Ok, We've had a mild winter this year. I mean it was 66 degrees once in my Midwest home! But then Winter came back & I'm positive you want it away again. That's why you should embrace Imbolc!
Imbolc is a holiday that often Neo-Pagans celebrate. Neo-Pagans are followers who've reconstructed ancient & forgotten beliefs such as Celtic, Norse, Egyptian etc. The most popular one is Wicca. It is a Nature-based religion which is Duotheistic and it involves ritual magic. Most interesting to me are it's "Sabbats". These festivals celebrate seasonal changes Year Round. They are often mapped out in Wheels.
As you can see, Imbolc is on February 2 but what is Imbolc about exactly? Where did it come from? Many celebrations exist. There was the Roman Lupercalia which celebrated the legendary twins Romulus and Remus. Celebrated on Imbolc is of Course Candlemas. Imbolc, however is based off the Irish Festival. It honors the Goddess Brighid who is the keeper of the flame , fertility, & healing.
Basically, the Point of Imbolc is to usher in spring & drive winter out. Since Brighid is a goddess of fire, it's what Imbolc is about. The world awakens from a dark slumber & green plants arise to be new life. The fire represents the cleansing of the human soul & new beginnings.
What can you do to celebrate Imbolc?
1. Light candles in your home to welcome the lengthening days again.
2. Reflect on winter's end on this great guided mediation script.
3. Brighid is associated with fertility & you can make a corn doll! (Music player at bottom of page)
4. Hold an Imbolc house cleansing ceremony. It's inspiring & social!
5. You could walk around outside & see the signs of spring stirring until it has to wake up again.
6. Make an Brighids cross
7. Open the doors & windows for a few minutes. Let the good energy come in & the bad one go out (not vice versa!)
Ahh! Wikipedia has had a a black-out! Wait Wikipedia did it. For the whole 24 hours of today, Wikipedia will black-out it's English version to raise awareness of and protest the passage of SOPA and PIPA.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a proposed U.S. bill by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) would allow the Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites out of jurisdiction accused of infringing, enabling, or facilitating copyright infringement. The Protect Intellectual Property (PIPA) is also a proposed bill by Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would require financial transaction providers, internet advertising service, internet provider, & information location tools to stop doing financial accusations with copyright infringing. sites. Both of the bills correspond to each other, SOPA is meant for the House of Representatives and PIPA is for the Senate. SOPa has been postponed until a consensus is reached and PIPA will come to a vote 1/24/2012.
You see, Wikipedia is part of a larger coalition of organizations that have undergone black-outs including Mozilla, moveon.org, Reddit, craiglist, and of course
Hint:Google
These organizations maintain that these bills could seriously damage or restrict access to the internet since they would require websites to not only avoid infringing copyright but to get rid of links to websites violate copyright.If a copyright holder were to see that their work was infringed on , they could petition a judge to evaluate the case who may send a court order to shut it down. A single infringement could shut down a website. Other groups such as the MPAA, RIAA, screened actors guild, Sony, etc have supported the bill. They maintain that the bills are important to stop copyright infringement & it won't support censorship
One of these groups The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has also responded to the blackouts with CEO , Chris Dodd, stated that the blackouts by opposing sites were "a dangerous gimmick" and "It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services"
Well, it's an irresponsible thing to support a law that punishes websites for linking to infringing sites & possibly shutting them down for a single case of copyright infringement as depending on the view of a single judge, don't you think?
Girls Scouts does not have an official policy on transgender people & has allowed a Colorado transgender girl (boy who Identifies as a girl) to join its ranks in October last year. Initially, the girl was rejected by the local scout leader but was permitted to join when Girl Scouts of Colorado stated "We accept all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout,". That was followed by a Girl Scout cookie boycott that was launched by a California-based Scout named Taylor in this month.
Taylor made a video on YouTube that encouraged people to boycott the cookies because the scouts are not being "honest" towards them for including transgender girls. She's seems very articulate & formal but unfortunately doesn't know anything about transgender people. According to her, a transgender girl is a "boy who wants to be a girl". That's not how it works. Boys don't wake up deciding they want to be a girl. It's their identity & expression present with them often since early childhood. (More info)
Taylor suggests (actually words appear on the screen stating "is it safe to hide boys in Girls Scouts" . ) that it's not safe for transgender boys to be in Girl Scouts. What does she mean by "hide" ? Just because they have male parts does not turn them into a threat against girls. What is there to fear exactly? They have not done anything wrong so don't treat as such.
Again Taylor misunderstands the concept of gender and sex. Sex is the biological characteristic based on your reproductive organs. Gender are the complex social,psychological, & cultural traits associated your sex. Better paraphrased as "Sex is between the leg, Gender is between the ears" She brings up Ten Emerging Truths , a Girls Scouts publication, quoting truth #4 which says "you can talk about different things with girls that you can't with boys. You can be yourself & who you are and not something you're not". A transgender girl is a girl. That's why they identify as a girl. They feel, think , act like girls because they are one.
As for being "honest"Taylor , Girl Scouts isn't trying to hide anything. It's not like they have announce it if they don't feel a need to. I think you need to work on "considerate and caring...respect my self and others...make the world a better place.
BTW,Taylor seems to be involved with http://www.honestgirlscouts.com. It's a website that "discovers", "connects," & "takes action". Just a glance tells you it's ideologically conservative.
Sometimes you have to really wonder how some people look at the world & completely go off course in understanding it.
Reportedly, Pope Benedict XVI in a Monday address to 180 diplomats at the Vatican declared "“pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman" & that “Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.”
Wow, That is just so narrow-minded , ignorant,and out of touch that I have difficulty trying to wonder what to say to that. Wait... I already know what to say.
Apparently Obviously, The pope doesn't think Gay couples and families shouldn't feel any pride because their straight counterparts are more "important". Well Mr. XVI, No family is more or less equal or valued just because the heads of a family are not heterosexual.
As for the "threatens the future of humanity itself." part. That is what angers me so much about traditional moralists, Their failure to actually pin down real threats to humanity. These include:
1. Environmental Degradation 2. Economic Inequality 3.Discrimination 4. Abuse & Harassment. 5.War 6.Oppressive Governments
7.As a friend of mine said "Humanity".
All these clear visible threats to humanity & the pope , moral & spiritual authority of a church with over a billion members, focuses on Gay marriage. Gay marriage should've been legalized a long time ago. Yet people continue to treat as a threat, abomination, or etc. The sky is not falling in the countries that legalized gay marriage (maybe in Spain & Portugal but that's something else.)
The truth is Gay Marriage is a human rights issue that harms no one and is the moral thing to do. Gay couples have a right to fully participate in & contribute to society and enjoy the same benefits straight couples do. It's that easy to realize it.
