February 2009

Lughnasadh blessings...

Tuesday February 3, 2009

Today is Lughnasadh, the first day of autumn and the first harvest festival, a day of celebrating the things we have metaphorically harvested, the things we've achieved, the gifts we’ve received, the experiences we’ve had, the talents we've developed and the things we've learned...
In a big picture way I am grateful for the lessons of the last year, for the courage I found to break my publishing contract and release my book myself, for the skills I learned (and am still learning!) about design, marketing, printing, promotion... and those I am still to learn. I am grateful for the beautiful people who helped me and encouraged me and supported me and gave me a shoulder to cry on when it all felt too much and who let me rage in frustration when it all got too hard... and who celebrated my success with me and were proud when I got it done...
I am grateful for my friends, my family, my beautiful husband, and also for those I have struggled with who have helped me learn so much about myself. I am grateful to all those who let me know how much my book has inspired them, and how. It’s beautiful that it has encouraged so many people to follow their own dreams, write their own stories, forgive people – and want to get married in Glastonbury :-)
I’m so grateful for all the blessings in my life, which is why I’m making an additional donation today to Plan, who I sponsor a child through, so they can continue to help those who are suffering... That's what Lughnasadh means to me – expressing my gratitude in a tangible way so the energy of abundance can continue and strengthen... (www.plan.org.au in case anyone’s interested :-)

Lughnasadh, or Lammas, which is celebrated in the first week of February in the southern hemisphere and August in the north, is a cross-quarter day marking the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. It’s the first harvest festival, traditionally a time of feasting and of thanksgiving for the life-giving properties of the grain, as well as a recognition of the cycle of sowing and reaping of the crops – and of the symbolic things you grow and create in your life.
It’s a day of harvesting the fruits of your labours and acknowledging your successes and what you’ve achieved in the past year. Celebrate the goals you’ve reached and have your own festival of gratitude, in whatever form that takes. Toast your success, throw a party or do something special to mark the occasion. Make a list of all the things you’ve gained over the past year – the gifts you’ve been given, the new talents you’ve developed, the friends you’ve made, the experiences you’ve had, the healings you’ve received – and give thanks for it all.
Then, out of gratitude and in the spirit of the ancestors who shared the bounty of their harvest with those less well off, pass on some of your good fortune. Make a donation to a local charity, lend money to a business in the developing world or give your time to help someone, ensuring the energy of abundance continues and is strengthened. Give out of grace and for joy, not with the expectation of receiving anything in return. Work out small ways you can make a difference to the world and the people around you all year.
Now too, as the energy begins to subtly slow, it’s a time to be patient and to trust that everything is as it should be, because there are still harvests to come. Not everything has to be achieved right now – some things take longer to manifest. The lesson of the Wheel of the Year is that everything continues, everything happens when it should and everything is eternal.
From Seven Sacred Sites: Magical Journeys That Will Change Your Life.

Full moon and eclipse

Sunday February 8, 2009

The upcoming Full Moon, on Monday night (technically early Tuesday morning) will be accompanied by a lunar eclipse. I’m hoping I’ll be able to see this one, since last month’s Dark/New Moon solar eclipse was covered by clouds in Sydney – after several days of blue skies and heatwaves before and after it!
 
Moonrise: 7:36pm Monday night (Sunset: 7:53pm)
Full Moon: 12:50am
Moonset: 6:47am Tuesday morning (Sunrise 6:27am)

It makes me think of Stephenie Meyers’s Twilight series, and her books Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. She sure tapped in to a big, magical energy there :-)

Lunar and solar eclipses, while fairly rare, also affect the energies of the universe – and our emotions – and were connected to Stonehenge from its earliest phase. An eclipse occurs when one celestial body obscures another, either partially or fully. Because of the angle of their orbits, the sun, moon and earth rarely align precisely, which is necessary for an eclipse. But when the moon is directly between the other two, which can only happen at the dark moon, it blocks the sun’s light from the earth, creating a solar eclipse that makes the sun seem either totally or partially invisible. When the earth is directly between the sun and the moon, which can only happen at the full moon, the earth blocks the sun’s light from reaching the moon, producing a lunar eclipse that dims or even totally obscures the moon for a brief time.
Energetically, eclipses create opportunities for change. They push you, forcing you to move forward and continue on your path. To some they’re a wake-up call, nudging you on and making sure you don’t lose sight of your dream. A solar eclipse puts you in touch with your intuition, and is a time to take stock of where you’re at and examine your inner self, while a lunar eclipse gives you the strength to be honest about who you are and move forward without fear of judgement.

Happy Valentine's Day, and Lupercalia

Saturday February 14, 2009

Cupid is getting ready for his busiest day, and couples around the world are professing their love and exchanging chocolates, flowers, gifts and Valentine’s cards. But like most of our holidays, their Christian overtones were layered over more magical pagan origins, and Valentine’s Day is no exception.
In the Celtic lands, early February marks Imbolc, a fertility festival and the beginningof spring, when the first blossoms appear and animals awaken from their winter rest. There is a legend that birds found their mate on February 14, which adds to the love and fertility motif of Valentine’s Day.
In Ancient Rome they celebrated the spring festival of Lupercalia between February 13 and 15, with events held to purify or spring clean the city, both physically and energetically, and increase health and fertility. It was named in honour of Lupa, the she-wolf who suckled the babies Romulus and Remus, who grew up to found Rome (Lupercalia = "Wolf Festival"). It was a spring festival celebrating new life, as well as worship of the nature gods Faunus and Pan.
The Festival of Juno ran at the same time, in honour of Juno, the goddess of marriage, and one of the events involved putting the names of young women into a box, to be drawn out by men who would pair off with them for a trial marriage. The Christians, in their effort to tame the “wild’ Romans, substituted the names of saints in the ballot box, and encouraged the women to take that one as their patron and say prayers to him, which didn’t go down too well.
They also declared the day should not celebrate the pagan gods and goddesses but be in honour of the martyred Saint Valentine. In 498CE Pope Gelasius declared February 14 Saint Valentine's Day, and the “lottery” system for marriage was deemed un-Christian and outlawed.
There’s not much evidence regarding Saint Valentine – there are in fact several saints with that name, and not much is known about any of them, but a popular tale involves a priest known as Valentine, who refused to obey Roman Emperor Claudius II’s decree that young men couldn’t marry, made to increase the number of soldiers. Valentine is said to have carried out marriages in secret, which eventually led to his arrest. And on the night before he was executed, he wrote a love note – the first “valentine” – to the young girl who had visited him throughout his time in jail. The note read: “From your Valentine.”
According to the American Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion Valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year after Christmas.

A new website

Friday February 20, 2009

An English author I met online, Kedeyi Truhart, suggested I do a page for the book at a new web portal, so I did – you can check it out at www.squidoo.com/SevenSacredSites. It has links to this blog – which will be funny, when this one uploads – and a few reviews and things. And one day, if I decide to sell Seven Sacred Sites: Magical Journeys That Will Change Your Life through Amazon, it will have links and a royalty system and all the other bells and whistles of a US site :-)

With Thanks

Tuesday February 24, 2009

Over the years I’ve started writing lists of all the things I'm grateful for in my journal, but despite my best intentions I would eventually give up. But this year a friend started a Facebook group and suggested we post our list there every day. (You can see her page at www.CountYourBlissings.com).
It’s an interesting process. There's been the odd day when I've thought I wouldn’t be able to think of anything to write, but once I sit down and try something always emerges. The nice thing is it doesn’t have to be a massive triumph - sometimes the little things can be just as worthy of thanks.
And it’s made me see the world in a new light, to seek out the precious little glimmers of joy, and immortalise and remember them... I update it each day on Facebook, but I’ve also started posting them here: www.squidoo.com/WithThanks.
Update: As of August 2009, my With Thanks posts are now on this website – you can check them out here.

Polar Bear Day

Friday February 27, 2009

Today is Polar Bear Day! How cute! I came across several articles that say today is International Polar Bear Day, a celebration of these majestic creatures. Native to the North Pole areas of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia, they are threatened by pollution, poaching, global warming and industrial accidents. They grow up to three metres tall and weigh up to 770kg, and are believed to be left handed. Their scientific name is Ursus maritimus, the “sea bear”, and their closest relative is the brown bear. To help conserve polar bears and their habitat, visit www.polarbearsinternational.org.

 

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Seven Sacred Sites and A Magical Journey are available from bookstores across Australia, distributed by Brumby Books, and through this website.

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