St. David's Day
This day commemorates the patron saint of Wales, St. David, who was
born in the sixth century at Henfynw, Cardigan. His symbol is the leek,
which is said to have protected him in combat and was worn by his countrymen
to distinguish them from their Saxon enemies during battle. In honor
of St. David, plant a bulb of aromatic leek as soon as the ground can
be worked.
Matronalia (Roman)
Women’s celebration for the Sabine women who stopped a war between
the Romulans and the Sabines.
Ash Wednesday
The first day of Lent beginning the forty-day
Lenten fast before the Easter season. You should abstain from all meats
and milk. Nothing white must be worn. Christians could receive a sprinkling
of ashes on the forehead as a mark of penitence and mortality, while
curses were read-out in church, deriding unrepentant sinners; also known
as ‘Cussing Day’.
The straw-stuffed human effigies, (called Aunt Sally or Jack-a-Lent),
representing either a pagan winter-god or Judas Iscariot, are beaten,
dragged and ceremonially hung.
Celtic God of springs and healing waters, symbolized by the Crann Bethadh, the tree of life; on this day the behaviour of birds is considered prophetic.
• Beowulf’s Firedrake
A sixth-century Scandinavian warrior discovered a dragon’s hoard
in a burial ground, and took from it a gold goblet. In anger the dragon
burnt down the villages of Beowulf’s kingdom. Beowulf went to destroy
the firedrake with a small band of his best warriors and, in the terrible
fight, Beowulf broke his sword and was bitten. His servant Wiglaf, rammed
his sword into the underside of the dragon's jaw and Beowulf hacked the
dragon a killing blow. However, the poison from the dragon’s bite
was fatal to Beowulf, who gave his helmet and ring to Wiglaf who become
the new King.
• Saladin Dies
In 1193, Saladin, chivalric warrior-leader of the Saracens and believed
by many to be the ‘sixth head of the red dragon’, or the
Devil, died in Damascus at the height of his power, aged 55.
• Homunculumdie
The birth of the homunculus Declanius.
Feast
of Rhiannon (Celtic)
The tragic, Welsh spirit/goddess from ancient mythology meaning maiden,
also thought of as Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, from Arthurian legend.
Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries
(Greek)
The Eleusinian mysteries were initiation ceremonies for the cult of Demeter
and Persephone, who were kidnapped by Hades, god of death and the underworld.
• Translation of Excalibur
In 1191, in the Holy Land during the First Crusade, King Richard of England
declined the offer of ‘vessels of gold and silver’ from King
Tankred, to whom he then gave Excalibur, the sword of Arthur, king of
the Britons.
d. 480. Monk and patron saint of Cornish tin miners.
Reincarnation of The Alchemist
Celebrating the resurrection day, c.1257, of the creative genesis of
the original and greatest of all esoteric adepts.
Navigium Isidis (Roman)
Ceremony to the goddess Isis as Lady of the Moon and Ruler of the Sea,
for her patronage of sailing, observed at the beginning of the new sailing-season
when a boat full of offerings is launched to her.
Laetare
Sunday or
Mid-Lent Sunday
The fourth Sunday of Lent, taking its
name from the introit of that day which begins with "Laetare Jerusalem".
Mothering Sunday
To honour Jerusalem, ‘the mother
of us all’, communal processions proceed to the cathedral or mother
church of the diocese on the fourth Sunday in Lent. ‘The Feeding
of the Five Thousand’ is read at mass, bread is given to the poor
and traditional simnel cakes are given to mother.
Rose Sunday in Germany from the ancient tradition of the Pope’s gift of the blessed Holy Golden Rose to favoured communities on this day.
Third Ember Day of Spring
One of three days of seasonal fasting ordained
by the Pope in c.220.
Mars Day (Roman)
God of war and of the fields, his symbols are the holy shield and lance.
• Michelangelo’ Birthday
1475-1564; the birthday of Michelangelo Buonarroti, High Renaissance architect,
sculptor and painter, including the fresco of The Last Judgement, between
1536 and 1541.
New Moon
Original St Thomas
Aquinas Day (now moved to 28th January).
Dominican friar who wrote the great work Summa
Theologica. Patron saint of Universities, colleges, schools and students.
Purim or
Feast of Lots (Hebrew)
Festival of joy, from the Book of Esther, remembering how the Jews of
Persia narrowly escaped a massacre planned by the Persians, thanks to
the bravery of the Queen.
Junonalia (Roman)
Festival in honour of Juno, where a procession of 27 girls parades a sacred,
carved, cypress-wood idol of the goddess.
• Death of Aristotle
384-322 B.C; Greek philosopher and scientist, founder of the Lyceum library
and tutor to Alexander the Great.
Feast to the goddess and protector of wild animals and vegetation, known as Diwitsa to the Slavs and Diana to the Romans.
Celtic Cornish King who became a monk; martyred in 576 AD.
Day of Aphrodite and Adonis (Phoenician-Syrian)
In celebration of the union between the two beautiful lovers.
Commemorating the death of the Divine Pagan who was assassinated by Christians. She was born in the year 370, becoming dean of the Neoplatonic School at Alexandria and a famed philosopher and a mathematician.
The Creation of the Seal of God
While performing a séance with John Dee at Mortlake in 1581,
Edward Kelly invoked the archangel Uriel who appeared with a new crystal
and instructions for making the Holy Table and the Seal of God, to enable
them to communicate with the angels.
Clean Monday (Orthodox)
The Orthodox beginning of Lent, the long period of fasting, (eating only
one meal a day), before Palm Sunday, remembering Jesus’ forty days
in the wilderness.
Demi-god of traders and the invincible conqueror of all difficulties.
Prophetissa Day
MariaProphetissa, first century Jewess and pioneer of Hellenistic
Alchemy. For almost two thousand years, her famous, mystical ‘Axiom’
of Maria Prophetissa; "One becomes Two, Two becomes Three, and
out of the Third comes the One as the Fourth", emphases the paradox
in alchemical numerology.
Feast of Marduk (Mesopotamian)
Lord of Gods and god of the Babylonian Empire, of judgement and light
bringing, and victor over Tiamat, the primeval dragon of creation
and chaos. Marduk is the first heroic dragon-slayer in world history.
• Martyrdom of Hypatia
Born in the year 370, she was dean of the Neoplatonic School at Alexandria.
A famed philosopher and a mathematician, she was murdered by a Christian
death squad.
• The Albion Cabal
In 1573, while scrying for Prince Stephen of Transylvania, Quintus Thorn
prophesied a plot by Habsburg insurgents of the Counter Reformation, to
assassinate Elizabeth and enforce a regent upon the rule of England, thus
bringing to an end any hope of survival for the Sangraal.
• Seton’s Transmutation
In 1602 on this day, it is documented that Alexander Seton, itinerant
alchemist, transmuted lead into gold as witnessed by Captain James Haussen
in Enkhuysen, Holland.
Veturius Mamurius (Roman)
Festival celebrating the art of armour making.
Elaphebolion Noumenia (Greek)
Festival to honour the ensemble of Greek gods and goddesses.
Flagellumdea
Solis sub Luna; a day for men to repent, of scourging, servility and flagellation
of the master under the mistress.
Lazarus Saturday
(Orthodox)
The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead by Christ, the miracle heralding
the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah-King of Israel to his followers.
The Ides of March; Anna Perenna (Roman)
The Roman festival to bid farewell to the old year. Considered a very
ill fated day. The phrase ‘Beware the ides of March’ was made
famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar, depicting Caesar’s
assassination in 44 B.C. on this day. His death was predicted and great
care should be taken to look out for ill omens.
Rhea's
Day (Greek)
Daughter of the sky god and the earth goddess, and sister and wife to
Kronos.
Festival of Attis and Kybele
(Roman)
Attis, the god of vegetation, emasculates himself and dies under a pine
tree for his passionate love of Kybele, the Great Mother. The solemn feast
of death and resurrection is symbolised by a blood baptism and a pine
tree.
Bacchanalia or
Festival of Bacchus (Roman)
Spring feast to the god of wine and fertility at which boys who have reached
maturity are invested with the toga. These rights to Bacchus, formally
Dionysus, became noted for sexual excesses and criminality.
Festival of Dionysus (Greek)
Cult god of wine, drunkenness and fertility. whose rights were tumultuous
and licentious.
• Jormungand
The mighty Norse World Serpent, illegitimate offspring of the demon-god
Loki, who encircles the world beneath the sea, causing storms and tidal
waves and threatens to destroy both Asgard and Midgard. Thor went out
with Hymir, in a boat to catch Jormungand with an oxen’s head on
a line. As Thor hauled-in the great, angry serpent, the frightened Hymir
cut the line. Thor threw his hammer after Jormungand, but no one knows
if it was killed or is still alive.
Fifth century patron saint of Ireland, whose symbol is the three-leaved shamrock of the Trinity.
Green George Day (Celtic)
Celebrating the rebirth of the Green
Man, or God as nature, later merging with
the Christian feast of St. Patrick.
Feast of Aphrodite and Hermes (Greek)
Two-day festival to the half-brother and sister by Zeus.
Celtic Tree Month of Ash ends.
N. Ireland: St Patrick's Day
Demon of chaos, plangency and satirical mischief. Be wary of blond strangers, watch for cloven footprints and resist the temptation of being consumed by your own anger.
