Welcome March

Today is the first day of March.  The word 'March' comes from the Roman 'Martius', and this was originally the first month of the Roman calendar.  Due to it's often violent weather, the month was named after Mars who was the god of war (*and also an agricultural guardian - a combination characteristic of early Rome).   All the festivals that celebrated the Roman God Mars were held during this month.  In Rome, where the climate is Mediterranean, March was also believed to be the first month of spring, and a logical point for the beginning of the year.

So, March use to be the beginning of our calendar year. We changed to the 'New Style' or 'Gregorian calendar in 1752, and it has been only since then that we have started the calendar year on the 1st January.  March starts on the same day of the week as November every year and February in common years only. March ends on the same day of the week as June every year. In leap years, March starts on the same day as September and December of the previous year. In common years, March starts on the same day as June of the previous year.

The Anglo-Saxons called this month Hlyd monath which means Stormy month, or Hraed monath which means Rugged month. All through Lent the traditional games that were played during this time were marbles and skipping. The games were stopped on the stroke of twelve noon on Good Friday, which in some places was called Marble Day or Long Rope Day.  The game of marbles has been played for hundreds of years and some historians say that it might have been started by rolling eggs. In the past, round stones, hazelnuts, round balls of baked clay and even cherry stones have been used.
Have a good month!

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Mars mural courtesy of Wikipedia as depicted on a wall painting from Pompeii








 

The Green Man

It's a magical, in-between time.  Right after a rain storm, at dusk.  The plants and flowers take on a wonderful glow, caused by the moisture on the foliage reflecting the fading, muted light.  It's during those times that I like to sneak away, down to the park close to my house.  I live in a very urban town, but when it rains or snows our normally very crowded park suddenly becomes vacant and it becomes an even 'more' enchanting place to walk, observe, meditate and explore.

If you take the time to stop, look and connect with what's around you, you might be surprised at what you can find.  For example during on recent walk during an 'in-between time', I found that 'The Green Man" or 'Men' must have been particularity pleased with the rain storm that had just passed through.  I was happy to have spotted them, but even more excited that they agreed to be photographed.  Can you find them?

 

~ diane fergurson

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Symbology, Harry Potter And Real English Magic

The films connected with the Harry Potter franchise have come to an end and, as pointed out by the press, so has many people's childhood (or pretend childhood).  We went yesterday afternoon to see the last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2".  Like anything else in film, art or literature, it's up to the reader or viewer to draw their own conclusions from their personal perspective about the ending.

If you have not read the last book or seen the last film I'm not going to spoil it for you.  I will say though, that for those viewers who have seriously studied mythology and/or symbology, you will find this last film steeped in it, in all the classic ways.  The wrestling of good and evil and/or the light and dark within ourselves, is a theme and belief system that permeates philosophy and religion.  It doesn't matter if you approach it from a Christian, Daoist (yin yang), Buddhist (suffering), Native American, Wiccan or any other perspective.  It's the same general theme.  Same life issues.  And in the end, no matter what you believe, life goes on.

That said, for people who still think that Rowling pulled the ideas for Harry Potter out of some magical hat, or that it is simply this generation's version of Star Wars , I suggest you follow up by reading a book called "The Book of English Magic" by Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate, Overlook Press 2010.
I ran across it in a book store one day and it literally jumped out at me - mostly because it did not look like a normal, slick, American mass market publication.  This book is very well written, utterly fascinating and educational.  It presents an enjoyable history of magic in England in a very readable form.  Below are the first two paragraphs from the book to give you a taste.  Enjoy!

~ diane fergurson


"Every country has it's magic: in it's wild places, in its history, and in the traditions of its healers and mystics.  The lands that border England have a special magic - Wales and Scotland are brimming with tales of wizards and seers - but this book focuses on the country that has grown, by design or quirk of fate, into the worlds richest storehouse of magical lore: England.

Our story begins in a bookshop.  Treadwell's in London's Convent Garden is everything a bookshop should be - warm, inviting, comfortable - and yet most of the people hurry past it, because it specializes in a subject they don't believe in: magic."


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