April Fools and Aphrodite

An old post, but I thought I would share this again! ...

I have quite a few "Avril" postcards that feature people holding fish! Little girls, ladies, even couples with big fish. What's with the fish on these old French cards?

In France, the victim of an April Fool's Day prank is called a "poisson d'avril," an April fish (which refers to a young fish easily caught!) But that's not the whole explanation...

April is named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and fertility. The fish is one symbol of Aphrodite, who was born of the sea. While she is called the Love goddess, her domain is more accurately described as the sensual passion and romantic attraction that draws couples together. She doesn't care if it makes good sense or ruins your life, she just wants you to hook up! Think how sly Aphrodite uses desire and passion to "trick" creatures into love or at least lust and fertility and thereafter a lot of work and trouble! Nothing can make a fool out of you faster than love and lust. In the Greek myths Aphrodite is one capricious and "tricky" goddess.

For many centuries, in many cultures, this time of year has been associated with celebrations of frivolity, lightheartedness, and sometimes pranks. (The Romans had a festival called Hilaria around the end of March.) The coming of spring after the long months of winter brings out our pent-up energy and silliness, and we need a day to let it out! Spring fever, I know it well. Spring is also when Aphrodite goes wild in nature, as birds and bees get busy :-)

April 1 was the beginning of the New Year in some places in old Europe (right around the beginning of Spring), and that transition day from the old year to the new was frequently a time when the usual rules didn't apply and the world went topsy-turvy. Much of the tomfoolery associated with April Fool's Day could be attributed to this. Ancient customs allowed a few days when people could break the rules and get a little crazy, maybe to let off steam. Pretty wise, if you ask me.

This year April Fool's Day falls on a Friday, which makes it extra powerful! Because Friday is named for Freya, the Norse goddess of fertility who is another face of Aphrodite. Enjoy a little "Spring Fever" tomorrow!

"The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year."- Mark Twain

Bright Blessings for Imbolc

Groundhog's Day ~ What a weird "holiday."  Why do we have this "weather divination" custom at the beginning of February?

Well, like most of our customs it has ancient roots ~ in this case in the ancient Celtic festival called Imbolc ~ also referred to as Brigid's Day and Candlemas.  February 2 is midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox (the first day of Spring).  Many ancient cultures had celebrations this time of year, to mark the strengthening light of the sun and the lengthening days.  It's a time when you can feel the Wheel of the Year turning, if you pay attention ~ it's still cold, but the light is different, the birds may be starting to come back, animals are giving birth and making milk, there may even be a few very early flowers.  Imbolc means "in the belly" ~ pregnant!  You can feel Spring ready to be born... if you pay attention.  Imbolc is a way to pay attention, and celebrate!

Celtic Imbolc honors Brigid, the goddess of fire, poetry, birth, midwifery, and the young.  There is an Irish Saint Brigit who is also associated with sacred fire... and Candlemas (Candle Mass) is also a Festival of Lights, honoring the Virgin Mary.  It is a time of purification and new beginnings, and among the ancient Irish the maiden goddess Brigid (Bride) was invited to bless home and hearth.

Like another seasonal festival, Samhain (Halloween), this is a powerful time for divination of the future. Imbolc is considered an especially appropriate time to predict the weather of the coming Springtime ... sound familiar?  Whether it's Brigid's snake emerging from the earth or an Irish badger emerging from his den or that American groundhog poking his nose outside, we wait with the question: How soon will Spring arrive?

Here's an interesting old Irish tale:  Imbolc is when the "old witch" Cailleach gathers firewood for the rest of the winter. If she plans to make the winter last many more weeks, she will make sunny weather on Imbolc so she can gather plenty of firewood. (If you can see your shadow, there's plenty more winter ahead!)  Therefore, bad weather on Imbolc means Cailleach is sleeping and winter is almost over!

Some symbols of Imbolc/Brigid's Day are white and yellow flowers, green Brigid's Crosses made of woven leaves, lambs, bonfires, the plough, acorns and all kinds of seeds.  Eat foods made with seeds, take a cold walk, go search for some early flowers or green sprigs if you're lucky enough to have them, have a bonfire... heaven knows most of us in the Eastern U.S. want Spring to hurry up after this deep-freeze Winter!  (Isn't it over YET!)

The Spinner

Some thoughts about spinning, inspired by this old postcard. Spinning was a magical act ~ think how often it appears in fairy tales (like Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin).

Fairy tales are remnants of old mythologies, often girls' initiation stories whose roots are lost in the mists of time. Spinning was connected with coming of age for young women, and you can see that in the old stories if you look.

Spinning and weaving (like baking) are transformative, turning one thing into another, and at least in European mythology these tasks were nearly always performed by women. Spinning is sometimes associated with the moon, which measures the months and pulls the tides.


The Three Fates in Greek myth were portrayed as spinning our lives and our fates.

Clotho spins the thread, Lachesis measures it out, and Atropos cuts it! In Greek mythology even the gods feared the Fates (usually called the Moirai). In Norse mythology the Norns are very similar.

On the third night of a child's life, the Moirai were supposed to come and determine a child's destiny. Sound familiar from The Sleeping Beauty? Three fairy godmothers?


One more spinner who often shows up in mythology and folklore all over the world:












Neith, the spinner of destiny, to the Egyptians. Arachne, whose weaving rivaled that of the goddess Athena, to the ancient Greeks. Anansi the trickster in West African stories, who is also the bringer of rain, the king of stories and the giver of gifts such as agriculture. From the Native Americans, Iktomi the wise/foolish god of the Lakota and Ojibwa dreamcatchers (ever notice that they are like spiderwebs?) Spider Woman or Spider Grandmother in Hopi mythology is the creator of all life. In the Southern U.S. it is good luck when a spider weaves her web in your house or garden (not the poisonous kind of course!)

That's a lot of stuff from just thoughts about a lady at her spinning wheel! Spinning stories, spinning lies, spinning thoughts into words, measuring our time and destinies ~ girls and goddesses and sleeping beauties and brides spinning straw into gold ~ maybe all this meandering will inspire someone's art.

Between the Worlds: Part Three

Jack-o-Lanterns & Halloween Pranks

There is an Irish story explaining the origin of jack-o-lanterns:  It seems a man named Jack was barred from heaven because he was so stingy and forbidden to enter hell because of his practical jokes on the devil. The devil, angered by Jack's practical jokes, threw a live coal at him.  It landed in a half-eaten turnip in Jack's hand, creating the first jack-o-lantern.  (Early jack-o-lanterns were turnips as well as pumpkins and other gourds.)  He is condemned to walk the earth with his lantern until Judgment Day!   Closed out of hell as well as heaven, Jack is suspended between life and death, and thus his jack-o-lantern is particularly appropriate to Halloween.

As a child in the southern U.S. I was told (teasingly) that the grinning pumpkin face in the window helped frighten evil spirits away from the house.  Although this may keep away the spirits of the dead, it seems to have little effect on the pranksters -- young people who become demons for a night and roam the neighborhoods making mischief.  Halloween provides an irresistible opportunity for the practical joker.  If the farmer's outhouse ends up in the creek, or your trees end up full of toilet paper, it was the evil spirits who did it -- once a perfect alibi for the real culprits.  Again, the limits placed on day-to-day behavior were weakened for a night.  today, most of it is of course harmless, although I do wish people wouldn't smash jack-o-lanterns!

Some once-common Halloween pranks, such as window-tapping, gathering vegetables to bombard house fronts and drop down chimneys, and removing carts and other belongings to faraway fields, were practiced in altered form in the United States when I was growing up (with the variation, of course, that we took things from the garage and left them in other neighbors' yards).  Soaping windows (especially car windows), stealing jack-o-lanterns, and "rolling" yards (adorning the trees and shrubs in toilet paper) were also popular.

Halloween Bonfires

Halloween bonfires are direct descendants of Samhain/All Hallow's fires of the Celts, lit in honor of the weakening sun at summer's end.  

The fires helped ward off the growing power of darkness and cold.  Perhaps they were meant to strengthen the fire of the sun by means of sympathetic magic.  They were also a means of purification.  Even in recent times the ashes of the Halloween (and New Years) bonfires were scattered throughout the community to protect against evil powers and fertilize the fields. Every hearth fire was first lit for the new year from the Samhain or new years bonfire.  In ancient times it was considered an act of great impiety to kindle winter fires from any other source.

In parts of England, a large bunch of wood was gathered, dressed as a person, then burned under the name Le Vieux Bout de l'An, "the old end of the year."  Here again we see a similarity to Yule customs -- the traditional Yule log that burnt all night was originally also dressed as a person.  

In Scotland we find the custom called "Burning the Witch," which involved burning an effigy and continued well into modern times.  Guy Fawkes Day, named for a rebel who tried to blow up Parliament around the turn of the seventeenth century and celebrated in England on November 5, also involves the burning of a human effigy and is sometimes combined with the Halloween celebration.

