The Coming and Going of Imbolc

I've been following the Celtic holidays and have generally been remembering when they are. This year, however, I saw The Groundhog on TV and realized that I had missed Imbolc completely. The coming of another baby in our lives has consumed me, and something like Imbolc just seems a little insignificant in light of our country's financial troubles and the little one growing inside me.

But I do like the idea of Imbolc; I like that there is another holiday that blends Christian and Pagan traditions/beliefs. I like that Brigid/Bridget is both a Christian saint and a Pagan goddess of sorts. I learned here that: "Originally, her festival on February 1 was known as Imbolc or Oimelc, two names which refer to the lactation of the ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces of spring."

I think often of the return of life-giving forces as I long for spring and detest this never-ending winter. I look forward to the arrival of our little one this summer.

Yule thoughts

A few thoughts as we approach Yule, and the darkness begins to lift:

• Interfaith marriage = celebrating both Yule and Festivus.
• The DaVinci Code is great for non-church-goers this time of year.
• The Mists of Avalon is also great for said reason.
• Mistletoe isn't necessary for passion in your marriage (but I still wish I had some).
• Mistletoe sap was once believed to be the semen of the gods.
• Some Christians actually hate Christmas because of its close ties with Yule and Saturnalia.
• A secular Christian, such as myself, can easily adapt this holiday to its more pagan roots (Xmas Tree, mistletoe, wreaths, yule logs, eggnog, etc.).

Happy Yule, and blessed be.

Dream Sequence #5

My husband and I ventured out to our local star-gazing field, along with dozens of others who chose to sacrifice sleep on this magical night. We all heard that tonight was the best night to view falling stars, and that we'd wait a long time for another perfect viewing night like this. We stood anxiously, my husband wrapping his arm around my waist. I smiled up at him, soaking in the pleasure of the moment.

Suddenly, I was distracted, as I saw movement in the sky. But instead of the beautiful falling stars I was hoping for, I saw strange orange lines forming.

"Do you see that? Look, there are more!" I kept looking over at my husband to see if he was seeing what I was. A woman a few feet away was saying the same things to her husband. Apparently, they were not seeing this.

We all had been looking up at the night sky, admiring the abundance of stars in the black velvet night. Suddenly, the little orange lines started connecting some of the stars, and then connecting groups of stars. Was this a trick? How could this be happening? I didn't understand if the lines were showing us some message, or if they were making constellations.

The lines formed faster and faster, and my husband finally began to see them as well. Just as he noticed what was happening, flashes of the same orange light started dropping toward the ground rapidly. I knew in my gut that whatever was happening, horror and destruction would surely accompany it. I grabbed my husband's hand and ran back into my parents' house, turning off lights instantly as I entered.

"Mom, get down on the ground. Where's the baby? She needs to be on the ground." We were all hiding on the floor of the kitchen, beneath the window. We hoped they couldn't see us, whoever was making all the noise outside.

I looked up at my husband, realizing that all his sci-fi dreams had come true; aliens had finally visited us. But the shrieks of terror outside our window were not those of welcoming hosts. The aliens had begun killing everyone on that field, perhaps everyone that saw the orange lines connecting the stars. They were witnesses. Would I be able to remember all the intricate lines I saw? Would I even live to try? Perhaps if we live through this, I can describe what I saw to some scientist. But who would believe me?

b.b.

The Yule Log Menorah

I was recently reading about Yule in a book called The Provenance Press's Guide to the Wiccan Year by Judy Ann Nock. Ms. Nock suggested that one spiritual practice for the Yule season is to bring a yule log into your home, cut eight holes in the top, and place candles in the holes. She wrote that one should let the candles burn all the way down.

Sound familiar? It's a menorah!

I did a quick search on yule logs online, only to find that most earth-based practices suggest using three candles instead of eight. So I'm not sure why Ms. Nock prefers eight candles, but it made me think that there should be such a thing as a yule log menorah. Why not? Hanukkah is a festival to celebrate bringing light into a dark world (as well as some supposed miracle that happened to the Maccabees), and Yule is a pagan festival to also celebrate/encourage the return of light during our darkest time of the year.

So maybe someday I'll make my own yule log menorah and market it to secular and/or earthy Jews.


Blessed be.

Earth-based Thanksgiving

As I struggle with our celebration of Thanksgiving, I think about the hardships of the Pilgrim settlers, but more about the sorrowful colonization of the Native Americans. I read a touching story by a woman of the Dineh nation, titled Thanksgiving: A Native American View.

This year, I have compiled three prayers that help me feel the thankfulness of the day while also honoring the Native American experience. I include St. Francis of Assisi because of our family's Christian relatives and secular Christian identity.


Thanksgiving Prayer
We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

~ Iroquois Prayer, adapted


For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


The Canticle of the Creatures
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, honor and blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong;
no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

We praise You, Lord, for all Your creatures,
especially for Brother Sun,
who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
of You Most High, he bears your likeness.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars,
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
We praise You, Lord, for Brothers Wind and Air,
fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Water,
so useful, humble, precious and pure.

We praise You, Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night.
He is beautiful, playful, robust, and strong.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Earth,
who sustains us
with her fruits, colored flowers, and herbs.

We praise You, Lord, for those who pardon,
for love of You bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
by You Most High, they will be crowned.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in their sins!
Blessed are those that She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.

We praise and bless You, Lord, and give You thanks,
and serve You in all humility.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Giving birth: life and creation

Finding out that I was indeed not pregnant, with a visit from la regla (in Spanish), I have been thinking about creating life. My first- and only- pregnancy gave me the experience of giving birth, and what it feels like to be a part of creation.

I read in Starhawk's The Earth Path this weekend, that the traditional (Judeo-Christian) creation story simply does not make sense with our eco-feminist experiences. Women bring life into the world through sweat, pain, and hella physical involvement. Yet, the Judeo-Christian creation story claims that a male god gave birth to the earth, and only with commandments, not any physical involvement whatsoever (except maybe a little of his breath blowing on the waters or some such nonsense).

After reading about this in Starhawk's book, I thought about how offended I felt. Here I had given birth to a beautiful daughter, through my own hard labor- hours of hard labor- and I'm supposed to believe that our earth and all its living inhabitants were "delivered" simply be a man saying "do it"? It is tough to swallow, now knowing first-hand what the delivery process really entails for a woman.

A man doesn't deserve the credit.


b.b.

Northern Illinois Deer in Winter

Yesterday, while enjoying some forest preserve time with my husband and daughter, we tried to find deer. After not seeing a single deer, I pondered: What do deer do in the winter? Do they hibernate? So here are a couple answers to what they do during the winter in Illinois:

Wiki Answers: They will find a place where there is little snow, like under a short tree. Or in a thicket of bushes.

The Wilderness Classroom: Deer like to eat a variety of different vegetation. In the summer they eat acorns, green plants, nuts, fruits, and aquatic plants. In the fall they switch to eating grasses and evergreen plants. During the winter they eat woody plants because that is all that is available. A varied diet is important for deer because it allows them to get the right nutrients at different times of the year. If winter lasts a long time than often starvation will kill the deer because of a lack of nutrient rich trees.

Nixon et al: Studies of large mammals suggest that most migration behavior is learned from kin, not genetically fixed. In Illinois, however, where landscapes are flat, forages are seasonally abundant and winter weather seldom threatens deer, such behaviors, while rare, are still present. Indeed, migration behavior was observed from the earliest years of deer reintroduction in Illinois, as deer moved seasonally toward and away from the Rock River in northern Illinois. The climate of Illinois is temperate continental, with cold winters and warm summers. Jan., the coldest month averages -3.1 C, and Jul., the warmest, averages 23.6 C in central Illinois. In most years, snow seldom covers the ground for extended periods even in northern Illinois.

Snow seldom covers the ground for extended periods even in northern Illinois? I beg to differ! Last year, I don't remember seeing the ground at all during winter, only snow. So what do the deer do then? Did they migrate last year to south of Chicago?

This post begins my new attempt to learn more about my local ecosystem. Schools don't teach it any more, though at the turn of the 20th Century, it was required coursework in American public schools. Perhaps my daughter will grow up knowing more about her local ecosystem than I ever did.


Blessed Be.