January 30, 2023 • 21 mins
Remember, we welcome comments, questions, and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com.
S4E4 TRANSCRIPT:----more----
Yucca: Welcome back to the Wonder Science-based Paganism. I'm your host Yucca.
Mark: And I'm Mark.
And today we are talking about our February holiday.
Right. We've come to the point of the wheel of the year where we've, the, the light has come back significantly in the Northern Hemisphere, and we're about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and so it's time for us to have another Pagan holiday.
Yucca: It is, and we were mentioning before hitting record that this is our fourth time rolling around to this holiday on the podcast. So there are four, well, this, there's three previous episodes, so if you wanna go back and listen to what we said and, and find all the places where we've changed what we're doing, then you can , right?
So, right. Yeah. But let's go ahead, mark. Oh,
Mark: I was just going to say, we're not going to apologize for doing the same thing year after year. Our practices just don't change that much on a year by year basis.
Yucca: Yes. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing about it being a wheel, right? The wheel keeps turning and turning and you get back to the same place on that wheel.
But, but it's lovely because each time it is a little different, right? So there it's. That point that you can touch back to that familiar place. And yet life is just always changing and always different,
Mark: right? Yeah. Right. Yeah. And you learn new things and you get exposed to new ideas for rituals that you can do, or you have new ideas yourself.
I've got a couple of new ideas for the, for celebrating this holiday this year that I'm kind of excited about. Mm-hmm. . So why don't we dive in and start out by talking about, what do we call this holiday and when exactly is it ?
Yucca: Yes. So it's one of the holidays that isn't like the solstice that. That people are very familiar with the time and there's some choices for when do you place this?
For me, the wheel of the year is more about the season and then there's the holiday, which is kind of like the. The cake topper for it, it's great. But the specific moment is a little bit less important. So we'll usually just do it on, we'll do our celebrations on whatever day is kind of closest to the 1st of February where we have time, right?
Mm-hmm. that everybody can be together for it. It's not the day. You know, everybody's working 12 hour shifts and, and all of that. Sure. Sure. Whereas so when is it?
Mark: Yeah. Whereas I tend to shoot to get to the time that's most convenient. That's nearest to about February 4th, which is the actual midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Mm-hmm. so. I'm less invested in the sort of traditional idea of this holiday being on the first or the 2nd of February which I think derives somewhat from Christianity with the celebration of candle mess on the second and Groundhog Day, all those things. Not the groundhog days, Christian. It has nothing to do with that.
So I try to get closest to the fourth, and typically it'll be a weekend day that's closest to the fourth that I celebrate this holiday at all. Mm-hmm. .
Yucca: Oh, and you have a different name for it than. Some of the popular
Mark: names, right? I mean the, the popular names in the Pagan sphere are either M og, which I learned recently how to pronounce properly from an Irish person.
Yucca: Yes, in fact that. Video will come out on the YouTube channel tomorrow if you're listening to this, the day it comes out on Monday, Tuesday, we have a round table discussion with some great folks, so keep an eye out for that.
Mark: And that's on the YouTube channel, which is now, that'll be on the YouTube channel, whic
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:32):
Welcome back to the WonderScience-based Paganism.
I'm your host Yucca.
And I'm Mark.
And today we are talkingabout our February holiday.
Right.
We've come to the point of the wheelof the year where we've, the, the light
has come back significantly in theNorthern Hemisphere, and we're about
(00:57):
halfway between the winter solstice andthe spring equinox, and so it's time
for us to have another Pagan holiday.
It is, and we were mentioningbefore hitting record that this
is our fourth time rolling aroundto this holiday on the podcast.
So there are four, well, this,there's three previous episodes,
(01:22):
so if you wanna go back and listento what we said and, and find all
the places where we've changed whatwe're doing, then you can , right?
So, right.
Yeah.
But let's go ahead, mark.
Oh,
I was just going to say, we'renot going to apologize for doing
the same thing year after year.
Our practices just don't changethat much on a year by year basis.
(01:44):
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, and that's the thingabout it being a wheel, right?
The wheel keeps turning andturning and you get back to
the same place on that wheel.
But, but it's lovely because eachtime it is a little different, right?
So there it's.
That point that you can touchback to that familiar place.
(02:04):
And yet life is just alwayschanging and always different,
right?
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And you learn new things and you getexposed to new ideas for rituals that you
can do, or you have new ideas yourself.
