The Sacred Glen
Volume #2 Issue #6
June 2008
The Sacred Glen is a publication of Daughters of the Greening online school. All articles within this ezine are written by students of the school and are their own personal property, unless otherwise credited. Daughters of the Greening is dedicated to teaching about the sacredness of all life and offers classes in Sacred Ecology, Holistic Healing, Discovering Past Lives, Faery Magic and Women's Spirituality. The school is open to anyone who is 18 years of age or older.
The Sacred Glen Council
Morgana Ravenwings
Dryw
Belou
Susan Allen
In this issue:
Sacred Days of the Ancestors
The Goddess Speaks
Animal Medicine
Sacred Holidays
Gaia’s Resources for Health
Garden of Eatin'
Harvests from the Printing Press
Spider Woman's Web
Sacred Days of the Ancestors
Holy Days, June 2008
6/1: Partners’ Day– Day to give thanks to your spouse/partner for precious love shared.
6/1 to 6/30: June dedicated to Old Roman Goddess Juno--partner of Jove (God of Happiness), protector of marriage and family, and punisher of abusive and adulterous spouses.
6/1 to 6/30: Gay and Lesbian Coming Out Month– Time to celebrate all forms of love and family.
6/3 (3:23 p.m. EDT): New Moon.
6/3 eve: Old European feast of the Triple Goddess (Goddess of the Moon and the Seasons), marking the transformation of the Virgin into the Mother.
6/3: Day the first woman was ordained a rabbi in Reform Judaism (1972).
6/4: Remembrance Day for Moses de Leon (d. 1305), Kabbalistic mystic. He ardently loved Einsoph, the one universal Deity, made up of the Tetragrammatan (God-Goddess Yod-Heh-Vau- Heh).
6/5: World Environment Day– Day to mourn the harm done to Mother Earth (past and present), make reparation, and celebrate Her beauty.
6/6: First appearance of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Compassionate Mother who answers all pleas (France 1830).
6/6 eve to 6/7 eve: Feast of Old Greek Goddess Athena--as protector and defender.
6/7: Mindfulness Day– Zen Buddhist day for mindfully seeing the interdependence of all things at all times. *
6/8 eve to 6/10 eve: Shavuot/Feast of First Fruits– Jewish festival of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the grain harvest; originally, loaves of bread were offered to God-Goddess Yahweh (Nehushtan-Asherah). Also commemorates Moses’ receipt of the Ten Commandments.
6/10: Day Alcoholics Anonymous was founded (1935); day to begin/celebrate recovery from alcohol and drug abuse. *
6/13: Christian feast of St. Anthony (d. 1231), guardian of the poor and the powerless, and guide of social justice activists.
6/14: Day the world’s nations committed to sustainable development (1992).
6/15: Fathers’ Day– Day to give love and thanks to all fathers; day for all fathers to celebrate fatherhood and contemplate their sacred duty to provide for the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs of their children.
6/16: Birthday of Fr. Sergei Bulgakov (1871), Orthodox Christian mystic who believed the one universal Deity to be Father and Mother, Spirit and Matter.
6/17: Day to celebrate Starhawk’s work: reclaiming the Goddess and raising Goddess-consciousne ss. She teaches an eco-egalitarian form of Wicca.
6/18 (1:30 p.m. EDT): Full Moon (Rose/Berry Moon).
6/18: Amitabha Buddha Day– Day Tibetan and Mahayana Buddhists do good deeds and chant the name of Buddha God Amitabha/Omito/ Amida to gain entry to His Pure Land and aid in attaining nirvana.
6/20 (7:59 p.m. EDT): Summer Solstice– Marks the beginning of Summer and the longest day and shortest night of the year; celebration of the light with dancing around a bonfire.
6/20 to 6/21: Inti Rayni– Inca festival honoring Sun God Inti.
6/20 to 6/21: Feast of the Great Spirit/Great Mystery that encompasses Mother Earth and Father Sky--honoring Deity as Orenda (Iroquois), Asgaya Galun Lati (Cherokee), Wakan Tanka (Lakota) & Awonawilona (Zuni).
6/20 to 6/21: Feast of the Transcendent Masculine Divine Spirit– honoring God as Maha Deva Shiva (Hindu), Allah (Old Arabic-Sufi) , Eloh (Jewish Kabbalah) & Holy Heavenly Father (Christian).
6/20 to 6/23: Lakota Sun Dance– Festival of prayer, fasting, dancing, and healing in honor of Sun God Wi; offerings are also made to Maka/Mother Earth and Haokah/Father Sky. Lakotas believe all Deities are aspects of Creator Takuskanskan.
6/21: Taoist festival honoring Shang-Ti/Heavenly Emperor, Father of Justice and Law, and manifestation of the Te (Virtuous Inner Power). Also celebrates the peak of the masculine Yang half of the year and the Shen of Fire, South, and Summer; prayers are made for strength and maturity, and offerings are made to the ancestors.
6/21: Beginning of Cancer (the Crab/Scarab).
6/29 to 7/3: Zoroastrian celebration of Divine Spirit Haurvatat: creator and protector of water.
6/30: Oharai/Grand Purification Festival– Shinto rite exorcising evil from the world.
6/30: Vigil for peace, democracy, religious freedom, ethnic equality, and the end of slavery and genocide in Sudan.
Parts Excerpted from:
THE MYSTIC'S WHEEL OF THE YEAR 2007
A Multifaith Calendar Reflecting Eco-Egalitarian Spirituality
© 2006 Page Two, Inc.
info@WheeloftheYear .com
www.WheeloftheYear. com
The Goddess Speaks
Atargatis
By Dryw
ATARGATIS, a Syrian deity, known to the Greeks by a shortened form of the name, Derketo and as Dea Syria, or in one word Deasura (Lucian, de Dea Syria). She is generally described as the "fish-goddess. " The name is a compound of two divine names; the first part is a form of the Himyaritic `Athtar, the equivalent of the Old Testament Ashtoreth, the Phoenician Astarte, with the feminine ending omitted (Assyr. Ishtar); the second is a Palmyrene name Ache (i.e. tempus opportunum), which occurs as part of many compounds. As a consequence of the first half of the name, Atargatis has frequently, though wrongly, been identified with Astarte. The two deities were, no doubt, of common origin, but their cults are historically distinct. In 2 Macc. xii. 26 we find reference to an Atargateion or Atergateion (temple of Atargatis) at Carnion in Gilead , but the home of the goddess was unquestionably not Palestine, but Syria proper, especially at Hierapolis, where she had a great temple. From Syria her worship extended to Greece, Italy and the furthest west. Lucian and Apuleius give descriptions of the beggar-priests who went round the great cities with an image of the goddess on an ass and collected money. The wide extension of the cult is attributable largely to Syrian merchants; thus we find traces of it in the great seaport towns; at Delos especially numerous inscriptions have been found bearing witness to its importance. Again we find the cult in Sicily, introduced, no doubt, by slaves and mercenary troops, who carried it even to the farthest northern limits of the Roman Empire. In many cases, however, Atargatis and Astarte are fused to such an extent as to be indistinguishable. This fusion is exemplified by the Carnion temple, which is probably identical with the famous temple of Astarte at Ashtaroth-Karnaim.
Atargatis appears generally as the wife of Hadad (Baal). They are the protecting deities of the community. Atargatis, in the capacity of frouovxos, wears a mural crown, is the ancestor of the royal house, the founder of social and religious life, the goddess of generation and fertility (hence the prevalence of phallic emblems), and the inventor of useful appliances. Not unnaturally she is identified with the Greek Aphrodite. By the conjunction of these many functions, she becomes ultimately a great Nature-Goddess, analogous to Cybele and Rhea; in one aspect she typifies the function of water in producing life; in another, the universal mother-earth in a third (influenced, no doubt, by Chaldaean astrology), the power of destiny. The legends are numerous and of an astrological character, intended to account for the Syrian dove-worship and abstinence from fish, where Atargatis is derived from &Tep Far050s,"without Gatis," - a queen who is said to have forbidden the eating of fish). Thus Diodorus Siculus, using Ctesias, tells how she fell in love with a youth who was 823 worshipping at the shrine of Aphrodite, and by him became the mother of Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, and how in shame she flung herself into a pool at Ascalon or Hierapolis and was changed into a fish. In another story she was hatched from an egg found by some fish in the Euphrates and by them thrust on the bank where it was hatched by a dove; out of gratitude she persuaded Jupiter to transfer the fish to the Zodiac.
Modified from Wikipedia
Animal Medicine
Carp
By Dryw
The Carp as totem is considered to be a symbol of life and wonderful beginnings. The Carp, sometimes referred to as the Golden Carp, is rich in legends from the East. The East has a particular legend about how the Golden Carp swims against currents, leaps over waterfalls and becomes a respected Dragon in Eastern culture. It is also a symbol of wealth, prosperity and success in life.
The Carp's tenacity teaches us to overcome adversity and hardships to become strong and fierce, like the Dragon. Its strong spirit is known to also attract good luck and charm.
The Element that Carp lives in is water, which is seen as the element of human consciousness and clear understanding of self. These attributes in a person signify deep awareness and higher consciousness. It is known to motivate spirit, and its likeness often used in Temple gardens at the base of waterfalls to remind Holy Ones who meditate there to diligently pursue their spiritual path.
