February is named for the word Februa

Februa means to clean, purify and prepare. Ancient celtic cultures celebrated the beginning of February with Imbolc, “the belly of the mother”, which signaled a time when the seeds planted in Mother Earth were beginning to open and lambs began lactating.

The festival of Brigit, the Goddess who “brings back the light”, represented the growing Sun that warmed the ground. Together they remind us that new life is stirring within.

Ancient Romans celebrated the union of the God Janus (January) and the Goddess Juno (June) in the middle of February. After many incarnations we now celebrate this day as Valentines Day, a day to express love.

February 2012, is also a “Leap Year”.  

February 29th, is also my son’s birthday. A day that any mother will never forget. He was born on a leap year and shares this date with my mother Gertrude. This year he turns “seven” or 28, depending on how you look at it. With all of the research I have done into the meaning of things I began wondering about the days of the week.  Tyler was born on a Wednesday and I was born on a Friday.

I came across this poem written in England circa 1838.:

Mondays child

“Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on Sunday
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.”

In the 1900′s they switched Wednesday’s child with Friday’s child due to the idea that Friday was bad luck because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. No wonder I feel the need to help people understand each other better….:)  So this got me thinking again about the true origins of the names behind the days. This in itself could make for a fascinating history lesson!!!

Origin of names for the Days of the Week

Originally the names of the week were inspired by the seven planets which could be seen by the naked eye this also included the Sun and Moon. Later as Greek and Latin were translated into Germanic languages the ancient Celtic Gods and Goddesses associated with those planets replaced the Roman names.

Our Solar System

Sunday - Sun’s Day – Germanic/Norse (Goddess Sunna) – Roman – (Dies Solis – day of the sun, Sol) Mithra (Persian Sun God) Mitra (Hindu Sun God – partners with Varuna the Moon God to balance night and day.) The Sun also marks the direction of the East which represent the beginning of a new day and consequently a new week.

Monday – Moon’s Day – Germanic/Norse (Mani – The Sun’s Brother – Origin of the Man in the Moon) – Roman – (Dies Lunae – day of the moon – Goddess Luna, Diana, Selene) Also known as the Lunar Bull conquered by Mithra for Cybelle the Earth Mother God.

Tuesday – Tiw’s Day – Germanic/Norse  (God of War and Law – T’ry or Ziu) – Roman (Dies Martis – day of Mars – Roman God of War Ares) Originally known as Odin/Wodan/Irmin/Yggr in Celtic/Norse mythology.

Wednesday - Wodan’s Day – Germanic/Norse (Odin/Wodan/Irmin/Yggr – Celtic God of all Men, Father of all Gods) Roman (Dies Mercuri – day of Mercury – Roman God and leader of souls) Also known as Apollo (Roman God), Hermes (Greek God), Thoth (Egyptian God) Adonai (Chaldean God) Lord (Judaic God)

Thursday - Thor’s Day – Germanic/Norse (God of Sky and Thunder, Son of Odin) Roman – (Dies Iovis – day of Jupiter – Roman/Greek God Zeus, son of Cronus)

Friday - Freya’s Day – Germanic/Norse (Goddess of love, beauty) – Roman – (Dies Veneris – day of Venus – the Goddess of the Love and Life) – Goddess of the evening star, Goddess of the heavens, Mother God also known as Astarte, Ashera, Aphrodite, Eostre, Minerva, Alluza, Athena, etc….

Saturday - Saturn’s Day – Roman (Dies Saturni – day of Saturn) Also known as Cronus father of Zeus (Greek/Roman God) or Cerronus (Germanic/Norse God) son of Odin/Woden/Irmin/Yggr.

Happy Birthday Every Day!!!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Celebrate it by loving yourself unconditionally and birthing a new you each and every day.

“When one door closes, another opens, but often we look so long at he closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us”. – Helen Keller

“We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”  - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.”  - Ellen Goodman

“May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.”  - Joey Adams

“New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.”  - Hamilton Wright Mabie

“We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.” - Swami Vivekananda

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” - John Lennon

“He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool.”
- F.M. Knowles

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year.  It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.  Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions.  Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”  - G.K. Chesterton

“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.” – Henry Moore

“Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year.  Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.”  - Thomas Mann

“I made no resolutions for the New Year.  The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.”  - Anaïs Nin

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein

“If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.” - Confucius

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” - Michael Altshuler

“It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past. Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.” - Jim Bishop

“Events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation.” – Eudora Welty

“For centuries, man believed that the sun revolves around the earth. Centuries later, he still thinks that time moves clockwise”  – Robert Brault

“Come out of the circle of time
. And into the circle of love.” – Rumi

January 1st….the cycle continues

The creation of the month of January is credited to the Roman King, Numa Pompilius in 600 BC. Numa added Inauarius and Februarius to the 10 month-long “Romulus” calendar created in 800 BC. Inauarius was celebrated as the first month of the revised 12 month calendar beginning in 200 BC. Prior to that the year began in March in honor of the Spring Equinox. Inauarius is pronounced Januarius, meaning month of Janus.

The New Year was originally celebrated by the Greeks, Romans and Europeans on the Winter Solstice on December 25th. When Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar in 46 BC he choose January 1st as the first day of the year in honor of its namesake Janus. The Gregorian Calendar was instituted in 1582 AD, by Pope Gregory the XIII, as a way to bring order and importance to the “Christian” calendar throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. As the Conquistadors moved into the Americas during the 1500′s they brought this calendar system with them.

This year we open the door to 2012

“When one door closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us”. – Helen Keller

The month of January is named after the ancient Greek and Roman god Janus.  Janus was the god of beginnings and endings, a gateway or doorway. He was seen as having two faces: one looking to the past and the other looking to the future.  His counterpart is Juno, the goddess of June.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” - Einstein

Ancient Roman Sculpture of Janus

2012 has much to teach us if we keep our minds and hearts open

Popular culture has made 2012 infamous with the prophetic “End of the Mayan Calendar” or “End of Time”.  The Mayans, Aztecs, Olmecs and Toltecs were advanced civilizations that lived in Central America possibly dating back as early as 6000 BC. They were intrepid travelers who followed the stars to help navigate their way from Africa to South America. Their calendar system shares similarities with the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu and Chinese calendars. Each followed a lunar calendar, a solar calendar and a star calendar.

