Helpful Hints

Sleeping in a bed facing east makes it easier to wake up in the morning.

 

Quickening Moon

The Quickening Moon is a time of subtle awakening. There is a stirring in the land, barely reconizable. Honor this month's Full Moon by making time to clear the way for a new season- make plans for the future. Write a goal or project you hopt to complete on a piece of paper and burn a white candle on top of it. Make a promise to yourself or pledge your efforts to a project, lifestyle change or other goal. The Moon is your witness. In August, revisit this goal and check your progress. If you'd like, dedicate a piece of jewelry during this ritual; something you can wear as a reminder of your goal. Burn incense of myrrh, sage, spikenard, or  a combination of these and chant as you visualize your goal:
Constant Moon
Quicken my heart
Quicken my blood,
This is the start

Happy Valentine's Day

Origins of Valentine's Day: A Pagan Festival in February

 

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

February Moon Phases- Full Snow Moon

February 25 is the Full Snow Moon. Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.