Tag: Earth

Astronomy Picture of the Day for Jan. 23

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.

2012 January 23
See Explanation.Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version.Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution versionavailable.

Deep Orion Over the Canary Islands
Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (TWAN) 

Explanation: Which attracts your eye more — the sky or the ground? On the ground are rocky peaks in Teide National Park on Tenerife Island of the Spanish Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa. The volcanic landscape features old island summits and is sometimes used as a testbed for instruments on future Martian rovers. The lights of a nearby hotel shine on the far left. Storm clouds are visible on the horizon, artificially strutted from multiple exposures. Dividing the sky, across the middle of the above deep image, is the vertical band of the Milky Way Galaxy. The red circle on the right is Barnard’s Loop, near the center of which are the famous belt stars of the constellation Orion. Soon after the above image was taken, during an evening earlier this year, storm clouds rolled across, and indoor locations began to attract eyes the most.

Lunar Lore for Jan. 23rd

Moon & Witch Comments & Graphics 

Plant when the moon is in Taurus or Aquarius
during light of moon.
– “Old Farmer’s Almanac,” circa 1745
…
Selene or Luna: the moon personified, properly the full moon,
who loved the sleeping Endymion.
Endymion: moonlight on a bank, field, or garden.
Phoebe: the moon as the sister of the sun.
– Brewer, “Dictionary of Phrase & Fable”.
…
But sun and moon, those watchmen of the world,
With their own lanterns traversing around
The mighty, the revolving vault, have taught
Unto mankind that seasons of the years
Return again.
– Lucretius, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things)

  
~Magickal Graphics~

Calendar of the Moon for Jan. 23rd

Calendar of the Moon
23 Luis/Gamelion

Day of Boannan

Color: White
Element: Water
Altar: On a white cloth set a blue bowl filled with water and small polished stones.
Offerings: Small paper boats set afloat on a river.
Daily Meal: River fish.

Invocation to Boannan

Lady of the River
Wash us clean in your rippling waves.
Lady of the Onward Flow
Carry us into our future
And safely home to our lives.
Lady of the Fishes
Nourish and provide for us.
Lady who lay with the Oak Tree
And bore him the newborn Sun,
River mother, mountain mother,
Lady of clear springs and cold water
Wherein lies sacred talking fishes,
Lady whose cool hands stroke us
And whose blood flows cold
Out to the unforgiving sea,
With each sip of water we take
We will remember your name.

Chant:
River go on, river go on forever
River run through my heart

(Let one who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual bring the bowl of water to each person in turn, and let them drink from it, and then pour the rest out as a libation to Boannan.)

Calendar of the Sun for Jan. 23rd

Calendar of the Sun

Bruma

Colors: White and brown
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a bare table lay a large pot shaped like a human figure, reclining, filled with earth. All should enter bearing two white cloths, one on each arm.
Offerings: Silence and meditation.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian

Bruma Invocation

Earth, you lie sleeping in silence,
And we can do nothing but wait.
We have breathed upon your first seeds,
We have sung your first green shoots
Up from the bare brown soil,
We have watered you with tears and sweat
And fed you with the remains of our meals,
We have cut down your bounty and saved it,
Yet this is not the time for seeds, or green,
But simply the long cold wait in the dark
Until the light waxes and the time comes again.
You are silent, and will not speak to us,
No matter how we cry out.
You are dormant, and will not sing to us,
No matter how we raise our voices,
For all things come in their own time,
And this is not the time for movement.
So we will sit with you, Earth,
We will watch over you as you sleep
And take part in your dreams
In silence, and wait for your awakening.

Chant:
Earth dreaming
Silent seeming
Winter’s vigil
We will wait for you.

(After the chant has been sung five times, all come forth to the altar. Each lays one white cloth gently over the pot, saying, “Blessed be the Earth in the time of winter.” Then each sits on the floor and places the other white cloth over their heads, and meditates on all that is sleeping and cannot be awoken. Silence in the House until Akte.)