I've got a couple of new ideas forthe, for celebrating this holiday this
year that I'm kind of excited about.
(02:24):
Mm-hmm.
. So why don't we dive in and startout by talking about, what do we call
this holiday and when exactly is it
? Yes.
So it's one of the holidays thatisn't like the solstice that.
That people are very familiarwith the time and there's some
choices for when do you place this?
(02:45):
For me, the wheel of the year is moreabout the season and then there's the
holiday, which is kind of like the.
The cake topper for it, it's great.
But the specific moment isa little bit less important.
So we'll usually just do it on, we'lldo our celebrations on whatever day
is kind of closest to the 1st ofFebruary where we have time, right?
(03:11):
Mm-hmm.
that everybody can be together for it.
It's not the day.
You know, everybody's working 12hour shifts and, and all of that.
Sure.
Sure.
Whereas so when is it?
Yeah.
Whereas I tend to shoot to get tothe time that's most convenient.
That's nearest to about February 4th,which is the actual midpoint between the
(03:34):
winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Mm-hmm.
so.
I'm less invested in the sort oftraditional idea of this holiday being
on the first or the 2nd of Februarywhich I think derives somewhat from
Christianity with the celebrationof candle mess on the second and
(03:55):
Groundhog Day, all those things.
Not the groundhog days, Christian.
It has nothing to do with that.
So I try to get closest to the fourth,and typically it'll be a weekend day
that's closest to the fourth thatI celebrate this holiday at all.
Mm-hmm.
. Oh, and you have a different name for it than.
(04:22):
Some of the popular
names, right?
I mean the, the popular names in thePagan sphere are either M og, which
I learned recently how to pronounceproperly from an Irish person.
Yes, in fact that.
Video will come out on the YouTube channeltomorrow if you're listening to this, the
day it comes out on Monday, Tuesday, wehave a round table discussion with some
(04:44):
great folks, so keep an eye out for that.
And that's on the YouTube channel, whichis now, that'll be on the YouTube channel,
which is now posting weekly videos.
So you should go check it out.
Yeah,
it's posting this as well.
So the, which has been lovely toget the comments from everybody.
Right.
Yeah, so we get some good discussionsgoing on the, the comments.
(05:05):
And then usually Wednesdays is whenwe post the weekly video, but this
week I'm gonna post it on Tuesdayso that everybody has time to think
about what they're doing if you docelebrate on the first before Wednesday.
So, but I'm sorry, mark,I cut you off on that.
Go ahead.
Oh, no, no.
Not a problem at all.
Where I live, February is generallythe, the wettest month of the year.
(05:30):
Mm-hmm.
. And so, and what I mean bythat is that it rains almost
every day in an ordinary year.
Now, of course, we've been dealing withdrought and everything is much more
chaotic now because of climate change.
But still, what I come toexpect when I get to February
is that it's gonna rain a lot.
(05:50):
. And so what I celebrate at this timeof year is sort of a hybrid of more
traditional themes, and then the Festivalof Water, which I name River Rain.
Mm-hmm.
. And so River Rain is the time when wecelebrate all the good things that water
does for us in all of its different forms.
And.
(06:11):
As well as having some of those morekind of Irish holiday traditional
things that are associatedwith this holiday particularly.
Mm-hmm.
. So I, I call this Holiday River Rain.
The other name that I have usedfor this in my writing, because
it's much more universal is to callit brightening or the brighten.
(06:32):
Yeah, because that, that applieseverywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.
, it, it, it is getting brighter now.
Yes.
And it's, the days are noticeably longer,so, we've come out of the depth of
winter, even though it's still gonna becold and either wet or frozen for quite
a while longer for in, in many places.
(06:52):
Mm-hmm.
. Yeah.
So very different for us.
We are not getting rain every day at all.
It's this is, this is winter, verymuch winter for us, although there's
the hints as the li as the light isbrightening coming back a little bit.
But it's.
January, the beginning of February isreally the most bitter cold time for us.
(07:17):
Mm-hmm.
the last week, our days, the highshave not gotten above freezing.
Mm.
So we'll typically more be in the,the late thirties or early forties
during the winter, but this time rightnow is just really, really bitter.
And it's that last bit.
I usually call it second winter.
(07:37):
Sometimes nos gwyl fair, butusually just second winter and it's.
There's the hints of spring, butit's still, it's like, no, we haven't
gotten through it yet and it'sstill, there's still a quietness
to this time of year for us.
Mm-hmm.
, before things really start kickingoff and getting moving when the
(07:57):
spring comes back, Uhhuh and Yeah.
And it's the time that wethink about and celebrate the.
Hoofed creatures, the ungulates, the,this is the time of the celebration
of the, the dairy and the meat andthe furs and those sorts of things.
(08:20):
That just a reminder of the.
The partnership and reliance that we haveon these other creatures, specifically
the, the bovine and the caprin, and those,those beings that we've been so close
to for you know, thousands of years.
And that our, our lives depend on mm-hmm.
(08:43):
. So that's our, our focus during this time.
That's, yeah, that's great.
That totally makes sense to me.
It's also e even though it's.
It's wet here and therefore it's greenas opposed to the summertime when
everything turns kind of golden brown.
All the creeks are reallyrushing right now, and the early
wildflowers are starting to come up.
(09:05):
We have, we have snowdrops and milkmaidsand, and some of the really early things.
I would imagine that crocuses and tulipsare sprouting but not yet blooming here.
Hmm.
But because of the amount ofrainfall, it's still very much that
feeling of being indoors, kind ofsheltered against the elements.
(09:25):
And so it's, it, it's also atime that works very well for the
traditional association of this timeof year with planning and mm-hmm.
kind of getting prepared forthings to start happening again.
But they're not quite happening yet.
Right.
You're getting prepared kind of on.
(09:45):
A mental and emotional statemore than like actually getting
your tools out and Right,
right.
Although you might sharpen your tools thistime of year, you know, you might, yeah.
You might do maintenance.
That kind of thing, just to make sure thatwhen the time rolls around, when you can
act, that you can spring into action andnot have a bunch of repairs to do first.
(10:08):
Yeah.
You know, all the kind of industrythat can happen indoors is the
sort of thing that can happen now.
So other associations thatI have, what, what I, what.
Try to do is sort of meld some ofthe traditional Irish fire festival
associations of this holiday,which are very much tied up in
(10:29):
the image of the goddess Bridged.
Mm-hmm.
, who is associated with poetry andcraft and the forge and the sacred,
well, lot of different things.
Mm-hmm.
, the childbirth as well, I believe.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
As well as the water holiday and so forth.
So, one of the things that I've comeup with this year that I'm excited
(10:51):
about is I have a, a little anvil anda three pound sledgehammer mm-hmm.
, I've used in these, in rituals that thistime of year for probably 20 years now.
And there's just something verysatisfying about that ring of the,
of the, the hammer on the anvil.
(11:12):
But what I'm going to do is I'm gonna getsome either metal slugs, discs mm-hmm.
, or if I can't get those, I'll get aroll of nickels and I'll use those and
use a, a chisel stamp with a pattern.
. Mm-hmm.
on the anvil, and so stampthe pattern into the coin.
(11:33):
Each participant in the ritual willdo that, and then we'll pitch them
into a, a container of water thatwill be our wishing well and make a
wish for the coming year as we tossor, or coins into the sacred well.
So that, that's my new idea for.
(11:54):
For a river rain or aolg ritual this year.
And we'll see how it turns out.
Hmm.
I love that.
How big is your anvil?
It's about six inches long,maybe seven inches long.
It's tiny.
It's heavy.
Sure.
Because it's made out of iron.
But it's, it's it's small.
(12:15):
It's more like, it's a littlebit bigger than a jewelers an.
. Mm-hmm.
. So it's the kind of thing I guess,that you would like keep in your garage
if you needed to use dyes and taps.
Sometime, you know, something thatrequired hitting with a sledgehammer.
It's but it, it sits outprominently on our household focus.
(12:35):
Sits there all year waiting for thistime of year to roll around so I
can.
Hmm.
That's lovely.
I love the image ofthe, of a little anvil.
. Uhhuh,
. Yeah.
Yeah.
Cuz, I mean, ordinarily an anvilis, you know what, it weighs 400
pounds and it's three feet long.
And , you know, some gigantic thing.
Well, I grew up with them in the, in ourgarage, but the ones that we had were,
(13:01):
you know, maybe a foot long, maybe afoot and a half enough that you could
The enough that you, that I certainlywasn't gonna be able to move it around.
Uhhuh . Right.
And that's the kind ofthing that you can make.
I mean, you can bend bar steelon and you can make, you know,
horseshoes and things like that.
My anvil is too far too small for that.
(13:24):
, but it's shaped like a traditional anvil.
And you could
still hit it pretty hard and
you can still hit it good and hard, andit makes that wonderful ringing noise.
Mm-hmm.
. So it's a, it's a great ritualtool to have for this time of year.
Mm-hmm.
So that's
lovely.
Yeah.
So, I was going to ask youwhat are your sort of ritual
(13:49):
observances at this time of year?
Yeah.
So there is this, this beginning of it.
But a lot of the focus for mereally is on that, that connection.
And.
The dependence and kind ofresponsibility to other life.
(14:13):
And so one of the things that I do is I,and this is my kind of main thing that I
do for the, for the holidays, is I willtake a time to do, to kind of separate.
and go off by myself to do areflection and meditation and
take time that I don't normally.
I mean, last time we were talking abouthow I really don't have a lot of time,
(14:35):
but I'll take an hour or two to dolike a like a meditation for myself.
And sometimes I'll do that in ritualspace and I might, you know, do a circle.
But there's also a, a lot offocus on that comfortness.
So one of the things that we do thistime of year is we get out, we have, you
know, furs and things and you've gottabrush those out and take care of them.
(14:56):
So get all that brushed out and niceand soft and instead of going out,
cuz I usually go out for these, but I.
Wrap myself in the furs and maybe havea nice warm mug of broth and just feel
soft and comfortable and just that takencare of in, in that sort of quietness.
(15:20):
Mm-hmm.
and I, before I've woken up for dawnfor it, and I think I'll do it at
Dawn again, there's something veryspecial about the transition of the
light, whether it's the dawn or.
Or dusk.
But Dawn is lovely because then thelight has come, there's something
about the this, and it's, I thinkit's because the sun is coming back.
(15:40):
Mm-hmm.
, or rather, the days are gettinglonger, but to start in the quiet
darkness and then have the worldwake up around you in this, you
know, soft, protected, safe space.
Sure.
Yeah.
That sounds love.
And then with the kiddos, the lastfew years we've actually painted
pine cones, which has been fun.
(16:01):
So we'll take, we've got here, weget the, we've got big ponderosas and
they have these lovely, huge cones,and then we have a little pinon.
Pines that have these smaller onesthat are maybe only a few inches
across that look more like flowers.
And so we'll collect those and paintthem in very kind of pale colors,
(16:22):
like a light white or very light blueand string them and hang them up.
That's, and we've also done icecandles, which has been really.
where you make a candle holder for,for a little candle, like a tea candle.
Mm-hmm.
, take it out of the metaland stick the, stick it in.
And if you do it outside, then youdon't need to worry too much about it.
(16:43):
But if you do it inside, youhave to make sure that you don't
put it on your wooden table.
Make sure you're putting it inside atray or something, because as it melts
down, it melts the ice away, but thelight just dances so beautifully on it.
Mm.
So,
yeah.
I don't get to do very much funstuff with ice and snow, cuz we
just don't have it around here.
(17:03):
I know that at this time of year, one ofthe atheopagan Society Council members,
John c Cleland host he does candlesin the snow with his, with his kids.
Mm-hmm.
, they, they actually pour melted wax.
Into the snow.
Oh, right.
Because the snow's reallydeep there in the Midwest.
(17:24):
Oh, he's much
colder climate.
The both of us.
Yeah.
Stick a wick into it and thenlight it and it looks really cool.
Oh, that's lovely.
Yeah.
We just made, so my father came over andwe made oil lamps actually with the kids.
So we we made it out of clayand did the traditional kind of.
(17:46):
Very, they very kind of MiddleEastern shape, um mm-hmm.
, because we're on, on that side,we're Sephardic, so some of the
old kind of Lamps that we would'vehad from that time period.
But we made it with the clay fromour land here, which was really nice.
Oh, nice.
And so that's a, and then we used ac.
We've got a whole bunch of lards.
(18:07):
So the lard burns beautifully.
You wouldn't think it, but it burnsbeautifully for for the, the candle.
. Yeah.
That's great.
Yeah.
I mean, it's definitelyanother light holiday, right?
I mean, not so much as yule ormid-winter, but it's still, you know,
(18:29):
when, when you're paying attention alot to what's happening with the light,
because it's still so new coming back.
Mm-hmm.
. And so all kinds of things with candlesand oil lamps and all that kind of
stuff are completely appropriate,
you know, in a, in a way the lightalmost feels a little bit more
(18:51):
important to me now because whenwe get to, to solstice, I haven't,
the, the is still kind of refresh.
I'm not ready for the dawn to come backyet, but now I'm feeling like, okay.
Dawn, come on.
. Yeah.
Okay.
That, that was enough of that?
Yep, yep, yep.
It's
time.
Yeah.
I'd like, I'd like the, the light again.
(19:13):
I'd like, I'd like thoseinsects to come on back.
Please.
You know, have some Right.
Have a little bit more life around.
I mean, we have lots of life here.
We're surrounded by birds and rodentsand all sorts of things, but, but when
the warm comes back, it, everythingbuzzes to life in a way that.
That is quiet right now.
Yeah.
(19:35):
Yeah.
So, a lot of different thoughtsabout ways to celebrate the season.
The this time of year is also oftenassociated with things like poetry and
various kinds of creative and craftprojects, of course, because people
are still largely trapped inside wherethey may do their knitting or wood
carving or, you know, whatever it is.
(19:57):
All of those things are, are good thingsto practice around this time of year.
But the most important oneof all, of course, is just
noticing, noticing the change.
You know, things are, thingsare not the same as they were
in the middle of December.
And that change is gonna continue as wemove on towards the the spring equinox.
(20:18):
Yeah.
And we'll be talking aboutit before we know it.
Yeah.
Time flying by, it really is.
Mm-hmm.
. Well, this has been great.
Thank you so much, Yucca, and I hopethat you have a really wonderful holiday.
You too.
Yeah.
And thank you all for joining us andlistening, and we will see you next
(20:42):
week.
Yeah.
See you next.
Welcome back to the WonderScience-based Paganism.
I'm your host Yucca.
And I'm Mark.
And today we are talkingabout our February holiday.
Right.
We've come to the point of the wheelof the year where we've, the, the light
has come back significantly in theNorthern Hemisphere, and we're about
(00:57):
halfway between the winter solstice andthe spring equinox, and so it's time
for us to have another Pagan holiday.
It is, and we were mentioningbefore hitting record that this
is our fourth time rolling aroundto this holiday on the podcast.
So there are four, well, this,there's three previous episodes,
(01:22):
so if you wanna go back and listento what we said and, and find all
the places where we've changed whatwe're doing, then you can , right?
So, right.
Yeah.
But let's go ahead, mark.
Oh,
I was just going to say, we'renot going to apologize for doing
the same thing year after year.
Our practices just don't changethat much on a year by year basis.
(01:44):
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, and that's the thingabout it being a wheel, right?
The wheel keeps turning andturning and you get back to
the same place on that wheel.
But, but it's lovely because eachtime it is a little different, right?
So there it's.
That point that you can touchback to that familiar place.
(02:04):
And yet life is just alwayschanging and always different,
right?
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And you learn new things and you getexposed to new ideas for rituals that you
can do, or you have new ideas yourself.
I've got a couple of new ideas forthe, for celebrating this holiday this
year that I'm kind of excited about.
(02:24):
Mm-hmm.
. So why don't we dive in and startout by talking about, what do we call
this holiday and when exactly is it
? Yes.
So it's one of the holidays thatisn't like the solstice that.
That people are very familiarwith the time and there's some
choices for when do you place this?
(02:45):
For me, the wheel of the year is moreabout the season and then there's the
holiday, which is kind of like the.
The cake topper for it, it's great.
But the specific moment isa little bit less important.
So we'll usually just do it on, we'lldo our celebrations on whatever day
is kind of closest to the 1st ofFebruary where we have time, right?
(03:11):
Mm-hmm.
that everybody can be together for it.
It's not the day.
You know, everybody's working 12hour shifts and, and all of that.
Sure.
Sure.
Whereas so when is it?
Yeah.
Whereas I tend to shoot to get tothe time that's most convenient.
That's nearest to about February 4th,which is the actual midpoint between the
(03:34):
winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Mm-hmm.
so.
I'm less invested in the sort oftraditional idea of this holiday being
on the first or the 2nd of Februarywhich I think derives somewhat from
Christianity with the celebrationof candle mess on the second and
(03:55):
Groundhog Day, all those things.
Not the groundhog days, Christian.
It has nothing to do with that.
So I try to get closest to the fourth,and typically it'll be a weekend day
that's closest to the fourth thatI celebrate this holiday at all.
Mm-hmm.
. Oh, and you have a different name for it than.
(04:22):
Some of the popular
names, right?
I mean the, the popular names in thePagan sphere are either M og, which
I learned recently how to pronounceproperly from an Irish person.
Yes, in fact that.
Video will come out on the YouTube channeltomorrow if you're listening to this, the
day it comes out on Monday, Tuesday, wehave a round table discussion with some
(04:44):
great folks, so keep an eye out for that.
And that's on the YouTube channel, whichis now, that'll be on the YouTube channel,
which is now posting weekly videos.
So you should go check it out.
Yeah,
it's posting this as well.
So the, which has been lovely toget the comments from everybody.
Right.
Yeah, so we get some good discussionsgoing on the, the comments.
(05:05):
And then usually Wednesdays is whenwe post the weekly video, but this
week I'm gonna post it on Tuesdayso that everybody has time to think
about what they're doing if you docelebrate on the first before Wednesday.
So, but I'm sorry, mark,I cut you off on that.
Go ahead.
Oh, no, no.
Not a problem at all.
Where I live, February is generallythe, the wettest month of the year.
(05:30):
Mm-hmm.
. And so, and what I mean bythat is that it rains almost
every day in an ordinary year.
Now, of course, we've been dealing withdrought and everything is much more
chaotic now because of climate change.
But still, what I come toexpect when I get to February
is that it's gonna rain a lot.
(05:50):
. And so what I celebrate at this timeof year is sort of a hybrid of more
traditional themes, and then the Festivalof Water, which I name River Rain.
Mm-hmm.
. And so River Rain is the time when wecelebrate all the good things that water
does for us in all of its different forms.
And.
(06:11):
As well as having some of those morekind of Irish holiday traditional
things that are associatedwith this holiday particularly.
Mm-hmm.
. So I, I call this Holiday River Rain.
The other name that I have usedfor this in my writing, because
it's much more universal is to callit brightening or the brighten.
(06:32):
Yeah, because that, that applieseverywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.
, it, it, it is getting brighter now.
Yes.
And it's, the days are noticeably longer,so, we've come out of the depth of
winter, even though it's still gonna becold and either wet or frozen for quite
a while longer for in, in many places.
(06:52):
Mm-hmm.
. Yeah.
So very different for us.
We are not getting rain every day at all.
It's this is, this is winter, verymuch winter for us, although there's
the hints as the li as the light isbrightening coming back a little bit.
But it's.
January, the beginning of February isreally the most bitter cold time for us.
(07:17):
Mm-hmm.
the last week, our days, the highshave not gotten above freezing.
Mm.
So we'll typically more be in the,the late thirties or early forties
during the winter, but this time rightnow is just really, really bitter.
And it's that last bit.
I usually call it second winter.
(07:37):
Sometimes nos gwyl fair, butusually just second winter and it's.
There's the hints of spring, butit's still, it's like, no, we haven't
gotten through it yet and it'sstill, there's still a quietness
to this time of year for us.
Mm-hmm.
, before things really start kickingoff and getting moving when the
(07:57):
spring comes back, Uhhuh and Yeah.
And it's the time that wethink about and celebrate the.
Hoofed creatures, the ungulates, the,this is the time of the celebration
of the, the dairy and the meat andthe furs and those sorts of things.
(08:20):
That just a reminder of the.
The partnership and reliance that we haveon these other creatures, specifically
the, the bovine and the caprin, and those,those beings that we've been so close
to for you know, thousands of years.
And that our, our lives depend on mm-hmm.
(08:43):
. So that's our, our focus during this time.
That's, yeah, that's great.
That totally makes sense to me.
It's also e even though it's.
It's wet here and therefore it's greenas opposed to the summertime when
everything turns kind of golden brown.
All the creeks are reallyrushing right now, and the early
wildflowers are starting to come up.
(09:05):
We have, we have snowdrops and milkmaidsand, and some of the really early things.
I would imagine that crocuses and tulipsare sprouting but not yet blooming here.
Hmm.
But because of the amount ofrainfall, it's still very much that
feeling of being indoors, kind ofsheltered against the elements.
(09:25):
And so it's, it, it's also atime that works very well for the
traditional association of this timeof year with planning and mm-hmm.
kind of getting prepared forthings to start happening again.
But they're not quite happening yet.
Right.
You're getting prepared kind of on.
(09:45):
A mental and emotional statemore than like actually getting
your tools out and Right,
right.
Although you might sharpen your tools thistime of year, you know, you might, yeah.
You might do maintenance.
That kind of thing, just to make sure thatwhen the time rolls around, when you can
act, that you can spring into action andnot have a bunch of repairs to do first.
(10:08):
Yeah.
You know, all the kind of industrythat can happen indoors is the
sort of thing that can happen now.
So other associations thatI have, what, what I, what.
Try to do is sort of meld some ofthe traditional Irish fire festival
associations of this holiday,which are very much tied up in
(10:29):
the image of the goddess Bridged.
Mm-hmm.
, who is associated with poetry andcraft and the forge and the sacred,
well, lot of different things.
Mm-hmm.
, the childbirth as well, I believe.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
As well as the water holiday and so forth.
So, one of the things that I've comeup with this year that I'm excited
(10:51):
about is I have a, a little anvil anda three pound sledgehammer mm-hmm.
, I've used in these, in rituals that thistime of year for probably 20 years now.
And there's just something verysatisfying about that ring of the,
of the, the hammer on the anvil.
(11:12):
But what I'm going to do is I'm gonna getsome either metal slugs, discs mm-hmm.
, or if I can't get those, I'll get aroll of nickels and I'll use those and
use a, a chisel stamp with a pattern.
. Mm-hmm.
on the anvil, and so stampthe pattern into the coin.
(11:33):
Each participant in the ritual willdo that, and then we'll pitch them
into a, a container of water thatwill be our wishing well and make a
wish for the coming year as we tossor, or coins into the sacred well.
So that, that's my new idea for.
(11:54):
For a river rain or aolg ritual this year.
And we'll see how it turns out.
Hmm.
I love that.
How big is your anvil?
It's about six inches long,maybe seven inches long.
It's tiny.
It's heavy.
Sure.
Because it's made out of iron.
But it's, it's it's small.
(12:15):
It's more like, it's a littlebit bigger than a jewelers an.
. Mm-hmm.
. So it's the kind of thing I guess,that you would like keep in your garage
if you needed to use dyes and taps.
Sometime, you know, something thatrequired hitting with a sledgehammer.
It's but it, it sits outprominently on our household focus.
(12:35):
Sits there all year waiting for thistime of year to roll around so I
can.
Hmm.
That's lovely.
I love the image ofthe, of a little anvil.
. Uhhuh,
. Yeah.
Yeah.
Cuz, I mean, ordinarily an anvilis, you know what, it weighs 400
pounds and it's three feet long.
And , you know, some gigantic thing.
Well, I grew up with them in the, in ourgarage, but the ones that we had were,
(13:01):
you know, maybe a foot long, maybe afoot and a half enough that you could
The enough that you, that I certainlywasn't gonna be able to move it around.
Uhhuh . Right.
And that's the kind ofthing that you can make.
I mean, you can bend bar steelon and you can make, you know,
horseshoes and things like that.
My anvil is too far too small for that.
(13:24):
, but it's shaped like a traditional anvil.
And you could
still hit it pretty hard and
you can still hit it good and hard, andit makes that wonderful ringing noise.
Mm-hmm.
. So it's a, it's a great ritualtool to have for this time of year.
Mm-hmm.
So that's
lovely.
Yeah.
So, I was going to ask youwhat are your sort of ritual
(13:49):
observances at this time of year?
Yeah.
So there is this, this beginning of it.
But a lot of the focus for mereally is on that, that connection.
And.
The dependence and kind ofresponsibility to other life.
(14:13):
And so one of the things that I do is I,and this is my kind of main thing that I
do for the, for the holidays, is I willtake a time to do, to kind of separate.
and go off by myself to do areflection and meditation and
take time that I don't normally.
I mean, last time we were talking abouthow I really don't have a lot of time,
(14:35):
but I'll take an hour or two to dolike a like a meditation for myself.
And sometimes I'll do that in ritualspace and I might, you know, do a circle.
But there's also a, a lot offocus on that comfortness.
So one of the things that we do thistime of year is we get out, we have, you
know, furs and things and you've gottabrush those out and take care of them.
(14:56):
So get all that brushed out and niceand soft and instead of going out,
cuz I usually go out for these, but I.
Wrap myself in the furs and maybe havea nice warm mug of broth and just feel
soft and comfortable and just that takencare of in, in that sort of quietness.
(15:20):
Mm-hmm.
and I, before I've woken up for dawnfor it, and I think I'll do it at
Dawn again, there's something veryspecial about the transition of the
light, whether it's the dawn or.
Or dusk.
But Dawn is lovely because then thelight has come, there's something
about the this, and it's, I thinkit's because the sun is coming back.
(15:40):
Mm-hmm.
, or rather, the days are gettinglonger, but to start in the quiet
darkness and then have the worldwake up around you in this, you
know, soft, protected, safe space.
Sure.
Yeah.
That sounds love.
And then with the kiddos, the lastfew years we've actually painted
pine cones, which has been fun.
(16:01):
So we'll take, we've got here, weget the, we've got big ponderosas and
they have these lovely, huge cones,and then we have a little pinon.
Pines that have these smaller onesthat are maybe only a few inches
across that look more like flowers.
And so we'll collect those and paintthem in very kind of pale colors,
(16:22):
like a light white or very light blueand string them and hang them up.
That's, and we've also done icecandles, which has been really.
where you make a candle holder for,for a little candle, like a tea candle.
Mm-hmm.
, take it out of the metaland stick the, stick it in.
And if you do it outside, then youdon't need to worry too much about it.
(16:43):
But if you do it inside, youhave to make sure that you don't
put it on your wooden table.
Make sure you're putting it inside atray or something, because as it melts
down, it melts the ice away, but thelight just dances so beautifully on it.
Mm.
So,
yeah.
I don't get to do very much funstuff with ice and snow, cuz we
just don't have it around here.
(17:03):
I know that at this time of year, one ofthe atheopagan Society Council members,
John c Cleland host he does candlesin the snow with his, with his kids.
Mm-hmm.
, they, they actually pour melted wax.
Into the snow.
Oh, right.
Because the snow's reallydeep there in the Midwest.
(17:24):
Oh, he's much
colder climate.
The both of us.
Yeah.
Stick a wick into it and thenlight it and it looks really cool.
Oh, that's lovely.
Yeah.
We just made, so my father came over andwe made oil lamps actually with the kids.
So we we made it out of clayand did the traditional kind of.
(17:46):
Very, they very kind of MiddleEastern shape, um mm-hmm.
, because we're on, on that side,we're Sephardic, so some of the
old kind of Lamps that we would'vehad from that time period.
But we made it with the clay fromour land here, which was really nice.
Oh, nice.
And so that's a, and then we used ac.
We've got a whole bunch of lards.
(18:07):
So the lard burns beautifully.
You wouldn't think it, but it burnsbeautifully for for the, the candle.
. Yeah.
That's great.
Yeah.
I mean, it's definitelyanother light holiday, right?
I mean, not so much as yule ormid-winter, but it's still, you know,
(18:29):
when, when you're paying attention alot to what's happening with the light,
because it's still so new coming back.
Mm-hmm.
. And so all kinds of things with candlesand oil lamps and all that kind of
stuff are completely appropriate,
you know, in a, in a way the lightalmost feels a little bit more
(18:51):
important to me now because whenwe get to, to solstice, I haven't,
the, the is still kind of refresh.
I'm not ready for the dawn to come backyet, but now I'm feeling like, okay.
Dawn, come on.
. Yeah.
Okay.
That, that was enough of that?
Yep, yep, yep.
It's
time.
Yeah.
I'd like, I'd like the, the light again.
(19:13):
I'd like, I'd like thoseinsects to come on back.
Please.
You know, have some Right.
Have a little bit more life around.
I mean, we have lots of life here.
We're surrounded by birds and rodentsand all sorts of things, but, but when
the warm comes back, it, everythingbuzzes to life in a way that.
That is quiet right now.
Yeah.
(19:35):
Yeah.
So, a lot of different thoughtsabout ways to celebrate the season.
The this time of year is also oftenassociated with things like poetry and
various kinds of creative and craftprojects, of course, because people
are still largely trapped inside wherethey may do their knitting or wood
carving or, you know, whatever it is.
(19:57):
All of those things are, are good thingsto practice around this time of year.
But the most important oneof all, of course, is just
noticing, noticing the change.
You know, things are, thingsare not the same as they were
in the middle of December.
And that change is gonna continue as wemove on towards the the spring equinox.
(20:18):
Yeah.
And we'll be talking aboutit before we know it.
Yeah.
Time flying by, it really is.
Mm-hmm.
. Well, this has been great.
Thank you so much, Yucca, and I hopethat you have a really wonderful holiday.
You too.
Yeah.
And thank you all for joining us andlistening, and we will see you next
(20:42):
week.
Yeah.
See you next.
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