Full Moon Over Washington
A United States Marine Corps helicopter is seen flying through this scene of the full moon and the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, from Arlington National Cemetery.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Category: Daily Posts
Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 8
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2012 February 8
Enceladus Backlit by Saturn
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA; Color Composite: Gordan Ugarkovic
Explanation: This moon is shining by the light of its planet. Specifically, a large portion of Enceladus pictured above is illuminated primarily by sunlight first reflected from the planet Saturn. The result is that the normally snow-white moon appears in the gold color of Saturn’s cloud tops. As most of the illumination comes from the image left, a labyrinth of ridges throws notable shadows just to the right of the image center, while the kilometer-deep canyon Labtayt Sulci is visible just below. The bright thin crescent on the far right is the only part of Enceladus directly lit by the Sun. The above image was taken last year by the robotic Cassini spacecraft during a close pass by by the enigmatic moon. Inspection of the lower part of this digitally sharpened image reveals plumes of ice crystals thought to originate in a below-surface sea.
the daily humorscopes for wednesday, february 8
the daily humorscope
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Aries (March 21 – April 19)
Try to work the words “happenstance” and “ineffable” into your conversation today. It turns out that most people believe any sentence that has the word “ineffable” in it. Such as that one.
You will meet a tough challenge in a very resourceful way, today, using only a Swiss Army Knife, a transistor radio, and oven cleaner.
Everyone who drives by today will stick their head out their car window, give you a big dopey look, and flop their tongue around in the wind. If you had known this was “act like a dog” day, you might have been better prepared.
Beware the Ides of March. Also, if you have a friend named “Brutus”, it might behoove you to be a trifle more selective…
What you are about to do is wrong. Of course, you will only find that out much later. For now, enjoy yourself!
Not a good time to go forth and conquer. Try going fifth, and hover in the background.
Through a casual remark in an elevator, you will realise that both you and your fellow passenger have seen John Cleese’s informational film called How To Irritate People. By the time you reach the 10th floor, you will both be severely vexed with one another.
Try to avoid nibbling on things today. Despite recent developments, you don’t actually know your friend that well yet.
You will get a notion to become a street food-vendor, and will make yourself a food serving cart for the “Bulghur Baron”. You will sell pint containers of hot bulghur wheat, cooked with sauteed onions, garlic, and other vegetables. To everyone’s amazement, you’ll succeed fabulously, eventually making millions off the franchise rights alone.
It was a simple mistake, which anyone could have made. What’s more, now you know better. I think, though, that the expression is too widespread for you to actually get it changed to “never look a gift horse in either end”.
You are being stalked by an invisible mutant from Planet 7. Or at least, you’ll find that this makes an excellent excuse for not doing those outside chores today.
Someone will ask “How are you?” for the millionth time. You should celebrate the occasion by having a speech prepared – something embarassingly intimate is usually best. “Glad you asked, Bob. I’m having a darned tough time getting rid of these pesky genital warts, for one thing…”
Wednesday, February 8th is a wonderful day for……
February 8th
Dry Fruits and Vegetables, Cut Hair to Retard Growth, Mow to Retard Growth, Dig Post Holes, Pick Apples and Pears, Quit Smoking, Perform Demolition, Wash Wooden Floors, Paint, Start Diet to Lose Weight, Ask for Loan, Entertain Friends, Host a Party
Calendar of the Moon for Wednesday, Feb. 8th
Calendar of the Moon
Rowan Tree Moon
Color: Orange-red
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon a cloth of orange-red set a row of red candles, Brigid’s cross, and a bell.
Offerings: Votive candles. Quicken a newborn idea into birth.
Daily Meal: Hot drinks with every meal. Keep food warm.
Luis/Gamelion Invocation
Call: Now is the quickening of the year.
Response: Now is the time of the first movement.
Call: Now the child stirs in the womb.
Response: Now the seed stirs in the earth.
Call: Now the plains flood and our fire is threatened.
Response: Now the cold water drowns our spark.
Call: Now is the time of the hard struggle.
Response: Now is the month of desperation.
Call: Now is the time of desperation to live.
Response: Now is the time of desperation to be born.
Call: We turn in our sleep as the earth turns.
Response: We dream with the sleeping earth.
Call: Each of our dreams is a lit candle in the dark.
Response: Each of our dreams is a single point of hope.
Call: They shine faint and alone in the night of struggle.
Response: They are alone as we are alone.
Call: Yet we are not alone in our dreams.
Response: We are not alone!
Call: We will keep our fires burning.
Response: We will burn against the night!
Call: We will warm our dreams with the force of life.
Response: We will not die alone in the cold!
Call: We will ward off all evil.
Response: Only good shall pass our gates.
Call: We will care for each other.
Response: We will never cease to care!
Call: We will survive the winter.
Response: We will survive!
(Repeat last two lines twice more.)
Chant:
Protect the flame that warms your dreams
And dreams shall never die.
