“Earth-in-your-Angel, come close and listen to my secret heart. Teach me your mysteries; show me your ways of loving and living. How do you forgive? You continue to bring forth the grace of life and beauty while we dishonor, debase and discredit you. You continue your exquisite love-play with our glorious Solaris, noble Phoebus Apollo and we as a consequence are wrapped everyday of our lives in the golden light of your sacred union. Show me how to rain the green-gold light caught fast in the cerulean curve of an endless sky so that you and your own Sacred Consort may know the fiery depths of my own love; the silence of my secret devotion, and the eternal promise of my secret heart.”

Simple discipline

Create your seasonal Winter Altar in honor of Earth in her form as the great Anglo-Saxon Nature Goddess Nerthus who, in all her various divine aspects oversees love, fertility, marriage, childbirth, the good harvest and the health and well-being of all living things. And which of these aspects will be your guides and teachers in this season as we move through these three summer months of July, August and September? Who will walk with you each day and dream with you each night? In your morning or evening meditation recite your Earth Affirmation, use it as a mantra that may accompany you into the world of vision and inspired thought where you journey into your soul’s own world where encounters with Spirit are waiting. Ask those divinities and spirits who are the guardians of this month to gift you with an invocation, or a prayer that you can recite each day.

Remember Woden and Nerthus and the nature of their connection; their mutual responsibilities and their individual imperatives as you move into a time of loving; of cultivating deep and lasting relationships; of harvesting the gifts that have been laid at your table, and of collecting supplies for the oncoming “cold and dark times” that recur with the yearly cycle of your life. But remember also that it is a time for great celebration, liberated activities, giving birth to new aspects of your-self, and making sure that these aspects are taken care of very well so that they will survive the winter season.

Add rainbow-colored candles to your Winter Altar. They will represent the precious language of the narcissus, the chrysanthemum and the marigold; flowers that are so sacred to the Earth goddesses. Each morning or evening meditate and envision the ways in which you need to harvest to the bounty of your own heart’s gifts, your soul offerings, your good thinking and what life on the outside has brought to your door. Begin to know yourself as a grateful, celebratory, joyfully laughing being, while at the same time carefully tending to what needs preparing, collecting and storing for difficult and challenging times to come. For they always do.

Throughout winter refresh your altar with freshly cut bouquets of your winter flowers. Place them with intentionality and awareness of the meaning and significance of the color and type of flower. Add prints, paintings, and other items with flower images in them that have a personal meaning to you on your altar. In your meditations with these beautiful images ask for their wisdom teachings. Meditate on the qualities of the flower and begin to cultivate or deepen those qualities within you. On your altar also honor the presence of the precious opal, citrine and topaz. If you do not have these particular gems use other stones to represent them.  Draw, map or write out your own mandalic journey toward your Opal, Citrine and Topaz Selves and place your gems or their representative stones in the center. Add any other sacred and or personally meaningful items to your altar. Spend time at your altar every day. Give yourself the time to meditate, to pray or simply to become inwardly quiet and to ask the great Divine, to ask Earth-in-her-Angel to give you much needed insight; to help you renew sacred intentions and to give you the strength of commitment to carry them out all in the name of gaining balance, harmony and a peaceful, loving self.

October – Marigold

The beautiful brightly colored October marigold is also called calendula and is known colloquially as the “sun’s bride” or “husbandmen’s dial” because its blossoms turn constantly toward the Sun. Marigold is found through Europe, the United States, and Western Asia. The Latin name for the European marigold was  calendae meaning “the first day of the month” or “little calendar or little clock” because it blossomed throughout the year and provided homes, monastery gardens and church altars with a constant supply of golden blooms. The pretty golden marigold was once considered the most sacred of flowers. In India it is still reverently placed around the necks of holy statues and also sacred elephants that represent the wondrous god Ganesha. They are also strewn on temple floors and around other sacred sites. In Christian Europe, the common name for calendula was marigold which simply translates to “Mary’s gold” because they were considered the Virgin Mary’s own sacred flowers. Marigolds are good cleansers and have long been used as effective remedies for bee stings. Marigolds were also used as seasoning in the cooking pots of the poor and were also used as a substitute for saffron, adding its color to cakes, butter, and puddings. In its intimate relationship to the Sun, the marigold blossom moves and turns absorbing every ray of golden light and has come to represent the shining sun as a symbol of life itself. Thus it was believed that when one dreamed of marigolds one was looking into a future marked by prosperity and wealth. At the same time, its strange bittersweet scent has seen this lovely flower become the choice of blossom to be planted in graveyards and in this context Marigolds can also symbolize sorrow and despair, grief and misery.

