Welcome to another fun year of Yule Countdown. Truthfully I have been anticipating Yule since September, I have humming music, looking at my decorations, planning and scheming I can't wait for Yule, this year is going to be awesome. I looked around and didn't see any Yule themed parties this year, so I wanted to see if y'all want to join me in sharing your ideas, recipes, favorite music, decorations and projects for the season. I will link up the last few year's worth of posts for you to see. If you wish to participate, simply copy the photo's link and add to your blog, leave a comment on the blog post saying your participating and I will have up a page for all out participants,.
This year I'm coming from a crafting place with my decorations and my blog posts. I'll also be sharing my worship ideas from my favorite books for the season.
Today being the first day in the countdown to Yule, I thought I would share the first and the second days worship ideas and then what crafts I am working on.
December 1st:
Today's theme is "Integrity in Work"
For this day's theme, create a short realistic code of practice for your occupation as well as in your personal life.
Many different profession have these, many different faiths also have a set of codes that they operate by, we know that doctors have the Hippocratic Oath, nurses have the Nightingale Pledge, heck even cops take a vow. The act of making a commitment and then sticking to it, breeds a certain kind of karma, it gives order to the chaos and gives us something to stand for and it gives us a line, a line in which we know we won't or shouldn't cross. Having integrity, being a person of our word, is something we should all strive for, because in the end when all things have passed being a person of our word is what others will remember, our actions of being where we said we would be, doing what we said we would do, gives our loved ones a sense that they matter to us. It let's our employers and employees/coworkers know that we are someone they can rely on. Because nothing travels faster than the gossip about a dishonest "fill in the blank here". The greatest way to honor the Gods is to make our actions, nay even our words be a reflection of them. Seek them for aide in saying what you mean and meaning what you say, while making your words not carry darts meant to harm, but darts that share truth.
"Any code of practice must first apply to the sacred source of spiritual inspiration to keep it's actions pure, to operate from the highest motives, to irrigate all work from the wellspring of integrity. " ~~ Caitlin Matthews, *
The Goddess of the Day is: Unchi-ahchi. Her theme is "spirituality, meditation, & universal law". Today's Goddess deals with ritual, in Japan to worship devotees go to the temple and have a tea ritual which is very deliberate and formal in it's moves; as each movement is considered a symbol of sacred truths learnt during ritual. To worship or show appreciation for this Goddess you can make tea & have a spiritual discussion with friends. To make it more ritualistic, choose a tea that coincides with the discussion you will be having with your friends or family. To aide in love and friendship it's suggested to use lemon; for divination use orange, for alternative health use mint.
December 2nd:
Today's theme:
"Defending the Country"
" Commune with the Spirit of the Country you live. Ask it what are the freedoms & privileges it guards. Ask how these freedoms are to be defended & what are the greatest threats to those freedoms at this time"
At first when I saw this theme I wondered how I a non military personnel could possibly do in defending our country. I came up with two things: 1) defending the country goes beyond military service, it means making sure what our military are fighting for is still here when they get back, it means holding our leaders to their duties, it means making sure the laws of the land are being followed *at least by those in your family and personal sphere . It means being aware of the issues and doing what YOU can do to get things fixed, changed or make sure it's being carried thru. Don't have funds?? How about donating blood?!! Giving away food and clothes you may not be using or can't wear anymore?? Recently I saw two homeless men doing some yard work to earn money, I was walking past and decided to buy them a meal from the local restaurant, as it wasn't near my home i couldn't give them anything else, they were more than grateful. Simple things make a huge difference to those who need it. Look at how everyone is talking about the picture of the
cop helping the homeless man with some shoes, he certainly didn't do it knowing he would end up being on the news, little things count.
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering lims astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-brigded harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pom!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddle masses yearning to breath free,
The wrechted refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Lady Liberty's vow, on the Statue Liberty in NYC
the poem referenced above to me stands for what the spirit of this country is about. This is what America's Spirit is for me, it's a place where many come for hope and a chance for something better than they had in their homeland. We need to preserve that, make sure our country is always a country of opportunity and a place for others to come to, and right now?? It's not, the current atmosphere isn't a good one, I'm not talking about the economy, that right now isn't what I'm worried about, I'm talking the us vs them attitude, we are a country built by foreigners, we can't allow the 'they are the reason things are going bad" excuse to continue. That's one of the ways to defend out country, make sure her ideals are being upheld and not being high jacked by idiots.
The 2) way that I have decided to defend our country is to support our armed forces. There are many different organizations out there that are set up to give aid where they can. During the winter there are groups that collect cards and distribute them to wounded soldiers, you can donate phone cards so that those who are in war zones can call home for the holidays, you can make or donate items to be sent to the military on foreign soil. Make sure the organization is a reputable one, check out
Patti's blog post about this.
So there that's my idea; oh an also remember each dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of world you want, how you spend it and where you spend it make a difference in demand for certain products or services. Those are my ways of defending the country, how do you do it???
Happy World AIDS day. Do you know your status??? Get checked out!!!
Happy December 1st
*Information for Goddess from 365 Goddess by Patricia Telesco & Daily Intention from Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews.
