Reflections From a Murky Pond

Yesterday was Yule for me and mine, and soon it’s Christmas for the Christians. In honor of both holidays here’s a very rare animated video from an old Jethro Tull single, Ring Out The Solstice Bells. It has a pleasing blending of the Heathen and the Christian in its imagery.

An Animated Promo For Jethro Tull’s Ring Out The Solstice Bells

Stay warm and bide during this Winter season, filled as it is this year with discontent. Pray for Spring’s coming and think of what seeds must be sown in order to reap the harvest that we desire.

Blessed Be.

Much like Las Vegas, perhaps what happens on Thanksgiving should stay on Thanksgiving.

Not Any Way of Making a Turducken That I’ve Ever Heard Of!

Enjoy! Given the stresses of both the times and the holiday, with its family obligations, hopefully a bit of humor will put things in perspective.

In America it is time for Thanksgiving, a holiday that Americans celebrate every autumn. While its celebration is pervasive among Americans, it is often an almost reflexive habit. Much of the underlying meaning has been lost as our technologies and skills have increased and brought with them much greater security.

Thanksgiving was a Harvest Festival. Few, if any, in the Civilized World can truly understand the visceral significance of that fact – though many of the rest of the People’s of the Earth certainly still can.

Harvest Prayer

The crops have been harvested;
The herbs have been dried;
The game and the herds have been salted;
We will survive.

We give thanks to the Mother
Who has shared of her bounty.
We are grateful for her teachings and her fruit.
We will survive.

We give thanks to the Father
Who has shared of his flesh.
We are grateful for his teachings and his blood.
We will survive.

Grateful are we who face the Winter.
Through the gifts of the Mother and Father
We are prepared for the cold season.
We will survive and we are grateful.

~*~

We will survive! In agrarian societies who are isolated from trade the fall harvest was – and still often is – the difference between Life and Death, not just for individuals but for whole communities. Is it any wonder that the harvest was a holiday – a Holy Day – of joy, relief, and thanksgiving?

We Americans are secure and wealthy and Thursday’s feast will be rich and sweet on our tongues – but how much sweeter was that first Thanksgiving feast when the Pilgrims knew it meant that they could live through Winter and see the coming of Spring?