The Ancient Whispers Newsletter

Welcome to the Ancient Whispers Newsletter, a multi-cultural newsletter with a little something for everyone of any creed or religion. Here you will find inspiring quotes, irreverent jokes, crafts, and most importantly, historical and/or religious scholarship. Every Wednesday a new edition should appear on this website with reminder emails sent out the night before to those who have opted to join one of the many forums and mailing lists to which I subscribe. If you wish to share this newsletter with others, please keep it intact with the original authors' names on all the articles. Any articles or sections, to which an author or URL is not affixed, were written by Candace (with the exception of the various jokes found herein).

Questions, comments, and topical requests are encouraged and should be posted to the AskCandace open forum at yahoogroups. I'd like to start a help column for the newsletter, so if you'd like to have your problem featured in a newsletter, let me know when you post.

Eggs with Flair
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/1889/
Some history and instructions on making Pysanky, traditional “Easter” eggs from the Ukraine.

Pagan Recipes
http://swankivy.envy.nu/precipes.html
Here is a list of recipes for many Pagan holidays, including Ostara.

Ostara Recipes
http://www.fieldsweknow.com/or.html
A few more Ostara recipes.

Ostara Crafts
http://www.mysticmooncoven.org/ost2003.htm#O5
There are some really great Ostara crafts here.

March, named for Mars, was the first month of the Greek and Roman calendar. Mars is god of war but also of fertile soil, equivalent to the Greek Ares and Tiu or Tiwazn an old sky god of Europe. He is also equated with the Celtic Teutates and the Norse Tyr. Mars' original name was Mavors. After Jupiter, he is the chief Roman god, often called Marspater, "Father Mars." He has three aspects, the martial god Gradivus, the rustic god Silvanus, and the patron of the Roman state Quirinus. The wolf and the woodpecker are his sacred animals.

March was called Mi an Mháárta or am Mart in Ireland, the seed time, and Hrethmonath, "Hertha's month," by the Anglo-Saxons, honoring the earth mother Hertha or Nerthus. The Frankish name for March was Lentzinmanoth, "renewal month." The Asatru call it Lenting.

The first Full Moon of this month is called the Worm or Sap Moon. It shares the names Storm Moon with February and Moon of Winds with April. It may also be referred to as the Moon of the Snowbird, the Crow Moon, and Lenting Moon.

Pisces and Aries hold power over March, the Zodiac turning to Aries around March 21st. The flower for those born in March is the daffodil and smaller jonquil. Bloodstone or jasper, or sometimes aquamarine, are the jewels for the month of March. Pisces birthstone is the amethyst, while diamond is the stone for Aries. Albite, amethyst, chrysoprase, fluorite, green tourmaline, labradorite, moonstone, and opal are other stones for Pisces, and Aries also lays claim to amethyst, carnelian, garnet, fire agate, pink tourmaline, and topaz.

Trefuilnid Treochair

Libera or Liberalia

Higan festival

Edgar Cayce

The Sheilah na Gig; Sheelah’s Day.

Akitu

Micra Panathenaea - Quintania or Quinquatrus

Eyvind Kinnrifi

Elizabethan statute against witchcraft

The Vernal Equinox – Alban Eilir – Ostara – Pelusia – Nox et Dies

Farvardigan festival

Tara founded in Ireland

Coming Forth of the Great Ones of the House of Ra

No Ruz

Mesopotamian New Year’s Day

Marzenna

The Summer Finding

Shunki-Koreisan

festival of Mars and Nerine

festival of Isis

Prytania or Britannia

Heimdall

Phrygian rites of Cybele and Attis

Dies Sanguinis – Bellona's Day

Hilaria (festival of joy)

Lady Day

the world was created

Pope Innocent III established the Inquisition

Day of cutting out of the tongue of Sobek

At the vernal equinox, the world is poised on the brink, suspended between the cold months and the new warmth of the growing season. The world is coming alive with green shoots and animals seeking mates. Ostara is one of the Lesser Sabbats, usually celebrated anywhere from March 19th to 21st. Some celebrated on the fixed date of March 25 (Lady Day), while others celebrate on the next full moon (a time of increased births). While the equinox is a solar holiday, Eostre is a lunar goddess. This may be viewed as symbolic of the goddess (the moon) and the god (the sun) coming together in completion. Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Esther, Eostre's Day, the Rite of Eostre or Rites of Spring, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, and the Bacchanalia. The Christian holiday of Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

According to the Venerable Bede (673-735), the Anglo-Saxons called the fourth month "Esturmonath" for the goddess Eostra. Her festival became the celebration of Christ's resurrection when Anglo-Saxon and German peoples were converted to Christianity. While English and German Christians still attach the name of Eostra to their most sacred holiday (Easter or Ostern), other European languages base the name on the Hebrew word "pasah," to pass over, reflecting the Christian holiday's Biblical connection with the Jewish Passover.

