Imbolc

I hate the end of Yule.  Time to take down the tree, remove the decorations, get rid of all the beautiful red and green.  Those glitzy lights are shut off, no more good cheer.  And it was all sooo pretty!  {Sigh… } To make matters worse we are now facing a cold bleak January.  Still a lot of darkness.  Probably a few snow storms coming up.  Some people have even made impossible New Year’s resolutions, ones they will never keep.

However, it is not all doom and gloom.  Enter Imbolc.

Imbolc, celebrated on February 1st and 2nd is a fire festival to honor the earliest beginnings of spring. It is a time to settle down after the excess of Yule. We celebrate the ever lengthening days and honor the goddess Brigid. It is also a great time to do some spring cleaning.

Coinciding with Candlemas, the purification of Jesus in the temple, Imbolc is a great time to take stock, set goals, purge ourselves of impurity and prepare for all things new.  Light lots of candles!

 

Be kind.  Live in light and love.

 

“Bringing the world closer through peace, harmony and understanding of the wise-craft.”

 

 

Starman

Starman

He was Out There.   Out There where Everything happens.

 

The original Starman who fell to earth, a cosmic cyclone Major Tom, navigating the labyrinth upon which he found himself.   He had much to teach, although I  often wondered if this planet was actually ready for him.  Nah. But maybe now… ?

Hey did anyone notice American Horror Story Freak Show gave him a fitting tribute, a perfect swan song?

Back in the glitter days a Bowie concert was The Place To Be.  Years of the scavengers, seasons of the bitch.  We’d put on our red shoes and dance the blues, all us rebel rebels who’d torn our dress, face a mess.  Ground controllers striving to be Heroes.  Just for one day.

The original Starman has been taken back to the stars.  Watch for him in the night skies, the silver rush of Pleiades, the belt of Orion, the red twinkling of Mars and the blush of Venus. He’ll be there, stark as a space oddity, bright as a diamond dog.

I’m gonna miss this guy.  Very much.

 

 

Twelfth Night (or What You Will)

 

January 6^th is a holiday that marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas. It is also known in the Christian church as Feast of the Three Kings, Feast of the Magi, or Epiphany.  This is the day when it was believed  the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem  to give gifts to the Christ child, thus beginning a tradition of gift giving at Christmas. Seems pretty sacred and special, right?

Well, our medieval counterparts  did not have much reverence about it.   In Medieval and Tudor England, Twelfth Night was a night for the biggest, wildest party EVER!  Everything was reversed on Twelfth Night.  Traditions and formalities went out the window.  Craziness and frivolity were acceptable behavior.  The Lord of Misrule came to rule.

Servants became masters and masters became servants.  Kings became peasants and peasants became kings.   Everything was put into a chaotic frenzy, accompanied by much drinking, dancing and general goofiness.  Sounds like a good time, eh?  It reminds me of what modern day folk do on New Year’s Eve, which just goes to show, we are never far from our ancestors.

Shakespeare never missed  a good commercial opportunity.

He knew this time of revelry could and should  be celebrated with plays!   He went to work on an awesome comedy called ‘Twelfth Night’.