Fresh Eggs For Yule 2018

 Yule 2018

     edited by Lisa Crow

https://www.zbudapest.com/books/

 

Message From Z.:

 

Message from Z: 

To all the sisters who are just waking up from  Opression !  happy new year!

 Hello dearest ones! yes you made it! You managed to think for yourself and managed to find yourself lovable. Banish self hatred! banish body shame! Banish hatred of each other for crimes of thoughts!  Practice being Free. Support the fledgling women communities. Support them to grow and treasure themselves.

   Do not cave in  to guilt tripping. Nobody defines you but yourself. Don't give away what many mothers have given their lifetimes to secure for you, like your Votes. Use them in support of the ladies. We have come from so far, now is the time we make sure our daughters will be educated and given opportunities we didn't have before. Allow the brilliant ones to  thrive. Don't cut the strong down; don't say stuff like they are "too much" or “coming on too strong." Instead, tell them you are   celebrating their brilliance. Each time one of us  reaches a high point, we all partake in that triumph. Be brave and be bold.

 All things unfold as they should. Treat yourself to kisses and hugs.

 Don't starve your spirit for love. Create communities of sisters, gather in small or large groups. Study the wisdom  from your loving teachers.

--

Blessed Be,

Z Budapest

http://zbudapest.com

"We all come from the Goddess

and to her we shall return

like a drop of rain

flowing to the ocean."

This Christmas, like many before it and many yet to come, the story of Santa and his flying reindeer will be told, including how the "jolly old elf" flies on his sleigh throughout the entire world in one night, giving gifts to all the good children.

But according to one theory, the story of Santa and his flying reindeer can be traced to an unlikely source: hallucinogenic or "magic" mushrooms.

"Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world," said John Rush, an anthropologist and instructor at Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif.

According to the theory, the legend of Santa derives from shamans in the Siberian and Arctic regions who dropped into locals' teepeelike homes with a bag full of hallucinatory mushrooms as presents in late December, Rush said.

"As the story goes, up until a few hundred years ago these practicing shamans or priests connected to the older traditions would collect Amanita muscaria (the Holy Mushroom), dry them, and then give them as gifts on the winter solstice," Rush told LiveScience. "Because snow is usually blocking doors, there was an opening in the roof through which people entered and exited, thus the chimney story."

Presents under the tree

In his book "Mushrooms and Mankind" (The Book Tree, 2003) the late author James Arthur points out that Amanita muscaria, also known as fly agaric, lives throughout the Northern Hemisphere under conifers and birch trees, with which the fungi —which is deep red with white flecks — has a symbiotic relationship. This partially explains the practice of the Christmas tree, and the placement of bright red-and-white presents underneath, which look like Amanita mushrooms, he wrote:

"Why do people bring pine trees into their houses at the Winter Solstice, placing brightly colored (red and white) packages under their boughs, as gifts to show their love for each other … ?" he wrote. "It is because, underneath the pine bough is the exact location where one would find this 'Most Sacred' substance, the Amanita muscaria, in the wild."

Reindeer are common in Siberia, and seek out these hallucinogenic fungi, as the area's human inhabitants have been known to do. Donald Pfister, a biologist who studies fungi at Harvard University, suggests that Siberian tribesmen who ingested fly agaric may have hallucinated into thinking that reindeer were flying.

"Flying" reindeer

"At first glance, one thinks it's ridiculous, but it's not," said Carl Ruck, a professor of classics at Boston University. "Whoever heard of reindeer flying? I think it's becoming general knowledge that Santa is taking a 'trip' with his reindeer," Ruck said.

"Amongst the Siberian shamans, you have an animal spirit you can journey with in your vision quest," Ruck continued. " And reindeer are common and familiar to people in eastern Siberia. They also have a tradition of dressing up like the [mushroom] … they dress up in red suits with white spots."

