2021 Beltane

2021 BELTANE
Sun 15° Taurus

squarespace

5 May 2021
6:47:03 AM UT +00:00:00
7:47:03 AM GMD London, England
2:47:03 AM EDT Washington DC
1:47:03 AM CDT Minneapolis, Minnesota
12:47:03 AM MDT Boulder, Colorado
4 May 2021
11:47:03 PM PDT San Francisco, California
8:47:03 PM AHST Kahului, Maui, Hawaii

Climate and weather have altered the patterns of life on our blue marble. Earth’s orbit around the Sun is still pretty much as it has been for millennia. Solstices and Equinoxes still mark the seasons even as those seasons deviate from ancient patterns.

Beltane marks the middle time between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, a time long associated with the growth and rhythm of plant and animal life. It is about Earth’s orientation with the Sun even if snow falls on flowering trees and meadows.                         

The Tropical Zodiac relies upon the Solstices and Equinoxes to mark the Cardinal points of the Zodiac. The Winter Solstice marks Capricorn, the Spring Equinox, Aries, the Summer Solstice, Cancer, and the Fall Equinox, Libra. The quarters are divided by three into equal segments that hold the rest of the Signs in order from Aries; Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, etc. The middle sign of each quarter marks the peak part of that season. In the Spring season that begins with Aries and ends at 30° Gemini, Taurus is the peak. So, the middle of Taurus is the “cross quarter” day for the Spring Season. The vital point of a given season is the middle of the Fixed Sign in the center of that season. Mid-Taurus for Spring, Mid-Leo, Summer, Mid-Scorpio, Fall, and Mid-Aquarius for Winter. All eight of those Sun to Earth-defined periods are marked with celebrations. Euro-pagan and some other cultures and religions celebrate the times with gatherings and often with bonfires on high places. The mid-Taurus (15°) time is called Beltane by Euro-pagans like Celts and Wiccans.

 

While many will celebrate May Day in unacknowledged alignment with mid-Taurus, for interest’s sake and perhaps for timing rituals, listed above is the precise timing of when the Sun reaches 15° Taurus.

Blessed be.

TIMING THE 2021 VERNAL EQUINOX

The 2021 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, 2021
9:37:21 AM UTC (GMT/Zulu) +00:00:00
London, England (not yet on Summer Time)

USA TIME ZONES
Saturday, March 20

Eastern
Boston
5:37 am EDT

Central
New Orleans
4:37 am CDT

Mountain
Salt Lake City
3:37 am MDT

Pacific
Seattle
2:37 am PDT

Friday, March 19
Hawaii
Kahului
11:37 pm AHST

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 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 increases. It is the beginning point of the Zodiac that astrologers use for measure.

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).

Some astrologers chart the Vernal Equinox (Aries Ingress) and derive information about at least three and at most twelve months following. Other astrologers favor the Winter Solstice (Capricorn Ingress) for the twelve months following that event. Many mundane astrologers will chart all four, Solstices and Equinoxes, and utilize those charts for a sense of the three months that follow each. The chart for the first day of Spring is said to be in effect, for the year until next Spring. It is considered especially strong until the Summer Solstice chart "comes in" in June. Tropical zodiac positions are always measured from the Vernal Equinox.

Happy Spring!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz3lqVv0vCE

“The Mummers' Dance” is a single by Canadian Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt from the 1997 album “The Book of Secrets.” The song refers to the seasonal Mummers Play performed by groups of actors, often as house-to-house visits.

[Verse 1]

When in the springtime of the year
When the trees are crowned with leaves
When the ash and oak and the birch and yew
Are dressed in ribbons fair

When owls call the breathless moon
In the blue veil of the night
The shadows of the trees appear
Amidst the lantern light

[Chorus]

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

[Verse 2]

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there
And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms
In the springtime of the year

The songs of birds seem to fill the wood
That when the fiddler plays
All their voices can be heard
Long past their woodland days

[Chorus]

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

[Verse 3]

And so they linked their hands and danced
Round in circles and in rows
And so the journey of the night descends
When all the shades are gone

A garland gay we bring you here
And at your door we stand
It is a sprout well budded out
The work of our Lord's hand

[Chorus]

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay