ALWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!
Dec 25 – Jan 5 Yule – Old Teutonic festival honoring Frey & Freya (Deities of life, death, and fertility) and the new-born Balder (God of Light) with evergreens, fires, and feasting.
Jan 1 – Jan 31 January/Janus – Dedicated to Old Roman God-Goddess Janus-Jana, who knows both past and future.
Jan 2-3 Feast of Old Greek Goddess Hekate – who guides all through transitions and crisis.
Jan 4 Earth Perihelion – when the Earth is closest to the Sun.
Jan 6 Original Christmas Day. In the original Church of the Way for the first 325 years of Christianity, January 6, was celebrated as Jesus / Yeshua’s birthday. Then Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, even making it the official state religion of Rome. He couldn’t resist moving Yeshua’s birthday to his own god, Sol Invictus’ birthday, Dec. 25 on the Roman Calendar (which was the Winter Solstice back then, a day which in our modern calendar usually falls on Dec. 21). Many early Kristian churches continued to celebrate Jan 6 as Yeshua’s birthday up into the 600’s AD even tho Constantine had changed the date.
Jan 17-18 Tu B’Shevat – Jewish Festival of Trees, celebrated with tree plantings and orchard blessings. Originally honored Old Canaanite-Hebrew Goddess Asherah.
Jan 17-19 Feast of Fate – Ruler of Past, present, and Future, honoring Goddess as Moirai (old Greek), Norns (Old Norse), Coatlicue (Aztec), Pachamama (Inca), Manat (Old Arabic-Sufi) & Providence (Christian).
Jan 24-Feb 1 Sementivae – Old Roman festival of sowing, honoring Earth Goddess Terra (Greek Gaia), Grain Goddess Ceres (Greek Demeter), and Seed Goddess Proserpina (Greek Persephone).
Jan 25-30 Feast of Old Egyptian creating and destroying God-Goddess Amen-Amenet – The eternal transformer. Egyptians perceived the many Gods and Goddesses to be aspects of the one God-Goddess Neter-Neteret.
Jan 31-Feb 2 Imbolc/St.Brigid’s Day – Old Celtic/Irish feast of Goddess Brigid; merged with the Christian feast of St. Brigid. Fires were lit to welcome Her as She traveled about blessing fields, animals, and people.
Jan 31-Feb 3 Old European Lunar New Year – Celebration of the Triple Goddess (Goddess of the Moon and the Seasons) being transformed from the Crone into the Virgin; celebrated with ritual bathing of divine images.
Jan 31 – Feb 4 Mid-Winter/Candlemas – Festival marking the transformation from death to life, the beginning of the agricultural year, awakening of hibernating animals, and return of migrating birds and fish. Observed with a candlelight procession to bless fields and seeds, recognition of newborns, and contemplation of life.
FEBRUARY
Jan 31- Feb 2 Imbolc/St.Brigid’s Day – Old Celtic/Irish feast of Goddess Brigid; merged with the Christian feast of St. Brigid. Fires were lit to welcome Her as She traveled about blessing fields, animals, and people.
Feb. 2nd, Candlemas, “Purification” of the Virgin (40 days she had a baby, now she’s “clean” again).
Feb 1-14 Old Greek festival of God Dionysos – in which vines were pruned and sprinkled with wine, accompanied by ritual singing and dancing.
Feb 7-8 Feast of Old Greek Goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) – as creatrix, midwife of birthing creatures, protector of the young, and punisher of child abusers.
Feb 13 – Feb 15 Lupercalia / St. Valentine’s Day / Norse Family Festival – Old Roman festival (Lupercalia – Festival of the Wolf) of God-Goddess Faunus-Fauna, celebrating Pan, fertility, and the coming Spring; merged with he Christian feast of St. Valentine, celebrating love of all kinds.
Feb. 14 – Feast Day, Kristian Goddesses of Love. See
Litany
to the Kristian Goddesses of Love
Feb 21 – 28 Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries – Old Greek festival celebrating the marriage of Goddess Kore and God Dionysos, following their return from Elysium.
Feb 22 Caristia – Old Roman festival for renewing family ties and patching up quarrels.
Feb 26 Egyptian Day of Nut – Goddess of Healing and Fertility.
Feb 28 Saxon Cake Day – cakes offered to the God and the Goddess.
MARCH
March 1 – Roman New Year
– St. David’s Day
March 1-2 Mahashivaratri – Hindu fast, night vigil, and feast for God-Goddess Shiva-Shakti (union of Will and Power), who dances to create, destroy, and re-create the universe. Tantric Hindus believe Shiva is within all men and Shakti within all women; they recognize gender equality and reject caste.
March 2 – Holy Wells’ Day (Norse)
March 3 – Aegir’s Day (Teutonic)
March 4 – Feast of Rhiannon (Welsh)
– Egyptian Day
– Anthesteria (Greek)
– Mothering Day (English)
March 5 Navigium Isidis – Old Egyptian festival honoring Goddess Isis as Lady of the Moon and Ruler of the Sea; celebrated with the launching of a boat of offerings.
