SummeRaveN Takes Flight

Humboldt Honey

Summer Raven — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:04:55 GMT

Living in my new Humboldt home has it's advantages and it's...quirks. The advantages are obvious, green forest, green mountains green green....and more green. Ocean I can walk to. Parking free and right outside my house. And time....I have so much time here. Time to be creative, time to explore. There's a saying that you never realize how much time there is until you move to Humboldt county. Everything is in slow motion here. Maybe it's all the time I gained from not sitting in traffic or waiting in lines. Whatever the case living here has given me the opportunity to cultivate and nourish my health on so many levels, my new love= tribal belly dancing, my spirituality is flourishing and my dream job is taking flight, which is a jewelry artist. My vision is to make original handcrafted jewelry that is a little funky and incredibly sexy to bring out the wild goddess in every woman. :) I am very choosy in picking materials and use only the finest stones and metals. In the future I will be shaping and working directly with the metals. I'm still in the beginning stages of starting a business and it is an incredible amount of work, but an amazing feeling. I'm getting a personal website at the end of the month, so I'll keep you all posted....as for now, you can look at my collection on goddessadornments.etsy.com (the link is posted on my homepage). Oh and as for the "quirks" of living here? I MISS TRANCE!!!! And of course all of my wonderful friends whom I miss very much. I hope you are all doing splendidly as I'm sure you are!! ,Let me know what's up with you!! The story of " Summer Raven", is this: I was gifted that name by an elder at a winter solstice sweat lodge as my medicine name. Uniquely it incorporates my birth name. She said that the spirits showed her an image of the goddess Morgan Le Fay (the fairy) who arose and adorned my hair with raven feathers. Morgan is the goddess of war and of death. But death was not regarded as something bad, but merely a bridge to another life. A change. Not something to be feared. My medicine gift to teach others to not be afraid. To fly with magic wings to the battlegrounds and heal the wounded soldiers.

GOING TO THE BURN!!

Summer Raven — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:26:04 GMT

hello every one! so...I'm going to burning man! surprise!! Yes, I'm going to be a dirty little virgin this year! I'm really excited I hope all of you can make it and spank me or something... AND I have a burning question, if anyone knows anyone selling a ticket PLEASE let me know asap I need a ticket and it is hard for me to get all the way over in Europe.

Timless Beauty...

Summer Raven — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:05:18 GMT

I have discoverd a way to magically time travel all of you here with us. I simply close my eyes and envison all of your smiling faces and poof! Here you are! Much gratitude for your shining lights and although on opposite sides of the planet, in my heartspace you'll always remain. We have been stationed in Solvenia for a couple weeks WOW! It is breathtaking here...and we have some serious angels guiding us with all of the goodness surrounding us. We just went through the Alps for a week to go camping...I have never seen water so traquil and blue in my life. At first I was convienced that it was dyed! We are now headed south to go to the islands of Croatia. Then to Bosnia for a Rainbow Family Gathering. Also check out my partner in crime, Princess Honeybee's Tribe page, she's got some cool pics up on our trip too. Love and Love and Love to you all!!!!!!

Hungarian Heat...

Summer Raven — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:29:15 GMT

Calling out to all my lovely peoples... We somehow made it to Budapest Hungary where I can go like this áßőł on a keyboard and any city with the word Buda in it has to be cool. Its been such a wirl wind of an adventure the last month. We have found ourselves in some very strange and compromising positions but always seem to pull through. The spiderwebs of travels can take you in a million different directions. This is a great practice to let go and let be. Letting the universe take hold of our lives and guide us has brought wonderful gifts of safety and abundance. Germany was full of splendid encounters with castles, long relaxing bike rides, oh and great cheese. :) All the sudden we found ourselves at a medeval festival dressed as pesants getting loaded off of honey wine...you guys have to try this stuff. And we found a new love-medeval rock! Hell yea the bag pipes never sounded so good...we didnt know they got down like that back then. From there we found out about a goddess festival in Budapest so we jumped on a plane and here we are. We spent a week with some beautiful people celebrating the earth and elements in so many enriching ways. IOur experience in Budapest consisted of visiting ancient caves, relaxing in healing hot srings, meditating on the best drummer Ive ever met, marching down the street chanting with a huge banner and a rattle, hunting down organic food (trust me this takes some work) and getting a fine for not having a subway ticket...just a few things off the top of my head. From here we went straight to No Mans Land Festival a couple hours east of Budapest. It was such a spectacular festival! The music was good and groovy and we got to see a lot of Hungarian Artists like Para Halu amogst many others. My birthday at the festival was so fun and I was honored by mother nature with a fantasitc lightening storm and 50 mile an hour winds. At one point I was feeling brave and went to go stand in the middle of it, but I almost fell down wound up ducking for cover. It wasnt the best situation for the deco, but it was wild and crazy, we all played in the mud afterwards and got back into our tribal roots. The party was innovative for Kelley and I...between everything weve been through on this journey and all the crazy personalities we have encountered our creative energies are pouring out and we are coming up with all kinds of ideas on how we want to live the rest of our lives. no more detail on that right now, but stay tuned as the wheel turns....:) miss and love all of you hope your festival season is going well!!

Travels in England...

