By Fire Well and Tree

Photo by ZCH: https://www.pexels.com/photo/planet-mercury-in-full-shot-photography-12498795/ I know, people say that a lot...so... Okay firstly, retrograde is a real thing, astronomically.  You can find a more technical, but still accessible, explanation  here .  If you think about cars going around in several lanes of traffic, going the same speed and starting out parallel, eventually the the car in the shortest lane (usually the inside track) will get ahead of the car in the longer lane. It can  appear  then that as the first car passes the second, the second is actually going backwards.  If we think about planets in our solar system, they are all doing the same thing, and sometimes they pass each other. When Earth "passes" a planet during its orbit, that other planet is said to be retrograde.  Looking at them in the sky, the planet appears to move backward.    How often a planet becomes retrograde relative to Earth depends on not only it...

It's a DOOZY too. Starts off with a solar eclipse, and then full moon around Samhain. It's also our last "moonth" of the year, as if you're following the same version of the wheel of the year that I do, Samhain is the new year, so we'll start the cycle again. I may or may not keep up with the astrology stuff, I may change my tune and emphasize something else.  So as we start, The sun is in Libra, and so is the New Moon on Saturday, October 14. Libra is about partnerships and balance, and yes, justice, but maybe not with a capital J. We can spend a lot of time trying to make sure everyone is treating us JUST RIGHT, but remember as scales balance, they sort of wobble back and forth, one side lower and the other higher. The sun and moon, our outward and inner selves, these are things we often strive to keep in balance, sometimes giving too much, and other times pulling back too far, but always returning to that equilibrium. Whatever house this is in for you m...

  Photo by Marta Nogueira "It's the most wonderful tiiime of the yeeeear" If I was better at such things, I'd do a whole re-write of that song.  Maybe I will work on it later. We are coming up to Samhain and while, yes, I do have the moon stuff to post, I wanted to take a step back to kind of review what the heck I'm doing this season!  If you're local to me, I would love to see you at the future events! First up was this past Saturday, when I was going to go to  Day of the Dead  put on every year by Latino Arts for Humanity at Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus.   They have ofrendas , art, music, awesome food, and it's a lovely kick off.  Greenlawn is also where my grandparents are buried, so it gives me a chance to honor them, as I try to make a special effort to do so this time of year. If we have ourselves organized, my spouse and I take a day and travel to various cemeteries where our ancestors' graves are in Ohio.  It's a long day, going do...

  Day 1:  Offerings to the Fro Ing and Frea, and the corn dolly from my garden.   You can't see it, but the green and yellow candles ARE lit, just super small flames (wick problems).I got Yarrow as an omen. The crystal grid is basically a calendar, with the stone for Haelig (Mabon) on the top (and for the first quarter moon on the inner circle).  The new corn dolly is under the black tulle, kind of. Yay, it's here! As of Saturday (9/23) at 2:50 in the morning Even though my favorite 'slice' of the pie that makes up the Wheel of the Year is now over, officially, I don't dislike autumn.  There's all sorts of secular things I love about this time of year: football, pumpkin spice lattes (don't hate), finishing up the harvest of my garden and cleaning it up for the winter, watching the leaves change color... I swear it's like Mother Earth is putting on her own chunky cardigan. Also I love chunky cardigans. I also love that it's still warm enough to be out...

  Photo by Alina Vilchenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/food-people-party-winter-15574288/ "Libra-season" starts in the middle of this moonth, but we have to get ready for that with the New Moon in Virgo.   (I really like this photo I got from Pexels, and now I want to start staging my own....) We talked about Virgo last moonth, and so we can still continue on with that.  That detail oriented, planning energy is still here and it's a good thing to do at the new moon anyway (September 14), when we are setting our intentions.  This is especially true now as until a week or so again, we had SEVEN planets in retrograde (everyone BUT Mars).  Venus went direct on September 3, and Mercury goes directly TODAY (September 15) and the rest not for a while. Mercury also rules Virgo, so the fact that I am writing and posting this the day AFTER the New Moon is probably just a coincidence. Anyway... so for this New Moon in Virgo, take extra  care with your plans an...

