The rise of the constellation Aquarius indicates the beginning of the planting/harvest cycle coinciding as it did with the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egypt. This association with Spring is borne out in our time by our celebration of Groundhog Day. Aquarius is a time of awakening from the hibernation of Capricorn: A time when we look around us to see how we can bring our lives into better alignment with the future goals of humanity. Aquarius is an Air sign and therefore has yang or masculine energy.

The monthly installment of The Great Astrological Light Bulb Joke:

Q. How many Aquarians does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Well, you have to remember that everything is energy, so....

Note: I have no idea who originally wrote this. Erika sent it to me years ago and I still think it’s as funny as it is insightful!

February 1st is a new moon and the Chinese New Year: The Moon and Sun are conjunct in the sky. The moon is dark and gradually increases to a crescent. This is the time to begin a ritual involving a new project, to ask for new vision.

February 2nd is Candlemas or Groundhog day

February 2nd is Groundhog Day, a Canadian and American tradition: the groundhog, or woodchuck, comes out of his hole after winter hibernation to look for his shadow. If he sees it: There will be six more weeks of bad weather. If he cannot see his shadow (because of clouds), Spring is coming. He is supposed to go back into hibernation if more winter is ahead and stay above ground if Spring is near. Unfortunately, statistical evidence does not support this tradition. Did you see the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray? Well, you can click here for Punxutawney Phil's official website or at Groundhog.org, the official site of the Punxutawney Groundhog Club. 

February 12th is Lincoln's Birthday

February 14th is St. Valentine's Day: This is another instance of the Christian church adding a new overlay of meaning to an existing holiday. The 14th of February was Rome's feast of Juno, Goddess of Marriage and the Queen of the Gods. This was the day when marriages and betrothals were performed. The 15th of February was the Roman holiday of Lupercalia. Lupercal refers to the cave in which the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the future founders of Rome. It was at the Lupercalia in 44 BC when Mark Antony, dressed as a reveler, approached Julius Caesar with the Laurel wreath of kingship. Julius Caesar rejected the offer at that time.

During the reign of Claudius II a series of unpopular military campaigns were underway. "Claudius the Cruel" was having difficulty finding motivated soldiers and blamed this on his fellow Roman's love of home and married life. So, he outlawed marriage. Saints Valentine & Marius went about the communities marrying couples in secret and were apprehended and martyred as a result. Saint Valentine became the patron saint of those who love under duress.

During Pluto's era of gangsters, St. Valentine's Day marks Capone's massacre of his rival Moran's gang. McGurn, in charge off the hit on Moran, lured the gang into a bootleggers warehouse to make a buy. Then his own men, dressed in stolen police uniforms and trench coats, gunned them down. Moran arrived late and was not killed. There wasn't enough evidence against Capone to make a case.

Click here for more history of the Feast of Juno.

Click here to read about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

February 16th is a Full Moon: The Moon and Sun are opposite each other in the sky. The Moon reflects all of the Sun's light. This is the time to perform rituals for protection, clarity of vision and consecration.

February17th is President's Day

February 18th The Sun Enters Pisces

An opaque stone colored light and dark green in a swirled or sometimes spotted pattern. It correlates with Aquarius. Aquarius can elevate us above personal interest to impersonal ideal. Wear malachite to foster change, to shock your friends, to break out of ruts, to write an idealistic and futuristic novel or manifesto. Wear malachite while protecting the downtrodden or championing the cause of individual freedom.

Click here to learn more about purchasing Inga's Earth Magic Jewelry.

Second: A couple of people have asked me about picking apartments or houses based on numerology. I think numerology is a great thing to check on but I do think that the Feng Shui of the given home is more important. Use the numerology to decide if the energy of the home fits what you want to do there.

Your House Number (this is a handy chart compiled from various places including Linda Goodman’s Star Signs)

1 - self reliance and individualism, can signify a new start
2 - relationships and finding harmony
3 - fun times and variety, outgoing energy
4 - home improvement, practical changes in lifestyle, home businesses
5 - variety and activity
6 - family oriented, domestic harmony type home
7 - introverted, studious home
8 - wealth, striving for balance, restrictions on activity
9 - intellectual and musical home, good fortune and ambitious projects

To find your number, check out the number grid at the following websites:

Third: Here's an essay that I wrote for my History of Women in America class this week.

