Tag: Eastern Hemisphere Moon Phase

Beltane – Bealtaine Traditions in Irish Folklore

Beltane is the anglicised version of our Irish word Bealtaine – still in use and meaning ‘the month of May’ in our own language. Bealtaine is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature, and it is associated with important events in Irish mythology.

Irish folklore still holds the legacy of the traditions and customs associated with this ancient festival. Bealtaine and Samhain are the original two turning points for the ‘wheel of the year’ in Ireland. That’s May Eve and Hallowe’en, in case you’re not familiar.

These major Irish Pagan Festivals were pivotal – literally – times of upheaval of change for our ancestors over 8,000 years ago when the Hunter Gatherer societies moved from their Summer to Winter camping grounds at these seasonal turning points, and they still resonate through the landscape and the Irish communities to this day.

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Beltane: (Bealtaine, Valpurgis)

Incense: Lilac, Frankincense
Decorations: Maypole, Flowers, Ribbons
Colours: Green

The Fire Festival of Beltane

This festival is also known as Beltane, the Celtic May Day. It officially begins at moonrise on May Day Eve, and marks the beginning of the third quarter or second half of the ancient Celtic year. It is celebrated as an early pastoral festival accompanying the first turning of the herds out to wild pasture. The rituals were held to promote fertility. The cattle were driven between the Belfires to protect them from ills. Contact with the fire was interpreted as symbolic contact with the sun. In early Celtic times, the druids kindled the Beltane fires with specific incantations. Later the Christian church took over the Beltane observances, a service was held in the church, followed by a procession to the fields or hills, where the priest kindled the fire. The rowan branch is hung over the house fire on May Day to preserve the fire itself from bewitchment (the house fire being symbolic of the luck of the house).

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Beltane by The Goddess & The Green Man

Sunset to Sunset.

Beltane honours Life. It represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. All of life is bursting with potent fertility and at this point in the Wheel of the Year, the potential becomes conception. On May Eve the sexuality of life and the earth is at its peak. Abundant fertility, on all levels, is the central theme. The Maiden goddess has reached her fullness. She is the manifestation of growth and renewal, Flora, the Goddess of Spring, the May Queen, the May Bride. The Young Oak King, as Jack-In-The-Green, as the Green Man, falls in love with her and wins her hand. The union is consummated and the May Queen becomes pregnant. Together the May Queen and the May King are symbols of the Sacred Marriage (or Heiros Gamos), the union of Earth and Sky, and this union has merrily been re-enacted by humans throughout the centuries. For this is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. And have some fun…..

Traditions of Beltane…

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Superstitions

Around this time of year superstitions seems to come at us from all over the place. With this in mind I pulled out my book Cassell Dictionary of Superstitions by David Pickering Copyright 1995.

I will be posting a few today and tomorrow in among the articles, spells, potions, etc for Samhain and Beltane. If there is a superstition that has been passed down in your family or that you believe in and would like some more information about them please write a description of the superstition in the comment area.

Many times during my youth my mother, who is now in the Summerlands, told me they story of her grandmother picking up and throwing the first pair of shoes she ever bought for herself across the room a breaking the heel off one of them. The reason being her grandmother believed that putting shoes on the table was bad luck. My family has many other superstitions that I will share as we get closer to our holidays.

REMEMBER WE WANT TO HER ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY’S SUPERSTITIONS. JUST WRITE THEM IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING it will help me think my family isn’t a wacky about superstitions as I think they are 😂😉

October 30 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 30 has an illumination of 99%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 30 the Moon is 13.76 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

 

October 29 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 29 has an illumination of 96%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 29 the Moon is 12.87 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

 

WHAT IS BELTANE?

One of the four quarter day festivals, Beltane saw members of communities come together to celebrate the return of the summer. The observance of this hugely important time in the turning of the wheel of the year was characterised by a celebration of the return of the fertility of the land, and would have been a time when livestock would have been put out to pasture.

The word ‘Beltane’ roughly translates as ‘bright fire’ and, as such, one of the most important rituals, which survives today in our modern festival, concerns the lighting of the Beltane bonfire. Fire was seen as a purifier and healer and would have been walked around and danced/jumped over by the members of the community. Farmers would also have driven their cattle between bonfires to cleanse and protect them before being put out into the fields.

In ancient communities, all hearth fires would have been extinguished and a new neid fire lit which would have then been used to relight people’s hearths in their own homes. In this way the community was connected to each other by the sacred fire which was central to all. The festival would also have been a time of courtship rituals and a celebration of our own fertility!

The important point to note when thinking about our own festival is the joy and the revelry that is fostered in the ritual. It is about casting off the darkness and celebrating the light. It is a time for celebrating fertility, both in the context of our biological functions as well as our own creative energies, the fertility of our creative community.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND…

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October 28 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 28 has an illumination of 91%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 28 the Moon is 11.97 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

6 Famous Curses and Their Origins

Dig into the superstitions that surround King Tut’s tomb, the Hope Diamond and more.

