Apple Blossoms of the White May Moon

O.D. this is for you:

Apple Tree in May


"But it's falling already,
Falling!" I cried,
"So fast and so soon . . ."
The flowering bride
Of the white May moon.

My neighbor and I
Stood there by the door,
Petals floating down
For a moment more
On the green and the brown.

Then the boy at my side
Whom I hardly know
Said, "The petals leave"
(As he turned to go)
"But you mustn't grieve.

For they fall, you know,
To make the fruit
For the harvest moon:
Don't you be put out
So fast, so soon."

It was falling already,
Falling, my joy,
So fast and so soon,
When a country boy
Said, "The harvest moon . . ."

Beltane greetings to you and yours from the Land of Apples.

To our friends in the Pacific Northwest, see you at the Revels,

Sia

MOON OF OLWEN
5/5-6/2/08

From Lunar Cycles and Goddess Energies:

Daughter of Hawthorn. She of the White Track. May Queen. Olwen is the Welsh aspect of the Greek Aphrodite, and is thus a Love Goddess and an Apple Goddess. In some Welsh traditions she is also considered to be the twin sister of Merlin (Merddin). She is affiliated with the letter H, uath, HAWTHORN. This period is of the year is considered unlucky, and was seen as a time of purification and chastity until the Ides of June (15th). The hawthorn blossom has a female scent, and was an erotic symbol. The Joseph of Arimathea story, contained in the Arthurian mythologies and created by the monks at Glastonbury, was used to discourage the orgiastic use of the hawthorn blossom by the Flora cults by attempting to sanctify it.

Apple Facts:

More than 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.

About 2,500 varieties grow in the United States.

The apple variety Delicious is the most widely grown in the United States.

Apples are part of the rose family.

The science of fruit growing is called pomology.

Fresh apples float. That's because 25 percent of their volume is air.

Cut an apple in half, across the core, and you'll see a star shape.

It takes apple trees four to five years to produce their first fruit.

It takes about thirty-six apples to make one gallon of apple cider.

Off the Shelf:

Apples To Oregon

Image: Robbin & Apple Blossoms from Cotswold Arts

Poem by May Sarton - From the Selected Works of May Sarton published by W.W. Norton

The Moon & Hare

Waverly Fitzgerald at the School of the Seasons has a wonderful interfaith calender prepared for March, which she calls "the month of new life". Waverly's calendar lists March 31st, is listed as the day to honor "the moon, hares and rabbits". For more on this subject, I would recommend a lovely article by the Rev. Wren Walker titled There's a Rabbit In The Moon, And He Ain't Just Laying Eggs.

Here are Wren's thoughts on Rabbit As Teacher:

Throughout history stories of the rabbit, the bunny and the hare, have taught us lessons on how to adapt to strange conditions (They are especially adept at obtaining help from others), how to escape from the follies of our own actions (Cunning bunnies are very creative at both rescuing others and being rescued themselves.), how to pace ourselves (Rabbits leap only when they have to escape danger or are especially pleased about something.) and in general how to manifest the cunning, intelligence, ingenuity and outright brazenness that has enabled mankind to survive, adapt and learn from experience.

Rabbit makes mistakes because he is not afraid to try something new. Rabbit learns how to get out of the mess he often creates by using his wits. Then Rabbit often "tricks" us into a similar situation so that we can learn the lesson as well. And while tossing us down the bunny-hole, Rabbit initiates us into new experiences and levels of being.

I would also recommend a wonderful article by Terry Windling titled The Symbolism of Rabbit and Hares:

In Greco-Roman myth, the hare represented romantic love, lust, abundance, and fercundity. Pliny the Elder recommended the meat of the hare as a cure for sterility, and wrote that a meal of hare enhanced sexual attraction for a period of nine days. Hares were associated with the Artemis, goddess of wild places and the hunt, and newborn hares were not to be killed but left to her protection. Rabbits were sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and marriage—for rabbits had “the gift of Aphrodite” (fertility) in great abundance. In Greece, the gift of a rabbit was a common love token from a man to his male or female lover. In Rome, the gift of a rabbit was intended to help a barren wife conceive. Carvings of rabbits eating grapes and figs appear on both Greek and Roman tombs, where they symbolize the transformative cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

You might also enjoy Brer Rabbit in Africa and these notes on Manabozho, the Native American Trickster God.

The BBC website on Hares in Mythology notes that many European gods and goddesses are associated with hares (see the above link for a detailed list of those deities). The site notes that:

The hare is sacred in many ancient European traditions which associate it with moon deities and the deities of the hunt. In earliest times killing and eating the hare was taboo. In Kerry, Ireland, it is said that eating a hare was like eating your grandmother. This restriction was lifted at Beltane (Celts) and the festival of Ostara, (Anglo-Sacon) when a ritual hare-hunt would take place

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The image I've used at the site today is titled Three Hares Running by the wonderful artist and children's book illustrator, Jacki Morris. Check out her website to see the list of books she has worked on, read her notes about making her evocative art and meet her cats, The Ginger Darlings.

St. Patricks Day:

Waverly's newsletter has this to say about St. Patricks Day:

The story of his dispelling the snakes from Ireland illustrates this shift in power, since the snakes probably represented the old oracle cults tended by snake priestesses. It is interesting that the snake handlers of Italy gather snakes on March 19th, when the snakes first wake from their winter lethargy and emerge. [Field] Helen Farias pointed out that Patrick acquired many of the qualities of Lugh, the ancient Celtic god of light, particularly his association with high places.

and I just loved learning about the imaginary St. Urho:

In Minnesota in 1956 a Finnish guest at a St Patrick’s Day party invented his own national saint, Urho (the name means “hero”), who supposedly drove the frogs out of Finland just like Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. The idea caught on and soon St Urho was the patron saint of Finnish immigrants and of Finnish vineyard workers, who drove grasshoppers out of the country. This exploit was honored in Menahga, Minnesota with a statue showing St Urho with a huge grasshopper on a pitchfork. The inscription on the base of the statue recounts a ritual which has been adopted and elaborated upon, in which people dress in green and purple, dance around with hopping movements like grasshoppers, and drink grape juice.

My friend, Patrick McMonagle, a folk dance historian, has not only invented but annotated a dance in honor of St. Urho:
www.folkdancing.com/Pages/StUrho.htm

All hail Urho!

Spring Flowers:

She also has this a lovely note about Project Budbust.

I've heard that in the Midwest, Spring arrives as an explosion of flowers around Spring Equinox. I've always thought it crept up on us, here in the Northwest, with that first scent of sweet box and daphne odora in January, followed by snowdrops slowly unfurling in February, then daffodils in March, tulips in April, and so forth. But this year, this week, it feels like spring is exploding. I keep stopping on my walks to work, struck by the wonder of a shrub flush with green buds, where just yesterday there were only bare twigs.

We all go a little mad this time of year. Go safe - Have fun.

Sia

Related Articles:

Hare Today: The Bunnies Are Back in Scotland

Hares (Wikipedia)
Links:

Rabbits This has a good section on rabbits in folklore and mythology.

Picture of the rabbit in the moon
from a page on the moon myths in different cultures.

Pagan Shopping

Hare Sculpture by Brian Hollingworth. I love the one titled Hare Gazing At The Moon

Moon Gazing Hare wallplaque at Firwel Crafts.

Celtic Broaches - (check out the Three Hares broach)

13 Moons: Why 13 Is My Lucky Number

Recreation of Lussell's Venus, France, 25,000 BCE
Banner by Lydia Rhule

Whenever Friday the 13th comes around we hear a lot of piffle about why the number 13 is thought to be unlucky. Most web sites will pass along the old canard about Judas and the Last Supper. That's not the real story. The real story is much more interesting (and before I tell it, I will ask the indulgence of feminist and other scholars for simplifying a very long tale indeed). Here we go:

The 13 Moon Calendar - AKA the Lunar Calendar - is a 28 day calendar that dates from prehistoric times. It dovetails with a woman's menstrual cycle. The link between women's blood mysteries, and the moon is held in high esteem among many Neopagans. This calendar was used all over the world for many thousands of years, and is still used in some cultures today. For example, the ancient major holidays celebrated by Muslims, Jews, and many people in Asian and India are all based on a lunar calendar. Native Americans also used a lunar calendar, and some still use it.

The so call "Venus Laussel" image (2) dates back 25,000 years. It is one of the earliest known calendars. The Woman/Goddess figure portrayed in this neolithic carving holds a lunar crescent in her right hand. (1) It has 13 notches, one for each of the 13 moons in the lunar calendar. (Here is a note on her position in the cave and how that relates to God/ess worship of that period.)

The number 13 has long been associated with the moon, women's mysteries and the Goddess. When patriarchy (usually run by those warrior guys with the pointy spears and the horses) took hold, women were subjugated, enslaved, dehumanized and turned into chattel. Queens, priestesses, artists, healers and leaders became mere breeders who would produce soldiers for the endless wars required by the God/King of that region. Worship of the Goddess in this period was destroyed as far as was possible. Conquerors would then change the rituals, stories and myths to make Her less powerful and subject to their male, solar God. (There are many books that write about this transition, but you can start with The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler - see book notes at the bottom of this post). Anything that belonged to Woman and the Goddess (including snakes, cats, the moon and the number 13) was held to be suspect and demonized. Stories were later made up to hide the real reasons why these things were so feared.

Ever wondered why there are 13 Witches in a coven? Each witch stands for a different moon in the year.

Donna Henes writing for Pagan Circle says that

Thirteen is certainly the most essentially female number — the average number of menstrual cycles in a year. The approximate number, too of annual cycles of the moon. When Chinese women make offerings of moon cakes, there are sure to be 13 on the platter. Thirteen is the number of blood, fertility and lunar potency.

She points out that,

Post-patriarchal mythology is also rich with symbolic references to the mystical power of 13. Besides Christ and his 12 disciples, there are Jacob and his 12 sons, Odysseus and his 12 companions, Medea and her 12 princesses, Romulous and his 12 shepherds, Roland and his 12 peers, Arthur and his 12 knights, and the head of Osiris and his 12 dismembered body parts...The United States has a full complement of significant 13’s, beginning with the original 13 colonies. The Great Seal pictures 13 stars, 13 bars, and a bald eagle sporting 13 tail feathers, holding 13 arrows and 13 olive branches. The official motto, "E Pluribus Unum" contains 13 letters.

The lunar calendar is found in many cultures, from the Incan, to the Druidic to the Egyptian, to the Essene, to the Mayan, to the Polynesian and the various Asian cultures, mostly famously the Chinese calendar. The ancient Hebrews also used a lunar calendar, and they, too, worshiped the Goddess. This 13 moon calendar was used throughout neolithic times and in the period we know as "pre-history"; a time when the Goddess and her image could be found around the globe. Not surprisingly, much of the best art from this period comes from Africa, the birthplace of us all.

This Christian story about the number 13 and Last Supper was simply their way to justify fear and distrust of what that number represents. The church Fathers knew that many outsiders in the Middle Ages; midwives, herbalists, alchemists, as well as "pagans and heathens" (my Celtic, Viking and German ancestors among them), were drawn to this number because they thought it was lucky, powerful or blessed in some way. The church feared it, just as they feared cats and the sexual/social power of women. This power was something they urgently sought to control.

Many people who dwelt outside of cities in those times (and thus outside much of the church's power) still lived and farmed by the lunar calendar. Among these "simple folk" may well have been those who passed along as much of the old traditions and stories as still survived.

 Let me be clear. I am not one of those people who believes that humans once enjoyed a splendid, pacific matriarchy. In other words, I do not believe we ever had a civilization entirely run by women (although I'm perfectly willing to try it, now). Nor do I believe that we have ever had a human civilization of any kind that was totally without violence or conflict, although the archaeological evidence from Thera (which may have been the origin for the myth of Atlantis) and the beautiful Catalhoyuk show that we came very close to that ideal. Even so, I've seen no scientific evidence to prove the earthwise version of Eden, beloved by so many feminist and Neo-Pagan writers, ever existed. Nor do I think that women are inherently better than men or that we could live and reign in perfect peace. (3) The problem is patriarchal systems; this is not about that nice guy next door or the one in your bed. (Well, for your sake, I hope not). If history doesn't convince you that humans are bloody minded, just look around your family dinner table during the holidays, and then tell me that humans can live closely together without conflict. Learning to handle conflict in healthy, creative and constructive ways is one of the great challenges of being human.

I believe that the sacred feminine was once honored and that in that time women enjoyed respect, power, and freedom. I believe that we, as human beings, and especially our children and elders, were all the better for it.  I believe that these cultural memories and strengths, and much of our personal power, was stripped from us long ago, and that we are now taking back Her gifts. Its important for us as individuals, for our spiritual growth as a culture, and quite possibly for our survival as a species, to reclaim the Sacred Feminine. In doing so we can also retrieve a positive, earthwise connection to Mother Earth and her creatures. So, for me, as a Green Witch, a Celt, a feminist and a one who honors women's spirituality, the number 13 is a very lucky number indeed.

Sia

Other Links:

The Subjugation of Women - Root Cause of Hunger

Early Calendars & Astrology (Venus & The Dog Days of Summer)

Why 13 Is a Very Lucky Number Indeed by Urban Shaman

Homepage for Catalhoyuk

The Christian Goddess Endnotes:

(1) Some scholars believe it to be a horn, possibly an early horn of plenty.

(2) The term "Venus figure" is problematic at best. Among other things, it demotes these figures to the level of sexualized icons or fertility totems, and denies them the status of revered Goddess figures.

(3) Again, let's try it for 30 generations or so, and find out.

Art by Lydia Ruyle
Women's History:

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler

For those who love images of the Goddess: The Great Mother (Mythos Books)

and Celtic GoddessesQueen of the Night: Rediscovering the Celtic Moon Goddess

Two by Gerda Lerner:

The Creation of Patriarchy (Women & History)

and

The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-seventy (Women & History)

Click here to read an interview with the author