HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Goals for the Coming Year

Yes, another post about goals and the new year.

So the holidays are come and almost gone, and I’ve enjoyed this season, even though it’s flown by. Now it’s time to think about the coming year. I never make resolutions—I plan out goals. Resolutions are usually pie-in-the-sky, never-kept dreams. I don’t dream so much as I envision and put into action.

This coming year, I have several personal/professional goals I have been working toward:

·         To keep on my low-carb eating plan and workout schedule. To increase the working out gradually.
·         To decrease the amount of time I spend online just frittering away time. I have a heavy schedule this year for work, and I can’t afford to spend much time on Twitter or FB. So you’ll see me briefly on Twitter now and then, and you’ll see more of my moderators—Jenn and Phil—on FB. They’ll be there to announce things, answer questions, etc. On the other hand, I will be attending three major conventions/conferences, and having 1 or 2 local signings.
·         To get my fan site up on my website. There will be a lot of fun things on it for you guys. I'm also trying to boost my career to the next level, so thinking about how to do so.
·         To keep to a sane, consistent blogging schedule. No more every day attempts. No more weeks between blogs. Overall, I’m going to try for two blogs a week (besides the comic announcements), one here, and one on my Fire & Ice blog that I share with Anya Bast.
·         To attend to my spiritual/magical practices. I’m back to working with a group and it feels wonderful. I need to focus on my spiritual and magical sides more consistently.

Other than that, I’d like to read a few more books this year (sigh, I always seem to be too tired to read), and spend more time hanging out with friends and my husband and cats.

So, what are your goals? Not your resolutions, but goals that you truly think you’ll be able to achieve?

Yasmine

Fifth Yuletide Contest

Win a present from ME (yes, me--Yasmine)! The last contest went up today and runs through next Monday. Go HERE to enter. Do NOT try to enter on the blog.

Yasmine

New Moon Daughters Comic Is Up!

The new page of the Moon Daughter's Comic is up!

Blessed Midwinter!

Have a wonderful Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukah, or whatever you may celebrate.

I'll be back on Monday the 26th!

Yasmine

Fourth Yuletide Contest

Win a present from ME (yes, me--Yasmine)! Fourth contest went up today and runs through next Monday. There will be one more contests this month. Go HERE to enter. Do NOT try to enter on the blog.

Yasmine

New Moon Daughters Comic Is Up!

The new page of the Moon Daughter's Comic is up!

A Merry Yuletide To All

I wrote this poem in 2001, when I was still struggling with depression over 9/11 and the aftermath. It’s been ten years since that stark, mind-numbing time, but I still love this poem and think it truly encapsulates my feelings as to why we need to celebrate milestones.

Yasmine

A Merry Yuletide To All

(with my apologies to that wondrous and traditional children’s poem)
by Yasmine Galenorn copyright/2001--do not reproduce without permission

T’was two days before Yuletide and all through the coven,

The Witches were baking sacred cakes in the oven,
Astrologers were eying the stars for great omens
The bards were penning their stories and poems.
The Norsemen were blasted on grog and on ale,
The Celts hoarded mistletoe while it was on sale.
The New Agers were dreaming of angels of light,
As the snow piled up through the long winter’s night.

Yuletide was coming, Yuletide was near

And all that we craved was a little good cheer.
The trees sparkled with light in this season of snow,
This year gifts seemed bigger, or maybe not so,
Cookies and cakes and roast hams and roast geese
Filled the tables with promise, the promise of feasts.
Parties and dinners abounded this year,
Though underneath all lurked the presence of tears.

The rain in my town poured down, cold as sleet,

The skies overcast were, as usual, bleak.
I took a deep breath and I trimmed my fake tree,
(I’d rather not cut down a real one, you see).
And wondered again at how traditions brought peace,
And how these few baubles could make my pain cease.
The year had been hard, many lives had been lost,
And my heart surged with winter’s white frost.

I turned off the lamps and plugged in the lights

Circling the tree, they were shining so bright.
I curled by the fire, my cats at my feet
And listened to silence, and to my heart beat.
No elaborate ritual planned for Yule night,
Just a few friends and my loved ones held tight,
Just a few thoughts for those not as lucky as me,
For those sitting alone, by a mourning-dimmed tree.

As I curled by the fire, in front of my eyes,

A man dressed in holly showed up by my side.
“What the…?” I asked as the cats raced down the hall.
Home invasion?  Freak psycho?  Just a tad off the wall?
He shook his head and with a chill in his eyes,
Sat on the sofa and gave a soft sigh.
“My dear, I’ll save you the trouble to ask.
Answers you want, to give answers—my task.”

His breath swirled with ice, his hands crackled with frost

The Holly King had come visiting, (or perhaps gotten lost).
I offered him grog and I offered him cake
But neither treat would the ancient Winter King take.
I knelt at his feet, questions filling my heart,
How can we celebrate in times that are dark?
Are we just kidding ourselves anymore? 
Does the Mother still care? Have we outlived our lore?

He put his hand on my shoulder, wiped a tear from my eye,

Leaned forward and whispered, “Tomorrow I die.
Tomorrow I meet my brother and fight,
Then descend into the long winter’s night.”
“Then why are you here?”  I grabbed for his hand.
“You’re doomed, and yet you still travel the land.
You bring the beauty of winter, the keen chill of ice,
You’re here in my home, gifting me with advice.”

He held tight to my fingers, he would not let go,
His smile remained, his eyes clouded with snow.
“I bring you beauty because it’s my nature and force,
I travel the land—it’s our lifeblood and source.
I will die tomorrow, others have died today,
And not every trouble will vanish away.
And not every hunger will feed, not every tear dry,
But to ignore beauty for pain is to let your soul die.

He lifted my chin and whispered, “Listen to me,

Let go of the guilt, set it loose, set it free.
Be grateful for that which the Goddess has sent,
Help those who you can, and give prayers where you can’t.
Don’t deny yourself celebration and mirth,
For the joy that you feel, to more joy it gives birth.
Don’t dwell on the pain, on the death, on the tears,
You’ll only empower more anguish and fear.”

And I saw what he meant, a world driven by pain,

Where fear ruled out courage and kept us in chains.
Where tears became bars of a cage holding us in,
Where laughter and music and joy were all sins.
And I vowed that my magick would not build that world,
And as I so vowed, the energy swirled
And swooped and rose and the Holly King laughed,
He kissed me soundly and winked as he danced.

The lights on the tree grew bright, shimmering clear,

The gifts given with love no longer seemed shallow cheer,
The garlands smelled fresh, the rain turned to snow,
Then the Holly King said, “I really must go.
I’ve a battle to lose, a duty to season,
And as to my death—you know there’s good reason.
The world cannot live in perpetual cold,
Even the Holly Lord must fade and grow old.”

I reached up to his wizened face, gave him a kiss

As the room clouded over with fog and bog-mist.
He gave me a hug and then pulled back near the tree,
And as he vanished, he was waving to me.
I opened the drapes, the snow sparkled like gems,
Covering the trees—every bough, needle and limb.
And I fixed myself tea and thought of the night,
What a wonderful gift—the gift of clear sight.

Tomorrow our friends on our home would descend,

And we would be here to welcome them in,
We’d eat and we’d drink, exchange gifts, in the light
Of a fire that crackled all through the night.
And we’d mourn the Holly come Yuletide Day,
We’d turn the Wheel in our nouveau ‘ancient of ways’.
We’d drive back the darkness with song and with mirth,
And welcome the Sun King as the Goddess gave birth.

Third Yuletide Contest

Win a present from ME (yes, me--Yasmine)! Third contest went up today and runs through next Monday. There will be two more contests this month. Go HERE to enter. Do NOT try to enter on the blog.

Yasmine

New Moon Daughters Comic Is Up!

The new page of the Moon Daughter's Comic is up!

Winter Solstice

People often ask me if I celebrate Christmas. The answer is a definite no. While some pagans celebrate both Christmas and the Winter Solstice due to family obligations, we only celebrate the Winter Solstice. While we often call it Yule, we are referring to the actual Solstice.

In our tradition, this holiday represents the rebirth of the Sun King (or Oak King), and the death of the Holly King. The Holly King rules over the waning half of the year, from the Summer Solstice to the Winter Solstice, and the Oak (or Sun) King rules over the waxing half of the year—from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice. During Summer Solstice (known as Litha), the cycle is reversed—the Holly King strikes down the Oak King in battle, and when the Oak King moves into the Underworld, the Holly King ascends to rule the season.

