(Originally written April 19, 2007)

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world.”
-Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” from Leaves of Grass.

“Long ago in southern Germany, in Bavaria, during the late middle ages there was a custom in many of the Catholic churches of that region that was quite unusual. At the end of the Easter church service, the Easter Mass, the priest would leave the altar and come down among the people and lead the congregation in what was called the “Risus Paschalis” which means “the Easter laughter.” The priest would tell funny stories and sing comical songs, and the church would ring with laughter. Of course the point was obvious, the laughter echoing through the church was a tangible testimony to the merriment born out of the tidings of this great day, Jesus Christ alive and loose among us. All the forces that conspired to lay him in his tomb, the fury, the lovelessness, the violence, the vaunted powers of kings and empires, they are made a laughing stock.”
Preached by Dr. John M. McCoy at Highland Park Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas, USA, on 04/23/2000. Scripture Reference(s): Psalm 126:1-6; Mark 16:1-8

This, to me, is the Divine Mystery of Christianity: The Power Greater than Death that moves through all living beings.

Christ is born, a mortal man, who shows that living by his example is a true path to God, and proves that death is only an illusion and the soul lives on. Even after he suffers through the worst of what humanity can dish out, including human, cowardice, anger, power-corruption, viciousness, and petty politics, he still forgives his tormentors. He dies, true, but that is only an illusion. It is a tiny piece of the much greater Mystery of Divine Grace.

Good Friday is about the suffering of Christ at the hands of men. Calling it “the Passion” stems from the late Latin passionem (nom. passio) “suffering, enduring.” (This means to “feel passion” for somebody literally means that you are “suffering” for them, but that’s another essay.) This is the universal, “Mean People Suck,” that anybody who has ever been falsely accused, tormented and put on trial for the twisted way human minds will filter genuine acts of love and compassion. It’s a timeless story because everyone who has ever felt wrongly persecuted can relate to these feelings.

However, Easter itself is a message of hope. It’s spring returning after the winter’s cold, and the rains coming after the drought. It’s the Resurrection, the triumph over human weakness and iniquity. It’s loudly proclaiming to the world, “You can not defeat me. You can try, but I will persevere, and in the end, I will win.”

According to legend, it was a humble monk who first invented “Bright Monday,” or “Laughing Monday,” finding it the best way to celebrate Easter Monday. After all, it is the other side of Good Friday. It is the defeat of death, the victory at the end of the trial. It is Walt Whitman’s “Barbaric Yawp” sounded over the rooftops of the world. It is the final thumbing the nose at Satan: “I am still here, and you have not defeated me.”

The challenge, of course, comes in the forgiveness. To truly follow Christ’s example, we need to truly forgive those tormentors. Is this possible? After all, we are, “only human,” and, over time, our hate begins to calcify, to harden into armor. It becomes comfortable, and we cling to it with the superstitious belief that if we hold tight enough to this thing, this armor of hate, that we will never be blindsided again. If we hate those who have done evil to us, and we hate them long enough and hard enough, we will, somehow, either visit that same evil upon them or miraculously shield ourselves from ever being hurt again. However, the inability to forgive does not render us invulnerable. In the end, all it does is sap our strength and drain our energies until eventually we are weakened, shriveled, hateful, ugly creatures who are no better than those who caused all the trouble in the first place.

The disappointing truth is that whether we can forgive or not often doesn’t amount to a hill of beans to those who hurt us. If they cared that much and knew how much pain they were inflicting they wouldn’t have done such things in the first place. Chances are, they will continue to move through the world, being their ugly, warped, hateful selves, until some greater force causes them to re-evaluate why they are choosing to be this way. Holding onto our hate only causes us further pain: by making us re-live that moment over and over again.

However, letting it go is not only a gift we can give ourselves, it is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. It removes those boundaries and allows us to touch our own truth, our joy, our vital life force. Through this, we touch the eternal. We defeat the forces that are killing us slowly and re-unite with the Divine. This, then, is the message of Easter, and of Laughing Monday: “There is a Truth that is Greater Than Us All, and it is Very, Very Good.”

Hearing the One Voice (originally posted at http://www.dailyom.com,reprinted here for not-for-profit educational purposes only.)

Gathering in a circle is the perfect container to hear our truths as there are no hard edges, only endless support.

When we sit in a circle together and share our thoughts and feelings, we participate in a powerful, unifying practice whose origins stem from the very beginning of human time. All early cultures practiced some form of this ritual, which gives each individual in the group a voice, and at the same time reveals the one voice, and the ultimate unity, of the group. This profound and simple way of talking and listening has experienced a modern rebirth in counseling, social work, and spirituality.

Most circles benefit from the presence of a leader who opens the circle by calling in angels, spirit guides, and ancestors—beings of light who will be present with those taking counsel. The leader may announce a theme for the circle, or one may simply evolve from the unstructured expressions of each participant. The circle continues for as long as feels right, at which point the leader may summarize what has been said, perhaps leading everyone in a moment of silence before the circle disbands. One of the most powerful components of this work is the talking stick, which can be any object—a crystal, a flower, or a candle—that is passed around the circle from person to person. The person holding the object speaks until he has fully expressed his feelings, and no one else interjects, interrupts, or even responds until they are holding the stick. This enables people who have a hard time speaking out to express long buried feelings and points of view. This is powerful because in a! community it is often what is not said or acknowledged that causes the most pain and suffering.

The circle, which contains no hard edges or angles, is the ideal container for these difficult truths. As we hear the many perspectives the subject at hand inspires, we begin to see that our individual truth is just one of many. Our own hard edges begin to soften as the circle flows from one person to the next, and each wave of words cleanses us of one more layer of mental and emotional armor, freeing us to be closer to the people around us. Try using counsel during your next family meeting, school class, or any setting where you feel a centering communication method is needed.

Scenes from the motion picture “2012.” Courtesy Columbia Pictures.
Written by E. C. Krupp, Director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles Article available at NASA.gov,  reprinted from Sky & Telescope Magazine for not-for-profit educational purposes only. The publisher and the author reserve all rights. All opinions are the author’s own.
The year 2012 is acting like a badly behaved celebrity. Frightful rumors and gossip are spreading. Already more than a half dozen books are marketing, to eager fans, astronomical fears about 2012 End Times. Opening in theaters on Friday, Nov. 13, will be 2012, a $200-million disaster movie that seems designed to break all records for disaster spectacles — with cracking continents, plunging asteroids, burning cities, and a tsunami throwing an aircraft carrier through the White House. The movie’s ominous slogan: “Find out the truth.” Two other major movies about the 2012 doomsday are also reported to be in the works.

Anyone who cruises the internet or all-night talk radio knows why. The ancient Maya of Mexico and Guatemala kept a calendar that is about to roll up the red carpet of time, swing the solar system into transcendental alignment with the heart of the Milky Way, and turn Earth into a bowling pin for a rogue planet heading down our alley for a strike.