Calendar of the Moon for Jan. 22

Calendar of the Moon
Beth/Poseideion II

Birch Tree Moon

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white set the budded birch branches, a single white candle, the rune Berkana carved onto a piece of birch wood, and a bowl of clear water.
Offerings: White cakes with the Berkana rune carved upon them.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian with dairy and eggs.

Beth Invocation

Call: Now is the beginning of the year.
Response: Now is the time of stillness and cold.
Call: Now all is still and waiting upon the earth.
Response: Now the earth sleeps beneath her many blankets.
Call: Now is the time of patience.
Response: Now is the time of our longest wait.
Call: We are at peace with the Earth and with each other.
Response: We are at peace with the Earth and ready to begin.
Call: This is the month of indrawn breath.
Response: This is the time of all beginnings.
Call: May the year grow strong before us!
Response: May we grow strong before the year!
Call: For as the birch tree steps forth into the burned fields,
Response: So do we step forth into the aftermath of our own burning.
Call: For as the soft branches of the birch beat away the old year,
Response: So do we lower our heads for the strokes of the future.
Call: For as the pheasant hunts the snow for food,
Response: So do we seek through the ruins of the past.
Call: For as Frigga spins the clouds into thread,
Response: So do we circle like the spinning whorl,
Call: So do we take up the fiber of what has been,
Response: So do we bring forth the new year from our very hands.
Call: From our open hands,
Response: From our open hearts,
Call: From our open bodies,
Response: From our open souls.

Chant: Silver tree, in your branches
White of snow, stars are dancing
Tree of clouds, like thread of silver
Time runs through our hands.

Calendar of the Sun for Jan. 22

Calendar of the Sun
22 Wolfmonath

Day of the Water Bearer – Beginning of Aquarius

Colors: Purple and electric blue
Element: Air
Altar: Set with cloth of purple and electric blue, with a tall glass vase holding carbonated water, or plain water with dry ice in it, a feather from a large bird, incense, and a Uranus symbol.
Offerings: A joke that no one has heard yet. Do something differently, or in a new way.
Daily Meal: Waterfowl such as duck or goose. Or try an entirely new and preferably foreign sort of cooking or diet for the day.

Invocation to Aquarius

Bearer of the heavenly waters
Of knowledge and inspiration,
The ebb and flow of the Apsu,
Dipped from the Milky Way,
Neither man nor woman,
Looking ahead in time,
Whose gift is Newness,
Bless us with the ability
To be ready for the future
And all it may bring,
And welcome rather than fear changes.
By the power of all inspiration,
You challenge us
To be open to new things,
And never to give in to stagnation.
May we all go forth in wonder.

Chant:
Wearing my long wing feathers as I fly
Wearing my long wing feathers as I fly
I circle around
I circle around
The boundaries of the Earth.

(Let all present hold hands and dance a simple circle dance while chanting, hands raised high between them. One who is chosen to do the work of the ritual should stand with a great fan, and fan air at the dancers as they pass, like a great wind.)

Calendar of the Moon for Jan. 21st

Calendar of the Moon
21 Beth/Poseideion

Day of the Leprous White Lady

Color: White
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a white cloth lay a skull, three white candles, a pair of white gloves. and a bowl of milk laced with clear liquor.
Offerings: Tend one who is ill.
Daily Meal: Dairy-based.

Invocation to the Leprous White Lady

(To be spoken Call And Response. The Call is spoken and the Response is whispered.)
White as the skin of a pale corpse,
White as the snow that freezes the world,
White as the owl that swoops down on its prey,
White as the maggot devouring dead flesh,
White as the belly of the worm,
White as the frosted eyes of the blind man,
White as the teeth of the predator,
White as the hame of the forgotten ghost,
White as the hair of the sacred hag,
White as the scent of soured milk,
White as the bones scattered on the earth,
White as the ashes scattered in the wind,
White as the moon that brings madness to the brain,
You walk across the twisted land
And bring illness to all that cross your path.
We accept, White Lady, that this is part of life;
That each devouring dragon in the blood
Is as dear to you are any of us.
You are the one who keeps our numbers
From carelessly overrunning the Earth.
You are cruel, yet we honor your necessity,
And ask only that you pass us by for yet one more year.
Turn your face from us, White Lady,
And do not come to our beds
Until you come partnered with a swifter death.
White as the bones scattered on the earth,
White as the ashes scattered in the wind,
White as the Leprous White Lady who walks alone.

