The year is 1100. The date is August 1. The monks in the abbey at Gloucester are celebrating the holy-day of St. Peter in Chains. One of the monks wakes from a strange dream in which God promises to strike down the wicked King who has abused the Holy Church. His superior, Abbot Serlo, on hearing of the dreams sends a warning to the King, William the Red, who has oppressed all of England with taxes and disgusted many with his licentiousness and blasphemy. Red, as he is called, receives the message the following day while preparing to indulge in one of his favorite sports, hunting, in the New Forest. Although there are no longer any people dwelling in the New Forest - they were all cleared out by Red's father, William the Conqueror - there are rumors that it's a hotbed of pagan activity. And August 2 is an important pagan holy-day. The Saxons call it Lammas, the Loaf-Mass. William the Red laughs at the warning from the monks and goes out hunting. A short time later, he is dead, struck in the chest by a stray arrow, and his brother, Henry, who was in the hunting party is riding hot-foot for Winchester and the crown.
Now some people say that William the Red was a Lammas sacrifice, that having made a wasteland of his kingdom, he was killed by the people (or the Gods) as a sacrifice to bring new life to the land. And some people say his brother Henry had him assassinated. And some people say that both versions are true.
This story comes to my mind when I think of Lammas because I spent ten years researching a medieval novel set in the time of William the Red and Henry. But this tale of sacrifice and hunting, a dying King and a wasted land, embodies many of the dominant themes of Lammas, one of the four seasonal quarter-days, and perhaps the least well-known.
The Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset August 2 and call it Lughnasad after the God Lugh. It is the wake of Lugh, the Sun-King, whose light begins to dwindle after the summer solstice. The Saxon holiday of Lammas celebrates the harvesting of the grain. The first sheaf of wheat is ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so that the people might live. Eating this bread, the bread of the Gods, gives us life. If all this sounds vaguely Christian, it is. In the sacrament of Communion, bread is blessed, becomes the body of God and is eaten to nourish the faithful. This Christian Mystery echoes the pagan Mystery of the Grain God.
Grain has always been associated with Gods who are killed and dismembered and then resurrected from the Underworld by the Goddess-Gods like Tammuz, Osiris and Adonis. The story of Demeter and Persephone is a story about the cycle of death and rebirth associated with grain. Demeter, the fertility Goddess, will not allow anything to grow until she finds her daughter who has been carried off to the Underworld. The Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated around the Autumn Equinox, culminated in the revelation of a single ear of corn, a symbol to the initiate of the cyclical nature of life, for the corn is both seed and fruit, promise and fulfillment.
You can adapt the themes of Lughnasad and Lammas to create your own ceremony for honoring the passing of the light and the reaping of the grain.
W E A R E T H E W E A V E R S W E A R E T H E W E B
SUGGESTED MANTRA: REBIRTH It is only through examination of our dark side that we can hope to be reborn. It is in crossing the comfort zones and visiting our shadowed selves that we can empower ourselves spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and physically to be reborn again.
SUGGESTED AFFIRMATIONS: ~ I am revitalized ~ My insecurity is replaced with wisdom ~ At my centre there is a incandescent fire ~ I release myself from harmful judgments ~ My new life path reveals itself to me ~ I say goodbye to destructive influences
Related gemstones: Garnet, bloodstone, tourmaline, smoky quartz
Goddess Baba Yaga ~ Collage by Teralyn
The ancient Slavic goddess Baba Yaga is the wild old crone guardian of the Water of Life and Death. She is the goddess of death and birth associated with Autumn, who sings while sprinkling corpses with the Water of Life to let them be reborn. Although she is fearsome to look upon, like all forces of nature that are often wild and untamed, she can also be kind.
Often depicted living in the deep centre of earth, or in a hut surrounded by a fence of bones, she represents the power of old age, of witch, and of the life cycle that is birth, death and rebirth. She is therefore also associated with birch forests (birch being the tree of beginnings and endings). Another image is that of "White Lady", or Death Crone, as she is stiff and white and carved of bone (she can also be referred to as Goddess of Old Bones).
