April Come She Will

April come she will

When streams are ripe and swelled with rain;

May, she will stay,

Resting in my arms again.

June, she'll change her tune,

In restless walks she'll prowl the night;

July, she will fly

And give no warning to her flight.

August, die she must,

The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;

September I'll remember

A love once new has now grown old.

-from Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel

When winter drags on and cabin fever hits strong 

this is the song always comes to mind.  Like many from the '60's folk rock era, the lyrics are reputed to contain cryptic references to other things;  I recall conversations years after the song was first released, and they continue mirrored on the web into this new century, 40 years later! 

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Everybody has their own take on what the song actually means.  Most obviously it, like Scarborough Fair, is an adaptation of an old English nursery rhyme:

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The cuckoo comes in April, and stays the month of May

Midsummer June she'll change her tune, and then she'll fly away

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The arrival of the cuckoo, around mid-April in England, is a signal that spring has come at last.  Traditional English "Cuckoo Days" and "Cuckoo Fairs" carry on into modern times during the months of April and May.

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Naturally, the cuckoo is also connected with springtide's earlier festivity known affectionately as April Fools Day.  In the Julian calendar, March 25-April 1 was a liminal time when the old year passed into the new.  With the adaptation of the Gregorian calendar, New Years Day was shifted to January 1.  People who forgot and continued to celebrate the New Years Day on April 1st were called "April Fools", and were therefore subject to various pranks, jokes and fools' errands.  In Britain, the person so fooled was also called the April cuckoo.

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Forgive me, reader, if you've heard it before, but I must tell this little story: 

I have a lovely cuckoo clock that I purchased many years ago in the Black Forest.  When we were getting our kitchen flooring replaced, the person we hired was positioned directly under and facing the clock when it struck noon and the little bird called out twelve cuckoos.  Feeling thus "accused," the good fellow retorted "Keep your opinions to yourself!" (I still think that's funny, but then, I'm easily amused)

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"April Come She Will" - a song of life and love and the ephemerality of the seasons. Back in the day, though, we all "knew" what it was actually about, as reflected in this recent comment:

"i always thought this song was about growing mary jane.

-april come she will. when it begins to grow. 

-may she will stay. if it makes it to may then its gonna live to become a full adult.

-june, she'll change her tune. the flower will begin to bud.

-july she will fly. u smoke it then it goes into the sky.

-august die she must. the plant will die in august

-september i'll remember. not sure if this is when u plant again or something else?"

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Which sort of brings us back to Alice. And  Simon & Garfunkel. They met in elementary school, and both appeared in a school play of Alice in Wonderland - Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat.  Can you picture that? Weird how these Feria researches tend to link seemingly disparate things together. Curiouser and curiouser.

April foolery continues tomorrow...

From School of the Seasons: It is lucky to say, “Hares, Hares,” aloud as you go to bed on the last day of the month (any month), and to say “Rabbits, Rabbits,” as soon as you awaken the following morning. This is true for any month, but it seems especially appropriate during this month of the mad hare. And why are hares mad in March? Because this is when hares breed, and apparently leaping, cavorting, dancing and frolicking are part of their mating ritual.

Crossroads to Wonderland

Hot-cross Buns! Hot-cross Buns!

One a penny, two a penny, Hot-cross Buns!

If you have no daughters, give them to your sons

One a penny, two a penny, Hot-cross Buns!

But if you have none of these little elves

Then you may eat them all yourselves!

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On Good Friday (April 2 this year), it is customary to eat round, spicy buns iced with a cross. The "hot cross buns" of British folklore were credited to last a year without turning mouldy, and said to provide protection against evil forces and fire if hung in the kitchen, against shipwreck if taken out to sea, and against rats in the granary. 

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These magical pastries have ancient origins. When archaeolgists excavated the ancient city of Herculaneum in southwestern Italy, which had been buried along with Pompeii under volcanic ash and lava, they found two small loaves, each with a cross on it, among the ruins. Round like the Full Moon, and crossed to mark her phases, the cakes were offered throughout the Mediterranean to the Queen of Heaven, the "Goddess of 10,000 names" - Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Ishtar, and Inanna being just a few of the many goddesses of spring.   The buns were eaten throughout the season, but, in Babylon at least, only on (Good) Friday were they offered to the Queen of Heaven.

