The geese arriving under moon's halo

signal season with haunting night cries

after a playful maple whiled the afternoon

changing first a low branch then higher (westward)

and finally blazing a top branch a fall sunset torch

as whippty dip swirl of orange and green

undecided if today was the day


Phil Specht

Thomas Deininger

A Walk in Autumn Woods

King Midas passed this way

striding down the mountain,

his robes inflaming grasses,

his hands mesmerizing trees.

In tourmaline, amber, and garnet

the land has burst afire

bronzing grasses, gilding leaves,

gold gleaming wherever he gazed.

He walked this place dreaming

of beauty, as the departing sun

swiftly, too swiftly stripped

the aspens of their gold.

Bereft, they lean bone-white

into a blue and cooling sky

while the faint fluting of Pan

sounds in the wind like grief.

~~ Pat Maslowski

September 28, 2007 at 03:26 PM MDT

Tanner's AFP is 3.3! No cancer this month!! His BUN (kidney function) is 12, which is the first normal he's ever had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Megan

WHAT PART OF QUIET DIDN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

Howard *does* look good in pink though, doesn't he?

hattip to floridagal ♥

Despite resemblance

(color, architecture)

raspberries and pomegranates

are not the same

and never will be



.

Raised by Wolves

CameraPhone Zen

bryerpatch (clicky)

Hillbilly Tantra

"It is true that a certain kind of patience is required that you might not normally exercise in the bedroom, living room floor, or elevator, however you don’t have to do deep breathing exercises for twelve hours on a bed of roses to practice sex magick. Do it on a pile of cactus with a herd of cattle if you like. The distinction is in your energy, in your intent, and in your attitude. Note however -- and this cannot be under stressed -- if you aren’t intending the growth and enjoyment of those you’re participating with, then you’re pissing in your drinking water, since you’re going to be alchemically mixing your energies with theirs.

"Even if altruism isn’t your game, that’s just bad business."

Caryl Bryer Fallert

Bip, we hardly knew ye. . . .

A moment of silence

Last Year At Avebury

The Autumn Equinox is the time when the Neopagan Sabbat of Mabon is celebrated.

The Autumn Equinox is the time when the Neopagan Sabbat of Mabon is celebrated.

Mabon is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbats of American Neopaganism. It is celebrated on the autumn equinox, which in the northern hemisphere is circa September 21 and in the southern hemisphere is circa March 21.

Also called Harvest Home, this holiday is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the Earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and God during the winter months.

Among the sabbats, it is the second of the three harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas and followed by Samhain.

Mabon was not an authentic ancient festival either in name or date. The autumn equinox was not celebrated in Celtic countries, while all that is known about Anglo-Saxon customs of that time was that September was known as haleg-monath or 'holy month'.

The name Mabon has only been applied to the neopagan festival of the autumn equinox very recently; the term was invented by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s as part of a religious studies project. (The use of Litha for the Summer Solstice is also attributed to Kelly).

Previously, in Gardnerian Wicca the festival was simply known as the 'Autumnal Equinox', and many neopagans still refer to it as such, or use alternative titles such as the neo-Druidical Aban Efed, a term invented by Iolo Morgannwg.

The name Mabon was chosen to impart a more authentic-sounding "Celtic" feel to the event, since all the other festivals either had names deriving from genuine tradition, or had had names grafted on to them. The Spring Equinox had already been misleadingly termed 'Ostara', and so only the Autumn Equinox was left with a technical rather than an evocative title. Accordingly, the name Mabon was given to it, having been drawn (seemingly at random) from Welsh mythology.

The use of the name Mabon is much more prevalent in America than Britain, where many neopagans are scornfully dismissive of it as a blatantly inauthentic practice. The increasing number of American Neopagan publications sold in Britain by such publishers as Llewellyn has however resulted in some British neopagans adopting the term.

The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.

The Equal Night

The Equal Night
Credit: STS-68 Crew, NASA

Explanation: Today, the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south at 0951 UT. Known as the equinox, the astronomical event marks the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the south. Equinox means equal night and with the Sun on the celestial equator, Earth dwellers will experience nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Of course, for those in the south, the days will grow longer with the Sun marching higher in the sky as summer approaches. A few weeks after the September Equinox of 1994, the Crew of the shuttle orbiter Endeavor recorded this image of the Sun poised above the Earth's limb. Glare illuminates Endeavor's vertical tail (pointing toward the Earth) along with radar equipment in the payload bay.

Equinox 5:51 a.m. EDST

This fox's name is Taz, but I can't find where I found the picture

Bless you, Paul, bless you.

September 19, 2007, 9:34 pm

The Straight and Not Narrow

For some reason a couple of people who have written to me in the last few days, on matters unrelated to this post, have mentioned in passing that the Democrats won a “narrow victory” in 2006. Apparently this is conventional wisdom, what you get from reading or watching a lot of commentary. So I thought it might be worth pointing out that it’s absolutely not true.

In fact, it’s quite strange how the magnitude of the Democratic victory has been downplayed. After the 1994 election, the cover of Time showed a charging elephant, and the headline read “GOP stampede.” Indeed, the GOP had won an impressive victory: in House races, Republicans had a 7 percentage point lead in the two-party vote.

In 2006, Time’s cover was much more subdued; two overlapping circles, and the headline “The center is the new place to be.” You might assume that this was because the Democrats barely eked out a victory. In fact, Democrats had an 8.5 percentage point lead, substantially bigger than the GOP win in 1994. Also, the new Democratic majority in the House isn’t just larger than any the Republicans achieved over their 12-year reign; it’s much more solidly progressive than their pre-1994 majority.

It’s just one election, and may not represent a trend (although I think it does.) But the 2006 election was, in fact, a progressive landslide.

Dale Chihuly who is 66 today!

Hattip to Renee♥

Saint Exupery's 'The Little Prince' Quiz.

You are the pilot. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Some things are too beautiful for words. . . .

May you walk with the sunshine on your face;
May your moments be filled with gentle grace;
May you always give life a second chance;
May you never find frogs in your underpants.

Yes, Love, I still miss you