These mock sacrifices represented the death of the old year.  Probably such sacrifices were intended to appease the spirits of the dead, for it was believed that the spirits might continue to disrupt human affairs throughout the year if not properly honored.  People often left food out on the table for the returning dead on Halloween.  (Another ancestor of our trick-or-treating custom.)

Halloween Superstitions & Divination Customs

As it is the beginning of the new year and a time when the everyday and the supernatural were believed to be in such close contact....Halloween was considered the perfect time for divining the future.

The divination traditions associated with Halloween are numerous and fascinating!

There were many superstitions involving mirrors. 

Some believed that if a young woman looked into a mirror at midnight on Halloween, she would see the face of her future husband or true love.  A smooth pond surface or wishing well reflection would also work!  There were similar beliefs about looking into a pond or well at dawn on May Day (Beltane).  Others might gaze into the mirror at midnight on Halloween and see their future revealed.

Mirrors and reflections were long considered magical and mysterious, because the reflection was associated with the soul of the person reflected; a mirror could capture or reveal one's soul.  Some of us are still a little superstitious about breaking a mirror.

APPLES Halloween divination usually involved apples, nuts, grain, or other agricultural products, combining the harvest aspect of the holiday with its magical nature.   Apples were particularly popular, and the apple rites seem to be the customs most often found in the United States.   (To the Celts, a perfect apple was the charm by which one might be admitted to the Otherworld and gain "second sight.")

Many customs involve apple peels.  For example, people would peel apples trying to keep the peel all in one piece; whoever had the longest peel would have the longest life.   Young girls would peel an apple and then throw the long peel over their left shoulder, believing that it would form the initial of their future husband's name!   When bobbing for apples, some believed that the first person to get an apple would be the first to marry.

PUMPKINS Pumpkins are of course another agricultural product always associated with Halloween.  Like apples, they are plentiful in October.  Also like apples, they were sometimes used for divination.  Some ladies reportedly put pumpkins on their heads at midnight on Halloween, to see their future husbands!

TO BE CONTINUED...

© 1983, 2005, all rights reserved. 
This article is an original work of authorship protected under copyright law, and it may not be copied in whole or in part without permission of the author and copyright holder.

Watch for the last installment of our article on the origins of Halloween and its customs -- part four features witches and black cats!

September 6: The Feast of Artemis

Artemis is known as the Greek goddess of the hunt and the new moon, daughter of Leto and sister of Apollo. She is most likely a very ancient Anatolian goddess, one of the ancient goddesses of the near east much older than the Greek civilization.

She was a virgin goddess ~ which meant she was unmarried, free, untamed, wild ~ whole unto herself. One of her titles was 'many-breasted' because she nurtured animals and humans, and she was the protector of women in childbirth. Although she is usually associated with the new crescent moon, in her more ancient guise she was not only Maiden but also Mother and Crone, associated with all phases of the moon.

Things sacred to Artemis include: animals, especially bears, wolves, deer, dogs, birds and all wild animals; young girls and unmarried women; silver, pearl and moonstone; forests, woodland sanctuaries; artemisia, moneyplant, cypress, cedar, laurel; unplowed fields, blank pages, potential and possibility

Strawberry/Rose Moon

Tonight's full moon is the Strawberry Moon! In Europe it was called the Rose Moon. Obviously, it's the time when strawberries are ripe and the wild roses bloom.

This is the month named in honor of Juno, the Roman Queen of Heaven, goddess of wives and marriage (thus making it a lucky month for weddings and June brides).




It's warm at night and the moon is bright ... perfect for midnight walks and moonlit dancing ... Once upon a time I lived near a large rose garden, and used to wander through it in the early morning hours, to enjoy the roses covered with dew. I've always found moonlight good for the soul.

(Thus the name: Lunagirl!)

Hurry, Springtime

I find myself even more anxious than usual for the arrival of Spring. Nothing to do but wait, and share this lovely painting, Primavera by Botticelli. Venus stands in the center, clothed as an elegant lady of Florence, with her son Cupid above. On the right you can see Zephyr, god of the west wind, blowing in warm breezes as he chases the nymph Chloris, bringer of new growth, whose name means "yellow-green" or "fresh."

Then there is my favorite, Flora adorned in flowers and scattering blossoms of forget-me-not, hyacinth, iris, periwinkle, anemone, and wild roses, all flowers that would have bloomed in Tuscany in May. On the right the three Graces dance while Mercury watches the sky to keep away storms.

There is a beautiful image I heard once in some myth or tale, describing how at the arrival of spring Flora spreads her beautiful floral dress out across the earth, covering the ground with flowers and new grass. Hurry up, please!