  Photo by Erik Karits: https://www.pexels.com/photo/landscape-nature-water-blue-17590944/ When I searched for free stock photos associated with "Virgo" I got many pictures of damselflies like the above. I have no idea why, but they are beautiful.... And apologies for the less than spiffy title :)  Anyway... So for this "moonth," we are holding on to Leo for JUST a little bit longer.  The New Moon in Leo on August 16. SUPER early in the morning. My phone app said it was today!  The New Moon in Leo focuses on self-expression, creativity, and leadership. As you set your intention for this moon, it may be good to meditate on the right use of your power and personal will.  If you know what house your moon falls in that can help. Mine is in the sixth house ALL month, focusing health and habits, routines, etc. and I am SORELY in need of working on that. First Quarter moon (August 24) has the sun finally moving into Virgo, and square the Moon in Sagittarius. The fricti...

  Photo by James Wheeler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-dock-414612/ Blue moon you saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own Time to get to the moon names this upcoming "moonth." For the Gauls, we are beginning Elembivios "the many-sided Month,"  That is one translation anyway, there are others.  One that is somewhat relevent  is the "Month of Claiming" associated with the grain harvest.  Our grove has chosen to honor Nantosuelta. Her name translates to "winding river," and those can have many sides?  Her iconography often pairs her with Sucellos, suggesting a link with fertility, and also has ravens.  Personally, I see her in a similar light as the Morrigan, mostly because of the ravens, but there's nothing in the lore; it's just my personal inpsiration.  At our Druid moon rite, we "dancing the flow," of life, of the river, of whatever.  Our grove is also sponsoring a festival during...

Borage  Hello!! Post festival droop is a real thing. I had wanted to do a review of the latest  festival I attended, Sirius Rising, but I jumped right into a surprise party planning and execution, and juggling family and misdirection, and haven't had a chance to really GROUND back in to the mundane.  I'll be heading to another one next week, so I need to get some stuff off the blog-plate. First, we moved into both a new calendar month and a new spot on the wheel of the year, at the same time.  The rune pulled at Yule for August was Ingwaz which is about the best rune you could pull for the beginning of the harvest!  Literally the name of an Anglo-Saxon deity, and associated also with Freyr, this rune can sometimes be about fertility but also about the frith and fellowship that comes with the harvest. This is the time for fairs, and I'll do another post some day comparing ancient and modern fairs, but both are about larger communities coming together, to meet, to...

Photo by Egor Kamelev: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sturgeon-fish-swimming-in-aquarium-7987543/  Definitely the dog days of summer around here.  July in central Ohio is shaping up like other July's.  Hot. Humid. The idea of rain but no actual rain. The civic holiday of July 4 has gone, but that hasn't meant people have stopped with the fireworks.  I keep hoping they'll run out, but it's July 10 as I'm writing this, and some neighbors still had some last night. It's not like it's not the time for that. If I look to my idealized past of paleopagan ancestors, this would be a time between planting and harvesting, so a few weeks of blowing off steam before the work begins again is, I suppose, in keeping with the spirit of the season. I am off to a family get together and then straight on to  Sirius Rising  festival.  I'll do a review when I get back.  This will post after I've left, but I may or may not have Internet access to post an announcement on F...

Lake Michigan I know I should have something more astrologically pertinent, but that is my current view out my window in Chicago :)  ANYWAY, we are heading into Leo season, but we have to say farewell to Cancer first. The New Moon is in Cancer on July 17, so our intention and focus for the month could be on nurturing, feelings, emotions and empathy, especially as related to which house in your chart this falls. So, for example, mine falls in my Fifth House which has to do with creativity, arts, and even romance. In fact, my sun will be in this house the entire moonth!   First quarter is on July 25, and the Sun will have moved into Leo and is square the Moon in Scorpio.  The friction here is between being showy and dramatic, focusing on external performance and presentation and focused intensity and control of Scorpio, suggesting to work from inside ourselves to see what the best direction it may be to go.  The Full Moon on August 1, with Leo Sun opposed to Aquar...