Aztec Calendar Round - Mexico

By having multiple calendars they lived with more awareness of natures ongoing cycles. Their concept of time was circular versus linear based on the rotation of the earth and the changing positions of the sun, moon and stars. These calendars were sacred to their culture and everyday life. Each day held an intention on multiple levels.

Lunar Tzolk’in Calendar - the word Tzolk’in means “the count of days”. The moon phases became the perfect way to count a day.

A monthly lunar cycle

They noticed that the gestation or creation of a human baby took nine moons or 260 days. They also noticed that 13 moons created one solar year or solar cycle. To honor both of these aspects of the moon they took the number of 13 moons in a solar cycle and divided it into the 260 days of creation which equaled 20. (260 divided by 13 = 20) This made the numbers 13 and 20 equally sacred. This became known as the “sacred round“. Each of the twenty “days” had a name and held a specific meaning. This 20 day cycle would repeat itself 13 times, each progressive cycle was assigned a number along with the day name which became known as a trecena cycle. The Tzolk’in calendar was used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events plus divination.

Solar Ha’ab Calendar - was made up of 18 “months” lasting 20 days (18 x 20 = 360) plus a period of five days known as the Wayeb or “nameless days” (360 + 5 = 365) this was equivalent to one solar year. Each of the 18 months plus the period of Wayeb was given a name and meaning that corresponded with the seasons.

Alignment of the Sun, Moon and Earth

Calendar Round - combined the lunar Tzolk’in with the solar Ha’ab into a 52 years cycle. These 52 year Calendar Rounds lasted approx. one lifetime. Basically each day of a persons life was given meaning based on the combination of these sacred calendars.

Long Count Calendar - since the Ha’ab only lasted 52 years, the Mayans developed a long count calendar for forecasting future events and historical dating. The Maya name for a day was k’in. Twenty of these k’ins are known as a winal. Eighteen winals make one tun. Twenty tuns are known as a k’atun. Twenty k’atuns make a b’ak’tun.

A bak’tun equals approximately 394.3 solar years. The Mayans set their creation date at approx. 3114 B.C. 2012 A.D. marks the end of the 13th bak’tun (13 x 394.3 = 5126).  This places the end of the 13th bak’tun on approx. Dec. 21, 2012. The Winter Solstice is seen as both the beginning and end of each calendar year.

2012 is not the end of the Mayan Calendar

There are two theories leading the way, one is that the bak’tun cycle doesn’t end until 20 bak’tuns have passed. The other is that 13 bak’tuns is the end of the cycle but it jumps up to the next level of counting. In both scenarios, experts agree that the cycle does continues. The discrepency is whether the bak’tun cycle ends in 13, 18 or 20 cycles?  Either way 13, 18 or 20  bak’tuns = a pictun, and 13, 18 or 20 pictuns = a kalabtun and so forth. It is an ongoing cycle…..as one cycle comes to an end another begins….

The Precession of the Equinoxes 

“For centuries, man believed that the sun revolved around the earth. Centuries later, he still thinks that time moves clockwise.”  - Robert Brault

The precession of the equinoxes, also known as the Platonic Year, is caused by the slow wobbling of the earth’s polar axis. The earth’s polar axis completes one full precession (moving backwards or counterclockwise) approximately every 26,000 years.  The spring and fall equinoxes were chosen by ancient astronomers to track this precession. Monumental stone structures were created throughout the world that functioned in part as markers or astronomical instruments of this phenomenon.

The Great pyramid of Giza, Egypt. Built circa 2500 B.C.

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge in England, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Machu Picchu in Peru and Kukulcan’s Pyramid in Mexico were all used to track the precession of the equinoxes.

Chichen Itza, the Mayan Temple of Kukulkan in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Built circa 650 - 800 A.D.

At Chichen Itza, a “serpent of light” is revealed every year at the exact time on the Spring Equinox. This serpent of light represents Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent God that lives in the Milky Way.

The Milky Way seen from Yosemite National Park, CA

Precession can also be measured relative to other fixed stars. The stars have been reliable sign posts for the basis of many beliefs and cultures throughout the world. For this reason, ancient cultures aligned themselves with certain stars based on their relative brightness at that point in time. Some of the most famous “stars” are Sirius, Venus, and the Sun, along with the Zodiacal constellations and other star systems such as the Pleiades and Orion.

Polaris our Northern Pole Star…..

Pole Stars are the stars that mark the North and South aspect of our Earth’s axis.  Right now our northern axis points to Polaris which means ”Pointer”. Polaris is the only one of the Pole Stars that comes as close to the exact point of our actual North Pole. In 2012 it will be 1º away, reaching its closest position of .5º’s in 2100. Then Polaris will slowly begin to move away. Our Pole Star changes slowly over the course of 26,000 years in accordance to the precession of the equinoxes as the earth rotates on its axis like a top.

The Big Dipper is the constellation Ursa Major, The Big Bear. The two stars at the end of the bowl of the Big Dipper are called the "Pointer Stars" because a line drawn between them points to Polaris, the North Star. - © 1995 Jerry Lodriguss

The next pole star for the Northern Hemisphere will be Alrai or Gamma Cephei, in 3000 A.D. and then Iota Cephei, in 5200 A.D., Denab will follow in 10,000 A.D. Our earth has had two “North Stars” in the past including Thuban around 3000 B.C. in the constellation Draco, and in 12,000 B.C. Vega in the constellation Lyra. They too will cycle back after Denab. In total we have 6 different stars that comprise a “ring” of stars that take turns being our North Pole Star. But again, Polaris is the only one of the six that is the most exact, which is why we are so aware of it now.

The Southern Hemisphere does not have as many options, currently they do not have a South Pole Star, the Southern Cross constellation has been the best constellation for the past 2000 years.

The Earth's magnetic field showing the axis point and the North and South Poles

The Galactic Alignment and the Sacred Tree of the Mayans

To the Mayans the Sacred Tree or World Tree was thought of as the pole or axis that runs through the center of our earth. The idea of a galactic alignment is thought to be when the North Pole or Sacred Tree lines up with the galactic center of our Milky Way on the Winter Solstice.

In 2012, on Dec 21st, the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice position will be in the constellation of Sagittarius. Sagittarius is the constellation that holds the center of our Milky Way. There is a growing black hole located in an area called Sagittarius A. It is approximately 26,000 light years away from our solar system. The earth’s wobble also causes the position of the seasonal quarters (equinoxes and solstices) to slowly precess against the background of stars and the constellations of the Zodiac. For comparison, 2000 years ago the constellation in this position on the Winter Solstice was Capricorn.

The 13th bak’tun cycle of the Mayan calendar ends and a new one begins approx. on the Winter Solstice of December 21st, 2012.  Polaris will be 1° from our actual north pole, pointing directly into the center of our Milky Way possibly at a growing black hole.

Do these markers indicate that this the end of time??

According to NASA this alignment is nothing to worry about. Our earth has been dancing within this alignment for several years now. An example of this is that on Dec. 21st, 2010 our Sun and Moon lined up that evening to create a total lunar eclipse, Polaris was pointed in much the same direction as it will be in 2012 towards the center of our Milky Way in the constellation of Sagittarius. I remember that evening feeling the beauty and awe of a total lunar eclipse yet I am still here today writing this blog. This makes me pause and think of how linear time has influenced our culture by perpetuating fear….

“Time is making fools of us again.”  - J.K. Rowling


Prague Astronomical Clock installed in 1400 A.D.

The Illusion of Maya and being Present in the Now

“Apart from thought, there is no independent entity called “world.” Just as the spider emits the thread out of itself and then withdraws it, likewise, the mind projects the world out of itself and then withdraws it back into itself.” – Ramana Maharshi

The Hindu word “Maya” could be seen as a root word for the “Mayan” civilization. There is no historical evidence of this, but it is an interesting theory to ponder. There is a great deal of similarity between the cultures and evidence does exist that the early Indus Valley people were travelers by land and sea. Some speculate that the culture divided after the formation of the Veda’s and the caste system. Could these early people have come to the Americas and influenced the Mayans?

Before the Vedas were written, around 1500 B.C.  the early Hindu culture worshipped a female trinity made up of Devi the Divine Mother Goddess, Tara the Earth Mother Goddess and Maya the Goddess of Illusion.

Maya was often depicted as a spider who weaves the web of illusion in the present world we live in. The present is illusive because we are continually walking between worlds, going through doors and gates. We weave our own reality together based on our perceptions and projections.

Hindu Symbol of "Om"

In the Hindu symbol of Om, Maya is seen as the semi circle on top which separates the dot from the other three curves or levels of consciousness. This dot signifies the fourth state of consciousness that illuminates the other three.  Maya in the present moment prevents us from reaching or the realization of this highest state of bliss.  This is how we get caught in our own web of judgement and fear. Maya is an illusion, we are the spider. By staying out of judgement or duality and stepping into a place of oneness we are able to see the past, present and future all at once.

May we linger at this gate and breathe in the beauty of the moment. As we move forward may we step out of  fear and into love through 2012 and beyond…..

Namaste and Munay….Laural

“We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.”  - Ellen Goodman

“We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”  - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I made no resolutions for the New Year.  The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.”  - Anaïs Nin

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” - John Lennon

“One is wise to cultivate the tree that bears fruit in our soul” - Henry David Thoreau

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” – John Muir

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.” – Hermann Hesse

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.” - Albert Einstein 

“I was seeing in a sacred manner the shape of all things in the Spirit, and the Shape of all Shapes as they must live together like one being and I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.” – Black Elk

“The Tree of Life lives within each of us, helping us awaken to our true nature
by widening the circle of compassion for ourselves and our world “ - Laural Virtues Wauters

“Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does” – George Bernard Shaw

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.” – Robert H Schuller

“Even as a tree has a single trunk, but many branches and leaves, there is one religion but any number of faiths.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Who leaves the pine-tree, leaves his friend,
 unnerves his strength, invites his end.”           - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.” - Johanne Wolfgang von Goethe –

 ”A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.” - Saint Basil 

“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”  - William Shakespeare

“It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees.”  - Wilson Flagg


“To the great tree-loving fraternity we belong.  We love trees with universal and unfeigned love, and all things that do grow under them or around them – the whole leaf and root tribe.”  - Henry Ward Beecher

“Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.”  - John Muir




“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.”  - Hal Borland


“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” 
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

“Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars… and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.”  - Osho


“I think that I shall never see. 
A poem lovely as a tree.
 A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
 Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
 A tree that looks at God all day. 
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
 A tree that may in Summer wear. 
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
 Who intimately lives with rain.
 Poems are made by fools like me,
 But only God can make a tree.
” – Joyce Kilmer

“A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship.  But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.  Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves.  No wonder the hills and groves were God’s first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself.”  - John Muir

“A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible.”  - Welsh Proverb

“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.”  - Martin Luther

“We all travel the milky way together, trees and men… trees are travellers, in the ordinary sense.  They make journeys, not very extensive ones, it is true:  but our own little comes and goes are only little more than tree-wavings – many of them not so much.”  - John Muir

“Alone with myself, the trees bend to caress me the shade hugs my heart.
” – Candy Polgar

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”  - Robert Louis Stevenson

“He who plants a tree
. Plants a hope.” 
- Lucy Larcom

“Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
 We fell them down and turn them into paper,
 That we may record our emptiness.
” – Kahlil Gibran

“See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…we need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa 

This morning I woke up to a world covered in frost. As I gazed out the window at the frozen remnants of my garden I reflected on the beauty of this present moment. This great cycle of life is reminding us that death is a natural part of life.  Like trees we need to reconnect with our roots and go deep within ourselves to find the essence of what we wish to rebirth in the spring.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus

Celebrating Peace – Winter Solstice – Dec 22nd – 2011

The Winter Solstice on December 22nd is symbolic of inner peace as people throughout time have reconnected to their inner light. It is also both the shortest and darkest day of the year. It heralds the opening of the door when the sun is reborn, gradually growing in strength til the Midsummer Solstice on June 21st.

