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December 20 Chinese Winter Solstice (China) Xi Hou Themes: Kinship; Longevity; Unity; Divination; Weather Symbols: Sunlight; Gold Dragons About Xi Hou: As the Chinese mother of the sun, this goddess joins our festivities today to celebrate her child's rebirth. Each morning, Xi Hou diligently bathes one of ten suns in the lake of creation so it can shine in purity, and then she puts it on top of the trees, where it's received by a dragon chariot that moves the sun across the sky. To Do Today: Consider following Chinese custom, and rejoice in the solstice by gathering in the kitchen with your housemates and leaving offerings of chopsticks, oranges, incense, and candles for unity and logn life for all those gathered. Open a curtain to let the sunlight flood in, then thank Xi Hou for her child and its warmth. Also, at some point during the day, enjoy some Oriental-style dumplings (dim sum) for kinship. Among the favorite activities today are weather prophecies. Go outside and see what direction the wind is coming from. As east wind portends trouble, west winds indicate teh ripening of an effort or a good grain crop, south winds counsel watching your money, as the harvest will be poor (don't invest in crop shares!), and north winds foretell bounty. Red clouds reveal that your personal energy will wane and droughts may follow, black clouds predict floods, yellow clouds precede prosperity and abundant crops, and white clouds reveal arguments or wars. |
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Kwan Yin Esoteric Attributes are those of compassion, healing, and centering. She lives in the heart, chakra, standing in full acceptance, relishing joy and wrapping you in her unconditional love. Mantra: Compassion Gemstones: Rose quartz, pink tourmaline, emerald (pink or green stones) Affirmations: I am love I radiate love I receive love willingly I am tolerant of everyone around me I have great joy, and therefore great energy My peace is shared peace I am weightless and liberated of burden I deserve love and compassion and allow myself to receive them Her Story Kwan Yin, Mother of Compassion in ancient Chinese culture, blows gently into your life, and should be welcomed as an eternal source of comfort and peace. Kwan Yin's values are about co-operation, sharing, balance, harmony and partnership; she is highly sensitive and aware. KwanYin is light and weightless - qualities that result from highly tuned values of tolerance and acceptance. Her Modern Energy: What a joy to have Kwan Yin visit you today. Try closing your eyes. Visualize Kwan Yin resting with the world on one shoulder, and her cheek resting against it. She sees you, and you are drawn to the love radiating from her heart. She shows you how to take the world from your shoulders, hold it in your hands, and dance joyful, carefree circles. You see the earth's water rippling, the leaves in the trees blowing, the birds soaring without effort. Know this is happening purely thanks to your joy. Do This: When you walk through each day, remember Kwan Yin's presence whenever you see the soaring birds, the rustling leaves, the rippling waters. Use these triggers as a reminder to take the world off your shoulders, and to dance with abandon, with your face to the skies and your arms in the air. Pay it Forward Today Love and delight This webset page was created by MadAmethyst using one of the many auto-scripters available at Chat_Central_Gateway All rights reserved KENDOC 2005 | | | | | | |
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September 14 Keiro no Hi (Japan) Ame No Uzume Themes: Honor; Longevity; Wisdom; Pyschic Abilities; Prosperity; Protection; Kingship Symbols: Antique Items; Aged Wines or Cheeses (anything that grows better over time); Sacred Dances About Ame no Uzume: A Japanese ancestral goddess, Ame no Uzume's magick is that of generating a long, happy life for her followers. Shinto festivals in her honor include special dances that invoke the goddess's favor for longevity, honor, prosperity, protection, and a close-knit family. In some areas, people also turn to her for foresight, considering Ame no Uzume the patroness of psychic mediums. To Do Today: Join with people in Japan and celebrate the wisdom that longevity brings in this festival for the aged. If there is an elder in your family or magick community who has influenced your life positively, pray to Ame no Uzume for that person's ongoing health and protection. Go see that individual and say thank you. The gesture greatly pleases this goddess, who will shower blessings on you, too! To gain Ame no Uzume's insight in your psychic efforts, find an antique item that you can wear during readings, like a skelton key (to "fit" any psychic doorway). Empower this token, saying, Ame no Uzume, open my inner eyes, help me to see! Let nothing be hidden that needs to be known, when'er I speak this magickal poem. Touch the key and recite your power phrase, the incantation, before reading. |
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  ne of the deities most frequently seen on altars in China's temples is Quan Yin (also spelled Kwan Yin, Kuanyin; in pinyin,  Guanyin). In Sanskrit, her name is Padma-pâni, or "Born of the Lotus." Quan Yin, alone among Buddhist gods, is loved rather than feared and is the model of Chinese beauty. Regarded by the Chinese as the goddess of mercy, she was originally male until the early part of the 12th century and has evolved since that time from her prototype, Avalokiteshvara, "the merciful lord of utter enlightment," an Indian bodhisattva who chose to remain on earth to bring relief to the suffering rather than enjoy for himself the ecstasies of Nirvana. One of the several stories surrounding Quan Yin is that she was a Buddhist who through great love and sacrifice during life, had earned the right to enter Nirvana after death. However, like Avlokiteshvara, while standing before the gates of Paradise she heard a cry of anguish from the earth below. Turning back to earth, she renounced her reward of bliss eternal but in its place found immortality in the hearts of the suffering. In China she has many names and is also known as "great mercy, great pity; salvation from misery, salvation from woe; self-existent; thousand arms and thousand eyes," etc. In addition she is often referred to as the Goddess of the Southern Sea -- or Indian Archipelago -- and has been compared to the Virgin Mary. She is one of the San Ta Shih, or the Three Great Beings, renowned for their power over the animal kingdom or the forces of nature. These three Bodhisattvas or P'u Sa as they are know in China, are namely Manjusri (Skt.) or Wên Shu, Samantabhadra or P'u Hsien, and Avalokitesvara or Quan Yin.
Quan Yin is a shortened form of a name that means One Who Sees and Hears the Cry from the Human World. Her Chinese title signifies, "She who always observes or pays attention to sounds," i.e., she who hears prayers. Sometimes possessing eleven heads, she is surnamed Sung-Tzu-Niang-Niang, "lady who brings children." She is goddess of fecundity as well as of mercy. Worshipped especially by women, this goddess comforts the troubled, the sick, the lost, the senile and the unfortunate. Her popularity has grown such through the centuries that she is now also regarded as the protector of seafarers, farmers and travelers. She cares for souls in the underworld, and is invoked during post-burial rituals to free the soul of the deceased from the torments of purgatory. There are temples all over China dedicated to this goddess, and she is worshipped by women in South China more than in the North, on the 19th day of the 2nd, 6th and 9th moons. (For example, it is a prevalent birth custom in Foochow that when a family has a daughter married since the 15th day of the previous year, who has not yet given birth to a male infant, a present of several articles is sent to her by her relatives on a lucky day between the 5th and 14th of the first month. The articles sent are as follows: a paper lantern bearing a picture of the Goddess of Mercy, Quan Yin, with a child in her arms, and the inscription, "May Quan Yin present you with a son"; oysters in an earthenware vessel; rice-cakes; oranges; and garlic.) Worshippers ask for sons, wealth, and protection. She can bring children (generally sons, but if the mother asks for a daughter she will be beautiful), protect in sorrow, guide seamen and fishermen (thus we see her "crossing the waves" in many poses), and render harmless the spears of an enemy in battle. Her principal temple on the island of Putuoshan, in the Chusan Archipelago off the Zhejiang coast near Ningbo, is a major pilgrimage site sacred to the Buddhists, the worship of Quan Yin being its most prominent feature on account of the fact that the Goddess is said to have resided there for nine years, reigning as the Queen of the Southern Seas. The full name of the island is P'u t'o lo ka, from Mount Pataloka, whence the Goddess, in her transformation as Avalokiteshvara, looks down upon mankind. Miao Feng Shan (Mount of the Wondrous Peak) attracts large numbers of pilgrims, who use rattles and fireworks to emphasize their prayers and attract her attention. In 847, the first temple of Quan Yin was built on this island. By 1702, P'u Tuo had four hundred temples and three thousand monks, and was the destination of countless pilgrims. (By 1949, however, P'u Tuo was home to only 140 monasteries and temples.)
No other figure in the Chinese pantheon appears in a greater variety of images, of which there are said to be thousands of different incarnations or manifestations. Quan Yin is usually depicted as a barefoot, gracious woman dressed in beautiful, white flowing robes, with a white hood gracefully draped over the top of the head and carrying a small upturned vase of holy dew. (However, in the Lamaistic form, common in bronze from eighteenth-century China and Tibet, she is often entirely naked.) She stands tall and slender, a figure of infinite grace, her gently composed features conveying the sublime selflessness and compassion that have made her the favorite of  all deities. She may be seated on an elephant, standing on a fish, nursing a baby, holding a basket, having six arms or a thousand, and one head or eight, one atop the next, and four, eighteen, or forty hands, which which she strives to alleviate the sufferings of the unhappy. She is frequently depicted as riding a mythological animal known as the Hou, which somewhat resembles a Buddhist lion, and symbolises the divine supremacy exercised by Quan Yin over the forces of nature. Her bare feet are the consistent quality. On public altars, Quan Yin is frequently flanked by two acolytes, to her right a barefoot, shirtless youth with his hands clasped in prayer known as Shan-ts'ai (Golden Youth), and on her left a maid demurely holding her hands together inside her sleeves known as Lung-nü (Jade Maiden). Her principal feast occurs yearly on the nineteenth day of the second lunar month. However, she is fortunate in having three birthdays, the nineteenth of the second, sixth and ninth months. There are many metamorphoses of this goddess. She is the model of Chinese beauty, and to say a lady or a little girl is a Kwan Yin is the highest compliment that can be paid to grace and loveliness.
According to one ancient legend her name was Miao Shan, and she was the daughter of an Indian Prince. Youthful and serene, she chose to follow a path of self-sacrifice and virtue, and became a pious follower of Buddha, herself attaining the right to budddhahood but remaining on earth to help mankind. In order to convert her blind father, she visited him transfigured as a stranger, and informed him that were he to swallow an eyeball of one of his children, his sight would be restored. His children would not consent to the necessary sacrifice, whereupon the future goddess created an eye which her parent swallowed and he regained his sight. She then persuaded her father to join the Buddhist priesthood by pointing out the folly and vanity of a world in which children would not even sacrifice an eye for the sake of a parent. 
Another Miao Shan legend was that the son of the dragon king had taken the form of a carp and was caught by a fisherman and displayed for sale in the market place. Miao Shan sent her servant to buy the fish and released it.
As related in yet another legend Quan Yin was said to be the daughter of a sovereign of the Chou dynasty, who strenously opposed her wish to be a nun, and was so irritated by her refusal to marry that he put her to humiliating tasks in the convent. This means of coercion failed, and her father then ordered her to be executed for disobedience to his wishes. But the executioner, a man of tender heart and some forethought, brought it about that the sword which was to descend upon her should break into a thousand pieces. Her father thereupon ordered her to be stifled. As the story goes, she forthwith went to Hell, but on her arrival the flames were quenched and flowers burst into bloom. Yama, the presiding officer, looked on in dismay at what seemed to be the summary abolition of his post, and in order to keep his position he sent her back to life again. Carried in the fragrant heart of a lotus flower she went to the island of Putuo, near Ningbo. One day her father fell ill and according to a Chinese custom, she cut the flesh from her arms that it might be made into medicine. A cure was effected, and in his gratitude her father ordered her statue to be made "with completely-formed arms and eyes." Owing to a misunderstanding of the orders the sculptor carved the statue with many heads and many arms, and so it remains to this day.
