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reetings from Australia.
Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.
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I
praise wedlock, I praise marriage, but it is because they give me
virgins. Though I was protected by the rampart of
the lonely desert, I could not endure against the promptings of sin
and the ardent heat of my nature. I tried to crush them by frequent
fasting, but my mind was always in a turmoil of imagination. Reason is
powerless in the expression of Love. Love alone is capable of
revealing the truth of Love and being a Lover. The way of our prophets
is the way of Truth. If you want to live, die in Love; die in Love if
you want to remain alive. I silently moaned so that for a
hundred centuries to come, From the
moment you entered this world of existence, The time
for staying at home is over, It is time to enter the garden. The dawn
of happiness has risen, the moment of union and vision is now. So delicate yesterday, the night-singing birds
by the creek. Their words were: |
St Jerome, by
Antonello da Messina
(detail) |
There is no 'other world.' I only know what I've
experienced. You must be hallucinating.
Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all.
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture.
Still treat each guest honourably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.
Rumi
It was by my account the 30th of September,
when, in the manner as above said, I first set foot upon this horrid
island; when the sun, being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost over
my head; for I reckoned myself, by observation, to be in the latitude of
nine degrees twenty-two minutes north of the line.
After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into my
thoughts that I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books, and
pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days; but to prevent this,
I cut with my knife upon a large post, in capital letters-and making it
into a great cross, I set it up on the shore where I first landed –
"I came on shore here on the 30th September 1659."
Daniel Defoe; Robinson
Crusoe, Chapter 4
The rainy season of the autumnal equinox was now come, and I kept the 30th of September in the same solemn manner as before, being the anniversary of my landing on the island, having now been there two years, and no more prospect of being delivered than the first day I came there, I spent the whole day in humble and thankful acknowledgments of the many wonderful mercies which my solitary condition was attended with, and without which it might have been infinitely more miserable. I gave humble and hearty thanks that God had been pleased to discover to me that it was possible I might be more happy in this solitary condition than I should have been in the liberty of society, and in all the pleasures of the world; that He could fully make up to me the deficiencies of my solitary state, and the want of human society, by His presence and the communications of His grace to my soul; supporting, comforting, and encouraging me to depend upon His providence here, and hope for His eternal presence hereafter.
Daniel Defoe, ibid, Chapter 8
Of course no writers ever forget their first acceptance...one fine day when I was 17 I had my first, second, and third, all in the same morning's mail. Oh, I'm here to tell you, dizzy with excitement is no mere phrase.
Truman Capote, US novelist, born on September 30, 1924
It is in order to shine sooner that authors refuse to rewrite. Despicable. Begin again.
From the notes of French auteur, Albert
Camus, September 30, 1937
September 30
is
the 273rd
day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (274th in leap years), with 92
days remaining.
Last day of the year, alphabetically speaking :)
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Celtic tree month of Gort (Ivy) commences (Sep
30 - Oct 27)
Like other Iron Age Europeans, the Celts were a polytheistic people prior to their conversion to (Celtic) Christianity. The Celts divided the year into 13 lunar cycles (months or moons). These were linked to specific sacred trees which gave each moon its name. Today commences the Celtic tree month of Gort.
Hedera, English name Ivy (plural, Ivies), is a genus of about 10 species of climbing or ground-creeping evergreen woody plants in the Araliaceae, native in the Atlantic Islands, Europe, North Africa and across Asia east to Japan. On suitable surfaces (trees and rock faces), they are able to climb to at least 25 - 30 m above the basal ground level.
In typography, 'hedera' is the name of a horticultural dingbat shaped like an ivy leaf.
Folklore of ivy
Ivy symbolizes healing, protection, love, fidelity, cooperation and exorcism, and is the tree of resurrection. Its elemental association is water, and planetary association, Saturn. In folklore, ivy is protective of milk. Wreaths made of ivy, woodbine and rowan were placed over the lintels of cow shelters for this purpose. In Britain, the last farmer to harvest his crops was given a sheaf bound with ivy; this sheaf was called the Ivy Girl, Harvest Bride or Harvest May.
The Green Lady of Caerphilly Castle in Wales is a fairy, one of the Green Ladies (Dames Vertes) who takes on the appearance of ivy when she is not walking through the ruined castles she haunts.
In Trieste, Italy, an ivy branch hanging near a house by the roadside indicates that the dwelling is an osmizze, or wayside tavern or inn. "The Osmizze date back to the Austro-Hungaric Empire, when farmers were allowed to sell wine and other goods directly to anybody for a period of 8 days. In Slovakian language in fact, ozem means eight: from there came the name Osmizze" (Source). Similarly, English taverns used to show over their doors the sign of an ivy bush, to indicate the excellence of the beverages sold within: hence the saying 'Good wine needs no bush'.
A man will have prophetic dreams that show his wife-to-be, by taking ten ivy leaves that were picked on October 31 (Samhain/Halloween) and placing them under his pillow. Another old tradition was to give ivy and holly to newlyweds as good-luck charms. While picking the ivy, the female says, "Ivy, ivy, I love you, In my bosom I put you, The first young man who speaks to me, My future husband he shall be".