Sheelah's Day (Norse)
Festival in honour of Sheela-Na-Gig, the Creatress and goddess-demon,
considered a powerful protective symbol who wards-off evil by the open
display of her pudenda. A carving of her image was commonly seen above
entrances to buildings, especially churches.
Jacques de Molay’s Day
The Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, who underwent unspeakable
torture by The Inquisition in order to extract heretical confessions
against the Catholic Church. On March 18th, 1314 in Paris, De Molay
heroically recanted his earlier confessions in public and was burned
alive.
Celtic Tree Month of Alder (Fearn) begins.
New Year festival, especially celebrating the mystery of the great universal mother dragoness, Tiamat, and her heroic opponent Marduk. Life was seen as the taming of primeval Chaos and Marduk slew Tiamat, cutting the dragon into two halves, from which heaven and earth were created, bringing victory and light to the world.
• First Lunar Eclipse
The first recorded lunar eclipse was in Babylon, 721 BC.
Eyvind Kinnrifi Day (Norse/Teutonic)
Martyr, tortured to death with hot coals for refusing to convert to Christianity.
Day of Nemetona (Celtic)
The Celtic goddess of the Sacred Grove is revered today.
Quinquatras of Minerva
(Roman)
Four-day and main festival to the protective deity of artists and craftsmen,
celebrated with games, which are bloodless on the first day.
Spy Wednesday
The day of the Last Supper and of Jesus’
betrayal by Judas.
St. Cuthbert’s Day
d. 687. Monk and Bishop of Lindisfarne.
Oestre (Celtic/Saxon/Norse)
Two-day festival to Ystre, Ostara, or Eostre, the Spring Goddess, for
renewal and fertility, symbolised by the emergence of rabbits and by
giving gifts of painted eggs. Ostara's festival day, goddess of spring
and rejuvenation, protector of fertility and children, was taken over
in the 1st century by the Christian Church as Easter, to facilitate
compliant conversion.
Fredafrewling
The day of the angel of spring and felicity, whose symbol is a butterfly;
today will be bright and sunny.
Feast 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.
• Laureenalia
Festival to celebrate the fifty-one lives of the pagan goddess of delectation
and conviviality.
Full Moon
Easter Period
Holy Week and Easter Week: Easter is the celebration of Christ's resurrection, held on the Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal or Spring Equinox. The resurrection took place on Sunday, which from then on became the ‘Lord's Day’.
- Clipping the Church: Over the Easter period on various days, parishioners hold hands and encircle their churches in dancing.
FIRST DAY OF ARIES
Vernal Equinox
First day of spring (Northern hemisphere; Europe
and Western America). The word equinox is derived from the Latin words
meaning ‘equal night’, when the night is equal in length to
the day. The vernal, or spring, equinox refers to the point at which the
sun crosses the celestial equator from south to north, signalling the
beginning of nature's renewal in the Northern Hemisphere.
Good
Friday
The anniversary of the crucifixion of
Christ on Calvary Hill on a cross made of elder. Effigies of Jesus’
traitor, Judas are publicly paraded an abused. Hot-cross buns are eaten
for breakfast in England, originally being an ancient pagan tradition
representing the moon and its four quarters. On Good Friday, soapy water
turns to blood and if clothes are washed, a family member could die.
Holy Friday (Orthodox)
Commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus, the Eastern equivalent of Good
Friday, on the Friday of the Holy Week before Pascha. A gold embroidered
representation of the body of Christ is carried in procession while members
of the congregation sing hymns and carry lighted candles, stopping frequently
for a priest’s prayers.
Rose Day.
Supposedly John Donne was so enamoured with the pure and subtle beauty of the wild roses growing within his grounds that he declared in his little known work ‘Roses of Lothlorian’ that this day should be known as Rose Day. The fact that roses do not bloom in this season seemed to bear no consequence on his choice of day.
Holy Saturday or Easter Eve
The Day that Jesus lay in his tomb. The third
host to be consecrated on Maundy Thursday is ‘buried’; wrapped
in cloth and placed in a sepulchre on the alter or hole in the wall, and
a vigil kept all night.
First
Death of Flamel
On this day in 1417, Nicolas Flamel, the famous and successful medieval
alchemist, ‘died’ and was buried with his wife and adept Pernelle,
in his home town of Paris, having first achieved the Philosopher’s
Stone and attained immortality. They were seen on several occasions during
the 17th century in India, then still more again in Paris in the 18th, having
returned to occupy their old house and laboratory in rue Marivaux. Their
‘graves’ contained only lengths of wood wrapped in funeral clothes.
Easter
Sunday; Easter
Day: Lord's Day
The greatest day in the Christian calendar, commemorating the resurrection
of Christ. Easter is a corruption of Oester, the name of the Saxon goddess
of spring and rejuvenation, and Easter celebrates the “rebirth”
of Christ.
Easter Day is determined as the Sunday following the full moon after the
Vernal Equinox, (fixed as 21st March).
Decorating and giving hard-boiled eggs, (forbidden over Lent), represented
the promise of new life. You must wear a new garment (such as a bonnet)
to avoid bad fortune in the coming year.
Festival of Esus the Hunter (Celtic)
Mysterious Gallic god with an apparent desire for human blood. Associated
symbols include a bull and three birds.
Invocation of Mars and Saturn (Roman)
The god of war together with Death, the Reaper.
Easter Monday; Black Monday
Regarded as unlucky; many great losses
of life occurred in military campaigns today. It is permitted to pull
any man out of his bed and to lift women by the arms or legs on Easter
Monday.
Feast of Priapus
A phallic festival in the Kingdom in the city of Trani in Naples where an
ancient wooden statue of St Priapus, with a phallus reaching his chin, was
carried in procession. The festival was abolished in the early 18th century.
• Birthday of Agricola
1494-1555; Georgius Agricola, great scientist from Saxony, studied at
Leipzig, Venice and Padua and, writing many books, thought father of European
metallurgy.
Easter Tuesday
Tomfoolery continues and it is the women’s
turn to lift the men.
Annunciation of the Virgin Mary; Lady
Day; Quarter Day
The angel Gabriel brings news to Mary of her Immaculate Conception, nine
months before the Nativity. Dawn and dusk are propitious times to sight
faeries on this day.
(Old)
First Day of the Year (Medieval English)
From the twelfth century until 1752, upon which the Celtic warrior-god
Ludd, patron of healing, the sun, childbirth, youth, beauty and others,
was venerated.
Birthday of Adam (Hebrew)
The first man according to the Jewish Kabala was Adam Kadmon, ‘the
primordial man’, who was believed to have been born on 25th March.
His partner was Lilith who became the demon queen and spawned thousands
of evil daughters.
Hilaria (Roman)
The festival is a day of merriment and rejoicing, celebrating the resurrection
of Attis.
Iormunheim (Palaeolithic)
The genesis of the world and the first day of the year in RuneDragon
Lore. The sentinel dragons of fire, water, earth and air each charge
the prophetic inscription of the Runering with their elemental breath,
tempering the sacred runes, fertilizing the ovum and regenerating life
in the womb of the earth. The world is reborn through the procreating
orifice of the Runering, ensuring a new cycle of terrestrial seasons
once again.
Day of Mabon (Celtic)
One of the days sacred to the 'Son of Light', Mabon ap Modron, a Celt
deity of youth and fertility.
• Birth of Count Cagliostro
1743; Born in Sicily, a devout Catholic and an infamous, self-styled Count,
alchemist, scryer, psychic healer and magician and an initiate into the
Order of the Knights of Malta and the Freemasons. Imprisoned by the Inquisition,
he reportedly died in captivity in1795.
Ragnar Lodbrok Day (Norse)
Legendary, powerful 8th-9th century King of Norway, Denmark and Sweden
and a pagan who claimed direct descent from Odin. A gifted military
leader, warlord, pirate and raider, he invaded one country after another
to extort gold. He sailed with 120 ships and 5,000 Viking warriors to
despoil the Frankish empire. Ragnar’s last raid was Northumbria
in England, where he was finally defeated in battle and died heroically
in a snake-filled pit.
Festival of Ishtar (Babylonian)
‘Exalted Light of Heaven’, the High-Mother-Goddess’
cult was the most important one in ancient Babylon. She was the goddess
of love, sexuality, fertility and war, and her symbol is an eight-pointed
star. When she descends to the underworld, where her sister Ereskigal
rules, winter comes to earth.
Ishtar
Low Sunday or Thomas Sunday
The Sunday after Easter, also known as Quasimodo
Day from the mispronounced words of the
Mass. Those baptized at Easter take off their white robes. The Pope, on
his first and every seventh year, distributes wax Agnus Dei, Lamb of God
effigies.
Veneration of Ernestus
The Magister Solis; sage, Liberal Ecologist and father
of the retort; “Every silver lining has a cloud”.
Day
of Bau (Babylonian)
Demon of female fertility, whose obscene pudendal gestures protect against
the powers of death.
Hocktide
The day following Low Sunday, when spring tithes and payments were due,
and money was collected for the church and parish.
Hocktide was time of lively sports and games and special Hock-Ale was
brewed for the revelry.
St. Brice’s Day Massacre
Festival
Hocktide also celebrates the massacre of the Danish invaders in England,
on St. Brice’s Day in 1002, by the Saxon King Ethelred, and Althelbone
the divine warlord.
Hock Monday
Men of the parish would ‘kidnap’ and bind the women for ransom,
payments going to the church.
Feast of Luna (Roman)
Goddess of the moon and protector of charioteers.