Calendar of the Sun for Wednesday, Feb. 8th
Calendar of the Sun
Ancestor Day
Color: Black and grey
Element: Earth
Altar: Spread a black cloth, and lay it with photographs, paintings, and other depictions of our ancestors. Add also symbols of their old tools, and statues of ancestral deities, a bowl of seeds for the future garden, pots of soil, a pitcher of water, and many candles of black and white and grey.
Offerings: Things they would have liked to eat, drink, smoke, or smell. Tend a cemetery and clean up the graves.
Daily Meal: Food from an earlier era, using authentic recipes.
Invocation to the Ancestors
Our ancestors got up at dawn,
Slaved in the dirt,
Sweated in the sun,
Chilled in the cold,
Numbed in the snow,
Scattering each seed with a prayer:
Pray that there be enough,
That no one starve this winter.
Pray that no bird nor beast
Steal the food I have struggled for.
And most of all,
Pray that each seed I save
Of this harvest
Shall next year
Bring forth a hundred more.
We live today
Because they worked
Because they sowed
Because they harvested
Because they prayed.
Chant:
Those who came before
We are your children
Those who came before
We honor your names
(Each person takes seeds from the bowl and plants them in the pots of soil, speaking the name of one of their ancestors as they do so, as in: “In honor of _______.” The pots are watered, and the candles put out one by one.)
Cosmic Calendar for Wednesday, Feb. 8th
After a day like yesterday, it is important to avoid a severe let-down. This is also a good point in the cosmic calendar to remind you that solar and planetary alignments from one day don’t necessarily disappear the next day. Therefore, many of Tuesday’s cosmic interactions are still reverberating in the ethers and affecting everyone. However, whatever happens right now is more in the ascendancy of importance. The Moon parallel Mars (8:35AM PST) suggests avoiding displays of arrogance, rash behavior and egocentricity. During the fairly short void lunar uncertainty zone in Leo – from 8:43AM PST to 9:33AM PST – complete old business with a flourish, but leave new and bold enterprises until the Moon is comfortably settled into meticulous, versatile Virgo (9:33AM PST). The Moon in this sixth sign of the zodiac should accentuate clean-up campaigns, scholarly research and nutritional changes to strengthen your immune system, but the Moon opposing Neptune (9:52AM PST) followed closely by a potentially emotionally-disruptive Venus-Uranus contra-parallel (10:20AM PST) have the capacity to send you down a blind alley. Know where you are going and what you are doing. The Moon making a flowing trine to Jupiter (3:46PM PST) would seem to carry the necessary oomph and charge to give you a renewed optimistic mind-set, but lurking in the shadows is an off-kilter, 150-degree entanglement from Mercury to Mars (11:10PM PST). Why be belligerent to dear ones under pressure when you can be a fighter for human rights around the globe? Think before you act.
Correspondences for Wednesday, Feb. 8th
Correspondences for Wednesday, Feb. 8th
Magickal Intentions: Communication, Divination, Writing, Knowledge, Business Transactions, Debt, Fear,Loss, Travel and Money Matters
Incense: Jasmine, Lavender, Sweet Pea
Planet: Mercury and Chiron (though this is a moon of Pluto)
Sign: Virgo
Angel: Raphael
Colors: Orange, Light Blue, Grey, Yellow and Violet
Herbs/Plants: Fern, Lavendar, Hazel, Cherry, Periwinkle
Stones: Aventurine, Bloodstone, Hematite, Moss Agate and Sodalite
Oil: (Mercury) Benzoin, Clary Sage, Eucalytus, Lavender
This day is governed by Mercury. Wednesday’s vibration adds power to rituals involving inspiration, communications, writers, poets, the written and spoken word, and all matters of study, learning, and teaching. This day also provides a good time to begin efforts involving self-improvement or understanding.
While I can get a word in……
WordPress is changing things around. This is effecting how I post. I have minutes were posting is fine. Then the next, the posting box is just gone. So please have patience and hopefully we will get through this, lol!
The Wicca Book of Days for Feb. 8th – Aspirational Air
Aspirational Air
The Element that ancient astrologers assigned to today’s zodiacal sign of Aquarius is Air which has many symbolic connotations, including communication, intelligence, spirituality, aspirations and other “higher things,” along with independence and an aversion to being constrained. In addition, Air is associated with Spring; the East; and the color blue, the hue of the sky that is this Element’s realm. Air is also considered to be a spiritual Element, for it provides the breath of life, or soul, that animates us, while ghosts are popularly believed to be ethereal, incorporeal beings that can be felt (often as a breeze or drop in temperature), rather than seen.
“Melodious Messages”
Messages are carried through the air as sounds. Today, you’ll find that including songs in you rituals pays dividends, by enabling your soul to sing freely. Invoke the Goddess in this melodious way and you should find your pleas answered.
~Magickal Graphics~
The Witchcraft Chronicles 
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