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.

National Pollinator Week kicks off - with a huge bee kill

Sun: 29' Gemini
Moon: 28'Scorpio
Waxing Gibbous - 3 days before Full

My sister Alohi, who runs the blog Tales of Alohi, tipped me off to this story on OregonLive earlier this morning:

25,000 bumblebees killed, dropping from trees in Wilsonville; pesticide suspected

 25,000 bees.  55 trees, known to have been sprayed with neonicotinoid pesticides just days before as National Pollinator Week began.

The European Union has issued a continent-wide ban on the use of these "neonic" pesticides.  Why?  Because they have found sufficient evidence for concern that the extreme toxicity of these insecticides (to bees as well as to the insects they're intended to kill) is contributing significantly to Colony Collapse Disorder - observed worldwide among farmers and beekeepers for years now.  The evidence is strong enough that Vladimir Putin almost refused to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry because his outrage and fury over America's support for the companies that make them - including Monsanto, Bayer, and Syngenta.

If you like to eat, you may want to keep reading this one...

The Cult of the American Flag?

Sun: 28'Gemini
Moon: 00'Scorpio
Sun Trine Moon - Waxing Gibbous

I will make no friends with this post, I am sure.  It is a mix of both theological thought and politics, fair warning, but it should be said despite the common convention.  (After all, you came here, and it's your choice to keep reading or not.)  And there's no better time to explore the deep-seated psychological thoughts and urges than under a Scorpio Moon.

What defines "sacred?"

This question came to my mind after noting the incident in which rapper Lil' Wayne stepped on, or was perceived to be stepping on, the American flag. 

Now, I normally don't give a flying rat's ass about what goes on in popular culture, and the rap "scene" is just really not my thing at all.  However, this caught my eye as both a Pagan and an active servicemember.  And my thoughts are not precisely what one might expect from either perspective. 

Water

The local Wiccan circle had a meditation last night on water.  I find myself in the unusual position of being able to speak with some authority on the subject.

The main correspondences are clear to anyone who's studied for a decent amount of time.  The Moon, Venus, Neptune.  Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.  Moonstone, aquamarine, opal, obsidian, silver and quicksilver.  Willow, yew, rosemary, lilies of all kinds.  Animals that live on or near the water: that's a pretty wide variety from dolphins to dragonflies.  Ocean magick, river magick, wishing wells and mirrors.

What could water magick be used for, though?

The Boston Marathon Bombing

15 April 2013  2105
Sun: 26'Aries  Moon: 2' Cancer

I would simply like to say that my heart goes out to all those who have been directly affected by the senseless carnage wrought today at the Boston Marathon: I will keep those injured, or who know someone who has been injured, in my prayers.  Santa Muerte, take those who are dead and dying into Your gentle hands, help them to let go and be at peace.  Isis, enfold the survivors and the loved ones of the dead and the injured in Your wings and help them come to terms with their losses, ease their pain and suffering.

I also do sincerely hope that Boston, which was once the cradle in which America's revolutionary ideals of freedom were born, will not now become the grave of those same ideals and the freedoms to which they gave rise in this new and horrifying Boston Massacre.  At this time my prayers also go out to those in power in America, that the twin lights of mercy for the victims and swift, uncompromising justice for the perpetrator(s) shine true and in unison as a double star to guide them.

Santa Muerte - "Saint Death"

Isis

April is the cruelest month

1605, 14APR2013
Sun: 25'Aries  Moon 17'Gemini

April is the cruelest month, they say, and I know it.  The Sun has entered Aries, bringing with it the hard-charging energies of the Ram and the gods of war (collectively called "Mars,") and in synchronicity the Northern Hemisphere's pursuit of new life and reproduction takes over in full force and flower, with all the beauty and mercy of a diamond.

Nothing is born, without something dying to make way for it.