The Greek calendar was lunar, with each month beginning the first night after the crescent moon became visible. Certain days were officially dedicated to particular deities. I have devised a monthly devotional calendar with this in mind; some are traditional and some I assigned from intuition. Don't assume that deities who appear on the same day are intended to be worshipped in conjunction. Anyway, here it is:
1: Hera, Ares
3: Athena
4: Aphrodite and Eros, Hermes
5: Hades
6: Artemis
7: Apollon
8: Poseidon, Asklepios
9: Dionysos
12: Demeter
13: Kore/Persephone
14: Zeus
15: Pan
30: Hekate, Hephaistos
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
GRRR!
I worked for about 45 minutes culling info from the web about these herbs, but then blogger ate it. So I'm just going to make the list, and I may come back to it later.
Plants with magical properties I have growing in my yard:
Bee Balm
Butterfly Weed
Calendula
Chrysanthemum
Clover
Daffodil
Daisy
Dandelion
Echinacea
Hydrangea
Iris
Ivy
Juniper
Lilac
Lily
Lily of the Valley
Mint
Morning Glory
Nightshade
Peppermint
Periwinkle
Pine
Rose
Sunflower
Things I want to get:
Black Cohosh
Cilantro
Cinquefoil
Parsley
Poppy
Rosemary
Thyme
Yarrow
A particularly good starting resource:
http://members.cox.net/heathersilvermoon/correspondences.html
Plants with magical properties I have growing in my yard:
Bee Balm
Butterfly Weed
Calendula
Chrysanthemum
Clover
Daffodil
Daisy
Dandelion
Echinacea
Hydrangea
Iris
Ivy
Juniper
Lilac
Lily
Lily of the Valley
Mint
Morning Glory
Nightshade
Peppermint
Periwinkle
Pine
Rose
Sunflower
Things I want to get:
Black Cohosh
Cilantro
Cinquefoil
Parsley
Poppy
Rosemary
Thyme
Yarrow
A particularly good starting resource:
http://members.cox.net/heathersilvermoon/correspondences.html
Hippocampus - The Seahorse
In modern discussion one is more likely to encounter the term "Hippocampus" as a reference to a structure in the brain that is involves in memory, spatial navigation, and is part of the limbic system. Alternately, the hippocampus may be refered to as the Genus that is commonly refered to as "Seahorses."
Tied to these modern uses is a mythological underpinning. The hippocampus was a creature tied to Poseidon - the Greek god of the sea and of horses. Poseidon is described by Homer as being conveyed by "Brazen hoofed horses." and hippocampi are found in ancient art, including mosaics and sculpture. The name comes from root words meaning "horse" and "(sea)monster"
In personal reflection, the symbol of the horse as a means of conveyance and travel fit nicely with the function of the hippocampus as a part of the brain. The water associations of the mythological hippocampus add to this in invoking the aspects of emotion and intuition.
I would offer that the mythological hippocampus could be seen as a totem or symbol of travel through one's own subconscious - a mount for travel beneath the waves of one's own mind.
References for information and art used here (all use is for strictly educational purposes)
Monday, June 8, 2009
heron totem
I found a bunch of interesting web stuff about herons as totems. Rather than recapping, I have just included a few representative links.
http://www.animaltotem.com/heron.html
http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/BlueHeronTotem.html
http://www.sayahda.com/cyc.html
Question on totems: do you feel there is just one totem for you? If so, does it represent your essential personality or your life-quest/challenge? Both? Me, I feel that there can be a number of animal-spirits that guide us throughout our lives, just as I can have more than one human mentor. Some teach us their lessons and move on; others stick around. Pegasus and Great Blue Heron are two of my more persistent ones. How about you?
http://www.animaltotem.com/heron.html
http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/BlueHeronTotem.html
http://www.sayahda.com/cyc.html
Question on totems: do you feel there is just one totem for you? If so, does it represent your essential personality or your life-quest/challenge? Both? Me, I feel that there can be a number of animal-spirits that guide us throughout our lives, just as I can have more than one human mentor. Some teach us their lessons and move on; others stick around. Pegasus and Great Blue Heron are two of my more persistent ones. How about you?
