Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
A Benediction for Lupercalia Today is Lupercalia. This is one of the oldest festivals in EuroWestern culture and, in fact, likely predates the Euro-bits. As with most ancient things, this holy time is a dense web of themes that don’t all mesh together well, but somehow make a lovely tapestry when viewed from a certain… Continue reading The Daily: 15 February 2023
Like many people, I find the American version of Valentine’s Day and the saccharine and monochromatic view of love it promotes to be repulsive. In my younger days I assumed the whole farce was invented by the greeting card and gifting industry, along with the rise of all manner of fake holidays intended to get… Continue reading The Daily: 14 February 2023
Parentalia As February marked the last month in the ancient Roman calendar, the Romans spent this time of year setting themselves in accord with the world. The 9-day festival of Parentalia began on 13 February and culminated with the day of Feralia, which began at sundown on the 21st. Parentalia was a sacred time to… Continue reading The Daily: 13 February 2023
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist. — Friedrich Nietzsche (in the Old Farmer's Almanac 2023 Planner) I do not agree with Nietzsche on many things. Big surprise there, I'm sure. So when I saw this alongside the… Continue reading The Daily: 8 February 2023
I've had a few productive mornings during this miserable cold. Maybe I don't sleep as soundly and the boundaries are thinner between wakefulness and dreaming. Whatever the reason, I wake with words already formed into poetry. Thought I might share a few. under the fig tree Image from Garden.eco(and coincidentally exactly how i remember the… Continue reading The Daily: 7 February 2023
The Wolf Moon was full yesterday. Being full on the 5th, this is a rather late Wolf Moon; it feels more like a Snow Moon — which isn't full until March this year. And yet, this very late Wolf Moon is, nevertheless, decidedly lupine. The period of the Wolf Moon is the coldest time of… Continue reading The Daily: 6 February 2023
5 February is St Agatha's Day. Born in about 231 in Catania, Sicily, she is one of many virgin martyrs of early Christianity. Her story exemplifies why there are so many women among the ranks of martyrs for the faith. She was said to be a beautiful child born to wealthy nobility, but she turned… Continue reading The Daily: 5 February 2023
So as an addendum to yesterday, I discovered that when the temperature drops to double digits below 0°F the electric vehicle side of my car doesn't want to run at all. On the way home last night, it kept turning over to the gas engine even when it was going downhill or cruising at constant… Continue reading A Short Daily: 4 February 2023
Well, that marmot saw his shadow. And now that we've passed the beginning of the beginning of spring, it is finally winter. The skies are increasingly blue. The landscape is white. The walk to my back door is a solid sheet of ice. (I left the last few inches of snow on top so that… Continue reading The Daily: 3 February 2023
If Candlemas be bright and clear there'll be two winters in the year. — traditional adage from Scotland Of Candles and Divinatory Beasts There are many weather marking days throughout the year. Candlemas, falling on 2 February, was the day that our ancestors began to get nervous about the spring. A fine Candlemas portends a… Continue reading The Daily: 2 February 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 