vineri, 17 iunie 2011

[Earthwise] Digest Number 2635

Messages In This Digest (6 Messages)

Messages

1a.

A Midsummer's Celebration

Posted by: "Silver Fox" silverfox_57@hotmail.com   trickster9993

Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:45 am (PDT)




A Midsummer's Celebration
Document Copyright © 1986, 2002 by Mike Nichols

The young maid stole through the cottage door,
And blushed as she sought the Plant of pow'r;--
'Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John's wort tonight,
The wonderful herb, whose leaf will decide
If the coming year shall make me a bride.

In addition to the four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year, there are four lesser holidays as well: the two solstices, and the two equinoxes. In folklore, these are referred to as the four 'quarter-days' of the year, and modern Witches call them the four 'Lesser Sabbats', or the four 'Low Holidays'. The Summer Solstice is one of them.

Technically, a solstice is an astronomical point and, due to the calendar creep of the leap-year cycle, the date may vary by a few days depending on the year. The summer solstice occurs when the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer, and we experience the longest day and the shortest night of the year. Astrologers know this as the date on which the sun enters the sign of Cancer.

However, since most European peasants were not accomplished at reading an ephemeris or did not live close enough to Salisbury Plain to trot over to Stonehenge and sight down its main avenue, they celebrated the event on a fixed calendar date, June 24th. The slight forward displacement of the traditional date is the result of multitudinous calendrical changes down through the ages. It is analogous to the winter solstice celebration, which is astronomically on or about December 21st, but is celebrated on the traditional date of December 25th, Yule, later adopted by the Christians.

Again, it must be remembered that the Celts reckoned their days from sundown to sundown, so the June 24th festivities actually begin on the previous sundown (our June 23rd). This was Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Eve. Which brings up another point: our modern calendars are quite misguided in suggesting that 'summer begins' on the solstice. According to the old folk calendar, summer begins on May Day and ends on Lammas (August 1st), with the summer solstice, midway between the two, marking mid-summer. This makes more logical sense than suggesting that summer begins on the day when the sun's power begins to wane and the days grow shorter.

Although our Pagan ancestors probably preferred June 24th (and indeed most European folk festivals today use this date), the sensibility of modern Witches seems to prefer the actual solstice point, beginning the celebration on its eve, or the sunset immediately preceding the solstice point. Again, it gives modern Pagans a range of dates to choose from with, hopefully, a weekend embedded in it.

Just as the Pagan mid-winter celebration of Yule was adopted by Christians as Christmas (December 25th), so too the Pagan mid-summer celebration was adopted by them as the feast of John the Baptist (June 24th). Occurring 180 degrees apart on the wheel of the year, the mid-winter celebration commemorates the birth of Jesus, while the mid-summer celebration commemorates the birth of John, the prophet who was born six months before Jesus in order to announce his arrival.

Although modern Witches often refer to the holiday by the rather generic name of Midsummer's Eve, it is more probable that our Pagan ancestors of a few hundred years ago actually used the Christian name for the holiday, St. John's Eve. This is evident from the wealth of folklore that surrounds the summer solstice (i.e. that it is a night especially sacred to the faerie folk) but which is inevitably ascribed to 'St. John's Eve', with no mention of the sun's position. It could also be argued that a Coven's claim to antiquity might be judged by what name it gives the holidays. (Incidentally, the name 'Litha' for the holiday is a modern usage, possibly based on a Saxon word that means the opposite of Yule. Still, there is little historical justification for its use in this context.) But weren't our Pagan ancestors offended by the use of the name of a Christian saint for a pre-Christian holiday?

Well, to begin with, their theological sensibilities may not have been as finely honed as our own. But secondly and more importantly, St. John himself was often seen as a rather Pagan figure. He was, after all, called 'the Oak King'. His connection to the wilderness (from whence 'the voice cried out') was often emphasized by the rustic nature of his shrines. Many statues show him as a horned figure (as is also the case with Moses). Christian iconographers mumble embarrassed explanations about 'horns of light', while modern Pagans giggle and happily refer to such statues as 'Pan the Baptist'. And to clench matters, many depictions of John actually show him with the lower torso of a satyr, cloven hooves and all! Obviously, this kind of John the Baptist is more properly a Jack in the Green! Also obvious is that behind the medieval conception of St. John lies a distant, shadowy Pagan deity, perhaps the archetypal Wild Man of the Wood, whose face stares down at us through the foliate masks that adorn so much church architecture. Thus medieval Pagans may have had fewer problems adapting than we might suppose.

