Well, New Year's Eve is coming and from there on in a bleak expanse of cold, gray, short days. Christmas was wonderful (the snow stayed thick on the ground after the storm) but now there's a very February kind of rain falling out there - cold, hard, assaultive drops going out of their way to make you feel like shit.
Today also begins Mercury Retrograde, one of the Astrological events I will never argue with. Things are always dicier before and after this transit, so I guess Detroit can be grateful that there aren't a lot of Astrological fundamentalist terrorists out there.
I know the Super Bowl is on the way (certainly a major holiday for many Americans) and Valentine's Day as well, but Winter - most of all of the seasons- needs more holidays. Something big and fun that we can keep all of those Christmas lights out for.
I know the Super Bowl is on the way (certainly a major holiday for many Americans) and Valentine's Day as well, but Winter - most of all of the seasons- needs more holidays. Something big and fun that we can keep all of those Christmas lights out for.
I know a lot of you out there are well versed in ancient traditions- any suggestions for a big new holiday? Maybe something in the late January time period? Or maybe it can be something new - any fictional winter holidays in any popcult phenoms I'm not aware of? Something in Warcraft perhaps?
New York was supposed to have its big convention in February, but NYCC's been moving the dates around (possibly because the Javits area is frost giantly cold that time of year). But that's obviously not going to be observed by non-geeks.
New York was supposed to have its big convention in February, but NYCC's been moving the dates around (possibly because the Javits area is frost giantly cold that time of year). But that's obviously not going to be observed by non-geeks.
I don't know- I got nothing. So the floor is open. As is the culture, I might add. Never understimate the power of a good idea to fill a powerful need, and that gloomy stretch of cold darkness (at least for us Northern Hemisphere folk) desperately needs a little pick-me-up.
UPDATE: Well, maybe '10 will be a better year than '09.† Last year at this time we looked at a string of synchronicities surrounding a so-called "Christmas miracle" that turned out to be quite a bit less than miraculous once the banner headlines died down. This year we had a startling story of a girl abducted in Phoenix named Natalie Flores and rescued later that evening.
This drama caught my eye straight off because Natalie means 'Christmas Day'. And the whole drama took place in the shadow of I-17 (and in the old neighborhood of Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer, near a system of caves sacred to local tribes). The kidnapper was apprehended on Thunderbird Rd., the Thunderbird being a protective shapeshifter* in Native American mythology, similar to the Garuda, another protective bird-man resonating Horus, also associated with 17 (and Christmas Day, for that matter).
Christmas is 1/7 in the Eastern Orthodox calendar, as we see in this story. Behind the Name tells us this about the name 'Natalie':
Which has been pretty empty lately, it must be said.
† When I was a kid I always saw Christmas as a harbinger for the year to come. Good Christmas, good year, bad Christmas, etc.
*The Sioux believed that the Thunderbirds defeated a race of reptilian water monsters, similar to Apophis. Or the Silurians, for that matter.
UPDATE: Well, maybe '10 will be a better year than '09.† Last year at this time we looked at a string of synchronicities surrounding a so-called "Christmas miracle" that turned out to be quite a bit less than miraculous once the banner headlines died down. This year we had a startling story of a girl abducted in Phoenix named Natalie Flores and rescued later that evening.
This drama caught my eye straight off because Natalie means 'Christmas Day'. And the whole drama took place in the shadow of I-17 (and in the old neighborhood of Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer, near a system of caves sacred to local tribes). The kidnapper was apprehended on Thunderbird Rd., the Thunderbird being a protective shapeshifter* in Native American mythology, similar to the Garuda, another protective bird-man resonating Horus, also associated with 17 (and Christmas Day, for that matter).
Christmas is 1/7 in the Eastern Orthodox calendar, as we see in this story. Behind the Name tells us this about the name 'Natalie':
This was the name of the wife of the 4th-century martyr Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. She is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church, and the name has traditionally been more common among Eastern Christians than those in the West.Again, all of this was obviously overlooked because of the Northwest Air incident (and was resolved before it had much time to register), but I'm going to put this nice little semiotic jumble in my GOF (good omen folder).
Which has been pretty empty lately, it must be said.
† When I was a kid I always saw Christmas as a harbinger for the year to come. Good Christmas, good year, bad Christmas, etc.
*The Sioux believed that the Thunderbirds defeated a race of reptilian water monsters, similar to Apophis. Or the Silurians, for that matter.
