Equinox Power

Equinoxes are power times, opening energetic gateways and revealing new options. All of the seasonal ingresses (the first day of spring, summer, fall and winter) are important transitions, and excellent times for prayers, ceremony, and setting new intentions. The fact that a full moon peaks on September 23 at 2:17 AM PDT, a mere six hours after the equinox, indicates that we have come to yet another major turning point-- a time to think out of the box and jettison whatever is not in support of bringing greater peace, equality, and authenticity into our lives. The old rules and formulas no longer apply. We are rewriting the archetypes of reality; redefining what it means to be human.

A number of other celestial alignments add to the impetus for evolution, making it easier for us to transcend our fears and limiting beliefs. This full moon highlights the intense, ongoing cardinal T-square involving Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto, which has been in close configuration since last spring. If we include the lunar nodes, the divine geometry becomes even more complex and compelling: a cardinal grand cross with eight oppositions and fifteen squares. Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) mark new phases of development. Oppositions require consideration and cooperation; squares demand that we shift our perspective and direction. The lunar nodes in Capricorn and Cancer signify that we are dealing with releasing deeply entrenched views, especially around patriarchy, materialism, and inequality between the masculine and feminine.

Libra is symbolized by the Scales of justice and ruled by Venus, the mythic goddess of love and beauty. Where do you need to create more balance and harmony in your life? The Sun in Libra, in concert with Saturn in Libra, spotlights our current relationships and responsibilities, as well as where we are seeking greater intimacy and integrity. Aries is represented by the Ram and ruled by Mars, the mythic god of war. Where do you need to be more assertive and take a stand? The Aries Moon’s proximity to Jupiter–Uranus at 28° Pisces helps us to detach from codependent or addictive patterns. Pluto conjoins the North Node in Capricorn and squares the Sun and Moon, as well as Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus, holding the cosmic key: that we must evolve from living in fear to living in love. Because of these many aspects, the influence of this Full Moon is extended to at least a ten-day period, from the Sun’s exact opposition to Jupiter and Uranus on September 21 through the end of the month, when the Sun forms an exact square to the lunar nodes and a precise conjunction with Saturn. Venus in Scorpio intensifies the cosmic focus on lessons of love and truth, remaining within 10 degrees of Mars until mid- October, clarifying our values, sparking new unions, and resurrecting old ones for healing and resolution.

Autumnal Equinox

The autumnal equinox, or Mabon, is the Wiccan's Thanksgiving. 
Also called Harvest Home, this holiday is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the Earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and God during the winter months.
Among the sabbats, it is the second of the three harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas and followed by Samhain.

Altar Dressings
* candles should be brown or cinnamon. * decorate circle with autumn flowers.
 acorns, gourds, corn sheaves and fall leaves.
Mabon Magickal Herbs  
Rue, yarrow, rosemary, marigold, sage, walnut  leaves and husks, 
saffron, chamomile, almond leaves, passionflower, frankincense,  
rose hips, bittersweet, sunflower, wheat, oak  leaves, dried apple or apple seeds.  
Incense  
Frankincense, sage, sweetgrass or myrhh. 
Mabon Magickal Stones  
Stones ruled by the Sun will bring the Sun's energy to you.
clear quartz, amber, peridot, diamond, gold, citrine, yellow  topaz, 
cat's-eye, adventurine.  
Mabon is a good time to cast spells of balance  and harmony. 
It's also a time of change.  Protection, wealth and prosperity spells are  
appropriate as well. 

My Lammas Blessing

On this first day of August, I light a candle to honor and celebrate the harvest.

As the Great Wheel turns, I honor the Universe and give thanks for all it has blessed me with this year.

I honor my ancestors, my family, my friends, and all living things.

HO-TAY!

"I think Lammas is a particularly fitting time where we, like the earth, can give our our own fruitfulness in whatever way it seems best to us. And since Yule is when we give to other people, perhaps this is the time when we most apporpriatlely give to the earth which sustains us, and which receives so very little in return." ~ Gus diZerega, Beliefnet

"It is a season of endings and completion, a point between the free and easy times of summer, and the restrictions of winter. The first harvest brings the awareness of the coming winter. Bonfires are lit. Grain dollies made from sheaves of wheat are popular, too. Streamers are woven with the fall colrs of red and orange, and hung on poles...So make a toast to the passing of summer. Celebrate a happy Lammas with family and friends, then begin the work to stock the shelves for the long winter ahead." ~Terry Smith, The Town Talk, Louisiana

Lammas 2010

The Evergreen State College radio station, KAOS, hosts a Sunday morning show called Wheel of Wonder. While I am not a regular listener of this program, when I do play it, I am not disappointed. Often the programming contains gems of thought and reminds me of the importance of shedding light upon subjects that are important, however, not necessarily mainstream news.

