Coffee Klatsch Podcast

Hello, and welcome to CoffeeKlatsch! I’m your hostess, Eppinese Estelle. I hope you are well. This is the last CoffeeKlatsch of the year. And I think like most people I am still recovering from the madness that was the holiday shopping frenzy. Just to do regular errands was a lesson in patience. I managed to get through it with only about two really bad episodes of claustrophobia and “Bah Humbug!” This one will be a short episode as it is New Years Eve…so I want to tell you about a few dates that are coming up in January….so here goes. The vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring; which arrives on March 20, 7:21 P.M. EDT Eye on the Sky: Venus, a morning star, rises 3 hours before the Sun at a dazzling magnitude –4.7, its brightest of the year. It now reaches its highest point of 2011. Venus attains its greatest separation from the Sun, 47 degrees, on the 8th. Mercury is a morning star, too, visible at the lower left of Venus during the first 20 days of the month. Mars, however, lurks on the far side of the Sun, lost in its glare. In the evening sky, Jupiter is the brightest “star” at nightfall, in the southwest. Binoculars easily reveal blue-green Uranus just above it during the first week of the month. The Moon is near Mercury on the 2nd and Jupiter on the 9th. Saturn, in Virgo, rises at midnight. Earth reaches perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, on the 3rd. Full Moon is on the 19th day 16th hour 21st minute Best Days to: Quit Smoking: January 22,23,26,27 Begin Diet to lose weight: Jan 22, 23, 26, 27 Diet to Gain Weight: January 8, 9, 13, 14 Cut hair to encourage growth: Jan. 13, 14 Cut hair to discourage growth: Jan 24, 25 Have dental care: Jan 22, 23 Start Projects: January 5, 6 End Projects: Jan. 2, 3 Special thanks to the Old Farmer’s Almanac http://www.almanac.com Some winter tips for skin care: Your lips feel dry, cracked or chapped, so you grab the commercial lip balm...maybe you should think twice...That camphor that is in some actually works as a drying agent - which means you end up using more of the lip balm...consider instead bees wax - it seals moisture in and is also safer to ingest. If you are like me I have terribly dry skin in the winter. I remember years ago when one could buy Lanolin, (which is the oil from wool) and it worked wonderfully...unless of course you became sensitive to it...which I did...So a wonderful product that you can use and probably have on hand is olive or sunflower oil. At night when you go to bed just spread some on your hands and get yourself some white cotton gloves and put them on - for extremely dry hands you can wrap saran wrap around your hands. Olive oil and sunflower oil are both natural products and are readily absorbed by the skin. (I personally prefer olive oil.) Yes, I know, you are probably saying, "Petroleum jelly works good too!" Well, yes it waterproofs your hands but the name tells you exactly what it is...a petroleum product and your skin cannot absorb it because it is not a natural product. You mothers out there know what petroleum jelly does…it waterproofs your child’s behind when you change their diaper. Just some things to consider.... I wish you and yours a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! Take care and I hope to see you next year at the next CoffeeKlatsch!

