Ancient Light's Daily Stuff

Daily Stuff 7-16-18 Hijri Calendar

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 9:56 AM of -1.6 feet. Tomorrow’s newsletter is likely to be very late since there’s no internet at the house, anymore.

It’s solidly overcast at 700 feet and very humid (92%). 59F with the wind at 13mph. Closer to the water it’s even more, but inland there’s hardly any wind. It’s supposed to be partly sunny this afternoon.

Yesterday morning was actually chilly! Of course, I rarely see 8:30 in the morning… 🙂 It was a nice change from stewing…. Tempus went to pick up the Job Corps students at about 8:15 while I checked mail and when they came in, we were started on class by 9am…. and didn’t quit, except for a lunch break, until 3:20! They’re a very motivated bunch.

The shop was busy. There were about 50 people through the door, not counting the class people, so we were kept hopping!

So we scrambled to get the food prepped for the potluck and no one else showed up. So we cleaned up, sorted stuff out and headed home. The Moon and Venus were very close, hanging in the Western sky.

We’ve been cleaning this morning and I harvested honeysuckle blooms again. Tempus is heading back home for an inspection and he’s going to water the plants. I’m going to be at the shop all day. I have a stack of crystals to check in and then more books.

Today’s Feast is the anniversary date of the Hijri Calendar, the main religious calendar for Islam. Year 1 is our 622CE. It’s a lunar calendar, which means that the dates for the hajj and Ramadan and other celebrations shift around, compared to the solar-based calendars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar

Today’s plant is Western Red Cedar, Arborvitae plicata, which is not a cedar at all, but an Arborvitae. Arborvitae comes from the Latin for “tree of life” and coincidentally, native Americans of the West coast also address the species as “long life maker”. “Western Redcedar has an extensive history of use by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, from Oregon to southeast Alaska. Some northwest coast tribes refer to themselves as “people of the redcedar” because of their extensive dependence on the tree for basic materials. The wood has been used for constructing housing, totem poles, and crafted into many objects, including masks, utensils, boxes, boards, instruments, canoes, vessels, and ceremonial objects. Roots and bark were used for baskets, ropes, clothing, blankets and rings.” Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_plicata – Masculine, Sun. Fire, – to enhance banishing of ill health and bad dreams. Burn for this purpose and purification and psychic power. Make a sachet for love or courage.

The shop opens at 11am. Summer hours are 11am-7pm Thursday through Monday. Need something off hours? Give us a call at 541-563-7154 or Facebook or email at ancientlight@peak.org If we’re supposed to be closed, but it looks like we’re there, try the door. If it’s open, the shop’s open! In case of bad weather, check here at the blog for updates, on our Facebook as Ancient Light, or call the shop.

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

On Saturday evening the 14th, try to catch the thin crescent Moon above Mercury very low in bright twilight. Binoculars help. Now the crescent Moon in twilight shines upper left of Venus. Its sunlit bulge points down almost straight toward Venus — and, as always, exactly straight toward the Sun.

The Great Christmas Comet of 2011 (Comet C/2011 W3, Lovejoy)appears next to the Milky Way in this image taken near Roma in Queensland, Australia. The haze of yellow light to the left is Zodiacal light, while the ghostly green light to the right is airglow. – Naskies/Wikimedia Commons for more – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2011_W3_ (Lovejoy)
Observers with telescopes should get their first good views of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner before dawn in mid-July. The comet currently glows at 10th magnitude against the photogenic northern Milky Way of southern Cepheus. This morning, Giacobini-Zinner lies midway between 3rd-magnitude Zeta (ζ) Cephei and 4th-magnitude Delta (δ) Cep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21P/Giacobini%E2%80%93Zinner
Mercury, low in the afterglow of sunset, fades this week from magnitude +0.4 to +1.1 while sinking even lower. Look for it in the west-northwest, about 18° lower right of Venus, about 30 minutes after sunset. Binoculars help, especially by the end of the week.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
Moon in Virgo
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde
Color – Grey

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Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4, Tinne (CHIN-yuh), holly – The holly (Ilex aquifolium L.) is a shrub growing to 10 m (35 feet) in open woodlands and along clearings in forests. Hollies are evergreen, and stand out in winter among the bare branches of the deciduous forest trees that surround them. Hollies form red berries before Samhain which last until the birds finish eating them, often after Imbolc. The typical “holly leaf” is found on smaller plants, but toward the tops of taller plants the leaves have fewer spiny teeth. Hollies are members of the Holly family (Aquifoliaceae). The common holly is often cultivated in North America, as are hybrids between it and Asiatic holly species.
Graves (1966) and others are of the opinion that the original tinne was not the holly, but rather the holm oak, or holly oak (Quercus ilex L.). This is an evergreen oak of southern Europe that grows as a shrub, or as a tree to 25 m (80 feet). Like the holly, the holm oak has spiny-edged leaves on young growth. It does not have red berries, but it does have red leaf “galls” caused by the kermes scale insect; these are the source of natural scarlet dye. Holm oaks are occasionally cultivated in North America.

Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

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Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
M   16     High   3:07 AM     8.1   5:47 AM    Rise 10:10 AM      10
~ 16      Low   9:56 AM    -1.6   8:57 PM     Set 11:39 PM
~ 16     High   4:28 PM     7.3
~ 16      Low 10:18 PM     1.5

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Mastery, you are my friend. You are with me always.

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Journal Prompt –

Persuasive – Think of something you value highly, that you wish your family valued, too. Write a letter that will persuade them of its value.

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Quotes

~ The two most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. – Harlan Ellison
~ There is no pleasure in life equal to that of the conquest of a vicious habit. – Unknown
~ There is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. Three people are better than no people. – Fannie Hurst (1889-1968) US writer
~ This evening is as brief as the twinkling of an eye yet such twinklings is what eternity is made of. – Fred Rogers

My emblem is the Lion, and I breathe
The breath of Libyan deserts o’er the land;
My sickle as a sabre I unsheathe,
And bent before me the pale harvests stand.
The lakes and rivers shrink at my command,
And there is thirst and fever in the air;
The sky is changed to brass, the earth to sand;
I am the Emperor whose name I bear. – HW Longfellow (1807 – ‘82); The Poet’s Calendar for July

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Lughnasadh Magick – Recipes

Lammas Potpourri

20 drops clove bud oil
23 drops sandalwood oil
1 cup oak moss
2 cups dried pink rosebuds
2 cups dried red peony petals
1 cupdried amaranth flowers
1 cup dried heather flowers
1/2 cup dried cornflowers.

Mix the clove bud and sandalwood oils with the oak moss, first.
Add the remaining ingredients,
Stir the potpourri well and store in a tightly covered ceramic or glass container. – GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives 2002

Lughnasadh Incense Recipe

2 tsp Heather
1 tsp Frankincense
1 tsp Apple Blossoms
1/4 tsp Blackberry leaves
1/4 tsp wood base
1/8 tsp salt petre

Self-burning, no charcoal needed. Do place on sand to burn. – GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives 2002

BERRIES WITH GERANIUM CREAM – Check your local farmers market or Chef’s Garden (800-289-4644) for the geranium leaves or experiment with other leaves such as fresh basil or mint.

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped pesticide-free rose-scented geranium (pelargonium) leaves
1/4 cup sugar
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups blackberries (13 oz)
1 1/2 cups blueberries (8 oz)

Heat cream, geranium leaves, and sugar in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water
Stir until sugar is dissolved and cream is hot but not boiling, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool slightly, then chill until cold, about 45 minutes.
Pour cream through a sieve set into a bowl and discard solids.
Beat together cream cheese and cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until thickened (cream should not hold peaks), about 2 minutes.
Divide blackberries and blueberries among 6 bowls or parfait glasses and top with cream.

Cooks’ note: Cream can be beaten up to 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Makes 6 dessert servings.

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Silliness – Even More Signs Technology Took Over Your Life – – You own a set of itty-bitty screw-drivers and you actually know where they are.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Arborvitae, Arborvitae plicata, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Even More Signs Technology Took Over Your Life, Goddess Month, Hijri Calendar, Journal Prompt, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Lughnasadh Recipes, Magick, Moon, moon phase, My emblem is the Lion, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Western Red Cedar, Western Redcedar, Wicca

Daily Stuff 7-15-18 Dioscuri

Posted on July 15, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 9:10 AM of -2.1 feet. Wicca 101 at 9am. House Capuchin Project Day Noon to 5pm. Potluck at 5pm.

52F with the wind at 3mph, but it’s really early, just past 8am. The humidity is at 100% at the moment, which is making the cloudless sky look like milk got stirred into the paint. The fog over the south side of the Bay is just rising, hitting maybe 200 feet, but it’s burning off fast. It looks to be a lovely day! The UV is going to be at least 8, though, so wear your sunblock.

Whee! The day started really crazy, yesterday. I was working hard on the starts that I had cut before we headed for the shop. That was after coffee and the newsletter, of course. Tempus got my workspace ready and I started in with potatoes, rose clippings and a big pot of dirt. …and then a lot of string to hang things to dry. We had customers running in and out during all of this.

We had people in and out all day. One lady came back three times! There was a set from Idaho, several from the Valley and one from Colorado! …and I’m pretty sure the total was over 80 people through the door.

Tempus finally got the vacuuming of the mess from moving the plants Thursday night done at nearly closing time. I had run out to get some fabric from Ruth’s, so I can get those cloths done tomorrow and off in the mail.

We have a lot of plants in new pots and lots of starts of various kinds! Tempus also found a batch of stones that had gone someplace strange and never gotten checked in. Gotta work on those this morning, although it may have to wait until after the Job Corps kids head out.

Yes, we’re restarting their 101 class on Sundays. I don’t know how faithful they’ll be or how long we’ll go this time, but we’ll see.

This afternoon is House Capuchin’s Project Day and Potluck. Projects will be going on all afternoon, depending on who is here and how busy the shop is. I have some cooking to do. 🙂 There’s a wine sauce that I need to make for the pork, although we still have a bit of the cherry left. …and we’ve shifted the potluck time to 5pm, since it’s light enough out in the evenings for people to drive home.

