Hi, folks!
We’re still not going to be open today due to air quality. Featured photo by Ken Walter Duvall.
An ethereal scene – Comet NEOWISE sets over foggy hills in Marin County, California. – Dheera Venkatraman (www.instagram.com/dheeranet/)
AIR QUALITY ALERT through noon on Monday. DENSE SMOKE ADVISORY through 6pm tonight. Foggy and 51F. It looks a lot better out there, already! winds are pretty much calm, AQI181, UV5. 10% chance of rain today and 20% tonight. The wind is finally supposed to be blowing onshore, steadily, on Monday. Tonight is the supposed to be the first night for any possible rain. Keep doing those rain dances through Friday and think in terms of lots of moisture. Some people are going, “but landslides”. Don’t worry about that this time of year! Everything is so dry that the earth is just going to sop it up pretty fast, as long as it’s a gentle rain, which is usual for this time of year!
Yesterday slid by very quickly. We’re actually catching up on paperwork! Both of us were cranky, though. We don’t like being closed. No foot traffic around town, though. I was still coughing a lot and spent a long while trying to figure out how to find air quality in Waldport, instead of over the Valley. The closest I can get is Depoe Bay. At midnight that registered 182…
Tempus watered outside. I watered inside. I spent time with a book. Both of us spent time with clean bottles and plasticware. We did some rain magic.
The Melon Man was in town! We were too late to get a watermelon, but have 4 assorted varieties of cantaloupe and one other. I need to start hacking ’em up to eat. They smell wonderful!
Today is going to be more watering and hopefully some of the Sunday projects. We’ll see. Keep up the rain dances!
9/9/18 by Walter Duvall, “morning has broken”, Yaquina Bridge Used (with permission)
Today in the Roman Empire is the Feast of the Lectisternium. This is a sacrifice where images of the gods reclining and goddesses seated were served with feast foods as though they were the honored guests. The picture is of a carved stool of the sort used in dining. More info here: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lectisternium.html
Today’s Plant is Cow parsnip, Heracleum lanatum, or Indian Celery. Growing in every damp place along the roads out here, this is easily confused with seacoast angelica, and other plants, and even dangerously with water hemlock, if you don’t look carefully, or dig it up to check the root. It’s a huge plant (over 6 feet tall) with leaves large enough to make a hat from! Local peoples used it as a poultice plant for bruises and sores. The young stems and leaf stalks can be peeled and eaten in spring. The root makes a nice yellow dye. – Feminine, Water, Moon, Hathor – The flowers glow in the moonlight and I have used this as a plant of sacrifice to Bona Dea or the Great Mother in one of her many aspects as it is a symbol of the plenty of spring. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_lanatum
The shop is open, limited hours, 1-5pm, Thursday through Monday (generally we’re open until dark). Need something? Give us a call at 541-563-7154 or Facebook or email at ancientlight@peak.org
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 9/17 at 4am. Hecate’s Brooch – 3-5 days before New Moon – Best time for Releasing Rituals. It’s the last few days before the new moon, the time of Hecate’s Brooch. This is the time that if you’re going to throw something out, or sweep the floors, or take stuff to Good Will, do it! Rid yourself of negativity and work on the letting go process. Release the old, removing unwanted negative energies, addictions, or illness. Do physical and psychic cleansings. Good for wisdom & psychic ability. Goddess Aspect: Crone – Associated God/desses: Callieach, Banshee, Hecate, Baba Yaga, Ereshkigal, Thoth. Phase ends at the Dark on 9/15 at 4pm.
Not what’s going on right now, but too gorgeous to pass up! The Moon hangs with Jupiter and Venus – A waxing crescent Moon dominates the sky above Tibet’s Yamdrok Lake the evening of June 21, 2015. Brilliant Venus appears to the Moon’s lower right while somewhat dimmer Jupiter stands between the two. – Jeff Dai
Venus and the waning crescent Moon pair up in the east before and during dawn. They’re about 5° apart at the times of dawn for North America. If you catch them before dawn begins (look at least 1 hour 30 minutes before your local sunrise) and use binoculars, there will be the Beehive Star Cluster, M44, about 2½° to Venus’s upper left.
How well do you really know the Ring Nebula in Lyra? In early evening it’s now nearly straight overhead, in probably the darkest part of your sky. Explore its subtleties with Howard Banich’s Going Deep column in the September Sky & Telescope, starting on page 58.
And explore the outstretched hand of Andromeda, including the Blue Snowball nebula, a subtle galaxy, and several nice double stars, starting on page 62.
Usually Algol matches the brightness of Gamma (γ) Andromedae to its west (to the right here; north is up). But at mid-eclipse Algol is about halfway in brightness between (ε) and faint Kappa (κ).
There’s a demon rising in the northwest this evening: the strange star Algol in Perseus the Hero. Algol, whose name translates to “ghoul” or “demon,” represents the gorgon Medusa’s head, which the Hero holds in his fight against Cetus the Whale (or, in Greek mythology, more appropriately a sea monster). Algol is a variable star whose magnitude swings between 2.1 and 3.4 every 2.867 days. Tonight, it will reach that minimum at 8:08 P.M. EDT; at that time, it will be low to the horizon for many observers, but still visible and rising with time. And if you wait just a few hours, letting it rise, its magnitude will quickly increase to its usual 2.1. What’s going on here? Algol is not one variable star, but a system of two objects called an eclipsing binary. In this case, Algol consists of a bright B star and a dimmer K star. These stars are oriented so that we are looking at their orbital plane edge on, which means every 2.867 days, we see the dimmer star pass in front of, or eclipse, the brighter star, making the latter appear to quickly dim and, just as quickly, regain its brightness. The entire process takes about 10 hours, so if you observe Algol exactly at its minimum, it will be back at its maximum five hours later (around 1 A.M. EDT on the 14th).
Mars on August 27th, imaged at very high resolution by Enrico Enzmann and Damian Peach with a 76cm (30-inch) telescope. South is up. Dark Syrtis Major juts down from center. Upper left of it is dark Mare Tyrrhenum. Above them is the large, circular Hellas Basin, lighter in color but not as bright as when it’s filled with cloud or frost. Sinus Meridiani is at the center of the right-hand (morning) limb.
The South Polar Cap continues to shrink, and just off its edge, only a little remains of Novus Mons. In an image Enzmann and Peach took just six days earlier, the Novus Mons patch was sharply defined and starkly white.
Mars shines big, bright and close as it approaches its October 13th opposition! It will pass closest by Earth on October 6th. This week it rises in the east around the end of twilight — shining bright orange at magnitude –2.2, almost Jupiter-bright. Mars climbs higher through the evening and stands at its highest and telescopic best around 3 a.m. daylight-saving time, beaming down on the world from high in the south. It’s near the dim (4th-magnitude) Knot of Pisces. Mars is already 21 arcseconds in apparent diameter, practically as big as it will be when passing closest by Earth (22.6 arcseconds). It’s becoming less gibbous (95% sunlit) as approaches “full Mars” at opposition. Look for its white South Polar Cap, now much shrunken as summer advances in Mars’s southern hemisphere. There may or may not be any whitish patches of cloud; this seems to be a clear season on Mars. But Mars’s dusky surface markings are the eternal attraction. To get a map of the side facing Earth at the date and time you’ll observe, you can use our Mars Profiler. The map there is square; remember to mentally wrap it onto the side of a globe. (Features near the map’s edges become very foreshortened.)
Old Farmer’s Almanac September Sky Map – https://www.almanac.com/night-sky-map-september-pegasus-measuring-sky
Goddess Month of Mala runs from 9/6 – 10/2
Celtic Tree Month of Muin/Vine Sep 2 – 29
Runic half-month of Kenaz/Ken/Kebo – September 13-27 – Ken represents a flaming torch within the royal hall, so it’s the time of the creative fire – the forge where natural materials are transmuted by the force of the human will into a mystical third, an artifact that could not otherwise come into being. The positive aspects of sexuality that are immanent in Freya and Frey come into play at this time. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 102
Sun in Virgo
Moon in Cancer enters Leo at 8:32am
Jupiter Directs at 5:41pm
Saturn (9/29), Pluto (10/4), Mars (11/13), Neptune (11/28), Chiron (12/12) Uranus (1/14/21) Retrograde
Color: Yellow
Harvest 9/13-15
©2020 M. Bartlett, Some parts separately copyright
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Celtic Tree Month of Muin/Vine Sep 2 – 29 – Muin – (MUHN, like “foot”), vine – The grape (Vitis vinifera L.) is a vine growing as long as 35 m (115 feet), in open woodlands and along the edges of forests, but most commonly seen today in cultivation, as the source of wine, grape juice, and the grape juice concentrate that is so widely used as a sweetener. European grapes are extensively cultivated in North America, especially in the southwest, and an industry and an agricultural discipline are devoted to their care and the production of wine. Grapes are in the Grape family (Vitaceae).
Muin – Vine Ogam letter correspondences
Month: August
Color: Variegated
Class: Chieftain
Letter: M
Meaning: Inner development occurring, but take time for relaxation
to study this month – Koad – Grove Ogam letter correspondences
Month: None
Color: Many Shades of Green
Class: None
Letter: CH, KH, EA
Meaning: Wisdom gained by seeing past illusions.
Tides for Alsea Bay
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Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
~ /Low Time Feet Sunset Visible
Su 13 Low 4:10 AM 0.3 6:54 AM Rise 2:00 AM 26
~ 13 High 10:51 AM 5.8 7:30 PM Set 5:50 PM
~ 13 Low 4:06 PM 3.2
~ 13 High 9:53 PM 7.2
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Affirmation/Thought for the Day – When you have the choice of two exciting things, choose the one you have never done.
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Journal Prompt – Which? – Which place would you most like to visit—Africa, China, Alaska—why?
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Quotes
~ Saying no can be the ultimate self-care. – Claudia Black
~ You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round….. The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours…. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. – Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man
~ To keep silent is to become still within and without. Clear your mind of distractions. – Kerr Cuhulain
~ Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink. – Bob
On the Ides of September, at midnight, two planets were seen in conjunction to such a degree that it appeared as though they had been one and the same star; but immediately they were separated from each other. – Gervase of Canterbury, describing the transit of Mars across Jupiter, September 13, 1170
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Mabon Magick – Lore
Lore of Mabon – Fall Equinox Spell – Crone’s Corner
Once again the Sun’s path crosses the celestial equator, and the day and the night are now again of equal length. On the Gregorian calendar this is the first day of autumn, but on the modern Celtic calendar it is midautumn. This holiday is more commonly known by its Welsh name Mabon. Mabon means “divine youth.” It is the name of a mythic hunter hero whose story is told at this time of year. At the beginning of time, Mabon was born to the Mother Goddess Modron. That we only know his mother and not his father attests to the matriarchal lineage of the early Celts. The equinox marks the time when Mabon was three nights old and stolen from his crib. For the next three months, the heroes Cai and Bedwyr will search for him and ask all manner of birds and beasts for help. But, according to legend, it is only the salmon who can give them direction. On Yule, the heroes retrieve the divine child by freeing him from a prison in Gloucester. Like Apollo, Mabon is a hunter with a bow and a musician with a harp. He is a Sun god. Mabon represents the Sun that is waning in strength during this quarter of the year and that will begin to return only after the solstice. The waning of the light is frightening and depressing, and it is necessary for our own sake to use magic at this time to help in the quest for Mabon. The strongest act of magic that one can do at this time is to participate in the celebrations of the yearly cycle. As one integrates the yearly cycle deep into one’s unconscious, serenity and confidence are gained. This is the peace that comes from knowing and accepting that the light will return when it is time.~ Robert Place – GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives, Crone’s Corner – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Crones_Corner/
The Sabbat of MABON -Autumn Equinox, September 22 or 23
Also known as Harvest Home, this Sabbat is named for Mabon , the Divine Youth of antiquity who was hidden yet ever remains as the Sun. His name literally means ‘son’. Mabon (Harvest Home, Autumn Equinox) is a celebration of Thanksgiving for the blessings and abundance of the year, for the food, clothing and shelter which sustains us now and will continue to sustain us through the quiet, dark months of Winter. We celebrate the manifestation of the fruits of our labors and look forward to rest and repose after the harvesting. It is the time of the last preparations before the coming of darkness in Winter. As such, it is also the time to prepare the spirit for an interval of introspection and inner growth.
Mabon is the time of equilibrium, when light and dark, day and night are equal. On this day, we have 12 hours of sunlight, 12 hours of moonlight. The forces of light and dark meet this day, however, after this day, the night gains in strength and meditations and inner workings become more and more intense. For a moment, Time pauses and then begins his journey from the powers of light and activity into the powers of darkness and introspection. We bid farewell to the Sun who has fully matured, passed his prime and is turning old. We begin to welcome the coming of winter.
The celebrations of this Sabbat are serious yet joyous. They traditionally include hayrides, canning parties, winemaking, fairs which show off our harvests, meditations and preparation for study and inner work. One tradition is the making and burying of the corn dolly. Create your corn dolly from the husks of ears of corn, then charge it with the qualities and goals you are working on, finally bury it as a seed. When spring comes, if you have truly made your preparations, those qualities and goals will become a part of you and your life.
Mabon falls during the astrological sign of Libra, the sign of the Scales of Balance. Thus the energies of this time are those of balance, consideration and fruitful partnerships. Mabon is particularly sacred to Cerridwen, water oriented Goddess of Autumn, to whom was entrusted the guardianship of the Seeds of the future and the arts of Prophesy. She is able to look into the mysteries of the dark of winter and of the Otherworld. Her symbol is the Cauldron and her sacred fruit is the Apple. All nuts and seeds are sacred to her. Cernunnos in His role as Lord of Darkness and protector of all things wild and free was given to him the gifts of life by Cailleache, the crone aspect of Cerridwen, at this time of year.
This year, Mabon falls at a time of great turmoil, confusion and imbalance due to the horrific events on September 11th. Please focus your Mabon meditations and celebrations on helping to strengthen Balance and Clarity throughout the world. Send your thoughts and energy to facilitate the wisdom of Cerridwen so that the Seeds of the Future are positive for all of us, that we may come through this time of darkness wiser and clearer and that all of us, throughout the world, may live in balance. So mote it be.
HARVEST HOME CAKE
Mix 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup water and 1 cup lard. Bring to a simmering boil for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. After cooling completely, beat in 1 egg. Add 3 cups flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and one teaspoon each of powdered cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Beat into mixture for 2 minutes and pour into greased cake pan. Top with 1 cup of chopped nuts of your choice and bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, Serve with butter or cream. Happy Harvest!
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Silliness – Silly Q&A – Question: Where does a dog get a new tail? At the Retail Store?
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