I appreciated Robert Alan Rife's InnerWoven musing, Why the World Needs the Celts -- the always timely (and pretty inspired) gifts from the ancestral Celt-Gael wisdom and ways of being. As ever, the core ways and values find commonality with... Continue Reading →
Happy Imbolc, and Candlemas (read more about this ancient seasonal festival in my recent Sophia's Children musing on it)! (And Happy Lughnasadh to friends where it's Summer!) How have you experienced these last few weeks, with the Full Moon/Super Moon... Continue Reading →
To hallow is "to make holy or sacred, to sanctify or consecrate, to venerate". (Wikipedia) It's a fine time for drawing up insight and guidance from the depths, and sustenance from our very roots. Yesterday, I had the privilege and... Continue Reading →
May Day falls on the first day of May, and Beltane 'proper' is when the Sun is at 15 degrees of Taurus -- usually around the 4th or 5th of May. In 2017, it's Solar Beltane on May 5th. As... Continue Reading →
The 'wild bees of spirit' have spiraled back around, so it's timely to share anew this "Thresholds and the Wild Bees of Spirit" musing from the Sophia's Children treasure vault. 'Tis the season, too, in the Northern Hemisphere, with Spring... Continue Reading →
To hallow is "to make holy or sacred, to sanctify or consecrate, to venerate". (Wikipedia) It's a fine time for drawing up insight and guidance from the depths, and sustenance from our very roots. Yesterday, I had the privilege and... Continue Reading →
"... we have to reclaim the wisdom of the Feminine: to learn to listen, to learn to wait, to learn to be patient. There is saying in the Qur’an “We will show them Our signs on the horizons and within... Continue Reading →
When we think of grief ... or well, when we think of much of anything ... we might not consider the grief that we inherit along our ancestral lines, that's in our cells and bones. Nor might we consider what... Continue Reading →
There is deep wisdom in aligning with the energy and spirit of the season ... of Nature's rhythms, with which are bodies are strongly evolved to orient towards (or suffer from the cultural dissociation with Natural rhythms!).
There's also a wisdom and mythic quality associated with Imbolc, and other important archetypal energies and milestones as the wheel of the year turns.
What inspiration and deep restoration awaits you at this time of the year ... or any time that Imbolc-Bhrigdhe wisdom might spark the fires of inspiration within you?
“Being a Christian shaman involves a radically different way of participating in everyday life. It means that you will sacrifice rarely questioned cultural habits and understandings in favor of honoring innumerable unspoken mysteries.” ~ Brad Keeney, Shamanic Christianity My guess... Continue Reading →
“Tyranny cuts off the singer’s head but the voice from the bottom of the well returns to the secret springs of the Earth and rises out of nowhere through the mouths of the people.” ~ Pablo Neruda, trans. by Alistair... Continue Reading →
'Tis the Season of Lights ... or we're on the cusp of it, anyway. It beckons. Though not without its challenges, it's a potentially delicious time and Season-Spirit of the year ... lights sparking our own Divine Spark, and various... Continue Reading →
Cornucopia, by Rachel Ruysch (3 June 1664 – 12 August 1750). Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
Happy Samhain, All Hallow’s, All Souls, or All Saints week!
May you be enriched by the actual and metaphorical ‘fruits of the harvest’ and the blessings of the Season, and may the Wisdom within grow stronger, deeper roots.
Autumn Vintage Festival, 1877, by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema
Nowadays, with so much wisdom forgotten, many people think of Samhain or the cross-quarters as evidence of pagan ancestors or ‘ancestor worship’.
Or, among those who self-describe as more learned or intellectual, such seasonal festivals might be seen as holdovers from more ‘primitive’ or ‘superstitious’ times.
That’s all so much inaccurate thinky-thinky blah-blah that, caught up in the fog of self-righteousness, misses the point entirely.
Starting October 31st on the calendar, and/or when the Sun reaches mid-Scorpio (15 degrees) in the Northern Hemisphere’s Autumn Season, we note the Samhain, or All Hallow’s, All Souls, or All Saints festival. The ‘Halloween’ of modern times.
This year, 2015, the solar or astrological cross-quarter midpoint occurs over November 7th or 8th, depending on where in the world you are (in New York, it’s just about ‘exact’ at 1:00 p.m. on November 7th).
Time, timelines, bending time, time travel, time flying. In late-August 2000, I stepped out of time and, as a result, remembered the future. More on that in a bit, but first, here's the set-up for this "Time Machine" blog-fest post.... Continue Reading →
These last two months or so, the Black Madonna started rising more prominently in my awareness again. Not that she's ever far away, but sometimes she rises to the surface and taps me on the shoulder with some synchronicities, and... Continue Reading →
Wild violets. Public domain photo courtesy of pd4pics.
Having just picked ‘wild greens’ — dandelion, violet, and plantain — and eaten them in a lovely lunch salad, I came across this post, quite synchronistically.
Perfect timing, and a gorgeous photo of just one of the many healthy meals you can make from … you got it … wild plants that grow around you.
This is one of several ‘reclaimed arts’ of the Wise Woman path, and a lovely way to connect with the spirit of and place where we live, as well as with the deep roots of our ancestors, who did just this very thing.
Thanks to Charlie for sharing this great intel on the humble and yet incredibly nutrient-rich dandelion and violet.
My eyes have been opened to the wild, edible greens growing right in my own yard, after attending Let Food Be Thy Medicine: Using Herbs in the Kitchen at Saturday’s Spring Herb and Garden Conference. Herbalist Darcey Blue French of Brighid’s Well Herbs inspired us all by mixing up several delicious recipes for tasting, including an herbal pesto and a weed salad.
I haven’t looked at my “weeds” the same way since, especially those white violets I was cursing a few weeks ago. In fact, I snipped both dandelion greens and violet leaves this evening, along with sorrel, spinach, mizuna and black-seeded Simpson lettuce from my garden. I topped off the greens with chive and viola flowers for a beautiful and delicious spring salad.
Violet leaves are a tonic for the body’s lymph system and are rich in vitamin C. They are a powerful blood purifier. They taste very green…
One of the most popular series of posts, along with the Empaths & Sensitive Series, are my posts on the Black Madonna, Sophia, and the Mysteries of the deep, re-emerging Feminine. Many of the posts at Sophia's Children arise out... Continue Reading →
Imbolc-Candlemas is celebrated during the first few days of February, and the exact-point occurs when the Sun is at 15 degrees of Aquarius, which often occurs sometime around February 6th or 7th.
This year, though, it’s right now – February 3rd, so Imbolc-Candlemas ‘thin time’, as the ancients would have seen it, waxes into today and wanes as the Sun continues its journey past the power-gate.
This also initiates whatthe late mythic astrologer Steve Nelson called the Candlemas Hora … a holy time. He said:
“This Mid-Aquarius “power gate” begins the Candlemas Hora, a 15-day period from Feb 3 to 18 when the nature of the New Year becomes illuminated and the vital energies of Nature stir to life.”
Lady of Częstochowa, another well-known Black Madonna located at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland. Read the ‘Rilke & the Black Madonna’ post to learn more of her significance.
Read on to stir the Divine Flame within you —and the Wise Guide and Keeper of the Flame that you may be — in sync with the meaning of this season.
If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll be at the midpoint of Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, which is Lughnasadh. You can read about that here.
Even if you’re in Lughnasadh time, if you’ve got interests in the deep Feminine,the Black Madonna, and the associated gifts of deeper and awakening Wisdom, you’ll enjoy the Imbolc-Candlemas post for those goodies.
To clarify & activate your role for these times,as a Wise Guide or Keeper of the Flame, have a look at the current featured offerings or send me an email (jamie ‘at’ sophias-children ‘dot’ com).
In the Orchard (1912) by Franz Dvorak. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
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Magdalene with the Smoking Mirror, Georges De La Tour, 1640
We enter into the Mysteries of Imbolc, Candlemas, or Fèill Bhrìghde.
Imbolc or Fèill Bhrìghdewere some of the names given to this time of year by the Gaelic-Celtic ancestors, as they marked the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, and later is was called Candlemas or Fèill Brìghde.
Other cultures and traditions celebrated and honored the turning of the Seasonal wheel by other names.
I feel a special affinity for this time of year, since I was born at Imbolc-Candlemas, with Sirius and Orion visible in the Winter night sky.
For some of our ancestors, that reminder of coming Spring (and fading Winter) was a pretty big deal, in a region where it got plenty cold, and a time when there wasn’t the ease of electricity, central heating, a gas stove and electric fridge, or…
“Architects and planners use the term “desire paths” to describe the shortcuts taken by people for whom the laid-out pattern doesn’t fit their lives. But, in one sense, all paths are desire paths, the marks of human longing or need.”... Continue Reading →
In her excellent book, The Woman in the Shaman's Body*, Barbara Tedlock, Ph.D., shares this about the origin and meaning of the word shaman: "The term shaman itself comes from the Evenki language in Siberia, and means "the one who... Continue Reading →
This is such a beautiful, verdant, lush setting for the Algiz (Elhaz) runic symbol! I work with Algiz quite a bit -- it symbolizes Divine protection and the blessing (and reminder) of Divine presence, and has the look of someone... Continue Reading →
"I had seen their ships come into port in the Indies and in (America), disgorging their cargos of emigrants, so emaciated and worn by their passage ... skeletal as living corpses, white as maggots from two months in the darkness... Continue Reading →
I originally wrote this article for Samhain in 2014. It's timeless and rooting, so I'm updating it freshly for November 2017. Nowadays, with so much wisdom forgotten, many people think of Samhain or the cross-quarters as evidence of pagan ancestors... Continue Reading →
"While many urbanized cultures turn almost exclusively to the modern world for direction and inspiration, and feel that the future will bring new answers to our existing problems, indigenous cultures especially in more natural surroundings are increasingly pulling from both... Continue Reading →
There is a reason that those of European ancestry might be inspired or called to Native American or other indigenous spiritual and healing traditions. In them, they feel the ancestral memory being stirred in remembrance of their own pre-conquest ancestral... Continue Reading →
We enter into the Mysteries of Imbolc, Candlemas, or Fèill Bhrìghde. As I mentioned in previous musings, Imbolc-Candlemas has long been considered a thin time and an ancestral holy time traditionally celebrated during the first few days of February. The... Continue Reading →
Happy Lughnasa-Lammas! Technically, the 'exact' time for this ancestral 'Festival of Light & Harvest' is when the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Leo -- August 7th this year. But the traditional calendar time is the first several days of August,... Continue Reading →
It sounds like a lot of us are feeling the current psychic-energetic influences, either directly or via those around us. The steamy fiery trine is in cahoots with the very lunar, watery, highly sensitizing, boundary- (and structure-) dissolving Pisces-Neptune frequencies,... Continue Reading →
Autumn Vintage Festival, 1877, by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema 
![A young woman lights a candle in an Orthodox Church in the Ukraine [Image: Wiki Commons]](https://sophiaschildren.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/lighting_a_candle_in_orthodox_church_ukraine_wiki-commons.jpg)
Magdalene with the Smoking Mirror, Georges De La Tour, 1640 