Eye in the sky – moonset over the Pacific. Yachats, Oregon. JT Price‎ posted this in the Waldport Community Facebook page, yesterday. Used with permission!

Today’s Feast is that of the Dioscuri, the twins, Castor and Pollux, venerated in Greece, Rome, by the Celts and across the empire. One was human and one immortal and not wanting to be parted, even in death, the immortal one begged the gods to let him and his brother stay together. Thus they became the constellation of Gemini. There’s a good Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_and_Pollux

Today’s Plant is Skunk Cabbage, Lysichitum americanum. This is one of the signs of spring here on the coast, where every drainage ditch or marshy field has it’s glow of brilliant yellow and bright, deep green. It is a famine food with a spicy or peppery taste, but contains calcium oxalate, which can upset the insides and even cause death if you get too much. Bears eat it after hibernation to get their intestines working again. It is used to cure sores and swellings, particularly after winter, when starvation conditions make these things immensely worse. However the typical use of the local peoples of this herb was to line baskets with the huge leaves to keep things from bruising or dropping through and to wrap around foods when baked under a fire, where it imparts a distinctive taste to the crust. Cunningham’s Encyclopedia references Eastern Skunk Cabbage, which is a different plant with a red flower, but the magicks are the same, Symplocarpus foetidus –Feminine, Saturn, Water – Carry when you have legal troubles, or keep in the drawer with the filed papers. Wrap in a bay leaf on a Sunday to draw good fortune. More here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysichitum_americanum and on Eastern Skunk Cabbage here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symplocarpus_foetidus

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

On Saturday evening the 14th, try to catch the thin crescent Moon above Mercury very low in bright twilight. Binoculars help. Moon and Venus: a lovely couple! The Moon moves approximately 13° eastward relative to the starry background every 24 hours, and that motion carries it near Venus this evening. The crescent Moon appears just 2° to the right of the brilliant planet, which gleams at magnitude –4.2. The stunning duo stands 15° high in the west 45 minutes after sunset. This conjunction provides a nice photo opportunity. If you shoot the twilight scene before 9:30 p.m. local daylight time, you’ll also capture Regulus to the lower right and Mercury even closer to the horizon. When viewed through a telescope, Venus appears 18″ across and nearly two-thirds lit. Hanging dramatically in the west during twilight will be quite the eye-catcher: Venus and the crescent Moon closely paired. How closely depends on where you are. Seen at the time of dusk in North America’s eastern time zone, they’ll appear about 2° apart. Seen from the West, they’ll be less than 1° apart.
Also, look carefully a little to their lower right for Regulus twinkling away. It’s slightly less than 1% as bright as Venus.
Venus through Regulus points straight to Mercury; binoculars will help.
You may also be able to catch Mercury much farther lower right. A line from Mars is the “star” planet of the summer! It’s a spot of fire blazing like nothing else in the late-night sky. At about magnitude –2.6 and growing, it outshines even Jupiter. Mars rises in the southeast during twilight. After dark it’s a weird anomaly low in the southeast, in southern Capricornus. Mars is highest in the south, in best telescopic view, around 2 a.m. daylight-saving time and is getting low in the southwest by dawn. It’s 23 arcseconds in diameter, on its way to 24.3 arcseconds for the week around its closest approach on the night of July 30-31.
071318 Mars astro dust storm – This series of images shows simulated views of the Sun as seen from the surface of Mars as the planet-engulfing dust storm rolled in. NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU But Mars remains in the throes of a great dust storm! Dust still envelopes the globe, obscuring most of the familiar dark surface features. The dust is expected to remain in the Martian atmosphere through opposition and long after. See our article Big Dust Storm Blows up on Mars. Can you identify any markings as seen in your scope? Or just, perhaps, a thin line of of high-altitude white cloud near the poles? For a Mars map that shows which features ought to be facing Earth at your time and date, use our Mars Profiler.
Uranus (magnitude 5.8, at the Aries-Pisces border) and Neptune (magnitude 7.9, in Aquarius) are well up in the east and southeast, respectively, in the hour before the beginning of dawn. Finder charts for Uranus and Neptune.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
Moon in Leo enters Virgo at 10:31am.
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde
Color – Yellow

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Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

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Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Su 15     High   2:14 AM     8.7   5:46 AM    Rise 8:55 AM      4
15      Low   9:10 AM    -2.1   8:58 PM     Set 11:05 PM
15     High   3:41 PM     7.3
~ 15      Low   9:20 PM     1.6

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – To love a person is to learn the song that is in their Heart, and to sing it to them when they have Forgotten.

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Journal Prompt –

Auto-Biographical narrative – Aphorisms are statements that express a principle or truth: If you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend. There’s no free lunch. You reap what you sow. Choose an aphorism and tell the story of a time in your life when that aphorism proved true. The aphorism should be the title of your story.

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Quotes

~ The monster of advertisement… is a sort of octopus with innumerable tentacles. It throws out to right and left, in front and behind, its clammy arms, and gathers in, through its thousand little suckers, all the gossip and slander and praise afloat, to spit out again at the public. – Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) French actor
~ The moon is not disturbed by the barking of dogs. – Dogen
~ The overpraised are the worst deceivers. – Grettir’s Saga, c.45
~ The truth is always the strongest argument. – Sophocles

Beyond me in the fields the sun
Soaks in the grass and hath his will;
I count the marguerites one by one;
Even the buttercups are still. – Archibald Lampman (1861–99)

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Lughnasadh Magick – Studies – The Sabbath of Mutual Respect by Marge Piercy

In the natural year come two thanksgivings,
the harvest of summer and the harvest of fall,
two times when we eat and drink and remember
our dead under the golden basin of the moon
of plenty.

Abundance Habondia,

food for the winter, too much now and survival
later. After the plant bears, it dies into seed.
The blowing grasses nourish us, wheat
and corn and rye, millet and rice, oat
and barley and buckwheat, all the serviceable
grasses of the pasture that the cow grazes,
the lamb, the horse, the goat, the grasses
that quicken into meat and cheese and milk,
the humble necessary mute vegetable bees,
the armies of grasses waving their
golden banners of ripe seed

The sensual

round fruit that gleams with the sun
stored in its sweetness

The succulent

ephemera of the summer garden, bloodwarm
tomatoes, tender small squash, crisp
beans, the milky corn, the red peppers
exploding like cherry bombs in the mouth.

We praise abundance by eating of it,
reveling in choice on a table set with roses
and lilies and phlox, zucchini and lettuce
and eggplant before the long winter
of root crops.

Fertility and choice

Every row dug in spring means weeks
of labor. Plant too much and the seedlings
choke in weeds as the warm rain soaks them.
The goddess of abundance Habondia is also
the spirit of labor and choice.

In another life, dear sister, I too would bear
six fat children. In another life, my sister, I too
would love another woman and raise one child
together as if that pushed from both our wombs.
In another life, sister, I too would dwell
solitary and splendid as a lighthouse on the rocks
or be born to mate for life like the faithful goose.
Praise all our choices. Praise any woman
who chooses, and make safe her choice.

Hadondia, Artemis, Cybele, Demeter, Ishtar,
Aphrodite, Au Set, Hecate, Themis, Lilith,
Thea, Gaia, Bridgit, The Great Grandmother of Us
All, Yemanja, Cerridwen, Freya, Corn Maiden,
Mawu, Amaterasu, Maires, Nut, Spider-Woman,
Neith, Au Zit, Hathor, Inanna, Shin Moo,
Diti, Arinna, Anath, Tiamat, Astoreth:
the names flesh out our histories, our choices,
our passions and what we will never embody
but pass by with respect. When I consecrate
my body in the temple of our history,
when I pledge myself to remain empty
and clear for the voices coming through
I do not choose for you or lessen your choice.

Habondia, the real abundance, is the power
to say yes and to say no, to open
and to close, to take or to leave
and not to be taken by force or law
or fear or poverty or hunger.
To bear children or not bear by choice
is holy. To bear children unwanted
is to be used like a public sewer
To be sterilized unchosen is to have
your heart cut out. To love women
is holy and holy is the free love of men
and precious to live taking whichever comes
and precious to live unmated as a peachtree.

Praise the lives you did not choose.
They will heal you, tell your story, fight
for you. You eat the bread of their labor.
You drink the wine of their joy. ….

Praise our choices, sisters, for each doorway
open to us was taken by squads of fighting
women who paid years of trouble and struggle,
who paid their wombs, their sleep, their lives
that we might walk through these gates upright.
Doorways are sacred to women for we
are the doorways of life and we must choose
what comes in and what goes out. Freedom
is our real abundance.

Blessings on this Lammas to you. pagans4peace ._,___

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Silliness – A Stone’s Throw

A vacationer called a seaside hotel to ask its location. “It’s only a stone’s throw from the beach,” he was told.
“But how will I recognize it?” asked the man.
Came the reply: “It’s the one with all the broken windows.”

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged A Stone's Throw, Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Beyond me in the fields the sun, Celtic Tree Month, Dioscuri, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Lysichitum americanum, Magick, Moon, moon phase, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Skunk Cabbage, The Sabbath of Mutual Respect, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca

Daily Stuff 7-14-18 Gentse Feesten

Posted on July 14, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 8:23 AM of -2.4 feet.

There’s a last of fast-moving wispy cirrus cloud, but the bits are rather far between. 59F, Wind at 13mph. There’s enough humidity, though, that I hope it’s going to lower as the day goes on. You can see the water vapor in the air!

Yesterday started with trying to get some thing put away that we’ve been working on. I got the newsletter out as soon as I could. Tempus dozed for a bit on the sofa, then I took a long nap.

…and then I put books away and put other books on shelves. Tempus moved plants. ….and we moved two bookshelves, un-stacked and re-stacked and sorted, shifted the things that were in the way. … and put the boxes together for storage, plus a couple of display racks and some random boxes. Tempus got those out of the shop and up to storage. We’re having to shift things that we should sort and put away, but we’ve gotta have room for the things that we are going to have to shift somewhere as we’re packing to move.

