![]() Alder is apparently renowned as yielding the best charcoal and there is a connection with fire in the story of Branwen: her son is buried on a bonfire. There are seven all together: birch, alder, willow, oak, holly, hazel and apple. The Alder is one of the sacred trees of Ireland. The myth of Bran and Branwen makes very moving reading and is well worth looking up. Bran had supernatural powers: he had a cauldron which would restore the dead, but without the power of speech. In the second branch of the Mabinogion, the Welsh tale of Youth, one can read the story of Bran and his sister Branwen. The Alder (elzeboom) is the tree of Bran the Blessed (Bendigeidfran). In the Celtic calendar the spring equinox falls in the fourth month of the year, and if we look at the Tree alphabet (Beth-Luis-Nion) we find that the fourth month is ‘Fearn’ with the Alder as the corresponding tree. The Druids celebrated the equinoxes and the solstices: the spring equinox was called the ‘Alban Eilir’. After the autumn equinox back to the winter solstice the sun diminishes in strength and there is a return to mental work, the key word here being ‘introspection. From the summer solstice to the autumn equinox there is a period of fructification and holiday time when we can ‘enjoy the fruits of the earth’. Between the winter solstice and the spring equinox the key word is ‘purification’ during the period between the spring equinox and the Summer solstice the sun is gaining strength and spiritually this is a period of ‘enlightenment’. The three months between the equinoxes and the solstices have a particularly spiritual feeling. Dion Fortune says in ‘Aspects of Occultism’: “causes set going on the inner planes at one equinox will take the full tide of six months to work out on the physical plane, and if we realise this, we shall be content to exercise patience until the cosmic tides at each quarter of the six months are completed”. ![]() It is thought that work commenced at one of these solar points needs a full six months to reach completion. The solstices are milder tides and the emphasis is not so much on ‘work’ as ‘play’: for many people the Winter and Summer Solstice correspond to holiday time. This is thought to be a good time to begin occult work. The equinoxes are strongly flowing tides (one is reminded of the high sea tides at Spring time). The so-called cosmic tides are recognised by pagans and occultists as being powerful and highly influential forces. ![]() So the Spring Equinox is the releasing of the cosmic springtime whilst May Eve is the midpoint of the tide. The equinoxes and solstices are known as the ‘Lesser Sabbats’ whilst the cross-quarter days are known as the ‘Greater Sabbats’ (Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas and Hallowe’en.)ĭoreen Valiente in “Witchcraft for tomorrow” remarks that the ‘lesser Sabbats are the releasing of new cosmic tides at each quarter of the year and the greater Sabbats are its culmination, mid-point or perfection’. when day and night are both twelve hours long.) The equinoxes and solstices are important points in the cycle of the solar year, as opposed to the ‘cross-quarter days’ which are important points in the agricultural year. The equinoxes mark the time when day and night are equal in length (i.e. Beginning with March 21st we celebrate the Spring or Vernal equinox. ![]() ![]() Between March and May there are several festivals which appear in both the pagan and Christian calendars. In this issue of Wiccan Rede we celebrate the season of Spring. This article first appeared in (C) Wiccan Rede * Spring 1980 ![]()
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