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| Dover clip art (unattributed) |
Time passes... things happen... and it's now the end of April! Easter has come and gone, and May is just around the corner with so much promise: warmer weather, potential projects, exemplary events.
Having had time to reflect upon 1) the death of a friend, 2) a trip back to the South to celebrate my mother's 93rd birthday, and 3) returning home where I'm still surrounded by too much "stuff" and have no regular income yet, I feel like I am emerging from a long hibernation and need to undergo some sort of "ritual of renewal" and pledge of intention in order to hold onto any shred of integrity and self-confidence as I take a long-overdue personal inventory.
A good time for this would be the upcoming cross-quarter day on May 1, also called Beltane (midway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice). With its connection to the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) star cluster, this is an auspicious time for me to reinvent myself and make some serious plans.
At Beltane the Pleiades star cluster rises just before sunrise on the morning horizon, whereas winter (Samhain) begins when the Pleiades rises at sunset. The Pleiades is a cluster of seven closely placed stars, the Seven Sisters, in the constellation of Taurus, near his shoulder. When looking for the Pleiades with the naked eye, remember it looks like a tiny dipper-shaped pattern of six moderately bright stars (the seventh can be seen on very dark nights). It stands very low in the east-northeast sky for just a few minutes before sunrise. Beltane marks the passage into the growing season, the immediate rousing of the earth from her gently awakening slumber, a time when the pleasures of the earth and self are fully awakened. It signals a time when the bounty of the earth will once again be had. May is a time when flowers bloom, trees are green and life has again returned from the barren landscape of winter, to the hope of bountiful harvests, not too far away, and the lighthearted bliss that only summer can bring.
(source: www.witchvox.com)
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| Full moon behind cloud bands - April 14, 2014 (photo by tjbg) |
The moon is already waxing (good for planting crops and making decisions) and today's solar eclipse (visible in Australia) sure seems like another good push in the right direction... If you get to see part of the sun (or moon) disappear and reappear, it suggests that renewal of the self is not only possible but highly recommended!
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| Image by Jay Pasachoff (source: www.space.com) |
Tuesday's eclipse of the sun was the first of two solar eclipses in 2014, with the second event occurring on Oct. 23. That October event will be visible primarily from Canada and the United States. Tuesday's event also came on the heels of a total lunar eclipse on April 15. The next moon eclipse will be a total lunar eclipse on Oct. 8. (www.space.com)
And so it is with natural phenomena: In April, a lunar eclipse is soon followed by a solar eclipse, and this pattern repeats itself a few months from now, in October... Wild!
And... simply amazing... and inspiring.
This Thursday, have a Happy May Day... and remember: Change is good!