Those who are said to possess the Fish as totem have the quality to harmonize their inner life in order to reach their spiritual goals.
These are the many virtues of the Carp:
Tenacity, wealth, beauty, radiant presence, charm, abundance, fertility, perseverance, longevity, intuition, prosperity, harmony, peace, occult abilities, luck, higher consciousness and spiritual understanding.
Carp represents Spirituality, movement, change, and motion, transitions through life, flowing energy, hidden knowledge, deeper consciousness, and deeper desires. They are said to impart these virtues to their owner.
Quite a fascinating and legendary little Fish we see in our tanks!
Sacred Holidays: Summer Solstice
Summer Solstice
By Susan Allen
Summer Solstice occurs on the 20th or 21st of the month of June. It is celebrated in countries throughout the world and is also know by other names. Some of the common names for Summer Solstice are Midsummer Night and Litha. Midsummer Night is the theme of Shakespeare’s classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This fun play is about mortal creatures that venture into the woods on Midsummer’s Night and become drawn into the world of magic and fairies, the one night of the year that Fairy has free reign in the forest.
Summer solstice is the longest day of the year. It is the day with the most sunlight out of the solar cycle. From this day on, the days will become shorter and longer nights will begin to return. Because of this, it is a day to enjoy the sunshine and celebrate all the happiness long summer days bring.
There are two primary pagan themes for Summer Solstice, each with their own ideas about whom to celebrate, but both with similar rituals and significance. The older of the two is the celebration of the maturity of the Sun God. In ancient pagan tradition, the Goddess gives birth to the sun god during Yule. By Summer Solstice he has reached full manhood. Now begins his decent into death, only to be re-birthed again by the Goddess at Yule. Due to the maturity of his power, now is the time for any ritual requiring male energy. Attributes such as passion and success are heightened during this time.
The second theme of Summer Solstice is the Goddess Tradition. While the Goddess movement is relatively new, there is evidence to suggest that Goddess centered traditions predate the God/Goddess cycles of ancient pagans. In this tradition, Summer Solstice marks the peak of maturity of the Goddess born at Yule. She has grown through maidenhood, become a woman at Spring Equinox and now is pregnant with life. This is the height of her power, thus making rituals focusing on passion, fulfillment, goals and dreams especially potent. It is marked in mythology by the decent of Persephone into the underworld. It represents the return of darkness as Persephone must remain in the underworld until the sun returns during Yule.
Both traditions agree on how this day should be celebrated. Rituals should be held outside to recognize the longest day of the year. There should be bonfires, merriment, dancing, and food. The best ritual is a summer barbeque with all the festivities!
Colors: red, yellow, gold
Flora: sunflowers, any red flower that is open to show full maturity, yellow
Flowers
Fauna: red feathers (sexuality/passion) , yellow feathers (prosperity/ goals)
Foods: any foods that celebrate the fire, roasting marshmallows, making
s’mores, making ka bobs of any sort, having a potluck dinner, even
ordering pizza celebrates cooking/fire.
Candles: red (goddess), yellow/gold (sun god)
Sources:
Ravenwolf, Silver. To Ride a Silver Broomstick, pp. 36, Llewellyn Publications, 1985
Stein, Diane. Casting the Circle: A Woman’s Book of Ritual, pp. 119-121, The Crossing Press, 1995
Barette, Elizabeth, et al. Llewellyn’s Witches Datebook 2008, pp. 76 and 79; Llewellyn Publications, 2007
Gaia’s Resources for Health
Affirmations
By Belou
Practice one or all of the following affirmations 30x a day for 30 days. These affirmations help to build up the energy around you & within the Universe to manifest these desired changes in your life.
Today, I will get out of the way
I attract abundance every moment of every day.
My strength is in my willingness to surrender.
Holistic Recipes
Essential Oils Guide
Submitted by Belou
Lavender ( Lavendula officinale) - Healing and relaxing. Excellent for stress, burns, tension, headaches, insomnia, insect bites, and anti-inflammatory.
Lemon (Citrus limonum) – Astringent and antiseptic. A refreshing and stimulating. Lemon is used for warts and bites. Lemon can be used as a fair hair rinse.
Lemongrass ( Cymbopogon citrates) – Refreshing. Neutralizes odor and a great insect repellant.
Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) – Stimulating and activating. Good for depession, anxiety, and apathy. Lime can be used to uplift a tired mind.
Orange ( Citrus aurantium) - Soothing. Warm and add it into a bath.
Patchouli (Pogosetmon cablin) - Sensual and relaxing. Excellent for healing all skin types.
Peppermint ( Mentha piperita) - Clearing and cooling. Aids digestion during motion sickness. Use on tired feet.