To Northern Europeans the Winter Solstice was known as Yule a celebration that lasted for twelve days. Yule trees were cut and decorated with images of wishes for the year ahead. A Yule log was burned and a portion of it saved to be used for protection of the home.

One of the prominent early Gods of the Winter Solstice is the God Mithras. His origins date back over 4000 years or more.

Mitra (circa 1700–1100 BC) is also seen as one of the ancient Hindu Gods of the Rigveda. Paired with the God Varuna, Mitra/Varuna are seen as the Devas who bring balance to the world. Varuna represents the God of the cosmic night sky, Mitra represents the dawning of the solar day. Together they bring light, life, order and truth to the world.

Mithra (circa 1000 BC) is also one of the Persian Zoroastrian/Iranian Gods of Truth.

Mithra (circa 600 BC) was also known as the Sumerian/Chaldean trinity of Anu/El (God of the Sky), Enki/Bel/Baal (Son of Anu/El) and Enlil/Hea (God of Wisdom), sometimes referred to as Ad (Adonai, Adonis or Lord) .

With the creation of the Julian Calendar in 46 BC the Winter Solstice officially fell on December 25th.

In Roman culture (circa 200 BC – 313 AD) Saturnalia (Saturn is the Roman God of Agriculture) began on December 17th and lasted for seven days culminating on December 25th the Winter Solstice.  On that day Mithras the Sun God or Sol Invictus (the invincible sun) was born. The Emperor Constantine saw himself as the Sol Invictus before converting to Christianity in 313 AD. This celebration was marked with wreaths on doors, gifting and feasting.

Early Christians didn’t have records of Jesus actual birthday so they chose the Winter Solstice as the perfect day to celebrate it. They saw it as both the rebirth of the “Son” & the “Sun”. Since Jesus taught that the “light” was within each of us, his followers wanted to honor his birth on a day that honored the “light within”. The Winter Solstice was the perfect time to honor that sacred connection.

“You are the light of the world, let your light shine before men.”- Jesus, Matthew 5:14-16

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” – Jesus, Matthew 6:22

When Pope Gregory the VIII, adjusted the calendar in 1582AD, the Sun had changed in relation to the actual days so the Winter Solstice was moved to either December 21st or 22nd. Pope Gregory chose to keep Jesus birthday on December 25th as a way to separate the “Pagan” holiday from the “Christian” holiday. This severed our sacred connection to the Winter Solstice and the “light” we share with nature. People began to feel separate from the beauty and harmony nature great cycles of life provides.  The word pagan itself means “to be from nature”.

“Holidays” are “Holy Days” and the Winter Solstice is a “Holy Day”.  It is also natures “Holly Day” for Holly is symbolic of truth and the concept of being forever green/alive. Holly is an evergreen that is used to make wreaths for celebrating the sacred circle of life and natures cycle through the seasons.

December has always been a month of inner reflection and preparation for the Winter Solstice. During the long nights of winter, nature reminds us quiet ourselves and nourish our bodies, minds and souls in preparation for Spring.

Today we rush around from place to place, overextending ourselves on so many levels. This is so counter intuitive to what nature had intended for us. My wish for you this holiday season is to find some time for peace and balance. To breathe, be gentle with yourself and others and to count your blessings. Find joy in the simple things and to remember that often less is more……

May love, peace and joy fill your hearts and keep you warm

….love to you all Laural

Man’s earliest counting system was based on the ten fingers or “digits” found on their two hands.  They also noticed that it took nine “moons” or “menses” for the completion of a human pregnancy. This observation formed the sacredness of “nine” as the number symbolic of “completion”. Ten became the number of “divine order”. These numbers have etched themselves into our human psyche, providing the basis of storytelling and belief.

The month of November is named for the number “nine”. This is because the early Roman calendar had only ten months. The months we now know as January and February did not exist 3000 years ago.

November is now the 11th month of the year, another significant number in the evolution of human consciousness. Eleven was the first number that could not be counted using the ten fingers of our early ancestors. It marked the beginning of a new cycle, a new way of thinking, a sort of letting go and trusting. By opening their minds to the concept of 11 they were able to expand human consciousness.

The number 11 is made up of two “ones”, each marks a beginning point. This concept of two “ones” is connected to the concept of creation (Mother/Father or Heaven/Earth) as it takes two to create one. This is why we see the number 11 as a “birth portal”. It triggers our primal understanding of new beginnings, birth and expanded awareness.

When we see 11:11 on our digital clocks it triggers this unconscious memory. It is a calming and supportive pattern that reminds us that life continues on. Many stories and prophecies surround these numbers. I hope to explain just a few concepts of how they play out in our conscious and unconscious mind.

Carl Jung (1875 – 1961), is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as driven “by nature religious”. Meaning that people naturally want to feel connected to something beyond themselves. In doing so beliefs and religions have formed over time based on myth, metaphor, history and story. He saw that the human psyche operated on four primary planes: Self, Personal Consciousness, Personal Unconsciousness, and Collective Unconscious. It was from this place of the Collective Unconscious that he saw the formation of Archetypal patterns. These patterns are based on the universal experience of being human. These Archetypal patterns inform us and connect us to each other as a species.

The use of numbers has always had a profound effect on all levels of our psyche. The more awareness we bring to these Archetypal patterns we can begin to awaken the fifth level of awareness called the Collective Consciousness.

From this place rapid change can occur throughout the world. We are seeing this today as the worldwide web is providing access to each others “stories and beliefs”.  As we begin to connect the dots held within the Collective Unconscious we can see the circular pattern of life emerge. This circle is representative of the sacred journey of birth, life, death and rebirth. Jung also saw it as a “Mandala” or sacred circle and identified it as the Archetype of “Wholeness”.

Another example of awakening to our sacred journey is held within the Kabbalistic Tree of life.  The Kabbalah provides a framework for receiving and revealing insights on both a physical and metaphysical plane. By traveling through the Tree of Life and connecting with the wisdom of the 10 Sephirot, a person is able to reach the 11th place of Da’at. From this place everything becomes interrelated and oneness is achieved.

