Inevitability

There is a certain bleak inevitability to the Northern way that superficially has gloominess and grimness to it. But beneath this is great joy, and endless faith in life's powers. The hands of Urd the Great hold us all, and this is a deep, loving inevitability mediated by the Gods and our gambles. Beneath the flavor of bleakness lies the hope. There are smiles hiding in hidden crevices.

Inevitability, which at first seems so bleak, is an embrace that holds one close, a level of deep being one approaches, and if a heathen, then with panache and flair.

Bleakness may just be the roar of the distant ocean singing a world-song far more profound, and thus more alien and at times more cold, more ancient, than a human tune. The great is-ness of the objects in their grandeur of old, old being, having found themselves long ago, and not at all new to world, is formidable and steep and strong, full of very deep comfort, if you can feel it. But it sings a drone, a hum, a didgeridoo so ancient it is strange, and wisdom is in part accommodating oneself to the strangeness of the world, to sing with the coldness of rocks, and dance in the bleak beyond the human pale, and there in the cold, to affirm your own human warmth, as an addition to the song.

The grimness, in the end, is just a shield, like the ice that keeps the greening earth intact in winter's grip. There is great warmth beneath the surface. There is an awesome party raging in Hel : hear the horns clink and the sounds of baritone laughter, and the honey of the dwarf's yeast upon rhythmic lips and wooed, wondering ears.

Folk foreign to this way do not imagine the simmering mirth beneath the dour, Stoic face, the endless fund of faith in life that lies beneath the grizzled grimace at a world gone cynical, that studies the bleak for signs of endless power, hints on how to become eternal. The angels, one might say, sing strange and potent surf-spells. Hear them roar.

Bring the Gods Together in Your Heart

You must find the Gods and bring them together. They have left their traces deep within the sinews of the world, but within the world, to surface-eyes, and minds scarred by the axe, they appear to be in contradiction in the tangle of complexity. To have faith in them, you must find them, every one, within the world, and bring them together as a pantheon in your mind and heart and soul. They are already pantheoned in the macrocosm ; to find faith, you must bring them together beyond contradiction in the microcosm.

Remember that the Abrahamists and Puritans are half-atheists : they have emptied the world of the traces of divinity, and see all immanence as empty materiality, their deity existing alone in transcendence.

Ea ch God holds high very pure principles, principles so polyvalent and potent, they manifest as complexity in this world. Each one represents a complete and ample vision of deity, and one would suspect, from externals, that these are incompatible, and yet we know they are coordinated and richly interstrewn. Yet for us, it is as if they are lost in the tangle, and our journey is to find them, and bring them together so they may fund and multiply our possibilities for bringing life alive again in our lives and those around us.

These are reflective Gods ; they appear upon reflection and not naive realism. It takes depth to perceive their movements. Often in the midst of things we do not perceive them, and only upon reverie or dream do we catch the traces of their movements.

Understand you are holding together forces and principles that assembled together in the world of appearance and seeming would seem in complete contradiction. The pantheon presented by the myths should appear counterintuitive, and is only the result of deep, Hegelian synthesis of meditation, contemplation, and gambles tested over hundreds and hundreds of generations. You are bringing together something bold and impossible in your heart, and asserting to the world that there are higher solutions to what seem contradictions, which may never fully resolve themselves in time, but which are transcended through perceptions of wisdom and wyrd, and there the Gods are. You are asserting great faith, audaciously, that some mystery guided by higher powers is riddling itself out beyond our powers to fully grasp, yes, in this world, in this world so deeply touched already by corruption that it has become opaque to the light of the Gods. Yet that is but the depth of the surface. Faith says beneath, the deep movements of the Gods still endow foundations, if they can be found. The goblins, for all their might, allowed for a time to have their illusion of reign, are but spooks, whom the Gods in time will mop up and literally wring out of this world.

You do not need to divide yourself and choose a single vision ; you only need choose good over evil, yet when you do, you find goods so diverse, so seemingly contradictory, so calling for risk and gamble, that they are truly alive. The vision of unity, of high Asgard on high, is not a simple one, simply attained, through throwing all together in a mush. It is a pinnacle of epiphany achieved in the spiritual struggle of the soul with a difficult world, and wrestling to untangle the divinity wrapped inherent in its great complexity. Dream bold.

“Little Nativity”

Herthe 11th (January 5th) is Duodecima - the Twelfth Day of Nativity. Herthe 12th (January 6th) is the High Feast of the Epiphany, popularly known as Princesses' Day. Epiphany, the showing-forth of the new-born Daughter of Dea is often called Little Nativity, and is one of the most joyful and important festivals of the year. Read more about it here.

“Little Nativity”

Herthe 11th (January 5th) is Duodecima - the Twelfth Day of Nativity. Herthe 12th (January 6th) is the High Feast of the Epiphany, popularly known as Princesses' Day. Epiphany, the showing-forth of the new-born Daughter of Dea is often called Little Nativity, and is one of the most joyful and important festivals of the year. Read more about it here.

“Little Nativity”

Herthe 11th (January 5th) is Duodecima - the Twelfth Day of Nativity. Herthe 12th (January 6th) is the High Feast of the Epiphany, popularly known as Princesses' Day. Epiphany, the showing-forth of the new-born Daughter of Dea is often called Little Nativity, and is one of the most joyful and important festivals of the year. Read more about it here.

"Little Nativity"

Herthe 11th (January 5th) is Duodecima - the Twelfth Day of Nativity. Herthe 12th (January 6th) is the High Feast of the Epiphany, popularly known as Princesses' Day. Epiphany, the showing-forth of the new-born Daughter of Dea is often called Little Nativity, and is one of the most joyful and important festivals of the year. Read more about it here.

"Little Nativity"

Herthe 11th (January 5th) is Duodecima - the Twelfth Day of Nativity. Herthe 12th (January 6th) is the High Feast of the Epiphany, popularly known as Princesses' Day. Epiphany, the showing-forth of the new-born Daughter of Dea is often called Little Nativity, and is one of the most joyful and important festivals of the year. Read more about it here.

The Day of Sai Herthe

From an Aristasian blog: We had a wonderful Herthedi Service today! Honored Raya gave one of her inspired talks that really suddenly made it clear to me how the Day of Sai Herthe fits into the mystical journey that is the Year. We really should try to record these Services, as honored Raya says so many wonderful things that are nowhere to be found in Elektraspace or anywhere else. On the other hand, maybe it is part of the magic that these things are shared with the Family, with those who choose and make the time to be present and part of the Sacred Event. It is hard to summarize what honored Raya said as it was so inspired - but she was talking of the Star Fairy coming down the chimney, and of how in the Motherland folks take this kind of "legend" on a very serious level, whereas in Telluria, even religious people don't think there is anything very important about such "peripheral" traditions as opposed to Scriptural religion. Honored Raya said that many Tellurians would consider that taking these charming "folk" stories seriously is the sign of a less sophisticated people, but honored Raya said that it is in fact the sign of a more sophisticated people. A people that sees beyond the childish literalism of "it did happen or it didn't happen" to the much deeper spiritual truth that lies beneath the surface of the narrative. She explained how Nativity is about the Divine Light descending vertically from the spiritual realm to the manifest cosmos - entering the House, which is the world, through the vertical chimney (cheminée, camino - way) into the heart or hearth and thence as radiant light and warmth into the world/soul. The Day of Sai Herthe is, in a certain sense, the same Event seen from the perspective of the World, or House. In the Motherland - certainly in those places that follow the Fire Temple tradition (such as Rayapurh and Novarya), Sai Herthe's day is the only day of the year in which the sacred house-flame (from which, in more traditional times, every hearthfire, candle and lamp was lit and every flame that cooked food) was allowed to go out. It was ritually re-lit by a flame taken from the sacred Temple Fire. Thus the kindling of the World-hearth from the Spirit-hearth is enacted in the microcosm of the home and the great Event of the Coming of the Light is actualized on the domestic level. The "new year" element of the festival, although our actual New Year is three months away, lies in the fact that the home-fire is extinguished and re-lit at this time, the only time in the year, and so a new cycle begins (and, interestingly, the death and rebirth of the light in the home is an obvious reflection of Eastre, the true New Year).

The Day of Sai Herthe

From an Aristasian blog: We had a wonderful Herthedi Service today! Honored Raya gave one of her inspired talks that really suddenly made it clear to me how the Day of Sai Herthe fits into the mystical journey that is the Year. We really should try to record these Services, as honored Raya says so many wonderful things that are nowhere to be found in Elektraspace or anywhere else. On the other hand, maybe it is part of the magic that these things are shared with the Family, with those who choose and make the time to be present and part of the Sacred Event. It is hard to summarize what honored Raya said as it was so inspired - but she was talking of the Star Fairy coming down the chimney, and of how in the Motherland folks take this kind of "legend" on a very serious level, whereas in Telluria, even religious people don't think there is anything very important about such "peripheral" traditions as opposed to Scriptural religion. Honored Raya said that many Tellurians would consider that taking these charming "folk" stories seriously is the sign of a less sophisticated people, but honored Raya said that it is in fact the sign of a more sophisticated people. A people that sees beyond the childish literalism of "it did happen or it didn't happen" to the much deeper spiritual truth that lies beneath the surface of the narrative. She explained how Nativity is about the Divine Light descending vertically from the spiritual realm to the manifest cosmos - entering the House, which is the world, through the vertical chimney (cheminée, camino - way) into the heart or hearth and thence as radiant light and warmth into the world/soul. The Day of Sai Herthe is, in a certain sense, the same Event seen from the perspective of the World, or House. In the Motherland - certainly in those places that follow the Fire Temple tradition (such as Rayapurh and Novarya), Sai Herthe's day is the only day of the year in which the sacred house-flame (from which, in more traditional times, every hearthfire, candle and lamp was lit and every flame that cooked food) was allowed to go out. It was ritually re-lit by a flame taken from the sacred Temple Fire. Thus the kindling of the World-hearth from the Spirit-hearth is enacted in the microcosm of the home and the great Event of the Coming of the Light is actualized on the domestic level. The "new year" element of the festival, although our actual New Year is three months away, lies in the fact that the home-fire is extinguished and re-lit at this time, the only time in the year, and so a new cycle begins (and, interestingly, the death and rebirth of the light in the home is an obvious reflection of Eastre, the true New Year).

The Day of Sai Herthe

From an Aristasian blog: We had a wonderful Herthedi Service today! Honored Raya gave one of her inspired talks that really suddenly made it clear to me how the Day of Sai Herthe fits into the mystical journey that is the Year. We really should try to record these Services, as honored Raya says so many wonderful things that are nowhere to be found in Elektraspace or anywhere else. On the other hand, maybe it is part of the magic that these things are shared with the Family, with those who choose and make the time to be present and part of the Sacred Event. It is hard to summarize what honored Raya said as it was so inspired - but she was talking of the Star Fairy coming down the chimney, and of how in the Motherland folks take this kind of "legend" on a very serious level, whereas in Telluria, even religious people don't think there is anything very important about such "peripheral" traditions as opposed to Scriptural religion. Honored Raya said that many Tellurians would consider that taking these charming "folk" stories seriously is the sign of a less sophisticated people, but honored Raya said that it is in fact the sign of a more sophisticated people. A people that sees beyond the childish literalism of "it did happen or it didn't happen" to the much deeper spiritual truth that lies beneath the surface of the narrative. She explained how Nativity is about the Divine Light descending vertically from the spiritual realm to the manifest cosmos - entering the House, which is the world, through the vertical chimney (cheminée, camino - way) into the heart or hearth and thence as radiant light and warmth into the world/soul. The Day of Sai Herthe is, in a certain sense, the same Event seen from the perspective of the World, or House. In the Motherland - certainly in those places that follow the Fire Temple tradition (such as Rayapurh and Novarya), Sai Herthe's day is the only day of the year in which the sacred house-flame (from which, in more traditional times, every hearthfire, candle and lamp was lit and every flame that cooked food) was allowed to go out. It was ritually re-lit by a flame taken from the sacred Temple Fire. Thus the kindling of the World-hearth from the Spirit-hearth is enacted in the microcosm of the home and the great Event of the Coming of the Light is actualized on the domestic level. The "new year" element of the festival, although our actual New Year is three months away, lies in the fact that the home-fire is extinguished and re-lit at this time, the only time in the year, and so a new cycle begins (and, interestingly, the death and rebirth of the light in the home is an obvious reflection of Eastre, the true New Year).

The Twelve Days of Nativity

A Filianic blogger writes:

I say "Nativity" and not "Post-Nativity" thoughts, because it is still Nativity. Please do not think that when the first day of Nativity has passed all that magic Nativity Snow is just plain ol' snow snow. It isn't. It may be inconvenient at times, but it is still the Snow of Nativity.

Nativity lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. Not all of it may be holiday and merrymaking (though in some parts of the Motherland it is), but all of it is the most magical season of the year. Carols are still in season and two important festivals lie ahead in the next two weeks.

The great Midwinter Festival of the Birth of the Light has always been a twelve-day season at its core (in fact it has often been much longer - its penumbra beginning in the fall and not fully ending until Luciad, the Feast of Lights, six weeks after the Solstice).

The one-day Christmas was a Victorian invention, made in a world where the wheels of industry and commerce must not be allowed to stop for more than the briefest period.

The oft-stated perception that the season "starts earlier every year" is almost a drift back to the older tradition. It is commercially driven, of course, but as stated in our recent article on Nativity, even commerce cannot help but reflect the powerful pull of the Universal Event called Nativity.

What has remained as a Victorian heritage, though, is the dead-stop on Boxing Day (Masquiday in Aristasian tradition) - though even this is in some places giving way to an extended holiday or semi-holiday from Nativity to the Day of Herthe (Christmas to New Year). It is not, however considered, at least in Protestant countries, "still Christmas".

For Filianists, it is very definitely still Nativity until the Epiphany. It is a magical, beautiful season. A time for continued celebration and a time when the subtle world and the physical world are very close.

A happy continuing Nativity to you all.

Hail to the Princess Who is born and Whose glorious showing-forth we still await!

The Twelve Days of Nativity

A Filianic blogger writes:

I say "Nativity" and not "Post-Nativity" thoughts, because it is still Nativity. Please do not think that when the first day of Nativity has passed all that magic Nativity Snow is just plain ol' snow snow. It isn't. It may be inconvenient at times, but it is still the Snow of Nativity.

Nativity lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. Not all of it may be holiday and merrymaking (though in some parts of the Motherland it is), but all of it is the most magical season of the year. Carols are still in season and two important festivals lie ahead in the next two weeks.

The great Midwinter Festival of the Birth of the Light has always been a twelve-day season at its core (in fact it has often been much longer - its penumbra beginning in the fall and not fully ending until Luciad, the Feast of Lights, six weeks after the Solstice).

The one-day Christmas was a Victorian invention, made in a world where the wheels of industry and commerce must not be allowed to stop for more than the briefest period.

The oft-stated perception that the season "starts earlier every year" is almost a drift back to the older tradition. It is commercially driven, of course, but as stated in our recent article on Nativity, even commerce cannot help but reflect the powerful pull of the Universal Event called Nativity.

What has remained as a Victorian heritage, though, is the dead-stop on Boxing Day (Masquiday in Aristasian tradition) - though even this is in some places giving way to an extended holiday or semi-holiday from Nativity to the Day of Herthe (Christmas to New Year). It is not, however considered, at least in Protestant countries, "still Christmas".

For Filianists, it is very definitely still Nativity until the Epiphany. It is a magical, beautiful season. A time for continued celebration and a time when the subtle world and the physical world are very close.

A happy continuing Nativity to you all.

Hail to the Princess Who is born and Whose glorious showing-forth we still await!

The Twelve Days of Nativity

A Filianic blogger writes:

I say "Nativity" and not "Post-Nativity" thoughts, because it is still Nativity. Please do not think that when the first day of Nativity has passed all that magic Nativity Snow is just plain ol' snow snow. It isn't. It may be inconvenient at times, but it is still the Snow of Nativity.

Nativity lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. Not all of it may be holiday and merrymaking (though in some parts of the Motherland it is), but all of it is the most magical season of the year. Carols are still in season and two important festivals lie ahead in the next two weeks.

The great Midwinter Festival of the Birth of the Light has always been a twelve-day season at its core (in fact it has often been much longer - its penumbra beginning in the fall and not fully ending until Luciad, the Feast of Lights, six weeks after the Solstice).

The one-day Christmas was a Victorian invention, made in a world where the wheels of industry and commerce must not be allowed to stop for more than the briefest period.

The oft-stated perception that the season "starts earlier every year" is almost a drift back to the older tradition. It is commercially driven, of course, but as stated in our recent article on Nativity, even commerce cannot help but reflect the powerful pull of the Universal Event called Nativity.

What has remained as a Victorian heritage, though, is the dead-stop on Boxing Day (Masquiday in Aristasian tradition) - though even this is in some places giving way to an extended holiday or semi-holiday from Nativity to the Day of Herthe (Christmas to New Year). It is not, however considered, at least in Protestant countries, "still Christmas".

For Filianists, it is very definitely still Nativity until the Epiphany. It is a magical, beautiful season. A time for continued celebration and a time when the subtle world and the physical world are very close.

A happy continuing Nativity to you all.

Hail to the Princess Who is born and Whose glorious showing-forth we still await!

The Twelve Days of Nativity

A Filianic blogger writes:

I say "Nativity" and not "Post-Nativity" thoughts, because it is still Nativity. Please do not think that when the first day of Nativity has passed all that magic Nativity Snow is just plain ol' snow snow. It isn't. It may be inconvenient at times, but it is still the Snow of Nativity.

Nativity lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. Not all of it may be holiday and merrymaking (though in some parts of the Motherland it is), but all of it is the most magical season of the year. Carols are still in season and two important festivals lie ahead in the next two weeks.

The great Midwinter Festival of the Birth of the Light has always been a twelve-day season at its core (in fact it has often been much longer - its penumbra beginning in the fall and not fully ending until Luciad, the Feast of Lights, six weeks after the Solstice).

The one-day Christmas was a Victorian invention, made in a world where the wheels of industry and commerce must not be allowed to stop for more than the briefest period.

The oft-stated perception that the season "starts earlier every year" is almost a drift back to the older tradition. It is commercially driven, of course, but as stated in our recent article on Nativity, even commerce cannot help but reflect the powerful pull of the Universal Event called Nativity.

What has remained as a Victorian heritage, though, is the dead-stop on Boxing Day (Masquiday in Aristasian tradition) - though even this is in some places giving way to an extended holiday or semi-holiday from Nativity to the Day of Herthe (Christmas to New Year). It is not, however considered, at least in Protestant countries, "still Christmas".

For Filianists, it is very definitely still Nativity until the Epiphany. It is a magical, beautiful season. A time for continued celebration and a time when the subtle world and the physical world are very close.

A happy continuing Nativity to you all.

Hail to the Princess Who is born and Whose glorious showing-forth we still await!

The Twelve Days of Nativity

A Filianic blogger writes:

I say "Nativity" and not "Post-Nativity" thoughts, because it is still Nativity. Please do not think that when the first day of Nativity has passed all that magic Nativity Snow is just plain ol' snow snow. It isn't. It may be inconvenient at times, but it is still the Snow of Nativity.

Nativity lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. Not all of it may be holiday and merrymaking (though in some parts of the Motherland it is), but all of it is the most magical season of the year. Carols are still in season and two important festivals lie ahead in the next two weeks.

The great Midwinter Festival of the Birth of the Light has always been a twelve-day season at its core (in fact it has often been much longer - its penumbra beginning in the fall and not fully ending until Luciad, the Feast of Lights, six weeks after the Solstice).

The one-day Christmas was a Victorian invention, made in a world where the wheels of industry and commerce must not be allowed to stop for more than the briefest period.

The oft-stated perception that the season "starts earlier every year" is almost a drift back to the older tradition. It is commercially driven, of course, but as stated in our recent article on Nativity, even commerce cannot help but reflect the powerful pull of the Universal Event called Nativity.

What has remained as a Victorian heritage, though, is the dead-stop on Boxing Day (Masquiday in Aristasian tradition) - though even this is in some places giving way to an extended holiday or semi-holiday from Nativity to the Day of Herthe (Christmas to New Year). It is not, however considered, at least in Protestant countries, "still Christmas".

For Filianists, it is very definitely still Nativity until the Epiphany. It is a magical, beautiful season. A time for continued celebration and a time when the subtle world and the physical world are very close.

A happy continuing Nativity to you all.

Hail to the Princess Who is born and Whose glorious showing-forth we still await!

On the Second Day of Nativity

Nativity has not ended, but what has ended is Astraea, the Star-month. We are now in Herthe, the Hearthfire-month.

In Astraea, the Star-month we look upward and in Herthe, the Hearth-month we look inward. Nativity is the Northern Gate of the Cosmos through which the Divine descends to earth. This is reflected in the Star Fairy coming vertically down the chimney into the heart(h) of the house, and of course by the birth of God the Daughter into the world of manifestation.

