Sea-Goat SuperMoon! A New Moon in Capricorn- The First of Two New Moons in January 2014!

In just a few short days, we lucky Earthlings will experience the first of not one but two SuperMoons happening in January!

Sanya Glisic - "Elsie The Sea Goat Wonder"

These aren't full moons, however. The SuperMoons we are about to experience will be New Moons...meaning we'll only be able to see an itty bitty sliver of them. Feelings are a totally different story. I'm sure many of you can already feel the effects of this powerful phenomenon...

Vintage astronomy poster by Asa Smith published in 1850. -rareposters.com

2014 is set to be a unique and promising year with the New Moon falling on New Year's Day. Quite possibly the best year yet! Energetically speaking, New Moons are the perfect time to set intentions for the coming month, or in this case, the coming year. It's so fitting, especially for those of us who see January 1st as a day to start fresh. FRESH 14'! (That's what we've been declaring around our house, anyway). :D

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Capricorn New Moons are all about moving toward our goals, taking responsibility for our actions and making our dreams come true. Capricorn teaches us to let go of the energies that no longer serve our highest self, and transform any stuck energies so we can keep truckin' with confidence. The strength of Capricorn has your back and this is an excellent time to lay the foundation for projects and ideas. This is a new beginning. Clear and shield!

"Capricorn is the goat climbing to the mountain top. The mountain is your mighty I Am Presence. The I Am Presence does not descend into the lower physical world where ego reigns. You are to climb higher and merge with your God Consciousness.  Pulling your Higher Consciousness into your choices will empower you to live an authentic life. You will live from love not fear. You are a great spiritual being. You are having a human experience. You are a powerful creator. What do you want to create in the New Year?" -kelleyrosano.com

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It's a great idea to sit down and take some time to lay out your plans and dreams. Right now we're lucky to have the celestial combo of Capricorn and it's ruler, Saturn, on our side. Let's make the most of it! Make clear your intentions and they will do their part to assist you in the coming year.

So, what exactly IS a Supermoon? Scientifically speaking? Great question.

The supermoon of March 19, 2011 (right) compared to a more average moon of December 20, 2010 (left), as viewed from Earth. Photo by Marco Langbroek, The Netherlands, using a Canon EOS 450D and Carl Zeiss, Sonnar MC 180mm lens.

"A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system.

The most recent occurrence was on June 23, 2013, as the closest and largest full moon of the year and the Moon’s closest encounter with Earth for all of 2013. It will not be so close again until August 10, 2014.

Supermoons occur about once every 14 full moons in a full moon cycle.

Each month, on the day of the new moon, the Earth, moon and sun are aligned, with the moon in between. This line-up creates wide-ranging tides, known as spring tides. High spring tides climb up especially high, and on the same day low tides plunge especially low." - Thanks, Wikipedia.

Around each new moon (left) and full moon (right) – when the sun, Earth, and moon are located more or less on a line in space – the range between high and low tides is greatest. These are called spring tides. Image via physicalgeography.net -earthsky.org

topperjewelers.com

"The farthest full moon of 2014 is in January, too. Incidentally, the moon turns full this month on January 16, 2014, only a few hours after swinging to lunar apogee – the moon’s most distant point from Earth for the month (406,532 kilometers or 252,607 miles).

So two weeks after the year’s nearest new moon on January 1, it’ll be the year’s farthest and smallest full moon on January 16, 2014. People are calling this sort of moon a micro moon. Afterwards, it’ll be the year’s second-closest new moon on January 30." -Thanks Earthsky.org

Painting of Capricorn found in Syria dated ca 245. -www.artunwashed.blogspot.com 

“The cosmic message for the Capricorn New Moon is: live from your authentic power. Be who you truly are.  Be open to change. Upgrade your life where needed. Yes, this astrology is serious and intense. A wise strategy is to be flexible. Flow with the environment. What is breaking down in your life is ready for a breakthrough. Attitude is everything. You can be proactive and evolve. You are creating your reality though your thoughts, words and behavior. You can choose to be the victor or the victim. In other words, you can own your power. Or you can give it away….” - kellyrosano.com

-------------Dear Pyramidcult readers, Capricorn moon tells us to have no fear. Be aware and make conscious choices. Allow energies to clear out and allow yourself proper rest when needed. Act with intention and commitment. Treat life as a delicate ritual and don't get caught up in dualities. Connect with yourself on a SOULular level. Rise to a higher level of vibrational being. When it comes to rebirth and new beginnings, Capricorn is here to help you with patience, integrity, focus and mastery. As an Earth element, Capricorn will help keep you grounded and connected to The Source so that you may plant new seeds of ideas in fresh, healthy soil...aligning morality and virtue. 

Self portrait from back in Alabama this summer. Besides moving across the country to beautiful Oregon, my favorite part of 2013 was visiting the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. I got this handmade tank from a lovely Mayan descendent selling her wares in the jungle. I hope 2014 is filled with more exciting adventures. Looking back, what was your favorite part of 2013? Write to us and let us know! I hope 2014 brings you infinite amounts of love and light!

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to all my fellow Capricorns! 

Love, Rachel Lee

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Ancient Aztec Origins of Dia De Los Muertos//Day of the Dead

Dia De Los Muertos, like most holidays celebrated in the Western world, has an ancient origin dating back many, many moons. Before Mexico was even a country and before the Earth knew anything of Christianity, there were Earth-based cultures living all over the world, in harmony with nature and seemingly barbaric to the European mindset. 

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now central Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death.

It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate. A ritual known today as Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Although the ritual has since been merged with Catholic theology, it still maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as the use of skulls. Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States.

Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls also are placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend, according to Mary J. Adrade, who has written three books on Dia de los Muertos.

www.redtri.com

The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth.

The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the month long ritual.

Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.

"The pre-Hispanic people honored duality as being dynamic," said Christina Gonzalez, senior lecturer on Hispanic issues at Arizona State University. "They didn't separate death from pain, wealth from poverty like they did in Western cultures."

The Spaniards considered the ritual to be sacrilegious. In their attempts to convert them to Catholicism, the Spaniards tried to kill the ritual. They perceived the indigenous people to be barbaric and pagan. But, like the old Aztec spirits, the ritual refused to die.

To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it so it coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today.

www.eastloshigh.com

Previously it fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, approximately the beginning of August, and was celebrated for the entire month. Festivities were presided over by the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The goddess, known as "Lady of the Dead," was believed to have died at birth, Andrade said.

In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl was the Queen of Mictlan, the underworld, and wife of Mictlantecuhtli. Her purpose is to keep watch over the bones of the dead. She presides over the festivals of the dead (which evolved into the modern Day of the Dead) and is known as the Lady of the Dead, since it is believed she died at birth.Her cult is sometimes held to persist in the common Mexican worship of Santa Muerte. Photo: crystalinks.com

Today, Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and in certain parts of the United States and Central America.

"It's celebrated differently depending on where you go," Gonzalez said.

www.estasmuertos.tumblr

 http://www.azcentral.com

The Apple and The Pentagram: A Magickal History

-The Apple and The Pentagram-

Organically grown gift from our neighbor. 

The pentagram is one of the most widely used religious symbols in the world and has been used by Wiccans, Pagans, Israelites, Christians, magicians amongst others. But what is its origin?

A pentagram is a five-pointed star with one point aligned upwards (when surrounded by a circle, it's known as a 'pentacle') and its name derives from the Greek words "penta", meaning five and the word "gamma", meaning letter.

The pentagram was originally a symbol of the goddess, Kore, who was worshipped in many countries as widespread as England and Egypt thousands of years ago, but under many different names (i.e. Cara, Ceres, Carnak, Core, Car, Karnak, etc). Kore's sacred fruit was the apple. When cut through its equator, the apple has a near perfect pentagram shape inside, with each point containing a seed. Many Wiccans, Pagans and Roma (Gypsies) still cut apples in this way and the Roma refer to apple cores as Stars of Knowledge.

The concept of five points is still symbolic in Ireland; "Ireland had five great roads, five provinces and five paths of the law. The fairy folk count in fives and the mythological creatures wear fivefold cloaks."

Wiccans use the pentagram symbol to cast and banish their healing circles, to bless themselves and others by tracing the shape on their bodies and often wear the pentacle or pentagram on pieces of jewellery. Some Wiccans interpret the five points as the five elements- earth, air, water, fire and spirit, while others interpret them as the four directions and the spirit.

From childhood fairy tales such as Snow White to the discovery of gravity, the apple has influenced the world as we know it. Even centuries before an apple fell on Sir Isaac Newton’s head, the fruit has held a symbolic meaning through myth and legends. Although the symbolism of the apple has evolved throughout time, the apple has sustained its place in many cultures as a symbol for knowledge, prosperity, love, jealously and temptation.

Apples are a natural remedy for the heart, stomach and bowels, our main organs of giving and receiving. Our folk memory puts forth such phrases as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", and not without good reason. The apple's malic and tartaric acids neutralise the acid products of indigestion. A very digestible fruit, it provides excellent baby food, aiding the digestion of other foods.

Constipation can be combated by eating a ripe, juicy apple at bedtime every night, this also helping to reduce sleeplessness and biliousness. This fruit is not only cleansing to the teeth, but its hardness pushes back the gums so the borders are clear of deposits. To get the full value of an apple it should be eaten unpeeled as its valuable acids and salts, to a special degree reside in and just below the fruit's skin. 

Apples have a long history of use in divination, especially to foretell the future in matters of love and prosperity. The methods of divination are varied and include counting the apple pips; burning the pips after naming each one with a young man's name and watching which ones explode in the fire; apple bobbing; throwing the peel over the left shoulder to see it forms the initial of an individual when it lands; and putting an apple under your pillow to dream of your sweetheart.

All these games and folk customs are survivals of much older ceremonies in honour of the Apple.

Many of these customs are performed particularly at Samhain, as traditionally the apple is linked to the Celtic Otherworld, where the tree is called the "Silver Bough" and possesses magical properties. Samhain is traditionally a time of the year when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, a doorway between the seen world of matter and the unseen world of spirit, which is the best time of the year to make shamanic journeys, to connect to the dead, the spirit realms, to gain oracular knowledge and healing powers.

The pentagram can be found within the apple by cutting it across its width; the shape being revealed in the formation of its pips. This ancient symbol of knowledge is sacred to the Celtic death Goddess, Cailleach, the Crone, the Veiled One, honoured at Samhain. Verjuice, a kind of scrumpy cider, was also her drink at this time of the year, inducing altered states and otherworldly experiences. Verjuice is made by gathering ripe crab apples, laying them in a pile and leaving them to rot and sweat. The rotten fruit is gathered into a bowl with the stalks removed, beaten to a pulp and pressed through a coarse cloth. The resulting liquid is then bottled and ready for use one month later.

The Apple Tree has close links with the Shaman, the Wisewoman and the Magician and used when undergoing magical transformation or Otherworld journeys. Celtic Arthurian Myth names one of these Otherworlds as Avalon, the Apple Vale, the mythical paradise where hills were clothed with trees bearing flowers and fruit together. Merlin reveals to his Lord the existence of his orchard. It was borne from place to place by the Enchanter on all his journeys. Other legends tell of Otherworld visitors to our World appearing in the same guise as the Shaman, carrying an apple branch with bells on it. The Apple tree also represents Shelter, either in this World or as a place to rest when making Otherworld journeys.

An apple wood wand would be the appropriate magical tool to use to make Shamanic journeys to the Otherworld. It is said that the Apple is used as a calling sign to the Otherworld that you wish to enter their realm. The wand will help you physically, mentally and spiritually connect to the Apple tree.

The Ogham system links the apple to the spiritual warrior; one who is unafraid to make the journey to the Otherworld and back, one who is unafraid to face death or madness. This is the divine madness of the Shaman. Mad people held a different place in Celtic society. Their madness was believed to be a gift and a rare ability.

In today's society madness is feared, suppressed and hidden away. Wassailing, for instance; the idea of waking up the tree's spirit so that it could get on with the job of making apples on which everyone so depended, was considered perfectly acceptable in the past, but in today's society, it would be considered quite mad. :) -SilentOwl

Moon Blood Magick: Sacred Ritual History of Menstruation and the Pineal Gland

Since ancient times, many human groups have regarded a women's moon cycle (menstrual period) to be a sacred time for ritualistic practice and spiritual shamanic journeying...not only for the women herself, but also her family and tribe. In other words, it was celebrated and seen as a beautiful sacrament of life.

Yucatan, 2013. Healing meditations by the sea.

Often times, before her cycle, a woman becomes more attuned to her psychic and metaphysical abilities. Her senses become heightened...a keener sense of smell and taste. She may see colors or other optical vibrations vividly. More women and people in general are opening up to higher vibrations. We are paying closer attention to the mystical things our minds and bodies are naturally capable of experiencing.

A few days ago, a friend of mine in South Africa enlightened me with a very interesting article titled "Why I love ovulating and why you should too!". The article pieces together many puzzles regarding the female "moon cycle" and how it connects to relationships with partners, the self, and everything that is. After reading, I was inspired to do a bit more research on the subject of menstruation as a holy sacrament, it's power to stimulate the third eye and the high levels of Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) released in the female body during this cycle.

It's all really interesting. DMT is naturally found in plants and animals. According to Dr. Rick Strassman, DMT is released from the pineal gland (though, this has yet to be proven by science). It's been said that DMT is released when babies take their first breathe, upon death and at various points throughout life.

It's interesting to note that the Egyptian Eye of Horus, a symbol of protection and good health, is nearly identical to the human pineal gland. Ancient Egyptians mixed menstrual blood with red wine to increase their spiritual power. In Greece, it was mixed with corn and used to fertilize crops and ensure bountiful harvests. Some Native American tribes saw menstruation as a time for relaxation, inspiration, oneness, solitude and creativity. During this time, women were taken to special tents where they would be cared for by other women of the tribe. In some cultures, women would be approached with prayer requests or people seeking spiritual guidance during their moon cycle.

thegreatcosmicshit.blogspot.com

examiner.com

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Yours truly, Los Angeles. 2008. Ink art by Hidden Hand Tattoo in Seattle.

kemetichistoryofafrikabluelotus.blogspot.com

Pretty neat stuff.


The following is from a book called, 2012 and the Galactic Center: The Return of the Great Mother  By Christine R. Page

"Now this will sound very strange due to the moral stigmatisms that have been attached over the last few centuries...but here we go, and i'll keep it short.
Before beginning I should mention that the historical 'manna' or 'mannas,' whether psychoactive mushrooms, the potentially dangerous monoatomic gold, or a sacrament unknown, it is good to note that manna derives from the word moon.

It's also fascinating to appreciate that prior to approximately 1960BC, kings and other leaders ingested menstrual "moon" blood in the belief that it was infused with the moon's power of creativity, and hence, the elixir of life (the power to stimulate the third eye). We now know that during menses or the moon time, a woman's body produces hormones such as DMT (dimethyltryptamine), which are found in abundance in the menstrual blood.

Thus, every month, due to the release of these hormones, a woman is capable of traveling along the path of the priest-kings of old and entering the heart of the Great Mother (ocean of possibilities/void/'God'/black hole/wormhole). There she receives messages and insights that will benefit not only her spiritual evolution, but also that of her family and tribe. On her return from this altered state, she shares her visions with the tribe...

It's thought that women could purify the negativity of a family or whole tribe in just one adventure. And more importantly than just sharing his/her visions, the traveler should begin to embody this energy, acting as a lightning rod or conduit for higher vibrations."


I hope this has inspired you, male or female, to connect with your higher divine self and the oneness that is our beautiful and mysterious Universe.

The Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico

Last week, we were fortunate enough to travel around the beautiful Yucatan Peninsula. We set off with the intentions of spreading around and absorbing as much love and ancient energy as possible (and I'd say it was a mission accomplished)!

I learned so much awesome info about Mayan, Mestizo and Mexican culture and history. We got to meet locals, chat with them and see what life is like for a modern day Mayan descendant. I'll save that topic for another post.

Now, I'd love to share a bit of wisdom on the Temple of Kukulkan (otherwise known as "El Castillo"- The Castle), one of the most famous pyramids in the world (and one of the most mysterious!!!).

photo by a. godbold

The Temple of Kukulkan, Chichen Itza. May 2013. 

Kukulkan is an ancient Mayan feathered serpent deity (also a tall, white, bearded dude). Said to have created the Earth, this serpent/human shapeshifter taught the Mayans mathematics, art, science, astrology and medicine. The Aztecs worshiped a similar god, Quetzalcoatl, with strikingly similar descriptions...yet many say that Mayans and Aztecs had no interaction. 

The stairs pictured here were designed to echo with the sound of a Quetzal bird, recognized as messenger of the gods. If you stand in front of them and clap, the sound travels all the way up the stairs and back down again in about 3 seconds with a chirping sound. 

On the spring and autumn equinoxes, you can view a huge serpent slithering down the side of the pyramid. This trick was cleverly designed and is created by the shadows of the stair blocks. An amazing pyramid with intense energy...recently named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. 

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