None of it is true. People you know, however, are likely becoming a bit afraid that modern astronomy and Maya secrets are indeed conspiring to bring our doom. If people know you’re an astronomer, they will soon be asking you all about it.

Here is what you need to know.

Birth of a Notion
We”ve had similar scares in the recent past, but none quite like this. The last time the world got all worked up over the mystical turning of a calendar was the false Millennium of Jan. 1, 2000. Never mind the actual Y2K computer-date bug. True-believer authors (and their imitators) published scary and/or hopeful books about the moment’s prophetic potential to catch an immense cosmic wave and change everything for either good or ill. Borrowing a forecast from Nostradamus, the 16th-century French riddler, author Charles Berlitz predicted catastrophe in his 1981 book Doomsday 1999. Berlitz (fresh off books on Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle), warned that 1999 could inflict flood, famine, pollution and a shift of Earth’s magnetic poles. He also spotlighted the planetary alignment of May 5, 2000, and warned that it could bring solar flares, severe earthquakes, “land changes” and “seismic explosions.”

In the 1990s an entire “Earth Changes” movement swelled into being as the end of the century neared, with all sorts of Millennial expectations — earthquakes, plagues, polar axis shifts, continents sliding into the sea, Atlantis rising and more. In England, the Sun tabloid predicted a “marvelous millennium of joy, peace, prosperity.”

When Jan. 1, 2000, came and went with nothing worse than ski-lift passes printing the date as 1900, the focus shifted to “5/5/2000″ several months later. Most believers in the power of planetary alignments forgot the failure of earlier lineups to induce disaster. The “Jupiter Effect” cataclysm predicted for March 10, 1982 (named for the 1974 book about it by John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann) commanded headlines but never materialized.

Throughout history, end-of-the-world movements missing their mark number in the “hundreds of thousands at the very least, says Richard Landes, historian at Boston University and director of its Center for Millennial Studies. But people eager for the world to end are not to be denied, and this time, of course, all will be different.

The Rollover
What exactly is the Maya calendar about to do? On Dec. 21, 2012, it will display the equivalent of a string of zeros, like the odometer turning over on your car, with the close of something like a millennium. In Maya calendrics, however, it’s not the end of a thousand years. It’s the end of Baktun 13. The Maya calendar was based on multiple cycles of time, and the baktun was one of them. A baktun is 144,000 days: a little more than 394 years.

Scholars have deciphered how the Maya calendar worked from historical texts and ancient inscriptions, and they have accurately correlated so-called Maya Long Count dates with the equivalent dates in our calendar. Just as we number our years counting from a historically and culturally significant event (the presumed birth year of Christ), Maya times were numbered from a date endowed with religious and cosmic significance: the creation date of the present world order. A Long Count date is the tally of days from that mythic startup. Most experts think the start point corresponds to Aug. 11, 3114 B.C.

Most of the Maya calendar intervals accumulate as multiples of 20. An interval of 7,200 days (360 × 20) was known as a katun. It takes 20 katuns to complete a baktun (20 × 7,200 = 144,000 days). Although some ancient inscriptions turn 13 baktuns into an important reset milestone, others imply that the calendar simply keeps running. For instance, it takes 20 baktuns to make a pictun.

No one paid much attention to the end of Baktun 13 until fairly recently. In 1975 Frank Waters, a romantic and speculative author, devoted a brief section to the subject in his book Mexico Mystique. He identified the 13-baktun interval as a “Mayan Great Cycle,” overestimated its duration as 5,200 years, and equated five such cycles with five legendary eras, each of which ends in the world’s destruction and rebirth. There is no genuine Maya tradition behind any of this.

Waters also miscalculated the date when the calendar would supposedly pull down the shades. “The end of the Great Cycle . . . will occur Dec. 24, 2011 A.D.,” he announced, when the world “will be destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes.” Exact date aside, the doomsday ball was now rolling.

Another book in 1975 also spotlighted the Maya calendric roundup. Dennis and Terence McKenna discussed it in The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching. That book at least got the Baktun-13 end date right: Dec. 21, 2012. It also noted that the date is the winter solstice, when the Sun will be “in the constellation Sagittarius, only about 3 degrees from the Galactic Center, which, also coincidentally, is within 2 degrees of the ecliptic.” The McKennas continued, “Because the winter solstice node is precessing, it is moving closer and closer to the point on the ecliptic where it will eclipse the galactic center.” In reality this event will never happen, but it hardly matters. The McKennas linked the whole arrangement with the concept of renewal and called 2012 a moment of “potential transformative opportunity.”

Broader interest in 2012 caught on beginning in 1987. In The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology, José Argüelles (an “artist, poet, and visionary historian” according to the dust jacket) linked the 13-baktun period with an impalpable “beam” from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. According to Argüelles, the Maya knew when we entered this beam and when we would leave it, and set their 13-baktun cycle to mark our passage through it accordingly. The beam, he asserted, operates as “invisible galactic life threads” that link people, the planet, the Sun, and the center of the Galaxy. Neither Maya tradition nor modern astronomy supports a belief in any such beam. It stemmed instead from Argüelles’s personal philosophy, which emphasizes “the principle of harmonic resonance.” Argüelles also concluded that the planets are “orbiting harmonic gyroscopes” that “play a role in the coordination of the beam,” which advances the development of anything with DNA. The year 2012, therefore, will bring a rosy version of the apocalypse.

If this sounds a bit familiar, you’re right. In 1987 Argüelles and his followers predicted, with worldwide fanfare, that Aug. 16–17 of that year would bring a Maya-Galactic “Harmonic Convergence.” That event turned into a global phenomenon, with thousands gathering at Earth’s “acupuncture points” to create a “synchronized and unified bio-electromagnetic collective battery.” Unfortunately, the date passed with nothing more than colorful newspaper stories and a Doonesbury satire. (A character explains earnestly that that the alignment could bring either “mass unification of divine and earth-plane selves,” or perhaps nuclear annihilation. “Either way there will probably be a crafts fair.”)

Galactic Guessing Games
Fast-forward to 1995. That year John Major Jenkins packaged several of these themes into Maya Cosmogenesis 2012. According to Jenkins, the winter-solstice point and the centerline of the Galaxy will line up exactly on Dec. 21. Arguing that this motivated the Maya to contrive the calendar to end on that date, Jenkins concludes that it will be “a tremendous transformation and opportunity for spiritual growth, a transition from one world age to another.”

In fact, astronomy cannot pinpoint such a “galactic alignment” to within a year, much less a day. The alignment depends on the rather arbitrary modern definition of the galactic equator, and/or the visual appearance of the Milky Way. There is no precise definition of the Milky Way’s edges — they are very vague and depend on the clarity of your view. (Jenkins says that he personally established the Milky Way’s edges by viewing it from 11,000 feet, far above anywhere the Maya lived.) So to give a precise visual position for its centerline is not meaningful.

