Tag: Northern Hemisphere Planetary Positions

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 😂😉

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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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

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)

For your Listening Pleasure

Beltane Night – Jaiya

For Your Viewing and Listening Pleasure

The Witch’s Sabbat – Samhain

What A Glorious Morning! What A Beautiful Day! Rise My Witches, Give Thanks To This Glorious Season of Beltane!

(A flashback from Lady Abyss)

Am Beannachadh Bealltain

(The Beltane Blessing)

Bless, O threefold true and bountiful,
Myself, my spouse, my children.
Bless everything within my dwelling and in my possession,
Bless the kine and crops, the flocks and corn,
From Samhain Eve to Beltane Eve,
With goodly progress and gentle blessing,
From sea to sea, and every river mouth,
From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.

Be the Maiden, Mother, and Crone,
Taking possession of all to me belonging.
Be the Horned God, the Wild Spirit of the Forest,
Protecting me in truth and honor.
Satisfy my soul and shield my loved ones,
Blessing every thing and every one,
All my land and my surroundings.
Great gods who create and bring life to all,
I ask for your blessings on this day of fire.

 

–Patti Wigington, Author
Published On Learn Religion

May Day by Jami Shoemaker – Part 1

Ancient Customs

Beltane (Anglicized spelling) is a fire festival, and was dedicated to the god of light, called variously Bel, Balor, Belenos, and Baldur. It marked the beginning of the summer season, and the return of the Sun to light and nourish the earth. Among the customs associated with the Celtic celebration of Beltane (literally “Bel’s fire”) is the lighting of two fires on a hilltop. The Druids gathered gathered wood from nine different trees to make their fire every year on top of Tara Hill in County Merath, Ireland. Traditionally, all other fires were extinguished, and relit from these sacred “need fires” as an act of renewal. Before cattle were taken into the open pasture for the summer they were driven either between the fires or through the ashes to purify them of disease, and men and women would leap the flames for protection, and for luck in matters of fertility, romance, and home.

This brings us to perhaps the most significant part of the Beltane customs—that of fetility and growth. With the return of light and warmth, the earth’s fertility was assured for another season. This mystery was seen as the union of the earth and sky, or Goddess and God. The fruit of the union was seen as greening of the countryside, and in the harvest to come. This coming together of the forces of nature was honored as the “Sacred Marriage” of the Goddess and God. Imitating their union was the ultimate act of the community.

In light of this “marriage of the gods,” Pagan weddings or “handfasting” were popular at this time of year. This was the commitment of a year and a day. giving the couple sort of “trial run” at marriage and after that time both parties could agree to a long-term relationship, or could go their separate ways without remorse.

For those only looking for a night of frolicking, the “greenwood marriage” was popular. Young men and women would spend the night at the Beltane fires, or would go into the woods on Beltane Eve, gathering garlands and flowers, making love, and staying up to greet the Sun. If a woman were lucky, she would find herself with child, as children conceived on May Eve were considered favored by the the gods. These “greenwood marriages” continued long after Christian form of marriage replaced the peasants’ handfasting. May Eve was a time to drop all inhibitions and enjoy unbridled sexuality. No rules applied. even married or handfasted couples would relax their commitment for this night.

Symbols of fertility abounded at May time—the greening of the woods, the flowering of plants, the mating of animals. Perhaps one of the most blatant symbols of fertility is the Maypole, traditionally cut and carried from the forest by the villages most viral young men. Though the symbol of the Maypole is universal (the living tree representing the growth that awakens with spring), the tradition of erecting a Maypole may stem from an ancient Roman tree-giving custom. It has been said that the erection of the Maypole, which includes burying one end in the earth, is yet another representation of the union of the gods.

Beltane falls exactly opposite Hallows,which marks the beginning of the dark half of the year. These two turning points were seen as powerful times in the wheel of the year. They fell on the “in-between” times, embodying the mysteries of light and dark, life and death, and the transitions between. It is at these times when the veil between the worlds of spirit and matter, the dead and the living, are the thinnest. Beltane was then associated with great magic. This was a time for divination, and for spells that would bring love and prosperity. It was also a time when the faery folk were more easily seen. Their appearance could bring good fortune, or, if a mortal were enticed by their mischievous ways, he or she might fall into a trance and be taken to a place beyond time.

Copyright Llewellyn’s Witches’ Datebook 2001 Pages 21 to 25 

For Your Listening Pleasure

Song: The Witches Tree

Artist: Cernunnos Rising

Album: Urban Druid

The Witches Tree

The Wisdom of Buddha

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Spell to Stop a Person From Harming You

 

Spell to Stop a Person From Harming You

You will need:
White candle
Favorite incense
Brown paper
Lead pencil
Spoonful of used coffee grounds

Light a white candle and your favorite incense. Meditate a short while on the problem. Invoke the Spirits of Protection.

Take a piece of brown paper, like from a grocery bag, on it use a lead pencil to print and write the name of the offending person or people. If unknown people are involved, also print and write, ‘and all persons unknown that are causing harm to me!’

