The Sacred Glen
Volume #2 Issue #9
Yule 2008
The Sacred Glen Council
Morgana Ravenwings
Dragonfly
Susan
Arlais
Spiralotus
In this issue:
Sacred Days of the Ancestors
Sacred Holidays
MotherCraft
Songs of the Muse
Sit a Spell
Garden of Eatin'
Harvests from the Printing Press
Spider Woman's Web
Sacred Days of the Ancestors
Holy Days
All Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the One Deity. Deity is both male and female and yet genderless. Deity is all forms and yet formless. Deity is within all. Deity is beyond all. Deity is all embracing love. With all that is known by all the world's sages, with all that is written in all sacred books, with all that is experienced in all spiritual traditions, we still cannot know the unknowable--
Deity is Mystery
December
12/17 to 12/23: Saturnalia/Opalia–Old Roman festival honoring God Saturn (the weak Sun) & Goddess Ops (the fallow Earth); celebrated with gift-giving, revelry, and abolishment of all class distinctions.
12/17 eve to 12/24 eve (12/22 peak): Ursid Meteor Showers.
12/21 (7:04 a.m. EST): Winter Solstice/Solar New Year–Marks the beginning of Winter and the shortest day and longest night of the year; celebration of the darkness with dancing near the hearth fire.
12/21 to 12/22: Old European Festival of Evergreen Trees; merged into International Arbor Day.. Celebrated by planting trees and hanging wreaths (symbols of eternal life).
12/21 to 12/25: Old Romano-Egyptian festival of Goddess Isis giving birth to God Horus.
12/21 eve to 12/29 eve: Hanukkah/Festival of Lights--Jewish festival commemorating a victory in their struggle for religious freedom and rededication of the second Temple of Jerusalem to Elohim. Menorah candles are lit.
12/21 to 1/9: Hopi & Zuni Soyala New Year Festival of purification and renewal. Homes are cleaned, fires doused, and personal restraint is observed.
12/22: Taoist festival honoring Wang-Mu/Empress Mother, Mother of Compassion and Wisdom, and manifestation of the Tao (Cosmic Power of Creation and Destruction). Also celebrates the peak of the feminine Yin half of the year and the Shen of Earth, North, and Winter; prayers are made for rest and renewal, and offerings are made to the Cosmos.
12/22: Tohji-Taisai–Shinto rite honoring Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Storm God Susano-o angered Her, and She withdrew into a cave until enticed out with music and dance.
12/22: Beginning of Capricorn (the Goat).
12/24 eve: Mother Night– Christian vigil for the laboring Blessed Mary.
12/25 (OC 1/7): Christmas– Christian celebration of Blessed Mother Mary giving birth to Child Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
12/25 to 1/5: Yule–Old Anglo-Teutonic festival honoring Freyr and Freyja (Deities of Fertility) and the new-born Balder (God of Light), son of Frigga and Odin. Celebrated with evergreens, fires, and feasting.
12/26 to 1/1: Kwanzaa–Festival celebrating positive African traditions; emphasizes unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
12/27 (7:23 a.m. EST): New Moon.
12/28: Day the Endangered Species Act was enacted (1973); day to mourn those creatures already extinct.
12/28 eve to 1/7 eve: Muharram/Muslim New Year (Year 1430) & A’ashurah.
12/31: Oharai/Grand Purification Festival–Shinto rite exorcising evil from the world.
12/31: Yoruba/Santeria festival of Orisha Yemaya, Mother of the Sun and Moon.
12/31 eve: New Year’s Eve–Vigil for the new year; night for self evaluation and resolving to better oneself.
January
1/1: New Year’s Day (Gregorian Calendar).
12/21 to 1/9: Hopi & Zuni Soyala New Year Festival of purification and renewal. It concludes with dancing, rekindling of the chief kiva fire, and distribution of its coals to all homes.
12/21 eve to 1/19 eve: Dhu al-Hijjah--Muslim month of pilgrimage (the hajj) to honor the one genderless universal Deity at the holy shrine of the Kaaba Stone in Mecca.
12/25 to 1/5: Yule--Old Anglo-Teutonic festival honoring God Freyr, Goddess Freyja, and God Balder.
12/31 to 1/4: Zoroastrian celebration of Divine Spirit Vohu Manah, creator and protector of animals. Vohu Manah is one of seven male and female divine emanations of Deity Ahura Mazda.
1/1: Day to meditate for peace throughout the world.
1/1: Day the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect freeing Confederate slaves (1863); day to mourn African victims of slavery and racism (past and present), make peace, and celebrate empowerment of African Americans.
1/1 to 1/4: Tewa Turtle Dance--celebrating life and the first creation, when Sky Father embraced Earth Mother and all life was conceived.
1/1 eve to 1/4 eve (1/3 peak): Quadrantid Meteor Showers.
1/1 to 1/6: Shogatsu/Shinto New Year’s Festival--The Kami (Nature Spirits) of the four directions are honored, and prayers for happiness, good health, and prosperity are made.
1/1 to 1/31: January dedicated to Old Roman God-Goddess Janus-Jana, who knows both past and future.
1/3 (8:57 a.m. EST): Full Moon (Black/Death-Crone Moon).
1/5: Avian Day--Day to honor all creatures of the air and to meditate on Deity manifesting as birds - Goddess as Babd/Crow (Old Celtic), Lilith/Owl (Old Sumerian-Hebrew) & Holy Spirit/Dove (Christian); and God as Horus/Hawk (Old Egyptian) & Hilina/Thunderbird/Eagle (Haida).
1/6 (OC 1/19): Epiphany--Christian feast recalling the adoration of Child Jesus by the Magi, and the beginning of Rabbi Jesus’ ministry of love to humanity - when He changed water into wine at Cana.
1/7: Koshogatsu--Shinto rite honoring Goddess Izanami, partner of God Izanagi. They created Nature and the Kami. * 1/7: Orthodox Christian Christmas.
1/13 to 1/25 (I 1/19): Old Norse Mid-Winter Feast--Offerings were made to the Deities (particularly Jord, Thor, and Freyr) for growth of crops.
1/14 to 1/16 (A 2/24 to 2/26): Raising Heaven--Old Egyptian Festival honoring the unseen Neteru Amen and Amenet. Egyptians perceived the many Gods and Goddesses (Neteru) to be aspects of the one God-Goddess Neter-Neteret.
1/15: First appearance of Our Lady of Banneux, Virgin of the poor, the sick, and the suffering (Belgium 1933).
1/17: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Ogun, Orisha of Strength, Endurance, and Perseverance.
1/17 eve to 1/20 eve: Old European Lunar New Year--Celebration of the Triple Goddess (Goddess of the Moon and the Seasons) being transformed from the Crone into the Virgin; celebrated with ritual bathing of divine images.
1/18 (11:01 p.m. EST): New Moon.
1/18 eve to 1/19 eve: Feast of Old Greek Goddess Hekate, who guides all through transitions and crisis.
1/19 eve: Rosh Chodesh--Jewish women gather to worship the Shekhinah, the feminine manifestation of Elohim, the one universal Deity; and to pray and act for peace, social justice, and environmental healing to bring about Tikkun Olam (reparation of the world and reunification of the Divine).
1/20: Beginning of Aquarius (the Water Bearer).
1/22 to 1/30: Iroquois Mid-Winter Ceremony--for continuation of all life-sustaining things; celebrated with tobacco offerings, confession of offenses, singing, drumming, dancing, name-giving, and dream-telling. Iroquois believe Awenhai/Sky Woman created the Sun, Moon, and Stars from Her body.
1/23: Sarasvati Puja--Hindu festival honoring Goddess Sarasvati, who represents wisdom, intellect, and knowledge, as well as inspiration, arts, and music. Hindus believe all Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the one Great God-Goddess Maha Deva-Maha Devi.
1/24 to 2/1: Sementivae--Old Roman festival of sowing, honoring Earth Goddess Terra (Greek Gaia), Grain Goddess Ceres (Greek Demeter), and Seed Goddess Proserpina (Greek Persephone).
1/26: Day for meditation on Tantric Buddha Deities Amitayus and White Tara, who grant good health and long life. Buddhists study sacred texts, meditate, pray, chant mantras, and make devotional offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
1/31 eve to 2/2 eve: Imbolc/St. Brigid’s Day.
1/31 eve to 2/3 eve: Mid-Winter/Groundhog’s Day/Candlemas.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Permission to use and distribute these excerpts is granted for non-commercial purposes, provided the following information is included:
Excerpted from
THE MYSTIC'S WHEEL OF THE YEAR 2008
A Multifaith Calendar Reflecting Eco-Egalitarian Spirituality
© 2007 Page Two, Inc.
info@WheeloftheYear.com
www.WheeloftheYear.com
Releasing into Sacred Season
By Amber "Dragonfly"
It has been a year of change, big and small. Many times I have found within a sense of rebirth, accelerated and accentuated. It hasn't always been easy in releasing the old and embracing the new, but life isn't always meant to be easy. One of our big changes came in releasing the age old tradition of gift giving at Christmas time. Now, instead of giving gifts that will likely be tossed away within a year, or never used, we are giving time and tradition, the tradition of Yule magic.
*for a wonderful activity to do with your children, see Dragonfly’s Rainbow Lanterns activity in the MotherCraft section.
Submitted by Morgana
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his own town to register.
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, prasing God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2: 1 - 20 NKJV
YULE CRAFTS FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR ADULTS
By Spiralotus
Creating crafts with children during Yule is part of the joy of the season. Below are a list of the magickal as well as the mundane uses of some traditional herbs and spices used in Yule crafts. The crafts included in this article are the Yule sachet and the Scented Fairy Pinecone.
Allspice
The Magickal Properties of Allspice include Money magick and Good Luck. It is great to use in Healing and for aide in Communication.
Bay Leaves
The Magickal Properties of Bay Leaves are Wisdom, Clairvoyance, Protection and Psychic Powers. Bay Leaves can also be used in Healing and Purification. For another kind of magic you can use Bay Leaves when packing clothing and linens, they help keep the items fresh and keep bugs out.
Caraway Seeds
Caraway Seeds Magickal Properties include Protection and Health. Use Caraway Seeds for Anti-Theft and to enhance your Mental Powers also.
Cinnamon
The Magickal Properties of Cinnamon are Spirituality, Healing, and Psychic Powers. You can also use Cinnamon for Protection, Love and Knowledge.
Cloves
Cloves are excellent to use in Love magick, and of course for lust also. Other Clove Magickal Properties are for use in Protection, Exorcism and Money magick. Cloves are also great for relieving toothaches, just get some clove oil and place some on the gums around your aching tooth.
Ginger
Magical Properties: Power, success, love, money Uses: Acts as an aid to ingestion or colds (tea form). Also in tea form, good for cramps, to stimulate the digestive organs, migraines and nausea, external stiffness. Can be added to the bath as a way to ease pain and increase circulation, but only use a few sprinkles, not to much, like cayenne, ginger quickly brings the blood to the surface of the skin. For pain you can also soak cloths in ginger tea and apply them directly to the painful areas. Add in cooking to detoxify meat, especially chicken. A good healing tea is made from a pinch of peppermint, a pinch of ginger and either a pinch of clove powder or 2 bruised cloves, add 1 cup of hot water and steep.
Juniper:
MAGICAL PROPERTIES: Protection, Anti-Theft, Love, Exorcism, Health Used throughout Europe as a protective herb, Juniper also guards against theft. It is probably one of the earliest incenses used by European Witches. Juniper hung at the door protects against evil forces and persons, and it is burned in exorcism rites. A sprig of the plant protects its wearer from accidents and attacks by wild animals. It also guards against ghosts and sickness. Juniper is added to love mixtures, and the berries are carried to increase male potency. When carried or burned, Juniper helps the psychic powers and breaks hexes and curses, and drives off snakes.
Lemon:
Magical Properties: Purification, love, blessings.
Uses: Sweetens breath. Antiseptic, antibacterial and hypotensive. For chills and sore throat, the juice of a lemon mixed in a glass of honey and warm water, taken 3 times daily should help. For nose bleeds, apply a small piece of cotton, soaked in lemon juice. In oil form it is used for treating warts, insect bites, tension headaches, eliminates cellulite, and is an anti-wrinkle tonic.. Stimulates the digestive system. Also makes a good skin cleanser, hair rinse for blondes, and cleaning agent for brass and silver.
Nutmeg
Nutmeg isn't just great for your Holiday cake and cookie baking, it also has some great Magickal uses. Properties of Nutmeg include luck, money, and health.
Orange
The orange is a solar fruit associated with love and adding extra magickal energy to workings.
Orris Root
Orris Root Powder uses include diuretic, bronchitis, coughs, sore throat, physical and spiritual protection, brings love, romance, companionship and a loving mate, attracts money, dreams, and divination.
Rosemary
Rosemary can help with sleep and with healing. Other Magickal Properties of Rosemary are Protection, Love, and Purification.
7 parts Juniper
4 parts Cinnamon
4 parts Allspice
4 parts Ginger
4 parts Caraway
2 parts Nutmeg
2 parts Rosemary
2 parts Lemon
2 parts Orange
1 part each of Clove and Bay Leaf
2 pinches of Orris Root for preservation
Small bags to fill with the herbs.
These bags can be charged with energy on Yule to bring whatever the creator wishes for the coming year.
Cinnamon
Ginger
Nutmeg
Craft glue mixed with equal amounts of water
brush
pinecones
glitter
Rinse pinecones under water and bake at 200 degrees on a baking sheet to open pinecones, dry them, kill anything living in the pinecone and melt leftover sap to create a shiny coat.
Meanwhile mix spices and glitter in a baggie.
When the pinecones are done in oven put them out on newspapers and spread with watered down glue using brush. Put each pinecone in individually in the baggie shaking it and coating it with spices and glitter. When finished allow to dry on newspaper. These can be used for ornaments, decorate a wreath or in a bowl to scent a room. They also make lovely decorations for your presents.
SOURCES:
http://members.tripod.com/jflower/herb.html
http://www.shee-eire.com/Herbs,Trees&Fungi/Herbs/Juniper/Factsheet1.htm
http://www.underthenewmoon.com/index.php
http://crystalforest1.homestead.com/pagancrafting.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/378987/magical_properties_of_herbs_spices.html?cat=68
Yule Magic Making with Kids
By Amber “Dragonfly”
Rainbow Lanterns
This is an easy and fun activity to do and can be used year round.
What you need-
Rectangular or square strips of brightly tissue paper
Several clean jars, from small to large, enough for everyone to have at least two jars
Elmer's school glue- white or clear
Plastic bowls or containers with a wide base that can't be easily tipped over
Warm water
Thick bristled art paint brushes- easy to find in quantity at Micheals or similar
Glitter- Single hues and blended (highly recommend getting pastels as well)
Directions:
Lay down newspaper to protect the surface of your floor or table and for easy clean up. Cut the tissue paper into 1-3 inch strips of paper and have them sorted according to color (optional) on plates. Squeeze the glue into enough bowls and water down 50%. Stir with a paint brush until blended. Have the kids come in and let them choose a jar to their liking. Let them choose their favorite colors in tissue paper. Once they have the paper, have them paint the jar with the water-glue and apply the tissue papers on, in any direction, random or patterned. Once the tissue paper is on and before the glue has dried, have them hold the mouth of the jar in one hand and sprinkle glitter of their choice onto each jar. The open spaces between tissue paper will have glitter on it and reflect the shine even more. When ready to use, place a tea light inside and light it with a fire stick and enjoy your rainbow lanterns.
When I made these with my kids, I used a rainbow of colors on my jars, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. I applied each layer slightly overlapping the first, starting with either purple or red. I applied these layers in wavy lines to add appeal. I often talk about the faeries when using glitter so feel free to add whatever spiritual essence to the project that your family might tap into. We made these last year for Solstice and used them to light the way into our labyrinth. I will use them again this year for the Christmas Eve celebration I'm hosting for my family.
Blessing upon heart and hearth to you and yours this magical holiday season.
A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement Clark Moore
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads:
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,---
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon, on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a luster of midday to objects below;
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall!
Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So, up to the house-top the coursers, they flew,
With a sleigh full of toys, ---and Saint Nicholas, too.
