Aries II

Aries II

Palm Sunday

The week from Palm Sunday to Easter is known as Holy Week. Easter also marks the end of Lent, which is a season of fasting, prayer, and penance. This week esoteric students the world over are preparing for the Aries Full Sun/Moon festival, also called the Festival of Resurrection, the same resurrection celebration as Easter. The Spring Equinox. This is the time to start living the esoteric year - to be re-born on a higher level.

Jesus rode through Jerusalem while the people threw down palm fronds for his donkey to step on. The word Jerusalem means city of peace (Jeru-city, salam-peace). In many lands it was the custom to cover over or dampen the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honor to lessen the dust.

In Christian art, martyrs were usually shown holding a palm frond, representing the victory of spirit over flesh, and it was widely believed that a picture of a palm on a tomb meant that a martyr was buried there.

 Modern Customs

When Mass is finished on Palm Sunday, Christians take palms home and hang them over doors or holy pictures (or burn them in times of great storms or natural disasters). Another custom is to shape the palm into crosses before hanging them. The people of Italy and Mexico shape palms into extremely elaborate and beautiful figures.

Some of these same palm branches are saved and burned the next year to make the ashes for the coming Ash Wednesday – these living palms symbolize vitality and triumph, while the ashes, symbolize death and renewal.

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Full Moon of Chitra

In Buddhism this month brings us the full moon of Chaitra. Professor Van Der Stock tells us this day represents symbolically when Buddha took his Great Vow. He resolved to set out on a quest to  pierce through the great mystery that is thrown over the world (Maya) and to find its secret, its meaning. He wanted to find an end to suffering.

He found the answer and gave it to us in the four noble truths:

• First Noble Truth

All life is suffering.

If you are alive you experience aging, death, sadness, loss and grief.

• Second Noble Truth

Suffering is caused by desire.

We always want or crave something. We are fearful that people will steal from us, We are upset by not getting what we want and if we owned a mountain made of gold, this would probably not be enough to satisfy us.

• Third Noble Truth

Suffering can be overcome and happiness attained by the uprooting of our desires and this will lead to serenity.

This can be achieved if we lead mindful lives and give up our cravings.

• Fourth Noble Truth

The Noble 8-fold Path is leads to the cessation of suffering and the achievement of self-awakening. It is used to develop insight into the true nature of phenomena (or reality) and to eradicate greed, hatred, and delusion

The Buddha tells us we can end suffering by gaining wisdom through the right view and right intention, by conducting ourselves in an ethical manner through right speech, right action and right livelihood and lastly, learning to focus through right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

Chitra Gupta - 

The Divine 

Book Keeper 

 The twelve months of the Hindu year are based on the lunar calendar. They named for the star during whose ascendency the full moon of that month occurs. Spica is dominant this month.

Worship, done on the very first full moon day of every year (Chitra is the first of the Indian twelve month cycle), is done to remind us of the higher power that maintains a constant watch over us on this earth-plane. The term Chitra Gupta means “hidden picture”.

A true picture of all our good and evil actions is preserved in the ethereal records. Just like a financial accountant, there is a celestial being called Chitra Gupta who is said to be the divine accountant in charge of maintaining your karmic balance sheet. It is said that all your good and bad thoughts, words and deeds are stored as transactions in a unique heavenly database known as Akashic Records. This is your divine personal log which Chitra Gupta presents on this Full Moon day to Lord Yama, the God of Death.

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Passover

A Jewish celebration that commemorates the story of the Israelite Exodus from Egyptian slavery. It is written in the Torah that God helped the children of Israel by inflicting ten plagues upon the Egyptians so that Pharaoh would release them. The last and worst of the plagues was ordained slaughter of the first-borns. The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over” these homes not killing the first born, hence the term "Passover". When Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry; they did not wait for the bread to rise.

In acknowledgement, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, which is why this celebration is also called "The Festival of the Unleavened Bread“. Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is the primary symbol of this holiday. There is an elaborate and beautiful fifteen step ceremony that accompanies the Passover meal. The Christian Last Supper was apparently a Passover Seder.

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Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday is a hidden and profound religious observance, second only to Easter. It celebrates both the establishment by Christ Himself of the Eucharist and the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood. It is during His last supper with the disciples, in which Christ  offers himself as a Passover sacrifice, and every ordained priest to this day presents themselves as this same sacrifice. The Last Supper was also Christ's farewell to His assembled disciples, some of whom would betray, desert or deny Him before the sun rose again. 

 

The first steps on the path…are at the feet of the Master. Holy Thursday is also the rite of the washing of the feet. The feet are our energetic connection to the earth.

Cleansing ceremonies involving the feet are performed in many different parts of the world. It has been used as a tool for initiations, a welcoming gesture, a purification ceremony, and as a means to demonstrate humility. In many cases, the meaning of the ritual was twofold. It was a way of cleaning a guest's feet before entering as a home and a sign of hospitality and a symbolic way to cleanse our past and our future path. In Buddhism, cleansing the feet of an enlightened being, it is thought possible to cleanse one's own karma.

 

Washing of the Feet is a traditional part of the rite of Maudy Thursday in the Christian tradition. Christ said to his disciples: “Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." Reminding us that we are all equal, be we masters, disciples, royalty or beggars. Kings and Popes throughout Europe practice washing the feet of commoners to this day. This was perhaps the first glimmer of the concept of democracy, showing that all men are created equal.

Our immune system functions optimally when our body has an adequate supply of electrons, which are easily and naturally obtained by walking barefoot in contact with the Earth. Research shows that electrons from the Earth have antioxidant effects that can protect your body from inflammation and its many well-documented health consequences. When we break this connection, we are flighty and unfocused, ungrounded and uprooted. Each foot contains a small chakra in the arch facilitating our channeling of the Earth energies. The health of the foot chakra is directly related to our ability to become grounded in the physical body, while, at the same time, being able to use the spiritual skill of anchoring Light.

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Good Friday:

 

Good Friday (meaning pious, holy Friday) is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. This holiday is observed as part of Holy Week on the Friday proceeding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday or Black Friday. 

                                                             

   

Based on the details of the gospels, the Crucifixion of Jesus was most likely to have been on a Friday (John 19:42). The estimated year of the Crucifixion is AD 33. The beginning of the Easter story is as follows:

 

Wearing a crown of thorns and a placard with the phrase "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Jesus carries his cross to the site of execution (assisted by Simon of Cyrene), called the place of the Skull, or "Golgotha" in Hebrew and in Latin "Calvary". Here he is crucified along with two criminals.

Jesus agonizes on the cross for six hours. During his last 3 hours from noon to 3 p.m., darkness falls over the whole land. With a loud cry, Jesus gives up his spirit. There is an earthquake, tombs break open, and the curtain in the Temple is torn from top to bottom. The centurion on guard at the site of crucifixion declares, "Truly this was God's Son!" Pilate asks confirmation from the centurion whether Jesus is dead. A soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance causing blood and water to flow out, and the centurion informs Pilate that Jesus is dead.

On the Saturday before Easter (Holy Saturday) in many Christian churches, a  triple fire is created outside the sanctuary after the dark day of Good Friday, the day we meditate on the suffering and ultimate sacrifice of Christ.

Good Friday is a time we symbolically travel into the underworld, into the world of our own subconscious. Then, on Saturday, the new fire arises: the triple fire of creation. Alice Bailey describes the character of this triple fire as:

The electric Fire (of the Father)

The solar Fire (of the Son) and

The Fire by friction (of the Holy Spirit).

The triple fire then merges itself into one Light and is brought back into the sanctuary. These fires – which are One – also manifest by the AUM and the three primordial colors linked to each of the letters. We now commit to journey towards the light.

When we meditate on the OM – AUM – OM it links us to the mystery of the One, which becomes the Three, which is again reabsorbed into the One. Chanting the OM from the Heart or the Ajna center regenerates us and brings us new life — Thus, allowing us to live in the NOW, forgetting the past, without projecting into the future—living in this moment of creation with every breath we take: The Fire of Creation.

Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin or high council, and secret follower of Jesus, requests to be given custody of the body of Jesus from Pilate. The body is then wrapped in a clean linen shroud, and placed in Joseph of Arimathea’s own new tomb which was carved into solid rock. Nicodemus, another Christian supporter also brought 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes, and placed them in the linen with the body, in keeping with Jewish burial customs. They rolled a large rock over the entrance of the tomb. Then they returned home and rested, because Shabbat had begun at sunset.

On the third day, Sunday, which is now known as Easter Sunday (or Pascha), Jesus rose from the dead. The first to see him was Mary Magdalene who visited the tomb.

