Calendar of the Sun for July 11

Calendar of the Sun

Solstitium

Colors: Green and gold
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon cloth of green and gold set flowers and herbs in pots, a bowl of rainwater, a large pitcher of manure tea, and several empty baskets.
Offerings: Water and fertilizer, to be added to the garden.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian.

Solstitium Invocation

Earth, you begin to give forth your bounty!
Like the maiden blossoming into the mother,
Like the youth growing into the father,
You yield your children up to us
For our sustenance and health,
As we are also your children.
We will not waste your gifts!
We will nurture what you bring forth
With the labor of our hands,
That those gifts shall be sustained
Year after year, and that you shall
Never be exhausted.
We will not be ungrateful, O Earth whose life is ours,
But we will give back as much as we take,
For this is the way of balance.

Chant:
Life harnessed
Call the sun to us
Sacred harvest
You are one with us

(Two who have been chosen to do the work of the ritual take up the rainwater and the manure tea, and carry them out to the garden, where they are ceremonially poured around the roots of the herbs and vegetables. All others follow with the empty baskets, and harvest some thing from the garden, whether a token or a main part of the next meal. After this, each should do some part of the work of further watering, or fertilizing, or mulching, to give back to the earth as much as is taken away.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Daily Cosmic Calendar for July 10th

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Much of the cosmic intensity from Monday is still present. This is a good time in the cosmic calendar to remind you that solar and planetary alignments happening on a given day don’t just disappear 24 hours later. They remain percolating, but influential somewhat behind the scenes or under the new astro-psychic radar screen.  Therefore, knowing that yesterday was murky at best, there is some excitement going on early since Chiron forms a contra-parallel with Uranus (12:07AM PDT), the Moon in Aries makes a supportive, 60-degree link with Venus in Gemini (1:19AM PDT) while only three minutes later the Moon unites with Pallas (1:22AM PDT). The Chiron-Uranus tie is similar to a polarity in the zodiac – which, in this case, can represent breakthroughs in higher consciousness. The lunar ties with Venus and Pallas are very welcome – opening up romantic, creative and social doorways, as well as stimulating the problem-solving set of skills all of us humans have in varying degrees.  Adding to the party atmosphere is a highly constructive, 60-degree rapport from Venus to Pallas (3:50AM PDT) and a Moon-Mercury flowing trine (4:01AM PDT). Arts, crafts, hobbies, as well as card, board or word games can give you a boost.  There is a need to cut through obstacles on your mental and even spiritual path later on when the Last Quarter Sun-Moon Phase (activating 20 degrees of Cancer and Aries at 6:49PM PDT) manifests with a strong celestial presence. Quarter Moon cycles are often underestimated in terms of their influence, but they can be as intense as the New and Full Moons that happen every month.