HER MODERN ENERGY: If you're feeling directionless and an emptiness in the spirit and emotion, acknowledge Baba Yaga's presence in you. Being depressed in not to be feared, rather the process and emotion should be honoured, and allowed to move on. While the Water of Life and Death can be taken by trickery or synthetic means (eg; through drugs), by taking time to work in gentle silence the Water can also be given to you as a gift. Behold Baba Yaga, she is here to force us to examine our soul in the dark mirror and to be forever transformed.
DO THIS: Wear black, red and white scarves this week and use the colours to remind you of Baba Yaga. Black represents night and the breakdown of the personality (the crushed and broken body ready for Baba Yaga's Water of Life and Death), white represents the dawn and purification (the gift of the Water of Life and Death), and red represents day and vital life force (the powerful rebirth).
Work through the cycles of dawn, day and night gently, succumb to Baba Yaga's vibrations and trust that she will be kind to you. At the end of the week say good-bye to destructive influences as you tie the scarves around a tree in your garden. There they will be connected to the earth via the tree's roots, tapping into kundalini energy of the dark side, and also to the wind which will pick up your depression and carry it away.
Love and light,
~ Anita ~
www.goddess.com.au
Tis the Season of the Crone by Leigh Barret 2004
One of the results of reading "Women who run with the wolves", was the image of Baba Yaga who flew over my desk for several years. A cartoon type drawing, she sailed through the sky in her mortar, rowing her self along with a pestle, nose and chin both so long they almost met in front of her face like a crescent moon and with a big gaping mouth full of sharp teeth. Baba was my role model. She was the crone who taught me to not be too good, and to not be afraid of wild Feminine power.
This moon, going deeper than ever into a relationship with the Crone aspect of the Goddess, I dug out the book, and re-read the story of Vasalisa the Wise and her encounter with the Wild Hag Goddess, Baba Yaga. Clarissa Pinkola-Estes opened up an old folk story, and marked a trail with breadcrumbs of wisdom, taking into deep into the forest of the Crone and back out again. In this way, she has traced the path to the meeting of the Crone and the resulting Maiden to Woman transformation. Her path can be used to further study rituals and stories of the Crone, in this case that of Baba Yaga, Hecate, and the Morrigan.
For each of the tasks of initiation, there is a reward gained in the meeting of the Crone self. The first breadcrumb we find is: "allowing the too-good mother to die." As a result of letting our old, socially conditioned, over-protective selves go, we gain the ability to "become alert by oneself, for one-self... letting die what must die"... so the new, strong, woman can be born. In the story of Vasalisa the Wise, the dying of her good mother and the gift of a magic doll (representing the inner self) set off the events that lead to the transformation of naive girl to wise woman.
The next step involves the "exposing the crude shadow" This is defined as "experiencing our own shadow nature, owning it, preparing for the death of the old self and the birth of the new intuitive self." It is the evil step-family that overshadows Vasalisa's life. In modern life the evil stepmother archetype is served by society's expectations of women, which are most often counter to what is healthiest for the woman. To go the next step she must be able to open the door and go into the forest searching for answers.
Once outside her safe though uncomfortable house, she finds herself "navigating in the dark" This is "venturing into the dark forest of initiation, experiencing the sometimes scary feeling of one's intuitive power, learn the way home, feeding intuition." In Shekinah Mountainwater's ritual to Heal and Honor the Crone Self, the woman finds herself descending into the labyrinthine passages of a cave, seeking the Crone. Other pathworking rituals to meet the Hecate bring us to the forest crossroads at the Dark Moon, where before an altar with offerings of fish and eggs, we hear the hounds, feel the rushing wings and wind of the dark goddess and find ourselves in the presence of the Dark Mother herself.
We women find the Crone, in a cave, a crossroads, in the underworld, in our innerworld. Now comes the time of "facing the wild hag". The task of this step is that of being "in the presence of the wild goddess without wavering, learning the strange and learning to face great power of the goddess and then oneself."
Stories of all three of these wild Haggy Crones tell us we are facing awesome power. Hecate, is a severe Queen surrounded by black hounds that we meet at the lonely three way crossroads on a night when there is no moon. Baba Yaga is the terrifying Witch of every child's nightmare with her steel teeth and living in a magical house with skulls and bones for lanterns and fence posts. The Morrigan as beautiful as she is terrible, is a shape-shifter: now a warrior Queen, now a Raven looking over Carrion on the battlefield. Facing the Crone means facing death, fate, rebirth and taking responsibility for our own power over these rhythms. We can and should be afraid, but even so, we stand in this presence without turning away, despite our fear. Our task is to stand firm, learn and assimilate this power into our own psyches.