Jenkins did acknowledge that the winter-solstice Sun actually crosses the center of the Milky Way anytime between 1980 and 2016. Elsewhere he expands this approach zone to a 900-year period, and settles for an imprecise alignment to which Dec. 21, 2012, is arbitrarily and circularly assigned. Real astronomy does not support any match between the Baktun-13 end date and a galactic alignment. The advocates both admit and ignore this discrepancy.

It’s almost a sidelight that the winter-solstice sun will never actually “eclipse” the galaxy’s true center, the pointlike radio source marking the Milky Way’s central black hole. Moreover, the winter-solstice sun won’t even pass closest to it on the sky for another 200 years. What did the Maya themselves think about End Times? There is no evidence that they saw the calendar and a world age ending in either transcendence or catastrophe on December 21, 2012. Some Maya Long Count texts refer to dates many baktuns past 13 and even into the next pictun and beyond. For instance, an inscription commissioned in the 7th century A.D. by King Pacal of Palenque predicts that an anniversary of his accession would be commemorated on Oct. 15, 4772.

In all of the Long Count texts discovered, transcribed, and translated, only one mentions the key date in 2012: Monument 6 at Tortuguero, a Maya site in the Mexican state of Tabasco. The text is damaged, but what remains does not imply the end of time.

The Secret NASA Conspiracy
Some advocates for the 2012 catastrophe say that what will actually cause the devastation is an alignment of planets. There is no planet alignment on the winter solstice in 2012. Nonetheless, advocates of doom connect the fictional alignment to astrological predictions or groundless claims about a reversal of Earth’s magnetic field and unprecedented solar storms. Many internet postings and guests on all-night apocalyptic radio have elaborated on these themes.

In particular, several threads of irrational thought have created an internet phantom, the secret planet Nibiru. It’s the bowling ball, and Earth is the pin. There is no such planet, though it is often equated with Eris, a plutoid orbiting safely and permanently beyond Pluto. Some insist, however, that a NASA conspiracy is in play and that Nibiru, looming in on the approach, can already be seen in broad daylight from the Southern Hemisphere. It was supposed to become visible from the Northern Hemisphere, too, by last May, but like a fickle blind date, it stood up those awaiting it.

Others on the Web, confused about the supposed alignment of the winter-solstice sun with the Milky Way’s center, have declared that the Sun is now plummeting to the Milky Way’s center and dragging Earth with it. The predicted result? Earth’s polar axis will shift. Most of what’s claimed for 2012 relies on wishful thinking, wild pseudoscientific folly, ignorance of astronomy, and a level of paranoia worthy of Night of the Living Dead.

So maybe the Maya were on to us after all. The clock is ticking. And it’s the end of the world as we know it.

E.C. Krupp, a Sky & Telescope contributing editor, is Director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

(Original author unknown.)

PAGANUS, EXANIMO
A rebuke, and an invitation

I am a Pagan.
It comes from the Latin, ‘PAGANUS’.
It means simply, “country dweller”,
One who lives close to the Earth,
In harmony with nature, and her cycles of seasons and weather.

I am NOT a be-deviled worshipper of Satan,
Which to me is a demonized construct of the early Christian Church fathers,
An entity who is younger by eons than the Divine Spirit
Who quickens the life of my body
And animates the Universe itself.

I am NOT a godless person, devoid of spirituality, ethics, or moral feeling.
I am NOT a worshipper of “created things”.
I am NOT a “weirdo” who labels myself “religious”,
While having no real depth to my so-called spirituality–
Despite the contrary and zealous assertions of those
Who would force feed me their interpretations of Biblical doctrine
Like bitter castor oil “for my own good.”

No, in fact I connect with the Sacred, with the Divine
Immanent in all things, and I do not worship their material presence alone.
When the Sacred within me communes with the Divine within you,
That Truth and ancient Dance leaves little room for evil, hatred, and intolerance.
Though I daily encounter many who seem more than willing
To assail me with their own loathing, fear, and rejection
Of what they do not understand,
All in the name of One who preached only
Acceptance, compassion, tolerance, and understanding.

For me the Divine can be Goddess,
The Maiden Huntress of forest, field, and hill
The Eternal Mother, whose natural bounty and blessings surround us,
The Ancient Crone who imparts wisdom of ages and healing lore.

For me the Divine can be God,
The Lord of the Dance, the Animals, the Hunt
The Sacred King, whose cyclic end
Renews and rebirths the Land and its people
The Ancient Sage, the Wise Old Man
Who beckons us to greater spiritual understanding.
I am a Pagan.
I honor the earth and the Divine within it.
I decry those practices
Which lead to and perpetuate its devastation and exploitation.

I listen to the ancient music,
Whose strains are yet audible in my modern songs.
It calls me to dance,
With the drumbeat, the pulse of the Earth itself.
My ancestors live again through me.
I follow the Old Ways, and those lost Mysteries surface again,
With new significance for modernity.

I care little if you choose to do as I do.
But talk to me if you will,
If you would understand me and what I represent.
For know this well:
The Old Ways are indeed returning,
And many of us are hearing the call
To follow these ancient Paths once again,
For the answers they provide to questions which burn in our souls.
Some of us have kept these traditions alive in our own families
With varying degrees of secrecy and success.
Others learn from the remnants found in old stories and poems,
And incorporate those remnants into entirely new practices.

Our numbers grow, though we do not proselytize.
Whatever you choose to do, we will not simply go away,
Whether you wish it so or not.
But talk to me if you will.
Let us share our stories with each other
And see what happens next.

Every year at this time, as we approach the cross-quarter of Fall, a tension begins to build among the various paths of Paganism, Christianity in general, and the assorted gods of commercialism.

Halloween is the second biggest holiday in the U.S. For the general sale of goods, it is only beaten by Christmas; there are probably a few more Super Bowl parties than Halloween parties; and it runs a very close second to Easter in candy sales. That last would probably change if chocolate pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns were to come into fashion.

Humans of all ages, whether they admit it or not, love to play “dress-up”. Along comes Halloween with a legitimized excuse and nearly everyone bows to the custom of becoming some else for a night (or two). Never mind that the original purpose was to prevent spirits from recognizing you and following you home – a feat which could could be accomplished by the simple expedient of wearing your clothes turned inside out or backwards when the custom began. For the pagans among us it should probably be noted that the tradition seems to have its roots in medieval Christian superstition regarding “witches, demons and fell (or foul) beasts and spirits” going abroad to do “The Devils work” on the “accursed” night before the Feast of All Saints on November first. That Samhain, a pagan festival celebrated on the night of the cross-quarter between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, happens by chance to be the night before the feast is, I am sure, simply a matter of coincidence. As time passed, the superstitious tradition combined with a whistling-by-the-graveyard false gaiety. The origins faded, the gaiety became more real, and the whole thing morphed into Halloween (All Hallows Eve) as we know it today.

