The Iseum Eye

Iseum Newsletter
#2

Yule 2004

Welcome to the second edition of "The Iseum Eye", a randomly regular newsletter of the Iseum of the Cosmic Dance!

Each issue will attempt to focus predominantly on a environmental or humanitarian concern, but will also include other articles of interest. 

If you wish to contribute an article, poem, spell, story, ritual, etc; please send me your work, and be sure to include your preferred pen name (for credit).

Otherwise... please enjoy Issue #2 !!

Namaste!

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Humanitarian Focus:

I am an avid fan of the tv 'reality' show,  "Big Brother". Recently,  I was somewhat amused when an evicted housemate chose this high profile media platform to launch a personal protest.

His message "Free Th[e] Refugees", related to refugees who have entered Australia 'illegally'. They are held in various detention centres,  while their applications to remain here as asylum seekers are processed. This is often somewhat a long, drawn out process, with many detainees held for periods of up to 18 months, or in some cases, much longer.

I don't pertain to have the solution to this problem and it's no easy task to do so. 

Meanwhile, however, a couple of things are obvious:

(1) The application process needs to be speeded up.
(2) The living conditions in detention centres must meet humanitarian standards.

While the refugee problem is the focus of this newsletter, it is not being written with the intent to provide a solution or to stir up trouble or argument.... rather, I intended only to bring this issue to your attention and encourage you to investigate it further if you feel the need.

At the least, we can perhaps send out strength and healing energy to the plight of refugees all over the world.. and give thanks once again for how very lucky we are.

More information on this subject is available at:

http://www.erc.org.au/issues/text/se01.htm

http://www.erc.org.au/issues/text/as01.htm

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/racial_discrimination/face_facts/ref_htm.htm#q6

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/human_rights/asylum_seekers/

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Sabbat Focus: YULE
(Southern Hemisphere - June 21st / Northern Hemisphere - December 21st)

Holly King Song


Sing we of a mystery, now as long ago
Blood red holly berries, blood upon on the snow
The Oak king shall rise, the waxing year to bring
Therefore bid we farewell to the Holly king

Now in deep midwinter all seems in a trance
Comes the golden Oak King in his age old dance
Comes he to slay, yet honor he does he bring
To his fallen brother the darksome Holly King

In the bright midsummer the year's wheel turned around
Then shall be the Oak King's blood upon the ground
Ever it comes, once more the years waning
Then shall be victorious the Darksome Holly King

Sing we of the Mystery now as long ago
Blood red holly berries, blood upon on the snow
The Oak king shall rise waxing year to bring
Therefore bid we farewell to the Holly king

YULE LORE

Yule is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.

Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift: it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze beside a piece of last years log (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.

Symbolism of Yule: Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice,  Planning for the Future.

Symbols of Yule: Yule log (or a modern alternative such as 3 candles set into a small log), evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, christmas cactus.

Herbs of Yule: bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.

Foods of Yule: cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).

Incense of Yule: Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.

Colors of Yule: red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.

Stones of Yule: rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.

Activities of Yule: caroling, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule.

Spellworkings of Yule: peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.

Deities of Yule: GODS: Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man. GODDESSES: Mother Goddesses, and Triple Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the secrets of metal work. Brighid's flame, like the flame of the new light, pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda's cauldron assures that Nature will always provide for all the children. Also Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother.

(author unknown)

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Story Focus:

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THE RAINBOW SERPENT
by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal
(Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988)

Introduction
Aboriginal artist and educationalist Oodgeroo Noonuccal (formerly Kath Walker) was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1920.  She is an elder of the Noonuccal tribe of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), which is in Quandamooka (Moreton Bay) in Southern Queensland.  Her youth was spent in Minjerribah, the traditional lands and waters of her people, who are custodians of the area.  Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Vivian Walker) is her second son.

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The spelling is as per the booklet.
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Well, gidday, gidday, all you earth fullas.  Come, sit down, my country now. I see you come into sacred place of my tribe to get the strength of the Earth Mother.  That Earth Mother . We are different, you and me.  We say the earth is our mother - we cannot own her, she owns us.
This rock and all these rocks are alive with her spirit.  They protect us, all of us.  They are her, what you fullas say now, temple.  Since the Alcheringa, that thing you fullas call Dreamtime, this place has given man shelter from the heat, a place to paint, to dance the sacred dance and talk to his spirit.

How does one repay such gifts?

By protecting the land.

This land is the home of the Dreamtime.  The spirits came and painted themselves on these walls so that man could meet here, grow strong again and take this strength back into the world. This is my totem, Kabul.  You know her as the Carpet Snake.  She is my tribe's symbol of the Rainbow Serpent, the giver and taker of life.  Sometimes she is called Borlung, sometimes Ngalyod.  She has many names, that wise one. When the spirits of men have been made strong again by Kabul, she'll come back to this earth.

But we are not strong now.  We are too tired from fighting time, machines and each other.

But she send her spirit ones with messages ticks to help us take time.  To remember.  To care for her special things.

First there is Dooruk, the emu, with the dust of the red Mother Earth still on his feet.  He come to remind us to protect the land, to always put back as much as we take.

Then there is Kopoo, the big red kangaroo, the very colour of the land.  He come to remind us to always take time for ourselves.

And Mungoongarlie, the goanna, last of all because his legs are short.  He bring the news that we, his children, are forgetting to give time to each other.

But the animals of the Earth Mother come to say more than this.  They come to say that our creator, that Rainbow Serpent, she get weak with anger and grief for what we are doing to this earth.

But here now you fullas.  You come sit down by my fire.  Warm yourselves and I will tell you the story of how this world began.

In the time of Alcheringa the land was flat and cold.  The world, she empty.  The Rainbow Serpent, she asleep under the ground with all the animals tribes in her belly waiting to be born.  When it is her time, she pushed up. She come out at the heart of my people - Uluru - Ayer's Rock.  She look round - everywhere all dark.  No light, no colour. So she get very busy now.  She throw the land out - make mountains and hills.

She call to her Frog Tribe to come up from their sleep and she scratch their belly to make them laugh. The water they store in the bad time spill over the land making rivers and lakes.  Then she throw good spirit Biami high in the sky.  She tell him to help her find light.

Now Biami, he a real good fulla.  He jump up high in the sky and smile down on the land.  The sky lit up from his smile and we, his children, saw colour and shadow. And that warm sun spirit saw himself in the shining waters.  The pine trees, they burst into flower.  That's his way of telling us it's time to hunt the big mullet fish.

And when the wild hop trees bloom, that's his way to tell us the oysters are fat on the shores of our great sea spirit, Quandamooka. Grow strong, Kabul, come back to your children, the mountains, the trees and our father, the sky. Come, bring us your birds of many colours.  Come back to your rivers rushing to Quandamooka.  Come back to your teeming fish of a thousand colours and shapes.

Kabul is the mother of us all.  She is the spirit of the land - all its beauty, all its colour.  But there are those who see no colour, who will not feel the beauty of this land - who wish only to destroy the mother and themselves.

Their eyes are open but they do not see .

Kabul, bring back the fire of knowledge to your children.  Like the fire of that pretty stone in the ground.  The one you call opal.  The colours of the rainbow, the colours of life itself .
Yet it is good for all people to dram of places which are beautiful to them.   Of the waters where they sail their boats and canoes. And now it seems that with all our great machines we can travel almost anywhere.  We can travel across the land at great speed.  And, for some, the city with its bright lights and music and dancing of a modern world. There is almost nothing mankind cannot do.  We can hover or swoop in the air. We do all these things with the land.  Good reason to protect it.

But where would we ask our machines to take us?  They have no spirit or feelings of their own.  Only we can guide them to the places that have meaning for us.

That is why, like my ancestors before me, I will always come back to this place to share the feeling of the land with all living things.  I belong here where the spirit of the Earth Mother is strong in the land and in me. Take time you earth fullas.  Let the spirit of this mighty land touch you as it touches my people.

The water is good.  It carries the strength of Kabul.  Now I am rested and ready for my own journey into the world. Have I helped you to rest on your way? Perhaps soon all our travels, we will see Kabul in the places she has made. Perhaps she will come again with the spirits of men and the spirit of this land are once more together as one.

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Ritual Focus:

HONOUR YOURSELF

You will need:
1 white candle
As many Red (or Pink) candles as you like (or would be safe)
Natural body lotion or oil (Rose scented if possible - or your favourite scent)
Rose, sandalwood or frankincense incense
Scented bath salts or bubble bath
Shower gel in rose or with a few drops of rose oil added (or a nice new soap of choice)
Anointing oil (made from rose oil, or oils that you like, in a base oil)

Prepare your bathroom to become a place of worship - the worship of you!

Light the red/pink candles and place them around your bathroom (making sure they will not set fire to anything - tealights may be useful for this). Light your incense, turn on some soft relaxing music and turn off the lights.

Light the white candle, saying:

"I dedicate this space as sacred, allowing me to cherish my body as a beautiful temple."

Leave the candles burning while you take a nice relaxing bath. You might like to add oils or rose petals to the bath water. Use the shower gel to wash your body, take your time, you are not just cleaning your body, you are worshipping it. When you have finished, you may lie there and relax or meditate, or you can get straight out. Dry yourself with a fluffy soft towel.

Massage the body lotion all over your body, and imagine that the lotion is a balm, healing any wounds about your body image. Honour your body, its strength, the support it gives you. Feel
your body relax and feel happy about yourself.

Using the anointing oil, anoint your 3rd eye, saying:

"I see my beauty within."

Anoint your throat, saying:

"I use my voice to speak of my beauty within."

Anoint your heart, saying:

"I open my heart to my inner love."

Snuff out all the candles, and save them for the next time you perform the ritual.

(adapted from a spell by Helen Glisic)
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And so ends Issue #2
of

THE ISEUM EYE

Walk in Peace!