The Elements, Their Elementals, Guardians, And Watch Towers.

This is another thing that annoys the hell out of me to no end. Why people just blindly follow what some books say, without doing any research for themselves. Ask the Elements themselves.

The truth of the matter is that the Elements Directions are not interchangeable, no matter what.

the element of earth

Earth

The basis and foundation of all the elements is the Earth. The Earth is the object; subject and receptacle of all celestial rays and influences and in it are the seeds of all things. It is made fruitful by the other elements and the heavens, and brings forth all things of itself. It is the first fountain from whence all things spring; it is the centre, foundation and mother of all things.

Earth is the element of stability, foundations and of the body. The Earth is the realm of wisdom, knowledge, strength, growth and prosperity. It is also the physical Earth on which we live and the very heart of life. It is essential in spells and rituals of prosperity, business, fertility and stability. Earth is a feminine element and governs stone and knot magick.

The Earth can be viewed as our mother, with its fertile and nurturing farmland, providing all Earth’s creatures with nourishment and shelter. The earth takes on qualities of the other elements, whether it is the dry, dusty and hot aspects of Fire and Air, as is found in deserts. Or the moist and fluid aspects of Water, in swamps, marshlands and fens. In its physical manifestations, such as stones, rocks, crystals and gems, the element of Earth represents the densest of the elements.

The Earth is the womb from which all things spring, pressing your hand against fresh soil, you can feel its vitality, stability and earthiness. In its fertile soil, we’ve grown the food that provides life, on its surface we live out our lives, and when the time to return to the Goddess and God comes, we are interred in the earth.

We couldn’t exist in this form without the Earth. But our planet is simply a manifestation of this element on the physical plane, each of the elements exist in the astral planes as pure energy. This Earth energy not only exists within ourselves but also throughout the universe at large.

The Element Earth and its Natural Qualities

The elements of Earth is a heavy, passive element and is contrary to air. It is associated with the qualities of darkness, thickness and quietness.

Correspondences

DIRECTION: North – the place of greatest darkness. TYPE OF ENERGY: Receptive. BASIC NATURE: Fertile, moist, nurturing, stabilizing, grounding. Gravity is a manifestation of this element. COLOR: Green – from the color of living plants PLACES: Caves, canyons, forests, groves, valleys, fields, farms, gardens, parks, plant nurseries, farmer’s markets, kitchens, baby nurseries, basements, mines, holes. RITUALS: Money, prosperity, fertility, stability, grounding, employment. RITUAL FORMS: Burying, planting, making images in soil or sand. HERBS: Earth-smelling plants, such as patchouly and vetivert; mosses and lichens; nuts; dry and stiff plants; heavy, low-growing plants; generally roots. STONES: Heavy or opaque, as in coal; green, as in emerald and peridot. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT: Drum, all percussion instruments. CREATURES: Dogs, horse, earthworm, gopher, ant, cow, burrowing animals. SEASON: Winter – the time of darkness. TIME: Night. MAGICKAL TOOL: Pentacle. SENSE: Touch. NATURAL SYMBOLS: Salt, clay dish of fresh soil, rocks, sheaves of wheat, acorns. TYPES OF MAGICK RULES: Gardening, magnet, image, stone, tree, knot, binding. GODDESSES: Ceres, Demeter, Gaea, Mah, Nephthys, Persephone, Prithivi, Rhea, Rhiannon. GODS: Adonis, Athos, Arawn, Cernunnos, Dionysus, Marduk, Pan, Tammuz.


the element of fire

Fire

The element of Fire is both creative and destructive, its qualities are Brightness, Thinness and Motion and its mode is Active. It is fire that we and our ancestors used to warm our homes, we use it to cook our food, we sit around it to ward of the darkness of night, and it fuels our passions. Fire, unlike the other elements, does not exist in a natural state. Its physical form can only take place by consuming some other element. Fire is the transformer, converting the energy of other objects into other forms: heat, light, ash, and smoke.

To feel the manifestations of this power, go out on on sunny day and feel the warmth and light of the Sun, hear the crackling of logs and smell of smoke from a burning fire. As you gaze into the transformational flame of a candle, immerse yourself in the energy of Fire. Fire is the natural element of animals and mankind, and they “have, in their natures, a most fiery force, and also spring from celestial sources.”

In order to gain benefit from the energy of this element, we need to control Fire’s destructive aspect. When we light a candle, we are not only calling upon the energy of Fire, we are also limiting its power. This destructive aspect should not be seen as negative, forest fires, actually help, clearing away underbrush and encouraging seeds lying dormant within the Earth to burst forth into new life.

Fire is a masculine element, its aspects being change, passion, creativity, motivation, will power, drive and sensuality. It is sexuality, both physical and spiritual. Fire is used in spells, rituals and candle magick for healing, purification, sex, breaking bad habits or destroying illness and disease. Fire is the element of authority and leadership.

The properties of Fire, Heat, Making things fruitful, Celestial light, Giving Life to all things. Its opposite the Infernal Fire are a parching heat, consuming all things and darkness, making all things barren.

The Element Fire and its Natural Qualities

The elements of Fire is a light, active element and is contrary to Water. It is associated with the qualities of brightness, thinness and motion.

Correspondences

DIRECTION: East – the place of sunrise. TYPE OF ENERGY: Projective. BASIC NATURE: Purifying, destructive, cleansing, energetic, sexual, forceful. Heat is a manifestation of this element. COLOR: Red – from the color of flames. PLACES: Deserts, hot springs, volcanoes, ovens, fireplaces, bedrooms (for sex), weight rooms, locker rooms, saunas, athletic fields. RITUALS: Protection, courage, sex, energy, strength, authority, banishing negativity. RITUAL FORMS: Burning or smouldering; heating. HERBS: Stinging, thorny or hot, as thistles, chilli peppers and bouganvillia; desert-dwelling, as cacti; stimulating, as coffee beans; generally seeds. STONES: Red or fiery, as in jasper; volcanic, as in lava; clear, as in quartz crystal. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT: Guitar, all stringed instruments. CREATURES: Snake, cricket, lizard, praying mantis, ladybug, bee, scorpion, shark. SEASON: Summer – the time of heat. TIME: Noon. MAGICKAL TOOL: Knife/Athame. SENSE: Sight. NATURAL SYMBOLS: Flame, lava, a heated object. TYPES OF MAGICK RULES: Candle, storm, time and star. GODDESSES: Brigit, Pele, Vesta. GODS: Agni, Hepaetus, Horus, Promtheus, Vulcan.


the element of air

Air

The element of Air is vital to human survival, without it we would all perish, its aspects are Thinness, Motion and Darkness and its quality is Active. Air is the manifestation of movement, freshness, communication and of the intelligence. Sound is another manifestation of this element. As an element, it is invisible, but its reality can be felt in the air that we breathe in every day.

To connect with the power of this element, find a place with clean air and breathe deeply, touch a feather or inhale the fragrance of a heavily scented flower. Let yourself experience the energy of this element, and reflect that we also possess Air energy within ourselves.

In magickal terms, Air is the power of the mind, the force of intellect, inspiration, imagination. It is ideas, knowledge, dreams and wishes. Air is the element of new life and new possibilities and is essential to spells and rituals of travel, instruction, finding lost items, some types of divination, and freedom. Air aids us in visualization, a vital technique in magick.

Air is a masculine element and governs the magick of the four winds. It is the vital spirit passing through all things, giving life to all things, moving and filling all things. Thus Hebrew doctors ascribe it not as an element but as a medium or glue that binds all things together.

The Element Air and its Natural Qualities

The elements of Air is a light, active element and is contrary to Earth. It is associated with the qualities of darkness, thinness and motion.

Correspondences

DIRECTION: South – the place of heat and breezes. TYPE OF ENERGY: Projective. BASIC NATURE: Flying, moving, fresh, intelligent, suspending. Sound is a manifestation of this element. COLOR: Yellow – the yellow of the sun, the sky at dawn PLACES: Mountaintops, wind-swept plains, cloudy skies, high towers, airports, schools, libraries, offices, travel agencies, psychiatrist’s offices. RITUALS: Travel, instruction, study, freedom, knowledge, recovering lost items. RITUAL FORMS: Tossing objects into the air, suspending tools in high places, fanning light objects, visualization, positive thinking. HERBS: Fragrant, as many flowers; pungent, as in culinary herbs such as dill; airy, finely-veined, or wind-swept; generally leaves. STONES: Light stones, such as pumice; transparent stones, such as mica. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT: Flute, all wind instruments. CREATURES: Spider, most birds, winged insects. SEASON: Spring – the time of freshness. TIME: Dawn. MAGICKAL TOOL: Wand. SENSE: Hearing, smell. NATURAL SYMBOLS: A feather, incense smoke, fragrant flowers. TYPES OF MAGICK RULES: Divination, concentration, visualization, wind magick. GODDESSES: Aradia, Arianrhod, Cardea, Nuit, Urania. GODS: Enlil, Kheohera, Mercurym, Shu, Thoth.



the element of water

Water

Water, is a great necessity, without it nothing can live. Only earth and water can bring forth a living soul. Such is the greatness of water that spiritual regeneration cannot be done without it.

Thales of Miletus concluded that water was the beginning of all things and the first of all elements and most potent because of its mastery over the rest. Pliny said “Water swallow up the earth, extinguishes the flame, ascends on high, and by stretching forth as clouds challenges the heavens for their own, and the same falling down, becomes the cause of all things that grow in the earth.

Water is a cleansing, healing, psychic, and loving element. It is the feeling of friendship and love the pours over us when we are with our family, friends and loved ones. When we swim it is water that supports us, when we are thirsty, it is water the quenches our thirst, another manifestation of this element is the rainstorms that drench us, or the dew formed on plants after the sun has set.

The power of the energy of Water, can be felt by tasting pure spring water, moving you hand through a stream, lake, pool, or bowl full of water. You can feel its cool liquidity; it’s soft and loving touch, this motion and fluidity is the quality of Air within Water. This Water energy, is also contained within ourselves, our bodies being mostly composed of Water.

As well as being vital for life, within the energy of this element is contained the essence of love. Love is the underlying reason for all magick. Water is love.

Water is a feminine element, it also the element of emotion and subconscious, of purification, intuition, mysteries of the self, compassion and family. It is psychic ability, water can be used as a means of scrying or as an object for meditation. Water is important in spells and rituals of friendship, marriage, happiness, fertility, healing, pleasure, psychic abilities and spells involving mirrors.

The Element Water and its Natural Qualities

The elements of Water is a heavy, passive element and is contrary to Fire. It is associated with the qualities of darkness, thickness and motion.

Correspondences

DIRECTION: West – the place of the setting sun. TYPE OF ENERGY: Receptive. BASIC NATURE: Flowing, purifying, healing, soothing, loving. COLOR: Blue – from the hue of deep water PLACES: Lakes, springs, streams, rivers, beaches, oceans, wells, swimming pools, bathtubs, showers, bedrooms (for sleep), health spas, steam rooms, fountains. RITUALS: Purification, love, psychic awareness, dreams, sleep, peace, marriage, friendships. RITUAL FORMS: Dilution, placing into water, washing away, bathing. HERBS: Aquatic, such as water lilies and seaweed; fleshy, as in succulents and lettuce; loving, as in rose and gardenia; generally flowers. STONES: Transparent or translucent, as in amethyst and aquamarine; blue, as in blue tourmaline. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT: Cymbal, bell, all resonant metals. CREATURES: Cat, frog, turtle, dolphin, whale, otter, seal, dugong; most fish and shellfish. SEASON: Autumn – the time of harvest. TIME: Dusk. MAGICKAL TOOL: Cup, the cauldron. SENSE: Taste. NATURAL SYMBOLS: Shells, a cup of water. TYPES OF MAGICK RULES: Sea, ice, snow, fog, mirror, magnet. GODDESSES: Aphrodite, Isis, Mariamne, Mari, Tiamat, Yemaya. GODS: Dylan, Ea, Manannan, Osiris, Neptune, Poseidon.


the element of spirit

The Fifth Element – Akasha – Spirit

Akasha is a kind of super-element: the binding force between the other elements ( sounds like gluons from particle theory), or demi-goddess or, for that sake: if you want to look at it from a scientific point of view, a kind of black hole that emanates and absorbs energy/matter. Akasha is the fifth element, the binding part that runs through all matter, and it is also the collective unconscious of life-forms. The word itself is Persian/East Indian and means ‘inner space’.

There is a thing called the “akashic records” essentially this is an ethereal field of collective knowledge that may be accessed by those who train or have the natural ability to do so. Is it really possible to access the Akashic Records? To access this collective knowledge of all things past, present and future that existed in the divine? Chaos magicians in San Francisco visualize a gigantic quantum computer with access to all information. They can frame a question and wait for the computer to give them an answer

Akasha and Qualities

The Elements emerge from Akasha, the immutable, changeless source of all energy. This is the realm of potentiality: of promise, of paths not yet taken, of unformed galaxies, of outer space.

Akasha is also present within our bodies. Some say that the spark of life, that unknowable force that is called the “soul,” is a bit of Akashic energy housed in the physical body.

Akasha is sometimes thought to be symbolically present on the Earth. More often it’s seen as the Mother (Creatrix) of the elements. It’s little used in natural magick, but something of its nature should be understood.

