The Year of the Dragon 2012

This year see in the Year of the Dragon in Chinese Astrology. A Water Dragon year at that. It is rather early this year, commencing on the 23rd of January, when it normally occurs around Imbolc time, or at the very end of January.

The Dragon in Chinese mythology is a divine creature, a good luck and good fortune symbol. People born in this year are respected. If you were born in 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 or, of course, this year, you are a dragon (unless born early January of the year).

Dragon people are free spirits and don’t believe in following the rules. They tend to be extroverts, colourful, flamboyant and creative. They are very proud people and given their need for freedom, often don’t have many very close friends. They value their independence highly.

Water calms the ferocious dragon and increases perceptions of others. Good decisions tend to be made under a water dragon year.

Because Dragons tend to be so fortunate, many people wish to have babies born in the year of the dragon, and so there is always a baby boom in China on these years.

For more information, have a look at this wonderful website: http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Dragon.htm

My book has just come onto Amazon - a children's story. Here is the link in case you are interested:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stone-Sword-ebook/dp/B006ZQIEPG/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327056598&sr=1-6

Starting the Qabalah - Malkuth

Now is a good time for beginning the qabalah. At this time of year we are more inclined to study and meditate and so the qabalah is a wonderful tool to work with now.

The qabalah is a tool, much like tarot, numerology etc and can be studied for a couple of years or over a lifetime, depending on how deep you wish to plunge into each sephiroth.

Malkuth is the recommended starting point on the Tree of life. Malkuth is the sphere or sephiroth that governs the Earth. The correspondences are:

Colours - black, olive, russet, citrine
Angel - Sandalphon (pronounced San-dal-fon)
God Name - Adonai ha Aretz (as it reads - ai at end of adonai sounds like aye)
Angelic Chorus - The Ashim
Incense - sandalwood
Magical Image - Young maiden, on a throne, crowned
Gifts - Crystals/gem, wheat/grains & perfumes/oils
Crystal - smokey quartz or rock quartz

It is a good idea to begin a course or get a decent book on the qabalah when beginning the tree of life. They will take you on a meditation where you venture into the tree and help you raise the pillars of balance within your temple. You will meet the angel, the magical image and be given the relevant gifts. This is a wonderful exercise that brings surprisingly speedy results. But it has lessons too. Malkuth is the sphere of discrimination among other things, and it helps you to discriminate in life when you need to. It forms the base of your tree and while you can technically start in other spheres, this gives you the foundation and grounds you for the high works later on.

The tree of life looks and is complicated but it is do-able. Taking your time, not expecting to instantly know everything or expecting instant results will make the pathway all the clearer and smoother.

If you struggle to find a decent course or a book that helps, contact me and I'll see what I can do to help.
BB

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

The year ahead - dates for your calendar in paganism

Many pagans seem to be under the incorrect idea that all pagan festivals are fixed to one specific date of the year. This is not the case. The solar festivals (both equinoxes and solstices) move every year. Some days they are on the 20th, the 21st or the 22nd of the corresponding month. This is because there are very slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The majority of pagans simply celebrate on the 21st of the month but this is not always the actual date of the solstice or equinox.

For instance, this year, the dates are as follows:
Spring Equinox - 20th March
Summer Solstice - 20th June
Autumn Equinox - 22nd September
Winter Solstice - 21st December

The agricultural festivals are not as fixed as many imagine either - these are dates for actual agricultural events as well. The only exception is Hallowe'en, or Samhain. This is a fixed date as it is the date the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. But the others can alter slightly. For instance, Imbolc, usually celebrated on the 1st or 2nd February can be earlier or later, depending when the first snowdrops appear and the first signs of life begin to show. Equally, this is the same of Lammas, the wheat harvest, can be earlier or, more commonly, later.

Personally, I tend to feel that Beltain is more like Hallowe'en. It feels more stationary, less mutable. This would make sense, given that these dates are the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere.

So when Imbolc comes around and you haven't spotted any snowdrops pushing up through the ground, hold off celebrating a few days until they appear. Likewise, if the first harvest hasn't happened in the countryside near you, wait a few days. If you can't tell re Lammas, then go ahead and celebrate around the 1s August but it is always better to feel more attuned to the seasons, and to the energies of the sun.

Special Full Moon on Mondaysm, witchcraft, spells

This Monday (the 9th of January), is the full moon. A full moon falling on a Monday is especially fortuitous for magic/spells/divination and any psychic workings. Monday is the day of the week represented in planetary magic as the Moon and a full moon is where the power reaches its peak, so it is one of the most powerful times for working with this type of energy (the only times when it is more powerful is when it falls on a blue moon and on Halloween).

So all those witchy types out there get your spellcasting to the ready, this is the best time to do this.

Finally, a wee note re New Year resolutions. The reason so many of these fail is that they should be done around Imbolc rather than at the very start of the year. Imbolc is all about new beginnings and January is the clearing time, a time of ridding certain things. If you want to get rid of negative thought-patterns or negative eating habits, then now is a good time but if you want to begin a new health regime/fitness programme etc, it is best to do this at Imbolc.

BB