In England, it was the ancient custom on St. John's Eve to light large bonfires after sundown, which served the double purpose of providing light to the revelers and warding off evil spirits. This was known as 'setting the watch'. People often jumped through the fires for good luck. In addition to these fires, the streets were lined with lanterns, and people carried cressets (pivoted lanterns atop poles) as they wandered from one bonfire to another. These wandering, garland-bedecked bands were called a 'marching watch'. Often they were attended by morris dancers, and traditional players dressed as a unicorn, a dragon, and six hobby-horse riders. Just asMay Day was a time to renew the boundary on one's own property, so Midsummer's Eve was a time to ward the boundary of the city.

Customs surrounding St. John's Eve are many and varied. At the very least, most young folk plan to stay up throughout the whole of this shortest night. Certain courageous souls might spend the night keeping watch in the center of a circle of standing stones. To do so would certainly result in either death, madness, or (hopefully) the power of inspiration to become a great poet or bard. (This is, by the way, identical to certain incidents in the first branch of the 'Mabinogion'.) This was also the night when the serpents of the island would roll themselves into a hissing, writhing ball in order to engender the 'glain', also called the 'serpent's egg', 'snake stone', or 'Druid's egg'. Anyone in possession of this hard glass bubble would wield incredible magical powers. Even Merlyn himself (accompanied by his black dog) went in search of it, according to one ancient Welsh story.

Snakes were not the only creatures active on Midsummer's Eve. According to British faery lore, this night was second only to Halloween for its importance to the wee folk, who especially enjoyed a ridling on such a fine summer's night. In order to see them, you had only to gather fern seed at the stroke of midnight and rub it onto your eyelids. But be sure to carry a little bit of rue in your pocket, or you might well be 'pixie-led'. Or, failing the rue, you might simply turn your jacket inside-out, which should keep you from harm's way. But if even this fails, you must seek out one of the 'ley lines', the old straight tracks, and stay upon it to your destination. This will keep you safe from any malevolent power, as will crossing a stream of 'living' (running) water.

Other customs included decking the house (especially over the front door) with birch, fennel, St. John's wort, orpin, and white lilies. Five plants were thought to have special magical properties on this night: rue, roses, St. John's wort, vervain and trefoil. Indeed, Midsummer's Eve in Spain is called the 'Night of the Verbena (Vervain)'. St. John's wort was especially honored by young maidens who picked it in the hopes of divining a future lover.

And the glow-worm came
With its silvery flame,
And sparkled and shone
Through the night of St. John,
And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied.

There are also many mythical associations with the summer solstice, not the least of which concerns the seasonal life of the God of the sun. Inasmuch as I believe that I have recently discovered certain associations and correspondences not hitherto realized, I have elected to treat this subject in some depth in another essay. Suffice it to say here, that I disagree with the generally accepted idea that the Sun-God meets his death at the summer solstice. I believe there is good reason to see the Sun-God at his zenith -- his peak of power -- on this day, and that his death at the hands of his rival would not occur for another quarter of a year. Material drawn from the Welsh mythos seems to support this thesis. In Irish mythology, Midsummer is the occasion of the first battle between the Fir Bolgs and the Tuatha De Danaan.

Altogether, Midsummer is a favorite holiday for many Witches in that it is so hospitable to outdoor celebrations. The warm summer night seems to invite it. And if the celebrants are not in fact skyclad, then you may be fairly certain that the long ritual robes of winter have yielded place to short, tunic-style apparel. As with the longer gowns, tradition dictates that one should wear nothing underneath -- the next best thing to skyclad, to be sure. (Incidentally, now you know the real answer to the old Scottish joke, 'What is worn beneath the kilt?')

The two chief icons of the holiday are the spear (symbol of the Sun-God in his glory) and the summer cauldron (symbol of the Goddess in her bounty). The precise meaning of these two symbols, which I believe I have recently discovered, will be explored in the essay on the death of Llew. But it is interesting to note here that modern Witches often use these same symbols in the Midsummer rituals. And one occasionally hears the alternative consecration formula, 'As the spear is to the male, so the cauldron is to the female...' With these mythic associations, it is no wonder that Midsummer is such a joyous and magical occasion!

Silver Fox

"It is all true, it is not true. The more I tell you, the more I shall lie. What is story but jesting Pilate's cry. I am not paid to tell you the truth."
Jane Yolen; The Storyteller
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2a.

