Allergies: may be less allergic to hay/dust, but not to some other stuff. Mold, probably. Plenty of spores to go around this summer. Working on that.
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Wrote on my LJ about the physical fitness stuff. Also getting a few projects done, continuing to try to organize/sort.
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Have a new thing I'm doing as part of morning ritual activities. Am building the 'mists of Avalon' as it were, around the surrounding area. Not resisting with a solid wall so much as diverting unwelcome individuals, turning them aside. Those who would harm the Earth, may they and their projects dwindle away, may nothing come of them.
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Had a flood dream. That was interesting... don't remember much of it now -- what preceded the flooding -- but there were odd things like a report that Shia LeBouef (what?) had said that he didn't believe that the flooding would be severe. Later he was found and rescued from a tree.... I suppose that could be symbolic of popular thought or something. Then I wondered what things looked like from being in a tree, so I was in a tree looking down at everything. Buildings half-submerged, things floating in the water, and the knowledge that more water was coming.
Although what I actually thought was weird wasn't the flood, which I'd been expecting, but the 'tree' I was sitting/standing in. I was in a somewhat open branchy part -- the thought came to me that it was almost like a seat or throne, although there wasn't anything obvious like a seat cushion of course. The leaves were Holly leaves. That was the part that got my attention.
American Holly tree grows 40 - 50 feet high. I had a couple of holly in Holyoke -- the bush type that are commonly sold at garden centers. And as long as you maintain them, they make a nice bush -- they'll get big if you let them, though.
Looking around.... according to the Celtic Tree Calendar, Holly represents the 8th month, or July 8th - Aug 4th. Interesting since we're currently in the middle of that time right now. This is also the time of year of the rule of the Holly King, until Winter Solstice.
All sorts of useful tidbits (the plant itself, magical properties, cultural uses and meanings, and more) on Holly here: Holly at Controverscial.com
I have a wand I cut (yes, I didn't do the Scottish thing of somehow removing it from the Holly bush without using a knife). L has one somewhere as well. We'd first 'used' them as props for a Halloween party, but they of course gained some power, as seems to be Holly's nature, and so we kept them. They still have the bark on, although I wonder if I should remove the bark somehow, to expose bare wood. Hm...
One of Holly's properties is protection, and I definitely felt safe in the tree, at least for the time I was going to be observing the area.
2 comments:
American Holly is very common in MD. Burns very HOT. Is a very pretty pale wood with narrow grain. My lucet is holly. I happen to think that it is a very pretty sight in winter to see the patches of green in and amongst the deciduos trees - especially when they sport the red berries, and even prettier in the snow. Interesting that it corresponds to July! Although ... doesn't the Holly King win out over the Oak King in Summer Solstice? Or is it the other way around?
From the site I quoted in my post: "The Holly King rules nature during its decline from the mid-summer solstice (Litha - Jun 21st) through to the mid-winter solstice (Yule – Dec 21st). At each of the solstice Sabbats, the Holly King and his brother the Oak King engage in ritual combat for the attentions of the Goddess, from whence the victor presides over nature through the following half of the year."
I thought it was strange too. Although I suppose burning a bit of holly in the cold of winter might be welcome. I remember you telling about mixing the holly with other woods to get the right amount of heat :)
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