Maidyoshahem

The Zoroastrian community honors the six seasons of the year by celebrating six Gahambars- the word gahambar means "proper season". Each of these six festivals is celebrated for five days, and each honors one of the six material creations: The heaven, water, earth, flora, fauna and man.

Maidyoshahem (may-eed-YO-sha-hem) is the second Gahambar, the Midsummer Rain feast, and it takes place each year from June 29 to July 3. This Gahambar celebrates the creation of water on our earth, and the last day is called Tirgan (pronounced Teer-gone), in honor of Tir, the angel of rain. This will be an important festival in years to come, since Tir is especially invoked to counter drought.

Iranians celebrate Tirgan with dancing, singing, and by swimming and splashing water on each other.

Agenda this week:

1. Recite a Prayer:
The first four days of Maidyoshahem are devoted to services, and reciting prayers. Zoroastrians turn towards a flame while praying, which symbolises the fire of creation and the spiritual flame within each of us. And so I will stand before a candle flame to recite the Ashem Vohu (invocation of Asha) from the Avesta (Zoroastrian Book of Common Prayer).

The Ashem Vohu is a prayer with universal appeal. The word Ashem has many meanings: Law, Order, Beauty, Truth, Righteousness, Purity, Freedom. This one word expresses Divine truth, purity of body and mind, and all the beauty of nature. It's a central idea in Zoroastrianism. 

This prayer is like a mantra, to be chanted slowly. To hear it recited, go to this link.

ashem vohû vahishtem astî
Truth is the best good.

ushtâ astî
It is happiness.

ushtâ ahmâi hyat ashâi vahishtâi ashem.
Happiness is to one whose truth (represents) best truth.

2. Make Persian Potato Salad:
On the fifth day of a Gahambar, all the community comes together for a potluck feast, with traditional Persian dishes: Papeta-ma-ghosh, Iranian soup, fried bread, kharu-ghosh, ambakalio, cucumber salad, and ajil - a mix of seven different dried fruit and nuts.

The feast is payed for by those who can afford it. Food is prepared together by volunteers, and served by volunteers. Each person either donates food or helps to serve. The feast is a community get-together, when grudges are forgiven and forgotten, and friendships are formed or renewed.

Zoroastrians believe that the smell of good food attracts the Spiritual Beings, and so during the Gahambars spiritual and physical beings are able to eat together.

Since we are having a heat spell, I decided to make this delicious Persian potato salad. 

Ingredients:

• 12 small new potatoes
• 1 red onion
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1/2-cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 1/3-cup flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup fresh basil

Dressing:

• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/2-c. mayonnaise
• 1-tsp. powdered mustard
• juice from 1 lime

1- Put the whole potatoes into a medium saucepan of salted water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and cool.

Persian potato salad and cucumber salad

2- Chop the peas and boil for 2 minutes, then drain and cool.

3- Meanwhile, chop the onion and the herbs, and grate the carrot. Slice the olives. Combine in a salad bowl and chill.

4- Whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, lime juice, a little salt and black pepper.

5- Peel and chop the potatoes, and combine with the dressing and other vegetables; mix well.

3. Get wet!

Full Strawberry Moon

Tonight is the full moon, my monthly time for action and release: I look again at the “seeds of intention” I planted two weeks ago at the new moon and decide on my next steps to take, I take those steps, then I release my expectations in order to clear space for new ideas and new intentions.

This full moon is called the Strawberry Moon. Sweet, ripe strawberries are a gift from Mother Earth that remind me of the springtime renewal of life, and the creative power I have to make my dreams real and visible. This is is a highly yang time of movement and strength, the season of completion, abundance and fulfillment. I have hope that I will reach the full flowering of my self, begin to enjoy the fruits of my visions, and relax in the richness of success.

Agenda for today:
1. Altar:
It's time to discern what to put on my altar for July. (For my thoughts on altars see About Altars). I generally keep it simple and choose only things that speak to me and feed me, and reveal what I believe in. I ask, what quality of Spirit do I want to invoke? 
Today I add- 

• a sun, for clarity and yang energy.
• a conch shell, for the ocean, and to awaken my heart to Truth.
• a red candle, for fire, passion, and integrity.

2. Journal:
Review the intentions I set 2 weeks ago, at the new moon.
Do these aims all still seem vital? 
What are my next steps? 
How can I find the passion to be persistent?

Write about problems, disappointments, and changes I've encountered lately.
How well have I risen to the challenges I face?
Do I keep my word, follow through with my responsibilities, speak truth, and show loyalty? What can I improve?

3. Practice at my theme:
My theme this month is integrity, the quality of being whole and undivided, and acting promptly on my beliefs. When I am honest and loyal, my integrity lights the dark places of life, and like the farmer, I know that the Light brings my harvest. My intentions:

• Monitor my procrastination.
• Do not over-extend myself!
• Spend money within my means and pay bills on time.
• Choose to be patient, unruffled, grounded, and fearless.

4. Make strawberry sorbet:

Ingredients:

• 1 quart fresh strawberries
• sugar
• 4-5 oranges
• 1 lemon

1. Clean and stem the berries, ane cut them up a bit. Mash them well, and sprinkle with 1/3 c. sugar. Let them sit for 1/2 hour at room temp.

2. Juice oranges to make 1 cup fresh juice. Add the juice of 1 lemon and 1/3 c. sugar, and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool. 

3. Combine berries and juice well, and put into ice cream freezer.

5. Take Action:
The full moon is a time to celebrate life, stay up late, see friends, exercise harder, and be more creative and outgoing. The crazy full moon energy builds and builds; it’s best to acknowledge it so it doesn’t throw me off balance. This surge of energy allows me to take action on intentions I set two weeks ago.

Summer Solstice

The season is turning. Today the sun exerts its maximum energy on our part of the earth; the powers of outward expression are at their greatest, and the powers of inner contemplation are at their lowest. And of course, just as we reach the point of maximum yang energy, yin energy is reborn and begins to gain strength: The next days will each be a little shorter again, until the winter solstice in December.

I find this transition from spring to summer to be a big deal. Summer is a time of abundance, and a celebration of joy in the fullness of life. Sometimes summer is too abundant for me; I need to be consciencious and mindful of my energy, my work load, and my need for rest.

My summer is kicking off with a week-long summer camp for kids. I won't get to sleep in this week, or take it easy, but I will make a point to celebrate the things I love most about summer:

• Spend as much time outside as possible- do some gardening, eat my meals outside, and just sit outside and soak it in.
• Eat fresh strawberries, and raspberries.
• Spend time with children.
• Take afternoon naps!
• Pick bouquets of flowers.
• Go for evening walks in the warm night air. 

If I celebrate the start of summer with enthusiasm I will help to make the rest of the summer richer and more wonderful, and I will reconnect myself to the great cycle of the seasons and the rhythms of nature.

Agenda for the Solstice:

1. Journal: 

Visualize and write about the ideal summer.

What amazing things do I want to accomplish?

2. Make a new solar disk:

Each year at the solstice, I make a sun mandala of grapevine with two cross arms. The outer circle represents the wheel of the year, and the arms of the cross symbolize the four seasons. I hang it high in my apple tree to remind me of summer all year long. 

Supplies: Grapevines, sticks, clippers, pipe cleaners, scissors, yellow and orange ribbon and yarn

1. Make a hoop with grapevine and tuck in the ends so they stay.

2. Cut 2 sticks that are long enough to overlap the hoop. Attach at four corners and center with pipe cleaners.

3. Attach ribbon or yarn streamers to five crossing points, and tie on a loop for hanging in a tree.

3. Build a Solstice Fire: 

Our ancestors lit fires on the eve of the solstice, maybe to symbolize the sun's power. We will have our fire nearer the end of this week.

It’s traditional to start a solstice fire with oak and fir: Oak is the tree of power, symbolizing the energy of the sun. Fir is the tree of immortality, symbolizing the rebirth of the sun. We will collect a fir cone and an acorn from trees in our neighborhood.

We will also take down last year’s battered solar disk from the apple tree and burn it.

Shavuot

Shavuot is a two-day Jewish holiday that always starts fifty days after Passover, during the Hebrew month of Sivan. It’s the Jewish First Fruits Festival, when the spring wheat is harvested in Israel- a time of thanksgiving for the grains and fruits of the earth. This is the beginning of the harvest season in Israel, which continues throughout the summer and ends with Sukkot in the fall. 

Shavuot also celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jews.

Agenda Today:
1. Decorate the house:

In order to maintain a link with the agricultural nature of the festival, I decorate the house with flowers and greens. This year we made vases with recycled peanut butter jars, and filled them with flowers for the table.

Supplies: Glass jars, acrylic paints, brushes, bubble paint

1. Clean the jars and remove the labels. Dry well.

2. Plan a simple greenery design- leaves, ferns, or vines- to go with the theme of the holiday. Paint the basic shapes onto the jar with different shades of green acrylic paint. 

3. As soon as it is mostly dry, outline the shape with black bubble paint, squeezed directly from the tube.

2. Make cheese cake:

Cheese cake and cheese blintzes are traditional treats on Shavuot, because of a passage in the Song of Songs, "honey and milk under your lips." It implies that the words of the Torah energize our spirits as milk and honey strengthen and sweeten our bodies.

3. First Fruits Meal:
Menu- Lettuce salad (from our garden), salmon fillet, new potatoes (from the Farmer's Market), and cheese cake!

Prayer:
Barukh atah AdonAI,
eloHAYnu melekh ha’olam,
she-hakol nih'yeh bi-d'varo.

Blessed art Thou, our God of the Universe,
by whose word everything comes into being.

4. Read the Ten Commandments:
One Shavuot custom is to stay awake the entire night of Shavuot studying texts, singing songs, telling stories, and then reading the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17) at the first rays of the sun. (I did not stay up all night.)

1. I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt.
2. You shall have no other gods before Me.
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not bear false witness.
10. Do not covet.

Ramadan

 Tonight is the start of Ramadan, an Islamic holiday that marks the discovery of the Qur’an by the Prophet Muhammad. The Islamic calendar is totally lunar, so Ramadan begins a few weeks earlier each year, at the sighting of the thin crescent moon, hopefully at sundown tonight.

Sunset photo by Brayden

Ramadan is a month of blessing, marked by prayer, fasting, and charity. By night, Muslims read the Qur'an, and celebrate the compassion of God with special prayers. By day, they give generously to charities, and observe the discipline of fasting: They eat an early morning meal before the sun rises, then eat and drink nothing until after sundown. The Ramadan fast includes abstinence from falsehood and anger in words and deeds. It helps Muslims to develop self-discipline, a strong spirit, generosity, and empathy. 

Even though I don't partake in a fast, I observe Ramadan in this same spirit, renewing my relationship with God, and exercising self-discipline and generosity. I hope to build my empathy for Muslims as they observe their month-long fast. 

Agenda:
1. Celestial Awareness: 
Ramadan lasts from this crescent moon to the next crescent moon. It's not a seasonal holiday because it falls at a different season every year; I think of it as a celestial holiday. I make an extra effort during this month to have a heightened awareness of the movement of the moon, and each day's sunrise and sunset.

It takes special effort to pay attention to heavenly events. Muslims have the motivation of the fast, in which I am not partaking. I'm going to need to find creative ways to remind myself to be mindful. To help, I subscribe to a calendar ap that lists this information for me on my computer calendar.

2. Sunset Prayer:

I plan to observe a sunset prayer-time again this year during Ramadan. Usually I chant Ya-salaam (Oh, Peace)- one of the 99 names of God mentioned in the Qur'an.