All cultures living in temperate climates celebrate the coming of spring with rituals and festivals. This was one of the most important of spring festivals among pre-Christian Germanic tribes, dedicated to the goddess Ostara, a goddess associated with the "east" and thus "dawn" and "morning light." Ostara is a time to celebrate the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself, and the coming Summer. Light and darkness are in balance, as are masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang. Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the rebirth of the God and the awakening of life from the Earth. Some Wiccan traditions worship the Green Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood.

The Spring-cleaning tradition derived from the old witches who engaged in a cleansing each spring followed by setting up a hedge of protection. All motions involving scrubbing of stains or hand rubbing the floors should be done "clockwise." This custom aids in filling the home with good energy for growth. Another Spring tradition for ancient pagans and magicians was to dig a small trench around the outer perimeter of their home. At each quarter they would bury an egg. A modern practitioner might also add iron, old rusty nails, metal keys, old razor blades, pins and needles or witch bottles filled with the above items to diffuse magical attacks and spiritual negativity. (If you are unable to dig a perimeter, you can improvise by placing iron keys above your door, and pentacles and sigils drawn on pewter or parchment paper under your carpet or floorboards.

As a time of cleansing and renewal, Ostara is an excellent time to begin some new project. It is an excellent month for prosperity rituals or rituals that have anything to do with growth. Spells for improving communications, fertility, and abundance are especially strong at this time. Some Pagan customs include ringing bells and lighting new fires at dawn for cures, renewed life, and protection of the crops. A common belief in nineteenth century Germany touted the curative properties of water drawn early on Easter morning. One nearly universal craft is decorating hard-boiled eggs.

Eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth. They have been found among the grave goods of Anglo-Saxons, within the tombs of the Egyptians, and were placed on the fresh graves of the deceased Greeks. In ancient time, eggs were gathered for use in the creation of talismans and ritually eaten. The gathering of different colored eggs from the nests of a variety of birds has given rise to two traditions still observed today, the Easter egg hunt and coloring eggs in imitation of the various pastel colors of wild birds. Some believed that humankind was inspired by watching birds weave nests to begin weaving the first baskets. This is perhaps the origin of the association between colored Easter eggs and Easter baskets.

The custom of coloring eggs seems to be limited to the Germanic countries, Slavic countries, and America. In Scotland and Ireland, the custom is virtually unknown. Each spring in Germany, bakery windows are filled with elaborately painted eggs. Eggs are also hung from flowering branches to make "egg trees." Easter is celebrated in Germany more enthusiastically than it is anywhere else in the world with decorations up a good month before the festival. There are parties, egg hunts, and other celebrations weeks in advance of Easter itself.

In many places, it is traditional to keep Easter eggs or shells all year to ward the family and cattle against harm. They are also used specifically as a charm against hail and lightning. For this reason, great care and thought goes into the creation of egg decorations, egg-trees, boiled and decorated eggs for eating, and hare cakes.

Eostre is a goddess of the moon, an ancient measurer of time. The lunar month of 28 days gives us thirteen periods in 364 days, equivalent to the solar year. The hare, though viewed as a symbol of fertility, is also a symbol of the moon. Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of the moon, midwifery and weaving, has a rabbit totem. Mexican panels of 600-900 AD show her giving birth to and suckling a rabbit, and another shows the rabbit representing phases of the moon.

The Egyptians called the hare Un, which means open, to open, and the opener. The month of April, the first month of the spring season, comes from the Latin “to open.” Un also means period of time. The hare as "opener" symbolizes the New Year at Easter, and fertility and the beginning of new life within the young. Since the hare can sleep with its eyes open, the Romans equated it with vigilance and believed that rabbits watched over everything. According to one story, Buddha placed the rabbit in the moon after it voluntarily gave itself as food for one of Buddha's hungry friends. In another, a rabbit jumped into a fire to feed a hungry Indra and out of gratitude, Indra placed the rabbit in the moon. Rabbits were significant totem animals however and eating them was prohibited in Britain and Egypt. A Scottish superstition suggested that eating rabbit was equivalent to eating one's grandmother.

In Asian myth, rabbits and the moon are virtually identical. The Rabbit in the Moon sweeps its surface clean with bound horsetails according to Japanese stories. The rabbit pounds rice into flour, making mochi which means both rice flour and full moon. The Sanskrit word, cacadharas also means both moon, and "that which carries the hare."

Rabbits also represent immortality and vitality. Pliny the Elder stated that rabbit meat enhanced one's beauty and radiance for a week afterwards, and Chinese myth believed rabbit meat was essential for vitality. According to Chinese myth, the rabbit is a symbol of longevity. Its fur turns white at age 100 and blue at 500. In Eastern Asian myth, rabbits created an elixir of immortality. The Algonquin trickster rabbit, Manabozho, is thought to embody all life-giving energy.

In Greece, live rabbits were popular love gifts, indicating sexual intentions. European wedded couples in the Middle Ages exchanged rabbit-shaped rings. Rabbit's popularity as a sex charm or fertility totem is related to its' natural cycle. A rabbit's gestation period is approximately one month, and it tends to be the first animal to give birth in the springtime, continuing to have litters of kits during the year. In Asian folklore, a rabbit may become pregnant simply by staring at a full moon, licking a male rabbit's fur under a full moon, or running across a moon-lit water's surface.

Ostara Associations

Symbols of Ostara: eggs, New Moon, the hare, butterflies cocoons.

Element: air

Traditional Foods: leafy green vegetables, dairy foods, nuts and seeds (such as pumpkin, sunflower, sesame seeds, and pine), flower dishes (such as carnations cupcakes or nasturtium blossoms stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese, chopped nuts, chives and watercress), sprouts, eggs (hard-boiled, egg salad, or any way you like them), honey cakes, biscuits, ham, the first fruits of the season, spiced wine, fish

Herbs and Flowers: daffodil, jonquils, crocus, Easter lilies, hyacinths, honeysuckle, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, Irish moss, narcissus, snowdrops, ginger and all spring flowers

Incense: Floral scents of any type, jasmine, rose, strawberry, African violet, sage, violets, orange peel, lotus, magnolia, ginger, frankincense, myrrh, dragon's blood, cinnamon, nutmeg, aloes wood, benzoin, musk

Colors: yellow, pink, green, all pastels, light blue

Sacred Gemstone: jasper, rose quartz, aquamarine, amethyst, and moonstone, fluorite

Animals and mythical beasts: hares (rabbits), snakes, unicorns, merfolk, Pegasus

Goddesses: all virgin goddesses, moon goddesses, goddesses of love, mother goddesses, androgynous deities, fertility goddesses; Eostre, Rheda (Teutonic), Ma-Ku (Chinese), Lady of the Lake, Blodeuwedd (Welsh-Cornish), Aphrodite/Venus, Persephone/Proserpine, Cybele, Gaia, Hera, Minerva/Athena (Roman/Greek), Isis (Egyptian), Coatlicue (Aztec), Ishtar (Babylonian)

Gods: all gods of love, moon gods, gods of song and dance, sun gods, fertility gods; Adonis, Pan (Greek/Roman), Cerrunnos, the Green Man, the Stag King, Robin of the Woods, the Green Man, The Dagda, The Great Horned God, Lord of the Greenwood (English), Ovis (Roman Etruscan), Dylan (Welsh), Odin (Norse), Thoth, Osiris (Egyptian), Attis (Persian), Mithras (Greco Persian).

Altar decorations: hard-boiled eggs colored and painted with magical symbols, wildflowers, a small potted plant, rabbit decorations

Special Activities: Decorate or dye hard-boiled eggs. Plant seeds or start a magical herb garden. Take a long walk in nature. All forms of herb work (magical, medicinal, cosmetic, culinary and artistic) are practiced now. Go to a field and randomly collect wildflowers or buy some from a florist, taking one or two of those that appeal to you. Bring them home and divine their magical meanings by the use of books, your own intuition, a pendulum, or by other means. The flowers you’ve chosen reveal your inner thoughts and emotions.

You can make "Stained Glass" pictures using small pieces of colored eggshell. Either use the shells from the eggs you colored for Ostara or follow the instructions below to color eggshells from either hard-boiled or raw eggs.

Eggshells
Posterboard (or cardboard from cereal or detergent boxes)
White glue
Food coloring
White vinegar
Paper towels and/or newspaper

In a cup or small glass bowl, mix a few drops of food coloring with about 1/2 c. white vinegar for each color you wish to use. Soak the eggshells in the food coloring until you have the color desired. The longer they soak the darker they will be. You may wish to crush the shells into small pieces before putting them into the coloring. Remove the colored shells and spread on paper towels or newspaper to dry. Draw a simple picture on the plain side of the cardboard. Coloring book pictures are good. Spread glue in each area of your drawing. Glue small pieces of colored shell in the different sections of the drawing. Allow the glue to dry completely before moving your picture.

The god of the morning-star (Venus) is called Apisirahts among the Blackfoots. He is the son of the Sun god. Apisirahts took a mortal woman to heaven as his wife where she was allowed to dig for every root but the “forbidden turnip.” Out of curiosity, she dug for this root and uncovered a hole to Earth. Because of this, she was forced to return to Earth, descending along Spider Man’s web. But she soon died longing for Apisirahts.

Description: Typha angustifolia is a perennial found everywhere in North America, but the extreme north. It grows throughout most of the world. T angustifolia is more salt tolerant than its cousin, T. latifolia. Like all reeds, cattail prefers marshes or very wet soil. The rapidly growing rhizome produces one to nine foot culms with long, narrow (less than one-half inch wide), linear, sword-shaped leaves. From May to July, green flowers appear in tandem spikes. The lower spike is a sausage-shaped female, while the upper flower is male. The brown “punk” is the mature fruit (achene).

Effects: strong
Planet: Mars
Element: fire
Associated Deities:

Traditions:
The common name comes from the shape of the leaf, which resembles a cat’s tail emerging from the swamp.

During WWII, American school children gathered down from the cattail and milkweed for use in pillow stuffing, blankets, and fire tinder.

The mature flower (punk) may be dipped in tallow or wax to make a torch.

Magic:
Writers suggest a woman should carry a cattail if she doesn't enjoy sex, but wants to.

Native Americans chewed the starchy hearts of the cattail for snakebite.

Among the Serbs, cattail is known as a vampire deterrent.

Known Combinations:
none noted

Medical Indications: (Caution: The young shoots resemble poisonous iris shoots, so be absolutely sure of identification before you attempt ingesting this plant. Also be sure the water it grows in is uncontaminated.) Parts Used: herb
Eat the flowering head to stop diarrhea.
American Indians mixed the down with animal fat for healing poultice used on bruises and burns. The down is also good for stopping the flow of blood.

Nutrition:
Just about all parts of the cattail are edible. It is considered one of the most versatile of wild foods. An acre of potatoes yields fewer carbohydrates than an acre of cattails, yet few people harvest these plants and the wetlands are quickly disappearing.

A knot of nutritious material can be found just above the rhizome and where the shoot connects to it. This is often referred to as the heart or root (not truly the root). This can be eaten raw or peeled and cooked to your tastes. This part of the cattail becomes less palatable after the plant sends up its flower spike.

The young shoots may be eaten in the winter and spring. Pull back the outer green leaves and grasping the white inner leaves, briskly pull it upward. The bottom twelve inches of the shoot can be eaten once the outer, fibrous layers have been removed. It is described as tasting like celery or cucumber.

The roots may be peeled while still wet and pounded till flour is sifted out. The root core is eaten raw, boiled to a starchy gruel (used to thicken soup), or roasted. Peel off the outer layer of leaves and sauté the core for three to five minutes in butter. Season with drops of soy sauce and a pinch of ginger. The tender cores of young plants are also added to green salad or in Russia, they may be cooked like asparagus.

Boil or steam in salted water and eat the partially developed female spike like corn on the cob. The staminate flowers, mixed with water, may be made into cakes and mush. The male spike may be harvested at mid-June and added to extend flour or for protein.

The ripe pollen can be added to flour for protein. Pollen pancakes are made by shaking pollen into a bowl and mixing equal amounts flour for batter, or it may be added to pancake mix (one-part cattail to two-parts mix). Mix the pollen with raw honey (five-parts cattail to one-part honey) for a high-energy food (refrigerate).

Mercantile Uses:
The dried stalks and twisted leaves are used to weave rush mats or chair seats. The down is useful as tinder and may substitute for kapok fibers used in insulation and cushion stuffing. The rhizome fibers may be twisted into rope, and the culms are useful in making paper.

Environmentally, cattail has been put to good use in the Florida Everglades. As it sucks up the fertilizer tainted water runoff from farms, it ensures cleaner water passes through to the Everglades.

Dear March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat-
You must have walked-
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell.

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Quote : Irish Saying
Do not resent growing old. For many are denied the privilege.

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The Power of Stones: Bolivarite
For past articles and the bibliography, please go to the
Power of Stones Archive.

No Picture Available

Bolivarite is bright yellow green and does not come in any one formation. It aids in the procurement of material items and transferring of energy. Bolivarite also enhances self-esteem and leadership qualities, but also increases revolutionary ideas. It may be carried to improve finances and business ventures.

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Humor : Prayers

Female Prayer Before I lay me down to sleep, I pray for a man, who's not a creep, One who's handsome, smart and strong, One who loves to listen long, One who thinks before he speaks, One who'll call, not wait for weeks I pray he's gainfully employed, When I spend his cash, won't be annoyed. Pulls out my chair and opens my door, Massages my back and begs to do more. Oh! Send me a man, who'll make love to my mind, Knows what to answer to "How big is my behind?" I pray that this man will love me no end, And never attempt to hit on my friend. And as I pray beside my bed, I look at the clown you sent me instead. Amen. Male Prayer I pray for a deaf-mute nymphomaniac with huge boobs who owns a liquor store. Amen.

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A Dreamer's Guide : Nurse to Nymph

For past articles and the bibliography, please go to the
Dreamer's Guide Archive.

Seeing a Nurse means you will have a big fight. A good future is predicted if you hired a nurse, but if you employed one in your home, illness will distress you or you will pay an unfortunate visit to your friends. A nurse seen leaving your home is an omen of good health in the family. A nurse in a hospital presages joy and contentment, but if she was in the company of a doctor it augurs only misery. If you needed a nurse, there will be a pregnancy.

If you dreamed of being a nurse, your self-sacrifice will gain you the esteem of people. Leaving a patient means you will be persuaded to do something through deceit. You will receive unpleasant news if you were a wet nurse.

You will have many children if you dreamt of a Nursery. Things will not run smoothly if you were in a nursery, and seeing babies in a nursery indicates a disturbed love. You will have a long life if you brought a baby home from the nursery.

Nursing a child denotes pleasant employment or high honors. Nursing your husband or wife through illness indicates constant love, and caring for sick children augurs good news. If you had to nurse your sick parents, there is danger of death. You will receive an inheritance if you took care of your relatives. A friend will surprise you if you nursed anyone else back to health, and a big fortune is foretold if you were in need of nursing.

A Nut Tree means you will have good health or riches. Dignity and good news are foretold if you were up in a one. Being in the shade of a nut tree is an augury of worries caused by a dear friend, but if you were asleep under it, you will be happy. There will be much satisfaction in your life if you were at a family picnic beneath a nut tree, while being under one with your sweetheart indicates failure in love. A friend under a nut tree denotes sickness. Several kinds of nut trees without fruit are a sign of satisfaction in life.

Family arguments are denoted by Nutcrackers. Unhappy days are foretold by using a nutcracker. You will have cause to reflect upon your actions if you held one in your hands. The only good sign is if you pinched your hands with one, in which case you will be happy in love.

Nutmegs are a sign of prosperity and pleasant journeys. Several cans of different nutmegs means a change in your affairs. Changes in business will lead to overland travel if you bought nutmeg, and using it indicates an unexpected visitor. There is danger in love if others were using this spice. Grating nutmeg indicates increased entertainment, but tasting or smelling it is a warning to look more carefully into the motives of those who surround you.

Nutsare a symbol of difficulty. Gathering them augurs success in love and business. If you ate them, prosperity will allow you any desired pleasure but only after obstacles have been met and overcome. If you ate nuts with bread, you will have success. Nuts without a skin or shell predict the beginning of a new love affair. An important wish will be granted if you ate them as dessert. Cracking nuts indicates success in business. Walnuts mean you will receive a gift, while pecans indicate riches. If you were hiding nuts, you will discover something valuable. Wormy or stale nuts foretell problems through deceit or hostile competition.

You will have plenty of money if you dreamt of Nutshells. A happy marriage is foretold if you were cracking them, and you will receive a large inheritance if you stepped on shells. Throwing away nutshells mean good luck and prosperity.

Nylon is a warning that things are not always as they seem.

A naked Nymph means you will soon fall in love, and if she was bathing in clear water indicates your passionate desires will be realized. You will live a very long life if you saw a veiled nymph. A nymph in the clouds is a death omen. Several people admiring a nymph indicates termination of your business. If you saw them in some place they should not be, you will be disappointed with the world. If you impersonated a nymph, you are using your attractions for selfish purposes.

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Quote : Irish Blessing
May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

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