March 6 – Mars Day
March 8-9 Feast of Old Greek Goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) – as protector of wild animals and vegetation
March 8 – Birthday of Mother Earth (Chinese)
– International Women’s Day
March 9 – Mother Goddess Day, Honoring all Mother Goddesses
– Feast of the 40 Martyrs (Greek)
– Celebration of Aphrodite and Adonis (Greek)
March 10 –
Hypatia’s Day (Greek)
March 11 – Hercules Day
– Great Night of Shiva, Vigil and feast for Transcendence
March 12 – Feast of Marduk (Mesopotamian)
March 14 – Cathar Remembrance Day.
On March 16 their last
fortress fell, but March 14 is a Cathar holy day and on that last March 14,
1244, they performed a special Easter Rite (it was also Easter that year). Two
days later they were burnt alive by the Roman Catholic Church, a day also remembered
by modern gnostics called Montsegur Day (see below).
– Roman Equirria – Horse race dedicated to Mars.
March 14-18 Holi-Hindu Festival – celebrating the courting of God Shiva by Goddess Parvati, and the efforts on Her behalf by Kama (God of Love) and Rati (Goddess of Passion). Hindus believe all Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the one Great God-Goddess Maha Deva-Maha Devi, the limitless, attributeless, immanent, and transcendent Brahman. Shaivas are devoted to God Shiva in all His aspects.
March 15 – Ides of March (Roman)
– Rhea’s Day (Greek)
– Holiday of Cybele (Anatolian, Roman)
March 15-27 Phrygian Festival of Cybele and Attis – Goddess of Earth/Wild Animals and God of Vegetation, Death and Rebirth
March 16 – Montsegur Day, Gnostic holy remembrance day of the slain Cathar gnostics burned at the stake on this day in 1244 A.D.
– Dionysos’ Festival (Greek)
– Bacchus’ Day (Roman)
March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – Old European festival marking rebirth of the Green Man / Green George (God as Deciduous Vegetation); merged with the Christian feast of St. Patrick.
– Festival of Astarte – Celebrating the Canaanite Holy Land Goddess of Love
– Liberalia (Roman)
March 19 – Eyvind Kinnrifi (Odinist)
– Athena’s Day (Greek)
– Minerva’s Day (Roman)
March 20 – Ala Festival (Nigerian)
– Iduna’s Day (Norse)
– Alban Eilir (Celtic, Druid holiday)
– Spring Harvest Festival (Egyptian)
March 20-21 Old Sumerian Festival – celebrating the return of Dumuzi (God of Life and Death) from the Underworld to be with Inanna (Goddess of Life) for the verdant part of the year.
March 20 or 21 Spring Equinox aka Vernal Equinox aka Ostara. Marks the beginning of Spring. Days and nights are exactly equal, the sun rises and sets in the exact east and west. This holiday represents the first creation, but also the annual creation (planting so crops grow each year) and most symbolic, the perpetual creation. Fertility symbols abound such as eggs and rabbits. Spring or Vernal Equinox begins a forty day period which culminates with May Day, another fertility Spring festival of ancient origin. This forty day period is one of four such in the esoteric Church year. The other three forty day periods are: Fall Equinox (Sept 22 or 23) to Halloween/AllSaints Day (Oct. 31, Nov.1), Dec. 25 to
Candlemas (Feb 1 or 2) and of course, Lent. Lent is the forty day period beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday every year.
March 23 – Venus’ Day
– Summer Finding (Norse)
March 24: Feast Day of Archangel Gabriel whose name means, “The High One’s Hero,” or “Hero of God,” or “Power of God,” or “Might of God.” Note this day comes one day before Annunciation Day when Gabriel performed his most famous task. Since 1970, the Catholic Church no longer recognizes this day for Gabriel, ending a thousand year plus tradition by opting to lump him in with Raphael and Michael for a Feast of the Holy Archangels Day on
Sept
29. Originally the Church had an angel for each of the four “corners” of the year, the solstices and equinoxes. It was the Church’s only recognition of these “pagan” holy days.
– Britannia’s Day
– Heimdall’s Day (Norse)
March 25 – Annunciation Day, Christian feast commemorating Blessed Maria’s choosing to conceive Child Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and to become a catalyst of liberation and redemption
– Hilaria’s Day (Roman)
– Return of the Goddess
– Mars and Neria (Roman)
March 27 – Greek Galaxia, Adoration of Cybele
– Smell the Breeze Day (Egyptian)
March 28 – Birthday of Kwan Yin (Chinese)
– Sacrifice at the Tombs (Roman)
– Pallas’ Day (Greek)
March 29 – Festival of Ishtar (Babylonian)
– St. Mark’s Day
– Delphinia (Greece)
– Expulsions of the Demons of Bad Luck (Tibetan)
March 30 – Eostre’s Day (Germanic)
March 31 – Luna (Roman)
APRIL
MOVABLE DAYS, SOMETIMES IN MARCH, USUALLY IN APRIL
Palm Sunday – Christian feast marking Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem to teach love and justice for all humanity and to sacrifice Himself for the liberation and redemption of all.