Primarily, Akasha is unbeingness. Its energy, which extends everywhere throughout the universe, has not yet achieved form and substance. It’s the primal source of energy that creates and fuels the elements.

Because of this, it contains complete, balanced energy: Earth and Air and Fire and Water. The following table of Akashic associations points out its universal nature, and is not meant to be used for magickal purposes.

Correspondences

DIRECTION: Center. Where this Element brings all other four elements together, closing and binding the circle. Basic nature: unknowable; Type of energy: projective/receptive; Colour: purple or black; Places: outer space, vacuums, the Void; Types of rituals: religious in nature; Ritual forms: none; Herbs: none; Stones: none; Metal: meteoritic; Musical instrument: none; Creatures: none (and yet all); Direction: north, east south and west, also within and without, up and down, also a complete lack of directions and dimensions Time: eternal starlight; Astrological signs: none; Magical tool: none; Point in life: pre-conception, soulness; Sense: none; Natural symbols: none; Symbols for: none; Types of magic ruled: religious


And just for fun.

The Elements Of Magick

“Attuning and working with these energies in magic not only lends you the power to affect dramatic changes in your life, it also allows you to sense your own place in the larger scheme of Nature.”

Scott Cunningham, Earth Power

The four creative energies of the universe.

Each of these creative elements are necessary for human life, the each have both positive and negative aspects The Earth without Water to moisten it, without Fire to warm it, and without Air to surround it, would be a lifeless planet. The elements work in harmony, even though at times their contrary aspects may seem in conflict with each other, to create and to sustain life. The elements exist in a physical form, such as a handful of soil, and in an unmanifested, non-physical form or energy. All the elements emerge from Akasha, the source of all energy.

The Elements and Ritual Magick.

To the ancient civilizations, the universe was divided into four basic principles, energies or elements, these being Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. With the advances in Chemistry, we know that there are more than these four elements, however, these four basic elemental principles are still accepted in Ritual Magick.

These basic principles are more attuned to emotions, the psyche and nature, than with the modern explanations of the world. The elements and their correspondences are also important in Astrology. In the Astral World or Planes, the elements are more forces or qualities of energy rather than manifestations of physical forms. In Western Mystery traditions the elements were each assigned a symbol and colour as shown below.

Earth Water Fire Air

The Eastern tattvic system uses different symbols and colors for these basic elements. When used within Ceremonial or Ritual Magick, the elements are associated with the directions, North , East, South and West and also with various ritual tools, for example, the Athame is associated with Fire.

Magick sees relationships between emotions, objects, actions, qualities and symbols, these relationships are called ‘correspondences’. These magical correspondences are not meant as literal equations to one and other, but it may help if you think of them in that manner, such as Gold = Sun = Fire.

Aleister Crowley’s ‘777’, contains many tables of these relationships or ‘Correspondence Tables’. Thus, an emotion, object, action, quality or symbol is used to suggest another. When used in Ritual Magick, the Magician surrounds himself with appropriate symbols and correspondences. These sensory correspondences and symbols, affect the senses, in the hope that the Magickal contact with the inner and astral planes become more lucid and powerful.

Of The Four Elements and their Natural Qualities

The Elements are the original base elements of all corporeal things, of which all other things are made, by transmutation and union.

Contrary Elements

Fire - Water Earth - Air

The two heavy elements being Earth and Water and are Passives. The two light elements being Air and Fire are Actives. Plato ascribes the following qualities to the Elements :- Fire, Brightness, Thinness, Motion and Earth Darkness, Thickness, Quietness. These two are likewise contrary.

The other two Elements acquire properties from the other two. So Air receives two qualities from Fire Thinness and Motion and one from Earth Darkness. Water receives two qualities from Earth Darkness and Thickness and one from Fire Motion.

Elemental Cycle.

Fire – Air Air – Water Water – Earth Earth – Water Water – Air Air – Fire

First Order Pure Elements which are neither compounded, changed or mixed by are incorruptible

Second Order Elements that are compounded, changeable and impure, yet by art may be reduced to their pure form.

Third Order These are not elements themselves, but twice compounded, various and changeable into another. These are the infallible medium and are called middle nature.

Elementals Elementals are usually only visible to those with clairvoyant sight and are more likely to be seen at night in the mountains or country away from cities — especially if you are tired or sleepy. Although elementals exist naturally, it is also possible to create one which will exist for a limited time — no elemental has immortality. A created elemental is called an ‘artificial elemental’.

To the Ancients, elementals were the physical explanation of the universe. However, some contemporary occultists see them only as symbols for forces and otherwise not ‘real’ at all. Another word sometimes used for elemental is ‘familiar’ (usually in medieval witchcraft); the term is ambiguous, as it might merely be an ordinary household pet such as a dog or cat.

Traditions: Old Vs. New. The Truth About Black And White Magick.

Traditions:

Ancient Practices (Pre-Christian. Meaning before ALL other belief systems).

Every Ancient Tradition has its own history and traditions. As most would not do this, I do combine some of mine. Most are not combined and celebrated or done separately. I do celebrate the Sabbats, major and minor. But I celebrate them in their Ancient traditions or not at all. Which is why I have a list of the Ancient Traditions that I am studying or trying to study. Trying to find Non, neo, new age, wicca information is difficult.

 

Neo, New Age, Wicca is NOT the same thing as Modern or Ancient Paganism. Even modern Paganism is different than Ancient Paganism. No, I do NOT study neo, new age, wicca or modern Paganism. No offense but it serves nothing but to teach fluff bunny nonsense.

 

That everything is love and light. It teaches nothing about balance. The true nature of Nature and Magick. There is no such thing as white or black magick. Its what we do that changes this. Its what we intend that changes the nature of magick. Magick cannot truly pick a side because, Magick just IS!

 

Black is the very darkest color, the result of the absence of absorption of light. Black is both positive and negative. It is the opposite of white. White is the color of light that contains all of the wavelengths of the visible spectrum without absorption. It is the opposite if black. Anything can be positive or negative, depending on your personal outlook.

The Proper Way Of Earning Titles In Practices

The Proper Way:

There are proper and improper ways of earning titles in all practices.

 

Earning a High Priestess, Priestess, High Priest, Priest title can NOT be done in anything less than 13-15 yrs (For Priestess/Priest) and another 13-15 yrs (For High Priestess/Priest). and yet another 13-20 yrs (For Crone).

 

That is just how it is. Two, five, seven years in some online college (or reading some books, blogs, or any online information) does not make you a Priestess/Priest or High Priestess/Priest. This is just one of the many reasons that the Ancient practitioners are moving away from Paganism and or the terminology.

 

Not to mention why Ancient practitioners are so tight lipped about sharing their practices and traditions with new people, because of the over use, misuse, and on and on.

 

All these people who think that two, five, seven years can replace decades of study, practice, and research. It can't and never will. In all honesty? Someone thinking that after anything less than the required number of years makes them equal to practitioners that have been studying and practicing for decades (or their entire lives) is an insult. A Great Insult at that.

 

The reason I say this is because those of us that have dedicated our lives to studying and practicing have busted our butts to get where we are. How is it fair, hell even right to call some child that's spent 2-10 yrs studying and practicing, and think they are a High Priestess?

While we spent 20-25 yrs studying and practicing, after 13-15 yrs you earn your Priestess title, then another 13-15 yrs for your High Priestess title, and yet another 13-20 yrs for Crone. Some little kid with not even a quarter of these experiences, practices, studying and learning rivals us? You have lost your mind.

 

If you find this offensive I apologize, but as a High Priestess that has been studying and practicing her entire life (almost from the instant I was born).

 

I have to say this, I would be doing a dis-service if I did not. I'm not being snobby, elitist or anything else. I am simply telling the facts and how it is.

Pentagram Vs. Pentacle

This is something that personally irritates the hell out of me.

The Pentagram Vs. The Pentacle.

The words, meanings, interpretations, symbols seems to be interchangeable. However, the truth of the matter is that they are not.

Pentagram:

 

A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha or pentangle or a star pentagon) is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes and a circle around it.

 

Pentagrams were used as an important religious symbol by the Babylonians and by the Pythagoreans in ancient Greece. Pentagrams are used today as a symbol of faith by many Neo-pagans, and may be found in jewelry incorporating the symbol. Several faiths also associate the pentagram with magic.

 

Etymology:

 

The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon), a noun form of πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos) or πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos), a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines", from πέντε (pente), "five" + γραμμή (grammē), "line".

The word "pentacle" is sometimes used synonymously with "pentagram", and this usage is borne out by the Oxford English Dictionary, although that work specifies that a circumscription makes the shape more particularly a pentacle. Pagans and Neo-pagans often make use of this more specific definition for a pentagram enclosed in a circle.

 

 

Early history:

 

Sumer:

 

The first known uses of the pentagram are found in Mesopotamian writings dating to about 3000 BC. The Sumerian pentagrams served as pictograms for the word "UB" meaning "corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall", suggesting something very similar to the pentemychos (see below on the Pythagorean use for what pentemychos means). In René Labat's index system of Sumerian hieroglyphs/pictograms it is shown with two points up. In the Babylonian context, the edges of the pentagram were probably orientations: forward, backward, left, right, and "above". These directions also had an astrological meaning, representing the five planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Venus as the "Queen of Heaven" (Ishtar) above.

Pythagoreans:

 

The Pythagoreans called the pentagram ὑγιεία Hugieia ("health"; also the Greek goddess of health, Hygieia), and saw in the pentagram a mathematical perfection (see Geometry section below).

The ancient Pythagorean pentagram, with two legs up, represented the Pentemychos (πεντέμυχος "of five sanctuaries"), a cosmogony written by Pythagoras' teacher and friend Pherecydes of Syros. It was the "island" or "cave" where the first pre-cosmic-offspring had to be put in order for the cosmos to appear: "the divine products of Chronos' seed [σπέρμα spérma], when disposed in five recesses, were called πεντέμυχος (Pentemychos)".

Wu Xing:

 

Representation of the Chinese five phases, or elements (Wǔ Xíng)

Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: Wǔ Xíng), the five phases, or five elements, is an ancient Chinese mnemonic and symbolic figure widely known in East Asia and used traditionally in applications such as medicine, acupuncture, feng shui, and Taoism. They are similar to the ancient Greek elements, with more emphasis on their cyclic transformation than on their material aspects. The five phases are: Fire (火 huǒ), Earth (土 tǔ), Metal (金 jīn), Water (水 shuǐ), and Wood (木 mù).

 

The vectors of the overcoming or controlling cycle visually form a pentagram which is commonly incorporated into depictions. Generative and destructive cycles are shown as clockwise and counter-clockwise circular motion.

 

controlling cycle

wood breaks earth, earth absorbs water, water douses fire, fire melts metal, metal splits wood.

 

generative cycle

wood feeds fire, fire makes earth, earth bears metal, metal collects water, water nourishes wood.

 

destructive cycle

wood absorbs water, water rusts metal, metal breaks earth, earth smothers fire, fire burns wood.

 

 

European occultism:

 

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and others perpetuated the popularity of the pentagram as a magic symbol, attributing the five neoplatonic elements to the five points, in typical Renaissance fashion. By the mid-19th century a further distinction had developed amongst occultists regarding the pentagram's orientation. With a single point upwards it depicted spirit presiding over the four elements of matter, and was essentially "good". However, the influential writer Eliphas Levi called it evil whenever the symbol appeared the other way up.

"A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates."

"The flaming star, which, when turned upside down, is the hierolgyphic [sic] sign of the goat of Black Magic, whose head may be drawn in the star, the two horns at the top, the ears to the right and left, the beard at the bottom. It is the sign of antagonism and fatality. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns."
"Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result."

 

 

Bahá'í Faith:

The five-pointed star is a symbol of the Bahá'í Faith. In the Bahá'í Faith, the star is known as the Haykal (Arabic: "temple"‎), and it was initiated and established by the Báb. The Báb and Bahá'u'lláh wrote various works in the form of a pentagram.

 

Christianity:

 

The pentagram was used in ancient times as a Christian symbol for the five senses. Medieval Christians believed that the "pentalpha" symbolizes the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram was believed to protect against demons.

A Christian use of the pentangle occurs in the 14th-century English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which the symbol decorates the shield of the hero, Gawain. The unnamed poet credits the symbol's origin to King Solomon, and says the symbol is key to understanding the work. The poet explains that each of the five interconnected points represents a virtue tied to a group of five. Gawain is keen in his five senses, dextrous in his five fingers, faithful to the salvation provided through the Five Wounds of Christ, takes courage from the five joys that Mary had of Jesus, and exemplifies the five virtues of knighthood.

The Latter Day Saint Movement:

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began using both upright and inverted five-pointed stars in Temple architecture, dating from the Nauvoo Illinois Temple, which was dedicated on 30 April 1846. Other temples decorated with five-pointed stars in both orientations include the Salt Lake Temple, and the Logan Utah Temple. These symbols come from the symbolism found in Revelation chapter 12, which says, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

 

Paganism:

 

A typical Pagan pentagram (circumscribed).

Many Pagans, Neopagans, and Wiccans, use the pentagram as a symbol of faith similar to the Christian cross or the Jewish Star of David. Its religious symbolism is commonly explained by reference to the neo-Pythagorean understanding that the five vertices of the pentagram represent the four elements with the addition of Spirit as the uppermost point. As a representation of the elements, the pentagram is involved in the Wiccan practice of summoning the elemental spirits of the four directions at the beginning of a ritual.