In some parts of Athitos (Aphitos; Aphytos), Greece, on the Mediterranean, the St John's Eve custom of jumping through bonfires is sometimes called Klidonas (ivy) because the revellers do so wearing ivy crowns.
The dried young leaves of ivy may be used in a hot infusion which some say is efficacious in cases of gout, rheumatic pain, coughs, and whooping cough. Warm compresses, applied to burns and suppurating cuts, are said by some to be helpful. Culpepper wrote of the ivy: "It is an enemy to the nerves and sinews taken inwardly, but most excellent outwardly". According to the ancient English Leechbook of Bald, to remove sunburn, smear the face with tender ivy twigs boiled in butter. To aid with their addiction, alcoholics used to be advised to drink from a cup carved from ivy wood.
Ivy was sacred to the god Attis, and his eunuch priests were tattooed with a pattern of ivy leaves. According to Plutarch, to the Egyptians it was called Chenosiris, the plant of Osiris.
"Traditionally at Christmas time a man was dressed up and covered in Holly branches and leaves, and a woman was likewise dressed in Ivy (the female counterpart of Holly). Together they would be paraded through the streets hand in hand leading the old year into the new. This is symbolic of the fertile interaction of the goddess and god during natures decline and the darkest time of the year, from which the new light of the sun-god springs forth encouraging fresh growth and renewed vegetation during the coming new year. Today the Holly King has been stylized by the figure of Santa Claus." Source
More
lore
"The eleventh moon of the Beth-Luis-Nion Celtic lunar calendar is Gort (Ivy). Ivy has long symbolized rebirth and resurrection. It is one of the two sacred plants that grows spirally (the other being Vine). The spiral, a symbol of the Goddess, gives us a visual representation of the process of reincarnation--not only from lifetime to lifetime, but from minute to minute, day to day. Vine was a moon of lessons; a moon of difficulty for many. Now, in Gort, we are given a vision of continuation. The lessons learned (and unlearned) during Vine may have thrown us asunder, losing any grasp of hope. Ivy is here to show us that all lessons and difficulties are nothing more than transitional phases, just as death is a transition from lifetime to lifetime. The desperation and frustration leading into Ivy becomes renewed hope once we see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Life has not come to a dead end; we were simply dealing with needed lessons, and now we move on." Source
"In England the best-known
example of these leaf-clad mummers is the Jack-in-the-Green, a
chimney-sweeper who walks encased in a pyramidal framework of wickerwork,
which is covered with holly and ivy, and surmounted by a crown of flowers
and ribbons. Thus arrayed he dances on May Day at the
head of a troop of chimney-sweeps, who collect pence."
Sir
James
George Frazer (1854
- 1941), The
Golden Bough, 1922,
Ch. 10
"On Christmas Day or St Stephen's Day
the boys hunt and kill the wren, fasten it in the middle of a mass of
holly and ivy on the top of a broomstick, and on St. Stephen's Day go
about with it from house to house, singing ..."
Frazer, ibid, Ch. 54
Ground ivy
[Ground ivy (Glechoma
hederacea) is not a true ivy (in fact it is a member of the mint
family) but named for its similar appearance to hedera. It is often
thought of as a weed, but has many medicinal
uses in the herbarium. It's diuretic, astringent, tonic and gently
stimulant. Names for this plant include Alehoof, Cat's-foot, Creeping Charlie, Field Balm, Gill-over-the-ground,
Haymaid, Hedgemaid, Lizzy Run-up-the-Hedge, Robin-Run-in-the-Hedge, and Tunhoof.]
Ivy folklore American Ivy: See Virginia creeper 'Holly & The Ivy', Neopagan versions More
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Celtic Tree Calendar Months
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Michael Vescoli
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Celtic Tree Calendar - Ogham Alphabet What is the Celtic Tree Calendar? |
Feast
day of Meditrinalia, Roman Empire
Today
was the Meditrinalia
(from Latin mederi, 'to heal'). Varro
derives the name of the festival from the healing power of the new wine,
but Festus
says there was a goddess named Meditrina
('healer'), goddess of health, longevity and wine. It was the day on which people
sampled old and new wine.
Meditrina roughly equated with the Greek goddess Jaso, but differed from Medetrina's sister Hygieia (they, and Panacea, were daughters of Asclepius and Salus) in that while the Greek goddess preserved good health, Meditrina's role was to restore it.
Jupiter as well,
as a wine god, was honoured on this day. Feasting and games were in order
for this and the next several days.
The following verse was recited, revealing a
belief (or hope) in the efficacy of wine as a medicine:
Novum vetus vinum
bibo:
novo veteri morbo medeor
I drink new and old wine,
I cure new and old disease.
A
ritual for Meditrinalia
Ancient Roman festivals
Roman
festivals and notable days in the Book of Days
Deities
of many cultures in the Book of Days
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