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The custom spread to northern Europe, where the pagans worshipped Eos, goddess of sunrise, cognate Eostre/Ostara (whose name is connected to Easter and oestrus). They offered to her tiny cakes, often decorated with a cross, at their annual spring festival.  The similarity between the word "bun" and (Greek) boun, is maybe not a coincidence; boun refers to a ceremonial cake of circular or crescent shape, offered to the gods.

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The combination of yonic circle and phallic cross represents the alchemical process of Conjunctio, the union of male and female, the midpoint being the intersection of the sexes in the act of conception, appropriate for the spring season of fertility.  

Also it is a symbol for the Earth and the four seasons: 

"The world is a hot cross bun, and at Ostara we celebrate her bounty yet again." 

-Dan Furst in Llewellyn's Sabbats Almanac: Samhain 2009 to Mabon 2010, p. 139

Tarot card of the week:  Ace of Pentacles
Represents a time to put very practical plans to work, i.e. planting seeds, toward a lush garden of harvest abundance.

 Ace of Pentacles in the Robin Wood tarot and the Alchemical  tarot by Robert Place

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In the Alchemical tarot, the usual pentagram of five points is shown as an intersection of two equal armed crosses, in which the 5th point is the center hub. Cross and pentagram jewelry pendants are too often considered to represent opposite (opposing) spiritual values; here we find them in an harmonizing conjunctio. 

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The Robin Wood scene, similar to the familiar Waite portrayal, shows a lush garden of red roses and white [Easter] lilies.  Who wouldn't enjoy a leisurely stroll through this paradise?  Since my backyard is overrun by my darling cane di caccia (Sophia), most of what I grow is contained in a circular flower bed, divided into four sections like a Medicine Wheel (and a hot cross bun). Last summer, there were red roses, snapdragons and verbena, yellow yarrow and low growing sunflowers, blue catmint, trailing morning glory and columbine, and white daisies and alyssum - the four colours of a traditional Medicine Wheel.  

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The only flowers blooming in my yard now are crocus and budding daffodils (aka narcissus), buried under an equinox snow.  Garlands of these flowers plus hyacinths, violets and early blooming roses adorned the heads of Greeks and Romans attending spring banquets and symposiums. Crocus and narcissus were blooming in perfusion when Persephone picked one and  "fell down the rabbit hole" into the fields of asphodel. 

Like Alice in Wonderland.  In the recent movie starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, the Wonderland Garden is brought to life in 3-D, complete with fly agaric 'shrooms, on which sits a caterpillar who advises Alice that partaking of the magic mushroom will grant her the ability to shapeshift her size. 

Does this make our Alice a shaman?

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Disclaimer: I do like to research the fly agaric, don't I? I'm not a drug user (not even prescription, and only very rarely over the counter) but this particular plant has always fascinated me.  Also, it's associated with Elen, my matron goddess/saint and her flying reindeer . But I've never ingested the drug and am not advising it.

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You don't need drugs for a psychedelic trip; here are some  Alice in Wonderland musical mystery tours:

Go Ask Alice 

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane on the Smothers Brothers show, 1967 

Don't Come Around Here No More by Tom Petty

Festa della San Giuseppe e Le Nove Coppe

In Ciro Marchetti's Legacy of the Divine Tarot, the Nine of Cups shows sparkling fruitful abundance, the promise of juiciness, bliss and contentment.  This card corresponds astrologically with Jupiter (expansion) in Pisces (oceanic love and mysticism), and, fortuitously, Jupiter transits Pisces right now. 
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The image on this card makes a wonderful depiction of La Tavola di San Giuseppe . Waverly Fitzgerald describes it as a room in the house or garage set aside on this day to be  
   "transformed in the days before the feast with branches of green myrtle and glossy bay leaves, decked with oranges and lemons and golden breads in all sorts of fanciful shapes: moons and stars, jasmine flowers, pods bursting with fava beans, roses and fish and bunches of grapes, roosters (to let the world know of the birth of Christ), sheaves of wheat (for abundance), hazelnuts, bouquets, wreaths of flowers, birds making love and angels sounding trumpets..."
Breads for the Holy Family are set on the first tier of a bountiful altar, and
   "the second level is decorated with flowers, crystal pitchers of wine and panini. The third level holds the cup for the Host completely decorated in bread and on the very top a picture of the Holy Family. Several large glass bowls full of goldfish sit on a throw rug before the altar..." Read on at School of the Seasons 

Bountiful Blessings to All!

