The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021
BELTANE
Photo by Alberto Rodríguez Santana on Unsplash 1
The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021
The Arcannum Team: Director: Morganna: Her training includes Naturopath, Chiromasagist, Reiki master, parapsychologist, tarot reader, Witch. Collaborators: Aradia: Witch and craftswoman. Elisa Villagrasa: Floral therapist, psychographer and researcher of Egyptian culture. Ciren: Philosopher and expert in the I Ching. Astrid: Astrologist and witch. Agiah: Witch, runologist, energetic valuator and expert in acupuncturist and herbodietetics. Astrid and Ciren translator English Spanish.
Table of contents: Beltane
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Ways to celebrate Beltane
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The skull of Doom
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Approach to the I Ching
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Astrology and Moon Magic for Beltane 12 A part of curse based on the book: El arte de echar las cartas by Emilio Salaa: The four of gold
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021
THE FIRES OF BELTANE Trail of Fire that beats within my soul. You emerge and rekindle once more. I have been lost for centuries and cold as coal. Now you are reborn in me like the fields in spring. It's the fires of Beltane! Let us dance and sing! Shout the blessing of the Goddess, the blessing of fertility! Celebrate the ecstasy of the spirit bearer.... Join us, great consort, Billy-goat, provoking the greatest love expressed. Lift up your hearts, lift up your voices, Let us join hands, unite our souls in celebration. Let us celebrate our Pagan condition and give thanks for blessings to the Goddess.
______________________________________Beltane Beltane or Beltaine is an ancient Irish celebration day, it's the 1st of May. This day was celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and Isle of Man. In other Celtic regions like Wales, Britain, and Cornwall they had similar festivities on the same day. Currently, Beltaine survive with a folklore practices on the Celtic nations and diasporas, in addition, on the last decades, this day have had a rebirth. In Galicia, without being regarded as a Celtic nation, despite its claim to be considered as part of the Celtic cultural heritage), Beltaine was held with a night harvest with torches called Fachucos. The Fachucos ashes were spreaded on the field.
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021
For the Celts, the night of Beltane marked the beginning of the new summer season, when the the herds of cattle were driven out to the green pastures and grazing lands of the mountains. In modern Irish Mi na Bealtaine is the name for the month of May, although it is often abbreviated like Bealtaine, the holiday being known as Lá Bealtaine.
One of the most popular activities from this celebration was the lighting of bonfires in the mountains and hills with a magical ritual and a politic meaning on Oidhche Bhealtaine (Beltaine's eve). In modern Gaelic Scottish, is used Lá Buidhe Bealtaine (the Yellow Bealtain's Day) to describe the 1st of May. In the ancient Ireland, the main Bealtaine's bonfire was burn on the central hill of Uisneach, 'The Navel of Ireland', the center of Ireland, center of magic rituals from the country, now it's localized in Westmeath. In Ireland, the lighting of bonfires at Oidhche Bhealtaine seems to have survived only to the present day in the County of Limerick, especially in Limerick City with its annual bonfire night, although some cultural groups have expressed interest in reviving the habit in Uisneach and perhaps on the Hill of Tara. In modern times one can also observe the lighting of Beltane fires that are lit individually in homes in some parts of the Celtic diaspora and by some neopagan groups, although in most of these cases this practice is a cultural celebration rather than the revival of an ancient tradition. The 30th April's eve, in the Gregorian calendar, it's the beginning of our Beltaine, Celtic celebration. The word Beltane is composed of two words; "tane" which can mean fire and with the union of both we could obtain "good fire", "luminous fire" or "beautiful fire". Beltane begins, the dreary days are a reminder of days gone by. The light is reborn in the time of more strength and it is our third festivity, where fire is the protagonist. Our celebration begins at sunset of the 30th April’s eve and it’s concludes the next day, in these moments, according to our believes, the summer begings. Samos starts, the end of the Celtic’s winter and the start of the illuminated wheel’s year. It’s our
fire’s festival. The willows’ s month go through Beltaine’s season and lends his magic essences. In our ritual we have previously extinguished all the existing fires in our tribe or community, as a symbolic form representing the absence of this one. At dawn when the dawn begins to break on the first morning of Summer, we will ritually light our fire where we will regenerate our own spiritual vitality. The bonfire, as our ancestors did, like our ancestors did, will be made of nine sacred woods from nine different trees, and later, carried by nine people are going to put the woods in the bonfire. When it starts to burn, we will get embers to light other small fires at the Beltaine’s sunrise, as opposed to Samhain where the fires start at twilight. In these magical moments, which our ancestors also performed by passing themselves and their livestock through the smoke in a rite of cleansing and purification, fire was and is a divine symbol. This fire was entrusted to the patronage of the god Belenos (the shining one). Manifestation, moreover, of the Lord of Summer and associated with the healing powers of the Sun. Our ancestors also had more ways of greeting these days of celebration and partaking of the healing energy of the Sun Good. One of these traditions was to rise before the sunrise, after a vigil in the sacred forests, where they had participated in the sexual rites of Beltane, they would go to a nearby hill to watch the sunrise and bathe in its life-giving rays. Such bathing could also be taken in a more symbolic way, by bathing in sacred fountains and springs in which the sun's rays had been trapped, or by drinking the water from these or from sacred wells, where the sunlight had been retained. The druids advised drinking the water from these springs before sunrise, washing with the morning dew and adorning themselves with flowers. All this ritual was to dance around the May tree, letting oneself be carried away by the seasonal festivity. The dew that was collected on Beltaine mornings was also collected and stored for use in later rituals. The dew that was collected on Beltane mornings. Dew in its magical concept was considered an essence distilled from the Earth by means of fire (the sun), an alchemy of the spiritual nature of Mother Earth, in whose bosom the springs and streams represent her female organs with their healing properties. The goddess of the Earth
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 (Mother Earth), was the wife of the Sun, both deities, givers of life.
and such children were called "merry be-gotten". This was especially condemned by the Puritans.
It was and still is a time of celebration, joy, weddings and sexual magic, which was meant to perpetuate the season. Our spiritual brothers and sisters of those times chose a "Flower Maiden", also called "The May Queen", who was the symbolic representative of the Goddess in one of her triple transformation aspects, from virgin to mother.
When the Summer begings, the weather warms up and the plant world blossoms. In old Celtic times, young people might spend the whole night in the woods. Other more mature married couples might take off their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) on this one night. ■ Author: Morganna
Perhaps one of Beltane's most misunderstood traditions is the celebration and expression of sexual pleasure. Even long after the Christian form of marriage (and its severe rules of sexual monogamy) replaced the customs of the 'Linking of Hands', those monogamous rules were relaxed for the May rites. They were then called "Greenwood Marriages", because the men and women who spent the night in the forest and returned bringing branches, flowers, and garlands to decorate the village in the morning. Several young girls ended up pregnant as a result of these frolics in the mountains,
Ways to celebrate Beltane: There are many ways to celebrate Beltane: • • • • • •
Weaving a garland of flowers to decorate tour hair. Wearing green clothes all day and nothing at all at night. Weaving a garland of flowers to decorate Hanging fruits and baked sweets from trees and bushes for the feast afterwards. Making a Beltane fire: Jump on it to cleanse yourself or declare your wishes and let the fire transport them to the sky. Jumping on the plants in your garden.
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 •
Erecting a Maypole; Choose a bright ribbon of the color that symbolizes your wish, and dance and weave the strands...
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You can make the Great Rite with your partner, in your garden, in the woods or in your sacred space at home.
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The fullness of spring, the ideal time to defend oneself against evil.
BELTAINE'S SYMBOLISM: Beltaine's symbols: Tiangles, stars, pentagrams, spirals ( not to use more than two at the same time) Beltaine’s plants: Willow, hawthorne flowers and another spring flowers. Beltaine’s eatings: Cereals, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and another red fruits from the woods. Beltaine’s inciense: Jasmine, vanilla Beltaine’s colours: Orange, yellow, red and white. Beltaine’s stones: Coral, jade, pearls, emerald, sapphires and rose quartz ■
Author: Morgann Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash
______________________________________ THE SKULL OF DOOM In 1,927 the British explorer FA Mitchel Hodges found a glass skull in “Ciudad de las Piedras caídas” in the midle of the jungle of the modern -day Belice. This glass skull was found inside a Mayan temple, in the pre-Columbian city of Lubaantum, It was in a good condition but it was incomplete, the lost piece was the jaw. Few time later, it was possible to complete, because it was found the jaw in the same Mayan temple. The unusual skull was found by the explorer's stepdaughter, Anna Mitchell Hodges, who was 18 years old in that moment. __________________________________________________________________________________________ In 1,927 the british explorer FA mitchel Hodges
in the midle of the jungle of the contemporaneal
found a glass skull in “Ciudad de las Piedras caídas”
Belice.
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 This glass skull was found inside a Mayan temple, in
Anyway, for the people who find this object, from an
the pre-columbian city of Lubaantum, It was in a
esoteric eye, had a very good luck. The explorer
good condition but it was incomplite, the lost piece
Mitchell had the skull for 30 years with him, in every
was the jaw. Soon thereafter, it was possible to
travel, in his bag. And it said that the skull had save
complete, because it was found the jaw in the same
him from 11 murder attempted. When he passed
Mayan temple.
away at 77, leaved the skull to his stepdaughter, who
The unusual skull was found by the explorer's
really find the skull, and started her travel to a
stepdaughter, Anna Mitchell Hodges, who was 18
successful life.
years old in that moment.
Independently that fact, the skull has another totally
Its a big mystery because it was made with a pure
and inexplicable mysteries, for example: How did
glass stone and in only one block. The skull has
they do it? How can they do it perfectly without
occult prisms inside, and joined to lens in the socket.
today tools? The Mayans never had any tools for do
It make a strange flash, nearly hypnotic. In addition,
it with that absolutely perfection.
sometimes the glass lobe fog up and the skull turns white. It's a strange thing! It's12,7cm tall and it's more than 5kg weight. It was made by a quartz stone block, this date is the result of
Hewlett-Packard
laboratories
study,
and
according to that fact, it was the job about 300 years, for make it real!
Another mystery of the skull its the carving perfection which go again the quartz glass structure. Another big mystery is the using of sophisticated tools. How do they did it? What was the skull purpose? The Mayan high priest that had the glass skull, used it in witchcraft rituals, for eliminate their enemies. The purpose of this skull was agent of charge from the death. With exceptional blinding shine proprieties, it was used to went into a trance state and look up the oracle and knew the future. After that, a lot of people died, they were victims of the magical and
Another mystery is the fact about the anatomical knowledge from Mayan people for do it. At present days, the skull of doom remain in a private collection. But exist another identical skull who can be see in the Museum of Mankind (added to The British Museum) in London. The antique dealer value of the original skull is more than
suggestive power of the skull. 7
The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 250,000$
but
for
explorers,
historians,
anthropologists, etc. His value is more than
Author: Elisa Villagrasa
1,000,000$. And the last one for esoteric people the skull has a real asset object. ■
Approach to the I Ching "If I were given 50 more years of life, I would dedicate them exclusively to the study of the I Ching and in this way, I would avoid many of the mistakes I have made throughout my life". Confucio Puedo corroborar la sabia respuesta de Confucio porque, tras casi medio siglo de mi vida dedicado al estudio del I Ching, puedo hacerla mía sin ningún género de duda. I can reconfirm Confucius' wise answer because, after almost half a century of my life devoted to the I Ching, I can fully endorse it without any doubt. Beyond my opinion, I can also subscribe the words of Carl Gustav Jung when in 1948, in his foreword to the translation of Richard Wilhelm's I Ching, a reference work known to all scholars of the Book of Changes he stated: “I cannot answer the thousand questions that this extraordinary book raises . The I Ching is not offered accompanied by evidences and results. On the contrary, he waits patiently until he is discovered. To some people, will appear as clear as day. To others it will appear as gloomy as twilight and to a third it will appear as dark as night. To others who does it not like, they do not have to use it and anyone who opposes to it don’t required to prove their veracity. But one thing is certain: the I Ching is undoubtedly the right book to the wisdom lovers" But ... What the I Ching is? Throughout history, the Wisdom has been forwarded through books of knowledge, open with no restrictions of any kind to all those who come to them. One of these universal treasures of knowledge is the I Ching, which is known as the Book of Changes or Mutations, a book born in China and that with its 4,000 years of existence is probably one of the oldest Books of Wisdom in the world, but the oldest. The I Ching is also a way of knowledge as well as an oracle book. As a way of thought, it is the original source from which the two great currents of Chinese Thought emerged: Taoism and Confucianism. As an oracle book, the I Ching is an infallible method of prediction that allows us to know how the secret Matrix of the Universe works to correctly adapt our actions, eliminating the margin of uncertainty in which human beings habitually make mainly our ordinary decisions.
In other words, in its oracular aspect, the I Ching acts as a self-aware GPS that indicates the most efficient route to reach the destination that we have marked, although it indicates, at the same time, those other routes that, according to the decisions that freely let's take it, they will take us to other alternative destinations, equally possible and real. The real essence of I Ching thought is based on two great principles: The first: permanent change is the rule of the universe. The second: there are no irreconcilable opposites but a unique indivisible and complementary reality beyond the appearances. Yin and Yang, day, and night, male and female, and feminine, Good and Evil… All is One! Contraria sunt complementa. Therefore, the Universe in a permanent change, the present is the unfolding of the past and the future is 8
The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 being generated in a hidden way in the present as a seed, which is born in the past but will finally unfold in the future and it will do so by always moving in a dynamics of permanent change between pairs of a complementary opposites which tend to be balanced. That’s why, if we get to know which are the dominant cosmic patterns at a moment, we will be able to know how to act in our daily life to adapt it to what is to come and make a sort of surf over the Destiny. But at this point it is very important to remark that the I Ching is not an ontological or metaphysical way whatsoever. There are no gods to obey, but only knowledge and guidance to make our life flow and develop in the best way, but always taking over your free decision over your life. As well as, in the thought of the I Ching there is no place neither for the notion of guilt, nor the sin or for any belief of Karma. To say this in a mood of a modern metaphor, the I Ching could be a sort of the “red pill” that Morpheus gives to Neo in the film Matrix; the only thing that the Book of Changes will give to you is simply the truth. You can freely take it or not but any way you take won’t be better or worse than the other. If we briefly refer to the origins of the I Ching, according to the most well-founded scholars’ studies, it has the roots in Central Asian Shamanism more than 5,000 years ago because of the observation of the natural cycles and astronomical phenomena, which given to the Chinese Shamans some guidelines on the hidden rules of the Universe. The Shamanism in the Ancient China is known as Wuism, which takes its name from the word WU, presumably an adaptation of the IndoEuropean term Magus, which would refer to individuals endowed with special abilities to become intermediaries between the physical world and the not ordinary reality. During the reign of the Shang Dynasty (XVII century, B.C) the influence of Chinese Shamanism which was very important in shaping the imperial system of beliefs. Nevertheless, it was not until after the ascent to the throne of the Zhou Dynasty (XI
century B.C) when the I Ching will take the development as we know it today. The Emperor Ji Chang (VIII B.C), known as the Emperor Wen and his son, the scholar Ji Dan, Duke of Zhou, will create the canonical structure of the I Ching as well as the myth of Fu-Xi. Over the centuries, the I Ching will be feed with the exegesis and contributions of Taoist and Confucian schools that will complete the interpretations of the I Ching. We now must turn briefly to the myth of Fu-Xi, the cosmological legend of the I Ching. Fu-Xi is a kind of Demiurge. He created language and writing, the calculation system, agriculture, and livestock among other wonders. Fu Xi's birth was a wonder. Pangu, the deity who ruled the universe before there was the space and time, created Heaven and Earth and after that, his body became rivers, mountains, plants, animals and in the rest of created beings. Among them he created the twins Fu-Xi and his sister and wife Nü- Wa, half human and half dragon, mythological animal that Chinese civilization identifies with Wisdom. We can read in the Book of the Venerable Documents: "One day when Fu-Xi was contemplating the Yellow River, he saw a great dragon emerge from its waters. Fu-Xi fixed his attention on the marks that the Dragon had engraved on its back. There were eight figures formed by three superimposed lines. Immersed in his contemplation, Fu-Xi looked at Heaven and then at Earth and saw how everything contained in its essence the eight marks of the dragon and that by learning their multiple combinations it was possible to order the world and know the subtle language with which it expresses itself governed by the principle of complementarity between opposing elements in permanent transformation". Fu-Xi identified Heaven with the Yang principle and Earth with the Yin principle, assigning Yang a solid line and YIN a dashed line.
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 Afterwards, Fu-Xi added another line on each individual line and thus generated the four orders: the Bigrames, which represent the different ways in which the only lines can be duplicated to give rise to the intermediate states between absolute Yin and Yang. Thus, Fu-Xi created the Ba Gua, the eight trigrams that form the basis of the structure of the I Ching and duplicating them, the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes. There are many means to obtain the 64 Hexagrams, from the traditional one, the rods of Aquillea Milleforum, to the 3 coins, the 3 dice...but the evaluation of the effectiveness of each one in obtaining a precise result to the question asked is far beyond the scope of this article. Despite the complexity of the process and methods to use, I can assure to you all, no matter the method you use. The results of the answer you can get to your question to the I Ching are astonishing and precise! I should like to stress at this point that, despite procedures to obtain the Hexagrams, the I Ching is not a method of divination in any way. In any case, it would be a Way to Wisdom as well as a predictive system which uses a very sophisticated methodology to manage an enormous deal of relevant multivariate, statistical, multifactorial analysis of data, to draw coherent, precise conclusions to your questions, no matter its complexity. However, if someone asks me how is possible that the I Ching, which at first glance may seem so strange even bizarre system to obtain accurate response to your questions really works?... all I can say to you, to be honest, is… I don’t know but… “Eppur Si Muove”!
After almost fifty years studying the I Ching, I just can say that the I Ching is the most great mystery I have dealt in my entire life but in spite of my strong rational mind, I have given up to crack because, as a practical man in his research of Wisdom, I can assure that it works, and to my mind, this is enough.
To conclude. To improve into the knowledge of the I Ching means to change your ordinary life to steep into a new Initiatory Way, which will change your life forever. As Albert Einstein said: "The human mind, no matter how trained it may be, can never encompass the Universe because you always reach a point where you end up not understanding how certain processes operate but you know that they are real" This is how the I Ching works. The Way to start your journeys will be easy: keep your mind free, never be dogmatic, think for yourself, be humble, respectful, and open to the Wonders of the Universe.
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021
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ASTROLOGY AND MOON MAGIC FOR BELTANE If you follow our job on social media, you know that I post some articles about astrology and moon phases or moon magic. I do it for Arcannum and La Magia del Bosque, and I always post about new or full moon, and add astrological information at that moment, or write some information about horoscope, with some ritual information or some tips for housework or gardening tips. knowledge and experiences to others, on the other hand we start to look inside us. We celebrate Beltane as special form, because it’s Saturday and we can add a moon phase that, Under the Capricorn influence, it’s possible that this normally, I don’t post about it. day we feel our patience, or our strength shoot up. e are on a waning moon phase in Capricorn sign at We can feel that our responsibility expands too. At 17,18h (+1,00). work, things will be better from now. It will be a good time for buy or sale. It could be a The waning moon phase is a harvest time, on that good time too, for make plans for our future journey. moment we see the results of our intentions on the last new moon phase. This phase is in harmony with This moon phase it’s the best time for take care of the Ancient phase, it invited us to transmit our our body, it can be a new nutrition plan, for an 11
The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021 operation, change our hair color, hair removal, massage time, moisturize our skins and take care of our legs. In the garden, it’s the perfect time for eliminate plants infestations, plant carrots or potatoes or fertilize the garden plants. It’s a good time too, harvest or dry seeds. After all that information, we are going to start with planets transition. We have a Capricorn moon trigone with the Sun, Venus, and Uranus. That trigones send to us very positive energies; we are going to feel that we can resolve anything. That moment we are going to have a very good communications or relations with the others. In addition, we are going to feel very good with our spirituality. It’s going to be a good time for look at to the future.
In the other side, we have an opposition between the Capricorn moon and Mars in Cancer sign. In this moment we are going to have mixed feelings between our feelings and our common sense. We must be careful with express ourselves. We have a quadrature between Capricorn moon and Kiron in Aries, that strengthen the last up information, make us see conspiracies or have bad feelings, it turns us aggressive. The best thing that we can do, in this moment, is control our feelings. And last, we have a quincunx between the Capricorn moon and the north node in Geminis. This relationship could be a complicated moment for us. We are going to be afraid of our future while we have an extraordinary imagination for our future. What can we do? We have to be realistic and make little steps to be more near to our goals.■
Author: Astrid
Photo by Mason Kimbarovsky on Unsplash
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The Crone's Apotecary, N° 5 29 de Abril 2021
A part of course based on the book El arte de echar las cartas by Emilio Salas: The four of gold The right side meaning of this card depend of the other cards meaning around it. If the Four of gold goes with the Two swords announce grateful gifts. If the Four of golds goes with the Gold horse announce the successful of our wishes and their manifestation in our lifes. But if it goes with the King of Gold, have an advice for us, we need to make a gift to the person that we need his or her help. If the four of gold goes with the horse clubs, advise us that these gifts can make changes (not necessarily good for us), we have to see the meaning of the card around this couple to know that it could be good or bad for us. The reversed side of this card advise us about any type of obstacles for make real our wishes. In that case is necessary look around and see the meaning of every card on the table, and later we can see the resolution to evaluate alternatives. Author: Agiah Picture of Agiah
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