Spring Equinox

The Sacred Marriage:

The Spring Equinox celebrates both Earth and Sun, both growth and light. At this point in the solar calendar, the length of daylight equals the length of the night – the male sun balances out the female moon. After the Equinox, the balance will shift in favor of the growing Sun as he begins to make the day longer than the night.
In the lunar calendar that relates to the seasons, the Equinox also signals an important phase for the female Earth for this is the time she opens herself, ready to receive the new seed and to bring forth the plant life that has overwintered inside her. The month of April, which arrives shortly after the Equinox, derives its name from the Latin aperio, to open (as in the word aperture).
At the Spring Equinox, different threads from the solar and seasonal calendars are woven together into a single strand….daylight is equal to darkness, so the God and Goddess make a well-matched couple.
From The Magickal Year by Diana Ferguson

One Giant Leap for Julius!

2012 is a leap year, with 366 days instead of the usual 365 days.

Why?

It was the ancient Egyptians who first figured out that the solar year and the man-made calendar year didn’t always match up.
That’s because it actually takes the Earth a little longer than a year to travel around the Sun — 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be exact.

Therefore, as the hours accumulated over the centures, an extra day was occasionally added to the calendar, and over time the practice became more or less official.

Fractal Cosmos Wall Calendar

The Romans first designated February 29 as leap day, but a more precise formula (still in use today) was adopted in the 16th century when the Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the calculations to include a leap day in years only divisible by four – 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, etc. The Gregorian calendar is closely based on the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. The Julian calendar featured a 12-month, 365-day year, with an intercalary day inserted every fourth year at the end of February to make an average year of 365.25 days. But because the length of the solar year is actually 365.242216 days, the Julian year was too long by .0078 days (11 minutes 14 seconds).

Following the Gregorian reform, the average length of the year was 365.2425 days, an even closer approximation to the solar year. At this rate, it will take more than 3,000 years for the Gregorian calendar to gain one extra day in error.

Another stipulation ruled that no year divisible by 100 would have a leap year, except if it was divisible by 400. Thus, 1900 was not a leap year … but 2000 was! Go figure.

Thankfully, all this intricate plotting will continue to keep us in tune with the seasons over the next several thousand years.

Valentine Fever

Throughout human history, roses have played an important role in expressing the language of love, passion, commitment and desire.- excerpt from 2013 Rose Wall Calendar.

According to tradition, this is the day when the birds choose their mates for the year. It is also the day for the blossoming of love between young women and men, and so introduces the theme of love-making and magical fertility rites that begins in February, and gathers in strength throughout Spring, continuing right through to May Day.
Valentine’s Day is named after a Christian saint, but just who he was is not clear, for there is more than one contender for the title. One Valentine was a Roman priest who was imprisoned for helping persecuted Christians, and who became a Christian himself. Although he restored the sight of his jailor’s blind daughter, he was still martyred…. on February 14, 269. Another Valentine was also a Christian martyr who, before his death, scratched a message to his beloved on the wall of his cell, ending with the words “Your Valentine.”
As a festival of love, Valentine’s Day has powerful associations with two Roman love fests. The first is the sacred day of Juno Februata, the patroness of the “fever” of love, at the beginning of February…. Then on February 15, there is Lupercalia, a festival of purification and fertility in honor of Faunus, or Lupercus, a rustic fertility god.
- From The Magical Year by Diana Ferguson

More on Embolc…

My apologies for posting a little late. February 1st was the Pagan holiday of Imbolc. That’s become an important day at our house over the years, partly because I have a lifelong fascination with holiday lore and partially because it’s a great opportunity to let the cycle of the season be our teacher – as it once was to our forbearers. You can read lots of things about Imbolc online, and I personally recommend two favorite books of holiday lore: The Magical Year by Diane Ferguson, Kindling the Celtic Spirit by Mara Freeman.

This image is featured in the Celtic Mandala, earth mysteries and mythology 2013 Wall Calendar. Selkie by Jen Delyth © 2007/2008

It is said that if the year is a woman, then Imbolc is the youthful maiden. To my mind Imbolc is about newness, youth, new growth, the first budding of spring. We’re definitely seeing those first signs here in Portland: the first buds, the first Snowdrops, and the very first blossoms on the trees.

One of the inspirations in my life around holiday lore is to use the changing season and our encounter with them as soul-crafting activities. For Imbolc we make corn dolls and set them out on the fireplace mantle surrounded by white or yellow candles. We burn white and yellow candles to symbolize purity and innocence. Just before bedtime we put our corn dolls in a basket by the front door, as a blessing to all who enter our house. We rest them on a blanket and cover them for warmth and set animal figures around them. This year it was a unicorn.

Another favorite activity is placing an article of clothing or an important item outside to be blessed by the goddess Brigit as she passes in the night. Again there’s a lot to read about Brigit, but to my mind she appears as an inspiring archetype and heroic example, as in Greek legends. She is the triple goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing. Smithcraft is variously referred to as craft in general or wonderfully by Ms. Freeman as the ‘magical art of change.’

Happy Belated Imbolc!

From Tim Campbell – and all the Lotites

Imbolc – the awakening of spring

The Goddess Brighid
Like many Pagan holidays, Imbolc has a Celtic connection as well, although it wasn’t celebrated in non-Gaelic Celtic societies. The Irish goddess Brighid is the keeper of the sacred flame, the guardian of home and hearth. To honor her, purification and cleaning are a wonderful way to get ready for the coming of Spring. In addition to fire, she is a goddess connected to inspiration and creativity.