Automobile Mistaken Identity Grammatical errors on websites Comment on the blog asking that images be used so that people that don't speak English can understand what is going on. Written in fairly good English. Non-sequiter! DECEMBER 21: Total eclipse of the Moon. This eclipse will be fully visible from North America. The Moon enters penumbra at 12:28 A.M. EST on December 21 and leaves penumbra at 6:06 A.M. EST on December 21. Origin of Month Names: DECEMBER: From the Latin word decem, “ten,” and because this had been the tenth month of the early Roman calendar. Quit Smoking: Dec. 3, 26, 30 Begin diet to lose weight: Dec 3, 26, 30 To Gain Weight: Dec 12, 17 Discourage Hair Growth: Dec 1, 28, 29 Encourage Hair growth: Dec 12, 13, 17, and 18 Start Projects: Dec 6, 7 End Projects: Dec 3, 4 SKY WATCH _ Dazzling in the east during the 21⁄2 hours before dawn, Venus attains its greatest brilliancy during the first week of this month, at a shadow-casting magnitude –4.9. This is its best month as a morning star. Venus floats just to the left of the crescent Moon on the mornings of the 2nd and the 31st. Mercury appears far below and to the left of Venus on the 30th and 31st. Brilliant Jupiter is prominent in the first 5 hours after dusk, setting at around midnight. The Geminid meteors should perform well after nightfall on the 13th. An exceptional total eclipse of the Moon is visible throughout North America early on the 21st. The partial eclipse begins at 1:32 A.M., with totality starting at 2:40 A.M. Winter arrives the same day, with the solstice at 6:38 P.M. Full Moon: 21 st day: 3rd hour 13 minute Special thanks to The Old Farmers’ Almanac: http://www.almanac.com

SKY WATCH _ During the first six hours after sunset, Jupiter, having retrograded to the Aquarius–Pisces border, remains brilliant and dominant in the south even as it fades ever so slightly to magnitude –2.6. The Moon floats to the right of Jupiter on the 15th. In the wee predawn hours, Saturn and Venus speedily return, with Venus rivetingly brilliant as it explosively brightens from magnitude –4.1 to –4.9. At midmonth, 40 minutes before sunrise, UFO-like Venus stands 15 degrees high, with Virgo’s blue star Spica just above it and Saturn higher still. The group’s brightness range is enormous. While the Ringed Planet barely exceeds Spica’s so-so magnitude 1, Venus is 250 times more brilliant than the other two. Full Moon 21st day 12th hour 27th minute Quit smoking: Nov. 5, 28 To Lose weight: Nov. 2, 28 To Gain Weight: Nov 14, 19 Cut hair to discourage growth: Nov. 3, 4, 26, 27 Cut hair to encourage growth: Nov 14, 15, 19, 20 Have dental care: Nov 1, 2, 28, 29 Wean animals or children: Nov 5, 28 Special thanks to the Old Farmer’s Almanac http://www.almanac.com Until next time, take care, and I hope to see you at the next Coffee Klatsch.

Hello and welcome to CoffeeKlatsch! I am your hostess, Eppinese Estelle. I hope you are well and have your favorite beverage at hand.    Well, it is October 31, All Hallows Eve - or Halloween for short. But have you ever wondered exactly what Halloween is and why do we celebrate it? Why do we associate certain colors and carve out pumpkins and give out candy?    This is from a website titled Wicca, Pagan and Witchcraft Holidays,  which explains it perfectly.    Samhain, (pronounced SOW-in, SAH-vin, or SAM-hayne) means "End of Summer", and is the third and final Harvest. The dark winter half of the year commences on this Sabbat.    It is generally celebrated on October 31st, but some traditions prefer November 1st. It is one of the two "spirit-nights" each year, the other being Beltane. It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the Thin Veil between the worlds is lifted. Communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is easy at this time, for they journey through this world on their way to the Summerlands. It is a time to study the Dark Mysteries and honor the Dark Mother and the Dark Father, symbolized by the Crone and her aged Consort.  Originally the "Feast of the Dead" was celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead". Today a lot of practitioners still carry out that tradition. Single candles were lit and left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home. Extra chairs were set to the table and around the hearth for the unseen guest. Apples were buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no descendants to provide for them. Turnips were hollowed out and carved to look like protective spirits, for this was a night of magic and chaos. The Wee Folke became very active, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans. Traveling after dark was was not advised. People dressed in white (like ghosts), wore disguises made of straw, or dressed as the opposite gender in order to fool the Nature spirits.    This was the time that the cattle and other livestock were slaughtered for eating in the ensuing winter months. Any crops still in the field on Samhain were considered taboo, and left as offerings to the Nature spirits. Bonfires were built, (originally called bone-fires, for after feasting, the bones were thrown in the fire as offerings for healthy and plentiful livestock in the New Year) and stones were marked with peoples names. Then they were thrown into the fire, to be retrieved in the morning. The condition of the retrieved stone foretold of that person's fortune in the coming year. Hearth fires were also lit from the village bonfire to ensure unity, and the ashes were spread over the harvested fields to protect and bless the land.    