Making a simple 'Sun Gun' to view Solar Events

To safely view the sun during solar events, one can buy solar goggles, or use a #12 or higher strength welders lens(for short term viewing, about 30 seconds) but how can you share the experience with others? This can be done by a using a pin hole projector, which is okay, or by making a 'sun gun' projector, which is a little better and is safe for everyone.
These are relatively easy to make, and there are several types and styles to choose from. A solar eclipse safety page ( http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how2.html ) is a good source as is this site - http://transitofvenus.nl/wp/observing/six-ways-to-see-the-transit/ . Both have good ideas that anyone can use with simple tools and a little know-how. My style is a convergence of a few I found, and works well.

What you need: a 5 gallon bucket, a small monocular (I used a scope off my old Daisy air rifle) a tripod or stand to support the 'sun gun' a back board and some bright white paper or card stock. Some duct-tape or bungee cords to hold it to the stand.
First, measure the diameter of the monocular or scope, the end opposite of the eye piece. Drill a hole of that diameter in the center of your bucket. I was able to use my mounting brackets for the air rifle to hold my scope in place, but you can duct tape yours in place through the hole. You can adjust the focus on the eye piece now or later, just DO NOT look at the sun through it while doing so, you can blind yourself that way.

After securing your bucket to your stand, you can use the wire handle and some small bungee cords to adjust and hold the proper angle. I placed a small hose clamp on my stand post and another through it to attach my bungee cords. You want to place your back board about a foot beyond the open end of your bucket to get a good projected image. My back board is a 1x10 shelving board that I taped a piece of white card stock on for better clarity. I used a scrap 2x4 for it's back rest. Now it's time for some aiming...

By using your back board, aim your sun gun at the sun, watch the shadows cast on the board, DO NOT look at the sun to aim. When your bucket shadow is nice and round, the sides cannot be seen you are almost certain to begin to see a bright dot, about an inch or so round, appear. That is the sun.

Now center your image into the shadow of your bucket. Now you can adjust your back board and or your eye piece for the best clarity safely by watching the projected image on the back board.

Now sit back and enjoy your solar event. This can be used to watch eclipses, transits of Venus or Mars, or just to watch the clouds float across the sun. (This last photo was taken with light cloud cover so it does not appear as bright when the sky is clear.)

One last note: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR SUN GUN UNATTENDED!!!! Focused light can begin to burn your back board and it can damage your lenses on your scope or monocular. Take a few frequent breaks and either cover your lens or move it as to not be aimed at the sun to avoid damage to the equipment.

I hope you enjoy many solar events o come!!!

Beltaine... May Day...

Beltaine... May Day...

    I have always had a place in my heart and childhood for Spring rites, and May Day was always the best. As a child, we learned about May Day and it's roots in school (sadly not taught much here in America any longer) and even did the May Pole Dance as a school project during the Spring Fairs. The events that bring about the 'new life' were the center of my life during the first few weeks of Spring, and I watched in wonder as the plants and animals around me aged and grew so quickly from my 'snails pace' growing. It was here, at about the age of 8, that I discovered that time moved differently for everything.

    Beltaine has been a wonderful time for all the peoples of the Earth in one form or another, and by several various names and cultural traditions. A time of 'new beginnings', a time of community gatherings, a time for planting, a time to revel in making it through the harsh winters months and finding life springing out all around us. Trade and wars were halted just to revel in life affirming ceremony and ritual feasts were held in honor of lords and ladies, Gods and Goddess alike. Truly a time to be with friends and families.

    Much honor is given to our Gods and our gratitude bestowed upon alters and fields ready for a new season. This was a cause for many to take hand in hand and celebrate rejuvenation of the land. And here I hold fond memories, as I once also I embraced a lover and friend on a Beltaine morning in a field ready to be planted. Memories from that day have carried me a long way, and always have been part of my ritual. There is a lot to be said about sex magic... but not here, not now. To May Day instead...

