The Wicca Book of Days for August 28
Memorable Mint
The botanical name of mint is Mentha, for a Greek myth tells that the river
nymph Mentha (or Mintha) was transformed into this herb following a doomed affair with Hades. The Greeks and Romans dedicated the plant to Mercury, this Virgoan day’s planetary ruler, however, on account of its ability to clear the head and encourage rational thinking. Still the world’s most popular breath-freshener and an invaluable herb to have to hand in the kitchen, it is furthermore a refreshing, cooling agent whose power to relax muscles makes mint tea an excellent digestive.
Be Open to Orange!
If you need to remain calm and objective before making an important decision today, infuse yourself with these Mercurial characteristics by incorporating a splash of orange – Mercury’s color – into your outfit, maybe in the form of a scarf or handkerchief.
dedicated this herb – lavender is thought to have the power to encourage healing, and is extremely versatile, so that its flowers can also be used to provide perfume and to impart a tasty tang to culinary oils, dishes, and salads. The roots of its name lie in the Roman verb lavare, “to wash,” which points to its cleansing properties. It also helps to keep the home hygienic by warding off flies and other disease-spreading insects, which appear to be repelled by its strong smell.
today. The planet whose namesake is the quick-witted Roman messenger God will impart an intelligent, curious, and communicative flavor to the coming days, along with adaptability, sociability, and a lively contrariness that may be redoubled by Virgo’s mutable, or changeable, quadruplicity. By contrast, the element of earth is a practical, productive, and grounding influence, while a feminine (negative or passive) polarity provides receptiveness, thoughtfulness and supportive tendencies.
e chief deities of many pantheons, including the Norse Odin. And just as the Horned God is willingly sacrificed at the start of August, so Odin endured the pain of a self-inflicted wound as he hung, impaled on his spear, from the world tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days and nights (traditionally from August 17 to August 25) until the runes appeared to him, whereupon he seized them and released himself. Odin therefore suffered untold agonies to gain, and then pass on to humans, the mystical insights that the runes represent.
protection for the just-threshed harvest. On the Consualia, sacrifices made by the flamen Quirinalis (priest of Quirinus) were offered to Consus at his Maximus, where an underground altar was dedicated to him. Above ground, races were held, while some equines were garlanded and given the day off, for Consus was furthermore equated with Neptune Equester (“Equestrian Neptune”).
hich many Gods have been identified, including Helios. A tale told by the ancient Greeks about this golden deity concerns the nymph Clytia (or Clytie), who feel in love with Helios, but whose passion was not returned. Jealous of his affair with Leucothoe, a Babylonian princess, Clytia told her strict father of it, whereupon he buried his daughter alive. As for Clytia, she eventually wasted away gazing at Helios, whereupon she was transformed into a sunflower, which still follows the movement of the sun with its head.
marvels that together form the Chelsea Physic Garden, which was established near the River Thames in 1673 as a teaching garden for trainee apothecaries, who needed to become familiar with the appearance and properties of curative plants. Today, its medicinal roots continue to ben nurtured in such areas as the Garden of World Medicine and the Pharmaceutical Garden. For more information, visit 
heavens, but the moon continues to illuminate the night sky. In The English Husbandman (1635), Gervase Markham (1568 – 1637) advises readers on how to forecast the weather with the moon’s help: “If when you see the new Moon appear,… she be black or discoloured in her midst …if she be compassed about either with thick or waterish transparent vapours; or if she look more than ordinarily pale, all these are infallible sign of Rain.
One of August 14’s zodiacal sign of Leo’s most important correspondences, astrologically and magically speaking is with the element of Fire, which like each of the other three elements, is in turn associated with a particular season of the year, cardinal direction, and color. Given the heat that it generates, it is not surprising that fire’s season should be Summer or that its direction should be South. Similarly, fire’s color is typically specified as being flame red, although yellow, golden, and orange hues are also regarded as being fiery.
have run its course on August 28. Ansuz is said to symbolize an Aesir, a Norse deity, and most probably Odin (who corresponds to the Germanic Wotan or Woden), the chief god of the Scandinavian pantheon, as well as a fearless warrior and the source and seeker of great wisdom. It is told that Odin hung for days upon Yggdrasil, the world tree, in order to be rewarded with the magickal knowledge contained in the Runes. Ansuz is therefore considered a runic vehicle of divine inspiration, knowledge, and communication.
was honored on August 12 thousands of years ago by means of a festival of lights called the Aset Webenut, or, in Greek, the Lychnapsia. The Lychnapsia commemorated Isis’s frantic search for the body of her husband Osiris, whom their brother Set had murdered and cast into the Nile, as she roamed the earth holding aloft a flaming torch in an attempt to see in the pitch darkness. Thus torchlight lit up the night as devotees re-enacted her search and a boat bearing her likeness was paraded through the streets.
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