And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
Down the chimney Saint Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, ---a right jolly old elf---
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight:
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
THE END
Submitted by Morgana
A letter from Santa Claus
Written by Mark Twain to his daughter, Susy
Palace of Saint Nicholas in the Moon
Christmas Morning
My Dear Susy Clemens,
I have received and read all the letters which you and your little sister have written me . . . . I can read your and your baby sister's jagged and fantastic marks without any trouble at all. But I had trouble with those letters which you dictated through your mother and the nurses, for I am a foreigner and cannot read English writing well. You will find that I made no mistakes about the things which you and the baby ordered in your own letters--I went down your chimney at midnight when you were asleep and delivered them all myself--and kissed both of you, too . . . . But . . . there were . . . one or two small orders which I could not fill because we ran out of stock . . . .
There was a word or two in your mama's letter which . . . I took to be "a trunk full of doll's clothes." Is that it? I will call at your kitchen door about nine o'clock this morning to inquire. But I must not see anybody and I must not speak to anybody but you. When the kitchen doorbell rings, George must be blindfolded and sent to the door. You must tell George he must walk on tiptoe and not speak--otherwise he will die someday. Then you must go up to the nursery and stand on a chair or the nurse's bed and put your ear to the speaking tube that leads down to the kitchen and when I whistle through it you must speak in the tube and say, "Welcome, Santa Claus!" Then I will ask whether it was a trunk you ordered or not. If you say it was, I shall ask you what color you want the trunk to be . . . and then you must tell me every single thing in detail which you want the trunk to contain. Then when I say "Good-by and a merry Christmas to my little Susy Clemens," you must say "Good-by, good old Santa Claus, I thank you very much." Then you must go down into the library and make George close all the doors that open into the main hall and everybody must keep still for a little while. I will go to the moon and get those things and in a few minutes I will come down the chimney that belongs to the fireplace that is in the hall--if it is a trunk you want--because I couldn't get such a thing as a trunk down the nursery chimney, you know . . . . If I should leave any snow in the hall, you must tell George to sweep it into the fireplace, for I haven't time to do such things. George must not use a broom, but a rag--else he will die someday . . . . If my boot should leave a stain on the marble, George must not holystone it away. Leave it there always in memory of my visit; and whenever you look at it or show it to anybody you must let it remind you to be a good little girl. Whenever you are naughty and someone points to that mark which your good old Santa Claus's boot made on the marble, what will you say, little sweetheart?
Good-by for a few minutes, till I come down to the world and ring the kitchen doorbell.
Your loving Santa Claus
Whom people sometimes call
"The Man in the Moon"
From: http://www.allthingschristmas.com/stories/LetterFromSanta.html
Submitted by Morgana
Ritual to Eartha: Germanic Earth Goddess
By Arlais
Tonight we meet to raise healing energy for our planet. We have all read of the destruction caused by man and the consequences seen in natural catastrophes such as hurricanes and drought. The Earth needs our help.
In this ritual we will be seeking the help of Eartha, a Germanic and Saxon Earth Goddess. She is goddess of hearth, home, fertility and the Wild Hunt. She is commonly known as Mother Earth. We have honoured her tonight by decorating the altar with sprigs of fir trees.
Come with me now to the Saxon lands. It is winter and snow lies heavy on the ground. No feet have spolt the pristine surface. Night has fallen but a full moon makes it seem as light as day. We are at the edge of a fir forest, the trees bearing their perfect white coats of snow. We stop for a moment and marvel at the unspoilt beauty of this land. Let us now move a little way into the forest, into a large clearing. In the centre is a chariot covered with a veil. This is the chariot of Eartha.
Let us now hold hands as we form the circle around the chariot. Feel the energy begin to course through us as it travels round the circle. Let the circle be cast by the powers of the elements, let the Guardians be welcome within, Let it stand as a place of safety and power, Let the ritual now begin.
Guardian of Air, Lord Aldebaran of the East, we invite you to our circle this night. Grant us, we ask, your inspiration and bear witness to our work this night. With love we bid you Hail and welcome.
Guardian of Fire, Bright Regulus of the South, we invite you to our circle this night. Grant us, we ask, your powers of transformation and bear witness to our work this night. With love we bid you Hail and welcome.