There are—and were—many holidays that take place during the winter months, including the Roman Saturnalia. But our traditions are more northern-European than Greco-Roman. Most of the decorations this time of year have their grounding in various pagan traditions, so truly, our Yule tree, is a Yule tree, and the lights and sparkle represent the return of the sun. One origin of Santa (well before Saint Nicolas) was the figure of the Holly King. So I decorate—for Winter Solstice, not for Christmas, using the modern representations of the decorations from the past that my pagan ancestors used. Lights instead of candles, ornaments instead of ribbons, etc..

The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year.  Held in late December, it is an astronomical event so the actual date can vary from year-to-year, but the holiday usually falls on December 21st or 22nd.  Check your almanac and account for differences in time zones.  It may fall on December 21st on the west coast, but December 22nd on the east coast.

During this time, we focus on togetherness, parties and festivities.  Before the modern era—even in the 1800s and early 1900s, villages and towns were often cut off from one another by snow and ice.  Entire families might go through the harshest part of winter without seeing another soul.  If the harvest wasn't managed properly or if the crops had been scarce that year, people died from starvation.

And so Midwinter came to represent hope—for the return of spring, for the return of fertility and warm weather and planting season.  In the far north, the sun actually disappeared--the longest night was truly the longest night with the sun barely peeking above the horizon.  It is no wonder that in agrarian societies where everything depended on the success of the crops that the return of the sun each year was cause for celebration.  The Gods had been kind--the source of life was re-emerging from darkness. With the Sun King reborn, the days lengthened and the season of growth once more overtook the land.

So what do we do? We hold ritual on the night before the Winter Solstice—the longest night of the year. We celebrate the rebirth of the Sun King to the Goddess, and the light from his brow strikes down the Holly King, and the cycle continues. The Goddess is eternal. The different faces of the Horned God are cyclic, going from birth to the zenith of his power to death to birth again. We drum, we dance, we chant, we make magic, we light candles to represent the glow of the sun, we invoke the gods, we continue to turn the Wheel.

Brightest Blessings this Yule,

May Midwinter be gentle on you.
Yasmine

*some of this information was contained within my book Dancing With the Sun

Memorable Gifts

Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received have been more nebulous than the actual item that it represented. In 1993, the second Yule that Samwise and I spent together, we had been married a little over seven months, and we were dirt poor. We managed to find a decent looking artificial tree (I can’t have real ones in the house without getting too many allergy problems, and I prefer the ones we can use year after year rather than cutting a tree down every year) for half price, and friends gave us leftover ornaments they had tucked away in their attics and garages. So we had a tree, and it was pretty, but we didn’t have money for gifts. I didn’t mind, for us, but I really wanted to give friends something, so we spent days in the kitchen making dozens of cookies and popcorn balls. And I painted rocks with runes on them for health and success (I’d actually sold those at stores for some time), so we had homemade gifts from the heart for friends. 

I had saved enough to buy Sam a T-shirt with a lovely wolf on it, and I didn’t expect much in return. We had each other and I was loved and it was all good.

Come the night of Winter Solstice we held our ritual, and then opened our presents. Sam loved his shirt. I opened the box he’d gotten me and it seemed big for something I figured would be a pretty little trinket. Well, it was filled with chocolate kisses and miniatures. I laughed—he knew how much I liked chocolate, but he said, “There’s something under there.”

So I dug through the chocolate and found a box…it was a boxed set of my favorite perfume—Opium—along with a small bottle of the lotion and shower gel. I knew that it had cost so much more than we had to spare, so I was a little worried, even though I was thrilled. I asked Sam how he’d paid for it, and when he told me, I realized just how much that gift had cost in time and love.

He’d gone out every day for months, collecting aluminum cans (this was when recycling centers actually paid you money for them). He’d collected them for three-four months, long enough to earn the forty dollars or so that perfume set cost back then.  When he told me, I realized that the perfume, while nice, was icing on the cake. The real gift was the time and love he’d put into finding the money to buy me a present he knew I’d love.

I never, ever have forgotten that Solstice. And our friends loved the cookies. And that’s the year we had our first open house. The open house became an annual tradition and the only year we haven’t held it was the year my mother died. She died in 2000, on December 16^th, the day before our open house. We spent that evening calling people telling them not to come. It was horrendous and painful to deal with.

