If you want a really 'Good' Friday, eat your overpriced chocolate and THINK about the symboll*cks. #SpringEquinox #FullMoon #Eostre

Well, here we are again. It is that time of year, "Easter". AKA the Spring Equinox. You could say 'Ishtar' or 'Eostre' or 'Ostara' if you prefer. It's all the same. A bastardisation of a yearly solar event that has importance for all our lives. A moment of solar transition from one season to another. Yet another public holiday based on a religious myth that has nothing to do with it's actual origins.

'Easter' is a laughably movable celebration within the Christian church that is held between 21 March and 25 April. It falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the northern hemisphere spring equinox - how amazingly pagan that all seems to be. Just think about it. Spring equinox, a new growing season, rebirth and the return of the sun (light) to the northern hemisphere, rabbits for reproduction, eggs for fertility, and lots of chocolate because it is tasty and encourages spending - it is all just 'symbollocks'. Even the name 'Easter' is taken from a Germanic Pagan goddess and is related to the fact that sunlight returns ( the dawn ). 

Diwali - Just another celebration of the Human place in the Solar System. Light, Darkness, Seasons.

 Diwali. Another part of the global acknowledgment of our place in the solar system. You can tack on any religious nonsense you want to the event but it is essentially a seasonal shift marker. The fictional battle between 'good' and 'evil'. The victory of light over darkness. A new moon after the autumn equinox. The darkest night. Fire, lights, gifts, good wishes, celebrations of life and yearning for springtime and harvest. Our Northern Hemishere ancestors would have been acutely aware of exactly what advancing darkness and longer nights meant to their everyday lives and their geographical position. Preparing for longer, colder nights and celebrating with festivals such as Bonfire Night, Halloween, American 'Thanksgiving' festive lights and Samhain, all of which are connected to the seasonal changes, harvest and winter

Diwali - Just another celebration of the Human place in the Solar System. Light, Darkness, Seasons.

Diwali. Another part of the global acknowledgment of our place in the solar system. You can tack on any religious nonsense you want to the event but it is essentially a seasonal shift marker. The fictional battle between 'good' and 'evil'. The victory of light over darkness. A new moon after the autumn equinox. The darkest night. Fire, lights, gifts, good wishes, celebrations of life and yearning for springtime and harvest. Our Northern Hemishere ancestors would have been acutely aware of exactly what advancing darkness and longer nights meant to their everyday lives and their geographical position. Preparing for longer, colder nights and celebrating with festivals such as Bonfire Night, Halloween, American 'Thanksgiving' festive lights and Samhain, all of which are connected to the seasonal changes, harvest and winter

#AutumnEquinox .Nature and our place in it, celebrated. #Autumn #Equilux #Equinox #NorthernHemisphere

0254hrs September 23rd 2018 is the Autumn Equinox for those of us in the Northern hemisphere. When length of light hours & dark hours draw towards #Equilux. The sun appears to pass the equator on it's journey in to the southern hemisphere at it's height. It means shorter hours of daylight as we head towards the winter solstice in December. For the next few weeks of the solar year, we will lose appx 4mins of daylight per day (in UK). Our ancestors would have been acutely aware of exactly what this event meant to their everyday lives. Prepare for longer, colder nights and look out for human celebrations such as Diwali, Halloween, American 'Thanksgiving' and Samhain, all of which are connected to the seasonal changes, harvest and winter moons.

#SummerSolstice #WorldHumanistDay June 21st '2018'. Solar Reality.

June 21st 2018. Happy Summer Solstice. Happy World Humanist Day

The Summer Solstice.

In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21st '2018' is the #SummerSolstice, the Longest Day of the year. It is the point in our celestial year when the sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky. In the Southern Hemisphere, it represents the winter solstice when the path of the sun in the sky is at its lowest, the shortest day. For many thousands of years our ancestors would have celebrated this time of year and

Consume your overpriced chocolate and THINK about the symboll*cks. #SpringEquinox

