Queen of Cups (a found poem)

The Queen of Cups asks:

Do you believe in magic?

Do you know that you are magic?

Join the story

Go to the mountain

Return changed - with no apology

Anima, Wylde Woman, Sofia

Calls you back to yourself,

And invites you to dance

Howl your name

Sing your heart's song

Honor your instincts

You are sacred

Sia
These words come from Tammy Vitale's website. I've put them in the form of a found poem to go with her art piece which is pictured above.

Art piece: Queen of Cups by Tammy Vitale. To see more pieces like this go to her website: Sacred.

Related articles: Update 7/26

It is often odd (and delightful) to see how often Hecate and I are thinking along the same lines. Check out her recent post titled She Still Is A Woman.

Excerpt:

The WaPo has up some interesting thoughts about religion's role in oppressing women, inspired by President Carter's recent decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention because of its views on women. Specifically, writers were asked to respond to this question: Former president Jimmy Carter and other world leaders issued this statement: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable." What's your reaction to these statements? Are 'male interpretations of religious texts' to blame for the 'deprivation of women's equal rights?' Interestingly, the article is titled: "Elders or Patriarchs: Who Speaks for Women?" Of course, the correct answer is: "Women."

Summer Solstice: Ancient & Modern Celebrations

‘Before the gods that made the gods
Had seen their sunrise pass,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
Was cut out of the grass.’

G.K Chesterton, 1911

Blessings of the coming Summer Solstice to you and yours. I hope you have fun welcoming in the day. I know I will.

(from 2008 - Reposted in honor of Pagan Values Month)

The Religious Tolerance website reminds us that this is day celebrated by people of many faiths and none. As such, it's one of my favorite holidays.

I always like to find a slightly different take on these well known holidays. Here are two such: Five Petal Rose wrote an interesting post on the Summer Solstice as a Holiday of Fire and Water while Blue Roebuck offers us a nice mix of Sun Goddesses as a means to reclaim the power of women.

Today I would like to share a recent story about the Giant of Dorset.

Many believe the figure is a symbol of ancient spirituality and fertility and he has been used to advertise products as diverse as condoms, jeans and bicycles.

During WWII, the giant was disguised to prevent the Germans using him as an aerial landmark.

This area of England is blessed with abundant wildlife close to the giant (natch) and these insects, flowers, animals and birds are being studied and protected by the National Trust.

Of all the chalk figures, my personal favorite is the White Horse of Uffington. Note to horse lovers, the summer solstice is also known as the Feast of Eopna, who is the great Horse Goddess of the ancient Guals and is thus connected to Celtic tradition. Here are some photos from Loxley Abby of one such feast. On Macknac Island in Michigan this is also a time when the animals are blessed. The Gift Horse Gallery has a nice write up on Epona and a Pagan blogger named Anita offers a mantra for this day.

Speaking of animals, check out Take Your Dog To Work Day.

"Heel, girl. Mamma's gonna get the leash...."

Sia

Art: Epona by Joanna Barnum

Endnotes: Some Solstice Myths and Facts:


The StarDate site tells us that:

There are two solstices each year. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, occurs when the sun appears farthest south in the sky. The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, occurs when the sun appears farthest in the north. Egyptians were especially interested in the summer solstice because it marked the beginning of the Nile's flood season. Accurately predicting the floods was of such vital importance that the appearance of Sirius, which occurs around the time of the summer solstice, was recognized as the beginning of the Egyptian new year.

Water is Life:

Nabta: Circle in the Sand (also from StarDate)

To the people of ancient Nabta, in the desert of southern Egypt, the summer solstice meant life. Soon after the Sun reached the northernmost point in its annual trek across the sky, monsoons brought precious rainfall. Not much rain, mind you — no more than four to eight inches a year, about the equivalent of the annual rainfall in Las Vegas or Phoenix. But for a few weeks, water filled shallow desert basins. Grass grew along the banks, providing fodder for cattle, and wells filled with enough water to sustain small nomadic tribes for the entire year. To help them predict and commemorate this life-giving event, the people at Nabta built an observatory — a 12-foot (4-meter) circle of flat stones, with four pairs of taller stones aligned opposite each other. Two pair provided a "window" on the solstice sunrise, while the other two aligned on an almost-perfect north-south axis

Illustration: From the StarDate site.

