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August 5 through August 11, 2024

The first full week of August starts out on a stabilizing note, as the Moon moves through Virgo Monday through Wednesday. Grounding, organizing, and fruitful, this earth sign is famous for bringing things into perspective and allowing us to chart a course for the future. A Libra Moon prevails from Thursday to Friday, and combined with the Leo Sun will focus on bringing all aspects of ourselves into balance. Spiritual, emotional, and physical imbalances will need to be addressed, as we turn our attention to our own personal worlds. Personal relationships will also be a theme as we seek out any areas where things are off course and make the effort to restore loving and nurturing connections. The week ends on a spiritual note as the Moon moves into Scorpio, calling us to go inward for intuitive direction and soulful exchanges. Although there are no major astrological shifts this week, the internal work we do will set a course for the future.

Sacred Fire, by Ellen Evert Hopman

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

The Goddess in the Sun
Modern Paganism is heavily influenced by Greek and Roman mythology, and as a result certain assumptions are made, such as the idea that the Sun is male and the Moon female. A careful study of indigenous traditions will reveal that this wasn't true for many—or possibly most—cultures on planet Earth. In Egypt, the Sun was within the eye of the great lion Goddess Sekhmet or within the cow Goddess Hathor at night and reborn from the womb of Hathor each morning. The Egyptians also associated the Sun with Bastet or Bast—Lady of Flame, Eye of Ra, divine protectress of the pharaoh, whose sacred animal was the house cat.

Germanic cultures had Sunna and Frau Sunne while the Norwegian Goddess Sól traversed the heavens in a chariot drawn by the horses Arvak and Alsvid.

The Lithuanians and Lativans had Saule, the Finns Paivatar or Beiwe. The Hungarians had Xatel-Ekwa and the Slavs had Solntse. For the Arabs she was Al-Lat. In Australia she was Bila or Walo. In India she was Bisal-Mariamna or Bomong and in Sri Lanka, Pattini.

The ancient Hittites had Wurusemu, the Babylonians had Shapash. Among Native American cultures she was Unelanuhi to the Cherokee, Wal Sil to the Natchez, Malina to the Inuit and Herkoolas to the Miwok.

In Japan the Sun Goddess Amaterasu is still regarded as the Goddess of the Universe, from whom the emperor is descended.

In Ireland she was Grian (the Moon was her sister) and her path through the heavens was a central tenet of Celtic cosmology. To move "deiseil" or "sunwise" around a place or an object brought the greatest luck. When one engaged in ritual or processed around a sacred object, such as a holy well or a standing stone, it was important to move around it deiseil, in order to go with the flow of the universe.

A sunwise procession around a place or thing in Ireland was called "cor deiseil." In the Hindu tradition a sunwise procession is called "pradaksina" and is said to bring luck and prosperity. Moving with the Sun was a common facet of Indo-European culture.

Moving anti-clockwise, widdershins or "tuathamail" (Gaelic) was considered very unlucky because it meant you were deliberately going "against the flow" of nature. In fact, invading armies would approach a fort tuathamail and the inhabitants would know that they were under attack.

Fire Deities of the Celts
The two most popular deities of the ancient Celts were Brighid/Bride/Brigantia and Lugh/Lugus/Llew. Both were deities of brightness and fire. Lugh was not a Sun God as is popularly supposed; he represented brilliance in craft and in thinking and was called "master of every art." Similarly, Brighid was a Fire Goddess, mistress or patroness of arts. She was a Goddess of Healing, Smith Craft (a magical art in ancient times), and Poetry, and also a patroness of mothers (because to be a mother was to be a mistress of every art to at least a small extent).

Brighid was the Goddess invoked at Imbolc, the great Fire Festival of February 1 that celebrated the lactation of the ewes. Lugh gave his name to the festival of Lughnasad, the Fire Festival of the first fruits of the harvest, originally funeral games in honor of Lugh's foster mother.

In Irish tradition the Sun was also known as "Áine Clair," or Áine the Bright. She could appear to mortals as an old woman, a young princess, a mother, or a mermaid. "Áine Chliach" lived in a hill (Cnoc Áine). At Summer Solstice bundles of straw, or "cliars" were tied to poles, lit on fire, and carried around her hill. The cliars were then carried through the fields, around the cattle herd, and along boundaries to bless the land with Áine's fire.

Making Offerings to Sacred Fire
In Celtic religious practice it was essential to make offerings to fire, water, and land. Offerings placed into an earthen pit or into water went down to the Sidhe Realm (Fairy Realm) of the ancestors. Offerings placed at the base of a rock or tree fed the Land Spirits, and offerings placed into a ritual fire went up to the Sky Realm of the Gods. Each of these methods had a powerful magic of its own, but I will focus on Fire offerings here.

The High Holy Days of the Celts (Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasad, and Samhain) were all called Fire Festivals. A large bonfire (or in the case of Imbolc, candles) was featured at each of these celebrations. Offerings were made to the fires, such as butter, sacred woods, aromatic herbs, whiskey, and oils, as prayers were spoken and petitions made to the Gods.

Beltaine offered a unique opportunity for purification by fire. At this Fire Festival the cows were led between two sacred bonfires, so close that when a white cow passed through them her hair would be singed brown. This ritual was done to purify the cows as they left the farm and made their way to their summer pastures in the hills.

At Beltaine and Samhain hearth fires were put out as everyone waited for sacred flames to arrive, brought by torch-bearers. In Ireland the Beltaine fires were lit from the great Fire Altar at Uisneach, home of the Arch-Druid, at Samhain from a fire near Tara.

Hearth Fire
Sacred fire was also honored on a daily basis in the home. Hearth fires were often made with peat, because wood was too expensive and hard to obtain. Every housewife acted as a Priestess when she "smoored" the fire each night, carefully covering the embers to keep until dawn. As she did so she would utter a prayer such as this one from the Hebrides of Scotland:

Baby Blessings
Burning peat embers were used bless newborn babies and calves, carried in a shovel around the mother and child three times, asking the fire to protect them.

A Scottish Fire Blessing for a newborn child was done by filling a basket with bread and cheese and wrapping it in clean linen. The baby was laid on top of the bread and cheese; the oldest female present would carry the basket around a fire three times sunwise, and then suspend the basket briefly over the fire. Then the "bairnie" (baby) was put into its cradle as the bread and cheese were distributed to everyone who had helped with the birth.

Communal Fires
One of the most powerful of fire rituals was the "Tein-eigin," or Need-fire. Such a sacred fire would be constructed by the entire community when the whole area was threatened, for example by a cattle disease. The fire was started by friction and had to be made by nine times by nine married men, who would remove all metal from their persons before starting (such as coins, watches, and jewelry). Sacred woods (such as willow, hazel, alder, birch, ash, yew, elm, apple, pine, and oak) were used, or the fire could be made from only oak.

Every home in the area would put out their own hearth fire and then re-kindle a new fire from the flames of the Need-fire. Then they would put to boil water from a holy well or sacred spring. Once the water had boiled it was taken from the flames, cooled, and sprinkled on people and animals to heal them.

Fire Temples and Fire Altars
I have written a novel, the third in a trilogy of Druid novels, called Priestess of the Fire Temple: A Druid's Tale. In the novel I explore the idea of a Fire Temple. We know that such temples once existed in every province of Ireland and that Saint Brighid based her famous temple in Kildare on an earlier Pagan model. These temples were sacred precincts where a perpetual fire was kept by Druids. Petitioners with needs would come to the temples to have their questions answered.

I explore the idea of the Fire Altar in the first two novels, Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey and The Druid Isle.

References and further reading:
Carmichael, Alexander. Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, Lindisfarne Press, New York, 1992
Hopman, Ellen Evert. Priestess of the Fire Temple: A Druid's Tale, Llewellyn, Minnesota, March 2012
Hopman, Ellen Evert. Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey, Llewellyn, Minnesota, February 2008
Hopman, Ellen Evert. The Druid Isle, April 2010
Hopman, Ellen Evert. Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore, Pendraig Publishing, Los Angeles, California, 2010
Ó’Duinn, Sean. The Rites of Brighid Goddess and Saint, The Columba Press, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_deity. Accessed January 9, 2012.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2012. All rights reserved.

I am a Libra, and I have a terrible time standing up for myself with men. I lose myself and am willing to adapt to what they want and need and just forget about my own desires. I become needy, dependent and clingy, and end up very angry because I don't like myself when I am like this, but I don't know how to stop it. Intellectually, I know and believe I deserve better, but emotionally I have no willpower and feel helpless. I was married for a few years to a much younger man, and of course it ended up being an abusive relationship. I put up with that for a while, but I eventually I did put my foot down and end it. Is it possible that this stems from a past life? I see so many other women who are like this - who fear being alone, are desperate to be married or to please a man. Given women's roles throughout history, is it possible that this unhealthy behavior stems from past life experiences? If so, then how can we leave the past behind and make the most of the freedom and power women have in this day and age? - Mare

Dreamchaser:

Mare, throughout history, a woman's role was just as powerful as a man's, if not more so in some cases. Look at Cleopatra. Women were queens, generals, priestesses, healers, and every other position of "power" imaginable. Men and women fought side by side on battlefields for centuries. Women had equality and the respect of men.

When men started to fear the power women had, they figured the way to control us was to take away our power. Granted, they can never turn off the power of sex appeal, but they could make sex a sin for which we will burn in hell forever. Since King James mistranslated the Bible for his own benefit, women have suffered GREATLY.

We are FINALLY seeing women in politics and in places of "power" again. This time is VERY exciting for women because we are gaining speed and momentum. Men are turning into very hip, cool whole beings by embracing their feminine sides, and women are embracing our masculine sides and it is exactly how it should be! So let us NOT leave the past behind; let us embrace our history and the place we once stood, which was right beside men, holding equal power.

Why are you desperate to be with a man, even if he treats you poorly? Having a man does not validate you in any way. It does not make you more desirable, needed or vital. It just means that you are sharing time with a member of the opposite sex.

You are looking for love outside of yourself, Mare. You think if a man is with you and loves you, then you will be happy because you feel worthy somehow. I tell people day in and day out that love cannot make us happy. Having someone in our lives cannot fulfill us deep down. At first, during the "Butterfly Period," we are happy, but then reality sets in and we realize we are back to square one. You must find your happiness inside of yourself, Mare. You know this! You have to be your own complete individual before you can give anything real and lasting to anyone else.

I suggest you go on a "dating embargo." I propose that you do not attempt to date any man for at least six months. I want you to work on making yourself happy every single day. If you want chocolate chip ice cream for dinner, then get some. Do what YOU want, when you want, for the next six months.

It will be hard at first to break that "man habit" you've developed, but once you get rolling with it, you will REALLY like it. Once you start making yourself happy, you will automatically manifest a better class of people in your life. Try it if you dare!

I wish you contentment.

*****

Astrea:

The mass media is responsible for most of the desperation you describe in women. Day after day, television inundates us with unsavory propaganda, especially the idea that we're nothing if we don't have a MAN. Check out any soap opera or primetime comedy, and the plot will focus on a woman trying to TRICK a man to be with her, or a family whose members are dishonest with one another, or children disrespecting others. VERY POOR VALUES are being pushed onto young women (and men) by mainstream media ALL the time. We seem to be in a state where television has become Mother and God. This is very dangerous. It has created a hunger for DRAMATIC EMOTION that can undo people's attempts at true happiness.

While many INDIVIDUAL relationships result from Past Life Karma, the abundance of women who are willing to do anything at all to be with some man and/or married are not in that situation. People want to share their lives with someone. We're also animals, and we want to reproduce. At the highest Soul Power, we want to form a bond with someone who is complimentary so that we can practice abundant Love. Everyone wants to be loved by someone who really understands them, and it is normal to seek joy in the presence of others. What is NOT normal is to settle for anyone you can get no matter how awful that person behaves.

You have not fallen into the common Libra pattern of BLAMING others and the UNIVERSE for your "hard luck." You seem quite aware of what you've done in the past and what you're still doing. Stop choosing to be a VICTIM, and stop hanging around with these LOSERS! Seek higher quality in your partner material. Those men are out there - I talk to them every day at Psychic Chat. There are loving, caring, giving men of EVERY sign who are looking for an EQUAL partnership with a woman.

People can choose to be victimized, or they can choose to seek happiness. Air Signs seem to crave DRAMA more than others. I know all you Aquarians, Geminis and Libras will be upset with me, but take ten minutes to look at the choices you made early on in your life, and what you learned (or didn't) from those choices. SEE?

In your specific case, even with all your awareness about the poor choices you have made, you seem to think you have to keep doing that. WHY? You do NOT have to keep being a RUG for guys to walk all over. The ONLY person that you can change is YOU, so become someone who respects herself and expects the BEST from others, and that's what you'll GET! You can do it if you want to - anyone can.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.