Oct 12, 1492

Christopher Columbus received the warmest of welcomes when he first arrived in the New World that he immediately claimed it for Spain on October 12, 1492.  The native people of that Bahamian island were so excited to see him that they swam out to his ship to offer greetings.  The explore, in turn, was much impressed by their gentle hospitality:


"They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells.  They willingly traded everything they owned... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance.  They have no iron.  Their spears are made of cane."

Columbus also saw the vast potential in the natives he met that fateful day:  "They would make fine servants...  With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

And so he did.  

Meanwhile, back in Rome, this day was sacred to Fortuna Redux, the goddess of successful journeys and safe returns.

Hmmm....

Swaggart

It was sixteen years ago on this date that the most Hypocritical preacher since one of those child-molesting Popes -- pick one -- Jimmy Swaggart resigned from his TV Ministry for having sinned by sleeping with a prostitute... repeatedly.   What is really bizarre, but not that surprising to us who have witnessed the hypocrisy of Christians who look down at others for sins they don't do, while making their sins of greed, glut-ency, and racism popular by covering it in "God Wants You To Be Successful at any cost just as he wants homeless people to get a job -- paraphrased."

Speaking of religion, every year on this date, Witches in the countries of Denmark and Germany honor the Old Lady of the Elder Trees, an ancient spirit who dwells within and watches over each and every tree of the elder family.  Before cutting any branches to use as magic wands, a libation of elderberry wine is poured onto the tree's roots and a special prayer is recited to Jimmy Swaggart.

So, David Meade, a numerologist, is predicting the end-of-the-world this Saturday (Sept 23, 2017). 

He is doing this based on the Bible's Book of Revelations, specifically Revelation 12:1–2, which reads:

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

Meade interprets this passage as referring to the constellation of Virgo, which is often depicted as a woman. Currently, Virgo advances through the sky ahead of the moon, and with the sun. Ahead of the constellation are the nine stars of Leo, along with the planets Mercury, Mars, and Venus. Meade believes these stars and planets are the "crown of twelve stars" in the prophecy.

Fortunately for us, he did back step by saying: "The world is not ending, but the world as we know it is ending" on September 23. "A major part of the world will not be the same the beginning of October."

 I'll get back with you on Sunday to see if the guy was right or wrong. 

From the heart of Madame Blavatsky

It was a day not unlike today that they took Madame Blavatsky away.  Russian born, she was a mystic.  From 1848 to 1858, she traveled the world without a man.  She entered Tibet to study with the Masters for two years, and in 1871 she went to Cairo where she founded the Society Spirit for occult phenomena along with Emma Cutting (later Emma Coulomb).  In 1879 Madame Blavatsky emigrated to New York where she impressed all with her psychic feats.  She was no one-trick pony, she did it all:  mediumship, levitation, out-of-body projection, telepathy, clairvoyance,  and clairsentience.

Her first book, Isis Unveiled, appeared in 1877.  In the preface she stated that the book was "a plea for the recognition of the Hermetic Philosophy, the ancient universal wisdom."  And no doubt it was, for the Hermetic Society which still exist today, began with her book.

Just google Madame Blavatsky and you'll find pages and pages of opinions, good and bad.  In his book, "The Spear of Destiny," Trevor Ravenscroft writes that the Madame was used by the Alister Crowley's "Golden Dawn" group along with soon-to-be Nazis party leaders to raise demons out of her...  well...  private part.   I don't know about that, but I do know she was a great woman in a time where woman weren't allowed to vote or have organisms, and so if she did materialize something good or evil out of her vagina, more power to her.  

Happy White Lotus Day!

Guinevere

In Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King, King Arthur's court is faux medieval and high Victorian at the same time.  Any work of Victoria's poet laureate couldn't be anything else.  But what do we know about a historical King Arthur?  There are dozens of books about Arthur and his court.  Was Arthur a sixth-century Romano-Celtic chieftain?  In 1191, monks discovered the bones of Arthur and Guinevere in a ruined abbey on Glastonbury Tor.  They took them to King Henry II, but the bones have long since disappeared.  Were they genuine?  Was the Arthurian court pagan, christian, or both?  does it matter?