Apollo 11 was the first spacecraft to bring mankind to the moon. On July 20th, 1969 the lunar module named “Eagle” landed in the “Sea of Tranquility” on the Moon’s surface. Neil Armstrong’s words: “The Eagle has landed” and “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” signaled a new beginning as man ventured out beyond earth. A plaque was left on the moon with the words:  ”Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Apollo is the ancient Greco-Roman God whose origins are also linked with many earlier cultures. Apollo is seen as a messenger God. Apollo is a God of healing, light and prophecy. Apollo carries the energy of both the feminine and the masculine and is the Archetype of clear headedness, order and harmony. The Eagle is also one of the most ancient symbols representing the rising Sun, the new day, and the compass direction of the East. Apollo 11 and the Eagle lunar module became a mated pair that created a new world for all of mankind.

These subconscious and conscious messages inform the collective unconscious allowing us to once again connect the dots and awaken to oneness.

This November, in 2011, we will witness the numeric phenomenon of 11/11/11. If you take it a step further, we will will have two opportunities that day to experience 11/11/11 at 11:11:11 am and 11:11:11 pm.

I invite you each to take time that day to honor the expansion that is occurring within you and around you. Acknowledge the Collective Unconscious that resides within you connecting you to everyone else on this planet. Honor the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine within everything.  Allow yourself to awaken the Collective Consciousness by seeing the oneness of being. Connect the rhythm of your heartbeat with the heartbeat of the earth. Give yourself the gift of love and realize that by doing this you are sharing your love with humanity.  From this place of expanded awareness you are creating a new world.

Thank everything for making this moment happen, being mindful of the many gifts in your life. Carry this sense of gratitude forward. In the United States November is also the month of Thanksgiving and we have much to be thankful for.

May we live in peace…Laural

Some quotes of gratitude:

“Learn to be thankful to everyone, to the entire creation, even to your enemy and also to those who insult, because they all help you to grow.” – Amma 

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” - Christiane Northrup

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart


“Let every step you take upon the earth be as a prayer.” – Black Elk

 “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others”. - Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Gratitude is to be thankful for even the most difficult situations the present moment brings you – for that is when there is the most spiritual growth”

Buddhist Eightfold Path, 588 BC – The Wheel of Dharma (Dharmachakra) Buddhism begins, Siddharta Guatama achieves enlightenment, the eight-fold path resembles the spokes of a wheel. Creates a moral compass the Wheel of Dharma.

South - Right Livelihood, Southwest - Right Effort, West - Right Mindfulness, Northwest - Right Contemplation/Concentration, North - Right View/Perspective, Northeast - Right Intention, East - Right Speech, Southeast - Right Action.

Native American - Medicine Wheel – Hoop of Life

Great Lakes and Plains Medicine Wheel - South – Red – Childhood, Serpent (Turtle), West – Black – Adolescence, Bear  (Wolf), North – White – Adulthood, White Buffalo (Wolf) (Bear), East – Yellow – Death and Re-birth, Eagle, Below – Mother Earth, Center – Yourself, Above – Father Sky, All – Awareness of the Sacred Hoop of Life, Great Mystery.

Cherokee Medicine Wheel - South – White – peace; Summer for peace; happiness & serenity, West – Black – death; 
Autumn the final harvest; the end of Life’s Cycle, North – Blue – defeat; Winter survival and waiting, East – Red – success; Spring re-awakening after a long sleep, 
victory over winter, Below – Mother Earth, Center – Yourself, Above – Father Sky, All – Awareness of the Sacred Hoop of Life, Great Mystery.

From this place we come full circle….traveling through time and cultures understanding our circular roots and the directions or winds we have traveled to bring us to where we are at this moment in time.

As we celebrate Columbus Day on October 10th, let us honor the Native people of the Americas who tended this land with beauty and grace for thousands of years before the “New World” found them. Let us come in harmony with the lessons of their cultures as we all become caretakers of this precious land.

Let us reconnect with our ancestors on Halloween/Samhain October 31st. They hold space for us to honor and learn the lessons and wisdom teachings.

I share with you this chant for Samhain from the Old World to the New World: “A year of beauty. A year of plenty. A year of planting. A year of harvest.
 A year of forests. A year of healing. A year of vision. A year of passion.
 A year of rebirth. This year may we renew the earth.
 Let it begin with each step we take. Let it begin with each change we make.
 Let it begin with each chain we break.  And let it begin every time we awake.” 

Quotations on Infinity

“Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.” - Voltaire

“The meaning of life is contained in every single expression of life. It is present in the infinity of forms and phenomena that exist in all of creation.” - Michael Jackson

“To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.” - William Blake

September 11th, 2001, a day that changed our world.

The day after 9/11, I was inspired to begin researching the origins of world belief from 20,000 BC to present day, in search of our shared roots. The Tree of Life became a touchstone for my personal healing and the archetypal journey of mankind. Along the way, the number seven became a guiding symbol, which curiously is what September is named for.

This year, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the full moon of this “seventh moon” month falls on September 12th, 2011. September 12th was the day that marked the beginning of my healing journey toward peace, that quickly became my passion. The Full Moon is a beautiful reminder that we are one, as we connect with the larger family tree we all share.

So what does the word September mean?

September is originally from the latin word “septum”, meaning “seven”.  It was used to describe the “september mensis” or “seventh moon month”.

Lunar calendars are still in place, based on ancient traditions and sacred time.  Within the Judaic and Muslim community, the lunar calendar plays a primary role in everyday life. Christians use it to determine the date of Easter, a formula created by the early Roman Church, so it would never coincide with the Jewish Passover.

The roots of the Monotheistic Family Tree:

Abraham is seen as the father of all three monotheistic beliefs (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), which basically means the belief in one God. Up until the time of Abraham, there where multiple beliefs with Gods/Goddesses that represented ancestors, elements of nature, the sun, the moon, the stars etc… Each continent had its own unique belief system based on the natural world around them.

Abraham was born in Sumeria around 1800BC, the area we now know as Iraq. He traveled throughout the Middle East as a merchant with his wife Sarai. He began following the guidance of a voice that came from the beyond, a voice he named YAHWEH, who he saw as the one and only creator God.

