Administrator June, 2011

June 1
Festival of the Oak Nymph. This Pagan celebration honors all hamadryads (female nature spirits who are believed to inhabit oak trees). Decorate a Pagan altar with acorns and war some oak leaves in your hair. Kiss an oak tree or place a small offering of some kind before it, and the tree nymphs who dwell within it will surely bestow a blessing upon you.

June 2
Shapatu of Ishtar. A Pagan festival dedicated to the goddess Ishtar is celebrated every year on this date. She is the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian deity who presides over love and fertility as well as war. The birth of the god Apollo is also celebrated on this date.

June 3
The Festival of Cataclysmos is celebrated annually on this date on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The seaside ritual consists of prayers for the souls of the departed, traditional water games, and a sacred dance.
In Japan, a Buddhist ritual for young girls is performed annually on this date, and is dedicated to the goddesses Befana, Bona Dea, Kuan Yin, Rumina, and Surabhi.

June 4
Whitsunday, an annual Christian festival marking the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples, is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter (which normally falls on or near this date). However, like most Christian holidays, Whitsunday was at one time a Pagan fertility festival. It was celebrated in Europe with a “heathen feast” that marked the death of the spirit of Winter and the birth of the spirit of Summer.
According to English folklore, if a baby comes into the world on Whitsunday, he or she is destined to commit an act of murder or to be murdered.

June 5
On this date in the year 8498 B.C., the legendary island-continent of Atlantis sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean in a cataclysm believed to have been brought on by the anger of the great god Zeus.
To ensure an abundant harvest, a sacred Corn Dance is held each year at this time at San Ildefonso pueblo in the southwestern United States. It is dedicated to the Earth Mothers and the nature spirits known
as the Rain People.

June 6
On this date (approximately), an annual festival to honor ancestral spirits begins in Nigeria. The festival, which lasts for one week, consists of street dancing, offerings of food and gifts to the Egungun, and ecstatic trance.
In Thrace, an ancient country in the southeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, a festival called the Bendidia was held each year on this date. It was dedicated to the lunar goddess Bendi.

June 7
The Vestalia, an annual festival in honor of the hearth goddess Vesta, began on this date in ancient Rome. During the eight-day long festival, the shrine of Vesta was opened to married women. After the festival was over, the shrine was once again forbidden to all except the goddess’ attendant vestal virgins.

June 8
In many Japanese villages, an ancient rice festival is held annually on this date. Women wearing traditional kimonos recite prayers and light rice-straw fires to honor the god of the rice and to bless the crops.
In China, the Grain in Ear festival is celebrated at this time. The grain gods are honored with old rituals to ensure a harvest of plenty.

June 9
On this date in 1892, Grace Cook (a popular spiritualist medium and founder of the White Eagle Lodge) was born in London, England. Her first psychic vision of Indian Chief White Eagle and other Native American spirits occurred early in her childhood. With the aid of her spirit guide, she authored many books on healing and spiritual growth. She believed that after her death (which occurred on September 3, 1979), her spirit would be reincarnated in Egypt.

June 10
On this date in the year 1692, a woman named Bridget Bishop was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, after being found guilty of the crime of Witchcraft. She was the first person to be publicly executed in the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

June 11
On this date in 1912, spiritualist-medium Ruth Montgomery was born in Princeton, Indiana. Her interest in the world of the occult began in 1956, when she first began attending seances. She has written numerous bestselling occult books and is famous for her gift of communicating with spirit guides through automatic writing.

June 12

Light gold-colored candles on your altar and wear oak leaves in your hair to honor the Greek god Zeus, who is traditionally honored on this day.
In Korea, rice farmers wash their hair in a stream on this day as part of an annual ritual to dispel bad luck and to ensure an abundant crop. This ritual has taken place since ancient times.

June 13
On this date in the year 1884, Gerald Gardner was born in Lancashire, England. Nicknamed King of the Witches, he went on to become a famous and well-respected Wiccan author and the founder of the Gardnerian tradition of the modern Wicca religion. He died on February 12, 1964.
Irish poet and ceremonial magician William Butler Yeats was also born on this date in the year 1865.

June 14
In ancient Rome, the goddess Minerva (patroness of wisdom and the arts, and a deity of battle) was honored annually on this date at her sacred festival, the Lesser Quinquatrus of Minerva.
In India, this is a day sacred to Jagannath, a benevolent incarnation of the god Vishnu. An annual festival in honor of him is celebrated in the city of Puri on the East Coast of India.

June 15
On this date in the year 1648, Margaret Jones of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was executed in Boston for practicing Witchcraft and magickal healing. This was the first pre-Salem Witch execution to be officially recorded in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

June 16
Silver Chalice Day. Every year on this date, Wiccan friends and coven members gather together in a circle to rejoice and share a traditional silver chalice of wine (or fruit juice) consecrated in the names of the Goddess and Her consort, the Horned God. Many Pagan handfastings and Wiccanings are performed by coven priestesses around this time of the month.
On this date in the year 1881, famous Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau died in her home in New Orleans, Louisiana.

June 17
An annual purification ritual to drive away the evil spirits of the rainy season takes place on this date in Nara, Japan. Lily stalks are blessed by seven white-robed priestesses, and a traditional dance is performed.
Also on this date, Eurydice (a tree nymph who was transformed into an Underworld goddess after dying from a serpent bite) was honored annually in ancient Greece.

June 18
The annual Dragon Boat-Festival (which at one time was a Pagan summer solstice ritual to appease the dragon gods of the rivers) is celebrated on this date in China in honor of the martyred poet, Qu Yuan.
In ancient Rome, the goddess Anna was honored on this day with an annual religious festival.

June 19
The Feast of the Holy Ghost, a weeklong religious festival, begins annually on this date in Brazil.
In ancient Rome, the Day of All Heras was celebrated annually on this date in honor of the Goddess within as well as all wisewomen.

June 20
On this day, Pagans in parts of England celebrate the Day of Cerridwen in honor of the ancient Celtic goddess of fertility. Vervain (the herb most sacred to Cerridwen) is burned in small cauldron pots as an offering to the goddess, green ribbons are tied to trees, and green candles are lit on altars dedicated to her.

June 21
On the first day of Summer (which normally occurs on or near this date), the Summer Solstice Sabbat is celebrated by Wiccans and Witches throughout the world. Summer Solstice (which is also known as Midsummer, Alban hefin, and Litha) marks the longest day of the year when the Sun is at its zenith. In certain Wiccan traditions, the Summer Solstice symbolizes the end of the reign of the waxing year’s Oak-King, who is now replaced by his successor, the Holly-King of the waning year. (The Holly-King will rule until the Winter Solstice.) It is the ideal time for divinations, healing rituals, and the cutting of divining rods and wands.
On Midsummer Day, the people of ancient Russia worshiped the fertility goddess Kupala. To ensure female fertility and abundant crops, she was honored with bonfires, sacrifices of cockarels, and special wreaths that were cast into the rivers.

June 22
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Cancer. Persons born under the sign of the Crab are said to be family and home-oriented, nurturing, sympathetic, and often very moody. Cancer is a water sign and is ruled by the Moon.

June 23
In parts of Ireland and Great Britain, Pagans celebrate an annual festival on this date called the Day of Cu Chulainn. It is dedicated to the legendary Irish folk hero of the same name and to the ancient Pagan fertility god known as the Green Man.
Saint John’s Eve. This night is a traditional time for Witches to gather herbs for spells and love potions, for it is believed that the magickal properties of plants are at their peak on this mystical night.

June 24
On this date, an ancient Egyptian festival known as The Burning of the Lamps is celebrated in Sais,
a city on the Nile delta.
In pre-Christian times, the festival of Fors Fortuna was celebrated annually on this date in the city of Rome to honor and receive favorable blessings from the goddess Fortuana.
A sun-god festival called Inti Raymi was celebrated annually on this date by the ancient Incas of Peru. Llamas were ritually slaughtered and their entrails were used by priests for divining the future.
On this date in the year 1950, Reformed Alexandrian Witch and author Janet Farrar was born in London, England.

June 25
Gay Wiccan Pride Day. This is a time for gay and lesbian Wiccans from around the world to unite and celebrate life, love, and the Goddess. Come out of the proverbial “broom closet” and be proud of who you are!
A centuries-old women’s festival is held in India every year on this date in honor of the goddess Parvati.

June 26
According to ancient Icelandic legend, every year at noon on the date, the tip of the shadow of Mount Scartaris points to the secret entrance of “Centre Earth”, in which dwell giant humanlike creatures and prehistoric monsters.
Salavi, the Spruce Tree Rain God, is honored annually on this day by a Native American corn-ripening ceremony. This day is also sacred to the Corn Mothers and the Kachinis.

June 27
A centuries old Native American Sun Dance ritual is performed annually on this date by many Plains Indian tribes in honor of the Summer Sun. As part of the ceremony, a sacred crow totem is decorated
with black feathers.
On this date in the year 1956, prolific Wiccan author Scott Cunningham was born in Royal Oak, Michigan.