This morning I heard the host read from an essay on the topic of modern witch hunts. I am not talking about the generalized application of that term. I am referring to the actual attack (and often murder) of women and children believed to be magical beings and the destruction of cultures that embrace learning and healing from natural sources.

I tutor two Catholic nuns from Tanzania. One readily shares stories of how Christian missionaries and the existing Catholic churches, do not allow them to use natural healing methods learned in their villages. These nuns maintain an orphanage and school. When the children become ill from malaria, dissentary, are stricken with headaches or parasites, the nuns must only treat them with Western medicine. Often these supplies are hours and days away. They and the children suffer needlessly. The nuns who remember their ancestors wisdom, put their lives at risk by going into the jungle to retrieve the roots and leaves hundreds of years prove will alleviate and cure the condition. She herself, is the daughter of a village king, her grandmother a gifter seer and healer. I pray that the Universe protects her memories, her spirit and her life.
The other, slightly younger, nun will not even speak about the medicine people of her village. She blesses herself at my inquiry. I do know her hand was saved by a Tanzanian medicine woman. When she was young, she was falsly accused of eating the bananas her aunt was saving for dinner. Her aunt held her hand in the dinner fire then kicked her out of the home into the jungle. Exposed to the heat of the jungle and its insects, the third and fourth degree burns became severly infected. It took her a week to walk to her brothers home. He immediately brought her to a small hut at the edge of the village. She doesn't remember exactly what was given to her to drink, or what the old woman helping her soaked pieces of fabric in before washing and wrapping her injured hand. She only remembers the pain stopping and the blisters disappearing. Some scarring remains today and she has reduced feeling in the fingertips of that hand, but she has full use of it. When she entered the convent, the Mother Superior heard her story and performed a blessing to rid her body of the evil that enetered it due to "the witch's work". Thus began her enculturalization to believe that such things are the work of evil spirits. My heart cries when I see the fear in her eyes.

The following is an excerpt from the essay, The Timeless Allure of Witch Hunting, by Johann Hari.
"Across Africa, I have witnessed witch hunts. I have stood in a hut deep in the Tanzanian bush where the blood of and 80 year old woman was still wet on the walls, after her "evil" had been hacked out of her with a machete. I have been lectured in the Central African Republic by men who explain the collapse of their country is die to "there wicked women." I have played with rejected child witches livingon the streets in Congo and been told by anxious locals that I would soon die from their curses."

I wrote this entry, not to shock, appaul or bring the reader down. I wrote it to shed light on a dark piece of our common, human family, condition. We are all connected. Let us each shed healing light on these autrocities and thus heal a part of ourselves.
So mote it be.

For Reflection

In the book Heart Yoga, mystic Andrew Harvey describes how he once met the Dalai Lama and had the courage to ask him spontaneously, "What is the meaning of Life?" The Dalai Lama replied, "The meaning of life is to embody the Transcendent."

Breathe and step through the veil.

Living in a place where the veil is thin is a wonderous blessing. Each day I am witness to the shadows and light of a magical world. When these things happen, they are so tremendously powerful and clear that part of me wants to shout the expereince, yet, I often do not speak of them for fear that setting my visions to words will somehow alter and disempower them. Often these moments surpirse me by how they are able to cross into the business of my day and make themselves known. It is as though the world and the routine activities around me stop. I feel as though I am hovering between time - between worlds. I is then that I become fully aware of "now". I stongly feel my connection with the Universe and its energies. I am not, one with the moment. I am the moment. My breath is the wind through the trees, my eyes the sky, my heart the earth, and my blood the waters that run through it.

Ostara is a time of balance, or equal amounts of light and dark. Light is returning and Spring has arrived bringing warmth and hope. Deep within the yet cold earth, seeds are beginning to sprout. The livestock prepare to give birth in damp fields and beneath the forest canopy of trees, wildlife prepare their dens and nests for the arrival of their young.

May the new energy during this turn of the sacred Wheel provide us many blessed opportunities for our own regeneration. What newness will you lay the groundwork for and welcome into your life?