“The very nature of the calendar the world follows has stunted the mind and body’s innate timing sensibility… Our sense of time is a fundamental perception. If the standard measure of time that we use is irregular, then we must contemplate deeply and understand what this does to our mind over centuries of prolonged use.”
– Dr. Jose Arguelles
“Time is a substance I am made of. Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that rips me apart, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”
– Jorge Luis Borges
“Time to munch an early luncheon / Hum de dum dum dum /
Oh, I wouldn’t climb this tree / If a Pooh flew like a bee /
But I wouldn’t be a bear then / So I guess I wouldn’t care then /
Bears love honey and I’m a Pooh bear / So I do care, so I climb there /
I’m so rumbly in my tumbly / Time for something… for something…
[branch breaks] … sweet! To eat!”
– Winnie the Pooh And The Honey Tree
THE HOT POTATO
Serving Up a Weekly Helping of
Sustainable & Organic Gardening, Food, Health, and Community
by Adam Brockman & Aireen Joven, July 2007, #25
THIS WEEK’S DISH:
TIME IS ON OUR SIDE: A Holiday For Gardeners And The 13 Moon Calendar
The 13 Moon Calendar works as a solar and lunar calendar, since the moon rotates around the Earth thirteen times in one year, the time it takes the Earth to make one complete orbit around the Sun. Pictured is the 13-Moon Diary Of Natural Time 2007-2008, a pocket calendar, sold by www.MayaTzolkin.com. To learn more about The 13 Moon Calendar and see other calendars, visit www.tortuga.com. You can also download 13 Moon Calendars for free at www.13moon.com and www.lawoftime.org. Request a FREE and BEAUTIFUL 13 Moon Pocket Calendar at www.lawoftime.org/moon/freecal.html.
UNBEKNOWNST to many, two important holidays are coming up at the end of July. One of them is ancient, based on a stellar alignment and a calendar dating back at least 5,500 possibly 500,000 years which is still being used today across the globe. The other was created just a few years ago, but is no less significant in the scope of its tribute. Both are being celebrated worldwide by an ever growing number of people as awareness of and appreciation for our ancient heritage and the natural wonders and interconnectedness of life continue to grow stronger with each passing year.
ALL-EARTH HOLIDAY – A DAY FOR GARDENERS
We celebrate many days. Holidays bring people together in celebration, to commemorate a special day in history or to honor the achievements and contributions of a special individual or group of people. In The Ringing Cedars book series by international bestselling author Vladimir Megre, it is proposed that across the world we take one day out of the year to celebrate the achievements of the gardener. If you have ever planted a seed or cared for a houseplant, this holiday would be in honor of you too. The practical and exciting aspect of a Gardeners’ Day as a national holiday would be a day off of work and school with the purpose of giving a special free day for the gardener to do what he or she loves best – to garden! It could also be a day of community activities that highlight the fun, educational, healthy, sustainable, and delicious aspects of cultivating a garden, however large or small.
For all of those who have not yet picked up a copy of Anastasia (pronounced Ana-sta-SI-ya), Book 1 in The Ringing Cedars series by Vladimir Megre, we highly recommend you do so. We reviewed Anastasia in an earlier Hot Potato article, and among our praise for this mind-blowing book series, we stated our belief that these books “have the potential to influence the start of a spiritual renaissance the likes of which the world has never seen.”
In The Ringing Cedars Of Russia, Book 2 of The Ringing Cedars series, the author sets forth the idea to create a national holiday dedicated to Russia’s dachniks. The dachniks are families and individuals who garden and grow food on small plots of land (dachas) with no mechanization. Throughout the Ringing Cedars books, Anastasia paints a portrait of the dachniks as being the ones who will lead mankind away from the path of technocratic destruction towards a healthy, enlightened future. Teaching by example, dachniks (or gardeners) all over the world will demonstrate the physical, mental, and emotional health benefits of small-scale gardening by the improvements in their own health and well-being. Through touching the Earth with love, communication with the plants growing in their plots, and a hands-on approach using no destructive machinery, the quality of life for the gardener, the plants, the soil, and the entire Earth is greatly enhanced.
THANK A GARDENER ON GARDENERS’ DAY – 23 JULY 2007
Throughout the Ringing Cedars series, Anastasia credits Russia’s dachniks with helping Russia avoid a major famine, as well as helping the Earth avoid a major catastrophe in 1998. This was made possible, she states, when “millions of pairs of human hands began touching the Earth with love. …The Earth felt this, it felt it very much. It felt the blessing of each individual hand upon it. And the Earth found new strength to carry on.”
