Category Archives: Divine Mother

God the Mother, Divine Mother, the Sacred Feminine is in every culture around the world, usually suppressed.

Eleusinian Mysteries: Mother Daughter Rites compare to Father Son Christianity

Eleusinian Mystery Religion Greek Initiates Mother God Daughter God
Demeter & Persephone

The Eleusinian Mystery rites made up an awesome mystery school in ancient Greece. It has a whole “liturgy” based on a Mother-God and Daughter-God who were separated, descended into hell, had an annual resurrection (Easter).  This early Greek “religion” has long been compared to the masculine Father-God and God-the-Son “myth cycle” of Christianity.  One of our seminarians read that Cicero was an initiate and dug deeper into this “most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece” (according to Encyclopedia Brittanica).

I have always loved to study about them. One of the longest esoteric mysteries and teachings websites has a page on this topic which existed before Wikipedia existed. Here it is: http://www.crystalinks.com/eleusinian.html

Encyclopedia Brittanica online also has an interesting article: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/184459/Eleusinian-Mysteries

Here’s a nice bit of information: http://athang1504.blogspot.com/2012/05/eleusinian-mysteries.html

Mother Earth Day Today! Observances & Practices for Most Celebrated Holiday

International Earth Day – Mother Earth Day

Earth Day observances celebrations practices for ordainedEvery 22nd of April, humanity celebrates International Mother Earth Day & Earth Day

By Risa D.

As more than a billion people participate in Earth Day activities every year, Earth Day has become the world’s largest civic observance. The massive concern to build right relations between humanity and the living being we call Earth is evidence of humanity’s love of the Mother. In 2009 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed April 22 International Mother Earth Day, with a significant resolution affirming “the interdependence existing among human beings, other living species (the kingdoms – mineral, plant, animal & human) and the planet itself, the Earth which we all inhabit.” The Earth is our home.

Celebrating Earth Day helps us define new emerging processes (economic, social, political) focused on the well-being of the kingdoms. Through these humanity seeks to raise the quality of life, foster equality and begin to establish Right Relations with the Earth. We dedicate ourselves to bringing forth balance and a relationship of Harmony with all of nature. Learn about planting a billion trees (the Canopy Project); participate in 1.5 billion acts of Green. Disassociation (towards Earth) is no longer viable. We lose our connection to life itself. Participation is viable – an anchor, refuge and ordained service for all of life on Earth. www.earthday.org/www.harmonywithnatureun.org;

www.un.org/en/events/motherearthday/

From Farmers Almanac, On Earth Day, enjoy the tonic of fresh air, contact with the soil, companionship with nature! Go barefooted. Walk through woods find wildflowers and green moss. Remain outside, no matter the weather!” Nature, Earth’s most balanced kingdom, heals us. The New Group of World Servers is preparing for May 3rd, Wesak Buddha Taurus solar Festival. We prepare through asking for and offering forgiveness. Forgiveness purifies and like nature, heals. (284)

Esoteric Astrology as news for week April 22 – 29, 2015

ARIES: Money concerns are shared by you and Taurus this month. Pull back on spending for a while assessing exactly what you need and no more. Before any actions with money, tithe to those in need. Do not refrain from this, even if you feel you have no money. We can always give even small amounts. This ensures constant loving resources flowing into our lives from spiritual sources. After giving, financially organize.

TAURUS: Read Aries, following the suggestions. And now about your money and resources. You have resources all around – hidden away in containers (boxes, bags, drawers, garages, storage units, etc.) – kept as historical remembrances. However, now a new resource is needed. Trade the old for the new so new money can come in. Ask if you need assistance in organizing. Know when things are used their light shines forth.

GEMINI: Allow yourself contemplation and solitude. Your own thoughts need to be listened to now. You may feel dreamy during the day and/or dreams become vivid through the night. Record all dreams your Dream Journal, then talk about them. Dreams are messages clarifying yesterdays, releasing emotions, future prescriptions. Over time, chronicling our dreams, they become understandable.

CANCER: More and more you must come out of your shell. You’re a cardinal (initiating things) sign (a leader) that knows the future must be prepared for in ways different than before. You’re the nurturing “great mother”, realizing food must be grown and necessities must be sustained for family, friends, pets and humanity later on. Tend to all personal health matters first. Then, “carry on.”

LEO: As you observe those you work with, looking for constancy, trust, confidentiality and abilities, you’re also being observed. You’re influencing many at this time. Let your work ethic be a model for others. It’s important to acknowledge, praise and recognize everyone. We, you included, evolve through praise, recognition and what we create. We see, recognize and applaud your gifts and endeavors.

