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| Isn't Maxfield Parrish wonderful? |
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The 'Garden' part of the Garden Blog
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| The heart of the garden |
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| The tall golden plant is quinoa and there are hops against the barn |
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| The Garden Gate (that I made! my first gate!) |
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| Loki cruising stealthily by the dahlia, basil, kale zone. |
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| A Very Fancy kale. |
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| Artichoke flowers. This is what happens if you don't harvest them to eat; they bloom! And the bees absolutely love them. |
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| Rhubarb emerging. |
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| Hermetron amongst the ripening apples. |
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| This sunflower is ready for a rest! How about on top of the bee hive? |
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| Hermes and the Cinderella Pumpkins. (Should be a rock band!) |
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| A great reading spot in the garden. |
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| The entrance-way, as seen through the medieval look-out portal in the gate. |
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| Hermes dashing by the cacti and succulents garden. |
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| Blooming succulent |
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| Elderberries |
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| Scarlett Runner Bean flowers |
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| Purple Peruvian Corn |
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| Scarlett Runner Beans..aka a map of the Galaxy! |
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| Bug streaking along the upper path. |
Saturday, August 27, 2011
And now we approach the time of balance between light and dark. It is Hermes the Magician, ruler of Virgo who holds the lantern to guide us. 
He takes Persephone's hand as she heads out into the meadow to gather flowers, her inevitable and necessary annual journey to the underworld awaiting her there.
Virgo's task (Aug 23-Sept 22) is deadly serious. The harvest of Leo is in, and now the work is to decide what of the harvest is to be eaten over the winter and what is to be saved as seed for next year's garden. Miscalculations on either side are unpleasant so along comes Venus, the ruler of Libra to assist us.
Wow, what a potent chart that is. Uranus is still in the early degrees of Aries (it entered on March 11 of this year: Fukushima) and it will be opposing Venus, the Sun and Mercury. And all of those planets with Saturn as well, are squaring Pluto. Hmmm.... Expect the unexpected as they say... across the board. Could be fiery. Weird telecommunications things could definitely happen.
The Moon and Mars are both conjunct in Leo right on the horizon as Equinox happens.
All the World's a Stage...
Thankfully they are sextiling the Sun and Mercury, and are trine to Uranus.
Emotional honesty and right action are our only options now. We are closing in on 2012 and regardless of any of the various prophecies, no one can deny that we are in a time of unprecedented change. It is time to follow your greatest desires. Why are you here? Where are you supposed to be? Find your spot and nestle in, hunker down, and Live Long & Prosper!!!
If you don't have any sort of garden right now, it is Fall and a great time to start one. Even just wine barrels can give you a great greens garden that you can cut from daily.If you already have a garden, time to think brassicas. Broccoli, Kale, Cabbages... they love the winter and it is lovely to have them. But get them in soon and keep them well watered until the rains come.
Mabon is the time of the second harvest, when fruits are ready for collection.
Mabon is a time to consider which aspects of your life you wish to preserve and which you would prefer to discard. It marks a time of thankfulness, equality and balance. The dark half of the year brings a greater emphasis on reflection, rest and planning.
I love this time of the year so much, with it's slanting rays of light and deep jewel toned hues and the breath of relief that the garden seems to take as it settles down and in for a long winter's nap. The following is my favorite seasonal soundtrack. The first song from George Winston's seminal album from 1980.
Enjoy!
Paetra is available for astrological consultations.( http://www.wix.com/paetra/paetra-tauchert )
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Lammastide: Honoring the passing of the light and the reaping of the grain.
Here we are at Lammas, the Gateway into Fall yet we still have the august heat of Indian Summer awaiting us, to ripen our fall crops.
What are you thankful for this harvest season?
Count your blessings.
Celtic Festival of the First Fruits and Ripening Corn
"In August the land grew dusty and dry. Petals fell from the roses, pink and yellow, crimson and white. Thick like a carpet they lay on the lawns and paths, and the poppies were seed heads now. The moors were tinged with purple heather and the cornfields had ripened to an overall gold. Dusk fell earlier with the approaching Autumn and Owen felt a touch of sadness, as if something was drawing to a close. There was a feeling of lateness in the minty evenings. He could smell the coming of dewfall and frost..." Louise Lawrence
Lammas is the seasonal peak of high summer, and the gateway into autumn. And as with all cross-quarter festivals it is the point when we must respond to the changes which are coming. The grain harvest is being gathered in, representing for us both the food which will sustain us throughout the winter, and the seed which will grow again in the spring to bring next year's harvest.
It is a time to give thanks for the active growth period as the sun's energy begins to wane. We turn once again to face our inner selves, assimilating and understanding on deeper levels what we have within.
The first sheaf of wheat is ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so that the people might live. Eating this bread, the bread of the Gods, gives us life. If all this sounds vaguely Christian, it is. In the sacrament of Communion, bread is blessed, becomes the body of God and is eaten to nourish the faithful.
This Christian Mystery echoes the pagan Mystery of the Grain God.
Grain has always been associated with Gods who are killed and dismembered and then resurrected from the Underworld by the Goddess-Gods.
The story of Demeter and Persephone
is a story about the cycle of death and rebirth associated with grain. Demeter is a fertility Goddess. Ceres/Demeter is the Increaser, the Mother Aspect of the triple Goddess. She who is the seed, the womb and the soil, the preserver of life, regenerative power. Demeter the Corn Mother represents the ripe corn of the year's harvest and her daughter Persephone represents the grain seed who lives in the dark throughout the winter and re-appears in the spring as new growth. Through rest, sleep and time in the dark, we are made new.
This is a fun project to do with kids. Take dried-out corn husks or other cereal crops and tie them together in the shape of a woman. This is your visual representation of the harvest. As you work on her, think about what you harvested this year.
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The corn dolly is an ancient harvest custom, still widely practiced throughout Europe. In ancient Europe it was customary at harvest time to leave a small portion of the grain in the field, often twisted or tied into the shape of a man or the symbol of a god or goddess.
This bundle or effigy
(immortalized in Burns’ ballad of John Barleycorn) http://youtu.be/7bcYeP8Kk8k was believed to contain the essence of the spirit of the grains, a representation of the solar deity who would be burned and ‘reborn’ as the spring grain. At the end of the season (usually at the winter solstice), the bundle would be ritually sacrificed, burnt, or plowed under to ensure the year’s crops.
In later times, corn dollies evolved into a household tradition, with elaborate symbolic figures crafted from straw, which were usually hung over doors or in barns and burnt at Christmastime.
  Decorate your table or altar with corn and grasses. If you have no corn, then bake a loaf of bread and plait it to represent the weaving of the summer energies and birthing. 
Light golden or dark red candles on your table to represent the waning sun. Bring in a bowl of raspberries or wild strawberries.....the colour scheme should be yellows, golds and reds.
 
It is a form of thanksgiving.
Another way of looking at it is natural selection: we give back the seeds of the first and best of our harvest so that we may have more of the same next year.
Of course, while we do conduct these rituals we are not agrarian people. If you’re a city slicker you have to concentrate on the real meaning of harvest and sacrifice.
Throughout the year, starting at Winter Solstice, when the Sun began its ascent anew, we dreamed about and eventually cultivated ideas, projects and transformations to help grow and develop ourselves.
Finding ourselves at varying levels of success come harvest time, Lammas presents us with an opportunity to give thanks for that success.
By the waning part of summer, we’ve been working on our different projects and gardens at full tilt for several months. In the hot, active, yang season it’s easy to become wrapped up in our activities and seduced by our triumphs. But it’s also a strange time; we must acknowledge that there is still much work to do -- as much as these still long yet shrinking days will allow us -- while simultaneously discerning the destination on the horizon, which is a withdrawal back into the ground, back into ourselves. Rest is coming: sweet, deep sleep and dreams of new ways to grow. "
(Herbis Orbis)
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