Happy Valentine's Day! Do you know what you are celebrating?
If you said, "the High Holy Church of Hallmark and Gas Station Roses." you deserve to be celibate for the rest of the year.
If you said, "I'm an idiot and need to make up for past transgressions with a huge and unaffordable gift on this arbitrary day to hide my inherent thoughtlessness." you deserve to be celibate for the rest of the year.
If you said, "I'm not celebrating, I try to tell my loved ones that I love them fully and completely every day of the year and therefore will not put my checkbook or psyche at risk of overdraft today because the candy companies want to boost their profits." we'll probably get along great.
Truthfully, St. Valentine's day is pretty mysterious. Even the The History Channel admits that there are legends and ideas, but no one knows for sure how this day got started. But the one I've always been familiar with was the idea that this day was the Christianization of Lupercalia. And I must admit that until recently I wasn't familiar with the actual details of the rites of Lupercalia, but it does bring new meaning to the term "My Bloody Valentine."
Let's just say there is a goat and a dog and some priests...They head to a sacred cave outside Rome where Romulus and Remus were suckled by the famous she-wolf. The animals are sacrificed and the priests are purified by blood and milk. Then they run around Rome lightly flogging the crops and women with the blood soaked strips of goat hide in order to inspire fertility in the coming year. The women would jostle for the best positions in which to get slapped by the bloody hides. I'm sure this was all done gently and with great laughter and fun. And eventually lots of sex. To, you know, get going on the fertility thing.
These days people only flog each other if they are into that kind of play to begin with, I hope anyway. Mostly gifts of candy, expensive jewelry, or cards have become the norm and there is much angst and frustration in minds and hearts of the unpaired. I think this is criminal. No matter how this holiday got started, at this point it always points to love and luck and fertility. And not one of those things means you have to be married or in a relationship.
Love: Love your family, your friends, your pets (in an appropriate way!). Love your neighborhood, your planet, your alma matter. It is more than likely you have way more love in your life than you thought possible. Take a step away from the nasty conversation hearts, and look at all the love surrounding you. And if you still think you need more, consider this tidbit from the ultimate geek Nikola Tesla:
Excerpted from "Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla" by John J. O'Neill:
"I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them, for years; thousands of them, for who can tell --
"But there was one pigeon, a beautiful bird, pure white with light gray tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I would know that pigeon anywhere.
"No matter where I was that pigeon would find me; when I wanted her I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. She understood me and I understood her.
"I loved that pigeon."
"Yes," he replied to an unasked question. "Yes, I loved that pigeon, I loved her as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. When she was ill I knew, and understood; she came to my room and I stayed beside her for days. I nursed her back to health. That pigeon was the joy of my life. If she needed me, nothing else mattered. As long as I had her, there was a purpose in my life.
"Then one night as I was lying in my bed in the dark, solving problems, as usual, she flew in through the open window and stood on my desk. I knew she wanted me; she wanted to tell me something important so I got up and went to her.
"As I looked at her I knew she wanted to tell me -- she was dying. And then, as I got her message, there came a light from her eyes -- powerful beams of light.
"Yes," he continued, again answering an unasked questions, "it was a real light, a powerful, dazzling, blinding light, a light more intense than I had ever produced by the most powerful lamps in my laboratory.
"When that pigeon died, something went out of my life. Up to that time I knew with a certainty that I would complete my work, no matter how ambitious my program, but when that something went out of my life I knew my life's work was finished."
See? No matter how down on your luck in romance you may believe you are, at least you aren't romantically involved and linking your entire state of being, to a pigeon. I love pigeons and all, but there is a limit.
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| Tesla's favorite white pigeon |
Luck: Luck is a pretty touchy topic for me as I generally believe that if it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. But the truth more than likely is that we make our own luck. And lately in some things I appear to be doing okay. Hubby and I are more loving to each other. I have great friends from the cam site with whom I enjoy playing. And I'm having a completely inappropriate Twitter relationship with Isaac Marion. So focus on the random things going well in your life and look at that as Luck being a Lady for you today.
Fertility: Okay if you want a baby and it is a good time to conceive or get a surrogate or whatever you need to do, that's excellent. Put some extra focus on that and maybe this historically fertile time of year will be to your benefit. But "fertility" isn't always about babies. Fertility can mean overflowing with imagination or creativity. Use this time of fertility to jump start projects or ideas that have been floating around your head all winter. Or get imaginative with your Sweetie if you have one. ;-)
So happy St. Valentine's day and Lupercalia, and Thursday (Thor's Day) to everyone. I hope you enjoy, regardless of your romantic situation.
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