Interestingly enough, while the Christian superstitions regarding Halloween have been maintained and ritualized, so have the pagan beliefs that the Veil Between the Worlds is so thin that night that those Unseen can cross over to visit or communicate with us on this side. Jack-o-lanterns are carved to either light the way, or frighten away, the Unseen – depending on individual belief and intent. Divinations are performed in a variety of ways. Who has not bobbed for apples at some time in their life? Cauldrons, symbols of the Goddess, bubble and froth with assorted beverages – each a representative of the Drink of the Gods or the Elixir of Life. Assorted haunted entertainment (I saw an ad for a Haunted Pony Ride today), ghost walks, ghost towns, cemetery tours – the list is endless and expanding.

Surrounded by all this in the secular culture we have the assorted religious sects. Christians seem to divide into three general categories. The first, and largest, is made up of those who simply don’t care about any religious aspects or undertones of Halloween. They’re simply out to have fun on a night when the ordinary rules of conduct and propriety are set aside, within limits of course. Soaping windows – OK. Burning down the neighbor’s house down – Not OK. They don’t care, or even know, the marauding bands of costume-clad beggars with their cries of “Trick or Treat” originally represented spirits demanding tribute of some sort in return for not damaging person or property in some way.

The second category of Christians look at the carrying-ons of Halloween with a general distaste and disapproval, usually citing the “pagan origins” as their reason. They do tend to fall along a spectrum. Some turn off their lights and pretend to not be home, some resentfully pass out candy and such, some pass out religious tracts as their offering of a treat. If asked, most will express concern for the morals and/or souls of those celebrating Halloween.

The third, and least numerous group of Christians, agree with Pagans that the Veil is thin that night, but believe that it allows Evil to walk the Earth unchecked and therefore spend much time in prayer for protection of themselves and others they deem worthy. Some gather in churches, others lock themselves away at home. In either case, they are reacting from fear of something they don’t, or can’t, fit into their cosmology.

Pagans tend to fall into broad groups as well. Some consider the secular celebration of Halloween an adequate recognition of Samhain and do nothing farther to mark it. Some use the secular build-up as a forum (or soapbox) to try to educate the public regarding their beliefs and attitudes. Some are offended by Halloween and refuse to participate in the secular traditions, preferring to secret themselves away for their own religious rituals. Most are willing to enjoy Halloween, and later that night celebrate Samhain in their own way.

I am not going to pretend to know what the best response to the energies of the cross-quarter is or should be; whether secular, Pagan, or Christian. My tradition calls for tolerance, understanding and the recognition of Free Will in all beings. Each person is, in their own way, on their own One Right Tree Path toward their own understanding of union with the Divine. However, we each should be aware of the paths and traditions of those around us in the interest of expanding tolerance, understanding, harmony, and ultimately, Love.

May this Season find you walking Your Path with confidence and Divine Love for all beings.

Author: CatDancing
Posted: September 13th. 2009 to the Witche’s Voice
Re-printed for non-commercial educational purposes only

Only a few days ago when I looked out our front door and across the porch the foliage of the pink dogwood, viburnam and yellow twig dogwood was thick and green, obscuring the view to our country road and the hillside beyond. Now, in what seems only an instant, the leaves are beginning to turn shades of yellow and enough have already fallen so that I can get a glimpse of the big oak tree, hickory, sumac and others that border this side of the creek which runs down through the hollow.

In spite of the drought conditions we’ve been experiencing here in east Kentucky for many weeks now, late blooming plants are beginning to put on their early autumn show of color. The domed, dusty raspberry colored flowers of the tall Joe Pye along with the brilliant yellow of goldenrod and the vibrant purple of Iron Weed dot the hillsides and roadways, while here and there remaining cheerful blue corn flowers and little white umbrellas of Queen Anne’s Lace nod in the breeze. In shaded areas the tiny slipper-like spotted blossoms of orange Jewel Weed are everywhere, and occasionally the not as common yellow variety.

With September comes a subtle change in the light and the sun beckons us outside to enjoy the beauty and remaining days of harvest. As the month progresses the nights become suddenly chilled and we cannot fail to see, hear and feel the turning of the wheel within every aspect of nature. Soon, as we celebrate Mabon, we will be at the time of perfect balance of light and dark of Goddess and God.

This season is more than the time bounded by the summer solstice and an equinox. It is a time for taking stock, not only in the sense of the harvest, but in our own lives as well. Author and poet Hal Borland said of autumn that it is a summing up without the finality of year’s end. As summer fades, out thoughts turn more and more to hearth and home, and the slowing of the natural world helps to slow us down as well. Communities take time out for fall festivals and celebrations, giving us a chance to reconnect with friends and neighbors. We are reminded of the blessings of home and family and of the abundance present in our everyday lives.

Mabon brings a quiet, but magickal feeling to autumn and also into our homes. Sometimes called Harvest Home, it is associated with rituals for giving thanks and remembering that we need to make time to share our blessings.

Of all the seasonal and holiday decorating I do, autumn is my favorite! The rich reds, golds, greens and browns we find all around us in nature and the changing leaves can lend a feeling of warmth and intimacy to our surroundings inside as well. Decorate your altars with colored foliage, interesting bare twigs, stones, nuts, gourds, small pumpkins, mums, autumn colored candles (in safe containers of course!) , and other natural items from your particular locale.

This is a wonderful time for spending together as a family or with special friends. Have fun with activities such as nature walks, simple picnics, making corn dollies, popcorn balls, and caramel apples.

As days lengthen there is more time in the evenings for curling up with a good book and a cup of your favorite brew, or to gather the young ones close to hear their favorite stories read.

When we gather our herbs from the garden throughout late summer and fall, we are of course thinking of preserving them for future magickal, medicinal and culinary uses, but what about the stems and twigs? If you have a fireplace or outdoor firepit (or even the occasional campfire) , dry them as well. Herbs such as lemon verbena, lavender, rosemary, lemon balm, sage, oregano, bay, bee balm, etc. can be tied into bundles with raffia or scraps of ribbon and used as wonderfully fragrant fire-starters!

Many of us spend a great deal of time these days during hot weather shut up in air-conditioned homes and offices. When the weather cools enough for windows to be opened again, let the autumn breezes blow through to give your rooms a good airing out before winter comes along to close us in again. You can put your favorite essential oils to use in making your own homemade room sprays. Just combine the following in an empty spray bottle:

about 1/3 cup of vodka (the cheap kind works fine for this) ,
and 3-6 droppers of essential oil (in your favorite combination) .
Shake well then add enough water to finish filling the bottle and shake well again.

This spray lasts longer than most commercially bought ones and can be used once or twice a day on rugs and upholstery, keeping away from glass and windows. You can even make up these sprays with a certain magickal focus if you match the scents to your intent. Try creating special ones for different rooms of the house.

All of the colorful and many-shaped leaves that are in abundance now can serve as a reminder of their magickal importance. Think about pressing and drying them between the pages of books for use in craft projects such as framed leaf collages or to carry as a special amulet. There is much information available in books and on the Internet about the magickal properties and correspondences of various trees.

For instance, Pennsylvania German tradition holds that the five-pointed leaves of most maples resemble the outspread fingers of a hand, and that these five points also represent the five senses. You might also think of this as a reminder of the four elements plus spirit. Among others, oak is sacred to the God and elder to the Goddess. The sometimes three-lobed leaves of sassafras are said to represent the Triple-Goddess, and the lore goes on and on! Leaves can also be dipped quickly into melted paraffin and left to dry on waxed paper. They can then be displayed in bowls or jars.

You can celebrate the abundance of this season with the making of prosperity candles. Choose a pillar candle in a harvest color, and using a stylus or sharp pencil inscribe symbols to represent your intent, such as Fehu, the rune for prosperity. Dress your candle with cinnamon, orange or ginger oil by rubbing rubbing the oil between your palms to warm it and then rubbing it over the candle from bottom to top. Burn your candle on Mabon and then throughout the season to attune to the change of the seasons and bring peace and prosperity.

A wonderful, magickally charged potpourri can be easily made to bring love, protection and prosperity to your home by the following recipe.

Harvest Potpourri

1 ½ cups oak moss
2 cups dried oak leaves
1 ½ cups dried honeysuckle
1 cup lavender buds
1 cup dried rosebuds
1 cup rose petals
¾ cup dried pine needles
2 tablespoons dried crumbled sage
a few bay leaves
a few pieces of dried citrus peel
a few acorns
rose essential oil

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, sprinkle with the rose oil and toss lightly together with you hands. As you work repeat the following chant. These herbs I combine for protection, to bring love and peace and prosperity. May they bless all those who enter within, and keep us from every adversity.

Pour the potpourri charged with your magickal intent in a decorative bowl and place near the front door. If you wish you can decorate the top with small charms, crystals or pinecones.

Especially during the autumn, one of the things that most speaks of home are the aromas of wonderful things being cooked and baked coming from the kitchen. The following recipe has been in my family for many years and always makes an appearance at our fall and winter family gatherings and celebrations. It will fill your home with the spicy smell of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg and bring the ambiance of the season to all within.

PUMPKIN BREAD

1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 2/3 cups flour
½ cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
½ cup water
nuts, dates or raisins if desired

Sift sugar, soda, baking powder, salt, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour into a large mixing bowl. With a spoon make a well in the center. Add oil, eggs, pumpkin and the water. Stir until well mixed. Bake in greased and floured loaf pan (s) at 350 degrees F. for a little less than an hour if making two small loaves, and a little longer if making one large loaf. If adding nuts, dates or raisins, toss them in 2 tablespoons of flour before stirring into batter to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pans.

Until next time I wish you and those you love many special blessings of the harvest season and wonderful moments to remember.

ABOUT…

CatDancing

Location: Mayking, Kentucky

Bio: CatDancing is a solitary eclectic green/hedge witch practicing in the mountains of eastern Kentucky where she shares a mostly quiet lifestyle with her husband, 5 cats, 4 dogs, 1 ornery goat, and a small flock of hens and noisy roosters! When she is not tending hearth,
home and herb garden she enjoys reading, writing, designing pagan-themed needlework, painting and photography. She is currently the
owner of the ‘Mountain Witch’s Cottage’ group on Yahoo, co-owner
of ‘The Mother’s Magickal Herb Garden’ and moderator of ‘Stormy’s Book of Shadows’, also both on Yahoo. She can be reached at catdancing@fastmail.fm.

“Spirited away, my energy gently glides above the treetops like a down feather blown within the circling wind. Below, I see the quilted workings of Mother Earth in the patches of green grass, freshly plowed ground and fields of grain ready now for the harvest. The air is sweet and cool as it moves round my body and delights me like loving whispers of voices unknown. Faeries dance on wing; their joyous laughter calling my spirit ever on. Reaching down, I try to grasp a bright purple leaf from atop the sugar maple. As my energy moves within the magickal moment, I feel the sun warming me as it moves through the essences of my being, giving glimmers of what possibilities lie just beyond. . .”

So begins Lady Abigail’s “Autumn: The Croning Time.”  For the entire article, please click here to  visit the original post on Witchvox.

By Josie (Baton Rouge, LA)
Posted to The Witches’ Voice, September 13th. 2009

It’s a week before Fall Equinox, one of two days of the year when daylight hours and nighttime hours are equal. After the equinox, the hours of daylight are less than the hours of night. It’s the end of summer in southern Louisiana. Although the days are still warm and the leaves are still green, the morning air is crisp and cool and brings us the promise of cooler days to come.

For Neopagans, the High Day goes by many names. Many call it Mabon, after the Welsh God (Dugan 3) . I’ve heard it referred to as Harvest Home, after the English harvest festival, which originated in the 19th century. Some modern Druids call is Alban Elfed, meaning the Light of Water, because on the Wheel of the Year, Mabon in on the Western spoke and the west is associated with water (The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids) . It is a lesser Sabbat or lesser High Day.
Autumnal Equinox is probably the least emphasized of the 8 Pagan High Days. Not as flashy as Samhain, the third harvest festival, the fall equinox is passed over with little pomp and celebration. Perhaps it is because few myths correspond to the specific date. Perhaps it is overlooked because it is the second of three harvest festivals. Or perhaps we have such a tenuous notion of this day because we have so little historical evidence as to how our Pagan ancestors celebrated it or if they even did acknowledge it. Although we cannot point to a definitive ancient counterpart, it is still a unique date in our Wheel of the Year, offering a theme that should not be overlooked.
What is the theme for this holiday? What do the myths, stories and customs of the present and past tell us about this day? Regardless of whether ancient Pagans celebrated the exact equinox, many Pagan cultures had a harvest festival near this time of the year.
If we look at how this fits into the year in the life of our Pagan ancestors, maybe we can extrapolate the meaning of this oft overlooked holiday. Mabon is the second harvest festival. Whereas Lughnasadh, the first harvest festival, was the celebration of the first grain ripening at the very beginning of the harvest season, by Mabon the harvest is over, the crops are in and the labor is done. If all has gone well, for Mabon we would be thankful that the hard work of harvest is done and give thanks for our full storerooms and the bounty of food we now have. Where Lughnasadh was a more global event with many tribes traveling to central locations to celebrate, I would presume that Mabon was more localized to your tribe and your community. It celebrated how your own community fared.
Even in modern day we see similar celebrations. County fairs are in abundance at the end of harvest season. Even the modern American Thanksgiving is a type of Mabon celebration – family rejoicing over the bounty of their lives together.
How would the harvest-end be treated if the harvest went poorly? One example I found comes from the Ynglinga Saga, the Norse poem written by Snorri Sturluson around 1225. It tells of a time period in Upsal, an area in Eastern Sweden, when there was famine in the land. For the Norse, the autumn festival was ordained by Odin as a time to make sacrifices to the Gods for prosperity for the coming year (MacCulloch 143) .
In the saga, the first year of shortage the people sacrificed oxen, but since the harvest for the following year did not improve, human sacrifices were made the second year. The third year was worse yet, and the chiefs consulted each other on what to do. They decided that the king needed to be sacrificed in order to restore balance to the land. It wasn’t that he was a bad or evil king, but simply that “to bring good seasons to the land” they needed to “sprinkle the stalle (place) of the gods with his blood” (“The Ynglinga Saga”) . He was needed to make the ultimate sacrifice a king can make for the good of his people – his own life.
Through this story we see that, after the harvest was done, a religious celebration was held and, depending upon the success or failure of the harvest, varying degrees offerings were made at the place of the Gods. Maybe if the harvest was good, grain, fruit and mead were offered to the Gods. The offerings would increase in severity if the harvest were poor. The worst of failed harvests called for the king to offer himself for the land.
So, in addition to giving thanks for our good fortune, if need be, Mabon is a time for sacrifice to ensure that the coming year is favorable. Most people in the modern Pagan community shy away from the word sacrifice. Possibly because we were once associated with more nefarious groups who made animal or human sacrifices, sacrifice has gotten an ill-deserved bad rap.
Yet, sacrifice and the more comfortable “offering” are acts of giving up something we value. In our current economic troubling time, the nature of sacrifice should be reexamined. If we find ourselves at Mabon having a bad “harvest, ” sacrificing luxuries and things not needed for survival may be in order. Sacrificing dining out, cable television and buying new clothes may help ensure that next year’s “harvest” is better. Mabon is the time to look at the things in our lives that can be sacrificed so that the future is more prosperous than the present.
To understand sacrifice better, let’s look at the dance the Wiccan God and Goddess perform throughout the Wheel of the Year and see where They are at Mabon. The God is represented as the life of the Sun. At Yule, when the Sun’s strength begins to wax, the Goddess gives birth to the God. By Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, He is at His peak. By Lughnasadh he wanes. Since by Samhain He is journeying to the land of the dead, with the Autumnal Equinox, when day and light are equal and night begins to wax, it makes sense that Mabon would be the day of His death. His sacrificing Himself so that the land can rest and be reborn anew in Spring, for the good of the Earth and His people, is like the king in Snorri’s saga.
This story teaches us that sacrifices on Mabon are not just for personal gain, but also to help the world be a better place. What can we sacrifice from our lives to make the Earth a better place? We can give time by recycling items instead of throwing things away. We can sacrifice the aesthetics of our lawns by using a mulcher on lawnmowers rather than bagging and throwing away the clippings. We can give up a little comfort by setting the heat and cool of our homes to more moderate temperatures. We can offer up eating meat as often as we do because of the harm the meat industry does to the environment.
I view the Autumn Equinox as a day to celebrate the good things we have received through-out the year, but also as a day to pare down those unnecessary extras to make sure every year the harvest is abundant.

---

Footnotes:
Dugan, Ellen. Autumn Equinox. Woodbury: Llewellyn P, 2005.
MacCulloch, J. The Celtic and Scandinavian Religions. London: Constable, 1993.
“The Ynglinga Saga.” February 1999. Sacred-Texts.com. September 10, 2008

Reprinted from the Witches’ Voice for non-commercial, educational purposes only.  Copyright remains with the original author.

Author: Ozark Avalon

From the Witches’ Voice, December 14th. 2008

Redistributed for not-for-profit educational purposes only

Early Solstice Celebration

The original reason for the season is the Winter Solstice. Solstice is a word from the Latin that meaning “stands still.” For six days at this time, the sun appears to stand still on the horizon. This was a time of uncertainty and mystery as people wondered if indeed the sun would return. When it did year and year again, festivals grew up in just about every place and culture. Even today in our modern indoor society the Solstice continues to be a time of celebration across the world. The theme of light emerging from darkness is universal at this time of year.

In primitive societies the priests and shamans were most certainly the astronomers. Knowledge of the mathematical calculations needed to calculate the time of the Solstices would be seen as high magic in these cultures. From New Grange in Ireland to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, to the great solar temples of Egypt, peoples developed elaborate sacred sites to track the movement of the Sun across the sky and to note the times of the Solstices. Stonehenge is the most famous of the solar calculators and its construction is one of the great unsolved mysteries.

The celebration of Horus or Ra the Sun in ancient Egypt involved decorating with greenery especially palm branches with twelve fronds and directly linked the Sun God to the natural rhythms of the Sun in the sky.

The Solstice time in Babylon was Zagmuk. The Babylonians incorporated their Sun god Marduk who defeated the Monsters of Chaos during this dark and shadowy time. This holiday introduced the idea of the struggle between good and bad; continued today in the magical persona of a Santa Claus who uses the granting of presents or coal and switches to judge children.

The festival of Sacaea continued this theme. The Persians and later the Greeks celebrated the reversal of order that was stirred up by Kallikantzaroi, mischievous imps who roamed about during the twelve days of Sacaea. These imps had a darker side than the elves Santa associates with today.

In Rome the major festival for this time of year was Saturnalia, the birthday of the Roman God Saturn. This festival was celebrated from December 17 – 24. This holiday included pig sacrifice and gift exchange and was followed by the Kalends an early January celebration of the New Year where houses were decorated with greenery and lights. Both of which are usually still up on New Year’s Day in modern America.

The Norse, largely independently arrived at a similar holiday that bears the closest resemblance to the modern celebrations and unlike the Celts and many others, made this a major holiday. We can thank them for the word Yule that still is used interchangeably with Christmas by many contemporary persons. We can also thank them for the traditions of caroling, the Yule log and the first custom of bringing an entire evergreen into the house. It is fitting that this would be a major holiday for those who lived so far north that the winter nights literally swallowed the days in the time directly before Solstice.

Modern Solstice Celebrations

Christmas: The earliest record of a Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336 CE. Pope Liberus in 354 CE placed the holiday on December 25. The Armenian Church still celebrates on Jan 6. The holiday remains an almost universal celebration around the World. Many people participant in the cultural elements of Christmas to a much greater extent than the religious. Unfortunately Christmas has come to represent consumerism in our society with many stores and businesses dependent on large sales this time of year. Many Christians are trying to reestablish the religious aspects of the season by moving away from large scale elaborate gifting and returning to homemade and personal services gifting. Many see this as an environmental imperative as well as a religious one. There is also a movement towards joint celebrations with many other spiritual seasonal celebrations to allow us all to experience the diversity of spiritual experience as well as the Christian teachings of peace and good will towards all.

But even as Christmas seems to be everywhere it is important to remember that other solar festivals remain and new ones have been established.

Pagan Yule: The word Yule is from the Scandinavian word Jul meaning “wheel”. Many pagans honor the turning wheel at this time. Many Wiccans honor the theme from the Celts: they see Yule as the time of battle between the aging Holly King and the young Oak King. Others may use the Greek myth of Persephone and the Underworld to enact the theme of dark giving way to light. Still others see the waning God passing to the waxing Goddess.