Holy Thursday: Last Supper of Jesus – He washed the feet of His male and female disciples, gave them bread and wine as His body and blood, and told of the Paraclete (Our Mother, the Holy Spirit) who would come after Him.
Passover – Jewish festival recalling their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and celebrating freedom from oppression.
Easter Sunday – Christian celebration of Jesus’ resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit.
11 Days in Spring, Kristian
Easter Cycle
Events
April 1 Day of Venus – Goddess of Love vanquishes Mars, God of War, with love (Roman).
– Day of Kali – Dark Mother who liberates (Hindu).
– Loki’s Day, Norse Teutonic trickster god
– Hathor’s Day (Egyptian)
April 1-4 Iroquois Thunder Ceremony – In thanksgiving for the rains. Iroquois believe Sky Woman descended from the Sky and Created Earth.
April 2-10 Hindu Festival honoring Maha Devi as Gauri – life, growth, and fruition.
April 3 – the Ascension of Persephone
– Buddha’s Birthday
April 4 Greek Megalesia of Cybele – Games dedicated to the Great Mother (Greek).
April 5 Roman Day of Fortuna – Goddess of Fate (Roman).
April 7-8 Feast of Greek Goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) – who represents the feminine in Nature and protects women throughout their lives.
April 8 – Zen Buddhist celebration of Buddha’s birth (563 BCE)
April 14 – Norse Festival of Sommarsblot
April 15 – Celtic Tree Month of Willow begins
– Feast of Tellus Mater (Roman)
– Festival of Ba’ast, Feast of Bast (Egyptian cat goddess)
April 16 – St. Padarn’s Day (Celtic)
– Feast of St. George (Byzantine)
April 15-17 Feast of the Seas – Honoring God-Goddess as Olokun-Yemaya (Yoruba/Santeria) and Okeanos-Tethys (Old Greek).
April 18 – Thargelia (Greek)
-Rava Navami (Hindu)
April 22 Earth Day – Day to honor the Earth and to meditate on Deity manifesting as Mother Earth
– Festival of Isthar (Babylonian)
– Feast of the Divine Couple (Japanese)
– Feast of Elaphebolia (Greek)
– Odin’s Day – Norse festival.
April 23 – European Festival of the Green Man, Spirit of Vegetation and Forests
– Sigurd’s Day (Germanic)
April 25 – Holy Prophet Mani’s Day (he was born on this day in the 3rd century A.D.) Manichaeans were his followers, predecessors of modern gnostics
– Spring Festivals – Dedicated to Herne, Pan, Horned God.
Roman Robligalia – Corn Mothers (Ceres and Demeter) and Harvest.
Arbor Day – Day to honor trees, to plant trees, and to meditate on Deity manifesting as trees, such as Goddesses Helice/Willow (Greek) and Yggdrasill/Ash (Norse).
April 30 – Walpurgisnacht (Germanic)
– Floralia Ends (Roman)
– Beltane Begins at Sundown (Celtic, Wiccan)
– Salus
– St. Sophia’s Day
April 30 – May 2 Old Norse Feast.
Beltaine – Celtic festival marking the arrival of summer in ancient times.
Movable Holiday: Sometimes in May, sometimes in June: 50 Days after Easter:
Pentecost & Shavuot: Annual
Sacred Marriage Holiday
Movable Holiday: 2nd Sunday in May. Mother’s Day – Day to give love and thanks to all mothers; day for mothers to celebrate motherhood and contemplate their sacred duty to provide for the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs of their children.
April 30 – May 2 – Beltane – Celtic festival marking the arrival of summer in ancient times, celebrating Blodeuwedd (Goddess of Flowers) and Llew (Oak King, God of the Waxing Sun).
– Old Norse Feast – Celebrating Nanna (Goddess of Flowers), true love of Baldur (God of Light).
– Feast of Sacred Marriage – Honoring Goddess-God as Inanna & Dumuzi , Ishtar & Tammuz (Old Sumerian), Isis & Osiris (Egyptian), Oshun & Shango (Yoruba/Santeria).
May 1 – May Day (European holy day)
– Babylonian Celebration of Asherah
May 2 – Elena’s Day (Welsh)
– St. Helen’s Day (British)
May 4 – Celtic Festival of Cerridwen and Brigit – Corn Goddesses of fertility, healing, and poets.
– St. Monica’s Day (Irish)
– Veneration of the Thorn (Irish)
– Festival of Sheila Na Gig (Irish)
May 6 – Shepherd’s Day – Day to meditate on Deity as Lord of Animals: Dumuzi (Old Sumerian), Osiris (Egyptian), Pan (Old Greek), Shiva Pasupati (Hindu).
– Eyvind Kelve (Norse)
May 9-12 Lemuria – Roman festival when the spirits of the dead are thought to revisit their homes.
May 9 – Greek Feast of Artemis
May 13 – Roman Garland Day, Offering garlands to Neptune.
– Month of Hawthorn, Celtic festival of the tree.