    This year my 'home community' hosts once again their May Day festival just outside Memphis, Tennessee. This years theme is 'Back to the Roots', and I definitely cannot wait. A trip back there is always good for me, and to be there with them at festival is even better. Rekindling old acquaintances, meeting new friends, swapping old and new stories and just soaking up the Mississippi River's wonderful energy in the forest.            Yeah, it is a 35 year tradition for us, and I have only missed a few times since my first attendance in 1994. There is a lot of history there, and most any Pagan in the Mid South can tell you a bit of it as well.

    Also May Day (May 1^st) this year is a call to strike by the members of the Occupy local, state and National movement along with Occupy Wall Street. Why? They remember May Day as the Labor Unions day of rest. It is a day to celebrate life, not to toil away one's life for others. Unions and non-union workers are all being encouraged to take the day off. Students of schools, colleges and universities, as well as teachers are being invited to take a day out of class. Families are being challenged not to shop, bank, or do any type of non-family engagement also. It's all about celebrating life with the people in your life that matter.

    I know that I am going to enjoy myself this Beltaine. I am co-hosting an event on the 29^th of April for our local Pagans here in Idaho Falls. I will be traveling down for family and friends in the Mid-South for the May Day Festival (11^th – 13^th). And somewhere along the way, I will try to find a nice field, ready for planting...  

America's Spring Rising

With all the Winters wet and dreary days behind us, for the most part, I see renewed activities ongoing with the Occupy and 99% movements all around the Nation. people have spent much of the winter waiting to see if this continues, or falls to the wayside. We have not stopped! America is no longer in it's deep slumber of government and media induced dreams and illusions. The Occupy Movement grows stronger every day, and their voices shout out; Wake Up!

We are seeing many new faces and hearing many new voices just in the last few weeks, as more and more people realize that we are not just some passing fad, and mean to create change in our Nation by expressing our voices, our concerns and our needs to our government. Groups like the 99% Declaration , OWS , Occupy Together , and even the Democratic Underground have been doing a lot of things in favor of the U. S Citizen, even when most of the Nation was not aware of the goings on.
We the People, yes all of us, have a voice to cry out with, and we all have issue(s) with how our government has been run  and run down by these 'elected' offials. 'Elected' by corporate spending, private monies, and most of us never voted for them, yet they won. It is time to place the People back infront of the government concerns, and not these privatized corporate mongers of self worth and demand our Constitutional Rights be returned to us, WE the People.

That is what is going on now, people like you and me, getting together, working on the avenues of redress for our grievances against our current sitting government and addressing the Nation. We started in humble lots and squares all across our Nation, to place ourselves in-front of our Nations government, our Nations media, and were systematically denied our rights, news coverage, and personal safety from government harassment. If it weren't for Livestream, U-Stream, RT TV, and many other Private On-Line media like YouTube, we would have never been seen nor heard. However, we do have the power of the free press and media sources outside government control, and we know how to use it. It gives us back our power of the media. And now, once the mainstream media and government controlled media has realized that we are not going away or will be silenced, they are slowly getting on board. A friend wrote a guest editorial in our local paper ( Kay Finley, who is running as a delegate in the 99% Declaration site) and I am going to share the important things she said:

4-4-12 Guest Editorial

Where are the people?  The people of the United States have been left out of the public discourse.  The jobless rate, foreclosures, healthcare, gas prices are all reported as “How will it affect Obama’s re-election?”  “Will that affect the Republican candidates?”  For the last two years, since the Supreme Court ruled on the “Citizens United Case”, Pacs, Super-Pacs, and media celebrities are important.  The people-not so much.
But the Constitution of the United States gives power to the people through the First Amendment “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.  Redress – to remove the cause of a grievance or complaint (Webster ‘s New Collegiate, 1979).  
Now we have a website set up to help “We the people” reclaim our power.  The 99% Working Group, Ltd. is planning for a General Assembly in Philadelphia during the week of July 1, 2012.  On the website (the99declaration.org), set up to facilitate the process, people can sign up to run as delegates  (two from each of the legislative district), register to vote for a delegate ( a separate contracted entity will conduct the voting), give input to the preliminary set of grievances, add a new grievance, and share the plan with others.  After the delegates are elected (June 1, 2012), it will be their responsibility to pare the grievances down to less than 10.
The final ratified and signed Petition for Redress of Grievances will be presented to all 535 members of the 112th Congress, the nine members of the Supreme Court, the President of the United States and each of the political candidates seeking federal public office in the November 2012 general election. Each of the political candidates will be asked to respond to the ratified petition and each of their responses, or lack thereof, will be shared with the voting public in a series of wire press releases made in each of the 435 Congressional districts prior to the November general election.
As the real concerns of our country keep mounting, the President and Congress appear to be in continual campaign mode, not willing to do the work we elected them to do.
The 99% Working Group, Ltd is putting a tremendous amount of energy to help us regain a say in our government.  All people of the United States are encouraged to participate.  The more of us who give in-put, the more effective we can be.  It is our country that is at risk.  “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country (John Kennedy).

We have not yet begun our 'battle' in regaining our Rights, and repairing the damage done by the greedy governmental officials that have help steal and limit our National Freedoms.
Join with us!

A Druids Journey Home

   Like many other trips I have taken, the ones that lead me back to my 'home' of family and friends in my Mid-South region is always adventurous. Traveling out of the mountainous regions of the Mid-West, seeing the mountain of Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado slip off into the distance in the mirror enforces the understanding of time markings of our country, and I realize that I am traveling back through time, home to an older place in my history and the Earth's history. From the high plains to the deltas, I slip into visions of the past, mine and what the world must have looked like before my 'time'. It is invigorating, and humbling.
   Events fall into place, leading me to make changes to plans, and make new plans, so that the trip is always moving and I accomplish my outlined desires. It is a challenge of time, Nature, and the modern mundane world that I readily accept rather that allow it to discourage me. Weather in the early Spring is my first hurdle, with it's snow storms, high winds, and risky roads. The open plains then raise the bar with rolling thunder storms accompanied with their tell tale winds threatening tornado eruptions. Nature reveals her strength and mastery of the elements as she breaks into Spring with a fury of shaking off the old winter. She is Alive with power for any to observe,.... and most of the people do not see this majestic display as such, only head the warnings of ill weather and hold up in safety.
   The events that bring me home also change and challenge me. Sometimes for reunions, other times it is festival. This time it is due to family, and servitude to the community that I once broke daily bread with. Family, the life long friends whom you cannot avoid so easily as some passing acquaintanceship, but whom you would not trade for, even for their heartbreaks. My family is spread out across this Nation, but most reside here, in this old South. Here where roots run deep for many of us, and our fierce pride raises many interpersonal issues. And although I have simple plans and many aspirations for my family, they too are forming plans and the bartering commences as soon as one reveals their plans to another until a compromise is laid out and all work toward.
   I then begin to focus on my vocation as teacher, councilor and clergy. Being clergy in itself is a demand so great it easily swallows us in our service. That passion and faith drives us forward through many issues, and now is no exception. I gather, host and present ideas and concepts to other clergy of faith, clergy of other faith, and practitioners who have interests in the education and resources that we share in the service. This relay of information and the community feedback allow us as peers to share many ideas and information about our vocation, our community needs, and how we can continue to build toward our common goals. No, we do not always agree, but even then we address these differences not as arguments, but as a continued discussion of choice, decision, and practical applications of our various faiths and teachings that still bring us together and move us along. It is not so easily done, however, through replication and repetition,  it becomes easier for us to achieve co-operation and interfaith growth in our community. This takes a lot of my limited time here, but the rewards are invaluable.
   Now I spend time in the presence of my 'home community', peers, Elders, and friends. Time well spent in council, discussion, and the ever present and evolving work around the church for Spring events and building onto and into the church property. Working forward here as well toward goals and achieving simple steps in our Spiritual lives. Here too I contact the 'professionals' needed in finishing up family needs, and work in research of church needs. I slip right into my 'old roll' that I carried for many years of my service here as if I were only gone a few days rather than close to a decade. Meeting new faces, and embracing old friends, this part of my journey is well worth it.
   As my time here draws to a close, last minute ideas and delayed events and plans now surface to my daily thoughts. I begin to iron out the wrinkles of my over-all plans and event changed goals. My easy going style starts to change into my purpose directed mode of interaction, I become a bit more serious in my actions. Still, I am subject to the hospitality of my hosts, and work with them and their needs willingly. here too I see the purpose why I became clergy, and remember my oaths of servitude, and await my 'turn' in getting my personal needs met.
   Home, a place that changes with time, and purpose. I long for my return trip back to my new home, and yearn for the comfort of family and friends there, and yet I see myself secretly desiring that I could remain just a bit longer. It is a selfish thought I know, but there all the same. Yet my time here is shortened by another day, and another day closer to my return. And even though when I leave here, my thoughts and promises never do completely. I dream of the people and places here, I remain in contact for them all each and every time they call.
   And the only regret I hold, is that I cannot simply teleport back each time.

Living Daily Your Beliefs

I have spent the majority of my adult live in the service of others. My chosen career path is that of 'maintenance', structural, commercial, and industrial mostly. I enrolled in classes and took courses to learn electrical, plumbing, boilers and steam systems and studied with carpenters, cabinet builders, painters, wall paper and dry wall installers, all to better my knowledge and further my experience is achieving the best methods and practice that I could offer. From my 'tinkering' with household appliances to my certifications in auto mechanics, I enjoy what I do in maintenance.

I have another vocation, based a lot on my career choice, and my faith. It is another 'maintenance' position in life as well. Through this vocation, I am allowed to help others, honored to assist in the maintainability of proper function of others. I am a Priest. It was not an over night decision, and it took many years (and still does) to learn the required techniques and information that this vocation calls for. Courses in psychology, sociology, religious science, history, comparative religious studies, all just to be able to perform one function of a Priest.

The comparison of maintenance man and clergyman in my daily life, helps me to teach others how to better serve themselves and their communities. You see, in maintenance, we are not always 'repair men'. The actions we take in maintenance is to ensure continual operations or sustainability, which can be done quite often by a 'tweak' here or a 'support' there. Rarely do we need to repair or rebuild what it is we are working on. A Priest does the same, only with different tools and much more complicated subject matter. The clergy help maintain individuals strength in faith, education of religious custom, and foster a desired outcome, or product, that the religion and the community desire. These are just the aspect of councilor and instructor for a Priest, There is ever so much more...

Each religion relies on a basic set of principal beliefs, an understanding of Deity or Divine Presence of Being, has a set of customs or rituals, and in short holds a traditional concept in how one should live and interact with others. There is a lot to understand, much information to retain, and many protocols to learn, adopt and practice. The only way that I have found to achieve this, is to honestly live it on a daily basis. Every act becomes a sacred ritual for me then, every word then becomes a blessing toward others. We live our religious beliefs in our lives beyond holding ceremony, observing the Holy Days, or in study of our religious works. Your religion is not 'what' you are or 'who' you are, but 'what' you do and 'how' you live.

We each have daily rituals in life; from waking up, washing, eating, working, playing, and going to bed. Connect those simple mundane things, in your mind and spirit, and recreate that religious understanding of the Divine Within. Every act will become less mundane, and will acquire a more sacred meaning in your life. The simplest ways to live a Spiritual path, is to live simply believing that we are Spiritual creatures. It takes no more time to do it, than all the time you want. It is easy to do, with the mindset of achieving it, and it will only take a lifetime to master.

Many journeys await you, greet them with eager anticipation for the lessons that they will give you.

I AM LIVID

 Anyone who has met me can tell you one thing, I am mostly straight forward about my observations and reserved about my opinions. Anyone who has spent a day with me can tell you that I am blunt yet not brutal, and handle a lot of things with an amount of diplomacy and patience to see things through to the end. And everyone who has spent at least a week around me can testify to my position on standing on my principals, holding to my oaths, and 'walking my talk'. So when people mistake me for some run of the mill so and so, I have to remind myself that they have not had the benefits of experience about my person, nor fair warning of my personality.

     I have been recently offended and internally injured. My ethical standards attacked, my Faith tested, and my service as clergy belittled and questioned. Normally this combination of events and affronts would not phase me so, however, due to the personage of this individual who has made the ill fated mistake of performing it, I AM LIVID. 

     This was not a 'concerned family member trying to save my soul', that I have always dealt with through my teachings, and usually theirs as well, with tact and diplomacy, respect and understanding. This was not some random stranger to my faith or religious beliefs, for they too I handle quite well and help inform or educate them, or the very least accept our differences and agree to disagree. This was a supposed educated, experienced and fellow practitioner of a Pagan faith.

     One who tried to convince me I was at odds with my teachings. That I was in breach of Ordains, By-Laws and contracts as a clergy-member. That I was being disrespectful, one the verge of attacking or shunning them. That I was refusing advise and council, even friendship. There was only one, slightly important, mistake... That this person was not only wrong, that this person not only openly lied, that this person mistakenly implied threats... no non of that really. It was that this person not only made the mistake to blatantly attack me, it's that I will not tolerate that kind of action by someone who supposedly knows better and that they consider themselves my equal or better! This person will be held accountable.

What I learned from Dr. Debu Majumdar

    I had the opportunity Sunday, to go and listen to a man speak about something I have been juggling with within myself. The man was Dr. Debu Majumdar, past President of the Board at the UU Church in Idaho Falls and an author of children books that teach moral stories based on the Hindu stories from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The speech was titled simply; Occupy Wall Street Signals a Need for Return to Ethics.

 The message however was much more profound, at least for those of us who have trying to find the balance within us of being a good citizen, and a good spiritual person. I say this because of the good judgment of separating our faith from our politics and governing laws. Debu has been a devout believer of the Hindu teachings and ethical standards and has managed to form strong ties in his waking life to them, and weaving them into his mundane work as well as his political views.

   I had been wrestling with my civic responsibility(s) to my fellow citizens and my religious obligations to my community while I have been active in the ever growing social movement of the Occupy Wall Street campaign. As an active citizen, I have attended events and General Assemblies held by our local Occupy Idaho Falls groups and those of Occupy Pocatello, as well as interacted on a National scale of communication and interaction with the many various Occupy groups online, sharing ideas and developing plans of action to help educate the public and address our elected officials. As a clergy person of my faith, I have helped develop and implement action and communication of peaceful assertion and ethical behavior. True they both compliment each other in application, yet I had felt that together, they limited my ability to do more. Sunday, I sat there and realized that they did not.

   Debu brought up many things that we had all mentioned or focused on in our activities or assemblies concerning our Nation in general, our Government in action, and our future in specifics. Being a history and mythology buff, I had several times pointed out the parallels and patterns that we had fallen into as a Nation and how it had played out in the past with other countries. Debu pointed out that this country, this culture, has no long standing mythology, but does have a well documented history that we all learned as children, however, they lack much of the moral and ethical teachings that accompany the majority of cultural mythologies. Every culture that has come and blended into this great melting pot of a Nation, has brought these mythologies and cultural teachings, yet they have been played down if not removed from our education system. With such downplay in favor of science and math, we lost much more than 'faery tales' and 'ancient history', we lost the advantage of instilling into our progeny a solid foundation of ethics. I know, Christians that read this will be up in arms, but the Bible has been so over interpreted and forced onto individual thought, that the majority of the younger generations have long since pulled away from it. Sad, but true.