During the month of Astraea, the Divine is a star in the heaven-world, about to descend. During the month of Herthe She is born in our hearts and present in the heart(h) of our sacred households where She is born on the last Star-day.

Interestingly also is that the Feast of the Conception of the Daughter (Astraea 11th) is exactly a month from the Feast of the Epiphany, or showing-forth of the Divine Child (Herthe 11th/12th).

Especially fascinating in this context is that this is true only in terms of the Filianic calendar, even though Christians celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary, not of Jesus) on the same day (December 8th/Astraea 11th).

On the Second Day of Nativity

Nativity has not ended, but what has ended is Astraea, the Star-month. We are now in Herthe, the Hearthfire-month.

In Astraea, the Star-month we look upward and in Herthe, the Hearth-month we look inward. Nativity is the Northern Gate of the Cosmos through which the Divine descends to earth. This is reflected in the Star Fairy coming vertically down the chimney into the heart(h) of the house, and of course by the birth of God the Daughter into the world of manifestation.

During the month of Astraea, the Divine is a star in the heaven-world, about to descend. During the month of Herthe She is born in our hearts and present in the heart(h) of our sacred households where She is born on the last Star-day.

Interestingly also is that the Feast of the Conception of the Daughter (Astraea 11th) is exactly a month from the Feast of the Epiphany, or showing-forth of the Divine Child (Herthe 11th/12th).

Especially fascinating in this context is that this is true only in terms of the Filianic calendar, even though Christians celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary, not of Jesus) on the same day (December 8th/Astraea 11th).

On the Second Day of Nativity

Nativity has not ended, but what has ended is Astraea, the Star-month. We are now in Herthe, the Hearthfire-month.

In Astraea, the Star-month we look upward and in Herthe, the Hearth-month we look inward. Nativity is the Northern Gate of the Cosmos through which the Divine descends to earth. This is reflected in the Star Fairy coming vertically down the chimney into the heart(h) of the house, and of course by the birth of God the Daughter into the world of manifestation.

During the month of Astraea, the Divine is a star in the heaven-world, about to descend. During the month of Herthe She is born in our hearts and present in the heart(h) of our sacred households where She is born on the last Star-day.

Interestingly also is that the Feast of the Conception of the Daughter (Astraea 11th) is exactly a month from the Feast of the Epiphany, or showing-forth of the Divine Child (Herthe 11th/12th).

Especially fascinating in this context is that this is true only in terms of the Filianic calendar, even though Christians celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary, not of Jesus) on the same day (December 8th/Astraea 11th).

On the Second Day of Nativity

Nativity has not ended, but what has ended is Astraea, the Star-month. We are now in Herthe, the Hearthfire-month.

In Astraea, the Star-month we look upward and in Herthe, the Hearth-month we look inward. Nativity is the Northern Gate of the Cosmos through which the Divine descends to earth. This is reflected in the Star Fairy coming vertically down the chimney into the heart(h) of the house, and of course by the birth of God the Daughter into the world of manifestation.

During the month of Astraea, the Divine is a star in the heaven-world, about to descend. During the month of Herthe She is born in our hearts and present in the heart(h) of our sacred households where She is born on the last Star-day.

Interestingly also is that the Feast of the Conception of the Daughter (Astraea 11th) is exactly a month from the Feast of the Epiphany, or showing-forth of the Divine Child (Herthe 11th/12th).

Especially fascinating in this context is that this is true only in terms of the Filianic calendar, even though Christians celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary, not of Jesus) on the same day (December 8th/Astraea 11th).

On the Second Day of Nativity

Nativity has not ended, but what has ended is Astraea, the Star-month. We are now in Herthe, the Hearthfire-month.

In Astraea, the Star-month we look upward and in Herthe, the Hearth-month we look inward. Nativity is the Northern Gate of the Cosmos through which the Divine descends to earth. This is reflected in the Star Fairy coming vertically down the chimney into the heart(h) of the house, and of course by the birth of God the Daughter into the world of manifestation.

During the month of Astraea, the Divine is a star in the heaven-world, about to descend. During the month of Herthe She is born in our hearts and present in the heart(h) of our sacred households where She is born on the last Star-day.

