Showing posts with label winter solstice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter solstice. Show all posts

Tuesday 22 December 2020

Tommorow?

 

WALK WITH THE POETS.

My head has had enough of you,
you doomsday sooth-sayers, and
rationalists, that trap us in the world that is.
Go weave your tales of “can't be done”
to the dead, and those of no imagination.
I want to walk with the utopian,
the dreamer and the poet,
laugh with the child and sing with the wind.
Run with the deer, not with “the market trend”
Enough of, “this is the way it has to be”,
a world of poverty, wars and inequality.
Now, I'll create the world I want to see,
A world of sharing, peace and liberty.
I want the children to plan tomorrow,
the adult help them get there,
trees and flowers our treasured possessions,
with birds and animals their keepers.
Who wants a world that chains us to mortgages,
binds us to a labouring day, just to eat bread?
Who wants to spend their life, feeding fat-cats
while their own children go hungry?
No, this is not the world that has to be,
in our foolishness and misplaced trust,
this is a world that has slithered over us,
poisoning our mind, putrefying our spirit.
Let's call on the poet, let's welcome the dreamer,
let's take council with the utopian,
They'll help us create a better world for all.

          The shortest day and longest night of the year have past, the year is running to an end, how will we shape the new year? Will we crave to get back to the "old ways" the so called "normal", or will we seize this opportunity to sever the shackles of consumerism, break free from the deadening hand of the luxury yacht owning planet plunderers with their private little tax havens? There has never been a more opportune moment to make the change, shift our direction away from the exploiting profit seekers and look towards our communities, allow the corporate beasts to rot in the wilderness. We can create a world of mutual aid, co-operatives, skill sharing, DIY and swap-shops, etc., all built on sustainability, equality, dignity, freedom from the profit motive, and respect for all our people. In so doing we see an end to wars, deprivation and escape the pending ecological disaster that awaits us if we continue with the profit mongers greed driven plan for ever expanding consumerism. A plan that only feeds the pampered privileged parasite class and leads to a devastated ecosystem, unfit for habitation.
       The two roads are diametrically opposite each other, the choice of which we choose is up to us, if we continue to follow the state/corporate/consumerism path, we will deserve all we get, and I doubt our grandchildren will thank us for that tainted bitter heritage. We have to make that choice sooner rather than later, the egg timer is running out.

 

 IT'S TIME TO STORM HEAVEN.

Under the yoke of servitude we dragged our existence forward
For generations have fertilised the earth with our blood
Oiled the machinery of wealth with our sweat
We have produce bountiful harvests
A mountain of luxury
Yet
All we know is
Penury pain and poverty
Struggle laced with bitter anguish
Our hands have fashioned a pleasure palace
Feasts abundance frivolity and a sea of fetishes
For a merciless army that feeds on selfishness and greed
And though we dwell under the shadow of hell
We will shall never relinquish our dreams
In our hearts we nurture a better future
A softer world for all our children
Where poverty's claws
And war's ire
die
One day
Our righteous anger
Will smoulder and rumble
And cause the old world to tremble
Before exploding in a blast of social justice
We the people will storm the gates of an earthly heaven.
 
Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk   

Wednesday 18 December 2019

Gather at The Winter Solstice.

      2019 Winter Solstice is hovering on the near horizon, a time to get together, renew friendships, make new friends, as the light is being renewed to us. Try to see the world as you would like it to be, then work towards that as the light is returning, and beyond. Some friendly advice from my friend at Not Buying Anything:

      This weekend those of us in the northern hemisphere will experience the darkest day of the year. December 21, 2019 is Winter Solstice, the celestial holiday celebrated through the ages as the beginning of light.
      It is the oldest known winter celebration, and its influence can be seen in many of the ways we respond to this time of year today.
       Here are 10 natural and mostly free ways to enjoy this important day in our annual voyage around my favourite star in the whole Universe, the Sun.