It took awhile for him to get back and I was getting peckish, so I pulled out some of the cantaloupe and then some cheese curds. …and was talking to Seamus, got the recipe that he used for the potluck and then found a treasure trove in the form of a PDF of Renaissance and earlier cookery books! http://www.godecookery.com/PDF/CookingPDFs.html

He still wasn’t back by 7:45. I had talked to him around 7pm and he had fallen asleep in the car at the storage place. By the time he got back had spent about 20 minutes alternately putting my face into the desk or my water jug and the back of the chair and shelves behind me, because I just couldn’t stay awake any longer.

Once he was back we started to close up and then headed home before 9pm. We went to sleep right away, but were up in the middle of the night, discussing options.

I’ve been out this morning, harvesting. I have some rose cuttings to do and aside from the herbs that I cut, I snagged some flowers for the big vases. Suddenly the cut flowers are all over!

Herbs at 11am will be on rooting rose cuttings and then bundling herbs to hang dry. Sewing at 3pm will be BYOP (Bring your own project) or questions. Otherwise we’re still working on books. We’ve got the lights on and door open, already, although we’re not quite ready to roll everything out.

Today’s Feast is the Gentse Feesten in Ghent, Belgium. It’s a 10 day festival of music, puppet shows and mocking mimes that spreads all over the city. There are such things as a series of community sings, choral music, a world music, jazz, alternative http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentse_Feesten

Today’s Plant is Coltsfoot, Petasites frigidus var. palmatus. One of the best cough remedies out there, this is often smoked to help cases of chronic bronchitis and asthma. It is also made into cough syrups often combined with horehound. This is another plant where the medicinal and magickal uses seem to go together. Feminine, Venus, Water, Magickal uses – Add to love sachets and use in spell of peace and tranquility. The leaves, when smoked, can cause visions, and aid with breathing problems. .More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petasites_frigidus

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

Waxing Moon Magick – The waxing moon is for constructive magick, such as love, wealth, success, courage, friendship, luck or healthy, protection, divination. Any working that needs extra power, such as help finding a new job or healings for serious conditions, can be done now. Also, love, knowledge, legal undertakings, money and dreams. Phase ends at the Tide Change on 7/27 at 1:20pm. New Moon – The beginning of a new cycle. Keywords for the New phase are: beginning, birth, emergence, projection, clarity. It is the time in a cycle that you are stimulated to take a new action. During this phase the new cycle is being seeded by your vision, inner and outer. Engage in physical activity. Spend time alone. VISUALIZE your goals for the 29.6-day cycle ahead. The new moon is for starting new ventures, new beginnings. Also love and romance, health or job hunting. God/dess aspect: Infancy, the Cosmic Egg, Eyes-Wide-Open – Associated God/dess: Inanna who was Ereshkigal. Phase ends at 7:48am on 7/14. Diana’s Bow – On the 3^rd day after the new moon you can (weather permitting) see the tiny crescent in the sky, the New Moon holding the Old Moon in her arms. Begin on your goals for the next month. A good time for job interviews or starting a project. Take a concrete step! God/dess aspect: Daughter/Son/Innocence – Associated God/dess: Vesta, Horus. Phase ends on 7/17 at

On Saturday evening the 14th, try to catch the thin crescent Moon above Mercury very low in bright twilight. Binoculars help. – As twilight fades, see if you can catch the Moon over Mercury very low in the west, well to the lower right of Venus as shown above. Your best view may be about 45 minutes after sunset. A slender crescent Moon passes 2° above Mercury in this evening’s sky. Binoculars should deliver the best views of the pair set against a colorful twilight sky. Look for a slender crescent Moon 2° above Mercury in this evening’s sky. A half-hour after the Sun goes down, the Moon hangs 9° (the approximate width of your closed fist when held at arm’s length) above the western horizon. Through binoculars, both objects should stand out against the colorful twilight background. A telescope reveals the magnitude 0.5 planet’s disk, which spans 8″ and shows a crescent phase.
One hour after sunset, as twilight fades further and the stars are coming out, you’ll find the two brightest stars of summer, <<< Vega and Arcturus >>>, equally near the zenith: Vega toward the east, Arcturus toward the southwest (depending on your location).
The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower continues to ramp up this week. The shower won’t peak until the end of July, but you should see some of its meteors in the hours before dawn. The best time to look is between 3 and 4 a.m. local daylight time, just before twilight begins. Viewing conditions will be great this week because the Moon will be gone from the predawn sky. Unfortunately, our satellite will show a fat gibbous phase at the shower’s peak the night of July 29/30. To tell a Southern Delta Aquariid meteor from a random dust particle burning up in Earth’s atmosphere, trace the streak of light’s path backward. A shower meteor will appear to originate from the constellation Aquarius the Water-bearer.
Saturn (magnitude +0.1, just above the Sagittarius Teapot) glows in the southeast in twilight and higher in the south by midnight. It’s 34° to the upper right of much brighter Mars.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
Moon in Leo
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde
Color – Black

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Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

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Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Sa 14     High   1:22 AM     8.9   5:45 AM   Rise 7:40 AM      0
~ 14      Low   8:23 AM    -2.4   8:59 PM     Set 10:27 PM
~ 14     High   2:54 PM     7.1
~ 14      Low   8:24 PM     1.7

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – By choosing self-control will I achieve freedom.

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Journal Prompt – What do you think? – What things do you think are beautiful?

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Quotes

~ Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile dream or goal. – Dexter Yager
~ Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in. – Napoleon Bonaparte
~ The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. – Ernest Hemingway
~ The guy who complains about the way the ball bounces is usually the guy who dropped it. – Lou Holtz

A boy and his dad on a fishing-trip—
Builders of life’s companionship!
Oh, I envy them, as I see them there
Under the sky in the open air. – Edgar Guest (1881–1959)

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Lughnasadh Magick – Crafts

Acorn Wreath – For The Kids – Parental supervision is recommended. This project is rated AVERAGE to do.

What You Need

Acorns
Wicker wreath
Hot glue gun
Glue sticks
Newspaper
Flowers or other decoration

How To Make It

First, spread the newspaper on a flat surface. Lay your wreath down flat. Heat your glue gun.
Next, starting in the middle of the wreath begin gluing the bottom of the acorn. Place the glued part of the acorn in the middle of the wreath and stand the acorn straight up. Make 1 row in a straight line going all the way around the wreath. Repeat the process from top to bottom with the wreath still laying flat.
Then decorate with flowers, bows, or even holiday ornaments. Be sure not to leave any open spaces except in the back. The back of the wreath shouldn’t have any acorns on it so when you lay it down it is flat.

This project was contributed by: Sabrina Dameron

Make a Solar Wheel or Corn Man Wheel

Turn a wire hanger into a circle (standard circle material for wreaths too), keeping the hook to hang it by.
Make a small cardboard disk to glue the corn tips onto. You can decorate it with any design, for example, a pentagram or sun.
Place ears of Indian “squaw” corn (it is smaller than regualr corn and fits easily on a coat hanger) with the tips inthe center of the circle and secure with hot glue to the cardboard disk. Use eight ears for a Solar Wheel, or five ears for a Corn Man. If all the ears of corn meet just right you won’t need the disk, but if they are uneven the disk is helpful.
Wrap a bit of the husks of each ear around the wire on either side of the ear of corn, leaving some to stand out free from the corn.
Let dry overnight and hang on the front door.

Activities taken from “Green Witchcraft” by Anne Moura (Aoumiel)

Make a Corn Wheel

Lammas is the time of the first harvest, and grains, especially corn, are abundant. The eight ears of corn on this wreath represent the eight sabbats. The shucks look like the rays of the sun, a very fitting symbol of the season.

You will need:

a round wire or other hoop on which to build the wreath
8 ears of corn of equal length — dried or fresh
cardboard
a short piece of ribbon or twine (for hanger)
glue
florists wire (optional)

Fashion a round hoop wide enough to accommodate the length of two ears of corn.
Using ribbon or twine, form a loop to serve as a hanger. Tie or glue this securely to the hoop.
Position the eight ears of corn inside the circle, paying close attention to the illustration. Be sure to keep the hanger/ribbon positioned at the top of the wreath.
Tie or wrap the corn shucks around the hoop. (They can be held in place with florists wire, if need be.)
Use stray ends of the shucks to cover the hoop completely. (If using dried corn, the shucks should have been soaked in water before starting.)
Use florists wire to keep the shucks in place.
Cut a small, round piece of cardboard. Lay the wreath on the table and position the cardboard circle in the middle of the hoop.
Using a glue gun or some other fast drying glue, adhere the tips of the ears to the cardboard circle on the BACK SIDE of the wreath, being careful that the cardboard is not obvious from the front.
You may want to cut out the middle of the cardboard circle so it can not easily be seen from the front.
Allow the glue to dry and hang.

[Anja’s note – If you go to store this for next year, wrap it well and put it into a critter-proof container!]

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Silliness – Bumper Snickers – The other day, I went to a tourist information booth and asked “Tell me about some of the people who were here last year.”

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged A boy and his dad on a fishing-trip, Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Bumper Snickers, Celtic Tree Month, Gentse Feesten, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Lughnasadh Crafts, Magick, Moon, moon phase, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Petasites frigidus var. palmatus, Plant is Coltsfoot, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca

Daily Stuff 7-13-18 John Dee

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Featured photo by Ken Gagne. Minus Tide at 7:36 AM of -2.3 feet.

The sky is veiled with a lot of stripes and splotches of cirrus. We’re supposed to get some wind today and in town it’s already at 13mph with gusts hitting close to 20. It’s higher on the beaches, too! We’re under a small craft advisory. 61F and really humid compared to our usual summer weather. The fog was thick last night.

Yesterday, after the necessary coffee, Tempus got on the phone to start some of the processes that we need to move and to live until we *can* move. I did a bit more on newsletter stuff, getting the daily stuff completely filled in for the week.

…and with all the things going on, I had a good laugh yesterday. I was having a long spiritual conversation with Phil and then Tempus mentioned the leaky radiator. Everything stopped so the guys could go out and consult about the car! 🙂

Next was getting cleanup of things worked on. …and I worked with customers or wrote while Tempus got distracted with other things, phone calls about paper deliveries, bringing things in from the car, etc. Turns out that he was given the wrong address to deliver a paper and that the right address is a place that I’ve been fascinated by, with an interesting wind-block/fence/gate/arch thingummy.

I finally got lunch at 4:30. It was that kind of day, and by then I was working on books…. …and supper around 9pm. Tempus had headed out 1/2 an hour earlier, being that it was the first night that he was to do bulk drops. …and I didn’t hear from him and didn’t hear and he finally called around midnight that he was bagging and the bulk drops were done…so I kept going with the books and then tried to start in back…and ran into one obstacle after another, but I finally got going on the plants.

I found a gourd seed sprout among the starts, in between the pots! I didn’t think I had dropped any seeds and all the rest died… then I got 3 mint starts into pots. I’m going to put things into 4 inch pots until we’re sure where we’re moving to. …and the potted up some succulent starts that Jeanne had cut last month for me. …and then a geranium. …and another geranium in larger pots. …and got plates under them and watered.

At 2:30 Tempus was just finishing Makai…. I managed to pry one of my odd plants off the window sill and untangle it from the spider plant that was disguising it. It was quite a mess, lots of dead leaves and debris that the mess on the windowsill was awful! By 3:30 he was done with Bayview and starting up into Seal Rock. I got picked up at 4:30 and it was already getting light as we did Bayshore and then went on from there.

So we’ve had 3 hours of sleep. We’re going to have to take turns napping today and then go home on time tonight. Tempus is currently shifting plants out of the middle of the shop floor.

A photo of an egret in Yachats, by Ken Gagne from 7/12/16

Today’s Feast is in honor of the birthday of John Dee, Renaissance mathematician and mage. He was Queen Elizabeth I’s personal astrologer, among many high-placed and well-remembered friends, but in magickal circles, he is most known for his studies with Edward Kelley and the Enochian language that came out of that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee

Today’s Plant is Stinging Nettle, Urtica Dioica, otherwise known as, “Ouch!!!!” Grab a handful of this plant and you will know it. There are lots of hollow “hairs” on this plant that act like tiny hypodermics, injecting histamine, among other stinging chemicals. There’s even a name for a type of allergic reaction called, “nettlerash”, that picked up the word for the characteristic pattern of itchy bumps. This plant has been used for food, medicine, fabric and magic for millenia. It is used as a pot herb and is one of the vegetables with the highest protein content. If you soak it in water or cook it the stings go away. In medicine it has traditionally been used to treat arthritis, dandruff and lack of milk in a nursing mother and there are a number of more modern medical uses. The fibers are suitable for making fabric and a related species has been used for over 6000 years to make a silky-looking textile called ramie, even though the processing takes a lot of effort. They are even used to make beer and cordials! – Masculine, Mars, Fire, Thor – Exorcism – for getting rid of nasty-minded Fae, plant nettles around your garden and barn. Protection – nettles in a pocket will keep a person safe from lightning and bestow courage. Nettles kept in a room will protect anyone inside. Lust – Nettles are reputed to enhance fertility in men and nettle tea is an aphrodisiac. Healing – fever can be dispelled by plucking a nettle up by its roots while reciting the names of the sick person and family. …and shirts made of fabric spun and woven from nettles feature as a girl’s quest tale in the Twelve Wild Swans.

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

Friday, July 13

Though the New Moon is hidden by the Sun’s glare, in the days that follow, a beautiful crescent Moon will grace the sky. This image of the crescent Moon and Earth’s atmosphere was taken aboard the International Space Station. – NASA
The Moon reaches perigee >>>, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, at 4:25 a.m. EDT. It then lies 222,097 miles (357,431 kilometers) away from us. Since perigee arrives less than six hours after New Moon, residents of coastal areas can expect to see tides rise higher than normal for the next couple of days.
The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower starts to ramp up this week. The shower won’t peak until the end of July, but you should see some of its meteors in the hours before dawn. The best time to look is between 3 and 4 a.m. local daylight time, just before twilight begins. Viewing conditions are great the remainder of this week because the Moon is out of the morning sky. Unfortunately, our satellite will show a fat gibbous phase at the shower’s peak the night of July 29/30. To tell a Southern Delta Aquariid meteor from a random dust particle burning up in Earth’s atmosphere, trace the streak of light’s path backward. A shower meteor will appear to originate from the constellation Aquarius the Water-bearer.
Cassiopeia >>>is now well past its bottoming-out for the year, as seen soon after dark. Look for its W pattern low in the north-northeast. The farther north you live, the higher it will be.
Jupiter (magnitude –2.3, in Libra) shines in the south-southwest in twilight and declines in the southwest later in the evening. This week it shrinks from 41 to 40 arcseconds wide. See our telescopic guide to observing Jupiter in the May Sky & Telescope, page 48.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic New Year and half-month of Fehu/ Feoh, 6/29-7/13 Important in the runic year cycle, today marks beginning of the first rune, Feoh, sacred to Frey and Freya (Freyja), the lord and lady often worshipped in modern Wicca. It is the half-month of wealth and success. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, 1992 Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
Moon in Cancer enters Leo at 10:31am.
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde
Color – Pink

Planting 7/13

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Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

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Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
F   13     High 12:31 AM     9.0   5:44 AM    Rise 6:26 AM      0
~ 13      Low   7:36 AM    -2.3   8:59 PM     Set 9:42 PM
~ 13     High   2:07 PM     6.9
~ 13      Low   7:31 PM     1.9

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Make this a grace-filled day!

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Journal Prompt – Personal Interests and Experiences – Whom do you trust the most and why?

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Quotes

~ Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. – Helen Keller
~ Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
~ Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live. – Henry Van Dyke
~ Somebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us. – Jerry Garcia

Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light,
And she sits on a sapphire throne. –Barry Cornwall, English poet (1787–1874)

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Lughnasadh Magick – Lore

LUGHNASADH http://www.chalicecentre.net/lughnasadh.htm

The Celtic harvest festival on August 1st takes its name from the Irish god Lugh, one of the chief gods of the Tuatha De Danann, giving us Lughnasadh in Ireland, Lunasdál in Scotland, and Laa Luanys in the Isle of Man. (In Wales, this time is known simply as Gwl Awst, the August Feast.)
Lugh dedicated this festival to his foster-mother, Tailtiu, the last queen of the Fir Bolg, who died from exhaustion after clearing a great forest so that the land could be cultivated. When the men of Ireland gathered at her death-bed, she told them to hold funeral games in her honor. As long as they were held, she prophesied Ireland would not be without song. Tailtiu’s name is from Old Celtic Talantiu, “The Great One of the Earth,” suggesting she may originally have been a personification of the land itself, like so many Irish goddesses. In fact, Lughnasadh has an older name, Brón Trogain, which refers to the painful labor of childbirth. For at this time of year, the earth gives birth to her first fruits so that her children might live.
Tailtiu gives her name to Teltown in County Meath, where the festival was traditionally held in early Ireland. It evolved into a great tribal assembly, attended by the High King, where legal agreements were made, political problems discussed, and huge sporting contests were held on the scale of an early Olympic Games. Artists and entertainers displayed their talents, traders came from far and wide to sell food, farm animals, fine crafts and clothing, and there was much storytelling, music, and high-spirited revelry, according to a medieval eye-witness account:

“Trumpets, harps, hollow-throated horns, pipers, timpanists, unwearied…fiddlers, gleemen, bone-players and bag-pipers, a rude crowd, noisy, profane, roaring and shouting.”

This was also an occasion for handfasting, or trial marriages. Young men and women lined up on either side of a wooden gate in a high wall, in which a hole was carved, large enough for a hand. One by one, girl and boy would grasp a hand in the hole, without being able to see who was on the other side. They were now married, and could live together for year and day to see if it worked out. If not, the couple returned to next year’s gathering and officially separated by standing back to back and walking away from each other.

Throughout the centuries, the grandeur of Teltown dwindled away, but all over Ireland, right up to the middle of this century, country-people have celebrated the harvest at revels, wakes, and fairs – and some still continue today in the liveliest manner. It was usually celebrated on the nearest Sunday to August 1^st, so that a whole day could be set aside from work. In later times, the festival of Lughnasadh was christianized as Lammas, from the Anglo-Saxon, hlaf-mas, “Loaf-Mass,” but in rural areas, it was often remembered as “Bilberry Sunday,” for this was the day to climb the nearest “Lughnasadh Hill” and gather the earth’s freely-given gifts of the little black berries, which they might wear as special garlands or gather in baskets to take home for jam.

As of old, people sang and danced jigs and reels to the music of melodeons, fiddles and flutes, and held uproarious sporting contests and races. In some places, a woman—or an effigy of one—was crowned with summer flowers and seated on a throne, with garlands strewn at her feet. Dancers whirled around her, touching her garlands or pulling off a ribbon for good luck. In this way, perhaps, the ancient goddess of the harvest was still remembered with honor.

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Silliness –

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Goddess Month, John Dee, Journal Prompt, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Lughnasadh lore, Magick, Moon, moon phase, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Stinging Nettle, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Urtica Dioica, Waldo finds himself, Weather, Wicca

Daily Stuff 7-12-18 Naadam

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Featured photo by Ken Gagne. Minus Tide at 6:49 AM of -2.0 feet.

The sky is quite clear. 59F. Wind at 9mph, but it’s likely to go much higher later in the day. There are a couple of spots where it’s already blowing at close to 20mph. I wonder what the marine layer is going to do today?

Yesterday we worked pretty hard, doing chores. We’re preparing to move where we live, since it’s obvious that we’re going to have to, so we’re shifting things around, boxing things up that we can, making stacks of things that can be transported from one set of shelves to another, putting miscellaneous stuff all together to be boxed up when we can get some boxes…that sort of chore. We also got the plants watered all around the property, so they might survive neglect. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do more of that. It’s become pretty obvious that the folks in charge of Jeanne’s property aren’t planning to be any kind of reasonable about things.

We headed for the shop at around 2:30, so that Tempus could go pay our rent. We were worried about the person who has been running the property management company, because she’s been quite ill, but her son, who is gradually taking over for her, assures us that she’s ok. I got the cookery done and ready to go and then we headed for Coos Bay at 4:10.

We talked the whole way down about various things. A lot of it was planning for moving and how to get the shop cleaned up. We watched the clouds of the marine layer the whole way down. At one point we were rolling down a sunny stretch of straight highway at 55mph, chasing, but not catching up to, cloud shadows!

The meeting was fun. We shared projects around and talked about what kinds of research we were doing. We also teased the stuffings out one of the guys whose research project is into medicinal treatments for STD’s in 14th century Wales. 🙂 …and he laughed right along with everyone else! I got the one set of pouches delivered, too. We had a good meal. One of the soups was Renaissance Italian and was more sweet than savory but really tasty.

We had a good drive back watching the sunset…well, the eastern side of it, since the West was swallowed in the marine layer…. stopped in Florence for gas… wondered why Heceta Head light wasn’t shining…. and got home to learn that the phone had been

turned off. I’m not sure this isn’t harassment, since I know the bill was paid into August.

So we’re at the shop, trying to get things put away and cleaned up before folks come in. There are boxes to go to storage, plants that have to get re-potted today, more stuff that needs to be picked up and gotten out of the way and cleanup from the cookery!

A photo by Ken Gagne of a fawn, from 7/10/17.

Today’s Feast is Naadam. This is a traditional sports event in Mongolia that is mostly contests in wrestling, horse-racing and archery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naadam

Lupines are represented on the coast by the Large-Leaved Lupine, Lupinus polyphyllus, (which is often the common garden variety and all over out here) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_polyphyllus and Kincaid’s Lupine, Lupinus sulphureus subsp. Kincaidii (which used to be called Oregon Lupine). The latter is threatened as they’re disappearing and are needed for an also disappearing butterfly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_sulphureus We also get the yellow varieties of this one on the coast. More on the main lupin species here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin These are tall showy flower spikes with a distinctive leaf pattern that bloom all summer into the fall. Some varieties of lupines (the “sweet lupines”) are eaten, but many require soaking in salt water for long periods of time to get the alkaloids out that could be poisonous. These were eaten by the indigenes, but no one has said how they were prepared. There’s a little here about the beans, which are being used as a vegan food, but have a high potential for allergic effects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin_bean As far as magick goes, it’s not listed very many places, but its old name is “Blood from a head”. The word “lupine” derives from the word for wolf, as well. They are useful in magicks for any canine. In fact, I always include them in amulets for dogs or wolves. They can also be used to help with spirit communication with the canine/lupine totems. They have also been used in curse magicks for getting rid of things like cancers, or resistant viruses and bacteria or even for brain tumors.

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

Waning Moon Magick – From the Full Moon to the New is a time for study, meditation, and magic designed to banish harmful energies and habits, for ridding oneself of addictions, illness or negativity. Remember: what goes up must come down. Phase ends at the Tide Change on 7/12 at 7:48pm. Dark of the Moon, End of the cycle – In the time leading up to the “New Moon” you may do banishings and other baneful magicks and healings that require blasting a disease away, as well as using the time for introspection and self-work. Do scrying, now. Good for reversing circumstances. God/dess Aspect: The One Beyond, the Watchers in the Outer Dark, psychopomps – Associated God/desses: Hecate, Kali, Arianhrod, Anja, Kore in the Underworld, Ereshkigal who was Inanna, Set/Seth, Hades, Osiris. Phase ends at 7:48pm on 7/12. Waxing Moon Magick – The waxing moon is for constructive magick, such as love, wealth, success, courage, friendship, luck or healthy, protection, divination. Any working that needs extra power, such as help finding a new job or healings for serious conditions, can be done now. Also, love, knowledge, legal undertakings, money and dreams. Phase ends at the Tide Change on 7/27 at 1:20pm. New Moon – The beginning of a new cycle. Keywords for the New phase are: beginning, birth, emergence, projection, clarity. It is the time in a cycle that you are stimulated to take a new action. During this phase the new cycle is being seeded by your vision, inner and outer. Engage in physical activity. Spend time alone. VISUALIZE your goals for the 29.6-day cycle ahead. The new moon is for starting new ventures, new beginnings. Also love and romance, health or job hunting. God/dess aspect: Infancy, the Cosmic Egg, Eyes-Wide-Open – Associated God/dess: Inanna who was Ereshkigal. Phase ends at 7:48am on 7/14.

Thursday, July 12

The near-New Moon hovers over Bluemountains, Switzerland on November 1, 2016. – PiConsti/Flickr

New Moon (exact at 10:48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). New Moon occurs at 10:48 p.m. EDT. At its New phase, the Moon crosses the sky with the Sun and so remains hidden in our star’s glare. At least, that’s what it will do for more than 99 percent of Earth’s population. But if you find yourself between southeastern Australia and Antarctica, you can watch the Moon pass in front of the Sun and cause a partial solar eclipse. From Hobart, Tasmania, the eclipse lasts from 2h52m to 3h56m UT, and the Moon blocks 10 percent of the Sun’s diameter at maximum. Remember that when viewing the Sun during a partial eclipse, you need to protect your eyes with a safe solar filter.
Today marks the peak of Pluto’s 2018 appearance. The distant world reaches opposition, which means it lies opposite the Sun in our sky and remains visible all night. It glows dimly at 14th magnitude, however, so you’ll need an 8-inch or larger telescope with good optics to spot it visually. Pluto currently lies in northeastern Sagittarius, some 0.2° west of the 6th-magnitude star 50 Sagittarii.
Three doubles at the top of Scorpius. The head of Scorpius — the nearly vertical row of three stars upper right of Antares — stands highest in the south right after dark, about two fists at arm’s length to the left of bright Jupiter. The top star of the row is Beta (ß) Scorpii or Graffias, a fine double star for telescopes. Just 1° below or lower left of it (a fingertip at arm’s length) is the very wide naked-eye pair Omega1and Omega2 Scorpii, not quite vertical. Binoculars show their slight color difference. Upper left of of Beta by 1.6° is Nu Scorpii (Jabbah), another fine telescopic double. Or rather triple. High power in good seeing reveals that Nu’s brighter component is itself a close binary, separation 2 arcseconds.
Mars is the “star” planet of the summer! It’s now a dramatic, Jupiter-bright magnitude –2.4, rising in Capricornus in late twilight. Mars is highest in the south, in best telescopic view, in the two hours hour before the first light of dawn. It’s 22 arcseconds in diameter, on its way to 24.3 arcseconds around its closest approach on the night of July 30-31. But Mars is in the throes of a great dust storm! Dust has enveloped the globe, obscuring most dark surface features and reducing contrast for the rest. “The planet is unrecognisable,” wrote imager Damian Peachon June 26th. The dust is expected to remain in the atmosphere and hide most of the surface right through opposition and well after. See our article Big Dust Storm Blows up on Mars, updated several times. Can you identify any of the usual markings as seen in your scope? You’ll want a Mars map that shows which features are facing Earth at your time and date, such as our Mars Profiler online.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic New Year and half-month of Fehu/ Feoh, 6/29-7/13 Important in the runic year cycle, today marks beginning of the first rune, Feoh, sacred to Frey and Freya (Freyja), the lord and lady often worshipped in modern Wicca. It is the half-month of wealth and success. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, 1992 Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
New Moon in Cancer at 7:48pm.
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde
Color – White

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Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

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Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Th 12      Low   6:49 AM    -2.0   5:44 AM    Rise 5:18 AM      2
12     High   1:19 PM     6.6   9:00 PM     Set 8:48 PM
12      Low   6:37 PM     2.1

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

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Journal Prompt – What do you think? – Why do you think almost everyone loves Charlie Brown and Snoopy?

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Quotes

~ No sensible man ever imputes inconsistency to another for changing his mind. – Marcus Tullius Cicero
~ Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. – Rumi
~ Patience is passion tamed, – Lyman Abbott
~ Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good. – Malcolm Gladwell

this is the garden: colours come and go,
frail azures fluttering from night’s outer wing
strong silent greens serenely lingering,
absolute lights like baths of golden snow. –e e cummings (1894–1962)

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Lughnasadh Recipes

Squash Salsa

Ingredients:

1 yellow squash (peeled)
1 zucchini (peeled)
1 Carrot (peeled)
3 Serrano chiles
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 Clove garlic
1/2 red onion
1 tablespoon marjoram
4 tsp olive oil
2 Tomatillos
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 tomato
1 Salt

Directions:

Finely dice all
Mix in large bowl
Let sit for an hour before serving

SAUTEED BABY ZUCCHINI WITH SQUASH BLOSSOMS AND LEMON BASIL – Remember squash blossoms are extremely perishable; it’s best to use them the day you buy them. – Makes 6 servings.

3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 pound baby zucchini, halved lengthwise, each half cut lengthwise into
3 wedges
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh lemon basil or regular basil Fleur de sel (fine French sea salt)
18 zucchini squash blossoms, (Available at farmers’ markets and some specialty foods stores.)

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
Add zucchini; sauté until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in basil. Season with fleur de sel. Transfer to plate.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in skillet. Add squash blossoms and cook until barely wilted and still bright orange, about 2 seconds per side. Arrange atop zucchini and serve.

Market tip: Buy a small pot of lemon basil at a nursery if it’s not available at farmers’ markets.

Spinach Pie Quesadilla – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/spinach-pie-quesadilla_n_1061290.html

Provided by: Taste Editors – 35 mins total

I have my superhuman early-morning powers to thank for the simplicity and deliciousness of this Spinach Pie Quesadilla. I also have to give credit to eggs, though. Eggs allow me to feed myself even when there’s not much else in the fridge, and I always keep them handythen, in the East Village apartment, and now, in the dream-to-reality Brooklyn one. In the two egg recipes that follow this one, I add eggs to pasta and to a mix of vegetables, and as with the quesadilla, they transform these simple staples into a satisfying meal. Of course eggs this good can and should feed more than one, if it’s an hour removed enough from breakfast that friends might actually want to join in.
Recipe from In the Small Kitchen by Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine/William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, 2011.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 small onion, finely diced
2 scallions, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Pinch each of thyme, oregano, and cayenne
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
1 small wrap or flour tortilla, 8-inch in diameter
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese, divided

Directions

In a small nonstick pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and scallions and cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cooking a minute or two more until soft. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the spices.
Mix in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove to a bowl and cool slightly. Use a wooden spoon to press out some of the liquid from the cooked spinach and drain.
In another small bowl, whisk together the egg white, yogurt, and 1 tablespoon of feta. Add to the cooled spinach and mix until combined.
Wipe out the pan, then brush it with about ¼ – ½ teaspoon olive oil or cooking spray.
Over low heat, put the wrap or tortilla in the pan and sprinkle the remaining feta over one side of the wrap and get it to soften slightly. Turn the heat to medium and pour the egg-spinach mixture over the same half of the wrap, fold the other half over and cook on one side until the egg begins to firm up, 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve immediately.

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Silliness – Even More Signs Technology Took Over Your Life – – Al Gore strikes you as an “intriguing” fellow.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Even More Signs Technology Took Over Your Life, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Kincaid's Lupine, Lammas, Large-Leaved Lupine, Lughnasadh, Lughnasadh Recipes, lupines, Lupinus polyphyllus, Lupinus sulphureus subsp. Kincaidii, Magick, Moon, moon phase, Naadam, Oregon Coast, Oregon Lupine, Pagan, Runic Half Month, Silliness, this is the garden, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca

Daily Stuff 7-11-18 Kronia

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 6:00 AM of -1.5 feet.

It’s only 7am so 55F isn’t an outlandish temp. It’s actually quite cloudy and cool, but the clouds are fog the collected as dawn started and have been rising since the sun started over the horizon. The wind is at 2mph at the moment, but that’s supposed to change this afternoon, going up to possibly 30 mph!

Yesterday we started slowly, getting ourselves fed, catching up on mail and some basic chores, after that we got sidetracked. Tempus was going to go get the lawnmower going and the watering taken care of, but we ended up fielding phone calls. Someone turned off the answering machine upstairs, and then we had to make sure the information was all passed on, properly.

We’re still hurting from Jeanne’s loss. It’s good to have something to do, but we’re very frustrated by the lack of information coming back to us. Tempus got some things out of the garage freezer, but we still can’t get at the place where we live….

The sky was very clear and blue, all the way to the horizon over the ocean, but there were small cumulus clouds over the Coast Range and a couple of people were reporting thunderstorms over in the Valley.

We got to the shop 4:30-ish and I started in on newsletter set-up for the week. Tempus tried to go pay our rent and still no answer from the property management company. As the lady in charge was very ill a couple of weeks ago, that’s ominous…

…and then at about 6:30, just after the sun was full-on hitting the windows, it started to come and go. Sure ’nuff there were small low clouds scudding across the sky… It looked like beach fog that had lifted. At 9pm those clouds were few and far between and pink. Tempus headed out about then, having set a bunch of stuff up for me to work on.

…and I did, but it was hot enough in the shop, that I kept having to stop to rest, way more often than usual. He did his ride-along with the guy who’s been doing the new part of the route and then started bagging, getting on the road just before midnight.

I was so overheated the I found it hard to do anything at all. I did finally get the roast into the crockpot at 1am and just before 2 got an experimental batch of maple candy finished (which didn’t work). I was supposed to do up some carrots, but I just didn’t have the energy.

Tempus picked me up around 3:30. Mars was incredibly bright and orange. I was exclaiming over it just walking out into the parking lot.

Jupiter was almost too low to see and dawn started while we were still in Bayshore. It was interesting to see clearly some things along 34 that we almost never see, but probably will be until the days really begin to shorten (more below) Jupiter was already setting and once we were in the upper part of Waldport was actually saw the very old Moom quite clearly. At 5am we were still seeing Her and Mars, but then as we did the drops along 101 south of Waldport the fog covered everything. We finished at 5:45 and stopped back at the shop.

I re-cooked the not-set candy…. we’ll see if I managed it this time. The roast was done, so that got boxed up and into the fridge and then we came home. Tempus is already asleep! I figured I’d better get this out, because later is going to be time-squinchy.

We’re supposed to go to the Tymberhavene potluck tonight, down in Coos Bay. We’ll see how that works out. I might still be able to do the carrots in the microwave and then just get everything re-heated once we’re down there. That’s always assuming that nothing else goes sideways…

Mandala by Maeona Urban on the beach in Yachats on 7/6/18

Today’s Feast is the Kronia, held in honor of Chronos and Rhea, the oldest of the god/dess creator pairs in ancient Greece. It was a topsy-turvy festival where owners waited on their slaves and everyone let the class distinctions go for a day in honor of the Golden Age. More on the festival here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronia and on Chronos here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos

Today’s Plant is Lovage, levisticum officinale. It seems to have originated somewhere near the eastern Mediterranean and has been cultivated for a long while, being a very useful plant. It has a strong, long-lasting scent, that reminds a person of celery and parsley, but with the volume turned up. I harvested some yesterday afternoon around 4pm and here at nearly 9am, having washed my hands several times, I can still detect it! It’s great in salads, but chop it small and mix with other greens or it overpowers! Both leaf and seed are great in soups, especially seafood chowders and the roots can be eaten as a vegetable. I’ve drunk lovage cordial, which is tasty. It has a high flavonoid content, as well. Medicinally, a strong leaf tea, iced, is a good antiseptic, especially for extensive scrapes, where it takes down the sting and swelling very quickly and can be splashed on as often as needed. It can be used for mild cases of water retention, as well, and even with high blood pressure. – Masculine, Sun, Fire – This herb is often used in love magicks, but works best as a self-confidence enhancer. Take a bath with a sachet of the leaves, or make a strong tea that you toss into the bathwater before going out to meet new people or to start a new job. It also helps to small a sachet of the leaves if you’re having trouble concentrating on a task. Wiki has more:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovage

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

Waning Moon Magick – From the Full Moon to the New is a time for study, meditation, and magic designed to banish harmful energies and habits, for ridding oneself of addictions, illness or negativity. Remember: what goes up must come down. Phase ends at the Tide Change on 7/12 at 7:48pm. Hecate’s Brooch – 3-5 days before New Moon – Best time for Releasing Rituals. It’s the last few days before the new moon, the time of Hecate’s Brooch. This is the time that if you’re going to throw something out, or sweep the floors, or take stuff to Good Will, do it! Rid yourself of negativity and work on the letting go process. Release the old, removing unwanted negative energies, addictions, or illness. Do physical and psychic cleansings. Good for wisdom & psychic ability. Goddess Aspect: Crone – Associated God/desses: Callieach, Banshee, Hecate, Baba Yaga, Ereshkigal, Thoth. Phase ends at the Dark on 7/11 at 7:48am. Dark of the Moon, End of the cycle – In the time leading up to the “New Moon” you may do banishings and other baneful magicks and healings that require blasting a disease away, as well as using the time for introspection and self-work. Do scrying, now. Good for reversing circumstances. God/dess Aspect: The One Beyond, the Watchers in the Outer Dark, psychopomps – Associated God/desses: Hecate, Kali, Arianhrod, Anja, Kore in the Underworld, Ereshkigal who was Inanna, Set/Seth, Hades, Osiris. Phase ends at 7:48pm on 7/12.

070918 Astro Dawn Aldebaran – Aldebaran is just emerging from the glow of sunrise when the waning crescent Moon occults it, or passes close by it (depending on where you are) on the morning of July 10th. Warning: The Moon in these scenes is, for clarity, always drawn three times its actual apparent size.
Binoculars will show the roughly heart-shaped ring of faint stars around and including Sadr (Gamma Cygni), the Heart of Cygnus, the Swan, and the center of the Northern Cross. Explore this area with Matt Wedel’s Binocular Highlight column and chart in the July Sky & Telescope, page 43.
Mercury pops out of the twilight glow this evening as the sky begins to darken. Look for it 30 minutes after sunset, when it lies 9° above the western horizon. The innermost planet should be fairly easy to spot because it shines brightly, at magnitude 0.4. (Use binoculars if you can’t see it with your naked eye.) Mercury lies 26° east of the Sun tonight, its greatest elongation for this evening apparition. Through a telescope, Mercury appears 8″ across and slightly less than half-lit.
Vesta, the brightest asteroid, is still about magnitude 5.9 in southern Ophiuchus about 10° west of Saturn. Article and finder charts: Vesta Gets Close and Bright.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic New Year and half-month of Fehu/ Feoh, 6/29-7/13 Important in the runic year cycle, today marks beginning of the first rune, Feoh, sacred to Frey and Freya (Freyja), the lord and lady often worshipped in modern Wicca. It is the half-month of wealth and success. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, 1992 Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
Moon in Gemini enters Cancer at 10:59am
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde
Color – Topaz

Harvest 7/10-11

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Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

******

Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
W   11      Low   6:00 AM    -1.5   5:43 AM    Rise 4:19 AM      7
11     High 12:29 PM     6.2   9:01 PM     Set 7:46 PM
11      Low   5:43 PM     2.3
11     High 11:41 PM     8.8

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Do not lose Joy in your Spirit.

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Journal Prompt – Wiki – How do you feel when you see something beautiful? Have you ever seen something so beautiful it makes you cry?

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Quotes

~ My life is my message. – Mamatha Gandhi
~ Never be haphazard about anything. – Kerr Cuhulain
~ Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. – Erma Bombeck
~ Night’s deepest gloom is but a calm; that soothes the weary mind: The labored days restoring balm; the comfort of mankind. – Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) English writer

Balmily, balmily, summer wind,
Sigh through the mountain passes;
Over the sleep of the beautiful deep
Over the woods green masses
Ripple the grain of valley and plain,
And the reeds and the river grasses. – Ina Donna Coolbrith (1841–1928)

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Lughnasadh Magick – Easy printable list of all our fairy garden ideas

DIY fairy gardens: Our complete list of ideas by Sue Langley • March 5, 2014 • http://www.fleamarketgardening.org/2014/03/05/diy-fairy-gardens-our-complete-list-of-ideas/

We are SUCH do-it-yourselfers! Here are all our ‘tiny’ garden ideas in one place!
This easy printable LIST of DIY fairy and miniature garden ideas was compiled with the help of many creative people at Flea Market Gardening. Ideas, materials to watch for and tools to use. Thanks to all who contributed! See the before and after of my first four fairy gardens! ~ Sue

Before:

Miniature supplies for small gardens

Plants for miniature gardens

Sedum, tiny scale succulents
Sempervivum succulents
Sedum ‘Blue Spruce’
Ivy
Licorice plant
Oregano ‘Aureum Gold,’ lime green
Polka-dot Plant, pink and green
Primrose
Aloe succulents
Baby’s tears
Creeping thyme
Wooly thyme
White star creeper
Wire vine
Alyssum
Violas, the tiny ones
Boxwood topiaries
Any small Bonsai tree

Ideas for Fairy Garden miniatures

Sculpey clay to make mushrooms or anything!
Twig furniture, ladders or arbors
Acorns, dried leaves and flowers
Popsicle stick fences, wired
Sign on a smooth stone with sharpie
Arbor of hardware cloth
Toadstools made from sticks and acorn caps
Christmas miniatures
Small birdhouses covered in stones or sticks
Pine cone scale roofs
Mini terracotta pots
Wooden drawer knobs, painted red with white dots
Add a fairy door to the base of a tree
Make an arbor from willow branches Trim it and wire it into a “U” shape
For boys, make a dinosaur, animal or gnome garden.
With a broken ceramic pot, make a patio for your miniature garden.
Make a gazing ball with a marble glued on a golf tee!
Cut up small twigs and branches and stack them together in a small ‘wood’ pile. They will be ready for making a campfire.
Turn a bird house into a fairy home. Cut a door where the hole is, Add moss to the roof and gravel ‘stones’ to the walls.
Create little ‘crops’ made from bits of Sedum and lined up like cabbages.
An arch made of a scrap of hardware cloth (wire screening) and painted white
A tiny trellis also made of the wire screening
Tiny wooden birdhouses from scrap wood
Pebbles with inspirational words
Small ceramic mushrooms
Use sheets of tiny glass tiles to make walkways.
Paint rounded upholstery tacks red with tiny white dots for ‘toadstools.’
Copper wire tuteur (In front of the blue chair)
Tire swing from a toy car hung from a branch
Pebble plastered house

Our best glue – GEII Silicone for Exterior in clear, also called Momentive perform. or E6000 – MOMENTIVE PERFORM MATERIAL GE500 2.8OZ Clear Wind/DR Caulk

Momentive Perform. – Momentive Performance Materials GE284 2.8-Ounce Silicone II Premium Waterproof Kitchen and Bath Squeeze Tube, Clear

Materials to watch for

Flat marbles or ‘gems’ for ‘water’ or stepping stones
Golf tees and marbles for tiny gazing balls
Small sticks and pine needles for a broom
Wire, steel or copper, shepherd’s hooks or joining twigs
Popsicle sticks for fences or furniture
Stones for paths
Clay for bricks
Willow sticks for chairs and arbors
Balsam wood for doors, benches and tables
Christmas decor for houses, vehicles and fairies
Tiny gravel for patios
Larger gravel for stone walls or tiny house facades
Moss, lichen for bushes and trees

Especially for a Beach theme

Handmade chairs from Popsicle sticks
Wooden bead beach ball
Flip-flops from buttons
Shells
Tiny terry cloth towel
Popsicle stick fencing
Beach glass ‘water’
Ponytail palm
Small dracena reflexa (houseplant)
Tiny sago palm

After:

Four easy miniature gardens! If I can …you can! ~~ Sue

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Silliness – Hospital Fun

Peter called his doctor’s office for an appointment.
“I’m sorry,” said the receptionist, “we can’t fit you in for at least two weeks.”
Peter said, “But I could be dead by then!”
Receptionist replied, “No problem. If your wife lets us know, we’ll cancel the appointment. “

Posted in Daily Stuff | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Balmily balmily summer wind, Celtic Tree Month, Fairy Gardens, Goddess Month, Hospital Fun, Journal Prompt, Kronia, Lammas, levisticum officinale, Lovage, Lughnasadh, Magick, Moon, moon phase, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca

Daily Stuff 7-10-18 Nicola Tesla Day

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Featured photo by Julie Markham. First Minus Tide of the cycle at 5:10 AM of -0.8 feet.

The sunshine is blinding today. We’re in the nice, cool apartment, but the sunroom (watered just now) is a sauna! 67F with the wind at 11. Tree branches are moving outside, not just the honeysuckle vine in the gusts that are hitting the upper teens. It’s even more so on the beaches, not quite the “stinging sand” level, but awfully close. No rain in the forecast still, although we got a few splats yesterday, at one point. Checking on wind tonight. Hopefully, it won’t bother the newspaper tosses by that time.

Some days just fly past with steady work and a lot of “tired”. That was yesterday. We were up early because someone was stomping around upstairs and I got a little more hawkweed done…another 28 dug. Some of the darned things are coming back from roots. I think what I need to do is have a couple of jars of sand to pour in on those and tamp down. Between lingering salt and lack of light that might put paid to ’em.

Jeanne’s cats are being taken care of, now. Arnemetia is getting Fatty from the shelter (where he’d been taken last week, when we didn’t know what had happened….) and got Licky-lou from the house this afternoon.

I spent a lot of the early part of the day replenishing the chip bottles in the crystals section, after I sorted them back out. I did those less than a week ago, but I had to dump the whole box and re-do it. I also put the moonstone bottles in the little drawer and filled in the line with aventurine bottles that there hadn’t been enough of, before. I set up a set of tiger eye and then I was completely out of the little bottles, so that’s another thing on the order list.

I did get into the back to work on the flour/grain shelves. The chaos is starting to resolve. We’re going to have to put one box of things around behind, next to the ritual cabinet and several boxes of mostly grumple are going up to storage. We also have to put the grill back in the shed and some errands like that….

That stuff is right after getting the watering done here. While Tempus is setting all that up, I’m going to sit down and embroidery and do some putting away of things in the apartment. When we get to the shop a whole bunch of things are going to get pulled out front, so we can get the canning jars back into the shelves instead of being one more lump in the way by the work table. I’m hoping we’ll have that resolved by the time Tempus is heading for Newport. It one of those things, where you have to make an horrid mess, first, by getting things out of the way and then by putting them where they belong you fix the mess, and create some space.

So paper route night. I’ll be at the shop until he picks me up. I’m hoping to work on potting up plants and then maybe the watermelon pickle. If we’re going to the Tymberhavene potluck tomorrow I might have to make something for that. Oh, maybe the maple candy….

Photo by Julie Markham in Tidewater on July 4th, this year!

Today’s Feast is Nicola Tesla Day. Despite all the good press given to Edison about electricity, Tesla was the one who came up with AC current, while Edison was insisting that DC was the only way to go. We’d have very different lives if Tesla had never lived. He was a strange man, with ideas that are different enough for some people to speculate that he wasn’t even human, but he was born in what is now Croatia and his family was from Serbia, his father an Orthodox priest and his mother the daughter of one. He had an eidetic memory and an aptitude for mechanical things from an early age. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_Day#Nikola_Tesla_Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

Today’s Plant is Oregon Ash, Fraxinus latifolia. “Ash before oak we’re in for a soak. Oak before ash we’re in for a splash” refers to a weather divination in England about spring rain and the leafing times of trees! Ash is a hardwood and is hard, dense, tough and very strong but elastic, great for making bows, , spears and drums as well as all kinds of furniture, even guitars and many of the early airplanes. It makes excellent firewood and has been used a lot for smoking meats. The bark can make a quinine substitute for fevers. The folk name for Ash is “Hoop Ash” , or “Nion” – (a rune name from the Irish Gaelic word Nionon which means heaven.) Elsewhere the ash and elm tree were known as the Widow Makers because the large boughs would often drop without warning. Witches were believed to fly on ash-handled broomsticks, while Viking ships were made of ash. In ancient Greece the Meliae were the ash nymphs and the dryads were the oak nymphs. Yggdrasil, the World Tree that supports the order of the Universe was an ash and humans were born from her branches. Odin hung on the tree to gain the knowledge of the Runes and therefore the ash tree is associated with communication. Ash trees have a sugary sap which may have been the basis of the Norse mead of inspiration. Ash Tree attracts lightening, so don’t stand under one during an electric storm. The ash fairy understands that problems are rarely solved on the level at which they were created. – Feminine – Sun & Neptune, Water & Fire – The “helicopter” seeds are used for traditional wish magicks. The Yule Log is traditionally of ash to bring the light of the Sun to the depths of winter and prosperity to the family. Wands and Staves (and traditionally the handle of the besom) made of this wood are good for healing, general and solar magic. The leaves attract love and prosperity. Sleep with them under your pillow and you will have psychic/prophetic dreams. Sleep with them in a bowl of water next to your bed to prevent illness. Wearing garters of green ash bark protects against the powers of magicians. Ash can heal children just by passing the child through a split in the tree’s trunk. It promotes strength, harmony, and a sense of being in tune with your surroundings. Ash is the key to healing the loneliness of the human spirit, forming a link between the gods, humans, and the dead in the spirit world. Ash holds the key to Universal Truth and Cosmic Wisdom, and it takes on the important role as a Tree of Initiation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_latifolia