Interestingly also is that the Feast of the Conception of the Daughter (Astraea 11th) is exactly a month from the Feast of the Epiphany, or showing-forth of the Divine Child (Herthe 11th/12th).

Especially fascinating in this context is that this is true only in terms of the Filianic calendar, even though Christians celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary, not of Jesus) on the same day (December 8th/Astraea 11th).

Fanaticism

We are taught to fear fanatics, as if our own cynicism were not as deadly, as if passion and determination and stubborn steadfastness, not to mention force at times, were not necessary to break through inertia and stagnation and achieve progress. As if thinking bold and acting audaciously did not please our Gods. As if thinking small could sustain us, as if dwelling in the remains of disappointment could nourish us. As if there could be heroism without high ideals, and without sacrifices for those high ideals. As if drive and direction were not necessary to transcend, and fully enter becoming.

I do not fear the passion nor the drive of fanatics ; I fear alone one-sidedness that is not the point of the advancing wedge of wholeness. It is lack of wholeness I fear, and many cynics lack it. It is lack of wholeness I fear, and most of the jaded perpetuate it. It is lack of wholeness I fear, and sometimes the fanatically unfanatical are more fanatical in their unwholeness than those who drive forward.

Question the standard equations, the easy formulas that could rob you of the best in life by urging emotional acquiescence to ill-considered slogans. Wholeness says, passion and well-roundedness, idealism and common sense, audacity as well as ability to roll with the punches. The undogmatic know that sometimes a taskmaster and a whip are necessary to get us off our butts, if nothing else in dialectical protest that at last activates us. And we also know, sometimes, don't tread on me, I'm evolving at my own speed (as long as that speed is not zero). Both are necessary. The fanatic has something to teach you. Something about your complacency, your slumbering potential, your surrender to defeat, even to the point of redefining defeat as the only, everyday reality. The fanatic says, rightfully so, fuck that!

Yule Offering

Out by the sands, shore-swept wash, tonight I threw five pebbles one year ago I collected by the shore. I had asked then, what offering would Njord want? What would a coin really mean? It came to me : collect several stones and live with them for a while. Let them become acquainted with my life, absorb a little of its ample flavor, witness my routine and all my struggles, and collect into themselves the lessons and boons of this exchange program. Then they might be returned to their home, the waves, with the profit or interest of what I was able to share, and glowing with that little bit of life force, restore to the waves a new spirit of giving, to keep the gift exchange alive. And in that spirit tonight, I walked to the waves' edge, and hurling my pebbles into the receding wash with great intention, gave to Njord and all the Gods, completing one cycle of countless myriads to come of the great Circle of Gifts. And it felt good and strong, and appropriate on Yule, to give back. What an honor.

HAPPY NATIVITY

13. And when the voice of the Janya ceased, a silence fell that was the first true silence since the beginning of the world, and the last that shall be until it end. 14. And the children of earth watched the sky as the first rays of dawn crept across the heavens. 15. And a cry issued out of the cave, saying: The holy Child is born from the most holy Mother; Light has come forth from Light, Perfection from Perfection. 16. And at once the air was filled with the daughters of heaven, and the sky was ablaze with the radiance of their joy. 17. And they sang aloud to the glory of Dea.

HAPPY NATIVITY

13. And when the voice of the Janya ceased, a silence fell that was the first true silence since the beginning of the world, and the last that shall be until it end. 14. And the children of earth watched the sky as the first rays of dawn crept across the heavens. 15. And a cry issued out of the cave, saying: The holy Child is born from the most holy Mother; Light has come forth from Light, Perfection from Perfection. 16. And at once the air was filled with the daughters of heaven, and the sky was ablaze with the radiance of their joy. 17. And they sang aloud to the glory of Dea.

HAPPY NATIVITY

13. And when the voice of the Janya ceased, a silence fell that was the first true silence since the beginning of the world, and the last that shall be until it end. 14. And the children of earth watched the sky as the first rays of dawn crept across the heavens. 15. And a cry issued out of the cave, saying: The holy Child is born from the most holy Mother; Light has come forth from Light, Perfection from Perfection. 16. And at once the air was filled with the daughters of heaven, and the sky was ablaze with the radiance of their joy. 17. And they sang aloud to the glory of Dea.