Guardian of Water, Great Antares of the West, we invite you to our circle this night. Grant us, we ask, your gift of emotion and bear witness to our work this night. With love we bid you Hail and welcome.
Guardian of Air, Regal Formalhaut of the North, we invite you to our circle this night. Grant us, we ask, your stability and strength and bear witness to our work this night. With love we bid you Hail and welcome.
Eartha, Lady of the Earth and Mother of us all, we invite you to our circle this night as we raise healing energy for the Earth. We ask you to grace us with your presence and to bear witness to our work.
With love we bid you Hail and Welcome.
Before us the veil on the chariot is drawn back and the Lady Eartha descends to stand before us. She wears a dark green dress covered by a matching cloak. She is smiling with pleasure at our invitation. She walks round the inside of our circle, briefly touching each of us on the forehead. Her touch seems to tingle with power, and in the moment of that touch we each feel our third eye open and notice the increased clarity that it brings.
As Eartha returns to her chariot, leaving the veil open, we turn now to our task for tonight. Visualize a five pointed star, a pentagram, floating in the air before you and glowing with a dark green light.
Concentrate on this image and add more green energy from your heart chakra, showing your own love for the earth. As you do so, the pentacle grows bigger and brighter. The pentacle is the element of Earth. When the glow from the pentacles becomes almost too bright to bear, Eartha raises her hand and sets all the pentacles spinning, faster and faster until they are no more than blurs of light. It is time to set them free. With one more burst of love, send the pentacles up into the sky and watch them scatter across the planet, spreading love and healing as they go. Concentrate on this image and know that it will be so.
So mote it be!
As the image fades and we return to normal consciousness let us thank Eartha for her gifts this night. Lady, I offer you this gift of holy wine as a small token of our love and thanks.
Blessed be!
And now, let us move to close our ritual
Lady Eartha, Mother of the Earth, we thank you for your presence, love and gifts this night. Till we meet again we part in love. Hail and farewell!
Regal Formahault of the North and Earth, we thank you for your presence and aid this night. As the seed of love grows within so shall it grow without. Till we meet again we part in love. Hail and Farewell!
Great Antares of the West and Water, we thank you for your presence and aid this night. As the gift of love grows within so shall it grow without. Till we meet again we part in love. Hail and Farewell!
Bright Regulus of the South and Fire, we thank you for your presence and aid this night. As the power of love grows within so shall it grow without. Till we meet again we part in love. Hail and Farewell!
Lord Aldebaran of the East and Air, we thank you for your presence and aid this night. As the hope of love grows within so shall it grow without. Till we meet again we part in love. Hail and Farewell!
Let our circle be open but forever unbroken, let love stay forever in
our hearts. Till we meet again, Farewell, Blessed be!
Pomegranate-Glazed Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice and Chestnut Stuffing
By Cat Cora
Serves 4
This delicious poultry dish strikes the perfect flavor balance—tangy, sweet, savory. Serve it for a special holiday celebration or for an autumn evening meal.
•1 cup raw wild rice
•3 cups cold water
•1 teaspoon salt
•2/3 cup peeled, coarsely chopped chestnuts
•1 small finely chopped yellow onion
•2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
•1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh savory
•3 tablespoons finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
•Freshly ground black pepper
•4 Cornish game hens
•Kosher salt
•1 cup pomegranate juice (found in the juice section of most produce aisles)
•¼ cup all-purpose flour
•2 to 3 cups chicken stock, homemade or store-bought, or water
•Pomegranate seeds, for garnish (optional)
Wild Rice and Chestnut Stuffing:
1. Rinse rice in cool water; drain. In a medium saucepan with a lid, combine rice, cold water and salt. Set pot over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring briefly.
2. Immediately reduce heat to low and cover pot. Cook 45 to 55 minutes or until all of the liquid has been absorbed.
3. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. While rice is cooking, spread chestnuts on a baking sheet and toast in oven for about 10 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, mix together cooked rice, chestnuts, onion and herbs. Set aside.
