Lunar Calendar

Revolutionaries, we must not only liberate the dimension of space, but of time, as well. Too long have we suffered needlessly under the temporal jackboot of Popes and politicians. Part of our emancipation lies in our rejection of the Roman-Christian-capitalist calendar and committing ourselves to the natural cycles of our mother Earth, and our grandmother moon. Below is the fifth version of a new lunar calendar. . .

The symbols in the grey cells in the middle of the circle are the kabbalistic astrological symbols for the 7 planets, after which are named the 7 days of the week. Sunday = Sun, Monday = Moon, etc. In each cell filled with colour: the number in the dark corner is the day of the lunar month; the number in the light corner is the day of the corresponding Gregorian month (e.g. September).

Lunar Calendar v 5.0

I know that I just designed vee four point oh, but something just didn't sit right with me. I love the floral design, but in retrospect, I feel that the way that the days of the way are not physically continguous is counter-intuitive. I'm still feeling the spiral, so while waiting for some rendering to be complete, I whipped off another version of the lunar calendar, and this one looks less like a lotus, and more like a snake!

I dropped the solstice dates on this one -- I still feel that those dates are significant and important, but because of the new arithmetic, the calendar cells are much more rectangular, and two more sets of numerals would have really made them look crowded. I even dropped the initial of the Gregorian month, I figured it was superfluous. This version is much more pared-down, bare bones.

Lunar Calendar v 4.0

It's been a full 3 years since I've designed my own working calendar, and in that time, I've come to new realizations about our planetary cosmology, so here's Lunar Calendar version 4, for the Hebrew year 5767. In light of the countdown to ecological armageddon, I feel it's more important than ever that we change our societal story, come up with new ways of honouring all craation in space and time.

The most obvious difference from previous versions is the spiral shape, something that I've never seen done before anywhere else. In version 3, I abandoned the circular depiction of the lunar cycle because I wanted to make the weeks visible at a glance. This Alex Grey lotus flower design incorporates both of these important features, albeit in a visually complex fashion that must be explained to initiates.

To count down the days and nights of the month, begin at the center of the lotus and work outwards in a clockwise manner. A single week, Sunday to Saturday, is denoted by the same colour hue. At the end of the week, cross the thick black line and jump to the next week, and repeat the cycle. To compare a single day from one week to the next, follow a single counter-clockwise petal.

As before, the day of the lunar month is indicated for every day, as is the Gregorian date, making it easier to negotiate relationships with Babylon. But in a further attempt to reestablish our connections with solar cycles, I've indicated both the amount of days from the previous solstice, and the amount of days until the next solstice. These high numerals can be considered "seasonal dates".

Although I've found the Hebrew alphanumerics to be very powerful, I've chosen to use Arabic numerals, since they are used by more people who can't read and write Hebrew, and although this calendar is incredibly esoteric, I want it to at least be accessible to the few freaks who might actually find it interesting. Instead of using either English or Hebrew day-names, I've used their planetary symbols.

The 12 moons of the year can be printed out on 12 pieces of paper, or the can be printed 3 to a page, so that an entire season is visible at a glance. By cutting the seasonal calendars along their radii, the can be configured into a long mobius strip of sorts, further emphasizing the cyclical nature of the solar year, and thus also allowing any 3 months of the year to be visible at any one time.

Lunar Calendar v 3.0

For the last twenty years, at least, my father has been sending Hebrew calendars to all of his Jewish business clients at the start of the Hebrew calendar year. It just occurred to me that I am carrying on this family tradition -- this is the third consecutive year that I have designed my own Hebrew calendar and have sent it out to all of my friends.

I've made some radical changes to this year's calendar. The calendar has always been circular instead of square -- you all know of my penchant for spherical shapes -- but in versions 1 & 2, the calendar revolved around the cycle of the moon, whereas in version 3 the calendar revolves around the cycle of the sun. The circle in the top-right corner of the calendar indicates at which point in the yearly cycle the current month lies.

The reason for this change is that it is the earth's rotation around the sun which causes seasons to occur, and which most of us experience as the primary naturally repeating cycle in our lives. Also, it was really difficult to read the previous versions of the calendar -- you would have to keep turning the calendar around in circles to compare two dates two weeks apart. Now, all of the dates of the month can be read at once, and the weeks can be compared to each other.

The calendar is still a monthly calendar, recognizing the importance of the moon in our lives, and the spaces for each day have been shaded appropriately to correspond to the different phases of the moon. Perhaps, if there is a demand for it, I can create another circular calendar that corresponds to the moon's cycles specifically for women who want to chart their menstrual cycles.

In this version 3 of the calendar, the Shabbatot, the Saturdays, are at the bottom of the calendar, indicating that they are in the "rest" position, since they should ideally be days during which we rest from all work. Again, Shabbatot and Hebrew Holidays have been shaded -- we really shouldn't be making plans on these days, we should experience them as the universe means for us to experience them.

I hope that we have all learned the lessons that we needed to learn this past year, and that this upcoming year, 5764, will be one of more peace and more health.

From Version 2.0 (5763):

When we create any tool, (such as a calendar, which is a tool used to measure time), we encode values into the tool; and when we use said tool, those very values are reflected right back at us. That is why it is so important to design tools that reflect the values that are important to us. I have designed this calendar with several important values in mind: Hebrew-centricity (by using the Hebrew language as the primary language of communication and the Hebrew dates as the primary way of marking time); nature-centricity (by reminding us of the connection between our time and our space, between the months and the moon); cyclicity (by designing the calendar in the shape of a holistic circle that includes us all, not in the shape of industrial boxes that atomize us); and time-sacredness (the Sabbaths and Jewish holidays are marked in black, so that no plans can be made on these dates, because no plans should be made on these days, they are sacred days of rest and celebration).

From Version 1.0 (5762):

"I no longer live in the desert, so I'm no longer able to see all of the stars at night. And I no longer live in a religious Jewish intentional community, and the society I currently live in does not follow the cycles of the Hebrew calendar. But that's not going to stop me from living my life in sync with Mother Earth, the way my ancestors did thousands of years ago. In honour of the new year, I have designed a lunar calendar for my own personal use, so that I can continue to live the way I want to live, no matter where I live."