Samhain 2020

Timing Samhain 2020

This year Samhain, the Cross-Quarter, midway between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, 15° of the sign Scorpio, occurs November 6. Here are the times for a few time zones. Feel free to ask me for any zone not represented, or go to the web site timeanddate.com where time is of the essence, and the essence is time.

From card by © Amanda Clark all rights are reserved. http://www.amandaclarkartist.co.uk/

Friday, November 6, 2020
11:14:04 UTC
Dublin, Ireland
11:14:04 AM GMT
Boston, MA USA
06:14:04 AM EST
St. Louis, MO, USA
05:14:04 AM CST
Santa Fe, NM, USA
04:14:04 AM MST
Vancouver, Canada
03:14:04 AM PST
Honolulu, HI, USA
1:14:04 PM AHST

Samhain (or Samhuinn, or several variations) is pronounced "sow-in" (with "sow" rhyming with "cow" or pronounced “sah-wen” by others). It is seen as the dividing point between years. It marks a time that is neither in this year or the next.

Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic winter. It is balanced by the corresponding day of celebration called Beltain (or Bealtaine, Beltaine, etc.) that signals the start of summer, six months later. Both are fire festivals. Bonfires are lit in high places. The ancient Celts probably held them as closely between an equinox (when day and night were equal), and the following solstice (when the nighttime was shortest, summer, or longest, winter) as they could figure. By our current calendar, between the Fall equinox and the Winter solstice is a range of November 5 to 7.

Samhain is the source of Halloween. It is a time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest. The Celts believed that upon death, everyone went to a beautiful place free of hunger, pain, and disease, called "Tir nan Og," sometimes translated as "Summerland." The belief was that two separate and nearly identical worlds existed. At Samhain, the veil between the worlds grows thin, and the concept of ghosts and goblins making their presence known comes in.
"The pagan idea used to be that crucial joints between the seasons opened cracks in the fabric of space-time, allowing contact between the ghost world and the mortal one." [B.G. Walker, "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets," Harper & Row (1983), Page 371-372]
"The spirits of dead friends sought the warmth of the Samhain fire and communion with their living kin." [Janet & Steward Farrar, "Eight Sabbats for Witches," Phoenix Publishing, Custer WA, Pages 121 to 136]
Celts believed the future may be predicted most effectively at this time.

What do you see for the year ahead?

There was no monolithic “Old Religion” or paganism, but Solstices, Equinoxes, and Cross Quarters were likely recognized and utilized by a variety of peoples from very ancient times for ritual, augury, and as portals to exchange with the world of Spirit. Ancient astronomical accuracy recognizing the events is evident in many more structures than Stonehenge and Chaco Canyon and from a wide variety of cultures globally. The Eightfold Year resonates in celebration and ritual in the calendars of religions and peoples, often obscured from the source, such as Groundhog Day for Imbolc (in the belly) midway between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

Samhain falls with the Sun at the midpoint of the sign Scorpio, the Scorpion, symbol of death and transformation. It is a Water Sign traditionally affiliated with Mars but akin as well with Pluto, (not visible to the ancient world, but well recognized by the astrological community fairly quickly after its discovery, February 18, 1930.)

Via the brilliant and prolific astrloger and artist Aysem Aksoy

Scorpio is of the body zone of sex when considering the astrological associations from the head, Aries, to the feet, Pisces. While Mars is strongly in the masculine, male, camp, Pluto well includes the so-called dark female, embodied by Persephone from the Greek view, and especially with Inanna the Sumerian goddess. The richness of mid-Scorpio easily includes all of the celebrations, holy days, and rituals that cluster about this time.

Rights to the images belong to their respective owners, and I will quickly honor any removal requests. The rest is copyright © Tim Rubald 2020

Autumn Equinox 2020

Timing our Autumn Equinox
(Southward) Equinox, Sun enters Libra (Sun at 0° Libra), Maybon (Holy Day)
September 22, 2020, 3:30:33 AM (Hawaii), Sun 0° Libra

Not in Hawai’i? Here’s Equinox timing for some other time zones.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
UT/GMT 01:30:33 PM
UK 02:30:33 PM
EDT 09:30:33 AM
CDT 08:30:33 AM
MDT 07:30:33 AM
PDT 06:30:33 AM
HST 03:30:33 AM Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time

Image courtesy of filamentlearning dot com.

Twice a year the sun’s rays shine directly over the Earth’s equator and there are nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. The sun rises and sets exactly due east and due west on the equinoxes. Instead of the Earth tilting away from or toward the sun, its axis of rotation becomes perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the Earth and the sun. From Autumnal Equinox to Winter Solstice (December 22) the nights get longer. This is the first day of Fall (Autumnal Equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of Spring (Vernal Equinox) in the southern hemisphere.

The key to “getting it” is equinox points are places in Earth’s orbit where the Earth's axis is between the stages of pointing toward or away from the Sun. Toward takes us into northern hemisphere summer, away into winter.

The publisher, Llewellyn offers Maybon, a “name for the autumnal equinox, also known as the Second Harvest Festival, Festival of Dionysus, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Feast of Avalon, etc. The first Thanksgiving was held on or near this date, and it is from these early harvest festivals that the modern Thanksgiving feasts developed.” - Kristin Madden (Llewellyn Publications)

Image via mytripolog

Similar recognition of the equinox marking the harvest season occurs in Central America. “In Mexico, crowds flock to the pyramid at Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula. A serpent-headed statue is at the foot of the pyramid and as the sun sets, the sunlight and the shadow show the body of the serpent joining with the head.” 

The Wheel of the Year Turns Toward Darkness.

As some followers of Earth oriented religions express it, after the Fall Equinox, the energies of the dark gods and goddesses begin to increase and gain attention. The balance described by the Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang reflects the Equinoxes but an imbalance begins at the point of this Equinox as night begins to overtake daylight's duration. The processes of inward-turning gain significance. Persephone returns to her throne with Hades in the Underworld.

This is a solar marker of the continual heartbeat of creation, what to some traditions is known as "the Word." While the heartbeat may slowly alter over eons of time, Earth's relationship with the center cycles rhythmically through the centuries. That essential relationship of Earth to Sun establishes the core pattern that is the basis of tropical astrology, astrology based on the seasons.


Reminder: in a few weeks, on November 1, 2020, Daylight Saving Time ends – turn clocks back one hour, 2:00 am becomes 1:00 am.

2020 Lammas/Lughnasadh timing

Lughnasadh/Lammas 2020

Lammas (Loaf Mass) or Lughnasadh (Loo-nas-ah) is the third of the four fire festivals held at solstice and equinox midpoints. This one is at the Leo midpoint (15° Leo) twixt Summer solstice (Cancer) and Fall equinox (Libra).

Lugh is a sun deity. Nasad suggests harvest festivals, fairs, and games. It celebrates the midsummer harvest in the Northern Hemisphere (midwinter in the Southern Hemisphere). It is the third of the Celtic fire festivals when the celebration begins on the eve of the day.

Lammas ritualists, students, and the curious might be interested in precise timing for the cross-quarter moment when the Sun reaches the Zodiac degree 15 degrees of the sign Leo, the exact time between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox. Popularly, Lughnasadh events begin on the evening of July 31 for an August 1 celebration. These times are for the actual cross-quarter moment.

Aug 7 2020 AD GC
01:06:17 AM GMT/UT
02:06:17 AM BST London
Aug 6 2020 AD GC
09:06:17 PM EDT Washington DC
08:06:17 PM CDT Chicago
07:06:17 PM MDT Albuquerque
06:06:17 PM PDT San Francisco
03:06:17 PM AHST Honolulu

For most of history, it was not possible to calculate the exact midpoint in time (above) that marks midsummer. Now it is possible to get that time. It is probable that in other eras, additional factors like a new or a full moon might be part of the decision as to when to light a festival fire. Do not think it wrong to celebrate, to recognize the cross-quarter, at another time.

By Mountainash333 - I handmade this item and I took the photograph at my home. Previously published: eBay and Etsy., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19519028 This shows a 'male' corn dolly or idol that I made. It is fashioned in the same way as the corn mother. I believe it is rare to see one. It represents the Celtic sun god Lugh. The celebration of Lughnasadh or Lammas.

2020 Summer Solstice – Cancer Ingress – Litha

The still moment in the still moment.

You may hear about the three days when the sun stands still at the solstices. The etymology of the word solstice is from Latin, sol, “sun” and stice, past participle of sistere, "stand still.” For three days the sun’s places of rising and setting appear the same. The exact moment of the change of orientation of Earth to our star is calculable and the precise timing is offered here.

21:43:35 (9:43:35 PM) UTC, (UTC +0)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

London, United Kingdom
10:43:35 pm BST (UTC +1)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

New York, NY, USA
05:43:35 pm EDT (UTC -4)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

Chicago, IL, USA
04:43:35 pm CDT (UTC -5)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

Denver, CO, USA
03:43:35 pm MDT (UTC -6)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

Los Angeles, CA, USA
02:43:35 pm PDT (UTC -7)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

State of Hawai’i, USA
11:43:35 am HST (UTC -10)
Saturday, June 20, 2020

The Summer Solstice is known as the longest day and shortest night since it provides the northern hemisphere’s greatest period of a day’s sunlight. At the Summer Solstice, the northern hemisphere assumes its most direct tilt facing into the Sun. Earth's mean obliquity (or axial tilt) is currently 23°26′11.9″ (or 23.43663°) and decreasing.

The Sun reaches the maximum north it will on June 20. It will appear to stand still and begin dropping south toward the equator while the length of daylight shortens. (Please see the illustration.) The line the Sun reaches northward is known as the Tropic of Cancer. The Sun at noon is very nearly over Cuba at 23.5° north longitude. At noon on the Winter Solstice the Sun is approximately over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the Southern Hemisphere. There it reaches the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5° South, the furthest South the Sun goes. In either direction when the sun crosses the equator we have an autumn or spring equinox.

We are part of the natural world and subject to the changes of the season cycle, responsive to the waxing and waning cycle initiated by earth’s orientation to our star. From Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, daylight is waning north of the equator and darkness reaches its peak at the shortest day and longest night of the Winter Solstice.

My favorite image for LITHA this year. "This website does not supply ownership information."

Search "Litha" for more on how the Summer Solstice is and has been celebrated for centuries.

“The Solstices then are a time to stop, and to look back on where the half-yearly cycle has brought you, and a chance to look forward and see the direction in which the next half-yearly cycle may lead you; a moment to be conscious of your life's flow and direction; a time to express your hopes and fears, your intentions; to assimilate your learnings and celebrate your achievements; a time to celebrate the light; a time to celebrate the dark; a moment to be conscious of the way this waxing and waning of the Sun affects our lives, and to celebrate this duality and what it means to us.

“When the light is increasing from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice, all beings are moving out into the light, becoming more individual and independent, expressing their own identity and uniqueness, expanding outwards into the material world. But as the light is decreasing from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, nature and life as a whole is integrating itself into a more social way of life, going within, reflecting and becoming more intuitive, expanding into the inner realms - exploring inner wisdom.”

– from Sacred Celebrations by Glennie Kindred

DOWN UNDER

Are you south of the equator? Then WELCOME WINTER! The Summer Solstice in the north is the Winter Solstice in the south.

Some of the discussion of the effect or meaning of the significance of the turning points that the solstices mark does apply north or south, but much of what might be called interpretive is slanted to concerns of the northern hemisphere. There is much to learn by comparisons between how the Sun’s rounding of the track is experienced differently in the two hemispheres.

Let’s look at some of what’s said above by Glennie Kindred. Her first paragraph is 100% applicable north or south for either solstice. Reading on we might wonder will the south be “moving out into the light, becoming more individual and independent, expressing their own identity and uniqueness, expanding outwards into the material world,” while in the north, “as the light is decreasing from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice,” the experience is that “life as a whole is integrating itself into a more social way of life, going within, reflecting and becoming more intuitive, expanding into the inner realms - exploring inner wisdom”? In any event it is safe to say that the two solstices mark stillness in anticipation of change.

A horoscope calculated for the solstice is one of those used by astrologers for millennia to evaluate the entire Summer season (until the Autumn Equinox or to the Winter Solstice). Astro-meteorologists use it as a “temperature chart,” one of the keys to weather prediction.

Stay safe. Happy Solstice! Blessed Litha!

Tim

2020 Beltane timing

2020 Beltane - mid-Taurus

Beltane is the second of the year's four fire festivals.

Beltane is a Pagan Cross-Quarter Day (a Wiccan Sabbat). Some practitioners observe Cross-Quarters at the astronomical time, the midpoint between solstice and equinox, while others adhere to rigid dates. The Cross Quarters are marked in the Tropical Zodiac at 15° of the Fixed Signs (Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio).

Here are the “astronomically correct” (Sun 15° Taurus) times for Beltane 2020:
5 May 2020
12:51:36 AM  UTC
01:51:36 AM  LONDON        BST
08:51:36 PM  NEW YORK        EDT
7:51:36 PM    NEW ORLEANS        CDT
6:51:36 PM    ALBUQUERQUE    MDT
5:51:36 PM    SACRAMENTO        PDT
4 May 2020
2:51:36 PM    HONOLULU        AHST

Some related or coincidental annual events.
April 30    - May Eve
        - Walpurgisnacht (witches' Sabbath, after St. Walpurga presumably to co-opt a pagan festival)
May 1    - May Day - May Poles, May Queens, May-dew, etc.
        - Beltane / Bealtaine - Celtic bonfire festival
        - Roodmas - Mass of the Cross (more church efforts to co-opt a Pagan holy day)
May 4-7    - 2nd Cross-Quarter Day
        The point midway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice,             15° 00’ Taurus
May 5    - Cinco de Mayo (Mexico)

Celli Laughing Coyote* has for Beltane, “It officially begins[“others adhere to rigid dates.”] at moonrise on May Day Eve (April 30), and marks the beginning of the second half of the ancient Celtic year. It is the beginning of the Mother's rule and is one of the two most important Sabbats of the year. The festival is the counterpart of Samhain or All Hollow's Eve, the other time in the year that the veil between the Earth and the Otherworld is thinnest. At Samhain, the Otherworld visits us, at Beltane we can visit the Otherworld.
* I’ve been unable to track down anything about CLC. I likely got this “online” sometime in the 80s or 90s. Celli Laughing Coyote, "Yule - Winter Solstice: The longest night of the year," at http://www.whitemtns.com/ which link returns “404 - File or directory not found.” - TR
 
Walpurgisnacht is a Germanic festival celebrating the start of summer. Walpurgis Night, an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night, also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve, is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. The feast commemorates the canonization of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on 1 May 870. [The Church regularly planted feast days at times of pagan holy days to distract from those.]
– Wikipedia

screengrab from the video
Faun - Walpurgisnacht (Director's Cut)

Enjoy this evocative video, from the 2016 German music video by FAUN - Walpurgisnacht. The band combines romantic and mythical medieval music quotes with contemporary musical influences to create modern German-speaking medieval folk. The band's unique soundscape illuminates the mythology of the Teutons and Vikings, the result of a skillful mix of folk, medieval sounds, pop, and experimental electronic sound columns.  [Cribbed by TR from a translation.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10ftE4XQvo

2020 Vernal Equinox timing

Spring Equinox 2020

The Vernal (Northward) Equinox, Start of Spring, Aries Ingress

For the ritually oriented and the curious, here are 2020 Spring Equinox times for Greenwich and the USA.

March 20, 2020
03:49:31 AM UT/GMT
March 19, 2020
11:49:31 PM EDT +4
10:49:31 PM CDT +5
09:49:31 PM MDT +6
08:49:31 PM PDT +7
05:49:31 PM AHST +10:00:00

[Daylight Saving Time, already in effect in the United States, starts in Great Britain and most of Europe on March 29, 2020. For a complete overview go here https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/events.html]

Eostre by AngiandSilas

March 19-20 brings the Vernal Equinox, also known as Ostara, or Eostre, or Eastre, named for the Germanic Goddess of spring and dawn. When the Sun's path along the Ecliptic (where the Signs or Zodiac are aligned with solstices and equinoxes) crosses the Celestial Equator from the South to the North we have the Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring, zero degrees of Aries. The longer nights of the winter season are now in equal balance with daylight. From this point, the length of daylight grows.

All points in the eight-fold year (defined by the astronomical measure of solstices, equinoxes, and the midpoints between those) are marked by human celebrations, holidays, and holy days. Those “coincidental” celebrations are not accidental but knowingly or circumstantially correspond to the astronomical. There are holy days with the Jewish and Christian calendars (also with Chinese, Hindu, and other systems of reckoning) that combine New and Full Moons with solstices and equinoxes. For example, the Full Moon after the Spring (Vernal) Equinox is Passover. The Sunday following that Full Moon is Easter (the preceding Friday is Good).

 Ostara by Johannes Gehrts

The Vernal Equinox is one of two points of the Zodiac that astrologers use for a measure, some prefer to use the Winter Solstice as a starting point for the “year” to follow. Those who chart the Vernal Equinox (Aries Ingress), derive information about at least three, and at most twelve months following. Some mundane astrologers will chart all four, Solstices and Equinoxes, and utilize those charts for a sense of the three months that follow. For those who favor it, the chart for the first day of Spring is said to be in effect for the year until the next Vernal Equinox. It is considered especially strong until the Summer Solstice chart "comes in" in June.

It is good to remember that the Solstices and Equinoxes are the markers for the Zodiac itself (not the constellations with same or similar names).

"Aries is the principle of Cosmic Individuality, which is the truth that everything of which we can speak or even think is a unity and possesses the rights of a unity.  This, in a sense, may also be called Cosmic Strength.  It gives rise to the virtue of Courage, and as its counterpart it has the delusion of egotism, or the belief that the rights of the individual are his only concern, the "struggle for existence" being deemed a permanent fact, beyond which it is not necessary to look.  This produces such faults as arrogance."

- The Zodiac And The Soul, C. E. O. Carter (1887-1968)

Happy Solstice!

2020 Imbolc-Oimelc timing

2020 Imbolc-Oimelc
3-4 February 2020

TIMING Imbolc or Oimelc

The midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, measured zodiacally with the Sun at 15° 00’ Aquarius, marks the cross-quarter day, called variously, Imbolc, Imbolg, and Oimelc. There is a distinction between the calendar accident when the holiday is generally celebrated, February 1, and the precise timing of the moment. The Winter-Spring midpoint occurs this year, on February 3 or 4, depending on location, in Hawai’i, at 11:03:14 PM AHST. Here’s a list with a few more time zones.

London, United Kingdom
9:03:14 AM GMT-UTC
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

New York, NY, USA
4:03:14 am    EST UTC-5 hours
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Chicago, IL, USA
3:03:14 am    CST UTC-6 hours
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Denver, CO, USA
2:03:14 am MST UTC-7 hours
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Los Angeles, CA, USA
1:03:14 am PST UTC-8 hours
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

State of Hawai’i
11:03:14 PM HST UTC-10 hours
Monday, February 3, 2020

Imbolc or Oimelc (ewe’s milk), is an ancient celebration of the promise of springtime, the festival in the middle of the Celtic winter. It is one of the four cross-quarter days that divide the seasons defined by the solstices and equinoxes. Imbolc between Winter Solstice and Vernal Equinox is marked by megalithic monuments aligned with the day’s sunrise on this and an opposite point, Samhain (Halloween).

As is common with the dates that mark seasonal divisions of the year that correspond to Earth’s alignment with the Sun, Imbolc is linked with other traditions’ holy days (Candlemas, Ground Hog Day, Feast of the Purification, Feast of St. Brigit). The feast of Saint Brigit, St. Brigit's Eve, corresponds with Oimelc like Christmas with the Winter Solstice holiday, Yule.

Statue of Saint Brigit - Saint Brigit's well Kildare