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During the summer solstice, the veil between our world and the fairy realm is quite thin, which is why according to European folcklore it is possible on solstice day to see the fae folk

These natural spirits may leave signs of their presence with fairy rings composed of mushrooms, grass or stones, fairy mounds, strange movements of light or water, strange sounds or music, or the unusual presence of leaves, feathers, stones, shells or woodsticks.

Their presence can also manifest itself in the disappearance of objects within the house or sudden changes within the garden.

According to folklore, their activity is aimed at luring mortals into the fairy realm where they will be trapped and, in some cases, killed.

According to other legends, leaving offerings to the fae folk can lead to receive their blessing.

During the summer solstice it is common to leave small gifts to honor the fae folk such as food, drinks, flowers and small sparkling objects like crystals or coins.

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On summer solstice it is tradition to gather herbs and plants for magical purposes, the heritage comes from ancient Druidic cultures.

The Druids called the summer solstice Alban Heruin, which means “The Light of the Shore.” For ancient cultures, the summer solstice was a time of interaction with spirits, and they therefore picked flowers to correspond with that sacred time.

Herbalists selected herbs for oils, tinctures and teas, focusing on the “above ground” sections of plants that receive the most sunlight. The type of plant and medicine they produced was determined by the time of harvest on the solstice day.

Herbs were harvested from midnight to dawn on solstice day using a golden sickle, commonly used herbs were: St. John's wort, mullein, mugwort, Lady's Bedstraw, lavender, rosemary, thyme, chamomile.

These plants are also used to create fairy water, also known as St. John's water.

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Some powerful traditions bind the main spring celebrations in European countries:

Dances and celebrations around a pole, a phallic symbol of fertility.

Celebration of a sacred marriage between a mortal woman and a deity to ensure the fertility of the community.

Celebration of flowers and the first fruits of summer being given to the land spirits to ensure prosperity. People used to create wreaths and adorn themselves with flowers and herbs to honor the return of nature after winter.

Celebrating the dead and nature spirits who bring chaos to the earth renewing energies to ensure a prosperous harvest.

Lighting of sacred fire to purify and bless animals and people and to ensure prosperity for the land and young couples.

Sacred rituals near water sources such as wells, which were seen as the portals from which spirits came out.

Subversion of social orders that granted greater freedoms especially to socially excluded individuals such as women, slaves, and children.

The same traditions can be noted in many ancient spring celebrations such as Anthesteria, Floralia, Feralia, Lemuria, Beltane, Walpurgisnacht, Valborg, Mayday. The same rituals are also common in autumn celebrations such as Samhain, Saturnalia, Thesmophoria, Haloa.

🎨: "Spring", Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1894.

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Spring festivals among ancient European peoples were often associated with funeral festivals because, according to popular belief, they coincided with the period of manifestation of the dead and the infernal powers.

It was precisely during these contacts between the afterlife and the earthly world that the seasonal festivals took place, in which the powers of the underworld, dispensers of the harvest, yielded the gifts of the earth in exchange for the sacrifice of the first fruits. According to the ancient cults, in fact, all wealth derived from the perennial source of renewal that was the realm of the dead, and it originated from the unceasing supply of the new forces released by each death.

The relationship between fertility festivals and contact with the otherworld can be seen in three ancient ceremonies:

To Dionysus were dedicated the Anthesteria, the “Flower Festivals,” which were held in the spring, in the month of Anthesterion (February-March) to celebrate new wine, but also the flourishing of vegetation.

The ceremonies lasted three days. On the first day the jars of wine from the previous year deposited at the shrine of Dionysus Limnaios (“of the marshes”) were opened. The marshes represented not only a place far from urban settlement, but also unconsolidated land, thus suitable for exchange between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

The inebriation caused by wine and the abandonment of social hierarchies were the hallmarks of the festival and the imminent return of the dead. It was believed that death-spirits called Keres were entertained, freely roaming the city until they were expelled after the festival.

A procession took place carrying a simulacrum of Dionysus on a ship-shaped chariot, followed by celebrants wearing Satyr costumes and playing flutes. Also riding on the chariot was the queen, basilinna, who embodied Dionysus' bride Ariadne. The procession was directed to the residence of the archon-king called basileus where the hierogamy, the sacred union of the god with the queen, took place, which was attended only by a group of priestesses. The sacred union ensured fertility for the whole community.

