May Day
The popular spring celebration from ancient pagan tradition, rich in
customs in every region and principally featuring floral decorations
and maypoles. A tall, wooden maypole, originally representing a phallus,
was set up in every community, around which fertility dances were enacted
by the young folk.
‘Queen of May’: a young girl is chosen to lead the day’s
processions, garlanded in spring flowers.
Beltane (Celtic)
Ancient pagan festival celebrating the beginning of summer, and Blodeuwedd,
goddess of flowers and Llew, the Oak King and god of the waxing sun.
Fire ceremonies are the custom in Scotland and Ireland while other areas
feature the maypole.
Thrimilci (Norse/Teutonic)
The festival for the beginning of summer.
Day of Maia (Roman)
The Roman’s May Day, the month being named after the deity. The
priest of Vulcan would sacrifice a pregnant sow to Maia the earth goddess.
• The Dragon of Brittany
On May Day in France, this Breton dragon screeched a terrible roar,
heard under every hearth fire, demanding a casket of mead burial of
a tub as an offering to him.
• Birthday of Paracelsus
born near Zurich in 1493, great alchemical-philosopher and physician.
He claimed that the three pillars of medicine were alchemy, philosophy
and astronomy and discovered the tria prima composition, Salt, Sulphur
and Mercury.
Bona
Dea (Roman)
The fire festival and rites dedicated to Maia, the Bona Dea or Good Goddess,
open only to women.
• Death of Leonardo da Vinci
In the autumn of 1516 Leonardo went to live in Amboise at the court of
France, where he died in 1519. By his side was his famous painting, Mona
Lisa.
UK: May Day
The Feast of the Finding of the
Holy Cross (or Rood Day)
In 326, Saint Helen excavated a Roman temple to Venus in Palestine and
discovered the Holy Sepulchre, and buried close to it were found three
crosses and the nails which had pierced Our Saviour’s body and
the title which had been fixed to His cross.
• Albertus Magnus Born
1193; A German Dominican, student and teacher of alchemy, necromancer,
magician and theologian. The alchemist was canonized as Saint Albert
the Great, and his remarkable reputed achievements included encountering
the blessed Virgin, communicating with the devil, making a demonic,
animated doll capable of speech and discovering the Philosopher's Stone.
d. 1280
The British-Celtic goddess of fertility, her image often seen in church carvings, as an ugly creature prominently displaying her genitals to appease the forces of death.
Ascension (Orthodox)
Christ’s Ascension according to the Orthodox Christian calendar: see 5th May.
• Hangman’s Drop
In 1760, the thirty one-year-old Earl Ferrers became the first peer to be hanged rather than beheaded, and the first to experience the new automated trap door gallows at Tyburn Tree, London, for shooting dead his steward.
James Ussher, the Primate of All Ireland, proclaimed that the ark touched down on Mount Ararat on 5 May, 1491 BC `on a Wednesday'.
Holy day of Hekate
(Greek)
Known as the dark Goddess of the moon, she is also the goddess of illumination
and purification. On a new moon, Hekate leaves the infernal regions and
roams the earth with an army of dead souls and her pack of hounds.
Holy day of Selene and Apollo
(Greek)
Selene was goddess of the moon and of magicians and sorcerers, and drove
a chariot drawn by two horses.
St Michael’s Day
(alternate)
Commemorating his apparition at Mont Gargano. (See 29th September).
Furry Day
In Helston, Cornwall, since pre-Christian days, the ‘Furry Dance’
and all-day pageant has taken place on this, the local feast day of
Helston’s patron saint, Michael, to commemorate his driving-off
the devil from the town, in the form of a giant dragon whose wings fell
off in flight and plummeted into a lake.
A day of rejoicing at the saving of Rabbi Akiva's students after a mysterious God sent plague ended, killing 24,000. After enduring terrible persecutions during the Roman conquest of Jerusalem, the rabbi ensured that the Torah would not be forgotten.
Lumeria
(first day) (Roman)
First of three non-consecutive days in a segmented festival; The Roman
All Soul’s dedication in honour of the ancestral spirits. Vestal
Virgins prepare the sacred mola salsa (salt cake) from the first crops
of wheat.
“Prince, Priest, Levite, Astrologer and Philosopher”, whose mysterious gilded book Nicholas Flamel discovered and bought for two florins in Paris, today in 1372, beginning his great career in alchemy. The book was written in a mystical text and was painted with one of three strange icons on every seventh page: a caduceus with two serpents, a serpent crucified on a cross, and a snake infested desert with fountains. It was identified later as being a precious, lost work of the Cabala.
The lemurs (ghosts of dead family members) return to earth over the three spring nights. Animal sacrifices are offered to appease the dead.
(Old) May Eve
Blackthorn must not be picked on Old May Eve, as the Lunantishee faeries
fiercely guard the bush today and misfortune, or even slow death will
befall the harvester.
• William Lilly’s Birthday
1602; William Lilly, one of the greatest practitioners of Horary astrology
of the age. His woodcut, published in 1648 of the Gemini Twins, (associated
with London), hovering over a city in flames, caused the accusation
of his starting the Great Fire of London in 1666, to fulfil his own
prophecy.
• The Dedication of Constantinople
In 330, Constantine the Great, the most Christian King, after having
chosen Byzantium as the capital, changed its name after his own, to
Constantinople.
Summer fire festivals, when the Axis Mundi, world tree is raised. Ritual sacrifices by garrotting such as the execution of Pete Marsh took place at these times in the pagan Iron Age.
(Old)
May Day
‘Garland Day’ in Abbotsbury, Dorset, where children make floral
decorations for their village parade.
Celtic Tree Month of Willow ends.
Lumeria (third day) (Roman)
The final part where feasting and toasts to the dead to ensure good will are made.
Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn (Huath) begins.
One of many devotions to the cult of ‘she who is rich in spells’, and protector of the dead, who buried her husband and brother, Osiris. Her crown is the sun disk and cow’s horns.
•
Kent Eclipse
In 1230 The track of a total eclipse began in Kent. "extraordinary
eclipse of the Sun occurred in the early morning, immediately after sunrise".
Sorcerers, astronomers and magi who are prepared can take powerful advantage
of these special conditions.
• Whitsun Ales
These ancient festivals, or Church Ales, named after their customary drinking associations, were held especially at Whitsuntide, to raise money for the churches and offer a social gathering to the parishioners.
The first day of Whitsuntide and seventh Sunday after Easter, commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and their enlightenment. Also known as Whitsunday, meaning "white Sunday" because of the white baptismal robes worn on that day.
New, white clothes should be worn for the first time today to bring good luck.
Whit Babies: Babies born on Whit Sunday will die tragically early. A ceremony used to disenchant this fate is to wait until the following day or two, then put the newborn infant into a freshly dug shallow grave, sprinkle it with soil and cover it with twigs then take it out a minute later, giving the child a rebirth. This then becomes their new birthday, avoiding the tragedy of a Whit child.
Open Air Services are encouraged today when a prayer said at sunrise will grant a wish from God.
Holy day of Thoth (Egyptian)
Ancient, ibis-headed Egyptian god of the moon and of chronology, possessing powerful magic skills he was protector of Osiris and therefore guide and helper of the dead.
Festival
of Mercury (Roman)
Holy water from the fountain of Mercury would absolve merchants of any
past and future lies made for profit.
Secular festivities following the religious observances of Whitsunday. Ales are held in most parishes and Morris Dancers are at its most active everywhere today.
St Carantoc’s Day
A 6th or 7th century Welsh evangelist, who preached in Brittany, but also built a monastery in Somerset, where he was known for “destroying worms” by the local people’s well there. Seven parishes from seven churches in Cornwall came once a year to his dedicated church to place relics onto special stone alters there.
• Saint Carnation’s Dragon
In Arthurian times, Saint Carantoc sailed to Somerset from Wales to seek his lost altar. King Arthur avowed to reveal the location of the altar if the saint would rid the area of a dragon. Carantoc retired to pray and the dragon materialised. He placed his stole around the beast’s neck and meekly led it to Camelot. When they arrived there the people were frightened and wanted to kill the dragon, but the saint resisted and instead, led it out through the gates and banished it. Carantoc was rewarded for this brave deed with an estate which is known today as Car Hampton.
Holy day of Osiris
(Egyptian)
One of the many observances to the principle god, brother and consort
of Isis and father of Horus.
Feast
of Pan (Greek)
Representing the masculine in Nature and protecting men throughout their
lives. Ceremonies and transitional rites are held for men and male fertility
honoured.
Enlightenment Day
At Cassel in Germany between 1614 and 1617, Johan Valentin Andreä
published the Rosicrucian Manifestoes, which was the foundation of the
esoteric society known as the Rosicrucians, or the Brothers of the Rosy
Cross. Claiming their origins to stem from ancient Egypt, their kabbalistic,
hermetic and alchemical teachings, rich in occult symbolism, describe
the travels of their spiritual leader, Christian Rosenkreuz. Many of the
world’s great sages have been included in the brotherhood, which
had much in common with Freemasonry.
Sacred Day of Brigit
(Celtic Irish)
Feast at which sacred healing wells and springs were adorned with flowers
in honour of the goddess Brigit, daughter of the mother goddess Danu and
father god Dagda.
• The Dragon of Kingston
As the dragon roared out its flames, a great boulder was rolled down the
hill and into its mouth, choking it to death.
Rites of Undeath
In 1632 Robert Fordham, a freeman in the new world,
claimed to have died and subesquently debated with the reaper of souls
over his premature demise. According to Fordham there exist 1001 rites
for the dead which he recorded upon his return to life, detailing what
he considered loop holes in the workings of the underworld. His tome
of knowledge was taken by local ministers and sent to the Pope. Reports
suggest however that the book never reached its intended destination.
Rogation Sunday
The Sunday before Ascension Day. Four days of
fasting and solemn processions through cornfields to beseech for healthy
crops and livelihoods in the season ahead.
| Rogationtide |
| Latin ‘Vocem Juncunditatis’. Rogationtide is the three-day period preceding Ascension Day. |
Rogation Monday
FIRST DAY OF GEMINI
Holy day of Selene (Greek)
One of the many festivals to the goddess of the moon and deity to sorcerers
and magicians.
Ragnar Lodbrok's Day (Odinist)
• Conan Doyle’s Birthday
1859-1930; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, novelist, contemporary and acquaintance
of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.
Rogation Tuesday
Observance of the Cipher
Alchemist’s ritual thanksgiving to The Creator
and for His diligent guidance through their toils.
• Upir Night
In 1873 on the night of the Full Moon
in May, the petrified inhabitants of a village in the Bohmerwald, watched
transfixed as a blood red-winged, man-sized creature crawled across
the vertical face of the Burgemeester’s “landschlos”
and vanished into the night.
Rogation Wednesday
St. David of Scotland’s Day
d. 1153; Christian warrior-king of Scotland.
Hermes
Trismegistus (Roman)
A first century AD Egyptian priest/god, also known as The Mighty King
Thoth, the Biblical Enoch and Hermes the Thrice Greatest, (the greatest
philosopher, the greatest priest, and the greatest king). He was the reincarnation
of Thoth, who taught the secrets of alchemy to man, and the author of
The Emerald Tablet, one of the oldest, ancient and most profound documents
known to man, from which came "As above, so below. As within, so
without. As the Universe, so the soul”.
Alchemy is also known by the name of the ‘Hermetic Art’ and
amongst alchemists, Hermes is also the epithet for mercury, or quicksilver,
one of the seven metals of alchemy.
Gypsy May Festival
Gypsy’s rituals to venerate the Three Marys and their Egyptian servant
girl, Sara.
• Death of Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer, died in 1543.
