Reviews of the Lunar Calendar

The ’10 Lunar Calendar (Dedicated to the Goddess in Her Many Guises), Luna Press, 15511, Kenmore Station, Boston, MA 02215, Nancy FW Passmore, ed., wall calendar, $23.00
I first came to know the Lunar Calendar in the early years of The Unicorn. What a blessing it was to have such an enlightened and refreshing approach to keeping track of time. Our Moon certainly was an influence in my life and I have memories of being up all through the night, riding my bicycle out into the farmland and arriving home at sunrise so my family would think I’d simply risen early and was working in the gardens. As a published poet, one of my finest works was of the Full Moon, as an artist the oil painting I created of a Full Moon hangs today in our temple, 35 years later.
Having a calendar which marks time by the Moon makes such sense. Every year, this devoted editor puts together this amazing calendar. Working with Robert Graves’ The White Goddess as the foundation for the lunar associations with trees, this calendar ought be in the home of every Wiccan, even as Graves’ influence has permeated all of the modern Craft.
I love this year’s bright and playful cover! How the times have changed. As this year’s calendar teaches us, Julius Caesar outlawed the lunar calendar in 45 bc and the Roman Church followed after. Use the 2010 Lunar Calendar to stand up for our heritage, to learn to live and dance in rhythm with the Moon.
Printed locally (not outsourced) and using soy-based ink on recycled paper, you deserve a copy of this calendar. And so do your friends. Give a gift which is truly of the lunar spirit!

*********************************
Rev. Paul Beyerl
The Rowan Tree Church
revpaul@therowantreechurch.org
http://www.therowantreechurch.org/

THE '09 LUNAR CALENDAR: DEDICATED TO THE GODDESS IN HER MANY GUISES

"A beautiful calendar that helps us see time as a spiral."
-Starhawk

"...the Grandmother of all Goddess calendars...this year continues the long tradition of combining beauty with a wealth of information...the lunar months in all their glory.  Highly recommended."

-Sagewoman

THE BELTANE PAPERS

A Journal of Women’s Mysteries

The ’04 Lunar Calendar

28^th Annual Edition

This unique lunar calendar is in its 28^TH year – where were you and what were you doing in 1975?  Nancy Passmore was putting together the first one of these, nine years before the first fledgling form of TBP appeared,  This makes the Lunar Calendar more than a calendar – it’s also a touchstone and an icon of the women’s spirituality movement, and fortunately so for many many people, some of whom rallied this past year when Luna Press was in dire straits and helped “to keep (this) little moon boat afloat.”

Each of the thirteen calendar pages have all the phases of the moon arranged in an elliptical form and includes information on one of the sacred trees (to learn more about them, read Robert Graves’ classic The White Goddess), and each year’s edition includes new appropriate, interesting and provocative art and poetry.  At the back is a year’s worth of moon phases on one page, charts of moonrises and moonsets for San Francisco and London, how to interpret and use the calendar and a lengthy bibliography that includes The Beltane Papers.  It is this calendar’s subtitle and dedication that Cybill Shepherd quoted in her now-famous Golden Globe acceptance speech a few years ago: dedicated to the Goddess in Her Many guises.

Why a moon calendar?  For one thing, moon time was the first “calendar” time, as women counted their cycles by the phases of the moon;  the first moon calendar of record is in the right hand of the Venus of Laussel.  It is a natural and easily visible-to-the-naked-eye method of keeping track of the months and seasons of the year.  It’s where the term “month” comes from!

 This makes a great gift to yourself or to any woman you know.  And of course Nancy Passmore has been one of TBP’s Advisory Council members and supporters for a long long time…

 - review by Marione

GODDESSING REGENERATED

Opening Up / Revealing Her Mysteries

The ’04 Lunar Calendar: Dedicated to the Goddess in Her Many Guises, Nancy FW Passmore editor, The Luna Press 

Back from the brink of folding, but fine as ever, The ’04 Lunar Calendar  is a visually and energetically rich compilation of musings and information from a most talented array of co-conspirators in this 28^TH annual lunacy, based upon the 13 lunar months of the Celtic tree calendar which serve as inspiration for much of the art and poetry.  Accompanying the month of Saille-willow, Sarah Fuhro’s “Willow and Moon” begins:

Oak pulls lightning from the black sky, 

but Willow, full of green water draws Moon,

invites her to pause from ascent or descent.

The Lady likes to nestle in  the tresses of Saille,

to slurp again upon the silver tube

which joins Moon to Willow’s roots.

 Other poets include our own Asphodel Long, Lourdes Theusen, Marge Piercy, and Robert Graves, whose poem “This Holy Month” during the time of Tinne-holly (overlapping with half of August), describes:

 The demon who throughout our late estrangement, 

Followed with malice in my footsteps, often 

Making as to stumble . . . 

Yet,

We both know well he was the same demon, 

Arch-enemy of rule and calculation, 

Who lives for our love, being created from it, 

Astonishes us with blossom, silvers the hills 

With more than moonlight, summons bees in swarms 

From the Lion’s mouth to fill our hives with honey, 

Turns flesh into fire, and eyes into deep lakes; 

And so may do once more, this holy month. 

 Each year I always look forward to Agusta Agustsson’s delightful and often whimsical artwork, and her accompanying image of lion-begotten bees to his poem does not disappoint.  Other artists include Cathy Weaver Taylor, Sandra Stanton, and Donna Iona Drozda, with Joan S. Anderson’s beautifully delicate “Ceremonial Coat:  Full Moon Rising Jacket” gracing the cover.  And Jean Vallon’s poignant image, “Sharing a Dream of Peace” during the month of Fearn-alder, reminds us of the precarious state of world affairs, but does so with a stately serenity.

 All 13 lunations begin at the New Moon and spiral counterclockwise through the month, with information provided about the astrological signs throughout the lunar cycle, the times of Moonrise and setting, and the Celtic tree name of each month with a rubbing of the corresponding leaf.  Editor Nancy F. W. Passmore ends her explanation of “Why a Lunar Calendar” with:

 Our ancestors were intimately familiar with the movement of earth, sun and moon, something too often obscured by our modern buildings, artificial lighting, and popular mythologies and mysogynies.  Yet her powers remain intact and  as vital as they have always been.  This is where The Lunar Calendar becomes such a useful tool:  even when invisible to us on earth because of clouds, sun, smog, etc., a glance at the calendar will “reveal” her face.  The Lunar Calendar actually provides you with two calendars:  one a record of the moon’s many changes, the other a complete cross-reference to the “familiar” day, dates, and times.  Look up!

Congratulations, Nancy, on your lunatic survival!  You spiraled out of the waning, just like She always does.  And so it is, and Blessed Bee!

Willow LaMonte

Thank you Goddessing readers, and the many other people, who have sent donations to Luna Press.  Editor, Nancy FW Passmore, received enough financial support to publish the 2004 Lunar Calendar, but Luna Press is still in great difficulty.  Donations may be sent to : Luna Press PO Box 15511 Kenmore Station, Boston, MA 02215-0009 USA.

The ’04 Lunar Calendar: Dedicated to The Goddess in Her Many Guises, Luna Press 32 pps., wall hanging calendar, recycled paper, soy ink, printed in the US, $23.00

And worth every penny.  The 28^TH year for this work of love, with one of the most beautiful covers I can recall.  Working with the thirteen lunar months , each moon is corresponded with one of the trees Robert Graves associated with The White Goddess. The Lunar Calendar provides you with the tools to live your life with the rhythm of the Moon, in harmony with the natural flow of nature. From the rising and setting times of the Moon to being a rare commodity in today’s world: a calendar produced with a complete love for the environment and published in the US even though it makes it more expensive to put into print.  There is no calendar like this, none which embodies a deep love of the lunar Goddess. No Wiccan home should be without one!

THE UNICORN

Autumn 2003

---The Shaman Papers

The '03 Calendar

"Each month begins not in the traditional Gregorian way, but with the New Moon and Celtic/Druidic tree calendar designations for each month. This is truly a feminist, Goddess oriented calendar that is available for tuning in to the Moon and Her cycles. It is always a joy to greet this old friend once again; we hope you feel the same."

--review by Marisa Young

The Beltane Papers

--The Unicorn

http://www.therowantreechurch.org

--Susan Dobra

Natural Beauty and Health Magazine, Winter 2002

http://www.magicalblend.com

...the most beautiful calendar I have ever seen... 

  Marge Piercy, THE MOON IS ALWAYS FEMALE

"Extremely well produced, this is one of the foremost calendars themed toward the interest of women."  

LOS ANGELES TIMES

"...the information is invaluable...the illustrations are more than illustrations: they are works of art."

  ISIAN NEWS

The Lunar Calendar

uses moon cycles

to track time

You'll also want to offer loyal moon customers The '00 Lunar Calendar: Dedicated to the Goddess in Her Many Guises (1-877920-10-X, full-color cover, black and white pages, $23 retail).

            If 24 consecutive years of publishing indicates anything it is that this calendar is a long-term bestseller Even more interesting is the look on people's faces when they see this calendar for the fist time and realize it does not track the days of the month in typical Gregorian fashion but rather tracks the movement of the moon through its cycle.

            The basic calendar is divided into 13 lunar segments, each one illustrated with original art, poetry, and moon lore. Whether you are an expert or a novice at moon tracking, this calendar is an essential tool. Each lunation begins with a dark circle indicating the first day of the cycle, which is the new moon day. The rest of the 28 days in the cycle are represented in a spiraling design, which gradually shows the changes in the phases of the moon.

            Besides the phase of the moon, each day is accompanied with the actual date and information about moonrise and moonset, tracking the moon through its astrological phases. If you or your customers don't know how to use this information, or why you would want to use it, just flip to the last few pages of the calendar and all will be revealed.

            The illustrations and poetry are from people who have experience with Lady Moon.  After so many years of publication, editor and publisher Nancy Passmore gets to choose from submissions from all sorts of folk, and the resulting mixture is a delightful combination of popular writers and artists as well as unknowns. Each turn of the page reveals delightful surprises. Hats off to Passmore and her associates, who produce this calendar mostly as a labor of love.

The New Age Retailer  July/August 1999  

"The delight of this calendar is that the days are shown in a spiral...

    NEW AGE RETAILER

...an elegant lunar spiral for each of the 13 lunations.

Save yourself from the urban shame of not knowing if the moon is waxing, waning, at last quarter or even still there!"

 TALKING RAVEN QUARTERLY