Sunday, December 31, 2006

Sabat Dates for 2007

At Carlford Coven we shall celebrate the sabats on the following days:

IMBOLC Friday February 2nd (also the Full Moon)

OSTARA Wednesday March 21st

BELTAINE Sunday April 29th

LITHA Thursday June 21st

LAMMAS Tuesday July 31st

MABON Sunday September 23rd

SAMHAIN Wednesday October 31st

YULE Saturday December 22nd

How the year will fly!

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Are Supermarkets the new Hell?

Life is full of contrasts, and at Christmas we seem to have lost our sense of spirituality, and now worship at the altars of consumerism.

Yesterday evening I represented the Holly King in the Yuletide ritual, we had a jolly time, ate good food, enjoyed a glass of mulled wine made from bullaces (small plums) and exchanged hand-made presents, poems were read, songs were sung, a happy band of people joined together to enjoy each other's company.

And afterwards, realising too late that I'd not really prepared for Xmas I went to the Tesco supermarket in Martlesham, near Ipswich, Suffolk (and you all know where that is by now). It was 11pm - the place was packed!

As young east-european men stacked the shelves, working with industry, the fat English waddled through the aisles, loading trolleys with garishly coloured cardboard boxes, believing them to contain food.

It could be described as a scene from Hell. Not Dante's Inferno, except most of the English could be described as Opportunists, for many had done little to deserve their riches. Perhaps they should have been in the fourth circle of the Inferno for their greed had overtaken all other passions. I was left wondering how to label the world we have created.

Tesco at midnight is about as bad as I want it to get.

Just tested my carbon footprint - look at www.thersa.org/carbon and found I've use about 2.3 tonnes - below the 4 tonne limit suggested. Try it yourself.

We must start respecting our planet. In the last 60 years the population has grown from 2 billion to over 6 billion, and will soon rise to 9 billion. That cannot continue. In the past famine, pestilence and war have kept the population at reasonable levels. Now we are in real danger.

The two snakes, one red, one white, continue to grow, using more of our precious mineral wealth, polluting the air we breath as they weave their way around all the lands. Stop using your car. Get a bike. Walk whenever you can. Use local shops. Try to avoid supermarkets.

Consumerism puts a price on everything, but it's a failing economic system. Americans pollute more than any other group. Their economy relies upon growth and to keep growing they just keep building up the debt they owe the rest of the world. It is crass stupidity.

A few more degrees warmer and the permafrost of Russia will begin to melt. There are peat bogs that are bigger than France and Germany combined which contain methane, at present locked up in the ice. Methane is worse that carbon dioxide at increasing the global temperature. There's a time bomb waiting we will not be able to control.

Gaia will survive. It is homo sapiens who will be destroyed.

Think about that before you jump on a plane: a third of the population of Ireland flew to New York to do their Xmas shopping this year. Isn't that mad?

Cars, planes, heating badly insulated houses, carrying goods from one side of the globe to the other, all burn fossil fuels - precious, irreplaceable materials that have taken millions of years to be produced.

The results will be catastrophic.

Think of your grandchildren's children. They may never exist because of your negligence.

The light is coming, we have moved from the darkness, there's a bright future ahead. Let's work hard to make it happen.

Monday, December 18, 2006

King Holly & King Oak

The Holly King and the Oak King are part of Celtic mythology, representing two sides of the Green Man or Horned God.

During our Yuletide ritual this year they will, once again do battle. This happens twice a year. At Yule the Oak King will win the fight, and rule until Litha at midsummer, when the Holly King will again hold sway.

The battle is symbolic, these two are always present, with one coming to the forefront with greater influence at each half of the year.

These kings represent different ideas. The time of the Oak King is for growth, development, healing, and starting new projects while the Holly King gives us time for rest, reflection, and learning.

The Queen of Midwinter, the Goddess of the winter moon, will be represented by our crone, meeting the Ivy Queen as she presents King Holly and then King Oak. Sides will be taken, as supporters cheer on their champion but the result is well known. King Holly will succumb, with good grace, to allow King Oak to bring in the growing strength of the sun.

Here we are in the middle of winter. With this ceremony we can glimpse the exciting new future. The world has turned, and its face will slowly gather more from the strength of the sun.