Friday, December 12, 2008

Full moon in Gemini

(Virgen de Guadalupe by Susan Grice; image found here.)


Today is the full moon in Gemini 22: Dancing couples crowd the barn in a harvest festival.

This degree Symbol is about celebrating the warmth and providence of the earth, the joy of nature's harvest, joining with others to celebrate, the reality of rhythmical or seasonal adjustments, agriculture, good old-time values, going out, having fun, listening and dancing to music, barns and dance halls.
Today's full moon is at its perigree for the year, the closest to the earth it will come. I don't think it will be visible where I am, given the cloud cover. But do try to see it if you can! Go here to read Lynda's full report for the day.

Today is also the feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, one of my favorite faces of the Goddess, beloved in Mexico and the southwestern U.S. Despite her roots in Catholicism, I consider her a goddess native to the Americas.

Today is the first day of the We'Moon calendar for the upcoming year. The theme for the year is "At the Crossroads." Since 2000, We'Moon has been progressing through the major arcana of the tarot for its yearly themes. 2009 is card 9, the hermit or the crone; Hecate the crone rules the crossroads. At the crossroads, our elders and ancestors, those who walked the path before us, serve as our guides. Read a statement of alliance from the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers here (and in the new We'Moon).

Today I'm ordering herbs to restock my pantry in preparation for birth and days postpartum. There is still cleaning and stocking to do before the little one, due at the new moon, arrives.

3 comments:

Pitch313 said...

I used to feel more open hearted for these Marian apparitions, but these days, they seem a little too Christian, too Catholic for me.

Inanna said...

I hear you. I used to feel less open to them, and lately I feel more open, but I still like them fairly untraditional. I have a creche from Ethiopia that I like to put up, and I have a small painted icon of Mary painted as the Queen of Peace.

It's possible, too, that if I'd been raised Catholic, I'd feel differently. As it was, I was raised Lutheran, and I was taught that Catholics worshiped Mary as if she were God, which is wrong (since there's only supposed to be one god, and he's a man). So now I kind of dig the Pagan elements of Catholicism.

xJane said...

I didn't realize the We'Moon calendar had already started! I may have to open my annual Solstice gift to myself early...

I came out of the Catholic tradition and still feel like it's wrapped around my bones in a way that's hard to get rid of. Mary and Mary Magdelene (arguably the mother and lover of the Son) still have very strong, and good, associations for me. Even some of the saints (I'm named for a few) remind me that Goddess is everywhere.

I like cultural iconography—Russian and Southwestern/Mexican are some of my favorites. Catholicism did Paganism few favors, but if you look just right, you can find the pagan in the most Catholic of cathedrals, homes, and hearts. That gives me hope.