Tag: United States

The Wicca Book of Days for August 16th – Chelsea Curatives

The Wicca Book of Days for August 16th

Chelsea Curatives

The oldest rock garden still to be seen in England was completed on August 16, 1773, in the Chelsea district of London, England. It is one of the many marvels that together form the Chelsea Physic Garden, which was established near the River Thames in 1673 as a teaching garden for trainee apothecaries, who needed to become familiar with the appearance and properties of curative plants. Today, its medicinal roots continue to ben nurtured in such areas as the  Garden of World Medicine and the Pharmaceutical Garden. For more information, visit www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk.

 

Saint Roch

In Christian tradition August 16 is the feast day of Saint Roch, a French-born hermit who not only caught and survived the plague, but cured others of it, too. Invoke his aid today if you, or your friends are unwell, and a swift recovery may follow!

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for August 15

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Have you considered the effect your presence may have on people around you? Do they need you? The answer is yes. We are somewhat selfish with our presence at times. We want to withdraw and think our own thoughts and read quietly rather than entertaining someone or just listening to them. But we never really know how much they need us, not to perform good deeds for their good, but only to be company to share a happening of the day.

Perhaps within their minds we can quiet some restlessness, assure them that they are needed or give them a feeling of tranquility. To many lie is no simple matter, and to hear them out may be the remedy.

It has been said by a very wise man that if you never make a mistake you’re not doing anything.

It is a relief to know that every day, without fail, we come in contact with people who put such confidence in us that we strive ever harder to never fail. Such people build human beings – and there is no job more worthy, or more creative.

Building character and confidence in fellow human beings is a delicate task….for no two people respond in the same way. Challenges may be the way to boost up some individuals, while others may need encouragement and praise to guide them on their way. But, oh, how human we all are having the need for accomplishment….for attention….for approval.

And how great the responsibility for leaders who must have the wisdom to inspire….the integrity to trust….the heart to understand. The race is hard for leader and follower, for each must understand the other – and there must be compassion for the slow, courage for the weak, and appreciation for the loyal. To follow one must be secure; to lead one must be very wise.

It should be the practice of all of us that when we hear something complimentary about someone to tell them. It is so true that man does not love by bread alone, and to be recognized in having done something that rated approval is a very great reward.

Nothing so builds character in children than to let them know someone believes they have a fine potential. That feeling that “someone believes in me” can be the very thing that will anchor their faith deep in hope for humanity.

To be able to see the good acts of others renders service to ourselves. Swiss theologian Johann Casper Lavater once said, “He is incapable of a truly good action who finds not a pleasure in contemplating the good actions of others.”

Appreciation for the achievement of others is akin to sunshine – we simply can’t help it shine on other people without feeling the glow ourselves.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet:

 

http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

August 15 – Daily Feast

August 15 – Daily Feast

Most people do not intend to get caught in a bad cause. We simply get swept along with the tide. It can happen because we want to get ahead fast – but it more likely happiness out of ignorance. It has been said that we have the capacity to make heaven a hell, or a heaven of hell. We’ve been known to do both – though it is a matter of choice. According to the Cherokee, it is plain to see that the place called heaven, ga lv la di-tso sv, is the ultimate choice. We have had to deal with situations that we didn’t choose. They were simply piled on us and we tried to help. But here we must be wise. We can’t allow ourselves to be drawn into a cause that is not our responsibility, and that we may not be well informed enough to handle.

~ I have been trying to seize the promises which they made me….but I cannot find them. ~

BIG BEAR

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Daily Motivator for August 15 – Get moving forward

Get moving forward

Learn from the past, treasure the past, but don’t let it hold you captive.  This is a new day, a new moment, and your opportunity to proceed in precisely  the direction you choose.

Just because you’ve had a negative experience doesn’t mean you must maintain  a negative attitude. Just because things have not been going your way is no  reason to stop going.

Right now is when you can turn life around. Right now is when you have the  power to choose your attitude, your actions, and the outcomes you create.

The most important part of your life begins right now. Because this is the  part you can do something about.

Time moves forward, so get up, get going, get positive and purposeful and get  moving forward with it. Now is when you can have a positive and meaningful  influence, so make the most of this opportunity.

Whether yesterday was fulfilling or depressing, get over it. Get on with  living the way you choose, according to your highest values, with this day you  now have.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

The Sixth REDE – The Great Rite

THE SIXTH REDE – THE GREAT RITE

Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth; for behold, all
acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.

Initiation into the high priesthood in Moondaughter’s tradition always involved
performing the Great Rite in true. The necessity for this sexual act arose
naturally out of Moondaughter’s understanding of the power of love.

The Power of Love

Love, Moondaughter taught, is the power through which the Lord and Lady gave
birth to all things. Love is the source of human life and happiness. The power
of love is greater than that of the natural laws which govern the universe.

Sexual love, for Moondaughter, was the most potent and volatile form of love.
She believed that in sexual love a man and a woman unite not only physically,
but also spiritually and magically. By that magical act the lovers are
transformed, for better, or for worse.

The Misuse of Love

It is not difficult to observe in the physical world that the power to do good
is also the power to do harm; Moondaughter taught that the same was true of the
sacred power of sexual love. While she prized the sexual act as the holiest and
most powerful of rituals, she understood the misuse of that power to be
responsible for many of the dysfunctionalities of human society.
Today, even more than in Moondaughter’s time, we have become aware of the severe
psychological damage which can result from sexual abuse of children and from
rape. Moondaughter believed these were only the most visible ways that human
beings could take harm when the magical and spiritual energies exchanged during
sex were misused for purposes of exploitation and domination.

The Sacred Marriage

Moondaughter considered her coveners to be undertaking a course of both magical
and priestly training, and in that role she made demands of them which many
modern Pagans might find unacceptable. Married coveners were expected to be
strictly monogamous, and single coveners to be chaste. This requirement was not
merely an ethic, but a magical act, part of a spell of self-transformation to
prepare them to receive the third degree initiation.

In Moondaughter’s tradition, the initiation to third degree was identical with
the Sacred Marriage, a vital aspect of the Great Work.

When a couple was ready to receive the third degree, the Great Rite was first
administered in token to the woman by a male elder, and the woman then
immediately administered it — also in token — to her partner. At some later
time, the couple would perform the Rite in true to sexually complete the
initiation begun by the symbolic ritual.

There were rumors that in earlier times the true Rite had followed the pattern
of the token Rite, but this was never the practice in the United States.

Following the third degree initiation, the man and the women were considered to
be magical partners, a priest and priestess whose sexual union was an embodiment
of the Lord and the Lady.

All Acts Are Her Rituals

For Moondaughter, both the sexual ecstasy of the Great Rite and the sexual
abstinence that preceded it were magical acts for the transformation of the self
and the world. More than that, they were acts of worship, rituals of the Lord
and Lady.

Today it is common for the statement that “all acts of love and pleasure are my
rituals” to be regarded as an endorsement of casual sex. Moondaughter would have
seen such an attitude as the equivalent of a devout Catholic offering
consecrated hosts with salsa and dip as a party snack.

Moondaughter taught that every act of love and pleasure was indeed a ritual, and
cautioned her students to approach every such act with the reverence (as well as
the mirth) that such an incredibly sacred ritual deserves.

Daily Feng Shui Tip for August 15th

Kathleen, are you reading this? Because I am dedicating today’s energies to you! That means that I will be sending you a small statue of a Buddha so that you can enjoy an atmosphere of serenity, joy and contentment, since these are all the qualities that you bring to my life. Buddha will remind you not to work too hard and to embrace all the opportunities and blessings that he will bring to your life, especially when placed facing your front entryway door. Positioned in that way, the Buddha can invite and then welcome health, happiness, love and prosperity into your life, which is all that I could ever wish for such a wonderful, loving and best friend!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com