Joseph, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Marcella and Maximin, later came to Europe by boat at the invitation of certain Druids of high rank ('Negotium ‘Habuit cum Druidis quorum primi precipuique doctores erant in Britannia.' - Freculphus, apud God., p.10.) arriving from their home in Marseilles then on to Britain, circa AD 38-39; these Druids were located at Isle of Avalon (the White Isle), the seat of a Druidic cor, which was subsequently deeded over to them in free gift by King Arviragus. Here they built the first church, which became the centre and mother of Christianity in Britain. Joseph died and was interred in 76 AD'  -  from Paul in Britain.

For more information read J. W. Taylor:'The Coming of the Saints’.

Joseph is also credited with bringing the Holy Grail to England which is at the center of the Legend of King Arthur and the round table.

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Easter Sunday or the Resurrection Story

This month usually brings us Easter, (Old English word named after the goddess Ēostre of Anglo-Saxon paganism). A movable feast based on the lunar calendar. Easter is also linked to the Jewish Passover by myth and time of year.

The "festival of the resurrection" is the mystery of the descent of the hero into the underworld and his return with the Spring. This myth existed long before Christianity. An example is the feminine legend of the Goddess Persephone who was abducted to Hades buy her father, and then only allowed to return to see her mother Demeter a few months of the year. With her return to the surface world she brought with her Spring and a chance for the earth to be renewed. This was the basis of the Eleusinian Mysteries. This implies a descent into oneself, as the Native Americans practice, a vision quest, talking to your shadow and asking it what it can teach you. Jung would say this is personal journey into your deepest self; this story is the hero’s journey. Note that Jesus was around 33 when he did this, he knew the cycles of things,  it is not wise for the young to attempt this.

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Easter Eggs

A ancient pagan custom at Easter is to decorate the first eggs of the season. The egg as a symbol of the coming chick, a promise of life, the egg of the cosmos. Among the oldest symbols on Easter eggs are the sun and fertility signs. The simplest rendering of the sun is a closed circle with or without rays. The swastika or as it was called "broken cross" represented the sun in pagan times. The spin is always to the right. In the Ukraine they use an eight-sided star as a symbol of the great Cosmic Mother. These eggs, however, were imbued with the power not only to protect individuals from harm but also to protect and preserve the entire community. The myth says that if winter passes over your home in April and finds no eggs, then he will stay much longer and the crops will fail.

Each region, each village, and almost every family in the North has its own special ritual, its own decorative symbols, meanings and secret formulas for dyeing eggs. The pysanky (decorated eggs) are made at night, when the children are asleep. The women in the family gather together, say the appropriate prayers, and go to work. It was done in secret––the patterns and color combinations were handed down from mother to daughter and carefully guarded.

Things You'll Need:

Pencil

White shelled raw eggs

cardboard

beeswax

cand;es

White vinegar

Tablespoons 

Kleenex

Kistka

Ukranian egg dyes

1. Allow a white, uncooked egg to reach room temperature.

2. Wipe the egg with a solution of 1/2 c. water and 1 tsp. vinegar and dry

3. Draw your design on the egg lightly with a pencil

4. Use the heated kistka to scoop up a bit of beeswax.

5. Melt the wax in the kistka over a candle.

6. Draw on the egg in melted beeswax following  the pencil design

7. Put the egg into the lightest color dye for around 15 minutes.

8. Use a stainless tablespoon to fish the egg out of the dye.

9. Dab, don't wipe, the egg dry.

10. Continue waxing and dyeing from lightest to darkest color dyes.

11. Hold egg under a hair dryer to heat the wax. Wipe it off with a tissue when the wax looks wet.

12. Let the egg dry on a stand

TIPS:

Use a wide rubber band wrapped around the egg to help draw a straight   

line when penciling on the design.

Boiled eggs spoil. Use only raw eggs or blow them out

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Floralia

April was the Roman month dedicated to the love goddess Venus. Romans celebrated Floralia with a set of games and theatrical presentations known as the Ludi Florales.  Flora, the Roman goddess in whose honor this festival was held, was a goddess of flowers, would bloom in the spring. The holiday for Flora ran from April 28 to May 3 , it was really an ancient May Day celebration.

In a similar myth, Chloris, a Nymph associated with spring, flowers and new growth, (her Roman equivalent the goddess Flora) was abducted by and later married to Zephyrus, the west wind, who gave her dominion over spring. Together they had a son, Carpus meaning "fruit" in Ancient Greek.  