VIRGO: Tend to resources and money with care. If you do so, ponder upon and prepare to travel to places that transform your mind and heart, cast a radiance of dappled light onto your body, and allow you to adapt to new ways of life, food, people and cultures. It also could be time to return to school or a certain study. Some great learning calls to you – heart to heart.

LIBRA: Thinking, planning and organizing finances for the future is appropriate now. A good idea is purchasing gold and silver instead of retirement plans and/or other ideas the banks have created. Find someone reputable who ethically deals in gold and silver.Discuss with others (family, intimate, financial advisor, etc.) what and how you are planning for your death. Make a plan. Legalize it.

SCORPIO: With all your present relationships, partnerships and interactions with others, you consider new ways of relating that include more Goodwill and Kindness that create Right Relations. Having the intention to act with greater depth and love is alchemical, creating a magnetic aura around. It attracts others seeking the love you so potently (or potentially) emit. Think on these things. Do you need new sunglasses?

SAGITTARIUS: Lot of little things need your attention. So often you see the big issue, the grand scale, the great philosophical over-view. It’s an excellent celestial foundation of knowing. However, little parts and pieces in your world need to be tended too. Survey your daily agenda, tasks and environments for what calls calling for care and attention. Then heavens and earth meet, heart and mind, body and Soul integrate and balance.

CAPRICORN: Something new is asking to come forth. A new path perhaps, new garden, new foundation of life. May a new child or a new creative endeavor at home, in rooms around the house. Something repaired, repainted, re-floored, re-surfaced, carpeted or perhaps a new art form of creativity. Everything must be fun, lively, filled with color, music, dance, fire, friends, nurturing foods and children at play. A new comfort.

AQUARIUS: Careful with communication. You could be too quick for others to follow and/or understanding. You could also be potentially frustrated with others, thinking them too slow. Act instead with kindness & understanding. No one in the zodiac is as fast as you, talks quicker, or understands new realities with your comprehension. Look with love and compassion upon your fellow travelers. They all wish they had your mind.

PISCES: The environments around you are in need of change. You need a change of environment, neighborhood, yard, and room. Some Pisceans might actually need a completely new home. If this is you, begin with a list of all you need in a home, town, village, etc. Then draw & write down what your perfect home would be. Working on this daily, hourly creates a magnet field within you that attracts your new home directly to you. And the resources needed. Begin now. There is happiness in change.

~Risa – writer, teacher, founder & director…
Esoteric & Astrological Studies & Research Institute
~Email: risagoodwill@gmail.com
~Web journal: www.nightlightnews.com
~Facebook: Risa’s Esoteric Astrology for daily messages  

 

 

 

The Red Tent – Dinah, Daughter of Jacob & Leah, Pagan Roots of Judaism

The Red Tent, Pagan Roots of Judaism Christo-Pagan women of the Bible
Dinah, Daughter of Jacob & Leah

The Red Tent — one of the books used in our Mystery School studies since 2001 — has become a TV movie.

It airs this Sunday night on Lifetime Television — (channel 108 on Dish TV).  We just set our DVR to record it.  I wonder if it will mirror the book nicely.  The trailer was awesome.

I also wonder if they will correctly pronounce the name of Dinah, the lead character (pictured right).  In ancient Hebrew it would be “DEE-nah”.

Some portions of the book I didn’t agree with, such as the way Rebecca and Laban were portrayed. But the overall story of the book, highlighting as it does the pagan roots of Judaism (and thus of Christianity) is very gripping.

I hope some of you Mystery School members will watch it with me. The TV movie will probably become available on Amazon streaming video and Netflix in 2015, so if you miss it the first time it airs, you can always watch it elsewhere in future.

November 12 – 24 Alternative Holidays, Diana, Hecate, Weyland

Goddess Mystery School Deanic Holidays
Diana Artemis Goddess of the Hunt

Nov 13 Festival of Jupiter – Roman deity associated with rain and agriculture, prime protector of the state, and concerned with all aspects of life.

Roman Fontinalia – Feast of Fons, God of Springs.

Nov 14 Feast of Musicians and Bards – Druid celebration of the Celtic musical arts.

Nov 16 – Night of Hecate, Greek Goddess of the Hags or Wisewomen, (later called Witches), her name comes from Heqa-ma’at, a goddess in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead who later became Hekmah or Hokmah (also spelled Chokmah) meaning wisdom in the ancient Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).  From Heqa-ma’at / Hecate / Hokmah we get the Greek word for wisewoman or holywoman, “hag”.  Hecate was goddess of the hags and it was a very complementary thing to be a hag of the Hagia Sophia tradition!

Nov 20 – Day of All Gnostic Saints (see http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm for explanation)

Nov 22 – Festival of Diana aka Artemis – Roman Goddess of Moon, Hunt, Wilderness, Birth (pictured above right)
– Feast of Weyland – Norse God of the Smiths aka Volund

Nov 24 – Feast of the Burning Lamps, Egyptian festival
– Celtic Tree Month of Reed ends – Tree Month of Elder begins

 

Esoteric Meaning of Halloween, Samhain

Samhain / Hallowmas / Halloween

– Celtic New Year and feast of Cerridwen (Goddess of Death) and Beli (the Holly King, God of the Waning Sun).

Goddess of Halloween Samhain Hecate Hekate Isis
Hecate aka Hekate

Oct 31 – Nov 2 Descent of Inanna – Sumerian fast recalling the descent of Inanna (Goddess of Life) to the Underworld. Ereshkigal (Goddess of Death and Rebirth) detained Her until She agreed to have Dumuzi (God of Life and Death) remain there each Winter.

Here’s an old Hallowe’en article I wrote (in 2007) for the Fellowship of Isis publication

Goddesses of Hallowe-en
by Rev. Katia Romanoff

Is there a goddess of Samhain (a Celtic word meaning literally, “Summer‘s End”)? You might be surprised at who it is, and that there is actually more than one.

The primary goddess of Samhain is none other than Isis, Divine Mother of Egypt, the Greco-Roman world and the Western World.

Samhain (called Halloween in Christianity), is actually a 3-day festival in both Christian and pagan calendars. Christianity has All Saints Day, which falls on November 1st and is preceded by All Hallows Eve (Halloween) on October 31st, and followed by All Souls Day on November 2nd. All Hallows, All Saints and All Souls … a time when ghosts and spirits pass between worlds and once again walk the earth …

In the ancient “pagan” world, this 3-day event also began on October 31st. The holiday was called the Isia and the Finding of Osiris. On the 3rd day of the Isia came the most pivotal event in Isis-Osiris theology: Osiris was resurrected from the dead by Isis, making this a very significant day to our ancestors, and a sort of Egyptian Easter! “Arise my love,” she said to him, just as the Judeo-Christian God (or perhaps Mary Magdalene!) said to Jesus in his tomb on the 3rd day.

Lawrence Durdin-Robertson reported in his Perpetual Calendar of the Fellowship of Isis an excerpt from Martin A. Larson’s scholarly work, Religion of the Occident, (Philosophical Library, 1959). Larson writes: “… it usually began on October 31st … On the two days following, the portions of Osiris were found, reconstituted, and resurrected. This was the central element in the myth, for if Osiris could regain life and become immortal through the power of Isis, then all her devotees could do the same.”

We see why Isis is called Savior. No wonder she was the single most popular deity to the ancients. As for her being a goddess of Samhain, this ancient 3 day holiday was called the Isia in her honor. It is this time of year the veils between worlds become thin, making possible the passage back from the realm of the dead.

Spirits and Demons Come Out, Evil is Supposedly Ascendant

“The Celtic day of ‘summer’s end’ was a time when spirits, mostly evil, were abroad … the festivals of All Saints’ and All Souls’ coming at the same time of year – the first of November – contributed the idea of the return of the dead; and the Teutonic May Eve assemblage of witches brought its hags and their attendant beasts to help celebrate the night of October 31st.

“Samhain was then a day sacred to the death of the sun, on which had been paid a sacrifice of death to evil powers … evil was ascendant at Samhain. Methods of finding our the will of spirits and the future naturally worked better then charms and invocations had more power, for the spirits were near to help, if care was taken not to anger them, and due honors paid.” – (Ruth Edna Kelley, Book of Hallowe’en, 1919.)

“At such times it was considered that the veil between this world and the next was thin and that denizens of the dead, spirits and demons were abroad. Moreover, that it was the best time to conduct magical rites.” – (Andrew Collins, The Roots & Reality in Magic & Witchcraft, lecture, 2000)

Can you feel it? – your ancestors and All Souls of the departed tugging at you? Saints – holy women and men – are also said to touch base with humans at this time, passing between realms. For centuries upon centuries humans have sensed this eerie presence every Samhain. We have responded in various ways such as putting candles in windows to guide departed relatives back “home” for the night, carving gourds into skulls or heads and using them as lamps, dressing in black, wearing costumes to confuse the walking-dead or to scare off the “goblins” and “ghouls”.

The ghosts, spirits and realm of the dead stuff was frightening as hell to our ancestors, and still scares people today. But that’s not the only horror story behind Halloween.

Devouring One Third of the Children

Have you ever seen those little black and orange booklets called Chick Tracts circulated by hyper-fundamentalist Christians every Halloween? They “explain” the Jack-o-Lantern’s supposed human sacrifice connection and condemn Trick-or-Treating and Jack-o-Lanterns as evil Satan worship.

Well, Jack Chick, author of those ridiculous tracts, despite stupidly equating Druids to Satanists, is onto something about demons and Halloween. “Demons” is a harsh-sounding Christian word but such dark critters probably do exist and are called by various names: Fomori (Ireland), Asuras (India), Oni (Japan) and demons (Middle East, Europe). The Fomori would come to Ireland and Britain every November 1st to collect a horrible tax: one third of all the grain and milk, and — horror of horror — one third of all the children. Imagine being a parent, or imagine being a kid when this time of year came round!

According to Celtic mythology it clearly was not the Druids, but real demons going door to door taking one child or youth from each home. Druids never practiced child sacrifice, but demons (or humans disguised as demons) may have been child snatchers. It is reminiscent of modern-day UFO abductions. Perhaps an even better modern example of child snatching is this staggering statistic: thousands of children go missing every day, 2300 daily just in the USA, only 20% of which are family abductions.

Historically, foreign invaders would suddenly sweep into our ancestors’ villages and snatch up youths and older children for the slave market. Cruel kings occasionally sent raiders disguised as demons (so the king would remain blameless) to grab youths for slavery. For untold centuries the lure of the slave trade profit was a constant motivation to invade and kidnap the young. Tragically, kidnapping and human slavery goes on today in several parts of the world such as Eastern Europe, India, China and Africa, the latter still the busiest market of all. The modern kidnapping-slave-trade remains vastly under-reported.

Child and youth snatching terrifies modern people and we know it is not supernatural, so imagine the hell our superstitious ancestors went through every Samhain worried if their child would be “taken” and devoured by demonic beings. The kids weren’t too thrilled with it either! How much scarier their campfire horror stories were back then. Because of this terror, every Samhain people would dress in black, gather their cattle from the fields, and hunker down indoors. They would huddle in fear all day long. Our ancestors carved gourds in the shape of heads, lit them as lamps and placed them outside the door to say, “a youth was already taken from this home, pass over”. They laid out treats and other tasty offerings to pacify the hungry soul-snatchers. Fear gripped them for three days. Not exactly a fun holiday. At last the gods, the shining Tuatha de Danaan (meaning “children of the Goddess Dana), heard the peoples’ anguish and arrived on the night before November 1st to stop the demons once and for all from collecting this hideous annual soul tax. Gods and demons fought an Armageddon-like battle resulting in defeat for the Fomors (or Fomori), whom the gods pushed back into the sea of destruction forever.

We are still re-enacting this event thousands of years later when we light a carved gourd (pumpkins are technically large gourds, therefore perfectly suitable for this tradition), or when we dress up as something scary or demonic.

People also believed one could scare ghosts back to where they belonged by dressing up as even scarier creatures. There was also a need to confuse the zombies and ghosts who walked among the living by dressing up like them. Even children might be dressed as little goblins so as not to be snatched up. If you look like a member of the walking dead yourself, the hungry spirits won’t jump into your body and possess you.

Other fears created Halloween customs. The flight of the hags (wisewomen, not evil “witches”) took place only twice a year – on May Eve and November Eve. The hags were not shriveled up old ladies, but lovely silver and white-haired women who would fly through the air over the villages to cleanse the atmosphere of negativity as part of the change of seasons. The number one cleansing tool was the broom. Like baptismal water, the broom has supernatural powers to cleanse both in the physical realm and the unseen realm. Thus we have witches on brooms. In Germany and other parts of Northern Europe it is believed a battle between good and evil (bad spirits, demons, goblins) takes place when the winds of season change blow. To this day in Europe every May Eve and November Eve, children leave one window open in case a passing hag fighting the battle in the skies overhead, needs to come in and take a rest. If a hag does enter and rest awhile, she leaves behind a gold coin on the windowsill to be discovered by the child in the morning.

After the first age of enlightenment — aka the Renaissance — came along bringing Hermeticism (wisdom of Egypt, sacred geometry and Greek paganism), Kabbalah and other wisdom traditions, not to mention more widespread literacy, the horrible fear of being snatched and devoured by demons associated with Halloween was removed. Fathers and young men of your clan might still, as they do today, enjoy scaring the daylights out of women and children.

Revelry goes hand in hand with frightening antics since the adrenaline rush causes pleasure and increases sex drive. Scaring the ladies and maidens, like modern horror movies, may have been yet another method males of the species employed to get females to cozy up to them. Pranks among males increase bonding, too, with fathers trying to scare their sons, and young men creating elaborate pranks to scare and get the best of each other. Ah, the togetherness of holidays.

Goddess of the Witches

There is one other goddess of Halloween. Because of the presence of witches, Hekate is connected to this holiday. It makes sense; she is a venerable ancient divine figure. However, Hekate was not originally known as the goddess of the witches, but was actually a manifestation of Isis, their names merged in the compound name Isis-Heket. Hekate was a wisdom goddess whose name derives directly from goddess Heq-ma’a or Heka ma’at in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a scripture pre-dating the entire Bible by centuries.

Intriguingly, the etymological origins of both the Hebrew Hokmah (also spelled Chokmah) and Hekate come from this same goddess name in The Book of the Dead. “The Egyptian heq-ma’a or heka ma’at, [is] loosely translated to mean ‘Underworld Mother of Wisdom, Law, and Words of Power.’” (Scott Fray & Marybeth Witt, Heket: Exceed your Prosthesis, web article, 2005, all about Hekate).

Because Hokmah means Wisdom, it is always translated in both Old and New Testaments of the Judeo-Christian Bible as Sophia. Hekate and Isis are one in the same. The one God or one Godd-ess truly has 10,000 names, as is a title of Isis: “She of 10,000 names”. Isis says to Apuleius in the 2000 year old Isian classic, Metamorphoses (better known as The Golden Ass):
“You see me here. I am Nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual…the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are …Though I am worshipped in many aspects. Known by countless names, and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me. The primeval Phrygians called me Pessinuntica, Mother of the gods; the Athenians, sprung from their own soil, call me Cecropian Artemis; for the islanders of Cyprus, I am Paphian Aphrodite; for the archers of Crete, I am Dictynna; for the trilingual Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and for the Eleusinians and their ancient Mother of the Corn. Some know me as Juno, some as Bellona of the battles, others, Hecate …The Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship me with ceremonies proper to my godhead, call me by my true name … Queen Isis.” (R. Witt, 121, 148-9, 276; Apuleius, R. Graves transl., 264-5.)

Welcome to the Dark Time of the Year

Now begins our dormant time of rejuvenation. Nature recharges her batteries during the “Long Sleep” of the year’s evening and night. Every rotation (each day) living creatures like us and everything else need a dark time away from the sun. It is necessary for life. The moon is positioned just perfectly so that it doesn’t reflect too much light on us. If the dark side of the moon were the one facing earth at all times the health of plants, animals, and humans would suffer because it would create too bright a light. The dark side of the moon doesn’t have the hollows and craters, which dull the sun’s reflective rays. The plant and animal world would not survive if this daily dormant time were disturbed. In the same way we need sunset, we also need summer’s end, Samhain, and the dormant recharging time of each year.

You may notice in Fall many people get slammed with depression. Some people just can’t get up in the morning, or get moody or deeply sad because subconsciously they can’t handle the sun setting so early. The darkness is encroaching into our lives, and it triggers psychological and physiological changes. Light and the absence thereof profoundly affect all aspects of life. Just look at the trees and grass. What a dramatic life cycle they go through annually. Another excerpt from Ruth Edna Kelley’s 1919 Book of Hallowe’en says: “The pagan Hallowe’en at the end of summer was a time of grief for the decline of the sun’s glory, as well as a harvest festival of thanksgiving to him for having ripened the grain and fruit …”

If this time of “grief” and depression is getting you a bit down, try to sense the Holy Ones, the Wise Ones – “hags” – sweeping into town, swirling and swooshing above with the Winds of Change. Feel them cleansing the bad nasties out of your world. Try to viscerally sense that broom brushing over your life. An appropriate and powerful exercise for Summer’s End depression is to get a new corn broom and place it by a door or window. There are some nice looking black-handled children’s corn brooms at the big hardware stores that I like to get and hang on a hook by the door or even beside a window. Full-size corn brooms are fine too, as are the nifty primitive handmade ones. Look at your broom; touch it from time to time, especially touching the handle when leaving the house into the cold or dark. Perhaps decorate it. Look up at it a minute whenever the darkness or depression gets to you. When you are feeling overly depressed, weepy or overwhelmed, take it and sit with it, running your hand over the bristles. Feel their texture, smell their corn or wild grass aroma.

Know that not only are the elemental “hags” of the universe on your side with their fearless ability to “ride the darkness”, but so is the great Resurrectrix, Goddess Isis. She who overcame death at this exact time of year is always with you and says, “Arise my love. Come unto me and go forth by day into a realm that is always light. For we know the world is not dying, does not perish, but merely rests for life’s sake, dormant in the Dark.”

Another Quick Exercise

Think a minute of a few ways you can deal with the dark, harness its power. Make two lists either mentally or literally with the following titles:

1. Dealing with the Dark

What coping strategies do you have for getting thru the fall freak-outs and winter doldrums? Maybe hanging out with spiritually like-minded folk either on-line or in person. Maybe doing something magikal. No matter what it is or how small a gesture, if it is magikal, it will bring a spark of light to your soul just as good as the sun’s summer rays.

2. Harnessing the Darktime

How can you put the Darktime to work for you and your goals? Maybe plan your garden, your spring. Or plan your life! According to our ancestral tradition it is a brand new year now, and your DNA is sensing that. Use it. Channel it.

Absorb the Calendar

Make the calendar of the Holy Year part of you. Special spiritual energy is released on all major holidays. Pull it in. Put it to work helping you toward your goals whether they be spiritual or material.
Ruth Edna Kelley writes in her 1919 Book of Hallowe’en that “May Day and November Day” are the two most important holidays to northern European peoples, “the beginning and end of summer, yet neither [are] equinoxes nor solstices.”

“Samhain was an ancient Celtic festival, known in modern times as Halloween, marking the start of winter and the ascendance of the powers of blights, decay, and death. It was the boundary between one year and the next, and so doubly magickal. At Samhain the material and spiritual worlds unite.” (Anna Franklin, Working With Fairies, Career Press, 2005).

“Tradition asserts that the witches of the Middle Ages came together four times of the year: 2 February (Candlemass, Celtic Imbolc), May Eve (Beltane or Walpurgisnacht), 1 August (Lammastide, Celtic Lugnasadh) and 31 October (Halloween, Samhain). These dates correspond with the four cross-quarter days, the maidway points between the equinoxes and solstices. Some traditions also suggest there were two additional dates, the solstices themselves, defined as St. John’s Eve, 23 June, and St. Thomas’ day, 21 December (Norse Yule or midwinter’s day).” (Andrew Collins, The Roots & Reality in Magic & Witchcraft, Lecture, 2000)

The equinoxes and solstices are the four annual quarter days. They are like the quarter points on the clock, 12, 3, 6 and 9. Visualize a plus sign +. Then we have the four cross quarter days that come halfway between the 12, 3, 6 and 9. Visualize an X over top of the + (plus sign). An X with a plus sign overlapping each other creates an asterisk. *. A star with eight rays. The Star of Isis, some call it. You can make the sign of the Star of Isis on your body by making the sign of the cross (like Catholics and East Orthodox Christians do; I personally prefer the Eastern Church’s version in which you touch forehead, abdomen, right shoulder and then left shoulder) and then finishing by crossing your arms over your chest in an X. Hold your X-arms there a moment.

You are absorbing the calendar’s potent energies and actually aligning your body, mind and soul with the holy year. The year is made up of time, space and motion; and the orbs we call home, moon and sun. It is our sacred spiral dance round the sun star that gives us life in Her name.

About the Author: Rev. Katia Romanoff is Directress of the online Esoteric Mystery School Lyceum of the Esoteric Mysteries, a place of learning and devotion to Goddess and God, as well as a thriving on-line community of “occult” and Gnostic Christian Pagan tradition since 1999.
Esoteric Mystery School website: http://www.northernway.org

Fall Equinox: Athena, Sophia, Mother Mary have the same Birthday

Goddess Athena Sophia Virgin Mary Fall EquinoxSep 13, Egyptian Lighting the Fire Ceremony for all departed souls
Sep 16, Greek Rites of Goddess Demeter
Sep 17, Hildegarde of Bingen Feast Day
Sep 19, Feast of Thoth, Egyptian scribe god

Sep 21, Nativity of Blessed Mary, Eastern Orthodox Church
Birthday of Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom also known as Sophia.  Both Athena and Sophia are goddesses of “Wisdom”, one Greek pagan, the other Judeo-Christian-Pagan.  Mother Mary was assigned their birthday which might be appropriate if she was not just an ordinary woman, but an incarnation of Goddess Sophia, come to the earth to birth a god-man.

Sep 22 or 23, Autumn Equinox, Mabon, Ishtar’s Day: This year Fall Equinox is September 22 at 10:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

In Catholicism both mainstream and “underground”, the Fall Equinox always begins the forty day All Hallows season, which culminates with Halloween, All Saints Day and then All Souls Day (Oct. 31, Nov. 1, Nov. 2 respectively).  This forty day period is one of four such in the esoteric Church year.  The other three forty day periods are:  Spring Equinox  (Mar 20 or 21) to May Day, Dec. 25 to Candlemas (Feb 1 or 2) and of course, Lent.  Lent is the forty day period beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday every year.

Father Sky Holiday, also Feast of Holy Sophia – mid August Alternative Holidays

Aug 11-13 Feast of Father Sky – Honoring God as Obatala (Yoruba/Santeria), Ouranos (Greek), Svarog (Slavic), Thor (Norse), Taranis (Celtic), Dyaus (Hindu).

             – Celtic Puck Fair – Fertility Festival.

Aug 12 – The Lights of Isis, Festival of the Egyptian Goddess Isis.

Mary Sophia God-the-Mother Christian Goddess ascending to heaven being crowned Queen of Heaven
Sophia Mother Mary Assumption and Crowning as Queen of Heaven

Aug 15 – Assumption Day – Christian feast commemorating Blessed Maria rising into Heaven, being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, and being transformed into Our Lady, the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) who appears everywhere.

Aug 15 was originally THE ASSUMPTION OF THE HOLY SOPHIA, The Assumption of the Holy Sophia into the Pleroma is commemorated on August 15th. This correlates in the orthodox church with the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a recent addition to the Roman liturgical life. The ancient Gnostic scriptures tell of Sophia, the feminine aspect of the highest God, who wanders out of heaven and gets lost in the lower regions. By singing praises to the Light, she is rescued by the Savior and he aids her return to heaven by a mystery. In our psychological perspective, we are cast out of the Fullness of Being to become differentiated egos. By the mystery figure of the Logos we are able to individuate and return to the state of Wholeness. Thus Sophia’s plight is our own, and by her example we may be inspired to continue on our path. — From:  http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm

“The story of Sophia is not just a philosophical conundrum or a moral tale. Sophia is the bringing back of the feminine image of the redeemed redeemer, which restores the hero in all of us. We all have within us, regardless of our gender, the potential to be noble knights in service to Our Lady Sophia; we are all, male or female, prepared as a bride to receive the Bridegroom, our true royal Selfhood, the Christ within.” — From The Assumption of Sophia by Rev. Steven Marshall from http://gnosis.org/ecclesia/homily_Assumption.htm

Aug 17 – Feast Day of Saint Sophia, the saintly version of the ancient Goddess Sophia, Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Other sources list her feast day as September 30, and as Aug 15 above.

First Week of August Alternative Holidays

Aug 1 – Lammas / Lughnassadh – Mid-Summer, First Harvest Festival of the Celtic Sun God Lugh.

Gnostic Black Madonna Black VirginAug 2 – Feast of the Black Madonna – Gnostic celebration of the Dark Goddess

Aug 3 – Day of the Dryads – Greek celebration of the Macedonian maiden spirits of woods and water.

Aug 3 –  4  Feast of Old Greek Goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) – Defender of rights and liberties, and punisher of rapists and oppressors.

Aug 5 Celtic Tree Month of Hazel begins.

Aug 6 Celtic Fire Festival of Tan Hill.

Aug 9 Druid Feast of the Fire Spirits

 

Summer Solstice Esoteric Meaning, Knights Templar Holiday

Summer Solstice Druid Holiday Become an Ordained Minister Esoteric Holidays
Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
Ishtar Inanna Goddess of Syria and Iraq
Ishtar Goddess of Syria and Babylon (modern Iraq) May she bring peace to her homeland

Summer Solstice!

Longest day of the year, a day most chosen to get married. This is the holy day opposite earth’s orbit from Christmas, the solar “birth” holidays. Luckily this is not a solar “death” holiday, although some in the “Dark Side” of the spiritual world do think of this day as a “death of god” day, the idiots. Never will understand the hardcore darkside — as if they would survive if the sun didn’t?!

Look at all the Goddesses connected to the Summer Solstice holiday. Some of them are from homelands in the news today. Iraq is certainly in the news currently, as is Syria. We have Ishtar, the Babylonian and Syrian goddess who gave her name to Easter, and whose birthday is considered Summer Solstice.  Brazil and the World Cup are also in the news, and is represented by Yemaya, the Brazilian goddess honored on Summer Solstice.

Scroll on down to see the ancient Egyptian holiday, Roman holiday (this was Hera’s Day!), and even Native American, ancient Hindu, and Druid holidays. This is quite a day worldwide and has been for millennia.

June 21:  Summer Solstice (Click for more info on this ancient holiday)  Here are all the deities — many Sacred Feminine ones — connected to this holy day through the ages.

– Day of Cerridwen and her Cauldron (English/Welsh)

– Day of Aine of Knockaine (Irish)

– Day of the Green Man (Northern Europe)

– The Great Mother (British)

– Alban Hefin (Druidic)

– Waa-Laa Ends (Native American)

– Litha (Wiccan)

– All Hera’s Day (Roman)

– Ishtar’s Day (Babylonian)

– Astarte’s Day (Canaanite)

– Aphrodite’s Day (Greek)

– Yemaya’s Day (Brazilian)

– Aine’s Day (Irish)

See also notes here about June Solstice holidays, including the other days coming after it.

June 23: Celtic Day of the Green Man – In honor of Herne, Cernernos, Lugh.

Knights Templar Holidays, Online Ordination
The Knights Templar Revered John the Baptist and were said to have preserved his head

June 24:  TEMPLAR HOLY DAY. In the Roman calendar this day was thought to be Summer Solstice.  The Church renamed this pagan holiday to St. John the Baptist Day. Templars revered it highly.  On Jun 24, 1314 a mysterious band of knights joined Robert the Bruce of Scotland on the battlefield making his victory at Bannockburn possible.  These knights could only have been the a troop of disbanded and now in-hiding Templars who had fled to western Scotland.  St. John’s day was used by Freemasons in 1717 to found the first public (non-Scottish) Order of Freemasonry in London.  Masonic teachings are said to descend from the esoteric Christianity of Templarism.  St. John the Baptizer was beheaded because he wouldn’t give in and sacrifice his principles.  This is a Templar ideal, as is the constancy and regularity — order out of chaos — of the solstices and equinoxes.  So for both reasons, Christian and “pagan,” we observe this day. See also notes here.

– Feast of the Sun (Aztec)

– Feast of St. John the Baptist

– Midsummer Bride (Swedish)

– Inti Raymi (Incan)

– Lady Luck (European)

– Burning of the Lamps at Sais (Egyptian)

June 25 – Parvati Praise Day – Hindu Women’s Festival for Earth Mother.
June 27 – Roman Day of the Lares – Household Deities honored and tended
– Initium Aestatis (Roman)
– Arretophoria (Greek)

June 28 – Festival of the Tarasque (French)
June 29 – Shiva Day – Hindu Lord of the Dance invoked for blessings
– Runic New Year
– Petosiris’ Day (Egyptian)
– St. Peter’s Day
– Herb Harvesting Day (East Anglican)

 

June Multi-Faith Holidays, Pre-christian Gods, Goddesses

June 13:  Feast of Epona – The Celtic Horse Goddess
–  All Soul’s Day (Tibetan)
– Children’s Day (USA)
– Athena’s Day (Greek)
– Minerva’s Day (Roman)

June 14 – Vidar’s Day (Norse Heathen)

– Birthday of the Muses (Greek). Music, the arts & inspiration “born”

June 16 – Night of the Teardrop (Egyptian)

Celtic Goddess Danu who morphed into Saint Anna, grandmother of Jesus. Become Ordained as her priestess or priest!
Celtic Mother Earth Goddess Danu / Dana / Anna / Anu / Ana who became St. Anna Grandmother of Jesus

June 17 – Ludi Piscatari (Roman)

–  Marriage of Orpheus and Eurydike (Greek)

June 18:  Roman Day of Anna – Goddess Danu / Dana / Ana to the Celts.  Early Christian-Pagans made sure Anna entered the Kristian story, making her Yeshua’s grandmother, Mary’s mother.

June 20 – Iron Skegge’s Day (Norse Heathen)
– Festival of Edfu (Egyptian)
– Kuan-Yin Day (day she became a Bodhisattva)

June 21:  Summer Solstice (<–Click for details)
Also, see next blog entry for all the Christian – Pagan “Christo-Pagan” details on Summer Solstice