Since my theme this month is strength, this year I will chant Al-Aziz - the Strong, the One who is the most Powerful and most Cherished. The One who overcomes everything. I hope it might help to remind me to draw on the strength God offers me.

Muslims sometimes use a string of beads to count while they say their prayers. I have a string of 33 beads I will use. 

My plan:

• Go outside at sunset each night.
• Hold the beads in one hand and center myself a moment.
• Touch each bead around the strand, repeating Al-Aziz.
• Muslims traditionally chant the names of God 99 times; I will aim for that as an ideal.

3. Power Rocks:
This month I find myself struggling to find the strength to do my daily physical therapy exercises, and also struggling to finish the many small unpleasant tasks (phone calls, payments, forms, and so on) left after my accident. I've depleted my reserves of drive and determination.

To continue my strength theme, and help me practice the tenacious determination I need right now, I decided to create some Power Rocks.

Supplies: Rocks, paint pens

1. Collect some medium sized rocks; wash and dry them.

2. Each time I complete my exercises or some other task that takes will-power, write an affirmation of my strength on a rock.

3. When I get a big collection of Power Rocks, I plan to begin returning them out into the world, leaving them for others to find.

4. Enjoy Iftar tomorrow night: 

The Ramadan fast is broken at sunset with a meal called iftar. I plan to eat a simple Turkish-style iftar meal with Ezogelin (EZ-oh gel-EEN) soup, flat bread, goat cheese, black olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and dates. The soup is very tasty and filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 c. chicken or beef stock
• 3/4 c. red lentils
• 1/4 c. bulgar
• 1/4 c. rice
• salt
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. dry or fresh mint
• pepper

Garnish:

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp. mint
• lemon wedges
• red pepper flakes

Yield: 4-6 servings-

1- Chop the onion and saute with olive oil for about 4 minutes, then add the flour and stir until bubbly, but not browned.

2- Mix the tomato paste with 2 Tbsp. water, add to the flour, and stir until well combined. 

3- Next, slowly add the broth while stirring constantly. Continue stirring the mixture over high heat until it comes to a boil.

4- Wash the red lentils, rice and bulgar together in a strainer until the water runs clear. Add them to the boiling soup. Add salt and spices, then reduce the heat and cover the pan. Simmer slowly until grains are very soft and the lentils fall apart- about 20 minutes.

5- For the garnish, melt butter in a small pan until just bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the mint. Pour it into the soup, stir and serve with lemon wedges and red pepper flakes.

New Dragon Moon

Tonight is the new moon; The Chinese call the fifth new moon the Dragon Moon. 

Chinese dragons are a symbol of cosmic Chi, good fortune, and new beginnings, but the time around the Dragon Moon is strongly yang, with bright sunlight and moist heat. The Chinese consider this to be a dangerous and unhealthy season.  

The new moon is my monthly time for “seeding” intentions. I write down what I hope to focus on in the next 30 days or so, and then give my ideas a period of gestation, like seeds in the soil, before I take action. Having this regular time each month to focus my goals has helped to give me clarity of purpose.

Agenda for today:

1. Journal:

What are my next steps in life?

How am I manifesting yin and yang now?
What might give my life more balance?

List my intentions for the month of June in these areas-

Self, Friends and Family, Teaching, Artwork, Writing, Home and Garden, Work/Business, and Volunteer work.

2. New Moon Meditation:

Light a small white candle. Center, and feel myself fill with thankfulness for all I have now in my life.

3. Plan:

As the moon waxes, I expand-- plant seeds, make connections, and begin new projects. Today I will plan my first small steps.

4. Slow Down:

I feel strong and effective when I am able to harness my yang energy to get stuff done, but I like to remember that yang's best aim is to protect yin, and yin's best function is to nurture yang. They work together well when they are balanced. 

The Chinese have many customs to help to protect against the excessive yang energy of this season. I want to make an effort now to find ways to bring restorative yin energy to my life: Slow down, rest well, drink more water, and practice ‘discipline of purpose’.