Of Ostara, Equinox, and Duelling Elephants

In (dis)honour of the flat-earther amateur astronaut who tried shooting himself into space recently… and in continuing honour of the late, great Terry Pratchett (whom I feel is recommended – and fun - reading for pagans):

Spring comes to the Discworld, and the Great A’Tuin begins tilting the northern (headwards) half of the Disc a little closer towards the sun.  Two of the four elephants on the great turtle’s back take up their ancient grudge-match again.  One, on the west side, raises its trunk and begins blowing warmer air from the rim.  The other, on the north, counters by raising its trunk even farther, blowing down on the snowy Hub Mountains at the centre of the great disc, spreading cold winds upon the land.  It’s a losing battle though; the increasing tilt of the Disc will make sure warmer weather will come. But is it any wonder the people are so confused? 

Here on the round world, it’s the northern hemisphere that begins nodding towards the Sun, and the southern hemisphere away from it.  We’ve just passed the equinox (“equal night”), as the daylight hours now exceed the night.  It’s a pet peeve of mine that those new to the path confuse it with “solstice”, meaning “Sun stands still”.  About Mar 21 or so, we have 12 hours of daylight, and the Sun rises and sets due east and west respectively. We are fortunate this year in that Ostara (under its various spellings) occurs so close to the moveable Christian feast, so I at least don’t feel the cultural disconnect that Easters in mid-April can bring (“but we celebrated Ostara weeks ago!”).

The animal fertility of “bunnies and eggs” that so often infuses our rituals is triggered by both the lengthening days and the warmer weather.  It can be confusing (I admit it still is for me) that Beltane, with its emphasis on sex, is not about the fertility of animals, but of plants… pagans are just “showing the way” for the flora.

In my own personal Wheel of the Year, the aging Holly lord is in his Sage aspect. Since Imbolc, he has been teaching his young Oak Apprentice in the magickal arts. Oak, meanwhile, has been looking lustily at the Maiden goddess, and slays the Holly Sage so he can have her for his own.

If we map our lives on the Wheel of the Year, Ostara can be associated with adolescence and our own apprenticeships: our training in school, and ongoing learning during our lives. Perhaps in another sense, it’s about establishing, celebrating, or reinforcing our own identity, particularly in the wake of life-altering events; something to think about in terms of crafting your own rituals this month.

April Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Apr 1:  All Fools’ Day, and Easter Sunday.

Apr 7, 11:00 am:  Calgary Kinky Flea Market at Forest Heights Community Centre, 4909 Forego Ave. SE.

Apr 14, 10:00 am:  Calgary New Age Market at Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Hall. https://www.facebook.com/events/158642184896444/

Apr 14, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Cuddle Party at Scarboro Community Centre, 1727-14 Avenue SW. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/calgary-cuddle-party-tickets-25420398095

Apr 15, 3:21 am:  Mercury retrograde ends.

Apr 15:  Celtic Tree-Month of Saille/Willow begins, according to Robert Graves.

Apr 15, 7:57 pm:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Saille/Willow begins.

Apr 18, 6:00 pm:  An Inconvenient Sequel screening and discussion at Green Calgary, #100, 301 – 14 St. NW.  http://www.greencalgary.org

Apr 21, 8:00 am:  Alberta Wilderness Association “Climb for Wilderness” at the Bow Building.  http://www.climbforwilderness.ca/

Apr 21, 7:00 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at East Coulee School Museum, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. Tickets through Eventbrite.  https://www.facebook.com/events/246930162510554/

Apr 22:  Earth Day.

Apr 22, 9:00 am:  An Inconvenient Sequel screening and discussion at Green Calgary, #100, 301 – 14 St. NW.  See Apr 18.

Apr 26-29:  Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo at Stampede Park. http://calgaryexpo.com

Apr 27-29:  Body, Soul, and Spirit Expo at Grey Eagle Casino.  http://bodysoulspiritexpo.com/expo/expo.php3?city=104

Apr 27, 9:30 pm:  Paranormal Investigation of Rockyview Hotel, Cochrane, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. Tickets through Eventbrite.  https://www.facebook.com/events/911865068986290/

Apr 28-29:  The Crystal Cauldron Marketplace at The Market on Macleod, 7711 Macleod Trail S.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1754295301295671/

Apr 28, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet at Denny’s McKnight.