Ornaments shaped like Amanita mushrooms and other depictions of the fungi are also prevalent in Christmas decorations throughout the world, particularly in Scandinavia and northern Europe, Pfister points out. That said, Pfister made it clear that the connection between modern-day Christmas and the ancestral practice of eating mushrooms is a coincidence, and he doesn't know about any direct link.

Many of these traditions were merged or projected upon Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century saint who was known for his generosity, as the story goes.

The Santa connection

There is little debate about the consumption of mushrooms by Arctic and Siberian tribes' people and shamans, but the connection to Christmas traditions is more tenuous, or "mysterious," as Ruck put it.

Many of the modern details of the modern-day American Santa Claus come from "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (which later became famous as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"), an 1823 poem credited to Clement Clarke Moore, an aristocratic academic who lived in New York City.

The origins of Moore's vision are unclear, although Arthur, Rush and Ruck all think he probably drew from northern Europe motifs that derive from Siberian or Arctic shamanic traditions. At the very least, Arthur wrote, Santa's sleigh and reindeer are references back to various related Northern European mythology. For example, the Norse god Thor (known in German as "Donner") flew in a chariot drawn by two goats, which have been replaced in the modern retelling by Santa's reindeer, Arthur wrote.

Ruck points to Rudolf as another example of the mushroom imagery resurfacing: his nose looks exactly like a red mushroom, he said.  "It's amazing that a reindeer with a red-mushroom nose is at the head, leading the others."

Some doubt

Other historians were unaware of a connection between Santa and shamans or magic mushrooms, including Stephen Nissenbaum, who wrote a book about the origins of Christmas traditions, and Penne Restad, at the University of Texas.

One historian, Ronald Hutton, told NPR that the theory of a mushroom-Santa connection is off-base. "If you look at the evidence of Siberian shamanism, which I've done," Hutton said, "you find that shamans didn't travel by sleigh, didn't usually deal with reindeer spirits, very rarely took the mushrooms to get trances, didn't have red-and-white clothes." But Rush and Ruck say these statements are incorrect; shamans did deal with reindeer spirits, and the depiction of their clothes' coloring has more to do with the colors of the mushroom than the shamans' actual garb. As for sleighs, the point isn't the exact mode of travel, but that the "trip" involves transportation to a different, celestial realm, Rush said.

"People who know about shamanism accept this story," Ruck said. "Is there any other reason that Santa lives in the North Pole? It is a tradition that can be traced back to Siberia."

From the Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries by Zsuzsanna E. Budapest

Yule: Winter Solstice (December 21)

Theme: Rebirth of the sun. We celebrate the birth of the Sun Goddess, Lucina. The altar is set in the eastern part of the circle. Decorations include pine boughs, mistletoe, holly, ivy. The Mother Goddess image has two red candles on each side. The witches are wearing evergreen crowns with lit white candles. This symbolizes the Sun Goddess dispersing the darkness, all purified and consecrated. Then there is a period of humming that builds up to a birth scream. It is good to let those sounds come out of us because we are reborn along with Lucina.

When the energy is high enough, the High Priestess says:

“All ye assembled at my shrine, Mother darksome and divine, Mine is the scourge and mine the kiss. Here I charge you in this sign.”

The HP kisses the woman to her left on the forehead, the eyes, and the lips. The kiss is passed on from woman to woman, from east to west. When this is completed, the HP in the Goddess position says:

All ye assembled in sight, bow before my spirit bright.
All bow to the east. The High Priestess says:
Aphrodite, Arianhod
Lover of the Horned God,
Mighty Queen of Witchery and Night,
Morgan, Etoine, Nisene,
Diana, Bridgid, Melusine,
Am I named of old by men.

Artemis and Cerridwen,
Hell's dark mistress, Heaven's queen.
Ye who would ask of me a rune,
Or who would ask of me a boon,
Meet me in some secret glade,
Dance my round in greenwood shade,
By the light of the full moon. 

