The Magic of the Spring Equinox by Danu Forest

Author:Danu Forest [Forest, Danu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Magic of the Spring Equinox
ISBN: 9781780288635
Publisher: Watkins Media Ltd
Published: 2016-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Celtic starlore

The night sky in spring is very much in transition. In the western sky of the northern hemisphere, Orion is now descending closer to the horizon, and will soon be gone for the summer months, while the constellation of Leo the Lion with his warm sunny energy is now high and bright, ushering in the return of summer still ahead. Prominent in the sky is the Great Bear goddess, or Ursa Major, also known as the Big Dipper, and by following the Bear’s tail we soon come to a bright orange star, Arcturus, in the constellation of Boötes the Herdsman, which is only 36 light years away and one of the brightest in the night skies.

The herdsman is a recurring sacred figure in Celtic lore and goes by many names, including the Green Man and the Woodwose as well as by those of the hunter gods, Herne, Cernunnos and Gwyn. As a wild man he lives close to nature and is often a prophet or a visionary seer subject to divine inspiration by his immersion in the wild. Boötes doesn’t resemble a human form very clearly, but rather looks like a large kite with Arcturus being its bottom point. To the upper left of this kite is the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown. In Greek mythology it is the crown given by the god Dionysus to his bride Ariadne, but in Celtic Welsh mythology it is Caer Arianrhod, ‘castle of the silver wheel’. This is the home of the goddess Arianrhod, who oversees the turning stars and the web of fate, hinting at the unfolding promise of the year ahead.

Returning to Arcturus: a little further down the arc begun by the Bear’s tail is the constellation of Virgo, the maiden spring goddess in stellar form. This is low on the southeastern horizon during spring evenings and is recognizable from the curved bowl of its upper section tipping in the opposite direction to Boötes. The brightest star in Virgo is Spica, at the end of the lower stem of the constellation.

Mars, identified by being brighter than the stars, with its distinctive reddish hue, may commonly be seen now travelling along the elliptic (the path of the sun across the sky). This planet is a harbinger of the fierce, vibrant energy of spring and the virile god of the greenwood, who will wed the goddess at Beltane in May as spring turns to summer.

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