Aries I, March 21 - April 19

 Aries

 March 21 - April 19

 

April Dates:

        April Fool's Day, ancient day of practical pranks

        Zen Buddha’s Birthday (563 BCE)

        Palm Sunday, Christian, Jesus in Jerusalem, Holy week begins.

        Full Moon of Chaitra, Hindu New Year and Buddha’s birthday..

        Passover, Jewish, begins at sundown, lasts 8 days.

        and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment.

        Holy Thursday: Last Supper of Jesus - He washed the feet of His male
      and female disciples, gave them bread and wine as His body and blood,
      and told of the Paraclete (Mother, the Holy Spirit) who would come after
      Him.

        Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion of Christ.

        Easter Sunday, first Sunday after full moon of March 21'. Jesus rises
       from the dead on the third day after his death.

        Arbor Day, dedicated to planting trees.

      Walpurgisnacht (Germanic)   (Floralia Ends Roman)

        Beltane Begins at Sundown (Celtic, Wiccan) 

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting, and cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness, and not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come”.

Ode 536, William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

 

Native American: Seed Moon, a time of planting or Pink Moon, this is the season shad, the salmon of ther Northeast, swim upstream to spawn. It is a time of deep connection with others.

Wiccan: Wind moon, This is a good time to work on magic related to new beginnings. Envisioning plentiful outcomes. Looking to bring new love into your life, or conceive or adopt a child? This is the time to stop planning, and start doing.

 

Vedic Astrology:

The Ram or Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. In early civilizations, the Ram was assigned divine status. In Iran, the Ram gave strength to the diseased. In Egypt, it symbolized the power of procreation. In Sanskrit, ram is “aya”, means “has no birth”. It symbolizes Self-Existence, Absolute. Considered this way, Aries suggests the source, the fountainhead of all life forces, the source of the Nile symbolically.

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Myths and Legends:

After our period of gestation and profound cleansing in the womb of cosmic waters of Pisces, Aries appears to us as a new point of light, a fresh impulse of creation. Having touched the deepest core of our being at winter solstice, we suddenly realize this base foundation is mysteriously linked to the highest divine energies we can aspire to. A new strength then flows through our bodies, minds and spirits, and brings us to an awakening, an awareness that our goal for this coming year is to inhabit this space between the lowest and most innocent babe in us up to the raging light of the bursting sun of our full potential. At this moment we are simply noting a quickening, a hint of life, a spark of inspiration guiding us towards the glory of Easter and the first flowers of spring.

Aries comes to us as the first primordial  sign of the double origin, the first rising of life. It is the first strong and sustained thought inspired by our highest consciousness this year.

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April Fool’s Day

During the Middle Ages, April Fool’s Day was called Festus Fatuorum or Feast of Fools. It evolved from the Roman Saturnalia (See December). On this day in France celebrants would make fun of a mock pope and parody catholic church rituals.

 

The church, of course, tried to discourage this practice, but it lingered on until the sixteenth century. Following the suppression of the Feast of Fools, merrymakers then turned their attention to Mardi Gras and Carnival.

Chaucer in Canterbury Tales, in the chapter on the Nun’s Priest’s Tale (written around 1392), mentions this date:

“Whan that the monthe in which the world began
That highte March, whan God first maked man,
Was complete, and ypassed were also
Sithen March ended, thritty dayes and two…”

“In the month in which the world began, the height if March, when God first made man, was complete, and passed the sign of March  by thirty and two days”  or, as we know it – April 1.

The first card in the major arcana of the Tarot is the fool. It is the starting point for all spiritual evolution. This individual is driven by base emotions and tempted by sensual desires. An innocent who has no idea of life’s goals but lives day to day, a simple existence wandering from town to town unaware of the tricery people play on him. He receives the name “fool” because he is uneducated and without guile. He represents the fundamental element in alchemy: coal, which when put under pressure becomes a diamond. We all start out as this innocent and learn along our life’s journey the wisdom that completes our spiritual path. Do not underestimate this seeming dolt; this idiot has much to teach us.

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Buddha’s birthday

Buddha's Birthday falls on the 8th day of the fourth month by lunar calendar according to the Mahayana tradition.

After morning meditation everyone has an   opportunity to bathe the baby Buddha, or “wash" a figure of the baby Buddha with tea while chanting blessings and prayers. The Blessing of the Children ceremony represents the Buddhist tradition of honoring all children as future Buddhas.  Buddha's birthday celebration ends with the lovely old custom of Lotus Lantern Lightings and a chanting service.

 Buddha’s words:

"Be ye lamps unto yourselves. Rely on yourselves and do not rely on external help. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp."

April 8, is also the Hanamatsuri, or “Flower Festival." It is a day for parades and offering fresh flowers at temples in remembrance of the Buddha's birth in a grove of blossoming trees.

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Hanamatsuri celebrates Buddha’s birth

The story of Buddha's birth is rich in symbolism and implied meanings. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born.

In the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya, became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son was born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

Buddha's mother died seven days after his birth. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". A naming ceremony was held on the fifth day, and eight brahmin scholars were invited to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kaundinya (Pali: Kondanna), the youngest, and later,the first arahat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

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See Aries II post