Solstice: Current mood: pensive, moody
Current weather: clear and mild
Current listening: Lisa Thiel

It seems strange, to have such mild weather on the Winter Solstice, but so it is. Perhaps it can be thought of as the winter's promise of the coming spring.

'Tis the longest night, and from the darkness comes the light, and the promise of the return of spring. I have said numerous times in the past that I am at my best in the winter. Maybe I'm just a cold person. Nah, maybe I'm just a dark person. That probably suits me a little better. At any rate, I feel for the winter better than most people. I appreciate it as a time to withdraw and contemplate. I think of winter as a time fo...

Berlin Wall: Does anyone think about the fall of the Berlin Wall? The city of West Berlin existed as an enclave within the country of East Germany (and an exclave of West Germany), and twenty years ago today, after a period of social unrest, the Eastern German government relaxed travel restrictions into West Germany, resulting in the eventual destruction of the wall. This occurred amid a spate of insurrections, most of them peaceful, some less so, sweeping across Eastern Europe, and was the beginning of the end for the Eastern Bloc, and subsequently the Cold War, and leading further to reforms across the world.

Nowadays, with most of Europe organized into the European Union, there is a different sor...

Samhain (and Beltaine):
Current mood: still pensive
Current weather: Cool (12°C), clear

Ah, Samhain. It's that time of year. The veil is thin, and yes, the dead are afoot. In this time when the light is dwindling, and the winter encroaches, it seems natural to turn one's thoughts to one's own mortality. As life recedes with the bite of winter taking hold, so does the spirit of death come to the fore--from this comes the tradition of honoring the deceased.

The winter is coming in this hemisphere, though, and reminds us that nothing lasts. Old things are swept away, in order to make way for the new, and so the world renews itself, and in so doing, continues to grow and evolve. Thoughts of this nature...

Autumnal Thoughts: Fall has fallen:
Current mood: pensive
Current weather: Cool 15?C, clear
Current listening: Inkubus Sukkubus

Autumn seems to have hit rather abruptly here. We went from summerlike heat (late heatwave) to an early chill in the space of about a week. A couple days ago in particular was an unexpected chill. In fact, we have a freeze warning in effect tonight and early tomorrow--unusually early for the local climate; in fact it's near record cold for this time of year. We're expecting some warming in a few days, but the cold will no doubt return.

I don't get spring fever, like most people. I get autumn fever. My whole mood starts to pick up when the cool weather sets in. It just feels more na...

Columbus Day: Ah, Columbus Day. The 517th anniversary of the arrival of a genocidal tyrant.

Celebrating half a millennium of genocide, plunder, theft, swindling and oppression.

Yes, it is a sick thought, but it is true. This is one American who will not be celebrating.

Equinox--into the dark side: Current mood: pensive
Current weather: clear, warm
Current listening: Spiral Dance

The equinox has come--the September Equinox, which is Mabon or the autumnal equinox in this hemisphere. The second harvest is in, and it is a time of thanksgiving, as the light dwindles and winter approaches. The light and the dark are in balance right now, but the darkness is growing, and life will dwindle and recede, and we acknowledge that all things must die, even as we give thanks to the Mother for the bounty of spring and summer.

Things grow, things mature, things age, things die. This will be emphasized all the more on Samhain, the next sabbat, with the cycle of life, death and rebirth hav...

Epic Fail--non ad astra: Since time immemorial, humans have dreamed of going to the stars. Now, with the space age, one might think that that might become a literal reality. We are not ready.

For one thing, we who have trashed our own planet of origin do not have any right going out in search of expansion, or relocation, or whatever, only to trash another world (and another, and another, and so on). I have always harboured a belief, or perhaps not so much a belief as a hope, that there is some law of nature that prevents any race that cannot respect its own planet from going out and wreaking havoc in the universe.

For another thing, and as something that has been on my mind a lot lately, humanity has insuff...

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