The Sacred Hearth

The Seeker's Trove

A monthly newsletter for Pagan seekers from the Sacred Hearth.

If you no longer wish to receive this publication, please remove yourself from the list at http://www.sacredhearth.com/newsletter/subscriptions/ or contact dawn.black@gmail.com.

If you are having trouble viewing this email, you can find an online version of this newsletter at http://www.sacredhearth.com/node/727

Readers are invited to visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seekersgrove/ for more interactive teaching.

Welcome to the first New Moon of 2008!

Welcome to the new moon in Capricorn. The first new moon of the new year is January 8th and the full moon will occur on January 22. February 1st will see a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. I found a website and blog devoted to the moonphases. You should check it out at http://www.phasenews.com/.

This month's moon is called the Old Moon, or the Wolf Moon. Now is the time to wrap up old projects and get ready to start new things. Old projects should be done, if they aren't, wrap them up. Next month will be time of cleansing to make way for new projects, ideas and even stuff. That's right, next month you'll be working, so whatever you've procrastinated on, it's time to put it to bed. Don't start anything new just yet, but you can start planning if you're eager- assuming you've finished all your other chores.

A Look at the Calendar

Before I move on to this month's assignment, I'd like to take brief look at the history of the month of January. As you may know, our calendar is a Pagan one. It was created by the emperors of Rome. It went through a few changes as new Emperors rose and fell,changing things as they went. The month of January is named after the God Janus or Ianuarius, a Guardian of Ways. He was the Door God and a protector. January is the door of the year. Of course, it wasn't always the first month, it used to be the last (February was a non-month, more about that next month) and March was the first, but the Romans chose their consuls, effectively beginning the political year, on January 1, so why not everybody's year?

According to the Greek Attic calendar, we're in the tail end of Gamelion and moving into Anthestrion. Gamelion commemorates the marriage of Zeus and Hera. It is important to remember when talking about Greek calendars that there were TONS of them. Unlike Rome, Greece was not an Empire. Every region had its own calendar and traditions. Followers of Hellenismos can get seriously overwhelmed if they try to keep up with all the festivals there were. Remember also that they didn't have Saturdays and Sundays off work. Feast days served to give them a break from work, distribute food resources among people, and break up the year and the month into the tasks people should be accomplishing. Nowadays we don't need the first two as much, so the third is what you should be going for when choosing what to celebrate and where to put it on your calendar.

This Month's Assignment: Journalling

Now is the time to begin planning for the new year. I know you're getting this on all sides. New Years Resolutions. You make em, you break em. But this year, resolve to begin to seek wisdom! The first step to wisdom is Know Thyself. Once you do that, all your resolutions will be a breeze. Seriously. Self-knowledge means you know your strengths and weaknesses and that is very valuable in deciding how to tackle any challenge that comes before you. The first step in this journey of self knowledge is a simple one, and one you've heard before. It involves journaling.

Every magic-user should begin by journaling. It is a very important step in the journey as it creates a permanent record of where you have been, how you felt while you were there, and where you hope to go. These things change over time and retrospect is never 20/20.

This journal of yours is not just an ordinary journal that you open up every morning and write "today I went to work and came home. Little Johnny got an A on his science project." This journal is more intimate than that. I want you to write down all of your feelings, emotional and physical , every day. And write down those things that may be affecting your feelings (whether you think they are at the time or not) including what you ate each day, what time you went to bed and woke up, any naps you had, the weather and the moon phase and even your poop. These things may seem unimportant to now, but you may be surprised in retrospect. When I was looking back at my journals I noticed that every time I complained of a headache, I also recorded that it was raining or snowing. I also noticed that I tended to be more tired in the evenings when the sun went down earlier, and that I had the unhealthy habit of going to bed with an uncomfortably full belly- and when I did, I had more trouble waking up in the morning. This information helped immensely with my personal weight loss goals and also helps me predict when I'll feel more energetic and better able to get things done. These are practical results, definately worth 15 minutes a day.

You can start your journal in any old notebook, Spend five minutes a day when you first wake up recording your dreams, feelings and plans for the day. In the afternoon, after work or school, spend another five minutes writing down what you've eaten during the day, what the weather is like, how you feel, and what you still have to do today. Before going to bed, write down what you accomplished, what you had for dinner, what moon phase you're in, what sort of exercise you did during the day, how you feel and what you need to do tomorrow. Write down also what time you wake up and go to sleep. You may find that you're less likely to procrastinate knowing that you will have to go back to your journal in the evening and report whether you accomplished what you said you would in the morning. You will also pay closer attention to what you eat, how much exercise you get and how you feel about things because you will be storing it up to write it down. Get into this habit and it will do great things for you!

This is your homework assignment for this month. It is the most important assignment I will ever give you, so if you blow any of them off, don't let it be this one!

I've been adding more rituals to the rituals section of the Book of Shadows at http://www.sacredhearth.com/bos/rituals. Feel free to check them out, use them, abuse them, change them around and post comments about them. I am interested in your opinion!

Also, you can get free eco living tips delivered M-F to your inbox from IdealBite.com
. I've been getting them for several months now and they're great.