The Lord of Misrule presides. The ‘gowk’, (fool), is an old name for a cuckoo, who would be sent on a series of spurious errands to the amusement of his fellows. All hoaxing and tom-foolery must end at midday.
Veneralia (Roman)
Feast to celebrate Venus, goddess of peace and love, vanquishing Mars
the god of war. Venus cultivates warmth and benevolence and castigates
warmongers and false friends and lovers.
• End of the Flood
Noah released the land-finding dove from the ark on this day.
• Death of Elias Ashmole
1617-1692; Hermeticist, astrologer, and alchemist, and a founding member
of the Royal Society, elected Fellow in 1673. His great contribution
to alchemy was the publication of his Theatrum
Chemichum Britannicum in 1652, and his erudite translations of
many Old English alchemical texts. Founder of the Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford.
On the Orkney Island of Hoy, sacred wells and magical waters were blessed, as springs and wells were considered the dwelling places of gods and entrances to the otherworld.
Aegir's day (Teutonic)
Aegir was Norse god of the sea, controlling the conditions and moods
of the sea's surface and is said to have fathered nine daughters, or
waves.
• St Marcel’s Dragon
The legend says St Marcel killed a dragon where the river Seine meets
the Bievre, on the site of Paris.
Born 1493 in Einsiedeln near Zurich, Switzerland, Paracelsus was to be one of the greatest alchemists, physicians and theological philosophers. He claimed that the three pillars of medicine were alchemy, philosophy and astronomy, discovered the ‘tria prima’ composition of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, and was creator of the ‘microcosmic man’ Creation mystery theory. Died in 1541.
Megalesia begins (Roman)
Seven-day Feast of Megale, the Great Mother, begins with a procession carrying an image of the goddess and ecstatic self-mutilations, followed by banquets, the first games of the year and horse racing.
A celebration to the goddess of peace and compassion.
New Moon
(Old)
Lady Day (Pagan)
Earth goddess fertility festival. Celebrated with circle dances. It is
a good omen to be born on this day.
Eiru's day (Celtic)
In Irish legend, Eiru was one of the three great Tuatha de Danann queens.
Tenebrea
The evening service beginning the last three days of Holy Week; meaning
‘darkness’. After the ritual extinction of candle lights,
the service in the Sistine Chapel culminated with a dramatic flagellation.
• Hellfire Lashing
In 1728, Sir Frances Dashwood interrupts Tenebrea by interrupting the
service and lashing the congregation with bullwhip.
Cain’s Birthday (Hebrew)
According to Jewish folklore, on the first Monday in April, Cain, son of
Eve and the serpent, was born and years later also killed his brother Able.
It is therefore considered a very unlucky day.
Taking of the Premallorian Window
In 1848 during the French revolution a young artist by
the name of Samuel Drake painted in detail the image of the Premallorian
Window, just days before it was dismantled and 'lost' by a small group
of revolutionaries whose fate has never been determined. Drakes painting
is the only record of the Window in its entirety.
Hock
Tuesday
The women reverse roles for ‘revenge’
on the men. Diverse local festivities continue throughout the country in
bizarre celebration.
Modron's day
(Celtic)
A Welsh goddess and daughter of Avalloc, who evolved from the earlier
Celtic goddess Matrona. She is thought to be a forerunner of Morgan le
Fay from Arthurian Legend.
Palm Sunday
Commemorating Christ’s triumphant entry
into Jerusalem on a colt, when he ‘cleansed the temple’ of
the traders and financiers, causing his eventual arrest. Palms were spread
in the path of the Messiah by the people.
Holy Week begins
The week before Easter Week, when passion
plays to re-enact the last days of Christ were performed.
Megalesia ends (Roman)
(see 4th April)
Day of Bau (Babylonian)
Associated with the sky and with light, Bau is mother of the earth and
is to be honoured at dawn and mid-day.
Feast of the Rivers and Seas
(Sumerian)
Yam-Nahar, the god of seas and rivers, represents the hostile aspect
of water while Baal is the beneficent element as rain. Baal's victory
over the forces of disorder and chaos is depicted as the killing of
the seven-headed dragon Lotan.
• Liber Angelicae
On this day in 1586 in Prague, John Dee, astrologer to Elizabeth 1st,
cabalist and alchemist, and his scryer assistant Edward Kelly, were
made by the angels to burn their priceless and irreplaceable hermetic
books.
• Journey of the Divine Comedy
Dante fixes the date of his journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise
as Easter time in 1300.
Nehelenia's
Day (Celtic)
Goddess of the land of the dead.
Navigium Isidis (Greek)
A three-day festival commemorating the transportation of the sarcophagus
containing the remains of Osiris who, called back to life, will propagate
his generative powers.
• Tergoviste Massacre
On Easter Sunday in 1459, the young Vlad Tepes, The Impaler, held a feast
for the Wallachian princes, the Boyars at Tergoviste. These he held responsible
for his father’s death and so in revenge he arrested them en mass
and had them impaled.
Festival of Cerealia
(Roman)
Feast of Ceres, the grain goddess, celebrated by sacrifices and feasting
until sunset
• Boas
St. Magnus, who died around 750 AD, was a missionary in Southern Germany.
At Kempten, a town deserted because of its infestation of wyrms, a huge
serpent named Boas attacked them. Magnus and his companion, Theodor, made
the sign of the cross and faced the wyrm. He smashed the serpent’s
head with the holy staff of St. Gallus, killing the wyrm, whereby all
the serpents fled the town and Magnus built a new church in the parish.
Magnus then went towards Füssen where he met a second dragon in a
narrow valley called Rosshaupten. Again he prayed and armed with some
holy bread, a cross, St Gallus’s staff and some resin and pitch,
he fought the monster. When the dragon attacked, Magnus threw the resin
and pitch into the beast’s mouth which burnt it to death from inside.
Last day of Pesach; Passover (Hebrew)
Maundy Thursday
Commemorating Christ's Last Supper and His washing of the disciples' feet
on that day. The reigning royal sovereign would wash the feet of poor
subjects and distribute silver pennies, (‘Maundy money’),
or gifts.
Sommarsblot (Norse)
The Norse festival of Sommarsblot, marking the approach of summer.
Celtic Tree Month of Alder ends.
• Leonardo da Vinci
1452-1519; birthday of Leonardo, outstanding Italian Renaissance visionary
of intellectual and artistic genius. Working for patrons, (including the
duke of Milan and the notorious Cesare Borgia), he applied his talents
and energy to architecture and cartography, creative engineering, painting
and the sciences. His original 19 notebooks with meticulously detailed
drawings reveal a vast understanding of scientific secrets, never properly
appreciated in his day.
Celtic Tree Month of Willow (Saille) begins.
• Rosa Chemicum Secratum first published
1427; only three copies of this momentous, alchemical volume by ‘Amzer’
are known to survive, containing many powerful seals and magical scripts,
detailed descriptions of unique transmutation processes, astrological
matrixes and angelic invocations.
Festival of Astarte (Semetic)
Phoenician goddess of love, representing productive power, her cult
degenerating into temple prostitution.
Festival of Cerealia ends (Roman)
Full Moon
Luna Magisterium
On the new moon of April, every thirteenth year,
the esoteric philosopher known as the Alchemist perfects the Magisterium
within the confines of his fabled laboratory in the South of England.
Pesach or Passover (Hebrew)
Eight-day observance of The Exodus, the deliverance of Moses’ Israelites
from Egyptian slavery, when God sent en Plagues including the Angel of
Death, who ‘passed over’ the Jewish houses when slaying Egypt’s
first-born children. During their escape the Red Sea parted, then drowned
the pursuing Egyptian army and enabled the Jews to reach Mount Sinai and
receive the Torah.
Return
of Dumuzi (Sumerian)
Festival celebrating the return of Dumuzi the god of life and death from
the Underworld, who joins the goddess of life, Inanna, on earth for the
summer.
• Edo Philosophia
The Cabalist magi, Henry Cornelius Agrippa publishes the complete Occulta
Philosophia in 1533, dividing the Hermetic
Book into three worlds of magic; Natural, Astral and Angels, and which
went on to inspire the careers of many such as Dr John Dee.
Feast of Anselm
Benedictine monk, scholar of Barchester, and Archbishop of Canterbury. d . 1109
Walpurgis
begins (Teutonic)
The first of nine nights in the Saxon’s veneration of Odin’s
self-sacrifice upon the World Tree, Yggdrasil.
St. George’s Day
d. 303. Dragon slayer of the Golden Legend and patron saint of England.
Festival of the Green Man (Celtic)
Slavic gypsies also celebrate Green George or the Green Man spring vegetation
festival.
Feast of the Holy Lance
(Teutonic)
Celebrating the legendry lance of Constantine
the Great, used in Holy battles and coronations since c.922.
Venus of the Vinalia (Roman)
First feast dedicated to Venus and celebrated especially by prostitutes.
• Bard’s Day
William Shakespeare’s birthday, 1564.
St. Mark’s Eve
At midnight the ghosts of those that will die during this year pass through
the church porch.
Following his January success in 1382, Nicolas Flamel, with his wife and adept Pernelle, made a projection of Red Stone upon half a pound of mercury, turning it into pure gold. He then repeated this process twice more.
The waters of The Flood abated and the Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat.
1330-1417; supposed birth of Nicolas Flamel, famous, rich and successful alchemist and benefactor.
| Rogationtide |
| Latin ‘Vocem Juncunditatis’. Rogationtide is the three-day period preceding Ascension Day. |
| Rogation Monday |
Remembrance of Lludd
(Celtic)
Ludd or ‘Silver Hand’, was the Irish chieftain-god of the sun,
sorcery, magic, weapons, and warfare.
•
The Wilser Dragon
In the region of Helvetia, Germany, a dragon was terrorising and destroying
the local area. A man, banished from Wilser for manslaughter, named Winckelriedt,
was offered a pardon if he should kill the dragon. He successfully fought
the dragon with his sword, but its blood was poisonous and Winckelriedt
died from its touch.
Rogation Tuesday
Walpurgisnacht
(Teutonic)
The ninth night of Saxon Walpurgis when Odin the All Father grasped the
Runes and momentarily died, causing Chaos to reign. The dead rule the
earth until the stroke of midnight, when the Wild Hunt ends, Light returns
and the bale-fires are lit.
Feast of Blathmat and Lugh
(Celtic)
Beginning of a six-day festival.
• Grand Sabbat
Traditional night for a grand sabat meeting of the covens, attended by
witches, goblins, demons and spirits.
• The Restoration of The 48 Angelic Keys
In 1586, the angels miraculously restore to John Dee the sacred books
which he was made, by them to burn, including the famous ‘48 Angelic
Keys’.
Rogation Wednesday