Summer Raven — Mon, 28 May 2007 10:15:06 GMT

Hello Beautiful People!! We are alive and well out here in England! Kelley and I have been staying on a farm doing a lot of projects. We've done organic planting of veggies, designed and cultivated an herb garden, creative photography, painting. We've also gotten into raw foods!! It's been a healing experience that has shown us both immense growth and riches. We have taken this time to connect deeper with ourselves, nature, each other and the world...and we send our loving vibes out to all our friends out there! Your spirits come and shower us in unique ways and our hearts are comforted in your support. It's been great here...but it is the calm before the storm. In two days we head over to Berlin, Germany and it's time to start trancin' it up!! Festival season is starting and we go to our first European psy event June 1st and continue on from there! Peace and Love be with You!!

Summer Solstice

Summer Raven — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 20:16:18 GMT

It's my birthday once again...summer solstice...a very symbolic time for me. Since this is more than just my birthday but also my name and in a sense my identity, I have deep rooted meanings with this day. Apparently I'm not the only one. Here are some intresting tidbits of how people celebrate throughout the globe. The biggest gift of all is the blessings of my true friends and family who love unconditionally and of course the extraordinarily beautiful world we co-exist on. REJOYCE!! "Midsummer (solstice) is the time when the sun reaches the peak of its power, the earth is green and holds the promise of a bountiful harvest. The Mother Goddess is viewed as heavily pregnant, and the God is at the apex of his manhood and is honored in his guise as the supreme sun." Native Americans: The Natchez tribe in the southern U.S. "worshiped the sun and believed that their ruler was descended from him. Every summer they held a first fruits ceremony." Nobody was allowed to harvest the corn until after the feast. Males in the Hopi tribe dressed up as Kachinas - the dancing spirits of rain and fertility who were messengers between humanity and the Gods. At Midsummer, the Kachinas were believed to leave the villages to spend the next six months in the mountains, where they were believed to visit the dead underground and hold ceremonies on their behalf. Native Americans have created countless stone structures linked to equinoxes and solstices. Many are still standing. One was called Calendar One by its modern-day finder. It is in a natural amphitheatre of about 20 acres in size in Vermont. From a stone enclosure in the center of the bowl, one can see a number of vertical rocks and other markers around the edge of the bowl "At the summer solstice, the sun rose at the southern peak of the east ridge and set at a notch at the southern end of the west ridge." The winter solstice and the equinoxes were similarly marked. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel west of Sheridan, WY is perhaps the most famous of the 40 or more similar "wheels" on the high plains area of the Rocky Mountains. Mostly are located in Canada. At Bighorn, the center of a small cairn, that is external to the main wheel, lines up with the center of the wheel and the sun rising at the summer equinox. Another similar sighting cairn provides a sighting for three dawn-rising stars: Aldebaran, Rigel and Sirius. A third cairn lines up with fourth star: Fomalhaut. The term "medicine wheel" was coined by Europeans; it was a term used to describe anything native that white people didn't understand. Neopaganism: This is a group of religions which are attempted re-constructions of ancient Pagan religions. Of these, Wicca is the most common; it is loosely based partly on ancient Celtic beliefs and practices. Wiccans recognize eight seasonal days of celebration. Four are minor sabbats and occur at the two solstices and the two equinoxes. The other are major sabbats which happen approximately halfway between an equinox and solstice. The summer solstice sabbat is often called Midsummer or Litha. Wiccans may celebrate the sabbat on the evening before, at sunrise on the morning of the solstice, or at the exact time of the astronomical event. Ancient Celts: Druids, the priestly/professional/diplomatic corps in Celtic countries, celebrated Alban Heruin ("Light of the Shore"). It was midway between the spring Equinox (Alban Eiler; "Light of the Earth") and the fall Equinox (Alban Elfed; "Light of the Water"). "This midsummer festival celebrates the apex of Light, sometimes symbolized in the crowning of the Oak King, God of the waxing year. At his crowning, the Oak King falls to his darker aspect, the Holly King, God of the waning year..." 13 The days following Alban Heruin form the waning part of the year because the days become shorter. Ancient China: Their summer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces. Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare. Ancient Germanic, Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. "It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames..." It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire's power, "...maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished." Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun's energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest. 6 Ancient Rome: Summer Solstice Festival. It was held in honor of the Roman Goddess of the hearth, Vesta. Married women were able to enter the shrine of Vesta during the festival. At other times of the year, only the vestal virgins were permitted inside. Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops. Christian countries: After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set as JUN-24. It "is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest feast, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint." 16 Curiously, the feast is held on the alleged date of his birth. Other Christian saints' days are observed on the anniversary of their death. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that St. John was "filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb...[thus his] birth...should be signalized as a day of triumph." 16 His feast day is offset a few days after the summer solstice, just as Christmas is fixed a few days after the winter solstice. 1 "Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of" the winter solstice circa DEC-21. Essenes: This was a Jewish religious group active in Palestine during the 1st century CE. It was one of about 24 Jewish groups in the country -- the only one that used a solar calendar. Other Jewish groups at the time included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John, and followers of Yeshua (Jesus). Archaeologists have found that the largest room of the ruins at Qumran (location of the Dead Sea Scrolls) appears to be a sun temple. The room had been considered a dining room by earlier investigators, in spite of the presence of two altars at its eastern end. At the time of the summer solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine at 286 degrees along the building's longitudinal axis, and illuminate the eastern wall. The room is oriented at exactly the same angle as the Egyptian shrines dedicated to the sun. Two ancient authorities -- the historian Josephus and the philosopher Filon of Alexandria -- had written that the Essenes were sun worshipers. Until now, their opinion had been rejected by modern historians. www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm