May Marriages

The month of May is traditionally thought to belong to the Goddess and as such any man who was brave enough to marry during the month was said to fall prey to the lust and power of a woman!

The Romans too considered May an unlucky month for a wedding, due to the celebration of their festival of 'Lemuralia', at which sacrifices were made to purge each house of hostile spirits and therefore marriages were not considered wholly appropriate.

With the coming of Christianity, May became the month of the Virgin Mary and was a time associated with chastity and purity, therefore not a time to celebate the nuptuals!

If, however you are celebrating a wedding this month, may the Goddess smile upon you and bring you love, healthand happiness.

Healing the Hurt

Someone I care about has been hurt this week by the words of another, as indeed we all allow ourselves to be at certain points in our lives. The key words here however are 'allow ourselves to be'.

I met my lovely husband on a course in London and, whilst on that course, one of the trainers decided to role play one afternoon with me as the advisor and she as the customer. To say she was like a dog with a bone was an understatement and after a while I just held my hands up and said, 'I just can't do this anymore.'

I felt upset although I tried not to let it show and at the end of the session my (unknown) future husband came up to me and said 'No one has the right to make you feel bad, unless you allow it.'

Those words have stayed with me through the years and so, to the person I care about, I say; 'let the abusive words be carried away by the breath of the wind.

The Joy of Beltane

The season of Beltane is upon us, joyful, beautiful and life giving. Beltane was the festival that marked the beginning of the Celtic summer, it was a time when the animals were put out to pasture and was celebrated with acts of love, lust and fertility.

Many love chases were madethrough thewoods on Beltane Eve, an act which was referred to as 'going a maying'. Here lovers would spend the night in the woods, doing what came naturally to them and these liasons were often known as 'greenwood marriages'. The Puritan writer, Phillip Stubbs was quoted as saying:

'I have heard it credibly reported by men of great gravity, credit and reutation, that of fortie three score maids going to the woods over night, there have scarcely the third part of them returned home again undefiled.'

Even when more formal marriage rites were introduced, the rules were still relaxed at Beltane. Any children resulting from these unions were often called after spirits or legendary characters of the woods such as Jackson, after Jack in the Green, a derivation of the green man. Hodson, after Hod, a woodland sprite or Robinson after Robin Goodfellow from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream or perhaps the legendary Robin Hood. Rudyard Kipling captured the essence of Beltane with these words:

Oh do not tell the priest of our art, or he would call it a sin: But we shall be out in the woods all night, a-conjuring summer in!'

May the season of Beltane bring you joy, love and hope.

From 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Whispers'

Springtime

Springtime

Call to me

As the leaves burst for freedom,

Fly to me

As a bird on the wing,

Run to me

As the sun starts to strengthen,

Come to me

On a whisper of spring.

Dance with me

On a hill dressed in moonlight,

Swim with me

In the wild open sea,

Ride with me

Through the white mists of morning,

Drink of me

And set yourself free.

From 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Whispers'

The Magic of the South West

Having just returned from a wonderful 6 days away in our camper van, I am finally getting back into the swing of writing again.

We visited some of what I consider to be the most magical places in England. Our tour began in Glastonbury, where we climbed the tor, attended the Wessex Pagan Conference (very informative speakers) and took a trip out to the National Trust's Lytes Carey Manor (a gem).

We drove down to Cornwall, spent the night on the cliffs overlooking Widemouth Bay and BBQ'd under a full moon and beside a full tide. Boscastle soon called and the following night found us on the cliffs above Bosinney Bay, which was stunning.

My ultimate indulgence however has to be spending two nights in the place that speaks to my soul above all others; Bodmin Moor. The wild landscape where I met Mrs Darley and took my first tentative steps along the magical path, will for ever be imprinted upon my heart.

The Element of Air

The element of air is synonymous with the spring. According to Carl Jung, air symbolizes the thinking aspect, the logical mind. It allows us to think constructively and to build upon what has gone before. It encourages us to be analytical and base our decisions upon the basis of cause and effect, separating what we perceive to be good from what we perceive to be bad.

Jung believed that those with a dominant air aspect to their personality or the thinking types have the ability to step outside the box and consider things that others have yet to dream of. oo much thinking however can often mean that there is very little 'doing' and many bright ideas may never come to fruition if there is a lack of the fire element which brings passion and determination and the earth element which offers practical skills.

More detailed information on the elements and what they mean to the individual and within the realms of magic can be found in 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Elements'

Mother's Day and the Lent Lilly

Today is Mother's Day, an occasion when in times past servents were given this day off in order to journey home and attend a church service with their mother. It was the only highlight for many in what was the long and sombre period of Lent. Today it has become a serious money making day, just as the majority of our well known festivals have.

I am not objecting to honouring our precious Mum's, but surely this is something we should do on a regular basis rather than on one day of the year when florists, card producers, and a whole host of other commercial outlets selling and producing feminine gifts put their prices up in order to cash in on the fact that we feel obliged to spend money.

Mum's are special and as such they often don't desire a fortune to be spent on them and a token gesture would be just as welcome. In this respect a bunch of daffodils or a pot of primroses are most appropriate, for both are said to represent and attract love.

Daffodils are also known as the 'Lent Lilly' and a vase of them in the bedroom are said to assist with conception difficulties, although do ensure that there are a minimum of 13!

Enjoy mother's day and just telling your Mum how much she means to you will be more precious to her than any expensive gift.

I'm just looking across at my Mum's photograph surrounded by daffodils and remembering how lucky I was to have her as my Mum.