A Smattering of Solstice Spells

Posted by: "Silver Fox" silverfox_57@hotmail.com   trickster9993

Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:45 am (PDT)




A Smattering of Solstice Spells
By: Melanie Fire Salamander
Copyright C 2004

As a pagan, you may well light a bonfire Midsummer night and jump it, for Litha is a fire festival. Likewise, you may stay up to greet the Midsummer dawn. If you do, keep a pair of garden shears handy. Midsummer's Eve at midnight, Midsummer's Day at dawn and Midsummer noon are prime times to collect plants sacred to the sun or special to the fey. In fact, any magickal herb plucked at Midsummer is said to prove doubly effective and
keep better. Divining rods cut on Midsummer's Eve are said to be more infallible, too. You can charge your charms, depending on their purpose, at midnight, noon or in dawn's first light. Charms traditional at Litha include those for courage, dream divination, Fertility, invisibility, love, luck, protection, wealth, the restoration of sight and the ability to see the fey. Midsummer is a fey time, both by tradition and observation. The scent of the air is thick, green and juicy; it's lost its spring astringency and is simply lush. The whole world is stretching its limbs and frolicking. The fey are big on that. Especially for charms of love, gardening and magickal abilities, the fey are a great help in herb collecting. In exchange, they like gifts of milk and honey, cookies, sweet liqueurs, or any sweet food, drink or liquor. They also like baubles, particularly pretty or shiny. Or cold hard cash -- but in coin, not paper, and it's best if shiny.

To stay in good with the fey and the herbs you collect from, leave enough of the plant or other plants of the type that the herb survives in the spot collected from. Remember too to always ask the plant before taking a cutting, and to wait for an answer. A quid pro quo usually works: a shiny dime, some fertilizer, or a bit of your hair or clothing -- whatever you think the plant most wants.

Courage: Tuscans use erba della paura (stachys) collected on Midsummer's Day as a wash against fear. Steep the herb in hot but not boiling water, then rinse the limbs with long strokes moving outward from the torso. You might substitute wood betony, a relative more common in North America.

Dream divination: Litha is a good time for foretelling things in dreams. Specifically, to induce dreams of love and ensure them coming true, lay a bunch of flowers under your pillow on Midsummer Eve. That's what the girls of old Scandinavia did.

For effective dream divination, remember to keep a notebook beside your bed. At bedtime, relax, ground and center, then clearly define your question. Meditate on that question until it's firm in your mind, and assure yourself you will remember your dream on waking. Then go to sleep. As soon as you wake, record your dream. One trick is to set an alarm clock so you're wakened artificially, which can help dream recollection. Dreams dreamed on Midsummer's Eve are said to be more likely to come true.

Fertility for your garden: For a lush garden, mix ashes from the Midsummer bonfire with any seeds yet to plant. (You still have time to plant cosmos and a handful of fall-blooming flowers.) Likewise, for fertility sprinkle bonfire ashes on any flowers or vegetables you have growing.

Fey charms: To see the fey, pick flowers from a patch of wild thyme where the little folk live and place the flowers on your eyes. A four-leafed clover not only grants you a wish but also, carried in your pocket or a charm, gives you the power to see fairies dancing in rings. A good place to look is by oaks, said in Germany to be a favorite place for fey dances. To penetrate fey glamour, make and wear an ointment including four leaved clovers.

St. John's wort, also known as ragwort, has a strong connection to the fey and transportation. You might add it to charms to travel quickly. The Irish call the plant the fairy's horse, and the fey are said to ride it through the air. But beware: The Manx say if you step on a ragwort plant on Midsummer's Eve after sunset, a fairy horse springs out of the earth and carries you off till sunrise, leaving you wherever you happen to be when the
sun comes up.

Invisibility: Collect fern seed on Midsummer Eve for use in charms of invisibility. To become invisible, wear or swallow the seed (that is, the spores) you have collected. Such spores also put you under the protection of spirits. The fern is said to bloom at midnight on Midsummer Eve, either a sapphire blue or golden yellow depending on your source.

Love: Plant two orpine starts (Sedum telephium) together on Midsummer Eve, one to represent yourself, one to represent your lover. If one withers, the person represented will die. But if both flourish and grow leaning together, you and your lover will marry.

Luck and human fertility: As at Beltaine, leap the Midsummer bonfire for fertility and luck.