In Shekinah Mountainwater's matrifocal retelling of the myth of Persephone, the maiden meets Hecate in the underworld where she is instructed in the ways of life/death/life. In the story of Vasalisa, the naive maiden learns to listen to the counsel of the Doll, her small inner guide as she successfully faces the power of the wild Baba Yaga. The Morrigan, the Celtic triple goddess whose origins are in the megalithic cults of the Matrones, is concerned with both battle and regeneration. The folk tales of the Morrigan speak of her thirst for blood on the battlefield.
Herbal Musings
Jewel Weed
(“Touch Me Not” —Impatiens)
This plant is a very effective Poison Ivy antidote.
The Jewel Weed Stem should be crushed and the liquid rubbed into the skin contacted by the Poison Ivy and symptoms will not appear or will be much less troublesome.
Jewel Weed usually grows near water or in shallow ponds. It is often found in areas where Poison Ivy grows.
Jewel Weed totally neutralizes the Poison Ivy's oily antigen called Urushiol, and you will no longer spread it by scratching or rubbing. The Urushiol oil may be carried on the fur of pets, clothing, shoes, toys, tools, or other objects and then transferred to the skin. Approximately 24 to 36 hrs after a sensitized person is exposed to the Urushiol, a blistery, itching rash develops. Usually within 15 minutes of contact, the Urushiol binds to skin proteins. If it is washed off with soap and water before that time, a reaction may be prevented. After the antigen is fixed, however, it cannot be washed off or transferred to other areas. Scratching or oozing blister fluid cannot spread the antigen to other areas of the body or to other persons. Jewel Weed is still quite helpful even if you have developed scabs, though you need to work — Rub — it in longer, and it takes time for the blisters to heal.
Tinctures made from the plant (alcohol infused with plant matter) and are less effective as the fresh juice, and take a bit longer to work.
But are convenient to have on hand when the fresh plant is not available.
Jewel Weed is an effective natural herbal remedy not only for poison ivy, but also for poison oak, okra spines, stinging nettle, and other irritating plants; as well as bug bites and razor burn. Jewel Weed, is also used for acne, heat rash, ringworm and many other skin disorders.
A poultice made from the plant is an old folk remedy and is used for bruises, burns, cuts, eczema, insect bites, sores, sprains, warts, and ringworm.
Mother Nature almost always has a solution for things that can irritate us.
Labyrinth
~Your Personal Journey ~
At its most basic level the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are.
http://www.lessons4living.com/labyrinth.htm
"Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path... exactly where you are meant to be right now... And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love." Caroline Adams
Astrology 101
Most astrology students learn, at an early phase of their research, that Mercury retrograde cycles (happening three times a year for three weeks at a time) are difficult and challenging. This is NOT necessarily the case, but it is a gigantic glamour or illusion perpetuated over many decades and with a powerful thought-form behind it. Now Venus makes a station and shifts from retrograde to direct at 3 degrees of Virgo (10:29AM PDT). [Venus remains in reverse until September 8 when it will turn direct again at 17 degrees of Leo. The last time Venus went through a six-week reversal was from December 24, 2005 until February 3, 2006.] All Venus themes and archetypes - love and romance, creative artistry, personal magnetism, emotional sensitivity, partnerships, monetary savings and material assets, land and property, feminine concerns, social and cultural activities - are accentuated now and over the next couple of days. Does Venus in reverse mean that romance must go south and that love vibrations accentuated now and over the next couple of days? Does Venus in reverse mean that romance must go south and that love vibrations will decrease in wavelength? Not at all! What it means is that you need to go inward to understand love bonds on a DEEPER and more satisfying level. It also asks you to review, reflect on, and re-evaluate all the themes mentioned above. Helping you settle down and make progress across the board are rock-solid Capricorn Moon, a flowing trine of 120 degrees between the Moon and Venus (4:55AM PDT), and a supportive 60-degree link between Mercury in Cancer and Ceres in Taurus (12:39PM PDT). This latter alignment has the capacity to increase your productivity, and galvanize greater interest in gardening, herbs, cooking, baking, arts and crafts. Prepare for a rousing weekend that contains a mentally-stimulating Mercury-Uranus flowing trine in water signs tomorrow and a Full Moon on Sunday, July 29th.
