Mother Cabrini Shrine Golden Colorado

Mother Cabrini Shrine Golden Colorado
 
Uploaded by DYNORECORDINGS

A walk up the 400+ steps at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden Colorado on a beautiful Summer day. I have made the climb many time and its is not as easy as it looks....but well worth it


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I wanted to add here that this is an impressive monument. Not a large gaudy structure, but an interesting outdoor assent up towards the sky. Also, just the location, in the middle of North America, and apparently at a higher elevation than Denver. Perfect. Good video. I would really like to visit this shrine; and much more so than Mother Cabrini's displayed remains. Actually, the main stature is of Jesus, but there's a relatively large Mother Cabrini statue there as well.

MotherCabriniShrine.org

Mother Cabrini Shrine Colorado view at entrance (views from a distance)

MOTHER CABRINI SHRINE (more complete video on a more crowded day)

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Everything you need to know: Harvest Moon 2012

Everything you need to know: Harvest Moon 2012 (EarthSky.org)

The Harvest Moon is coming! Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. It’s the full moon of September 29-30.

The Harvest Moon is coming this weekend! The moon has been waxing larger each night, and full moon is the night of September 29-30, 2012. In traditional skylore, the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the autumnal equinox came on September 22. That makes the September 29-30 full moon the Harvest Moon.

Order your 2013 moon calendar today.

There’s also a name for the next full moon after the Harvest Moon. It’s called the Hunter’s Moon, and it’ll come this year on October 29.

Officially, the crest of the full Harvest Moon will happen on September 29, 2012 at 10:19 p.m. CDT (3:19 on September 30 Universal Time). Depending upon your time zone, the full moon will be September 29 or 30. But the moon will appear round and full on all the nights around this full moon.

So don’t just look for the Harvest Moon on the night of September 29 or 30. Look for the moon to be bright and full-looking for several nights at the end of September, 2012. If you live far enough north – for example, in the northern states, Canada or Alaska – the Harvest Moon will continue to shine from dusk until dawn into early October. This procession of moonlit nights is what characterizes the Harvest Moon.


Why is the Harvest Moon special?

Harvest Moon is just a name. It’s the name for the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll always see the Harvest Moon in either September or October. In the Southern Hemisphere, a moon with these same characteristics always comes in March or April.

But the Harvest Moon is more. Nature is particularly cooperative around the time of the autumn equinox to make the full moonrises unique around this time.

Here’s what happens. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. But when a full moon happens close to the autumnal equinox, the moon (at mid-temperate latitudes) rises only about 30 minutes later daily for several days before and after the full Harvest moon. Why? The reason is that the ecliptic – or the moon’s orbital path – makes a narrow angle with the evening horizon around the time of the autumn equinox. The narrow angle of the ecliptic results in a shorter-than-usual rising time between successive moonrises around the full Harvest Moon.

These early evening moonrises are what make every Harvest Moon special. Every full moon rises around sunset. After the full Harvest Moon, you’ll see the moon ascending in the east relatively soon after sunset for several days in a row at northerly latitudes. The lag time between successive moonrises shrinks to a yearly minimum, as described in the paragraph above. Because of this, it seems as if there are several full moons – for several nights in a row – around the time of the Harvest Moon.

Want to know the time of moonrise in your location? My favorite source of that information is this Custom Sunrise Sunset Calendar. Once you get to that page, be sure to click the box for ‘moon phases’ and ‘moonrise and moonset times.’



Is the Harvest Moon bigger, or brighter or more colorful?

Not necessarily, but the actual size of the Harvest Moon depends on the year. The Harvest Moon has the reputation of being especially big and bright and orange. But it isn’t really the Harvest Moon’s size or brightness that distinguishes it from other full moons. In fact, the 2012 Harvest Moon is a touch smaller than an average-sized full moon.

Still, you might think otherwise. That’s because the Harvest Moon has such a powerful mystique. Many people look for it shortly after sunset around the time of full moon. After sunset around any full moon, the moon will always be near the horizon. It’ll just have risen. It’s the location of the moon near the horizon that causes the Harvest Moon – or any full moon – to look big and orange in color.

The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It stems from the fact that – when you look toward the horizon – you are looking through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze up and overhead. The atmosphere scatters blue light – that’s why the sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So a moon near the horizon takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue.

The bigger-than-usual size of a moon seen near the horizon is something else entirely. It’s a trick that your eyes are playing – an illusion – called the Moon Illusion. You can lengthy explanations of the Moon Illusion by googling those words yourself.


How the Harvest Moon got its name

So why is this moon – the moon closest to the autumnal equinox – called the Harvest Moon?

The shorter-than-usual time between moonrises around the full Harvest Moon means no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise for days in succession. In the days before tractor lights, the lamp of the Harvest Moon helped farmers to gather their crops, despite the diminishing daylight hours. As the sun’s light faded in the west, the moon would soon rise in the east to illuminate the fields throughout the night.

Who named the Harvest Moon? That name probably sprang to the lips of farmers throughout the Northern Hemisphere, on autumn evenings, as the Harvest Moon aided in bringing in the crops. The name was popularized in the early 20th century by the song below.


Shine On Harvest Moon
By Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth (1903) 
Shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky,
I ain’t had no lovin’
Since January, February, June or July
Snow time ain’t no time to stay
Outdoors and spoon,
So shine on, shine on harvest moon,
For me and my gal.
 
Bottom line: The Harvest Moon will come in late September in 2012. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which in 2012 comes on September 22. So the full moon of September 29-30 is 2012′s Harvest Moon. October 1 will have a beautiful bright full-looking moon, too. The Harvest Moon is not really bigger, brighter or more pumpkin-colored than other full moons, but it’s special because, at this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, the time between successive moonrises is shorter than usual. Enjoy.


This week is the “harvest moon.” What does this mean exactly, and what is the “hunter moon” that comes next? (Dictionary.com)

The gigantic, orange globe sitting on the horizon may look like a celestial pumpkin, but it will actually be the harvest moon. (It is also known as the wine moon, the singing moon, or the elk call moon.)

The harvest moon happens once a year. It is the full moon nearest to the autumnal equinox. This lunar phenomenon is often mistaken for the hunter’s moon.  The hunter’s moon, which is also known as the blood or sanguine moon, is the first full moon after the harvest moon.

All full moons make their appearance around the time of sunset. But unlike the ascension of other full moons, there is no period of darkness between sunset and the moonrise of the harvest moon.

This special moon got its name because the immediate moonlight allowed farmers to continue harvesting even after the sun had set.

(If you ever get an email claiming that it will look like there are two moons in the sky, arm yourself with information; here’s the real story.)

The harvest moon can seem larger, brighter, more colorful, and just all around more dramatic than the moon we’re used to seeing. The lovely, autumn color of the harvest on the horizon is caused by light from the moon passing through a greater amount of atmospheric particles. This is true for all celestial bodies when they are low in the sky.

Don’t be alarmed if you experience what’s known as Moon Illusion. This is an optical illusion noted since ancient times where the moon appears larger closer to the horizon than it does higher up in the sky.

On lunar topics, consider the word honeymoon. What does the “moon” part of it actually refer to? It’s not a happy story, but it is fun. Learn the answer, here


Harvest Moon (Wikipedia)

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Pagan Metal: A Documentary

Pagan Metal: A Documentary

Uploaded by MVDmusicvideo on Oct 18, 2011

First ever documentary about pagan/folk metal from the mind of Bill Zebub (Grimoire of Exalted Deeds magazine, Metal Retardation DVD). - Pagan/Folk Metal has been growing in popularity, and has overthrown Black Metal in Europe. These bands have tested the American shores and have played sold-out shows. The time has come to explore this invasion. This is the first documentary about Pagan/Folk Metal that has ever been made, and it features the best bands from the genre: Korpiklaani, Primordial, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Leaves Eyes, Turisas, and Tyr. Enjoy live performances, learn about the subcultures, and gain insight into the music. The artists give cordial and informative interviews - you will feel like you have made new friends. Two hours of metal await you! From the twisted mind of Bill Zebub (Grimoire of Exalted Deeds magazine, Metal Retardation, Breaking Her Will).

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If you can endure the strange/cheesy first four and a half minutes, this is a fairly decent documentary about pagan/folk metal from Scandinavia and Ireland. Remember, this is "native cultural identity music" (pre-Christian). Even if you don't like metal, look for other types of identity music. Some even have a Christian/Catholic theme; and if you find something you like, then support it.

As far as pagan-folk metal, it's not unlike the heavy metal era in the 80s. Some of it good, a lot of it not so good. I think the best one I've heard so far is a band--covered here before--from Barcelona called the Crystalmoors, who play Gaulish-themed metal.

Lastly, you'd be surprised at the sub-culture of this type of music in North America. These bands do tour all around, and we don't generally even hear about it, but they attract good audiences. One good thing about YouTube is that in many cases, they have automatic links on band-specific videos, where you can see where they may be playing near you.

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Atrium Animae: Atmospheric Neoclassical Darkwave

Atrium Animae is a newer, still little-known band from Italy, which according to the pagan music review blog 'Vampires & Mortals', represents a sub-genre called "Atmospheric Neoclassical Darkwave." Now I know that a lot of black, pagan, Celtic, Viking, Gothic, folk, etc. metal is rough. However, this band captures something different. It is dark in the sense of a dark-clouded rainy winter day. It's not exactly Gothic, although some of the Gothic music I find very interesting. It seems to combine, to me, the heroic Germanic/Odinic ethic with a dark-themed "Gaulish" vent---to coin a term---within a more-or-less classical-style. Apparently, some of the songs have a Catholic origin. Just for the record, there's a big, big difference between symbolism which is dark in nature (the night, somber, foreboding, winter, rain, etc.), and something dark-hearted. Now, some types of metal, black metal, Satanic metal, do indeed go down this path; however it's important to make this distinction.

Atrium Animae made a splash within pagan music with their album 'Dies Arae', and especially the song 'Angelum Abyssi', which I could not find posted anywhere online. I heard it on PaganRadio.net. Their offical website is http://www.atriumanimae.com/; and they have a MySpace page in which you can listen to some of their music. They have a facebook page, which has many links to online reviews which reflect that they did make quite a hit with last years release; and was considered one of the years best in it's genre. Their facebook page defines the genre as "Neoclassical, Darkwave, Ethereal, Classical, Gothic, Ritual" and as "Symphonic, Neoclassical, Ethereal, Heavenly Voices with strong influences from classical and spiritual music." Projekt Darkwave is the record label of the band. I'm new to pagan music, so a lot of this is new to me. I wanted to also add a link to their song 'Rex Gloriae'. I find myself asking myself, is this music that good, or am I merely being smitten by something new? I think, for me, mostly the former. It's just like anything else, if you like something, and want to see more of it, you vote with your pocketbook.

From the pagan website 'The Wild Hunt':

The Italian band Atrium Animae was formed in 2007, their name is “considered as a symbolic representation of the passage from physical world toward an immaterial world.” The heavenly soprano of Alessia Cicala, a member of the band Chirleison, partnered with the compositions of Massimiliano Picconi, together create music on their debut “Dies Irae” that is stately in its atmosphere, a sacred enveloping that is almost funerial in outlook. Or as the band’s promotional material puts it: “A symbolic voyage in a silent wasteland made of treachery, defeat and spiritual hunger. A world where the locked embrace of loss and despair are represented through a reinterpretation of passages taken from religious and pagan texts.”

There are so many review sites, which is a good thing, but I can't put it all here; but I would like to put one from 'The Morton Report'.

Newly Released Album, Dies Irae, From Atrium Animae

With Dead Can Dance-like etherealism...
 

June 15, 2011
 

By Matt Rowe, Columnist

If you remember the gorgeous, brave, old world and another culture musical compositions of Dead Can Dance, then you remember how fixated you were on the combined talents of Brendan Perry and otherworldly vocalist Lisa Gerrard. Understood. Together, they crafted some of the most intriguing songs ever to be adopted by a hungry audience of music lovers, the largest ever for the kind of music Dead Can Dance produced.

Funereal and gothically-tinged, Dead Can Dance opened the pipe for tolerance of a new kind of music. Because they willingly approached music from a cultural standpoint, recreating until they found a common ground between the new music fan and those that are inured to the kind of underlying musical qualities found in classical works, they found a steadfast audience. In turn, they set the path for other bands.

Atrium Animae is an Italian duo, formed to express the kind of music that early-era Dead Can Dance embraced. The male component of Atrium Animae, Massimmiliano Picconi, is the keyboardist and master of the programming aspects supplied to the album. The stunning, layered female vocal work is the work of Alessia Cicala. Alessia Cicala was vocally trained in Conservatoire, and brings her haunting operatic soprano to the newly released 'Dies Irae' (June 14 via Projekt Records).

'Dies Irae' contains seven tracks of intensity, musically characterized by ancient Catholic religious rites often heard in films depicting such rites. The music explores authenticity in every corner of its dark and apocalyptic airs of foreboding wrath. The lyrics, drawn from antiquity, add an otherworldly quality. There is little to compare the grand content of 'Dies Irae' to other than the potential comparison of 'Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun' (1987) from Dead Can Dance, as well as choice selections of other tunes from various early DCD albums. Suffice it to say that 'Dies Irae' is a meticulous exercise in a world completely unlike our present one.

The music heard on 'Dies Irae' is not for everyone. It might not even be for you. But if you listened admiringly to anything by the greatly missed Dead Can Dance, then you'll find something to appreciate here in this bold, new album by a band that insists on being who they are. The goal here is to put up a new signpost leading to a new discovery for you. Hopefully, you'll be intrigued.

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'The Alpine Goddess' (an original new poem)

'The Alpine Goddess'

Oh Lady Reitia
The goddess of health
To your people
There was no greater wealth

You reigned from the frost of the mighty Alps
To the warmth of the sunny Adriatic
Your ancient shrine in the Euganean Hills
Still proudly stands emblematic

They left you offerings of pottery, metal, and inscription
And called you “the good and kind”
Which even today show us
Where you stood in your peoples’ mind

The winds of time have faded your memory
However, your place in history has been sewn
Although some may hold onto hope
That you may still be watching over your own

--by Camunlynx

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'Into the Night' (an original new poem)

'Into the Night'

The Goddess Nyx calls out to me
"Come into the arms of the night"
Into the water of the deep sea
Without so much as a fight

I feel the cloak of her stars
holding me secure and close
To her who holds me near and far

And never to listen to those
who would say that I should stray
From what I feel in my heart
For in my life who are they
Who have been there from the start

 


The Gods and Goddesses who be
The light and way of my heart
Through all they always see me
They've been there from the start

--by Suzanne, our friend in Mississippi

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Greta Cicolari and olympic beach volleyball

Probably like a lot of people, I find the London Olympics to be a bit overwhelming. So many sports, over several weeks, ambiguous scheduling, and multiple channels covering it. So I have caught a few events here and there.

Yesterday I was watching the American womens beach volleyball team of May and Walsh against the Italian team of Cicolari and Menegatti. I didn't specifically watch it because they were playing "Italy." Beach volleyball, especially the women's game, has become very popular in recent years; and not only because they play in what amounts to bikinis.

May and Walsh are going for their third straight Olympic gold metals, and may be the best team in the history of woman's beach volleyball. Greta Cicolari was born, and lives in Bergamo; and amazingly, the 29 year old only started playing the sport three years ago. The other young woman, Marta Menegatti, is from the Veneto, and is only 21 years old. She grew up idolizing Misty May. Cicolari and Menegatti gave a pretty good account of themselves, but May and Walsh were always one or two steps ahead of them.

There are many great athletes from the Cisalpine north, and they always do very well in the Olympics; but it was still nice to see a Lombardian woman competing on the top level last night. It's also inspiring to see any person take up a new passion and quickly excel at it. May and Walsh appear to be headed for their third gold, but the Brazilian team and the other American team are very good.

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