Monday, May 25, 2009
Gawain and a tangent:Euhemerus in reverse
Just some brief notes on one of my favorite Arthurian characters.
Gawain, eldest of the Orkney brothers (sons of King Lot of Lothian and Arthur's sister, the enchantress Morgause), is one of the most commonly appearing of Arthur's knights. His position as Arthur's nephew (and heir presumptive, though he never assumes the role of crown prince) makes him an essential part of the court, and he is widely proclaimed as one of, if not THE best, of Arthur's knights.
Because he appears in so many different stories from so many sources, reports of his character may appear rather muddled. He is strong, capable, noble, and loyal. He is usually portrayed as quite secular, lacking the more spiritual focus of some of the other knights who went on to achieve notoriety in the Grail quests. He has a lot of visible character development, where one can see that he has actually learned something from his various knightly adventures. There are two schools of thought as to his basic temperament: the French romances tend to portray him as a boor, even a thug, in sharp contrast to the courtly Lancelot. This unflattering picture is clearest in Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. British writers also contrast Gawain with Lancelot, but here Gawain comes off better: authentic, assured, educated without being an effete popinjay more concerned with appearances than truth. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the three most important pieces of late medieval English literature (the other two being Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman), and in it Gawain is portrayed as a peerless knight, who must save the court (and learn the difference between courtly ideals and actual temptation).
He is connected with or identical to the welsh hero Gwalchmai (poetically if inaccurately derived as meaning "hawk of may"). His shield device is a pentacle. Some of the stories give him the supernatural quirk that his strength waxes and wanes with the sun. In the Dame Ragnell story, he cures the loathly lady by correctly observing that what she wants is not his correct judgement, but the ability to decide for herself.
What we have going on here is a set of stories that have been put to many purposes. The British stories are more nationalistic, and also more about social commentary in the real world, where as the French romances are more inner-spititual/allegorical.
There is a John Matthews book that's well worth looking at, Gawain: Knight of the Goddess. It puts forward the thesis that Gawain's character, attributes and activities best represent the concerns of a pre-Christian Goddess-worshipping strand of medieval consciousness.
What if Arthur and Gawain and others in these stories are actually thinly-veiled tales of the deities of an earlier people? A sun-god whose strength is tied to the solar cycle just makes sense. Arthur as a Mider-like underworld figure who claims and loses a sovereignty-goddess yields interesting food for thought, at the very least. Nobody is shocked at the Lady of the Lake as a divine figure, but many of the mortals (or faery-blood mortals) could be interpreted as such too.
Euhemerus was a philosopher from about a century after Plato who said that the Olympians (and, we have to assume, other gods) were merely mortal leaders, kings, extraordinary people who had been divinized by their people. cf Augustus and Alexander. This is like the inverse; gaining insight into the deities of the non-dominant culture by evaluating the stories in which powerful mortals can be interpreted as heavily-veiled deities. The misogyny of Western culture is such that this is lamentably necessary more often for female deities.
Wow, this got long quickly so I will leave it here.
References:
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gawmenu.htm (this has links to medieval Gawain texts)
Gerald Morris has a series of young adult Arthurian novels, of which the first two are about Gawain. He also appears in a less central role in later stories.
The John Matthews book I mentioned:
http://www.amazon.com/Sir-Gawain-Goddess-John-Matthews/dp/0892819707/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243294839&sr=8-1
Gawain, eldest of the Orkney brothers (sons of King Lot of Lothian and Arthur's sister, the enchantress Morgause), is one of the most commonly appearing of Arthur's knights. His position as Arthur's nephew (and heir presumptive, though he never assumes the role of crown prince) makes him an essential part of the court, and he is widely proclaimed as one of, if not THE best, of Arthur's knights.
Because he appears in so many different stories from so many sources, reports of his character may appear rather muddled. He is strong, capable, noble, and loyal. He is usually portrayed as quite secular, lacking the more spiritual focus of some of the other knights who went on to achieve notoriety in the Grail quests. He has a lot of visible character development, where one can see that he has actually learned something from his various knightly adventures. There are two schools of thought as to his basic temperament: the French romances tend to portray him as a boor, even a thug, in sharp contrast to the courtly Lancelot. This unflattering picture is clearest in Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. British writers also contrast Gawain with Lancelot, but here Gawain comes off better: authentic, assured, educated without being an effete popinjay more concerned with appearances than truth. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the three most important pieces of late medieval English literature (the other two being Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman), and in it Gawain is portrayed as a peerless knight, who must save the court (and learn the difference between courtly ideals and actual temptation).
He is connected with or identical to the welsh hero Gwalchmai (poetically if inaccurately derived as meaning "hawk of may"). His shield device is a pentacle. Some of the stories give him the supernatural quirk that his strength waxes and wanes with the sun. In the Dame Ragnell story, he cures the loathly lady by correctly observing that what she wants is not his correct judgement, but the ability to decide for herself.
What we have going on here is a set of stories that have been put to many purposes. The British stories are more nationalistic, and also more about social commentary in the real world, where as the French romances are more inner-spititual/allegorical.
There is a John Matthews book that's well worth looking at, Gawain: Knight of the Goddess. It puts forward the thesis that Gawain's character, attributes and activities best represent the concerns of a pre-Christian Goddess-worshipping strand of medieval consciousness.
What if Arthur and Gawain and others in these stories are actually thinly-veiled tales of the deities of an earlier people? A sun-god whose strength is tied to the solar cycle just makes sense. Arthur as a Mider-like underworld figure who claims and loses a sovereignty-goddess yields interesting food for thought, at the very least. Nobody is shocked at the Lady of the Lake as a divine figure, but many of the mortals (or faery-blood mortals) could be interpreted as such too.
Euhemerus was a philosopher from about a century after Plato who said that the Olympians (and, we have to assume, other gods) were merely mortal leaders, kings, extraordinary people who had been divinized by their people. cf Augustus and Alexander. This is like the inverse; gaining insight into the deities of the non-dominant culture by evaluating the stories in which powerful mortals can be interpreted as heavily-veiled deities. The misogyny of Western culture is such that this is lamentably necessary more often for female deities.
Wow, this got long quickly so I will leave it here.
References:
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gawmenu.htm (this has links to medieval Gawain texts)
Gerald Morris has a series of young adult Arthurian novels, of which the first two are about Gawain. He also appears in a less central role in later stories.
The John Matthews book I mentioned:
http://www.amazon.com/Sir-Gawain-Goddess-John-Matthews/dp/0892819707/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243294839&sr=8-1
Herbal - Milk Thistle
***Disclaimer*** this article is a summary of online research and does not constitute medical or expert advice, no claims or recommendations are to be taken from the information herein.
Milk Thistle (Silybums Adans spp) is a flowering member of the daisy family and is native to North Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Extracts of Milk Thistle containing Silymarin are commonly promoted as having positive effects on the liver. Silymarin is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant with estrogenic effects (the estrogenic effects are the reason that pregnant and nursing women, as well as those with uterine, ovarian or breast cancers should definitely avoid this supplement.)
Research into medical uses of milk thistle extract has been promising. Some studies have indicate no statistical difference in individuals taking milk thistle to treat liver disease, others have shown positive effects in individuals exposed to liver toxins (mushrooms, toluene, xylene.) The general consensus is that more rigorous studies are needed to establish the benefits and action of silymarin.
Other possible benefits of Milk Thistle Extract include:
- Reduction of cholesterol levels
- Reduction of insulin resistance in Type 2 Diabetics
- Treatment of hangovers
Milk Thistle can cause mild to severe allergic reactions in sensitive individuals and shouldn't be taken by individuals who are allergic to ragweed.
Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/milk-thistle-benefits-and-side-effects
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