Protection: Herbs traditional to Litha (also know as St. John's Day) in England include St. John's wort, hawkweed, orpine, vervain, mullein, wormwood and mistletoe. Plucked either at Midsummer's Eve on midnight or noon Midsummer Day and hung in the house, they protect it from fire and lightning. Worn in a charm on your body, they protect you from disease, disaster and the workings of your enemies.

Sight: Dew gathered Midsummer Eve is said to restore sight.

Wealth: The fern also has a connection with wealth. Sprinkle fern seed in your savings to keep them from decreasing. The alleged golden-yellow fern flower, plucked on Midsummer Eve at midnight, can be used as a dowsing tool to lead to golden treasure. Alternatively (the Russian version), you throw the flower in the air, and it lands on buried treasure. Or, if you're Bohemian, you pluck the flower and on the same Midsummer Night climb a mountain with blossom in hand. On the mountain, you'll find gold or have it revealed in a vision. If you wait patiently till midnight on Midsummer Eve and see no such golden fern flower, perhaps invisibility will have to do.

Silver Fox

"It is all true, it is not true. The more I tell you, the more I shall lie. What is story but jesting Pilate's cry. I am not paid to tell you the truth."
Jane Yolen; The Storyteller
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3.

Dance Of Fireflies Spell

Posted by: "Silver Fox" silverfox_57@hotmail.com   trickster9993

Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:47 am (PDT)




Dance Of Fireflies Spell
By Elizabeth Barrette

"You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep"
Owl City; Fireflies

With the dreamy heat of late summer and the soft shadows of the warm twilight comes one of the most magical sights of the year: the dance of the fireflies. These insects inhabit the border between magic and reality; scientists still don't understand the secrets of their cool light. Do you remember chasing them as a child? Go outside tonight and watch them again. You may wish to greet them with something like this:

Firefly flicker,
Firefly glow,
Light up the sky and the world below.

Here on the shadowed stage you must play;
Your light is invisible by day.

In this you teach us to see,
That dark brings beauty with its mystery.

Silver Fox

"It is all true, it is not true. The more I tell you, the more I shall lie. What is story but jesting Pilate's cry. I am not paid to tell you the truth."
Jane Yolen; The Storyteller
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4.

Midsummer Activity - Build Your Own Stonehenge Activity

Posted by: "Silver Fox" silverfox_57@hotmail.com   trickster9993

Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:48 am (PDT)




Build Your Own Stonehenge Activity
http://fun.familyeducation.com/outdoor-games/winter/35028.html

Time: 1 to 2 hours
Type of Activity: Science

Materials needed:


Center stake for reference point.
50 feet of rope.
20 to 30 marker stones or small stakes.
A compass.

Here's a unique way to celebrate the solstice: Build your own Stonehenge. As you might know, Stonehenge is one of the oldest (4,000+ years) and best known astronomical calendar sites in the world. You can recreate it without going through the bother of lugging 25 to 50 ton slabs of rock around the neighborhood. All you'll need is a bit of ambition, and a location offering an unobstructed view of the eastern or western horizon. Locations offering a 360º horizon view are ideal (and rare).

What to do

The first thing you'll need to do is create a viewing circle. Anchor a reference stake at the center point of the circle and place your compass on top of it. Find due north and place a marker at 50 feet north of the center. Repeat the process for east, west and south. (The rope is used as a guide to insure that all markers are equidistant from the center stake.) Again, using the rope as a guide, place a small marker stone every few feet around the perimeter of your circle. The center of the circle now becomes your fixed reference point and the westward facing perimeter is where you'll be placing the sunset markers.

The calendar can be started at any time, but the solstice sunsets are the most fun. Mark the point of sunset with a pole, stake or other (not easily moved) marker. Tag the marker with the date of sunset.

Repeat the process every seven days or so. Over the weeks and months you'll note that the sun appears to "walk" faster at some times of the year than others. When you've finished (in a year's time) you'll have a working astronomical calendar and an excuse to invite friends and classmates over to the house to check the date.

Non-construction alternatives

Photo-op: Take a snapshot of the western skyline and tape it to the wall by a western facing window. With a felt tip marker draw an arrow on the photo corresponding to the point of sunset and note the date. Repeat the process.

Window marks: (This takes two people.) Standing at the same point in the room of a western facing window, have the other person make a small mark on the glass where the sun sets. Note the date and repeat the process on a weekly basis.
How it works

The principle behind an astronomical calendar is simple. The apparent rising and setting horizon point of the sun changes with each passing day. The different points correspond to different days of the year.

