Vernal Equinox

Vernal Equinox
2008 by Ariana Clausen Velez

The Vernal Equinox is a time when those who honour the Old Ways come to gather and feast as we prepare for the arrival of Spring, new life, fertility and in the Middle East they celebrate the New Year. The older paths of the Pagan ways honour this time as either the Vernal Equinox or Spring Equinox as this is the time when the rays of the Sun are at the highest peak, we also honour the lesser mysteries during this time of the Rites of Kybele/Cybele, Attis, and Hilaria as well as the Feast in which the Cakes are baked for the Queen of Heaven, Artemis. In the Catholic faith it is the time of Lent in which they fast from the partaking of specific foods, mainly meats for forty days, now this time of fasting dates back again to a much older rite of self purification in order to be Initiated, the older Ritual being when you were with one person for forty days to ensure you health and safety during the time of purification. Cagliostro who was known for his magical workings in alchemy and in the Hermetic Tradition, was in fact one person whose experience of the forty day fasting and purging was written about in Eliphas Levi’s History of Magic, one account in which was rather in depth in his journey.

Many of the newer paths in Paganism honour this time as Eostre or Ostara when eggs are dyed plants seeds are sown in the soil for the blossoming of Beltaine and the time of the Great Rite when both the Mother of Gods and the Father of Gods commune as one, this is all true depending on the path in which you follow as the Rites of Kybele and Attis are the honouring of the falling Sun God Attis whom castrated himself and his blood in which flowed into the Earth created the Pine tree and he later rose again to join Kybele as he Ascended to the Celestial Realms and becoming Divine himself, this is the similar to the Christian Rite of Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus.

During this time if one is to honour the Lesser Rites as the Ancient did, it is a time of fasting from meats, wines and breads and purifying ones’ body of all toxins. The cutting of the reeds is done on the 15th of March and this was part of an ancient ritual known as flagellation when one would inflict upon their own body the cutting and drawing of blood in remembering the falling of Attis when then later was represented by the Pine tree and the dressing of it with Violets and then later as the foods were prepared and wines enjoyed in honour of Bacchus and then finally the feast in which all honoured Hilaria and ending the feasts with the baking of cakes for the Queen of Heaven on the last day of Mars.

Within the Constellations it is when Orion is highest in the sky as Osiris and honouring the Mysteries of the Death and Life in which Isis searched the world after his brother Seth dismembered his body and Isis madly in love was determined to bring her love back to life did so, and this too coincides with the Mysteries of Attis and of Jesus. However, within the Cairo calendar this is considered an extremely adverse time as it is time in which Seth [being of the Constellation of Gemini] is very active and seeks to disturb the Olden Gods. On the Vernal Equinox in Egypt it is a time of offerings to the Dead in Abydos, so here you see that we honour the Dead inasmuch that we may be allowed to breed life into the lands once again.

All of this was to prepare for the Rites of Initiation into the Lesser Mysteries of the Mother of the Gods.

All of these beginning, in the last face of Pisces and ending in the first and second face of Aries the time of Kings amoung men.

May everyone have a most blessed Vernal Equinox.