Friday evening.
Lighting the Advent Candle & the 8th Candle on the Menorah.
It’s raining and cold now & evening is soon.
It’s Friday, December 15, 2023.
The sky is dark with cold & rain.
Friday is Venus’s day, Ray 5 day.
Truth matters day.

Thinking about things.
Ten days till Christmas. And tonight is the last night of Hanukkah.
Lighting both the Advent wreath & the Menorah.
Thinking about things.
Making food in the Ashram kitchen to keep warm.
Making stock for a later soup – maybe dahl, maybe split pea, maybe boston bean soup, maybe posole, maybe albondigas – maybe not.

Spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove.
Ingredients:
(organic) Olive oil, onions, celery, bell pepper, parsley, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, grass fed ground round in a sauce of roasted heirloom tomatoes. For the Einkorn whole wheat noodles.
Grateful for our food.

Looking ahead
– dates, happenings, festivals, feast days, astrology, etc.
Friday, today, Dec 15 is the last day of Hanukah.
Lighting our 8th candle on the menorah.

Sunday, Dec 17, we light our 3rd Advent Candle.
The color is rose – the candle of Joy for what is about to appear!
The upcoming Advent week is dedicated to the animal kingdom.
We add animals to our Advent wreath, joining with the minerals & the plants already on our circle of greens in between the candles.

Thursday, Dec. 21, the longest day of dark, the shortest day of light – Winter Solstice, when the new light for the new year begins. We join the Hierarchy in preparation for Wesak, 2024.
Sun enters Capricorn. We light the Yule log.
We begin the study of the Right Human Relations – one of the Aquarian Laws & Principles. We study RHR till February 21st.

Sunday, Dec. 24 is Christmas Eve, the light from the Midnight Sun streams into the earth. At midnight we light our white candle that is in the center of the Advent wreath. This is the Christ candle, the candle of the Holy Child. Some of us attend Midnight Mass.

Monday, Dec. 25 is Christmas day – birthday of the Holy Child.

Tuesday, Dec. 26 begins the 12 Days of Christmas (till Feast of the Magi – January 6th).
Last Full Moon of 2023 – Solar Festival of Capricorn – 5 degrees.
Chiron stations direct – 15.27 degrees Aries.

Saturday, Dec. 30, Jupiter stations direct 5.35 degrees Taurus.

Sunday, December 31, last day of 2023. New Year’s Eve.
Feast Day of the Holy Family, the human family unit of parents & children – represented by Mary, Joseph & the child Jesus.
They are a model of a holy family.
Our family is our first community. Families are to offer a place of protection for all family members. It is our first place of education & learning. The first place of love we experience after birth. Family is a fundamental institution of every society.

Monday, January 1 – first day of 2024.
Virgo moon. Mercury stations.
Feast Day of Mary, Mother of the World.
The Divine Mother blessing the new year and all peoples in the world.
Mercury stations direct at 22 degrees Sagittarius. Remaining in its retrograde shadow til January 20th at 6 degrees Capricorn.

The new year begins with a stationary Mercury & a Virgo moon.
Only Uranus & Vesta are retrograde.
It will be a wild & tumultuous year ahead!

Tending to the food on the stove.
Inviting everyone for dinner. love, Risa