Saturday 24 December 2011

Christmas Eve


"Somewhere across the winter world tonight 
you will be hearing chimes that fill the air;
Christmas extends its all-enfolding light
Across the distance....something we can share.
You will be singing, just the same as I,
These familiar songs we know so well.
I shall remember you and trim my tree,
One shining star upon the topmost bough;
I will hang wreaths of faith that all may see--
Tonight I glimpse beyond the here and now.
And all the time that we must be apart
I keep a candle in my heart."

Candle-lit heart by M.E. Linton

                           

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Winter Solstice


                                        The longest Night
                                    A light in the darkness 
                                       

Friday 9 December 2011

Cold Moon Eclipse in Gemini

The Cold Moon


"This is the month when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark. This full moon is also called the Long Nights Moon by some Native American tribes".


From The Farmers Almanac





                                          Eclipse in Gemini


"Balthomos felt the death of Baruch the moment it happened. He cried aloud and soared into the night air over the tundra, flailing his wings and sobbing his anguish into the clouds." 

"Lovers really do feel things like this, even when they are far apart. So do identical twins. That makes sense, because identical twins start their lives as a single egg cell which splits in two. You can't get much more entangled than that! Science can't yet explain what is going on when lovers and twins know things about their partners even when the partners are far away. It still seems like magic to us, just like the way the planets move round the Sun seemed like magic hundreds of years ago. But it might have something to do with quantum entanglement".


Mary and John Gribbin
The Science of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials"



Tuesday 1 November 2011

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Full Moon in Aries.

A potent and powerful time. A time to remember our
individual paths, and to initiate new projects and new 
beginnings. Move forward assertively in direct motion 
towards our goals, with courage and certainty. Listen 
to our intuition and take action.  Allow for a new spark 
of life.


                                       Hunters/Blood Moon

So called because this was the time for hunting, and storing provisions for the harsh winter months ahead. Also known as the Blood Moon and the Dying Moon.












Friday 30 September 2011

Jelaluddin Rumi 30th September 1207 - 1273



Star Studded Rumi


Tonight is a night of union for the stars and of scattering,
scattering, since a bride is coming from the skies, consisting of a full moon.
Venus cannot contain herself for charming melodies, like the
nightingale which becomes intoxicated with the rose in spring-time.
See how the polestar is ogling Leo;
behold what dust Pisces is stirring up drom the deep!
Jupiter has galloped his steed against ancient Saturn, saying
"Take back your youth and go, bring good tidings!"
Mars' hand, which was full of blood from the handle of his
sword, has become as life-giving as the sun, the exalted in works.
Since Aquarius has come full of that water of life, the dry
cluster of Virgo is raining pearls from him.
The Pleiades full of goodness fears not Libra and being
broken; how should Aries flee away in fright from its mother?
When from the moon the arrow of a glance struck the heart
of Sagittarius, he took to night-faring in passion for her, like Scorpio.
On such a festival, go, sacrifice Taurus, else you are crooked of
gait in the mud like Cancer.
This sky is the astrolabe, and the reality is Love;
whatever we say of this, attend to the meaning.
Shamsi-Tabriz, on that dawn when you shine, the dark night
is transformed to bright day by your moonlike face.

"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"A.J. Arberry
The University of Chicago Press, 1968




Wednesday 28 September 2011

A Rare Beauty

Snow White

A friend and I, were lucky enough to see this little albino squirrel running around in gardens in Southsea. A news item in the local paper later reported that she had run into some trouble, when a gang of grey squirrels attacked her in Highland Road Cemetery, but fortunately, some people were on hand to rescue her. She is now being looked after at the Squirrel and Wildlife Centre in the Meon Valley, where she has been named Snow White. I hope she will enjoy a long and hassle free life.

I was delighted to see this little albino squirrel, they are rare, and so I felt it as one of those moments when a door opens and allows a glimpse into the more unusual aspects of nature. It also reminded me that what is different in life is often attacked by the majority. All turned out well for her though, she will be well looked after in an appropriate environment.

Saturday 24 September 2011

In Praise of Autumn

The Falling of the Leaves

Autumn is over the long leaves that love us,
And over the mice in the barley sheaves;
Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us,
And yellow the wet-wild strawberry leaves.

The hour of the waning love has beset us,
And weary and worn are our sad souls now;
Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us,
With a kiss and a tear on thy drooping brow.