Was there a real Guinevere?  It is possible that she is a Welsh triple goddess, for variants on the Arthurian legend say he married three women, all named Guinever.  The ancient tradition says that the king must "marry" the land.  If he is happy and well, so are the land and the people, if he is wounded, so are they.  This is vividly shown in John Boorman's chessy but fascinating film, Excalibur.

Early in Lerner and Lowe's musical Camelot, Guinevere sings "The Merry Month of May" and invites several knights to ride with her.  Then she meets Lancelot.  What do people always remember about guinevere?  She betrays Arthur, whom she loves, by sleeping with Lancelot.  Like other Celtic goddesses (Maeve and Blodewedd), Guinevere can make a king through sacred marriage and unmake him by choosing a new hero.
 (Ardinger.B, "Pagan Every Day" pg 123)

                                                                  

Beltane Sabbat and the Illuminati

Ah, May 1st, May Day, The Beltane Sabbat.  Originally a Druid fire festival celebrating the union of the Goddess and the Horned god, it is now a time for good wishes.  In her book "Everyday Wicca," Gerina Dunwich describes it like this:


     On the first day of May (or anytime after sunset on Beltane Eve, April 30) write your secret wishes, blessings, thanksgivings, prayers for hearings, and so forth upon small slips of green paper or leaves.  Roll them into little "scrolls" and tuck them into a wreath fashioned from braided vines or twigs.  Cast the wreath into a blazing Beltane fire, and say:
        
          Sacred fire, blazing so bring
          Accept this offering to your light. 
          Burn into ash,
          Turn into smoke,
          O Beltane fire-drakes I invoke.

In other news, May 1st also marks the first day of the Order of the Illuminati (the ancient occult sect and secret order dedicated to the study of forbidden books, Tantric mysticism, and ceremonial magic) was founded in Bavaria by Adam Weishaupt.

Can you guess what year?

1776, the same year as the USA started.

Get your Floral Wreath On Today!

Today is the first day of the Floralia, a three-day love festival.  Flora was a Sabine goddess of youthful pleasures, whose workshop is said to have been introduced into Rome by King Titus Tatius.  For the Floralia, inaugurated in 238 B.C.E as a dictate of the Sibylline books, people decorated themselves with flowers and engaged in a feast of unrestrained love and merriment.  There were also games and lewd theatrical performances.  (And we think Mardi Gras invented bawdiness.)

Romans celebrated Floralia with the set of games and theatrical presentations known as the Ludi Florales. Classical scholar Lily Ross Taylor notes that the Ludi Floralia, Apollinares, Ceriales, and Megalenses all had days of ludi scaenici (literally, scenic games, including plays) followed by a final day devoted to circus games.

The celebration in honor of Flora included floral wreaths worn in the hair much like modern participants in May Day celebrations. After the theatrical performances, the celebration continued in the Circus Maximus, where animals were set free and beans scattered to ensure fertility

So, every now-and-then I have to remind you that this is a WFS (Witch Friendly Site) because as we know, not all Pagans are Witches, but all Witches are Pagan, and in doing so I would like to remind you that on this day in 1989, Patricia Hutchins was granted religious leave by the United States Air Force to observe the eight Sabbats of the Wicca religion.  Ms. Hutchins was the first Wiccan in history to have Wiccan religious rights granted by the U.S. military.

So, lets examine exactly what did Ms. Hutchins observe:

THE FOUR MAJOR SABBATS

Candlemans Sabbat (also known as Imbolc, Oimelc, and Lady Day) is celebrated annually on February 2.  Traditional ritual herbs:  angelica, basil, bay, benzoin, celandine, heather, myrrh, and all yellow flowers.  Altar decorations traditionally include a crown of thirteen red candles, a sprig of evergreen, a besom or Witch's broom to symbolize the "sweeping out of the old," a small statue or figurine representing the Triple Goddess in Her aspect of the Maiden.  Traditional Sabbat incense:  basil, myrrh, and wisteria.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones:  amethyst, garnet, onyx, turquoise.  Sabbat deities: The Goddess in Her Maiden aspect, Brigid (Celtic goddess of fire, wisdom, poetry, and sacred wells; also a deity associated with prophecy, divination, and the arts of healing), and Aradia (the daughter of Diana, and "founder of the Witch cult on Earth").  Candle colors:  white, red, pink, brown.  The Traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are those that represent growth, such as seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, etc.), poppyseed breads and cakes, and herbal teas.

Beltane Sabbat (also known as May Day, Rood Day, Rudemas, and Walpurgisnacht) is celebrated annually on May Eve and/or May 1.  Traditional ritual herbs: almond, angelica, ash tree, bluebells, cinquefoil, daisy, frankincense, hawthorn, ivy, lilac, marigold, meadowsweet, primrose, roses, satyrion root, woodruff, and yellow cowslips.  Altar decorations traditionally include a small Maypole and/or a phallus-shaped candle to symbolize fertility, a daisy chain, springtime wildflowers.  Traditional Sabbat incense: frankincense, lilac, and rose.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones: emerald, orange carnelian, sapphire, rose quartz.  Sabbat deities:  Flora (Roman flower-goddess), the lunar goddesses Diana and Artemis, Pan (the Greek horned goat-god of woodlands, fields, shepherds, and fertility), Faunus (the Roman equivalent to Pan), and all gods and goddesses who preside over fertility.  Candle colors: dark green and all colors of the rainbow spectrum.  The traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are all red fruits (such as strawberries and cherries), green herbal salads, red or pink wine punch, and large, round oatmeal or barley cakes known as "Beltane Cakes."

Lammas Sabbat (also known as Lughnasadh, August Eve, and the First Festival of Harvest) is celbrated annually on August 1.  Traditional ritual herbs: acacia flowers, aloes, cornstalks, cyclamen, fenugreek, frankincense, heather, hollyhock, myrtle, oak leaves, sunflower, and wheat.  Altar decorations traditionally include corn dollies (small figures fashioned from braided straw) and/or kirn babies (corncob dolls) to symbolize the Mother Goddess of the Harvest.  Traditional Sabbat incense: aloes, rose, and sandalwood.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones: aventurine, citrine, peridot, sardonyx.  Sabbat deities: Lugh (a Celtic solar deity worshipped by the ancient Druids), John Barleycorn (the personifications of malt liquor), Demeter, Ceres, the Corn Mother, and other goddesses who preside over agriculture.  Candle colors:  golden yellow, oragne, green, light brown.  The traditionbal Pagan foods of this Sabbat are homemade breads (wheat, oat, and especially corn bread), barley cakes, nuts, wild berries, apples, rice, roasted lamb, berry pies, elderberry wine, ale, and meadowsweet tea.

Samhain Sabbat (also known as Halloween, Hallowmas, All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Eve, Festival of the Dead, and the Third Festival of Harvest) is celebrated annually on October 31.  Traditional ritual herbs: acorns, apples, broom, deadly nightshade, dittany, ferns, flax, fumitory, heather, mandreake, mullein, oak leaves, sage, and straw.  Altar decorations traditionally include a jack-o'-latern, apples, cnadles in the shapes of Witches, (as well as ghosts, black cats, skulls, etc.), photographs of deceased loved ones, tools of divination, a small statue or figure representing the Triple Goddess in Her aspect of the Crone.  Traditional Sabbat incense: apple, heliotrope, mint, nutmeg, and sage.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones: all black gemstones, especially jet, obsidian, and onyx.  Sabbat deities: the Goddess in Her dark saspect of the Crone, Hecate (ancient Greek goddess of fertility and moon-magick, and the protectress of all Witches), Morrigan (the Celtic goddess who presides over death), Cernunnos (Celtic fertility god), and Osiris (aqn ancient Egyptian deity whose annual death and rebirth personified the self-renewing vitality and fertilty of Nature).  Candle colors: black and orange.  The traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are apples, pumpkin pie, hazelnuts, Cakes for the Dead, corn, cranberry muffins and breads, ale, cider, and herbal teas (especially mugwort).