   As a clergyman of faith, and a spiritual person, I learned that to teach a religion or cultural belief, we must allow for the individual understanding and expression of personal interpretation. Allowing the 'student' to think, rather than telling them what to think. Faith is belief, not one based on outside definition, but in personal understanding. I too believe in the understanding and investigation of science, history, and accurate literature of cultural arts and expression. That is a belief based on facts and evidence supported by various pieces of science and history. I have blended them so deeply in my personal life, that I must always be wary of not being perceived as a manipulator of others. And I always encourage others to do the research, to think for themselves, and to be strong in their findings.

   But back to Debu... He expressed that it has more than years for this country to come to this state, but it has taken generations. He pointed out that the generation gap has grown so much, that it has gone from grandparent - grandchild to parent – child. Whereas; our children cannot fully function in communication of ideas, goals and simple ethics outside of their own generation, leaving parents, and grandparents at a loss of how to convey to them these moral choices and good behavioral patterns. Sounds like something for 'family practice councilors'? Look what 60 years, roughly 3 full generations, of this has lead our country into. These children today, have lost so much due to our failures in our generation, and the oversights of our parents generation, and the lack of communicating and keeping in-touch with our grandparents generation. Personal ethics, business ethics, social morals, and just plain common sense has been overwritten by such things as our modern society has promised us by it's technical advances.

   In place of savings, we strive for a credit rating, which requires us to borrow money and enter into debt willingly. In stead of the practice of business to raise standards of living, it raises the requirement to raise the cost of living, with the ultimate goal to 'make money' rather than quality products. In place of electoral officials working for the common goals of the people, we have allowed bribed politicians to pander to these same money minded businesses to prevail over us. There are so many places in our comparatively short history as a Nation, that we allowed these things to come to pass, without looking toward our future as a sovereign and sustainable country. Too many 'short sighted' laws have been passed that it is now common place for our legislators to through 'quick fixes' at our Nations problems, so that they can pas it off to someone else. How can we have become so complacent, so blind to this open proof of non-responsible or irresponsible acts by our government? It is simple, we do it on a personal level almost as often, if not more so, and we won't even go into the daily business dealings that make 'white collar crime' a common place term in our lives.

   That is a big bite to swallow. We are responsible. It has been a trickle down affect for generations, going back to our great-grandparents easily, and further back if we spent the time searching it. We have allowed more and more of our generations to accept and conform to a level of complacency, that the modern response to government action of corporate rulings is; apathy. Somehow, somewhere, we forgot to care, unless it happened to us directly. We forgot how to care about our fellow citizen, we blinded ourselves to facts about laws, and we forgot how important our voices and our votes really were. We were told that we didn't matter, and we believed it. We allowed our freedoms to be trimmed and limited by our government and we allowed our government to be regulated by private corporations and big business interests. (The twisted comical part is, that these corporations are crying 'foul' when the government places regulations on them, and then convinces the government to 'privatize' the regulations by outsourcing to 'third party' companies, that they have even more influence on.)

   The answers? That is now the issue. We have over 60 years to review what needs to be changed, adjusted, or repealed. The overview? Get money out of politics by removing the corporate person-hood granted by 'Citizens United' act, regulate influences of our politicians by not allowing them to be seated on corporate boards of private businesses while they hold a public office, and limiting if not completely removing the ever growing crowd of lobbyists in our legislative process. That is a good start, and mandatory before continuing I believe. 

   Next? Return the authority of this Nations currency back to the government of this Nation and out of the hands of private banks that hold no allegiance nor true investments in the well being least not the sustainability of this Nation. Then focus more on our National infrastructures that are failing our Nation; Education, Labor, Communication, Roads and Bridges, Harbors and waterways, Power grids and resource management. I'll even go so far as to focus on a National plan to increase research and general application of renewable resources for heat and power, building transit systems that increase interstate and National transportation, i. e. bus, train and waterway transit plans that resemble those of other Nations.

From here, we have to get there, from there...well only our future is at stake.