The second day was related to drinking competitions in special jars called choes. At the end of the day there was a return to the shrine in the marshes, where a goat, on which wine had been sprinkled, was sacrificed to Dionysus.

The third day was marked by joyous celebrations, dancing, singing and masquerades. At the foot of the Acropolis, singing contests were held by masked figures called ithyphalloi. They carried in procession a wooden image of an erect phallus, representing Dionysus in his role as a deity of fertility and generative power.

The last phase of the festival was devoted to ceremonies addressed to the world of the dead. Cereals and honey were offered to the dead, which had to be consumed before nightfall, when finished the feast invited the dead to leave for good, with the formula “Get out of the house, O Keres, the Anthesteria are over.” The relationship between those who inhabited the underworld and spring rebirth, between the living and the dead, is linked to the fertility principle that belongs to them.

Due to the delay of the seasons in northern latitudes, the renewal festivals among the Celts and Germans retained the same character while shifting to early May.

Celebrated on May Day, Beltane was an agrarian festival, marking the beginning of summer and located midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. This holiday was also considered one of the times of the year when the possibilities for communication between the visible and invisible worlds opened and when the dead could communicate with the living.

Sacred wells were visited on this occasion, where people left offerings, coins or strips of cloth, and sacred fires were lit for the purpose of blessing animals and fields.

The festival also implied a reference to the fertility of women and included, in England, the election of a May Queen, who was ritually married to a May King, whose union was propitiatory of fertility. To the same symbolism belongs the Maypole, a tree cut in the woods and planted in the central village square, decorated with flowers and ribbons, around which dances were woven.

On this day it was thought that goblins, fairies and witches roamed freely, as well as the dead who could meet the living. This was also a time when malevolent beings could act, taking advantage of it to strike livestock, make them sick or die.

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According to local folklore they lived in Domus de janas, pre-Nuragic burials carved into the rock. They were shy creatures with a benevolent nature who dispensed free help to anyone who asked for it, with special attention to children, but if they were offended, or simply looked at in the face, they turned into extremely vindictive and cruel beings.

The etymology of their name derives, as with the Campanian janares, from Janus the god of portals, or probably Diana, the goddess of the hunt and the moon. They were nymph-like creatures connected to nature and water and knew how to weave, sing, dance, manage and tame fire, read water, bake, heal, give birth, die, and predict the future of children.

Legend tells us that at some point they disappeared. They returned to their magical domus de janas where according to folcklore it is still possible to look for them and feel their presence, in caves and stones, in the woods or springs.

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They were believed to be able to cause miscarriages, to generate malformations in newborns, to brush past sleepers like a breath of wind, and to be the cause of the tightness in the chest sometimes felt when lying down. 

Janaras, thanks to their incorporeal consistency, entered the house by passing under the door, and for this reason it was customary to leave a broom or salt on the doorway: the witch would have to count all the broomsticks or grains of salt before entering, but in the meantime day would come and she would be forced to leave. 

Among their customs would have been to braid the manes of horses at night, leaving knots, recurring in magical rituals, as a kind of spell that can bind energies. Other stories report that the janaras, at night, kidnap infants from their cradles to pass them to each other, throwing them on the fire, and once the game is over, they take them back to where they got them. According to tradition, to catch her, one had to grab her by the hair, her weak point. Also, it was said that whoever managed to capture the janara would be offered the janare's protection over the family for seven generations in exchange for freedom. 

Witches would gather at sabbats, also known as the games of Diana, under the walnut tree of Benevento. where they would take part in banquets, dances, and orgies with spirits and demons in the form of cats or goats. 

The legend of janare is still strong in Campania, where stories of witches continue to be told. 

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The walnut tree of Benevento is a legendary ever green tree presumably located of the Riverbank of the Janaras, the place on the bank of the Sabato river. According to folklore the tree was an ancient, leafy walnut tree consecrated to the Germanic god Odin situated near Benevento where a community of Lombards settled in territories originally inhabited by the Samnites.