Anna Perenna

Since Shakespeare's release of Julius Caesar, the Ides of March came to be associated with gloom and doom and betrayal ("et tu, Brutto?") The Emo band Silverstein asserts that "Sometimes betrayal can make you happy".  Ovid's Libera (aka Ariadne, whose betrayal by Theseus resulted in her meeting a much more enticing lover)  might agree with that, but most of us would just as soon avoid this misfortune, thank you very much.  

Perhaps Caesar would have avoided it if he had been out picnicking instead of hanging around the statue of Pompey. Perhaps if he had instead given honor to Anna Perenna , whose festival is on this day.

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Her name means "enduring year".  Her persona is that of a bawdy, delightfully jolly old matron, who was once a flesh and blood woman comforting the refugees of the Roman aristocracy with food and good cheer.  She lives on as  a goddess archetype of benevolence, random acts of kindness - and shapeshifting mischief!

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She heralds spring by inspiring men and women to loosen our inhibitions and prompting us to engage in frolic and play, calling us from cabin fever to outdoor picnics with family, friends, lovers, dogs and kites.

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It is her spirit that guides my hand in writing these Feriae.  Goddess of the eternal cycles of time, the seasons and cycles of nature and our own lives, a well-seasoned Horae is She

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Mid-March is also the time of the Roman Liberalia, a time of parades, comedic drama contests and drunken orgies during which people raised toasts to ivy-crowned Liber-Bacchus-Dionysos and his consort Libera (Ariadne, et.al), Mars Silvanus, and Anna Perenna, praying to be granted as many years of life as cups of wine they could drink during this festival.  Today we have the Oscars and St. Patrick's Day parades, something about this time of year continues to bring this out (and in the midst of Lent too - what paradox!)

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Speaking of parades, an interesting root given for the word Carnival could be carrus navalis, the parade of floats featured at many Mediterranean festivals, notably the Isis Navigium .  What would really rock (at least in my opinion) is to see an actual procession of carrus navale where the floats are the Tarot trumps...


This week's card is the Nine of Cups (a cup card again!)  Although the traditional meanings of this card are reflected in the parts of my life I'm so grateful for, the picture is of a self satisfied, even smug person whose crossed arms indicate a potential tendency of hoarding rather that sharing the cups. I like better the chap in the Gilded Tarot:

Ciro Marchetti links all the minor arcana nines to the IX Hermit trump card. In the nine of cups, the recluse comes back into the world to share his discoveries and the good life with others. Just like Anna Perenna. This hermetic soul (me) is also willing to share,  but I've learned the hard way that too much publicity is, for some of us with lynx medicine, misleading and  not a good thing.   Lately I've been acting out of character with my authentic self, revealing too much of what I know, and acting impetuously (Strength card reversed).  I've learned long ago that people and things are not always what they seem and not to believe everything you hear. I have indeed experienced malicious gossip, untrue rumours, betrayals, and  shenanigans - but it's a new moon, things are balancing out now and my conscience is clear.  I raise my cup in a toast to my true friends, and to any and all who have risen like a phoenix from the fire:

Cheers! Life is good.

Acqua Vitae

Water is life.
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This week's card is Ace of Cups.  The Alchemical Chalice. It recently turned up as the final outcome card in the reading I received from Laurie at our tarot meetup group .  It was also featured this past month as Tarot Card of the Week in Owls Wings, and the 8 as well.  Owlsdaughter's card this week is Queen of Cups which is also on my recent Venice post. Early February's weekly Feria reading produced the 2 of Cups.  Oh so many cups!
Some mystery schools ask that we dedicate ourselves to explore one of the four elements each year.  Looks like this year I'm diving headfirst into water!  Water is symbolically linked to our emotions and to our relationships that touch the heart.  Riding the waves of a "water" year can be pretty turbulent.  Although I'm happy to report that my love life is fulfilling, the realms of friendship are being tested and as I write this I'm not sure who's a true friend and who's a "frienemy" .  Everyone's so nice to my face. But still there are rumours, innuendoes, there are undercurrents...
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I work in a library where one of my assignments is to set up a promotional window featuring books and events.  Usually I come up with my own theme, but for this coming summer I was asked to promote the Summer Reading theme which is, you guessed it, water.  I do a new window every month. If my colleagues were to choose a tarot card that would signify me, it would probably be the 3 of Pentacles , which (I digress) is a key card for 2010, since it is linked with the Empress and the number 3.
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Many are the events and celebrations coming up that are associated with Water.  A small sampling of the most timely:
~ Sun is in Pisces, the Fish, a water sign
~ March 5 - National Day of Cornwall and Isis Navigatum 
~ The March Full Moon is the Full Sap Moon; here the "water" is maple syrup, but also there are watery emotional references in the word "sappy"
~ March 22 is World Water Day (Reader, if you click only one link I offer here, I recommend this one!  Or this more pro-active link ).
~ The Monday after Easter is associated with water in many places, also the Friday after Easter honouring Mary as Life Giving Fountain.
(Ace of Cups!)
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There is a musician, Chris Ferree , who is frequently heard on Native Radio.  Looking at the Ace of Cups, I hear his song Overflow (and his song The Invisible World is playing right now).  Looking through the entire cups suit also conjures up Stevie Nicks' song Sara . I have a piano music score for it somewhere...
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May Love Overflow into and from our hearts to heal all the wounds, both accidental and intentional, that each and every one of us have inflicted and/or received. This is forgiveness.
When the Power of Love trumps* the love of power, life flows abundantly and all is well.
Cosi sia


* In ancient Rome, a triumph was a parade of ancient origin.  In ancient Rome, when a conquering general would return to the city, a triumph would be arranged down Appian Way.  The parade was organized from the lowest to the highest, starting with the captives and ending with the general himself.  The organizing principle in this heroic triumph was that each participant trumped the one who came before, until all of the participants are trumped by the hero in his chariot. (Robert M. Place, The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, Tarcher/Penguin, 2005, p. 109.

Buono Capodanno!

The Kalends of March was the Roman New Year.  March, Marzo. Of course. Ringing in the new year in honour of the god of war.  Oh, those warlike Romans!
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Yet...before Mars was the god of war, he was Mars Silvanus, aka Mavors, one of the phallic gods of agriculture, along with, among others, Picus and Lupus, with whom he shares the totem animals wolf and wood-pecker.  His sexual energy and fertilizing power is called forth now, in early spring, to bless, seminate, and protect the fields.
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Mars is celebrated throughout the month with street parades led by the Salii ("leapers, dancers"), 12 (some say 24) young patrician priests of Mars.  Originally this was a magical rite of agriculture, the height of the leaping indicating the height of the crops to come.  The raucous dancing was also to scare away any evil spirits who would hinder fertility.  These processions were considered so powerful that any Salian who didn't participate was denied mobility of travel for the entire year.
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Later on, the Roman Empire acquired military associations, and the addition of bronze breastplates, staffs, spears, helmets and clashing shields, conjure up images of leaping, head-butting rams (or mosh pits - remember those?).  Even so, they continued the tradition of stopping at certain places to sing hymns to Mavors, the lyrics extolling praises of the god's fertilizing powers.
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In the evening the young priests would retire at a building in the Forum called the Regia, where their sacred shields* were stored.  There they dined in such luxury that the Emperor Claudius himself at least once left his own banquet to join theirs.
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On the 2nd day, a new community fire is lit by the Vestal Virgins, and the 3rd day is the Matronalia, celebrated in honour of Juno Lucina mother of Mars, and of mothers everywhere.
Any coincidence that Mothering Sunday in England is the first Sunday in March?
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* These shields were similar to the Mycenaean shields, shaped like the figure 8, like a lemniscate, which is featured in the Magician, Strength, World and 2 Pentacles cards in the Tarot.
Yesterday I leafed through the latest Avon catalog, and found the lemniscate even there!  Which reminds us that March is Womens History/Gender Equality Month. We women are happy to celebrate Mars in his kinder, gentler (and sexier!) aspect as Mars Silvanus, and his archetypal energy is manifest, coming to us in the human forms of beloved consorts.
Last week's tarot of the week featured the lemniscate in Strength, this week's card is Temperance.

In Temperance the lemniscate has unfolded so that the opposites are now separated and clearly defined as two vases...from Jung and Tarot   

I've purified myself in the februa, refreshed and renewed for the New Year, and I'm seeing the lemniscate everywhere.