19 June 2016 – Happy Father’s Day

On June 19, 1910, the governor of Washington proclaimed the nation’s first “Father’s Day.” However, it was not until 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official, that the day became a nationwide holiday in the United States.

The “Mother’s Day” we celebrate today has its origins in the peace-and-reconciliation campaigns of the post-Civil War era.

The campaign to celebrate the nation’s fathers did not meet with the same enthusiasm. On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines. Slowly, the holiday spread.

However, many men continued to disdain the day. So struggling retailers & advertisers redoubled their efforts to make Father’s Day a “second Christmas” for men, promoting goods such as neckties, hats, socks, pipes & tobacco, golf clubs & other sporting goods, & greeting cards. When World War II began, advertisers began to argue that celebrating Father’s Day was a way to honor American troops & support the war effort. By the end of the war, Father’s Day may not have been a federal holiday, but it was a national institution.

In 1972, in the middle of a hard-fought presidential re-election campaign, Richard Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday at last. Today, economists estimate that Americans spend more than $1 billion each year on Father’s Day gifts.

May all Father’s be like a beneficent protector king, compassionate, helpful & wise.

325 – 1^st Council of Nicea concludes & promulgates the Nicene Creed

1566 – Birthday of James VI of Scotland & I of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots; inspirer of William Shakespeare, Jacob Boehme, & Jacob Balde & the “Golden Age” of Elizabethan literature & drama. He sponsored the translation of the Bible that was named after him: the Authorised King James Version

1623 – Birthday of Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher & child prodigy.

1844 – Deathday of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, defender of Goethean science, a French naturalist who established the principle of “unity of composition”. His scientific views had a transcendental flavor.

1862 – The U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford.

1867 – Deathday of Maximillian I. Seeking to legitimize French rule in the Americas, Napoleon III invited Maximilian to establish a new Mexican monarchy for him. Many foreign governments refused to recognize Maximilian’s claim or regime. His self-declared empire collapsed, & he was executed by the Mexican government.

1917 – The solar eclipse of June 19, 1917

1936 – The solar eclipse of June 19, 1936

1953 – Julius & Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York

1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate

2012 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requests asylum in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents including footage of civilian killings by the US army

~   ~   ~

Doris Dumphy

Calendar of the Soul Thirteenth Week [June 19, 2016 – June 25, 2016]

And when I live in senses’ heights,

  There flames up deep within my soul

  Out of the spirit’s fiery worlds

  The gods’ own word of truth:

  In spirit sources seek expectantly

  To find your spirit kinship.

 

~   ~  ~

Tomorrow 20 June 2016, is the Summer Solstice, exact 5:34pm CDT.

Astrologically the Summer Solstice, the height of the Sun, corresponds to the entry of the Sun into the sign of Cancer, which is interestingly a water sign governed by the moon. And this year, on Summer Solstice we will also experience the Full Moon! So tonight is the eve of what is traditionally called the Honey Moon or Strawberry Moon.

Cancer symbolizes the moving waters of our inner life, our moods & cycles, our instincts & intuition – our juiciness! It holds the force & power of our imagination, our emotions, our roots. A reflective, passive, cyclic force, this sign marks the intimate inner world of our personal & family bonds, as well as our larger collective family.

The Festival of Summer Solstice is sometimes called Midsummer’s Eve & it is celebrated like other ‘holy days’ on the Eve, starting at twilight, when the power is most concentrated.

Midsummer’s Eve is a magical time to communicate with the plant & fairy spirits, as it is the time of the herb harvest. All plants gathered this night are considered exceptionally potent for healing & ritual purposes.

St. John’s Wort & other healing herbs are placed around the home for protection as they dry. Since it is a solar herb, it is used to bring the power of the sun to people who suffer from depression. They are also thrown into the Midsummer bonfire, & when the coals have cooled down the ashes are mixed with water & sprinkled on the fields, the 4 corners of the home, & the on the head or feet of the children.

Royal fern seeds gathered at midnight on the eve are said to make you invisible; rub the blossoms on your eyelids to see the wee folk, which will also make you wealthy & wise, but be sure to carry a bit of rue in your pocket or you might be ‘pixie-led’. Can’t find the rue, then turn your jacket inside out & follow the old ‘Ley-Lines’, which will keep you from getting lost in fairy land.

Divination on matters of love are especially powerful on Midsummer’s Eve. Young women place yarrow or other herbs & flowers native to their part of the world peaking at this time, under their pillows, to dream of their future mates.

The ancient Druids celebrated the Summer Solstice as the Wedding of Heaven & Earth. The Goddess manifests as Mother Earth & the God as the Sun King.

More lore tomorrow

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg