Ancient Light's Daily Stuff

Daily Stuff 6-9-23 Saint Columba

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 11:46 AM of -1.0 feet. The shop opens at 1pm. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Ken Gagne.

[posting at 5:10pm] Partly sunny and 61F, wind at 1-9mph and gusting, AQI 4/27/10, UV8. Chance of rain 14% today and 10% tonight. Pollen hight. UV Very High.

7k Fire – 353 acres – Same
No firespots

Forecast – Partly cloudy for the next 10 days. No rain. Highs around 60F. Lows just under 50F.

2016

Wednesday evening and overnight I didn’t get a lot done. I mostly finished up some house chores, getting laundry ready, although I didn’t get to the dishes and there are a *lot* from all the cooking.

The sky is overcast although there’s been some sun. The inlets were all mud and I saw herons in several places, the last pair in the Lint Slough outlet. …at least I think one was a heron. There was a regular-sized one and next to it a 1/2-size darker bird of the same shape, a young one?

Calla liles are going full-bore, although Lee’s, on the south side of her building are already yellowing and drying. The marvelous rose of sharon tree that’s on the east side of our park is fading, too. It’s been marvelously pink for a couple of weeks already. It will fade to being next-to-invisible for the next 11 months.

Dang… the east coast is getting hit by smoke the way we usually do late in the summer… It’s all the way to DC and relatives in NC are saying they can see it, too!

I’ve gotten the things checked into inventory that got done over the weekend. Tempus still needs to go over to the PO for the package that Amazon didn’t get to me last week. They’re replacing it, which is good. Kittycat earrings!

…he got it and went to the laundromat. I was working on the small rock tumbler when I realized what time it is. I’m going to have to work on those when this is done.

Today is our regular Friday. We should be open at the normal time.

…and Lidice…. this is off in an extra post because of the “downer” aspects of it. …but trust me. I don’t forget…. https://ancientlightshop.wordpress.com/2019/06/10/daily-stuff-6-9-19-extra-lidice/

6/7/16 by Ken Gagne – Talon and Jonathan. Used with permission.

250px-St_Columba's_church,_Gartan,_Donegal

Today ‘s feast is that of Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, ‘church dove’; 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in present-day Scotland. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Columba reportedly studied under some of Ireland’s most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 he and his twelve companions sailed to Iona in Scotland, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Christianity among the pagan Picts. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him. Of course, from our angle he dealt the death-blow to Druidry…. to be fair, the native faiths had gotten pretty corrupt by that time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columba

220px-Polystichum_munitum_(Jami_Dwyer)_001

Today’s Plant is Sword fern, Polystichum munitum. It grows all winter on the coast, getting greener and lovelier every year as the new fiddles come up out of the center of the plant and develop into fronds. I’ve been enjoying those, watching them for months, now. They can get to be 6 feet tall and some of the ones down in the park where the stream crosses through are that size! The indigenes used the rhizome as a poverty food (baked and peeled), and the fronds are one of the best remedies for relieving the pain from the sting of a Stinging Nettle. It is also commonly used by florists as an ornamental plant. – Masculine, Air, The God, the Puck. This is an herb of masculine power, protection and luck. Use in spells to guide to treasure. Burn to drive away pests.…and as any fern, burn for rain…. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_fern

Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon., although we’re often here later. Need something off hours? Give us a call at 541-563-7154 or Facebook message or email at anjasnihova@yahoo.com 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 and other things

Moon in Aquarius enters Pisces at 3:14am.

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 6/17 at 9:37pm. Waning Gibbous Moon – Best time for draining the energy behind illness, habits or addictions. Magicks of this sort, started now, should be ended before the phase change to the New Moon. – Associated God/dess: Hera/Hero, Cybele, Zeus the Conqueror, Mars/Martius, Anansi, Prometheus. Phase ends at the Quarter on 6/10 at 12:31am.

Venus says goodbye Pollux, hello Mars.

The Big Dipper hangs high in the northwest as the stars come out. The Dipper’s Pointers, currently its bottom two stars, point lower right toward Polaris. Above Polaris, and looking very similar to it, is Kochab, the lip of the Little Dipper’s bowl. (The rest of the Little Dipper is mostly dim.) Kochab stands precisely above Polaris around the end of twilight or a little after. How accurately can you time this event for your location, perhaps using the vertical edge of a building?

Aquarius after sunset – On January evenings after the Sun sets, Aquarius offers a host of targets, including Neptune, M2, and M72. – Alison Klesman (via TheSkyX)

The Moon continues to wane as it moves along the ecliptic, passing 3° south of Saturn at 4 P.M. EDT. The pair isn’t visible then — you’ll have to catch them in the early-morning sky before sunrise, when they are farther apart but both still sharing southern Aquarius. Saturn rises around 1 a.m. Saturday morning (daylight-saving time), followed less than a half hour later by the Moon, nearly last quarter and 6° or 7° to Saturn’s lower left. By early dawn the two of them are well up in the southeast. An hour before sunrise, Saturn is more than 30° high in the southeast, with Luna floating some 8.5° south-southwest of the planet. Through a telescope, you’ll notice that Titan has moved far from its position earlier this week and now sits nearly 3′ from the planet, due east of the disk. You can also turn your telescope back to the Moon to explore the 66-percent-lit gibbous, focusing particularly on the terminator dividing lunar night from day. As the terminator sweeps across the surface, it swallows features in darkness and brings out stunning detail at the place where light and dark meet. Move your gaze up and down the terminator to explore the many craters and lava-filled plains.

Over in Aries above the eastern horizon, you can also spot Jupiter more than 10° high. All four of its Galilean moons appear around it this morning, with Europa (closest) and Ganymede to the west and Io and Callisto to the east. The positions of the latter two depend on when you look — for those on the East Coast, the planet rises with Callisto closer than Io. The two exchange positions just after 5 A.M. CDT (essentially the moment of sunrise on the East Coast, so your optics should be put away!), when Callisto is due north of Io. After that, Callisto moves farther away, while Io sits closer to the planet.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9 at the Aquarius-Pisces border, is low in the east-southeast before dawn begins.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Celtic Tree Month of Duir/Oak, Jun 10 – Jul 7 –
Color – Rose
Planting 6/9&10
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9 – I am fair among flowers – Color: Purple – Class: Peasant – Letter: H – Meaning: Being held back for a period of time – Hawthorn – Like willows, hawthorns have many species in Europe, and they are not always easy to tell apart. All are thorny shrubs in the Rose family (Rosaceae), and most have whitish or pinkish flowers. The common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.) and midland hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata (Poiret) DC.) are both widespread. They are common in abandoned fields and along the edges of forests. Both are cultivated in North America, as are several native and Asiatic hawthorns. Curtis Clark

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

to study this month – Ur – Heather and Mistletoe Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Purple
Class: Heather is Peasant; Mistletoe is Chieftain
Letter: U
Meaning: Healing and development on the spiritual level.

Celtic Tree Month of Duir/Oak, Jun 10 – Jul 7 – The oak of myth and legend is the common oak (Quercus robur L.). It is sometimes called the great oak, which is a translation of its Latin name (robur is the root of the English word “robust”). It grows with ash and beech in the lowland forests, and can reach a height of 150 feet and age of 800 years. Along with ashes, oaks were heavily logged throughout recent millennia, so that the remaining giant oaks in many parts of Europe are but a remnant of forests past. Like most other central and northern European trees, common oaks are deciduous, losing their leaves before Samhain and growing new leaves in the spring so that the trees are fully clothed by Bealltaine. Common oaks are occasionally cultivated in North America, as are the similar native white oak, valley oak, and Oregon oak. Oaks are members of the Beech family (Fagaceae). Curtis Clark

Duir – Oak Ogam letter correspondences
Month: May
Color: Black and Dark Brown
Class: Chieftain
Letter: D
Meaning: Security; Strength

to study this month – Eadha – White Poplar or Aspen Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Silver White
Class: Shrub
Letter: E
Meaning: Problems; Doubts; Fears.

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
F    9     High   4:41 AM     7.1   5:32 AM    Rise 1:24 AM      73
~     9      Low 11:46 AM    -1.0   8:59 PM     Set 11:42 AM
~     9     High   6:36 PM     6.6

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Well, you and I only have one life.

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Journal Prompt – What does this quote say to you? – A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in the experience. — Elbert Hubbard

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Quotes

~   Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason. – Samuel Adams (1722-1803) US patriot
~   … for the dullard on the front bench opposite. – Paul Keating
~   An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought. – Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish artist
~   A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. – William James

In June tis good to lie beneath a tree
While the blithe season comforts every sense,
Steeps all the brain in rest, and heals the heart,
Brimming it o’er with sweetness unawares. – James Russell Lowell (1819–91)

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Litha Magic – Lore – Litha/Midsummer Lore – A Midsummer Night’s Lore – by Melanie Fire Salamander – http://ravenmoonlight.com/?p=292

Cinquefoil, campion, lupine and foxglove nod on your doorstep; Nutka rose, salal bells, starflower and bleeding-heart hide in the woods,fully green now. Litha has come, longest day of the year, height of the sun. Of old, in Europe, Litha was the height too of pagan celebrations, the most important and widely honored of annual festivals.

Fire, love and magick wreathe ’round this time. As on Beltaine in Ireland, across Europe people of old leaped fires for fertility and luck on Midsummer Day, or on the night before, Midsummer Eve, according to Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. Farmers drove their cattle through the flames or smoke or ran with burning coals across the cattle pens. In the Scottish Highlands, herders nabulated their sheep with torches lit at the Midsummer fire.

People took burning brands around their fields also to ensure fertility, and in Ireland threw them into gardens and potato fields. Ashes from the fire were mixed with seeds yet to plant. In parts of England country folk thought the apple crop would fail if they didn’t light the Midsummer fires. People relit their house fires from the Midsummer bonfire, in celebration hurled flaming disks heavenward and rolled flaming wheels downhill, burning circles that hailed the sun at zenith.

Midsummer, too, was a lovers’ festival. Lovers clasped hands over the bonfire, tossed flowers across to each other, leaped the flames together. Those who wanted lovers performed love divination. In Scandinavia, girls laid bunches of flowers under their pillows on Midsummer Eve to induce dreams of love and ensure them coming true. In England, it was said if an unmarried girl fasted on Midsummer Eve and at midnight set her table with a clean cloth, bread, cheese and ale, then left her yard door open and waited, the boy she would marry, or his spirit, would come in and feast with her.

Magick crowns Midsummer. Divining rods cut on this night are more infallible, dreams more likely to come true. Dew gathered Midsummer Eve restores sight. Fern, which confers invisibility, was said to bloom at midnight on Midsummer Eve and is best picked then. Indeed, any magickal plants plucked on Midsummer Eve at midnight are doubly efficacious and keep better. You’d pick certain magickal herbs, namely St. Johnswort, hawkweed, vervain, orpine, mullein, wormwood and mistletoe, at midnight on Midsummer Eve or noon Midsummer Day, to use as a charm to protect your house from fire and lightning, your family from disease, negative witchcraft and disaster. A pagan gardener might consider cultivating some or all of these; it’s not too late to buy at herb-oriented nurseries, the Herbfarm outside Fall City the chief of these and a wonderful place to visit, if a tad pricey. Whichever of these herbs you find, a gentle snip into a cloth, a spell whispered over, and you have a charm you can consecrate in the height of the sun.

In northern Europe, the Wild Hunt was often seen on Midsummer Eve, hallooing in the sky, in some districts led by Cernunnos. Midsummer’s Night by European tradition is a fairies’ night, and a witches’ night too. Rhiannon Ryall writes in West Country Wicca that her coven, employing rites said to be handed down for centuries in England’s West Country, would on Midsummer Eve decorate their symbols of the God and Goddess with flowers, yellow for the God, white for the Goddess. The coven that night would draw down the moon into their high priestess, and at sunrise draw down the sun into their high priest. The priest and priestess then celebrated the Great Rite, known to the coven as the Rite of Joining or the Crossing Rite.

Some of Ryall’s elders called this ritual the Ridencrux Rite. They told how formerly in times of bad harvest or unseasonable weather, the High Priestess on the nights between the new and full moon would go to the nearest crossroads, wait for the first stranger traveling in the district. About this stranger the coven had done ritual beforehand, to ensure he embodied the God. The high priestess performed the Great Rite with him to make the next season’s sowing successful.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, traces of witchcraft and pagan remembrances were often linked with Midsummer. In Southern Estonia, Lutheran Church workers found a cottar’s wife accepting sacrifices on Midsummer Day, Juhan Kahk writes in Early Modern European Witchcraft: Centres and Peripheries, edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Gustave Henningsen. Likewise, on Midsummer Night in 1667, in Estonia’s Maarja-Magdaleena parish, peasants met at the country manor of Colonel Griefenspeer to perform a ritual to cure illnesses.

In Denmark, writes Jens Christian V. Johansen in another Early Modern European Witchcraft chapter, medieval witches were said to gather on Midsummer Day, and in Ribe on Midsummer Night. Inquisitors in the Middle Ages often said witches met on Corpus Christi, which some years fell close to Midsummer Eve, according to Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, by Jeffrey Burton Russell. The inquisitors explained witches chose the date to mock a central Christian festival, but Corpus Christi is no more important than a number of other Christian holidays, and it falls near a day traditionally associated with pagan worship. Coincidence? Probably not.

Anciently, pagans and witches hallowed Midsummer. Some burned for their right to observe their rites; we need not. But we can remember the past. In solidarity with those burned, we can collect our herbs at midnight; we can burn our bonfires and hail the sun.

Gods and Goddesses

Gods and goddesses: All father gods and mother goddesses, pregnant goddesses and Sun deities. Particular emphasis might be placed on the goddesses Aphrodite, Astarte, Freya, Hathor, Ishtar and Venus and other goddesses who preside over love, passion and beauty. Other Litha deities include the goddesses Athena, Artemis, Dana, Kali, Isis and Juno and the gods Apollo, Ares, Dagda, Gwydion, Helios, Llew, Oak/Holly King, Lugh, Ra, Sol, Zeus, Prometheus and Thor.

Herbs

Sage, mint, basil, fennel, chive, chervil, tarragon, parsley, rosemary,thyme, hyssop, honeysuckle, red heather, white heather, rue, sunflower, lavender, fern, mistletoe, St. John’s Wort, mugwort, vervain, meadowsweet, heartsease, feverfew, iris, rowan, oak, fir, pine, aniseed, hazelnut.

Stones

Ruby, garnet, diamond, seashell, Herkimer diamond, clear quartz crystal, amber, citrine, cat’s-eye, yellow topaz, yellow tourmaline, gold, silver, peridot, carnelian, calcite

Incense

Midsummer Incense #1:
Recipe by Scott Cunningham

2 parts Sandalwood
1 part mugwort
1 part Chamomile
1 part Gardenia Petals
a few drops Rose Oil
a few drops Lavender Oil
a few drops Yarrow Oil

Burn at Wiccan rituals at the Summer Solstice (circa June 21st) or at that time to attune with the seasons and the Sun.

Midsummer Incense #2:
Recipe by Scott Cunningham

3 parts Frankincense
2 parts Benzoin
1 part Dragon’s Blood
1 part Thyme
1 part rosemary
1 pinch Vervain
a few drops Red Wine

Recipes

Summer Pudding
Recipe by Jan Brodie

1 lb. Mixed Red Soft Fruits
4 oz. Sugar
Enough White Bread to line a Pudding Basin
Whipped Cream for serving

Trim the crusts off the bread and line the pudding basin with it, cutting a circle for the base. Ensure that the basin is lined without any gaps. Cook the fruits and sugar, without adding extra water, for a few minutes until the juices run. Drain the fruits and retain the juices. Fill the lined bowl with fruit and place a circle of bread on top, enclosing the fruit. Then put a plate on top held down with a weight on top. Place in fridge overnight. When ready to serve, turn out onto a plate and pour the reserved juices over the top. Serve with whipped cream. (The above recipe for “Summer Pudding” is from Jan Brodie’s book “Earth Dance: A Year of Pagan Rituals”, page 98-99, Capall Bann Publishing, 1995)

Cauldron Cookies
Recipe by Gerina Dunwich

3/4 cup Softened Butter
2 cups Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 teaspoons Grated Lemon Rind
2 cups Flour
1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans

Cream the butter in a large cast-iron cauldron (or mixing bowl). Gradually add the brown sugar, beating well. Add the eggs, lemon juice, and rind, and then beat by hand or with an electric mixer until the mixture is well blended. The next step is to stir in the flour and pecans. Cover the cauldron with a lid, aluminum foil, or plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

When ready, shape the dough into one-inch balls and place them about three inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake in a 375-degree preheated oven for approximately eight minutes. Remove from the oven and place on wire racks until completely cool. This recipe yields about 36 cookies which can be served at any of the eight Sabbats, as well as at Esbats and all other Witchy get-togethers.
(The above recipe for “Cauldron Cookies” is quoted directly from Gerina Dunwich’s book “The Wicca Spellbook: A Witch’s Collection of Wiccan Spells, Potions and Recipes”, page 167, A Citadel Press Book, Carol Publishing Group, 1994/1995)

Activities for Litha

* Tie a sprig of rowan, a sprig of rue, and three flowers of St. John’s Wort with red thread and hang over the door.

* Make amulets (simple charms) of protection out of herbs such as rue and rowan. If you make new amulets each year you can dispose of the old in the midsummer fire.

* Create a pouch for psychic dreams (mugwort and bay leaves in a cloth of lavender, blue, or yellow and sewn with red thread) and place under your pillow.

* Make a Solar Wheel as a terific family project – everyone can make one for their bedroom. Wind palm or grape vine into a circle, twisting as you go. Cut two short lengths of stem to be just a bit larger than the diaameter of the circle and place one across the back horizontally and the other vertically crossing in back on the horizontal one and coming forward to the front of the circle to secure both, then adorn with symbols of the elementals (stone, feathers, ashes in a pouch, or a small candle, and a shell) and festoon
with green and yellow ribbons. Hang in a tree outside or indoors at a reminder of the God’s protection.

* Make a Witch’s Ladder (another fun family project) using three colored yarns (red, black, and white for the Triple Goddess) braided together to be three feet long. Add nine feathers all the same color for a specific charm (such as green for money) or various colors for a more diverse charm, tie ends and hang up. Colors are red for vitality, blue for peace and protection, yellow for alertness and cheer, green for prosperity, brown for stability, black for wisdom, black and white for balance, patterned for clairvoyance, and iridescent for insight.

* Make a rue protection pouch out of white cotton. Add two or three sprigs of rue, bits of whole grain wheat bread, a pinch of salt, and two star anise seeds and hang indoors (can do one for each bedroom).

* Tie vervain, rosemary, and hyssop with white thread and dip the tips into a bowl of spring water (you can buy bottled spring water in grocery stores) and sprinkle the water about the house to chase out negativity, or sprinkle your tools to cleanse and purify.

* Soak thyme in olive oil, then lightly anoint your eyelids to see faery folk at night

* Tie a bunch of fennel with red ribbons and hang over the door for long life and protection of the home.

* Look for the faery folk under an elder tree, but don’t eat their food or you’ll have to remain with them for seven years! (Which could be a lot of fun, but will seriously wreck any plans you may have made!)

Litha Altar

* Think of warm summer days and sunny cloudless sky.
* Candles: blue, yellow-gold candle to represent the sun. Orange, gold, green
* Oils: violet, rose, orange, lime, thyme, citronella
* Altar cloth: red or gold

Spellwork

Faery magick, protection, purification, love/sex spells. Fire magick. Animal blessings or magick. A good time for scrying and divination. Traditionally the Great Rite, symbolic or actual, is enacted.

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Silliness – 10 Signs Your Vet Bill Is Going To Require Financing
— The doc’s thermometer registers in Fahrenheit, Celsius and dollars.
— The bill came with payment coupons.
— Your Doberman just ate the receptionist.
— “He has a very rare blood type. It’s called ‘$$ Positive.'”
— He starts talking about extended quality of life, miracles of modern veterinary medicine and joint replacement procedures. You own a goldfish.
— They take away the blood sample on a sterling silver serving tray.
— The sad, pathetic whining in the exam room is coming from the owners.
— You suddenly realize where you’ve heard that low whistle before: from the plumber and the auto mechanic.
— “Do you have any idea how expensive hamster defibrillators are?”
— and the #1 Sign Your Veterinary Bill is Going to Require Financing:
“We can rebuild him. Make him stronger, faster….”

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged A Brief History of Dolls, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S LORE, Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Colm Cille, Goddess Month, In June tis good to lie beneath a tree, Journal Prompt, Lidice, Litha, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Polystichum munitum, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Saint Columba, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Sword Fern, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-8-23 Bona Mens

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 10:54 AM of -1.4 feet. The shop opens at 1pm. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Ken Gagne.

Tuesday evening when I got up from my nap I had a serving of lentils, first, then I spent a couple of hours alternating reading and working on the chicken/ham salad. I ran the meat and then the onions and celery in the food processor to make it easier to chew, since both Tempus and I are dealing with sore teet, at the moment. I made two boxes of the mix, then put about 1/3 of it in with the vegetables and cream sauce left from the chicken, so we can have a hot dish at some point. I had a sandwich of the salad mix, then some of the cucumber salad for dessert, then curled up next to Tempus with my tablet.

He’d been asleep most of the day, so he woke a bit early, had a sandwich and a couple of spoonfulls of lentils and then I put boxed the rest and got them into the fridge. I came into town with him to get some things done on the computer and then we’ll go to the market before heading home.

….

I didn’t sleep well overnight. Well, the sofa is comfortable, but not for other than naps…. Tempus got it 9-ish, and the farmers weren’t at the market. That was disappointing, so we headed home to get some sleep.

I was up with coffee mid-afternoon and got a sandwich of the chicken/ham salad mix, then worked on jewelry for awhile. Thinking that Tempus might be up, soon, I set up the dump cake. That was a disappointment. For one thing the recipe said it took 45 minutes to bake. Nope. I finally pulled it at 1 1/2 hours and while it was all cooked, it was still very sloppy. I think next time I’ll bake the cake by itself, then make a trifle with it. Tasty, though! I cut up the strawberries, although I forgot to make them into jam. I didn’t get two jars of cherry, at least.

Tempus got up around up 5 and we got the cake in (see above). He made coffee and then we had some food and I turned in right after not waking until nearly 11pm. More in tomorrow’s newsletter!

150px-Bas_relief_from_Arch_of_Marcus_Aurelius_showing_sacrifice

Today ‘s feast is that of Bona Mens in the old Roman Empire. Mens is the personification of the “good mind” and had a temple on the Capitoline Hill. It’s long gone and there were apparently no records made of what it looked like. There’s a wiki article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens

Today’s Plant is the local larkspurs, delphinium trollifolium, and delphinium pavonaceum (which the Wiki article says is confined to the Valley, but I’ve collected out here….) are pretty flowers in shades of white, blue and purple. They’re called delphiniums (dolphins) after the shape of the nectary. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinium_trolliifolium and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinium_pavonaceum Other names are Larksheal and Staggerweed – Feminine, Venus, Water – The flowers frighten away venomous creatures and ghosts. Sprinkle between your eyes and a Litha fire to keep your sight clear. Use in rituals to call upon Dolphin energy.

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Aquarius

Ceres is traveling through Virgo, a constellation rich with galaxies. Only objects brighter than magnitude 10 are shown here. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly

Dwarf planet 1 Ceres is traveling through an extragalactic haven, sliding near the well-known Virgo Cluster. To find the main-belt world, wait an hour or two after sunset and look for Leo the Lion, headed face-down toward the western horizon. The tip of the lion’s tail is 2nd-magnitude Denebola; Ceres lies just less than 5.5° to this star’s southeast. At 8th magnitude, you can capture this icy world in binoculars or any small scope, especially in the dark sky before the Moon has risen.

M87 jet – The jet powered by M87’s supermassive black hole can be imaged using relatively short exposures under a dark sky. – Giuseppe Donatiello (Flickr)

From Ceres’ location, it’s another short jump of about 6° northeast this time to M87, the giant elliptical galaxy at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. This galaxy is particularly famous, as its central black hole was the first such object ever imaged by the Event Horizon telescope. The galaxy itself shines at magnitude 8.6, easily captured in low-powered optics as a round fuzzball spanning about 7′. Because it’s an elliptical with no spiral structure, even bumping up the magnification won’t really change its appearance. Nearby is a plethora of other galaxies — check out the chart above to view some of the brighter options on display, including Markarian’s Chain, a string of several galaxies that is a favorite of amateur observers.

The doubles

Vega is the brightest star high in the east after dark. Barely lower left of it is 4th-magnitude Epsilon Lyrae, the Double-Double. Epsilon forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm’s length. Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon. And a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should resolve each of Epsilon’s wide components into a tight pair. Zeta Lyrae is also a double star for binoculars; much tougher, but plainly resolved in any telescope. Delta Lyrae, below Zeta, is a much wider and easier pair, orange and blue.

Uranus, magnitude 5.9, is hidden low in the sunrise.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Celtic Tree Month of Duir/Oak, Jun 10 – Jul 7 –
Color – Purple
Harvest 6/7&8
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

******

The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Duir – Oak Ogam letter correspondences
Month: May
Color: Black and Dark Brown
Class: Chieftain
Letter: D
Meaning: Security; Strength

to study this month – Eadha – White Poplar or Aspen Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Silver White
Class: Shrub
Letter: E
Meaning: Problems; Doubts; Fears.

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Th   8     High 3:39 AM     7.8   5:32 AM    Rise 12:54 AM      82
~     8      Low 10:54 AM    -1.4   8:59 PM     Set 10:22 AM
~     8     High   5:43 PM     6.5
~     8      Low 11:06 PM     2.9

******

Affirmation/Thought for the Day – You cannot save people, you can only love them.

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Journal Prompt – What does this quote say to you? – Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright. — Benjamin Franklin

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Quotes

~   In misfortune, which friend remains a friend? – Euripides
~   Every man is the master of his own words. – Grettir’s Saga, c.19
~   Every meeting is a Divine encounter, every encounter an exchange of gifts. – Augustine
~   All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God. – Voltaire (1694-1778) French Philosopher and Author

Sappho – Sara Teasdale

The twilight’s inner flame grows blue and deep,
And in my Lesbos, over leagues of sea,
The temples glimmer moonwise in the trees.
Twilight has veiled the little flower face
Here on my heart, but still the night is kind
And leaves her warm sweet weight against my breast.

Am I that Sappho who would run at dusk
Along the surges creeping up the shore
When tides came in to ease the hungry beach,
And running, running, till the night was black,
Would fall forespent upon the chilly sand
And quiver with the winds from off the sea?

Ah, quietly the shingle waits the tides
Whose waves are stinging kisses, but to me
Love brought no peace, nor darkness any rest.
I crept and touched the foam with fevered hands
And cried to Love, from whom the sea is sweet,
From whom the sea is bitterer than death.

Ah, Aphrodite, if I sing no more
To thee, God’s daughter, powerful as God,
It is that thou hast made my life too sweet
To hold the added sweetness of a song.
There is a quiet at the heart of love,
And I have pierced the pain and come to peace.

I hold my peace, my Cleïs, on my heart;
And softer than a little wild bird’s wing
Are kisses that she pours upon my mouth.
Ah, never any more when spring like fire
Will flicker in the newly opened leaves,

Shall I steal forth to seek for solitude
Beyond the lure of light Alcæus’ lyre,
Beyond the sob that stilled Erinna’s voice.
Ah, never with a throat that aches with song,
Beneath the white uncaring sky of spring,
Shall I go forth to hide awhile from Love

The quiver and the crying of my heart.
Still I remember how I strove to flee
The love-note of the birds, and bowed my head
To hurry faster, but upon the ground
I saw two wingèd shadows side by side,
And all the world’s spring passion stifled me.

Ah, Love, there is no fleeing from thy might,
No lonely place where thou hast never trod,
No desert thou hast left uncarpeted
With flowers that spring beneath thy perfect feet.
In many guises didst thou come to me;
I saw thee by the maidens while they danced,

Phaon allured me with a look of thine,
In Anactoria I knew thy grace,
I looked at Cercolas and saw thine eyes;
But never wholly, soul and body mine,
Didst thou bid any love me as I loved.

Now I have found the peace that fled from me;
Close, close, against my heart I hold my world.
Ah, Love that made my life a lyric cry,
Ah, Love that tuned my lips to lyres of thine,
I taught the world thy music, now alone
I sing for one who falls asleep to hear.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on June 4, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.

******

Litha Magic – Recipes

MIDSUMMER CAKE – Makes 1 cake, approx 10 pieces – <isis_snow_tiger@yahoo.com>This keeps well, even if you transport it on a rocking boat to its destination. It tastes of both orange and chocolate and is excellent with strawberries.
3 dl all-purpose white flour
1/2 dl cocoa powder
4 tbs sugar
150 g butter or margarine
1 – 2 tbs water
Filling:
grated peel from 1 orange
1 dl freshly squeezed orange juice
1 dl sugar
2 dl creme fraiche or sour cream
3 eggs
Decoration:
1/2 – 1 liter split strawberries
Serving:
lightly whipped cream
strawberries

Heat the oven to 200C/400F.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, and sugar, preferably in a food processor.
Finely part the butter in there. (whip?)
Add water and quickly work to a dough.
Press it out in a dish with removable edge, approx 26 cm / good 10″ in diameter.
Put the dish in the fridge.
Mix orange peel, juice, sugar, creme fraiche or sour cream, and eggs.
Pre-bake the pie crust for 12 – 15 minutes in the middle of the oven.
Pour in the filling and continue baking in the lower part of the oven for about 30 minutes, until the filling has set.
Let cool.
Decorate with split strawberries. Serve with whipped cream and lots of strawberries, even if there are already strawberries on the cake. One can never get enough of them, right?

Faery CookiesMake a batch of Shortbread or Sugar Cookies, and give them lots of glittery sprinkles! When you go into the garden, or woods, share them with the fairies and the little ones. Here’s a recipe for shortbread followed by the method for decorating.

Irish Shortbread Cookies – Mrs Pearl Kells of “The Arches”, Drumyouth, Arva, Co. Cavan, Ireland. Yield: 30 cookies 1cup butter, softened 1cup granulated sugar 2 cups white flour 1 teaspoon salt.

Mix butter and sugar until well blended.
Work in the flour and salt.
If the dough is too dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons more butter.
Roll 1-inch thick on a slightly floured board.
Cut into rectangles approximately 1-inch by 2-inches.
Prick each rectangle with the tines of a fork.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 18 – 20 minutes.

Faery Cookie Decorations –

Summer coating or chocolate (Wilton’s Candy Melts™ are a good option here)

Edible glitter, colored sugar or raw sugar grains

Optional – flower-shaped sprinkles or candies

After cookies are cooled enough to handle, fill a two cup microwave-safe measure ½-way with the chocolate or summer coating.
Fill a saucer with the glitter, etc.
Fill another saucer with the sprinkles or candies.
Melt chocolate, etc. in the microwave, one minute at a time, stirring each time with a heat-proof spoon. It may take 3-5 minutes for the chocolate to be completely melted.
Dip each cookie end on quickly into the melted chocolate, then immediately press one side into the glitter and the other into the sprinkles. If you have candies instead, pick one up and hold it to the cookie. If it doesn’t stick, dip it into the chocolate and quickly press into the cookie.
Let cool thoroughly and store in fridge (or cooler) until serving.

Baklava

www.weavings.co.uk As the full moon in June is known as the Honey Moon, any foods made or eaten with honey would be an appropriate dish. The first thing that springs to mind is baklava, one of my favourite desserts! Buy some from the local Greek restaurant if you aren’t keen too work with filo (phyllo) dough, which can be a real pain. Or, if you’re adventurous, try the recipe below.

I’m trying to (slowly!) convert all of my American measurements into British. Every time I get out one of my cookbooks that I brought with me, I have to turn on the computer and look at the instant converter because all of Magi’s kitchen utensils are metric! The only thing I brought with me are my measuring spoons and I am so grateful for even that small favour!

Makes 10 pieces

Ingredients 6 large sheets of filo pastry

75g/ 3oz/ 6tbsp. of butter, melted
225g/ 8oz/ 2 cups chopped, mixed nuts (like almonds, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts)
50g/ 2oz/ 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
5ml/ 1tsp ground cinnamon
5ml/ 1tsp mixed spice or allspice
2.5 ml/ half a tsp grated nutmeg 250ml/ 8 fl oz/ 1 cup honey
60ml/ 4tbs lemon juice
Directions
Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Butter an 18x28cm/7x11in pan. Unroll the pastry (very carefully, it rips easily), brush one sheet with melted butter and line the pan with it, carefully working it up the sides. Keep the rest of the dough covered with a damp towel as you work to keep it from drying out. Brush 2 more sheets with melted butter and lay on top of the base sheet, letting the edges hang over the sides of pain. Mix together the nuts (I prefer to give them a pounding in the mortar and pestle to give them a finer texture), breadcrumbs and spices in a bowl and then spoon this mixture into the lined tin. Cut the remaining three sheets of pastry in half (widthways) and brush each piece with melted butter. Layer the sheets on top of the filling and fold in the overhanging edges. Using a very sharp, skinny knife, cut the baklava diagonally, into diamonds. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden. They go very quickly from golden to burnt so keep an eye out the last 5 minutes or so. As the baklava bakes, heat the honey and lemon juice together in a saucepan. When the baklava is baked, pour the syrup over it while the baklava is still warm. Leave it to cool completely, re-cut it into diamonds and serve either cold or warmed up in the microwave (my favourite way to eat it!). I was told by a little Greek man named Alex, who owns the best restaurant in all of Cincinnati, Ohio, that since baklava has no egg or milk in it, it does not need to be refrigerated. My kids like to eat it cold, though, so I’ve never tried it. You could leave a piece out for the faeries, too! I’m sure they love Greek pastries!
******

Silliness – Laugh of the Day – Where do detectives park their vehicles? Undercover.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Bona Mens, Celtic Tree Month, delphinium pavonaceum, delphinium trollifolium, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, larkspurs, Litha, Litha recipes, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Sappho, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-7-23 Vesta Aperit

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 10:02 AM of -1.8 feet. The shop is closed on Tue/Wed. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by JT Price.

Monday evening I started with finishing the Ranch dressing mix. After that I packed herbs. Tempus didn’t get in until noon on Tuesday, but he made coffee for me, first, before heading for bed. I set up the lentil pot, chopping some of the odd vegetables that were left in the fridge, like some snap peas and green onions. …and then I took a nap.

When I got up I ground the rosemary for the italian spice mix and got that finished. I got myself some soup for lunch because I had to wait for the sun to not be on the garden. I don’t like getting burnt! I flapped around a little trying to decide whether I wanted to make tuna salad? …and where did the celery go? Should I make a radish spread? …and got some chores done …and by then I could work outside.

I started with the compost, then planted the onion ends that were in it, then weeded and checked up on progress on things like radishes and how soon are the garlics going to be ready to harvest. The calendula at home doesn’t have whitefly like the one at the shop and is producing and flower a day. Easy enough to harvest before we head for the shop and calendula is easy to dry.

When I went back in and washed up I found the celery, by tripping on it! I thought the bag only had canned goods until that point. …so I made the last of the cucumbers into a salad, stirred the lentils and went for another nap!

Eye in the sky – moonset over the Pacific. Yachats, Oregon. JT Price‎ posted this in the Waldport Community Facebook page, 7/1/18. Used with permission!

Today ‘s feast is Vesta Aperit, the first day of the Vestalia in ancient Rome. This is the one day of the year when the most sacred area of Vesta’s temple was open for women to offer sacrifices. The rest of the year it was closed to all but the priestesses. Vesta was the goddess of the hearth and the sacred fire that was the basis of much of the Roman worship. The Vestals, usually referred to as, “Vestal Virgins”, were the only women in Rome who were held to be equal to and independent from men, but if they broke their 30-year vow of chastity they would be buried alive. They lived in a house near the main centers of worship. The picture to the left is Vesta’s temple in 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestalia#Vestalia

Today’s Plant is Sweet William, Dianthus barbatus. It is often called Carnation, just like others of the dianthus species and I’ve seen it mis-named “phlox” on plant tags at Fred Meyer’s. The difference is the scent. It still has a sweet scent, but not of clove, like gillyflower, or no scent, like phlox. The flowers are edible and attract butterflies and bees, and the seeds will draw birds, who sometimes will also go after the flowers. They’re good as cut flowers, lasting a decent while, being tall, and a cluster, rather than multiple stems. Cate Middleton had them in her bouquet as a nice touch when she married her “Sweet William”. They have the meaning of “Gallantry”. – Masculine, Sun, Air, Venus – All-purpose protection, in healing for strength and energy. Magickally it is very similar to Gillyflowers.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_william

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Capricorn enters Aquarius at 1:42am

Beehive descending – Cancer sets slowly after sundown on May evenings; this chart shows the view looking west about 2 hours after sunset, when you can easily find the Beehive Cluster (m44) between Leo and Gemini. – Alison Klesman (via TheSkyX)

Leo’s tail star, 2nd-magnitude Denebola high in the south-southwest after dark, forms an almost perfectly equilateral triangle with brighter Spica off to its left and Arcturus, brighter still, above them. All three sides of the triangle are close to 35° long (35.3°, 35.1°, and 32.8°). S&T columnist George Lovi named this the Spring Triangle nearly a half century ago, but the name never really caught on. For such a near-perfect equilateral, I think its special name ought to be revived.

The Hunting Dogs won’t lead you astray if you are on the prowl for bright, nearby galaxies during a night of binocular observing. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly

Now that it’s June, let’s check out the American Association of Variable Star Observers’ (AAVSO) featured variable of the month: La Superba, The Magnificent. Cataloged as Y Canum Venaticorum and located in Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs, this deep red star gains its hue from the plentiful carbon in its atmosphere. But that’s not its only quirk: Over the course of about 157 days, La Superba’s brightness changes by some 75 percent, swinging between magnitude 4.8 and 6.3. That means sometimes it’s readily visible to the naked eye, while others it’s at the edge of visibility, particularly if there’s light pollution present. You’ll find La Superba under the curve of the Big Dipper’s handle high in the north after sunset. It’s located 4.5° northeast of 4th-magnitude Chara (Beta [β] Canum Venaticorum) or just over 11° southwest of 2nd-magnitde Alkaid at the very end of the Big Dipper’s handle. If you can’t spot this ruddy sun by eye, binoculars or any small telescope will bring it into view. Canes Venatici is a small and often overlooked constellation, but there’s plenty to see here. If you’re curious about what else it holds, check out Phil Harrington’s column on other treasures to observe within the Hunting Dogs.

Saturn (magnitude +1.0, in dim Aquarius) is well up in the southeast by the beginning of dawn. Mercury is deep in the glow of sunrise, brightening from magnitude +0.2 to –0.3 this week. Use binoculars to try for it well to the lower left of brighter Jupiter. They’re moving apart, from 15° separation on the morning of June 3rd to 22° on the 10th.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Celtic Tree Month of Duir/Oak, Jun 10 – Jul 7 –
Color – Brown
Harvest 6/7&8
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
W    7     High   2:44 AM     8.3   5:32 AM    Rise 12:16 AM      90
~     7      Low 10:02 AM    -1.8   8:58 PM     Set 9:00 AM
~     7     High   4:50 PM     6.4
~     7      Low   9:59 PM     3.0

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Sometimes the fear won’t go away, so you’ll have to do it afraid.

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Journal Prompt – Friends – Friendships are important to everyone. Write a definition of what your friends mean to you.

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Quotes

~   On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down. – Woody Allen
~   Sometimes there is a greater lack of communication in facile talking than in silence. – Faith Baldwin (1893-1978) US writer
When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. – Les Brown
~   Be of love a little more careful than of anything. – e. e. cummings (1894-1962) u. s. poet

Writing Prompt by Michael Torres

Imagine you’re an astronaut stuck in outer space. And it’s just you. Only you. What would you write about? What
do you see outside your spaceship windshield? What do you miss? Who is your brother now, all those miles down? Where’s west? What would you have brought, had you known you would be out here, maybe forever, all by yourself?
What about regret? What if
there are whole days where you don’t think of your hands? How closely related
is loneliness to remembrance?—when you let yourself think about it?
Do the stars feel heavier now?
Is there, truly, anything you would do over?—knowing everything you know now? If regret was a type of animal, any animal, what song would it sing in you?
Outside are all these tiny windows you can’t look through.
Do you miss having a sky to throw wishes against? What did it look like last?—describe the blue.
What phrases do you miss people saying? By “people” I mean:
write about something small—but with great detail—about everyone you love.
What blurs then builds a forest inside you? Is that too specific? Pretend
it’s summer again and that you’re the fire for it—would it even be worth writing about?
Would you, by now, meaning in outer space, and very much alone, want to replay the moments of your life you wished had gone differently?—Or have you gotten over it all already? What stage are we in? Is being stuck in space like dying and not getting to ghost-visit your own funeral? Which is the first moment you’d go back to in order to change it? By it I mean where the regret sprang from. Would you feel bad about the rippling? Is worry just a wider room? There is always a box in which regret will fit. After you tape it shut, describe the sound. Describe the blue.

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Litha Magic – Meditation

Summer Solstice Meditation: http://www.cotcg.com/Crystal%20Grove%20Web/Litha.htm

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and relax.

At this time of greatest light, we meditate on light as a symbol of spiritual energy. Breathe now gently and deeply and with each breath become aware of the light that surrounds you and the light that is within you — the light that is the energy of Our Great Father.

The light can be any color. It is often imagined as white — like bright sunlight. But it can be any color, any intensity, that is best for you. Blue, green, yellow, purple, rose; we know that light can also be black. The light may stay the same color for you during this meditation or it may change from color to color, or become a blend of many colors.

See the light now in your mind’s eye. This light is all around us, we are bathed in its brightness, energy, and warmth.

(Pause)

Focus on the light until you sense that you and the light are one. This will be your signal that you can now bring the light inside you.

(Pause)

When you bring the light inside you, one way is to let it stream in through your crown chakra at the top of your head. (If it’s already entered another way, that’s okay.)

The light — this healing energy — flows through you now, from your crown, down to your third eye (between your eyebrows) to your throat, your shoulders and your arms, and your hands, to your heart, your stomach, shining brightly at your solar plexus just above your navel, to your sex organs, shining too at your tailbone. The healing light travels down through your legs, your knees, your ankles and your feet. Feel the warmth of this healing energy now as it travels all through your body.

(Pause)

Now sense the one part of your body where the light can shine the brightest and imagine the light there. See it shine.

(Pause)

Now send the light out from that part of your body where it shines the brightest. Send it out a few inches from your body.

(Pause)

Now extend your light out from your body just a little more, then a little more, until your light extends a few feet from your body. Now, if you like, extend your light to reach your sisters. Our lights meet and we are connected by this great light, connected by our renewed knowledge of Our Great Father. Take a few minutes now to sense this energy and this connectedness.

(Pause)

Now take from this light the energy that you need, and know that there is plenty for all. For the Source of this light is endless and ever abundant. Take a moment to experience His abundance, and know that as you partake of His light and His love, so do you give your light and your love. And as you give energy, so do you receive it. And thus does the circle of life continue.

(Pause)

And as we come back now to this time and place, let us give thanks for the return of Our Great Father, and for our return unto Him.

******

Silliness – Shindig

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Dianthus barbatus, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Litha, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Shindig, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Sweet William, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Vesta Aperit, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-6-23 Bendis

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 9:13 AM of -2.1 feet. The shop is closed on Tue/Wed. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Ken Gagne.

[posting at 5:20 pm] Sunny and 58F with some breeze. Wind at 3-13mph and gusting, AQI 33/29/53, UV8. Chance of rain 5% today and 9% tonight. Pollen High. UV Very High! SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY until 5am Wed.

1 fire

7k Fire – 353 acres – Same
Dillon Creek Fire – 3,119 acres – Off the map
1 firespot

Forecast – Sunny today, but increasing clouds from tomorrow on. highs around 60F, lows around 50. Tiny chance of rain next Monday.

foxglove – 2021

Sunday evening Christine came in to prowl around before closing time. We chatted for a bit and then she got a chance to look around. Tempus went out to harvest calendula and rose petals. I was pricing necklaces. I hung the earrings, earlier. There are a lot in a box in the bottom of the $5 earring tree. I sat down on the sofa to rest and fell soundly asleep! I didn’t wake until past 7:30. Tempus said he had stuff to do, so he didn’t wake me.

Catmint – 2021 – This just got replaced with iris, since it died from the cold. 😦

After I got supper together….chinese cabbage and chicken and vegetables in cream sauce. I took it to bed and watched the sunset colors through the gap in the trees. I picked up my tablet to read until Tempus came in and then we both conked out. When I got up I worked on some spice mixes, but ended up short of one ingredient and then couldn’t find the other that I know I brought home. He didn’t head back out until past 2am. I worked on some jewelry during the evening and read once my hands gave up.

The other variety of Cardoons (for cheese) – 2021

I didn’t want to wake up this morning. I picked up my tablet, dozed off, startled awake when the alarm went off, dozed off…. lather, rinse, repeat.

Cardoons (for cheese)

It’s another gloriously sunny day. I keep waiting for the “shoe” to drop, i.e rain. 🙂 but this looks like real summer. There’s a beautiful, house-sized pink rhododendron that’s been pruned up from the base enough to put a bench underneath. That looked like a place for daydreams as the blossoms were raining down from the wind. No geese, but the inlets and all were all mud.

Strawberry 2021

We watched a lunch (cargo dragon) with our coffee and I’m going to write for a bit. ….well, I tried, but I ended up reading mail…. Eventually Tempus headed for the post office… 1/2 a dozen packages! …and I contacted Amazon about one that didn’t show. They say they’ll replace. …Oh, goodness! I was supposed to be setting up the “Stuff” for the next couple of days! …and I had to stop to check in the tarot cards. We need to water tonight. …and not a single customer! …but we now have a new open flag.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

…and of course the program is glitching…. Ugh! Today is our sleep-in day. I have some cookery to do. I’ve grabbed replacement for the missing spices, plus I want to do some baked stuffs with my dulce de leche, strawberries and puff pastry. …and to work on the garden.

A Ken Gagne pic of baby mergansers on the Yachats River on 6/4/15 Used with permission

Today is the festival of the Thracian Goddess Bendis, who was a goddess of the moon and had Bacchic-style revels as her worship. She was associated with Artemis by the Greeks. More here: http://www.theoi.com/Thrakios/Bendis.html and the Wiki article is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bendis …and some of her descendants are supposed to be the “good” werewolves.

Today’s plant is Basil, Ocimum basilicum. While it is usually thought of for culinary use it has a lot of magickal properties, as well. It is an herb in the mint family. We usually use sweet, or Genovese basil for cooking and pesto in the US. It is fairly easy to grow Great basil, Saint-Joseph’s-wort, king of herbs, and royal herb, has leaves, buds and seeds that are all used in cooking, and it’s a good companion plant for tomatoes. Many varieties make good garden plants and some even are bug repellent! It is good as a tea for calming the nerves, settling the stomach, and easing cramps and good for the bladder. In tincture form, also makes a good hair rinse for brunettes. You can even deep-fry the leaves for a treat! – More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil – Masculine, Mars, Fire – Protection (especially from poisons), love, wealth (if carried in your wallet), healing relationships, ensuring faithfulness in a mate, courage, fertility, exorcism. An ingredient of the Purification bath sachet. Add to love sachets and incenses. In Crossing the Bridge rituals it has long been used to open the gates for the spirit to pass through.

Love & Light,
Anja

******

Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Capricorn

As we count down the last two weeks to official summer (the solstice is on June 21st this year), the Summer Triangle stands high and proud in the east after dark. Its top star is bright Vega. Deneb is the brightest star to Vega’s lower left, by 2 or 3 fists at arm’s length. Look for Altair a greater distance to Vega’s lower right. Altair is midway in brightness between Vega and Deneb. If you have a dark enough sky, the Milky Way runs across the lower part of the Summer Triangle from side to side.

Asteroid 11 Parthenope reaches opposition at 5 A.M. EDT. Although it’s visible all night, you’ll want to try spotting this space rock in Ophiuchus in the few hours between sunset and moonrise, after darkness has fallen but before the Moon’s bright light floods the sky. At 9th magnitude, Parthenope is still within reach of binoculars, though a small scope may aid your search a bit better. After dark, look southeast, where the large circular constellation Ophiuchus stands. To its south (lower right) is Scorpius, whose bright red giant heart, Antares, should be easy to identify. From Antares, scan slowly northeast — Parthenope lies about 12° northeast of this star, or alternatively about 3° due west of 2nd-magitude Eta (η) Ophiuchi. Parthenope is just 35″northeast of a brighter 6th-magnitude field star.

The waning gibbous Moon reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit, at 7:06 P.M. EDT. Our satellite will then stand 226,714 miles (364,861 kilometers) away.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.1, in Aries) is low in the east as dawn brightens. It might be easiest to see about 60 to 45 minutes before sunrise.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Celtic Tree Month of Duir/Oak, Jun 10 – Jul 7 –
Color – White
Planting 6/5&6
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

******

The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Tu   6     High   1:55 AM     8.6   5:33 AM     Set 7:42 AM      96
~     6      Low   9:13 AM    -2.1   8:57 PM
~     6     High   3:58 PM     6.4
~     6      Low   9:01 PM     3.0

******

Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Many a child who watches television for hours and hours will go down in history, not to mention math, English, and geography.

******

Journal Prompt – What if? – What would you say if someone told you it was all right to steal from a large department store?

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Quotes

~   A wet man does not fear the rain. – Russian Proverb
~   Fight your foes in the field, nor be burnt in your house. – Volsunga Saga, c.21
~   It is at the edge of a petal that love waits. – William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) US poet
~   All men have stood for freedom … For freedom is the man that will turn the world upside down. – Gerrard Winstanley, baptized on October 10, 1609, leader of the Diggers

IDLE DAYS – from Among The Flowers And Other Poems. By Francis W. Bourdillon, (1852-1921)

Sing me a song of idle days,
When rosy and white are the new-blown mays,
And rosy and white on the wanton breeze
The petals fall from the apple trees,
And under the hedge, where the shade lies wet,
Are children, picking the violet!

Sing me a song of idle days,
When Spring is queen over woods and ways!
Sing me a song of idle days,
When half the world in the hay-field strays,
And white against the woods behind
The grass is tossed in the idle wind,
And there by the stream, the world forgot,
Two lovers are plucking forget-me-not!

Sing me a song of idle days,
When Love in the hay-field laughs and plays!
Sing me a song of idle days,
When golden languor is on the ways,
And far away, where the upland ends,
Among red corn the reaper bends,

******

Litha Magic – Crafts

deborah <isis_snow_tiger@yahoo.com> wrote:

To: Hearth_Witch@yahoogroups.com
From: “deborah” <isis_snow_tiger@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:47:50 -0000
Subject: [Hearth_Witch] Midsummer Door Ornaments
Midsummer Door Ornaments
Items Needed:
· Small broom, about 1′ by 8″
· Plastic seasonal flowers ~ {Roses, Wildflowers}
· 3 different colours of ribbon, about 12″-16″ long
· Some thin wire ~ {strip garbage bag twist-ties of their paper
coats}
· Ornament oriented to the sabbat
· Wire Cutters
· Scissors
Directions: (Note, if doing this project with children, please watch the scissors and wire cutters) Take the wire cutters and cut the flower stems to a height that is workable. With the wire, begin tying into them the seasonal flowers and the berries at the base of the broom nearest where the bristles begin. Make sure the leaves of the flowers lie flat against the bristles. This will be a great background for the colour of the flowers to contrast against.

Take the berries and the fruit and lay them between the flowers and then tie them of with the wire. As soon as all of that is in, pick out your favourite Midsummer ornament.

Take the ribbon and tie in a bow or a knot, either will do, around the wire. Let some of the extra drape around and under the broom.

When you want to hang this, simply take a bit of wire and string it through the top of the broom handle and nail it to the door, hang it in a window or wherever you prefer. To hang it with the bristles pointing upwards, weave the wire up through the bristles and then twist it a few times for some extra strength.
http://www.chroniclesofavalon.com/litha2003.html

Brightest Blessings )O( Aradian

__._,_.___

Midsummer Feather Wreath – (For Litha) – http://members.aol.com/ivycleartoes/feather.htmlMaterials:

Craft wire
Red feathers
Yellow feathers
Decorative ivy vines
Glue gun

Directions – Form a braided wreath with brown craft wire. Then form another braided wreath that fits inside the first one. Glue yellow feathers to one wreath until the craft wire cannot be seen; do the same with the red feathers on the other wreath. Then place one wreath on top of the other and wind them together with the ivy vines.

Ritual use – You may wish to leave the wreaths separate until the Litha ritual, at which point you bind the yellow wreath and the red wreath together to symbolize the marriage of the God and Goddess. Since yellow and red are so interchangeable in whom they represent, it is up to you if you want to assign one wreath to the God and one to the Goddess.

Feathered Wreaths

During Midsummer the Goddess prepares to give birth, and the fields are ripe with the first harvests. These wreaths are woven with red and yellow feathers, symbolizing the birth of the crops and fertility, and also prosperity. They can be used as a magickal talisman upon the altar or in the home to bless it with fertility and prosperity.

Yellow feathers (prosperity)
Red Feathers (fertility, goddess)
Pipe cleaners (yellow, red, or white)
Scissors
Hot Glue gun and glue sticks

Trim any excess fuzz or unwanted areas off of the feathers. Take three pipe cleaners and twist them together securely at the top. Start braiding the pipe cleaners, making sure you have a snug braid, and twisting on more pipe cleaners as needed if you run out of length, until you have the desired size of the wreath. Twist the ends of the wreath together securely, and poke the stems of the feathers in the braid of the wreath, alternating yellow and red feathers. If you wish you may secure a loop to the top of the wreath for hanging. You may need to secure the feathers a bit more with the hot glue.

Research for these crafts came from The Chronicles of Avalon, and Sabbats: A Witch’s Approach to Living the Old Ways, by Edain McCoy.

By DarkFire Raven – http://www.wyldwytch.com/weavings/candb/06_05litha/index.htm

******

Silliness – Laugh of the Day – What do you call friends who lick everything? Taste buds.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Litha, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-5-23 Gobnait

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 8:26 AM of -2.1 feet. The shop opens at 1pm. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Heidi Travaglio.

[posting at 5:20pm] Mostly sunny (high cloudy), breezy and 58F, wind at 6-19mph and gusting, AQI 32/28/35, UV7. Chance of rain 3% today and 5% tonight. Grass pollen and UV both high. Gale warning until midnight.

2 fires

7k Fire – 353 acres – Up.
Dillon Creek Fire – 3,119 acres – Same
1 firespot

Forecast – Still a bit windy today, but with plenty of sun. Same tomorrow, but without the wind. Weather change as of Wednesday, though, changing to partly/mostly cloudy. Highs around 60, lows arough 50.

2016

Saturday evening Tempus finished the headers just as I got the newsletter out. He had bought some snack-sized Mounds(TM) for me and I pulled out one for each of us at that point. He had a cup of ramen in his hand, so I knew he wasn’t going to want supper. Clouds had rolled in and it was kinda dark, already.

Oregano – 2016

When we got home I set up a chicken with cream of mushroom sauce in the crockpot. It ended up a tad salty, so I’m going to have to add some canned mushrooms to it and maybe some regular veg.

The rose from a cutting from one of Jeanne’s is blooming!

I had some toast with the strawberry jam that I made the other morning and then tried to work…. all I managed was a few earrings. …and then I slept like a log. I slept right through my alarm, and it took Tempus shaking me to actually get up. Geez….

Fancy fern – 2021

It’s another bright and sunny day. I watered the lettuces before we headed for the shop and Tempus grabbed some dirt so we could finish up with the iris that landed in the catmint pot. There were a lot of geese in the Eckman outflow. No goslings, now, they’re all fledged. We got the dirt into the iris, Tempus pouring and me floofing it around. I also thr4w a few nasturtium seeds into the box south of the door and the rest of the dirt needs to go into that.

2021 – The rose planter that also has: chives, potatoes, thyme, saffrons, garlics, and a lily – Now, in ’23 the rose has hit the soffit and is bending over with about 2 1/2 feet of branches at right angles!

We watched this morning’s SpaceX liftoff and then the splashdown of the AX crew. That’s just so cool!

Catmint – 2021 – This just got replaced with iris, since it died from the cold. 😦

I was getting things into inventory off and on, feeling sleepy, still, so not much got done. The shop was quiet. We had a couple in early on and then nothing. …and then just as I was doing today’s weather had another lady in who was looking for wind chimes.

Today is a regular Monday. Plants to water….

A photo of the Alsea in the early morning, by Heidi Travaglio on 6/2/23 Used with permission

Today’s Plant is Cascade Oregon Grape, Mahonia aquifolium, or Dull Oregon Grape, Mahonia nervosa, occasionally called Holly Grape. It’s a lovely, spiky-leaved large shrub or small tree with amazing clusters of bright, yellow flowers in the early spring. Dull Oregon Grape is a shorter plant with duller leaves with a nerve-like pattern of veins, but they both have the same magickal properties. The locals used it to help with rheumatism and it has been tested to replace Goldenseal in the pharmacopeia with some good results. The fruits can be made into jam or wine, although they’re too sour to eat. – Feminine, Earth – carry to draw money and prosperity, or popularity. More on aquifolium here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_grape and on nervosa here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahonia_nervosa

There is an Irish saint, Gobnait, who is worshiped as the patroness of bees who, according to Nigel Pennick, is a version of the goddess Domna, who is the goddess of perambulation to sacred stones and cairns. Gobnait’s feast day is 2/11 and I’m not finding info on Domna at all! Gobnait still has a number of centers of worship in Ireland and even a couple of sacred wells. Melissa is the name that I’m used to seeing in conjunction with bees, as the priestesses of Demeter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobnait and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa#Ancient_Greek_Mythology Also see today’s Magick section!

Love & Light,
Anja

******

Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Sagittarius enters Capricorn at 12:31am.

Full Moon – The day of, the day before, and day after the true Full Moon. “And better it be when the moon is full!”! Prime time for rituals for prophecy, for spells to come to fruition, infusing health and wholeness, etc. A good time for invoking deity. FRUITION Manifesting goals, nurturing, passion, healing, strength, power. Workings on this day are for protection, divination. “extra power”, job hunting, healing serious conditions Also, love, knowledge, legal undertakings, money and dreams. God/dess Aspect: Mother/Abundance/Kingship – – Associated God/desses: Danu, Cerridwen, Gaia, Aphrodite, Isis, Jupiter, Amon-Ra. Phase ends on 6/5 at 8:42am. 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 6/17 at 9:37pm. Waning Gibbous Moon – Best time for draining the energy behind illness, habits or addictions. Magicks of this sort, started now, should be ended before the phase change to the New Moon. – Associated God/dess: Hera/Hero, Cybele, Zeus the Conqueror, Mars/Martius, Anansi, Prometheus. Phase ends at the Quarter on 6/10 at 12:31am.

Bootes (Arcturus), Corona Borealis (Alphecca), Big dipper.

Bright Arcturus shines pale yellow-orange high overhead toward the south these evenings. The kite shape of Boötes, its constellation, extends up from Arcturus as you face south. The kite is narrow, slightly bent to the right, and 23° long: about two fists at arm’s length.

Multiple images of Titan

The large, frigid moon Titan lies due north of Saturn this morning. You can find the ringed planet riding relatively high in the southeast a few hours before dawn, floating in the “watery” part of the sky in Aquarius. Zoom in with a telescope and you’ll surely see 8th-magnitude Titan above the northern pole, though you may also catch a few fainter moons clustering near the rings as well. 10th-magnitude Tethys is almost due east of the rings, while Rhea lies to the southeast, close to the planet’s disk. Depending on what time you look, Dione may be located just west of Saturn’s northern regions — just before 5 A.M. EDT, this moon will disappear behind the planet, taking roughly 90 minutes to reappear. This occurs in daylight on the East Coast and shortly before sunrise in the Midwest. Observers farther west will have the best views of the moon’s reappearance. Look also for the shadow of the planet obscuring the rings on the western side. This highlights the geometry of the solar system by showing where the Sun is in relation to the planet, based on how and where shadows fall. If you’re able to spot a dark gap in the rings themselves, that’s no shadow — it’s likely the large Cassini Division, which separates the outer A ring from the middle B ring closer to the planet. The A ring itself has a small, dark gap as well: the Encke Gap. It requires good seeing and decent magnification to spot.

Venus (magnitude –4.4, in Cancer) is the brilliant “Evening Star” in the west from twilight into late evening. It’s not quite as high in the dusk as it was a couple weeks ago, but it doesn’t set until about 1½ hours after full dark. Venus starts the week still nearly in line with Castor and Pollux, then moves farther out of line every day. In a telescope Venus is a dazzling little half-Moon shape, just starting to show signs of turning into a fat crescent. It enlarges a little every day while waning in phase. Venus will become a bigger, thinning crescent dropping lower until it’s lost from sight in mid- to late July.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Celtic Tree Month of Duir/Oak, Jun 10 – Jul 7 –
Color – Lavendar
Planting 6/5&6
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

******

The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
M    5     High   1:09 AM     8.6   5:33 AM     Set 6:32 AM      99
~     5      Low   8:26 AM    -2.1   8:57 PM    Rise 11:25 PM
~     5     High   3:08 PM     6.4
~     5      Low   8:09 PM     3.0

******

Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Life is a mystery to be lived… Not a problem to be solved.

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Journal Prompt – Auto-Biographical narrative – Tell about the strangest food you have ever eaten.

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Quotes

~   Think of a window: it’s a hole in a wall but through it the whole room fills with light. Similarly, when the mind is open and free from his own thoughts, life unfolds effortlessly, and the world is filled with light. – Chuang Tzu
~   Silence is the warrior’s art and meditation is his sword. – Dan Millman
~   I have great faith in fools. My friends call it self-confidence. – Edgar Allan Poe
~   Get mad, then get over it. – Colin Powell

Wild Swans by Li Qingzhao translated from the French of Judith Gautier by James Whitall

Before daybreak the breezes whisper
through the trellis at my window;
they interrupt and carry off my dream,
and he of whom I dreamed
vanishes from me.

I climb upstairs
to look from the topmost window,
but with whom? . . .

I remember how I used to stir the fire
with my hairpin of jade
as I am doing now . . .
but the brasier holds nothing but ashes.

I turn to look at the mountain;
there is a thick mist,
a dismal rain,
and I gaze down at the wind-dappled river,
the river that flows past me forever
without bearing away my sorrow.

I have kept the rain of my tears
on the crape of my tunic;
with a gesture I fling these bitter drops
to the wild swans on the river,
that they may be my messengers.

******

Litha Magic – Lore – Merry Meet…… and welcome to the Litha issue of Cauldrons and Broomsticks: a magical newsletter. www.weavings.co.uk

Litha for Kids

Litha is a time of magic and faeries. Also known as Midsummer, to many it seems strange to celebrate the halfway point when school vacations and warm weather have just begun! Today is the longest day of the year and the Sun is at the height of its power but it’s a bittersweet joy as the days begin to shorten again, starting tomorrow.

This is a great time of year to harvest herbs for all of your magical workings. It’s also a good time to allow your child to begin his/her own witchy cupboard. When harvesting herbs, remember to leave about 1/3 of the plant behind to propagate itself. This ensures a continual harvest throughout the growing season. Also, thank the spirit of the plant for its sacrifice and leave a small offering. Taking a page from Native American custom, a bit of tobacco is a good thank-you to the spirits of your garden but you could also sprinkle a bit of dried herb from a previous harvest. Allow your child to help you bundle the herbs together and tie at the stems with twine or thread. Hang upside down in a cool, dark place until dry and then store them in pretty containers or even plastic baggies. Make sure all containers are labelled clearly as dried herbs tend to look a lot alike! I’ll never forget the time when Scout’s father, my ex-husband, was making chilli and reached into the spice cabinet for something. He proceeded to add a generous sprinkling of Scout’s “dragon scales” (see Kiddy Craft section) to the pot because she had recycled my old herb jars! How he could have mistaken glittery pine cone shingles for cumin is beyond me but he did! We still laugh about that to this day but it wasn’t very funny at the time.

One of our favourite activities at Midsummer is building a faery shelter for the little sprites to party and rest. Scout hunts for sticks, which she pokes into the ground and then lays large leaves over the top to form the roof. She decorates with flowers, bird feathers and smaller leaves. We leave out milk mixed with honey and bread and butter, cut into small pieces. She’s always very excited to find the containers emptied and the faery house turned upside down from their wild dancing. A friend of mine recently gave me a wonderful idea and that is to leave a small gift for your child as a thank-you from the faeries. You could leave shells from the sea, a small trinket that had been “lost” around the house (everyone knows they faeries love to play tricks!), a small bouquet of wild flowers, a pretty rock or anything you feel is worthwhile. The idea is to keep it natural and simple and then explain to your child why the faeries felt it was an appropriate gift.

by Garnet WindDancer

Weavings’ Cauldrons & Broomsticks: a magical newsletter is an online email newsletter for the Pagan population at large. We cover topics ranging from Wicca, Witchcraft, and Druids, to Ceremonial Magic, Kabala, and herb lore. Each Sabbat (Eight a year) you’ll receive this wonderful newsletter in your email box…free! If you have a question or comment, please send them to CandB (at) Wyldwytch (dot) Com. Disclaimer: We wish to make it clear that we are nothing to do with “Cauldrons and Broomsticks eZine”

Copyright © 2005 Garnet/Magi . All rights reserved.
You may not quote or cite without permission of the author or site administrator

http://www.wyldwytch.com/weavings/candb/06_05litha/index.htm

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Silliness – Computer Programming

More and more computer science majors at U.S. colleges are opting not to take programming jobs after they graduate.
Not because they don’t want to work in the computer industry, it’s just that they want to spend a few more years in America before having to move to India.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Cascade Oregon Grape, Celtic Tree Month, Computer Programming, Domna, Dull Oregon Grape, Gobnait, Goddess Month, Holly Grape, Journal Prompt, Litha, Magick, Mahonia aquifolium, Mahonia nervosa, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Twelve Wild Swans, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-4-23 Socrates

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 7:41 AM of -1.8 feet. The shop opens at 1pm. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Anja.

[posting at 5:20pm] Sunny with some beach fog rising. 60F, wind at 2-7mph and gusting, AQI 18/30/32, UV5. Chance of rain 5% today and tonight. Pollen High. UV Moderate. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY until 1pm. GALE WARNING from 1pm to midnight on Monday.

2 fires

7k Fire – 353 acres – Up
Dillon Creek Fire – 3,119 acres – Same
No firespots

Forecast – Today and tomorrow are supposed to be quite windy. 30mph possible. From Wednesday on there will be more clouds. Highs around 60F and lows in the upper 40’s.

Friday evening we had customers in just before we closed, a whole family, who bought a bunch of trinkets. we were both too tired to really eat, so I made some toast and we headed for bed. I still didn’t feel like eating when I got up. It was just about sunset, so I watched the light brighten and redden and then fade.

2016

I worked on earrings and then packed more herbs…. well, really prepped, rather than packed, actually. When Tempus got up we had our esbat and then he headed out on the paper route. The Moon was actually behind the trees to the south, but the whole sky seemed lighted up.

2016

He did some shopping before he came home, so I have cookery to do again in the evening and strawberries to nosh this morning. I did manage to bring the already-printed headers for him to cut up. It was quiet in the first couple of hours, so I was working on newsletter frames.

2016

Tempus made me a lovely poached egg sandwich for lunch. We had some browsers in after that, and then Tempus started cutting headers. I was fighting the computer which kept locking up.

Bergamot 2016

I was saying earlier that I have some cookery to do tonight (chicken bake and some spice mixes) and now that I have cut headers, those, too, and I want to bring some of the finished earrings in. Tempus needs to water the garden.

2016

Today is a standard Sunday. Lots to check into the inventory and more tweaking on the newsletter frames. I need to water the indoor plants.

A pic that I got of the sunset on 6/3/15

Today is the birthday of Socrates, the Athenian philosopher who has set the tone of this field of study for well over two millennia, now. He is credited with inventing the Socratic method of questioning., a technique that gets the student to tell the teacher the answers rather than simply absorbing them. After a large political fight he was sentenced to death by the politicos in Athens and famously drank hemlock. I guess our politicians ought to be glad we don’t live back then! The fight was between pure democracy, which wasn’t working, at least in part because of the same inequality issues that we’re facing today, and oligarchy/tyranny (rule by class or by one strong leader). Socrates wasn’t on the side of democracy, which startles folks, today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates

Plant photo pearly everlasting Anapahlis_margaritacea

Today’s Plant is Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea, sometimes called Life-Everlasting. The “everlasting” part of the name comes from the fact that the flowers dry well and can be used as decorations during the winter months. There are a number of medicinal uses for this plant, particularly as poultices and often as a decoction added to a hot bag of some sort (iow, put it on a washcloth, warm and put a heating pad on top of that) for bruises, sprains and to the chest for bronchitis, among others – Feminine, Venus, Air – Add to spells that are long-term. Can be useful in a sachet/potpourri/amulet since the flowers will soak up essential oils and release the scent over time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphalis_margaritacea

Jarilo’s Day – Kresen (June) 4 – Today is dedicated to Jarilo, the God of the Sun and fertility. Slavic people celebrate this holiday with festivities and dancing on a grand scale. “…As we approached, we saw about 4,000 men and women who had gathered together from all over Rus. It was some holiday, and we feared, when we saw how these manic people celebrated this day by erotic dancing, singing, and loud and high shrieks of delight.” (Gerborod, July 4, 1121).

Love & Light,
Anja

******

Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Sagittarius

Challenge yourself to find Uranus with binoculars just before sunrise in early June. Though low, naked-eye Mercury can point the way. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly

The distant ice giant Uranus typically requires binoculars or a telescope to spot. This morning you can use brighter, naked-eye Mercury to point the way, as the two planets lie within 3° of each other after Mercury passes 3° due south of Uranus at 1 A.M. EDT.

Some 40 minutes before sunrise, the pair is low on the eastern horizon. Mercury is just 4° high, with Uranus still to its north (upper left on the sky). The smaller, closer planet is brightening quickly, now magnitude 0.2 after starting the month 0.2 magnitude fainter. A clear eastern horizon will aid in identifying the bright morning star; once you’ve found it, use binoculars or a telescope to slide north and look for Uranus in the growing twilight. The earlier you look, the better, as the magnitude 5.9 ice giant will get harder to see as the sky lightens. Plus, you’ll want to put away any optics well before the Sun is due to rise from your location. It can be quite interesting to compare the appearance of the two planets in your eyepiece. Mercury — much closer to Earth at 0.9 AU, is obviously the smaller of the two planets but appears 7″ across due to its proximity. Can you also tell that it is just 50 percent lit? Because it lies closer to the Sun than Earth, Mercury appears to go through phases as it orbits. By contrast, Uranus lies more than 20 AU away, appearing as a fully lit disk but spanning 3″, less than half of Mercury’s width. Uranus is, of course, much larger than Earth or Mercury, but its vast distance shrinks its apparent size in the sky.

Venus rising – Brilliant Venus has captured recent headlines — and you can capture a glimpse of the planet for yourself in the morning twilight this week. – Chan Chee Gua

Venus reaches greatest eastern elongation (45°) at 7 A.M. EDT. Now in Cancer in the evening sky, the bright planet will remain above the horizon some three hours after sunset. Through a telescope, its large, 24″-wide disk also appears half-lit.

Vega is the brightest star in the east-northeast after dark. Look 14° (about a fist and a half at arm’s length) to Vega’s upper left for Eltanin, the 2nd-magnitude nose of Draco the Dragon. Closer above and upper left of Eltanin are the three fainter stars forming the rest of Draco’s stick-figure head, also called the Lozenge; the faintest of them is 4th magnitude. Draco always points his nose to Vega.

Mars (magnitude 1.6, in Cancer) glows weakly to the upper left of Venus, by a slowly shrinking distance: 10° on the evening of June 2nd, 8° by June 9th. That’s not quite a fist at arm’s length. But no conjunction is in store. Mars and Venus will reach a minimum separation of 3.6° on June 30th, then they’ll start to draw apart again as Venus plunges down toward the sunset. This is called a quasi-conjunction, because they don’t pass each other although they do get within 5° of each other. In a telescope Mars is just a tiny little blob 4½ arcseconds in diameter, since it’s on the far side of its orbit from us.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Color – Orange
Harvest 6/4
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Su   4     High 12:27 AM     8.5   5:33 AM     Set 5:36 AM      99
~     4      Low   7:41 AM    -1.8   8:56 PM    Rise 10:22 PM
~     4     High   2:19 PM     6.3
~     4      Low   7:21 PM     2.9

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Middle age is that difficult period between adolescence and retirement when you have to take care of yourself.

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Journal Prompt – Current Affairs – List the reasons why you think people get divorced.

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Quotes

~   Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul. – George Bancroft (1800-1891) US historian, statesman
~   Be your own light. – Buddha
~   What good to us is a long life if it is difficult and barren of joys, and if it is so full of misery that we can only welcome death as a deliverer?- Sigmund Freud
~   Without duty, life is soft and boneless; it cannot hold itself together. – Joseph Joubert

Yellow Moon By Angela Manalang-Gloria

I stand at my window and listen;
Only the plaintive murmur of a swarm of cicadas.
I stand on the wet grass and ponder,
And turn to the east and behold you,
Great yellow moon.
Why do you frighten me so,
You captive of the coconut glade?
I have seen you before,
Have flirted with you so many a night.

When my heart, ever throbbing, never listless,
Had pined for the moonlight to calm it.
But you were a dainty whiteness
That kissed my brow then.
A gentle, pale flutter
That touched my aching breast.

You are a lonely yellow moon now.
You are ghastly, spectral tonight,
Alone
Behind your prison bars of coconut trees.
That is why
I do not dare take you into my hand
And press you against my cheek
To feel how cold you are.

I am afraid of you, yellow moon.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on May 20, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Litha Magick – Recipes

Solstice cookies – From Llewellyn’s Witches’ Datebook 2006 – Makes about 3 dozen.
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup chopped apricots, dates, or raisins
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seed
1 to 4 tbs water as needed

Preheat oven to 375*F.
Cream butter and sugar; add egg, vanilla, and salt, mixing well.
Stir dry ingredients together.
Mix wet and dry.
Add water a tablespoon at a time until dough holds together.
Drop on greased cookie sheet, flatten slightly.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Note – Serve with strawberry rhubarb punch.

BUTTERMILK SCONES – <isis_snow_tiger@yahoo.com>
3 cups Flour
1/3 cup Sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 cup Buttermilk
3/4 cup Currants
1 teaspoon Grated Orange Rind
1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Use an ungreased baking sheet. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl.
Stir well with a fork to mix and fold air into batter.
Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture, using a pastry blender or two knives, or work in, using your fingertips, until the mixture looks like fresh bread crumbs.
Add the buttermilk, currants and orange rind.
Mix only until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Gather the dough into a ball and press so it holds together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead lightly 12 times.
Pat the dough into a circle 1/2-inch thick.

Glaze

In a small bowl combine the cream, cinnamon and sugar; stir to blend.
Brush the dough with the glaze.
Cut the dough into 18 pie-shaped pieces.
Place the scones 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 12 minutes or until the tops are browned.
Serve hot with Orange Honey Butter.

Solstice Herb Bread – http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7039/AshlinCB.html

3 C. flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. dry active yeast
2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 1/4 C. hot water
2 tbsp. Crisco

Method

Mix 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl.
Add herbs, water, and Crisco.
Beat slowly, stirring in remaining cup of flour until smooth.
Scrape batter from sides of bowl and let rise in a warm place for 35 minutes or until it doubles in bulk.
Punch down and beat with a spoon for about 15 seconds.
Place dough in a greased loaf pan, patting down and forming a loaf shape with your hands.
Cover and let rise again for about 30 minutes or until it again doubles in bulk.
Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.
Brush top with butter or margarine and remove from pan to cool.

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Silliness – Laugh of the Day – Why are spaceships so impractical? They aren’t meant to be down to Earth.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Anaphalis margaritacea, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Goddess Month, Jarilo’s Day, Journal Prompt, Laugh of the Day, Life-Everlasting, Litha, Litha recipes, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Pearly Everlasting, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca, Yellow Moon | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-3-23 Tunguska event

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 6:58 AM of -1.4 feet. The shop opens at 1pm. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Ken Gagne.

[posting at 5pm] Sunny and 59F, wind at 4-9mph and gusting, AQI 29/20/24, UV7. Chance of rain 7% today and 9% tonight. Pollen High. UV High. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY from 5pm until 2pm Sunday. GALE WATCH from then through Monday evening.

2 fires

7k Fire – 321 acres – same
Dillon Creek Fire – 3,119 acres – same
2 firespots

Forecast – Windy today and tomorrow. High temps from 58-63F. Lows upper 40’s. Increasing clouds from Wednesday on, but no real chance of rain.

2016 Yarrow

Thursday evening Tempus was out watering after I got the newsletter out. I set this up, then started a rose sugar, since the good king henry rose (which is a red) is starting to bloom. It looks like the catmint plant bought it over the winter. Tempus keeps calling it a “catnap” plant, just to tease. <sigh, giggle> I was working on headers by that point. I got a bunch printed, but Tempus didn’t get time to cut them and did I remember to bring them back? <sigh> I have some to write today. I did the easy ones up, but now I need to get the rest.

From 2016. I hope the oregano looks like this again!

I packed some more herbs overnight, but not a lot. I was pretty tired. …and I’m sleepy. I made the mistake of working on a game instead of going back to sleep when Tempus got in around 10:30. He’d been shopping, but without my list. <sigh>

2016

I watered a bit more on the porch. I’m going to start giving the greens boxes extra, since it’s so dry. I made a strawberry nuker jam of the last berries right before we left. We grabbed the short bowl of the iris. I’m going to put those in the catmint pot.

2016 Iris

It’s another gloriously sunny day. The blooming trees are starting to fade, but the wild mustard is golden along the road. The Eckman outflow was full of geese again. The ducks have given up and are all in the private pond, or too far up Eckman to see from the road.

…

2016

I’ve been writing and trying to catch up on links that I had saved. I managed to crash Word right in the middle of it, too. Lost the shopping list. Hopefully I remembered everything. Tempus went out and cut roses and calendula again and I prepped. …and went back to writing. …oof, that was a slog I have to look up the correspondences and put them together in some kind of reasonable order, then condense it for the headers. Tempus has been cleaning in back and then watering.

2016

I’m hoping before we head home to print a few more headers. We weren’t all that busy today, just a few browsers. Today is our usual Saturday. I’m hoping it’s busy, even if we didn’t get anything together for the Great Garage Sale.

Lunch! Photo by Ken Gagne from 5/28/17 of a fishing heron. Used with permission.

Today is the anniversary of the day in 1908 that a massive explosion occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, knocking over 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). This is also known as the “Tunguska event“. This event, while beloved by UFO-logists and Conspiracy Theorists, most likely was some kind of meteoric airburst event, whatever the source of the material, comet or asteroid, but there are other possibilities… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Today’s Plant is Arnica, Arnica Montana – Poison, Be Careful! – Also called Wolf’s Bane, & Dumbledore’s Delight (which are also names given to aconite!). Native to Europe, it has been used for millennia as an anti-inflammatory, but it cannot be taken internally and should not be used on damaged skin. Other than that, it’s been the go-to for sprains for centuries. Gender: Fem. Planet Saturn, Sacred to Hecate, this has been called one of the 3 herbs of witchcraft. Use in protection sachets & amulets, especially from wolves, werewolves and vampires. (More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnica_montana )

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Sagittarius

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 on 6/3 at 8:42pm. Full Moon – The day of, the day before, and day after the true Full Moon. “And better it be when the moon is full!”! Prime time for rituals for prophecy, for spells to come to fruition, infusing health and wholeness, etc. A good time for invoking deity. FRUITION Manifesting goals, nurturing, passion, healing, strength, power. Workings on this day are for protection, divination. “extra power”, job hunting, healing serious conditions Also, love, knowledge, legal undertakings, money and dreams. God/dess Aspect: Mother/Abundance/Kingship – – Associated God/desses: Danu, Cerridwen, Gaia, Aphrodite, Isis, Jupiter, Amon-Ra. Phase ends on 6/5 at 8:42am. 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 6/17 at 9:37pm.

Supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy, update May 28th: SN 2023ixf continues to hold at about magnitude 11.0, where it has been since May 23rd following its discovery at mag 14.9 on May 19th. But unfortunately the Moon is getting bright. This evening, using my 12.5-inch reflector at 75×, I identified the supernova itself at precisely the right spot using the good charts in the article linked below. But the moonlight and the slight haze of the humid night made the huge, low-surface-brightness glow of M101 almost undetectable. I doubt that a smaller scope would have worked for M101 at all in these conditions. Still, it was amazing to see an individual star, looking like any other faint white star in the eyepiece, at a distance of 21 million light-years.

Full Moon (exact at 8:43 p.m. PDT). The June Full Moon is also called the Strawberry Moon, as it occurs around the time these berries are ripe and ready to pick in North America. Instead of pink, though, you may instead notice a slight yellowish cast to Luna tonight, as it follows the lowest path in the sky it will take this year. Given that the blazing Full Moon will definitely steal the show, let’s put our focus there. Viewing the Full Moon with a telescope can be quite bright, but there are a few tricks you can use to keep your eyes from watering! Opt for higher magnification, which will reduce your telescope’s field of view and let less light through. Or, you can even wear sunglasses as you peep through the eyepiece. Dedicated Moon filters can also make observing Earth’s satellite more comfortable and bring out subtle detail. Once you’ve got the Moon in your sights, aim for the northeastern rim. Here you’ll find the young crater Thales — young in comsic terms, at least! A few hundred million years old, this pockmark features a V-shaped fan of debris spreading southwestward, hinting at the shallow angle of the hit that created it. Keep looking toward the lunar limb to see if you can spot Hayn on the far edge, nearly in profile. Scanning this region in general will show a stunning, almost 3D view of our satellite as shallow shadows cross the rugged landscape.

A Scorpius Sky Spectacular – Image Credit & Copyright: St�phane Guisard, TWAN – If Scorpius looked this good to the unaided eye, humans might remember it better. Scorpius more typically appears as a few bright stars in a well-known but rarely pointed out zodiacal constellation. To get a spectacular image like this, though, one needs a good camera, color filters, and a digital image processor. To bring out detail, the featured image not only involved long duration exposures taken in several colors, but one exposure in a very specific red color emitted by hydrogen. The resulting image shows many breathtaking features. Vertically across the image left is part of the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Visible there are vast clouds of bright stars and long filaments of dark dust. Jutting out diagonally from the Milky Way in the image center are dark dust bands known as the Dark River. This river connects to several bright stars on the right that are part of Scorpius’ head and claws, and include the bright star Antares. Above and right of Antares is an even brighter planet: Jupiter. Numerous red emission nebulas and blue reflection nebulas are visible throughout the image. Scorpius appears prominently in southern skies after sunset during the middle of the year.

Look for orange Antares just 3° or 4° to the Moon’s upper right this evening. Binoculars will help pull Antares out of the bright moonglare. And upper right of Antares by 7½° is Delta Scorpii, about half as bright but less blasted by moonlight. Delta Sco is the middle, and brightest, of the three stars forming the head of Scorpius. Use those binocs.

Mercury is deep in the glow of sunrise, brightening from magnitude +0.2 to –0.3 this week. Use binoculars to try for it well to the lower left of brighter Jupiter. They’re moving apart, from 15° separation on the morning of June 3rd to 22° on the 10th.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Sa   3      Low   6:58 AM    -1.4   5:34 AM     Set 4:53 AM      97
~     3     High   1:31 PM     6.2   8:55 PM    Rise 9:08 PM
~     3      Low   6:36 PM     2.8

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – If you’re not Growing then you’re not Living! Make today better than the day before.

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Journal Prompt – Friends – Write a letter offering encouragement to a friend or family member who is struggling with a difficult situation. If you cannot think of someone you know personally, write a letter to someone you know about from the news.

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Quotes

~   Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women. – Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) Italian-French designer
~   I have learned from speaking to many cancer survivor groups that the watch on your hand no longer says, “tick, tick, tick.” It now says “precious, precious, precious.” When you understand that, every chapter in your life that you write becomes fascinating. – Steve Sobel, Speaker
~   Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. – Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)
~   I am the vehicle of something which desires to express itself. – Roger Williamson, in the Lucifer Diaries

light of the moon
moves west, flowers’ shadows
creep eastward –Yosa Buson (1716–84)

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Litha Magic – 10 Deities of Litha: Summer Solstice Gods and Goddesses – https://www.learnreligions.com/deities-of-litha-2562232 – Paganism and Wicca – Sabbats and Holidays – By Patti Wigington – Updated March 25, 2018

The summer solstice has long been a time when cultures celebrated the lengthening year. It is on this day, sometimes called Litha, that there is more daylight than any other time; a direct counterpoint to the darkness of Yule. No matter where you live, or what you call it, chances are you can connect to a culture that honored a sun deity around this time of year. Here are just a few of the gods and goddesses from around the world that are connected with the summer solstice.

• Amaterasu (Shinto): This solar goddess is the sister of the moon deity and the storm god of Japan, and is known as the goddess “from which all light comes”. She is much loved by her worshippers and treats them with warmth and compassion. Every year in July, she is celebrated in the streets of Japan.

• Aten (Egypt): This god was at one point an aspect of Ra, but rather than being depicted as an anthropomorphic being (like most of the other ancient Egyptian gods), Aten was represented by the disc of the sun, with rays of light emanating outward. Although his early origins aren’t quite known – he may have been a localized, provincial deity – Aten soon became known as the creator of mankind. In the Book of the Dead, he is honored with “Hail, Aten, thou lord of beams of light, when thou shinest, all faces live.”

• Apollo (Greek): The son of Zeus by Leto, Apollo was a multi-faceted god. In addition to being the god of the sun, he also presided over music, medicine, and healing. He was at one point identified with Helios. As the worship of him spread throughout the Roman empire into the British Isles, he took on many of the aspects of the Celtic deities and was seen as a god of the sun and of healing.

• Hestia (Greek): This goddess watched over domesticity and the family. She was given the first offering at any sacrifice made in the home. On a public level, the local town hall served as a shrine for her — any time a new settlement was formed, a flame from the public hearth was taken to the new village from the old one.

• Horus (Egyptian): Horus was one of the solar deities of the ancient Egyptians. He rose and set every day, and is often associated with Nut, the sky god. Horus later became connected with another sun god, Ra.

• Huitzilopochtli (Aztec): This warrior god of the ancient Aztecs was a sun god and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He battled with Nanahuatzin, an earlier solar god. Huitzilopochtli fought against darkness and required his worshipers to make regular sacrifices to ensure the sun’s survival over the next fifty-two years, which is a significant number in Mesoamerican myths.

• Juno (Roman): She is also called Juno Luna and blesses women with the privilege of menstruation. The month of June was named for her, and because Juno was the patroness of marriage, her month remains an ever-popular time for weddings and handfasting.

• Lugh (Celtic): Similar to the Roman god Mercury, Lugh was known as a god of both skill and the distribution of talent. He is sometimes associated with midsummer because of his role as a harvest god, and during the summer solstice the crops are flourishing, waiting to be plucked from the ground at Lughnasadh.

• Sulis Minerva (Celtic, Roman): When the Romans occupied the British Isles, they took the aspects of the Celtic sun goddess, Sulis, and blended her with their own goddess of wisdom, Minerva. The resulting combination was Sulis Minerva, who watched over the hot springs and sacred waters in the town of Bath.

• Sunna or Sol (Germanic): Little is known about this Norse goddess of the sun, but she appears in the Poetic Eddas as the sister of the moon god. Author and artist Thalia Took says, “Sól (“Mistress Sun”), drives the chariot of the Sun across the sky every day. Pulled by the horses Allsvinn (“Very Fast”) and Arvak (“Early Rising”), the Sun-chariot is pursued by the wolf Skoll… She is the sister of Måni, the Moon-god, and the wife of Glaur or Glen (“Shine”). As Sunna, She is a healer.”

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Silliness – Tail Lights

Posted in Newsletter | Tagged Affirmation, Arnica, Arnica Montana, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Dumbledore’s Delight, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, light of the moon, Litha, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tail Lights, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Tunguska, Weather, Wicca, Wolf’s Bane | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-2-23 Bridget Bishop

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

Minus Tide at 6:17 AM of -0.9 feet. The shop opens at 1pm. Summer hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Daniel Wollin.

[posting at 5pm] Sunny and 59F, wind at 2-14mph and gusting (airport), AQI 24/31/37, UV8. Chance of rain 8% today and 11% tonight. Pollen High. UV Very High!

3 fires

7k Fire – 321 acres – New
W-470 Fire – 150 acres – New
Dillon Creek Fire – 3,119 acres – Same
3 firespots

Forecast – Sunny all week with a chance of winds into the 20’s on Sunday. From Wednesday on it’s going to be a bit cloudier, but there’s no rain anywhere in the forecast. Highs around 60 and lows in the upper 40’s.

Wednesday evening I got the dehydrator started after the cabbage finished cooking. It ran all night and then I offloaded and re-loaded it in the morning. I’m pretty much doing a soup mix, stuff to add to soups that doesn’t have to be frozen.

I had to pick up the avalanche that happened the night before that included a batch of partly finished tarot card earrings and a box of beads. What a mess! sorted some more herbs overnight, but I was pretty tired, so I went to sleep early. I woke around 7 and then picked up my tablet…. mistake…. I was still reading when Tempus got in around 9:30 and didn’t put it down for another hour! Another Jean Grainger.

The geese were out in force in the Eckman outflow, several gosling with them. Those are getting pretty big, real feathers soon! …and several heron, both in the full inlets and one flying at Eckman. One of the huge pink rhodys has a pink carpet underneath.

I got the Wed./Thur. newsletters out and I’m working on frames for this week. ……and I had some soup and I’m sleepy….. Oi! …I set up a shopping list fo Tempus. There’s a lot….

I have to empty the dehydrator when it’s done and maybe set up a pot of lentils, if it’s early enough. Tempus is going to ater the garden, an dI’ll get the porch plants. I’m hoping to bag more herbs today, but maybe to take some headers with me, so I can get some back here to the shop. It’s getting kinda crowded at home!

Today is a regular Friday, but I’m kinda hoping that Tempus will do laundry. It’s just one washer-full, but it’s some fave clothes for this time of year. 🙂 I think I need to start putting away the winter clothes. …and I *still* want to hang that bedroom shelf.

053121 – Daniel Wollin – “Just got this across from Eckman lake on the Alsea River.” Used with permission (This is the “Eckman Outflow”)

Today we honor Bridget Bishop who in 1692 was the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Found guilty, she was hanged on June 10. She seems to have been a 60-year old resident of the town, not the village, to have owned a tavern and not be the nicest person around. Enough to get you hanged as a witch in those days…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Bishop

By Sanjay Acharya – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64020989

Today’s plant, Star Anise, Illicium verum “is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to northeast Vietnam and southwest China. A spice commonly called star anise, staranise, star anise seed, star aniseed, star of anise, Chinese star anise, or badian that closely resembles anise in flavor is obtained from the star-shaped pericarps of the fruit of I. verum which are harvested just before ripening. Star anise oil is a highly fragrant oil used in cooking, perfumery, soaps, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and skin creams. Until 2012, when they switched to using a bacterial source, Roche Pharmaceuticals used up to 90% of the world’s annual star anise crop to produce shikimic acid, a chemical intermediate used in the synthesis of oseltamivir (Tamiflu).” – Wikipedia

It’s the main flavorant in Galliano liqueur, and has many other uses in the kitchen, as well as making a pleasant tea, can be added to coffee and is even used to flavor meat dishes. – Gender, Masculine – Planet, Jupiter – Element, Air – Wear for psychic power, or place on the altar and at the 4 directions, carry for luck, seed pods make good pendulums.

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Scorpio

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 on 6/3 at 8:42pm. Waxing Gibbous Moon – From seven to fourteen days after the new moon. For spells that need concentrated work over a ¼ moon cycle this is the best time for constructive workings. Aim to do the last working on the day of the Full moon, before the turn. Keywords for the Gibbous phase are: analyze, prepare, trust. It is the time in a cycle to process the results of the actions taken during the First Quarter. During this phase you are gathering information. Give up making judgments; it will only lead to worry. Your knowledge is incomplete. Laugh. Analyze and filter. LOOK WITHIN. God/dess aspect: Maiden/Youth, but in the uncommitted phase, the Warriors – Associated God/desses: Dion, Dionysius, Venus, Thor. Phase ends at the Full on 6/2 at 8:42am. Full Moon – The day of, the day before, and day after the true Full Moon. “And better it be when the moon is full!”! Prime time for rituals for prophecy, for spells to come to fruition, infusing health and wholeness, etc. A good time for invoking deity. FRUITION Manifesting goals, nurturing, passion, healing, strength, power. Workings on this day are for protection, divination. “extra power”, job hunting, healing serious conditions Also, love, knowledge, legal undertakings, money and dreams. God/dess Aspect: Mother/Abundance/Kingship – – Associated God/desses: Danu, Cerridwen, Gaia, Aphrodite, Isis, Jupiter, Amon-Ra. Phase ends on 6/5 at 8:42am. at

Don’t miss the Venus-Pollux-Castor lineup at dusk. The lineup is closest to perfect the evening of June 1st (seen at dusk in the longitudes of the Americas).

After dark Mars shines inside the Beehive cluster, M44, near the central beehive-shaped asterism itself (which is currently tilted right). Use binocs or, better, a telescope. Mars is moving east across the cluster at about 90 arcseconds per hour. Can you see its position change with respect to the stars in as little as a half hour? Note the shape it makes with the closest faint stars to it that you can see, as noted in the June Sky & Telescope, page 49. Venus will follow in Mars’s footsteps past the Beehive on June 12th and 13th.

The Virgo Cluster – The Virgo cluster provides eight Messier galaxies to target in the northern part of the Maiden’s constellation. – Astronomy: Roen Kelly

Let’s return to Virgo, again finding its 1st-magnitiude luminary, Spica. This star stands about 40° high in the south an hour after sunset. Spica’s blazing white light is a prominent sight in springtime evening skies — but, according to the late stellar astronomer Jim Kaler, that light is a little bit deceptive. Spica is not one star but two, orbiting each other every four days with only about one-tenth of the average Earth-Sun distance between them.

Porrima (Gamma [γ] Virginis) is fairly easy to split today, when 2.3″ separate its components. In 2008 (seen here), they were only 0.4″ apart. Credit: Jeremy Perez.

Because the two stars are so close, they can’t be split in your telescope. But there’s a nearby neighbor who can: Slide about 14.5° northwest of Spica to magnitude 2.7 Porrima (Gamma [γ] Virginis). This stunning pair of stars consists of two suns with nearly identical magnitudes that are currently several arcseconds apart. Astronomy contributor Raymond Shubinski likens them to “two tiny headlights in space.” This pair completes an orbit once every 169 years, averaging about 43 times the Earth-Sun distance as they dance, though their highly elliptical orbit means they come much closer and grow much farther apart than this over the course of each orbit. Each is about 1.5 times as massive as the Sun.

Neptune is still too low in the east before dawn begins.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Color – Pink
Planting 6/1&2
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
F    2      Low   6:17 AM    -0.9   5:34 AM     Set 4:21 AM      92
~     2     High 12:41 PM     6.0   8:54 PM    Rise 7:49 PM
~     2      Low   5:53 PM     2.6
~     2     High 11:47 PM     8.3

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Hug Trees.

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Journal Prompt – What is? – What is the hardest decision you have ever had to make? Looking back on your decision, do you now think you made the right choice? Explain your answer.

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Quotes

~   The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him. – Chinese Proverbs
~   If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil. – Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Dutch philosopher
~   Everything people experience in their outer life corresponds exactly to something that is going on in their inner life. – Brian Tracy
~   Sleep is when all the unsorted stuff comes flying out as from a dustbin upset in a high wind. – William Golding (1911-1993) English writer
~   He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. – Arthur Miller (1915-2005) US playwright

Moonlight on Manila Bay By Fernando M. Maramág

A light, serene, ethereal glory rests
Its beams effulgent on each crestling wave;
The silver touches of the moonlight wave
The deep bare bosom that the breeze molests;
While lingering whispers deepen as the wavy crests
Roll with weird rhythm, now gay, now gently grave;
And floods of lambent light appear the sea to pave—
All cast a spell that heeds not time’s behests.

Not always such the scene; the din of fight
Has swelled the murmur of the peaceful air;
Here East and West have oft displayed their might;
Dark battle clouds have dimmed this scene so fair;
Here bold Olympia, one historic night,
Presaging freedom, claimed a people’s care.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on May 21, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Litha Magic – Crafts

Pagan parenting: midsummer crafts and activities for children – Looking for some great Midsummer crafts and activities for your kids this solstice? Liven up Litha with some of these ideas. [Also great for the Younger Self]

COLLECT HERBS – Herbs collected at dawn on Midsummer have long been thought to be especially charged with magic. Get up early and collect some from your garden to be dried and used throughout the year. If you don’t have an herb garden, try going to a natural area. Take along a book that identifies wild herbs, and choose some to bring home and dry. Make sure that you can identify those that you choose to ensure you are not taking home poisonous plants, and never, ever ingest herbs you collect from the wild.

WASH IN DEW – While you are up early, collect some dew of the grass or tree leaves and wash your face with it. Dew collected on the morning of Midsummer is also highly charged with powerful nature magic. Whoever washes with it is blessed by the Goddess.

PLAY GAMES – Summer Solstice was a prime time for merry making and frolicking, since it fell between the two hardest work seasons– planting and harvesting. People loved to play games during this joyous time of year when the sun was at its peak and the land was warm and ripening. Incorporate some of that fun into your holiday celebration– cut loose and play games. Have a water balloon fight, toss a frisbee, or run relay races.

HAVE A BARBECUE – Midsummer is a fire festival. The Sun Lord is at his height of power and glory. Cooking outdoors on an open fire is a great way to celebrate the season. Allow children to roast hot dogs or marsh mallows (with a long stick and adult supervision) on the flame of life as it crackles and burns.

MAKE A BURNING MAN – One long-surviving Pagan tradition is that of making a burning man, which represents the Sun Lord, in all of His flaming splendor, at the point of the year in which He begins His decline. Giant burning men have been erected at large festivals and burned on enormous bonfires, however a small version that can be placed on the barbecue or in the fire pit will suffice for your needs.

Gather sticks and twigs and make a small human figure by tying them together with twine. At sunset, have an adult put the burning man on his “pyre” and watch it go up in flames. Know that as he turns to ash, so does the year begin to wane.

MAKE A SUNDIAL – What better craft for the longest day of the year than to create your own sundial? If you have land upon which you can make a permanent sundial on the ground, gather some stones or shells, and a large stick. It should be a place that is in an open area that gets full sunlight all day. Plant the stick half-way into the ground, in the center of where your sundial will be. Pack the soil around it well. Then, from dawn till dusk, every hour on the hour, place a stone at the spot where the protruding top of the stick points. As the seasons change, you will note the differences of where the shadows fall, allowing children to witness the changes in the sun’s journey through the year.

If you don’t have any land, you can still make a portable sundial. Get a round wood plaque from a craft store (the type used for making clocks works well). Let the children paint and decorate it if they wish. On Midsummer, put it in a place where it will get full sun all day. Drill a hole in the center (most clock face wood plaques will already have one) and put a stick firmly into it. Use glue around it to ensure its sturdiness. Then, glue a small stone or rock– every hour on the hour– exactly where the stick’s shadow points. You can store your sundial indoors, and bring it out whenever you please.

FEED THE FAIRIES – As depicted in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the shortest night of the year has always been known as a night when the veil between our world and the world of the fairies is thin. Fairies are at their most active on the night of Litha. Children may wish to gather together a plate of sweet treats and ripe fruits and leave it out for them. Befriending the fairies on the solstice is a smart move, lest they may use their mischievous magic to trick you!

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Silliness – Joke of the Day – Why did the crab go to the chiropractor? He wanted to ease the weight on his shellders.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Bridget Bishop, Celtic Tree Month, Goddess Month, Joke of the Day, Journal Prompt, Litha, Magick, Moon, Moonlight on Manila Bay, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 6-1-23 World No Tobacco Day

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

The shop opens at 1pm. Spring hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by Ken Gagne.

[posting at 5pm] Rain gauge. – Dry. Sunny, blue sky and 59F.

Tuesday evening was nothing much, although I headered a few herb packets overnight. Wednesday morning Tempus got in a bit late since he’d done some shopping. I got up at the usual time and left him sleeping until just past 1pm, then we headed in to the market. I got some chinese cabbage, a few kinds of onions and a batch of sweet cherries, plus a strawberry lemonade and sunburned my arms despite sunblock! Thankfully, I put on my sunhat, but I didn’t expect to scorch! Yeah, the UV is high. I got to see Christine, who was also in town to shop at the market!

When we got back home Tempus made coffee and pancakes and sausage. That was really tasty. He went out to change a dead lightbulb on the car while I started the cabbage cooking with some onions and leeks and then went on to setting up greens, onion tops and some garden stuff for dehydrator. After that I put stemmed the tender herbs (lemon balm, thyme and oregano and got those into the drying baskets, then got last week’s thyme harvest, now dry, put away. …didn’t get to the mixes, although those are ready to do. I didn’t have proper jar lids for the bottles, so I had to wait.

We came back into town so I could print some headers. I had seen a lot of geese in the Eckman outflow. It looks like the ducks are staying away from there and in the private pond closer to home, but there were herons in every inlet. The swamp iris are in full bloom, but the rhodys are starting to fade. Even so I was marveling at the 20-30 foot tall ones that you only see when they flower. Most of those are in backyards or upslope from the houses that are right on 34.

So we have the cabbage dish and ham for supper with some rolls that Tempus made with onion and dill. I still need to set up the dehydrator before we crash. I’m going to have to do the lentils when that’s done, either morning or tonight after we get home from the shop.

…

Shop’s open. More tomorrow!

A Ken Gagne pictures of a gold finch on 5/23/15. His comment was “Ouch!”

Today is World No Tobacco Day, a day of abstinence from the products, intended to showcase the negatives of tobacco use. Ashtrays are often cleaned and filled with fresh flowers. In my case, although there usually aren’t any ashtrays around me, I add flowers to those that I see in honor of my beloved grandfather, who died of lung cancer from a pack-a-day habit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_No_Tobacco_Day

Today’s Plant is Yarrow, Achillea millefolium. This plant is often called woundwort or nosebleed because of its clotting properties and is used for fevers and infections because it has salicylates (aspirin) in it. The young leaves can be eaten and it becomes and aid to vision-work. It’s easy to grow and makes a great companion plant. We have mostly the pacifica and californica varieties out here. – Feminine, Venus, Water. Exorcism – Wear to protect – hold in hand to stop fear – hang over bed for lasting love – carry for love and bring friends and contact with relatives. Flower – Feminine, Venus, Water – flowers made into tea for psychic power, or Exorcism, protection. Can be added to handfasting magicks. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarrow

Spring hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon., although we’re often here later. Need something off hours? Give us a call at 541-563-7154 or Facebook message or email at anjasnihova@yahoo.com 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 and other things

Moon in Scorpio

Two weeks ago Mars lined up left of Pollux and Castor. This evening and tomorrow evening it’s Venus’s turn, as shown above. Venus has now pulled away from Kappa Geminorum just a bit and tonight sits just over 2.5° from this star, to the lower left of golden-hued Pollux. Mars up over there looks forlorn. But it’s putting on a performance of its own. . . .

Mars is now fully embedded within the 1.6°-wide Beehive Cluster in Cancer. You can enjoy the lovely pair tonight as the sky turns dark after sunset and the stars of this young cluster begin to twinkle into view about 30° above the western horizon. Also called M44, the Beehive is a relatively close-by (roughly 500 to 600 light-years) young cluster of stars known since ancient times, thanks to its naked-eye magnitude of 3.7. The bright red spot of Mars sits just west of the cluster’s center tonight; tomorrow, the planet will sit just east of it. Enjoy the view through binoculars or a low-power scope — too much magnification and you’ll cut out the stars in the cluster’s outskirts. Because the Beehive sits along the ecliptic, it’s often visited by planets, including bright Mars and Venus.

Regulus. the “little King” in the constellation of Leo

On the other side of the Beehive, to the east, lies the Sickle of Leo, anchored by the bright magnitude 1.4 star Regulus.

Uranus, magnitude 5.9, is hidden low in the sunrise.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

Sun in Gemini.

Pluto (10/10) Retrograde
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Color – Color
Harvest Planting
©2023 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
Th   1      Low   5:36 AM    -0.1   5:35 AM     Set 3:55 AM      86
~     1     High 11:50 AM     5.7   8:54 PM    Rise 6:32 PM
~     1      Low   5:09 PM     2.4
~     1     High 11:11 PM     7.9
First Minus Tide of the cycle at 5:36 AM of -0.1 feet.

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Give more hugs.

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Journal Prompt – When? – When was the last time you lied and why.

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Quotes

~   He that respects himself is safe from others. He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
~   Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means. – Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish novelist, poet
~   Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast. – Epicetus, Greek philosopher
~   An amazing invention – but who would ever want to use one? (made a call from Washington to Pennsylvania with Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, patented on 7 March 1876) – Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) US President (19)

When elm leaves are as big as a shilling,
Plant kidney beans, if to plant ’em you’re willing;
When elm leaves are as big as a penny,
You must plant kidney beans, if you mean to have any. – Old planting rhyme

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Litha Magic – Lore – Past Midnight – Author: Merideth Allyn, Posted: August 12th. 2016

I am Witch. It is one a.m. yet again, with two, then three to follow. The Witching Hours. However, unless casting or divining by the moon’s hours or its course, no matter how I struggle or resist, my legs take charge, grounded in earth’s gravity, and take me to bed. They know, at least, that should I refuse, which I have done as I am of defiance born, or if I linger longer, fatigue awaits me in the later morn.

The post twilight now-dark hours past midnight are most magically magnetic and most mysteriously mine. Like the svelte nocturnal beasts I prowl. I own the dark: above, below and around me. The black night is as pregnant with possibilities as the faeryflies are abundant this midsummer night. A whimsical wind I hear outside the confines of my cottage, and I look out my huge bay window opened to the balmy air, and my heart trips at this full night of moon. The wind makes musical the enchanting wind chimes scattered for prism effects and crystalline tinkling in the lower branches of the huge oaks for strength and in the walnuts for wisdom, the elders for magic and the hawthorns for the fae. I love my trees, wildflowers and my medicinal and magical herbal gardens copious with lavender, sage, bee balm, primrose, lilac, jasmine, chamomile and so many more. I am a healer, primarily of the emotions and spirit, and I take pride in what I grow to be of service to any who seek me.

This wind seems to take its orders from the clouds scurrying across the moon followed by birds all seemingly going to some sacred ritual. A most enigmatic night it is and my soul stirs in my loins. The moon’s radiance brings deep shadows and contrasting light placing in bas relief every leaf on every tree and every petal on every flower, yet keeping the background almost too murky making me wonder who or what lurks. Regardless I am inside and feeling stifled, I wrap my shawl more tightly around my shoulders as I can sense more than most.

The night sounds that deafen suddenly can go silent, though, when the whip-whip-whippoorwill trills in a minor key the liberation of a soul from Middle Earth, and takes its piping melody, with bound soul, to the Otherworld. But it saddens me not. It is release…freedom from this heavy overcoat to a lighter, more energized, viable and less visible form. With a lighter coat, there is less scrutiny from eyes that wish harm and souls that lack understanding. Fear is a terrible thing. I have little fear as I have faced my imminent death to Middle Earth, regardless my late middle years for age matters not to the majestic reaper. And, besides, I seek adventure of the mercurial kind.

This evening’s past ‘tween time feels much like my adolescent first love…reckless with passion. The sun sinks into the coral, lilac and golden ocean. My veins feel the thrill of blood rushing and a lightning like quickening. My stomach is roller coasting in uncontrollable ecstasy. Almost giddy and childlike now I merge, in my mind’s eye, with all the beauty, wonder and awe of a Universe so replete with surprises.

The night, this night, calls me. It calls to me like no other has ever called. My middle-aged loins are buzzing where comfort and coziness and sitting contently by a blazing fire were all I usually desired. I have felt no 20-year-old passion in many a year; no galloping knights on steeds sweeping me off the mundane ground and off my peasant’s feet to gallop with them to their sparkling castles in the Otherworld. And, oh, that sweet smell of honeysuckle and wild rose competing for attention in my gardens; it does more than waft through the windows. It compels me. How can I refuse such an alluring call?

But a good Witch, also, must make her daily tasks magical by completing them. There is still sweeping and mopping and watering the drooping plants in my sacred space no matter the lateness of the hour before fulfilling fantasies in this night so intensely wild. I look out the bay window again. I look up at the silver mother of pearl hanging orb surrounded by twinkling smaller ones, a sequined sky. My sky, my night. I see the huge trees bending and swaying, undulating their siren call to me. I can resist no longer.

I burst through the stained glass and oaken door which has afforded me such sunny pleasure when the yellow orb of day penetrates the glass and paints the walls, floors and ceiling with dancing, colorful, prismatic figures. I rush heedless into the untamed freedom of this cacophonous night, smelling the sweetest of fragrant scents…so sweet almost unimaginable and certainly not of this world or of my garden. I hear music alchemically mixing with the music of my wind chimes and could swear to the sounds of children laughing and singing a beckoning song. I follow their laughter. I follow their song but cannot reach them try as I might. I could only, and finally, sink to the soft, receptive earth watching and waiting expectantly for the night to bring me what it promises.

Five a.m. What happened to the time? I look as the dawn turns to pale shades of citrine, lavender and rose quartz, and I cannot recall. And, oh dear Lord and Lady of the Wildwood, my gardens…so overgrown. I remembered then the legend of Rip Van Winkle and knew, without one doubt, that I had been pixie-led.

My gardens have grown up to the cottage and farther up the old stonewalls tend riling around the chimney. The glass is cracked and the panes shattered in my beautiful bay window where my cats and I had so peacefully curled and enjoyed thunderstorms, sunsets, and warm slumber during all seasons. My hands are gnarled and littered with age spots. And, my clothes are tight and cumbersome where they once fit correctly on my used-to-be middle-aged body. Wildness and chaos reign but from a different kind on this day.

The now old woman lived broodingly a year and a day to the exact moment when she was pixie-led, which seemed to her lifetimes ago. She had foraged among her kitchen and wildflower gardens to keep her alive, but, sadly, she never could remember the happiest days of her life; her days with the faeries in the cherished green forest, feasting and dancing by the amber fires with glowing lanterns swinging from the trees expressing an ambience unearthly; a day she had always dreamed of for she had never given up believing in faeries regardless the parents’ and the preachers’ and teachers’ insistence that there were “no such things.”

Grieving, she lived those three hundred and sixty-six days going outside to leave, each night, a gift for those who had taken her and a plea they would come for her again promising she would never reveal the way to the Otherworld, to the place of The Gentry or People of Peace. If she could only remember, she would take any path, no matter how difficult, no matter how terrifying, to get to Elphame, one of the Faery Lands, once again. She looked to the heavens, saw the moon and the stars and sighed. No more was there midnight mystery although there was mystery in the not knowing…the lack of remembrance. A tear fell and riveted along her wrinkled cheeks and dropped to the ground.

Midnight on day three hundred and sixty-six found her feeling dizzy. Her heart fluttered and once again she fell to the receptive earth filled this time with varied colored and fragrant lilies. There was music again as well, but this time her ears were dead to the sounds as was she to all of life on Middle Earth. Though, before her ears could hear no more, she did hear the minor keyed melody of the whippoorwill.

The Good People of the Otherworld were trooping toward her in high fashion. For the fae never forget one of its own regardless kith or blood kin. Trumpets trumpeted, flutes pan-piped and The Gentry whisked her away as if she were no heavier than they. Moonlit bright ribbons billowed in a once again whimsical wind she seemed to hear and feel from a distance. A moment or two later, no matter it was not past midnight on Middle Earth, she woke to the remembrance of remembering, to the sheep’s tail of a lingering dream…she woke to bliss. She looked herself over and saw a maiden’s light ephemeral form…she always knew she would feel lighter in the Otherworld, and she understood that this time she was here to stay. She would laugh, love and live with her beloved faeries and dance in the magical sunlight and moonlight in enchantment for forever and a day.

Copyright: All Rights
ABOUT…
Merideth Allyn
Location: Jackson, Tennessee
Author’s Profile: To learn more about Merideth Allyn – Click HERE

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Silliness – Riddle of the Day – Where can you find comedians on New Year’s Eve? Waiting for the punchline.

Posted in Daily Stuff, Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Achillea millefolium, Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Litha, Magick, Moon, nosebleed, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Weather, When elm leaves, When elm leaves are as big as a shilling, Wicca, World No Tobacco Day, woundwort | Leave a comment

Daily Stuff 5-31-23 International Children’s Day

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Anja Snihova'

Hi, folks!

The shop is closed on Tue/Wed. Spring hours are 1-6pm Thurs.-Mon. Featured photo by OCD Photography.

[posting at 1om on Thurs.]

Monday evening I was pretty tired, so Tempus handed me an iced coffee from the freezer. He’s been setting those up when we have extra coffee, usually because we made a full pot for company and they didn’t need any. So I’m the beneficiary. Sash called as I was finishing the newsletter. He’s in love and needed to burble to someone. 🙂 So he got Papa, who grinned about it for hours…

Tempus filled some of the watering bottles. I was still catching up on mail, finding and saving recipes and poems and reading up on some newsletter. I finally pulled up the Chinese launch and we watched that. Interesting how crude their stuff is compared to ours. …but it works….

So I sorted out some spices. I want to make some mixes again. I ended up just packing herbs over Tuesday and Tuesday night. I was pretty tired, so I took the afternoon to just read and watch the sky.

Wednesday has been market and cooking. More on that tomorrow!

Heceta Head Light from 5/26/18 by OCD Photography Used with Permission

Today is International Children’s Day. It’s not much celebrated in the US, but is intended to call attention to the abuse and exploitation of children around the world, whether as child soldiers, child workers or children living in the street or with the aftereffects of displacement by war. Our children are our future, not a commodity! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Day

Today’s Plant is the Early Blue Violet, Viola adunca. – Violet leaves contain more vitamin A than spinach, and a half-cup of leaves has more vitamin C than four oranges, but rhizomes, fruits and seeds are poisonous. Other common names include the hooked-spur violet, Cascade violet, sand violet and the western dog violet. Found on Wiki here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_adunca or here: http://blogs.evergreen.edu/sustainableprisons/blog/2012/01/12/spp-plant-profile-early-blue-violet-viola-adunca/ Feminine, Venus, Water – Protects against malevolent spirits, brings changes in luck & fortune, wear to help with headaches, dizziness and to bring calm and sleep, wear in a green sachet to heal wounds.

Love & Light,
Anja

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Today’s astro and other things

Moon in Libra enters Scorpio at 4:45pm

Our quickly waxing Moon steals the spotlight tonight for telescopic observers as we target Mons Rümker in the Ocean of Storms. The Moon has moved east along the ecliptic day by day, sliding from Leo into Virgo, where it now sits some 8° east of the bright star Spica. We’ll be back to visit this constellation at the end of the week. Located near the Moon’s northwestern limb, Rümker is just now coming out of shadow as the Sun rises over the lunar landscape. This isolated, ancient volcano appears lumpy and gently sloped, rather than sharp and jagged like a typical mountain. That’s because this mound rose from the floor slowly, built by upwelling lava rather than the devastating, quick-acting effects of a massive impact. Just east of Rümker and likely easier to spot among lighter terrain is the bowl of Mairan Crater. About 25 miles (40 km) across, Mairan was formed about thousands of millions of years ago, yet retains a sharp, youthful rim. Keep watching the area for a few hours and you may notice the sunlight creeping across the surface, shrinking the shadows as the Moon continues to wax toward Full.

Yachats and Big Dipper on 11/23/19 by Jim Purscelley, used with permission.

Constellations seem to twist around fast when they pass your zenith — if you’re comparing them to the direction “down.” Just a week and a half ago, the Big Dipper floated horizontally in late twilight an hour after sunset (as seen from 40° N latitude). Now it’s angled diagonally at that time. It will be hanging straight down in just another week and a half!

Saturn (magnitude +1.0, in dim Aquarius) is fairly well up in the southeast at the beginning of dawn.

Runic Half-month of Othala/ Odal/Odel 5/29-6/13- The rune Odel signifies ancestral property, the homestead, and all those things that are “one’s own”..

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The very old hawthorn at Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, France, planted in the 3rd century!

Huathe – Hawthorne Ogam letter correspondences
Month: April
Color: Purple
Class: Peasant
Letter: H
Meaning: Being held back for a period of time

Tides for Alsea Bay
*

Day        High      Tide Height   Sunrise    Moon Time      % Moon
~ /Low      Time    Feet Sunset Visible
W   31      Low   4:54 AM     0.7   5:35 AM     Set 3:35 AM      78
~    31     High 10:54 AM     5.4   8:53 PM    Rise 5:18 PM
~    31      Low   4:26 PM     2.1
~    31     High 10:36 PM     7.5

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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – High intention operates in the midst of trust. Trust operates in the midst of high intention.

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Journal Prompt – What? What makes you feel safe?

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Quotes

~   The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves. – Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) Russian revolutionary
~   Others can stop you temporarily; you are the only one who can do it permanently. – Zig Ziglar
~   Who wants to live with one foot in hell just for the sake of nostalgia? Our time is forever now! – Alice Childress (1920-1994) US writer
~   A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. – Plato

Among the changing months, May stands confest
The sweetest, and in fairest colours dressed!
Soft as the breeze that fans the smiling field;
Sweet as the breath that opening roses yield. – –James Thomson (1700–48)

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Litha Magic – Recipes

Soft Mead – http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7039/AshlinCB.html

1 quart water, preferably spring water
1 cup honey
1 sliced lemon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
pinch salt
juice of 1/2 lemon

Boil together all ingredients in a non-metallic pot.
While boiling, scrape off the rising “scum” with a wooden spoon.
When no more rises add the salt & lemon juice.
Strain and cool.
Drink in place of alcoholic mead or wine during the Simple Feast.

Ginger Snap Mead – author unknown
Ingredients
18 lbs light clover honey
1 cup lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
2 gallons water

4 oz fresh ginger slices (each about the size of a quarter)
2 packets of sherry yeast

Bring ginger, juice and zest and 2 gallons water to a full boil.
Turn off the heat and pour into a fermenter (7-10 gallon carboy).
Add honey and stir well, then add cold water to 5 gallons.
Add rehydrated yeast when temperature is 70º – 80º.
Allow to remain in primary fermenter for 2-3 MONTHS before transferring liquids only to a secondary fermenter. (rack)
After 3-4 months in the secondary fermenter it will be time to bottle.

Note – It is best after it has been in the bottle for a few months. The longer the better.
Brightest Blessings )O( Aradian
deborah <isis_snow_tiger@yahoo.com> wrote:
To: Hearth_Witch@yahoogroups.com
From: “deborah” <isis_snow_tiger@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 17:18:30 -0000
Subject: [Hearth_Witch] Ginger Snap Mead

Baklava

Makes 10 pieces

Ingredients

6 large sheets of filo pastry
75g/ 3oz/ 6tbsp. of butter, melted
225g/ 8oz/ 2 cups chopped, mixed nuts (like almonds, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts)
50g/ 2oz/ 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
5ml/ 1tsp ground cinnamon
5ml/ 1tsp mixed spice or allspice
2.5 ml/ half a tsp grated nutmeg
250ml/ 8 fl oz/ 1 cup honey
60ml/ 4tbs lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Butter an 18x28cm/7x11in pan. Unroll the pastry (very carefully, it rips easily), brush one sheet with melted butter and line the pan with it, carefully working it up the sides. Keep the rest of the dough covered with a damp towel as you work to keep it from drying out. Brush 2 more sheets with melted butter and lay on top of the base sheet, letting the edges hang over the sides of pain. Mix together the nuts (I prefer to give them a pounding in the mortar and pestle to give them a finer texture), breadcrumbs and spices in a bowl and then spoon this mixture into the lined tin. Cut the remaining three sheets of pastry in half (widthways) and brush each piece with melted butter. Layer the sheets on top of the filling and fold in the overhanging edges. Using a very sharp, skinny knife, cut the baklava diagonally, into diamonds. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden. They go very quickly from golden to burnt so keep an eye out the last 5 minutes or so. As the baklava bakes, heat the honey and lemon juice together in a saucepan. When the baklava is baked, pour the syrup over it while the baklava is still warm. Leave it to cool completely, re-cut it into diamonds and serve either cold or warmed up in the microwave (my favourite way to eat it!). I was told by a little Greek man named Alex, who owns the best restaurant in all of Cincinnati, Ohio, that since baklava has no egg or milk in it, it does not need to be refrigerated. My kids like to eat it cold, though, so I’ve never tried it. You could leave a piece out for the faeries, too! I’m sure they love Greek pastries!

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Silliness – The Army

A man was in front of me coming out of church one day, and the preacher was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands.
He grabbed the man by the hand and pulled him aside.
The Pastor said to him, “You need to join the Army of the Lord!”
The man replied, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor.”
Pastor questioned, “How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?”
He whispered back, “I’m in the secret service.”

Posted in Newsletter, Pagan, Wiccan | Tagged Affirmation, Astrology, Astronomy, Celtic Tree Month, Early Blue Violet, Goddess Month, Journal Prompt, Litha, Magick, Moon, Oregon Coast, Pagan, Quotes, Runic Half Month, Silliness, Summer Solstice, The Army, Tides, Tides for Alsea Bay, Today’s Color, Today’s Feast, Today’s Plant, Viola adunca, Weather, Wicca | Leave a comment

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