So here we are again. It is that time of year, "Easter". AKA the Spring Equinox. You could say 'Ishtar' or 'Eostre' or 'Ostara' if you prefer. It's all the same. A bastardisation of a yearly solar event that has importance for all our lives. A moment of solar transition from one season to another. Yet another public holiday based on a religious myth that has nothing to do with it's actual origins. 'Easter' is a laughably movable celebration within the Christian church that is held between 21 March and 25 April. It falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the northern hemisphere spring equinox - how amazingly pagan that all seems to be. Just think about it. Spring equinox, a new growing season, rebirth and the return of the sun (light) to the northern hemisphere, rabbits for reproduction, eggs for fertility, and lots of chocolate because it is tasty and encourages spending - it is all just 'symbollocks'. Even the name 'Easter' is taken from a Germanic Pagan goddess and is related to the fact that sunlight returns ( the dawn ). As humans, we are

#WinterSolstice The REAL reason for the Season.

So here it is. The #WinterSolstice '2017'.

'Thor's Day', December 21st. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, today is Winter Solstice. The time of year when daylight is at its shortest. From this point on, the days will start to become longer, a consequence of the sun appearing higher overhead in the sky. It is literally 'the coming of the light'. This is why our ancestors held this time of year as an important marker in their calendar. They had made it to the darkest point in the season and could look forward to increased daylight from now on. It would have meant a new start, a new growing season and the prospect of new food. Celebrated by fire, lights, decorated trees, the giving of offerings/gifts and feasting on livestock.

This has been hijacked, bastardised and used by politically religious power-mongers to spread their

The Zenith. The Sun. Our place in the Solar System. 21st June 2017.

June 21st 2017.

The Summer Solstice.

In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21st 2017 is the #SummerSolstice. It is the point in our celestial year when the sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky. In the Southern Hemisphere, it represents the winter solstice when the path of the sun in the sky is at its lowest. For many thousands of years our ancestors would have celebrated this time of year and

May Day. Maia. Yet another celebration of Spring, nature & our place in the Solar System.

May Day. A solar reality. This year May Day, a holiday in the UK and a celebration for many around the world, has fallen on May 1st. Nowadays, celebrated on the first Moon-day (Monday) of the month of Maia (May), it is an ancient celebration of Spring, Summer, nature and our place in the Solar System. Nothing more. 'Maia' was a Roman goddess of fertility. An ancestral, pagan nod to the continued rising path of the Sun in the sky and the birth & rebirth that it brings about within nature. Nothing to do with fictional gods or made up social constructions like months, calendars, labour days or 'hijacked by religion' nonsense such as Easter, it is simply an acknowledgement of the human animal's place in nature.

Shriven? Pancake Day. A leftover celebration of Nature. That is all.

Pancake Day Some people call it #ShroveTuesday. Another hijacked, residual 'celebration'. Originally a pagan activity, it became part of the Christian spring celebration before loosing all religious meaning to become the bland, over-commercialised, greedy, modern leftover that we have today.

The word SHROVE comes from the old, English word 'shrive', which means to obtain absolution for "sins" by confessing. Thereby being "shriven" before the start of 'Lent'. Pancakes were 'traditionally' eaten on this day to use up perishable goods like eggs and milk before the 40-day fasting of 'Lent'. 'Lent' being invented to give religious control over the uneducated masses during the Spring months.

Before this Christian 'tradition' was invented and tacked on to their 'Oestre/ Easter' hijacking, it is thought that the event might have originated from a pagan observation, when eating warm, round, flour & water flatbreads - symbolising the sun - was a way of celebrating the arrival of spring and the new growing season. Full moon, Spring Equinox - same as Easter (The first Sun-day after the Full Moon, after the Spring Equinox.Nature.) Things happen, change & evolve over time and we have many residual celebrations in modern calendars that are plainly and simply celebrations of our human connection to the seasons, the solar system and our place within nature.

September 22nd '2016' is Autumn Equinox in NHem.

September 22nd 2016 is the Autumn Equinox for those of us in the Northern hemisphere. When length of light hours & dark hours draw towards #Equilux. The sun appears to pass the equator on it's journey in to the southern hemisphere at it's height. It means shorter hours of daylight as we head towards the winter solstice in December. For the next few weeks of the solar year, we will lose appx 4mins of daylight per day (in UK). Our ancestors would have been acutely aware of exactly what this event meant to their everyday lives. Prepare for longer, colder nights and look out for human celebrations such as Diwali, Halloween, American 'Thanksgiving' and Samhain, all of which are connected to the seasonal changes, harvest and winter moons.