Legend has it that witches, called Janaras, at night anointed their armpits or chests with ointment and took flight by uttering a magic phrase riding a sorghum broom to reach the Benevento Walnut Tree, where sabbaths and pagan rites were held.

Legend traces its origins to earlier pagan cults existing in the area, particularly the cult of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of magic, whose worship had spread in Roman times through syncretism with other goddesses such as Diana and Hecate.

Other origins of the legend are linked to the Lombard cult of the god Wotan, according to which it was customary to hang the skin of a goat from the branches of the sacred tree so that worshippers could gain the god's favor by frantically running around the tree on horseback, tearing off shreds of skin that they then ate.

Benevento's Christians would have connected these frenzied rites with their existing beliefs about witches: in their eyes women and warriors were witches, the goat was the embodiment of the devil, and the shouting was orgiastic rituals.

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Spring equinox in ancient Greek religion signed the return of Persephone on earth and her reunification with her mother Demeter after the long winter period spent in the underworld.

Two were the main celebrations held in honor of Persephone during the spring season:

The Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries

The Lesser Mysteries were held annually in Agrae, on the banks of the Ilissos River and served as a preparatory initiation for participants who wished to undergo the Greater Mysteries in Eleusis later in autumn. These rites took place in the month of Anthesterion (February-March), traditionally lasting three days.

While the Greater Mysteries were focused on the myth of Demeter and Persephone, the Lesser Mysteries are believed to be mainly focused on Persephone, centering on purification and preparation. The three days ritual included

Purification and Sacrifices: Participants in the Lesser Mysteries would bathe in the sacred water of Ilissos River as a symbolic purification to cleanse themselves physically and spiritually. Pigs were sacrificed because of their association with Demeter and fertility, symbolizing the renewal of the individual. This act was intended to wash away any ritual impurity, making the initiates spiritually clean before they could engage in the more profound rites at Eleusis.

Mythic Reenactments and Instruction: Purification rites relate to the Katabasis, the descent into the underworld. This served as an allegory for the preparation needed before encountering divine truth. Initiates might have participated in reenactments or symbolically relived aspects of Persephone’s journey to the underworld.

Initiation: The Eleusinian mysteries were a cult related to eschatology and fertility, so initiates could be initiated on this occasion into the idea of life after death and perhaps it was an opportunity for young girls to be informed about the mysteries of marriage and sexuality.

As with the other celebrations of the Cult of Demeter and Persephone the rituals refer to the main aspects of worship: Eschatology, Women's Initiation and Agrarian Cycle.

Anthesphoria

Anthesphoria was a flower-festival, principally celebrated in Sicily, in honor of Persephone, in commemoration of her return to her mother in the beginning of spring. It consisted in gathering flowers and twining garlands, as the goddess did in the myth when she was carried off by Hades. The women themselves gathered the flowers for the garlands which they wore on the occasion. Anthesphoria were also solemnized in honor of other deities, especially Hera at Argos and Aphrodite at Cnossus, both under the name Antheia. Antheia has been compared with Flora the Roman deity, as the anthesphoria have been with the Roman festival of the Floralia.

The festival was in honor of Demeter and Kore as the two goddesses of poppy, flowers, spring, renewal and fertility.

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Blessed Imbolc 🕯🌱❄

Let's celebrate the first signs of spring that remind us that the end of winter is near. The days are getting longer and clearer day by day, the first flowers and buds are beginning to appear, and some birds are returning from migration. The last days of winter will be the sharpest, but we know that they are the last bastion of winter before spring and warm weather arrive.

Let's welcome the new energies, let's get rid of what no longer serves us and set our intentions for the months to come.

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I wish more people could understand that the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece were not just fictional characters that they wrote stories and plays and songs about. They were part of their religion. They were worshipped, prayed to, given sacrifices. The temples were not just there for looks. They were functioning aspects of the religious fabric of the Greek world.

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Haloa means “threshing floor” or “garden.”

The celebration was held every year during the month of Poseideon (December-January), after the end of the first harvest. The feast was held around the threshing floor (αλώνια) and only women participated, while men were almost always excluded. Men had a legal and moral obligation to pay their wives' expenses for these festivities.