– Our Lady of Fatima Day (Portugal)
May 14-16 Feast of Divine Love and Compassion – Source of healing and beneficence, honoring Goddess as Isis (Old Egyptian), Oshun (Yoruba/Santeria), Lakshmi (Hindu).
May 14 – Isis Day in ancient Egypt
May 15 – Cold Sophie (German)
– Festival of Vesta (Roman)
– Maia and Mercury’s Day (Roman)
May 17 – Dea Dia (Roman)
May 18 – Celtic Feast of Old Greek God Pan – Who represents the masculine in Nature and protects men throughout their lives. Men recognized the transitions in their lives and honored male fertility.
May 19 Old Celtic Feast of Brigid – In which sacred healing wells and springs were adorned with flowers in honor of Goddess Brigid, daughter of Mother Goddess Danu and Father God Dagda.
May 20 – Mjollnir (Germanic, Teutonic, heathen)
May 21 – Dark/Bright Mother Goddesses Day – Kali/Parvati and Hecate/Demeter.
– Plato’s Birthday
May 22 – Ragnar Lodbrok’s day (Norse Heathen)
May 23 – Semik (Russian)
May 24 – Day of the Three Maries (special to Mary Magdalene and Grail Christianity)
– Feast Day of
Hermes Trismegistus
– Celtic Festival to the Three Mothers
– Greek Celebration of the Horae
May 25 – Assassination of Edmund I (Anglo-Saxon)
– Celebration of the Tao, Mother of the World (Chinese, Japanese)
May 26 – Festival of Diana begins (ends 31st) (ancient Roman holiday)
– Dakinis’ Day – Day Tantric Buddhists make offerings to Mother Tantra; day to unite will and power to manifest positive social change and environmental healing.
May 30 – Frigg’s Day, Northern Goddess, spouse of Odin (Teutonic “heathen” European pre-Christian holiday)
– Feast of the Queen of the Underworld Begins (Roman)
– Feast of the Queen of Heaven (European)
May 31 – Feast of the Triple Goddess – Marking the transformation of the Virgin into the Mother.
– Feast of Stella Maris – Venus, (and Asherah) as Star of the Sea. Mother Mary was later given the title Stella Maris
JUNE
Movable Holiday: sometimes in May, sometimes in June:
Shavuot/Feast of First Fruits, Pentecost, Sacred
Marriage holiday
Movable Holiday: 3rd Sunday in June. Father’s Day
Month of Juno – Dedicated to Roman Goddess Juno, partner of Jove (God of Happiness), protector of marriage and family.
June 2 – Juno Regina’s Day (Roman)
– Sin’s Day (Norse)
– Shapatu of Ishtar (Babylonian)
– Seamen’s Day (Icelandish)
– St. Elmo’s Day
June 4 – Socrates’ Birthday
June 5: Earth Mother Day – Call forth good harvests
June 11 – Feast of Matuta (Roman)
– Matralia (Roman)
– Fortuna’s Day (Roman)
June 13: Feast of Epona – The Celtic Horse Goddess
– All Soul’s Day (Tibetan)
– Children’s Day (USA)
– Athena’s Day (Greek)
– Minerva’s Day (Roman)
June 14 – Vidar’s Day (Norse Heathen)
– Birthday of the Muses (Greek). Music, the arts & inspiration “born”
June 16 – Night of the Teardrop (Egyptian)
June 17 – Ludi Piscatari (Roman)
– Marriage of Orpheus and Eurydike (Greek)
June 18: Roman Day of Anna – Goddess Danu to the Celts.
Early
Christian-Pagans made sure Anna entered the Kristian story, making her Yeshua’s
grandmother, Mary’s mother.
June 20 – Iron Skegge’s Day (Norse Heathen)
– Festival of Edfu (Egyptian)
– Kuan-Yin Day (day she became a Bodhisattva)
June 21: Summer Solstice (Click for details)
– Day of Cerridwen and her Cauldron (English/Welsh)
– Day of Aine of Knockaine (Irish)
– Day of the Green Man (Northern Europe)
– The Great Mother (British)
– Alban Hefin (Druidic)
– Waa-Laa Ends (Native American)
– Litha (Wiccan)
– All Hera’s Day (Roman)
– Ishtar’s Day (Babylonian)
– Astarte’s Day (Canaanite)
– Aphrodite’s Day (Greek)
– Yemaya’s Day (Brazilian)
– Aine’s Day (Irish)
See also
notes here about June Solstice holidays, including the other days coming after it.
June 23: Celtic Day of the Green Man – In honor of Herne, Cernernos, Lugh.
June 24: TEMPLAR HOLY DAY. In the Roman calendar this day was thought to be Summer Solstice. The Church renamed this pagan holiday to St. John the Baptist Day. Templars revered it highly. On Jun 24, 1314 a mysterious band of knights joined Robert the Bruce of Scotland on the battlefield making his victory at Bannockburn possible. These knights could only have been the a troop of disbanded and now in-hiding Templars who had fled to western Scotland. St. John’s day was used by Freemasons in 1717 to found the first public (non-Scottish) Order of Freemasonry in London. Masonic teachings are said to descend from the esoteric Christianity of Templarism. St. John the Baptizer was beheaded because he wouldn’t give in and sacrifice his principles. This is a Templar ideal, as is the constancy and regularity — order out of chaos — of the solstices and equinoxes. So for both reasons, Christian and “pagan,” we observe this day. See also
notes
here.
– Feast of the Sun (Aztec)
– Feast of St. John the Baptist
– Midsummer Bride (Swedish)
– Inti Raymi (Incan)
– Lady Luck (European)
– Burning of the Lamps at Sais (Egyptian)
June 25 – Parvati Praise Day – Hindu Women’s Festival for Earth Mother.
June 27 – Roman Day of the Lares – Household Deities honored and tended
– Initium Aestatis (Roman)
– Arretophoria (Greek)
June 28 – Festival of the Tarasque (French)
June 29 – Shiva Day – Hindu Lord of the Dance invoked for blessings
– Runic New Year
– Petosiris’ Day (Egyptian)
– St. Peter’s Day
– Herb Harvesting Day (East Anglican)
JULY
July 1 Greek Kronia – Honoring Kronos (Father Time) and Rhea (Old Mother Nature).
July 2 Roman Feast of Expectant Mothers.
July 8 Celtic Month of Holly – Honoring the Holly tree.
July 12-14 Feast of the Moon – Honoring Goddess as Selene (Old Greek), Ixchel (Maya), and Manat (Old Arabic-Sufi).
July 13 Birth of Osiris – Egyptian God of Divine Youth, annually resurrected by Isis.
July 17 Celtic Feast of Tailtiu – Mother Nature Goddess who fostered Lugh.
July 19 Egyptian Opet Festival – Celebrating the marriage of Isis and Osiris.
July 22 Mary Magdalene Feast Day – the Holy Grail. Official Christian feast of St. Maria Magdalen, both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Some Magdalene devotees such as those in our Order of Mary Magdala, bake Madeleine cakes for the Queen of Heaven in honor of her day. Madeleine is a French form of Magdalene. Here is a good recipe for Madeleine cakes, and you can read about the history of Madeleine cakes here. Our Magdalene initiates wear red, white and green today, and light candles of those colors, the colors of Mary Magdalene. We display our red altar egg on Magdalene Day and recite litanies dedicated to her.
* July 28 Archangel Auriel (Uriel) Day. His/Her name means “Fire or Light of God,” and titles include, Regent of the Sun, Angel of Music, Patron of Prophecy, Archangel of Salvation, Angel of the Presence. See
Uriel.org for more about him/her, the crystal egg association, and paintings.
July 29 – Festival of Thor – Celebration of Norse God Thor
July 31 – Lammas, harvest festival coming 40 days after Summer Solstice, offer 1st fruits to the Divine (See Aug. 1)
– Festival of Loki – Day to honor Norse trickster god Loki and his consort Sigyn
July 31 thru Aug 2 – Lughnasadh – Old Celtic / Irish Feast of Goddess Tailtiu and God Lugh (Deities of Life and Light), celebrating the grain harvest.
Feast of the Grain Harvest – Honoring Goddess Demeter & Kore (Old Greek), and God as Osiris (Egyptian).
AUGUST
Aug 1 – Lammas / Lughnassadh – Mid-Summer, First Harvest Festival of the Celtic Sun God Lugh.
Aug 2 Feast of the Black Madonna – Gnostic celebration of the Dark Goddess
Aug 3 Day of the Dryads – Greek celebration of the Macedonian maiden spirits of woods and water.
Aug 3-4 Feast of Old Greek Goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) – Defender of rights and liberties, and punisher of rapists and oppressors.
Aug 5 Celtic Tree Month of Hazel begins.
Aug 6 Celtic Fire Festival of Tan Hill.
Aug 9 Druid Feast of the Fire Spirits
Aug 11-13 Feast of Father Sky – Honoring God as Obatala (Yoruba/Santeria), Ouranos (Greek), Svarog (Slavic), Thor (Norse), Taranis (Celtic), Dyaus (Hindu).
– Celtic Puck Fair – Fertility Festival.
Aug 12 – The Lights of Isis, Festival of the Egyptian Goddess Isis.
Aug 15 – Assumption Day – Christian feast commemorating Blessed Maria rising into Heaven, being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, and being transformed into Our Lady, the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) who appears everywhere.
Aug 15 was originally THE ASSUMPTION OF THE HOLY SOPHIA, The Assumption of the Holy Sophia into the Pleroma is commemorated on August 15th. This correlates in the orthodox church with the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a recent addition to the Roman liturgical life. The ancient Gnostic scriptures tell of Sophia, the feminine aspect of the highest God, who wanders out of heaven and gets lost in the lower regions. By singing praises to the Light, she is rescued by the Savior and he aids her return to heaven by a mystery. In our psychological perspective, we are cast out of the Fullness of Being to become differentiated egos. By the mystery figure of the Logos we are able to individuate and return to the state of Wholeness. Thus Sophia’s plight is our own, and by her example we may be inspired to continue on our path. — From: http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm
"The story of Sophia is not just a philosophical conundrum or a moral tale. Sophia is the bringing back of the feminine image of the redeemed redeemer, which restores the hero in all of us. We all have within us, regardless of our gender, the potential to be noble knights in service to Our Lady Sophia; we are all, male or female, prepared as a bride to receive the Bridegroom, our true royal Selfhood, the Christ within." — From The Assumption of Sophia by Rev. Steven Marshall from http://gnosis.org/ecclesia/homily_Assumption.htm
Aug 17 – Feast Day of Saint Sophia, the saintly version of the ancient Goddess Sophia, Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Other sources list her feast day as September 30, and as Aug 15 above.
