Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The Feast of the Assumption It is the Feast of the Assumption. In the Church calendar, this is the day Mother Mary was taken bodily up to heaven without the inconvenience of dying first. But in the older calendar of Europe, this was the time when it was recognized that the heat of summer was… Continue reading The Daily: 15 August 2026
The Hay Moon, or Mead Moon, went dark yesterday in spectacular eclipse at 1:36pm. Today begins the Blueberry Moon. This is the tenth lunation of my calendar. It is new between 19 July and 16 August, full between 2 August and 30 August. The Blueberry Moon of 2026 is very late, another three days and… Continue reading The Daily: 13 August 2026
2017 Total Solar Eclipse (NASA/Carla Thomas) Today the Hay Moon goes dark at 1:36pm my time. It will be dark at this same moment all around the globe, so unless you live in the Eastern Time Zone, the Moon will be dark at some other hour of your day. (For example, in Valencia, Spain, the… Continue reading The Daily: 12 August 2026
The Perseids meteor shower begins its peak tonight. This floating pile of space gunk is left over from Comet Swift-Tuttle and is quite thick still, making for hundreds of collisions with our atmosphere as Earth's orbit passes through the debris between July 17th and August 24th. From the 11th through the 13th, you can expect… Continue reading The Daily: 11 August 2026
Supposedly, the Dog Days have ended, but you wouldn't know it by the weather. It has been hot and humid for days, with no rain to break the heat. Not even much of a breeze most days. Just relentless heat. And... well... I'm not going to tell you what temperature wilts a Vermonter and sends… Continue reading The Daily: 10 August 2026
I was thinking about the symbols of Lughnasadh and how to short-hand the description of time and seasonal energy. The idea set that best works is that of the elements, but I’m reluctant to use that language because it carries such woo-woo magickal baggage that it puts up walls in the mind of any practical… Continue reading The Daily: 31 July 2026
Today at 10:35am the Hay Moon is full, so tonight's moonrise is the closest to full. This ninth moon of the year is also called the Corn Moon or the Mead Moon, for the meadows that are cut for hay at this time of year. The Hay Moon brings the shift of Midsummer, the Dog… Continue reading The Daily: 29 July 2026
Crom Dubh Sunday In many northern communities, July is a hungry month. The spring flush of greens and quick-growing roots like radishes and beets may still be trickling out of the garden, but most have bolted and run to seed. However, those that remain are long on fiber and short on calories, and little of… Continue reading The Daily: 26 July 26
The Romans had concerns about drought at this time of year. Three very old festivals were grouped together at the end of July to honor deities who presided over watery things. The first was the Lucaria, the clearing of the groves. This was an ancient observance even in Varro's time (116-27 BCE), and little is… Continue reading The Daily: 25 July 2026
Nature, having stridently and unambiguously declared Her many objections to the hatred and corruption on flagrant display in my country's center this week, decided to release us from the hellscape weather Her fury has inflicted upon us of late, instead gifting central Vermont with an absolutely divine day. No smoke. No crushing heat and humidity.… Continue reading The Daily: 6 July 2026
By My Solitary Hearth 