Ancient Alignments: Scientific American published a fasinating article some years ago on the research being done at Nabta, an site which contains the world's oldest astronomical observatory:

When the stones were erected, the area received enough rain in the summer monsoon for temporary lakes, called playa, to form. The site, built on the shore of one such lake. Radiocarbon dating indicates that Neolithic herders began coming to Nabta about 10,000 years ago. It was used periodically by nomads until about 4,800 years ago, when the monsoon moved southwest and the area again became arid.

At the height of its human occupation--about 6,000 years ago--Nabta supported well-established communities. One village consisted of 18 houses served by deep wells. Beneath the surface slabs of the largest megalithic structure was a sculptured rock resembling a standing cow. The team also excavated several cattle burials at Nabta, including an articulated skeleton buried in a roofed, clay-lined chamber. The late Neolithic occupants apparently used cattle in their rituals just as the African Massai do today, says Malville.

The Goddess Hathor is closely linked to the solstice. You might enjoy Solstice at Abu Simbel by Graham Raith at Two Camels. His post contains a very good description of a temple dedicated to the Goddess Hathor (note the cattle link again) & Ra:

At the solstices, twice a year, the dawn sunlight is aligned to light the entire length of the temple, lighting up three of the four statues, but never touching that of Ptah, the god of darkness.

If this "miracle of the sun" is the first miracle of Abu Simbel, the saving of the temples is the second. The building of the High Dam at Aswan meant that the original site would be flooded, and the temples lost under the waters of Lake Nasser. An international rescue effort was mounted, and the temples cut onto blocks and removed to their present, higher location, set into a concrete supporting bowl, and retaining the original precise orientation to preserve the "miracle of the sun".

Protecting Rock Art & Sacred Places

I was saddened to read about the recent defacement of 6,000 year old rock art by UN Peacekeepers in Morrocco. This is our human heritage and defacing, stealing or destroying ancient art effects us all. The climate scientist who broke this story at the Sand & Dust blog writes:

A recent visit (Nov-Dec 2007) to Western Sahara by this blogger revealed a more unsavoury legacy of MINURSO’s presence in Western Sahara - the deliberate vandalism of archaeological sites. The most dramatic example of this is at Lajuad in the Southern Sector of the Polisario-controlled zone, where MINURSO recently installed some communications hardware on the inaccessible (except by helicopter) summit of a smooth granite hill. It appears that the MINURSO personnel responsible for the installation amused themselves by spray-painting their names on the wall of a rockshelter that is also an important archaeological site (see photos).

It is a tragedy that UN personnel tasked with resolving one of the world’s longest running military and political conflicts are engaging in the willful destruction of important archaeological sites that have much to teach us about the prehistory of a part of the world that is virtually unknown to the international research community. It is also a tragedy for the cultural heritage of Western Sahara, and is indicative of a contempt for the Sahrawi people on whose land these crimes have been committed.

More pictures can be see at his site.

Wanna Be Pagans and New Age folks have been just as guilty of defacement and disrespect, as Documentary Works notes:

The appearance of various "New Age" symbols at or near rock art sites, such as "medicine wheels" and various "offerings," is increasingly common and a source of concern for land managers, site stewards, rock art researchers and some Native Americans. Such symbols are presumably placed in response to the marks already present, as indigenous rock art sites come to serve as shrines or ritual sites for non-Natives.

Folks, any good camper can tell you that you must "Leave nothing and take nothing away". If you are visiting an ancient site, even if it is part of your heritage and especially if is is not, it is not your place to add to it. Make a shine in your heart and leave it at that.

