Demeter Thesmophoros Ah! Beautiful Thesmophorae! Grant me your favors, protect me, both within the temple and on my way back…Mighty divinity, oh, Demeter, and thou, Persephone, grant that I may be able to offer you many sacrifices… — Aristophanes, from Women at the Thesmophoria In ancient Greece, the Thesmophoria was performed annually at this time. … Read more
Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. — Benjamin Franklin Today, we meet the last, and perhaps most misunderstood, of the four classical virtues. Because it is much maligned, we will spend a couple of days working with it. Temperance (sophrosyne in Greek) is the practice of moderation. It was one of the four … Read more
The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done. — Chuang Tzu, Chinese philosopher, major thinker in Taoism (circa 360 BCE -275 BCE) The origins of the word virtue are from the Latin virtutem … Read more
Sedna © Susan Boulet I think over again my small adventures, my fears,These small ones that seemed so big.For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.And yet there is only one great thing,The only thing.To live to see the great day that dawnsAnd the light that fills the world.— Inuit song … Read more
And I myself will teach my rites, that hereafter you may reverently perform them and so win the favor of my heart.— Hymn to Demeter, attributed to Homer This week’s Full Moon was a powerful one in many, many cultures and traditions. In the ancient world, it is the Moon during which the Eleusinian Mysteries … Read more
Nature contains Nature,Nature rejoices in her own nature,Nature surmounts Nature;Nature cannot be amended but in her own nature. — Secret Teachings of All Ages, by Manly Palmer Hall (1901-1990) With Euphrosyne as our guide, plus a special visit this week from the Queen of Pentacles, we move deeper into the harvest and ancestor festival season. … Read more
What we plant in the soil of contemplation,we shall reap in the harvest of action.— Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) Although most of us live in worlds that seem very far from the Earthy rhythms, seasonal awareness still runs deep in our bodies and blood. In these days of supermarkets, easy access to food from around the … Read more
I see the better things, and approve; I follow the worse. — Ovid As we continue through the harvest festival season, and the time of year when the ancestors are remembered, we come on this date to the opening day of the Ludi Romani, also called the Ludi Magni which were held to honor the … Read more