Tonight is the new moon, a night of reflection. A night where I shed old habits and create new ones. A night of introspection.
Last week, an old friend of mine (read: 15 years of friendship), passed away. If the rumors are to be believed, he was an alcoholic and did drugs. He was also obese and suffered from sleep apnea. He had just had his birthday party, six days after his actual birthday, and had passed out, drunk, in his car. I don't know how the night played out. I just know that he was found the next morning no longer alive.
I met Luis in middle school, at Fairway Middle School, which no longer exists, when we were in the 6th grade and 11 years old. He had just turned 26 on the 8th. I went to his funeral yesterday morning. Life is short. Very. Incredibly. Short. He left behind a two-year-old son.
I fell apart yesterday (Thursday) at that funeral. Listening to his mother cry out "My Baby! My only baby boy!" and her begging for him to wake up and come out of that coffin was more than I could take. Seeing friends I hadn't seen in years because we had all grown up, moved away and started our adult lives, but were all brought together over the loss of someone we held dear. I hate the fact that I reconnect with others after someone dies. I like these people, enjoy their company, but the only time we ever see each other is because of the passing of a friend.
I'm still reeling. I'll be 26 in June. If I were to die less then a week from my birthday, would I be satisfied with what I have done with my life? Have a given an example for my children to look up to? What legacy am I leaving behind?
A lot to think about tonight. A lot to think about.
Descanse en paz, hermano. Rest in peace, bro.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Pink Moon Ritual
NOTE: This was originally written on Saturday, April 7, the day after the full moon and was not posted until today because life has been hectic. Sorry for any delay.
Friday night, there was a bit of haze in the sky, causing this month's full moon to have a pearlescent halo surrounding it. It was beautiful, lit up, and looking like a rainbow hugged the moon. I lit a pink candle in honor of one of its many historical names and meditated on my life, my family, my goals, and of the goddess. With this full moon snuggled between the pagan Ostara, and the Christian Easter, I spent it on the Goddess Eostre, from whom the names for those holidays came.
In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse then she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived. Ostara is identical to the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora.
Eos is the Greek personification of the dawn, the daughter of the Hyperion and Theia and the sister of Helios (sun) and Selene (moon). By Astraeus she was the mother of the four winds: Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus and Notus; and also of Heosphorus and the Stars. She was depicted as a goddess whose rosy fingers opened the gates of heaven to the chariot of the Sun. Her legend consists almost entirely of her intrigues. She first slept with Ares; this earned her the wrath of Aphrodite who punished her by changing her into a nymphomaniac. Her lovers were Orion, Cephalus and Tithonus.
Aurora is the Roman personification of the dawn. She is also the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Eos. Aurora is seen as a lovely woman who flies across the sky announcing the arrival of the sun. Aurora has two siblings: a brother, the sun, and a sister, the moon. She has had quite a number of husbands and sons. Four of her sons are the four winds (north, south, east, and west). According to one myth, her tears cause the dew as she flies across the sky weeping for one of her sons, who was killed. Aurora is certainly not the most brilliant goddess as she asked Zeus to grant one of her husbands immortality, but forgot to ask for everlasting youth. As a result, her husband soon became aged. Aurora is not one of the better-known goddesses. However, Shakespeare refers to her in his famous play Romeo and Juliet.
-source: pantheon.org
"North American indigenous peoples speaking the Algonquian language historically called the April full moon the Pink Moon because this full Moon heralded the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox—one of the first spring flowers."
Friday night, there was a bit of haze in the sky, causing this month's full moon to have a pearlescent halo surrounding it. It was beautiful, lit up, and looking like a rainbow hugged the moon. I lit a pink candle in honor of one of its many historical names and meditated on my life, my family, my goals, and of the goddess. With this full moon snuggled between the pagan Ostara, and the Christian Easter, I spent it on the Goddess Eostre, from whom the names for those holidays came.
In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse then she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived. Ostara is identical to the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora.
Eos is the Greek personification of the dawn, the daughter of the Hyperion and Theia and the sister of Helios (sun) and Selene (moon). By Astraeus she was the mother of the four winds: Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus and Notus; and also of Heosphorus and the Stars. She was depicted as a goddess whose rosy fingers opened the gates of heaven to the chariot of the Sun. Her legend consists almost entirely of her intrigues. She first slept with Ares; this earned her the wrath of Aphrodite who punished her by changing her into a nymphomaniac. Her lovers were Orion, Cephalus and Tithonus.
Aurora is the Roman personification of the dawn. She is also the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Eos. Aurora is seen as a lovely woman who flies across the sky announcing the arrival of the sun. Aurora has two siblings: a brother, the sun, and a sister, the moon. She has had quite a number of husbands and sons. Four of her sons are the four winds (north, south, east, and west). According to one myth, her tears cause the dew as she flies across the sky weeping for one of her sons, who was killed. Aurora is certainly not the most brilliant goddess as she asked Zeus to grant one of her husbands immortality, but forgot to ask for everlasting youth. As a result, her husband soon became aged. Aurora is not one of the better-known goddesses. However, Shakespeare refers to her in his famous play Romeo and Juliet.
-source: pantheon.org
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