Sarai, Abraham’s wife, was not able to bear him a child, which Abraham desperately wanted. During a merchant trip through Egypt, the Pharaoh gave Sarai a female companion named Hagar. Sarai then gave permission to Abraham to conceive a child with Hagar.

Abraham’s firstborn son was named Ishmael. A few years later Sarai surprisingly gave birth to Isaac. Eventually Sarai became concerned that Ishmael would inherit his father’s wealth instead of Isaac. She asked Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael out to the desert, a place now known as Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

What happened is interpreted differently by Judeo-Christians who follow the Book of Genesis and Muslims who follow the Islamic Qur’an.

According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar and Ishmael are cast out to the desert when YAHWEH speaks to Hagar letting her know that Ishmael will be the father of a great nation. Later, Abraham is asked to prove his loyalty to YAHWEH by sacrificing his favorite son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah, in Jerusalem. After Abraham binds his son with a rope he is told to stop because his loyalty to YAHWEH is proven.

According to the Qur’an, Abraham is asked to sacrifice Ishmael, his first-born son, in Mecca. The story is similar to the Book of Genesis, same outcome, different son, different place and a different name for God, Allah.

Both stories demonstrate the shared lineage of Abraham and his loyalty to one creator God. His family tree continued to grow through the legacy of his sons, who went on to become the fathers of the Ishmaelites (Muslims) and the Israelites (Jews) and also (Christians) through the Jewish lineage of Jesus.

What is most interesting is that Moses, an Israelite married Zipporah, an Ishmaelite. Moses is a central figure in all three monotheistic beliefs. The Qur’an speaks of Moses more than any other Prophet or man. Moses is seen as the great Prophet and lawgiver for all three beliefs. In actuality Israelites and Ishmaelites worked together and fought together for thousands of years.

On the Seventh Day he rested….

(The seed of life, sometimes referred to as the creation matrix, contains six circles representing the six days of “creation”. The middle circle is the “resting” point or seventh circle)

Monotheistic cultures see the number seven as sacred.

Judaism - “It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested” - Exodus, 31:17

Jews recognize Saturday as the Sabbath, the day of rest. The word Sabbath means completion, to cease or to rest. It is from the root word for “seven”.

Christianity – “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” - Genesis 2:3

Christians define this day of rest as Sunday. Sunday was named by the Romans long before Christianity was created to honor the Sun, but after the Roman Empire converted to Christianity they replaced the concept of the “Sun God” with the concept of Jesus being the “Son of God”.  This was also another way to separate from the Jewish Sabbath (Jesus was Jewish, as were most of his early followers) from the newly forming Roman Catholic Church.

Islam – “He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself on the Throne. He knows what enters within the heart of the earth, and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from heaven, and what mounts up to it. And He is with you wherever you may be. And God sees well all that you do” – Qur’an 57:4

Muslims do not recognize an official day of rest, but they do observe Friday as an official day of prayer and assembly called Jumma.

In summary, all three faiths agreed on the concept of the seven days of creation but they each interpreted and created a separate day to honor it: Judaism – Saturday, Christianity – Sunday, Islam – Friday.

So where exactly did the idea of seven come from?

Among the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians there were seven planets that could be seen with the naked eye. They included the Sun and the Moon along with Mars, Mercury, Jupiter,Venus, and Saturn. This observation formed the concept of seven as a sacred number, especially among the Western mind. The seven days of the week were then named after these seven planets based on Greco-Roman translations: Sun – Sunday, Moon – Monday, Mars – Tuesday, Mercury – Wednesday, Jupiter – Thursday, Venus – Friday, Saturn – Saturday.

In Hebrew the number 7 means Sheh-bah, which means completion. Hence it is the root of the word Sabbath, the seventh day of rest.

To the Greeks, 7 was referred to as Hepta or the seven sided Heptagon. From this came the creation of the Heptatonic Scale which was based on seven musical notes. The Greeks also held the belief that their were Seven Sages or Wise Men that lived before the great flood. These seven sages influenced Judaism and subsequently all three monotheistic faiths.

Judaism - the Seven Branched Menorah, is “a light unto the nations.” – Isaiah 42:6.

Christianity – the number seven is used more often than any other number in the Bible except “one”. “When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light” – Jesus – Luke 11:34

Islam - “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. Light upon Light!”
 - Quran 24:35  

During Muhammad’s “Night Journey” he traveled through the Seven Heavens of the Tree of Life and received the word of Allah, through the Archangel Gabriel.

So why does “light” play such an important role with the number seven?

Light has always been connected to the concept of God, whether it is the light shining from the Sun, the Moon, the Stars , a Fire. Light is life-giving. Our modern understanding of light and color begins with Isaac Newton in 1672AD. He was the first to understand how to refract white light with a prism into its component colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Due to pressure from the church, Newton followed the pattern of seven based on the seven days of the week and the seven notes of the musical scale. He then identified a seventh shade called indigo that fell between blue and violet.

Modern day artists use the color wheel originally set up by Isaac Newton based on the original six colors. The seventh “color” is actually white “light”. The absence of light is the color black.

(The “Color Wheel” as the “Seed of Life”.)

Ancient Hindu yogi’s identified another sort of “Sacred Wheel” they called a ”Chakra”. The Chakras are seen as energy centers within our body that are affected by emotional and physical factors. The goal of the yogi was to clear and open these chakras so that the life force energy would flow unobstructed allowing for spiritual union and physical health. These chakras also work in harmony with the concept of seven, the colors of the rainbow, the musical scale and white light.

So where is the all leading?

During the last ten years of research and pondering how we are all one, I have created a way to look at the number seven in combination with world belief and our energetic body. I like to refer to this as the “Tree of Life” within us.

There is also an eighth chakra that surrounds us reminding us that we are “one”.

1. Red – Root Chakra – Indigenous Belief/Feeling Grounded

2. Orange – Sacral Chakra – Taoism/Harmony of Opposite Forces of Nature

3. Yellow – Solar Plexus Chakra – Hinduism/Life Force Energy

4. Green – Heart/Soul Chakra – Buddhism/Love with no Conditions

5. Blue –  Throat Chakra – Judaism/The Power of the Spoken Word

6. Violet – Third Eye Chakra – Christianity/Inner Knowing and Trusting our Intuition

7. White/Light Violet – Crown Chakra – Islam/Connection to Source

Tens years later….a vision of oneness for the future

May we begin to see how we can sing a new song, paint a new picture, and create a new story of peace within ourselves and each other for the next seven generations…

May loving kindness be what guides us….

For more information visit www.treeoflifeawakening.com

It is always an amazing journey when weaving together the linear left brain of our Western mind with the circular right brain of our Eastern mind. In doing so, we see the beauty of being fully human.

August in the Western Mind

The month of August is named for Augustus, Julius Ceasar’s grandnephew, who defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra, becoming the emperor of Rome. 

The Roman Senate decided that he too should have a month named after him. Not only did the Senate name a month after Augustus, but it decided that since Julius’s month, July, had 31 days, Augustus’s month should equal it: under the Julian calendar, the months alternated evenly between 30 and 31 days (with the exception of February with 29), which made August 30 days long. So, instead of August having a mere 30 days, it was lengthened to 31, (they shortened February to 28) preventing anyone from claiming that Emperor Augustus was saddled with an inferior month.

August in the Eastern Mind

The “August Ones” also known as the Three Sovereigns (2852 – 2205 BC)  were mythological Shamans or Sage (wise) Kings. 

In the Taoist creation myth, the Supreme Unity or Wu-ji, is limitless and produces the delimited. The Tai-ji divides into heaven (Yang) and earth (Yin). Heaven and earth then rejoin each other through human (male and female) form and experience supreme unity. This is a circular creation story where one can not exist without the other. 

Tao or Dao means “the way” and embodies the harmony of opposites. Taoists believe that nature is a continual balance between yin and yang, and that any attempt to go toward one extreme or the other will be ineffective, self-defeating, and short-lived. Yin and yang are often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed. The appearance of “things” is considered to be Yin, and their resolution back into their more subtle “no-thing” is Yang. 

The August Ones

Heavenly August One – who represents the “light/masculine” or Yang energy

Earthly August One – who represent the “dark/feminine” or Yin energy

Human August One – balances the Yin and Yang energy through human form

            Man – Yang on earth – creative, hard, solid, aggressive

            Woman – Yin on earth – receptive, soft, fluid, yielding

“When the world began, there was heaven (yang) and earth (yin). Heaven mated with the earth and gave birth to everything in the world. Heaven is Qian-gua, and the Earth is Kun-gua. The remaining six gua are their sons and daughters”.

Together this creates a family of eight or “Ba”. “Gua” is the word for aspect.  The Bagua began as a practice of divination by casting bones. This system is the foundation of both the I-CHING and FenG Shui. 

I – Ching/ Feng-Shui Coins – A Chinese coin that is round with a square hole in the center representing the union of heaven and earth (the circle represents the heaven and the square represents the earth). The yang side has 4 characters while the yin side has 2 characters.

Coins are generally arranged in sets of three, tied together with a red ribbon, symbolizing the unity of man, earth, and heaven. Some have theorized that counting prayers naturally evolved from the abacus, the Chinese counting instrument that also used round beads or coins.

Prayer Beads and Knots from around the world

sha sha - The first beads were grooved pebbles, bones, and teeth made over 40,000 years ago and had talismanic and symbolic meaning. “Sha” is the Egyptian word for luck.  These beads were used as a way to pray or divine by casting them on the ground or wearing them for good luck. Divination was man’s earliest way to communicate with spirit. Stones, beads, sticks, shells, leaves, metal coins etc…were all used as tools for divination. Eventually divination gave way to prayer beads or talismens that people could wear and carry with them. 

japa-mala - Means “muttering chaplet,” which refers to a prayer beads function as a means of recording the number of prayers said. In addition to helping keep one’s place in structured prayers, prayer beads also symbolized the commitment to a spiritual life. With their circular form, a string represents the interconnectedness of all who pray.

Mala – Buddhists and Hindus use 108 beads divided into four sections of 27 by three resting beads. The mala is used for counting mantras, chants or prayers. Preferred woods are sandalwood or sacred wood from the Bodhi tree. The Meru is a larger bead, not part of the 108. It is not tied in the sequence of the other beads. It is the guiding bead, the one that marks the beginning and end of the mala. It also stands for the wisdom that comes with emptiness. Mala means “rose” or “garland” in Sanskrit. The earliest known mala is around two thousand years old.

Shiva Malas have beads made from rudraksha (Shiva’s eyes). Vishnu Malas usually use beads made from the tulsi (Holy Basil) The 108 beads represented the cosmos, in which people multiplied the sum of the twelve astrological signs by the nine planets.

Twenty-seven-bead smaller wrist malas were created to prevent the prayer beads from touching the ground during prostrations.

In Tibet, malas of inlaid bone originally included the skeleton parts of holy men, to remind their users to live lives worthy of the next level of enlightenment. Today’s bone malas are made of yak bone, which is sometimes inlaid with turquoise and coral. The 108 beads represent the number of worldly desires or negative emotions that must be overcome before attaining nirvana.

Baha’i  - consist of either 95 beads or 19 beads strung with the addition of five beads below.

Chinese Su-chu – Chinese Buddhists and Taoists use a 108-beads, which has three dividing beads, so the su-chu is divided into three parts of 36 each.

Jewish Tallit – Jewish Prayer shawls are made of wool and linen or silk with fringe all around its rectangular shape. Five knots that create four tassels called tzizit are attached to the four corners of the shawl.

The tallit indicates obedience to a passage in Numbers 15:37-41. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.”

Catholic Rosary – The person widely believed to have introduced prayer beads is Saint Dominic, after he had a visitation by the Blessed Virgin Mary. And Thomas of Contimpre first called them a rosary, form the word rosarium or “rose garden,” since the faithful used strung rose petals and beads made of crushed rose petals to count prayers. A rosary is divided into groups of 10 beads, called decades, a Catholic repeats the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” prayers as he or she marks off the beads with the fingers while meditating on the life of Jesus and Mary. 

