October 18th - 7PM @ Diana’s House
Waning Moon Ceremony
Because we need to schedule First Friday for the 11th, this month’s Luna gathering will actually fall during the Waning Moon, so this will be a time for reflection. The moon is in Gemini, a sign of communication. So here is what I propose : since Crystal has joined the Lunas, she hasn’t had the chance yet to practice a full ritual with us - and in preparation for Samhain, it would be good for her to experience that! So, let’s have a full ritual with the focus being a tarot / talking circle about where we are all at right now in our own lives - and then get an overview of what we’d like to do as a group in the months to come. Maybe come up with some ritual ideas, projects, etc that we are all interested in and get ideas on how we can split up the responsibility of implementing those ideas (b/c I’ve gotten really busy and don’t have as much time as I used to which is why we haven’t been doing much Luna stuff lately).  But let’s incorporate that discussion into our regular ritual outline so Crystal can see what it’s like (and it will remind us how much fun it is to take the time to do all that stuff!) 

October 25th - 5PM @ Ahahra
Planning Night
I have been informed that Crystal has lots of ideas about Samhain and wants to sit down and go over some stuff! This is great!! Just the kind of initiative I like to see in my Loony Lunas! Whoo hoo! So, what I propose is that sometime between now and then, all of us do some of our own research about Samhain, write down ideas we like, bring them to the meeting, and together we will come up with an awesome ceremony. I like this idea of a planning meeting so much, I am suggesting we have one per month so we can share the planning duties.

November 1st - 7PM @ Amy’s House
Samhain Ceremony
Details to be discussed!

Let me know if all these details sound good to you all or if any changes need to be made!

Alrighty ladies, here are the final details for the Faerie Festival.

We are leaving Friday, Aug 1st. Kimby is spending the night at my house on Thursday, so she will already be there. Diana will need to arrive at my house about 9AM and leave her car her for Keith and the kids to use for the weekend. We will pack up and then go pick up Ali on the way. We should be on the road by 10:30 at the latest. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there, so we should be arriving about 1PM.

I will need everyone to pitch in for gas, puhleese, cause my car is a guzzler!! It will take one tank to get us there and back, which is $70. So, I will need each of you to give me $14 each for gas. I would like this to be in cash dollars, because that is going to be part of my spending money for the weekend.

Campground Details 

Reservation Number: 5895-7626
Richardson Camping - Site: Loop A - 39
Date: 8/1/2008
Stay: 3 nights
Total amount for this reservation: $70.00
Amount billed this transaction: $30.00
Balance due: $40.00

Reservation Number: 5895-7627
Richardson Camping - Site: Loop A - 40
Date: 8/1/2008
Stay: 3 nights
Total amount for this reservation: $70.00
Amount billed this transaction: $30.00
Balance due: $40.00

Total cost of these reservations: $140.00 Total amount paid: $60.00 Total balance due: $80.00
Kimby, Diana, and Crystal each need to make up the remaining $80 by paying $26 each upon arrival. 

We have two large sites. Diana is bringing her tent for herself and Kimby. Ali is bringing a tent for herself and Crystal. I will bring a small tent for me and Shannon. Diana will also bring her big canopy for the changing area. I also have a long folding table we can bring and some tapestries to make up the sides of the changing tent. Diana will bring a mirror. Everyone bring all your dress up supplies and clothes and stuff.

Also, make sure to print a copy of your online reservation info for the Festival, just in case. This has never been an issue, but you never know. Bring blankets and stuff to sit on during the festival, since they didn’t allow us to bring chairs last time.

We will be leaving to come home on Monday the 4th.

I think those are all the details. If you have any questions/comments, add them here.

Ames

New Moon in Leo (Sun in Leo)
Friday, August 1st – 2:13 AM (Pacific Time)
Partial Solar Eclipse

This New Moon brings with it a double dose of warm Leo energy. A Fire sign, Leo is all about being seen. It’s a time to focus on your creative expression and initiate projects that will bring you acclaim and attention. Fire is a masculine element, one of it’s characteristics being a dynamic and outwardly radiating energy. This is not the moon for withdrawing and hiding at home. You will likely feel a need to be out in front of people, sharing your talents and energy in some way.

With the partial solar eclipse, the masculine (sun) energy is partially being influenced (covered) by the feminine (moon) energy. This may help us look within enough to realize that although we want attention for ourselves, one of the best ways to achieve that is to give it to others. As Ego-centric as Leo energy is, generosity is also a trait of this sign, so focus on radiating your light outwards in a warm and friendly way, to uplift and inspire others to shine their light as well. This is a spontaneous and fun moon, so try to stay away from set agendas. Stay in the moment and follow your passion. Spend time doing what makes you feel joyful, free, and expressive.

Full Moon in Capricorn – (Sun in Cancer)
Thursday, July 18, 2008 – 1:00 AM (Pacific Time)

This Full Moon presents us with a combination of the Feminine elements of Earth (Capricorn) and Water (Cancer). Capricorn is the sign of hard work, responsibility, and achievement. It is symbolized by the Goat making slow and steady progress as it climbs ever upwards against seemingly impossible odds. The Goat shows us that with patience and perseverance, ultimate success is possible. Capricorn energy is goal-oriented and concerned with status and reputation, especially in the area of your work in the world. This Moon is focused on the practical every day steps that are needed to take a goal and make it a reality.

Cancer is the sign of home, family, and comfort. Cancer energy is nurturing and concerned with emotional security, protection, and the refuge found within our closest relationships. So when these two signs meet, the underlying question is : how do we find the balance between our work/career responsibilities, and our need for emotional comfort and security? This is the question to ponder and receive guidance on between now and the next New Moon.

We all need a safe space where we can retreat from the pressure of responsibility, and our home needs to be that sanctuary. Only when we nurture our emotional needs can we relax enough for the creative energy to flow. And it is only by drawing from this deep well of inspiration that we can do our most authentic work in the world.

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, the planet of tough lessons. So this is also a perfect time to honor the teachers and people who have influenced your life in a positive way. We often experience deep soul growth from painful and negative situations also, so be sure to honor your Shadow teachers as well. In my personal ritual for this moon, I will be celebrating the hard work I’ve done to get myself to this point, and then making my commitment to a new course of study. I have been intrigued by  Shamanic practices for some time now, and experienced an “initiatory crisis” that left no doubt in my mind that I have been called to this path, but it isn’t until recently that I have felt ready to make an authentic commitment to embarking on this journey.

As I prepare to take the first steps on this new path,  I am guided to follow my own heart, trust my inner voice, flow with the feelings of the moment, and take action that feels natural and appropriate for me, even if that differs from conventional methods. Yet, I am also guided to hold a deep respect and reverence for the structure, discipline, and tradition that has been laid down by others before me, putting myself in the humbling role of the “Initiate of the Mystery.” This will take commitment, discipline, effort, patience and perseverance, but like the Goat, if I just focus on one step at a time, I will ultimately reach my goal, and having experienced much growth in the process.

The festival of Lughnasad is named for the Celtic Sun God, Lugh, who’s name means “bright light”. It is called the “First Harvest” and marks the beginning of the Harvest season, which lasts until Samhain in late October. The crops that are abundant now are corn, grain, and barley. There is a traditional folk tale / song titled “John Barley Corn” which depicts how the God (manifested in the corn & grain) is cut down and ground into flour to be made into bread for nourishment of the people. This is the age old story, found in several ancient mythologies, of the Year God, who is sacrificed in order to ensure the continued survival of His people.

There were three men came out of the west,
their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They’ve plowed, they’ve sown, they’ve harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They’ve let him lie for a very long time,
’til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They’ve let him stand ’til Midsummer’s Day
’til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John’s grown a long long beard
and so become a man

They’ve hired men with their scythes so sharp
to cut him off at the knee
They’ve rolled him and tied him by the waist
serving him most barbarously
They’ve hired men with their sharp pitchforks
who’ve pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he’s bound him to the cart
They’ve wheeled him around and around a field
’til they came unto a barn

And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl
and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl
proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can’t hunt the fox
nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can’t mend kettle or pots
without a little barleycorn

Lugh is the patron God of bards and musicians, so this is a good time to focus on learning a new craft or further developing an old one. Just as the crops are now bearing fruit, this is the time to share the fruit of your labors from the year that is passing. What new skills, talents, knowledge, and wisdom have you learned this year that you can now pass onto others in your community?

Lughnasad occurs about August 1st, when the Sun reaches 15 degrees in the sign of Leo, the Lion. I personally celebrate this Sabbat each year by attending the Faerie Festival in Veneta, OR with my coven sisters. The slogan of this festival is “Live Your Legend” and this is very much in line with the Leo drive for dynamic creative expression. For three days I will be celebrating, dancing, and playing, surrounded by joyful folk dressed as faeries, elves, gnomes, and other Otherworld creatures.

Blessed Be & Happy Lughnasad!

To Celebrate Lughnasad:

• Make a corn dolly using stalks of wheat or corn husks.

• Bake a loaf of bread in the shape of a man and sacrifice him in your ritual. Make him a part of your feast but save a piece to offer the gods.

• Take time to harvest fruits and vegetables from your garden with your family. If you don’t have a garden, visit one of the pick-your-own farms in your area.

• Gather the tools of your trade and bless them in order to bring a richer harvest next year.

• Decorate with sickles, scythes, fresh vegetables & fruits, grains, berries, corn dollies, bread. Colors are orange, gold, yellow, red and bronze.

• Host a field day! Set up obstacle courses, water balloon tossing, 3 legged race and other fun competitions.

• This is also a good time for making preserves, either literally or symbolically. As you turn the summer’s fruit into jams, jellies and chutneys for winter, think about the fruits that you have gathered this year and how you can hold onto them.

The next Full Moon, which we will celebrate July 19th, is in the sign of Capricorn. Let’s begin gathering ideas for the focus of our ceremony. Below I’ve listed some details about Capricorn FM to spark your creativity and imagination. Please add your ideas as comments to this message so we can all share.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MOON IN CAPRICORN
Increases awareness of the need for structure, discipline.

The moon in Capricorn is not very focused on personal things. It gives us time to work on the outside - there are many other times to focus inwardly. Capricorn wants to take a dream and walk it up to the top of the mountain, so give yourself goals, mountains to climb, and projects to do during this time. The energy here is good for creating structure and discipline. It’s a time to ask how form, ritual, organization or tradition can serve us. Achievement and manifestation are most important to us now. During this moon, we are resourceful and don’t want to waste time, energy, or resources. This can be a very sober influence–even a depressing one. However, it can also be a productive time when we look reality in the face.

Keywords : Organization, ambition, career, politics, direction, structure, discipline, resourceful, outwardly focused on achievement, desire a tangible real world manifestation of our success

Activities for Capricorn Moon :

“Spring Cleaning” – remove what is not needed and strengthen what’s left.
Long term projects that yield slow, but steady results
Writing a business plan
Practical investments

Rituals & Spells for :

New business ventures, Seeking new clients, Increasing reputation & integrity, Promotions (waxing)
Binding or blocking people who are impeding your business, Releasing fears and limitations (waning)

Planetary Ruler: Saturn, the planet of goals, objectives, and hard learned lessons.

Archetype: The Ambassador

Element: Earth

Quality: Cardinal

Gender: Feminine

Rules: The 10th house of the zodiac, the house of achievement in the world, discipline, rewards.

Colors: Dark green and Dark blue

Gemstones: Ruby, Agate, Amethyst, Cat’s Eye, Garnet, Crystal Quartz, Turquoise

Totem Animals: Goat

Herbs and plants: Carnation

Scent (for oils and incense): Solomon’s Seal, Marjoram, Bergamot, Rose, Lime, Snow Drop, Clary Sage and Lavender

Metals: Lead

Numbers: 2, 8

Other info :

A night dedicated to thanking all our teachers, in every walk of life; especially the difficult ones who challenge us to reach deep within to feel love and compassion. celebrate the teachers in your life: your kids, parents, siblings, lover, partner, spouse, co-workers, bosses, professors, etc. Wishing them well is a beautiful way to celebrate their gift and give back from the heart of compassion.

When the Moon is full in Capricorn, the Sun is in Cancer, the sign that rules emotional connectedness, nurturance, compassion, and personal expressions of love. Only at this time of year, can the Moon fully infuse the restrictive, withholding, structured, serious energy of Capricorn with its natural, energetic Cancerian open, flowing love and compassion. This is a celebration to enliven compassion for ourselves, especially in our toughest times. So use your ritual to bring compassion to bear upon your most critical, negative images and thoughts about yourself. Self-love is not a concept; it is active, and takes energy and time to develop.

This Full Moon simultaneously uncovers our fear and reflects the solution to our fear: acting only from love, compassion, and doing the hard work of relieving the suffering of all sentient beings by achieving enlightenment and inner peace. This is a very powerful and serious Full Moon-don’t waste it!

The Capricorn Full Moon during Cancer depicts the basic conflict between “my emotional need for recognition and public achievement” and “my personal need for family support, a home base, nurturing and sympathetic connections to kin, and a place of refuge and protection I can trust.” In other words, this division highlights the tension between fame and acclaim … and home and family.

This is heavy stuff … but the Capricorn moon imposes a further task - be aware of survival issues

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thoughts :

I think the issue of family/personal life vs. work is something most of us are dealing with in some way or the other… I’d like to make a discussion about that the focus of our talking circle. Also, in relation with the “survival issues” - several of us now working for ourselves only, and dealing with the financial uncertainty that this brings. I’d think it would be helpful for each of us to get very clear & specific about what we would like to manifest in these areas in the next few months (balance between work/family&home, financial abundance, business success, etc) and raise energy towards that. Since Capricorn is about slow, but steady progress in those arenas, let’s think about the big picture a little bit, but mostly focus on the small, everyday steps it’s going to take. As part of the talking circle, we can even pull some tarot cards to receive guidance on what those steps need to be.

That’s what came to me. Anyone else?? (p.s. it mentions some kind of “project” would be good, too - any ideas? - maybe a group collage or something?) Okay I’m done now, really.

Crystal is one of Ali’s bestest friends. We have invited her to begin her “year and a day” with us as a Luna.  She will have her official welcoming ceremony on August 16th, during our Full Moon ritual.

New Moon in Cancer (Sun in Cancer)
July 2, 2008 – 6:19 PM (Pacific)

Cancer is all about the home, family, and close relationships. Symbolized by the crab, with it’s hard outer shell protecting the soft body within, Cancer is strong but sensitive. With both moon and sun in this sign, this would be the ideal time to focus attention on nurturing the relationships that mean the most to you, including your relationship with yourself. Ask yourself – when do you feel most safe? Where do you feel most at home? With who do you feel most able to let your guard down? This is the moon to discover the answers to those questions and commit to bringing more of that into your life.

Summer Solstice is usually celebrated June 21st, but the exact timing of the Solstice varies between the 20th and the 23rd, and occurs when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer. With the Sun at it’s peak, it is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. (in the Northern Hemisphere).

According to Celtic folklore, Summer begins on Beltane (May 1st) and ends on Lughnassad (August 1st), with the Summer Solstice midway between the two. For this reason, Summer Solstice is often referred to as “Midsummer”. On Midsummer Night, the thin veil allows elves, faeries, and sprites to gather in great numbers and frolic freely, making this a great time to commune with them and with Nature.

In June, the Full Moon is called the Honey Moon, because this is the time to collect the honey from the beehives. This is also the traditional month for marriages and handfastings. It was considered taboo to get married during May because that month was set aside for celebrating the union of the Goddess and God. But after the May Day celebrations, many couples were expecting and so June became the opportune time for weddings. This is why, to this day, we call the period immediately after a wedding the “Honey Moon”.

The Goddess manifests at this time as Mother Earth, in advanced pregnancy, preparing for the first harvest. The God manifests as the Sun King, at the prime of his life and about to enter into fatherhood.  Cancer, the Crab, is a watery sign that rules home, family, and close relationships. This is the best time for ceremonies relating to prosperity, peace, and good fortune for the family and community. Each year in my tribe, we honor the Goddess and God at Solstice with a community camping trip in which we all come together to commune with Nature and each other in a sacred and beautiful space.

This is a time of bonfires and trips to the beach, of staying up late and looking at the stars, of gardens overflowing with colorful blooms. It’s a time for reconnecting with family and friends and celebrating the sweetness of life.

Activities for Midsummer

• Create a Midsummer Altar : Images of the pregnant Mother Goddess and the Sun God. Some sort of fire on your altar is important, use candles or votives. Use fresh fruits as a reminder of the earth’s bounty. Use flowers of gold, orange and yellow, roses are traditional also. Use gold or yellow cloth, oak leaves, acorns, stones, and herbs.

• Stay up from sunset on Midsummers Eve to sunrise on Midsummers Day.

• Herbs harvested during Midsummer were believed to have healing properties, and the healers would gather the herbs they needed to heal throughout the year.

• Bonfires are also burned during the night on Midsummer. On this fire, traditionally, nine herbs are thrown on the fire St. John’s Wort, Rue, Vervain, Mistletoe, Lavender, Feverfew, Meadowsweet, Heartsease, and Trefoil or Clover. Even if you do not burn an actual fire for this Sabbat, you can blend these herbs and burn as incense at your altar or sacred space.

• Light fireworks to celebrate the sun.

• Watch Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

• Sit around a bonfire and play drums and other instruments, sing songs, and tell stories of the sun, the Gods, and heroes.

• Find a U-pick farm and spend the day picking berries to make a fruit pie.

• Leave an offering of seeds or nuts drizzled with honey for the faeries.

• Woman should adorn their hair with flower wreaths.

• Gather wildflowers and display in your home.

Full Moon in Sagittarius (Sun in Gemini)
June 18, 2008 – 9:30 AM (Pacific)

With Sagittarius and Gemini together, there comes a strong desire to understand the deeper meaning of life and communicate it within our circle of friends, family, and community.  These signs have different, but complimentary ways of exploring their world. Gemini is always gathering information, but usually at a superficial level, focusing on many ideas at once but rarely going in depth on any one of them. Sagittarius is on a constant search for the deeper truth that underlies every situation and interaction ; the constant philosopher, who can always talk the talk, but doesn’t always walk the walk. These signs are both mutable, meaning they are open to and embrace change – so this moon may be about changing how we discover our personal truth and what we do with it once we do. Instead of collecting and adapting other people’s thoughts, views, and perspectives on the meaning of life and our role in it, it’s time to open ourselves to a direct personal experience of the mystery and discover this for ourselves.  I imagine what we’ll find is a truth that fits us so well, and feels so natural, it requires no effort at all – it simply is who we are and have always been. From there we can allow an expression emerge from within us that is unmistakably unique and as each of us do this within the circle, the fabric of the whole is enriched and expanded.