#I am not christian I just celebrate the renewal of life and the fertility of the world that returns each year in spring

[ursa-arctos-arctos]

A compilation of the different Crocus species I saw on a walk: Crocus flavus, Crocus sp., Crocus tommasinianus - a whole field of them and a closer up, Crocus verus.

All of them a beautiful reminder of spring and the upcoming easter celebrations.

02/2024 Germany

[honestsycrets]

Proper Timing | [ Alfred x Wet Nurse!Reader ] VD1

❛ pairing | alfred x reader

❛ type | drabble: Shy gift giving. - with Alfred

❛ summary | alfred is tired of people running his life. after his first wife dies, he has his eye on a second. 

❛ tags | mention of death, festivals, shy alfred, gift giving, probably inaccurate but this was my self comfort 😂, 6B oriented.

Good love is about timing.

The proper timing results in a proper relationship, he thought. Though he knew nothing of the matter of true love but through the love that grew with alliances. With his first wife dead, Alfred found occasion to find another wife free of the didactic hands of women in his life. This time, Alfred told himself, it would be his choice. There would be no one to tell him who to love.

He knew that his people celebrated the old heathen holidays hand in hand with their Christian faith. It did not bother him; not so long as they knew who the true God was. This simple holiday of flowers, fertility, and renewal would be the perfect time to make his move while the heathens were sated through the bonds of marriage. In time another band would come but with the son of Ragnar at his side, he mused a very different ending.

Enough of wars and of kingship.

“King Alfred, you should not be out here,” whispered his counsel, an old head in his ear with well intent, despite his lusty eyes dabbling at the collars of women’s dresses. He was not so used to having a king who loved his people so. Flowers were harvested and mounted in stalls selling their wares. He ignored the man and fetched the pence needed from his purse.

“Is it done?” he asked. Yes, my liege, the bearded man returned with his good. It was a simple necklace of flowers embedded with brilliant garnets. Alfred examined the work until he felt secure in his resolve to nod his head and pay the man.

“Well done,” he boomed and clapped the man on his shoulder. “This is just as I imagined.”

The jeweler ruffled his hairy chest pridefully. “She would be mad no to love it.”

“She?” the old counsel asked. “Who, she? I believe we agreed that--”

“Where is my son Edward?” Alfred ignored his counsel. A woman with silvering hair underneath a slouched head covering gestured outside the villa. Her other hand landed on her round hip. “We told her not to go, but she took the young prince out of the walls.”

“Out of the walls! She’s lost her mind!”

“Thank you,” Alfred quipped, slipping between the woman and the counsel to mount his muddy brown horse. Outside the warmth of the cobblestoned villa were lush green fields of grass. They ran on for miles with the bright sky stretching beyond his head. Edward liked to play here: where the people would leave him be-- outside, among fresh grass that would nurture his growth into a strong prince. There you were, weaving a flower crown to plop right on the boy’s head.

The clipping clop of horses and men alerted you of his visit. You sat with your fingers weaving blades of grass around the frame to secure the flowers in place. Tonight, you resolved, you would dance the night away when Edward slipped into a land of painless dreams. The good thing about being so young; he would not be alack for his mother.

“I see you’ve taken your men on a hunt, my king!”

“Not a hunt, I’m afraid. It will have to do for another day.” Alfred gifted the reins to the solitary hands of the exhausted counsel. He slipped off with little more than a nod and a jovial hop in his step, wadding through lush green grass. He surprises you when he sits by his son, his hands cupping his knees.

“Then why have you come out here?”

“You’re beyond the gates with my son,” Alfred said pointedly. You glance toward the boy, tugging flowers free from the crown that you’ve made for him.

“Ah,” you mumbled. “It seems I am.”

“Clearly I had to hunt you, instead. I begin to think you enjoy the chase.”

“It is nice to have a king pursue you,” you chide, realizing a misstep of words almost immediately. There’s a glimmer of amusement behind his eyes. “It… is not purposeful, I swear it. It’s only… the villa is so stuffy with men and women and festivals roaring on.”

“Do you not like the season of love?”

“Of course I do,” you rushed out and finished another round of lacing. The crown was complete with red flowers, the same ones that Alfred had sent to your door that early morning as you gave the prince his morning breakfast of milk. “Don’t we Edward? We can see the flowers and have expensive honey cakes.”

“And men?” he asked against himself. You thought on it a moment, warring on the safe side of flushing a deep warmth to your cheeks. Instead, you secured the floral crown atop your head and pinched Edward’s soft cheek, drawing him between your legs. Warmth that overtakes him.

“Our wmen aren’t much to look at. My little prince is all I need.”

Ah, King Alfred lowered his head toward the necklace that sat wound around his wrist. He unlaced it and held it between his two hands. “I have… brought something.”

“Hm?” you glanced up. “Oh, that’s beautiful. Did you come to ask my an opinion? It would be a lovely gift to send to Paris.”

“No, no,” Alfred sighed. Ubbe’s words bobbed around his head. If he couldn’t get out of his mind, he would never be a proper king; or husband. He leans over, clasping the garnet and gold necklace around your neck. “I. Well I. I commissioned it for you. To… thank you for the love you’ve devoted to my son.”

That did not come out right.

“For me?” you gasped. “But it is gold. And jewels.”

“Yes it is. You’re more than deserving of it.”

You glance to little Edward, burrowing a hole to free himself from your arms. He doddles free, ripping grass from the soil. You watch as his hands become soiled with the rich dark dirt, squeezing it into fat balls. “I’ll remember that for any man who comes to court me. Deserving of gold and garnets, any one with less need not apply.”

He pauses.

“I was hoping I might be the last.” It’s when you look at him that he clears his throat, glancing toward his son, throwing up dirt like rain. His long, shrill scream fills the field with glee. Even his soldiers gesture humorously toward him. “If marriage is in your interest.”

There it is. He fears the response. The ‘no’ that feels necessary. You’re from two different worlds. Ones that didn’t often collide. You obliterate his worry with a chaste kiss, placed on the apple of his cheek.

“I began to think you would never ask.”

[catherindonald]

Spring Holidays: Imbolc & How To Celebrate This Old World Festival

According to the Old World Celtic calendar, February 1st (and sometimes the 2nd) marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and August 1st (and sometimes the 2nd) is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, and this day is known by a few different names. 

Imbolc, Candlemas, and Groundhog’s Day??

The pagan Celts call this day Imbolc, and it is one of the four fire festivals representing the beginning of each season—Imbolc marking the beginning of spring. This festival was also the time when the Celtic people honor Brighid, the goddess of fertility, handicrafts, and dairy work and keeper of the home and hearth.

After Christianity came to the Celts of Ireland via St. Patrick, converted pagans wanted to continue celebrating their seasonal holidays, so the names of the holidays were changed to Christian names and saints of the Christian faith were worshiped instead of the traditional pagan gods and goddesses. Imbolc was changed to Candlemas, a feast celebrating the presentation of Jesus Christ at the temple as well as the purification of his mother, Mary. In the Christian faith, the focus was taken off of the goddess Brighid and placed on St. Brigid, the Irish nun who devoted her life to the people of Ireland and is often referred to as Saint Brigid’s Day in her honor. 

In America, we celebrate Groundhogs Day on February 1st or 2nd. This is a fun tradition that is used to “predict” whether we will have six more weeks of winter or if spring is on its way. Interestingly enough, this tradition actually has pagan Celtic roots. On Imbolc, it was believed that if the weather was nice, then a creature of Irish folklore, the Cailleach, would go out and collect all the wood available because more winter was to come. However, if the day was wet and windy, the Cailleach would stay inside and sleep and warm weather would be on its way. Hmm…

Today, you will hear this day called by all of the above names depending on who’s using it. 

So is Imbolc or Candlemas a Religious Holiday? 

Well, sort of, but it doesn’t have to be.

I’m not pagan, but I do have a variety of Celtic ancestry. I’m not Catholic, but I am of the Christian faith and have some close Catholic friends. I am American, but I don’t put much stock in whether or not a groundhog sees his shadow or not.

To me, this day represents more of a seasonal holiday than a religious holiday, but if I were pagan, Catholic, or superstitious, then I guess I would celebrate it from a seasonal and religious viewpoint, which I’ll talk even more about below. Alas, because I am none of the above (well, I may be a little superstitious!), I like to think of it as the first of the spring holidays. As far as what to call it goes, I usually call it Imbolc since that’s what it was first known by.

Seasonal Living & What The Beginning of Spring Represents

So why does Imbolc matter to those of us who try to live seasonally?

Well, first, we must understand what Imbolc represents which is the end of winter’s dark, cold days and the coming of light and warmer weather. The time of rest and renewal has passed, and now we must resume our active lives. Imbolc also represents new life as this is the time of year when flowers begin to burst forth from the earth and many animals give birth to spring babies.

At this time of the year, the days begin to warm, the hibernating animals begin to wake from their winter sleep, and the spring bulbs start to pop from the soil slowly filling the brown landscape with their colors. It’s a hopeful time of year!

Imbolc Traditions

Imbolc is traditionally celebrated with fire and light. People would burn fires in the hearth or keep candles lit all through the night. Pagan Celts believed that the goddess Brighid would come to visit in the night blessing them with prosperity and protection. Likewise, converted Celts believed St. Brigid’s spirit would come to bless and protect them. Some people would make dolls out of rushes (called a Brideog), dress them in white dresses with flowers in their hair, and put them in a basket or a makeshift bed near the fire. Others would take rushes, tie them together, and hang at the entrance to the home. Some people would even leave coins, cloth, and other items out to be blessed, and others would make beds by the fire so she would have a place to rest. These and many other old traditions were observed on this festive day.

So how can someone interested in seasonal living celebrate this first day of spring while honoring the traditions of the past if they choose? Here are # ideas to help you if you choose to celebrate Imbolc or Candlemas, no matter what your religious beliefs are.

7 Imbolc Traditions To Celebrate This Year

1. Build A Fire

As I mentioned above, Imbolc is one of the ancient fire festivals that marks the beginning of each season, so what better way to celebrate the significance of this day than by starting a fire. Starting a fire in the fireplace or woodstove will be more in line with ancient traditions, but if you don’t have access to a hearth or stove, you can light lanterns or candles in your home.

Don’t forget to say this little blessing over your home as you do:

Hearth and home, home and hearth, welcoming close our family and friends. Home and hearth, hearth and home, the light returns as winter ends.

2. Make St. Brigid’s Crosses & Brighid Dolls

St. Brigid’s Crosses and Brighid Dolls are common crafts that are made and placed in the home on Candlemas or Imbolc. Here is a St. Brigid’s Cross YouTube tutorial that will show you how to make them. When it comes to making St. Brigid’s Crosses, you can make them with anything. You don’t have to have rushes! You can make them out of strips of paper, pipe cleaners, straws, or other types of grass. Hang these in your home to symbolize the blessing of the home. 

Here’s a Brigid Doll YouTube tutorial that is really easy to make. Your kids can play with these, set them up in their rooms, or place them in baskets in the kitchen or near the stove (not too close though!) to honor St. Brigid.

3. Eat Symbolic Foods

If you’re looking for symbolic foods that represent traditional festivals and holidays, Gather Victoria is THE website to visit. If you’re looking for some special foods to celebrate Imbolc or St. Brigid’s Day, check out these recipes for inspiration: lavender and rosemary seed cake, rosemary oat bannock, lavender tea milk, and these rosemary and lavender lemon curd tassies. 

4. Take a Milk Bath

The goddess Brighid is associated with dairy as is the increase of new births during spring and the resulting mother’s milk that follows. New birth is more than humans and animals. New plants emerge from the soil and sap and nutrients begin to flow through trunks, stems, and branches. For that reason, bathing Cleopatra-style in a milk bath is the perfect activity on Imbolc. This layered wintery milk bath by the oh-so-creative Miss Wondersmith is my go-to!

5. Research the Jewish Tradition of Purification and Presenting Children at the Temple

Curious about the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin or the Presentation of Jesus Christ? If so, do an online search about these Jewish traditions and find out why they are important to Jews and Christians and how they are celebrated in modern times.

6. Start Seeds or Make DIY Seed Bombs

Imbolc is THE time to start seeds indoors so you have seedlings ready when the fear of frost has passed. So grab your seed trays and seed starting soil or some peat pellets, purchase your favorite seeds, gather your heat mats and grow lights (or head to the greenhouse), and get to planting those seeds! If starting seeds isn’t for you, try your hand at making seed paper. Here’s a great seed bomb YouTube tutorial on how to do it with minimal supplies.

7. Predict the Weather

You don’t have to have a groundhog to try your hand at predicting the coming weather. Just head outside to see what the weather is like. If it’s sunny, chances are there are six more weeks of winter weather ahead, but if it’s cloudy, warm spring weather is just around the corner. You can even make this a fun activity by having everyone write their weather predictions down on paper. After four weeks or so, read everyone’s predictions and see who was right.

So now you know all about the spring holiday known as Imbolc, Candlemas, and St. Brigid’s Day. Are you interested in living a more seasonally aligned lifestyle? If so, how will you celebrate this spring holiday this year? Share your thoughts and plans with me in the comments below.

Let me wish you a lovely February and spring season with your friends and family. May your hearth, home, and health be blessed, may your cup overflow, and may your world be filled with warmth, light, and color over the coming months! God bless, friends.

The post Spring Holidays: Imbolc & How To Celebrate This Old World Festival appeared first on Growing Up Herbal.

Spring Holidays: Imbolc & How To Celebrate This Old World Festival published first on https://marcuskeever.blogspot.com/

[queerasfolkmagic]

Introducing myself

Hello folks, 

Having been here a while, I thought it was about time to formally introduce myself to you guys. Plus I’ve spent most of the day drafting a letter of introduction to apply for an apprenticeship, so my thoughts on who I am in terms of magical practice and where I’ve come from feels a lot more organised than it has for years. 

So the basic stuff. I’m a queer cis man living in the UK, but I grew up working class in Georgia. I’ve got a brilliant boyfriend who is a dyed in the wool atheist & sceptic who nonetheless is extremely supportive of my practice. I work in the arts, and have been working professionally as a poet, performer and installation artist for the past 15 years or so. However, I’m taking some time off next year from both my company and my arts practice to focus on retraining as a psychotherapist. In its own way, this feels closely linked to my renewed interest in magic, but more on that later. 

So my journey into magic - When I was a freshman in high school, a way-cooler-than-me senior sat me down in a patch of grass near our school and asked me if I’d ever heard of Wicca. I’m not sure why she singled me out – I was a pretty nerdy and way into fantasy novels, but she was friends with my older brother. It was the first time I’d ever heard of Wicca, but she lent me a copy of Cunningham’s Wicca: A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner, patted my head, and sent me on my way. I read the book from cover to cover and shared it with my friends, and we formed (or at least formalised!) our first coven. 

The 90s was a pretty good time to be a teen witch. The Craft came out, and you could pick up Llewellyn books at Barnes and Noble (even if your heart was pounding the entire time you walked up to the register). It was good, even in the Bible Belt. There was a metaphysical shop in downtown Atlanta we’d all make the occasional pilgrimage to when we could convince an older sibling to drive us down, or later when we started getting our own licenses. We traded books and stayed up late. We burned candles in the woods – scrappy copses of undeveloped lands at the edges of our subdivisions, our public parks, our back yards. I started wearing a pentacle and drawing green men on my textbooks. It was the 90s and it was exciting. I read a lot of Cunningham and Caitlin and John Matthews. Later I found Starhawk, both her fiction and non fiction. 

However, I remember that even at the time I felt like I got more out of books like Brian Froud and Alan Lee’s Faeries or pretty much anything by Charles de Lint or Terri Windling, and the bits of folklore that got slipped into their stories. I felt more resonance with current writers grappling with and interpreting myth and folklore than I did with people writing about modern witchcraft. Partly, it was because I felt uneasy about some of the claims around unbroken lineage a lot of writers were making, rather than admitting and owning a reconstructionist approach. Also, the emphasis around fertility never felt like it fit for me. As a queer kid in a small southern town, the last thing I needed was another dogmatic approach to gender. When authors talked about the Wheel of the Year, it sounded like a beautiful myth but one that felt so removed from me. The Horned God felt like just another straight guy – unknowable and unrelatable, 

 I spent a lot of time walking through woods, and trying to be open to what they contained. Looing back, I think what resonated a lot more with me was a sense of animism – something that was discussed briefly in the books I read, but never given the same sense of importance as Deity worship. 

Then things fell apart. My dad committed suicide and my mom’s addictions started spiralling out of control. My own drug and alcohol use increased massively. I started spending a lot more time at raves than I did in nature. By the time I finished high school, my sense of connection with nature and interest in spirituality of any stripe pretty much disappeared. Occasionally it would resurface. I went to acting school, and the Goddess showed up in more than one visualisation exercise – which was both powerful and uncomfortable. After I got sober I discovered Quakerism and connected to a different kind of god – not quite the Christian one, not quite the Wiccan one – but someone who felt like a loving father and also mysterious and awesome. Still, nothing really stuck. I moved to the UK in 2004 and religion and spirituality is pretty much a no go here.  

So fast forward a couple of years – I promise I’m getting to the end! Two things happened. I took my partner back to the US to meet my family, and the newness of seeing my family through his eyes taught me a lot including the fact that my family is witchy AF. We talk openly about seeing ghosts, we talk with our dead and they speak to us in signs, we share stories about premonitions and intuition, and we create little altars all the time. I know it sounds stupid, but I’d genuinely never really thought about it before. It was just my family. I though magic came from wise women in the woods, not my Aunt Nancy in Chicago. For the first time, I thought about magic as being an inheritance, and as something that bonds me to family both living and dead. 

 The second incident happened while on holiday in Cornwall when for the first time in years I took a whole week off and sat by the sea. I didn’t do anything else. I turned off my phone and just sat in the sunshine, slept when I was tired, ate when I was hungry, watched the waves and the moon and the bees and just listened. And a message came through loud and clear (and terrifying in its clarity).  

And so with both those things in mind, I opened myself up. There were a lot of mistakes. The first witchy book I bought after 20 years was a beautiful book on natural healing – gorgeous pictures, but mostly recipes for homemade bath bombs and raw smoothies and nothing on spirituality. I bought some santo palo and realised I do not like the smell of santo palo. I bought way too many crystals and tarot packs, all of which looked beautiful and felt dead in my hands. I started a tumblr page and followed pretty much anyone who looked a bit witchy and got lost down some unfulfilling rabbit holes. 

