Demeter Thesmophoros Ah! Beautiful Thesmophorae! Grant me your favors, protect me, both within the temple and on my way back…Mighty divinity, oh, Demeter, and thou, Persephone, grant that I may be able to offer you many sacrifices… — Aristophanes, from Women at the Thesmophoria In ancient Greece, the Thesmophoria was performed annually at this time. … Read more
And I myself will teach my rites, that hereafter you may reverently perform them and so win the favor of my heart.— Hymn to Demeter, attributed to Homer This week’s Full Moon was a powerful one in many, many cultures and traditions. In the ancient world, it is the Moon during which the Eleusinian Mysteries … Read more
He saw the garden of Eden…and…came to a tall, dark tree..and told to go up…near the top of tree a beautiful woman, like the Goddess of Life…gave him a rose.— W. B. Yeats Like the Rosicrucians, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn used the rosy cross as a representative symbol. They also had a … Read more
Howbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire and the expectation of others; for it is fitting, that before the rising of the Sun there should appear and break forth Aurora, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky. … Read more
Say no longer that God is invisible. Do not speak thus, for what is more manifest than God? He has created all only that you may see it through the beings. For that is the miraculous power of God, to show Himself through all beings. For nothing is invisible, not even the incorporeal. The intellect … Read more
Beauteous flowers why do we spreadUpon the monuments of the dead?Nothing they but dust can show,Or bones that hasten to be so.Crown me with roses whilst I live —Now your wines and ointments give;After death I nothing crave,Let me alive my pleasures have!All are Stoics in the grave. — Anacreaon (554 – 469 B.C.E.) Roses … Read more
Artist unknown Fairy Songby Sir Walter Scott What I am I must not show What I am thou couldst now know Something betwixt heaven and hell Something that neither stood nor fell Something that through thy wit or willMay work thee goodMay work thee ill. Neither substance quite, nor shadow,Haunting lonely moor and meadow,Dancing by … Read more
A green tendril weaves through the fabric of time. When animal life first pushed up from the mud of chaos, simple plants were already there to welcome us into the web of life. — from Mugworts in May, by Linda Ours Rago From Beltane to Midsummer, the Faery Kingdom celebrates the intense, growing delight of … Read more
So sweet a changeling – Arthur Rackham The Changelingby Charlotte Mew Toll no bell for me, dear Father dear Mother,Waste no sighs;There are my sisters, there is my little brotherWho plays in the place called Paradise, Your children all, your children for ever;But I, so wild,Your disgrace, with the queer brown face, was never,Never, I … Read more
For the May Day is the great day,Sung along the old straight track.And those who ancient lines did leyWill heed this song that calls them back. Pass the word and pass the lady,Pass the plate to all who hunger.Pass the wit of ancient wisdom,Pass the cup of crimson wonder. — Cup of Wonder, from Songs … Read more