(All blow out the candles and leave in silence.)

Calendar of the Sun for Jan. 21st

Calendar of the Sun

Carista – Day of Peace in the Family

Color: Lavender
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a lavender cloth set a tray of cakes shaped like clasping hands, and many cups full of hot tea.
Offerings: Promise to attempt to be more considerate of those you live with.
Daily Meal: Any food, but it must be served from one great plate for every table, and it should not be in separate portions.

Carista Invocation

May there be Peace in this house.
(Response: “May there be peace in this house!”)
Peace can be a hard mistress.
The daily round of the ordinary,
The simple turn of day and night and day
The presence of the same souls
Can come to be like a shadow on the sun,
And yet Peace still demands
That we find a way to move past
That ordinariness
And all the thousand thorns and briars
And bring Peace into the house.
(Response: “May there be peace in this house!”)
Take the hand of your sister, your brother,
The one who shares your roof, your table,
The ground you walk on,
Whose feet know the boards as well as your own,
And swear to find a way
To bring peace into the space between you.
(Response: “May there be peace in this house!”)

Chant:
My brother, my heart, my sister, my soul;
My family, my life, come in from the cold;
My sister, my heart, my brother, my soul;
My family, my life, that makes this life whole.

(Instead of a ritual, this period of time should be used to mediate and address problems between members of the community, with emphasis on peacemaking and compromise and useful solutions. At the end of the meeting, all share cakes and tea.)

Lunar Almanac for Saturday, January 21

Days Of The Week Comments
Lunabar Moon Almanack for Saturday, January 21, 2012

Waning, Balsamic Moon Age: 27 ¼ days.

Ascending Node is at 11° Sagittarius.

Moon in 3rd degree of the Sign Capricorn, the Goat;

also in 7th deg. of the Constellation Sagittarius, the Archer.

Moonrise: 5:45 morn. Midheaven: 10:47 morn. Moonset: 3:54 eve.

  
Magickal Graphics

Calendar of the Moon for Friday, Jan. 20

Calendar of the Moon
20 Beth/Poseideion

Winter Waning Moon

Colors: Silver, white, and black
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a black cloth place a silver or white runner, four silver candles, a cauldron with dry ice in it, a silver vase containing some naked birch twigs, some dry stalks of burdock, a few briar canes, a round moon-shaped mirror, a silver bell; and goblets containing pale white wine, anise liqueur, white corn syrup, and extract of bitter almonds, a spool of silver thread, and a small vial of jasmine oil.
Offerings: Do community service for the mentally ill.
Daily Meal: White food.

Winter Waning Moon Invocation

(As the invocation is spoken, one who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual unwinds the silver spool of thread, and given part of it to every one present to hold.)

Call: Hail Luna of the dying month!
Response: Hail Selene of the fading moon!
Call: Bound in the silver web, be free,
Response: Dying in formless flame, now live,
Call: Maddened where madness is a joy,
Response: Fearful where fear is resurrection,
Call: Hold thou fast to this frail thread
Response: Until the last false light be shed.
Call: Until the Earth brings forth the dead,
Response: Until the ancestors forth are led.
Call: White of star, white of bone,
Response: We will lead each other home.
Call: We are risen in her light,
Response: Where the dying live again,
Call: Silver serpent, silver spider,
Response: All show fair within her mirror.

Chant (to be done with eyes closed): LUNA LUCINA LUMEN LUMEN

(While the chant goes on, the thread is rewound. One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual brings the goblets around for each to drink, one at a time. For the first, they say, “Taste madness.” For the second, “Taste purity.” For the third, “Taste sweetness.” For the fourth, “Taste bitterness.” Anoint all with jasmine oil, and say, “Scent of dreams.” The bell is rung, and all exit.)

