Monthly Archives: March 2018

Nowadays, whenever we hear the term Bacchanalia getting thrown about it is typically used to describe wild partying that has gotten way out of control. In the popular imagination, the Bacchanalia are often characterized by frantic participants moshing together in a pit of sexual orgies.

The Bacchanalia were free-spirited and sexually charged festivals that involved pagan mysticism, wild sex and divine communion which allowed its celebrants’ to achieve states of euphoria that hovered between divine ecstasy and the oblivion of nothingness. Those who have spent a week at one of the Hedonism resorts in Jamaica would probably find the sexually charged atmosphere of the Bacchanalia remarkably familiar.

The cult of Bacchus was a mystery religion that originated in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and spread throughout Greece and into southern Italy where it became extremely popular among the Romans. Despite their notoriety, not much is known about the Bacchanalia. This is largely due to the fact that mystery religions were closed to the uninitiated and their inner-workings kept secret from the outside world. However, scholars have managed to piece together fragments from ancient legal documents, historical texts and plays that can help give us a glimpse into the bacchanalian festivities.

The Bacchanalia first appeared in Greece around 700 BC and eventually found their way into Italy around the fourth century BC. The first bacchanals were held twice yearly in the middle of winter and were reserved for girls and women who performed their rites naked. By the time Rome had become the preeminent power in the Mediterranean after their victory over Carthage in the Second Punic War (202 BC), the rituals had opened up considerably making them quite popular with the natives.

Admission was extended to men and people of all social classes; even slaves could even join in on the fun. With the increased popularity, celebrations were taking place as often as five times a month.

The time and location of the bacchanals were usually closely guarded secrets. Priests and priestesses preferred to hold their gatherings in secluded forests where their privacy could be ensured. On the day of the festival, devotees would prepare some goats by painting their horns gold. Special torches dipped in sulphur and charcoal was also made. Devotees often wore fawn skins that emulated forest animals. Skimpy outfits or even complete nudity was also par for the course. Participants would often carry along their favorite sex toy; women would bring sexy wands while men might bring along a wooden phallus.

After nightfall celebrants would proceed to a forest clearing by dancing to the sounds of crashing cymbals and loud music. Once the celebrants arrived at the appointed place, they could be seen quaffing down wine, dancing, leaping, whirling, screaming and generally working themselves up into a frenzied state. They would inspire each other into ever greater acts of ecstasy, whereby the whole scene would descend into a writhing mosh pit of sexual orgies.

The aim was to achieve a heightened state of ecstasy in which the devotee’s souls would be temporarily freed from their physical existence. It was in these moments that the worshipers hoped to commune with Bacchus and obtain a glimpse of what they would someday meet in the afterlife after their resurrection.

The festival would reach its climax with frantic feats of strength and ecstasy, such as ripping trees out of the ground and eating the raw flesh of their sacrificial animals. The latter act was a sacrament similar to communion where the devotees assumed the identity of Bacchus. By symbolically drinking his blood and eating his body, the devotees believed they became one with Bacchus.

The euphoric devotees would then rush over to the banks of a nearby river with their flaming torches and dip them into the water. Since their torches were made with sulfur and charcoal, they would emerge from the water still burning, a symbol of Bacchus’s power.

Source: The Bacchanalian

According to some pagan calendars, March 8 is designated as the Chinese Birthday of Mother Earth. A Chinese holy day, dedicated to Mother Earth. Here’s a cool meditation I found for today, and for any day when you want to establish a closer connection to the Earth Mother.

BE ONE WITH THE MOTHER

The Real Challenge for Humans at This Time is to be one with the Mother. There are so many Considerations for This, It Bears Deep Reflection. To Which Mother Are We Referring? As well as the Divine Mother, We Mean The Earth Mother. Your Physical Body Form Comes Directly From the Earth Mother Herself. It IS Her Body. All the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and trace minerals and metals Are Her Bodily Constituents.

She Envelops You While Your Soul Resides in This or Any Physical Form. In This Way You Are Always One With the Mother, Whether You Feel and Know It or not. Why not Feel, Sense, Be the Oneness with The Earth Mother’s Body and Energies?

You Can Feel the Oneness With the Earth Mother In Many Ways.

Let Her Spine (North Pole-Crown to South Pole-Root) BE INSIDE Your Spine. Let Her Elements Be Your Elements and make-up.

Become All the FIVE ELEMENTS.

FEEL All the Element EARTH, with All the Continents, Rock Shelves, Ocean Beds, Topsoil INSIDE Your Physical Body.

BE the Element FIRE by FEELING the Flow of Hot Lava Inside Your Spine, Your Stomach, Digestive Systems and Internal Organs Especially Liver, Kidneys, Gall Bladder, Spleen. Feel the Golden, Spiritual Lava flowing through Your Heart Out to the Universe.

BE the Element WATER, so that All the Oceans, Lakes and Rivers of the World are Flowing in Your Arteries, Veins, Blood and Energy Meridians. Feel The Fullness of the Tides Moving You.

BE the Element AIR, currents of Hot, Warm, Cool or Cold Air Movements Inside the Lungs and the Energy Meridians Throughout Your Body, as well as on Your Skin.

Be the Element ETHER whereby the Magneto-Electrical Energy Lines and Grid Patterns of Mother Earth Flow Constantly From Crown of Head to Fingers to Toes. This Consistently Heals, Cleanses, Purifies, Re-Orients, Revisions and Intergalactically Expands You As You Take In Cosmic Rays From Source and Important Stars, Galaxies and Nebulae Around the Universes.

Only When You Have Completed the Moment-to-Moment FULLEST Experience of Being One With the Earth Mother will You Feel Safe In Being the Love You Are While In the Physical Form.

Welcome Home!

Found in: Babaji – Mantras Chants Meditations and Messages

Different countries and cultural traditions have different names for this day. Popular names include Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Tłusty Czwartek, Fasnacht Day, Tuesday of Carnival, Fat Tuesday, and Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of Shrovetide.

Pancake Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9. In 2019 Pancake Tuesday will fall on March 5th.

During Lent, which begins the next day (Ash Wednesday), rich foods are not eaten; therefore the day before pancakes, donuts and other treats are cooked to use up the ingredients in the house. Pancake Tuesday was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients.

Pancakes are eaten with a sprinkling of sugar, and they are served with syrup. The day celebrated by excessive pancake devouring is observed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Poland, Sweden, and in parts of the United States.

Today just might be the perfect day to take a look at the following posts about pancakes:

What are pancakes?

A pancake is a thin, flat cake, made of batter and fried in a frying pan. A traditional English pancake is very thin and is served immediately. Golden syrup or lemon juice and caster sugar are the usual toppings for pancakes.

The pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 1439. The tradition of tossing or flipping them is almost as old:

And every man and maide doe take their turne,
And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne.”

~Pasquil’s Palin, 1619.

The ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolize four points of significance at this time of year:

  • Eggs ~ Creation
  • Flour ~ The staff of life
  • Salt ~ Wholesomeness
  • Milk ~ Purity

To make 8 or so pancakes you will need the following:

  • 8oz plain flour,
  • 2 large eggs,
  • 1 pint milk,
  • salt.

Mix all together and whisk well. Leave to stand for 30 minutes. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, pour in enough batter to cover the base of the pan and let it cook until the base of the pancake has browned. Then shake the pan to loosen the pancake and flip the pancake over to brown the other side.

Pancake Races

In the UK, pancake races form an important part of the Shrove Tuesday celebrations – an opportunity for large numbers of people, often in fancy dress, to race down streets tossing pancakes. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first, carrying a frying pan with a cooked pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run.

The most famous pancake race takes place at Olney in Buckinghamshire. According to tradition, in 1445 a woman of Olney heard the shriving bell while she was making pancakes and ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan. The Olney pancake race is now world famous. Competitors have to be local housewives and they must wear an apron and a hat or scarf.

Each contestant has a frying pan containing a hot pancake. She must toss it three times during the race. The first woman to complete the course and arrive at the church, serve her pancake to the bellringer and be kissed by him, is the winner.

At Westminster School in London, the annual Pancake Grease is held. A verger from Westminster Abbey leads a procession of boys into the playground where the school cook tosses a huge pancake over a five-metre high bar. The boys then race to grab a portion of the pancake and the one who ends up with the largest piece receives a cash bonus from the Dean.

Source: Historic UK

In Alaska’s wackiest race, racers have their choice of four different “herds” in a mad dash down the streets of Anchorage in an effort to outrun reindeer. The dates vary, in 2019, the race occurs on March 2. It looks pretty crazy! Here are some more pics:

2019 marks the 12th year for this internationally acclaimed event, which raises funds for Toys for Tots. Join the world and Alaska by running or watching this favorite Rondy event.

If an image has posted without permission please leave a comment and I will happily remove it, replace it, give credit, link love ~ whatever you prefer.

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I think it's time to go shopping... maybe even buy some really cool stuff at my online shops!!

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