Ivy Moon

Happy Samhain Season Esbat! We almost forgot it was today/tonight, because we have been in sacred space working on a custom BOS all weekend, so we were not completely 'in' this world. lol 

 This is the Ivy moon which represents tenacity, resilience and beauty. Ivy is a symbol of health and optimism because even as days grow colder Ivy thrives (ours has taken over and turned a beautiful red). The Ivy moon teaches us that to survive life's tests we must try to see the best in things and keep our spirits high, we will thrive as we turn the wheel toward our new year. 

 Commune with Luna tonight and ask Mother Diana to grant your Full Moon wishes. Sing her a song or two and give thanks under the Ivy Moon.

This chant was taught to me (Aradia) in my early 20's by someone I thought I really didn't like, but through singing this song together we connected, it shocked everyone with us (lol when strong witches have contention it doesn't go unnoticed), and it was magick. I wish for all of us to have a profound positive shift of consciousness/change of heart in a needed aspect of  our lives this month.

Blessed Be!

This years Doomsday canceled

Fear not fellow Pagans/Wiccans/Heathens/Druids and Native Earth tradition-ers (lol) that don't identify with those terms but hold the same truth = we were right all along! The apocalypse is not coming to pass on Yule/Solstice this year. *sarcastic sigh of relief*
Just like we are 10,000-30,000 yrs ahead of the current judeo-christian timeline we're forced to use  (depending on your tradition and the archaeological evidence of Goddess statues from 30k BC unearthed in recent years)... Mayan culture is ancient and their calender was not based on someone else's profit born across the world millennia after their amazing civilization had started and was thriving - it was based on their own scholars, cycles and environment (is it too immature to say DUH right now? lol) - which is why the Catholic church was burning it as heathen propaganda and had the opportunity to 'save' a piece from the fire so they could claim to know what it meant and completely get it wrong (sound familiar? its amazing how wide spread their destruction was/is and how much they like to burn things[or people] for being so afraid of fire).
  As the article touches on, all to often the people making documentaries and publishing books are not the true Shaman and definitely not experts. To set the record straight for all those who thought all Native American and Native South American tribes were extinct and thus could claim to be experts on things they have no spiritual/cultural connection to, or true understanding of = guess what, you're being called out! 

Gomez’s group issued a statement saying that the new Maya time cycle simply means "there will be big changes on the personal, family and community level, so that there is harmony and balance between mankind and nature.”

Mayans demand an end to 2012 doomsday myth

By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 20:39 EDT

Topics: 2012 doomsday ♦ Felipe Gomez ♦ guatemala city

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s Mayan people accused the government and tour groups on Wednesday of perpetuating the myth that their calendar foresees the imminent end of the world for monetary gain.

“We are speaking out against deceit, lies and twisting of the truth, and turning us into folklore-for-profit. They are not telling the truth about time cycles,” charged Felipe Gomez, leader of the Maya alliance Oxlaljuj Ajpop.

Several films and documentaries have promoted the idea that the ancient Mayan calendar predicts that doomsday is less than two months away, on December 21, 2012.

The Culture Ministry is hosting a massive event in Guatemala City — which as many as 90,000 people are expected to attend — just in case the world actually does end, while tour groups are promoting doomsday-themed getaways.

Maya leader Gomez urged the Tourism Institute to rethink the doomsday celebration, which he criticized as a “show” that was disrespectful to Mayan culture.

Experts say that for the Maya, all that ends in 2012 is one of their calendar cycles, not the world.

Gomez’s group issued a statement saying that the new Maya time cycle simply “means there will be big changes on the personal, family and community level, so that there is harmony and balance between mankind and nature.”

Oxlajuj Ajpop is holding events it considers sacred in five cities to mark the event and Gomez said the Culture Ministry would be wise to throw its support behind their real celebrations.

More than half of Guatemala’s population of nearly 15 million are from indigenous groups of Mayan descent.

The Mayan calendar has 18 months of 20 days each plus a sacred month, “Wayeb,” of five days. “B’aktun” is the larget unit in the time cycle system, and is about 400 years. The broader era spans 13 B’aktun, or about 5,200 years.