The outer circle of the circumscribed pentagram is sometimes interpreted as binding the elements together or bringing them into harmony with each other. The Pagan pentagram is generally displayed with one point up, partly because of the "inverted" goat's head pentagram's association with Satanism; however, within traditional forms of Wicca a pentacle (no circle) with two points up is associated with the Second Degree Initiation and in this way differs from the encircled pentacle inverted of Satanism.

Because of a perceived association with Satanism and also because of negative societal attitudes towards Pagans religions and the "occult", many United States schools have sought to prevent students from displaying the pentagram on clothing or jewelry. In public schools, such actions by administrators have been determined to be in violation of students' First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

The circle around a pentagram is a symbol of "unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, and protection. To earth-centered religions throughout history as well as to many contemporary pagans, it represents the feminine spirit or force, the cosmos or a spiritualism Mother Earth, and a sacred space." The five-pointed star is representative of the four primal elements (earth, air, fire and water), and traditionally a fifth, called spirit or Akasha. The circle binds them together to create life. When pointing up, the pentagram can represent spirituality's dominance over the material (pentagram) bound inside the laws of the cosmos (circle). The upside-down facing pentagram, meanwhile, represents the physical world ruling over the spiritual, and has therefore been associated with dark magic. Other sources point to its origin in Chinese five-element philosophy (see feng shui), as the natural balance between fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. This theory states that the direction it is pointing has nothing to do with good or evil, but rather the upside-down facing circle is for banishing. The circle is again for the concept the power within is bound by, this time for the circle of life.

 

Use on United States soldiers' tombstones:

 

After a ten year legal battle, the encircled pentagram (referred to as a pentacle by the plaintiffs) was added to the list of 38 approved religious symbols to be placed on the tombstones of fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on 24 April 2007. The decision was made following ten applications from families of fallen soldiers who practiced Wicca. The government paid the families $225,000 to settle their pending lawsuits.

 

Satanism:

 

A goat's head inscribed in a downward-pointing pentagram, from La Clef de la Magie Noire by the Rosicrucian Stanislas de Guaita (1897).

Satanists use a pentagram with two points up, often inscribed in a double circle, with the head of a goat inside the pentagram. This is referred to as the Sigil of Baphomet. They use it much the same way as the Pythagoreans, as Tartaros literally translates from Greek as a "Pit" or "Void" in Christian terminology (the word is used as such in the Bible, referring to the place where the fallen angels are fettered). The Pythagorean Greek letters are most often replaced by the Hebrew letters לויתן forming the name Leviathan. Less esoteric LaVeyan Satanists use it as a sign of rebellion or religious identification, the three downward points symbolising rejection of Trinity.

Thelema:

 

Aleister Crowley also made use of the pentagram and in his Thelemic system of magick: an adverse or inverted pentagram represents the descent of spirit into matter, according to the interpretation of Lon Milo DuQuette. Crowley contradicted his old comrades in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who, following Levi, considered this orientation of the symbol evil and associated it with the triumph of matter over spirit.

 

 

Pentacle:



A pentacle (or pantacle in Thelema) is an amulet used in magical evocation, generally made of parchment, paper or metal (although it can be of other materials), on which the symbol of a spirit or energy being evoked is drawn. It is often worn around the neck, or placed within the triangle of evocation. Protective symbols may also be included (sometimes on the reverse), a common one being the five-point form of the Seal of Solomon, called a pentacle of Solomon or pentangle of Solomon. Many varieties of pentacle can be found in the grimoires of Solomonic magic; they are also used in some pagan, neopagan, and wiccan magical traditions, alongside other magical tools.

The words pentacle and pentagram (a five-point circular star) are essentially synonymous, according to the Online Oxford English Dictionary (2007 revision), which traces the etymology through both French and Italian back to Latin, but notes that in Middle French the word "pentacle" was used to refer to any talisman. In an extended use, many magical authors treat them as distinct. In many tarot decks and in some forms of modern witchcraft, pentacles often prominently incorporate a pentagram in their design.

There is a specific differentiation between pentacle and pentagram within Wicca and other re-constructionist systems. Namely, a pentacle refers to a pentagram without the circle. This form of pentacle is formed upon a disk which may be used either upon an altar or as a sacred space of its own. The pentacle is representative of the Earth in occult usage.

 

Etymology:

 

According to the current Oxford English Dictionary, the word pentacle comes from the Middle French pentacle: 'a talisman, most often in the form of a five-pointed star'. This in turn comes from the post-classical Latin pentaculum, from penta- ('fivefold') + -culum (diminutive suffix).

Earlier editions of the OED give the same etymology, but also say that "some would connect it" with the Middle French word pentacol (1328) or pendacol (1418), a jewel or ornament worn around the neck (from pend- hang, à to, col or cou neck). This is the derivation the Theosophical Society employ in their glossary:

...it seems most likely that it comes through Italian and French from the root pend- "to hang," and so is equivalent to a pendant or charm hung about the neck. From the fact that one form of pentacle was the pentagram (star with an enclosed circle) or star-pentagon, the word itself has been connected with the Greek pente (five).
The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft states that the name pentacle has a few possible etymological sources including a tray for bread ("pain" in French) which may relate to the practice during the burning times of covering a bread plate with wax inscribed with symbols that could be dissolved at will should an inquisition or other persons hostile to the use of the pentacle enter the home.

 

 

Pentacles as magical objects:

 

Pentacles, despite the sound of the word, often had no connotation of "five" in the old magical texts, but were, rather, magical talismans inscribed with any symbol or character. When they incorporated star-shaped figures, these were more often hexagrams than pentagrams.[citation needed] Pentacles showing a great variety of shapes and images appear in the old magical grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon; as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa summarises it, their use was to "fore-know all future things, & command whole nature, have power over devils, and Angels, and do miracles." Agrippa attributes Moses' feats of magic in part to his knowledge of various pentacles.

 

A Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy (c. 1565) spuriously attributed to Agrippa gives detailed instructions as to how pentacles should be formulated:

 

But we now come to speak of the holy and sacred Pentacles and Sigils. Now these pentacles, are as it were certain holy signes preserving us from evil chances and events, and helping and assisting us to binde, exterminate, and drive away evil spirits, and alluring the good spirits, and reconciling them unto us. And these pentacles do consist either of Characters of the good spirits of the superiour order, or of sacred pictures of holy letters or revelations, with apt and fit versicles, which are composed either of Geometrical figures and holy names of God, according to the course and maner of many of them; or they are compounded of all of them, or very many of them mixt.

 

Francis Barrett, in his influential work The Magus of 1801 (Book 2, part 2), repeats these instructions almost verbatim.