Calendar of the Sun for Friday, Jan. 20

Calendar of the Sun

Feralia: Day of Purification

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: On a white cloth put a lit candle, incense, a cup of water, and a bowl of salt.
Offering: Although this day is not a day of total silence, it is a solemn day and talking should be done only when necessary and in quiet tones. Bodies should be thoroughly cleaned during the bathing hour, and then the altar area should be cleaned and purified with all four elements. Each person, upon entering the altar space at the beginning of Sponde should remove their clothing and be naked, and each body should be purified with the four elements and marked with water and salt, at which point they may enrobe again. Chores of the day should concentrate on cleaning and repair.
Daily Meal: Vegan and extremely simple and plain.

Feralia Invocation

Breathe the air into your body
And breathe out again,
And as you breathe out,
Let all grime and corruption
Depart on that breath
(All breathe together for twelve breaths.)
Feel the blood coursing through your body
And imagine it clean
Of anything but what should be there.
Feel the energy coursing through your body
And wash it clean
Of anything that does not belong.
Feel the Earth beneath you,
Remember that She can absorb all
Remember that all rot is her provenance
Draw her energy up into you
And give it back again.

(After this grounding, all breathe together again in a yogic breathing pattern for the next half an hour, after which all will go with water and salt and incense and fire to all rooms in the house and cleanse them. Great care should be taken for the rest of the day not to disturb the energy of the freshly cleaned house.)

Calendar of the Moon for Thursday, Jan. 19th

Calendar of the Moon
Beth/Poseideion II

Birch Tree Moon

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white set the budded birch branches, a single white candle, the rune Berkana carved onto a piece of birch wood, and a bowl of clear water.
Offerings: White cakes with the Berkana rune carved upon them.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian with dairy and eggs.

Beth Invocation

Call: Now is the beginning of the year.
Response: Now is the time of stillness and cold.
Call: Now all is still and waiting upon the earth.
Response: Now the earth sleeps beneath her many blankets.
Call: Now is the time of patience.
Response: Now is the time of our longest wait.
Call: We are at peace with the Earth and with each other.
Response: We are at peace with the Earth and ready to begin.
Call: This is the month of indrawn breath.
Response: This is the time of all beginnings.
Call: May the year grow strong before us!
Response: May we grow strong before the year!
Call: For as the birch tree steps forth into the burned fields,
Response: So do we step forth into the aftermath of our own burning.
Call: For as the soft branches of the birch beat away the old year,
Response: So do we lower our heads for the strokes of the future.
Call: For as the pheasant hunts the snow for food,
Response: So do we seek through the ruins of the past.
Call: For as Frigga spins the clouds into thread,
Response: So do we circle like the spinning whorl,
Call: So do we take up the fiber of what has been,
Response: So do we bring forth the new year from our very hands.
Call: From our open hands,
Response: From our open hearts,
Call: From our open bodies,
Response: From our open souls.

Chant: Silver tree, in your branches
White of snow, stars are dancing
Tree of clouds, like thread of silver
Time runs through our hands.

Lunar Almanac for Thursday, January 19th

 Moon & Witch Comments & Graphics 

Lunar Almanac for Thursday, January 19, 2012

Waning, Last Quarter Moon Age: 25 ¼ days.

Moon at Ascending Node.

Moon in 5th degree of the Sign Sagittarius, the Bowman;

also in 5th deg. of the Constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion.

Moonrise: 3:51 morn. Midheaven: 8:50 morn. Moonset: 1:47 eve.

 
~Magickal Graphics~

Calendar of the Moon for January 17th

Calendar of the Moon
Beth/Poseideion II

Birch Tree Moon

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white set the budded birch branches, a single white candle, the rune Berkana carved onto a piece of birch wood, and a bowl of clear water.
Offerings: White cakes with the Berkana rune carved upon them.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian with dairy and eggs.

Beth Invocation

Call: Now is the beginning of the year.
Response: Now is the time of stillness and cold.
Call: Now all is still and waiting upon the earth.
Response: Now the earth sleeps beneath her many blankets.
Call: Now is the time of patience.
Response: Now is the time of our longest wait.
Call: We are at peace with the Earth and with each other.
Response: We are at peace with the Earth and ready to begin.
Call: This is the month of indrawn breath.
Response: This is the time of all beginnings.
Call: May the year grow strong before us!
Response: May we grow strong before the year!
Call: For as the birch tree steps forth into the burned fields,
Response: So do we step forth into the aftermath of our own burning.
Call: For as the soft branches of the birch beat away the old year,
Response: So do we lower our heads for the strokes of the future.
Call: For as the pheasant hunts the snow for food,
Response: So do we seek through the ruins of the past.
Call: For as Frigga spins the clouds into thread,
Response: So do we circle like the spinning whorl,
Call: So do we take up the fiber of what has been,
Response: So do we bring forth the new year from our very hands.
Call: From our open hands,
Response: From our open hearts,
Call: From our open bodies,
Response: From our open souls.

Chant: Silver tree, in your branches
White of snow, stars are dancing
Tree of clouds, like thread of silver
Time runs through our hands.

Moon Almanac for Tuesday, January 17th

Moon & Witch Comments & Graphics Lunabar Moon Almanack for Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Waning, Last Quarter Moon Age: 23 ¼ days.

Moon in Via Combusta.

Moon in 7th degree of the Sign Scorpio, the Scorpion;

also in 0th deg. of the Constellation Libra, the Balance.

Moonrise: 1:36 morn. Midheaven: 6:53 morn. Moonset: 12:05 eve.

~Magickal Graphics~

Pagan Studies – Moon Miscellany

Pagan Studies – Moon Miscellany

 
New Moon – White Goddess of birth and growth.
Full Moon – Red Goddess of love and battle.
Old Moon – Black Goddess of death and divination.
 
All hail to thee, Queen of heaven!
Thou showest two horns to mark six days,
And on the seventh will divide thy crown in two.
On the fourteenth day, turn thy full face unto us.
 
Seven is the Moon’s mystic number, because each one of its four phases is completed in seven days.
 
Nineteen is a sacred number in Old Irish and Celtic lore, for the sequence of Moon phases within a single zodiac sign is repeated every 19 years.
 
The Mansions of the Moon, abodes of the soul, refer to the position of the Moon at noon on each of the 28 days in a lunar month.
 
Bow to the new Moon, especially the first new Moon of the year, as a sign of respect. It is courting disaster to point at the Moon at any time. Turn a silver coin in your purse or pocket at the first sight of the new Moon to gain luck.
It is bad luck to see the new Moon for the first time on your left, or behind you, or through the branches of a tree. A new Moon on Saturday means foul weather. A full Moon on Sunday brings bad luck and toilers of the sea should not set sail.
 
The Roman astrologers of classical times considered the Moon sign of a horoscope to be of far greater significance than the Sun sign.
 
Marsilioi Ficino, the Florentine philosopher of the Renaissance, defined the planetary image of the spirit of the Moon as an archer riding a doe, a huntress with bows and arrows, a little boy, a goose, or a single arrow.
 
Diana, Goddess of the Moon and patroness of witches, was regarded as a demon by the early Christians.
 
Waxing: as the size of the Moon increases, its form takes the shape of the capital letter D: D for Daring. This marks a time for creativity, expansion, and development. You may glance up at the sky in the late afternoon to see the pale waxing half Moon beckoning. Later on as darkness falls, it shines like a beacon of hope in the west, raising your spirits and assuring the success of your ventures.
 
Waning: rising later night after night, the Moon diminishes in size, now assuming the form of the letter C: C for Caring. The time has come to relax, restore energy, and quietly dispel negative influences in your life. Banish fear, unworthy desires, and selfish motivations as the Moon wanes.
.
Excerpted From Elizabeth Pepper, The Witches’ Almanac, Ltd.

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Lunar Lore for January 16th

Moon & Witch Comments & Graphics

 

 If the full moon rise pale, expect rain.
– Collected in R. Inwards, “Weather Lore”.
.

The Moon in opposition to Venus,
shews a laudable day in all kind of business.
– Bethem’s “Centiloquium”
.
The Moon in Scorpio or Pisces, having Latitude South
and descending, begin no Building, for if you do,
it will quickly fall.
– J. Partridge, “Mikropanastron”

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~Magickal Graphics~