Brighid is known as one of the Celtic “triune” goddesses — meaning that she is one and three simultaneously. The early Celts celebrated a purification festival by honoring Brighid, or Brid, whose name meant “bright one.” In some parts of the Scottish Highlands, Brighid was viewed as Cailleach Bheur, a woman with mystical powers who was older than the land itself. Brighid was also a warlike figure, Brigantia, in the Brigantes tribe near Yorkshire, England. The Christian St. Brigid was the daughter of a Pictish slave who was baptised by St. Patrick, and founded a community of nuns at Kildare, Ireland.

In modern Wicca and Paganism, Brighid is viewed as the maiden aspect of the maiden/mother/crone cycle. She walks the earth on the eve of her day, and before going to bed each member of the household should leave a piece of clothing outside for Brighid to bless. Smoor your fire as the last thing you do that night, and rake the ashes smooth. When you get up in the morning, look for a mark on the ashes, a sign that Brighid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes are brought inside, and now have powers of healing and protection thanks to Brighid.

Serv’n up some Good Luck Blackeyed Peas

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is thought to bring prosperity.

We always start the New Year off with a big pot of Blackeyed Peas and cornbread (the way my Mama made it). Here is some food for thought on this southern tradition and it’s origins.

The “good luck” traditions of eating black-eyed peas at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, are recorded in the Babylonian Talmud.

In the United States, the first Sephardi Jews arrived in Georgia in the 1730s, and have lived there continuously since. The Jewish practice was apparently adopted by non-Jews around the time of the American Civil War.

In the Southern United States, the peas are typically cooked with a pork product for flavoring (such as bacon, ham bones, fatback, or hog jowl), diced onion, and served with a hot chili sauce or a pepper-flavored vinegar.

The traditional meal also features collard, turnip, or mustard greens, and ham. The peas, since they swell when cooked, symbolize prosperity; the greens symbolize money; the pork, because pigs root forward when foraging, represents positive motion. Cornbread also often accompanies this meal.

Another suggested origin of the tradition dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, typically stripped the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock, and destroyed whatever they could not carry away. At that time, Northerners considered “field peas” and field corn suitable only for animal fodder, and did not steal or destroy these humble foods.

Here’s one recipe for Good Luck.

2 pounds dried black-eyed peas
8 ounces hog jowl or 2 small to medium ham hocks
6 cups water water
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves
salt & black pepper to taste

Pick over the peas and rinse well, then soak in cold water overnight. Place ham hocks or hog jowl in large kettle with water, bring to boil, and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Drain peas and add to the hog jowl. Add whole onion, minced garlic, salt & pepper. Add more water if needed to cover peas. Cover tightly and simmer slowly 2 hours or until peas are tender. Serve with cornbread.

From Lydia Hess – Amber Lotus Designer/Art Director

Organic Kitchen Garden Wall Calendar

Mistletoe Myth for The Shortest Day

Winter Solstice arrives at 9.30 tonight here in Portland, Oregon. It’s time to decorate the house with greenery, light candles, burn fires, and take down the old mistletoe (if you leave it up all year like we do) to replace with a fresh sprig. The ritual of hanging mistletoe recalls the Norse myth about the death of Balder and of his resurrection, brought about by the love of his mother Freya. Love conquers death.

Mistletoe

Once upon a time, the cycle of the seasons – the turning of the year itself – was viewed as a sacred manifestation of the mysterious power of the universe: something to closely attend to, learn from and participate in. And so it is that we continue to celebrate the birth of light on the darkest night of the year. That’s magic!
Here’s a marvelous poem by Susan Cooper that was first brought to our attention by our friends at Portland Revels.

The Shortest Day
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

All-Hallows-Eve

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while “some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)”, derived from the Old Irish Samuin meaning “summer’s end”. Samhain was the first and by far the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Irish and Scottish calendar and, falling on the last day of Autumn, it was a time for stock-taking and preparation for the cold winter months ahead. There was also a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernatural worlds were closest and magical things could happen. To ward off these spirits, the Gaels built huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.

The Haunted Realm - wall calendar

Lavender – Tension Reliever

A drop of lavender essential oil rubbed into the temples relieves tension headaches.

While most people think of this herb as merely a floral scent for bath salts or bed linens, this plant has powerful antiviral properties. The list of volatile oils within lavender’s flower buds includes linalool, which is particularly helpful in preventing the flu. Because flu viruses have viral envelopes, which help them enter host cells, they are sensitive to the monoterpene alcohols prevalent in lavender’s family.

Twenty-first-century use of this herb focuses on lavender’s sedative qualities. Lavender essential oil is popular as a calming agent for the entire nervous system. As the volatile oils are absorbed through the skin or sinuses, the nerves send messages throughout the body to relax the muscles, easing headaches, nervous stomachs and muscle cramps.

In an increasingly tense world, lavender is a welcome companion. It offers a much needed tonic for mind and body.

Author Sue Sierralupe is certified as a master gardener, sustainable landscape educator and medical herbalist in Eugene, Oregon.

2012 Healing Herbs Wall Calendar

The Essential Rose — new 2012

The Essential Rose is one of 10 new titles in our line up this year. The International Herb Association chose the Rose as Herb of the Year™ 2012. The Essential Rose wall calendar is artfully crafted by writer and renowned gardener Ann Lovejoy. Beautiful, fragrant and delicious, roses have been a floral favorite for thousands of years. Most often associated with passion, love and beauty, roses are also one of the oldest known medicinal plants and are valued for culinary uses around the globe. Stunning photography combined with recipes and tips on cultivation, crafts and herbal remedies will enchant you all year long.