November – Chrysanthemum

The name chrysanthemum is derived from two Greek words, chrysos meaning gold, and anthos meaning flower-golden flower-even though chrysanthemums come in red, white or yellow. Like the marigold, it is a perennial flower that returns year after year and blooms in late summer and fall. Native to Asia and Europe, chrysanthemums are an ancient sacred flower and were carefully cultivated as long as 2,000 years ago. The chrysanthemum flower is a powerful antiseptic and antibiotic and was used to treat high blood pressure and angina.  The chrysanthemum is also a symbol of death and is brought to funerals and placed on graves. Because the flower was associated with the dead, it was also thought that the chrysanthemum had particular elements that were effective in deterring demons, and other kinds of spirits with evil intent. Depending then upon cultural perspectives and contexts the chrysanthemum may stand for compassion, friendship, abundance, beauty, and longevity, or it may symbolize forbidden love, isolation or death.

December – Narcissus

Narcissus, the Latin name for December’s flower has roots in Greek mythology where the flower’s Greek name, narkisso referred to its overpoweringly sweet and intoxicating scent. This extraordinary and sensual flower is steeped in legend and romance. The Greek God Narcissus was completely enamored of his own beauty and became so self-absorbed with his own image that he failed to recognize or acknowledge the undying love of the lovely nymph Echo. As a result she entered a cave and eventually died of grief. Unperturbed, one morning Narcissus paused to gaze at his image in a stream. He became hypnotized by his own beauty and leaned closer and closer until he fell in and drowned. The saddened Olympian gods placed Narcissus on the riverbank in remembrance of the ill-fated young deity. In this way, the narcissus blossom has become associated with vanity and death. Ancient Greeks also associated the delicate narcissus with Hades the god of the Underworld where the spirits of the dead live. In this case the blossom came to represent resurrection and rebirth because the narcissus was the flower which the young goddess Persephone was about to pick when Hades carried her to the underworld to be his wife. The world mourned her death and became all of Earth became barren until Hades relented and agreed that Persephone could walk on Earth from spring through fall. It was not until Persephone’s resurrection or rebirth that the world experienced spring again – probably some of the first blossoms that people saw when winter broke were those of the delicate and fragile narcissus.

October – Opal

Most of the world’s opals are found in Southern Australia and then in Brazil, Mexico, Czechoslovakia and Nevada. The Latin word opalus means precious jewel and that is the opal. October’s birthstone glows, mirroring the shining colors of the rainbow and has been particularly valued because it has a unique capacity to refract and reflect specific wavelengths of light. The opal predates humans and is formed from  non-crystallized silica, a mineral found close to the earth’s surface where ancient geothermal hot springs once existed.  As the hot springs dried up, layers of the silica combined with water were deposited into the cracks and cavities of the bedrock, forming opal. Since the opal is part 30% water it is fragile and brittle. It should not be exposed to extreme heat or harsh chemicals or subjected to strong pressure as it will break.

The ancient Romans equated the opal with a child that was as beautiful as love itself and called it Cupid Paederos. Another legend has it that the opal is a child of Lightning that gifted Earth in her divine form with his love in the form of a lightning rain of exquisite gemstones. Like many other precious gems opals were treasured both for their great beauty and also for their protective, healing and metaphysical properties. World monarchs and tribal shamans alike wore opals to ward of evil intent and ill-intentioned spirits. They were also worn to protect and strengthen the physical eyes and eyesight and also to protect against nightmares, which are another way of “seeing” that can be very detrimental to the individual. The opal is symbolic of faithfulness and confidence and the powerful energy radiating from its fiery core illuminates and enlightens the mind, heart and spirit, so that one can see through to the heart of the matter, hear what is not being said and obtain insight into the inner wisdom of things.

November – Citrine

Most citrine comes primarily from Brazil, and secondarily from Bolivia and Madagascar. Citrine is actually a rare form of quartz and the color can range from deep amber to the palest prettiest yellow. Igneous metamorphic and sedimentary rocks produce quartz crystals and the lovely yellow citrine is actually a sister of the purple quartz or amethyst. Some are convinced that in prehistoric times when the Earth was still forming her body-being, amethyst when exposed to heat from molten rock changed from purple to yellow becoming citrine. We do know in fact that the color of citrine will deepen if subjected to heat in the jewelry-making process or if left for too long in the hot sun. The name citrine derives from an old French word, citrin meaning lemon. And November’s gemstone, citrine comes indeed with the bright sharp yellow of a fresh lemon or the golden richness of a glorious sunflower. We begin to hear about citrine during the time of the Roman Empire when Romans began wearing the yellow quartz in their jewelry. But citrine became most popular during the Romantic Period in 19th century England when jewelers began to appreciate the beautifully warm and perfect pairing of these yellow gems with gold. Citrine, like all forms of quartz, was believed to have magical powers and was worn as a talisman against evil thoughts and snake bites. It was also commonly used as a remedy for urinary and kidney ailments. Symbolically, citrine with the warm life-giving glow of its bright golden heart is a totemic companion, providing hope and strength to anyone who is dealing with tough times.

December – Topaz

We find topaz primarily in Brazil, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Pakistan, China, and the United States. While topaz is the hardest of the silicate minerals and with small changes within the mineral content can be found in gorgeous colors like blue, pale green, red, yellow and pink, the December topaz is blue. Whether heated by natural or manmade processes, it is the heat that creates the blue in the topaz. Interestingly, although the color blue usually is considered a “cool” “calm” color, the word topaz derives from the Sanskrit word tapas, meaning fire. In fact the blue topaz was understood by early cultures as a cooling and calming gem and it was precisely because of it nature as a counterpoint to fire that it was named after fire. It was believed that when topaz was place in boiling water it would cool it down. But this also translated to cooling violent outbursts, calming heated arguments. People who were hot-tempered by nature were advised to wear blue topaz. This gemstone was credited with many healing powers, among them the ability to cure insanity, asthma, weak vision and insomnia. The blue topaz symbolizes love and fidelity and holds sacred the blue flame of love which is the deepest and most magical heart of Fire itself.

Early Celtic peoples from the Irish and Angles to the Saxons and other Germanic tribes divided the year into two seasons that were either called summer and winter or spring and autumn and calculated their months according to the cycles of the moon. It wasn’t until the supremacy of the Roman Empire that the calendar year was ordered into four seasons themselves divided into 12 fixed solar months. The names of the months varied in each area, and were usually named after social and economic endeavors.

Ancient Celtic peoples and neo-Celts view the year in terms of the eternal negotiation between good and evil. For them, this age old struggle is enacted in the elemental and mystical connection between Earth and sky and the cyclic nature their relationship as witnessed in the extended “dark” times of winter compared to the long bright days of summer. In the northern hemisphere of Europe and Scandinavia the world was weighed down by freezing cold, dark and dangerous and long winters. The Anglo-Saxon lunar month corresponding to October was Winterfilled a term that combined the words “winter” and “full moon” since the winter season officially began on the first full moon of that month. November was called Blotmonad, or the month of blood sacrifices. At this time cattle and other stock animals that would be unlikely to survive the harsh winter months when fodder was scarce, would be slaughtered sacrificially and ritually offered to the appropriate deities and spirit communities and then feasted upon by the whole community. The month corresponding to December was known as Giuli, or Yule which was the name for the winter solstice, Yuletide, the shortest day of the year after which the Sun turns back to increase itself toward summer. It is also likely that Geola was the name for the whole midwinter season.

According to the earliest Celtic calendars, both the first day of winter and New Year’s Day were celebrated on the eve of October 31, on All Hallows (Halloween). This was a critically important time, as it involved a metamorphosis of mystical dimensions—a time when the Earth Goddess turns over her rule to the great Horned God of the Hunt, to the transition from life to death, from farming to hunting, from warmth to coldness, and from light to darkness. During this powerful time of elemental and spiritual transition, ancestral animal spirits connected to All Hallows rites and celebrations were released from the underworld for a strictly prescribed period of time-the few hours between the old and the New Year. During the last week of December, these animal spirits including ancestors and the spirits of famed deceased shamans became part of the Yule festival that celebrated the arrival of the New Year. At the Yuletide rites and celebrations, animal pageants where ritually prepared and participated in by men who took on the spirit natures of the stag, the calf, and the horse who formed part of the complex ritual cycle of Yule. Ancient Celtic peoples were animistic believing the Creator and the thing created represented the same reality. Thus all created things, including the natural elements—earth, fire, and water; the sun, moon, and stars; thunder, wind, and rain—are imbued with the divine presence.

The early Celts worshiped the Creator in his form as the Sun, and Sun symbols are found carved throughout the Celtic world on tombs, in burial chambers and at sacred sites. A magnificent bronze horse carrying a gold-plated Sun across the sky into the underworld, and dated at 1500 BCE was found in a marsh at Trudholm in Denmark. In the first century CE when the Romans came to Britain, they found Druid priests holding Sun celebrations at Stonehenge where Fire played a central role to Sun worship. In the ancient Celtic world the summer and winter seasons were respectively presided over by a primary male and female deity. Summer’s fecundity, warmth and growth is embodied by the Earth Mother Goddess while winter is the time for the supremacy of a male deity who appears in cave paintings 20,000 year old as a figure identified as the Lord of the Animals, Cernunnos the horned god, or Herne the Hunter.

Cave paintings discovered in the caves of Teyjat in Dordogne, and Les Trois Freres, Ariege, in the French Pyrenees show arresting figures of a man with the horns and face of an antelope; one wrapped in animal hides and playing a simple flute-like instrument; another figure has the head, horns, and hoofs of an ox and the legs and lower torso of a human; finally a figure now affectionately known as the Dancing Sorcerer is clearly a man cloaked in an animal skin, and who has stag antlers and a bushy tail. Clearly these ancient caves were sacred sites where powerful and possibly secret rites were held. These wondrous images had ritual significance depicting shamans who had taken animal form and, in a trance-like state, are conducting rituals to bring good luck to the hunters and to the gathering activities undertaken by the women and children. The actual hunters in tribal communities used the pragmatic technique of draping themselves in animal skins with antlers, as they stalked their prey. During winter rites related to the migration and hunting of animals hunters may also have donned their animal disguises for processions or dances for general entertainment.

From the beginning of the winter season and through the Solstice and Yuletide celebrations seasonal plants filled homes as a way of inviting and welcoming the spirits of the woods and dales into homes where the warmth of the hearth fires during the coldest and darkest phase of winter could be enjoyed. Holly was regarded as the resting place for elves and fairies who took up residence within the leaves and kept the house goblins from doing mischief. Planting holly outside the home assured protection for the inhabitants. Ivy in turn was especially used for the protection of flocks and domestic animals. Wreaths or magic hoops of ivy with rowan and woodbine were woven and placed near milk containers to protect the contents from invading spirits. Rosemary was spread on floors and as people walked over the herb it released the fragrant scent filling the home with blessings and protection. During the Yule celebrations woodland wreaths were hung on doors and mistletoe was placed everywhere. An ancient magical herb known for its life-giving powers, the parasitic mistletoe grows from the sky downwards on the limbs of sacred oaks. In the Druidic tradition its green leaves stood for the fertility of the Mother Goddess and its white berries symbolize the seed of the Forest God.

On December 25th, Yuletide, the rebirth of the Sun was celebrated with great joy. Wreaths of holly and ivy were originally used during Yuletide. This celebration included lighting giant bonfires to lure the Sun back to Earth keeping the fires burning through the long cold nights and through the dark winter season. Music making and dancing were important aspects of the festival and caroles were sung around a beautifully decorated evergreen Yule tree that was considered sacred. Evergreens were known for their supernatural powers because they remained green and alive during the dead of winter thus pine was used in abundance during the solstice season, and still is. Additionally, the pinecone represents the continuation of life in its spiraling form, the basis for the divine mean, the essential matrix for all Life and the assurance of rebirth and regeneration. The Yule Log that was and is still burned in fireplaces today was considered a sacred rite in honoring the spirit of rebirth and regeneration.

“Earth-in-your-Angel, beloved teacher, each day I reach out to your beautybeing in order to truly re-learn, re-awaken, and re-connect with my own nature; with my deep-thinking heartself; with my own beautyway; and in the mirroring, merge the rhythms of my own Self with yours. I come to you knowing that you are the true point of my actual origins. I have not emerged as a species on a star. I am generated out of the life-giving, light-filled substance of this your own bodybeing. I rise in unbounded measures of grace from the bodyearth of you, wondrously beautiful planet in relation to our own Sunstar. I am an Earth-being and in this knowing I draw closer to you, I safe-guard you, and in so doing safe-guard all beings and my own Self.”

Simple discipline

Create your seasonal Summer Altar in honor of Earth in her form as the great Anglo-Saxon Nature Goddess Nerthus who, in all her various divine aspects, oversees love, fertility, marriage, childbirth, the good harvest and the health and wellbeing for all living things. And which of these aspects will be your guides and teachers in this season as we move through these three summer months of July, August and September? Who will walk with you each day and dream with you each night? In your morning or evening meditations recite your Earth Affirmation; use it as a mantra that may accompany you into the world of vision and inspired thought where you journey into your soul’s own world where encounters with Spirit are waiting. Ask those divinities and spirits who are the guardians of this month to gift you with an invocation, or a prayer that you can recite each day.