THE FOUR MINOR SABBATS

Spring Equinox Sabbat (also known as Vernal Equinox Sabbat, Festival of the Trees, Alban Eilir, Ostara, and Rit of Eostre) is celebrated annually on the first day of Spring.  Traditional ritual herbs: acorn, celandine, cinquefoil, crocus, daffodil, dogwood, Easter lily, honeysuckle, iris, jasmine, rose, strawberry, tansy, and violets.  Altar decorations traditionally include hard-boiled eggs colored and painted with magical symbols to symbolize fertility, a lucky rabbit's foot amulet, a bowl of green and yellow jellybeans.  Sabbat incense: African violet, jasmine, rose, sage, and strawberry.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones: amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone, red jasper.  Sabbat deities: Eostre (Saxon goddess of fertility), Ostara (German goddess of fertility), the Green Goddess, and Lord of the Greenwood.  Candle colors: green, yellow, gold, and all pastel shades.  The traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are hardboiled eggs, honey cakes, the first fruits of the season, waffles, and milk punch.

Summer Solstice Sabbat (also known as Midsummer, Alban Hefin, and Litha) is celebrated annually on the first day of Summer.  Traditonal ritual herbs: chamomile, cinquefoil, elder, fennel, hemp, larkspur, lavender, male fern, mugwort, pine, rose, Saint John's wort, wild thyme, wisteria, and verbena.  Altar decorations traditionally include summertime flowers, love amulets, seashells, aromatic potpourri, Summer fruits.  Traditional Sabbat incense; frankincense, lemon, myrrh, pine, rose, and wisteria.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones: all green gemstones, especially emerald and jade.  Sabbat deities: Aphrodite, Astarte, Freya, Hathor, Ishtar, Venus, and other goddesses who preside over love, passion, and beauty.  Candle colors: blue, green, yellow.  The traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are fresh vegetables, Summer fruits, pumpernickel bread, ale, and mead.

Autumn Equinox Sabbat (also known as the Fall Sabbat, Alban Elfed, and the Second Festival of Harvest) is celbrated annually on the first day of Fall.  Traditional ritual herbs: acorns, asters, benzoin, ferns, honeysuckle, marigold, milk, weed, mums, myrrh, oak leaves, passionflower, pine, rose, sage, Solomon's seal, and thistles.  Altar decorations traditionally include acorns, pinecones, autumn leaves, a pomegranate (which symbolizes the goddess Persephone's descent into the Underworld), a small statue or figure representing the Triple Goddess in Her aspect of the Mother.  Traditional Sabbat incense: benzoin, myrrh, and sage.  Sacred Sabbat gemstones: carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire, yellow agate.  Sabbat deities: The Goddess in Her Mother aspect, Persephone (Queen of the Underworld), and Thor (the Lord of Thunder in old Norse mythology).  Candle colors: orange, dare red, yellow, indigo, brown.  The traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are corn and wheat products, breads, nuts, vegetables, apples, roots (carrots, onions, potatoes, etc.), cider, and pomegranates.

Winter Solstice Sabbat (also known as Yule, Winter Rite, Midwinter, and Alban Arthan) is celebrated annually on the first day of Winter.  Traditional ritual herbs: bay, bayberry, blessed thistle, cedar, chamomile, evergreen, frankincense, holly , juniper, mistletoe, moss, oak, pinecones, rosemary, and sage.  Altar decorations traditionally include mistletoe, holly, a small Yule log, strings of colored lights, Yule/Christmas cards, a candle in the shipe of Kriss Kringle (Santa Claus), presents wrapped in colorful holiday paper, a homemade wreath.  Traditional Sabbat gemstones: cat's-eye and ruby.  Sabbat deities: Lucina (Roman goddess of lunar mysteries), Frey (Scandinavian god of fertility and a deity associated with peace and prosperity), Attis (Phrygian fertility god), Dionysus (Greek god of wine), Woden (the chief Teutonic god), and, of course, jolly old

Kriss Kringle (the Pagan god of Yule and personification of the Yuletide spirit).  Candle colors: red, green, white, gold, silver.  The traditional Pagan foods of this Sabbat are roasted turkey, nuts, fruitcakes, caraway rolls, eggnog, and mulled wine.

Saint Mark's Eve.

Saint Mark's Eve.

According to folklore of the English countryside, the ghosts of all men, women, and children destined to pass away in the next year can be seen floating by on this night by any person brave enough to spend the night awake on the front porch of a church.  However, if a person was unfortunate enough to fall asleep during the vigil or if he failed to repeat it annually for the remainder of his life, he would never wake up the next morning.

Oddly enough, early in the year 1818, the poet John Keats had become convinced that he had only three years left to live, the themes of death and dying becoming more prevalent in his works in the year that followed (he did pass away on the 23rd of February, 1821 of tuberculosis). Isabella Jones (who also inspired his contemporaneous work "The Eve of St. Agnes," ) was Keats' lover at this time and it has been speculated that it was she who told the poet about the folk traditions attached to Saint Mark's Eve. According to Chambers Book of Days, 1869: "St. Mark's Eve appears to have enjoyed among our simple ancestors a large share of the privileges which they assigned to All Saints' Eve (the Scottish Halloween)".  It seems equally likely that Keats would also have known of, and perhaps been deliberately alluding to, a poem published some thirteen years before he penned his own entitled "The Vigil of St. Mark".

The Vigil of St. Mark
by John Keats

Bertha was a maiden fair
Dwelling in the old Minster-square;
From her fireside she could see
Sidelong its rich antiquity—
Far as the Bishop's garden wall
Where Sycamores and elm trees tall
Full-leav'd the forest had outstript—
By no sharp north wind ever nipt
So shelter'd by the mighty pile—
Bertha arose and read awhile
With forehead 'gainst the window-pane—
Again she tried and then again
Until the dusk eve left her dark
Upon the Legend of St. Mark.
From plaited lawn-frill, fine and thin
She lifted up her soft warm chin,
With aching neck and swimming eyes
And daz'd with saintly imageries.

World Book Day

Today, World Book Day, it wouldn't hurt to recall that the history of literature is an unceasing paradox.


What is the most popular scene in the Bible?  Adam and Eve biting the apple.  It's not there.

Plato never wrote his most famous line:  "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

Don Quijote de la Mancha never said:  "Let the dogs bark, Sancho.  It's a sign we are on track."

Voltaire's best-known line was not said or written by him:  "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel never wrote:  "All theory is gray, my friend, but green is the tree of life."

Sherlock Holmes never said:  "Elementary, my dear Watson."

In none of his books or pamphlets did Lenin write:  "The ends justify the means."

Bertolt Brecht was not the author of his most oft-cited poem:  "First they came for the Communist / and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist..."

And neither was Jorge Luis Borges the author of his best-known poem: "If I could live my life over / I would try to make more mistakes..."
(Galeano, E. "Children of the Days" pg 125)


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Happy Earth Day

So it's Earth Day and what have you done?  Another Pagan year over and a new one's begun.  Or something like that.

Last week I watched "Before The Flood" with Leonardo DiCaprio.   It's a good Earth Day film.   We all need to show some love for this planet, and in that film there are some good tips:   cut down on beef, conserve electricity, support a Carbon Tax.   Basically the same stuff Al Core wrote about in his 1992 book "Earth In Balance."   In Gore's book he likened the Global Warming satellite photos of today to the WWII aircraft photos of Nazi extermination camps back in 1940 and how we -- the USA -- ignored the facts and didn't get involved in the war until a year later; unfortunately, it has been twenty-five years since Gore's book and we're still not involved.   Not really.  Actually, with the Donald Trump Climate Change deniers running the world,  it is worse than ever.

Einstein once said, "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.  No more bees, no more pollination...no more men!"
     He said it to a few friends.
     The friends laughed.
     He did not.
     Now it turns out there are fewer and fewer bees in the world.
     Today, on Earth Day, let us acknowledge that this is not happening due to God's will or the Devil's curse, but rather because of:
     the murder of natural forests and the proliferation of farmed ones;
     monocropping for export, which limits plant diversity;
     poisons that kill pests and with them everything else;
     chemical fertilizers that fertilize money and sterilize the soil;
     and radiation from the machines people buy because advertising tells us to.
     (Galeano, E. "Children of the Days" pg 124)

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Straight From The Quija's Planchette.

Good morning boys and girls.  Today, we will talk to the Quija board.  Yes, that strange magic board that some consider a game and others, well, a gate to hell -- as if such things existed.  I, for one, believe the Quija board  is a place for mischievous spirits to hang out and fuck with us, you know, beggars on the side of the road holding a sign, "Please Help, Spiritual Veteran Needs Money, God Bless, Support The Napoleonic Troops."

Unfortunately, the history of the Quija board is as elusive as its "Yes" and "No" answers to serious questions like, "Will The World Ever End?"  "NO."   "Are you sure?"  "YES."

The Planchette -- French word for "little plank" -- originated in Europe in the 1850's.  Although it is not clear how it was used back then,  it wasn't the way we use it now -- most likely for automatic writing.  It wasn't until a few years later that a US company under the direction of Charles W. Kennard and sweat of William Fuld, would add the alphabet board to make the Quija as we know it.

The word "Quija" itself is a mysterious.  (Alternately pronounced wee-JAA and wee-GEE).   It was originally defined as "good luck" by Charles W Kennard -- the money guy.  That was marketing bullshit -- some things never change.  William Fuld -- the sweat guy -- after he split working for Kennard to make millions on his own version of the Quija, said "Quija" stood for the French and German words "yes."  I personally believe somewhere along the way, the "Quija" simply named itself.  "Is That Right Quija?"  "YES."  "Really?"  "YES!"

Frank Gaynor's 1953 Dictionary of Mysticism states that primeval boards of different shapes and sizes were used in the sixth century before Christ.  This claim has been hard to trace and I tend to lean more towards the Lewis Spence's 1920 Encyclopedia of Occultism, where he says: "As an invention it is very old.  It was in use in the days of Pythagoras, about 540 B.C.  According to a French historical account of the philosopher's life, his sec theld frequesnt séances or circles at which 'a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs, which the philosopher and his pupil, Philolaus, interpreted to the audience as being revelations supposedly from the unseen world.'"

"Do you agree with that, Quija?"  "YES."

So there you have it boys and girl straight from the Quija's Planchette.

-- Oh, by the way, that William Fuld guy who made millions off of the Quija board fell off a six-story building to his death kind of freakishly on February 24th, 1927 while supervising a flag-pole replacement on his building.  Not that it matters, but it DOES!

ciao Quija

Lord Byron's Heart

On this date in the year 1824, Lord Byron (whose real name was George Gordon) died of a fever.  The English poet, who was known for dabbling in the occult arts, helped shape Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and gave John Polidori the idea for his novel The Vampyre.  Lord Byron's heart was removed from his corpse and buried in Greece; the rest of his remains were shipped back to England.
(Dunwich,G. "The Wicca Book of Days" pg. 50)

She Walks in Beauty

By Lord Byron (George Gordon)
 

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!