Animal Totems
The Horse
The horse symbolizes freedom and the power that comes with being free. They pulled the wagon trains across the prairies opening up new frontiers to be explored. Horses helped turn the Lakota and other Native tribes into the powerful mounted warriors and nomads that they became, although taming the horse wasn't easy, as their spirit for freedom was a fire that burned within them.
Those with this medicine can be fiercely independent and have little tolerance for anything or anyone that limits their free expression. This characteristic can create challenges in relationships of all kinds, especially co-dependent ones. Those with this totem are teachers to their partners, friends and family showing them how to stand solid within themselves. Individuals who choose to be involved with a horse person do so because the need for self empowerment is strong. They seek the horse and the power it holds rather than the horse seeking them.
Because horse medicine people hold the energy of power their leadership and teaching skills are usually in demand. Intuitive and wise they make excellent therapists. They enjoy helping others but often feel as if there is no one to lead or teach them. If people become too dependent they will respond like a bucking bronco. Personal relationships often lack emotional or mental nourishment especially in the earlier years of life. To compensate for this they are forced to go within and strengthen their bond with spirit. This bond provides them with the nourishment needed to evolve their soul while staying grounded in the earth experience.
Horses give their riders the safety of speed and the promise of adventure. Natives tribes used the horse to run, fight, send messages, hunt and move their villages quickly. The horse carried people and their belongings into new uncharted territory and the challenges that it held. If horse has come to you, you are being offered a gift of safe movement. Is there somewhere that you want or need to go? Horse can help you get there, whether the place is physical or spiritual. Is their a new venture you want to undertake? Call on horse to help you create it. Are there challenges in front of you that you do not want to deal with? If so, the horse asks you to awaken your inner power and move forward with courage.
Before this continent became so populated, it was well suited to the Mustang. They had adapted themselves to live in harsh environments on diets that wouldn't sustain most horses. However, their need for freedom made them unsuited to a country whose people seem compelled to control and dominate everything. Because of this the mustang is just about gone.
When the horse, either wild or domestic, appears in your life the following questions should be asked. Are you pushing boundaries that are going to cause severe repercussions? Are you trying in your need to be free, to not play by the rules? If so, this may not be a bad thing, but learn the lesson of mustang, there can be a high price to pay for freedom.
Goddess Rhiannon
Artwork by Amysthia
Rhiannon Celtic Goddess
of Inspiration and the Moon
Rhiannon carry us
Rhiannon carry us
Rhiannon carry us over
Crossing the threshold from
Sleeping to waking from
Birthing to dying and over
- Thorn Coyle
Rhiannon, the Celtic goddess of the moon was a Welch goddess. The goddess Rhiannon's name meant “Divine Queen” of the fairies.
In her myths, Rhiannon was promised in marriage to an older man she found repugnant. Defying her family’s wishes that Rhiannon, like other Celtic goddesses, declined to marry one of her "own kind". Instead, the goddess Rhiannon chose the mortal Prince Pwyll (pronouncedPoo-ul or translated as Paul) as her future husband. Rhiannon appeared to Pwyll one afternoon while he stood with his companions on a great grass-covered mound in the deep forest surrounding his castle. These mounds called Tors, were thought to be magical places, perhaps covering the entrance to the otherworld beneath the earth. It was thought that those who stood upon them would become enchanted, so most people avoided them.
So it is no surprise that the young prince was enchanted by the vision of the beautiful young goddess Rhiannon, who was dressed in glittering gold as she galloped by on her powerful white horse. Rhiannon rode by without sparing him even a glance. Pwyll was intrigued and enraptured, and his
companions were understandably concerned.
Ignoring the protest of his friends, Pwyll sent his servant off riding his swiftest horse to catch her and asked her to return to meet the prince. But
the servant soon returned and reported that she rode so swiftly that it seemed her horse’s feet scarcely touched the ground and that he could not
even follow her to learn where she went.
The next day, ignoring his friends’ advice, Pwyll returned alone to the mound and, once more, the Celtic goddess appeared. Mounted on his horse,
Pwyll pursued her but could not overtake her. Although his horse ran even faster than Rhiannon's, the distance between them always remained the same.
Finally, after his horse began to tremble with exhaustion, he stopped and called out for her to wait. And Rhiannon did. When Pwyll drew close she teased him gently, telling him that it would have
been much kinder to his horse had he simply called out instead of chasing her. The goddess Rhiannon then let him know that she had come to find him,
seeking his love.
Pwyll welcomed this for the very sight of this beautiful Celtic goddess had tugged at his heart, and he reached for her reins to guide her to his
kingdom. But Rhiannon smiled tenderly and shook her head, telling him that they must wait a year and that then she would marry him. In the next moment
the goddess Rhiannon simply disappeared from him into the deep forest.
Rhiannon returned one year later, dressed as before, to greet Pwyll on the Tor. He was accompanied by a troop of his own men, as befitted a prince on his wedding day. Speaking no words, Rhiannon turned her horse and gestured
for the men to follow her into the tangled woods. Although fearful, they complied. As they rode the trees suddenly parted before them, clearing a
path, then closing in behind them when they passed.
Soon they entered a clearing and were joined by a flock of small songbirds that swooped playfully in the air around Rhiannon’s head. At the sound of
their beautiful caroling all fear and worry suddenly left the men. Before long they arrived at her father’s palace, a stunning site that was surrounded by a lake. The castle, unlike any they had ever seen, was built not of wood or stone, but of silvery crystal. It spires soared into the heavens.
After the wedding a great feast was held to celebrate the marriage of the goddess. Rhiannon’s family and people were both welcoming and merry, but a quarrel broke out at the festivities. It was said that the man she’d once been promised to marry was making a scene, arguing that she should not be allowed to marry outside her own people.
Rhiannon slipped away from her husband’s side to deal with the situation as discreetly as she could . . . using a bit of magic, she turned the
persistent suitor into a badger and caught him in a bag which she tied close and threw into the lake. Unfortunately, he managed to escape and later
returned to cause great havoc in Rhiannon's life.
The next day Rhiannon left with Pwyll and his men to go to Wales as his princess. When they emerged from the forest and the trees closed behind them, Rhiannon took a moment to glance lovingly behind her. She knew that the entrance to the fairy kingdom was now closed and that she could never return to her childhood home. But she didn’t pause for long and seemed to have no regret.
The goddess Rhiannon was welcomed by her husband’s people and admired for her great beauty and her lovely singing. However, when two full years had passed without her becoming pregnant with an heir to the throne, the question of her bloodline, her “fitness” to be queen began to be raised.
Fortunately, in the next year she delivered a fine and healthy son. This baby, however, was to become the source of great sorrow for Rhiannon and Pwyll.
As was the custom then, six women servants had been assigned to stay with Rhiannon in her lying-in quarters to help her care for the infant. Although
the servants were supposed to work in shifts tending to the baby throughout the night so that the goddess Rhiannon could sleep and regain her strength after having given birth, one evening they all fell asleep on the job.
When they woke to find the cradle empty, they were fearful they would be punished severely for their carelessness. They devised a plan to cast the
blame on the goddess Rhiannon, who was, after all, an outsider, not really one of their own people. Killing a puppy, they smeared its blood on the
sleeping Rhiannon and scattered its bones around her bed. Sounding the alarm, they accused the goddess of eating her own child.
Although Rhiannon swore her innocence, Pwyll, suffering from his own shock and grief and faced with the anger of his advisers and the people, did not come strongly to her defense, saying only that he would not divorce her and asking only that her life be spared. Rhiannon’s punishment was announced. For the next seven years the goddess Rhiannon was to sit by the castle gate,
bent under the heavy weight of a horse collar, greeting guests with the story of her crime and offering to carry them on her back into the castle.
Rhiannon bore her humiliating punishment without complaint. Through the bitter cold of winters and the dusty heat of four summers, she endured with
quiet acceptance. Her courage was such that few accepted her offer to transport them into the castle. Respect for her began to spread throughout
the country as travelers talked of the wretched punishment and the dignity with which the goddess Rhiannon bore her suffering.
In the fall of the fourth year three strangers appeared at the gate—a well-dressed nobleman, his wife, and a young boy. Rhiannon rose to greet
them saying, “Lord, I am here to carry each of you into the Prince’s court, for I have killed my only child and this is my punishment.” The man, his
wife, and the child dismounted. While the man lifted the surprised Rhiannon onto his horse, the boy handed her a piece of an infant’s gown. Rhiannon
saw that it was cloth that had been woven by her own hands. The boy then smiled at her, and she recognized that he had the eyes of his father, Pwyll.
Soon the story was told. Four years earlier, during a great storm, the nobleman had been called to the field to help a mare in labor, when he heard the infant’s cries and found him lying abandoned. He and his wife took the baby in, raising him as if he were their own. When the rumors of the goddess
Rhiannon’s fate had reached his ears, he realized what had happened and set out at once to return the child to his parents. Most legends suggest that
the badger actually was the enraged suitor that Rhiannon had rejected who had escaped and taken his revenge by kidnapping Rhiannon's infant son.
Pwyll and his people quickly recognized the boy for Pwyll and Rhiannon’s son. The goddess Rhiannon was restored to her honor and her place beside her
husband. Although she had suffered immensely at their hands, Rhiannon, goddess of noble traits, saw that they were ashamed and was filled with forgiveness and understanding.
In some versions of the legend, Rhiannon was the Celtic goddess who later became Vivienne, best known as the Lady of the Lake. She was the Celtic
goddess who gave Arthur the sword Excalibur, empowering him to become King in the legends of Camelot.
The story of the Celtic goddess Rhiannon reminds us of the healing power of humor, tears, and forgiveness. The goddess Rhiannon is a goddess of movement and change who remains steadfast, comforting us in times of crisis and of loss.
The Moon Goddess
One of the most significant archetypal symbols of the Goddess is the Moon. The Triple Goddess is seen in the Moon as Maiden (Waxing Moon), Mother (Full Moon), and Crone (Waning Moon). The Moon Goddess has been known by many different names in many different cultures. It is said that the Moon Goddess created time and measurement. Ancient calendars were based on the Moon's phases. She is usually seen as the protector of women, and she rules magick and childbirth. In ancient Thessaly, the Moon Goddess was invoked in a rite called "drawing down the moon", which we still practice today.
The Moon Goddess has many different names in many different cultures. In Finland, the Divine Creatress was called Luonnotar. In Scandinavia, She was Mardoll, or "The Moon Shining Over the Sea". Gala or Galata is the original Moon-Mother of Gaelic tribes. In Britain, an early name for the Moon Goddess was Albion, or "Milk-White Moon-Goddess" . To the Aztecs, the Moon Goddess was Mictecaciuarl, the devourer of the dead, and She had the same role among the Maoris and the Tartars. Several cultures believed that the Moon was the "Land of the Dead". In Africa, She is Akua'ba, in China Queen of Heaven, and to the Ancient Romans she was Luna.
Greek/Roman Moon Goddesses include Artemis, Hecate, Bendis, Brizo, Callisto, Selene, Prosymna, Diana, and Luna. Artemis was daughter of Zeus and Leto, and twin sister of Apollo. She was the Lady of the Beasts, who roams the forest with her band of nymphs, protecting pregnant beasts and their young. The Greeks assimilated her to a mistress of wild beasts. Bears were sacred to her, and the guinea-fowl were her birds.Her name possibly means "high source of water" (the moon being regarded as
the source and ruler of all waters). She was the mistress of magick, enchantment, and sorcery. She was a protector of youth, especially of girls, and was called upon as Artemis Eileithyia by women in childbirth. She is often depicted with a hound, and carrying a bow and arrows. One of her forms was Callistro. Other names for her include Delia, Phoebe, Pythia, and Parthenos. She was considered virginal, which means that she was her "own woman" and did not have a consort, however this did not mean that she was celibate. She is the Roman equivalent of Diana. Her tarot associations include nines, the High Priestess, and Temperance. Her gemstones are quartz, moonstone, pearl, and crystal. Sacred to her are the herbs mandrake, damiana, almond, mugwort, and hazel. Her animals are the horse, dog, elephant, and centaur. Other associations of Artemis are magickal weapons, perfumes, sandals, bow and arrow, and menstrual blood. Her Festival is celebrated on February 12.
