It’s Spring! I have proof! My lilacs are starting to bud, and various plants are trying to grow through the gravel in my yard. Yes, that’s right, my yard, my lilacs. Six days after Ostara, we closed on the house. I am now a proud owner of a 30 year mortgage on a 100 year old house; and a caretaker of a small piece of Mother Earth.
On Ostara, I took the harp out under those lilac bushes and played in the Spring. There are so many things we can do in this part of the year to celebrate. Go plant a flower or clean up a corner of a park. Or just go outside and enjoy the return of the sun. This is the time we celebrate life. Enjoy!
—Catherine
Hearthstone meets the Friday before or the Friday of the Full Moon at the First Unitarian Church at 14th and Lafayette in Denver. The church doors open at 7, and we like to start at 7:30. (We are NOT big proponents of Pagan Standard Time, but if there is weather related driving trouble or a problem on the freeway, we've been known to wait a bit longer.)
The April 2 OFM will celebrate the return of Spring through songs and chants devoted to the return of the Goddess Persephone to her mother Demeter. We are singing a number of songs and chants that you may be familiar with, and we invite everyone to sing along. We will also do the Spiral Dance and celebrate the waking up of the Earth. I have included the words to the songs that we are singing in the ritual. You are welcome to join in these songs if you know them.
Circle Casting Song
(from the Reclaiming Chants Book)Lady Weave your Circle Tight
Spin a Web of Endless Light
Earth and Air and Fire and Water
Bind us to you.
Spiral Dance: Kore Chant
She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes
She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes
The Circle is Open
(recorded a number of places, including Libana)
Our Circle is Open Yet Unbroken
May the love of the Goddess be ever in our hearts
Merry meet and Merry part
And Merry Meet again
For January:
Hearthstone's January Open Full Moon celebration was a triple Drawing Down, with all participants invited to private audience with the Goddess. Speaking with the Goddess is such an individual experience. Some came back to the Circle glowing, some crying, some perplexed, and everything in-between. Due to the length of the ritual, participants were allowed to leave before the end if they so wished. We closed with dancing and chanting "Living in the arms of the Goddess, I wax, I wane, I'm whole."
Hearthstone would like to thank the many priestesses and priests who worked together to offer this experience. Special thanks to Alia, Kestrel, and Hilary Willowbear who drew down. We thank their attendants who assisted them with sustaining the energy and escorting participants. Much appreciation to Marian who tended the Circle, and Catherine and her assistants who welcomed and grounded each who visited the Goddess.
I hope others enjoyed the energy of the entire evening as much as I did. May the wisdom and blessings of the Goddess fill our lives. Would anyone in the Hearthstone community be interested in a ritual of drawing down the God? Volunteers?
—Arynne
For February:
A tip of the hat to Tanith, a capable teen priestess in our community who wrote our Imbolc Open Full Moon. We were reminded of the similarity between early Spring and teen age years; seeds and young people feel nearly bursting with restrained potential! Tanith included thought provoking readings, including an essay about trying to teach a statue to walk, and "The pain of remaining a bud overcame the fear of blooming" (Anias Nin). To a slow spiral dance (remember the reined-in feeling?) We chanted "Doors opening, doors closing, I am safe, it's only changes," and we each received a seed of new life. We feasted on milk and honey. We were charged to make peace with the waiting that is necessary before the Spring, and reminded not to be looking in the Spring for flowers we didn't plant! Thank you, Tanith!
—Arynne
For March:
For Hearthstone's March Open Full Moon, we offer Thanks and a Tip of the Hat to Trevor Stone. Trevor asked us to contemplate the relevance of our spiritual practices to our personal lives. When pagans of old did magic for a good harvest, their lives truly depended on it. We just use a debit card and buy strawberries year-round at a store. Whether or not we will have food and warmth through the winter mostly depends on having jobs and keeping our cars and computers running. How many of us actually plant seeds and harvest food?
In this ritual we invoked the God of Peace, Local Empowerment and International Diplomacy, and the Goddess who is Weaver of the World Wide Web. With much humor, sharing, and thoughtfulness, we explored our spiritual connections to our modern urban experience, and our personal responsibility to make good choices about the resources and technology in our lives.
Thank you, Trevor, for an interesting ritual and for expanding our perspective.
—Arynne
We have determined that our break-even point is about $4 per person.
We aren’t going to start collecting at the door, and no one will be turned away for not having a donation. However, we would like to suggest a donation of 4 to 7 dollars per person. (The extra is to cover the pagans that are unable to donate.) If you can’t afford it, you are still welcome – if you can afford more, we’d be delighted to accept it.
NOTE: Hearthstone is a church and your donations to Hearthstone are tax deductible. If you would like to write a check so you can keep track of your donations, we can certainly handle that as well.
Thank you to everyone who has helped the Food Bank stay in business. We do have a few areas that need some replenishing. Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to give. Remember, if you do not want to do the shopping, you may donate cash at the front counter at Wings (44th and Lowell in West Denver). The donated money will be used to buy items that are needed.
These are the items/areas we need:
Items not really needed:
Again, thank you for any help that you supply to keep the Food Bank up and running.
DragonHorse
Caretaker of the Food Bank
Well, I'm working again. In the state with the second worst unemployment rate in the nation (this week, at any rate) that's quite an accomplishment. (In case you're curious, Alaska has the worst unemployment rate, and Washington has the third worst. I sense a trend, don't you?)
However, in these hard times, you take your jobs where you can. Normally I would never have sought work so far away from home. But the job is pretty nearly what I wanted, even though it is over twenty five miles from my front door. So I commute. Some days I drive and on those days I get home before 6 PM. Most days, however, I take mass transit, and on those days I get home closer to 7 PM.
Granted, it's a lovely drive and if it weren't for the wasted fuel I'd drive it more often. Imagine, if you will, driving to work each day through the forest primeval. The blind hairpin curves at 6:30 AM are a little intimidating, especially up here where it stays dark pretty late in the morning during the winter, but there are stretches of road where I can imagine myself driving to and from Dragonfest, or some other festival. The forest sings. The mountains may not be majestic but they're very present and very solid. On a good day, I can smell the salt ocean on the breeze. Other days I can smell snow which is falling over fifty miles away. Come summer I'll have my pick of roadside fruit and vegetable stands along the route, including the island containing my favorite nude beach. But it's a fifty five mile round trip and I can't justify driving that alone more than one or two times a week. Most days I take two buses and a train to get to work and home again. I have become dear friends with my slow cooker. There is nothing better than walking in the door after spending two hours on buses and trains, and finding a hot dinner already ready. I've started to get pretty inventive, too, and have created some really lovely soups and stews. Here is one of the soups that I've made twice, once for company where it received rave reviews. One hint I strongly urge slow cooker users to pay attention to is add herbs and spices in the last hour or so of cooking. The long cooking process drains them of their flavor.
GYPSY'S BLACK BEAN AND ITALIAN SAUSAGE SOUP
Serves 6-8
Heat the slow cooker on high for about 10 minutes. Add oil, then add onion, garlic, celery, and green pepper. Stir and cover slow cooker. After another 10 minutes, crumble and add the sausage, stir, and cover slow cooker again. After another ten minutes, add remaining ingredients, adding enough water to bring to top of slow cooker insert. Cover, reduce slow cooker heat to low, and leave undisturbed for 8-12 hours. An hour before serving, stir in marjoram, rosemary, and black pepper. Serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste. Accompany with crusty bread if desired. Leftovers keep well and this is very tasty when reheated.
—gypsy
A site brought to you by the U.S. Naval Observatory that declares: "You can obtain the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, transits of the Sun and Moon, and the beginning and end of civil twilight, along with information on the Moon's phase..."
Example of what you’ll get:
The
following information is provided for Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio
(longitude W83.6,latitude N41.7):
Monday
28 April 2003 Eastern Daylight Time
SUN
Begin civil twilight 6:06 a.m.
Sunrise 6:35 a.m.
Sun transit 1:32 p.m.
Sunset 8:29 p.m.
End civil twilight 8:59 p.m.
MOON
Moonset 4:51 p.m. on preceding day
Moonrise 5:41 a.m.
Moon transit 11:41 a.m.
Moonset 5:52 p.m.
Moonrise 6:01 a.m. on following day
Phase of the Moon on 28 April: waning crescent with 7% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated. New Moon on 1 May 2003 at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Why is this site cool? Because you can set it to your specific area, put in
your state and your city and get very specific information. You can also go
worldwide. It’s very nifty, so put in the date and get started. Check out that
sun and moon info or check out the rest of the Observatory’s site. Enjoy.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html
--Cece
New Mama Aylah proudly presents:
Sydney Rose 3 lbs. 1.5 oz./15.75"
Sophie Blue 3 lbs. 4.5 oz./16.5"
Our due date was March
21st was the day
Because spring begins
And we wanted to play
But then we decided
"Oh what the heck!
Let's get there early
And make Mama a wreck!"
So on Super Bowl Sunday (Jan 26)
We thought we'd arrive
And thought it best to be there
Before 9:35
So at 9:22 and at 9:23
P.M. of course--it had to be
Came Sydney and Sophie
In that order you see
And Mama doesn't need sleep now
Until we are THREE!
If you have something to say, and are willing to let Alia or Catherine edit it slightly, (generally for grammar – Alia has the soul of an English teacher and I want to be one) please feel free to submit your writing. Content will not be edited. We can usually make room for more voices.
Please note that information and opinions contained in the articles in this newsletter are the responsibility of the authors only. No endorsement by Hearthstone Community Church, Inc. is implied.
All writings are copyright to their respective authors. Please obtain permission before reprinting anything here with the exception of the Open Full Moon Dates. Those may be copied and transmitted as needed.
2004
May 16
June 13
July 11
August 15 (changed from the 8th)
September 5
October 10
November 7
December 5
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