 Then one day I pulled out a tiger’s eye my best friend had given me in high school and I felt something. Something profound – a tingle in my hand and up my arm, small but undeniable. I found a tarot pack that started giving me startlingly clear answers. – turns out it was a basic vanilla RWS pack I needed! I found some great witchy podcasts – New World Witchery, The Witch Wave, and Betwixt and Between – who were talking about things that made sense to me. 

The world of witchcraft has changed SO MUCH in the past twenty years I was away! Wicca is no longer the only flavour! No shade to Wiccans, but it feels so good to see other traditions be given more airtime. I’d never heard of Southern Conjure, hoodoo, and cunningfolk practices, and it has been so exciting to learn a bit about them. I’ve found Judika Illes and Byron Ballard. I’ve rediscovered Cunningham – not all of it is relevant to me, The Magical Household is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Most importantly, I’ve started thinking again about what bits of folklore and fairy tales feel ‘right’. So while The Green Witch and The Sorcerer’s Secrets are on my beside ‘to read’ book pile, so is The Book of English Magic, A Treasury of British Folklore, The Long Lost Friend, and A Deed Without a Name. So is Brewers Book of Phrase and Fable and Red Sky At Night and In The Pines and The Book of English Folk Tales and fairy tale collections from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.

So while I’m still finding my way,I’d like to be a modern-day cunning man. I’d like to use traditional and folkloric knowledge relating to my cultural and ancestral heritage (Irish, Welsh, Hungarian, Southern American, working class, queer) to help myself and the people around me deal with the challenges of being alive – finding security, dealing with grief, understanding their loved ones better. I’d like to be a repository for old ways and the creator of new ones. I’d like to be open and honest about my practices and my spiritual life. I’d like to be mostly kind and sometimes righteous when I need to be. I’d like to be on a first name basis with my ancestors and the land I live on. I’d like to spend time learning about little gods – house spirits, local faeries and land spirits, the birds who live in the local park, the spiders who make their homes in my garden – than building up big pantheons from other cultures. I’d like to celebrate the phases of the moon rather than the Wheel of the Year. I’d like to worship my mom and dad as the fierce, wonderful, loving, dangerous spirits they are. I’d like for casting a spell or talking to my ancestors to be as immediate an impulse as looking something up on Google. I’d like to be Sally Owen. Maybe Gilly Owen. One of the Owens, anyway. Definitely one of the Owens

[savedfromsalvation]

Is Easter Christian or Pagan?

by Acharya S/D.M. Murdock

The following article is excerpted from:

Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled

Contrary to popular belief, Easter does not represent the "historical" crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reality, the gospel tale reflects the annual "crossification" of the sun through the vernal equinox (Spring), at which time the sun is "resurrected," as the day begins to become longer than the night.

Rather than being a "Christian" holiday, Easter celebrations date back into remotest antiquity and are found around the world, as the blossoming of spring did not escape the notice of the ancients, who revered this life-renewing time of the year, when winter had passed and the sun was "born again." The "Pagan" Easter is also the Passover, and Jesus Christ represents not only the sun but also the Passover Lamb ritually sacrificed every year by a number of cultures, including the Egyptians, possibly as early as 4,000 years ago and continuing to this day in some places.

Easter Around the World

Easter is "Pessach" in Hebrew, "Pascha" in Greek, "Pachons" in Latin and "Pa-Khonsu" in Egyptian, "Khonsu" being an epithet for the sun god Horus. In Anglo-Saxon, Easter or Eostre is goddess of the dawn, corresponding to Ishtar, Astarte, Astoreth and Isis. The word "Easter" shares the same root with "east" and "eastern," the direction of the rising sun.

"The Phrygian sun and fertility god Attis was annually hung on a tree, dying and rising on March 24th and 25th, an 'Easter celebration' that occurred at Rome as well."

The principal Mexican solar festival was held at the vernal equinox, i.e., Easter, when sacrifices were made to sustain the sun. In India, the vernal equinox festival is called "Holi" and is especially sacred to the god Krishna. The Phrygian sun and fertility god Attis was annually hung on a tree, dying and rising on March 24th and 25th, an "Easter celebration" that occurred at Rome as well. The March dates were later applied to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ: "Thus," says Sir Frazer, "the tradition which placed the death of Christ on the twenty-fifth of March was ancient and deeply rooted. It is all the more remarkable because astronomical considerations prove that it can have had no historical foundation…." This "coincidence" between the deaths and resurrections of Christ and the older Attis was not lost on early Christians, whom it distressed and caused to use the "devil got there first" excuse for the motif's presence in pre-Christian paganism.

The rites of the "crucified Adonis," another dying and rising savior god, were also celebrated in Syria at Easter time. As Frazer states:

"When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season."

The salvific death and resurrection at Easter of the god, the initiation as remover of sin, and the notion of becoming "born again," are all ages-old Pagan motifs or mysteries rehashed in the later Christianity. The all-important death-and-resurrection motif is exemplified in the "Parisian magical papyrus," a Pagan text ostensibly unaffected by Christianity:

"Lord, being born again I perish in that I am being exalted, and having been exalted I die; from a life-giving birth being born into death I was thus freed and go the way which Thou has founded, as Thou hast ordained and hast made the mystery."

Easter's Roving Date is Astrotheological

In the gospel tale, there are two dates for the crucifixion: the 14th and the 15th of the month of Nisan, and within Christianity the date for Easter was debated for centuries. There continue to be two dates for Easter: the Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, thus demonstrating that this holiday is not the historical date of the actual crucifixion of a particular man. The dates are, in fact, astronomical, astrological and astrotheological.

In explaining this roving date, one "distinguished churchman," as Catholic Church historian Eusebius called him, Anatolius, revealed the meaning of Easter and of Christ, as well as the fact that astrology was a known and respected science used in Christianity. Said Anatolius:

"On this day [March 22] the sun is found not only to have reached the first sign of the Zodiac, but to be already passing through the fourth day within it. This sign is generally known as the first of the twelve, the equinoctial sign, the beginning of months, head of the cycle, and start of the planetary course.... Aristobolus adds that it is necessary at the Passover Festival that not only the sun but the moon as well should be passing through an equinoctial sign. There are two of these signs, one in spring, one in autumn, diametrically opposed to each other...."

In establishing the "Paschal festival," Church father Anatolius thus based his calculations on the positions of the sun and moon during the vernal equinox.

Christ as the Solar Hero

The need to time the Easter celebration - or resurrection - to coincide with the vernal equinox demonstrates that "Christ" is not an historical personage but the sun. This fact of Easter being the resurrection of the Sun has been well known for centuries, just as "the Savior's" birth at the winter solstice has been recognized as another solar motif. Another obvious clue as to Christ's nature is the fact that the "Lord's Day" is Sunday.

"Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, with 'divine beams.'"

Concerning Easter, in his "Letter I. for 329" Bishop of Alexandria Athanasius (c. 293-373) remarks, "Again, 'the Sun of Righteousness,' causing His divine beams to rise upon us, proclaims beforehand the time of the feast, in which, obeying Him, we ought to celebrate it…" Christ is thus the Sun of Righteousness, with "divine beams."

The Paschal Chronicle

The Easter calculations were recomputed in the seventh century by the Christian author(s) of the Paschal Chronicle or Alexandria Chronicle, which seeks to establish a Christian chronology from "creation" to the year 628. The Paschal Chronicle determines the proper date for Easter as March 21st and the date of Christ's resurrection as March 25th (or, midnight, March 24, three days after the beginning of the equinox). In his various calculations, the Chronicle author discusses solar and lunar cycles, including the 19-year lunar cycle, by which he reckons the crucifixion and resurrection, concluding: "This is consistent with the prior determinations of reputable men in the calculation of the heavenly bodies." To wit, Christ's death and resurrection are based on astrotheology.

The Chronicle author further confirms that Christianity is a continuation of the ancient "Pagan" astrotheological religion when he states that the "Annunciation of our Lady," i.e., the conception of Christ by the Virgin Mary, likewise occurred on March 25th, the vernal equinox, exactly nine months prior to the December 25th birthdate, the annual rebirth of the sun.

For more information, including citations, see Suns of God.

[tipsycad147]

The Wheel of the Year: Ostara

The spring or vernal equinox takes place on or about March 21st and has been celebrated throughout history as a time of renewal and rebirth. This Sabbat is one of rejoicing in all life. The balance of the Earth and Sun are at one with each other again. At this time we strive for balance, to seek harmony between the male and female forces of life.

Our friends who live in the Southern Hemisphere are welcoming fall and celebrating Mabon.

Other cultural celebrations that take place on or around the Equinox include the Christian Easter, Holi or Hindu festival of colour, Hogan in Japan, Nowruz or New Year on the Persian calendar, and the Jewish Passover.

Astrological Date: Sun at 0º Aries

Ostara begins in the astrological sign of Aries, the first of the Zodiacal wheel and the date of the Vernal Equinox (approximately March 21st). As the first of the Fire elements, Aries represents the initial action of the fires of creation. In the Northern Hemisphere, Ostara is the Spring fertility celebration that falls in line with the modernly practiced Easter. The fiery energy of Aries fills us up with new ideas and the possibilities of things to come.

Check for the exact date of the Sun’s transition >>HERE<<

Seasonal Focus: Balance and Planning

The Vernal Equinox is a time of equal day and equal night where the message of balance is key. Now is the time to craft new ideas and plans in our life, just as farmers are planning new gardens and sprouting seeds. As the days officially become longer than the nights, we feel the expansion of energy moving into Summer.

Correspondences

Altar Decorations / Symbols:  Balance, Baskets, Budding Twigs, Bunnies, A Cauldron of Spring Water, Chicks, Coloured Ribbons, Eggs, Fertility, Four-Leaf Clovers, Spring Flowers, Sprouting Bulbs

Animals: Butterflies, Chicks, Hares, Lambs, Rabbits, Robins

Colours & Candles: All Pastels, Gold, Light Green & Yellow, Pale Pink, Robin’s Egg Blue

Crystals & Stones: Amethyst, Aquamarine, Bloodstone, Clear Quartz, Green Moss Agate, Jasper, and Red Jasper, Moonstone, Rose Quartz

Incense & Oils: Cedarwood, Geranium, Grapefruit, Helichrysum, Jasmine, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Patchouli, Roman Chamomile, Sandalwood, Tangerine, Vetiver, Wild Orange, Ylang-Ylang

Herbs & Flowers: Clover, Crocus, Daffodil, Forsythia, Gorse, Honeysuckle, Iris, Jasmine, Jonquils, Lemon Balm, Lilac, Lilies, Mint, Narcissus, Peonies, Tansy, Tulips, Violet

Trees: Acorn, Dogwood, Elder, Olive, Pine, Willow

Customs & Celebrations

We find that Easter customs and symbols are derived from this festive time of year (think of colouring eggs and welcoming spring). Other activities and rituals for you to celebrate Spring include:

Begin something new: energy is expanding outward now. Set a new goal and pour your energy into manifesting it.

Decorate eggs and set up an Ostara altar with the symbols of the season. Having a visual reminder of the turning of the Wheel helps ground you in your spiritual and magical practice.

Earth Meditation/Grounding: find a spot where the earth is bare, uncovered with concrete, plants, leaves – pure fresh soil. Sit or lie down on the Earth – feel the rhythm of Nature pulsing beneath you. It should beat in tune with your heart, pounding until you feel your whole body alive with energy. Feel the energy rise from the ground into you.

Establish a new rhythm for your daily routine. Now is a great time to check in with yourself and ask: Am I living my truth? How am I moving forward towards my goals? Where do I need to adjust my daily habits? Be sure to write it down!

Plant new life in the garden and perform a seed blessing ritual. Even if you don’t have a spot of land to call your own, now is the perfect time to refresh your kitchen herb garden. A few mason jars on the windowsill and you’re in business.

Prepare a family feast. Some of us may have grown up with traditional Easter feasts and now that you celebrate Ostara it should be no different. Or, if you grew up without a holiday tradition, take this time to plan a new one! Gather your loved ones for a spring feast  celebration.

Foods & Recipes

Celebrate in the kitchen with seasonal foods that include: apples, asparagus, chocolates, dairy foods, egg dishes, flower dishes, fresh fruits/juices/liqueurs, ham, honey cakes, hot cross buns, jelly beans, lamb, leafy green vegetables, nuts & seeds, spiced or flower cupcakes, sprouts, sweet or honeyed wine, and unleavened bread

PERSEPHONE RISING SPRING EQUINOX POPOVERS

Tasty treats best served straight from the oven with a pat of butter and side of fresh fruit. For 8 servings you will need:

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup milk

2 Tbl melted butter

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 425°F. Generously butter a muffin tin or popover pan. Individual custard cups can also be used. Mix together all ingredients except the flour, then add flour using a whisk. Beat until smooth. Fill tins or cups 1/3 full. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350°F and bake some more (10 – 15 minutes for a muffin tin, 15-20 minutes for popover pan or custard cups). The popovers are ready when golden brown and firm. As soon as you remove them from the oven, pierce the tops with a sharp knife to release the steam. Run a knife around the edges, pull out, and serve.

SPARAGUS SALAD

A refreshing spring salad that is said to increase fertility, productivity, and magical potency. You will need:

1 1/2 lb. fresh asparagus tips

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup wine vinegar

2 Tbl salad oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

Salt & Pepper

Bring the asparagus to a simmer in a saucepan. Cook until tender. Drain. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, oil, sugar, nuts, salt, and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the asparagus. Serve warm or chilled.

Yield: 4 servings

https://waywardinspiration.com/ostara/

[theamigoman]

01-01-18 Dateline El Paso Texas USA - Home of the Amigo Man!

December 31st 2017 <--> January 1st 2018: The New Year was rung in across the world in cities large and small. People everywhere celebrated the New Year with lots of fanfare and parades, beginning with outdoor midnight parties and fireworks galore.

However, comma, I am reminded at this time of the year that not all calendars are synchronized and traditional celebrations vary around the world.

According to the Julian Calendar that most people follow, Christmas is already gone, unless you follow the Gregorian or Orthodox Calendar, and then Christmas comes on the 7th of January this year (2018), just a day after the Epiphany.

Ah,  the ringing in of the New Year! Traditions vary around the world right along with when the New Year arrives. The Chinese New Year, which is celebrated by millions, and millions, and millions of people - one estimate is 1.4 billion - worldwide, will take place on February 16th for 2018. According to the Chinese Zodiac, this year will be the Year of the Dog, the 11th sign or position, on the Zodiac. The Dog is an action symbol and an earth sign. People born under the sign of the Dog should have a good, but exhausting life. They will find happiness, yet be frustrated; be rested, but tired; be cheerful, yet dull. Hmm.

The New Year is greeted with many unique traditions around the world, mostly involving a lot of noise, firecrackers, and even firing guns to scare off bad spirits and hasten the return of spring. Many cultures also have special foods in their traditions to insure a healthy and prosperous New Year.

My wife, Karin, comes from Germany and we have celebrated some of the traditions that she grew up with as a child. The Germans make a lot of noise at midnight, setting off fireworks and shooting blanks. Down in Bavaria, they fire special black powder weapons, "Handböller", starting at 23:30 hours (Europe uses the 24 hour clock like our military time) and continuing on to midnight. Best wishes are given for friends and family to have a "guten rutsch", or a "good slide" into the New Year.

Germans celebrate "Sylvester", New Year's Eve with gusto. Eating Carp and sauerkraut for good luck and blessings of wealth. On New Year's Day, a marzipan candy pig may be presented as a token of prosperity for the coming year. Did you know that a pig cannot turn its head? It cannot look around or behind, it must look forward? The symbolism here is to look forward to the coming year, and they taste good too, the candy pigs I mean.

My heritage caused me to look up some of the Irish and Greek traditions that are celebrated this time of the year.

For the Greeks, Father Christmas, also known as Saint Basil, arrives on New Year's Eve and there is a special New Year's cake with a coin  baked inside - Vasilopita, Basil’s cake. The tradition, as you would imagine, is for prosperity for whoever has the coin in their cake.

There is also a strange tradition that involves an onion, a special onion, a squill. This particular onion has been a symbol of renewal and rebirth since pagan times. The onion is brought home after church service and hung in the home to insure the blessings of good health, fertility, and longevity.

The Greeks also participate in two traditions that are celebrated in several cultures - first footing and setting an empty place at the dinner table.

It is believed that the first foot to cross the threshold of the house at midnight will decide the luck for the coming year. Oftentimes, children will be selected to be the first foot across the door.

The setting of an empty place at the holiday table is for Father Christmas or any late comer to the meal. In some countries, the empty place setting is a reminder of those that were lost during the past year.

One of the unique traditions of the Irish occurs on New Year's Eve - which way is the wind blowing? A westerly wind would bring good fortune for the coming year and an easterly wind would be the foreboding of difficult times ahead. This may have something to do more with the strained relations with their cousins in England than a holiday tradition.

The Irish prepare a special Christmas Bread, sort of like our not so beloved holiday fruit cakes. Then on New Year's Eve, they go banging the bread, yep, that's what they do, bang their bread on the walls of the home to drive any bad luck away from the house.

I discovered that they also celebrate first footing, like my Greek cousins do. Everyone is expected to enter through the front door to bring luck and prosperity to the house, and then exit through the rear door (if the cottages have a rear door). The setting of an empty place at the holiday table is a reminder of family lost during the past year.

Here, along the US/Mexico border, Menudo, is a must do on New Year's Day. This typical Mexican soup, or pancita, is no longer reserved for special occasions or holidays and can be found daily in many Mexican restaurants in El Paso, but, on New Year's Day, this is an absolute necessity. How important is Menudo you ask? Well, the local newspaper, the El Paso Times, highlighted Hector Chavez and the Jalisco Cafe on the front page stirring a very large pot ready to serve this traditional soup on the first day of the New Year!

Mexican traditions vary depending on the part of Mexico people come from. Eating 12 grapes is one small tradition - eating a spoon-full of cooked lentils is another - sweeping out coins for prosperity is another.

If calendars can speak, what are they saying? A friend posted on social media that said the year 2018 may prove to be a weird year for Catholics: Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine's Day and Easter will fall on April 1st?

The Greek Orthodox Easter is also out of kilter with our Julian Calendar, with Good Friday coming on April 6th and Easter on April 8th, a week behind other Christian celebrations.

So, it is now a New Year! A book with 365 blank pages. Every good story starts out with a blank page, a pen, and a little imagination. What will your story be about this year, eh