Update: The bees keep dying from a neonicotinoid pesticide

Sun: 04'Cancer
Moon: 04'Aquarius
Waning Gibbous

Update on the Oregon bee kill-off, which I initially covered in my National Pollinator Week post earlier this month: lab tests confirm that the bees were in fact killed by the Safari pesticide used for aphid control on the linden trees around a Wilsonville, Oregon Target location.  Safari is a neonicotinoid pesticide known to be highly toxic to bees, and of a type banned by the European Union.  The bees have been dying since the spray on 15Jun, and estimates have doubled from the initial 25,000 bees dead to over 50,000. 

For more information....

Please note that it was unnecessary to spray the trees in the first place: Target had received no customer complaints about the aphids or the honeydew they produce, and it would not have taken a neurotoxic pesticide to kill them had they reached numbers which would have hazarded the trees.  Soapy water would have done just as well.

I think that pretty well lays to rest any controversy, anywhere in the world, that pesticide use is a large part of major bee die-offs.  I will be interested to see how the chemical giants (Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, Syngenta) react to a solid confirmation that their products may indeed have a significant role in the worldwide Colony Collapse Disorder ("Bee-pocalypse"). 

I would also be interested in seeing how the Pagan community at large worldwide reacts to this news: most of us, it might be fair to say, consider ourselves to be stewards of the Nature we reverence.  This would be a good time to start walking the talk, if we haven't already at the individual level.

For my part, I am learning the basics of container gardening, specifically choosing strongly aromatic herbs that will attract bees and growing them organically, from organic seed - I will not feed the beast.  So far I have three lavenders, a basil, a mint, and a lemon tree sapling successfully started, with more lavender, basil, tomatoes, pomegranates and a mango to start when I have the time.

Magickal waters

Sun: 03'Cancer
Moon: 26'Capricorn
Just Past Full

All right.  I admit, a big part of my practice is astrology.  But I also like the hands-on witchy work as well, and I am a biiiiig fan of charging water by the Sun, Moon, element or astrological aspect in effect for practical work.  (By "water" I mean actual dihydrogen monoxide, not oils or tinctures, those are for another topic.)

You see, while it's nice to be able to set your tools, talismans, crystals, self, etc. out under the Full Moon overnight for cleansing and recharging, that's not always possible or practical.  (People do steal, and not everyone has the privacy necessary for a skyclad Esbat - the neighbors probably mind, even if you don't!)  Charging waters, or the herbs to go into them, provides a standalone tool, a storage battery already tuned to the frequency you want that can be pulled out at any time.  You can make it as elaborate or as simple as you want: what you put into the water will catch the energies to which it is closest and radiate it into the water to hold.  It can be as easy as setting out a jar and a funnel during thunder snow (and use that water cautiously!), or as complicated as charting out the entire heavens at the specific planetary day and hour you want to capture.

Summer Solstice 2013: Prometheus and Hellenic Reconstructionism

The BBC came out with an article yesterday that I thought was an interesting, and too-brief, look at the Greek phenomenon known as Hellenic Reconstructionism and the challenges it faces.


These folks see Greece as a pagan nation under occupation by the Orthodox Church and are, quite literally, attempting to reconstruct the ancient religion of Greece.