Happy Friday the 13th!
Friday is Freya’s Day (comes from the Nordic Goddess Freya), and the number 13 used to be a sacred number in pagan times because it represented the number of Full Moons in a year – the number of times women menstruated. Doesn’t listen to folks that say today is “unlucky”… it is sacred to the Goddess.
Did anyone else notice the Dragonfly that landed top of The Queen’s crown? 
The symbolism of a dragonfly is “rebirth, immortality, transformation, adaptation & spiritual awakening”. ((( 
)))
“Tomorrow might be May Day, but the revelry begins tonight. Walpurgisnacht, aka Hexennacht – The Witches Night.
In many areas of Germany, northern and central Europe, there is a legendary night of mayhem celebrating the arrival of spring.
A tradition from the time witches were thought to gather on the Brocken, enjoying themselves. Whatever that involved for witches.
While waiting for dawn to break, bringing with it the beginning of summer, and together with their pet bats and cats, Hexen flew around the Brocken, highest of north central Germany’s Harz mountains. Partying with the ‘Devil’ and creating occult mischief.
Maps of Germany were still drawn showing “Witches Areas”, as a warning for unwary travelers, as late as the 18th century … so it seems they didn’t appear just once a year.
May 1 is St. Walburga’s Feast day, an 8th-century English missionary and Abbess who worked to convert pagans in the Frankish Empire, now Southern Germany, but the evening’s rowdy associations have little to do with the blameless Saint. It is her date of canonization, but it is because of the date that her name has become associated with witchcraft, myths, country superstitions and all things Hexerei.
And for some idea of a Harz Witches’ Dance: https://bit.ly/3OKDXLq
The music is Schüttel deinen Speck, which some don’t realize in German, is shake your lard/blubber/flab.”
I often wondered what a pooka looks like! I LOVE this rendering!
“The púca (or pooka) is a legendary creature in Celtic folklore, most notably in Ireland, the West of Scotland, and Wales. It is a fairy and the ultimate shapeshifter which can change into many different forms. They are considered bringers of good and bad fortune”
On Beltane Eve, the Queen of the Faery rides out of the mist to entice you away to the Otherworld…
“Beltane, like Samhain, is a time of ‘no time’ when the veils between the two worlds are at their thinnest. No time is when the two worlds intermingle and unite and the magic abounds! It is the time when the Faeries return from their winter respite, carefree and full of faery mischief and faery delight. On the night before Beltane, in times past, folks would place rowan branches at their windows and doors for protection, many otherworldly occurrences could transpire during this time of ‘no time’.
Traditionally on the Isle of Man, the youngest member of the family gathers primroses on the eve before Beltane and throws the flowers at the door of the home for protection. In Ireland it is believed that food left over from May Eve must not be eaten, but rather buried or left as an offering to the faery instead. Much like the tradition of leaving of whatever is not harvested from the fields on Samhain, food on the time of no time is treated with great care.
When the veils are so thin it is an extremely magical time, it is said that the Queen of the Faeries rides out on her white horse. Roving about on Beltane eve, She will try to entice people away to the Faeryland. Legend has it that if you sit beneath a tree on Beltane night, you may see the Faery Queen or hear the sound of Her horse’s bells as She rides through the night. Legend says if you hide your face, She will pass you by but if you look at Her, She may choose you.
There is a Scottish ballad called Thomas the Rhymer, in which Thomas chooses to go the Faeryland with the Queen and has not been seen since. Beltane has been an auspicious time throughout Celtic lore, it is said that the Tuatha de Danaan landed in north-west Connacht on Beltane. The Tuatha de Danaan, it is said, came from the North through the air in a mist to Ireland. After the invasion by the Milesians, the Tuatha faded into the Otherworld, the Sidhe, Tir na nOg.”
-Christina Aubin
Modern artist’s conception of the Slavic Goddess Mara (Morena) – the Goddess of Winter, Death, and Rebirth.
Some modern Slavic pagans celebrate her on or around November 1, which they call Day of Mara. Another old name for that time of the year is Dedi (Dzyadi) – meaning, Grandparents or Forebearers. On that day the veil between the worlds of spirits and men, the living and the dead grows thin and both worlds can easily mix.
Mara covers the earth with white snow so that Nature can sleep and rest and gather strength to get ready for the new cycle of life in Spring. She is called the Goddess of Life Eternal and Resurrection.
According to the Golden Legend “There was, at that time, on the banks of the Rhône, in a marsh between Arles and Avignon, a dragon, half animal, half fish, thicker than an ox, longer than an horse, with teeth like swords and big as horns, he hid in the river where he took the life of all passers-by and submerged vessels.”
The Tarasque was said to have come from Galatia, which was the home of the legendary Onachus, a scaly, bison-like beast which burned everything it touched (this creature is similar to the Bonnacon)
The sea monster constantly threaded the population. Holding a cross in her hand, Martha sprinkled the beast with holy water. Placing her sash around its neck, she led the tamed dragon through the village.
(sources: “Sainte Marthe”. L’Abbaye Sainte Benoit;””St. Martha”, Sisters of St. Martha of Antigonish” )
image: Charles Lepec – La Tarasque, 1874
Selkie/sealwoman statue in Mikladalur, Faroe Islands.
This is so beautiful! I didn’t know this statue existed. Here’s more information on it.
And this is the myth of the selkie, or seal-woman of the Celts.
“She was the goddess who scattered her benefits on the end of life on those who protected it. She welcomed them, in peace underground, among the ranks of the blessed in the happiness of Elysium.
In the painting she has a gold crown with serpents’ heads and necks on the top. Her chest was crossed by a white band to which was attached the quiver, visible behind the right shoulder. She is within a sacred portal wrapped in yellow ribbons. From the portal hangs a bearded mask of an old Silenus above which a lintel is supported on the wings of two swans. On top of the lintel are two silver urns and between them is a round gold shield. At the base is a small red walled area with an altar with offering on top and two vases on benches. Either side are red columns painted with flowers and climbers.”
See Barnabei F., 1901. La villa pompeiana di P. Fannio Sinistore.
Roma: Accademia dei Lincei. p.74, Fig. 17.
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“Hecate: The Virgin Mother Goddess
The Greek Magical Papyri repeatedly refer to her as the Great Mother, using the epithets of Geneteira and Pammetor. An example comes from the Spell to the Waning Moon: “Mother of all who bore love.”
The judeochristian depiction of a virgin woman who brought to life the son of God, displayed in a metaphorical way the connection between the Acausal and the physical realm.
This is one of the hidden aspects of Hecate, the one who holds the keys between the Acausal and the Causal.
Reviewing the existing literature about Hekate reveals that her three-formed nature is reflected in her maternal roles. She can be considered Mother of the Gods, Mother of All Things and a mother to individuals.
In addition, her long history portrays her as the Mother of Witches. Contemporary Hekate is often seen as The Dark Mother, which reflects NAOS’ interpretation of her.
Hekate is a complex goddess that presents herself in different forms throughout the ages and to those seeking her, as reflected in her various maternal roles.
(1) Hecate has even been linked to the Virgin Mary through Mary’s indirect link to Lilith (as the second Eve) and through the association of both with the holy day of August 15. This is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin when Mary is petitioned to avert storms so that the fields can ripen. A festival for Hecate was held on August 13. She too was invoked for help in preventing storms so that the harvest could be gathered.
(2) She was at one time the goddess of all aspects of the moon but eventually this dominion was split into three with Persephone/Artemis as the virgin/new moon and Demeter/Hera/Selene as the mother/full moon.
She was connected to all three of the life stages. She was there at the time of fertilization and birth. She could open the womb of all living creatures. As the mistress of gates, doors and the abyss she was the symbol of the feminine womb. She was the guardian of women in child birth. She was a nurse of the young. She had associations to growing and the harvest through her relationship to the phases of the moon and her suppression of storms. She was the goddess of healing and magic. And at the end of time she was the Queen of Night, Mistress of the Lower Way, Opener of the Way to Death.
As the Queen of Death, she ruled the powers of regeneration as represented by her association with the serpent.
Haire Aghia Hecata!
Haire Nyktairodyteira Despoina!”
From N A O S at http://www.Noeton.org
Imbolc, also known as the Feast of Brigid, celebrates the arrival of longer, warmer days and the early signs of spring on February 1. It is one of the four major ‘fire’ festivals (quarter days, referred to in Irish mythology from medieval Irish texts. The other three festivals on the old Irish calendar are Beltane…
elizabeth rose psychic and tarot 