2008 Calendar

I suffer from a peculiar form of commitment-phobia: I am terrified of choosing a calendar. I'm going to be stuck with it on my wall for an entire year - what if I hate it? What if the picture for July is terrible? What if it doesn't give the exact time of the full moon?

Yeah, I have issues.

Because of this bizarre indecisiveness I have bought the same calendar for the last several years. I find the nearest calendar retailer, purchase The Witches Calendar, and go home again. I like the pictures, the essays can be interesting, and it's nice to know exactly what sign the moon is in.

None of this stops me from looking at other calendars, however. There are so many of them out there, and all of them so lovely! One year (was it 2003?) I got daring. I saw a calendar themed around my favorite graphic novel (The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman) and couldn't resist. The pictures were lovely, but I suffered terrible withdrawal from my usual source of detailed astrological information, interesting tidbits, and the all important daily color. The next year, I returned to The Witches Calendar, humbled and contrite.

(Now might be the time to admit that I can't even read the astrological information. I only recognize the symbols for a handful of zodiac signs and none of the planets. Take away my witching license if you must, but never let it be said that I mislead you!)

Thus I was in the grocery store yesterday morning and found myself browsing the calendar racks, admiring the pretty pictures but not planning to buy. I looked over and saw one called "Lunaria 2008: Lunar Almanac." My curiosity piqued, I picked it up. Lo and behold, this calendar is divided into lunar cycles. Each page begins with a new moon, but the traditional dates are still listed. Not only does it include more astrological information than the Witches Calendar, it even summarizes it briefly (ex: "expression enhances change"). It tells what time the moon sets and rises, and includes sunrise and sunset on Sundays, quarter, and cross-quarter days. It is printed on recycled paper with vegetable ink. The only way this calendar could be made better is if the times were in Eastern instead of Mountain, and the sunrise/sunset times weren't calculated for CO, but that is a small, niggling complaint.

I very nearly squee-ed in the grocery store.

I will miss the colorful pictures and (occasionally) nifty essays, but this calendar is so much more interesting. I can't wait to live a whole year so deeply in tune with the moon! As a very moon-oriented person, this can only be a good thing.

Winter Solstice 2007

We have now embarked upon the longest night of the year, a time of deep introspection and quiet, a time to reflect upon where we have been and where we are going. For the first time ever, I will be keeping vigil for the sun, and I'm looking forward to it. Most of the night will be spent on far more prosaic activities than silent contemplation, but I do hope to do some of that as well.

When the sun returns tomorrow morning, it will usher in the commercial/secular holidays with family. Parents will arrive, cooking will begin in earnest, and soon gifts will be exchanged after lengthy meals.

Hopefully I will find more time to post in the new year! In the meantime, check out the pagan rewrite of "In the Bleak Midwinter" at Joanna Powell Colbert's blog. There's even an MP3 in case you forgot the tune!

In the meantime, a blessed solstice night to you all!

So much to say, so little brain to say it with

I have so much to say, but so little mental capacity with which to say it. The December New Moon ritual was just as good as, if not better than, the November one. I haven't felt such wonderful energy during a ritual since college, and am ecstatic to have found this group.

Speaking of the New Moon, my task for this moon cycle is to learn how to be at home within myself, so that I can be at home wherever I may go. This is a major challenge for me, so I am look forward to it almost as much as I dread figuring out how to do it! First step is to turn one of my acorns into a pendant. If that works, I will try to take pictures....

My Free Will Astrology horoscope for this week is interesting:

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Are your cohorts looking at you quizzically, wondering why you seem so energized from exploring the shadowy, off-limits places? I'll offer some suggestions about what you could say to them. First, try to make them see that until you've risked going too far, you may not know when to stop. Second, tell them that you suspect there are healthy desires buried at the roots of your dark feelings, and you're hoping to free them. Third, explain to them that you're not picking at your scabs in order to prolong your hurt, but rather to better understand the hurt. If those rationales are too subtle for your companions to understand, cackle softly and say that you just need to be a little bad in order to give your goodness more soul.

I feel that this relates to my impending graduation in some way. Friday is my last day of class, and the graduation recognition ceremony is on Sunday.

The spirits, they are silly

Do other people get messages from the spirits in bizarre and ridiculous ways, or is it just me?

I woke up this morning with the following lyrics stuck in my head

"Sometimes the very thing you're looking for
is the one thing you can't see.
Sometimes the snow comes down in June
Sometimes the sun goes round the moon.
Just when I thought our chance had passed
you went and saved the best for last."

Not terribly spiritual, right? Just a pop song that I was attached to in high school (it reflected my love life rather well, except for the bit where the song eventually got the guy).

Well, I was walking through the snow to get back to my car after an appointment, and started singing to myself. And then it all became clear. My panic about having to have an honest to goodness real full-time professional job.... it'll be ok. I can't see it now, but I *will* find what I need there.

And then, for the kicker, I briefly (just for a split second) visualized my spirit friends hooked arm in arm and swaying as they sang along with me. Considering that only two of them are even vaguely humanoid, this was quite a ridiculous sight. Though not as bad as the time they showed up in matching scarves and sunglasses (one of them knits).

Anyway, I think this may well qualify for "Most Bizarre Communication from Spirit Ever." Feel free to share your own nominations for the title.