Understanding Equinoxes and Solstices

Equinoxes occur twice a year when the is sun crossing directly over the Earth’s equator (into the other hemisphere) and a solstice, also twice a year, is when the Sun reaches its most northern and southern extremes which are marked by the Tropic of Cancer (in the north) and the Tropic of Capricorn (in the south). These tropics are imaginary lines of latitude around the earth and are about 23 degrees north and south of the equator.

On the dates of the equinoxes, day and night are equal in length.

* The Spring (or vernal) equinox falls on or around 21st March which is when the Sun moves into Aries and marks the beginning of Spring. The Sun crosses the equator into the northern hemisphere and brings the summer months.
* The Summer solstice falls around the 21st June when the Sun moves into Cancer and marks the beginning of Summer.
* The Autumn equinox is around the 23rd September when the Sun moves into Libra and marks the beginning of Autumn. The sun crosses the equator and moves into the southern hemisphere giving the summer months and leaving the northern hemisphere to the Winter.
* The Winter solstice is on or around the 21st December when the sun enters Capricorn and marks the beginning of Winter.

Note that these zodiac signs are all cardinal signs and indicate the beginning of the seasons, the fixed signs are in the middle of each season and the mutable signs are at the end and getting ready for the change into the next season.

Spring Equinox 2011

The Spring Equinox is the point of balance of the waxing year when night and day are of equal length and there is tension between the relectiveness of the dark winter period and the activity of new growth rushing headlong toward Midsummer. It is also the festival of Oestre, the Goddess of Light who brings fertility and whose name is the origin of Easter and words like oestrogen, the hormone stimulating ovulation and fertility. It is appropriate that this season is celebrated with eggs.

The dancing hare foretells the spring,
With the fertility and new life this time does bring,
Gay Eoestre dances on the earth,
As seeds and flowers come to birth.

Tulips and daffodils come into bloom,
And life sprouts from the Earth Mother's womb,
Chickens lay their eggs now the light is growing,
Catkins and blossoms on the trees are showing.

The Sun reaches forth with his hand,
To the Maiden of Flowers returned to the land,
Their dance brings new balance into our life,
Planting the seeds to overcome strife.

We grow with the flowers and the trees,
Winter's gloom banished on a spring breeze.
The joy of new birth enters our hearts,
As we look forward to Beltane's love.

Perigee Full Moon 20th March 2011

We’ve all heard so much about the biggest and closest moon this weekend but what does this really mean?

The 2011 full moon in March is on the same day as perigee which is the moon’s closest point to Earth for this month. The Moon’s orbit is elliptical and not circular so perigee and apogee (furthest away) happens every month but this perigee happens to be one of the closest encounters and the Moon won’t come this close again until 14th November 2016.

Most people know that the Moon is responsible for the tides in the seas and oceans and full moons bring higher (and lower) than usual tides. This is because the Moon and the Sun are lined up on opposite sides of the Earth so the gravitational pull on the large bodies of water is the greatest. Perigee full moons can bring even slightly higher and lower tides.

So this “Super Moon” isn’t really bigger although it may appear slightly larger in the sky (14% bigger) particularly when rising and setting on the horizon and it certainly isn’t responsible for any earthquakes.

Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney, PA. 2nd February 2011

Groundhog Day is an annual holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada on which folklore tells if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.

The holiday also bears some similarities to the medieval Catholic holiday of Candlemas. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic year, which is celebrated on February 1.
Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.

The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where crowds as high as 40,000 have gathered to celebrate the holiday since at least 1886.
Groundhog Day received worldwide attention as a result of the 1993 film of the same name, Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and featured Punxsutawney Phil – the most famous of all the weather forecasting Groundhogs!

The Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Punxsutawney Phil, once again appeared at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob in the Pennsylvania Wilds to make his annual prediction.
Phil surveyed his surroundings and found no shadow, so an early spring it will be!

Orchids

I never really meant to collect orchids - it just sort of happened. I have been bought several as presents over the years and have bought a few myself, but only if they have been severely reduced in price of course. So now I have more than a dozen and most of the time half or more of them are in flower so I must be doing something right. They are all Phalaenopsis (or Moth orchids) in various colours.

This morning, I went to a talk on keeping and growing orchids and very interesting it was too and I picked up a few useful hints and tips. I didn't buy any as they were far too expensive for my frugal tastes (they dont call me Mrs. Tightwad for nothing) but I did buy some compost and fertiliser. Anyway, I think I will be trawling the reduced plant departments more frequently and perhaps even find a neglected Cymbidium or Dendrobium that needs a caring home.

Weight Watchers

Today was another of our regular trips to the vet with one of our cats. She's not ill, this is a weight watchers visit. Not being a very energetic cat and slightly prone to greediness, ToTo has put on a bit too much weight in the last year or so and for the past couple of months she has been on a diet on the advice of our vet.

Apparently, overweight cats are prone to diabetes and this is to be avoided at all costs if possible. No tit-bits or extras allowed - just 50 gms a day of dried, low-calorie diet food for cats.....looks barely enough to feed a sparrow let alone a cat.

She copes reasonably well with the cat carrier and the car journey which is only ten minutes although usually manages to poo on the way home. We arrived at the vet and was seen almost immediately. We let ToTo out of the carrier and the vet weighed her and since her last visit about a month ago she has lost the grand total of.......80 gms which in old money is 2.82 oz. Not as much as we would have liked but at least her weight is going in the right direction albeit slowly. I think when the weather warms up we'll be encouraging her out into the garden regularly to get more exercise.
At the moment she is stretched out in front of a hot radiator - her favourite place at this time of the year.

This Time of Year

When I was young, this time of the year was one of the lowest in the calendar for me. My most favourite time, Christmas, was over and finished. All the excitement and build-up was all gone. I can remember crying at the end of Christmas Day - it was such a big "down".

Not only that but school was looming, back to the grindstone and exams, tests and all sorts of nasty things to come in the next few months. Add to this the dark, damp, cold winter days and the long walk to and from school each and every day - not a very happy time of the year.

Any New Year resolutions made were quickly forgotten. The only light on the horizon was......Easter! All those lovely chocolate eggs to look forward to and of course the days starting to lengthen and the temperature starting to rise a little.

The wheel of the year turns slowly as a youngster. Nowadays it turns so fast I can hardly keep up with it!

The Buddhist Kathina Festival

The Buddhist Kathina Festival is a time when the relationship between the monastic and lay parts of the community is celebrated. 2,500 years ago, the Lord Buddha made his monks and nuns materially dependent on the generosity of his lay disciples and this ensured that his teachings would stay alive through the medium of these relationships.

The history of this festival is that in the Lord Buddha’s time the rainy season in India made travel particularly difficult and so the Sangha (the monastics) had to stay in one place. This rainy period lasted three months and became knows as the Vassa or Rains Retreat.

Once, the rainy season caught up with a group of thirty monks and they were forced to stay where they were and at the end of the rains they continued their journey. When they reported this to the Buddha he rewarded them for their endurance by allowing them to gather cloth to make robes and then awarding this to one of the most deserving monks. The frame on which the robes were made and stitched was called a Kathina and this is how the festival got its name.

This year was particularly special as Luang Por Sumedho (at the age of 76 years) is planning retire to Thailand and this year will be his last year attending this festival in this country. Luang Por Sumedho was integral in establishing the Forest Sangha tradition in the United Kingdom. He was central in establishing Amaravati Buddhist Monastery (where he is now Abbott) and Chithurst Buddhist Monastery (where he was the first Abbott.)

The day’s programme was as follows:

9:00 Arrive at the monastery
10:00 Refuges & Precepts in the Dhamma hall
10:30 Rice Pindapat & Meal Offering
1:30 Ceremony of the offering of Kathina cloth
2:30 Farewell Offering to Luang Por
3:00 Dhamma talk by Luang Por
7:30 Evening Puja and Meditation

It was raining lightly when I arrived but that cleared and soon after 10.00 the sun appeared from behind the clouds although it stayed quite chilly as the wind was fresh.
It was a lovely day, great fun as well as being spiritually and emotionally moving.

Jonathan Dee, Astrologer & Author 1957 - 2010

It's very sad that we learn of the passing of Jonathan Dee last week as a result of a brain haemorrhage. A regular contributor to radio and television programmes, he was also the writer of over eighty books on historical or mind, body, spirit subjects with translations into ten languages. These included subjects such as Tarot, Runes, Feng Shui, Ancient Egypt and of course Astrology. Jon was also an expert Egyptologist, as well as being an established artist and illustrator.

Jonathan was the resident astrologer on BBC Radio Wales for over 20 years and a long-term member of the British Astrological and Psychic Society. I met Jonathan less than two weeks ago at the UK Tarot Conference 2010 where he gave an entertaining talk on the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

My first Tarot deck, complete with book, was the Jonathan Dee Tarot Pack, reviewed here on Aeclectic Tarot http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/jonathan-dee/

Time Travel through Music

Music. What is music...pleasing harmonious sounds by one or more voices or instruments? Yes, of course it is but it's so much more than that. A certain piece of music can instantly transport us to a different time and/or place. It's almost like a form of time travel and along with that comes all the emotional stuff.

I find that some songs have such an emotional hold over me that I can't listen to them without becoming taken over by the memories they hold. Daft maybe but they are so deeply entrenched in my psyche and hold such vivid memories of particular times of my life.

How is it that we can remember so many words of so many songs from so long ago - without even trying. An interesting project for the future would be a timeline of my life....in songs.