Halloween and Full Blue Moon

Halloween is the modern name of the Irish and Scottish holiday originally called Samhain (pronounced Sow-win), a Celtic-Gaelic word meaning “summers-end”. It begins at dusk on October 31, and marks the doorway to the dark half of the Celtic year, the opening of a new cycle.

The early Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain, and so spirits of the dead could visit the living.

Today is also the full moon, called the Blue Moon because it was the second full moon in October. 

Actually, the original definition of a blue moon is a fourth full moon in one season, but I'm going with the newer definition- the second full moon in a month- because I don't have any better name for this moon. Both are correct, because it's folklore, and folklore is fluid.

Agenda:
1. Update my altar

2. Practice my theme of Abundance

3. Journal queries

4. Blessings walk

5. Creativity practice 

6. Plan a costume
7. Carve a pumpkin
8. Make Soul Cakes

Winter Night's (Vetrnætr)

 The Winter Nights, or Vetrnætr, is a twelve-day festival that begins on a night in mid- to late-October. (The exact dates vary with the regional weather; in northern areas it tends to be held earlier.) The name Vetrnætr is Old Norse, composed of two words, vetr meaning winter, and nætr meaning nights.

Winter Nights is celebrated by the Ásatrú; Ásatrú is an Icelandic name, taken by the modern-day Norse and Germanic people who worship the old northern gods (such as Thor, Odin, and Frey) and goddesses (such as Freya and Frigg). 

Though its practice was interrupted, Ásatrú has been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original religion of the Northern European people, based on the surviving historical records.

Winter Nights marks the end of summer, the start of the winter, and the beginning of a new year. It celebrates the bounty of the harvest, and it honors the Norse Goddess Freya- goddess of the harvest, artistic endeavors, and passion- and also the Disr, who are the ancestral mothers.

Agenda this week:
1. Set up my ancestor altar (ofrenda)
2. Disr meditation

3. Make more runes
4. Throw the runes
5. Make fiskesuppe (fish soup)
6. Feast and blót

New Chrysanthemum Moon

Endurance- acrylic and collage on canvas.

Tonight is the night of the new moon. The Chinese call this ninth new moon the Chrysanthemum Moon. The chrysanthemum is a symbol of long life and endurance because of its ability to withstand colder temperatures. According to Chinese scholars, it shows the virtues of one who can endure temptations and maintain grace.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. New moon meditation
3. Set intentions

Ayathrem

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.

Ayathrem is the fourth Gahambar, celebrating the creation of plants, the time to sow winter crops, and the season when the herds come home from pasture. It takes place each year from October 12th through the 16th.

Agenda:

1. Recite prayers
2. Make Aash-e-Reshte (noodle soup)
3. Sow fava beans

4. Fall cleaning

Indigenous People's Day

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but many of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it.

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

Agenda:
1. A note about appropriation

2. Make fry bread

Mehregan, Chung Ch’iu, and Full Squirrel Moon

Today is Mehregan (pronounced ‘meh-re-gahn’), an ancient Persian festival, older even than Zoroastrianism, that began as a feast for the sun god/dess, Mehr. When Zoroastrianism took hold in Persia, in around 1400 BCE, Mehr was reduced from a God to an angel, but the festival of Mehregan remained. Now Iranians celebrate it usually on October 1st or 2nd, as a day of thanksgiving and the start of the second half of the year (Noruz, in March, is the start of the first half). People decorate their houses, put on new clothes, and visit their relatives and friends, wishing each other a good harvest, long life, and happiness.

The squirrels are creating great entertainment these days for my dog Sadie!

Today is also the start of Chung Ch’iu, the 3-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - a happy and beautiful Asian family celebration that comes each year at the time of the full moon in September or October.

And tonight is the full moon called the Squirrel Moon, because now the squirrels are busily gathering nuts for the winter.

I'm celebrating a hybrid Mehegran/Chung Ch'iu/Sukkot this year -- for more art and recipes for Chung Ch'iu see my 2018 post.

Agenda for today:

1. Update my altar
2. Journal queries
3. Practice at my theme of balance
4. Fall cleaning

5. Make soup

6. Set the festival table

7. Have a Moon Viewing Party