  Photo by Simon Berger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/purple-flowers-in-bloom-1353126/ Yay!  The sun is at her peak, and there were some days even in the cooler-than-I-wanted-it-to-be Spring that part of me  doubted we'd get here.  But here we are! A couple of notes. One of the names assigned to this holiday is Liða, sometimes spelled Litha.  I have never known many people locally to call it that (usually Midsummer or Summer Solstice). But if you're going to call it by the Anglo-Saxon name, PLEASE pronounce it correctly!  The "i" is a long e sound (so ee). The ð is called a 'thorn' and it is a hard-Th sound, like "that."  (It's kind of like saying my name with a weird lisp on the 's' really).  I may have talked about midsummer before (sorry to repeat), but it falls between the planting season and the harvesting season. So, really, there's not much to DO besides just maintenance.  If my memory serves, this may have been prime time for ...

With this "moonth" we are becoming out of sync with the zodiac signs, which is fine, really. It happens every so often.  I haven't checked to see when it syncs up again.  So we are starting with the sun sign in Gemini and then it moves into Cancer on June 21.  We should be finishing up the intellectual, analytical energy of Gemini and then move into riding the emotional waves of Cancer. The new moon is almost exactly at midnight (12:37 to be precise) on June 18. For me, I love it when things line up this way.  For me, a new moon at midnight is an extremely powerful time and I'm going to try to take advantage of it (if I can stay awake). The sun and moon are both in Gemini, as I mentioned.  There's a fusion between external, solar pulls and internal lunar pushes to be analytical and rational about the goal you set or direction you take for this month.  Again, I recommending finding a transit chart (ask me how!) so you can see what house this takes place in f...

  Lughnasadh 2014 Fire There's some interesting things afoot with the month names for this "moonth."  First, according to the  reconstructed Anglo-Saxon calendar I use , this month is technically Triliða , an intercalary month that seems to appear about every other year, to realign the solar and lunar cycles.  I don't know if it was treated as a time outside of time as Gēola  is, but I'm chosing to treat it that way, and using the extended Summer Solstice 12-day devotional (check under the labels to find it, if I forget to link it). (As an aside,  Liða meant something like "gentle" or "navigable," because the breezes were good for sailing.  It doesn't really mean "midsummer," but is just the month in which the solstice occurs, which is why the name was chosen for the Neopagan calendar.) For the Gaulish Celts, we have Simivisonnos.  According to  some  this can mean "Semi Spring" but our grove translates it as "Midsu...

Photo by Rok Romih: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-moon-on-a-dark-sky-3489072/ I probably should explain that I see Dark Moon and New Moon as different.  Dark moon is when the moon isn't visible at all. It is, for me, akin to Midnight, and so is neither one day or the next, but a liminal point between the two days.  Dark Moon for me is also a liminal point between two months.  The New Moon is the visible crescent, that first sliver, that indicates the new month.   Between light pollution and obscured horizons where I live, I tend to rely on apps, ephemeri, almanacs, and the like for my timing.  AS always, your mileage may vary and do what works for you. So anyway... The dark moon started Friday evening, but I honor the new moon today (Saturday), as the crescent (for me) is what counts as "new moon."  The moon had us in Taurus, but on Saturday (today) the new moon is in Gemini.   A good time for intellectual pursuits.  Gemini energ...

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-bowl-of-whole-strawberries-89778/ (I know what you're saying... where's the Beltaine post? Well, it's not exactly late, but it's not up yet for Reasons....you'll see). The wheel keeps turning and finally in our area we are DONE with frost!  It is well and truly heading toward midsummer. The names of these months all reflect this late spring/early summer activities. Most notably, the Almanac has named this Strawberry Moon, and in this climate strawberries should just be beginning to pop out.  I know my rhubarb plant has, and it's looking and waiting for its partners in pie! The Anglo-Saxons called it "Ærra Liða" or "Before Litha" (summer solstice).  I suppose there's not a lot of deep meaning you can get from this, except as just an appreciation for it being warmer, which I certainly share. The Gauls give us Giamonios, "end of winter" month. Around here, this is about the time ...

  Photo by Dylan Leagh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-highland-cattle-on-grass-8954113/ At the new moon, we will actually still be in Aries, and the sun and moon will be conjunct. It is not until April 21 that both move into Taurus, and barely conjunct at that point, I think?  We also had a solar eclipse.  I know there are some who are iffy about eclipse magic, and others think it gives your magic and extra boost. Either way, you can choose to honor the Aries or Taurus.  As I (hopefully) remembered to mention last month, New Moons in Aries represent energy, enthusiasm, and new beginnings. Check your house for where.   New Moons in Taurus focus on the "seeds" planted last month to take root.  Stability, sensuality, and values are part of this sign, and Venus as its ruler brings to mind love, comfort and security. Look to your house placement and see where these seeds are to be nurtured. You could also split that difference. Raise the energy for the new...

  A little late, but not by much. I am busy getting ready for my niece's coming-of-age ritual this weekend.  More on that later. This month, and the names assigned to it, are ripe with the happenings of the season.  In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, we have  Þrimilcemōnaþ, "Month of Three Milkings."  My hunch is that this refers to the fertility of herds, where the females would be lactating a lot to support their new kids, lambs, and calves. The Gaulish calendar calls this Cutios, "Rain Month."  So far around here we are down a bit in rainfall, but I imagine that will pick up (hopefully).  And the old saying I put in the title makes the connection between this and the Almanac's name, Flower Moon. All of this points to the bursting fertility of flora and fauna, as the land basically explodes with emergent life.  I saw the first bees a week or so ago, and now they are busy pollinating. Speaking of.... yes, the spring allergies are here, which are very a...

Photo by lil artsy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-ram-on-grass-field-2397441/ Okay, finally getting the months ideas in order.  The new moon conjoined with the sun in Aries on March 21, so I'm not that late yet.  Aries is ruled by Mars and has that energy to bust through any impediments. It's a good time to be self motivated.  The new moon in Aries brings energy, enthusiasm and new beginnings, especially in the house where Aries sits on your chart.  Mine is in my first house of "self," so self improvement is my task for this month. (If you want to know where Aries is for you, maybe contact my friend Forest: her website is  https://nuicobaltdesigns.com/ or use an online astrology software site.) The first quarter moon moves from Gemini into Cancer, so square the Aries sun.  Moving from intellect to feeling and emotions, pay attention to emotions but the fiery energy of Mars can make those more intense, and we can get easily overcome. The Full mo...

  Æ Photo by Johann Piber: https://www.pexels.com/photo/full-moon-over-snow-covered-mountain-6531876/ The new "moonth" was a few days ago, and as I mentioned...Covid.  But, the moon doesn't care about my issues. so here we go. As far as month or moon names go, this month is called Ogronios in the Coligny calendar.  In our grove, we translate this to "End of of Cold Month. "  We honor the Earth Mother and bless the earth by collecting soil from the four corners of our properties and mingling it at the sacred center.  In the group ritual, this often translates to bringing in dirt from all our properties and mingling it, so that wherever we are, we are all standing on the "same ground," as another way to share the sacred center.  We like to call it "making sacred dirt."  It puts me in mind of an Anglo-Saxon ritual, Æ cerbot , which is a heavily Christianized blessing rite for a farmer's fields.  (I am trying to repaganize it for my own garde...

A wide purple clover path through lightly wooded area Whether you call it Ostara or not, the vernal equinox has come (a few days ago. And I'm sorry this is late, but thank Covid.) Again, I am blessed to be living where all four seasons tend to correspond to the calendar, more or less, so the 8 Sabbats match up pretty well.  Being a part of the local pagan community means that I have two rites planned, one of which I'm leading (pending  negative Covid test, of course).   Equinoxes have the theme of balance for me, always. Light and dark are mostly even, or as close as one can get.  Per timeanddate.com, we got 12 hours and 8 minutes of daylight on the equinox itself (March 20).  We had EXACTLY 12 hours on March 17.   Why is three days early? I originally thought it was the imperfections of our modern calendar.  But I also had to look it up too. Stepping back a little bit, many of you probably already know the word “equinox” comes from “aequus” ...

 Well, maybe? I don't know, I would have to see... according to one site ,  Mar 15 — Sun in Pisces conjunct Neptune in Pisces         This artistic aspect allows us to explore our creative side and get deep with our feelings. A good time to express ourselves with big artistic projects or confess our feelings to our crushes. Beware the crushes! Happy March everyone.  The weather person this morning tells me this is the beginning of "meteorological spring." Really I prefer to keep to the astronomical dates, but here at Sacred Hart Suburban Wildlife Preserve, we're likely to get winter-esque weather until late April.  So they can call it whenever they want I guess. From my 12 Days of Yule rune pulls, March brings us to Gebo, or "Gift."  At the time, I was interpreting in terms of New Year resolutions, and time to reach out if your resolve is waning.  Ask for help or assistance, or even a little inspiration and feedback.  I find myself ...

Time to get ready for the next moonth!  (Oops, this was supposed to out early... I need to figure out auto-posts more!) As always, these should be seen as only ideas for focusing in meditation, ritual, or just random deep thoughts throughout the month. Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/rain-drops-459451/ The Farmer's Almanac has named this Worm Moon.  The Full Moon is usually in the calendar month of March and around here that means late winter/early spring rains, bringing the worms to the surface.  The Coligny Calendar calls this "Anagantios," which in our grove we call 'stay at home month.'  Our priests come around on the sixth night of the moon to do house blessings.  From the Anglo-Saxons, we have Hreþmonaþ, the month of the Goddess Hreþe or Rheda.  This is the only reference to this goddess we know of, from Bede's Reckoning of Time.  This is when there were sacrifices to her, although who "her" is, is a mystery.   Accor...

 I hope the Leo Full moon Sunday night had you find your creativity!   I ended up leading an Imbolc rite at  the store , but before that managed to sneak in to a workshop by my friend, Forest, on Astrology for Manifestation.   I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I'm TOTALLY going to plug her workshops. Her approach to astrology is as a tool for self-knowledge and self-actualization (my interpretation, anyway) rather than a determination of your fate, and it's at the down to earth and accessible, and at the same time well-researched and in-depth. She knows her stuff. Take her classes, get your chart done! End of commercial. What it got me thinking about was how astrology fits into my current path. I like writing about suns and moons (as you can tell) but I'm never sure how it "fits." The way Druidry has developed (at least my order), there's very little call for astrology in any formal way. I remember as a baby-pagan reading about houses and signs and p...

If you are one of the two or three people who read my stuff, you'll know already that I don't find calendar dates to be particularly useful for anything besides making sure folks are on the same page to do stuff.  As far as the natural world, and the spirituality I find there, I prefer to let nature tell me stuff.   Of course, if I had the time to devote the equivalent of a full-time job to studying these things, I wouldn't need to avail myself of Googling stuff, although I definitely appreciate the  astrology website I use.   (Really wish I paid attention in geometry class...if I'd have only known...) The solstice and equinoxes, moon going from dark to full and back again.... none of that cares about the date on a page.   BUT, the cross quarter days are a little harder, so I look to my land. We haven't had much of a midwinter thaw. We got lots of cold and snow around Yule, and then we've been somewhat consistently in the 40s-ish.  MAYBE we dipped...

Photo by Riccardo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/ice-river-photography-300857/ GOOD NEWS!  I found a web page (two actually) that has reconstructed an Anglo-Saxon calendar. The good news is that I wasn't far off with my own haphazard timing of things.   This  is the one I'm using. The other one is only off by a day, and seems to be depending upon whether they are starting it when the moon is dark, or just the first sliver.  Either way, I can now assign those brains cells to other things. For our month names.. The Anglo-Saxon month is Solmōnaþ, which seems to be "mud month" or "month of hearth cakes."  Commentators I read seemed to think these hearth cakes were mud-like so that would be the two names?  From the Gauls, it is Rivros (Riuros), which is "cold month," and the Almanac terms the full moon for this month "Snow Moon."   I sense a theme.... Kondratiev's next line from the Song of Amergin is "I am a lake on a plain."  He...