Cross off each line forcefully and say, forcefully:

I freeze name(s) to be bound by this spell,
unable to cause any more harm to (name(s)!
As I will, so mote it be!

Put a spoonful of used coffee grounds on the brown paper, fold it small, and place it in the freezer. Leave it until the problem is completely resolved. I wrap a rubber band, string, twist tie, or what have you, to keep the coffee grounds from falling out of the paper. You can also use a zip lock bag.

Be sure and burn the candle completely up. Don’t use that candle for a different purpose.

Hey It Says Free, I’m going to grab it – Free Quiz – Are You a Natural Born Witch?

This post was originally put up by Lady Abyss

Free Quiz – Are You a Natural Born Witch?

You may be a natural born witch and not even know it! Many people are born with a lot of natural magical ability. Some people are aware of their ability, but many are not. There are many religions, such as Wicca that teach real magic in one form or another. However, you do not need to practice any particular religion in order to learn how to develop real magical ability. The first step is to determine your level of natural ability. The next step is to learn how to develop it and make the most of it.

Here’s a quiz to help you determine your level of natural magical ability. Answer the
following questions to find out if you are a natural born witch:

Do your watches or clocks always seem to run either slow or fast?

Do electrical things seem to act strange around you?

If yes, is it more noticeable when you’re emotional or when discussing certain
topics?

Have you ever just “known“ something, even if there’s no rational way you could
know it?

Have you ever had dreams that came true?

Have you ever “seen“ other people’s past lives?

Do you have unusually good luck with certain things?

Do things seem to happen just because you want them to?

Do other people seem to do things because you want them to?

Do you often know what other people are thinking or feeling?

Do you often find a great parking space, even when a parking lot is full?

Do you often know who’s calling before you answer the phone or look at the caller
ID unit?

Do other people seem to feel a need to touch you?

Are children and/or animals attracted to you?

Do people seem to fear you, or feel intimidated by you for no apparent reason?

Do you have a “green thumb”?

Did you have any kind of “imaginary“ friends as a young child?

Have you ever seen or felt the presence of ghosts?

Do people seem to be either very attracted to you, or very repelled by you?

Do people seem to stare at you for no apparent reason?

How many “yes“ answers did you have:
1-5 You have a small amount of natural ability
6-10 You have an average amount of natural ability
11-15 You have a very high degree of natural ability
16 -20 You are exceptionally gifted!

Mistress of Magic

The Witches Correspondences for Wednesday

WEDNESDAY CORRESPONDENCES

Mercury/Neptune/Air/North/West/Southwest/Female/Male/Gemini/Virgo

Magickal Intentions: Communication, Divination, Writing, Knowledge, Business Transactions, Debt, Fear, Loss, Travel, Money Matters

Color: black, light blue, brown, gray, green, magenta, orange, peach, purple, red, silver, turquoise, violet, white, yellow; orange is the primary color

Number: 3, 5

Metal: mercury

Charm: distaff, rod, runes, staff, iridescent garments

Stone: moss agate, amethyst, bloodstone, emerald, hematite, lapis lazuli, lodestone, pearl, ruby, sapphire, sodalite, all blue stones

Animal: bear, dog, fox, magpie, swan, weasel

Plant: almond, bayberry, chamomile, cherry, cinnamon, cinquefoil, clove, coltsfoot, ginger, hazel, hazelnut, jasmine, lavender, millet, oak, peppermint, periwinkle, rosemary, sage, St. John’s wort, sweet pea, tamarind, lemon verbena, violet

Incense: cassia, cedar, cinnamon, clove, frankincense, jasmine, lavender, mastic, mint, rosemary, sage, sandalwood, storax, dried and powdered citrus peel, and all incense made from aromatic bark, wood, and seeds

Goddess: Carmenta, Hecate (Queen of Crossroads), Hel, Ishtar, Ma’at, the Morrigan, Nike

God: Anubis, Bragi, Elath-Iahu. Enki, Garuda, Hermes, Maximon (Black Magician), Mercury, Nebo (Wise God of Wednesday), Odin, Shango, Ullr, Vishnu, Wayland, Woden

Evocation: Agrat Bat Mahalat, Michael, Miel, Raphael, Seraphiel, Tiriel

Source

Moonlight Musings

Some Mabon Correspondences

Blessed Mabon and Happy Autumn Equinox 202

This year Mabon/Autumn Equinox is on September 22nd starting at 9:30 AM EDT in the northern hemisphere lasting 89 days, 20 hours, and 31 minutes.

This is the time to start preparing for the colder weather. The time to reap what you had sowed in the spring. The Fea Folk so active outside during the warm weather are stock piling what they need to get through the cold months. This is a time for them to start moving a little slower so if you are in your yard or hiking in the woods and hills in you see the grass or undergrowth move when there is no wind do not be startled or frighten it is only the Fea doing their gathering.

This is the time when the animal born in the spring starting eating more from the land-side or what they are fed to fatten up to survive the cold. They are no longer drink their mother’s milk and have grown quite a bit. This is the time the sheep are sheared, the grain is harvested, and we stock up on stables in our pantries. Here is a trivia question for you…Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable and why?

Some Ostara Correspondences