Friday, January 6, 2012

Freya's Day - Waxing Gibbous Moon in Gemini

"I'm one with the Goddess
and open to Her Wisdom."

14th Day of the 1st Lunar Cycle
Ruled by Gaia
Lunar Tree Cycle of Beith/Birch
14th Day of the Celtic Tree
Month of Beith/Birch
Moon Phase: waxing Gibbous
Moon sets: 5:22AM EST
Moon rises: 2:58PM EST
Moon in the Mutable Air
Sign of Gemini
Rhiannon's Cycle of the Moon
Lunar Meditation: The unconquerable
nature of the soul.
Sun in Capricorn
Sunrise: 7:43AM EST
Sunset: 5:07PM EST
Solar Question for the Day: "Are you
neglecting sources of soul nurture?"
Samhain (Calan Gaeaf) Quarter
of the Year
January 6th, 2012

Freya's Day - Venus Day - the Day of Sharing and Relationship .... Freya's Day classically is the day for love, fertility, romance and beauty magick as well as working for happiness and harmony in the home and for friendship.

Twelfth Night - This is Twelfth Night and on this date on Christian calendars is the time taking down the decorations. 

Our daylight hours are actually increasing - if you check the sunrise/sunset hours in my header above you can see that while the times the sun rises stays the same the times it sets is gaining a minute a day.
Yea!!

Feeding the Birds - At this time of the year natural foods for the birds are in short supply, so it is more important than ever to ensure that we supplement their diet. While there is a huge variety of commercial feeders and feed available it can be more interesting and usually far cheaper to create your own. 
   Fat balls can be hung in the kinds of net bags that fruit and some vegetable often come in. The basis for these can be lard or peanut butter (or both mixed) - you can save the fatty residue left over from your cooking too. Add breadcrumbs and oatmeal and search your kitchen cabinets for raisins, seeds and shelled nuts. Mix everything together, roll into balls and chill in the refrigerator. Hang in the string and plastic bags in a safe place away from the reach of cats.
   Apples which have past their best can be impaled on twigs and branches. If you had mistletoe in the house for the Yule season, this can also be put out for the birds, as the berries need to pass through the digestive system of a bird to aid germination. You never know, you might get your own Mistletoe plants in years to come.
 The best foods to offer birds in colder weather have a high fat or oil content that will provide abundant energy for winter survival. Nutritious winter foods for birds include:

•Black oil sunflower seed
•Hulled peanuts
•Niger seed
•Suet mixes with seeds or fruit
•Peanut butter
•White millet seed

2 comments:

Marcellina said...

This year I made suet cupcakes from lard, peanut butter, corn meal, oats, apples and raisins, and hung them outside in produce net bags. They look lovely. Not a single bird has touched them.

Sobeit said...

Hmmm I wonder why they haven't tried them - the recipe sounds lovely - even tempting.. I wish had a suggestion for you but I don't. Let me know if you find out why they are trying it.
Sobeit