In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, a series of trials began. The accused were tried on charges of witchcraft, indicted on evidence given by two hysterical teenaged girls. Witchcraft was considered a crime against the community and State on many levels:

• Religious crime in that alignment with the devil was seen as opposition to god’s law. Witches swore allegiance to the devil rather than to the Christian god.

• Political crime in that witchcraft involved making pacts with the devil. Witches swore their allegiance to him rather than to the king.

• Sexual crime in that these allegiances were supposedly sealed through fornication with the devil himself in real or fantasy form.

Carol F. Karlsen contends that the witchcraft trials were really about the economic situation of the various women involved, “as women without brothers or women without sons, they stood in the way of the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another (Kerber & De Hart, page 87).” Property changed hands as a result of the witch trials, with inheritance being passed to the court or to the nearest male relative when a woman was convicted and sometimes without a solid conviction.

Tim Sutter contends, “The main factors that started and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of the people." (See Salem Witchcraft by Tim Sutter) As a result of the with trials, Salem Village separated from Salem Town in 1752 and became the town of Danvers. The court system made money since prisoners could not be released until they had paid their room, board, and court costs. Mike Furlough and Benjamin Ray concur, “Important property disputes stand in the background of the Village's experience, among families later caught up in the witchcraft trials” and they have made a map showing the properties in contention. Click here to see The Salem Witchcraft GIS, A Visual Re-Creation of Salem in 1692 By Mike Furlough, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center; Primary Researcher: Benjamin Ray, University of Virginia.

Cold, wet weather could have tainted the rye crop contributing to ergotism, as discussed by F.J. Bove in “The Story of Ergot” and Caporael in “Ergotism: the Satan loosed in Salem?” While ergotism or overactive imaginations would explain the girl’s hysteria, neither explains the complicity of Church and State in these accusations and trials. Contemporary crop failures and smallpox outbreaks could have caused the representatives of Church and State to willingly accept the scapegoat that the girls provided and to use the attendant trials to further their own ends.

There is evidence of witch-hunts in all parts of Europe as early as 1450. In many of these hunts all or most of the women in a given village would be killed. Those who stood trial for the crime of witchcraft could be convicted based on gossip, torture, spectral evidence or hearsay. Witch-hunts have these three things in common: morbid fear of the unknown, insufficient tolerance of human diversity, and the desire to harm those who do not conform.

The practice, doctrine and experience of these trials accompanied the colonists to America and sprang forth when conditions were ripe. Both of the article writers agree that the best way to understand the witch-hunt mania is to look at the results of this reign of terror. Neighbors begin accusing each other of witchcraft and then the accused sue for slander. Trust disappears and any infraction or dissent can bring suspicion of crime. A community with a witch-hunt underway becomes a conforming and docile community.

We think of this newsletter as a community forum. You, our friends and clients, are welcome to participate. We celebrate diversity and we'll print whatever you send in be it Wiccan, Christian, Pagan, New Age, etc., as long as it reflects Love. You may choose a one-time holiday to write about or have a regular column. We'll give you space and a byline! Please send in your own book reviews, ideas for rituals, ideas about stones, your journal excerpts, your experiences and most of all, ask us questions. We love answering questions!

From Brenda:

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." Marcus Cole, Babylon 5

From Kim:

Fellow Tree Lovers, 

Staples (office supply store) now sells treefree paper (“no new trees went into this paper”).  It’s 90% postconsumer waste and 10% other fibers. It’s $7 a ream, which is probably too much for an office that goes through a ream a day, but for home use, well, I’m sold. Hopefully those of you not in the Pacific Northwest can get it too.

Another one from Kim:

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.

The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."

Winston Churchill

We've always wondered what would happen if we got the friends we've made through Inga's Earth Magic (IEM) into a room together. Why? Because every one of us has a unique gift to offer to the world. And if we get enough of us in one place at the same time, something magical is bound to occur.

