Druid blessings on the Secular New Year

This past year has been a bear for me. My beloved soul cat died in January, my mother passed in April, my cousin’s ex-husband and my high school boyfriend in November, and my aunt Jackie passed on the Winter Solstice. I have never had a year like this one. On Christmas Eve I actually slept for 12 hours and had a vivid dream that a man with a Kalashnikov rifle was sleeping next to me, to protect me. Let’s hope that 2014 is a kinder and mellower year.
Earlier this month I had a very nice experience at the largest hospital locally. I was invited to be part of a four person panel with a Jewish Rabbi, a Muslim, and a Catholic Priest. We talked about the season and our respective holy days. There was another Catholic Priest in the audience. I started my talk with the Bible quote; “In my Father’s house are many mansions”. I also mentioned that physicists now opine that there are
multiple universes, let alone galaxies. Then I launched into the Druidic Wheel of the Year. We were all very well received, so much so that we have already been invited to speak at another hospital. Interesting that hospitals are places of such glowing hope.
Shortly after that I was on the phone with tech support for computer issues and the person I was speaking with told me he was a Hindu, from India. As we waited for changes to load on my computer I mentioned the Solstice and he Googled it. Then I talked about Stonehenge and its Solstice orientation. He had never heard of that either so he Googled again. We kept talking and I explained that the Celtic religion is the Western fringe of the Vedic, Indo-European tradition that eventually morphed into Hinduism (he was flabbergasted that I knew how to pronounce Sanskrit words like “Atma”). Finally I urged him to read my article on these subjects. It has been a pleasant season for inter-faith work, so far.
As I type there is a flock of five very sleek looking wild turkeys eating the fallen seeds from my bird feeder. The sun is out but we are expecting a classic ‘Noreaster by tomorrow. May the new year be peaceful, happy and prosperous for us all!

BOOK AND BLOG NEWS

• My Moonthly herbal blog post
• Check out this site where you can hear excerpts from my novels read in gorgeous British accents!
• Stumbled upon this old interview today – I had no idea my web person put it on my site!
• Upcoming workshop in PA
  Tree Medicine Tree Magic
  September 5-7 2014
  Weekend Workshop Hosted by Ellen Evert Hopman (in Pennsylvania)
  A Friday night slide show of some common North American trees illustrating their medicinal and magical properties. On Saturday morning we learn about the Irish “Tree alphabet” and then go outside to perform a traditional Druid tree meditation and learn to listen to the trees. Saturday afternoon we learn more about the “Tree Alphabet” and then gather tree medicines such as leaves, pine needles, flowers, barks, etc. Sunday we prepare medicines from the ingredients we have gathered. Each student  will leave with a hand-made set of Ogham divination cards, based on the ancient Irish Ogham “Tree Alphabet”. Please bring a notebook and pen, and wear comfortable shoes and outdoor clothes as you will be outside part of the weekend.
  Ellen will also have books with her to sell and sign if you are interested.
  $225 covers workshop, all supplies, lodging and meals.

ARCHEOLOGY NEWS

• The Celts in SW Germany (video)
• New Stonehenge visitors center sparks protests over tacky display of bones
• Neolithic houses to be constructed at Stonehenge
• A crannog is uncovered in Northern Ireland
• Newgrange Winter Solstice 2013
• Newgrange Winter Solstice
• A new passage found at Newgrange
• Tattooed Priestesses of Hathor
• Neanderthal genome is mapped
• Hyoid bone analysis supports hypothesis of complex language in Neanderthals
• A prehistoric site in FL that is over 8000 years old challenges assumptions
• New discoveries in County Meath, Ireland
• The oldest bog body
• The Lismore drinking horn
• A Neolithic Trident discovered
  Looks like a ritual object to me, a lot like the Norse rune “Madr”
• Virtual flyby inside Dowth (video)
  
• Stonehenge gets a facelift
• The face of a Neolithic ancestor?
• Irish DNA decoded. Again.

 HERB NEWS

• Communicate with Plants
• For those who are struggling with cancers and other conditions, this is a great plant.
• Meditation and Shrooms shown to cure PTSD

CELTIC NEWS

• Scots in America book club
• A nice Celtic music site
• Scottish Place Names
• The Highland clans
• Ponies hired to trim Culloden battlefield

RELIGION NEWS

• The Vatican wants to look at a Bible
• Indo-European religions
• The Pope speaks on Christianity

PAGAN NEWS

• The Michael line explored (video)
  
• What some of us have been up to lately

NATURE NEWS

• Can animals talk?
• What foxes say (video)
  
• Some good tidings from the NRDC (video)
  
• Fukoshima, where they plan to dump the waste
• The nature of dark matter
• Protect the rainforests

POLITICS AND ETHICS

• Robert Reich on income inequality
• Corporations are not people and money is not “speech”. Please sign the petition; Support the 28th Amendment to #GetMoneyOut
  I’ll say it again. If CEOs salaries were cut corporations could hire more people. We also need a WPA, just like during the Great Depression.
• PA Court favors communities over fracking
• In May VT. Actually banned fracking
• Gun deaths since the Newtown massacre. So many it’s hard to keep count. When will this madness stop? There are far too many guns and not enough gun laws in the US. Murders and suicides are rampant yet 40% of gun sales are still unregulated. This is far from what the Constitution calls for; a “well-regulated militia”. It’s time to put people’s lives before gun sales.
  More…