There is an even older myth from Egypt: the story of the Goddess Isis who resurrected her husband Osiris (the god of the underworld) by turning into a bird and flapping her mighty wings to bring him back to life. The wind she created with her beating wings gave Osiris the Breath of Life for one day. During this time, she conceived from him her son Horus. She concealed the coffin among long reeds and went away to secretly give birth to her son. Osiris is associated with the flooding of the Nile, thus with the fertility of the fields and Spring.

 

 

 Arbor Day, dedicated to planting trees

Arbor Day is celebrated in the United States. It encourages planting a tree and caring for the trees in your neighborhood. Founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872, on the last Friday in April.  Morton was President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture.

Begun in 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.  Arbor Day is now celebrated in other countries.  Variations are celebrated as 'Greening Week' of Japan, 'The New Year's Days of Trees' in Israel, 'The Tree-loving Week' of Korea, 'The Reforestation Week' of Yugoslavia, 'The Students' Afforestation Day' of Iceland and 'The National Festival of Tree Planting' in India. 

Take a trip to your local nursery to see what is a local varieties are available. Walk around your neighborhood. Are there any public areas where tree planting or tree maintenance might make a real difference to your community?  Talk with your neighbors. 

If you do some research on the Celtic meaning of trees, your study will never end. Indeed, the ancient Druids committed their lives in soulful contemplation of the cosmic expressions manifested in trees.

Native Americans revered all nature as sacred and welcomed an ongoing dialogue with all nature. Tobacco, sage, cedar and sweet grass are their four sacred plants. This is the month of planting trees too.

Ashwattha is the mundane tree (or Tree of Life) of the Hindus. It is described as having its roots above and branches below. Its branches represent the external visible world of senses, or visible universe. The leaves are the Vedas or the universe in its intellectual or moral character. The roots represent the Spiritual World and Supreme Being, or First Cause, the Logos. egoism. We are asked to cut the tree with an axe of knowledge or secret wisdom.

The Jewish Kabbalah gives us the tree of life –with the sephiroh – Looking Genesis in the Bible we see two trees: The tree of life and the tree of knowledge. This story is old and comes to us from ancient roots in civilizations before Egypt.

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Walpurgisnacht (Germanic)

Named after Saint Walburga (ca. 710-777/9), a nun who was canonized on 1 May (ca. 870), she became associated with May Day, especially in the Finnish and Swedish calendars. Walpurgisnacht, is the night from 30 April to 1 May, when witches are reputed to hold a large celebration on the Brocken and await the arrival of Spring.

Walburga and Ostara (Easter) are two sides of the same festival, these are recognition of the passing of winter or the dark side of nature then celebration of the light of Spring.

The elemental spirits or devas for this time of year draw their energies  from the three faces of the goddess: youthful virgin, fertile mother, and age-old wise woman crone (Myth of Baba Yaga). They appear as shining elves and worshipers of the White Goddess. They rule the whole of springtide, from the first Summer-findings of robins, crocus and violets, up to the gateway of Summer.

 

Walpurgis is a time for - blessing-processions, with sacred objects and offerings, around fields and villages, bringing fertility and protection from bad weather; this is a time for the celebration of the "White Goddess" who brings fertility, occult knowledge, and protection.  She is herself besieged by the forces of tumult, death and chaos.

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Beltane Begins at Sundown (Celtic, Wiccan)

See the explanation of this celebration in May.

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Conclusion:

This month is a time for creative thinking, to nurture the seed received from our 12 Christmas meditations. To plant them in the chalice of our open mind and let them germinate and grow towards the light, manifestation and realization.

This time the energy invites us to step out of our routine.  It is the Plead sister Electra who presides over this month; she is always ready to electrify us, to change us. Maybe it is time to reconsider our routine or way of working. She encourages us to transform our environment and ourselves so we can begin this New Year with a fresh worldview, renewed courage thus creating more energy and curiosity to apply to our work.

Aries transmits the energy of the first Ray of Will or Power, a power that can be destructive or creative and purifying depending upon the vehicle in which it alights. Sit with your uncomfortableness, feel your grief and accept your sorrow, this will burn into you a new place to hold your joy. Aries is said to “fuse the beginning and the end, to blend the opposites and dispel both time and space”. 

“The keynote of the new age understanding of this festival will be upon resurrection, symbolizing the precipitation on Earth of a new kingdom in which all will be free from death and released from the cross of matter”. …And the lesson of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is that the lower nature must die in order that the higher may manifest, and the eternal. Our focus here should be on rebirth and new life”. AAB

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