alternative solstice celebrations/meditations

light and love, y'all.

we know our readers walk a myriad of paths, worship in all forms and fashions, and love abundantly. so why just be confined to carols and egg nog--not to mention the deadly black friday crowds--when you can enjoy a variety of solstice celebrations?

our good friend at incredible juju cited some interesting reflections on this year's solstice.

the wonderful women of casa atabex ache have also offered some lovely alternatives:

Convey love to family, friends, and everyone in your world, feasting together and exchanging home made presents. Continue this custom by visiting, entertaining, giving gifts, and sending greetings by mail and/or phone. Consider those who are and/or have been important in your life and share appreciation.

Reclaim the holidays, celebrate life. Honor the Goddess as Great Mother. Place Mother Goddess images around your home. You may also want to include one with a Sun child, such as Isis with Horus. Goddess forms traditionally linked with this time of year include Atabex  (Puerto Rico, mother of creation), Yemaya,(African goddess of home, fertility, love, family and the New Year), Tonantzin (Native Mexican corn mother), Holda (Teutonic earth goddess of good fortune), Bona Dea (Roman women's goddess of abundance and prophecy), Ops (Roman goddess of plenty), Au Set/Isis (Egyptian/multicultural All Goddess whose worship continued in Christian times under the name Mary), Lucina/St. Lucy (Roman/Swedish goddess/saint of light), and Befana (Italian Witch who gives gifts to children at this season).

Honor the new solar year with light. Do a Solstice Eve ritual in which you meditate in darkness and then welcome the birth of the sun by lighting candles and singing chants and women power songs. If you have a indoor fireplace or an outdoor fire circle, burn an oak log as a Yule log and save a bit to start next year's fire. Decorate the inside and/or outside of your home with electric colored lights. Because of the popularity of five pointed stars as holiday symbols, this is a good time to display a pentagram of blue or white lights.

Contribute to the manifestation of more wellness on Planet Earth. Donate food and clothing to poor in your area. Volunteer time at a social service agency. Put up bird feeders and keep them filled throughout the winter to supplement the diets of wild birds. Donate funds and items to non-profit groups, such as women healing spaces and environmental organizations. Meditate for world peace. Work magic for a healthier planet. Make a pledge to do some form of good works in the new solar year.

for you history honeys out there, here are a few links discussing the origin of christmas, from the christian, pagan, and scholarly points of view.

however you choose to celebrate this time of year, may the season and the new year bring you peace, joy, and all your heart's desires.

in bliss,

your devoted proprietress

the wisdom of indus kush

today we are honored to bring you a blog written by the illustrious iyalosa apetebii olaomi akalatunde, author of ona agbani: the ancient path, understanding and implementing the ways of our ancestors and the inspirational blog the bliss chronicles. she is also the creatrix of the ose tura institute.

iyalosa olaomi is also a priestess of osun, mother, teacher and all around fly human being.

**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**

One of the early civilizations created by the first humans who evolved in Afrika and eventually migrated out of Afrika and into other parts of the world was known as Indus Kush.

Allow me to quote renowned Afrikan historical scholar Runoko Rashidi from his lecture "The Afrikan Roots of Humanity and Civilization":

Exceptionally valuable writings expressing intimate connections between early India, Egypt and Ethiopia have existed for more than two thousand years. In the first century B.C.E., for example, the famous Greek historian Diodorus Siculus penned that, "From Ethiopia he (Osiris) passed through Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea as far as to India....He built many cities in India, one of which he called Nysa, willing to have remembrance of that (Nysa) in Egypt where he was brought up." Apollonius of Tyana, who is said to have visited India near the end of the first century C.E., was convinced that "The Ethiopians are colonists sent from India, who follow their forefathers in matters of wisdom." The Itinerarium Alexandri, a Latin work written about 345 C.E. for the Roman emperor Constantius, says that, "India, taken as a whole, beginning from the north and embracing what of it is subject to Persia, is a continuation of Egypt and the Ethiopians.

Current Indian culture is a mixture of ancient Afrikan culture and the culture forced upon these Afrikans by the invading Aryan Vedics.

Ancient Indian culture, like all Afrikan culture, is gynocentric--meaning it is womb centered and recognizes the vagina, the breasts, the womb and the buttocks of women as sacred and holy and reveres womanhood, motherhood and mothering as the focal point of all life in the Wombniverse.

As such we have the pre-Aryan recognition of Shakti and her centrality to ancient Indian culture and lifestyle. We also see the development of Tantra--a system which is a woman and Goddess centered method of becoming one's highest self through the use of the Feminine Force in the Wombniverse called Kundalini by Indians. Note that the root of Kundalini is KUND meant to be pronounced like CUNT not like KOON as we usually pronounce it in the West. Kundalini is a system revering Pussy Power...as all wise ancients did.

Some of the pre-Vedic writings have survived over time and reveal the depth and intensity of love Our Ancestors possessed for the Divine Mother--The Source of all...below is one of my personal favorites:

Shaktisangama Tantra*

Woman is the creator of the universe,
the universe is her form;
woman is the foundation of the world,
she is the true form of the body.
Whatever form she takes,
whether the form of a man or a woman,
is the superior form.
In woman is the form of all things,
of all that lives and moves in the world.
There is no jewel rarer than woman,
no condition superior to that of a woman.
There is not, nor has been, nor will be
any destiny equal to that of a woman;
there is no kingdom, no wealth,
to be compared with a woman.
There is not, nor has been, nor will be
any holy place like unto a woman.
There is no prayer equal to a woman.
There is not, nor has been, nor will be
any yoga to compare with a woman,
no mystical formula nor asceticism
to match a woman.
There is not, nor have been, nor will be
any riches more valuable than woman.

*ed. note: as with many sanskrit translations, the single word tantra is something of a misnomer and can encapsulate many things, including the spiritual practice itself, its rituals, etc. you can find more on the role of the goddess in tantra here.

kama sutra

if you have not seen this movie, please do yourself a favor and check it out...

seek the goddess

the mother of us all. the first manifestation of the divine.

if you want bliss...

she's got magic, too...

she'll transform your rage...



 




 








































and heal with her compassion...

oh, yes, darlings. she lives.



in order of appearance:
uzume - japanese (laughter, humor)
oshun - yoruba (fertility, sweet waters, abundance, bliss, magic)
yemonja - yoruba (salt water/ocean, universal mother, dreams, moon)
ma'at - kemet (reciprocity, justice, highest self)
het heru - kemet (love, bliss, fertility)
drapeau for erzulie freda - haitian vodoun (romantic love, magic, material wealth)
bast - kemet (sun goddess, secrets, women, mirth/joy)
oya - yoruba (wind/breath, warrior goddess, lightning/thunder and storms)
auset - kemet (universal mother, magic)
hecate - greco/roman (crossroads, magic)
pele - hawaiian (volcano goddess)
sekhmet - kemet (warrior goddess, destruction)
quan yin - china (bodhisattva of compassion)
gaia - greece (earth goddess archetype)