Monday 20th June - Summer Solstice

Monday 20 June 2016.

The Summer Solstice. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, June 20th 2016 is the #SummerSolstice. It is the point in our celestial year when the sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky. In the Southern Hemisphere, it represents the winter solstice when the path of the sun in the sky is at its lowest. For many thousands of years our ancestors would have celebrated this time of year and

Nothing to do with your made-up religion. Solar reality. That.Is.All.

The #WinterSolstice is here. The depths of the Northern Hemisphere winter. December 22nd. From now on, the daylight will slowly return and the sun will appear higher in the sky. We have reached the point in the celestial year where the tilt of the globe keeps the sun low above the horizon and the darkness envelops most of our day. Our ancestors would have been aware of the changing seasons and celebrated reaching this point by feasting on livestock, lighting fires and offering gifts to their 'gods' in exchange for a good harvest in the following year. Decorating trees, creating lights, giving gifts and eating too much. It all sounds so pagan doesn't it. All parts of a meaningful celebration without all the religious nonsense that surrounds this celestial reality, no matter where on the world you look. Each culture marks the passing of an Equinox or a Solstice or a Full Moon near to either. These solar realities mark our progression round the Sun and the shifting seasons of our lives. All the superstitions that have been tacked on to it are nothing more than distracting waffle. Merry Solstice. May your journey round our star bring you health and happiness.

21st June. Summer Solstice 2015 & World Humanist Day.

Saturday, 21 June 2015.

The Summer Solstice. World Humanist Day. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21st 2015 is the #SummerSolstice. It is the point in our celestial year when the sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky. In the Southern Hemisphere, it represents the winter solstice when the path of the sun in the sky is at its lowest. For many thousands of years our ancestors would have celebrated this time of year and

Telescope up! #CometLovejoy is rising.

Comet Lovejoy is coming to within  appx 44 MILLION miles of earth and you can see it in clear, dark skies of the Northern Hemisphere with binoculars or a good sized telescope during the early part of January 2015. It will be closest to the earth on the 7th of January and you should be able to identify it with the naked eye. If you scan the skies below and right of ORION, you should be able to locate it. With an orbital path of ~8000years, it could be a while until you next get the chance. Lovejoy will pass to within 120MILLION miles of the SUN by the end of January, continuing its journey for many thousands of years.

Comet Lovejoy is named after an Australian amateur astronomer - Terry Lovejoy, who discovered it in 2014 using a standard 8inch telescope.

Happy Halloween - celebrating our place in the solar system. Spooky.

So here we are again. Halloween. Treats, costumes, lanterns, spiders, bats, blood, horror, death, ghosts.

It has its origins in the ancient, pagan, pre-Christian, Celtic festival known as Samhain ("sah-win"). The Feast of the Dead. A time when humans had much less knowledge of the world around them. Later, hijacked and assimilated by the religious ceremony of All Hallows Eve & All Saints Day. A day for the dead. Look it up. It is a celebration of the end of the harvest season, a recognition of the lengthening nights, worsening weather and the harsh winter season running up to the winter solstice ( Dec 21st aka Christmas. Here ). It represents the point in the calendar when livestock were moved to lower level farmland from the higher, summer feeding grounds and when animals were slaughtered for the winter larders.  In the northern hemisphere, the reduced daylight, winter temperatures and sparse food supply meant that our ancient, pagan ancestors felt the icy grip of winter tightening and closer to their (made up) spirit world, disease and death. The coming of the Light. Humans have always feared the things that they hadn't worked out.

The Summer Solstice.

In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21st is the #SummerSolstice. It is the point in our celestial year when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky. In the Southern Hemisphere, it represents the winter solstice when the path of the sun in the sky is at its lowest. For many thousands of years our ancestors would have celebrated this time of year and celebrations of fertility and harvest exist around the northern hemisphere. Although many festivals have been bastardised and assimilated in to recent religious calendars, there are many secular and ancient traditions associated with the Solstice. We should celebrate it with a public holiday and marvel at our place in the solar system. Linked to my articles on Xmas & Oestre/Easter, Halloween and American 'Thanksgiving' found here and here .