Strawberry Season! (Now edited to have the CORRECT Anglo-Saxon month name!!)

White bowl of red strawberries on a brown wood table
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-bowl-of-whole-strawberries-89778/

(I know what you're saying... where's the Beltaine post? Well, it's not exactly late, but it's not up yet for Reasons....you'll see).

The wheel keeps turning and finally in our area we are DONE with frost!  It is well and truly heading toward midsummer.

The names of these months all reflect this late spring/early summer activities. Most notably, the Almanac has named this Strawberry Moon, and in this climate strawberries should just be beginning to pop out.  I know my rhubarb plant has, and it's looking and waiting for its partners in pie!

The Anglo-Saxons called it "Ærra Liða" or "Before Litha" (summer solstice).  I suppose there's not a lot of deep meaning you can get from this, except as just an appreciation for it being warmer, which I certainly share.

The Gauls give us Giamonios, "end of winter" month. Around here, this is about the time that we REALLY begin to feel like we can put the winter coats away. I finally took the electric blanket off the bed.

Lastly, Kondtratiev assigns this as "The Moon of the Flowers." The line in the poem is "I am a beautiful flower" and it is for him the time to meditate on the divine energies expressing themselves as all manner of flowers and greenery explode. I swear, sometimes I think we should be able to hear it, right?

So for this month, get yourself a bowl of strawberrie (maybe share some with your land spirits!), sustainably pick a bouquet of spring flowers or better yet, plant some!  And enjoy the weather!!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Imbolc is my favorite

  Okay, you're right. they're all my favorite.  But Imbolc is different! No, I really mean it.  Imbolc holds many memories of awesomeness on my path, as does my relationship with Brigid (or Bridhe or whichever other spelling you want.) When I first embarked on this path, it was because I wanted to be more familiar with the spirituality of my ancestors. my immediate ancestors were varieties of Christian (Evangelical, Catholic, or Methodist) but i wanted to go back further. One branch was Irish and since that was the cool white ethnicity i explored it. The others were varieties of German and English, which in my mind had historical baggage i didn't then want to engage with. So from the beginning, Bridhe was it.  even when I meandered into heathenry later (having made some peace with that ancestry) and even Vodoun for a bit, she was a constant.  I became a  flame keeper  (next shift February 11).  I made sure I had a fire pit at my new home, I have t...
Read more

June Solstice-a-Long Day 6: Child of Light (South)/Divine Champion (North)

Image
Good day! And welcome to Day 6 of the Three Cranes Grove Solstice-a-Long! There’s little doubt that the solstices are associated with spirits of great power, whether at their birth or their strength. We take this time to honor both of those. Northern hemisphere :   Honor of the divine hero or champion, defeater of dangerous wild powers of nature (Giants, Titans, for example), or brings about the much-needed skills and items to the folk. Southern hemisphere :   Child of light in many cultures (Angus mac Og, Mabon ap Modron), bringer of hope and light in the darkness. Light the previous candles and then light the sixth, placing the appropriate symbol and offering.
Read more

Because the more you know.....

I am actually sharing this from my friend Ian Corrigan, who's blog Into the Mound you can link to at the right there.  I highly encourage you to check this out.  In the meantime... Attention Pagans - repeating this bullshit makes us look stupid. This stuff comes from half-wit anti-Catholic literature of the 19th century - it is worthless in light of modern scholarship. Let's do this in detail: 1: Ishtar is not pronounced 'eester' - silly. 2: Ishtar was a goddess of fertility and sex, also war and sovereignty. While the Spring equinox season was important, it was not her par ticular feast. 3: There are no depictions of her with eggs or rabbits. 4: Constantine did not Christianize the Roman empire, he only made Christianity legal.I can't say whether Ishtar was still in business during Constantine's time. Most specifically, "Ishtar" has nothing to do with 'Easter' Easter was said by the early medieval scholar, Bede (and only by him) to be derived ...
Read more