Roasted Game Hens:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pat game hens dry with a paper towel. Remove and discard innards. Lightly sprinkle cavity of each hen with salt and loosely fill with prepared stuffing, leaving a little space to allow rice to expand during roasting.
2. Rub skin of hens with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place hens—breast side down—on a rack set inside a roasting pan. Bake 15 minutes, then baste with pomegranate juice. Continue basting with juice every 15 to 20 minutes until hens are dark golden brown and juices run clear when hens are pierced at the thigh with a fork (total roasting time: 60 to 65 minutes). An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (not touching the bone) should register 175 to 180 degrees.
3. Remove birds from oven and transfer to platter. Cover with foil and let rest 10 to 15 minutes.
4. To make gravy: Place roasting pan with juices on stovetop over medium-low heat. Add about ½ cup of stock; stir, scraping up any roasted bits from pan bottom.
5. Sift flour into cooking juices and whisk well. Slowly whisk in another 1½ cups of remaining stock. Simmer until mixture is thick and smooth, about 5 to 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. To serve, place one hen on each plate, top with the gravy and garnish with pomegranate seeds, if desired.
This recipe adaptation is courtesy of Cooking from the Hip by Cat Cora (Houghton Mifflin, 2007).
Submitted by Dryw
Mother Earth Spirituality
by Ed McGaa, Eagle Man
The book begins with water representing the spiritual character of the Native American. In this section McGaa writes of Buffalo Pipe Woman and her gift of the sacred pipe, of the vision of the destruction of the world that was shared by Black Elk; of the history of the Native American and their treatment by the invading Europeans, and of the significance of the number four. This section contains much sorrow and many unpleasant truths.
In the next section, McGaa describes the seven Mother Earth ceremonies which include the ceremony of the peace pipe, the sweat lodge, the vision quest, the sun dance, the spirit calling ceremony, the giveaway ceremony and the making of relatives. The writing is full of personal anecdotes that bring the writing life and emphasize the main points. The book moves on to Air and how it brings forth the wisdom of our Earth Mother. Here we learn how to make a peace pipe, how to build a sweat lodge, how to make a shield, how to find your Earth Name and wotai stone. Finally we learn how to hold earth healing ceremonies in our communities. Such a ceremony was held on a massive scale in Minnetonka back in the late 1980s and was followed by events such as the demolition of the Berlin wall. Another similar event is long overdue, and it is time for the Rainbow Tribe to come together and work for peace and healing of the world.
Reading this book, I am struck by McGaa's great wisdom and sincerity and hope that many will come to read the words of truth that it contains. I am greatly saddened by his accounts of his own people and how they were so badly abused by those choosing to make their new homes in the Americas. The world owes a debt to the Native Americans and to the Earth herself. Maybe, through this book, we can begin to repay that debt.
McGaa has an easy style of writing that captures the reader from the very first page. His descriptions of the ceremonies are interspersed by accounts of his own experiences and of the experiences of some members of the Rainbow Tribe. The result is to make the ceremony seem real, alive and attainable to the reader. Yet at their root, the ceremonies are but tools to link the participants with the Great Spirit and Mother Earth, and this is the central message of the book.
It is time for the world to wake up and act, to save our planet, to combat hatred and to unite as we should be.
Published 1990 HarperOne
ISBN 978-0-06-250596-5
Submitted by Arlais
The Hidden Messages in Water
by Masuru Emoto (Translated by David Thayne)
Encouraged by these early results, Emoto tried influencing the water in various ways such as showing them paper bearing words of either love or scorn; or by playing music. Again he found that water shown words of love, or played beautiful music, produced wonderful crystals, while those shown words of scorn or played raucous music, produced malformed crystals. He explained this in terms of the theory of energy based on quantum mechanics. This states that every thing in the physical world, animal, plant or mineral, is made of energy, and that the energy fields of different entities are distorted and changed when they encounter another. This has been extended to also consider thoughts and emotions as forms of energy. Thus thoughts directed at the water could affect its structure.
