A Collection of Desires

There are two different types of nostalgia. 

Restorative nostalgia is when you feel like things used to be better and you long to relive the past, and reflective nostalgia is when you feel wistful about how different things used to be, but you maintain a sense of amused acceptance. 

The crescent Earth rises above the #lunar horizon, taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit during final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program.

April 30th is Walpurgisnacht, the halfway point to Halloween.   It’s the eve before Beltane and in German tradition it is essentially a second Halloween.  In medieval Germany it was believed to be the night where witches and faeries have secret festivals in forests to sell their potions, charms, and spells, to dance, tell stories, and cavort with fae and goblin alike.  It is a night of powerful magick and when the veil between worlds becomes thin (Much like on Halloween itself).  

Goblins, imps, trolls, ghosts, and demons are supposed to roam loose on Walpurgisnacht, along with hungry vampires, and dark faeries.  

(Artwork by Brian Froud)

Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker is set during Walpurgisnacht and there are two pivotal scenes in Goethe’s Faust (parts 1 and 2) at Walpurgisnacht celebrations.

This year’s Walpurgisnacht comes with a full moon (Moon reaches its peak on the 29th).  

We’ve covered Beltane, and now I want to cover 

Walpurgisnacht.

Walpurgisnacht, known in English as Walpurgis Night, is the German name for the night of the 30th of April. It is the eve of the feast that celebrates Saint Walpurga. 

In Germanic folklore, Walpurgisnacht is also known as “Hexennacht” - which literally translates as “witches night” - and is the night that witches gather upon the highest peak in the Harz Mountains in central Germany. 

Walpurgisnacht is celebrated throughout Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), in locally varying forms. 

“Goddamn Goks!!!” Sheridan shouted. He kicked over an empty trashcan and fifteen of the things leaped, squawling from beneath his deck.

“Serenity, John,” Delenn warned from the window.

He inspected his tomato plants. They grew poorly in the Minbar soil, but even worse with a thousand tiny teethmarks all over them. “The Goks killed another one.”

“This is their world, not the tomatiis.”

“Tomatoes.”

“My point remains.”

“I grew up on a farm, Delenn,” John pouted. “It makes me feel… grounded.”

“Then perhaps you should grow Minbari vegetation?”

He frowned. “Suggest that again and I’m getting you a cat.”