Remember Woden and Nerthus and the nature of their connection; their mutual responsibilities and their individual imperatives as you move into a time of loving; of cultivating deep and lasting relationships; of harvesting the gifts that have been laid at your table and of collecting supplies for the oncoming “cold and dark times” that recur with the yearly cycle of your life. But remember also that it is a time for great celebration, liberated activities, giving birth to new aspects of your-self, and making sure that these aspects are taken care of very well so that they will survive the winter season.

Add rainbow-colored candles to your Summer Altar. They will represent the precious language of the larkspur, the gladiolus and the aster; flowers that are so sacred to the Earth goddesses. Each morning or evening meditate and envision the ways in which you need to harvest to the bounty of your own heart’s gifts, your own soul’s offerings, your good thinking and what life on the outside has brought to your door. Begin to know yourself as a grateful, celebratory, joyful being, while at the same time carefully tending to what needs preparing, collecting and storing for difficult and challenging times to come-for they always do.

Throughout summer refresh your altar with freshly cut bouquets of flowers, ideally specific to the months but if not just so that there is a bountiful summery feel to your own sacred site. Place them with intentionality and awareness of the meaning and significance of the color and type of flower. Add prints, paintings, and other items with flower images in them that have a personal meaning for you on your altar. In your meditations with these beautiful images ask for their wisdom teachings. Meditate on the qualities of the flower and begin to cultivate or deepen those qualities within you. On your altar also honor the presence of the precious ruby, peridot and sapphire. If you do not have these particular gems use other stones/crystals to represent them. Remain conscious of them only representing the presence of the three jewels in all their metaphorical and symbolic meaning for you. Draw, map or write out your own mandalic journey toward your ruby, sapphire and peridot Selves and place your gems or their representatives in the center. Add any other sacred and or personally meaningful items to your altar. Spend time at your altar every day. Give yourself the time to meditate, to pray or simply to become inwardly quiet and to ask the great Divine, to ask Earth-in-her-Angel to give you much needed insight; to help you renew sacred intentions and to give you the strength of commitment to carry them out all in the name of gaining balance, harmony and a peaceful, loving self.

July – Larkspurs

Close relative to delphiniums, larkspurs are the flower for July and are closely related to delphiniums. Larkspurs are beautiful blue flowers that grow wild and tall in broad pastures. They are wonderfully useful to go along with their winsome beauty and had many ways of being helpful to people. In Early Europe larkspur was recognized as being extremely poisonous but was dried and used in a powdered form as an insecticide. In popular folk medicine it was also used against eye-diseases and healing stings from poisonous insects. This lovely flower also had its practical gifts to endow and was used by coastal Native American communities to make a beautiful blue dyes and later, settlers in the New World used it to make ink. As an antidote to more esoteric dangers, larkspur was used as a sacred herb that would ward of lightning. In Transylvania it was used to protect the community from witches and other unholy creatures. Larkspur symbolizes lightness and swiftness of foot; happiness, the joy of laughter and purity of heart.

August – Gladiolus

The glorious gladiolus graces the month of August in a rainbow of colors. In ancient times the gladiolus was known as xiphium, from the Greek word xiphos, meaning sword. The Latin word for the flower gladiolus also refers to weaponry. The Roman sword was a gladius and a smaller sword was a gladiolus. These words themselves also refer to the Roman cult of the gladiator. This stunningly beautiful flower originates in South Africa and grows best when it is bathed in full sunlight. Apart from their loveliness; some parts of gladiolus plant are poisonous if ingested, and handling some species may cause skin irritation or allergic reactions. Gladioli also have important medicinal uses that include curing common colds, diarrhea, painful menstruation, and constipation. The gladiolus flower’s stem base is called the corm and has been used effectively as a poultice and for drawing out thorns and splinters. Colic was soothed drinking a mixture of powdered corms with goat’s milk. As a symbol of human emotion and nature, the gladiolus signifies remembrance, strength of character, sincerity and generosity, imagination and love. But in its historical relationship to the sword and the gladiator it can also symbolize the qualities of a warrior and the experience of the soul after death such as: strength and power, the Eternal Sleep, and the sword-piercing pain of misplaced or unrequited love.

September – Aster

The wonderful star-like flower of September bears the Latin name aster, meaning star. The aster is the star blossom of this last month of the ancient Celtic summer cycle of life. Asters are sometimes called the Michaelmas daisy because their blooms coincide with the feast of the Archangel Michael. There is a beautiful Greek legend surrounding the lovely aster. During the golden times, before humans became conscious of good and evil and then became interested in negotiating the experience of both, gods and goddesses walked the Earth with them. As humans became more and more corrupt, Astraea, the Goddess of Innocence, left Earth to dwell in the heavens taking the starry form of the constellation Virgo. Eventually, even the paramount Creator god, Zeus himself gave up on humankind and flooded Earth with a view to starting over. Deucalian and Pyrrha were the only humans to survive the flood on top of Mount Parnassus and after the flood were seen wandering lonely, lost, and terribly forlorn. Compassionate and loving Astraea taking pity on them, created starlight to guide their way and as she wept piteous tears they landed on Earth forming the star-like flower, the aster. Thus this delicate and fragile flower signifies love, compassion, affection, and the spreading of living beauty among the residues of life’s sadder events and personal experiences of wipe-out.

July – Ruby

Rubies have been considered for thousands of years to be the most rare and thus most valuable gemstones on Earth. In addition to that, the ruby is magnificent in its depth and brilliance of color. This beautiful stone is the second hardest mineral after the diamond and is actually a sapphire that becomes a ruby only when its color is red. Rubies have talismanic magical powers and across the ages have been worn by royalty as a protection against evil. Ancient tribes used the gem in warfare as bullets for blowguns. Early healers also ground rubies into a powder that when placed on the tongue, was found to cure indigestion. After scientists were able to replicate the ruby crystal, they were able to create the first lasers. This gorgeous and powerful gemstone is named after the Latin word ruber meaning red, a color that we immediately associate with life, blood, warmth, energy, strength and power. Red is also the color of love, vivacity and passion. The heart of a ruby is incomparable in its prism of fiery light; the mystical elements of fire and life-blood are caught fast in its crimson core. Like no other gemstone, the ruby is the messenger of powerful emotion; of lasting passionate love; of striving for the great heartedness in things. Yet, at the same time, its metaphysical qualities endow those who are lucky enough to own rubies, wisdom, happiness, a healthy disposition and a balanced approach to love and to the spiritual life.

August – Peridot

Earth in her volcanic form gives birth to peridots, the precious stone of August. This is why the vibrant green of the peridot burns with a fire from within and why this lovely stone is found in areas where volcanic material is still found. The name peridot derives from the Arabic word faridat that means gem. In its mineral form peridot is named olivine, and appears in a variety of greens, ranging from dark olive to pale yellow-green. Native Hawaiians found peridot crystals in the black volcanic sands of the Hawaiian Islands and they believe that they are the tears of Pele, their Goddess of Fire. Ancient Egyptians were mining for peridots as early as 1500 BCE and called them “the gem of the sun” not only because of their dazzling brilliance when reflecting the golden light of the sun, but also because they seemed to absorb and continue glowing with sunlight even as darkness approached in the night sky. Throughout history peridots have been used ritually and also in substance form to connect spiritually with Earth and creation. For instance priests in ancient Egypt drank Soma in the Isis temples during special rites. Soma was a sacred and intoxicating beverage that was ritually prepared from various ingredients including peridot. The potent liquor and the ecstasies brought on in the devoted celebrants during sacred rites permitted them to “unite” with the Earth Goddess, Isis. The powerful and evocative green crystal was also used as a protection against evil and, when set in gold, was particularly effective for alleviating nightmares. As a medicine and when ground to a powder it was used as an effective remedy for asthma and as a thirst-quencher for individuals suffering from extreme fevers. The force of nature burns with the light of life within a peridot.  This gemstone powerfully symbolizes the vitality and life of a person.  It signifies individual power, strong relationships, as well as the promise of new development and growth in the future.

September – Sapphire

The Greek word sapphirus meaning blue was given to this fabulous precious stone. Sapphire is a variety of the mineral corundum and can be found in every color of the rainbow with the most prized color being a rich deep blue. Gazing into the deep blue radiance of a sapphire is like seeing through the midnight blue of a crystal clear night sky. This regal precious stone was considered by many ancient civilizations to form a throne-like foundation upon which the Earth in her divine form as Goddess was set or seated. It was also believed that it was this sapphire throne that was reflected in blue by the sky. Sapphires provide protection particularly against the poisonous effects of jealousy and envy. In powder form they were used to cure colic, rheumatism, mental illness, and to strengthen eyesight. From a metaphysical perspective sapphires are symbolic of wisdom and purity, sincerity and fidelity. They also nourish and support the soul’s ascent toward heaven.

Early Celtic peoples from the Irish and Angles to the Saxons and other Germanic tribes, divided the year into two seasons that incorporated spring and summer, autumn and winter. They calculated their months according to the cycles of the moon. It wasn’t until the supremacy of the Roman Empire that the calendar year was ordered into four seasons themselves divided into 12 fixed solar months. The names of the months varied in each area, and were usually named after social and economic endeavors; for instance, July was named Haymonth because it was the time for farmers to collect hay from their fields.

Both ancient Celtic peoples and neo-Celts view the year in terms of the eternal negotiation between good and evil. For them, this age old struggle is enacted in the elemental and mystical connection between Earth and sky and the cyclic nature this relationship as witnessed in the extended “dark” times of winter compared to the long bright days of summer. In the northern hemisphere of Europe and Scandinavia the world was weighed down by freezing cold, dark and dangerous and long winters. Then, after the summer solstice, the great Anglo-Saxon god Woden in his form as the sun emerges victorious bringing the fullness of his radiant light, warmth, growth, prosperity, newborn creatures and the liberation of body, mind and spirit. Although early Celtic peoples such as Anglo-Saxons believed in the primacy of their female deities rather than male, we can still understand why the sun was and is still so important to ancient and current indigenous peoples across the planet; why they perceive the sun to be the source of light and life itself and thus worthy of being identified wholly with creation and the sustaining of all life. In point of fact, without that beautiful burning star in our sky, our sun; without all the star-suns in the multiverse there would be no creation, no existence at all. Most important of all was Nerthus, Earth Mother, who is responsible for the fertility of the earth and all that lives and grows on it. And so, after a long frozen winter, in summer we behold the whole world giving birth to life that was conceived in the beautiful spring passionplay of Woden and his lovely earth consort Nerthus. She is the goddess who presides over all forms of love and friendship and watched over women in childbirth as a sacred midwife.

The summer season included the months of July, August and September. The German Saxons named July Vianmanoth or peat month because this was the time that they collected and stored peat, a carbonized moss that grew in marshes that when dried burned very well in winter hearth fires. August was named Aranmanoth and this referred to the ears of corn that were ripe in this month and ready for picking. In the early times, during the second half of the yearly cycle all major fertility festivals were held to celebrate the victory of life over death and fertility over impotence. September was called Haervistmanoth or harvest month when crops and especially the grains like wheat were harvested and gotten ready to store up for the coming winter months. And of course the great goddess Nerthus with all her seasonal gifts was celebrated as the Harvest Queen at the most important harvest festivals where young girls were crowned with wreaths and women cooked and served bounteous feasts.

Then there was and is the Litha, the summer solstice rites and celebrations that signified for all Celtic peoples even today one of the holiest of times. This sacred festival takes place on the summer solstice and is a celebration of the life and joys of summer and the honoring of the sun. Litha recognizes the longest day of the year when the sun reaches his highest point in the sky. It is a day when the sun is ritually honored with huge ceremonial fires lit on high hills. Celtic symbols, the runes Sigel for the sun and Tir for the sky and sun symbols such as the Wheel of Life would be placed at festival sites and also decorate dwellings and sacred places. Oftentimes, Sun Wheels were constructed and then set alight and rolled down the hill from the place of celebration as a symbolic representation of the sun’s great sky journey over the year.

“Earth-in-your-Angel, I offer praises and thanksgiving to the great Divinity who dwells eternally within the be-loved sanctuary of my own soul-Self and within your own radiant beauty. Help me to re-discover within my deepest Self the ageless and evergreen spirit that moves lighthearted into a bright new day; into your sweet response, to bravely cross the thresholds of life with a fertile, loving, nurturing, supportive, and power-fully knowing Self.”

Simple discipline

This month create your June altar in honor of Earth in her form as the great Roman goddess Juno who, in all her various divine aspects oversees love, fertility, marriage, birth, war and peace. And which aspects will be your guides and teachers this month and who will walk with you each day and dream with you each night? Remember to place the appropriate flowers and precious stone on your altar. In your morning or evening mediations recite your Earth Affirmation using it as a mantra that may accompany you into the world of vision and inspired thought where you journey into your soul’s own world where encounters with Spirit are waiting. Ask those divinities and spirits who are the guardians of this month to gift you with an invocation, or a prayer that you can recite each day.