But time moves on, and once again, we’re gearing up for our open house. This will be our 19^th annual get-together, except for the year 2000. And once again, we’ll open our house to friends, and the past few years, we’ve easily been able to buy gifts for our friends. But whether they come from the store or the kitchen, or the heart though something intangible like the gift of babysitting or housecleaning or a picture you’ve drawn, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the love that goes into the gift. And the knowledge that you are thinking of others.

What is the most memorable gift you've ever received?

Bright Blessings,
Yasmine Galenorn

Dear Santa...Letters from Otherworld

I was thinking about my characters and decided to ask them what they might write in their letters to Santa. So here are a few excerpts from their letters that I co-opted when they weren’t looking. *grins*

DEAR SANTA…for the Winter Solstice...

Maggie: OOKIES!!! OOKIES!!! Cweem dweenk!!!

Camille: Can you please bring me an easier way to get in shape? I really hate the exercise bike and the punching bag, but I need to get into fighting shape.

Delilah: CHEETOS CHEETOS CHEETOS…and a clandinstine dream date with Jerry Springer?

Menolly: I’d like to be able to do my own makeup. Please, can I have one night where I can see myself in the mirror?

Iris: I want this damned morning sickness to go away! And I want the planning for the wedding to go smoother. I can’t make up my mind on anything!!!

Smoky: I want my wife to feel secure again. I want to make her feel safe.

Trillian: I want to be able to take a trip to Otherworld—just Camille and I…to revisit where we first met and spend some time together in private.

Morio: I’d love to introduce Camille to my family. And have it work out for the best.

Shade: I want Delilah to clean her cat box more often. And I want to start planning our future together.

Nerissa: I want Menolly…to be mine. Forever and always. *smiles* And I’d love a silk negligee in hot pink.

Rozurial: We have an X-Box…I’d also love a Wii system, a Playstation 3, and a spending spree at Games R Us.

Vanzir: I’d like to know what’s going on with my powers. And what Roz said.

Shamas: To finally get up the guts to tell Camille the truth about me. And a car of my own.

Chase: I’d love to figure out where my powers are coming from and what exactly they are.

Misty: Merowwww…mew mew mew…marowwww…astral catnip…

So there you have it—the Otherworld Dear Santa letters!

So, what would you ask Santa for?

Yasmine

Second Yuletide Contest!

Win a present from ME (yes, me--Yasmine)! Second contest went up today and runs through next Monday. There will be three more contests this month. Go HERE to enter. Do NOT try to enter on the blog.

Yasmine

Seasonal Decorations

We always decorate starting the day after Thanksgiving and spend the next three days decking the house out. This year, we’ve expanded to some outside decorations since we now own a house. And for me, while there is a line I won’t cross, I love sparklies and I like my house to shine. So here are a few pictures of our home this year. And here’s a video that I took of the outside lights—it’s a bit shaky but you can get an idea of what we’ve done. The music is royalty free, I bought the license to use it, and no—it’s not attached to the lights, it’s just background music I used for the video. J



Our living room--the Victorian Tree.

My office tree.

The dining room, all sparkly.

The family room and the Northern Traditions tree.

The living room, again.



So, what kind of decorations do you like to put up? What traditions do you celebrate? Yuletide/Solstice? Christmas? Hanukah? Kwanza? Or perhaps something without a name?

Yasmine

New Moon Daughters Comic Is Up!

The new page of the Moon Daughter's Comic is up!

Charity of the Months: Food Banks

Jenn Price, my fan mail assistant, pulled together information on resources for food banks for us:

This is the time of year that people are usually thinking of what they are thankful for. There are a lot of people out there that are thankful for the help of their local food pantries which help them know they will have something to eat. These pantries generally get the food they give out from the closest food bank, and those food banks get the food from people who donate. I am going to do an over view of some of the more major food banks in the U.S. and will provide links to their sites.

First is the Northwest Harvest site which is located at http://www.northwestharvest.org/

The mission of Northwest Harvest is to provide Washington State with nutritious food to the hungry in a way that lets them preserve their dignity. They have a network of 325 food banks, meal programs, and high needs elementary schools. They have distribution centers in western, eastern, coastal and central Washington and they reach the rural areas where people in need might otherwise go hungry. They have been providing these services for 43 years and are big on promoting healthy eating. They have links on their site for you to find out how to donate or receive help.

Next is the Ample Harvest site which is located at http://www.ampleharvest.org/find-pantry.php

Their mission is to educate, encourage, and enable gardeners to donate their excess harvests to people in need in their local communities. They feel that a lot of America’s problems could be solved if we all valued our resources for the treasures they are. If you are a gardener who would like to donate your excess harvest there are links on their site which will tell you how you can do just that.

Second Harvest Food Bank out of Florida is our next site located at http://www.foodbankcentralflorida.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

They supply more than 500 nonprofit feeding programs throughout the state of Florida. They help agencies that consist of Emergency Food Programs, programs that provide food for people with HIV/AIDS, shelters, and lots of others. Their main goal is to provide the food these programs need to feed those who come to them. They have links on their site where you can find out how to get involved in helping them to help others.

The California Associations of Food Banks located here http://www.cafoodbanks.org/About_Food_Bank_Funding.html

They have links to food banks in their association throughout the state of California. You can find out where to go to get food in your local area as well as were you can donate food. There is also a ton of information on food banks and what they do to help on this site.

Feeding America which is located here http://feedingamerica.org/

This program is the nation’s leading provider of domestic hunger relief. They distribute the food donated to them to food pantries to help those pantries feed the local hungry. They expect their partners to follow the same values as they do. Those values are to respect the dignity and worth of every person who comes to them for help. They have links on how you can get involved to help them with their mission to provide food to those in need, and they also have links for those who may need to find some help getting food.

The National Letter Carriers have a food drive every year to help “Stamp Out Hunger.” The site is located at http://www.nalc.org/commun/foodrive/index.html

All over the nation the National Letter Carriers collect food to help those in need. They have collected around 70.6 million pounds of nonperishable food which they then have delivered to their local food banks. There is information on their site on how you can help them with their food drive.

This last site has a list of local food banks and agencies that you can search for the one in your local area. http://www.foodpantries.org/ They have a list of pantries all over the U.S. so you should be able to find one near you. There are also several articles on the site about the different food banks and pantries as well as food drives. So check it out to find out how you can get or give help.

Remember to please donate to help those who might not otherwise be able to eat. As someone who has been in that position I know that my family and I wouldn’t have made it without the help of places like the ones above. So while you are being thankful for the things you have there are those that are thankful for what you have given to help them. They may not know who you are but they do know that you were kind enough to help them have the food they needed to feed their families.

Jenn Price

Winter Thoughts

Snow in our front yard last year.

It’s definitely winter, whether the calendar says it doesn’t start till later this month or not. Winter has never been my favorite month, but there is a beauty innate within the stark bare branches of the deciduous trees, the pouring rain (and occasional snow) we have, the overcast skies, and the bare flower beds. And even though I don’t like snow, I have to admit to being excited when we have snow—at least the first time or two, and if it doesn’t stay more than a couple days.

Winters here are primarily filled with rain and temperatures that run in the 40s and sometimes low 50s, and while the maples and mountain ash trees and the rest of the deciduous trees are bare, the cedars and firs and spruce trees all still have their needles, so the deep green against the silvery skies(and white of the snows when we have them) are gorgeous.

When I was little, I lived in eastern Washington, and the winters back then seemed brutal. Lots of snow and thick ice—I hated walking to school on that ice. It was so cold in my room that ice would form on the inside of the windows. We didn’t have central heat and there were no heaters upstairs. There were several weeks each year that I ended up sleeping on the sofa because it was just too cold in my bedroom. I didn’t like those winters…I still wouldn’t ever want to go back to them, but there was a beauty there, too. At night, I would turn off the lights in my room and watch down on the streets, as the snow would fall silently in the glow of the street lights. A bluish tinge seemed to fill the air and I would sit there quietly, watching, thinking, for hours.

I prefer the winters here. They’re easier for both Sam and I to handle,and our summers are temperate, as well. In harsh climes, summer can often be as hot as winter is cold.

What are your thoughts about winter? What’s winter like where you’re at?

Yasmine

First Yuletide Contest for December

Win a present from ME (yes, me--Yasmine)! First contest went up today and runs through next Monday. There will be four more contests this month. Go HERE to enter. Do NOT try to enter on the blog.

Yasmine

This Wild and Weird Wonderful World

Blogging over at Fire and Ice today!