Thursday, November 29, 2012

The mourning moon...or wait the beaver moon? full frost moon?

So I missed the post about last nights full moon. yeah...I'm as sick as sick gets and under a lot of moving stress so you'll just have to forgive me, but I do have good news and info about last nights full moon so keep reading.

Last nights full moon I know of by 2 names, one name being the mourning moon and the other being the beaver moon.
The reasons behind the name mourning moon is because during this time of year before the winter solstice we have to look back and see our past selves. what did we accomplish? what fears did we face? did we gain or lose anything?

Needless to say most of what's been on my mind as of late has been my stress of moving to a new house and the stress of me being sick which causes me to be more sick (negative feedback loop). I have what we call a "giant ghost" in the making.

The other name being the beaver moon is quite interesting so I had to look it up. I've heard of the name before but never the reasoning so I read the farmers almanac (Canadian version) Where I also found out it was also called the full frost moon.
picture from http://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/category/beavers/
Apparently this time of year was/is the last time to set beaver traps before all the water froze/freezes over. Pretty simple but hey paganism is usually nature based and you don't get much more nature based than the animals and the seasons.









Now for moving.
We bought a house, We bought a house *does happy dance before tipping over coughing*
We have been looking for a while but recently found an awesome house with a large yard and enough bedrooms to either have a renter or start a family.
Buying a house is stressful and expensive, lawyers fees, insurance, down payment, moving costs, changes in address, condo fees (yeah we chose to live in a housing association part of town cause we couldn't find a non association house that wasn't falling apart). And we're doing this all in November/December...right before yule and Christmas.
It feels like we're yelling "lets throw around all our money shall we?!?"
So yeah I'm happy, excited and stressed about that but thankful that we won't have to live in this horrid piece of shit apartment ever again. And I get to plan out for my little veggie garden, live closer to family and friends and live in a much safer neighbourhood.
We take possession legally on the new moon of December but don't start move in until the day after so hopefully as the moon grows into becoming full again so will we grow into this awesome house and have things work out for the better. Sounds like perfect timing, no? well it wasn't planned at all, we chose the possession date and move in date without even looking at the calendar and based off my work schedule, a few weeks ago, I only realized this week what phase the moon was going to be in.

So now what's on my mind exactly at this moment?
"how many people can we get/con into move heavy shit in exchange for pizza and beer?"
"what should the layout for my new home office look like for my webcomic design space?"
"raised beds or tilled garden beds?"
"what am I going to grow in those beds?"
"what kind of puppy do I want?"
"OMG how the hell are we actually affording this?" (money wise w're actually doing good, I just don't know how we managed it).


Well here's for a busy and exciting 2 and 1/2 more weeks.

Blessed Be
~Flaming

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Sorry I'm late again, Samhain and the hunters moon

Hey all I'm late I'm late I'm late, but I have work and personal issues in the way so you'll have to forgive me.

I'm lumping samhain and the hunters moon together in one post this year as they have come in the same week and close enough to affect each other.

The hunters moon came first on October 29th, I call it the hunters moon but I have also heard of it called the drying grass moon and the travel moon.

The hunters moon is named so because around this time people would be hunting to build their stores full of meat for the winter.

Oddly enough if you skip to Samhain, Samhain was also a time to slaughter and prepare for the winter (or maybe not odd?), Samhain falls on October 31st through November 1st though I have heard of people celebrating it October 25 through to November the 5th.
Samhain is also celebrated as the death night for the old year (the witches new year I've heard it called)
Samhain was often used for good celebration as well, people can and would tell fortunes about the coming year as well as some cultures bobbing for apples believing that the first apple caught would signify the first person to be married that year.

Samhain was/is also a time where spirits and ancestors from one's past can cross the veil and visit. People often leave out supper, or in the case of a serve yourself feist an empty plate would be left so the spirit could serve themself.
But just as a happy ancestor can come through the veil so can a murderer or other undesirable spirit so people must be careful. But hey that's where carving turnips came from. people use to carve turnip lanterns to light the way outside and to ward against malicious spirits. More commonly used now is the pumpkin which I am thankful for because turnips are hard to carve.
There are other stories about the carved turnip involving malicious fairies and also how people would leave food outside to gain the fairies favor for the upcoming year, but I don't know much more about that. I suggest any fairy work be researched elsewhere because I'm pretty clueless about fairies.
But here's a lantern for your enjoyment courtesy of wikipedia.



Blessed Be
~Flaming