Another common design employed in pentacles is a magic square, such as the Sator-Arepo-Tenet square.

 

In the Golden Dawn magical system, the Earth Pentacle is one of four elemental "weapons" or tools of an Adept. These weapons are "symbolical representations of the forces employed for the manifestation of the inner self, the elements required for the incarnation of the divine."

 

Other pentacles for the evocation of spirits are also employed in the Golden Dawn system; these are engraved with the name and sigil of the spirit to be invoked.

 

The circle(s) are to bond and bind your ritual and whoever you are summoning. Which turns it from a pentacle to a pentagram.

Also inside three concentric circles, having painted on their reverse a circle and cross like a celtic cross.

 

According to Aleister Crowley's instructions for the A∴A∴, the pentacle is a disc of wax, gold, silver-gilt or Electrum Magicum, eight inches diameter and half an inch thick; the Neophyte should "by his understanding and ingenium devise a symbol to represent the Universe", and engrave this on the disc.

 

There is, therefore, nothing movable or immovable under the whole firmament of heaven which is not included in this pantacle, though it be but 'eight inches in diameter, and in thickness half an inch.' Fire is not matter at all; water is a combination of elements; air almost entirely a mixture of elements; earth contains all both in admixture and in combination. So must it be with this Pantacle, the symbol of earth.

 

A pentacle is also employed as a magical tool within paganism, neo-paganism and other modern forms of witchcraft, generally to summon certain energies or summon spirits.

Method of employment:

 

In many old grimoires dealing with magical evocation, the pentacle is described as being hung about the neck, providing protection and authority to the operator. Johannes Trithemius has the magician donning the pentacle just before casting the protective circle:

Then taking your ring and pentacle, put the ring on the little finger of your right hand; hang the pentacle round thy neck; (Note, the pentacle may be either wrote on clean virgin parchment, or engraven on a square plate of silver and suspended from thy neck to the breast)....

One version of the Key of Solomon mentions both a "Great Pentacle" which is drawn in a book, as well as a collection of other pentacles which are drawn in ink on separate pieces of parchment for use as amulets:

 

Thou shalt preserve them to suspend from thy neck, whichever thou wilt, on the day and hour wherein thou wast born, after which thou shalt take heed to name every day ten times, the Name which is hung from thy neck, turning towards the East, and thou mayest be assured that no enchantment or any other danger shall have power to harm thee.

 

The pentacle is of central importance in the evocation of spirits. A fairly typical evocation involves a series of conjurations of increasing potency, each involving the display of the pentacle:

 

... If they then immediately appear, it is well; if not, let the master uncover the consecrated pentacles which he should have made to constrain and command the spirits, and which he should wear fastened round his neck, holding the medals (or pentacles) in his left hand, and the consecrated knife in his right; and encouraging his companions, he shall say with a loud voice: Here be the symbols of secret things, the standards, the ensigns, and the banners, of God the conqueror; and the arms of the almighty One, to compel the aerial potencies. I command ye absolutely by their power and virtue that ye come near unto us, into our presence, from whatsoever part of the world ye may be in, and that ye delay not to obey us in all things wherein we shall command ye by the virtue of God the mighty One. Come ye promptly, and delay not to appear, and answer us with humility.If they appear at this time, show them the pentacles, and receive them with kindness, gentleness, and courtesy; reason and speak with them, question them, and ask from them all things which thou hast proposed to demand.But if, on the contrary, they do not yet make their appearance, holding the consecrated knife in the right hand, and the pentacles being uncovered by the removal of their consecrated covering, strike and beat the air with the knife as if wishing to commence a combat, comfort and exhort thy companions, and then in a loud and stern voice repeat the following conjuration: ...

 

Once the spirit has appeared and been constrained, the pentacle is covered again, but is uncovered whenever demands are made of the spirit or when it is compelled to depart.

 

In the Golden Dawn system, the pentacles are not suspended from the neck, but wrapped in a cloth covering; instead of a "pentacle", the magician wears fastened to their breast a "Lamen", which serves among other things as a magical shield.

 

 

There is a difference between the two, and they are not interchangeable.

 

A Pentagram is and always will be a star with a circle.

 

And..

 

A Pentacle is and will always be a star without a circle.

The Sabbats Part I

Sabbats

“The Old Ways”

Samhain, Sahmhayn, Sowin, Sahvin
 (Oct 29/30 12M-Nov 1st 12 M)

Has many meanings. Among these, it marks
 the end of the third and final harvest, it is
 a day to commune with and remember
 the dead, and it is a celebration of the
 eternal cycle of reincarnation.
 It is also considered our New Year.
 There are two possible sources for
 the origin of the Samhain Sabbat’s
 name. One is from the Aryan G-d
 of Death, Samma, and the other
 is from the Irish Gaelic word
“samhraidhreadh,” which literally
 means “the summer’s end.”
Samhain marked the end of summer
 and the beginning of winter for
 the Celts, which the day after
 Samhain begin the official
 date of the Celtic New Year.
 The reason the Celts chose this
 point in time as their new year
 rather than Yule, when the rest
 of Western pagans celebrate it,
 was because the sun is at its
 lowest point on the horizon as measured
 by the ancient standing stones of
 Britain and Ireland.

In the European traditions, Samhain is the night
 when the old G-d dies, and the Crone
 Goddess mourns him deeply for the
 next six weeks. the popular image of her
 as the old Halloween hag menacingly
 stirring her cauldron comes from
 the Celtic belief that all the dead souls
 return to her cauldron of life, death,
 and rebirth to await reincarnation.
 The crone Goddess has been an object of fear
 and revulsion in modern societies, and this was
 definitely not the way our pagan ancestors
 viewed her, she was always revered as a
 woman of power whose vast stories of
 wisdom came with her great age and the
 life-long practice of her many skills.

Popular Contradiction

Samhain is popularly known today as
 halloween, a contraction of the word
“Hallowed Evening,” and it retains
 much of the original form and
 meaning it had long ago in Celtic
 lands, despite the efforts of the
 Church to turn it into an observance
 of feasting and prayer for their vast
 pantheon of saints. the Church began
 by calling it Michaelmas, the feast day
 of St. Michael, but the old Samhain holiday
 proved to be too potent a drawing card for
 one lone saint to combat. So it was renamed
 the Eve of All Saints, or All Hallows Eve,
 which precedes All Saint’s Day, and is
 still one of the holiest days in Catholicism.

Samhain is not, and never was, associated
 with evil or negativity. It has always been
 a time to reaffirm our belief in the oneness
 of all spirits, and in our firm resolution
 that physical death is not the final
 act of existence. The idea that evil
 spirits walk the earth at Samhain is a
 misinterpretation of the pagan belief
 that the veil of consciousness which
 separates the land of the living from
 the land of the dead at it thinnest
 on this night.

Food

Food and drink is prepared
 and served….
On Samhain night it is still custom in Ireland to
 place candles in the windows and leave plates
 of food for the visited spirits as well as
 the Goddess. It was this custom of
 leaving out food which evolved into our
 modern trick or treat.
 Candy should be
 a part of this celebration may have
 come from a long forgotten pagan
 observance of wishing the dead
 a sweet return to life in their next
 incarnation.  There are bonfires called
 balefires in paganism, were once
 lighted on every hilltop in Britain and
 Ireland as soon as the sun set on October 30.
 The fires serve the purpose of containing
 the energy of the dead g-d, lighting
 the dark night, warding off evil, ushering...

Unfinished.

Yule:
 The Winter Solstice
 (Dec 21/22)

 Is a time for mixed emotions for pagans. All
 around us we see evidence of the Christmas
 celebration, a religious holiday not a part
 of our traditions, but one which we know
 takes its form and meaning from
 ancient pagan practices. Virgin births,
 decorated trees, festive lights, feasting,
 wreaths, bells, and fragrant fires, were
 - and still are – at the heart of pagan
 Midwinter observances. When the Wheel
 of the Year brings us to Yule, the G-d (who
 died at Samhain) is reborn of the Virgin
 Goddess. the G-d is represented by the
 sun which “returns” after this darkest night
 of the year to again bring warmth and fertility
 to the land.The profusion of lights on houses
 and trees at Christmas is a modern version
 of the pagan custom of lighting candles and
 fires as acts of sympathetic magick to lure back
 the waning sun.  In Ireland and Norway it is still
 custom to leave lights burning all through the house
 on Yule night to not only lure back the sun, but also
 to honor the Virgin Goddess who gives him birth.

The word “virgin” is mistranslated and misrepresented
 by the early church enough to make even people today
 forget that the term had absolutely nothing to do
 with the hymen. The term “virgin” was first
 applied to priestesses in Mediterranean temples,
 particularly during Rome’s pagan period.
 the term identified a woman who was a
 complete entity unto herself, who was
 not bound by secular law, had no husband,
 and was free to take all the lovers she chose.
 She needed nothing else and no one else for
 completeness. In other words she was said to be
“intact” -a virgin. Some anthropologists believe Yule
 was first celebrated as a religious festival 12,000 years ago,
 and some claim it dates many millennia earlier.

In Norse tradition, Yule is a twelve-night-long
 celebration, a concept which probably came
 from the pagan Near East where it eventually
 became incorporated into the Christian myths.

The first Eve of Yule (the night before
 the Solstice) is called Mother Night, and is
 a night when Norse pagans sit up and await
 the rising and rebirth of their Sun Goddess,
 Freya.  It is also a night for spirit contact
 and celebration with one’s ancestors in
 much the same manner as the Celts
 observe Samhain. The Norse Goddess,
 Holde, guardian of the spirit world, opens her
 doors at yule to all sincere seekers. The
 final night of observance, called
“Twelfth Night,” became for a while a sort
 of ninth Sabbat on the Norse pagan calendar.
 The popular winter song “Twelve Days of Christmas”
no doubt has its roots in the blending of Norse
 and Celtic Yule customs.

In ancient Egypt, the Winter Solstice was not
 only a time to celebrate the rebirth of
 their Sun G-d, Ra, but to
 commemorate the creation of the universe
 as well.

The Wheel of the Year is often symbolized
 by the wreath. There is ample
 archaeological evidence to support
 the fact that wreaths have been used in
 this symbolic way for more than
 4,000 years. Its circle has no beginning
 and no end, thus illustrating that the
 Wheel of the Year is also like this, with
 everything in its time coming back to its
 point of origin and traveling onward,
 over and over again. The wreaths came to
 be used at Christmas through the influence
 of Scandinavian pagans who hung them at Yule
 (their New Year’s Eve) to commemorate a new
 beginning of the ever-moving cycle of life.

The Native Americans of the Southwest
 called Yule “Soyalanwul,” which
 means “to bring new life to the world.”
They aided the Sun’s birth with a birthing ritual
 which consisted of having one person, masked
 as the Sun G-d, crawling between the legs of the tribe’s women.

The Druids decorated evergreen trees at Yule
 with all the images of the things
 they wished the waxing year to hold for them.

In the Scandinavian traditions Yule trees
 and other greenery were brought inside,
 not only for the reasons previously mentioned,
 but also because they had wanted to provide
 a warm and festive winter’s resting
 place for the tree elementals who inhabited
 their woodlands.

The Yule log, another ancient symbol
 of the season, came to us from the
 Celtics. The logs, a phallic symbol,
 is usually cut from the G-d-related
 oak tree and carved into a small
 section which can be easily brought into
 a dwelling to be placed on a table or alter.
 Originally these logs, made of oak,
 were brought into homes with much
 dancing and ceremony before being
 lit in fireplaces. Later they became
 smaller alter relics sporting three
 holes, one each to represent the
 Triple Goddess.  These holes were
 bored into the top, and the log
 was “impregnated” with three candles.
 Sometimes the candles were all
 virgin white, or G-d red. Most
 often they were the Goddess’
triple-aspect colors of white, red, and black.
 The entire log was then decoratively
 covered with holly, mistletoe, and evergreens to
 represent the intertwining of the G-d and
 Goddess who are reunited on this Sabbat.

Foods, especially ones traditional to
 the Yule Sabbat, were of central
 importance at this holiday.

Music is another important part
 of Yule, and Christmas carols
 are yet another idea taken
 from paganism.
“Carols” are from an Old
 French word meaning “joyous songs,”
and were also the name of
 round dances celebrating the
 rebirth of the Frankish
 pagan g-ds.
 The English Christmas Carol
“Deck the Halls with Boughts of Holly”
contains no Christian religion image.
 In this carol, we sing of decorating
 with holly, singing Yuletide carols,
 dancing (“merry measure”), and
 the telling of pagan myths (“Yuletide treasure”).
Another example of such a song
 is the Old French carol
“I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In.”
the third verse contains the line,
“Three pretty girls were in them in….”
which clearly is a reference to the
 return of the Triple Goddess after
 her crone-age and period of mourning.

Imbolg/Embowlg/Imbolic/Oimelic
 (Feb 2)

Was not originally a Sabbat as we think
 of one today, but a special day set
 aside to honor the Goddess who
 was slowly turning the Wheel
 of the Year back to spring. Winter
 was a harsh season for our pagan
 ancestors, one during which many
 died of disease and malnutrition.
 Therefore, it is not surprising that
 most of the customs surrounding this
 Sabbat are designed as acts of
 sympathetic magick to lure
 back the sun, and speed up the
 coming of the balmy warm of
 spring. In Ireland where much of
 our lore originates, this was a
 holy day for honoring the
 Great Mother Goddess, Brigid,
 in her guise as the waiting
 bride of the youthful Sun
 G-d who was now returning to
 her.

(Unfinished).

Ēstra/Ostara
The Spring Equinox
(March 21)

Ēostre/Ostara was the name of the
 Virgin Goddess of Spring
 in ancient Germany. It is for her
 that this Sabbat is named.
 Ostara was a Sabbat of great
 importance in Greece, Rome,
 and in Nordic and Germanic lands,
 and it is from these traditions
 that the vast majority
 of out current Ostara customs
 come. Many of the equinox
 myths from these cultures
 concern trips by deities into
 the underworld, and their struggle
 to return from the Land of the
 Dead to earth. When they eventually
 do return to the world of the living,
 they have a new life, both
 literally and figuratively, and
 this idea if new life renewed
 plays heavily on the symbolism
 of the holiday. Some of these
 resurrected deities include Odin,
 Attis, Osiris, Dagda, Mithras,
 Orpheus, Hear, and Persephone.In keeping with the Church's
 early practice of grafting saintly
 feast says onto any pagan festival
 they  could not eradicate, it
 assigned St. Patrick his feast
 day near the time of the equinox.
 After being repeatedly being
 driven out of Ireland, Patrick's
 reformed procession was said to
 have arrived at Tara, the sea
 of government, to present
 his new faith to the High King
 on Easter Sunday.
 Easter itself falls near Ostara, and
 celebrates yet another resurrected
 deity.

At Ostara, the Teutons honored
 their Goddess of Spring, Eostre
 for whom the Christian holiday
 of Easter is named with feasting
 and a ritual. the Norse also
 honored their Virgin Goddess
 and celebrated her maiting
 with the young G-d, an
 event most pagan circles have
 moved to Beltaine. Sexual
 relations were almost obligatory
 on Ostara Eve, as was a communal
 meal featuring foods associated with
 fertility such as cake, honey, and eggs.

The Greco-roman tradition would celebrate
 Ceres, their Grain Goddess, from Ostara
 until first harvest. she was believed
 to go from field to field at the equinox,
 blessing the newly-sown crops.
 Ostara rituals in these traditions seek
 to urge her special blessing on their
 freshly-tilled lands. The lily, appropriated
 as a Christian symbol of death, was a
 symbol of life in pagan Greece and Rome,
 where it adorned Ostara alters and
 temples.  You men, playing the role
 of the lusty young G-d, would present
 them to the young women they were
 courting. Accepting the lily meant much
 the same thing as accepting a diamond ring
 does now.
 In celtic lands the Ostara Sabbat was virtually
 overlooked until the Norse invaders brought
 it into the prominence and it became
 another cherished festival. In Celtic
 Cornwall and Wales, Ostara was
 renamed "Lady Day," and was
 the time of the official return of the
 young Goddess after her winter
 hibernation. On this day of balance,
 they believed she was able to meet
 her youthful G-d on equal terms,
 mate with him, and become
 impregnated with not only the
 G-d who will be reborn at Yule, but
 with the autumn harvest as well.
 It was also the customary day for
 farms to change hands even if
 the purchase had been made months before.

In England the youthful deities are honored
 as the Lord of the Greenwood, a version of
 the Horned G-d, and the Greek Goddess,
 a fertile young virgin/mother.
 Other celebrations of pagan deities that
 took place at or near Ostara were
 the Fest of Isis, the Feast of Cybele,
 Aphrodite Day, and Hilaria. All
 these deities are still worshiped
 by pagans today; their holidays and
 customs are well-incorporated
 into the modern Ostara celebration.
 In Salvic pagan traditions this was believed
 to be a day when death had no power
 over the living. In their tradition, a
 personification of Death is
 symbolically killed by throwing him
 into moving water to drown. Flowers,
 symbols of life re-newed, are tossed
 in after Himand he is sung to as he floats
 down river. People who died on Ostara
 were thought to be favored by the
 deities, and would be accorded princely
 treatment until the time they reincarnated.
 After Death's drowning, brightly-painted red eggs
 were passed around during a procession to the
 ritual site, where the new life of
 spring was celebrated with food, dance
 and strong drink.

The idea of wearing new clothes at Easter
 and other spring festivals also came from
 earlier Teutonic pagan traditions. It was
 considered the worst of luck to wear one's
 prong clothing before Ostara, and the
 Teutons would work through the
 winter in secret to prepare elegant
 finery for the Sabbat celebration.
 The lamb is another symbol of the Ostara,
 and was sacred to virtually all
 the virgin goddesses of Europe, the
 Middle East, and north Africa. This
 symbol was so ingrained in the
 mindset of the people of that region
 that it was carried over into the spring
 religious rituals of the Jewish Passover
 and Christian Easter.

The Egg As New Life

The most pervasive symbol of Ostara is,
 without a doubt, the egg. Since
 antiquity, eggs, the universal arch type
 of new life, have been held in
 reverence as sacred objects of
 eternal life, carried as fertility amulets,
 decorated to honor the deities, placed on
 spring altars, and given as cherished
 spring gifts. The modern belief that these
 eggs are delivered by a rabbit
 knows as the Easter Bunny, comes
 from the legend of the Goddess Eostre.
 So much did a lowly rabbit wish to please
 this Goddess that he laid the sacred eggs in
 her honor, gaily decorated them, and then
 humbly presented them to her. So
 honoring her wishes, the rabbit
 went through all the world and
 distributed these little decorated
 gifts of life. Many pagans like to use natural
 dyes that come from flowers and
 herbs for te eggs, rather than relying
 on the commercially-packed kits.
 To get the natural dyes, boil a large handful of
 an herb or flower until the water is
 well colored. Place the water in a heat-resistant
 glass cup, mug, or other non-metal container.
 Stir in a teaspoon of vinegar and a
 pinch of salt, then place a hard boiled
 egg gently into the mixture. Getting the
 color to "take" requires a good bit longer
 than with the commercial dye kits.
 but most pagans feel it is worth the
 effort to have this connection with the
 old ways. However, the dyes do tend to be
 less stable, so protect the eggs from
 being scratched.

Cascarone

In Mexico and the American southwest,
 there is a beautiful Easter custom,
 also pagan in origin, revolving around
 cascarones.
 Carcersones (cahs-cah-roe-nays)
 are eggshells that have been
 carefully hollowed out, painted,
 filled, and then resealed with tape.
 Traditional fillings for them include
 perfume, confetti, lavender and sage-all
 pagan symbols of spring. The
 cascarones are taken out on
 Easter morning, when the object
 is to catch your loved ones
 by surprise and hit them over the head
 with an egg. As the insides rain
 around you, you are blessed
 with the love, luck, and
 new life of the season.