Amaterasu-Omikami, Shinto procession in China for Sun Goddess Amaterasu. (Izanami, Fuji, Pele, Mehuea, Vesta, Brigid, Isis, Spider Woman, Akewa, Coatlique, Arunta Sun Woman, Arinna, Igaehindvo, Sun Sister, Freya.) Also birthday of Isis in Egypt (Mary, Kwan Yin, Ishtar, Tonantzin, Ashtoreth, Yemaya).
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Sunne, Sol, Frau Sonne, Aditi, Igaehindvo, Amaterasu, Arinna, Izanami, Ochumare
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Traditionally, Sunday is the first day of the week. It is also known as the Lord’s Day from it original association with the Lord, that is, the Sun God, personified as Helios, Apollo, Ogmios, Mithras, and St. Elia. But in the Northern Tradition, the sun is seen as feminine, personified as the goddess known as Phoebe in East Anglia and Saule in eastern Europe. The sun rules the conscious element of the human being, the ego, the real self, and Sunday is the day on which this conscious power is at its most effective.
Deity: Sol
Zodiac Sign: Leo
Planet: Sun
Tree: Birch
Herb: Snakeroot
Stone: Ruby
Animal: Lion
Element: Fire
Color: Gold
Rune: Sigel
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne(Holly) – July 8 – August 4
Runic Half-Month of Ur (primal strength) – July 14 – July 28
Goddess of the Month of Kerea – July 11 – August 8
Source
The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick
Deity: Sol
Planet: Sun
Tree: Birch
Herb: Sneakeroot
Element: Fire
Number: 1
Rune: Sigel (S)
The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick
Saturn shines, Mercury and Venus have a close encounter, and the Delta Aquariads meteor shower flies by.
By Richard Talcott
Sunday, July 17
Perhaps no month better epitomizes summer in the Northern Hemisphere than July. And this month finds the season’s namesake asterism, the Summer Triangle, on prominent display. The trio’s brightest member, Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp, stands nearly overhead shortly before midnight. The asterism’s second-brightest star, Altair in Aquila the Eagle, then lies more than halfway from the southeastern horizon to the zenith. Deneb, the luminary of Cygnus the Swan, marks the Summer Triangle’s third corner. Although it is the asterism’s dimmest star, it’s the brightest point of light in the northeastern sky.
Monday, July 18
Brilliant Jupiter remains a beacon in the western sky after sunset. It appears nearly 20° high an hour after sunset and doesn’t dip below the horizon until nearly 11 p.m. local daylight time. Jupiter shines at magnitude –1.8 against the backdrop of southern Leo the Lion. The giant planet appears equally dazzling through a telescope, which reveals a wealth of atmospheric features on a disk that spans 33″.
Tuesday, July 19
Full Moon arrives at 6:57 p.m. EDT. It rises in the eastern sky just as the Sun sets and reaches its peak in the south around 1 a.m. local daylight time. The Moon lies on the border between the constellations Sagittarius the Archer and Capricornus the Sea Goat.
Wednesday, July 20
Look toward the south as darkness falls and you can’t help but see Mars. The Red Planet shines brilliantly at magnitude –1.0 — trailing only the Moon and Jupiter after dusk — against the much fainter background stars of Libra. And it remains visible until it dips below the southwestern horizon shortly after 1 a.m. local daylight time. When viewed through a telescope, Mars’ orange-red disk spans 14″ and shows a number of subtle dark markings. You also might glimpse the white north polar cap, which should be near its minimum extent now because summer ended in the planet’s northern hemisphere early this month.
Thursday, July 21
Pluto reached opposition and peak visibility two weeks ago, and it remains a tempting target all night. It glows dimly at magnitude 14.1, however, so you’ll need an 8-inch or larger telescope with good optics to spot it visually. Pluto currently lies in northeastern Sagittarius, some 0.6° west-southwest of the 3rd-magnitude star Pi (p) Sagittarii. See “The quest for distant Pluto” in the July Astronomy for complete details on finding this world.