The image of this divinity is generally placed on a special altar at the back of the great Shakyamuni Buddha behind a screen, and facing the north door, in the second half of the Buddhist monastery. Quan Yin is also worshipped by the Taoists, and they imitate the Buddhists in their descriptions of this deity, speaking in the same manner of her various metamorphoses, her disposition to save the lost, her purity, wisdom, and marvel-working power.
From early Ch'ing times to the present, many thousands of statues of Quan Yin have been carved in jade. The Maternal Goddess, the Protectress of Children, the Observer of All Sounds, Quan Yin is a favorite figure in domestic shrines. As well, her image is carved on small jades which Chinese women offer faithfully at the temples dedicated to her. She also is the single most important figure crafted in blanc de Chine ware, with approximately nine out of every ten figures from Dehua representing that divinity in one or other of her manifestations. (The Quan Yins often were described to European purchasers as "white Santa Marias," so as to make them more desirable to a Christian market.) | |
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Goddess: UNCHI-AHCHI Kencha-sai (Japanese) Themes: Spirituality; Universal Law; Meditation. Symbols: Tea; Teapots and Cups About Unchi-Ahchi: Presiding dutifully over the family stove is this Japanese Goddess, whose name means "grandmother hearth." From this position in the home she joins today's festivities to warm the tea and to meditate on our beliefs with the other Gods and Goddesses. Afterward, she returns to our homes and lives with important insights about the meaning of sacred ritual. To Do Today: In Japan, today is a time to go to Kyoto temple and watch or participate in the ancient tea ceremony. In this culture, each movement and ingredient in the tea ceremony represents a spiritual principle or truth - all mingled into a simple, satisfying cup. This is a lovely tradition, so share a cup of tea with a friend or family member today. Invoke Unchi-ahchi simply by lighting the stove. Use the stove to ignite a candle, and take the candle to where you're sitting to carry the Goddess's energy to that spot. Discuss spiritual ideas, allowing this goddess to give you new insights. To increase the significance of your tea ceremony, choose the tea's flavor according to the topic of conversation or something needed in that relationship. If discussing divination or alternative health, for example, use orange or mint, respectively. To deepen love or friendship, use lemon. |
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Hu Tu Mother Earth Day ( China) Themes: Earth; Nature; Ecology; Fertility Symbols: Globe; Soil; All Natural Items; Marbel About Hu Tu: Literally "Empress Earth" in Chinese mythology, this goddess embodies and personifies the earth in spring and its fertility. Through her we can learn how to live abundantly, while maintaining a reciprocity with nature. Hu Tu also teaches us how to see and integrate nature's lessons. To Do Today: According to tradition, this is the birthday of Hu Tu, in form of Mother Earth. Celebrate it as you might any birthday, with a little twist. Make a fertilizer cake for the earth and light a candle on it. Blow out the candle, making a wish to Hu Tu for earth's revitali- zation. Then, give the fertilizer to the soil to start the processor! This celebration bears many similarities to Earth Day in the West, so organize litte patrols, educate yourself on recycling techniques, take a long walk to truly enjoy Hu Tu's beauty. As you walk, feel the scaredness of the ground beneath your feet and say a silent prayer of thankfulness to Hu Tu for her care and providence. Finally, make yourself a Hu Tu charm that stimulates grounding and draws figurative or literal fertility to you. Find any marble (blue is best) to represent Hu Tu's foundational energy. Carry the charm when- ever you feel flighty or need to be more productive. Happy Birthday Hu Tu |
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Goddess Chih Nu Phra Buddha Bat Fair (Thailand) Themes: Arts; Creativity; Tradition; Excellence Symbols: Woven items; thread or yarn; home crafts; clouds; Lyres About Chih Nu: In China and surrounding regions, Chih Nu's name means, "weaving woman." According to myths, ChihNu's talents in this art are so great that she can weave seamless garments for the gods. From her heavenly domain in the constellation Lyre, she acts like a refreshening spring wind to inspire excellence in our inherited arts and crafts. To Do Today: This annual Thai festival features folk dancing and traditional handcrafts in honor of Buddha's footprint, which is enshrined nearby. Generally, it is a time of rejoice in Thai tradition, so if you have a Thai restaurant in the neighborhood, by all means indulge yourself, saying a brief prayer of thanks to the provider of your feast--Chih Nu. To make a Chih Nu-inspired creativity charm, take three strands of yellow thread or yarn (yellow is the color of inventiveness). Braid these together so that the strands cross four times, saying, One, Chih Nu's power absorbs; two, inside the magick's stored; three, the magick's alive in me; four, bear Chih Nu's creativity! Carry this when you need more ingenious energy, or leave it near your artistic endeavors so they can absorb Chih Nu's compelling excellence. Finally, wear woven or handmade items to honor Chih Nu's talents today. |
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Festival of the Goddess of Mercy (China/Japan) Kwan Yin Themes: Children; Kindness; Magic; Health; Fertility Symbols: Lotus; Black Tea; Rice; Rainbow About Kwan Yin: Kwan Yin is the most beloved of all Eastern goddess figures, giving freely of her unending sympathy, fertility, health, and magical insight to all who ask. It is her sacred duty to relieve suffering and encourage enlightenment among humans. In Eastern mythology, a rainbow bore Kwan Yin to heaven in human form. Her name means "regarder of sounds," meaning she hears the cries and prayers of the world. To Do Today: If you hope to have children or wish to invoke Kwan Yin's blessing and protection on the young ones in your life, you can follow Eastern custom and leave an offering for Kwan Yin of sweet cakes, lotus incense, fresh fruit, and/or flowers. If you can't find lotus incense, look for lotus-shaped soaps at novelty or import shops. For literal or figurative fertility, try making this Kwan Yin talisman: During a waxing-to-full moon, take a pinch of Black Tea and a pinch of rice and put them in a yellow cloth, saying, As a little tea makes a full cup, so may my life be full. As the rice expands in warm water, so may my heart expand with love and warmth. The fertility of Kwan Yin, wrapped neatly within. Tie this up and keep it in a spot that corresponds to the type of fertility you want (such as the bedroom for physical fertility). By Patricia Telsco~From "365 Goddess" KUAN-YIN Chinese Goddess of Compassion whose name means "she who hears the weeping world". Kuan-Yin was willing to keep her human form even after reaching enlightenment because of her deep concern for human life. She never turned away from anyone's cries, no matter how often she was asked for mercy and wisdom. The lotus sceptre in her right hand contains the nectar of wisdom. The figure behind her is from Asia, 11th - early 12th century CE. Kuan-Yin is shown with the panda, an endangered species close to extinction unless the Goddess of Compassion intervenes KUAN-YIN: GODDESS OF COMPASSION Kuan-Yin was the Chinese Goddess of compassion, also known as "She who hears the weeping world". After attaining enlightenment, she decided to remain in her human form until all earth's inhabitants gained enlightenment as well. Her followers exercised compassion toward all beings, never eating the flesh of any creature, and lived completely non-violent lives. She was often portrayed holding a willow branch accompanied by Lung, the celestial dragon. Lung is a beneficent creature, bringing rain for the crops in the spring. Some say that the reason the moon changes phases is because Lung slowly swallows the moon and then slowly releases it. It is a Buddhist belief that water sprinkled with a willow branch can bring purifying energy. Kuan-Yin is holding a Kuang, which is a ritual wine vessel, from China, Shang Dynasty (Anyang Period), c. 13th-11th century BCE. The statue of Kuan-Yin on the branch is from early 8th century China, T'ang Dynasty. The dragon design on her necklace is from a Chinese disk, E. Zhou Dynasty, 4th-3rd century BCE. Kuan Yin Chinese Goddess of fertility, childbirth and compassion. She hears the cries of the world and just uttering her name, She appears. |
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