Hi, folks!
Featured photo by Anja. Minus Tide at 9:58 AM of -1.0 feet.
After last night’s light clouds and pretty sunset you’d think it would be a bright morning, but it’s not. It’s quite overcast and while there hasn’t been any rain since yesterday afternoon it keeps looking like it’s going to. 56F, wind at 2mph and gusting, AQI13, UV7, pollen still high.
Getting going so late yesterday was actually a good thing. With the paper route during the night, it meant that I had to energy to work and get things done.
First I set up a couple of leftovers plates for the House Capuchin members who are in Newport and couldn’t make it to the potluck. After that I finished parceling the marzipan out for each recipient, then I made more of the sauce for the Madez Kraut, added some to the leftovers and then set up chicken, cheese and kraut tortilla wraps (hot) for supper and we ate.
Tempus had to hurry. We forgot about going to storage for a couple of things, and he needed to tend a friend’s birds, drop off the goodies for the boys and stop at the grocery, too!
I got a nap, then did some organizing and then started cooking again. The eggs were done and in the fridge at about 1/4 to 2, and then I started milk for another cheese. By 3, one of the cordials was in the last stages of filtering and the milk was close to temp. By 3:30, the cordials were done, except for standing time, but the milk still wasn’t there! At 3:45 the milk was finally close enough to temp to hit it with the vinegar. I got some of the curd into a mold and spiced and then covered the rest to let it stand a little.
Tempus was just about to pick me up at that point. I was glad to sit and rest. It was cloudy, so not much to see, and we talked over what we’d been up to. I got dropped back off at 5am and got back to work on the cheese. I found some of my boxes and started packing. He was done at 6:30, which was too early for the birds or storage, so he sat down for a nap.
The last cheese was in the mold at 6:40, and I started peeling eggs. ..adn things just kept taking longer and longer. Tempus finally got up and went to tend the birds and I was supposed to be napping. but I kept thinking of one thing after another and finally decided to just get this done and out, so I wouldn’t worry over it later.
We have to get the foods into the ice chests and the stuff into the car and drive to Eugene and back today. I’d guess we’re going to go splat when we’re done, but we *have* to get some kind of sleep in before we go.
One of our local friends who just made off with a stash from 5/19/16 – photo by Anja
Today’s Plant is Rhubarb, Rheum rhabarbarum. Best known as “pie plant” or in strawberry and rhubarb jam this is a wonderful and nutritious stalk vegetable, that has been legally counted as a fruit, because of its uses. The roots have been used as a laxative for thousands of years, and the stalks, while strong-tasting when uncooked with no sugar, are delicious in sauces, pies, jellies, juice and so on, but the leaves are poisonous. It is very easy to grow since the roots will over-winter, even if the stalks die back and it’s one of the earliest vegetables to be harvestable. – Feminine, Venus Earth. – Wear a dried piece to help with stomach or gut pain and for general protection. The pie served to a mate helps to maintain fidelity and is an aphrodisiac, especially when combined with strawberries. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb
Today’s feast is in honor of the Gay Rights Activist, Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978. He was the first openly gay politician in California. More on his life and work here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk and on the bill that passed to make this day official, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk_Day
The shop opens at 11am. Spring hours are 11am-6pm Thursday through Monday. Need 
something off hours? Give us a call at 541-563-7154 or Facebook or email at ancientlight@peak.org If we’re supposed to be closed, but it looks like we’re there, try the door. If it’s open, the shop’s open! In case of bad weather, check here at the blog for updates, on our Facebook as Ancient Light, or call the shop.
Love & Light,
Anja
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Today’s Astro & Calendar
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 6/3 at 3:02am. 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 5/26 at 9:34am.
The waning gibbous Moon hangs with Saturn before dawn on the mornings of May 22nd and 23rd.
The Moon shifts an average of 13° eastward relative to the background stars every day, and this motion carries it near Saturn tonight. The ringed planet rises shortly after 11:30 p.m. local daylight time, 20 minutes before the waning gibbous Moon. The two then cross the morning sky together, with Luna trailing some 5° behind its planetary companion. Not surprisingly, the Moon appears far brighter than the magnitude 0.3 planet. But Saturn stands out when the Moon is not nearby, shining four times brighter than any of the background stars in its host constellation, Sagittarius the Archer. A telescope shows the gas giant’s 18″-diameter disk and a spectacular ring system that spans 40″ and tilts 24° to our line of sight.
Constellation of Lyra
Vega is well up in the east-northeast after dark. Look for its faint little constellation Lyra, the Lyre, dangling down from it with its bottom canted to the right.
Mercury is hidden in conjunction with the Sun.
Old Farmer’s Almanac Sky map for May https://www.almanac.com/content/sky-map-may-2019
Goddess Month of Hera runs from 5/16 – 6/12
Celtic Tree Month of Huath/Hawthorn, May 13 – Jun 9
Runic half-month of Inguz/Ing, 5/14-5/28 – Male consort of Nerthus, the Earth Mother, Ing is god of the hearth. This time of year expresses potential for abundant growth. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 70.
Sun in Gemini
Moon in Capricorn
Pallas (5/30), Ceres (7/17), Jupiter (8/11), Saturn (9/18) and Pluto (10/3) Retrograde
Color: Yellow
Planting 5/21-23
©2019 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright
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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.
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Tides for Alsea Bay
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Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
~ /Low Time Feet Sunset Visible
W 22 High 2:53 AM 7.7 5:42 AM Set 8:54 AM 90
~ 22 Low 9:58 AM -1.0 8:44 PM
~ 22 High 4:39 PM 6.3
~ 22 Low 9:58 PM 3.1
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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – Translate fear into excited anticipation.
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Journal Prompt –Wiki – At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle?
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Quotes
~ You can’t go on eating Italian food forever. Once in a while you want to try a Chinese restaurant. Marriage is a lifelong bondage. – Osho
~ There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women … you will see the colored men will be masters over the women. – Sojourner Truth
~ I will praise the water Ardvi Sura Anahita, the efficacious against the Daevas, devoted to Ahura’s lore, and to be worshipped with sacrifice within the corporeal world, furthering all living things [?] and holy, helping on the increase and improvement of our herds and settlements, holy, and increasing our wealth, holy, and helping on the progress of the Province, holy [as she is?] . [Ardvi Sura Anahita] who purifies the seed of all male beings, who sanctifies the wombs of all women to the birth, who makes all women fortunate in labour, who brings all women a regular and timely flow of milk. – An ancient hymn to Ardvi Sura
~ We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided. – Clarence Shepherd Day, Jr; attributed
May is bee in blossom,
May is birds a-nesting,
May is picking violets on a hill;
May is young and twenty,
May is Sunday-besting,
May is eager Jack and willing Jill. – The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1961
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Litha Magick – Build Your Own Stonehenge Activity – http://fun.familyeducation.com/outdoor-games/winter/35028.html
Age: 8 and up
Time: 1 to 2 hours
Type of Activity: Science
Materials needed:
- Center stake for reference point.
- 50 feet of rope.
- 20 to 30 marker stones or small stakes.
- A compass.
Here’s a unique way to celebrate the solstice: Build your own Stonehenge. As you might know, Stonehenge is one of the oldest (4,000+ years) and best known astronomical calendar sites in the world. You can recreate it without going through the bother of lugging 25 to 50 ton slabs of rock around the neighborhood. All you’ll need is a bit of ambition, and a location offering an unobstructed view of the eastern or western horizon. Locations offering a 360º horizon view are ideal (and rare).
What to do
The first thing you’ll need to do is create a viewing circle. Anchor a reference stake at the center point of the circle and place your compass on top of it. Find due north and place a marker at 50 feet north of the center. Repeat the process for east, west and south. (The rope is used as a guide to insure that all markers are equidistant from the center stake.) Again, using the rope as a guide, place a small marker stone every few feet around the perimeter of your circle. The center of the circle now becomes your fixed reference point and the westward facing perimeter is where you’ll be placing the sunset markers.
The calendar can be started at any time, but the solstice sunsets are the most fun. Mark the point of sunset with a pole, stake or other (not easily moved) marker. Tag the marker with the date of sunset.
Repeat the process every seven days or so. Over the weeks and months you’ll note that the sun appears to “walk” faster at some times of the year than others. When you’ve finished (in a year’s time) you’ll have a working astronomical calendar and an excuse to invite friends and classmates over to the house to check the date.
Non-construction alternatives
- Photo-op: Take a snapshot of the western skyline and tape it to the wall by a western facing window. With a felt tip marker draw an arrow on the photo corresponding to the point of sunset and note the date. Repeat the process.
- Window marks: (This takes two people.) Standing at the same point in the room of a western facing window, have the other person make a small mark on the glass where the sun sets. Note the date and repeat the process on a weekly basis.
How it works
The principle behind an astronomical calendar is simple. The apparent rising and setting horizon point of the sun changes with each passing day. The different points correspond to different days of the year.
At minimum, an astronomical calendar only requires a fixed reference point for viewing and another fixed reference point marking the position of the rising and/or setting sun on the horizon.
In the Northern Hemisphere, if you were to watch a time-lapse movie of a year’s worth of sunsets, you would notice that the sun appears to “walk” back and forth across the western horizon. The winter solstice marks the southern limit of the sun’s journey and the summer solstice is the northern boundary. Closer examination would reveal that, with the exception of the two solstice extremes, every other point on the horizon is crossed twice during the course of the year. Once on the southern march and again on the northern return.
At the time of the winter and summer solstices, (around December 22 and June 22) the sun is directly overhead at either the Tropic of Cancer (summer) or the Tropic of Capricorn (winter). In the Northern Hemisphere these dates mark the beginnings of summer and winter and the days of the longest and shortest hours of daylight.
- More on: Summer Fun for the Whole Family
- Ice Candles
- Snow Sculptures
- Winter Energy Burners
- Winter Sun Fun
- Igloos
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Silliness – 
Ancient Light's Daily Stuff 
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