June 28
Every year on this day, the birth of Hemera (the ancient Greek goddess of day) is celebrated. Festivals in her honor begin at sunrise and last until the setting of the sun.
On this day in the year 1916, Reformed Alexandrian Witch and author Stewart Farrar was born in Highams Park, Essex, England.

June 29
On this date in Appleton, England, the boughs of a large and very old hawthorn tree are decorated with flowers, flags, and ribbons as part of a centuries-old Pagan tree-worship ritual known as Bawming the Thorn.
This is a sacred day to Papa Legba, a powerful loa in the Voodoo religion. Originally a Dahomean sun god, Papa Legba is worshipped as the spirit-master of pathways and crossroads, and is the most important deity of the Vodoun pantheon.

June 30
Day of Aestas. The ancient Roman corn-goddess of Summer is honored each year on this sacred day. Corn bread is traditionally served at Wiccan gatherings.
This day is sacred to the Pagan and Native American goddesses Ceres, Changing Woman, Chicomecoatl, the Corn Mothers, Demeter, Gaia, Ge, Hestia, Iatiku, Oraea, Pachamama, Spider Woman, and Tonantzin.

Tags: days, june, month

• Correspondences

Administrator June, 2011

June 1

Festival of the Oak Nymph. This Pagan celebration honors all hamadryads (female nature spirits who are believed to inhabit oak trees). Decorate a Pagan altar with acorns and war some oak leaves in your hair. Kiss an oak tree or place a small offering of some kind before it, and the tree nymphs who dwell within it will surely bestow a blessing upon you.

June 2
Shapatu of Ishtar. A Pagan festival dedicated to the goddess Ishtar is celebrated every year on this date. She is the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian deity who presides over love and fertility as well as war. The birth of the god Apollo is also celebrated on this date.

June 3
The Festival of Cataclysmos is celebrated annually on this date on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The seaside ritual consists of prayers for the souls of the departed, traditional water games, and a sacred dance.
In Japan, a Buddhist ritual for young girls is performed annually on this date, and is dedicated to the goddesses Befana, Bona Dea, Kuan Yin, Rumina, and Surabhi.

June 4
Whitsunday, an annual Christian festival marking the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples, is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter (which normally falls on or near this date). However, like most Christian holidays, Whitsunday was at one time a Pagan fertility festival. It was celebrated in Europe with a “heathen feast” that marked the death of the spirit of Winter and the birth of the spirit of Summer.
According to English folklore, if a baby comes into the world on Whitsunday, he or she is destined to commit an act of murder or to be murdered.

June 5
On this date in the year 8498 B.C., the legendary island-continent of Atlantis sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean in a cataclysm believed to have been brought on by the anger of the great god Zeus.
To ensure an abundant harvest, a sacred Corn Dance is held each year at this time at San Ildefonso pueblo in the southwestern United States. It is dedicated to the Earth Mothers and the nature spirits known
as the Rain People.

June 6
On this date (approximately), an annual festival to honor ancestral spirits begins in Nigeria. The festival, which lasts for one week, consists of street dancing, offerings of food and gifts to the Egungun, and ecstatic trance.
In Thrace, an ancient country in the southeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, a festival called the Bendidia was held each year on this date. It was dedicated to the lunar goddess Bendi.

June 7
The Vestalia, an annual festival in honor of the hearth goddess Vesta, began on this date in ancient Rome. During the eight-day long festival, the shrine of Vesta was opened to married women. After the festival was over, the shrine was once again forbidden to all except the goddess’ attendant vestal virgins.

June 8
In many Japanese villages, an ancient rice festival is held annually on this date. Women wearing traditional kimonos recite prayers and light rice-straw fires to honor the god of the rice and to bless the crops.
In China, the Grain in Ear festival is celebrated at this time. The grain gods are honored with old rituals to ensure a harvest of plenty.

June 9
On this date in 1892, Grace Cook (a popular spiritualist medium and founder of the White Eagle Lodge) was born in London, England. Her first psychic vision of Indian Chief White Eagle and other Native American spirits occurred early in her childhood. With the aid of her spirit guide, she authored many books on healing and spiritual growth. She believed that after her death (which occurred on September 3, 1979), her spirit would be reincarnated in Egypt.

June 10
On this date in the year 1692, a woman named Bridget Bishop was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, after being found guilty of the crime of Witchcraft. She was the first person to be publicly executed in the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

June 11
On this date in 1912, spiritualist-medium Ruth Montgomery was born in Princeton, Indiana. Her interest in the world of the occult began in 1956, when she first began attending seances. She has written numerous bestselling occult books and is famous for her gift of communicating with spirit guides through automatic writing.

June 12

Light gold-colored candles on your altar and wear oak leaves in your hair to honor the Greek god Zeus, who is traditionally honored on this day.
In Korea, rice farmers wash their hair in a stream on this day as part of an annual ritual to dispel bad luck and to ensure an abundant crop. This ritual has taken place since ancient times.

June 13
On this date in the year 1884, Gerald Gardner was born in Lancashire, England. Nicknamed King of the Witches, he went on to become a famous and well-respected Wiccan author and the founder of the Gardnerian tradition of the modern Wicca religion. He died on February 12, 1964.
Irish poet and ceremonial magician William Butler Yeats was also born on this date in the year 1865.

June 14
In ancient Rome, the goddess Minerva (patroness of wisdom and the arts, and a deity of battle) was honored annually on this date at her sacred festival, the Lesser Quinquatrus of Minerva.
In India, this is a day sacred to Jagannath, a benevolent incarnation of the god Vishnu. An annual festival in honor of him is celebrated in the city of Puri on the East Coast of India.

June 15
On this date in the year 1648, Margaret Jones of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was executed in Boston for practicing Witchcraft and magickal healing. This was the first pre-Salem Witch execution to be officially recorded in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

June 16
Silver Chalice Day. Every year on this date, Wiccan friends and coven members gather together in a circle to rejoice and share a traditional silver chalice of wine (or fruit juice) consecrated in the names of the Goddess and Her consort, the Horned God. Many Pagan handfastings and Wiccanings are performed by coven priestesses around this time of the month.
On this date in the year 1881, famous Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau died in her home in New Orleans, Louisiana.

June 17
An annual purification ritual to drive away the evil spirits of the rainy season takes place on this date in Nara, Japan. Lily stalks are blessed by seven white-robed priestesses, and a traditional dance is performed.
Also on this date, Eurydice (a tree nymph who was transformed into an Underworld goddess after dying from a serpent bite) was honored annually in ancient Greece.

June 18
The annual Dragon Boat-Festival (which at one time was a Pagan summer solstice ritual to appease the dragon gods of the rivers) is celebrated on this date in China in honor of the martyred poet, Qu Yuan.
In ancient Rome, the goddess Anna was honored on this day with an annual religious festival.

June 19
The Feast of the Holy Ghost, a weeklong religious festival, begins annually on this date in Brazil.
In ancient Rome, the Day of All Heras was celebrated annually on this date in honor of the Goddess within as well as all wisewomen.

June 20
On this day, Pagans in parts of England celebrate the Day of Cerridwen in honor of the ancient Celtic goddess of fertility. Vervain (the herb most sacred to Cerridwen) is burned in small cauldron pots as an offering to the goddess, green ribbons are tied to trees, and green candles are lit on altars dedicated to her.

June 21
On the first day of Summer (which normally occurs on or near this date), the Summer Solstice Sabbat is celebrated by Wiccans and Witches throughout the world. Summer Solstice (which is also known as Midsummer, Alban hefin, and Litha) marks the longest day of the year when the Sun is at its zenith. In certain Wiccan traditions, the Summer Solstice symbolizes the end of the reign of the waxing year’s Oak-King, who is now replaced by his successor, the Holly-King of the waning year. (The Holly-King will rule until the Winter Solstice.) It is the ideal time for divinations, healing rituals, and the cutting of divining rods and wands.
On Midsummer Day, the people of ancient Russia worshiped the fertility goddess Kupala. To ensure female fertility and abundant crops, she was honored with bonfires, sacrifices of cockarels, and special wreaths that were cast into the rivers.

June 22
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Cancer. Persons born under the sign of the Crab are said to be family and home-oriented, nurturing, sympathetic, and often very moody. Cancer is a water sign and is ruled by the Moon.

June 23
In parts of Ireland and Great Britain, Pagans celebrate an annual festival on this date called the Day of Cu Chulainn. It is dedicated to the legendary Irish folk hero of the same name and to the ancient Pagan fertility god known as the Green Man.
Saint John’s Eve. This night is a traditional time for Witches to gather herbs for spells and love potions, for it is believed that the magickal properties of plants are at their peak on this mystical night.

June 24
On this date, an ancient Egyptian festival known as The Burning of the Lamps is celebrated in Sais,
a city on the Nile delta.
In pre-Christian times, the festival of Fors Fortuna was celebrated annually on this date in the city of Rome to honor and receive favorable blessings from the goddess Fortuana.
A sun-god festival called Inti Raymi was celebrated annually on this date by the ancient Incas of Peru. Llamas were ritually slaughtered and their entrails were used by priests for divining the future.
On this date in the year 1950, Reformed Alexandrian Witch and author Janet Farrar was born in London, England.

June 25
Gay Wiccan Pride Day. This is a time for gay and lesbian Wiccans from around the world to unite and celebrate life, love, and the Goddess. Come out of the proverbial “broom closet” and be proud of who you are!
A centuries-old women’s festival is held in India every year on this date in honor of the goddess Parvati.

June 26
According to ancient Icelandic legend, every year at noon on the date, the tip of the shadow of Mount Scartaris points to the secret entrance of “Centre Earth”, in which dwell giant humanlike creatures and prehistoric monsters.
Salavi, the Spruce Tree Rain God, is honored annually on this day by a Native American corn-ripening ceremony. This day is also sacred to the Corn Mothers and the Kachinis.

June 27
A centuries old Native American Sun Dance ritual is performed annually on this date by many Plains Indian tribes in honor of the Summer Sun. As part of the ceremony, a sacred crow totem is decorated
with black feathers.
On this date in the year 1956, prolific Wiccan author Scott Cunningham was born in Royal Oak, Michigan.

June 28
Every year on this day, the birth of Hemera (the ancient Greek goddess of day) is celebrated. Festivals in her honor begin at sunrise and last until the setting of the sun.
On this day in the year 1916, Reformed Alexandrian Witch and author Stewart Farrar was born in Highams Park, Essex, England.

June 29
On this date in Appleton, England, the boughs of a large and very old hawthorn tree are decorated with flowers, flags, and ribbons as part of a centuries-old Pagan tree-worship ritual known as Bawming the Thorn.
This is a sacred day to Papa Legba, a powerful loa in the Voodoo religion. Originally a Dahomean sun god, Papa Legba is worshipped as the spirit-master of pathways and crossroads, and is the most important deity of the Vodoun pantheon.

June 30
Day of Aestas. The ancient Roman corn-goddess of Summer is honored each year on this sacred day. Corn bread is traditionally served at Wiccan gatherings.
This day is sacred to the Pagan and Native American goddesses Ceres, Changing Woman, Chicomecoatl, the Corn Mothers, Demeter, Gaia, Ge, Hestia, Iatiku, Oraea, Pachamama, Spider Woman, and Tonantzin.

Tags: days, june

• Correspondences

Administrator October, 2010

October 1
On this date (approximately), hundreds of thousands of Muslims make a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca to kiss and touch the Black Stone (one of the original building blocks of a veiled shrine) and to worship their god Allah. They then drink some water from the nearby sacred Well of Ishmael, and journey up into the hills of Safa and Marwa to recite prayers.

October 2
Guiding Spirits Day. On this day, light a white candle on you altar and give thanks to your spirit guide (or guides) for guarding over you and guiding you through your spiritual development. If you wish to communicated with or meet your spirit guide, use a Ouija board or, through prayer, invite the spirit guide to come to you in a dream or in a trance.

October 3
On this date (approximately), a Cementation and Propitiation Festival was once celebrated by the Native American tribe of the Cherokee. The purpose of the festival was to remove the barriers between the Cherokee people and the deities they worshiped.

October 4
On this date in ancient Rome, a day of feasting known as the Jejunium Cereris was observed in honor of Ceres (Mother Earth), the corn-goddess and protectress of agriculture and all fruits of the Earth.

October 5
The Festival of the Old Woman (Nubaigai) is celebrated annually on this date by farm workers in Lithuania. The last sheaf of grain is dressed up as a woman and a festival of feasting, merriment, and games is held to honor the goddess of the corn.
In the country of Rumania, the Dionysiad wine festival was held annually on this date in honor of Dionysus, Ariadne, and the Maenads.

October 6
On this date, an annual nine-day religious festival begins in Nepal to honor the great Hindu god Vishnu and to celebrate his awakening on a bed of serpents. As part of an ancient tradition, secret offerings are made to the god and placed in unripe pumpkins.

October 7
In the fifteenth century, peasants in Germany celebrated a week-long festival called the Kermesse. A Pagan icon (or some other sacred object) would be unearthed from its yearlong burial spot and then paraded through the village on top of gaily decorated pole. After a week of feasting, dancing, and games, the villagers would dress up in their mourning attire and rebury the icon in its grave, where it would remain until the next year’s Kermesse.
On this date in the year 1909, famous author and Gardnerian Witch Arnold Crowther was born in Kent, England. He was initiated into the Craft in 1960 by Patricia Dawson, whom he later married. He passed away on Beltane-Sabbat in the year 1974.

October 8
On this day, an annual good luck festival called Chung Yeung Day (the Festival of High Places) is celebrated in China. Traditionally good omen kites are flown to carry away evil spirits. The festival also commemorates an ancient Chinese scholar named Huan Ching who, upon heeding the warning of a soothsayer, escaped with his family and friends high into the hills and thereby avoided a mysterious plague of death which swept through the village below, killing every living thing in sight.

October 9
Day of Felicitas. A festival celebrating the ancient Roman goddess of luck and good fortune was held annually on this date in many parts of Italy. For many Wiccans and modern Witches, it is a time for casting spells and making amulets to attract good luck or to end a streak of bad luck.

October 10
Throughout the country of Brazil, the annual Festival of Light begins on this date. The centuries-old festival, which is celebrated for two consecutive weeks, includes a parade of penance and the lighting of candles, torches, and hearth-fires to symbolically drive away the spirits of darkness who bring evil and misfortune.

October 11
Every year on this date, Witches in the countries of Denmark and Germany honor the Old Lady of the Elder Trees, an ancient Pagan spirit who dwells within and watches over each and every tree of the elder family. Before cutting any branches to use as magick wands, a libation of elderberry wine is poured onto the tree’s roots and a special prayer is recited.

October 12
On this date in the year 1875, famous occultists and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley was born in Warwickshire, England. He authored many popular and controversial books on the subject of magick, and was notorious for his rites of sex magick, ceremonial sorcery, and blood sacrifices. Crowley often referred to himself as the Beast of the Apocalypse and was nicknamed The Wickedest Man in the world by the news media and by many who knew him personally. He died on December 1, 1947, and after his cremation, his ashes were shipped to his followers in the United States of America.
Also on this date in the year 1888, famous ceremonial magician and occult author Eliphas Levi died.

October 13
On this date in the year 1917, the Goddess in the guise of the Virgin Mary made her final visit (as promised earlier that year) to three children in the Portuguese town of Fatima. She revealed many predictions to the children, and a crowd of over 70,000 pilgrims who gathered for the miraculous event witnessed a strange object–resembling a huge silver disk blazing with colored flames–fly through the sky.

October 14
Each year on this date, the planets of the Milky Way galaxy are honored and celebrated by an event known as Interplanetary Confederation Day.
In Bangladesh, an annual festival called Durga Puja is celebrated on this day to commemorate the great Mother-Goddess Durga and her triumph over the forces of evil.

October 15
On this date in ancient Rome, a sacred harvest festival dedicated to the god Mars was celebrated with a chariot race, followed by the sacrifice of the slowest horse. (Before becoming a god of battle, Mars was originally a deity associated with fertility and agriculture).

October 16
Each year on this date, the Festival of the Goddess of Fortune (Lakshmi Puji) is celebrated in Nepal. The goddess Lakshmi is honored with prayers, sacred chants, and offerings of flower petals and fragrant incense.

October 17
Once a year on this date, the Japanese Shinto ceremony of Kan-name-Sai (God Tasting Event) takes place. The ancient goddess of the Sun and other imperial ancestors are honored with an offering of rice from the season’s first crop.

October 18
In England, the Great Horned Fair takes place annually on this day to celebrate the wondrous powers of nature and fertility. Many Pagans and Wiccans (especially of the Gardnerian tradition) perform a special ceremony on this day in honor of Cernunnos, the Horned God of hunting, fertility, and wild animals. He is also the consort of the Goddess, and a symbol of the male principle. At this time, many priests of Wiccan covens perform a sacred ritual called Drawing Down the Sun.

October 19
On this day, an annual fair called Bettara-Ichi (”Sticky-Sticky Fair”) is held in Tokyo, Japan near the sacred shrine of the god Ebisu. Children carry sticky pickled radishes tied to straw ropes through the streets in order to chase away evil spirits and to receive blessings from the seven Shinto gods of good luck.

October 20
On this date in the year 1949, Wiccan priestess and spiritual healer Selena Fox was born in Arlington, Virginia. In 1974, with the help of Jim Alan and a small group of Neo-Pagan friends, she formed Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin. She is known as one of the leading religious-freedom activists in the Wiccan and Neo-Pagan movements.

October 21
In the former Czechoslovakia, an annual festival known as the Day of Ursala is held on this date in honor Ursala, the ancient lunar goddess of Slavic mythology who later became Saint Ursala.

October 22
In Japan, the purifying Festival of Fire (Hi Matsuri) is celebrated annually on this night. A traditional torchlight procession parades through the streets of Kurama and ends at a sacred shrine, where the ancient gods are believed to return to Earth at the stroke of midnight.

October 23
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Scorpio. Persons born under the sign of the Scorpion are said to be magnetic, psychic, imaginative, mysterious, and often prone to jealous obsessions. Scorpio is a water sign and is ruled by the planets Mars and Pluto.

October 24
On this day, many Wiccans from around the world celebrate the annual Feast of the Spirits of Air. Incense is offered up to the Sylphs (who often take the form of butterflies), and rituals involving dreams and/or the powers of the mind are performed.
This day is sacred to Arianrhod, Cardea, Dione, Diti, Gula, Lilith, Maat,
Minerva, and Sophia.

October 25
Shoemaker’s Day is celebrated annually on this date in honor of Saint Crispin, the patron of shoemakers who was beheaded in the third century A.D. According to legend, a new pair of shoes bought on this day will bring good luck and prosperity to their owner.

October 26
Birthday of the Earth. According to the calculations of a seventeenth century Anglican archbishop, the Earth was created on this date in the year 4004 BC.
On this date in the year 1440, Giles de Rais (one of the most notorious necromancers in history) was hanged in France as punishment for practicing black magick and making human sacrifices to the Devil, among other crimes.

October 27
Allan Apple Day. In Cornwall, England, an old Pagan method of love divination is traditionally performed each year on this day. A single gentleman or lady who wishes to see his or her future spouse must sleep with an Allan apple under his or her pillow, then get out of bed before the crack of dawn the next day. The person then waits under a tree for the first person of the opposite sex to walk by. According to the legend, the passerby will be the future marriage mate.

October 28
In ancient times, the Phoenician sun-god Baal of the Heavens was honored annually on or around this date. He presided over nature and fertility, and was associated with Winter rain. Sacred sun-symbolizing bonfires were lit in his honor by his worshipers in Syria. Depicted as a warrior with a horned helmet and spear, he was once worshipped as the principal god on Earth for thousands of years.
In ancient Egypt, a series of Autumn ceremonies for the goddess Isis began each year on this date. They lasted for six consecutive days.

October 29
On this date in the year 1939, ceremonial magician and occult author Frater Zarathustra was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Frater founded the Temple of Truth in 1972 and was publisher and editor of the White Light (a magazine of ceremonial magick) from 1973 until it ceased publication in 1990.
On this day, the Native American tribe of the Iroquois celebrate their annual Feast of the Dead to honor the souls of departed loved ones.

October 30
Each year on this date, the Angelitos festival is held in Mexico to bless the souls of deceased children and to honor Xipe-Totec (the ancient god of death) and Tonantzin (the Guadualupe goddess of mercy).
On this day, write a secret wish on a piece of dried mandrake root. Burn it at the stroke of midnight in a fireproof container and then go outside and cast the ashes to the wind as you say thrice: “Spirits of fire, spirits of air; grant this secret wishing-prayer. Let the ashes of this spell, fix this midnight magick well.”

October 31
Halloween (also known as Samhain Eve, Hallowmas, All Hallow’s Eve, All Saint’s Eve, Festival of the Dead, and the Third Festival of Harvest).
Every year on this day, the most important of the eight Witches’ Sabbats is celebrated by Wiccans throughout the world with traditional Pagan feasts, bonfires, and rituals to honor the spirits of deceased loved ones. The divinatory arts of scrying and rune-casting are traditionally practiced by Wiccans on this magickal night, as in standing before a mirror and making a secret wish.
The last night of October was the ancient Celt’s New Year’s Eve. It marked the end of the Summer and the beginning of Winter (also known as the dark half of the year).
In many parts of the world, special cakes and food are prepared for the dead on this night.
In Ireland, a Halloween festival is celebrated annually for the ancient Pagan goddess Tara.
This day is sacred to the goddesses Cerridwen, Eurydice, Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Kali, the Morrigan, Nephthys, Oya, Samia, Sedna, Tara, and Vanadis. On this day in the year 1970, the Parks Department of New York granted the Witches International Craft Associates (W.I.C.A.) a permit to hold a “Witch-in”. The event was held in Sheep Meadow and more than one thousand persons attended.

Tags: days, holiday, october

• Correspondences

Hearthkeeper October, 2010

Days of the week and the full moons

Days & Months

Days of the Week and The Full Moons

Monday – represents the moon, Hectate rules, white and violet, cancer sign, spells for healing, psychic development, travel, visions, love, and home, Gather herbs on this morning, ylang ylang oil

Tuesday – Mars, red, Sagittarius sign, spells for fire, energy, physical strengh, channeling spirits, and courage, rose oil

Wednesday – Mercury, yellow and orange, Gemini and Virgo signs, spells on commerce and trade, knowledge, wisdom and divination, sandalwood oil.

Thursday – Jupiter, blue, Aries and Scorpio signs, spell for prosperity, love, socail status, good fortune, tool concecration, business, violet oil

Friday – Venus, Freya rules, green, Taurus and Libra signs, spells for growth, love, fertility, beauty, lust, friendships, pleasuree and meditation, jasmine oil

Saturday – Saturn, brown and black, Capricorn and Aquarius signs, spells for healing injury, binding, grouding, protection, stability and saving money, ylang ylang oil

Sunday – Sun, Apollo rules, yellow and gold, Leo sign, spells for wealth, health, friendship, protection, fortune, harmony, sucess, frankinsence oil

MONTHS

January Moon – Wolf Moon

Feburary Moon – Ice Moon – Imbolc 1st

March Moon – Storm or Worm Moon – Ostara 20 -23rd

April Moon – Growing or Pink Moon

May Moon – Hare or Flower Moon – Beltane 1st

June Moon – Mead or Rose Moon – Litha 20 – 23rd

July Moon – Hay or Buck Moon

August Moon – Corn Moon – Lammas 1st

September Moon – Harvest Moon – Mabon 20 – 23rd

October Moon – Blood or Hunters Moon – Samhain 31st

November Moon – Snow or Beaver Moon – New Year 1st

December Moon – Cold Moon – Yule 20 – 23rd

From Dec 24th (winter soltice) to June 23rd (summer soltice)the Gods rule and the days will get longer and longer. The longest day being June 23rd. From June 24th to Dec 23rd the Goddess rules and the days grow shorter and shorter; the shortest being Dec 23rd.

Blessing until next Month

S.Dunham

Tags: days, months, moons

• Articles

Administrator September, 2009

September 1

On this date in the sixth century B.C., the Persian prophet and mystic known as Zoroaster was born. He founded the religion of Zoroastrinism, which teaches that all of mankind is trapped in a perpetual battle between good spirits and bad spirits.

September 2

On this date in ancient Athens, an annual Grape Vine Festival was held in honor of the Greek deities Ariadne and Dionysus. In Crete, Ariadne was worshipped as a goddess of the Moon, and Dionysus as the son of Semele (who was also a goddess of the Moon).

September 3

On this day, the annual Path Clearing Festival (Akwambo) is held by the Akan people of Ghana to honor and receive blessings from the ancient god of the sacred well.

The Maidens of the Four Directions are honored on this day each year by a Hopi Indian women’s healing ceremony called Lakon.

September 4

At sunrise on this day, the Changing Woman Ceremony is held annually by the Native American tribe of the Apache in Arizona. The rite, which lasts for four consecutive days, marks the coming of age of a pubescent girl, who ritually transforms into the spirit-goddess known as Changing Woman and blesses all who are in attendance.

September 5

In ancient Rome, the Roman Games, in honor of the god Jupiter, began annually on this date and lasted until the thirteenth day of September.

Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of good luck and prosperity, is honored on this day throughout India with a parade and a festival of rejoicing.

September 6

An ancient Inca blood festival called the Situa was held annually on this date to ward off the evil spirits of illness and disease. As part of the ceremony, parents would eat a special cake consecrated with the blood of their offspring.

September 7

Healer’s Day. This is a special day dedicated to all women and men who possess the Goddess-given gift of healing and who use it unselfishly to help others.

Daena, the Maiden Goddess of the Parsees, is honored on this date each year with a religious festival in India.

September 8

On this date in the year 1875, the Theosophical Society (an organization dedicated to spreading occult lore and ancient wisdom) was founded by Madame Helena Petrova Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Judge, and other occultists.

September 9

In China, chrysanthemum wine is traditionally drunk on this day each year to ensure long life and to honor Tao Yuan-Ming, a Chinese poet who was deified as the god of the chrysanthemum.

September 10

The Ceremony of the Deermen is held every year at dawn on the first Monday after Wakes Sunday (which normally falls on or near this date). As part of the ceremony, held at Abbots Bromley in Staffordshire, England, the Deerman, wearing antlers and carrying clubs surmounted with deers’ heads, escort two young men dressed as Robin Hood and Maid Marian across the village.

On this date in the year 1930, Carl Llewellyn Weschcke (former Wiccan high priest and owner of Llewellyn Publications) was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In 1972 he was initiated by Lady Sheba into the American Celtic tradition of Witchcraft, and in 1973 he helped to organize the Council of American Witches.

September 11

In Egypt, a centuries old festival called the Day of Queens is celebrated annually on this date in honor of Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra, who were also regarded as goddesses.

September 12

On this date in the year 1902, actress Margaret Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is best known for her memorable role as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. She died on May 16, 1985, in Salisbury, Connecticut.

September 13

Egyptian All Souls’ Day. Every year on this date, the ancient Egyptians celebrated a religious festival known as The Ceremony of Lighting the Fire. Sacred fires were lit in temples in honor of the spirits of the dead and the goddess Nephthys, protectress of the dead and Queen of the Underworld.

September 14

In ancient Rome, the Feast of the Holy Cross was celebrated on this date in commemoration of a supernatural vision of a cross in the sky, as well as a battle victory of Roman Emperor Constantine I.

On this date in the year 1692, the Witch trial of two Pilgrim women opened in Stamford, Connecticut. One was found not guilty; the other was convicted and sentenced to die, but was later reprieved by an investigating committee.

On this date in the year 1486, ceremonial magician Agrippa von Nettesheim was born in Cologne, France. He was skilled in the arts of divination, numerology, and astrology, and wrote several books that had a great influence over Western occultism. He died in Grenoble, France in the year 1535.

September 15

The full moon of September, known as the Harvest Moon, normally begins on or around this date. Many believe it to possess great magickal powers, and numerous superstitions are connected with it. Harvest Moon rituals are performed throughout the world on the first night of the full moon by many Witches and Pagans, especially those who dwell in the country.

September 16

Feast of Saint Cornely. On this day, villagers and farmers who live in Brittany honor Saint Cornely, the patron of horned animals who is believed to have created the Carnac megaliths by magickally transforming enemy soldiers into stone. At midnight, oxen are blessed in a shrine dedicated to him.

September 17

On this date in the year 1964, Bewitched (the first television sitcom about a Witch) made its debut on ABC-TV. It became an instant hit and received twenty-two Emmy nominations.

In ancient Greece, the goddess Demeter was honored annually on this date with a festival of secret rites.

September 18

In the town of Berkshire, England, a centuries-old celebration known as Scouring the White Horse begins on this date. The festival of games and athletic competition takes place on a hillside carved with the huge figure of a galloping steed, and lasts for two consecutive days.

September 19

On this day in ancient Babylonia, an annual festival of prayers and feasts took place in honor of Gula, the goddess of birth.

On this date in the year 1692, Giles Corey (a Massachusetts man charged with the crime of Witchcraft) was pressed to death by two large stones in Salem for refusing to acknowledge the Court’s right to try him.

September 20

The Spring Equinox (South of the Equator) was celebrated approximately on this date by the ancient Incas. It was a time for honoring the Sun God, feasting, rejoicing, animal sacrifices, and divinations. Festivals were also held on this date throughout South America to celebrate the birthday of the god Quetzalcoatl.

September 21

Saint Matthew’s Day. In many parts of the world, this is a traditional day for performing divinations of all kinds. In Germany, fortune-telling wreaths of straw and evergreen, made on this day by young girls, were used for love divination.

In ancient Greece, the birth of the goddess Athena was celebrated annually on this day.

September 22

On the first day of Autumn (which normally occurs on or near this date), the Autumn Equinox Sabbat is celebrated by Wiccans and Witches throughout the world. Autumn Equinox (which is also known as the Fall Sabbat, Alban Elfed, and the Second Festival of Harvest) is a time for thanksgiving, meditation, and introspection. On this sacred day, Witches rededicated themselves to the Craft, and Wiccan initiation ceremonies are performed by the High Priestess and Priests of covens. Many Wiccan traditions also perform a special rite for the goddess Persephone’s descent into the Underworld as part of their Autumn Equinox celebration.

September 23

On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Libra. Persons born under the sign of the Scales (the Balance) are said to be artistic, resourceful, extroverted, balanced, and often indecisive. Libra is an air sign and is ruled by the planet Venus.

September 24

In ancient Egypt, the annual death and rebirth of the god Osiris was celebrated once a year on this date. A festival held in his honor consisted of song, dance, and ceremonial plantings.

In West Africa, this day is sacred to Obatala, a hermaphrodite deity who was believed to have given birth to all Yoruban gods and goddesses.

September 25

On this date in ancient Greece, a feast of beans known as the Pyanopsia was celebrated annually in honor of the great Olympian god Apollo and the three beautiful goddesses of the four seasons known as the Horae.

The birthday of Sedna, the Eskimo goddess of both the sea and the Underworld, is celebrated annually on this date in Greenland, northeastern Siberia, and the Arctic coastal regions of North America.

September 26

Theseus, the great hero of Athens who slew the Minotaur and conquered the Amazons, was honored on this date in ancient Greece with an annual festival called the Theseia. The celebration lasted until the twenty-ninth day of September.

In ancient times, a goat sacrifice was performed annually on this day to appease Azazel, a Hebrew fallen angel who seduced mankind. He was associated with the planet Mars.

September 27

Moon Festival. On this date, an annual ceremony takes place in China to honor the Moon Hare and to give thanks to the gods for a harvest of abundance. The rites associated with the Moon Festival are always performed by women as the Moon represents yin, the female cosmic element.

September 28

On this date in ancient Athens, an annual Thesmophoria festival was celebrated in honor of the Greek goddess Demeter. The festival lasted until the third day of October.

September 29

Michaelmas. According to English folklore, it was on this day that the Devil fell from Heaven, landed on a blackberry bush, and cursed the berries. Therefore, it is unlucky to pick blackberries after Michaelmas. In parts of Scotland, special Michaelmas cakes are eaten by the superstitious on this day to ward off all evil and misfortune in the coming year.

September 30

On this date, the annual Meditrinalia festival was celebrated in the city of Rome in honor of the goddess Meditrina, a deity who presided over medicines

and the arts of healing.

In ancient Greece, the Epitaphia was held once a year on this date to honor the souls of the warriors slain to battle.

Tags: days, holidays, sabbats, september

• Correspondences

Administrator August, 2009

August 1
On this day, the Lammas Sabbat is celebrated by Wiccans and Witches throughout the world. Lammas (which is also known as Lughnasadh, August Eve, and the First Festival of Harvest) marks the start of the harvest season and is a time when the fertility aspect of the sacred union of the Goddess and Horned God is honored. The making of corn dollies (small figures fashioned from braided straw) is a centuries-old Pagan custom which is carried on by many modern Witches as part of the Lammas Sabbat rite. The corn dollies are placed on the Sabbat altar to represent the Mother Goddess who presides over the harvest. It is customary on each Lammas to make or buy a new corn dolly and then burn the old one from the past year for good luck.
On this day in the country of Macedonia, Neo-Pagans celebrate the Day of the Dryads, an annual nature festival dedicated to the maiden spirits who inhabit and rule over forests and trees.

August 2
On this day, the Feast of Anahita is celebrated in honor of the ancient Persian goddess Anahita, a deity associated with love and lunar powers.
Lady Godiva Day is celebrated annually on this date in the village of Coventry, England, with a medieval-style parade led by a nude woman on horseback.

August 3
The harvest season begins on this date in Japan with an annual festival called the Aomori Nebuta. Bamboo effigies with grotesquely painted faces are paraded through the streets in order to drive away the spirits of sleep.

August 4
Each year on this date, it was believed that the waters of Scotland’s Loch-mo-Naire became charged with miraculous magickal powers to heal all who drank it or bathed in it. For many years it was a custom for those who visited Loch-mo-Naire to toss in a coin of silver as an offering to the benevolent spirits that dwelled within the lake.

August 5
Many folks still believe in this ancient superstition: if you make a secret wish wile looking up at the new moon (which normally begins on or near this date in August), your wish will be granted before the year is through.

August 6
On this date in the year 1817, a huge creature described as a sea-serpent was spotted in the ocean near Gloucester harbor in Massachusetts. Coincidentally, on this same date in the year 1948, a similar creature was seen by the crew of the British naval frigate Daedalus.
This day is sacred to the Cherokee Earth-Goddess Elihino and her sister Igaehindvo, the sacred goddess of the Sun.

August 7
In ancient Egypt, the cow-headed goddess Hathor was honored on this day by an annual festival known as Breaking the Nile. The festival, which was also dedicated to all water and river goddesses, celebrated the rising of the fertile waters of the mystical River Nile.
In ancient Greece, the annual mourning ceremony called the Adonia was held on this date in honor of the dying hero-god Adonis.

August 8
According to the Christian Church calendar, the Virgin Mary was born on this day.
The Eve of the Festival of Venus was celebrated annually on this date by the ancient Romans. On this night, the goddess of love and beauty was honored and invoked with prayers, love songs, libations, and passionate lovemaking. It was also a time when sorceresses performed all forms of love magick and marriage-mate divinations.

August 9
On this date, many Wiccans from around the world celebrate the annual Feast of the Fire Spirits. Dried mandrake root or yarrow herb is cast into fires as offerings to the Salamanders.

August 10
A centuries-old festival called Ghanta Karna Day is celebrated annually around this time of August in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. The event celebrates the death of Ghanta Karna, a blood thirsty Hindu demon who haunts crossroads and is the sworn enemy of the god Vishnu.

August 11
On this day, an Irish fertility festival known as the Puck Fair begins. The medieval-style festival, which pays homage to the mischievous sprite Robin Goodfellow, continues for three consecutive days.
Oddudua, the “Mother of all Gods”, is honored on this day by followers of the Santeria religion in Africa and South America.

August 12
The goddess Isis and her search for Osiris (her brother and consort) is commemorated on this day by the Lychnapsia (Festival of the Lights of Isis). Dried rose petals and vervain are burned in small cauldron pots or incense burners as offerings to Isis, and green candles are lit in her honor.

August 13
On this date, the major Pagan festival of Hecate is traditionally held at moonrise. Hecate, the mysterious goddess of darkness and protectress of all Witches, is a personification of the Moon and the dark side of the female principle.

August 14
Every year on this date, a “burryman” (a man wearing a costume of thistle burrs, and representing an ancient fertility god) walks through the streets in many of the fishing villages along the coast of Scotland, collecting donations from the villagers. The origin of the burryman remains a mystery.

August 15
Festival of Vesta. The ancient Roman goddess of the hearth was honored annually on this date in ancient times. Many modern Witches light six red candles and cast herbs into hearth fires on this day to honor Vesta and to receive her blessings for family and home.

August 16
Salem Heritage Day in Massachusetts
On this date in the year 1987, the first Harmonic Convergence as observed worldwide during the Grand Trine (the alignment of all nine planets in our solar system). The event, which lasted for two consecutive days, was believed to be the beginning of five years of peace and spiritual purification. Thousands of New Age enthusiasts gathered at various sacred sites to dance, chant, meditate, and tune into the positive energies of the Earth and the universe.

August 17
Festival of Diana. Every year on this date, the goddess of chastity, hunting, and the moon was honored by the ancient Romans.
This is a special day of feasting, mirth, and magick-making for many Dianic Wiccans, since Diana is the most sacred goddess of their tradition.
On this date in the year 1950, Oglala Sioux mystic and medicine man Nicholas Black Elk died in Manderson, South Dakota. He was known for his great powers of prophecy and healing, and was an adherent of the Ghost Dance, a short-lived Native American religious movement which ended in a tragic massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890.

August 18
On this date, the annual Festival of Hungry Ghosts is celebrated throughout China with burnt offerings to the spirits of the dead.
On this date in the year 1634, a parish priest named Father Urbain Grandier was found guilty of bewitching a group of nuns at a convent in Loudun, France, and causing them to be possessed by demons. He was condemned to be tortured and then burned alive in the public square of Saint Croix.

August 19
In ancient Rome, a wine-harvest celebration known as the Vinalia Rustica was held each year on this date. It was dedicated to the goddess Venus of the Grape Vine and also to Minerva.
On this date in the year 1692, the Reverend George Burroughs and John Willard were put to death on Salem’s infamous Gallows Hill as punishment for the crime of Witchcraft.

August 20
On this date in the year 1612, ten women and men known as the Lancashire Witches were executed on the gallows in one of England’s most famous Witch trials of the seventeenth century. Ironically, the nine-year-old girl who had supplied the court with incriminating evidence against the Witches was herself found guilty of Witchcraft twenty-two years later and executed in the second great Witch trial of Lancashire.

August 21
The Consualia, a harvest festival celebrating the storing of the new crop, was held annually on this date by the ancient Romans. Also celebrated on this date was the muscular deity Hercules, who was honored with a sacrifice at one of his shrines in the city of Rome. His annual festival was called the Heraclia.

August 22
On this date in the year 1623, the Order of the Rosy Cross (a secret sect associated with alchemy and reincarnation) was established in Paris, France. The mysterious Rosicrucian brotherhood was condemned by officials of the Church as worshipers of Satan.
This day is sacred to Nu Kwa, an ancient Chinese goddess identified with the healing goddess Kuan Yin.

August 23
The Volcanalia festival was celebrated annually on this date in ancient Rome. It was dedicated to Vulcan, the god of volcanic eruptions, and celebrated by frying fish alive to ward off accidental fires.
Each year on this date in Athens, the ancient Greeks celebrated a festival dedicated to Nemesis, the goddess who presided over the fate of all men and women.

August 24
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Virgo. Persons born under the sign of the Virgin are said to be analytical, organized, meticulous, and often prone to being perfectionists. Virgo is an earth sign and is ruled by the planet Mercury.

August 25
An annual harvest festival called the Opiconsiva was celebrated on this date in ancient Rome in honor of the fertility and success goddess Ops (Rhea). Later in the year, she was honored again at the Opalia festival on December 19 (the third day of the Saturnalia).

August 26
The periodic rebirth of the Hindu god Krishna (eighth and principal avatar of Vishnu) is celebrated by his faithful worshipers at midnight services on this date.
In the country of Finland, this is the annual Feast Day of Ilmatar (or Luonnotar), known as the Water Mother. According to mythology, she created the Earth out of chaos.

August 27
Consus, the god of the grain-store, was celebrated annually on this date by the ancient Romans. Sacrifices were made in his honor, and all beasts of burden were embellished with wreaths of flowers and given a day of rest.
The Festival of Krishna is celebrated annually on this day in the country of India. It is also a sacred day dedicated to Devaki, the Mother-Goddess.

August 28
In the country of Norway, a Pagan festival celebrating the harvest is held on this date each year. Ancient Norse gods and goddesses are invoked to protect the spirit of the harvest throughout the dark half of the year.

August 29
Ancient Egyptian New Year
On this date in Nigeria, the Yoruba people celebrate the Gelede, an annual ritual of dancing and wearing of masks to drive away evil sorceresses.
In pre-Christian times, a festival called the Pardon of the Sea was celebrated annually in Britanny. It was originally dedicated to Athes, a Pagan goddess of the sea, and was later Christianized into the Feast of Saint Anne.

August 30
In Bengal, India, gruesome human sacrifices to the Indian earth-goddess Tari Pennu were made annually on this date as late as the mid-nineteenth century. After the sacrifice, a shaman would eat a bit of the victim’s flesh, and then the rest of the remains would be dismembered, burned, and scattered over a plowed field to ensure the fertility of future crops.

August 31
To purify the family spirits, Eyos (masqueraders wearing demon costumes concealed by white robes) walk through the streets of Lagos every year on this date. The Ritual Walk of the Eyos is a religious custom that dates back to ancient times.
On this date in the year 1934, Wiccan author Raymond Buckland was born in London, England. He founded the Seax-Wica tradition of Witchcraft, helped to introduce modern Wicca into the United States, and opened the first American Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.
In India, a women’s festival of purification is held each year on this day. It is called the Anant Chaturdasi, and is dedicated to the ancient serpent-goddess Ananta, who symbolizes the female life force.

Tags: august, days, holidays, sabbats

• Correspondences

Administrator February, 2009

February 1Candlemas Eve
Brigit, the Celtic Earth-Mother and goddess of fire, wisdom, poetry, and sacred wells, is honored on this day. In Ireland, offering of yellow flowers are made to the goddess at sacred wells dedicated to her. In ancient Greece, the three-day Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries began each year on this day in honor of the goddesses Ceres, Demeter, Persephone, and Proserpine.

February 2
On this day, the Candlemas sabbath is celebrated by Wiccans and Witches throughout the world. Candlemas (which is also known as Imolc, Oimelc, and Lady Day) is a fire festival that celebrates the coming of Spring. New beginnings and spiritual growth are represented by the “sweeping out of the old,” symbolized by the sweeping of the circle with a besom (a Witch’s broom). This is traditionally done by the High Priestess of the coven, who wears a brilliant crown of thirteen candles on top of her head. In ancient Europe, the Candlemas sabbath was celebrated with a torch-light procession to purify and fertilize the fields before the seed-planting season, and to honor and give thanks to the various deities and spirits associated with agriculture.

February 3
On this date, an annual ceremony called the Blessing of the Throats takes place to honor the healing powers of Saint Blaise and to magickally ward off throat ailments brought on by the winter’s cold.

February 4
Throughout Japan the evil demons of winter are exorcised annually on this day with a festival called the Setsu-bun. Beans are placed in every corner of a family’s house, and pointed branches and sardine heads are mounted over the doors. Centuries-old purification rites are performed by priests in all temples and shrines. Prayers are written on slips of paper and then cast from bridges into the rivers below.

February 5
On this date in the year 1962, the Great conjunction of the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn occurred in the sign of Aquarius.
On this day, the annual Feast of Ia is celebrated in honor of, and to invoke the power of, the Sacred Maiden of the Pagan mythos.

February 6
Throughout northern Japan, a centuries-old winter snow festival takes place each year around this time of the month. The ancient and beneficial spirits that bring life-sustaining water are honored at special shrines erected in huts resembling Eskimo igloos.
A festival in honor of the love goddess Aphrodite was held each year on this date in ancient Greece.

February 7
On this date (approximately), the annual spring fertility festival known as Li Chum is celebrated in China. Bamboo and paper effigies of a water buffalo (an animal which symbolizes “new life”) are carried through the streets by a temple-bound procession. After reaching the temple, the effigies are set on fire in the belief that prayers for prosperity will be taken up to heaven by the rising smoke.

February 8
The annual nighttime ritual known as the Star Festival is celebrated on this date (approximately) in China. The stars that influence the fate of mankind are honored by the lighting of 108 small lanterns on a special altar, and prayers are offered to the sacred stars that governed one’s birth.

February 9
In northern Norway, the Narvik Sun Pageant is held annually on this date in honor of the ancient Pagan goddess who rules over the Sun. The festival, which has been celebrated since pre-Christian times, begins at sunrise and continues throughout the day until the shadows of evening darken the sky.

February 10
An ancient African festival marking the beginning of the fishing season and the New Year is celebrated annually on this day by members of the Kebbawa tribe of Nigeria. The ancient gods of their religion are honored and invoked, and traditional fish ivinations are performed.
In pre-Christian times, the goddess Anaitis was honored on this day in the country of Persia (now Iran). She was a deity who was said to have possessed great powers over the Moon and the seas.

February 11
Each year on this date, millions of faithful men, women, and children make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady in Lourdes. A spring in the village of Lourdes, France, is believed by many to possess curative powers. The pilgrims bathe in the water in the hope that it will heal their illnesses and disabilities.

February 12
On this date in the year 1663, the infamous clergyman Cotton Mather was born in Boston, Massachusetts. (This is certainly one birthday no Witch would ever celebrate!) His writings and sermons condemning the practice of the Old Religion contributed greatly to the hysteria of the 1692 Salem Witch-hunt. Cotton Mather died in Boston, one day after his birthday, in the year 1728.

February 13
On this date, an annual holiday called the Parentalia was observed in ancient Rome. It lasted until the twenty-first of February and was a day for families to honor and commemorate their deceased loved ones, particularly their parents. During the week of Parentalia, all temples in Rome were closed and all wedding ceremonies forbidden. Ancestral tombs were visited and offerings of wine and flowers were
made to family ghosts.

February 14
Saint Valentine’s Day. This is a day dedicated to all lovers, and the traditional time for Witches around the world to practice all forms of love magic and love divination.
This day is sacred to Juno-Lupa, the she-wolf goddess of the ancient Roman religion. In early times, she was honored annually on this day by a women’s fertility festival and the sacrifice of a female wolf.

February 15
On this date in ancient Rome, a festival known as the Lupercalia (Feast of the Wolf) was celebrated to honor the god Lupercus and to mark the beginning of Spring. The festival which was a rustic ritual of both purification and fertility magic, also included the sacrifice of goats and dogs to the god Faunus (identified by classical writers as the horned goat-god Pan). During the orgiastic festival, young men would choose their sexual partners by drawing the names of young women out of a bowl.

February 16
In the distant past, a rite called the Devil’s Dance was performed annually on this date (approximately) as part of the Tibetan New Year festival. Monks wearing grotesque masks would dance for hours as a village sorcerer exorcised demons and the evil influences of the past year with various magickal incantations.

February 17
On this day, according to Hindu religion and mythology, the fearsome goddess known as Kali was born and the world entered into the Kali Yuga (the “Evil Age”). Kali, the destroyer-goddess, was depicted with black skin, a hideous face, and four arms. In ancient times, human sacrifices were made to appease her and to satisfy her thirst for blood.

February 18
On this day, a festival of women known as the Spenta Armaiti was held annually throughout the country of Persia. Ancient fertility rites were performed by temple priestesses in honor of the goddess Spandarmat, and the goddess who dwells within all women was honored and invoked with special prayers and meditations.

February 19
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Pisces. Persons born under the sign of the Two Fishes are said to be telepathic, tolerant, sensitive, artistic, and often prone to daydreaming. Pisces is a water sign and is ruled by the planet Neptune.
According to mythology, the goddess Minerva was born on this day (which is sacred to the Pagan deities Nammu and Nina).

February 20
On this date in the year 1882, the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London, England, by a group of prominent philosophers and physicists. It became Britain’s leading organization for research into the world of supernatural phenomena and the paranormal.

February 21
In ancient Rome, an All Soul’s Day ceremony known as the Feralia was held annually on this date at the close of the Parentalia festival. Family reunions were held and Lares (ancestral guardian spirits) were honored with prayers and offerings.

February 22
On this day in the year 1917, Sybil Leek was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England. She achieved fame and success as a modern Witch, astrologer, and occult author. Her psychic predictions of the Kennedy assassinations and the election of Richard M. Nixon as president of the United States are documented. She passed away on October 26, 1982 in Melbourne, Florida.

February 23
On this date, the last festival of the ancient Roman year (the Terminalia) was celebrated annually in honor of the god Terminus, a deity who ruled over boundaries and frontiers. During the Terminalia, neighbors whose lands were divided and protected by Terminus would gather together an pour libations of wine, honey, and the blood of sacrificed pigs on their stone boundary-markers.

February 24
Shiva, the multifaceted Hindu god of destruction and renewal, is honored annually on this date (approximately) by a day of fasting, followed by an oil-lamp vigil known as the Shivaratri (Shiva’s Night) which takes place at shrines dedicated to him.

February 25
In many parts of the Christian world, a joyous pre-Lenten celebration known as Carnival takes place annually on or around this date. In ancient days, orgiastic fertility rites and sacrifices of humans and animals to herald the arrival of Spring were common at this time of the year in many parts of the world.

February 26
Pentagram Night. As a symbolic gesture to reaffirm your dedication to the Craft of the Wise, dip your fingertip into a small cauldron pot filled with Yule-log ashes and then use it to draw the sacred symbol of the Witches’ Pentagram (five pointed star within a circle) over your heart at the first stroke of midnight.

February 27
On this day in the year 1861, famous psychic and spiritual philosopher Rudolf Steiner was born in Kraljevic (which was part of Hungary at that time). He possessed clairvoyant powers and communicated often with nonphysical entities. In 1902, he was appointed general secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, and in 1913, he established his own school for esoteric research. He died on March 30, 1925.

February 28
In ancient times, a Chaldean sabbath known as the Sabbatu was celebrated each year on this date.
On this day of the year, the Earth-Goddesses Ceres, Demeter, Gaia, Ge, and Mauri are honored by many Pagans and Wiccans around the world.
Also honored annually on this day is the ancient Pagan deity Zamyaz, who was worshipped and offered sacrifices by the ancient Chaldeans and Persians.

February 29
On this date in the year 1692, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam, two young girls from Salem Village, Massachusetts, accused three local women of using the black arts of Witchcraft to torment and bewitch them. On the following day, Sarah Good, Sarah Osburne, and a West African slave named Tituba were arrested, marking the beginning of the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. By the end of the year, when the trials were finally brought to a close, over 200 women and men had been arrested and jailed, 19 had been hanged at Gallows Hill, and one man had been pressed to death.
According to folklore, this is a very unlucky day to have a love letter postmarked. It will lead to the breakup of your love affair or engagement.

Tags: Correspondences, days, february

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Administrator October, 2008

October 1
On this date (approximately), hundreds of thousands of Muslims make a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca to kiss and touch the Black Stone (one of the original building blocks of a veiled shrine) and to worship their god Allah. They then drink some water from the nearby sacred Well of Ishmael, and journey up into the hills of Safa and Marwa to recite prayers.

October 2
Guiding Spirits Day. On this day, light a white candle on you altar and give thanks to your spirit guide (or guides) for guarding over you and guiding you through your spiritual development. If you wish to communicated with or meet your spirit guide, use a Ouija board or, through prayer, invite the spirit guide to come to you in a dream or in a trance.

October 3
On this date (approximately), a Cementation and Propitiation Festival was once celebrated by the Native American tribe of the Cherokee. The purpose of the festival was to remove the barriers between the Cherokee people and the deities they worshiped.

October 4
On this date in ancient Rome, a day of feasting known as the Jejunium Cereris was observed in honor of Ceres (Mother Earth), the corn-goddess and protectress of agriculture and all fruits of the Earth.

October 5
The Festival of the Old Woman (Nubaigai) is celebrated annually on this date by farm workers in Lithuania. The last sheaf of grain is dressed up as a woman and a festival of feasting, merriment, and games is held to honor the goddess of the corn.
In the country of Rumania, the Dionysiad wine festival was held annually on this date in honor of Dionysus, Ariadne, and the Maenads.

October 6
On this date, an annual nine-day religious festival begins in Nepal to honor the great Hindu god Vishnu and to celebrate his awakening on a bed of serpents. As part of an ancient tradition, secret offerings are made to the god and placed in unripe pumpkins.

October 7
In the fifteenth century, peasants in Germany celebrated a week-long festival called the Kermesse. A Pagan icon (or some other sacred object) would be unearthed from its yearlong burial spot and then paraded through the village on top of gaily decorated pole. After a week of feasting, dancing, and games, the villagers would dress up in their mourning attire and rebury the icon in its grave, where it would remain until the next year’s Kermesse.
On this date in the year 1909, famous author and Gardnerian Witch Arnold Crowther was born in Kent, England. He was initiated into the Craft in 1960 by Patricia Dawson, whom he later married. He passed away on Beltane-Sabbat in the year 1974.

October 8
On this day, an annual good luck festival called Chung Yeung Day (the Festival of High Places) is celebrated in China. Traditionally good omen kites are flown to carry away evil spirits. The festival also commemorates an ancient Chinese scholar named Huan Ching who, upon heeding the warning of a soothsayer, escaped with his family and friends high into the hills and thereby avoided a mysterious plague of death which swept through the village below, killing every living thing in sight.

October 9
Day of Felicitas. A festival celebrating the ancient Roman goddess of luck and good fortune was held annually on this date in many parts of Italy. For many Wiccans and modern Witches, it is a time for casting spells and making amulets to attract good luck or to end a streak of bad luck.

October 10
Throughout the country of Brazil, the annual Festival of Light begins on this date. The centuries-old festival, which is celebrated for two consecutive weeks, includes a parade of penance and the lighting of candles, torches, and hearth-fires to symbolically drive away the spirits of darkness who bring evil and misfortune.

October 11
Every year on this date, Witches in the countries of Denmark and Germany honor the Old Lady of the Elder Trees, an ancient Pagan spirit who dwells within and watches over each and every tree of the elder family. Before cutting any branches to use as magick wands, a libation of elderberry wine is poured onto the tree’s roots and a special prayer is recited.

October 12
On this date in the year 1875, famous occultists and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley was born in Warwickshire, England. He authored many popular and controversial books on the subject of magick, and was notorious for his rites of sex magick, ceremonial sorcery, and blood sacrifices. Crowley often referred to himself as the Beast of the Apocalypse and was nicknamed The Wickedest Man in the world by the news media and by many who knew him personally. He died on December 1, 1947, and after his cremation, his ashes were shipped to his followers in the United States of America.
Also on this date in the year 1888, famous ceremonial magician and occult author Eliphas Levi died.

October 13
On this date in the year 1917, the Goddess in the guise of the Virgin Mary made her final visit (as promised earlier that year) to three children in the Portuguese town of Fatima. She revealed many predictions to the children, and a crowd of over 70,000 pilgrims who gathered for the miraculous event witnessed a strange object–resembling a huge silver disk blazing with colored flames–fly through the sky.

October 14
Each year on this date, the planets of the Milky Way galaxy are honored and celebrated by an event known as Interplanetary Confederation Day.
In Bangladesh, an annual festival called Durga Puja is celebrated on this day to commemorate the great Mother-Goddess Durga and her triumph over the forces of evil.

October 15
On this date in ancient Rome, a sacred harvest festival dedicated to the god Mars was celebrated with a chariot race, followed by the sacrifice of the slowest horse. (Before becoming a god of battle, Mars was originally a deity associated with fertility and agriculture).

October 16
Each year on this date, the Festival of the Goddess of Fortune (Lakshmi Puji) is celebrated in Nepal. The goddess Lakshmi is honored with prayers, sacred chants, and offerings of flower petals and fragrant incense.

October 17
Once a year on this date, the Japanese Shinto ceremony of Kan-name-Sai (God Tasting Event) takes place. The ancient goddess of the Sun and other imperial ancestors are honored with an offering of rice from the season’s first crop.

October 18
In England, the Great Horned Fair takes place annually on this day to celebrate the wondrous powers of nature and fertility. Many Pagans and Wiccans (especially of the Gardnerian tradition) perform a special ceremony on this day in honor of Cernunnos, the Horned God of hunting, fertility, and wild animals. He is also the consort of the Goddess, and a symbol of the male principle. At this time, many priests of Wiccan covens perform a sacred ritual called Drawing Down the Sun.

October 19
On this day, an annual fair called Bettara-Ichi (“Sticky-Sticky Fair”) is held in Tokyo, Japan near the sacred shrine of the god Ebisu. Children carry sticky pickled radishes tied to straw ropes through the streets in order to chase away evil spirits and to receive blessings from the seven Shinto gods of good luck.

October 20
On this date in the year 1949, Wiccan priestess and spiritual healer Selena Fox was born in Arlington, Virginia. In 1974, with the help of Jim Alan and a small group of Neo-Pagan friends, she formed Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin. She is known as one of the leading religious-freedom activists in the Wiccan and Neo-Pagan movements.

October 21
In the former Czechoslovakia, an annual festival known as the Day of Ursala is held on this date in honor Ursala, the ancient lunar goddess of Slavic mythology who later became Saint Ursala.

October 22
In Japan, the purifying Festival of Fire (Hi Matsuri) is celebrated annually on this night. A traditional torchlight procession parades through the streets of Kurama and ends at a sacred shrine, where the ancient gods are believed to return to Earth at the stroke of midnight.

October 23
On this date (approximately), the Sun enters the astrological sign of Scorpio. Persons born under the sign of the Scorpion are said to be magnetic, psychic, imaginative, mysterious, and often prone to jealous obsessions. Scorpio is a water sign and is ruled by the planets Mars and Pluto.

October 24
On this day, many Wiccans from around the world celebrate the annual Feast of the Spirits of Air. Incense is offered up to the Sylphs (who often take the form of butterflies), and rituals involving dreams and/or the powers of the mind are performed.
This day is sacred to Arianrhod, Cardea, Dione, Diti, Gula, Lilith, Maat,
Minerva, and Sophia.

October 25
Shoemaker’s Day is celebrated annually on this date in honor of Saint Crispin, the patron of shoemakers who was beheaded in the third century A.D. According to legend, a new pair of shoes bought on this day will bring good luck and prosperity to their owner.

October 26
Birthday of the Earth. According to the calculations of a seventeenth century Anglican archbishop, the Earth was created on this date in the year 4004 BC.
On this date in the year 1440, Giles de Rais (one of the most notorious necromancers in history) was hanged in France as punishment for practicing black magick and making human sacrifices to the Devil, among other crimes.

October 27
Allan Apple Day. In Cornwall, England, an old Pagan method of love divination is traditionally performed each year on this day. A single gentleman or lady who wishes to see his or her future spouse must sleep with an Allan apple under his or her pillow, then get out of bed before the crack of dawn the next day. The person then waits under a tree for the first person of the opposite sex to walk by. According to the legend, the passerby will be the future marriage mate.

October 28
In ancient times, the Phoenician sun-god Baal of the Heavens was honored annually on or around this date. He presided over nature and fertility, and was associated with Winter rain. Sacred sun-symbolizing bonfires were lit in his honor by his worshipers in Syria. Depicted as a warrior with a horned helmet and spear, he was once worshipped as the principal god on Earth for thousands of years.
In ancient Egypt, a series of Autumn ceremonies for the goddess Isis began each year on this date. They lasted for six consecutive days.

October 29
On this date in the year 1939, ceremonial magician and occult author Frater Zarathustra was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Frater founded the Temple of Truth in 1972 and was publisher and editor of the White Light (a magazine of ceremonial magick) from 1973 until it ceased publication in 1990.
On this day, the Native American tribe of the Iroquois celebrate their annual Feast of the Dead to honor the souls of departed loved ones.

October 30
Each year on this date, the Angelitos festival is held in Mexico to bless the souls of deceased children and to honor Xipe-Totec (the ancient god of death) and Tonantzin (the Guadualupe goddess of mercy).
On this day, write a secret wish on a piece of dried mandrake root. Burn it at the stroke of midnight in a fireproof container and then go outside and cast the ashes to the wind as you say thrice: “Spirits of fire, spirits of air; grant this secret wishing-prayer. Let the ashes of this spell, fix this midnight magick well.”

October 31
Halloween (also known as Samhain Eve, Hallowmas, All Hallow’s Eve, All Saint’s Eve, Festival of the Dead, and the Third Festival of Harvest).
Every year on this day, the most important of the eight Witches’ Sabbats is celebrated by Wiccans throughout the world with traditional Pagan feasts, bonfires, and rituals to honor the spirits of deceased loved ones. The divinatory arts of scrying and rune-casting are traditionally practiced by Wiccans on this magickal night, as in standing before a mirror and making a secret wish.
The last night of October was the ancient Celt’s New Year’s Eve. It marked the end of the Summer and the beginning of Winter (also known as the dark half of the year).
In many parts of the world, special cakes and food are prepared for the dead on this night.
In Ireland, a Halloween festival is celebrated annually for the ancient Pagan goddess Tara.
This day is sacred to the goddesses Cerridwen, Eurydice, Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Kali, the Morrigan, Nephthys, Oya, Samia, Sedna, Tara, and Vanadis. On this day in the year 1970, the Parks Department of New York granted the Witches International Craft Associates (W.I.C.A.) a permit to hold a “Witch-in”. The event was held in Sheep Meadow and more than one thousand persons attended.

Tags: days, october

• This Month