Roman Catholic rosaries have 150 beads, the same number of psalms in the Bible. In the twelfth century, religious orders recited together the 150 Psalms as a way to mark the hours of the day and the days of the week. Those people who didn’t know how to read wanted to share in this practice, so praying on a string of 150 beads or knots began as a parallel to praying the psalms. It was a way that the illiterate could remember the Lord and his mother throughout the day. 

Eastern Orthodox – use knots and beads. Shorter knotted ropes are worn on the wrist. Often made of wool, the Greek prayer ropes – called kombologion have 33, 50, or 100 knots. Russian chotki have 33, 100, or 500 knots. Sometimes the faithful use bead strands resembling a ladder (each end of a bead touching two parallel strands), which signifies the soul making its ascent to heaven.

Islamic Tasbih/Masbaha/Subha – Islamic Prayer Beads consist of 99 or 33 beads. During the Prophet’s time, date stones, olive seeds and pebbles were used to make tasbish beads. Muslims use strings of 33 or 99 beads with one “leader” bead, which represents the 99 names of Allah found in the Koran and the one essential name.

Muslim prayer beads include markers after the 33rd and 66th beads representing the word “praise”. Masbaha or subha is from the Arabic word “to praise”. Often subha are made of wood, or from date pits produced in the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

Native American - first used seashells, bones, wood and quills for their beadwork. These tiny beads were called “little spirit seeds” by some tribes, who felt that they were a gift from the gods.

African - beads represent the qualities of spiritual wisdom, the power of the gods, and the gods themselves. The Yoruba believe that using beads in ritual or on ritual objects will enhance their power. Diviners wear special bead necklaces that identify them as spiritual leaders and enhance their power.

The Masai find beads so meaningful to their culture that their language includes more than 40 words for different kinds of beadwork.

Huayruro Seeds – (Ormosia amazonica) plant is native to Peru, and has been an important part of Peruvian culture for centuries. Huayruro seeds are found in pods in the tall trees of the Peruvian rainforest. The solid red seeds are seen as feminine, the red and black seeds are masculine. Together they bring balance, prosperity, health and good luck.

Watana – Peruvian glass beads thread along a braid of seven colors of the rainbow. It represents our journey from being human to being a star person and back to human. The beads are set on each side representing our true nature as having both masculine – father and feminine – earth mother energies.

Connecting to our circular nature allows us to open our hearts and minds to the unlimited potential of what came before and what lies ahead. I encourage you to create your own unique set of “beads” as you reconnect to the sacred circle.

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.”  ~ Meister Eckhart


July is the perfect month to celebrate our freedom and independence by reconnecting with the cycles of nature.

In The United States of America, we celebrate the day that we declared our independence from England and established a new country based on freedom:

Following are the opening words of the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4th, 1776….

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The phrase “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” have always resonated deep within me. It is like a call to action to understand our true nature as human beings living together on this amazing earth. Our earth is “big” yet it is also “small”. It is “powerful” yet “vulnerable”. These opposite concepts of nature continuously remind us of our interconnectedness with the cycles of life.

Early man  came to recognize the cycles of life, in nature, through the seasons. They were guided by the Moon, the Sun and the stars (namely Venus, Sirius, and the Pleiades). By carefully living within this circular world a framework for time was created. Many cultures developed sophisticated calendar systems that worked on multiple dimensions to help them keep track of events and set intentions.

My goal is to share with you a selection of cultures and calendars that demonstrate how: “the laws of nature and of natures God”  have been informing us before time began.

In fact, the month of July is named after Julius Caesar, the Roman Emperor who instituted the Julian calendar in 46BC. That calendar is the basis of the calendar we use today.

Egyptian/Roman/Christian Calendar - was originally a lunar calendar based on the seasons of agriculture. The calendar began at planting time, and ended after the harvest, the year was approximately 304 days long.  The two months of winter, when there was no work in the fields, were not counted. This lunar calendar was also used for religious festivals.

A second solar calendar was created for civil purposes, and was based on the observation that there were usually 365 days between the helical rising of Sirius (365.25 to be exact). This civil calendar was split into twelve months of 30 days with an additional five days attached at the end of the year to again match the 365 days. These additional five days were considered to be unlucky. This calendar is known as a wandering calendar, since it slowly gets out of synch with the solar year.

A third calendar, which dates back at least to the fourth century BC was used to match the lunar year with the solar year. It was based on a period of 25 civil years, which was approximately 309 lunar months.

In 46 BC, Julius Caesar instituted a purely solar calendar. He consulted with Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes and created a regular year of 365 days which was divided into 12 months. He added a leap day to February every four years. This calendar was named the Julian calendar. Caesar also declared that the seventh month should have 31 days, and the senate then also named the month of July in his honor.

In 1582, the Julian calendar was replaced with the more accurate Gregorian calendar. The astronomical solstices and the equinoxes had advanced by about 11 minutes per year against the Julian year, causing the calendar to gain a day about every 134 years. Due to this dramatic change, Pope Gregory was able to separate the equinox and solstice celebrations from the church’s religious holy days.

Roman Names of the Month

January – Janus, the god of doors and gates

February – Februa, the god of purification

March – Mars, the god of war

April – Latin for “to open” (buds)

May – Maia, the Earth Goddess

June – Mother Goddess Juno

****July – Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.

August – Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.

September – “seven”

October – “eight”

November – “nine”

December – “ten”

European Celtic Calendar - divided their solar year into a cosmology that represented the eight spokes of a turning wheel consisting of four doors and four gateways. This calendar was  based on the four cardinal directions (East, South, West, North) and the four secondary directions. The gateways opened the doors for continuous movement throughout the years. Eventually this Celtic calendar was incorporated into the Roman/Catholic calendar. Many of these ancient “pagan” (which means to be from nature) traditions are still celebrated today.

Winter Solstice  – A time of rebirth

Imbolc/Candlemas – A time of growing light

Spring Equinox – A time of birth

Beltane – A time for light

Summer Solstice  – A time of life

Lammas  – A time to harvest

Fall Equinox – A time to die

Samhain – A time of honoring soul