10 Ways To Celebrate Winter Solstice

      1. Stay up all night to welcome the return of the light at daybreak (see Stargazing below). Whoever falls asleep first makes breakfast after the sun comes up.
     2. Decorate an outdoor edible Solstice Tree for wildlife. Strings of popcorn, suet balls, bird feeders, peanuts and other foods are appreciated by local animals during cold days and nights.
      3. On the night of Solstice light a candle. Make it your only light. Have a candle light dinner. Eat seasonal foods, drink seasonal beverages, and sing seasonal songs. Use care. With the candles and everything else.
     4. Eat a Solstice Orange. See if you can get the whole skin off without breaking it. Oranges at this time of year represent little, tasty orbs of sunlight. You can taste the photons in there.
      5. Stargaze. The Ursid meteor shower, considered a minor shower of 10 to 20 shooting stars per hour, peaks right at Solstice. It will be a nearly moonless sky, so viewing will be good if you have clear skies. Best viewing time is in the early hours Sunday morning.
       6. Light a bonfire. Or have a fire inside in your wood stove or fireplace. Can't do either? Settle in and watch a Yule log burning on video.
      7. Go out at noon on Solstice and throw a shadow, if it is sunny. Because the Sun is the lowest in the sky that it will get, your shadow at noontime will be the longest of the year on this day.
      8. Take a hike. Watch for signs of wildlife, and collect natural objects of beauty. Back at home, decorate a space with your items such as spruce twigs, winter berries, and animal scat (ok, kidding about the scat. But it is fun to see and identify what dropped it). Acorns and pine cones can add a nice touch (to the decorations, not the scat).
      9. Rest, recharge, go within. The dark days outside invite us to contemplate the dark space inside, between our ears. Be like bear and seek refuge in your hibernaculum. As you lay low, breathe and flow.
      10. Reflect. This is a great time to review the past year, and make your intentions known for the year ahead. What did you learn during the last trip around the Sun? Think about all the things you are grateful for in 2019, and about the richness of life that you will attract over the coming year.
      However you choose to celebrate at this time of year, chances are you will be enjoying something derived from the original Pagan winter Solstice rituals. That is because they are a meaningful and enduring part of an Earthling's experience.
      On the weekend we mark the changing of seasons, the return of the light, and our connection to both the past, each other, and the greater natural world.

Happy Solstice. 
Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Friday 21 December 2018

Pointless Consumerism Or Pleasurable Solstice?

        At this time of year it is difficult to escape the continuous onslaught of the pressure to indulge in pointless consumerism and the pressure to sink into excessive gluttony. It is the time of year when the corporate juggernaut gets desperate fearing that it hasn't stripped you of all your cash and loaded you with enough debt, to stuff their coffers. The wave of jingoism and totally misleading adverts form a goo that fogs the minds of many, especially the young and parents of the young, it is all about pressure and is difficult to escape. As usual, a few calming words of wisdom from Not Buying Anything. Happy solstice everybody.

      Winter solstice is one of my favourite events of the year, perhaps because I was born on this day almost 6 decades ago (that was fast). If I had delusions of grandeur, I might have thought that the light returned because I came into the world.
       "Did I do that?" Even if I am not responsible for this wondrous photonic turn of events, it is still a time of year that I cherish.
        First of all, solstice is a celebration that is based on observable facts, and I find that comforting in its solidity. One does not "believe" or "not believe" in this well established annual celestial occurrence.
        It is a celebration based on science, which can also be just as magical and amazing as any fabrication of the imagination. The rational part of my brain likes that this event is as real as it gets.
        Best of all is the fact that this is a celebration for everyone, and in a world that is increasingly fractured along religious, political, and tribal lines, such an event is of infinite value.
        Today we celebrate something that is 100% inclusive, even if our Southern Hemisphere brothers and sisters are celebrating the longest day of the year while we celebrate the shortest.
       It is solstice everywhere on the planet, and the wonder of nature joins us all together in one great human family on the best home in the known universe.
      Now, the light returns, and I find that pretty amazing, even if I didn't do it. Happy solstice, my human family, wherever you happen to be. This is a celebration for everyone.
      Note: In lieu of sending a birthday present, please donate to a charity of your choice. I don't need, or want, anything (although a cure for multiple sclerosis would be nice, and the permanent end of war would be brilliant).
 
Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sunday 12 November 2017

Revolt In Songs.



 
     The winter solstice is approaching and Spirit of Revolt have organised an evening of song, music, poetry and general merry making, to take place on December 20th 2017. By coming along you will have a night to remember, meet like minded people, make new friends, and at the same time be helping to support the Spirit of Revolt Archive. A unique and extensive resource of anarchist and libertarian-socialist history, I doubt if you will find a more comprehensive collection of this type of history anywhere in Scotland. To continue to expand this excellent resource, please come along and enjoy yourself while lending support to all the volunteers who make Spirit of Revolt what it is, a unique and living record of your history, with no connection to political parties or trade unions, an independent grass-roots history.
REVOLT in SONGS
An evening of radical and dissenting songs, music and sound poetry. If you would like to perform please respond below or email hereandnowscot@gmail.com (send cc to info@spiritofrevolt.info)
Venue: Old Hair Dressers, 20-28, Renfield Lane, G2 6PH. 6:45 -11pm. 
Artists include:
Dirt Roadsters
Jim Ferguson
Rab Fulton
James Kelman (tbc)
Brendan McLaughlin (more to be named)

Or turn up on the night and perform on the open mic.

£5 entry (or £10 including fundraiser donation to SOR)

http://spiritofrevolt.info/
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Wednesday 4 January 2012

IN A POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD.


and now for something completely different---.

Friends,

       I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to my friends and colleagues, but it is difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone.

      So I met with my lawyer yesterday, and on advice, I wish to say the following:

    Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious, secular persuasions and or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

     I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2012, but not without due respect for the calendar of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that it is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

    By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:

     This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her, him or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. The wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Best Regards (without prejudice)

Name withheld (Privacy Act).