Tag Archives: spring

May Wine

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Woodruff is associated with the planet Mars and the element of Fire.

Woodruff is associated with the planet Mars and the element of Fire.

Even if it is a few days past the end of May, there is still time to enjoy a glass or two of May wine!

May wine, a popular spring-time beverage in Germany or German-speaking areas, is made by steeping sweet woodruff in white wine. Sweet woodruff has a strong scent, which increases when the woodruff wilts. The fragrance persists as the woodruff dries, and the dried plant is used in potpourri and as a moth deterrent. Dried woodruff is also used, mainly in Germany, to flavor May wine, sweet juice punch, syrup for beer (Berliner Weisse), brandy, jelly, jam, a soft drink (Tarhun, which is Georgian), ice cream, and herbal tea. Also very popular are Waldmeister flavored jellies, with and without alcohol. In Germany it is also used to flavor sherbet powder, which features prominently in Günter Grass’s novel The Tin Drum.

Woodruff is carried by business-folk to attract wealth and prosperity or by soldiers and athletes to attract victory. Anyone who carries a bit of woodruff in a leather sachet is protected against harm, especially harmful magic or ill wishes. In astrology, Mars is the planet of energy, action, and desire. It is the survival instinct, and can be thought of as the “leftover” animal nature of man. It is this association with the planet Mars that causes woodruff to drive its bearer to success and victory and fights against the harmful magic directed against its bearer (leather being associated with soldiers’ protective “armor” in the ancient or medieval world since metal protective gear — i.e. a knight’s suit of armor — was too expensive for most peasant soldiers).

Maybe a glass or two of May Wine is just what I need to get rich or win the Olympics? Or protect myself against witchcraft and black magic? I should definitely enjoy some May Wine before selecting the numbers the next time I buy a lotto ticket!

“Happy New Year?!” Lady Day 2015

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A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

Lilies are often associated with the celebration of Annunciation. When Eve was driven from Paradise, lilies bloomed wherever her tears fell onto the earth and Gabriel presented lilies to the Virgin Mary when he announced that her Son would re-open Paradise to mankind. Other legends say that lilies blossomed from drops of milk from Hera’s breasts that fell upon the earth and that the lily was therefore the only flower with a soul. Lilies are traditionally considered to drive away ghosts and evil (esp. the Evil Eye) and can break love spells. The first lily of the season strengthens whoever finds it.

Roses are also associated with Annunciation and are used to cast love spells or in healing magic. If you plant roses in your garden, they are said to grow best if you have stolen the seeds from someone else and will then attract the faerie folk.

The Annunciation is celebrated on March 25 (the traditional date of the springtime equinox). Not only was Annunciation — and the equinox — vital to keeping track of time for secular purposes, many ancient and medieval authors claimed that the Annunciation/equinox date were vital at many points of salvation history: the birthday of Adam and the Crucifixion were said to have occurred on March 25 as well. Some also said that March 25 marked the fall of Lucifer, the parting of the Red Sea, as well as the day on which God said, “Let there be light!”

Sometimes called “Lady Day,” the Annunciation was kept as New Year’s Day in many places; the last to give up Annunciation as the New Year’s Day was England and its American colonies in 1752. The correct synchronization of the equinox with the Annunciation is a critical element in the calculation of the date of Easter and the medieval and Renaissance disconnect between the Annunciation and the equinox prompted Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar in 1582.

Spring has Sprung!

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Stonehenge is considered by many to be a Druid ritual/astronomical site used to mark the seasonal solstices or equinoxes.

Stonehenge is considered by many to be a Druid ritual/astronomical site used to mark the seasonal solstices or equinoxes.

 The spring equinox was long considered the beginning of the year in many places; one of which, England, only adopted January 1 as New Year’s Day in 1752. Many of the egg-beliefs now associated with Easter were previously equinox-based. But the springtime equinox always marks the balance of light and dark, night and day and is the magical marker that indicates the world is steadily moving toward the zenith of light (midsummer).

If you make a wish upon seeing the first robin on the day of the vernal (springtime) equinox and complete the wish before the robin flies away, it will come true!

Luckily, your chance to make this wish is soon — the vernal equinox is this week! The pre-industrial, pre-modern world considered February 1-2 to be the first day of spring and the equinox to be “mid-spring,” but most of the modern world thinks of the equinox as the “first day of spring.” Although the equinox marks a consistent astronomical event (crossing the midpoint between the longest and shortest days of the year), the calendar date of the equinox has shifted considerably.

Julius Caesar ordered that the date of the equinox would be known as March 25 and that was the pivot around which the rest of the year rotated. But as the (slightly inaccurate) calendar grew more and more out of alignment with the position of the sun, the equinox crept up earlier and earlier until it was actually happening on March 11. When Pope Gregory XIII revised the calendar in 1582, the equinox was restored to March 25. But even though the current calendar is more accurate than Julius Caesar’s, it has still allowed the equinox to drift. Throughout most of my childhood, the equinox was observed on March 21; now, it is often observed on March 20 (as it is this year).