Tarot of Marseilles Thirteen, that dreaded number, is considered unlucky by many, but why? The number is associated with the moon in all cultures, because there are approximately 12.4 lunations per solar year. This means that there are always twelve lunations in a year, from which we derive our twelve months, but there is one lunation which straddles the old year and the new year. Thirteen therefore represents an inbetween time. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, the number of full moons was counted from winter solstice to winter solstice. Most of the time there would be twelve full moon but sometimes there would be thirteen. If there were thirteen then an extra month of the year was inserted at the time of the summer solstice, making the summer a whole month longer than usual. The Summerland is a concept of an afterlife paradise where good souls live inbetween incarnations. This concept was devised in the 19th century by a Spiritualist called Andrew Jackson Davis. The concept of a Summ...

This is my diagram of the "wheel of the year" based on the data for my location. This is something I recommend everyone does - find out the meteorological data for where you live. I have written down the average temperature, rainfall, and sunshine for each month of the year.This has me thinking about the wheel of the year in Elemental terms. It was Aristotle that proposed that each of the Elements has two qualities each. Earth is cold and dry, because it represents molecules moving at their slowest, locked into a solid position. As the molecules warm up, they become more fluid. Water is cold and wet because it represents the liquid state. Air is hot and wet because it represents the water molecules evaporating upwards as they are heated. Fire is hot and dry because it represents the molecules in their ionised state. So, looking at the wheel of the year we can see the hot, cold, dry and wet quarters, which can indicate the Elemental symbolism of the seasons. We are current...

Well hello there, I think I have finally finished my World Tree painting. People ask me what it's supposed to represent. Well this is a symbol of connection. Alan Watts said the Universe is like a tree. Just as a tree produces apples, the Universe produces people. We are the fruit of the Tree of Life. We may think of ourselves as separate individuals, but we are all connected to the tree, everything that is anything is produced by this one tree, nourished by this tree, part of this tree. This is a symbol of Oneness. Around the tree you can see the full spectrum of visible light, each "separate" colour blending into the next, to show there are no lines to separate them, they are united. Humans are the same, we may categorise ourselves into separate groups, but those lines we draw are in our heads. On either side of the tree are two globes, they are supposed to represent the Moon and Sun, Night and Day, Winter and Summer. They are two sides of the same coin, equal and ...

The summer solstice is rapidly approaching and I have been wanting to make some midsummer inspired art. To help me get my creative juices flowing, I've been reading The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning about the ritual year in Britain, particularly the seasonal festivals that were celebrated during the Middle Ages. So, why is the summer solstice referred to as "midsummer" when most modern Brits regard June as the beginning of summer? Here we see there are several ways of reckoning the seasons: Traditionally, the seasons were reckoned according to the amount of daylight available, and for this reason the darkest months were referred to as winter whereas the lightest months were called summer. Today we measure the seasons according to the temperature, so that the hottest months are called summer and the coldest months are called winter. It may seem strange that the darkest time of year is not also ...

I don't have a lot of gadgets in my life, all I have is my camera and laptop. Last night when I went to visit my boyfriend's parents, Daddy Evans was keen to show off his new iphone. He had this new app which shows you the stars and planets. All you do is hold the phone up to the sky, or point it in any direction you like, and it will show you exactly which stars and planets are in that direction. This is such a useful tool! When we got home, my boyfriend downloaded a similar app for his android and we had fun walking around the flat, plotting the zodiac around us. It was a cloudy night, not even the moon was visible to the naked eye, so having this app gave us a clear picture of what exactly was around us. I'm grateful to my boyfriend's dad, he always has some neat information to teach me as he's a keen naturalist. He used to be a diver, before health problems got in the way, and he was able to teach me about the tides. I had read about neap tides and spring tide...