I’ve always found it strange celebrating Christmas with a pine tree and carols about jingle bells, sleighs and snowmen when the holiday falls in Australia’s midsummer. (In our house we also celebrate Yule in July.) A fake Christmas tree has always been our choice for decorating at Christmas – not only because fresh trees are…
Solstice Blessings for Litha!
21 December 2009 is the Summer Solstice (longest day) in the southern hemisphere and Winter Solstice (shortest day) in the northern hemisphere. As this blog is based in the southern hemisphere I’ll focus on the Summer Solstice – or Litha. Litha is just one of eight celtic seasonal celebrations – or Sabbats – in the pagan…
The Meaning of Life?
The amount of diversity of life in our oceans astounds me. From the largest mammal to the smallest creature, they live in a delicate ecosystem harmoniously with each other. We hear how detrimentally they can be affected by human actions – plastic bags and helium balloons that make their way into our waterways and oceans…
2012 … it’s not the end of the world
The kids at school are all starting to talk about 2012 (thanks Hollywood!) and the ‘end of the world’, and my daughter is now terrified she’s not going to make her teenage years. This is not the first ‘end of the world’ or ‘doomsday’ prophecy. I’ve lived through three that I can remember: November 1984…
The Giveaway Ritual
I was alerted to a recent newspaper article talking about thousands of Hindu devotees who are flocking to a village in Nepal ahead of the planned sacrifice of more than 300,000 animals to Gadhimai, the Hindu goddess of power. Devotees believe that sacrificing animals will bring them good luck and prosperity for their families. Blood…