Sia

Links:

Petroglyphs U.S.

Rock Art - Wikiedia

Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surfaces by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of technique to refer to such images. Petroglyphs are found world-wide, and are often (but not always) associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek words petros meaning "stone" and glyphein meaning "to carve" (it was originally coined in French as pétroglyphe).

The term petroglyph should not be confused with pictograph, which is an image drawn or painted on a rock face. Both types of image belong to the wider and more general category of rock art. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes made by many large rocks and boulders over the ground, are also quite different. Inukshuks are also unique, and found mainly in the arctic.

Goddess Tours & Sacred Places

Sia's Post:

Karen Tate is doing some interesting work. This just came in today:

The Sacred Feminine of Paris - May 23 - 30, 2008:

Explore Paris and discover how a modern city can exude the essence of the Sacred Feminine. From the architecture and cuisine, to the history and Goddess Spirituality hidden in plain sight, the city of Paris has a flavor, beauty and culture like few other. No longer swept beneath the sands of time, the Divine Feminine comes alive along your journey. From her newly defined sacred place, the Louvre Museum, visit her many faces embraced across continents and cultures in the winding halls and corridors of this stunning bastion of art and history. Wonder at Mary Magdalene’s temple in the heart of Paris. Light a candle before Our Lady of Lourdes. Uncover places once sacred to Isis, the Druids, and Celts. Visit a sacred well beneath a cathedral replete with symbols and imagery of Goddess from a past long forgotten in contemporary life.Meditate on the ancient roots of the Black Madonna and the Blessed Virgin. Walk in the footsteps of the Templars, Josephine and Napoleon and other famous people of history. Contemplate controversial sites made famous in The DaVinci Code.

She is also planning a tour in Turkey.

She is offering a lecture in Hollywood on July 21st, as part of the Goddess Behind Glass series at the Magdalene Cultural Arts Center and Botique North Hollywood, CA

From her newly redefined sacred place, The Museum, her story,spirituality, and traditional practices of Goddess worship from ancient times comes alive. Join author and independent scholar, Karen Tate, as she presents a visual montage of images entitled, "Goddess Behind Glass," a visual journey celebrating She of Ten Thousand Names embodied in artifacts of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Contact Karen for details at karentate108@ca.rr.com

Related Articles: It's the Journey That Matters: Neopagan Travel and Retreats

Speaking of Sacred Places....

I've just heard that Red, White and Blue Beach, one of the last and best nude camping beaches in the West, closed last November. (See photo above). That magical place was a haven for many Pagans, Witches, eco-feminists and birders from California and all over the world. It will be greatly missed.

This is what I wrote about an experience I once had there:

One of my favorite Circles recently celebrated a weekend of ritual at a nudist beach here in California. Wildflowers blossomed all around our campsite, their perfume mingling with the smoke from our altars as we burned lavender, mugwort and sage. Sea birds flew around the cliff sides, calling to their mates and we joined our calls with theirs. When night came our fire leapt high to greet the stars, our drums echoed to the beat of our hearts and the river sang in joy as it rushed forward to meet the sea. The Wild Hunt was a thing of beauty, celebrated among adults with humor, honor, trust and love. It is at these times that I feel truly blessed to part of a spiritual practice that celebrates the cosmic dance of life.

Blessed Be to you and yours in all your Rites and Mysteries.

Sia

Related Articles: Nudity at Festivals

Off the Shelf:

Help Support Full Circle: Any money made from book sales via the Powell's Books or Amazon links at this blog goes to support non-profit efforts such as the Pagan Voting Project, the Spiral Steps Support Groups, The Gaia's Guardian's Project (which supports those who do companion animal & wildlife rescue and work to protect the environment), and the Earthwise Networking Project (which helps like-minded folks connect to do some good where they live). Thank you so much.

Links:

California Coastal Records Project

The Women's Heritage Project