Rose Absolute ( Rosa centifolia) - Healing known as " Queen of Oils" Use for skin care, bereavement, anger, and grief.
Rosemary (Rosmarlus officinalis) - Stimulating muscular fatigue, and aids in clearing the mind. Rosemary is great for dark hair.
Sandalwood (Santalum album) – Sedative. Useful for meditation and comforting. Useful in skin care.
Tangerine (Citrus reticulata) - Soothing. Good for nervous and digestive system. Tangerine is safe during pregnancy.
Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) - Antiseptic. Cleansing and very medicinal.
Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata) - Sensual. Very popular with men, which is a reputed aphrodisiac. Also used as a softening skincare oil, suitable for all skin types.
Garden of Eatin’
Cornbread
4 Servings
One of the most popular American quick breads, cornbread is traditionally made with milk or buttermilk and eggs. This vegan alternative can be spiced up with chopped jalapenos or green chile for a delicious Southwestern twist.
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups yellow cornmeal (organic and stone ground, if possible)
1 ¼ cups unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 ½ cups boiling water mixed with 2 tablespoons expeller-pressed canola oil, plus a little extra for oiling the skillet
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 425° F. Lightly oil a cast-iron skillet with a little canola oil. Heat it in the oven while you mix the cornbread batter.
2. In a large bowl stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, brown sugar and salt.
3. Add the boiling water mixed with 2 tablespoons canola oil and stir to mix, but do not over-beat. Add additional hot water if necessary to make a light batter.
4. Spoon batter into the hot cast-iron skillet. Batter should sizzle when it contacts the skillet. Bake 30 minutes or until the cornbread is light brown on top and springs back to the touch.
5. Cut into wedges and serve.
Nutritional Information:
Per serving:
198.5 calories
5 g total fat (0.4 g sat)
0.0 mg cholesterol
34.2 g carbohydrate
3.8 g protein
1.6 g fiber
- Dr. Weil
Submitted by Dryw
Cucumber Dill Salad Recipe
Recipe Brought to you by lifescript.com
This recipe serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 medium cucumber, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1 shallot, sliced very thin
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped, fresh dill
Cooking Instructions
1. With a melon baller or a sharp knife, scoop out the seeds in the center of the cucumber. Cut the cucumber into thin slices.
2. Place the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk together until the sugar dissolves.
3. Add the cucumber slices, shallots and dill and stir well.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: about 1/2 cup
Calories 30
Total Fat 0 g
Saturated Fat 0 g
Protein 1 g
Total Carbohydrate 7 g
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sodium 148 mg
Percent Calories from Fat 1%
Percent Calories from Protein 11%
Percent Calories from Carbohydrate 88%
Submitted by Dryw
Harvests from the Printing Press
Beyond 2012 A Shaman's Call to Personal Change and the Transformation of Global Consciousness
by James Endredy
Teacher, mentor and noted shamanist practitioner, the author has found a way to, again, offer us his unique perspective of what the true message awaiting for us is with the upcoming much-prophesied 2012, the date that the Mayan calendar ends.
Mr. Endredy consults the "First Shamans", Grandfather Fire and Grandmother Growth, for the sharing of their wisdom and guidance. From the information gained during his journeys, the author offers us experiential ways in which to connect with the "transformative spark of human consciousness" , leading us into a series of practical ways to reach out and touch the world during this time of global awareness on a spiritual level.
He offers, in his practical applications, a way to use altars to alter and amplify consciousness, how to use the twenty day Mayan calendar in a way that connects us, each day, with our Day Creators., and a way to reclaim , raise and direct personal lost energy by connecting with the energetic sources of nature, such as "tekas" ( stones' spirits).
I totally enjoyed his section on building outdoor altars in such a way that they are an entrance into the sacred domain of connecting with and honoring Spirit guides. This is a wonderful book to help clarify and put into use ways in which to reach into the ether to help us save the planet by "planting seeds of transformation in global human consciousness" .
"Beyond 2012 offers a wealth of practical ways for each of us to personally help spark the transformation of human consciousness. Learn how your postive actions---reciproci ty, compassion, love and respect for the essences and energies that sustain life on our world---can help save the planet."
Submitted by Dryw
Spider Woman's Web
Here are some links we love!!
http://www.gaiafiel d.net:80/
A place for spiritual peacemaking. ...
http://www.treeofli fe.nu/home
A place of wellness and inspiration. ...
http://www.spiritua lityandpractice. com/
Learn to practice your spirituality in daily life...
http://www.simpleli ving.net/ main/
The simple living network
http://www.newdream .org/buyingwisel y/index.php
Being a conscious consumer....
Order of the White Moon
http://orderwhitemo on.org
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