May 22

Ragnar Lodbrok

Remembered on this day, Ragnar Lodbrok was a leader of the Vikings who was captured by the Christian Northumbrians, tortured, and thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes. It was Ragnar’s death song, of his faith in the afterlife, that inspired a bard present at the execution to convey his message to others. ers. Passed from generation to generation, the song provides reassurance and hope for what lies in the great beyond:
 

The Disir call me back home, those whom Odin
has sent for me from the Hall of the Lord of Hosts.
Gladly will I sup ale in the high seat with the Gods.
The days of my life are finished. I laugh as I die!

 

Home & Hearth Magick for Sunday, May 22

 

On Sunday, work for success, healing and blessings.

Planetary Influence: The Sun

Household Symbols: A rooster, a sun, gold jewelry

Colors: Yellow and gold

Kitchen Spices: Cinnamon and orange peels

 

Source:

Cottage Witchery
Natural Magick for Hearth and Home
Author: Ellen Dugan

 

HEALING CORRESPONDENCES

Elements: all

Planets: sun, moon, earth

Best times: Sunday or Monday

Moon waxing to full – for increased health

Moon waning to dark – for banishing and driving away disease

Colors: blue, green, gold and orange

Numbers: 1, 3, 7, 9

Incense: bay, cinnamon, eucalyptus, frankincense, sandalwood

Plants : all healing herbs

Gods and Goddesses: Artemis, Hebe, Hygeia, moon and earth Goddesses, Asclepius, Apollo

 

Daily Magickal Applications for Sunday, May 22

 

The Latin term for Sunday, our first day of the week, is Dies Solis (“sun’s day”). In ancient Greek, it was called Hemera Heliou. In the Old English language, it was known as Sunnandaeg; in Middle English, Sonenday. All of these titles mean the same thing: the day of the sun.

 

What do you think of when you feel the sun shine down on you? What sorts of enchantments and energies do you think would be complementary to a day named after our closest star? Sunday brings those bright solar energies into your life and has the magickal correspondences of success, promotion, leadership, pride, light, generosity, warmth, fitness, and personal growth. Astrologically, the sun symbolizes the conscious self and rules the zodiac sign of Leo.

 

The charms and spells that would complement this magickal day of the sun are ones for personal achievements of any kind-such as if you are seeking fame and wealth, working for that much-deserved promotion at work, or being acknowledged for a job well done. Health issues, increasing personal power, or simply sticking to your diet and being proud of what you have accomplished all fall under the sun’s golden influence

 

 

Source

Book of Witchery: Spells, Charms & Correspondences for Every Day of the Week
Ellen Dugan

Sunday Is Ruled By The Sun

Sunday corresponds to the sun, our closest star. This day is full of wonder and all sorts of magical potential for success, wealth, and fame. Sundays are for personal achievements of any kind such as working towards a promotion at your job, seeking fame and wealth, or being acknowledged for a job well done. All of these goals fall under the golden influence of the sun. Some suggestions for Sunday enchantments would include:

Sitting outside at sunrise and calling on the goddess Brigid for illumination and inspiration

Wearing gold jewelry or clothing that is gold or sunshine yellow to pull some color magic into your life

Arranging a few sunflowers in a vase and empowering these “flowers of the sun” for fame and ambition

Gathering up the common marigold flower and scattering it’s petals about to encourage prosperity

Baking up a batch of cinnamon rolls for the family and enchanting them for health and success

Snacking on a solar fruit, the orange, and enjoying the magical boost it brings to your life

The Witches Correspondences for Sunday, May 22nd

The Sun, The day of the Sun God… Helios, Apollo, Ogmios, Mithras. In some traditions, the sun is seen as feminine, personified as Phoebe (East Anglia), and Saule (eastern Europe). The Sun rules the conscious element of the human mind, the ego, the “real” self.” Sunday is the day on which this power is most effective

