January 5, 2001

It's a mess out there, people! You know all that snow I was getting nostalgic about in the last update of this site? Well, instead of being cute and fluffy and white, now it's ugly and brown and dirty, and piled as high as my head on either side of the driveway. Yuck!

Well, Yuletide is over, and the dreary days of late winter are beginning. For those of us who live anywhere other than British Columbia, the snow has been falling pretty steadily for the past month, and it's cold and slushy and dirty outside. Those in BC, of course, are dealing with the same thing they always deal with at this time of year: rain. You know what I have to say to those of you in BC? You don't have to shovel rain!!

The new year, truly the new millenium now, stretches before us. Our next holiday is Imbolc, described by the Farrars' as, "...the first feotal stirrings of the child within the womb of the Goddess." It's also the time of the first feotal stirrings of spring, as February 2nd brings us groundhog day. Our fine, furred friend will pop his nose out of his hole, as thousands watch with held breath. If he is startled by his shadow, winter will continue another month, the legend goes. If he has a nice stroll, we're safe to start packing the heaviest of winter gear away. 

What sort of things do you have planned for the new year? We've an entire new millenium to play with, after all! I'd like to have our Ostara issue (due out March 4th) be a tribute to our resolutions for the new year and the new millenium, as well as being focused on Ostara traditions in pagan households across Canada (and beyond!). If you're interested in submitting an article to the Merry Times for the Ostara issue, or any other, just click on the "Submission Guidelines" to your left, and  check out our requirements!

As of today, the Merry Times has 32 members. We've gained a couple and lost a couple, but we do seem to be slowly growing larger, and that's good! Please feel free to pass along the URL to this site, and to eGroups who host the e-zine itself. You can also pass along the e-zine to other people, provided you leave it intact with the copyright notices.  Share the wealth with all your computerized pagan friends, please, because the more readers we have, the more writers we'll have. The more writers we have, the more articles and reviews and interviews we'll have. The more articles that we have, the more Canadian pagans can learn and grow and network together!

We have two poll questions up, on the eGroups site, for you to answer if you wish (http://www.egroups.com/polls/merrytimes). They are:

1. How many children do you have? and
2. What type of pets do you have?

The voting will be open until January 13th, 2001, a day before the publication of the next issue of the Merry Times. I'll post the results then! Remember to hit "refresh" on this page frequently, as we'll be updating, adding the recipies section, and other things in the new year.

The Times has just created a brand new message forum, entitled "Crone Haven", and designed to be a networking area for pagans in Canada and abroad. Please check us out at: http://pub36.ezboard.com/bcronehaven  and join in the conversation! Make Crone Haven a place for YOU to meet!

Just a note to those who are just signing up - you can look at back-issues of the Merry Times by going to the egroups address and clicking on "archives". This will tell you how many messages there were, and allows you to click on them to read.

Please, sign up for the new Merry Times, at E-Groups (http://www.egroups.com/group/merrytimes). or use the sign-up box below.  Feel free to pass along any newsletters you have, provided you keep all the information intact regarding copyright, etc. 

Allyson Sands
Editor, Merry Times