Remember Juno in her particular natures as you move into a time of loving and of cultivating deep and lasting relationships. It is a time to make promises and to keep them; to conceive, gestate and give birth to potentials within your self; to realize a dream, to address a burning need. Look at your own life’s economies. Is everything in order? Is there a balance between your material and spiritual self? And, do you know your warrior self? Maybe there is a need to call on that aspect of the powerful and wondrous goddess that we are honoring this month?

Place fresh, rose-colored candles on your June altar. They will represent the precious language of these flowers that are so sacred to the great goddesses of love and also the light of love within your own heart, mind, body and soul. Each morning or evening meditate and envision the ways in which your heart loves, how your mind loves, your body’s way of loving and your soul-in-love. Begin to know yourself as a fully loving being keeping the Sacred-in-mind.

Throughout June refresh your altar with freshly cut bouquets of roses. Place them with intentionality and awareness of the meaning and significance of the color and type of roses. Add prints, paintings, and other items with rose images in them that have a personal meaning to you on your altar. In your meditations with these beautiful images ask for their wisdom teachings. Meditate on the qualities of the roses and begin to cultivate or deepen those qualities within you. On your altar also honor the presence of the precious pearl. If you do not have pearls use a mother of pearl or abalone shell to represent the beautiful stone. Remain conscious of it being a symbol for the presence of the pearl in all its metaphorical and symbolic meaning for you. Draw, map or write out your own mandalic journey toward your Pearl Self and place your pearl/shell or its symbol in the center. Add to your altar. Spend time at your altar every day. Give yourself the time to meditate, to pray or simply to become inwardly quiet and to ask the great Divine, to ask Earth-in-her-Angel to give you much needed insight; to help you renew sacred intentions and to give you the strength of commitment to carry them out all in the name of gaining balance, harmony and a peaceful, loving self.

Roses are ancient and cover the body of Earth with their various forms in a harmony of beauty. As symbols of love and beauty, and the politics of power, sovereignty and war they have left a rich and romantic historical legacy. The rose appeared in Central Asia during the Eocene epoch about 60 to 70 million years ago and being the intrepid traveler that it is spread over the entire world. Early civilizations, including the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans, were cultivating roses five thousand years ago. We have discovered fossilized roses from 35 million years ago and across North and South America we see 150 species of roses.

Ancient Europeans identified the rose with their goddesses of love, Aphrodite, Venus and Isis to whom the lovely flower is sacred. In later times the rose became the sacred flower of the Virgin Mary. Symbolically, roses reveal a world of human experience. Even their colors speak the language of the human heart. White or red rosebuds point to beauty, youth and virginity. The moss rosebud stands for confessions of love. The red rose speaks of the kind of love that gives rise to respect, courage and great heartedness. A bouquet of roses in full bloom signifies gratitude.

White roses have a variety of meanings most of which signify heavenly purpose, innocence and purity, nobility and also secrecy and silence as in promising to keep a secret. A rose placed over two buds forms a combination that signifies secrecy. In ancient Rome a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room when secret or confidential matters were under discussion. The Latin phrase sub rosa, or “under the rose”, means to keep a secret and is derived from this ancient Roman practice. During the fifteenth century, the rose was used as a symbol for the factions fighting to control England. The white rose symbolized York, and the red rose symbolized Lancaster, as a result, the conflict became known as the “War of the Roses.” Red and white roses or white roses with red edges, symbolize unity. Shades of pink in roses reflect different meanings. Light pink stands for appreciation while deeper pink points to grace and gentility. Yellow roses usually symbolize joy and gladness and caring.

In ancient Rome and all the way into modern times, roses were used for nutritive culinary and medicinal purposes and for perfume. There are many culinary uses for rose hips. They can be used fresh, dried, or preserved. Rose hips can be used in applesauce, soups and stews, syrups, puddings, marmalade, tarts, breads, and pie, or made into a jam or jelly. Since earliest times roses were important in hand lotions, cosmetics, and perfumes. Today, almost all women’s perfumes and 40 percent of men’s fragrances contain rose oil. In AD 77 the Roman writer Pliny recorded 32 disorders that responded to treatment with rose preparations. Treatises written by medieval herbalists tell of the healing properties of various rose preparations and in the 19th century sailors in the British merchant navy discovered that rose hips prevented scurvy. Osteoarthritis that can be described as the breakdown of cartilage in the joint, allowing bones to rub against each other, causing pain and loss of movement, is a degenerative joint disease affecting over 20 million Americans. Recent studies and treatments have shown that the anti-inflammatory properties of rose hips are tremendously useful in the treatment of patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Rose hips also contain very high levels of phytochemicals and pectin known to protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease.