Hi, folks!
It’s 62F with just a light breeze even down by the water. Enjoy this, since it’s likely to rain over the weekend! The days are getting shorted by 3 minutes per and it’s really becoming obvious.
Yesterday started later than we usually get moving, and the doctor 
appointment put things off even farther, but a lot of chores got accomplished, anyway. I ended up researching cheese for most of the evening and *really* want to try making some again. Maybe Friday, because that’s my “home day” for cooking and I have quite a line-up, already? Last thing in the evening I started filling in files. I was so glad I didn’t have to do that last week! 🙂
Today we have more chores and then esbat this evening. I think Tempus is going to be up on the roof again. Gotta get that done in the next couple of days! <<<<<< …and I hope this isn’t his experience!
a Youtube on how to light natural charcoal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E97xSPI6Yh4&feature=youtu.be&a
Some poetry for the season!
- The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe – Read by Christopher Walken – https://soundcloud.com/olyfantastique/the-raven-by-edgar-allan-poe
- Little Orphant Annie – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7ltxAmV3Ck
Today’s Plant is Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn , may, mayblossom, maythorn, quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw. It has edible buds, flowers and fruits, which are full of antioxidants . Particularly sacred to the month of May and to Beltane, it is used extensively as a hedge plant. – Fairy energy, May interfere with digitalis medications. – Masculine, Mars, Fire. – Increases fertility and/or celibacy. Carry on a fishing trip to ensure good catch. Brings happiness to the troubled or depressed. Protects house against lightning and storms, evil ghosts may not enter. In cradles to guard from evil spells. Most Witch’s gardens contained a hawt hedge. Sacred to the fairies, and is part of the tree triad of Britain. More on this species:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_hawthorn More on the genus Crataegus here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus
Today is the birthday in 1797 of Ida Pfeiffer, world-traveler and author. More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Pfeiffer She was one of the first of the “lady explorers” and published 7 books about her travels all over the world. She was quite a scandal in her day and didn’t actually begin her travels until her children were grown.
The shop is closed on Tuesday/Wednesday. Fall hours are 11am-6pm Thursday through Monday and closing will drift earlier with sunset times. Need something off hours? Give us a call at 541-563-7154 or Facebook or email at ancientlight@peak.org If we’re supposed to be closed, but it looks like we’re there, try the door. If it’s open, the shop’s open! In case of bad weather, check here at the blog for updates, on our Facebook as Ancient Light, or call the shop.
Love & Light,
Anja
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New Moon – The beginning of a new cycle. Keywords for the New phase are: beginning, birth, emergence, projection, clarity. It is the time in a cycle that you are stimulated to take a new action. During this phase the new cycle is being seeded by your vision, inner and outer. Engage in physical activity. Spend time alone. VISUALIZE your goals for the 29.6-day cycle ahead. The new moon is for starting new ventures, new beginnings. Also love and romance, health or job hunting. God/dess aspect: Infancy, the Cosmic Egg, Eyes-Wide-Open – Associated God/dess: Inanna who was Ereshkigal. Phase ends on 10/14 at 5:06am. Waxing Moon Magick – The waxing moon is for constructive magick, such as love, wealth, success, courage, friendship, luck or healthy, protection, divination. Any working that needs extra power, such as help finding a new job or healings for serious conditions, can be done now. Also, love, knowledge, legal undertakings, money and dreams. Phase ends at the Tide Change on 10/27 at 5:25am. Diana’s Bow – On the 3rd day after the new moon you can (weather permitting) see the tiny crescent in the sky, the New Moon holding the Old Moon in her arms. Begin on your goals for the next month. A good time for job interviews or starting a project. Take a concrete step! God/dess aspect: Daughter/Son/Innocence – Associated God/dess: Vesta, Horus. Phase ends on 10/17 at 5:06am.
Vega is the brightest star very high in the west at nightfall. Arcturus, equally bright, is getting low in the west-northwest. The brightest star in the vast expanse between them, about a third of the way from Arcturus back up toward Vega, is Alphecca, magnitude 2.2 — the crown jewel of Corona Borealis. Alphecca is a 17-day eclipsing binary, but its brightness dips are too slight for the eye to see reliably.
Back in the evening sky, the waxing crescent steps over Saturn (near Beta Scorpii) and Antares. Binoculars help.
Venus, Mars, and Jupiter hang together in the east (in Leo) before and during dawn. Venus, on top, is the brightest at magnitude –4.6. Jupiter is –1.8, and Mars, much closer to Jupiter, is much fainter at +1.8.
Monday, October 12–Thursday, October 24, before dawn. The best time in the year to see the dim glow of the zodiacal light in the pre-dawn eastern sky, the light reflected from millions of interplanetary particles. It lies along the ecliptic (shown in green). Don’t confuse it with the Milky Way, further south. Credit: Starry Night Software
Goddess Month of Hathor runs from 10/3 – 10/30
Celtic Tree Month of Gort/Ivy – Sep 30 – Oct 27
Runic half-month of Wunjo/Wyn – October 13-28 – Wyn represents joy, the rune being the shape of a weather vane. The month represents the creation of harmony within the given conditions of the present.
Sun in Libra
Moon in Scorpio
Vesta (11/13/15) and Chiron (11/27/15) Retrograde
Color: Brown
Planting 10/14-15
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©2015 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright.
Gort Ivy Sep 30 – Oct 27 – Gort – (GORT), ivy – Ivy (Hedera helix L.) is also a vine, growing to 30 m (100 feet) long in beech woods and around human habitations, where it is widely planted as a ground cover. Ivy produces greenish flowers before Samhain on short, vertical shrubby branches. The leaves of these flowering branches lack the characteristic lobes of the leaves of the rest of the plant. Like holly, ivy is evergreen, its dark green leaves striking in the bare forests of midwinter. Ivy is widely cultivated in North America. It is a member of the Ginseng family (Araliaceae).
Gort – Ivy Ogam letter correspondences
Month: September
Color: Sky Blue
Class: Chieftain
Letter: G
Meaning: Take time to soul search or you will maake a wrong decision.
to study this month Uilleand – Honeysuckle Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Yellow-white
Class: Peasant
Letter: P, PE, UI
Meaning: Proceed with caution.
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Tides for Alsea Bay
Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
~ /Low Time Feet Sunset Visible
W 14 High 2:01 AM 6.9 7:30 AM Rise 9:02 AM 0
~ 14 Low 7:51 AM 1.8 6:34 PM Set 7:44 PM
~ 14 High 1:46 PM 7.8
~ 14 Low 8:26 PM 0.1
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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Embrace Change. True success can be defined by your ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
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Journal Prompt – What is? – What is a pickup sports game like? Write a short narrative description of a game you have played or watched.
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Quotes
~ No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. – Lin Yutang (1895-1976) Chinese writer
~ I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. – Mahatma Gandhi
~ I just put on what the lady says. I’ve been married three times, so I’ve had lots of supervision. – Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) US writer
~ Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes. – Peter Drucker
All the skie was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven and the light seene above 40 miles round about for many nights. Above 10,000 houses all in on flame and the noise and cracking and thunder of the impetuous flames, the shrieking of women and children the hury of people, the fall of toweres, houses and churches like an hideous storme and the are all about so hot and inflam’d that at last one was not able to approach it, so that they were forc’d to stand still and let the flames burn on, which they did for neere two miles in length and one in bredth. The clowds of smoke were dismall and reach’d upon computation neer 56 miles in length. – The Diary of John Evelyn; on the Great Fire of London, September 3, 1666
Samhain Magick – Samhain tidbit From: http://www.celticspirit.org/samhain.htm
Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.
Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means “summer’s end.” In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oíche Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter’s calend, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints’ Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.
In the country year, Samhain marked the first day of winter, when the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that would feed them during the winter must be stored in sturdy thatched ricks, tied down securely against storms. Those destined for the table were slaughtered, after being ritually devoted to the gods in pagan times. All the harvest must be gathered in — barley, oats, wheat, turnips, and apples — for come November, the faeries would blast every growing plant with their breath, blighting any nuts and berries remaining on the hedgerows. Peat and wood for winter fires were stacked high by the hearth. It was a joyous time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come. The endless horizons of summer gave way to a warm, dim and often smoky room; the symphony of summer sounds was replaced by a counterpoint of voices, young and old, human and animal.
In early Ireland, people gathered at the ritual centers of the tribes, for Samhain was the principal calendar feast of the year. The greatest assembly was the ‘Feast of Tara,’ focusing on the royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, the point of conception for the new year. In every household throughout the country, hearth-fires were extinguished. All waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year — not at Tara, but at Tlachtga, a hill twelve miles to the north-west. It marked the burial-place of Tlachtga, daughter of the great druid Mogh Ruith, who may once have been a goddess in her own right in a former age.
At at all the turning points of the Celtic year, the gods drew near to Earth at Samhain, so many sacrifices and gifts were offered up in thanksgiving for the harvest. Personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants or ailments to be healed were cast into the fire, and at the end of the ceremonies, brands were lit from the great fire of Tara to re-kindle all the home fires of the tribe, as at Beltane. As they received the flame that marked this time of beginnings, people surely felt a sense of the kindling of new dreams, projects and hopes for the year to come.
The Samhain fires continued to blaze down the centuries. In the 1860s the Halloween bonfires were still so popular in Scotland that one traveler reported seeing thirty fires lighting up the hillsides all on one night, each surrounded by rings of dancing figures, a practice which continued up to the first World War. Young people and servants lit brands from the fire and ran around the fields and hedges of house and farm, while community leaders surrounded parish boundaries with a magic circle of light. Afterwards, ashes from the fires were sprinkled over the fields to protect them during the winter months — and of course, they also improved the soil. The bonfire provided an island of light within the oncoming tide of winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomfort, and evil spirits long before electricity illumined our nights. When the last flame sank down, it was time to run as fast as you could for home, raising the cry, “The black sow without a tail take the hindmost!”
Even today, bonfires light up the skies in many parts of the British Isles and Ireland at this season, although in many areas of Britain their significance has been co-opted by Guy Fawkes Day, which falls on November 5th, and commemorates an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in the 17th century. In one Devonshire village, the extraordinary sight of both men and women running through the streets with blazing tar barrels on their backs can still be seen! Whatever the reason, there will probably always be a human need to make fires against the winter’s dark.
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Silliness – Barber and Kid
A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
“What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”
Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”
The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game’s over!”
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