Friday, July 22
Tonight offers a good opportunity for binocular users to track down one of summer’s finest open star clusters. NGC 6231 lies in the tail of Scorpius the Scorpion, just 0.5° north of the double star Zeta (z) Scorpii (which is another fine binocular sight). NGC 6231 shines at magnitude 2.6 and packs more than 100 stars into a region just 14′ in diameter. This part of Scorpius lies nearly due south after darkness falls, though it doesn’t climb high from mid-northern latitudes.
For observers across most of eastern North America, the waning gibbous Moon crosses directly in front of Neptune tonight. The 8th-magnitude planet will be difficult to see even through a telescope when it passes behind the Moon’s lit limb, but significantly easier when it reappears from behind the dark limb. Because exact times depend on your specific location, set up your scope in early evening to be ready for the show.
Saturday, July 23
The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower ramps up this week. The shower has a broad maximum in late July, but you should see a few members in the hours before dawn. Unfortunately, a waning gibbous Moon currently shares the morning sky, reducing the number of meteors you can see. To tell a Southern Delta Aquarid meteor from a random dust particle burning up in Earth’s atmosphere, trace the streak of light’s path backward. A shower meteor will appear to originate from the constellation Aquarius the Water-bearer.
Sunday, July 24
If you didn’t have a chance to view Neptune passing behind the Moon on Friday, try tracking down the distant planet tonight when it passes 31′ (the width of a Full Moon) due south of the 4th-magnitude star Lambda (l) Aquarii. The pair rises shortly after 10 p.m. local daylight time and climbs some 40° above the southern horizon by the start of morning twilight. You’ll need binoculars to spy magnitude 7.8 Neptune and a telescope to see its blue-gray disk, which spans 2.3″.
The Moon today is in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has it’s roots in the Latin word “gibbous” meaning humpbacked.
New Moon – July 4, 2016
First Quarter – July 11, 2016
Full Moon – July 19, 2016
Last Quarter – July 26, 2016
Currently
Sun is in Cancer
Moon is in Sagittarius
The Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 98.22° E
Sun Altitude: 46.54°
Sun Distance: 94.470 million mi
Next Equinox: Sep 22, 2016 9:21 AM (Autumnal)
Sunrise Today: 5:48 AM↑ 62° Northeast
Sunset Today: 8:13 PM↑ 297° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 24 minutes
The Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 317.68° NW
Moon Altitude: -66.76°
Moon Distance: 244943 mi
Next Full Moon: Jul 19, 20165:56 PM
Next New Moon: Aug 2, 20163:44 PM
Next Moonrise: Today6:17 PM
Current Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 94.1%
Goddess, there are so many who
walk blindly across the land.
So many hold the words of
agreement in their mouths.
So many hold no space for questions.
I stand afraid as the words mount,
as the armies join one to another
boot to boot.
So many.
But you, Goddess, you know life as simple.
In its dazzle and turn
Lies the confidence of remembering.
Nothing is changeless as change.
Nothing.
This is my shield.
This, my ecstasy.
Here is my Goddess, here,
the God who hears me.
Upon Earth do I lay my head.
No thousands can move the
course of life with their strength.
But each heart flaming towards
love can remake the world.
—Earth Psalms
Angela Magara
All’s fair in love and war, and as no one is actually harmed by this voodoo spell it’s included in this grimoire. Start this spell after the full moon has risen.
You will need:
A new, small glass bowl A cup of stagnant water Two teaspoons of vinegar Some ground angelica Lime juice A wooden spoon
On the night when the moon starts to wane take all the ingredients outside and mix them in the bowl with the wooden spoon. When everything is thoroughly mixed, hold your face close to the bowl and say something along the lines of:
I’m the man/girl **** wants to love. We go together hand in glove, And so I want you to know, The time has come for you to go. And let it be done, that it harm no one.