Throughout history, people have promoted stories of curses for a variety of reasons. To sports fans, curses can help explain their favorite team’s loss. When a cause of death is misunderstood, curses can provide an explanation. For an imperial nation, curses can betray anxiety about being punished for colonizing and taking artifacts. And sometimes, curses come about because someone just wanted to make up a story.

Here are some prominent curses in history.

1. King Tut’s Curse (and Other ‘Mummy’s Curses’)

King Tut's Curse

The burial mask of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images

In February 1923, a British archaeological team opened the tomb of Tutankhamun, or “King Tut,” an Egyptian pharaoh during the 14th century B.C. Two months later, when the team’s sponsor died from a bacterial infection, British newspapers claimed without evidence that he’d died because of “King Tut’s curse.” Whenever subsequent members of the team died, the media dredged up the alleged curse again.

King Tut’s curse and other famous “mummy’s curses” were invented by Europeans and Americans while their countries removed priceless artifacts from Egypt. After the Titanic sank in 1912, some newspapers even promoted a conspiracy theory that the ship had sunk because of a “mummy’s curse.”

READ MORE: The Craziest Titanic Conspiracy Theories, Explained

Though it’s not clear how many people actually took these “curses” seriously, these stories became extremely popular subjects for horror movies like The Mummy (1932) and its many iterations, as well as comedies like Mummy’s Boys (1936) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955).

2. The Curse of the Polish King’s Tomb

Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland

Casimir IV Jagiellon.

Heritage Images/Getty Images

In 1973, a group of archaeologists opened the tomb of the 15th-century Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon in Kraków, Poland. As with the opening of King Tut’s tomb 50 years before, European media hyped up the event, and the researchers involved allegedly joked that they were risking a curse on the tomb by opening it.

When some of the team members began to die shortly after, some media outlets speculated it was due to a curse. Later, experts discovered traces of deadly fungi inside the tomb that can cause lung illnesses when breathed in. This was the cause of their deaths.

3. The Hope Diamond Curse

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The Hope Diamond, Evelyn Walsh McLean

Evelyn Walsh McLean, one of the owners of the famous Hope diamond, c. 1915.

Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

In the 1660s, the French gem dealer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased a large diamond of unknown origin during a trip to India. Yet by the 20th century, a myth had sprung up in the United States and Europe that Tavernier had stolen the diamond from the statue of a Hindu goddess. The newspapers and jewelers who spread this story claimed the diamond was cursed and brought bad luck to those who owned it.

By 1839, the diamond supposedly ended up with Henry Philip Hope, a Dutch collector based in London and the source of the stone’s modern name—the Hope Diamond. Sometime after this, European and American newspapers began claiming that the Hope Diamond carried a curse.

The French jeweler Pierre Cartier reportedly used these stories to enhance the diamond’s value when he sold it to American heiress Evelyn Walsh McLean in the early 1910s. After she died, it went to a U.S. jewelry company, which exhibited it before donating it in 1958 to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains today.

READ MORE: 8 of Halloween’s Most Hair-Raising Folk Legends 

5. The Curse of Tippecanoe (or Tecumseh’s Curse)

he Curse of Tippecanoe, Tecumseh’s Curse

The Battle of Tippecanoe, where General Harrison fought Tecumshe on Nov 7, 1811.

Glasshouse Vintage/Universal History Archive/Getty Images

In the mid-20th century, U.S. media began to note a pattern in presidential deaths. Starting with William Henry Harrison and ending with John F. Kennedy, every 20 years the country elected a president who would die in office.

Harrison, the first president to die in office, was elected in 1840. The other presidents who died in office include Abraham Lincoln, elected 1860 (and 1864); James A. Garfield, elected 1880; William McKinley, elected 1900; Warren G. Harding, elected 1920; Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected 1940 (as well as 1932, 1936 and 1944); and JFK, elected 1960. The only president between Harrison and JFK to fall outside of this pattern is Zachary Taylor, who was elected in 1848 and died in 1850.

In the 1930s, Ripley’s Believe It or Not claimed the “pattern” was due to a curse Shawnee Chief Tecumseh placed on Harrison and future presidents after Harrison’s troops defeated Tecumseh’s at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. (Tecumseh died two years later in another battle against Harrison’s troops.) This story likely originated with non-Native Americans and bears a similarity to other “curses” in U.S. books and movies about disturbing Native burial grounds.

WATCH: Halloween Documentaries on HISTORY Vault

6. The Curse of Macbeth

There are lots of superstitions in the world of theatre. It’s bad luck to wish actors good luck, hence the reason people instead tell them to “break a leg.” And it’s also bad luck to say the word “Macbeth” in the theatre except during a performance of the Shakespeare play. Supposedly, this is because tragedy has historically befallen productions of the play. In reality, these stories are a mix of fabrication and selective evidence-picking.

The legend about the play seems to have started with Max Beerbohm, a British cartoonist and critic born in the 1870s, nearly three centuries after Macbeth’s first performance. Beerbohm—possibly annoyed that Macbeth was such a popular play—made up a story that the first actor cast to play Lady Macbeth died right before the play’s opening night.

Since then, this story has become part of a myth that the play is cursed and has brought bad luck to those involved with it. Though there have been real accidents during runs of Macbeth over its more than 400-year history, these accidents gain more attention than accidents during other plays because of the supposed “curse.”

READ MORE: Did Shakespeare Really Write His Own Plays?

7. The Billy Goat Curse on the Chicago Cubs

History of the Billy Goat Curse

 A fan pushes a goat in a cart outside of Wrigley Field before the start of the 2017 home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 10, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

As with theatre, there are also a lot of superstitions in the world of sports. One of the most famous is the supposed “billy goat curse” on the Chicago Cubs.

In 1945, a tavern owner named William “Billy Goat” Sianis was reportedly prevented from bringing his pet goat, Murphy, into Chicago’s Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Supposedly, Sianis put a curse on the Cubs, saying they wouldn’t win this or any other World Series ever again.

Before this, the Cubs had only won the World Series twice before, in 1907 and 1908. When they lost the World Series in 1945, the curse gained credence. In 2016, when the Cubs won the world series for the first time in over a century, U.S. media promoted the idea that the curse was broken.

The billy goat curse is similar to the curse of the Bambino, which supposedly began when the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth in 1919 and ended when the team won the World Series in 2004. There’s also rapper Lil B’s curse on Kevin Durant, which Lil B issued in a 2011 tweet and lifted in 2017 in another tweet. When the Golden State Warriors won the NBA finals that year with Durant earning MVP, sports media jokingly (or not?) proclaimed that Lil B had helped by lifting the curse.

WATCH: A new season of The Curse of Oak Island premieres Tuesday, November 10 at 9/8c on HISTORY. Watch a preview now.

BY

October 27 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 27 has an illumination of 85%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 27 the Moon is 11.07 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

For Your Viewing Pleasure

5 PAGAN TRADITIONS: How the Ancients Celebrated Beltane

For Your Viewing Pleasure

 I went to a Celtic Pagan Ceremony in Ireland (Gaelic Samhain Festival)

October 26 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 26 has an illumination of 78%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 26 the Moon is 10.16 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

For your Listening Pleasure

Beltane Night – Jaiya

For Your Viewing and Listening Pleasure

The Witch’s Sabbat – Samhain

October 25 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 25 has an illumination of 69%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 25 the Moon is 9.24 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born.

 

 

October 24 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts round 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon will rise in the east in mid-afternoon and will be high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible though most of the night sky setting a few hour before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on October 24 has an illumination of 60%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 24 the Moon is 8.29 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

October 23 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a First Quarter phase. This phase occurs roughly 7 days after the New Moon when the moon is one quarter of the way through its orbit around the earth. Exactly half the moon will be illuminated and half dark. On the day of the First Quarter phase the moon is high overhead at sunset and is visible until mid-night when it sets in the west. The First Quarter phase is a one day event and in the following days enters a Waxing Gibbous phase becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

First Quarter Phase

The First Quarter on October 23 has an illumination of 49%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 23 the Moon is 7.33 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

October 22 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Crescent Phase. A Waxing Crescent is the first Phase after the New Moon and is a great time to see the features of the moon’s surface. During this phase the Moon can be seen in the wester sky after the sun dips below the horizon at sunset. The moon is close to the sun in the sky and mostly dark except for the right edge of the moon which becomes brighter as the days get closer to the next phase which is a First Quarter with a 50% illumination.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Waxing Crescent Phase

The Waxing Crescent on October 22 has an illumination of 39%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 22 the Moon is 6.32 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born. 

 

October 21 Moon Goddess’ Current Phase

Today the Moon will be in a Waxing Crescent Phase. A Waxing Crescent is the first Phase after the New Moon and is a great time to see the features of the moon’s surface. During this phase the Moon can be seen in the wester sky after the sun dips below the horizon at sunset. The moon is close to the sun in the sky and mostly dark except for the right edge of the moon which becomes brighter as the days get closer to the next phase which is a First Quarter with a 50% illumination.

Visit the October 2020 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Waxing Crescent Phase

The Waxing Crescent on October 21 has an illumination of 28%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On October 21 the Moon is 5.29 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

From Moongiant.com 

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born.