1st quarter in sidereal Cancer - Weeping Moon. What makes you sad? Use this moon to think about it. "There's nothing wrong with sitting on the pity pot. Just flush when you're done".

Waxing crescent in sidereal Taurus - Gardener's Moon. What are working hard on?

Pagan Blog Project - H is for Herb

Yes, that herb. In honor of Marijuana Legalization Awareness Day - or 4/20 as it is commonly called - I figured this would be an appropriate topic. Call marijuana what you will: herb, ganja, weed, pot, Mary Jane, bud, cannabis.

Now, don't go assuming that all Pagans use drugs including alcohol and tobacco in their spiritual practice. Not so. In fact, it is a personal decision, one that must be entered in with all the facts. Partakers must be willing to suffer any legal consequences since smoking herb spiritually is not consider exempt from local laws.

I'm not advocating for anyone to break the law but here are some tips you may wish to follow:

• Learn about herb and if it will react to any prescription meds. Remember, harm none includes yourself.
• Under no circumstances should you use any drugs if you feel pressured. The choice is yours alone.
• Do NOT allow minors to use any drugs even if the reason is spiritual.
• Moderation is the key. If you smoke herb all the time, the sacredness is diminished. Confine use to ritual time.
• Do not pass judgement on others whether you smoke herb or not.
• Be silent. What you do in ritual is between you and the Goddess and/or coven mates.
• If solitary, have someone you trust nearby to make sure you stay safe.
• Have your journal nearby so that you or someone else can write down any information you receive in your altered state of mind.

Marijuana has been around since ancient times. We use many other herbs in cooking and in teas. Whatever Gaia and Geb (Egyptian God of earth) has to offer us, I think we should have the right to use in responsible ways.

Astrology & Tarot

I spent all day studying astrology. More specifically how astrology relates to tarot. I have 2 decks - Mythical Goddess and Sun & Moon - that assign zodiacal correspondences to the cards. I wanted to learn more and understand the logic behind it. What I wind up doing was reassigning the minor arcana to reflect modern times. Whether this will make sense in the long run remains to be seen.

Chaldean order
This is an ancient geocentric order of 7 planets. Our days of the week are tied to this order:

• Saturn
• Jupiter
• Mars
• Sun
• Venus
• Mercury
• Moon

When viewed from Earth, the moon is the fastest planet and Saturn is the slowest. The rulership of each zodiac sign follows the days of the week starting with Mars (Tuesday) for Aries, Mercury (Wednesday) for Taurus, etc. Note that the decans (10 degree division in each sign, the inner circle) follow the Chaldean order as noted above. The chart is read counterclockwise.

Traditional order
Not sure when the rulerships were revised but this order has more symmetry. With the exception of the sun and moon, the planets rule 2 signs. The zodiac is split into day and night halves. The luminaries rule the summer signs and Saturn rules the winter signs.

Modern order
I combined information from 2 websites: this article on rulerships and this one about the signs and orbits. Each sign has a day and night ruler. Outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are included as well as Earth and Earth's 2nd (or 1st?) moon which I'll call Lilith.

Sign	Day	Night
Aries	Pluto	Mars
Taurus	Earth	Venus
Gemini	Lilith	Mercury
Cancer	Moon	Moon
Leo	Sun	Sun
Virgo	Mercury	Lilith
Libra	Venus	Earth
Scorpio	Mars	Pluto
Sagittarius	Jupiter	Neptune
Capricorn	Saturn	Uranus
Aquarius	Uranus	Saturn
Pisces	Neptune	Jupiter

Using this modern order, the decans have new rulers.

Minor Arcana correspondence

Everything I've found on the 'net shows the Tarot following the Chaldean order. I would rather use the modern order. At any rate, my card is 8 of pentacles. The Chaldean ruler is the Sun and the modern rulers are Mercury and Lilith.

Yesterday's magic is today's science

Waning crescent in sidereal Aquarius - Prophet's Moon

On the Prophet's Moon, we look to the future and think about how it might be. It's also a good time for reading science fiction or writing it, if that's your interest. If you'd rather deal in real life, read about cutting-edge science. On the other hand, there's also the ongoing work of humanitarians, and how they intend to change the world. Stay away from apocalyptic ideas, though. The Prophet's Moon is more relaxed than that. - Moon Phase Astrology by Raven Kaldera.

Woot! I totally love sci-fi. I'm trying to figure out what movie would work for tonight's moon. Perhaps Terminator? It's has so many time travel scenarios that Judgement Day has been changed several times. Book of Eli would fit perfectly but we don't have it. I can always look at one of my many Star Trek movies. Speaking of what the future would be like, Star Trek PADDs (personal access display device) look just like our e-readers of today.

Or, I, Robot! But the short stories are so much better than the movie although the movie was a great adaptation.

What other sci-fi books have been made into movies? If you like sci-fi, what's your favorite author? Or are you a change-the-world type of person?

Pagan Blog Project - H is for Het-Hert

If someone says you look like a cow, thank them. Het-Hert - better known to some as Hathor - is the Egyptian cow-headed goddess of seduction and passion. Sadly I could not find a good picture of her depicted this way but here is a small one.

Notice the horns representing the crescent moon surrounding the solar disk in the middle. She is roughly equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

(More to come)

3rd quarter in sidereal Sagittarius - Hunter's moon. Challenge your beliefs. For / against gay marriage, polyamory, women's reproductive rights? Why or why not?

Waning gibbous in sidereal Scorpio - witch's moon. How far would you go in a position of powerlessness? - Moon Phase Astrology by Raven Kaldera.

Spinner's Moon

Thoth's Day
Solar 16
Dreamspell - Yellow Cosmic Star (13 Lamat) - Kin 208
Mayan Tzolk'in - 5 Imix (Red Overtone Dragon) - Kin 161
Mayan Ha'ab - 4 Pop
Full Moon in sidereal Virgo - Spinner's Moon


On the Spinner's Moon, we count up our web of obligations. Whom do we owe, and who owes us, and how do we feel about those obligations? Who will be there to catch us when we fall? We also look at our attitudes toward service and whether we render it with a whole heart. It's a good time to render service to others, especially to small organizations that are keeping people alive and functioning in their lives, or ones that are concerned with helping people become independent. - Moon Phase Astrology by Raven Kaldera.

As a mom and wife, my obligations are too numerous to mention. If you read my post from yesterday, you will see that I've been relieved of my sisterly and daughterly obligations. Or have I? I'm torn between my spirituality which recognizes that all paths lead to the Divine and the spirituality of my family which states that their way is the only way. Since this is Good Friday for most of Christianity, what would Jesus do? April 10 is Siblings Day. I suppose my obligation is to continue to reach out to my siblings. At what point do I say fuck it? 2 of my 4 sibs know I'm jobless.

My sorority Zeta Sigma Chi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. has as its philanthropy the Ronald McDonald House and NAME. I don't have a personal charity at this time but I promote literacy and homeschooling.

Memorial of my family shunning me

Today is the only holiday celebrated by Jehovah's Witnesses, the memorial of Jesus' death also known as the Lord's evening meal. If I recall my scriptures correctly, Jesus added a new ritual after the Passover meal. This new ritual is called communion by other Christian sects. I can't remember the reasoning for JWs doing the memorial every year instead of every month or week.

After I moved, I did attend the memorial at the local congregation. I felt very uncomfortable because I didn't know anyone there. You see, I think that was the time that I wanted to attend with my mother. But I guess she was more interested in hanging out with her JW friends and not assisting her "lost" daughter. Growing up, the memorial was a huge deal. We got new clothes and went out to dinner afterwards, the JW version of Easter, sorta. We would try to dress alike or wear the same colors. I mean, this was the only holiday we celebrated so we tried to make it special.

As you may have guessed, I'm no longer JW and I will never be again. I do not believe that the bible is God's word. I believe that Jesus may have been a historical person but not specially divine. I have also done my own  personal research on JW, stuff that we wasn't taught in the Kingdom Hall.

The religion now known as Jehovah's Witnesses can trace its roots to a group of men just like any other religious movement. Charles Taze Russell, raised Presbyterian, hooked up with some Millerites and they had a bible study. Russell particularly agreed with Nelson Barbour, a Millerite Adventist. However, they had disagreements over bible doctrine and parted ways. Russell called his group Bible Students. Russell died in 1916. Joseph Rutherford took over. Apparently, Rutherford made some changes that were in direct contradiction to Russell's teachings. In 1931, the religion under Rutherford became known as Jehovah's Witnesses. Those faithful to Russell's teachings are still around today known as various bible student groups.

There may have be more recent branches from JW as people get disillusioned and leave. I was baptized in 1992 at 17 and disfellowshipped in 1995 for committing fornication (I was pregnant with my son). I am still being "punished" for a promise I made to this organization when I was a minor. Even legally, minors cannot enter into a contract. I'm thinking of writing a letter declaring that my baptism is null & void, you know, for therapeutic reasons. I know the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society could care less.

JWs believe like most other Christian religions that they are the only truth. Once you are baptized in, you cannot leave easily. That is, if you ever decide that you don't want to be a JW anymore, your life will be ruined. You will have to disassociate yourself which means that your Witness friends can't talk to you anymore. If you grew up as a JW like me, you will have no friends.

I'll stop before I sound even more bitter than I am. I need to prepare for my full moon ritual anyway.

Waxing gibbous moon in sidereal Leo - Singer's Moon. Do something creative