In a place, wild and lone,
Dance about mine altar stone;
Work my holy mystery.
Ye who are feign to sorcery,
I bring ye secrets yet unknown.
No more shall ye know slavery,

Who give true worship unto me.
Ye who tread my round on Sabbat night,
Come ye all naked to the rite,
In token that ye be really free.
I teach ye the mystery of rebirth,
Work ye my mysteries in mirth.
Heart joined to heart and lip to lip,
Five are the points of fellowship,
That bring ye ecstasy on earth,
For I am the circle of rebirth.
I ask no sacrifice, but do bow,
No other law but love I know.
By naught but love may I be known.
All things living are mine own
From me they come, to me they go.
(Sybil Leek)
 

The cauldron is lit and all are silent so that the Goddess may reveal Herself to Her women. Omens include thescreeching of an owl, appearances of deer, shooting stars, sudden wakening of the wind, curious cloud formations, neighing of horses, howls of wolves or coyotes, hisses of serpents, and appearances of ravens.
The High Priestess, when she intuitively feels it is time, says:
 

Queen of the Moon,
Queen of the Stars,
Queen of the Horns,
Queen of the Fires,
Queen of the Earth,
Bring to us the Child of Promise!
For it is the Great Mother
Who gives birth to the new year.
Darkness and tears are set aside,
When the Sun comes up again.
Golden Sun of hill and mountain,
Illumine the world, Illumine the seas, Illumine the rivers, Illumine us all. Grief be laid and joy be raised, Blessed by the Great Mother! Without beginning, without end, Everlasting to Eternity. Evoe! lo! Evoe! lo! (Sybil Leek)
 

The women then jump over the fire in the cauldron, making a wish for the new year, saying it as they leap. After each jump, the women seal it by saying, "blessed be!"

A toast to the Goddess follows with the usual feasting, dancing, meeting dance, and merriment. The circle is closed with thanks given to the watchers who attended and a final blessing.

 

Tarot Readings with Z. Budapest

 

This is a teaching coven. We are educating our sisters about our sisters from the past. We started our education with Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible. We are now moving on to the works of Merlin Stone, When God was a Woman and Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood. Every newsletter will include a lesson, a reading from the book and discussion questions for you to answer. When we meet, we will go over the answers. These questions are posed to inspire you to really think about what you have been taught about religion and how that way of thinking has influenced you and those around you.

 

 Our hope is that you start a group wherever you are and discuss the meaning of the works we will study with each other and wake up a few more ladies from their patriarchal propaganda trance. We are focusing on political spell-casting and educating our sisters about our sisters from the past. Patriarchal culture has deprived women from knowing about the Elders who went before us; we reclaim them in order to invite to us a better future. These are important tasks for the times in which we live. Please join us in this work.

 

 To join, please send a request with the following information: 1) Why you are interested in joining the coven and 2) What skills/abilities you have to contribute to our sisterhood. Annual member-ship dues are $50 via PayPal (must be current to remain active and access the group). Use the purple "Donate" button below and follow the directions to PayPal. When joining, please Add a Note in the PayPal process that says "ECS Coven #1 Membership" and uncheck the box for "Paying for goods or service".

 

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Coven #1

“For people raised and programmed on the patriarchal religions of today, religions that affect even the most secular aspects of our society, perhaps there remains a lingering, almost innate memory of sacred shrines and temples tended by priestesses who served in the religion of the original supreme deity. In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven. At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember?”
– Merlin Stone
“When God Was A Woman”

I truly hope you enjoyed the lessons on The Woman’s Bible.  If you completed all or any of the lessons, please contact me (queenlaese1@aol.com) so that I can recognize your work in a future “Fresh Eggs.”

We will be starting Merlin Stone’s books, When God Was a Woman and Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood next month. If you are a member of the ECS Coven #1, you will begin receiving a separate mailing with the lesson every month.  In the meantime, you can purchase the books here:

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B000APY006?_encoding=UTF8&node=283155&offset=0&pageSize=12&sort=author-pages-popularity-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader

Or here:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/merlin-stone/200720/

 

 

https://www.zbudapest.com/