For many Wiccans Yule is a lesser Sabot: with Beltane and Samhain being more significant. Common celebrations involve all night bon fires, Yule log rituals, and rituals celebrating the return of the light with large numbers of candles. Drumming, chanting and ecstatic dancing are often a part of these rituals as they tend to be in all Wiccan and Neo-Pagan rituals. Many Norse Pagans or the other hand see Yule as the major festival, a time for swearing oaths, toasting and boasting.

Solstice/ Midwinter Night: Celebrated by many neo-Pagans, New Agers, and even by some atheists we see new traditions are arising out of the old. They may borrow liberally from many older traditions and add to them with new traditions. It may be elaborate ritual or a simple bonfire to celebrate the returning sun. It may have religious or spiritual connotations or it may just be a cultural celebration. People are finding old and new ways to celebrate with friends and family.

Hanukkah (Chanukah) : This eight day festival of lights celebrates a victory by a small Jewish army, led by Judah Maccabee over the Assyrian Greeks in the second century BC. After regaining their right to worship in the temple they had only enough sacred oil to last a short time. Myth has it that the oil miraculously burned for eight days straight. The festival is celebrated by lighting the menorah candles each night until all are lit. Gifts are exchanged and seasonal food shared. Gelt, which is chocolate or real money, is often given. A dreidel or four-sided top is also a popular gift and game to be played. Latkes or potato pancakes are often served.

Kwanzaa. This modern holiday was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, an American academic to celebrate the African roots of Afro-Americans. The word is from Swahili and translated to “first fruits.” Seven candles, one black and three each of red and green are lit each night for the seven principles of Kwanzaa. These principles are Unity, Self-determination, Collective work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith. Other symbols are the colors of red (struggle) black (unity) and green (future) from flag created by Marcus Garvey at the beginning of the century, the unity cup, the candleholder for the candles, which is called the Kinara

Common Elements of Solstice Celebrations

Child of Wonder, Child of Light

A great many of the winter solstice festivals celebrate the birth of a wonder child. The child, especially a magical child represents hope and rebirth embodied.

The child is almost always a male and is often the result of a non-ordinary birth. The divine feminine is usually embodied in the birth and the Madonna/goddess image of fertility is often a part of the symbology.

Osiris, the Egyptian Sun god underwent death, dismemberment and resurrection yearly with the travels of the Sun and the rise and fall of the Nile River and thus the fertility of the area. In his guise as Horus he was the sun as well as the son. Pictured sitting on the lap of his mother Isis, his portrait is very reminiscent of the Christian Madonna with child images and is one of the earliest children of promise.

In ancient Greek myth the son god Attis was born in a cave around the time of Solstice and was the son of the Goddess Cybel or Isis. Attis grew to full strength with the sun and was yearly cut down to be reborn.

While Saturn was the sun god for whom Saturnalia, the great Roman solar festival was celebrated for, another god Mithras who was worshiped well (6th Century BC) before but then contemporarily (second century BC to fifth century CE) with Jesus. Mithras was also born in a cave of a virgin and later went through death and resurrection. Because Mithras was worshiped by Emperor Constantine before his conversation to Christianity he may be a more direct influence on the Christian story as well as the date since Mithras’ birthday was celebrated on December 25.

Even in North American among the Huron along the northern shore of Lake Ontario, a child of wonder named Deganawidah was born of a virgin. This child was sent by the Great Spirit as a messenger to bring peace to humankind. He traveled among the tribes and is credited with founding the Iroquois Confederacy. It is believed that he too will return to Earth at the time of greatest need. This is a clear parallel to the return of King Arthur and the Second Coming of Chris and would indicate that the story is an archetypal myth shared by humans all around the world.

Santa and other Father Winters

Is Santa a Shamanic concept? Many pictures of northern Shaman are very similar to woodland Santas — both ancient and modern. He appears in long fur robes, often with Bells and is often an older man. The Shaman works both in the spiritual realm and in the material sphere. The Shaman climbed the world tree to bring back gifts of spiritual knowledge as well as calling the herds to supply food and materials for the material lives of his people. Often he went up the smoke hole, the early chimney at night probably in trance, possibly with the herd of reindeer that supported his clan.

Like the Shaman, Santa embodies magic and mystery, the spirit of nature as well as universal human values of caring and generosity. The word Shaman is a Siberian word and this is the land of the reindeer. In his Primitive Mythology, Joseph Campbell describes a legendary Shaman who received his enlightenment in the nest of a winged reindeer in a tree, which was thought to reach the heavens.

There were also Goddesses who rode sleighs and delivered gifts. The Norse goddess Freya rode a chariot pulled by stags.

The life and legends of the Christian St. Nickolas continues the magic of the Shaman. As a young man St. Nickolas traveled to the holy land and on his way back was blown around in a storm and ended upon the coast of Lyca near Myra. He went to pray at the nearest church where the bishop was retiring. One member of the convocation (committee) to choose a new Bishop had had a vision that the new Bishop would be coming to the church and his name would be Nickolas. Arriving as he did the boy was made Bishop of Myra. After serving a prison term under the Romans, young St. Nickolas participated in the decision of Pope Liberus to make Dec 25 the official date of the birth of Christ and the celebration of Christmas. He was a generous man who gave much to the poor of Myca through out the year but especially around Christmas. He was also a Christian Shaman whose miracles that lead to his sainthood was bring back to life and form three boys who had been chopped up and boiled in a pot for stealing.

Modern Santas: Our modern image of Santa in a red suit can be traced to Thomas Nast, an amazing commercial artist of the 19th century. He developed Santa for President Lincoln as well as the Donkey and Elephant of the Democrats and Republicans. His illustration was used in New Yorker publication of Clement Moore�s famous poem, T�was the Night Before Christmas.

Coca Cola: Haddon Sunblom popularized most common image of the modern global culture in 1931.

Contemporary Santas: Even today the image of Santa grows and expands to fill hopes and dreams of all children. Modern Santas of all races and nationalities join woodland and other artist Santas to adorn homes and businesses. Woodland Santas stand on store shelves beside Santas who play golf, surf, and just about any activity you can imagine. Some even have electronic movement and sound.

Evergreens: The obvious symbol of eternal life, green when all else is barren and brown. Evergreens were probably held sacred very early in human prehistory. Again the palm fronds in Egypt and the greening during the Kalends are recorded examples.

The Christmas tree: In the sixth century it is said that the Christian St. Boniface cut down a sacred oak to spite local druids. As the tree fell, it crushed everything in its path except one cedar. He declared it a miracle and that the tree belonged to the Christ child. This is often cited as an example of cultural assimilation of Pagan religious symbology for political purposes.

Hanging of the greens: Decorating with evergreens was first noted in Egypt. It was also popular during the roman Saturnalia and Kalends. The Norse also brought in evergreens for decoration during the long snowy winters. Where Christmas is celebrated, the evergreens are often used to mark the start of the season, which is longer than any of the preceding cultures, now beginning shortly after Halloween and withering out sometime in middle January, marked mainly by clearance sales.

Holly: A symbol from the Celts, the male symbol of rebirth is again an evergreen, this time with red berries. A plant of protection, holly is the symbol of the god of the dark year.

Mistletoe: Mistletoe may have first been used in the Greek winter ceremonies. The Norse legend said it was blessed with luck and fertility by the goddess Frigga after Balder, her son, was shot by Loki, the dark and mischievous imp god, with an arrow of mistletoe. Her tears restored him to life and fell also on the mistletoe giving it magical properties. Mistletoe was also sacred to the Druids. As it dried, it became the golden bough, symbolic of both sun and moon, of the male and female mysteries.

Winged Goddesses, Angels and Elves: These range from representations of the Goddess Iris to the Catholic Holy Spirits. From the many spirits of the holy host to Santa�s magical elves these winged fairies bring another element of the mischievous imps to our Solstice season.

Madonna: The female remains firmly in the season, firmly eternal throughout the turning of the wheel, the force of nature herself. Her consort, son, partner going through continual birth and rebirth is the wonder child.

Yule log: This harks back to the importance of fire during the darkness of winter. A whole tree was burned during the Greek festival of Sacaea to scar away the Kallikantzuroi (mischievous imps) . The familiar Yule log was a Norse tradition adopted by the Christians. In early America there was a custom �freedom of the Yule, � a week off for slaves and savants while the Yule log burned. �Firewood as wet as a Yule log� was a saying that this custom generated.

These are many of the ancient legends of the Solstice, which have been important in the development of our modern holiday celebration. As modern spiritual seekers we are borrowing from and saving the old ways while we create new ways. We take what is significant to us and add to it, creating personal, family and community traditions. There are kids, stories, and magick as the Sun and Son once again returns!

Copyright: Rev Rose Wise- part of a developing powerpoint presentation

ABOUT…

Ozark Avalon

Location: Columbia, Missouri

Bio: Rev. Rose is the High Priest of ozark Avalon, a Wiccan Church and land sanctuary in Central Missouri

The season of Gateways and Babylon
Author: Temple Sorcery
Posted to The Witches’ Voice  October 12th. 2008

In the course of the natural man’s life, there is only change. Recurrent natural events as demonstrated in the annual rounds of the sun and the phases of the moon, the sequence of day and night, were familiar to men before words. When in observance of these cycles, as it has been understood, 6 being the number associated with Man, 7 being the number associated with perfection brings us to a complete cycle of 13. Thirteen thus becomes the complete cycle of one year, which equates to the illumination and perfection of man. Here we find one significant indication of what time is, the Perfection of Man!

In the ancient times many names exist for the triad of divinity in which some have used as a symbol there of depicting either the pyramid or a triangle. The Egyptian figure of Khons, which meant “to chase” was known in ancient times to be the son of Maut or the Goddess Mother. She was also depicted as Venus and her son Cupid. In that way even Valentines Day brings a new meaning. Valentine derives from the Latin word ‘valor’ so essentially Venus’s son was none other than “Cupid the Mighty.”

It is also important to note in those times that Khons was the “God of Hidden Counsels,” and “Concealer of Secrets.” To the Romans, Saturn the “God of Mysteries” whose name was used in Rome to signify “The Hidden One” was also known to be the father of Khons or Khonso as he was also called. Saturn was also known by the name Amoun, which is “The Hidden God.”

In Latin “Consus,” is translated as “god of horse races or those who produce the horse.” The primitive Centaur depicted in the Ancient Babylon Temple was a representation of Kronos or Saturn, “The Father or King of the Gods.” The first king of Babylon was known as the “Centaur of Babylon,” and was none other than the Nimrod the Mighty hunter ill depicted in biblical versions. It is interesting to note that Nimrod, “The spotted one,” as he was referred to or, “The mighty hunter,” was regarded identical to the Greek and Roman Bacchus the “The Bewailed” or “Lamented One” who was symbolized by Nebrod “The Spotted Fawn.” Bacchus was regarded as the same Phoenician and Assyrian Tammuz and Tammuz was regarded as the same as Adonis who was also regarded as the famous “Huntsman,” for whose death Venus is fabled to have made many bitter lamentations. The women of Egypt, as the Phoenician and Assyrian women, the women of Greece and Rome wept for “The bewailed, “or “Lamented one.”

Nimrod was reputed to have been ripped to pieces and his flesh boiled and eaten by giants. Jupiter, the King of the Gods, was so excited by the cruelty of the deed; he turned his thunderous wrath to the titans. Nimrod after having only his heart snatched away and preserved by Minerva and by a new regeneration was restored and once again “filled up the number of the gods.” It is noteworthy to point out that Orion also was torn to pieces in a similar fashion then was translated to the stars. Was it to “fill up the number of the stars (gods?) This brings to mind Crowley’s axiom “Every Man and Woman is a Star.”

The sacred heart depicted in Catholic terms begins to take on a new light here. “The Sacred Heart,” being one of the sacred symbols of Osiris born again, or the Chaldean “Sacred Bel” (or heart) is none other than the lamented mighty one of Babylon. As the Catholics have parked their Vatican upon our ancestral pagan holy place so have they also parked their truth upon ours! Who then is the cornerstone of their church?

We find that the word Bab-ilu or Bab-ilii in ancient semantic actually translates to the meaning of “Gate of God.” The Babylonian tower and pagan empire begins to take on a more true meaning. As we come once again to the observance of Samhain the season of gateways, it is understood that not only does this mark the last harvest of the year in terms of our ancestors, it also marks the 3 day portal to the future and the past, but also has reference to the thinning of the veil or a gateway from the realm of the living to that of the dead. As we make our observances and meditations let us not forget the “Sacred Heart” or to invoke the Hidden God within us, so that each of us complete the number of the Gods (Stars) . For just as the heart of the son, of the Hidden God was preserved we search ever inwardly for the hidden god within.

May this and every Samhain be a path well lit to the inner mysteries of the god and goddess within each of you. May Amoun, “The Hidden God,” who is also the father of the “Hidden Gods,” light your path to wisdom for just as in ancient times the gateway is within you and our Pagan Babylonian Empire still shines in ether from within.

As the winds of time changes,
So do the lives of the living,
For as the voice of your spirit
Is carried on the howling winds of deep night
The eyes from the abyss return their gaze unseen
And shall ever more gaze upon thee
So are the footsteps at the dead quite of night
And at the cold crisp night do they smite
Look into my eyes what do you see
Who is that dancing in the gaze of thee
What is the drumbeat of a far off sound
That echoes in your ears with a deep dark pound,
What is the whisper that we all can hear
When all if far off and none are near
Loud is the whispered shriek of the Nightman’s call,
Where is sleep and where is wake
Does sleep time being at daylight break
From the hand of the man the sands do fall
One by one until none at all
Until it is time to begin it all again
Being the first to burst from that silent sea
As from the lips of a babe you hear the old man call
The Old Man lives in me

As Above So Below,
As Within So Without

Thoth3G
Alternately
..::.. ALV