Now spit into the mixture and, unseen, make your way to your rival’s house. Pour the liquid on his or her front step, repeating the words of the incantation as you do so. Repeat the ritual seven nights in a row.
The spell has its origins in voodoo tradition and there are several reports, from Hispaniola and other areas where voodoo is respected, of two young men, bowls in hand, making their way to one another’s houses under cover of darkness!
If,for some reason you believe that another person is using their powers adversely to affect you in some way, remove their negative influences with this simple spell.
You will need:
Two teaspoons of almond oil (or any suitable carrier oil)
Rosemary essential oil
A mixing bottle
A sheet of white paper
A black ink pen
A white altar candle
A purple taper candle
A fireproof bowl
Add three drops of the rosemary essential oil to the carrier oil and charge it by rolling the mixing bottle between the palms of your hands,focusing your thoughts on the purpose of your spell weaving. Now light the white candle and, focusing on its flame, see whoever you think is being negative towards you becoming smaller and smaller.
Anoint the purple candle with the charged oil,drawing the oil away from you as you are banishing something that has been directed towards you. Before lighting the candle, write on the paper ‘All blocks are gone’ and fold it three times. Now light the candle and use its flame to set fire to the paper. Focusing on the flames, say the following three times, at the last adding,‘And let it be done, that it harm no one’:
As this paper burns away, Elements please hear me pray. Turn back the ill will sent to me, And send it on its way.
As the flames dim, see the ill will dissolving with them, then bring the session to an end in the usual way.
I hope everyone is having a super, beautiful Saturday morn’! I got out yesterday morning before everyone got here and tracked down our sewage outlet drain. In case you don’t know what that is and you probably don’t, I tell you anyway(sorry). It is nothing that bad nor smelly, it is a white PVC pipe that sticks out of the ground about a foot(seriously) and has a cap on the top of it. No one around us has one but we are the lucky dogs, we got one. I never paid any attention to it but one of the guys called it to my attention, that it was missing. Now how in the hell does a pipe like that vanish? Simple. The lawn company we hired last year tore it up and didn’t tell us. It is one of those things that has to be fixed immediately. If not, you run the risk of getting mud, grass and the such down there and clogging up the whole works. So I got out there before it got hot and proceeded to fix the thing. I had to find it first, it had been mowed over, cut grass a mile high, pathetic. If the neighbors saw me they thought I was prospering for gold or something. I finally found it and I started digging. I should add without a back brace or anything. I got it fixed, felt fine and great to last night. Brother, did I pay for that. I looked like the Hunch-back of Notre Dame. I was hunting the Ben-gay, back braces, heating pads, herbs, everything I could think of. Before I passed out I called everyone and told them to take the day off. I was planning on laying around and resting but I have found out doing that is the worse thing you can do. So I am up and taking it easy. I am a very independent witch and I don’t like to depend on others to do things for me. I guess I am going to have to learn to depend on people a little more than I have in the past. I know, I have bored you to tears, sorry……
The point of this entire post is suppose to be to tell you that I am going to be putting some new spells on here and also our Southern Hemisphere site. That is one site that I want to work and I just can’t seem to get my act together to get it going. But I will be putting some new spells on here and info over there today.
And last but not least, we have added a new item to our raffle. Our fund raiser is not going as well as we hoped. We decided that every few days, we will add a new item to our raffle page. I figure we might eventually get something on there that might like. We have access to over 10,000 items so surely we might get something on here that will help with our fund raiser. If you have any suggestions, please let us know. This fund raiser goes to help us survive during the winter. All the money raised will be put back in a fund for our winter expenses and it is suppose to be a long, cold winter this year. Which means I don’t want to see the bills. Now I would like to introduce our newest item to the raffle, in a few days, we will introduce another new item. This item is a Willow wand (and I can guarantee you it ain’t cheap, none of the merchandise is) and it did not come from my tree either. The wholesaler we deal with has quality merchandise and stands behinds everything they sell. So you are guaranteed to get the best merchandise on the market today. Here is a look at the latest item to go up for raffle, remember you win the raffle you get the choice of the item you want……
Willow Wand
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 July 15
NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Howard Hedlund & Dave Jurasevich, Las Campanas Obs.
Explanation: Moving from top to bottom in the frame near the center of this sharply detailed color composite, thin, bright, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a cosmic sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge-on. The shock wave plows through interstellar space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its elongated appearance suggests its popular name, the Pencil Nebula. The Pencil Nebula is about 5 light-years long and 800 light-years away, but represents only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter, the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar material. In the narrowband, wide field image, red and blue-green colors track the characteristic glow of ionized hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
Tonight – July 15, 2016 – the very bright waxing gibbous moon will erase many stars from the slate of night. Will you see the planet Saturn in the moon’s glare? Probably, if you look, and if clouds don’t hide them. If not, try covering the moon with your finger to gaze at nearby Saturn. Although the supergiant red star Antares is not as bright as Saturn, it might be easier to see since it’s a little farther from the moon’s glare. Follow the links below to find out more about the two celestial lights that are closest to the moon on July 15, 2016.
Saturn, sixth planet out from the sun, is the farthest world you can easily see with your unaided eye. It’s 10 Astronomical Units from the sun (10 times the Earth-sun distance), and, right now, it’s about 9.3 Astronomical Units from Earth. One Astronomical Unit equals about 93 million miles (150 million km).
Saturn is often called the jewel of the solar system because of its gorgeous ring system. Saturn’s rings are enormously expansive and wide, but extremely thin. The main rings extend nearly as far the moon’s distance from Earth, yet are only about one kilometer thick. With even a modest telescope, you should be able to see Saturn’s rings easily in July 2016, as they are inclined at 26o from edge-on.
Saturn, the second-largest planet after Jupiter, has a diameter that’s a good 9 times greater than Earth’s. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gas giant world, composed of mainly hydrogen and helium.
Unlike the inner rocky planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – Saturn and Jupiter have no solid surfaces on which to stand.
Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. It is a red supergiant star. In fact, this star dwarfs the sun to almost nothingness. While the volume of the sun is approximately 1.3 million times that of our planet Earth, Antares has the volume of hundreds of millions of suns. If by some bit of magic Antares were suddenly substituted for our sun, the surface of the star would extend well past the orbit of Mars!
Antares is classified as an M1 supergiant star. The M1 designation says that Antares is reddish in color and cooler than many other stars. Its surface temperature of 3500 kelvins (about 5800 degrees F.) is in contrast to about 10,000 degrees F. for our sun.
Even though Antares’ surface temperature is relatively low, Antares’ tremendous surface area – the surface from which light can escape – makes this star very bright. In fact, Antares approaches 11,000 times the brilliance of our puny sun, a G2 star.
Stellar luminosity: The true brightnesses of stars
But that is just in visible light. When all wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation is considered, Antares pumps out more than 60,000 times the energy of our sun!
Bottom line: Look at the moon on July 15, 2016, and you’ll likely notice two nearby objects. One is the planet Saturn, and the other is the star Antares.
Today’s Meaning:
The hand indicates you will need to extend effort to protect this aspect from outside influences. The devices attached indicate you will need tools to be successful in your protection.
General Description:
The use of a representation of the Hand as a talisman can be traced back to at least 800 years B.C., when it was used as a charm against enchantment. Many varieties of the Hand exist; in some the elaboration is very marked, each devise represents some particular charm. Life size models of these Hands were supposed to guard the house against all the influences of magic and evil, and smaller replicas protected their wearers from every description of harm. The extended thumb and first two fingers, the third and fourth fingers closed, is the position still assumed during the benediction in some Christian Churches of today.
Witches Of The Craft® 
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