Ascension Day; Holy Thursday
The day of Christ’s Ascension to heaven on
Mount Olivet in Bethany and His last appearance to the Apostles after
His resurrection. Villagers ‘Beat the bounds’, confirming
the boundary’s of the parish and Morris Men dressed in white perform
their dances across the country.
Third Finding of the precious Head of the Prophet, Precursor and Baptist
John (Orthodox)
After being lost for many years, in 823, after divine revelation the
venerable head of the Holy Precursor was discovered again, preserved
in a silver receptacle incarcerated within a church in Comana.
• The Meister Stoor Worm
In Orkney, off mainland Scotland, the Meister Stoor Worm menaced the
local people but was finally overcome by a local man who threw a spear
tipped with blazing pitch down the throat of the dragon. According to
legend the huge corps of the dragon became Iceland and it's teeth turned
into the Faros.
The festival, celebrated on the 50th day after Passover, commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai. At the same time the Festival of the First Fruits celebrates the end of the grain harvest.
Canterbury Festival
A double celebration for both St. Augustine of Canterbury, and for Geoffrey
Chaucer, 1338-1400, the great poet, author of the Canterbury
Tales, diplomat and covert alchemist.
The Feast of St Bede
673-735; Anglo-Saxon theologian, historian and monk of Jarow monastery, known as the Venerable Bede, and the ‘Father of English History’. In 731 he completed the primary source work, ‘The Ecclesiastical History of the English People’.
• Eclipse of the Sun
In 585 B.C. as predicted by Miletus.
At a secret archaeological site in the former county of Calicshire, England, substantial remains have been uncovered of a great, medieval alchemical laboratory. Amongst the outstanding finds so far are a large, stone chest bearing an inscription referring to a monumental, and previously unknown work by Hermes Trismegistus called The Celestial Pomegranate.
Commemorating the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, after Charles II ’s escape from the Roundheads on 6th September 1651, when he hid in an oak tree at Boscobel Hall, Staffordshire following the Battle of Worcester. People wear sprigs of oak, and many processions, tree worship and Green Man festivities take place.
• Birth of Dante
1265; Alighieri Dante, Italian author of The Divine Comedy, in which he
placed all alchemists into the Inferno. d. September 13, 1321, aged 56.
A massive sea dragon with fiery breath, sword-like teeth and iron-hard skin came to live in the river Rhone, in France, bringing terror and destruction whenever it arose. Its father was Leviathan and her mother the giant snake Onachus. Many heroes perished trying to kill her, and after fourteen years of torment, the Tarasque destroying houses and bridges and devouring everyone attempting to cross the river, the inhabitants set a trap. Animals were bound to trees as bait at a deep swamp near Avignon, but the lure failed.
After 21 years, Saint Martha arrived and went out to Nerluc where the Tarasque lived. With no weapon other than a vial of holy water, St Martha caught the dragoness which she lead into the village where the local people killed her.
The citizens erected a new church in honour of St. Martha, and the town changed its name to Tarascon. Every year at Pentecost there is a procession to celebrate the event.
Joan
of Arc Day
1412-31; known as ‘The Maid of Orleans’, the virgin warrior-saint
of France who, inspired by ‘voices’ of St Catherine and St
Margaret, led the French army to victories against the English during
the Hundred Years War, and was burnt at the stake in Rouen for heresy.
Einherjar (Norse/Teutonic)
In honour of fallen warriors who have ascended to the halls of Valhalla.
UK: Spring
Bank Holiday
Secular festivities following the religious observances of Whitsunday. Ales are held in most parishes and Morris Dancers are at its most active everywhere today.
• Cheese Rolling
Since the Middle Ages, in the late afternoon at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, heavy, wooden-cased cheeses are pushed off the very high and very steep hilltop for the brave and the fit to career after. Usually causing many casualties, survivors who capture the cheeses claim them as their reward.
(Old)
Mjollnir (Norse/Teutonic)
Feast to Odin’s great war hammer, which made thunder and lightning
and returned to him after it was thrown.
Feast of the Triple Goddess (Old European)
Goddess of the moon and the seasons, celebrating the transition of the
virgin into the mother.