At minimum, an astronomical calendar only requires a fixed reference point for viewing and another fixed reference point marking the position of the rising and/or setting sun on the horizon.

In the Northern Hemisphere, if you were to watch a time-lapse movie of a year's worth of sunsets, you would notice that the sun appears to "walk" back and forth across the western horizon. The winter solstice marks the southern limit of the sun's journey and the summer solstice is the northern boundary. Closer examination would reveal that, with the exception of the two solstice extremes, every other point on the horizon is crossed twice during the course of the year. Once on the southern march and again on the northern return.

At the time of the winter and summer solstices, (around December 22 and June 22) the sun is directly overhead at either the Tropic of Cancer (summer) or the Tropic of Capricorn (winter). In the Northern Hemisphere these dates mark the beginnings of summer and winter and the days of the longest and shortest hours of daylight.

Silver Fox

"It is all true, it is not true. The more I tell you, the more I shall lie. What is story but jesting Pilate's cry. I am not paid to tell you the truth."
Jane Yolen; The Storyteller
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5.

MidSummer Incense and Oil By: Me

Posted by: "Bootie Boo" rowan2124@yahoo.com   rowan2124

Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:07 am (PDT)



Incense
2parts Orange Peel
2parts Lemon Peel
1part Mistletoe
1part Holly
1/2part Frankincense
1/2part Myrrh
3drops Heliotrope Oil

Oil
Base Oil (JoJoba)
1drop each of the following essential oils
Frankincense
Myrrh
Heliotrope
Orange
Lemon
1 small Citrine Stone. (To keep the energies pure and fresh).
Blessed Be!

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6.

Meditation Tips

Posted by: "Holly Stokes" holly@ravenmadness.com   hollyberrysheart

Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:20 pm (PDT)



Meditation is a great tool . There are many forms of meditation and many
reasons why one might meditate.

It helps to relax, reduce stress, helps with anger, sleep, focus and can
also help remember past events or even past lives. These are just a few of
the things that you can do with meditation.

It's best to try many types of meditation until you find the one that is
right for you.

When just beginning to meditate it can help by listening to tranquil music
and then even more so if you use headphones. The headphones will help drown
out any outside noises while you learn your meditation.

The more you do the better you become. It can sometimes be hard to focus and
stop the mind from wandering in the beginning. Practice makes perfect.. the
more you meditate the better you become at it and soon you'll be able to
meditate with little or no trouble at all.

There are many techniques online. I suggest you google meditation techniques
and try out as many as you like. You will find that some are easier for you
than others. Everyone is different and so what works for one may not work
for another.

Practice visualizing ordinary, everyday things.

Part of meditation is the ability to visualize. start out with closing your
eyes and visualizing ordinary, everyday objects, when you master one object.
move on to another .. soon you will be able to do this with ease.

Guided meditation vs self guided meditation.

Guided meditation is where someone else is talking you through a meditation
technique and self guided is where you memorize steps to a meditation and do
it by memory alone.

Guided meditation can sometimes work better simply because you are focused
on the words someone else is saying and you are able to completely let go
and ease into the picture that they paint for you with their wording.

When you memorize a meditation and do a self guided meditation.. you have to
try and let yourself go to the place you are seeking along with continuing
to guide yourself down that path.. so you can see how that maybe like trying
to live in two worlds at one time.

Try both . one may suit you better than another and then again sometimes you
will find certain types of meditation are best self guided and others work
better guided by someone else. like past life regression.

When trying to remember a past life .. it is easier to participate in a
guided meditation .. that way someone else guides you down that path while
you are able to completely let go and travel that road without the task of
keeping yourself on track. it is the responsibility of the other person to
do that and you can have the freedom to roam about that life fully. Also
it's good to have someone else with you as you explore past lives or even
past events in your current life so that if you go too deeply or experience
great tragedy .. they can see you struggling and bring you back up if
needed.

Comfort - You must be in a comfortable place when meditating .. you can't be
too hot or too cold or uncomfortable in general.. it breaks your
concentration and disrupts the process.

I hope these tips have helped.

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Blog: <http://raventalker.wordpress.com> http://raventalker.wordpress.com
or <http://wordsofraven.blogspot.com/> http://wordsofraven.blogspot.com/
Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/raventalker>
http://www.twitter.com/raventalker
YouTube: <http://www.youtube.com/user/Raventalker777>
http://www.youtube.com/user/Raventalker777

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