It is Emoto's hope that the world can be changed, that by working together to spread love and gratitude we might change the vast bodies of water on this world and in doing so restore our planet and lives. Emoto's writing is very readable and it is easy to see his enthusiasm for his work. While I have no doubt that he has discovered something very important, his work is largely anecdotal which spoils its impact. In addition there are a number of gross errors in the text which may be due to the translation. Although towards the end of the book he describes some attempts to develop a more scientific approach, this is lacking for most of his work. For this discovery to really make impact where it counts, Emoto would need to be able to
demonstrate that water from different sources produces the same results on multiple occasions and that these results could be repeated in other laboratories with other teams of researchers. To guard against influence by the emotions of the researchers, all samples would need to be identified by a code known only to someone outside the study and not revealed until the experiment is complete.
On one occasion, Emoto attempts to demonstrate the lack of crystal formation in chlorinated water and blames this on the presence of the chlorine, but he does not then go on to consider the mineral content of his other water samples and whether this is affecting crystal formation. I also have problems with his research into showing water words of love or scorn. It is not words that matter but the intent with which they are written or spoken, words alone would have no impact. If you speak to an unknown animal or baby in soft and gentle tones it will relax whether you are using words of love or describing the conflict in Iraq whereas if you use aggressive tones it will show fear even if you use words of love. It is possible that Emoto's
results with words were due more to the emotions of the researchers than the words themselves.
In conclusion, it is a book that is worth reading for the photographs alone, but it should be read in a critical and questioning manner so as to extract the most important nuggets of truth within.
2001 Atria books
ISBN – 10 0-7432-8980-3
Submitted by Arlais
Here are some links we love!!
http://www.earth-service.com/11901.html
Earth Service is Earth Healing. Earth Healing is Self Healing. And Self Healing is nothing more than that re-connection to pure Joy which is the substance of all that is. All healing is a gift of grace and it comes easily in silence. In the moment of grace you open a channel for love to flow into the World. This is the Earth Service, Earth Healing and Self-Healing that is calling to many of us. The Earth herself as a living being is undergoing Transformation on a grand scale and we, Her children are here to help ease this transition."
- David Wodtke (dcwodtke@hotmail.com)
http://www.actsofkindness.org/
Just want to share this little thought with you..... Many of us these days are too scurried in doing things for ourselves.... everyday... day in, day out, people have spent their time cramming their time doing things that they think make themselves happy. For, they believe that is what True (Real) Happiness is!! Yet, how many of us... come to realize that True (Real) Happiness lies not in desiring ourselves to be happy first BUT rather in others to be Happy first!! And, it is that Little Difference that makes a Big Difference in this world..... After all... isn't it true...as the saying goes.... "It's always better Giving than Receiving!"Sometimes, kindness or giving does not need to be in a form of monetary terms..... It can be just a simple
smile, a gentle word or a helping hand... and that already can make a lot of difference in another person's life...... To some people.... this can a gentle nudge to put them back onto their feet... Yet, I wonder how many of us can cultivate that thought?? Do YOU think this is possible?? Can we join hands to make it possible in this world by beginning with you and me??
http://www.metowe.com/main/
A movement often begins when people least expect it. But in every generation, just when the world needs shaking up, a seed is planted. And from that seed, many come together to help it grow. 1960s: The civil rights movement ushers in a new era of equality. 1980s: The anti-apartheid movement brings justice to the oppressed. 2008: The Me to We movement inspires daily actions that change the world. We live in an era of interconnection. Every choice we make, every dollar we spend, every action we take profoundly affects our world. And through simple steps-a conversation, a compassionate decision, a change of our culture's priorities-we can meet our world's many challenges together. It all begins with a shift in thinking: from Me to We. History shows us that every great social movement began with one incontestable truth: somebody did something. Me to We helps everyone answer the question: what have you done to change the world today?
http://www.children-of-the-earth.org/coe27.html
We believe in the possibility of world peace: -- One Earth with all her children smiling.We envision a future in which all our children live and work as one people, caring for each other and caring for our home, the living Earth: -- One People, learning to learn, learning to love, learning to live.We invite, encourage, and support all people to develop learning opportunities so that children and youth everywhere will have the skills, knowledge and inspiration to bring forth a better world. Our programs, presentations and conferences are all about learning. -- creating, experiencing, participating in
a global culture of peace and non-violence.
Links to Daughters of the Greening:
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Email: school@daughtersofthegreening.com
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