Hecate was a Moon Goddess, Underworld Goddess and Goddess of Magick. She was the daughter of Perses and Asteria. Other traditions say she was the daughter of Zeus and Hera. She protected flocks and sailors, and was associated with crossroads. Her tarot associations are threes and the High Priestess. Her gemstones include star sapphire, pearl, moonstone, and crystal; her plants include cypress, opium poppy, almond, mugwort, hazel, and moonwort. Animals which are sacred to her are dogs. Other associations include perfumes, myrrh, civet, and magickal weapons.
Bendis was a Moon Goddess and wife of the Sun God Sabazius, and was worshipped with orgiastic rites. Thracians made her popular in Attica, and in 430 BC her cult became a state ceremonial in Athens, with torch races at the Piraeus.
Brizo was a Moon Goddess of Delos, to whom votive ships were offered. The name Brizo may be a form of Brighid.
Selene was a Moon Goddess and daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister of Helios (the Sun) and Eos (the Dawn). She was wooed and won by Zeus and by Pan. She also fell in love with Endymion and visited him nightly while he slept. (Zeus granted the mortal Endymion immortality on the condition that he remained eternally asleep.) She is also called Luna.
Prosymna is the Greek Goddess of the New Moon. She is also known as Persephone, and is given the title of Demeter as the Earth Mother in her Underworld aspect.
Diana was the Roman equivalent of the Greek Moon and Nature Goddess Artemis, and rapidly acquired all her characteristics. She is the Goddess of light, mountains, and woods. She was invoked to protect the harvest against heavy storms. Diana, whose name means "light", was originally the Italian Goddess of the Sun, Moon, and Open Sky. She also bestowed sovereignty and conception. Her feast day is August 15. Christians adopted her as St. Anne, Mary's mother, the "Grandmother of God".
Diana Goddess Collage by Teralyn
Meditation on the Moon Salutation
By Laura Cornell
I stand tall, body full and present in all of its beauty.
I open my arms wide to bring all of life into my being. My arms form a temple above me, protecting and sheltering me.
I know that I am on holy ground. Yielding now, softening, my body takes the shape of the crescent moon.
As I move and bend, my heart stays open to the world.
I step wide into a squat. Mother Earth's ferocious powers rise up through my legs, hips, belly, and back. I give birth to all that is.
Straightening arms and legs I am a star.
I am the universe. Planets and galaxies whirl within me. I radiate light in all directions. Supple and yielding again, I reach to the side. I turn to look up. I reach, yearning and striving, and yet rest, accepting fully.
Turning to pyramid pose I become quiet. I submit to the inner workings of my own being. I am ready to descend.
Lunging, I stretch long and feel again the glorious length of my body. I ask for blessings and protection.
Turning, I place my hands on the blessed earth. Home of deer and bear, hillsides and ponds, I touch you lovingly.
Coming into a squat I am connected with all animal and plant life. I am the dark moon. For three days and nights I will stay here.
I am giving birth, Standing on the threshold of life and death.
I am Ereshkigal, Hecate, the crone. I am Queen of the Underworld.
Dear Earth, You have been with me when I needed comfort, Given me wisdom when I was in pain. I pray I may do the same for you.
I receive the blessings of the moon as I look up, I am here, divine spirit in all life, to do your bidding. I am restored and nourished. I feel my breath, my bones, my flesh.
I am Venus, the morning and evening Star. I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth.
I am infinite, beyond space and time. I am the bindi, the one point at the center of the world.
I am Lilith, I will not deny my sexuality. I am Kali-Durga, I fight for justice courageously and effortlessly. I am Mary, the Virgin, Quan Yin, compassionate mother of all. I am Aphrodite, flower of the fields.
I am the full moon. I am whole. I am complete. I know the world with all its sorrow and pain and I am not afraid.
I know myself with all of my sorrow and pain and I am not afraid. I am light and dark. I am the inside and the outside.