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s Astro & Calendar

Aldebaran is just emerging from the glow of sunrise when the waning crescent Moon occults it, or passes close by it (depending on where you are) on the morning of July 10th. Warning: The Moon in these scenes is, for clarity, always drawn three times its actual apparent size. The waning crescent Moon rises shortly before 3:30 a.m. local daylight time this morning. Earth’s satellite lies next to the V-shaped Hyades — the large star cluster that forms the head of Taurus the Bull. The Moon stands just 1° northeast of Taurus’ brightest sun, 1st-magnitude Aldebaran. From parts of Canada and the upper Midwest, Luna passes in front of this ruddy star.
If you have a dark enough sky, the Milky Way now forms a magnificent arch high across the eastern heavens after nightfall is complete. It runs all the way from below Cassiopeia in the north-northeast, up and across Cygnus and the Summer Triangle in the east, and down to the south behind Saturn and the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot.
By combining roughly 1,000 Viking Orbiter images, researchers created this stunning mosaic of Mars that shows surface features at a scale of just over half a mile (1 kilometer) per pixel. NASA/JPL/USGS Mars remains a stunning sight all week. It rises around 10 p.m. local daylight time and climbs nearly 30° high in the south by 2:30 a.m. Although the Red Planet won’t reach opposition until the end of July, it appears noticeably brighter than it did just a week ago. Shining at magnitude –2.5, it appears brighter than Jupiter and ranks as the second-brightest point of light in the night sky after Venus. If you point a telescope toward Mars, you’ll see its 23″-diameter disk and perhaps a few subtle surface features — though most of these are currently obscured by a major dust storm.
Venus (magnitude –4.1, in Leo) shines brightly in the west during twilight, a trace lower every day. In a telescope Venus is a gibbous disk 17 arcseconds tall and 67% sunlit. This week Venus passes Regulus, which glimmers less than 1% as bright. On July 7th Regulus is still 3½° to Venus’s left or upper left. They’re in conjunction on Monday the 9th, with Regulus 1° to Venus’s south (lower left). By July 16th it’s 4½° to Venus’s lower right.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky Map for July 2018 https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-star-chart-july-2018
Goddess Month of Rosea runs from 6/13 – 7/10
Goddess Month of Kerea runs from 7/11 – 8/8
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne/Holly, Jul 8 – Aug 4
Runic New Year and half-month of Fehu/ Feoh, 6/29-7/13 Important in the runic year cycle, today marks beginning of the first rune, Feoh, sacred to Frey and Freya (Freyja), the lord and lady often worshipped in modern Wicca. It is the half-month of wealth and success. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, 1992 Runic half-month of Uruz/ Ur, 7/14-28 According to Pennick Ur represents primal strength, a time of collective action. A good time for beginnings! Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992

Sun in Cancer
Moon in Gemini
Jupiter Direct at 1pm.
Vesta (8/1), Mars (8/27), Saturn (9/6), Pluto (9/30), Neptune (11/24), Chiron (12/8) Retrograde

Color – Red

Harvest 7/10-11

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Tinne – Holly Ogam letter correspondences
Month: June
Color: Dark Grey
Class: Peasant
Letter: T
Meaning: Energy and guidance for problems to come

to study this month – Ioho – Yew Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Dark Green
Class: Chieftain
Letter: I, J, Y
Meaning: Complete change in life-direction or attitude.

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Tides for Alsea Bay

*
Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Tu 10      Low   5:10 AM    -0.8   5:42 AM    Rise 3:29 AM      15
~ 10     High 11:33 AM     5.7   9:01 PM     Set 6:37 PM
~ 10      Low   4:47 PM     2.3
~ 10     High 10:50 PM     8.4

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – I honestly face both the light and the shadow within me to harmonize all aspects of my spirit.

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Journal Prompt – How do you feel? – How do you feel about your appearance?

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Quotes

~ If you see a world of opposites then life’s a battlefield, see a world of complimentaries and all life becomes a teacher. – Joe Mullally
~ Look at criticism as an indication that you’re succeeding in empowering yourself and move on. – Kerr Cuhulain
~ Love and justice are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they depend upon one another, just as we do. Sending love your way today. – T. Thorn Coyle
~ My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. – Bjorn Borg

O Thou who passest thro’ our vallies in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy, thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair. – William Blake (1757–1827)

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Lughnasadh Magick – Crafts

CORNHUSK DOLLS

-Corn husks, fresh or dried, about 6-8 pieces.
-String
-Cotton balls, about 4
-Scraps of cloth, yarn, beads
-pipe cleaners (optional)
Note: If you are using dried husks, soak them in water to soften them. Fresh husks need no special preparation

Step 1: Take a strip of husk and place a few cotton balls in the middle, twisting and tying it with string to make a head.

Step 2: Make some arms by folding another husk and tying it near each end to make hands. Slip the arms between the husks that extend under the head. Tie the waist with string.Arrange enough husks around the figure’s waist so that they overlap slightly. Tie them in place with string.

Step 3: Fold the husks down carefully. For a woman wearing a long skirt, cut the husks straight across at the hem. to make a man, divide the skirt in two and tie each half at the ankles. Let the figure dry completely

Step 4: You can leave you figure as is, or give it a face, hair, or even some fancier clothes. Use a fine-tipped marker to draw facial features. Glue some fuzzy yarn on for hair. Add some tiny beads for buttons, and bits of fabric for aprons or vests. A pipe cleaner staff or cane will help the man stand upright.

Corn Dolly – (For Lughnasadh) – http://members.aol.com/ivycleartoes/corndoll.html

Materials:

Wheat straw, hollow straws, or raffia
Yarn or string
Small amount of cloth
Optional: A receptacle to display finished product, such as a basket or a horn of plenty
Optional: Decorations for the dolly or her display case

Directions:

If you’re using real wheat straw, you should get it when it is almost ripe but not totally dry yet. It should still be green at the bottom. Dry for a day, hung up, and then cut off the leaves and the head of the wheat below its first joint. When you use it it should be soaked before you try to bend it, for about half an hour. If you don’t have access to the real thing, the best craft material to use is raffia, and it doesn’t need to be moistened. It is easily found at the craft stores and resembles flattened straw.

There are a lot of ways to make a dolly out of the material, but here is just one easy way. First, take a large clump–maybe fifteen to twenty-five strands–and cut it so that it is about a foot and a half long. This will be the main body of the dolly. Fold it over in half. If it seems too long right now to be the size of dolly you want, you should cut it, because it is not going to get any shorter during the process. Now, where the stalks are folded is going to be the top of the dolly’s head. Take the string or yarn and tie it around the entire bundle about an inch and a half down from the top; that tie will be the mark of her neck.

Before you tie off the section that makes her body, you’ll need to make arms. This is easy; take more of your stalks and make a longer but thinner bundle–four to six stalks ought to do it–and fold them over. Tie off at the ends and cut the looped end so it is frayed just like the other side. The little frays represent her hands. Stick the arm bundle into the main bundle right under the neck, and then tie off the main bundle under the arms. That way they cannot slip out the bottom but can still be moved side to side or diagonally shifted.

At this point the bottom of the main bundle is frayed and splayed out a bit like a skirt. This is the simplest form of corn dolly, and it can now be considered finished if all you need is a very basic doll for your purpose. However, you can of course take a few extra steps, especially if this is to be ornamental rather than just ritually used.

You may want to make your corn dolly a dress. It is easy to cut a small piece of material–use a color or pattern that matches the season or a country print–and cut it in sort of an hourglass shape. Make a hole for the head at the center of the hourglass, and pull it over her head, then tie at the waist. The sides will be open but it doesn’t much matter since it’s just for effect. If you like you can even make a smaller version to make her an apron.

Also, a nice touch is giving her wheat stalk or raffia hair. Of course, for hair you can use any material, but we’ll take it for granted that you are not making the dolly to be professional-looking, it is a natural craft, so it is more likely that using the same material as you used for the rest of her body will be most appropriate. For hair, take a few strands of straw and loop them again; when looped it should be as long as you want her hair to be on either side. You’ll put it through the slightly closed loop made by her head. If you want this to be really easy, you may want to thread the hair piece in before tying it up, like you did with the arms. Otherwise it’s still possible but you may have trouble forcing it in. In any case, thread it through the head-hole and open it up on either side, then bring it up on top of her head and tie it in a double knot. You can then leave it loose if it looks nice, or give her a braid on either side. Then it is up to you how you dress her up; some nice touches are giving her a necklace, like a twig star or a string bracelet, or you can give her a bouquet of seasonal dried flowers for her hand. Use your imagination. But it is not considered part of the traditional craft to give her a face.

The corn dolly makes a nice addition to a basket of fallen leaves or pinecones, or a wall-mounted horn of plenty with dried flowers or wheat stalks (with the heads on) protruding from behind her.

Ritual use – This could be the same dolly used in other crafts, such as the dolly for Brigit’s Bed. If that is the case, keep these other rituals and their purposes in mind as she has come to another spoke on the wheel. If this dolly was created just for this Sabbat, it can be placed on the altar during ritual and used to represent the harvest; if you have gone the simple route and not dressed it up, it is appropriate to use it as if it is the sacrifice for the harvest, and buried outside with any other libations from the ritual. It can instead be kept and hung up in the kitchen during the season and through the winter, where it can be buried or converted to a Spring symbol when the winter is past.

Make a Corn Dolly to save for next Imbolc. Activities taken from “Green Witchcraft” by Anne Moura (Aoumiel)

Double over a bundle of wheat and tie it near the top to form a head. Take a bit of the fiber from either side of the main portion and twist into arms that you tie together in front of the dolly. Add a small bouquet of flowers to the “hands,” and then you can decorate the dolly with a dress and bonnet (the dress and bonnet may be made out of corn husks if you wish, or and cotton material is fine too).

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Silliness – Bumper Snickers – How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn’t live there?

Posted in Daily Stuff | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Cornhusk Doll, Fraxinus Latifolia, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Lammas, Lughnasadh, Lughnasadh craft, Magick, Moon, moon phase, Nicola Tesla Day, O Thou who passest thro’ our vallies in, Oregon Ash, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Tides, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca

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