• When: The 1st Friday of every month. Please join us for dinner. We start eating around 7 PM. Or join us for dessert later on!
• Where: Our place (click on LIBRARY in the navigation bar at the top of the screen and then MAP ROOM for directions)
• What to bring: Just your enthusiasm and love! There's a big pot of pasta on the stove, salad, bread and plenty of microbrews and red wine. If you have specific preferences, please bring whatever you'd like.
• How long: Until the good conversation ends! If you'd like, you can spend the night on one of the couches with the kitties or bring your sleeping bag and mat and camp out on the floor of Inga's office.
• RSVP: Just let us know in advance via e-mail or phone if you are coming and if you are bringing guests so we don't run out of food or beer!

Mary Baker Duncan was born on an April afternoon in 1986 on the patio outside our trailer in Tucson, one kitten in a litter of 5. When we moved into this trailer park, we began feeding the many strays and we became especially close with a female cat that we named Branwen, also known as Brownie. When we noticed that she was pregnant, I built her a little cat house in the hopes that she'd choose to deliver her babies in it and that we could help keep them safe in this rough and tough neighborhood.

I left one afternoon to do some computer consulting at a law firm and while I was there, Inga called to report that I was now the proud stepfather of 5 kittens. She said that Brownie came to the screen door of our trailer and called her. Inga came out to see what was up and Brownie got right in her little house and went to work. Brownie got pretty tired so Inga helped out with getting the babies organized along with bringing her water to drink.

To make a long story short, we found a good home for 2 of the kittens. We kept 3, Mary and her two sisters, Sarah and Ilsa, as I had deemed all adoption candidates in the trailer park as unsuitable after conducting interviews. In case you think I was overly critical of the applicants, one guy said he needed a new cat because his dog had eaten his cat. Another said he accidentally shot his cat while cleaning his shotgun. See what I mean What did I expect from a bunch of Harley bikers?

When our eldest female cat, Alice, passed away, Mary became what is known in our household as the "Senior Bed Rat" and she took her duties seriously. She bossed the other cats around, made sure that all new kittens knew their place within the pride and she loudly demanded extra snacks and extra lap time of us as befitted her rank. For years now, Mary has known instinctually when I should be arriving at home and once I got in the door, she'd follow me around and nag me until I sat down and made her a lap to climb into. 

Due to her very loving nature and a great appreciation of quality petting, Mary made many friends over the years and she will be sorely missed. Some of you know that she's been having respiratory problems and the vet was able to keep her comfortable for awhile with medication. When that was no longer helping her, I took her back to our wonderful vet who we've been going to for 14 years as it was time to let Mary go. She gave Mary a sedative, handed her to me to hold and left the room for awhile. As Mary drifted off to sleep against my chest, I realized that I held her the very day she was born. Now I was holding her on her last day as a physical being. I felt her energy within my aura and I felt the deep bond between us. How many times have I taken a nap on the couch with her lying on my chest, purring? How many times have I realized how blessed I was to have such a special friend? As much as I knew, beyond a doubt, that Mary is an immortal, spiritual being and that she'll always be my friend, I began sobbing as it truly hit me that I was about to be deprived of holding her beautiful, purring body. I expanded my consciousness into the astral realm and Mary's higher self appeared before me. Out of the tunnel of Light before me came her sister, Ilsa, who passed away some years ago. They both assured me that Mary would be just fine and I could feel their unconditional love for me. I then became aware of Inga's higher self and the presence of White Elk, my spiritual guide and teacher. He came to me and took her astral body into his arms. He, too, told me she'd be fine and the anxiety I felt faded away. 

The vet came back in the room, administered the final shot and I relinquished Mary's body. Walking out of the vet's with an empty cat carrier was just about unbearable for me. I cried all the way home. Once home, I took a nap on the couch and as I closed my eyes, I felt Mary snuggle in next to my tummy. Her energy merged into my aura once again and I drifted off to sleep knowing that she was fine. Goodbye, my little angel. Thanks for bringing such beauty, affection and playfulness into our lives. We are physically apart for now and yet I know our friendship will endure in Spirit forever. Love, Scott */:-) 

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