Aug 21 Greek Festival of Hecate – To protect the harvest.
Aug 24 Feast of Egyptian God Osiris – Partner and true love of Isis, and father of Horus; guide of all husbands, fathers, and judges.
Aug 25 Norse God Odin receives knowledge.
Roman Festival of Goddess Ops – Lady of the Cornucopia, Bounty of the Harvest and Sustainer of Life.
Aug 27 Feast of Egyptian Goddess Isis – Partner and true love of Osiris, and mother of Horus; guide of all wives, mothers, healers, advocates, and teachers.
Aug 28 Norse Harvest Festival.
Aug 29 -Sep 11 Return of Isis – Egyptian festival marking the return to Egypt of Goddess Isis (as the star of Sept/Sirius) and God Osiris (as the rising Nile River).
SEPTEMBER
Aug 29 – Sept 11: Return of Isis & Osiris (star Sirius, rising Nile waters)
Sept 2 – Grape Vine Festival honoring Ariadne & Dionysus
Sept 8 – Birthday of Virgin Mary & DESCENT OF THE HOLY SOPHIA The Descent of the Holy Sophia falls on September 8th. In the Roman calendar this day celebrates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and prefigures the sacred birth of Jesus. In the Gnostic tradition, part of Sophia returns to the aeons, to her true home, and part of her being symbolically returns to the lower regions or to earth. She comes to earth to be with us, her children, to be our consolation and the inspiration of our love. By this image we have the promise that we are not left alone in our darkness but have Sophia’s abiding presence in our lives. (from: http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm )
Sept 9 – 11, Feast of Mother Earth (Greek, etc)
Sept 11 Remembrance Day
Sept 9 – 18, Greater Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek)
Sep 13, Egyptian Lighting the Fire Ceremony for all departed souls
Sep 16, Greek Rites of Goddess Demeter
Sep 17, Hildegarde of Bingen Feast Day
Sep 19, Feast of Thoth, Egyptian scribe god
Sep 21, Nativity of Blessed Mary, Eastern Orthodox Church
Birthday of Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom also known as Sophia
Sep 22 or 23, Autumn Equinox, Mabon, Ishtar’s Day: The Fall Equinox always begins the forty day All Hallows season, which culminates with Halloween, All Saints Day and then All Souls Day (Oct. 31, Nov. 1, Nov. 2 respectively). This forty day period is one of four such in the esoteric Church year. The other three forty day periods are: Spring Equinox (Mar 20 or 21) to May Day, Dec. 25 to
Candlemas (Feb 1 or 2) and of course, Lent. Lent is the forty day period beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday every year.
Sep or sometimes Oct (day varies) Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, always followed ten days later by Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the last of the Ten Days of Awe in Hebrew lore. The first of the Ten Days of Awe is Rosh Hoshanah, the Jewish New Year, when the gates of heaven are said to be flung open allowing blessings rain upon us for Ten Days, after which it goes shut again. “May your name be written in the book of life,” is the greeting Jews use during the Ten Days of Awe because on Yom Kippur, the solemn day of atonement, the gates and the book go shut again.
Sep 26 – Oct 5 Navaratri, Hindu Festival of the Great Goddess
Huge holiday in India when Goddess destroys evil
and restores cosmic order
Sep 27, Day of the Willows,
Mesopotamian Festival of Astarte/Asherah
Sep 29,
Michaelmas, one of the oldest Christo-pagan holy days
Sep 30, Feast day of Saint Sophia, mother of Faith, Hope & Charity, saintly version of Goddess of Wisdom. Alternative feastdays for her are August 15 or 17, see above.
OCTOBER
Oct 2 – Druid Feast of the Guardian Spirits
Oct 4 – St. Francis of Assisi Day, one of the most pagan of the christian saints, he coined terms “brother sun, sister moon”, and honored the covenant between humans and the animal kingdom
Oct 9-11 Feast of Divine Wisdom – Source of all knowledge, honoring God-Goddess as Odin-Frigg (Norse); and Goddess as Sophia/Wisdom (Christian), Truth/Maat (Egyptian), Metis (Greek), Sarasvati (Hindu), & Manat (Arabic-Sufi).
Oct 13, Knights Templar Remembrance Day
Oct 18 English Great Horn Fair – Festival of Herne.