W. B. Yeats
                                     

I love Autumn.  I love the beautiful rich russet and golden colours, and the scent of wood smoke and burning leaves filling the air.  The sound and feel of the fallen leaves crunching underfoot, before the rain turns them to sludge, is always a pleasure. Autumn has always filled me with a sense of longing; a yearning for something unknown, but at the same time deeply familiar. I love the dark nights and the stars, and the mist rolling in from the sea, and that hint of magic and witchery in the atmosphere of the night. I love the  fractured light from street lamps, reflecting off rain soaked roads, and cosy nights by a burning fire. Beautiful Autumn.

                                                                


Sunday 11 September 2011

Harvest Moon

                                                                           



The Harvest Moon   

The Harvest Moon is the full moon that falls closest to the Autumn Equinox. It is also known as the Corn Moon and the Barley moon, as it corresponds to the time of gathering in the harvest crops and threshing the barley. It sometimes occurs in October. It is usually a very bright moon, bright enough to gather the harvest by.



Full Moon in Pisces

A powerful time when dreams and inspiration come to fruition.                      Emotions are heightened, and shift and change in an ocean of feelings. Things are not quite what they seem, we may experience confusion, as we lose a sense of solidity and feel ourselves merging into a greater oneness with life. A time when we feel our hardness dissolve, and our compassion and forgiveness rises to the surface. A time for healing. A time of  meaningful sacrifice.

It's been ten years since 9/11. This is a time of remembering the horrendous attack on New York. It symbolised so many different things to different people. We still don't know the truth of what really happened, and who was at the root of this. So much confusion surrounds those events One thing is for certain, we are fed bullshit and lies by the governments of the Western World.

Saturday 10 September 2011

Ancestral Memories

My Father's Family

I love this old photo.. It was taken about 1910 in  Bacup, Lancashire in the North of Edwardian England. My Grandmother, Gladys, is the little blond girl in the centre.  To the right of her, is her older sister Bella, and to the left, her little sister Ida, my Grand Aunts. My Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather Simpson are with them. They  have all passed from this world now, this is the only photograph of them all together as a family. We have a restored version, but this original and ageing photograph, now over 100 years old, is just wonderful. My Grandmother's family were descended from Danish immigrants who lived and worked in the textile industry in Lancashire.

Wednesday 31 August 2011

Stargazing

The Stargazer's Guide
By Emily Winterburn

Photo by Yvonne

Yet another synchronous charity shop find. I had bought this book for a friend in America, and after a recent 'planetary collision' with him, I found myself thinking about the book. No surprise then, when it turned up under my nose in mint condition. I took it as a sign from the cosmos.

It's a lovely book, written by Emily Winterburn, the Curator of Astronomy at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London. The book guides you through the night sky in relation to the months and seasons, and includes myths connected to the zodiac. The author also brings astrology into the picture, and in a way that is respectful to the subject: unusual for a scientist. I think she has a secret sympathy for the ancient wisdom of the planetary spheres.

"There we stay,
and watch the procession of the stars and planets
as our our bodies intertwine, like ribbons,
in this field of the night."

By SB 2007

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Good Faeries/ Bad Faeries

Good fairies/Bad faeries
By Brian Froud

I happened across this in a charity store recently. Mr Brian Froud is one of my favourite faery beings...this came to me as I was reaching to look at another book..I hadn't seen this one next to it..and when I withdrew my hand, this book was smiling up at me. Goddess bless you Mr Froud!

Pictured faeries are: top left,
Quempel, the faery of special moments.

Top right: The Vervain Faery. True flower faeries are "tiny specks of light involved with the processes of plant growth at the cellular level. Sometimes however, they manifest themselves in more substantial forms. Even flower faeries have to grow up. The Vervain faery can be called upon for healing, protection, and her general soothing ways."

Bottom left: The Morning faery "fond of appearing in the sudden quiet of the moment" and bottom right The Knowing Faery " There are no secrets from this faery... she knows what you have hidden in your heart." From Good faeries/ Bad faeries by Brian Froud.

Sunday 28 August 2011

The Queen of Passage

Surrender / Transition / Trust

All things change. All situations move from one phase into another. Sometimes those transitions are difficult. Letting go and moving on, whether to a new life, a new love, or perhaps just a new phase of a current relationship, can be painful, but the Queen of Passage is there to help with those transitions. She looks ahead with the keen sight of the kestrel and can see the future with the wisdom of the raven. She holds a pomegranate, a sign of fertility. There is growth in the future. There is a way ahead. The darkness comes as you step from one state to another. The moment of passage between the past and future, between the worlds themselves, is a moment of surrender. Trust this great queen to be your guide. Listen to what she has to tell you and then take that step. She will be by your side in the moment you move out of the past and into the future.

Yvonne is in transition, surrendering to the change.