Element : Fire

Planet : Sun

Zodiac Sign : Leo

Angel : Michael

Metal : Gold

Incense/Perfumes : Musk, Lemon, Frankincense, Orange Blossom, Citrus

Oil : Cedar, Frankincense, Neroli, Rosemary

Color : Orange, Gold, Yellow

Stones : Amber, Carnelian, Tiger’s Eye, Ruby

Plants/Herbs : Beech, Buttercup, Cedar, Cinnamon, Clove, Frankincense, Heliotrope, Juniper, Marigold, Mistletoe, Oak, Orange, Rosemary, Sunflower

Magick to work: health, confidence, creativity protection, spirituality, strength, physical strength, obtaining goals, promotions, illumination, friendship, leadership, power, life energy, favor, and initiating any magickal activity

 

The Witches Almanac for Sunday, May 22nd

Sunday (Sun): Healing, spirituality, success, strength, and protection.

Heroes’ Day (Sri Lankan)

Waning Moon
The Waning Moon (from the Full Moon to the New) is a time for study, meditation, and little magical work (except magic designed to banish harmful energies).

Moon Phase: Third Quarter

Moon Sign: Sagittarius
Sagittarius: Encourages flights of imagination and confidence. This is an adventurous, philosophical, and athletic Moon sign. Favors expansion and growth.

Incense: Juniper

Color: Gold

Sunday’s Witchery

Those ambitious, successful spells and charms will be heightened by working on the day of the week that has the planetary influence of the sun. So light those sunny candles, wear some luminous colors, and break out the gold jewelry! Bake up some cinnamon rolls or low-fat cinnamon muffins for an enchanting family breakfast. Take an orange with you to eat at lunch today. Try using a little magickal aromatherapy and burn some cinnamon-scented incense to encourage success and wealth today. Make the talisman to keep your solar magick with you. Sprinkle some dried marigold petals around your house-or across the threshold-to pull triumph and protection toward you and your family.

Get outside and tip up your face to the sun. Take a walk outside, and soak up some sunshine! Acknowledge the power of Sunna or Helios as they blaze across the sky and bring courage and motivation into your life. Sit outside at sunrise on a Sunday morning and bask in its warm, rosy-golden glow Acknowledge Brigid as the inner, creative spark of imagination and inspiration. She can help these gifts burn brightly within your own soul. Use your imagination and create your own brand of witchery and magick. Here comes the sun, and it’s your turn to shine!
 

Source

Book of Witchery: Spells, Charms & Correspondences for Every Day of the Week
Ellen Dugan

 

Sunday

 

Ruler: Sun

Colors: Gold or yellow

Power Hours: Sunrise and sunset.

Key Words: Love, happiness, health, wealth

It is easy to spot the ruler of this day by its name. Sunday is the day of the sun. Community work, volunteer services, exercise, outdoor sports, buying, selling, speculating, meeting people, anything involving groups, running fairs and raffles, growing crops and taking care of all health matters fall under the influence of the Sun. With all this activity and the brightness of the sun, it’s easy to see why the child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Michael is the primary angel of Sunday but each hour of this day also has it’s secondary angel. These angels are Michael (first hour), Anael (second hour), Raphael (third hour), Gabril (fourth hour), Cassiel (fifth hour), Sachiel (sixth hour), Samael (seventh hour), Michael (eighth hour), Anael (ninth hour), Raphael (tenth hour), Gabriel (eleventh hour), and Cassiel twelfth hour). Notice some of the angels do double duty this day.

On Sundays, (unless you are invoking a specific angelic energy) the hour of sunrise will be the most powerful time to work, especially if you want to infuse energy into your work. Sunset is the second best time and is favored when you need to calm down a situation. Check the local newspaper, astrological calendar, or almanac to determine your local sunrise.

Source

Gypsy Magic

 

Spellcrafting for Sunday

 Health
 Abundance
 Leadership
 Strength
 Ambition
 Individuality
 Authority
 Hope
 Joy
 Happiness
 Creativity

Source

A Spell Crafter’s Compendium
Terri Paajanen

 

The Pagan Book of Days for Sunday, May 22

Ragnar Lodbrok

Ragnar Lodbrok was a Viking leader captured by the Northumbrians, then tortured and killed by being thrown into a pit full of venomous snakes. His death song expresses this unwavering faith in the afterlife:

“The Disir call me back home,
those whom Odin has sent for me
from the halls of the lord of hosts.
Gladly will I sup ale in the high seat
with the gods.
The days of my life are finished.
I laugh as I die!”

