24th Day of the Seventh Lunar Cycle

"I'm one with the Goddess and open
to Her Wisdom."

24th Day of the Seventh Lunar Cycle
Ruled by Medusa
Lunar Tree Cycle ~ Duir/Oak
Moon Phase: Last Quarter - 12:53PM EDT
Moon rises: 12:22AM EDT
Moon sets: 1:41PM EDT
Moon in the Cardinal Fire Sign of Aries
Rhiannon's last Cycle of the Moon day
Solar Question for the Day: "What is the
source of vital power within you?"
Lunar Meditation: The beauty of the enduring stars.
"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength."
-- Oprah Winfrey
July 7th, 2007


"There was a monster, Argos,
with a hundred eyes of fire,
fire that saw everywhere at once,
and then went out, every one at once.
When he died, the goddess Juno
saved those eyes, by setting them
in the tail of her pet bird. She was like
a jeweler as she set them there
like stars in the peacock's tail.
Daughter of time, Juno worked
in a frenzy of creation on this task."
-- Ovid, Metamorphoses

Today was the day Roman women celebrated one of the most important festivals of Juno, the great goddess of women's power. Although every Calends, or first, of each moon-month was dedicated to Juno, the Nonae Caprontinae on July 7 was - with the March 1 Matronalia - the goddess' public festival. On the day, girls staged mock battles under wild fig trees and all women engaged in similarly unrestrained behavior. For Juno, who was castigated as an overbearing jealous wife in late mythology, was originally a complex goddess who ruled all of women's energies. And women are not only nurturing and kindly; we are also sometimes angry and fierce. Both these aspects of feminine reality - and many others as well - were in Juno's domain.
Finding ways to resolve conflicts, especially with other women, is one of life's ongoing challenges. Roman belief was that each of us has a deep and abiding strength that helps us move toward the right path. Looking within for this strength will bring us in touch with the strength of the goddess within us.
[Source: "The Goddess Companion" by Patricia Monaghan]


The Divine Feminine

"There was an Old Woman lived under the hill
And if she's not gone, she lives there still."
-- traditional British rhyme

Feminine and masculine are the left and right hands of God. We have only recently begun to remember the divine feminine and to respect her again, but she has never been far from us. Earth
herself reminds us of the living presence of the feminine principle as she unfolds her many faces through the cycle of the year. The Old Woman who lives under the hill is the oldest grandmother of us all: our very substance derives from her; and as we trace her many aspects through the seasons, we appreciate the different gifts with which we are endowed.
As a young girl in spring, she is innocent; playful and delightful, she responds to beauty with joy.
When our hearts are in springtime mode, we are filled with clarity and truth, in touch with our integrity. In Maytime, when blossoms' heady scent of desire is in the air, she reaches the borders of womanhood and looks with desire upon the beloved of her heart, rejoicing in the song of summer's freedom. When our hearts are in summer mode, we have power and self-confidence.
In autumn, she becomes mother, fierce protector of all that she loves. In autumn, we reflect this face as our creative vision fulfilled. When winter comes, she strips bare the bough, clarifying each soul. But many do not choose to know her now, for she grows thin and gray. Yet she is stronger,
as ice and snow cover her with a new mantle.
Those who fear the Old Woman's features never kiss her or call upon her wisdom. But she welcomes all, calling us to look again and find in ourselves the reflection of her wisdom. She calls us to realize that she is in every part of the universe, that the earth is but our most immediate mirror of her features. Her truth, beauty, compassion, and wisdom are in every place, in every face.

"Mediate upon the divine feminine."
[Source: "The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year" by Caitlin Matthews]