The festival was dedicated to Demeter and Dionysus as a celebration of the harvest, grapes and wine. Rituals took place during the pruning of the vines and the tasting of wine, when the soil around the vineyards was cut and hoed and the first cycle of fermentation completed. According to these notes, the women's ritual practices involved “pits, snakes, pigs and genital patterns, all with more or less sexual significance.”

The sexual aspect of the festival was deeply linked to two different myths: The myth of Baubo and the myth of Icarius. The first myth is related to that of Demeter and Kore in which the goddess Demeter, grieving over the disappearance of her daughter, wanders the land bringing destruction until she meets Baubo, who manages to make her laugh by showing her her genitals and thus bringing back a spark of vitality and fertility for the land.

The second myth recalls the one in which Dionysus gives wine to men through Icarius, who is killed by the people who confuse drunkenness with poisoning. Dionysus punishes the citizens by maddening their sexual desire, and the oracle tells them that they must placate the gods by dedicating clay models of genitals to them. This dedication thus became a custom of the festival.

Both festivals involved lustful words and activities, an abundance of sexual symbols, and the consumption of much wine and pornographic confectionery. Women celebrated alone so that they had freedom of speech, and some sources state that “the sacred symbols of both sexes were handled, the priestesses secretly whispered into the ears of the women present words that might not be uttered aloud, and the women themselves uttered all manner of… unseemly quips and jests”. After the banquet, women would dance around a giant phallus, leaving offerings and engaging in ritual obscenity.

Priestess presented the fruit offerings and conducted the initiation ceremonies under the presidency of women. The feast consisted of specific foods such as cereals, fish, fowl, and cakes shaped like the symbols of sex. Forbidden foods included flesh and pomegranate.

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The origins of the witch's hat as it is shown today are controversial.

In antiquity, the pointed hat may have been a symbol of power and wisdom. The conical figure points towards the sky, connecting the mind to the higher realm and conferring the ability to focus and concentrate energies.

According to some theories, the witch's hat originated from the Phrygian cap, associated with Mithraism, a Greek and later Roman mystery cult. Bronze Age priests wore tall conical hats made of gold and decorated with emblems of the stars and moon to show off their astronomical prowess.

This symbol of wisdom later became a sign of disgrace. Those who disobeyed the law, committed heresy or advocated religious ideas and practices at odds with the dominant theology of the time were required to wear a conical hat throughout the Middle Ages.

One theory is that the negative connotation arose from anti-Semitism: in the Middle Ages, an edict obliged all Jews to wear a pointed cap, called a Judenhut, to identify them and all heretics associated with black magic and Satan worship.

A similar theory holds that the image of the archetypal witch's hat arose from anti-quaker prejudice.

Another hypothesis proposes that witch hats originated as alewife hats, distinctive headgear worn by women who brewed beer at home for sale. Combined with the general suspicion that women with herbal knowledge worked in an occult sphere, the alewife hat may have been associated with witchcraft.

In modern times, the hat has become the main feature of the identity and power of witches and has recently been re-evaluated as an act of re-appropriation of female knowledge.

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Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween 🎃🕯

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Hail Hekáte, Enodia, Goddess of All!

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Last week I visited the Archeological area of Agrigento in Sicily. 

In the valley of temples there is an ancient spot dedicated to the chthonic cult of Demeter and Persephone. The area, located near the Gate V, was used to celebrate the Thesmophoria, the ancient women celebration of fertility in honor of Demeter and Persephone. 

The area is formed by remains of the temple dedicated to the chthonic deities and the ancient gate from which women entered the sanctuary to gather in the celebration of Thesmophoria. Near the temple there are wells and passages leading to underground caves where the worshippers threw their offerings, including piglets used in the festivities in honor of Demeter and kore.   

Within the Agrigento area there are two other sites (that I couldn’t visit) dedicated to the worship of Demeter and Persephone located on the slopes of the Athenian cliff (Rupe Atenea). These are the ancient temple of Demeter, later converted into a church dedicated to St. Biagio, and an older rock sanctuary of pre-Greek origin. The sanctuary, completely excavated within the hill, was probably used by indigenous pre-Greek peoples and was dedicated to a fertility deity later assimilated to Demeter or a nymph cult.