valid path to mastering the ancient grimoires. Please read thoroughly and carefully from beginning to end so that your madness and gibberings will at least make some sense.
  • A good grasp of ritual and ritual techniques are essential! In the event of a random impaling, or other accidental death amongst the participants, (see next rule) a quick thinker can improvise to ensure successful completion of the Rite. Make them another sacrifice, Demons really love those those.
  • Watch where you wave the sharp pointy items.
  • Avoid walking through disembodied spirits.
  • Carry an all-purpose translator’s dictionary in case the ritual leader begins talking in some strange and unknown language.
  • Avoid joining your life force to anything with glowing red eyes.
  • If asked to sign a contract or pact and you are experiencing doubts or reservations, sign your neighbor’s name. Malevolent entities rarely ask for photo ID.
  • Blood IS thicker than water. Soak ritual garments an extra 30-45 minutes.
  • While drunken weaving may be mistaken for ecstatic dancing, slurring the names of Deities is generally considered bad form.
  • If the ritual leader should ask for a volunteer, resist the urge to raise your hand! While it is true that volunteering will most likely gain you stature and prestige amongst the group, thereby allowing you to advance quickly through the ranks, it is equally likely to get you strapped to a table and eaten alive by a drooling demonic horde.

Original Authors Unknown

Astronomy Picture of the Day – Gamma-rays and Comet Dust

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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 August 20

Gamma-rays and Comet Dust
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel López (El Cielo de Canarias)

Explanation: Gamma-rays and dust from periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle plowed through planet Earth’s atmosphere on the night of August 11/12. Impacting at about 60 kilometers per second the grains of comet dust produced this year’s remarkably active Perseid meteor shower. This composite wide-angle image of aligned shower meteors covers a 4.5 hour period on that Perseid night. In it the flashing meteor streaks can be traced back to the shower’s origin on the sky. Alongside the Milky Way in the constellation Perseus, the radiant marks the direction along the perodic comet’s orbit. Traveling at the speed of light, cosmic gamma-rays impacting Earth’s atmosphere generated showers too, showers of high energy particles. Just as the meteor streaks point back to their origin, the even briefer flashes of light from the particles can be used to reconstruct the direction of the particle shower, to point back to the origin on the sky of the incoming gamma-ray. Unlike the meteors, the incredibly fast particle shower flashes can’t be followed by eye. But both can be followed by the high speed cameras on the multi-mirrored dishes in the foreground. Of course, the dishes are MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescopes, an Earth-based gamma-ray observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma.

Earth Sky News for August 20: See the daytime moon

See the daytime moon

By

Tonight – August 20, 2016 – the moon is in a waning gibbous phase. That means it rises in the east later than it did last night. And it will rise later and later each evening … so that you can catch the daytime moon over your western horizon after sunrise in the next few mornings.

View the moon in your eastern sky before going to bed this evening, August 20, and then look for the moon low in your western sky right after sunrise, August 21. Sylvia asked:

When is the best time to see the moon in the sky during daylight hours?

The answer is that the daytime moon is up there much of the time, but, because it’s pale against the blue sky, it’s not as noticeable as the moon at night. But there are certain times of the month when the daytime moon is more noticeable.

This next week presents a fine time to look for the daytime moon.

The most noticeable moon at night is the one that stays out all night long. That would be around the time of full moon each month, when the moon is 180 degrees from the sun, or opposite the sun in our sky.

Full moon was on August 18, 2016 at 9:27 UTC. Translate to your time zone here.

Every full moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise. But now the moon is in a waning gibbous phase – rising later each night – and setting in the west later each day after sunrise.

So, in the several mornings following full moon – after sunrise – look for the waning gibbous moon in the west during the morning hours. At mid-northern latitudes in North America, the moon will set roughly 2.5 hours after sunrise on August 21, 2016 and will set roughly one hour later after sunrise each day thereafter.

These recommended almanacs can help you find the moon’s setting time in your sky

By the way, the moon is up during the day half the time. It has to be, since it orbits around the whole Earth once a month. The crescent moon is hard to see because it’s so near the sun in the sky. At the vicinity of last quarter moon about a week from now, you might have to crane your neck, looking up, to notice it after sunrise.

Ordinarily, we don’t look up to see the waning last quarter moon and waning crescent after sunrise. That’s one reason why people so often miss the moon during the day.

Day by day, the lighted portion of the waning gibbous moon will shrink and the half-lit last quarter moon will come on or near August 25. Watch for the daytime moon to climb higher and higher into the western sky at sunrise all this coming week!

Bottom line: Starting around August 21, 2016 look for the daytime moon in the west after sunrise.

 

BRUCE MCCLURE

Bruce McClure has served as lead writer for EarthSky’s popular Tonight pages since 2004. He’s a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also writes and hosts public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.

Article published on EarthSky

Your Daily Influences for August 20th

Your Daily Influences
August 20, 2016

 

The Magician
This card represents the force of your will, the mastery of skills and your creative talents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gebo
Gebo represents the coming of gifts and favors. While each are usually positive events, they often carry obligations with them. Gebo often represents strong bonds such as deep friendships and marriage.

 

 

 

Taurus The Bull
This aspect of your life will be strongly influenced by a person who is patient, reliable, warmhearted, loving, persistent, determined, placid and security loving. This is a person you respect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Daily Influences represent events and challenges the current day will present for you. They may represent opportunities you should be ready to seize. Or they may forewarn you of problems you may be able to avoid or lessen. Generally it is best to use them as tips to help you manage your day and nothing more.

Your Charm for August 20th is The Dorje

Your Charm for Today

Today’s Meaning:
You are at a physical peak–particularly from a sexual perspective. Enjoy the next few weeks, for they can be remarkable if you let them.

General Description:
In India and Tibet the Dorje or Thunderbolt of Jupiter, is a favourite and greatly valued talisman. It is worn to protect against magic, all spiritual evils and to bring abundance, fruitfulness, and riches. The Dorje is shaped much like a dumb bell with pointed ends, and is the symbol of power and indestructibility. It is supposed to overcome the Buddhist gods Ahi and Vrittra, the serpents, which the Buddhists believe swallow up the waters and cause drought, starvation and death; compelling the serpents to disgorge the waters, and to pour down the fertilizing showers.

Your Ancient Symbol Card for August 20th is The Owl

Your Ancient Symbol Card for Today

The Owl


The powerful Owl easily makes its way through the darkest night on muted wings. Often it is only their haunting call echoing across the land that lets us know The Owl is near. Because of its amazing night vision, many cultures have attributed wisdom and the ability to uncover even the deepest secrets to the enigmatic, noble Owl. The Owl’s nocturnal prowess has lead many to see them as a messenger between the material and spirit worlds. Cultures as distinct as the African Zulus and ancient Celtics have ascribed magical powers to The Owl made them a revered companion to shaman and wizards.

As a daily card, The Owl marks a moment when wise decisions and actions must be made based upon information known to only a few, or possibly only you. It marks a time when your vision is likely to be clearer, more acute than of those around you. Spiritual revelations may be made. Secrets may be revealed that demand decisive action.

Your Daily Witches Rune for August 20th is Woman

Today’s Witches Rune

Woman

Meaning: The first meaning of this rune is quite obvious: it represents women. Any woman that is important in the question, whether you know her or not, will be represented by this rune. Mother, sister, aunt, grandma, a female boss, friend, lover or even enemy… all can be symbolized by the appearance of this rune.

In a more general sense, this rune is related to traditional female abilities and characteristics, such as giving birth, nurturing, comforting and healing. When this rune appears, you can count on the sympathy of others towards you or your situation. In its most negative aspects, the Woman rune can show over-protectiveness, a patronizing attitude or co-dependency. It often strives to maintain the status quo, refusing to change even if the situation is bad.

The Woman rune is connected to nurturing – nurturing a relationship, a person or a project. Like the Moon rune, it can be related to finding a safe place to rest and heal, but while the Moon implies a solitary retreat, the Woman often shows that you need to go back to the people you trust, the people you feel safe with.

Healing is another strong aspect of this symbol, as well as teaching. You can be both the patient/student or the healer/teacher when this rune appears. This rune is also connected to creativity, but in a way that is different from the Romance rune. While the latter is about the conception of a project – the initial stages of creation – the Woman is about the birth of this project. When your creation is brought out into the world, fully manifested.

In relationship readings, this rune isn’t bad, but rather weak. While it can indicate subtle ties between people, these are usually so, so subtle that the partners can easily drift away from each other. It can show that one of the partners sees the other as someone who needs to be protected and healed, rather than an equal. Usually, the romance is a bit stagnated when this rune appears, or very close to becoming a friendship.

 

Your Crowley Thoth Tarot Card for Aug. 20th is The Emperor

Your Crowley Thoth Tarot Card for Today

The Emperor


The Emperor is blessed with the skills to successfully lead others. He can turn chaos into order and provide structure to that which is unbound. He is quick of mind and confident in his power and right to rule, and does so in a just manner. Although stern by nature, he truly is the ultimate father figure. He will provide as needed, teach those with unanswered questions, protect the vulnerable, set and maintain boundaries. His perfect world runs on schedule and is free of any disturbances. What the Emperor must be wary of is setting boundaries and rules where none are needed. If he isn’t careful not to over use his powers he may well become a tyrant.