* Oct 24 Raphaelmas, Feast of Archangel Raphael, whose name means, “The High One Heals.” Since 1970, the Catholic Church no longer recognizes this day for Raphael, ending more than a thousand years of tradition by opting to lump him in with Gabriel and Michael for a Feast of the Holy Archangels Day on
Sept 29.
Oct 24 – Druid Feast for Spirits of Air
Oct 28 Feast of Baba and Dedo – Slavic protectors of families and elders.
Oct 28 – Nov 3 Isia – Egyptian festival recalling Set (God of Destruction) killing God Osiris; Goddess Isis mourning Him, resurrecting Him, and conceiving God Horus with Him; and Osiris becoming Lord of Amenta, land of the dead. He weighs souls against the Feather of Truth on Goddess Maat’s Scale of Justice, but defers to Isis for those who fail the test.
Oct 31 Samhain / Hallowmas / Halloween – Celtic New Year and feast of Cerridwen (Goddess of Death) and Beli (the Holly King, God of the Waning Sun).
Oct 31 – Nov 2 Descent of Inanna – Sumerian fast recalling the descent of Inanna (Goddess of Life) to the Underworld. Ereshkigal (Goddess of Death and Rebirth) detained Her until She agreed to have Dumuzi (God of Life and Death) remain there each Winter.
Fast of Hod – Norse fast marking Hod (blind God of Darkness) unintentionally killing Balder (God of Light), and devoted Nanna (Goddess of Flowers) dying of a broken heart.
October’s Variable (Movable) Holidays:
* Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement – End of the 10 Days of Awe, when the Gates of Heaven go closed again. A day of fasting and repenting for any mistakes made during the year. Yom Kippur is the last of the Ten Days of Awe in Hebrew lore. The first of the Ten Days of Awe is Rosh Hoshanah, the Jewish New Year, when the gates of heaven are said to be flung open allowing blessings rain upon us for Ten Days when it goes shut again. “May your name be written in the book of life,” is the greeting Jews use during the Ten Days of Awe because on Yom Kippur, the solemn day of atonement, the gates and the book go shut again.
* Hindu Festival of Lights, Diwali. India’s Lunar New Year. Celebrated for 3 days up to and including the New Moon. Goddess Lakshmi and her husband God Vishnu are invoked for prosperity
NOVEMBER
Oct 31 – Nov 6 Mid-Autumn / Day of the Dead / Hallowmas – Festival marking the transformation of life to death, the end of the agricultural year, departure of migrating and hibernating animals, and decay and death of vegetal and animal life. Observed by remembering departed ancestors and contemplating one’s own mortality.
Nov 1 – All Saints Day – Christians around the world remember all the dead on this day
– Day of the Banshees, Reign of Celtic Cailleach, Crone Goddess.
Nov 2 – All Souls Day, Christians remember their own dead — relatives, ancestors, beloved dead.
– White Tara Day. Day for meditation on Tantric Bodhisattva Goddess, White Tara, who guides the dead to Buddha Amitabha’s Pure Land, where all will find salvation.
Nov 7 – 9 Feast of Divine Justice – Source of just law, honoring Goddess-God as Maat-Thoth (Egyptian); Goddess as Themis (Greek), Justice (Christian), and God as Forseti (Norse).
Nov 8 – Seven Holy Archangels Day (Orthodox Christian).
The
seven original Archangels to the Eastern Orthodox Church are: Michael,
Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and the fallen Lucifer. Lucifer
lost his place to another Archangel but the various lists can’t make their minds
up about the name of the new archangel. Baracael, Ieadiel, Sealtiel, Peliel,
and Gamael are some of the possibilities. The Book of Enoch says: The
big four plus Raguel, Sariel, and Jerahmeel, while from other apocryphal sources
we get the variant names Izidkiel, Hanael, and Kepharel instead of the last
three.
Nov 11 Feast of Dionysus – Greek God whom Yeshua was “connected to” as the Cosmic Gnosis. Also Veteran’s Day when we remember the dead.
See
article.
Celtic Lunatishees – Day of the Fairie Sidhe, Old November Day.
Nov 13 Festival of Jupiter – Roman deity associated with rain and agriculture, prime protector of the state, and concerned with all aspects of life.
Roman Fontinalia – Feast of Fons, God of Springs.
Nov 14 Feast of Musicians and Bards – Druid celebration of the Celtic musical arts.
Nov 16 – Night of Hecate, Greek Goddess of the Hags or Wisewomen, (later called Witches),
her name comes from Heqa-ma’at, a goddess in the ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead who later became Hekmah or Hokmah (also spelled Chokmah)
meaning wisdom in the ancient Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). From Heqa-ma’at
/ Hecate / Hokmah we get the Greek word for wisewoman or holywoman, “hag”. Hecate
was goddess of the hags and it was a very complementary thing to be a hag of
the Hagia Sophia tradition!
Nov 20 – Day of All Gnostic Saints (see http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm for explanation)
Nov 22 – Festival of Diana – Roman Goddess of Moon, Hunt, Wilderness, Birth
– Feast of Weyland – Norse God of the Smiths.
Nov 24 – Feast of the Burning Lamps, Egyptian festival
– Celtic Tree Month of Reed ends – Tree Month of Elder begins
Nov 27 – Day of Parvati – Hindu Mother of the Universe
– Feast of Ullr: “The Feast of Ullr was to celebrate the Hunt and to gain the personal luck needed for success. Weapons are dedicated on this day to Ullr. If your arms were blessed by the luck of the God of the Hunt, your family and tribe shared the bounty with a Blot and Feast to Ullr .”
4th Thursday of November: Thanksgiving Day – Day to give thanks for religious freedom here in this great country, the fertile abundance of mother earth, and basic necessities of life, “thread, bread, and shed.” (Clothes, food, shelter).
Nov 29 Egyptian Feast of Hathor – as Sekmet, Lioness and Sun Goddess, the alternate of Bast, the Cat Goddess.
Last Sunday of November begins Advent, the Festival of Lights for the Coming of the Light of the World – Christian vigil for the birth of the Cosmic Christ. Advent candles are lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. A purple one on the 1st, 2nd and 4th Sundays, and a pink one on the 3rd Sunday. See our unfinished
Sundays of Advent page. Here’s a traditional
Advent Wreath “how-to” page.
DECEMBER
See our unfinished
Sundays of Advent page. Here’s a traditional
Advent Wreath “how-to” page.
Dec 1 – Greek / Roman Day of Pallas Athena / Minerva.
– Day for Meditation on Tantric Bodhisattva Goddess Red Tara – Protector against evil and harm.
Dec 3 – Roman Day of Cybele / Rhea – The Great Mother.
Dec 4 – Feast of Shango – Orisha who defends against evil.
Dec 6 – St Nicholas of Myra Day, patron saint of children & mariners, original Santa Claus, known for his love of children
– Mindfulness Day – Zen Buddhist day for mindfully seeing and acting with compassion for the poor and oppressed.
Dec 7 – Haloia of Demeter.
Dec 7 – 9 Feast of the Immanent Feminine Divine Spirit – Honoring Goddess as Maha Devi Shakti (Hindu), Holy Spirit Wisdom (Christian).
Dec 8 Rohatsu – Zen Buddhist celebration of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Dec 11 – Sacred to Arianrhod.
Dec 12 – Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe – Mother of God and Mother of the Oppressed.
Dec 13 – Feast of the Light-bringer – Honoring Goddess as Juno Lucina (Old Roman).
Dec 14 – Warriors’ Memorial, Japanese.
Dec 17 – Yoruba / Santeria feast of Orisha Babalu Aye – Healer of deadly diseases.
Dec 18 – Sacred to Epona.
Dec 19 – Modresnact: Norse Mothers Night Festival.
Dec 21 – Beginning of Esoteric Kristmas Cycle, the
Twelve
Days of Kristmas. Please observe this cycle of holy days with fellow Church of the Way and Mystery School members
– Celtic Alban Arthuan – Return of the Sun God. Druid Festival of Alban Arthuan
– Day of Holy Apostle Thomas (of the Gospel of Thomas).
Celebrated December 21st. The Gnostic scriptures teach that
Thomas understood deeply the mysteries that Jesus imparted to this disciples,
and the Gospel of Thomas is a major Gnostic work. It seems this was not
understood or not appreciated by the orthodox church, which excluded his
gospel from the canonical New Testament. He is mentioned many times in other
Gnostic scriptures as being one who had Gnosis. The beautiful story called
both “The Hymn of the Pearl’ and “The Hymn of the Robe of Glory” is attributed
to him. From: http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm
Dec 21 thru 25 – Old Egyptian festival of Isis, the Magna Mater (Mother of God and Mother of All) giving birth to God Horus.
Dec 22 –
Yule, Winter Solstice
– Day of Archangel Raphael, whose name means “Healing power of El”.
Celebrated December 22nd. Raphael
is the angel of healing and health, and is always invoked in the Sacrament
of Unction. Raphael represents the principle of regeneration as related to
the powers of health and also the regeneration of the Light in the realm
of darkness. Thus Raphael has been celebrated in our tradition at the winter
solstice, because when the darkness has reached its epitome, it engenders
the renewed Light, which is then “born” on Christmas Day. From:
http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/cal_mandala.htm
Dec 23 – Sacred to Hathor.
Dec 24 – Celtic Tree Month – Month of Reed ends, Tree Month of Elder begins.
Dec 25 – Christmas Day, Christian celebration of Blessed Maria giving birth to Child Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
– European Feasts of Herne, Frey, Dionysus – Birth of the God, the Light of the World.
Dec 25 thru Jan 5 Norse Yule: Old Norse festival honoring Frey and Freya (Deities of Fertility) and the new-born Baldur (God of Light) with evergreens, fires, and feasting.
Dec 26 thru Jan 1 – Kwanzaa: Festival celebrating positive African traditions; emphasizes unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
Dec 28 – Sacred to Freya.
Dec 31 – Egyptian Lucky Day of Sekmet – Sekmet, the ravaging lioness, with her burning solar eye, is the destroyer/devourer aspect of the goddess.