Day 4 August 2/3
Honor Life in all forms
Self-Guided Ritual created by Wendy Stiver
A. Introduction
Transformation from within reminds us that we are one with nature: wild, elemental, in sync with the moon, enlivened by the sun. We are daughters of Mago, children of the forests, born to study magic at the foot of the Red Rocks, we will someday return to the deepness of the sea. We learn from our Spirit Animals, from the stars, from gemstones, from the herbs in our gardens, from the voices of the spirits that fly in the wind.
Today we honor life in all its forms: air, fire, earth, water, metal, and wood. And each other. This topic is as vast as the galaxy itself, but today we will start thinking of a petunia, and we will end with blessings. Blessed Be.
B. Poetry
The Nature of This Flower Is To Bloom
Rebellious. Living.
Against the Elemental Crush.
A Song of Color
Blooming
For Deserving Eyes.
Blooming Gloriously
For its Self.
Revolutionary Petunia
By Alice Walker. Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling
Poems 1965-1990 Complete. (1991) p. 235.
Rainmaker: You Could Be The Water
By the scent of water alone,
the withered vine comes back to life,
and thus…wherever the land is dry and hard,
you could be the water;
or you could be the iron blade
disking the earth open;
or you could be the acequia,
the mother ditch, carrying the water
from the river to the fields
to grow the flowers for the farmers;
or you could be the honest engineer
mapping the dams that must be taken down,
and those dams which could remain to serve
the venerable all, instead of only the very few.
You could be the battered vessel
for carrying the water by hand;
or you could be the one
who stores the water.
You could be the one who
protects the water,
or you could be the tired ground
that receives it;
or you could be the scorched seed
that drinks it;
or you could be the vine,
green-growing overland,
in all your wild audacity…….
[Clarissa Pinkola Estes, (2011) Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul, p. 250.]
Susan Griffin from her book Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her (1978)
These words are written for those
of us whose language is not heard,
whose words have been stolen or erased,
those robbed or language, who are called
voiceless or mute, even the earthworms,
even the shellfish and the sponges, for
Those of us who speak our own language….
Quoted by Bettina Aptheker (1989) in Tapestries of Life: Women’s Wrok, Women’s Consciousness, and the Meaning of Daily Experience, p. 25.
Lorna Dee Cervantes (n.d.) “Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway,” a poem in which she speaks of her grandmother’s life, and how
She likes the ways of birds,
respects how they show themselves
for toast and a whistle.
She believes in myths and birds.
She trusts only what she builds
with her own hands.
Quoted by Aptheker (1989), p. 31.
C. Sun Cycle Observation
This week we celebrated Lammas, one of the seasonal holidays or Sabbats spaced around the Wheel of the Year. These come from the old Celtic traditions, and follow the climate of the British Isles and other temperate regions quite well. The Sabbats are quite nature-centered, i.e. solstices, equinoxes, plus some other days in between. As you learn about the old traditions, which are now part of Wicca, you will note that there are strong parallels between old Celtic pre-Christian celebrations and modern holidays such as Halloween, May Day, and such.
For today’s activity, the goal is to honor life in all its glorious forms by starting a journal for Sun Cycle Observations. It doesn’t have to be fancy: a simple spiral notebook would work fine, or you could do this in your laptop. I recommend taking notes by hand and being able to go outside and sketch what you see in your environment at the months pass.
Here are Starhawk’s instructions:
Start a journal for a year of seasonal observations. On each Sabbat, note
What the weather is like, what is growing or dying, what leaves are turning or
falling, what needs to be done in the garden, what bulbs are blooming, what is
budding, sprouting, blossoming, ripening, overripe, rotting, rutting, mating, birthing.
Now write your own Wheel of the Year, your own myth for the cycle of seasons
as they unfold where you live.
[Starhawk (2005) The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature, p. 213.
For example, if you want to start you journal from Lammas, you could look at how the avocado trees are fruiting (if you’re lucky!), the plumerias are blooming, there are terrifying wildfires around the world, and some county fairs have opened. Observing the world around us takes us more deeply into Mago’s realm, where we can learn from HER and learn from our fellow creatures.
D. Closing
We turn again to the words of Starhawk for a closing blessing, as we remember that we are part of a magnificent, ever-changing universe. We are citizens of a fragile planet which needs our help to maintain the delicate balance needed for all life forms to coexist in harmony.
“We give thanks for all those who are moved, in their lives, to heal and protect the earth, in small ways and in large. Blessings on the composters, the gardeners…those who cleanse the waters and purify the air, all those who clean up the messes others have made. Blessings on those who defend trees and plant trees, who guard the forests…..who learn to heal the grasslands and renew the streams….who know the lore of the wild plants.
Blessings on those who heal the cities and bring them alive again with excitement and creativity and love.
May all the healers of the hearth find their own healing. May they be fueled by passionate love for the earth. May they bring alive a great awakening, open a listening ear to hear the earth’s voice, transform imbalance to balance, hate and greed to love. Blessed be the healers of the earth.
We Have A Beautiful Mother
We have a beautiful
mother
Her hills
are buffaloes
Her buffaloes
hills.
We have a beautiful
Mother
Her oceans
are wombs
Her wombs
oceans.
We have a beautiful
mother
Her teeth
the white stones
at the edge of the water
the summer
grasses
her plentiful
hair.
We have a beautiful
mother
Her green lap
immense
Her brown embrace
eternal
Her blue body
everything
we know.
Alice Walker (1991)
Her Blue Body Everything We Know, 459-460
Daily Themes
- Day 1 July 30/31
Our Life: Cross the Threshold to WE/HERE/NOW - Day 2 July 31/Aug 1
See Interconnectivity of all inter-cosmic beings in HER - Day 3 Aug 1/2 (Inter-continental Video Meeting 1)
Transform from within
- Day 4 Aug 2/3
Honor Life in all forms - Day 5: Aug 3/4
Restore Mother-Daughter Bond - Day 6: Aug 4/5 (Inter-continental Video Meeting 2)
Celebrating Cross-cultural Nine Female Symbols
- Day 7: Aug 5/6
How Does Nine Numerology Work? - Day 8: Aug 6/7
Charting Our Mother Time, the 13 Month 28 Day Calendar - Day 9: Aug 7/8 Lammas/Imbolc or Ipchu立秋/Entering Fall (Inter-continental Video Meeting 3)
Homage to the Magoma (Mago and Goma)
Mago Academy hosts 2018 (5915 Magoma Era) Year 1 Nine Day Mago Celebration! Our celebration will mark the first year of the Magoist Calendar (13 month 28 day gynocentric calendar). We began the New Year on the new moon of the last December Solstice according to the Magoist Calendar. We are to commemorate nine days, the ninth day marking the 9th month the 9th day, which is also Lammas/Imbolc or Ipchu立秋/Entering Fall. Anyone can join us and welcome!
Dates July 30/31-August 7/8 (the 9th month the 9th day in the Magoist Calendar given the variation of time zones)
Theme Proclamation of WE/HERE/NOW, the Return of the 13 Month 28 Day Calendar
Planning Committee Wendy Stiver and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang
Method We will provide nine guidelines for rituals and readings. We have about 3 video meetings on the 3rd day, the 6th day and the 9th day via Google Hangouts. Times to be determined between 10AM to 6PM PST. If you want to participate, please fill out the below form. (Participants must provide a Gmail address to which you will be notified shortly. Actual invite will be sent to you 10 min before the session on each day. If you are new to Google Hangouts, please enter the conference room 10 min prior to the session. You will be invited to a Google group conversation. Please say hello to all in the chat window.)
Learn more about the Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A).