Shine on, shine on Harvest Moon

Welcome Augusts’ Harvest Moon aka Dog Day’s Moon, Fruit Moon, Woman’s Moon, Lightning Moon, Moon when all things ripen, Moon when cherries turn black… wow what a perfect name for the summer of 2008, the cherries have been particularly yummy and larger than I have ever seen. In China the cherry blossom symbolizes feminine beauty, the feminine principle, or love in the language of herbs. How fitting that the 2008 Summer Olympics are going on in China while we enjoy sweet cherries under a harvest Moon.

An old English harvest Moon ritual was to gather a key, a ring, a flower, a sprig of willow, a small piece of cake, a crust of bread, 10 of clubs, 9 of hearts, ace of spades, and ace of diamonds. Wrap these in a handkerchief and place it under your pillow. Saying upon going to bed: “Luna, every woman’s friend, to me they goodness condescend. Let me this night in visions see, emblems of my destiny.” If you dream of storms, it means coming trouble; if the storms end, a calm fate after strife. If you dream of a ring or the ace of diamonds, marriage: bread, a good job; cake, prosperity; flowers, joy: willow, treachery in love: spades, death: clubs, living in a foreign land: diamonds, money: keys, great power; birds, many children; and geese, more than one marriage.

Tortoise news:

Thirty-six years ago this month the adoption of the California State Reptile was signed into law… on August 10, 1972, Governor Ronald Reagan signed the legislation provided by Assembly Bill No. 1089 and the California desert tortoise (Gopherus agasizzi) was designated the “official state reptile” of the State of California.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Richard D. Hayden of Sunnyvale. He related that the idea was proposed to him by students at the Benjamin Bubb School in Mountain View.

The students had been studying the state’s bear flag and other California symbols and were interested in ecology. During their studies, the students found that the state had no official reptile and a project was born.

The students, from kindergarten through sixth grade, studied a number of prospects and settled on the desert tortoise because it was native to only California and was on the endangered species list.