The Mayan culture enjoyed a golden age between 250 AD and 900 AD.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/24/mayan-demand-an-end-to-2012-doomsday-myth/#.UIikqYGFiK1.twitter

LOL I love it. Stand up Mayan People! We should all send them all the support we can, by telling people we know NOT to go there, do ritual to safely and gently but very effectively change their plans (no harm to anyone, but to help the Tribe's wishes to be respected) and instead of the doomsday celebration they were planning, send energy that we collectively open ourselves up to this amazingly beautiful shift of energy that is desperately needed.

Dissident Horoscopes for Samhain Insurgents

I (Aradia) and not from IL, and where we live we don't get the free hipster newspapers like the Reader in Chicago or the Stranger in Seattle (home and origin of the oh-so-famous anti bully campaign starter = Dan Savage). Among many things that I miss about the Stranger and papers like it, is the amazing and kooky horoscopes by the inspiring Rob Brezsny of Free Will Astrology. So, I get his e-newsletter and read his site and books (highly recommended - www.freewillastrology.com) 

For now I will link to this weeks astrological omens for anyone out there that may see our blog http://home.ezezine.com/3_11/3_11-2012.10.20.15.11.archive.html. 

But the reason I am mentioning it, is that he has posted an even more absurd version of the Samhain week horoscope written by his 'evil twin' which is what follows: (you can see the original here http://www.freewillastrology.com/beauty/beauty.main400.shtml)

**Note the dates as they are insane lol and you may have more than one**

KICK YOUR OWN ASS-TROLOGY!

Dissident Horoscopes for Samhain Insurgents
By Job Disney, Rob Brezsny's only partially evil twin 

(For more upside-down revelations, read 
Rob's memoir about his encounters with the Dark Goddess.)



PERSONAL GROWTH ADDICTS (March 21-October 17): In a perfect world, Halloween would be celebrated 13 times a year, on each full moon. At least once a month each of us would have license to dress, talk, and act like some buried part of our personality. We could put on inside-out thrift shop clothes and spit whiskey on holy statues. We could make love with flowers and ride donkeys backwards into city hall and blubber confessions to people who weren't particularly interested. If we only had these luxuries, imagine how much more sincere and relaxed we'd be the other 352 days of the year. But alas, in the real world, all the beautiful nonsense we should be able to spread over many months has to be crammed into a few days. So get out there and start cramming. 

ZEN MEGALOMANIACS (April 20-December 1): Dangling rubber skeletons, thick crusty spider webs, pretend witches' cauldrons filled with pretend lizard eyes and bat wings and snake bile: I can't believe that any of the usual Halloween props actually throw a scare into you. If you'd really like to scare yourself, I mean in a good way, here's a suggestion. Contemplate the fact that there will come a time many years from now when you will die. Imagine yourself as the person you will be on that day. Look back on your life and think about all the things you wish you would have done that you didn't do. Then come back in time to the person you are today and vow that you're going to get started on accomplishing those things sometime in the next three months. 

UNORIGINAL SINNERS (May 21-January 31): In a remote mountain sanctuary north of Tokyo, a sacred festival of emotional release will soon unfold. As the celebrants parade through the dark to a shrine in the wilderness, they will shout out obscenities and noises and forbidden thoughts. "My boss is a stupid asshole!" "Goddamit, mommy! I'll never be what you want me to be!" I dare you to incorporate this fun ritual into your Halloween revels. Try the following obscenities, or better yet, design your own: "All you reptile-brained jerks who're trying to mangle my freedom can just fuck off!" "Stop telling me what to do, man! Your column sucks!" 

CODEPENDENT BODHISATTVAS (July 23-March 1): In tune with the true Halloween spirit, I may dress up as the type of person I understand and sympathize with least: an obscenely rich, right-wing Christian fundamentalist Sarah Palin-supporter. I suggest you try something similar. If you're usually a Nazi skinhead stockbroker, be a hippie farmer wearing a "Free Hemp!" T-shirt. If you're normally a fat-phobic, hetero-bashing, fascist vegetarian, well then masquerade as a 300-pound, carnivorous Don Juan. And if you're a caffeinated, atheistic, workaholic, I highly recommend that you impersonate a God-drunk, love-inflamed lazybones -- not just at Halloween parties, but everywhere. (For extra credit, become your own devil's advocate.) 