Anastasia also explains:
“You see, the society you are living in today can learn a lot from communication with the plants to be found around dachas. Yes, I am talking about the dachas, where you personally know every individual plant in your garden plot, and not those huge, impersonal fields cultivated by monstrous, senseless machines. People feel better when they are working in their dacha plots. Many of them end up living longer. They become kinder. And it is these very dachniks that can pave the way for society to become aware of how destructive the technocratic path can be.”
Today, Dachnik Day or the All-Earth Holiday is an officially recognized holiday in dozens of cities and regions across Russia, including St. Petersburg (where it is called Gardeners’ Day). Celebrations have spread to several countries, including the United States and Canada, where a growing number of people now pay tribute to all who garden with love and respect for the Earth. It is also a day to celebrate our connectedness to the Earth and to appreciate the beauty, wisdom, and abundance that Nature provides for us. One of the first Dachnik Day celebrations in the U.S. occurred in Licking, Missouri in 2005, according to www.anastasiapacific.com, and was attended by over 50 people from around the state.
In the “Readers’ reviews” section of The Space Of Love, Book 3 in the Ringing Cedars series, one reader named Shanti from Missouri reports to the publisher that Dachnik Day was simply spent celebrating with a friend in his garden and “infusing the atmosphere with positive thoughts”. However you may prefer to celebrate the All-Earth Holiday or Gardeners’ Day on July 23, take time to get out into Nature and celebrate all of the life that you see growing there. Plant a seed with a child in your life. Make plans with a pal and visit a local botanical gardens or community garden. Thank someone you know who gardens. Buy organic flowers or pick a bouquet of wild flowers for your favorite garden guru at the garden center. Become a gardener on Gardener’s Day: buy a plant (there are big discounts this time in the summer), take the plant home and give it some love, and then thank yourself. You are a gardener and today is your holiday!
TIME IS MONEY? – A HISTORY OF OUR CURRENT CALENDAR
You’ve heard the catch phrase “Time is money.” But have you heard the alternative? Time is Art! This is the heart of the message that Dr. Jose Arguelles, visionary, author, and leader in the 13 Moon Calendar Movement, wants the world to realize. Time is the fabric of life. With time, we create our lives. Time is made beautiful with the intricate patterns of events, emotional textures, and changing colors woven into our days. Time should make more than cents; it should make sense.
The days of our lives are more precious than nickels and dimes. But for some reason, our current calendar organizes the days of our lives using an archaic system with roots in accounting. One of the most hidden but omnipresent influences on our daily lives is none other than time, and more importantly, how we organize and think about time. We have calendars, alarm clocks, watches, and myriad electronic devices that keep track of time for us – cell phones, digital organizers, electronic ticker signs, television, radio, and computers. The standard 12-month calendar is one of our most widely accepted organizing tools. But did you know the current calendar used internationally as the accepted organizing measurement of time, the Gregorian calendar, was introduced about 420 years ago, but only came to be adopted by Japan in 1873, China in 1912, Russia in 1918, and Greece in 1924? Obviously, civilization kept track of time before the Gregorian calendar. So what’s the story?
Few people know the history of the 12-month calendar, or even think to question that it might not be the most logical, harmonious way to measure the days, weeks, and months. We first learned about the 13 Moon Calendar a few years back. At the time, we were regulars at an ongoing public screening of documentary films called “Progressive Film Forum”, which our friend organized at Chicago’s now closed Healing Earth Resources, a retail store and community gathering space on the north side. It was there where we picked up a beautiful 13 Moon Natural Time Calendar by SkyTime for the year July 26th, 2004 – July 25th, 2005. 13 Moon Calendars are also available to purchase at www.13moon.com and to download for free at www.lawoftime.org. You can also request a beautiful and informative 13 Moon Pocket Calendar for free that Law of Time will mail to you.
In the 13 Moon Natural Time Calendar by SkyTime, it states that the months of the 12-month Gregorian calendar “have an unequal number of days (28, 29, 30, and 31) and do not correspond to any cycle of nature. This is the only standard of measure used today that has unequal units! As an arbitrary division of the solar year, this calendar although illogical, unscientific, and artificial, remains the central unquestioned institution of our modern society.”
In regards to teaching a child the 12-month calendar, the SkyTime introduction continues:
“Has she been educated that August is named after a Roman emperor named Augustus Caesar, or that the prefixes Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec – meaning 7, 8, 9, and 10 are erroneously referring the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th month? The flawed model of time we pass from generation to generation is conditioning our minds to accept disorder and irregularity as natural. …It is time to ask: Why do we use an instrument of imperfect measure to coordinate the affairs of the world?”
A little bit of history might be helpful in answering this question. The Julian calendar, on which our current calendar is based, was first introduced in 46 B.C. by Julius Caesar as a schedule for imposing taxes on the people of Rome. In fact, the root word “calend” literally means “schedule of taxation”. This is the origin of that phrase “time is money”. The roots of the current global calendar system is based not on a scientific, natural, or logical organization of time, but in fact is based on, yup, money! More specifically, it’s based on (even worse) taxes! Later, this calendar was modified by Pope Gregory the 13th in 1582, eliminating ten days from that year to make Easter coincide with the Spring Equinox. Just like that, we got the current Gregorian Calendar. Who needed those ten days anyhow?
In the previous century, the Vatican had issued papal decrees declaring all non-Christians to be “enemies of Christ” and “less than human”. These decrees made forced conquest, colonization, and enslavement of non-Christians official church doctrine, declaring that “barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself” and that the people in these nations be “reduced to perpetual slavery”. In attempting to suppress the customs and beliefs of the nations they had invaded, the Vatican used the Gregorian calendar as a way to replace existing calendars. Many of the indigenous peoples, such as the Mayans, possessed advanced, mathematically precise calendars that synchronized with natural cycles and events. The forced imposition of the arbitrary, inharmonious Gregorian calendar was part of a determined effort to separate these people from their natural customs and, ultimately, from Nature itself.
Unfortunately, this campaign enjoyed success in every nation that the Vatican invaded, and eventually, with Christianity being so widespread, non-Christian nations were forced to adopt the Gregorian calendar for the purposes of business and convenience. Despite a successful vote in the League of Nations in 1933 to make the 13-month, 28-day calendar the world standard, the Vatican used fear tactics and pressure to torpedo the vote, saying that a break in the 7-day week for the July 25th Day Out of Time would “anger God” and lead to worldwide calamity and war. The movement was temporarily defeated, and the Gregorian Calendar continues to be the world standard to this day.
TIME IS ART! – THE 13-MOON CALENDAR
- 13 Months A Year
- 28 Days A Month
- 7 Days A Week
- The “Day Out Of Time” Holiday On July 25th: the Day Out Of Time Holiday is technically the last day of the year – the 29th day of the last month, but is celebrated as a “day out of time”; July 25th is New Year’s Eve.
- 365 Days A Year: perfectly harmonious with planetary time, no leap years, no months named after roman emperors or roman gods (March is named after Mars, the god of war), easy to understand and keep track of time.
While the global movement for the 13-month, 28-day calendar may be a recent phenomena historically, the use of this calendar dates back at least 5,500 years. According to Dr. Jose Arguelles, “The Essenes, Druids, Egyptians, Polynesians, Chinese, Maya, Inca, and several Native American Tribes all used a 13-month, 28-day calendar, and many are still using it today.”
Dr. Arguelles, author of The Mayan Factor and Time and the Technosphere, explains:
“It is the artificial timing frequency that is governing the whole globalization or global civilization and that is the 12:60 irregular 12 month calendar, 60 minute mechanical clock. Within the 12:60, time is money. Absolutely everything in society is prorated as money according to the clock. The clock came to perfection in the early 17th century, not too long after that the first stock markets and banks were created. With an irregular and irrational calendar, we are programmed for irrationality: irrational laws, irrational customs. This is the cause of the human deviation from nature. As long as we are living on this timing frequency we are going to go farther and farther away from the universal natural cycles. As we go farther away we get out of touch with our own nature and we get out of touch with the Great Nature.”
GET IN TUNE ON THE DAY OUT OF TIME – 25 JULY 2007
In contrast to the Gregorian Calendar, the 13 Moon Calendar has 13 equal months of 28 days each, plus one day, the last day of the year, designated as the “Day Out Of Time”. This day acts similar to the artificial extra day, February 29th, that occurs every 4 years on a “leap year” in the Gregorian Calendar. But the Day Out Of Time Holiday occurs every year, at the end of the 13 Moon year, which is July 25th. July 25th is New Year’s Eve when you follow the 13 Moon Calendar. According to www.13moon.com, this internationally celebrated holiday is designated as a time of “forgiveness, atonement, artistic celebration of life, community, Peace Through Culture, and Time is Art!” It is a day to rest and reflect on the events of the previous year while looking forward to the grand creation of a new year. July 26th, New Year’s Day, is not an arbitrary day of the new year. It is the day of a significant cosmic event: the annual heliacal rising of the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius. On this day, Sirius becomes visible again after being hidden for 70 days by the Sun’s light. According to www.13moon.com, “this auspicious alignment of Sirius with the sun assures that the Earth is bathed in an abundance of stellar light and information.” Sirius has been regarded by many cultures as a link to higher consciousness.
The logic, order, and rhythmic alignment of the 13-month, 28-day calendar provide a welcome contrast to the disorder and disharmony of our current calendar. With the 13-month calendar, you can always look back and know which day of the week each day fell on, since the measurements are always equal and unchanging. This calendar also functions perfectly as both a solar and lunar calendar, since the moon rotates around the Earth thirteen times during the time it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun once. The Day Out of Time brings a welcome respite while assuring that all of the months are balanced and coinciding with the important, annual stellar alignment on July 26th. Just two days after the All-Earth Holiday/Gardeners’ Day on July 23rd, you can celebrate the Day Out Of Time/New Year’s Eve on July 25th.
MAKING TIME WORK FOR US
The movement to make the 13-month, 28-day calendar the world standard has been going on for over 150 years. The fear-mongering and false claims that overturned the historic League of Nations vote have been refuted by those communities who have used, are still using, or have newly adopted the 13-month calendar without experiencing any wars or calamities during the Day Out of Time celebration. For them, July 25th is a day to celebrate “Planetary Peace through Culture”. These communities and individuals continue to lead the movement for a worldwide adoption of the 13-month calendar. You can visit www.13moon.com and www.tortuga.com to learn more about the 13-month Calendar and Movement and to order Dr. Jose Arguelles’ version of the calendar, or you can go to www.lawoftime.org to download or order free copies of the calendar.
Day Out Of Time events are being organized in at least 20 countries all over the world! Go to www.tortuga.com/portal/dayoutoftime to find a celebration near you or to post your own event. In the United States, the website currently lists events set to happen in California, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Texas, and Georgia.
Thanks to all who joined millions of us to fire the grid to heal the planet and create world peace on July 17, 2007. Visit the Fire The Grid website to find out what the next stage in this worldwide movement will be. Until next week, The Hot Potato is in your hands. Pass it on, and remember, Time is Art! And a very happy Gardener’s Day and 13 Moon New Year to all; we will be celebrating in our garden munching this year’s first ripe heirloom tomatoes!
Welcome to 2012
Awesome. Check out this video about the 13 Moon Calendar.
Vision by Hun Akbal. Music by Book of Kin.
(wow, I wonder if the musician is named after Book 6 in the Ringing Cedars series!?)
Sacred Mysteries 2012, The Odyssey
Movie Trailer
So how will WE write it? How shall it read when we look back on December 21, 2012? We certainly have the elements in place to destroy ourselves. The planet has experienced cataclysmic events in its history – polar shifts, ice ages, etc. No one really knows. What the Mayan’s meant with their End-Count calendar will always be up for speculation. It fires the imagination, for sure. SOooo let’s write it like we want it. That is what Chris Fenwick did in the #1 Visionary Novel: “the 100th human.” You choose…
Nice write up.
I devised a 13-month calendar, based on Dr Arguelles writings, however, the Day Out of Time works much better at the Winter Solstice (equivalent to December 21st), particularly considering the Mayan End Date.
This divides the year into 4 equal quarters of 13 weeks (that’s 91 days), where each quarter ends/begins at one of the four cardinal points. This aligns our calendar with the seasons, at least for those of us in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The people in the Equatorial regions still have the good fortune to have 2 days a year where the Sun lies directly overhead.
As much as I admire Dr Arguelles work, I don’t think July 25th is the ideal date for the Day Out of Time, nor do I feel that his renaming of the weekdays works for a global community that already shares 7 weekdays based on the ancient planets.
take a look and see for yourself
http://theabysmal.wordpress.com/theabysmal-calendar/
happy gardening – my tomatillos are almost as tall as I am (not bad for a first try)