Various other names for this Greater Sabbat are Third Harvest, Samana, Day of the Dead, Old Hallowmas (Scottish/Celtic), Vigil of Saman, Shadowfest (Strega), and Samhuinn. Also known as All Hallow's Eve, (that day actually falls on November 7th), and Martinmas (that is celebrated November 11th), Samhain is now generally considered the Witch's New Year.    Symbolism of Samhain: Third Harvest, the Dark Mysteries, Rebirth through Death.  Symbols of Samhain: Gourds, Apples, Black Cats, Jack-O-Lanterns, Besoms.  Herbs of Samhain: Mugwort, Allspice, Broom, Catnip, Deadly Nightshade, Mandrake, Oak leaves, Sage and Straw.  Foods of Samhain: Turnips, Apples, Gourds, Nuts, Mulled Wines, Beef, Pork, Poultry.  Incense of Samhain: Heliotrope, Mint, Nutmeg.  Colors of Samhain: Black, Orange, White, Silver, Gold.  Stones of Samhain: All Black Stones, preferably jet or obsidian.  Other celebrations took place on Halloween as well. The Britons celebrated in honor of their sun-god with bonfires, a tribute to the light that brought them abundant harvest. At the same time they saluted Samhain, their "lord of death," who was thought to gather together at last the souls of the year's dead which had been consigned to the bodies of animals in punishment for their sins. The Romans celebrated the same kind of festival at this time in honor of their goddess Pomona, a patroness of fruits and gardens.    Then around the eighth century the Catholic church appointed a special date for the feast of All Saints, followed by a day in honor of her soon-to-be saints, the feast of All Souls. Apparently how you spent the vigil of All Saints depended on where you lived in Christendom. In Brittany the night was solemn and without a trace of merriment. On their "night of the dead" and for forty-eight hours thereafter, the Bretons believed the poor souls were liberated from Purgatory and were free to visit their old homes. The vigil for the souls, as well as the saints, had to be kept on this night because of course the two days were consecutive feasts — and a vigil is never kept on a feast.  Breton families prayed by their beloveds' graves during the day, attended church for "black vespers" in the evening and in some parishes proceeded thence to the charnel house in the cemetery to pray by the bones of those not yet buried or for whom no room could be found in the cemetery. Here they sang hymns to call on all Christians to pray for the dead and, speaking for the dead, they asked prayers and more prayers.    So, how did we come to give out treats? Begging at the door grew from an ancient English custom of knocking at doors to beg for a "soul cake" in return for which the beggars promised to pray for the dead of the household. Soul cakes, a form of shortbread — and sometimes quite fancy, with currants for eyes — became more important for the beggars than prayers for the dead, it is said. Florence Berger tells in her Cooking for Christ a legend of a zealous cook who vowed she would invent soul cakes to remind them of eternity at every bite. So she cut a hole in the middle and dropped it in hot fat, and lo — a doughnut. Circle that it is, it suggests the never-ending of eternity. Truth or legend, it serves a good purpose at Halloween.    The refrains sung at the door varied from "a soul cake, a soul cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake," to the later:      Soul, soul, an apple or two,     If you haven't an apple, a pear will do,     One for Peter, two for Paul,     Three for the Man Who made us all.    Here they had either run out of soul cakes or plain didn't care. Charades, pantomimes, and little dramas, popular remnants of the miracle and morality plays of the Middle Ages, commonly rehearsed the folk in the reality of life after death and the means to attain it. It is probably from these that the custom of masquerading on Halloween had its beginning. The folly of a life of selfishness would be the message pantomimed by the damned; the torment of waiting, the message of the souls from Purgatory; the delights of the beatific vision, the message of the Heaven-sent. Together they warned the living to heed the means of salvation before it was too late. Doubtless the presence of goblins and witches with cats (ancient symbols of the devil) were remnants of pagan times bespeaking to Christians of spirits loosed from hell to keep track of their own and herd them back at cockcrow.    The Irish have a story of how an old stingy man named Jack was too stingy to go to Heaven and too clever to go to Hell, so he has to spend eternity wandering the earth with a hallowed out pumpkin to light his way. Hence we have the term: jack-o-lantern.    Special thanks as well to the Catholic Education organization at: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/civilization/cc0070.html.    However you celebrate it, I hope you have a safe, enjoyable Halloween and Blessed Beltane or All Saints Day.    I hope to see you next time at the CoffeeKlatsch. Take care.