CHAOS LOVERS (August 23-March 28): Tired of dancing in the dark by yourself? Eager to find your lost appetite in time for Halloween? Then nail this personal ad on every telephone pole in town: "Are you a stable, down-to-earth romantic who enjoys holding hands while browsing through shopping malls? If so, please stay away from me. I'm on the lookout for a leather-clad cupid who loves to disturb the neighbors. Or a cherub-faced rebel who's into mental shortcuts. Or something like that. Let's put it this way: Are you capable of feeling sexy while wearing Bugs Bunny boxer shorts? If so, I want you to suck my beauty and truth while singing back-up harmonies to the music of the spheres. Or massage my wild compassion while interpreting the omens in my lucid dreams. Or something like that. P.S.: I smashed my TV because it was an unsatisfying companion. Can I come over and watch yours?"

PAVLOVIAN GODS (September 23-April 20): During the Halloween season, the veil between the world of the living and realm of the dead is thin. Is there a message you long to send over to the other side? An omen you're yearning to receive from the Great Beyond? One of your dead relatives will slip you a surprise if that's what you want. You could also catch a glimpse of yourself as you were in the distant past -- or will be in the far future. Take a long hot shower after midnight. Step out, light a candle, and gaze in the mirror until the secrets begin to flow back and forth. 

LUNATIC SAINTS (October 23-May 31): For pagans and Wiccans, Halloween is one of the high holy days of the year. It's a time to meditate on our link with the Other Side, that realm we slip into when we dream or die or flirt with ecstasy or loosen the binds of our logical minds. Many people are so frightened of this realm that they avoid ever knowing it -- thus ensuring it will always haunt them like an ominous shadow. But because you're a Lunatic Saint, you've been endowed with a brave attraction to the Other Side. As a result, it's a source of power and renewal for you -- especially now, at the beginning of your astrological year. 

DYSLEXIC SPHINXES (November 22-July 16): You could take the safe and easy route this Halloween and masquerade as a cartoony Hollywood demon. But if you want an authentic catharsis that gives you real power over what scares you most, you should act out your own personal demon. What good is it to be Frankenstein or a vampire or a character in one of Stephen King's counterfeit nightmares? You don'ttruly believe those silly monsters can hurt you. What about dressing up as a realmonster, like the person in your life who hurt you the most? 

SACRED JANITORS (December 21-August 29): You don't have to be a witch to celebrate Halloween like the witches do. Try this. Create an altar. Collect pomegranates, chrysanthemums, pumpkins, candles, bells, favorite photos, lucky charms. Drink some mulled wine, then let the magic begin. Like for instance take a piece of paper and write down an aspect of your life you'd like to banish -- a sickness, bad habit, fear, or influence that's eating away at you. Burn this paper in the flame of a red candle. Next, take three seeds and plant them in three cups of dirt. These symbolize the three joys you promise to nurture in 2013. Then, before you go out to party all night, place an offering on your altar in honor of those you've loved who are gone from this world. 

CAPITALIST UNICORNS (January 20-October 25): I celebrate Halloween 364 days of the year (excluding April Fool's Day). This allows me to express my swirling multitude of personalities without ever worrying about whether I'm descending into schizophrenia. If you'd like to sample my fun and healthy approach to continually mutating identity, I suggest you try a different masquerade every day between now and November 7. Today you could be your evil twin, tomorrow your ideal self. The day after tomorrow you could be your libido personified, or your own father, or the person you'd be if you were another race or nationality. 

TROJAN HORSESHIT COLLECTORS (February 19-December 29): I regard Halloween as an excellent opportunity for pretending to act out your most shadowy and repressed qualities -- qualities that might be dangerous to your ambitions or reputation. Masquerading gives you a chance to blow off steam. It relieves the poisonous pressure that repression inevitably generates. That's why I suggest you impersonate a tyrant or dictator at this year's parties. If you can play out your control-freak fantasies in their most extreme form now, maybe they won't erupt at inconvenient times in the months ahead. 

APHRODITE'S CHOSEN PEOPLE (February 29-January 31): Nothing gets in the way of true love more than stale myths about masculinity and femininity. And why put up with half-assed romance? Take advantage of the gender-bending season to expand your repertoire of amorous gambits. I dare you to dress up as the third sex for Halloween -- or even the fourth. I invite you to at least pretend to be omnisexual. Hug trees. Kiss frogs. Make love to the sky and sea. Sleep with a rosy pink double-terminated crystal. Be infatuated with the moist, flaming Mystery.

This is the cover of Rob's first book, I highly recommend it no matter what your path: