Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The fifth moon of my solar year is the Sap Moon, which was spectacularly full in full eclipse at 2:55am this morning. The fifth moon is new between 24 February and 24 March, full between 10 March and 7 April. This is a period of rapid change. The Sap Moon rarely sees the same weather from… Continue reading The Daily: 14 March 2025
True stories don't end. They don't have a beginning, middle and end. No logical progression or growth or moral or even much of a plot. Stories about life are amorphous and constant quivering flux. People end. Characters end. People have a beginning, middle and end. So we tell peoples not stories. We narrate people. That's… Continue reading The Daily: 26 February 2025
I'm in a mood... and this popped out last night... pretty much fully formed... wisdom traditions as soon as you speakof purity and greatnesswe know your wordsfor poor absolutiondefense for the lives that you stolea wise man would not create god in his imageall violence and self-absorptiona wise man would notlook to the stars locating… Continue reading The Daily: 19 February 2025
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 2025
The Snow Moon is full today at 8:53am, so when it rises tonight it will be closest to full. This happens at about 5:30pm here in my part of the world, with sunset about fifteen minutes before moonrise. Just after sunset, Mars will be near the moon in the east; Jupiter will be overhead; and… Continue reading The Daily: 12 February 2025
The Feast of St Brigid, or Imbolg, is an ancient holiday that falls on 1 February, midway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Brigid’s Feast Day is said to be set to this date at her request so that her day would precede the Marian Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, or… Continue reading The Daily: 30 January 2025
Plough Monday Plough Monday is an ancient rustic holiday that became attached to the Christmas holiday tradition. Plough Monday may trace its descent back to the Roman Compitalia, celebrated by slaves when plowing was over. But by the mid-15th century it became the traditional end to the Christmas season, the end of the season of… Continue reading The Daily: 13 January 2025
Tomorrow is the solstice. I don't often celebrate the exact day of the sun's reversal. There are plenty of long nights. I don't need to tax myself just for the sake of observing the very longest. I'm also more traditional. I tend to celebrate Midsummer's Day on the 24th, the day that most of my… Continue reading The Daily: 20 December 2024
The Midwinter Moon is full at 4:01am this morning, so look for the Midwinter moonrise tonight. All full moons are lovely, but there is something magical about the light at Midwinter. Moonrise is usually colored warm yellow to orange by the thick atmosphere at the horizon. But in winter's cold, the atmosphere can't hold as… Continue reading The Daily: 15 December 2024
Thanksgiving at Plymouth, oil on canvas by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1925 (An early rendition of How Many Things Are Wrong with this Picture) And then there's this... which gets a fairly comprehensive critique here.. to which I would add that nobody dressed like this in early 17th century New England. Nor were stone houses much… Continue reading The Daily: 27 November 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 