Apr 29, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group at CommunityWise Resource Centre (formerly Old Y), hosted by Calgary School of Informal Education.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1596741910406000/

Apr 29, 6:58 pm:  Full (Pink or Wind) Moon.

May 1:  Beltane.

May 1, 10:30 am:  Second Annual Pagan Cultural Festival at Galt Gardens, Lethbridge.   https://www.facebook.com/events/1264633076990020/

March, 2018

Thanks to those of you whom I've recently met, for your kind words about this blog.  It's always good to know I'm not sending things into the void.  I’ve been devoting writing time this month to my personal family history, so look for my regular column next month. In the meantime, if you haven't already, enjoy my book review of The Avebury Cycle which I posted earlier in February.

March Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times Mountain.

Mar 1, 5:51 pm:  Full (Worm or Storm) Moon.

Mar 2, 7:00 pm:  Paranormal Pub Night at Ceili’s, 803 – 8 Ave SW, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. Tickets through Eventbrite.  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/paranormal-investigation-and-pub-night-ceilis-tickets-42359899600

Mar 2, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Witches’ Meetings Full Moon Circle in NE Calgary.

Mar 7, 7:00 pm:  Community Day Free Drum Circle at the Village, 4039 Brentwood Road NW, hosted by Circles of Rhythm.

Mar 10, 10:00 am:  Just Be YYC Market at Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Hall.

Mar 11, 2:00 am:  Daylight Savings Time begins.

Mar 15-18:  Rock-A-Palooza Gem and Mineral Show at Spruce Meadows Congress Hall, hosted by Silver Cove.  http://www.canadagemshows.com/medicinehategemshow.html

Mar 17:  Celtic Pagan Assimilation Day.

Mar 17, 7:12 am:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Fearn/Alder begins.

Mar 18:  Celtic Tree-Month of Nion/Ash begins, according to Robert Graves.

Mar 20, 10:15 am:  Vernal Equinox.

Mar 22, 6:19 pm:  Mercury Retrograde until April 15.

Mar 23, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Witches’ Meetings attends Circles of Rhythm Drum Circle in Inglewood.

Mar 24, 10:00 am:  Spiritual Wellness Women’s Show at the Village, 4039 Brentwood Road NW.

Mar 25, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group at CommunityWise Resource Centre (formerly Old Y), hosted by Calgary School of Informal Education.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1596741910406000/

Mar 31, 6:37 am:  Full (Sap or Blue) Moon.

Mar 31, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet at Denny’s McKnight.

The Avebury Cycle, by Michael Dames (1977, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London, UK)

This book is a companion volume to Dames’ previous The Silbury Treasure: The Great Goddess Rediscovered.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t read that one, but I gather that the gist of it is that Silbury Hill, near the famed circle complex at Avebury, England, conceals additional birth-goddess imagery in addition to the obvious pregnancy/womb implications of its shape.

This 1977 work is a more comprehensive study of the entire Avebury complex.  It helps if one has actually visited the area (as I did in 2002), or has some familiarity with the various monuments that were built there.  Avebury consisted of a henge with bank, ditch, and stone circle approximately 1300 feet in diameter, containing two smaller stone circles. Into this henge proceeded two stone-lined “avenues”: West Kennet Avenue to the southeast connecting to a former wooden henge called The Sanctuary, Beckhampton Avenue (now virtually obliterated) connecting to a now-lost corresponding monument to the WSW.  Silbury Hill itself is slightly west of south of Avebury, close to a major seasonal spring on the River Winterbourne called the Swallowhead (designated “K1”).  Downstream of this is the smaller Waden Spring, named after the hill of the same name, joining the Winterbourne close by at a point designated “K2” to form the River Kennet.  K1 and K2 line up perfectly with sunsets and moonrises at Candlemas (Imbolc) and Martinmas (Nov. 11, effectively Samhain). West Kennet Long Barrow sits on the hill above and slightly east of Silbury and the Swallowhead. 

Sadly, many of the stones were broken up and taken down in the early 18^th Century, at a time when communal property was being divided into enclosures by rich farmers emphasizing private profit. Many were used as building material in Avebury itself.  In more modern times, the sites of stones and post holes were marked with concrete markers, and in some cases attempts have been made to reconstruct stones from their pieces.

Dames attempts to derive the ritual cycle, the “Wheel of the Year”, that took place at Avebury at the agricultural cross-quarters during Neolithic times. Using contemporary descriptions of the site, artifacts, archeological studies of the monuments, and cross-cultural comparisons, Dames theorizes that in Neolithic times, harvest rituals were held at Silbury for the pregnant mother-goddess in early September. With the beginning of the winter quarter in early November, activities moved to the nearby West Kennet Long Barrow for mysteries of death and rebirth. While West Kennet’s oblong dimensions suggest a “long form” Crone goddess, the five inner chambers of its tomb suggest a squatting Mother goddess, so that the tomb is also the womb. Long bones like femurs were notably missing from the remains, apparently sculpted into “long form” goddess figures.  The stone forecourt to West Kennet, as with other monument in the area, are arranged to suggest an Ox goddess, underlining the cattle cull that took place at that time of year. Givers of meat and milk, bovine goddesses abound in many cultures. 

In early February, Dames says that separate women’s and men’s mysteries were held respectively at the Sanctuary, and the now-lost Beckhampton site, at the end of their snake-like avenues. There’s some suggestion that the respective female and male snakes were coiled in their burrows, awaiting renewal. 

The ritual cycle culminated with the separate processions of women and men from the Sanctuary and Beckhampton sites up the mile-long avenues to Avebury. Dames concludes that the women formed the wide jaws of the female snake on the southeast side of the henge, while twin lines of men extended their procession to touch a D-shaped figure made of several stones in the south inner circle of the henge, making the phallus of the male snake.  An obelisk stood at the tip of the D, and was replaced with seasonal Maypoles after it fell prior to 1723.  The ditch around the Avebury great circle was engineered to form a water-filled moat at that time of year, and Dames speculates that women bathed in it prior to the seasonal fertility rites. Cattle were again slaughtered near the “Cove” dolmen in the north inner circle at this time.

Dames ties all these monuments together, citing that the distances and dimensions between and within them are proportionate to the distance between Silbury Hill and the Swallowhead, and between the Waden Spring and its K2 confluence. The space between the two inner circles at the Avebury henge is equivalent to the diameter of the Sanctuary.

In line with theories of other, largely discounted, massive-scale monuments (e.g. the Glastonbury zodiac), Dames further speculates that 27 Neolithic monuments in the area (some now-vanished, others indicating pre-Avebury ritual use), and their absence outside of this design, suggest and emphasize a giant birth-goddess figure in the landscape. A chalk escarpment west of Avebury forms its two lengthy arms, hills its head and breasts, and the River Kennet flows from between its outspread legs.

It’s difficult to know what to make of Dames’ conclusions in this 40 year-old book, written almost 10 years after von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods?  Dames has done his scholarship, as the book is copiously footnoted, with an extensive bibliography. It also features many photographs and illustrations of the monuments and related artifacts. Pagan scholarship has progressed considerably since that time, and I’d be curious to see if more recent interpretations of the sites’ ritual use exist. The best that can be said is that is provides a model for contemporary pagan worship, and would lend itself to a fictional treatment. I would like for this to be true, but not entirely convinced that it is. I rate it 3 pentagrams out of 5.

Of Imbolc, Brigid, Candlemas, and Groundhog Day

Living in western Canada – at least, here where the fescue grassland transitions into aspen parkland – is quite different from living in southern England.  As a result, the typical interpretation of Imbolc being the first stirrings of vegetative life tends to resonate less with us here. And since many of us don’t raise sheep, the “ewe’s milk” meaning of the name is irrelevant to us.  Small wonder that Imbolc rites here tend to be among the poorest attended and least understood.

We’re told that in British Traditional Witchcraft, Imbolc is the end of the dark quarter of the year, which makes it the ideal time for initiations – and by the year-and-a-day teaching model, the time for beginning apprenticeships. I’ve often thought that this would be a good time to celebrate our witchiness, as many modern empowering (particularly feminist) Wiccan and Goddess chants are part of our liturgies.

In Britain, Imbolc is strongly associated with the Goddess variously known as Bride, Brigid, Brigit, or Brighid, whose touch makes the springs – sacred to her and frequently named after her - begin to flow.  As the chant goes, primitive religions knew her as the “snake woman, shedding her skin” as she renews herself.  Later she took on the triple aspects as a goddess of poetry, smithcraft, and healing (interestingly, all fire-related), and finally she was assimilated by the Christians as St. Brigid. 

The fire aspect lives on in Christian tradition as Candlemas, the time when candles to be used for ritual purposes during the year are sanctified. Alternatively, this is also a time for the weaving of Brighid’s crosses out of dried reeds or grasses.  The crosses’ Sun-like appearance reminds us that the days are finally getting longer, giving us hope that the worst of winter is over.

Speaking of which, the old proverb, “If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another fight; if Candlemas Day bring cloud and rain, Winter will not come again”, reflects British weather lore.  This lives on in the modern tradition of Groundhog Day.  It’s a good time to visit your local prognosticator, be it Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam, our own Balzac Billy, or a variety of others who follow in their footsteps. It’s a fun (albeit male-appropriated) survival of the old lore. It’s a big part of what makes the Bill Murray movie an annual classic.

In my personal Wheel of the Year, the Holly Warrior breaks his lonely winter vigil when he is met by two strangers: the Goddess, now regenerated into her Maiden guise, leading the young Oak Youth from their Mysteries in the Underworld.  If we map our lives on the Wheel of the Year, Imbolc can be associated with childhood, making it a good time to either indulge or nurture your own inner child, or to indulge the children of your own, or those close to you.

February Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MST.

Jan 31, 6:27 am:  Full (Old or Wolf, Blue) Moon. Lunar Eclipse.

Feb 1-2:  Traditional Imbolc.

Feb 2:  Groundhog Day!  Free breakfast at Blue Grass Nursery and Garden Centre south of Crossiron Mills; Balzac Billy prognosticates at 8:10 am. Bring the kids!

Feb 3, 10:00 am:  Calgary New Age Market at Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Hall.

Feb 7:  Birthday of Margarian Bridger (1957-2016), founder of Evergreen Tradition.

Feb 10, 7:00 pm – 3 am:  Paranormal Investigation at Imperial Hunter Hotel, Bassano, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. Tickets through Eventbrite. https://www.facebook.com/events/2041724022722601/
Feb 13:  Fat Tuesday. Pancake Land, anyone?

Feb 13, 6:00 pm:  “Forest, Fins, & Footprints: Clearcutting a Community” documentary on Ghost Valley at Crowsnest Hall, U of C. Tickets through Eventbrite.  https://www.facebook.com/events/218557688688616/

Feb 14:  Valentine’s Day.

Feb 15:  Roman festival of Lupercalia.

Feb 15, 2:05 pm:  New Moon. Nion/Ash Lunar Month begins.

Feb 16:  Chinese Year of the Earth Dog begins.

Feb 18:  Celtic Tree-Month of Nion/Ash begins, according to Robert Graves.

Feb 18, 7:00 pm:  Paranormal Pub Night at Rose and Crown, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/218557688688616/

Feb 19:  Family Day (Alberta) and various provincial holidays.

Feb 24, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet at Denny’s McKnight.

Feb 24, 8:00 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at Twin Cities Hotel, Longview, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/142403216554337/

Feb 25, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group (first of at least six monthly sessions) at CommunityWise Resource Centre (formerly Old Y), hosted by Calgary School of Informal Education.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1596741910406000/