APA Newsletter • October 1999
The Appalachian Pagan Alliance has gained more members and collected another box of food for our Harvest Food Drive, at our September Meeting.
Our October 9th Meeting will feature a New Year's "Fortune Card" Drawing Ritual and a class on forms of divination. This meeting will be our last outdoor meeting, and hopefully we will be blessed with the same beautiful weather we've had for our last two meetings at Lake Julian.
Our November 20th meeting will be held in the meeting room of The Mysts of Avalon store at 640 Merrimon Ave. in Asheville. I know everyone will love shopping in the store before and after the meeting, so we are very glad for the opportunity to hold our
meeting there. In fact, our December 18th meeting will be held there as well.
At the October meeting, we'll be deciding on class and ritual themes for the November and December meetings, and assigning teachers/leaders for these. We will also be taking suggestions for our Spring Volunteer/Public Relations work. Our Yule Gifts for needy children drive will run through the November and December meetings; the January and February project will be the "Give A Little From the Heart" Blood Donation drive.
Please plan to bring a boxed gift (for an older adolescent, not a young child as we plan to donate to a home for troubled teens,) to the November and December meetings. Also we will be starting a sign up sheet for the blood drive, as we need at least 25 persons to pre-register for Joy to be able to finish the arrangements she has been making for the Bloodmobile.
From our Book of Shadows
Invocations to the Sky, Earth, and Ocean
by George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788-1823.
(From Manfred Act I/Scene I)
Mortal! to thy bidding bow'd
From my mansion in the cloud,
Which the breath of twilight builds,
And the Summer's sunset gilds
with the azure and vermilion
Which is mix'd for my pavilion;
Though thy quest may be forbidden,
On a star-beam I have ridden,
To thine adjuration bow'd;
Mortal- be thy wish avow'd!
Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains;
They crowned him long ago
on a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds;
With a diadem of snow.
Around his waist are forests braced,
Tha Avalanche in his hand;
but ere it fall, that thundering ball,
The Glacier's cold and restless mass
moves onward day by day;
But I am the Spirit of the place,
could make the mountain bow
and quiver to his cavern'd base.
And what with me wouldst Thou?
In the Blue depth of the waters,
Where the wave hath no strife,
Where the wind is a stranger,
And the sea-snake hath life,
Where the mermaid is decking
Her green hair with shells;
Like the storm on the surface
Came the sound of thy spells;
O'er my calm Hall of Coral
The deep echo roll'd-
To the Spirit of Ocean
Thy wishes unfold!
Holidays for October & November
October 9th: Day of the Goddess of
good luck and happiness, Falicitas
October llth: Vinalia, the Bacchanalian
Festival of the Harvesting of the Grapes.
October 14th/October 15th: Winter's Day.
All wars, sailing trips
and such were discontinued until Spring.
October 24th: Full Moon
October 31st: Samhain Eve/Halloween/
Witch's New Year
November 7th: New Moon
November 9th:Day Of Helena, the Wife
of Roman Emperor Julian(The Blessed, or the
Apostate, as he was called by the opposing
sides) He renounced Christianity and reinstated
Paganism as the official Roman religion during
his reign.
November 23rd: Full Moon
Suggested Reading:
In Search of Ancient Gods by
Erich Von Daniken
Earth God Rising: The Return of the
Male Mysteries by Alan Richardson
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