In East Anglia this day is also the last for picking dandelions for wine making.

Source

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

Sunday, May 22

 

Traditionally, Sunday is the first day of the week. It is also known as the Lord’s Day from it original association with the Lord, that is, the Sun God, personified as Helios, Apollo, Ogmios, Mithras, and St. Eliaa. But in the Northern Tradition, the sun is seen as feminine, personified as the goddess known as Phoebe in East Anglia and Saule in eastern Europe. The sun rules the conscious elment of the human being, the ego, the real self, and Sunday is the day on which this conscious power is at its most effective.

Deity: Sol

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Planet: Sun

Tree: Birch

Herb: Snakeroot

Stone: Ruby

Animal: Lion

Element: Fire

Color: Gold

Rune: Sigel

Celtic Tree Month of Hauth (Hawthorn) – May 13 – June 9. Hawthorn month is a time of fertility, masculine energy, and fire. Also associated with the realm of Faerie.

Runic Half-Month of Ing (expansive, energy) – May 14 -28

Goddess of the Month of Hera – May 16 – June 12. Hera is associated with motherhood, marriage, the household, infidelities, beauty, luxury

 
Source

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

Watch Mars in Opposition LIVE With Slooh Observatory

You can follow along with the action here.
By John Wenz

Sunday night, Mars will make its closest approach to Earth, known as opposition. Slooh Observatory will be livecasting the event, which you can see in the below media player.

Opposition occurs when a planet anterior to Earth sits directly “behind” it, as if in a straight line going from the center of the sun through the Earth to the planet. In this way, it’s said to be directly opposite the sun in the sky, hence the name. An opposition event occurs every 26 months. At this opposition, Mars will be 0.51 AU from Earth, or 47,416,757 miles.

The next “perihelic opposition” is not set to take place until the next opposition in 2018, when Mars will be just 0.39 AU or 35,880,942 miles from Earth. That places it as close to Earth as it will get until 2035. The most distant opposition in recent years took place in 1995, when Mars was 0.68 AU from earth, or 62,809,309 miles. For a little bit more about oppositions past and present, check out this piece by our own Michael Bakich.

Slooh’s coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday night, after the sun goes down. Given its close approach, it will appear very bright in the sky, the second brightest object next to Jupiter (third if the moon is up.) To learn a little bit more about how to observe it, check out Michael’s helpful tutorial.

 

Link to media player:

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/05/watch-mars-in-opposition-live-with-slooh-observatory

 

Source

Astronomy Magazine

The Sky This Week: May 22 – May 29

Sunday, May 22

• Mars lies opposite the Sun in our sky today as it reaches peak visibility for 2016. The Red Planet appears low in the southeast as darkness falls and grows more prominent as the evening wears on and it climbs higher. By 1 a.m. local daylight time, it stands one-third of the way to the zenith in the southern sky against the backdrop of stars in northern Scorpius. The world shines at magnitude –2.1, brighter than it has been since 2005. When viewed through a telescope, the planet’s ocher-colored disk spans 18.4″ and shows subtle dark markings along with a whitish north polar cap. The Red Planet actually will come closest to Earth eight days from now, when its disk will swell to 18.6″ across.

• The Moon’s eastward motion relative to the background stars carries it 3° north of Saturn in this evening’s sky.

Monday, May 23

• Neptune rises before 3 a.m. local daylight time this week and appears low in the southeast before dawn. The distant world glows at magnitude 7.9, so you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to spot it. Fortunately, it lies near a brighter star that will help guide you. Look for the planet 0.5° south-southeast of 4th-magnitude Lambda (l) Aquarii. You can confirm a sighting of Neptune through a telescope, which reveals the planet’s 2.3″-diameter disk and blue-gray color.

Tuesday, May 24

• Look high in the northwest after darkness falls this week and you’ll be greeted by the familiar sight of the Big Dipper. The Dipper is the sky’s most conspicuous asterism — a recognizable pattern of stars that doesn’t form a complete constellation shape. It forms the body and tail of Ursa Major the Great Bear. Use the Pointers, the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl, to find Polaris, which lies due north for everyone north of the equator. Polaris marks the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. On evenings in late May, the relatively faint stars of this dipper arc almost directly above Polaris.

Wednesday, May 25

• Brilliant Jupiter appears high in the southwest as darkness falls and remains on display past 2 a.m. local daylight time. The giant planet shines at magnitude –2.1 — tying Mars as the brightest point of light in the night sky — against the backdrop of southern Leo the Lion. Jupiter appears equally dazzling through a telescope, which reveals a wealth of atmospheric detail on a disk that spans 38″. Notice in particular the two parallel dark belts that straddle a bright zone coinciding with the planet’s equator.

Thursday, May 26

• One of the spring sky’s finest deep-sky objects, the Beehive star cluster (M44) in the constellation Cancer the Crab, lies about one-third of the way from the western horizon to the zenith after darkness falls. With naked eyes under a dark sky, you should be able to spot this star group as a faint and fuzzy cloud. But the Beehive explodes into dozens of stars through binoculars or a small telescope at low power.

Friday, May 27

• Although Saturn will reach opposition and peak visibility one week from today, observers will be hard-pressed to see it as inferior this week. The ringed planet rises before 9 p.m. local daylight time and appears highest in the south around 1:30 a.m. Saturn shines at magnitude 0.0 and stands out against the relatively dim background stars of southern Ophiuchus. If you target the beautiful world through a telescope, you’ll see its 18″-diameter disk surrounded by a ring system that spans 42″ and tilts 26° to our line of sight.

Saturday, May 28

• Mars’ westward motion relative to the background stars carries it from Scorpius into Libra today. But for a quick change of pace, grab your binoculars tonight and target Zubenelgenubi (Alpha [a] Librae), the modestly bright star on the constellation’s opposite side. With even the slightest optical aid, Zubenelgenubi resolves into two stars. Nearly 4′ separate the 3rd-magnitude primary from the 5th-magnitude secondary.

See “10 tempting spring binocular targets” in the May issue of Astronomy for other treats visible through binoculars.

Sunday, May 29

• Last Quarter Moon arrives at 8:12 a.m. EDT. It rises around 1:30 a.m. local daylight time and climbs higher in the southeast as dawn approaches. During this period, our half-lit satellite lies near the center of Aquarius the Water-bearer.

Source

Astronomy Magazine

The Sun & Moon Data for Sunday, May 22nd

Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 100.02° E
Sun Altitude: 47.52°
Sun Distance: 94.111 million mi
Next Solstice: Jun 20, 2016 5:34 PM (Summer)
Sunrise Today: 5:41 AM↑ 63° Northeast
Sunset Today: 8:02 PM↑ 297° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 21 minutes

 
Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 277.48° W
Moon Altitude: -39.11°
Moon Distance: 249214 mi
Next New Moon: Jun 4, 20169:59 PM
Next Full Moon: Jun 20, 20166:02 AM
Next Moonrise: Today8:46 PM
Current Moon Phase: Waning GIbbous
Illumination: 99,3%

 

Source

timeanddate.com

I pray to the Goddesses of the Sun:

Samsa, Gün Ana, Shapash, Shapshu,
Xihe, Amaterasu, Bast, Bastet,
Olwen, Saule, Uelanuhi, Hekoolas,
Sunna, Hathor, Sekhmet, Pattini,
Hashi, Brigid, Aine, Adit,
and all the names I do not know:
bring me your holy light.
Light of healing and protection,
Light of strength and warmth,
Light of creative and fertile growth,
Light of purifying passion and energy.
Let your fire ever be fueled
and like a phoenix let us be reborn.
As you will it, so let it be.

 

—Poetry, Songs, and Enchantments: A Pagan Sourcebook
Gwenhwyfar Rhwwttchen