Mars Retrograde Tricks for Halloween

Note: Mars stationed Retrograde October 30 at 25+ Gemini ruled by TRICKSTER planet Mercury, who governs all communications, media, thinking analysis and consciousness.

Jupiter left Aries, ruled by Mars, October 27 Retrograde until November 23rd, when it Station Direct at 28 degrees 48 minutes PISCES square the Galactic Centre at 26-27 SAGITTARIUS and MARS is opposite the Galactic Center at 25 Gemini as it stations Retrograde. These aspects amp up the spiritual and cosmic nature of the Galactic downloads available to us as JUPITER, ruler of Sagittarius and MARS, rewind old tape loops while these planets are CONNECTED with the Black Hole central to our Milky Way Galaxy.

The warrior is retreating to stop and rethink his battle plans and strategies until January 12, 2023 when Mars Turns Stationary direct.

Mercury, now in Scorpio deep waters from October 29th until November 17 when the planet of media and merch moves into optimistic Sagittarius from November 17 until December 6/7 where it remains to finish out 2022 in the sign it began the year with. A very, what goes around comes around energy.

Here is what Psychologist C.G. Jung says about the Trickster

“He is a bridge, or even a waterfall, between the subconscious urges of the animalistic, primitive, and the divine aspects of the individual. For this reason, he neither fits in to the animal life, nor the godly life, but he does point out the humour and inconsistencies of a life in ignorance of either of the two.“

https://medium.com/@dhruvaananda/from-darkness-to-light-c-g-jung-and-the-trickster-27cacb893775

Have a safe happy Halloween, Samhain, Witch’s New Year and Day of the Dead November 1st.

yes, the veil between the world’s is thinnest. This day is for connecting with the spirits of your ancestors and really honouring them as they do in Mexico. We wouldn’t be here without them- good bad or ugly. They are still worthy of our respect and gratitude and could have only acted in their time limits. In spirit they are wiser whole and completing their karmic lessons and are here to guide us.

Join me NOVEMBER 1st on the Cosmic Intelligence Agency Page on Facebook

at 5:00 pm PDT/ 8:00 pm EDT and November 2 at 1:00 am GMT for the Astrology Tarot card guide for November. https://www.facebook.com/cosmic.intelligenceagency

October 31 Its Halloween Samhain Pagan New Year

The Moon moves from Capricorn at the witching hour of Midnight then is Void of Course until

Moon enters Aquarius at 8:43 am PDT/ 11:43 am EDT

Please share widely all content is copyright of Tara Greene

get a reading to find out how the Retrograde Mars is affecting you personally. http://www.taratarot.com

Join me on November 1 at 5:00 pm PDT, 8:00 pm EDT and November 2 at 1:00 am GMT on the Cosmic Intelligence Agency for November Astrology and Tarot guide LIVE https://www.facebook.com/cosmic.intelligenceagency

Libra season, Happy Mabon,

MABON ALTAR Bigbear213, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

HAPPY EQUINOX /MABON One of the 4 major turning points in the year.

Equinox, how to balance during intense times

The 2nd Equinox of the year is here as day and night are equal. The SUN enters the sign of LIBRA which marks Autumn’s beginning here in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring down under.  

The EQUINOX the only one of two days in the year to have equal day and night. This is so important when you think about it. Everywhere on earth there is the same amount of light and darkness today. It is the start of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring in the Southern. The days are getting shorter here in the North and we are in the Feminine yin time of year. We are going into the death and sleep part of the natural year here in the North while our southern neighbors will begin to see spring. 

A number of festivals in different major religions are being celebrated as well starting on yesterday’s New moon. It is the Jewish New Year 5778 years. It also coincides with Islamic New Year which is rare. To all my family friends and clients Happy New Year.

Happy MABON Wiccan Pagan Celtic Ancient 8 wheel of the year turning point. The third major season in a Natural Year starts with Spring. This is the element of AIR, detachment, communications-while Mercury is Retrograde at 0 degrees LIBRA conjunct the SUN a few hours after Equinox/

It’s LIBRA TIME. This is one of the Major Cardinal turning points of the year. 

LIBRA is the sign of RELATIONSHIPS marriage traditionally. It is the sign of Karmic JUSTICE in the TAROT #8 begins the next three months journey. 

It’s very important to focus on walking a balanced life in all ways: in our spiritual mental emotional and physical ways. Examine what you need to bring more balance into your life.It’s a pleasant socializing time. Up here in the North, as it gets colder and darker socializing is what helped our ancestors to stay alive. Get out and communicate network and engage. Libra is ruled by VENUS and she is in diligent Virgo where she practical earthy organizing working and paying attention to health community pets and perfection. This is a good time to start yoga or change your diet as the seasons change. Venus in Virgo’s shadow is criticism. The need for balancing this is vital now.

his is one of the most powerful of the 4 CARDINAL entry points in the year and it marks the conditions for the next three months. It’s important to study the Sun’s entry into LIBRA at 6:04 pm PDT/ 9:04 pm EDT/ September 23 at 1:04 am GMT.

Physically, and spiritually this day marks the balance and necessary complementary polarity of all things in this Universe,  day, night, yin, yang, and positive and negative. 

Autumn Equinox is called MABON in the pagan tradition.  So Happy MABON, corn dollies are made and thanksgiving for the harvest. 

AUTUMN begins in the Northern Hemisphere and SPRING in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the WESTERLY pole of the 2 days of complete Balance between day and night in the entire year.

LIBRA is the SCALES of JUSTICE    

LIbra the constellation, not to be confused with the SIGN of Libra was associated in Antiquity with the Egyptian Goddess of JUSTICE -MAAT

THE EGYPTIAN GODDESS MAAT

Weighs the heart against her ostrich feather in the Hall of Judgement After death

After death the heart of the deceased was weighed against her pure white ostrich feather diadem. If one’s heart was heavier than her feather, then the deceased would return to life on earth until one’s heart was light, balanced with no regrets.

I always loved that story.

this is MABON, in Celtic nature celebrations. A great time to honor this change in seasons with a ceremony. Create an altar and put fruits and leaves as gratitude. Use fall colors and say prayers and intentions for what you will create over the next quarter.

Famous, and rightly so Indian yogi YOGANANDA stated that the best time to start practicing meditation was on Libra Equinox or Aries equinox.

What was born at spring as a seed, an idea, has grown to fruition, seeded itself again and is ready to be harvested and then die to be returned to the earth for renewal, to feed new life next Spring, and on and on. Think about where you were 6 months ago. What has transpired in your life?

I led a lovely Spring Equinocsceremony at Lake Ontario because my son Elijah asked me to because he knows doing rituals is what I love. There is a photograph od it on my Instagram account from March 20. We had a lovely gathering of friends and friends of friends as our cat Gala was dying. She died after midnight on March 21.

LIBRA is the sign of relationships, the 7th house marriage traditionally in Astrology

LIBRA is ruled by the Goddess of LOVE VENUS of course,

Where is VENUS in your natal chart? Where is the sign of LIBRA?  What does your 7th house of marriage/committed relationships hold or lacks planetary energy?

AUTUMN EQUINOX/SPRING EQUINOX
is a power GATE, one of the 4 main CARDINAL gates of the year.

 We are entering the Time of increasing DARKNESS here in the NORTH. I will have to be a NORTHIST here and speak of the Northern Hemisphere which I am more familiar with.

AUTUMN EQUINOX marks the start of deepening and entering into the DEEP FEMININE dark and mysterious months ahead. This is a time of hibernation, rest and reflection as Nature sleeps until spring awakens life again.

A time to tune into our dreams much more especially when JUPITER re-enters PISCES the sign it rules from October 27/28 until December 20 the day before the Winter solstice Capricorn ingress point. I will be doing an 8 week online DREAM HEALING TEMPLE course. Stay tuned for that. $222 for the 8 week live course.

LIBRA EQUINOX celebrates the marriage and equality of all and the complementary polarities.

Celebrate the integration of the Masculine into the Feminine and vice versa.

It’s Sacred MARRIAGE time.

At Autumn Equinox we give thanks to the Sun and the EARTH and for the harvest of foods that will help us survive the long cold bare Winter months. We welcome the beautiful colours of leaves magically metamorphosing from green to orange, gold, yellow, red, and brown. autumn. We frolic in the mounds of soft crunchy leaves. We honor change, life, and death.  

We surrender what no longer serves us, we surrender to old age, to letting go, to facing death as a necessary part of life, another pregnancy. We face the unknown of the harsh months of winter coming. We pray that we and our loved ones will be kept safe and sound by the Love and Blessings of the Goddess, that we may survive to see the birth of the LIGHT at Winter Solstice.

Watch my short 3 minute video on the EQuinox https://youtu.be/56JRXJB01Zo?t=1

longer video to follow

Make new intentions now. Three months till Dec 21, WINTER SOLSTICE, A trimester. 

I am offering a SPECIAL EQUINOX, 3 MONTH FORECAST AND ENERGY REBALANCING SESSION NOW ONLY $77 FOR A HALF HOUR

of energy, astrology, tarot cards, BOOK NOW Limited availability: Canadian customers can email me taragreenetarot@gmail.com

Or book through PAYPAL. using that email address for all others.

Or PAYPAL.ME/TARAGREENETAROTASTRO OR ON my website http://www.taratarot.com

May Day, Halloween’s shadow, a Witches Divine Masculine celebration

Happy May Day, following Walpurgis Night when the Fairy QUEEN comes out for a ride, and the anonymous lovers make love in the dark to celebrate PAN, the Lovers consort, to recreate the Heiros Gamos. Maidens who got pregnant on May 1st babies who didnt know who the father’s were, were considered sacred born February 1st at Brigid’s fire festival of Imbolc.

Setting new intentions on this night is very powerful. Especiall on the Dark Moon time and the Eclipse in Taurus.

The MAYPOLE is the phallic symbol and the participants weave their ribbons around as they dance the spiral dance of time and our interwoven connectivity with all our relations on MAY day. This is one of the major cross-quarter days in the year. We are half way to summer in the northern hemisphere and the veils between the worlds are thin.

the MAYPOLE, AKA. The Lingham in Hindu, the potent thust of the Green Man, or Pan the Horned or Horny God, consort of the Goddess, who impregnates Her in an ancient Hieros-gamos cross-quarter celebration day of Fire, male sexuality, fertility and fairies.

The FAE or fairies come out and dance in magic forest circles and all of our ancestors are close be. Beltane celebrates fertility, and seeding new intentions with magic passion and light. It is a time of joyful invocation, healing, and beginnings. Beltane is the time to plant all your seeds for future endeavors you wish to actualize and harvest at the end of summer.Invoke the spirit of these intentions in the time of TAURUS, an earth sign.Participants light the Beltane fires traditionally on hilltops and jump over it for purification.

The VEIL BETWEEN THE WORLD’S ARE THINNEST just like at Halloween or Samhain, the energy is the same. The Faery Queen goes out riding in the woods tonight.

This is the night when Maidens would go wander in the woods, as FLORA, the flowers, NATURE SPRUNG newly born, maiden has nothing to do with virginity or marriage as they are simply young, and eager to mate, as they are in touch with natural sexuality, Nature’s rhythms, to give themselves to a stranger in the woods, the Green Man, also called PAN to the Greeks,the Horned Stag, called Cernunnos, in Latin, he is raw male phallic, sexual energy, virile and youthful. 

 CERNUNNOS the horny man

If a man had been created in the horned God’s image he would be free to be wild, without being cruel, angry without being violent, sexual without being coercive spiritual without being unsexed,and truly able to love.”

– Starhawk, The Spiral Dance

 Children conceived this night are considered to be magical and to belong to the realm of FAIRY as in The MISTS of AVALON. The maidens do not know the man they mate with in the sacred Marriage ritual.

Couples would also take vows to be in relationships for a year and a day, sort of test driving a relationship  to see if they are compatible.

It is considered unlucky to marry in MAY as this month is dedicated to the wedding of the GOD and the GODDESS  alone.

 Another important custom is bathing in dew gathered before dawn on Beltane Morn, your beauty will flourish throughout the year. Sprinkled with the dew insures you of health and happiness. Or drinking from the well before dawn of Beltane is also good luck.

 Leftover Food from May 1st eve should be left out for the fairies.

We will light our fire tonight. Wishing you all a Blessed Beltane. 

I did my live Tarot card reading broadcast for MAY on Monday May 2 on FaceBook on the Cosmic Intelligence Agency Page at 8:00 pm EDT/ 5:00 pm PDT/ 12:00 am GMT. it will be streamed on Twitter and on the CIA page too https://www.facebook.com/cosmic.intelligenceagency

REad all about the WALPURGIS Celebrations an ancient pagan MAYDAY BELTANE cross-quarter day fertility celebration https://www.gothichorrorstories.com/pagans-and-heathens/pagan-holidays-walpurgis-night-and-how-a-british-lady-went-from-catholic-saint-to-germanic-goddess-to-witch-and-gave-us-a-second-halloween/

Get up early can cover your face with dew to be beautiful. an ancient pagan celebration attributed to this day

Please share widely get a reading with me http://www.taratarot.com

WATCH MODERN WITCHES DANCE FOR WALPURGIS

Watch this amazingly infectious, in a good way witch rap dance in Germany from 2016 celebrating Walpurgis  Wolfshäger Hexenbrut Walpurgis Wolfshagen im Harz

https://youtu.be/BjUV-byB8ls

Saturnalia Celebration, December 17-24, freedom from slavery

Minerva and Saturn protect Art and Science of envy and falsehood 1644

Joachim von Sandrart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Saturnalia Celebration is here, an occasion of wild revelry. Celebrate the Lord of the Rings.

Happy Saturnalia! The ancient Roman festival was celebrated on December 17-24.

The best part of the Saturnalia (for slaves) was the temporary reversal of roles. Masters served meals to their slaves who were permitted the unaccustomed luxuries of leisure and gambling. Clothing was relaxed and included the peaked woollen cap that symbolized the freed slave, which looks an awful lot like you know who’s peaked red hat . A member of the familia (family plus slaves) was appointed,” Lord of Misrule”.

Men were allowed to express their homosexual feelings in public. There was a huge element of satire and FOOL-ery, or scapegoating– a term which relates to the sign of Capricorn which is the sign that the SOL or SUN enters on the Solstice.

The Roman poet Catullus said it was “the best of days.” there was gift-giving, constant partying, and wax or pottery figures called sigillaria were made.

During Saturnalia the people wore a special cap called a pileus-like a pileated woodpecker’s crest, made from felt which signified a freed Slave. It was also a bronze military helmet in the 5th Century BC. A similar one is used today in Albania and Kosovo.

 SATURNALIA, an Ancient Roman Festival, was originally celebrated on Dec 17 but in spite of opposition became so popular it ran till Dec 24.The Saturnalia was originally celebrated in Ancient Rome for only a day, but it was so popular it soon it lasted a week, despite Augustus’ efforts to reduce it to three days, and Caligula’s, to five. Like our Christmas, this important holy day was for more than fun and games. The Saturnalia was a time to honor the god of sowing and reaping, Saturn. But like our Christmas, it was also a festival day on which a public banquet was prepared.  A statue of Saturn Lord of Time/ was usually bound in Rope but at his feast, the statue was unbound.

Saturnalia Was the Best Part of the Roman Year

The poet Catullus describes Saturnalia as the best of days. It was a time of celebration, visits to friends, and gift-giving, particularly of wax candles (cerei), and earthenware figurines (Sigillaria). The Romans had a story that an old prophecy btold the earliest inhabitants of Latium -a place in ancient Italy to send heads to Hades and phota to Saturn. The ancient Latins interpreted this to mean human sacrifices, but, according to legend, Hercules advised using lights (phos means “light” or “man” according to accent) and not human heads. Taking the holiday out of a gristley head hunting Saturnine influence to one of celebrating the return of the Light.

Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, creates an imaginary symposium among pagan intellectuals in which he offers an explanation for the varying length of the holiday. Originally, it was celebrated on only one day, the fourteenth before the Kalends of January. With the reform of the Julian calendar,  two days were added to December, and the Saturnalia was celebrated sixteen days before the Kalends (December 17), “with the result that, since the exact day was not commonly known—some observing the addition which Caesar had made to the calendar and others following the old usage—the festival came to be regarded as lasting for more days than one.

The original day now was given over to the Opalia, honouring Ops, who personified abundance and the fruits of the earth, and was the consort of Saturn. As the two deities represented the produce of the fields and orchards, so they also were thought to represent heaven and earth. It was for this reason, says Macrobius (I.10.20), that the two festivals were celebrated at the same time, the worshipers of Ops always sitting in prayer so that they touched the earth, mother of all. I was struck by the etymological simile of Opalia, Goddess of abundance and Oprah’s name. Name destiny is a very important signifier for me.

The Saturnalia had a direct influence on the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year. The fact that Christmas was celebrated on the birthday of the unconquered sun (dies solis invicti nati) gave the season a solar background, connected with the kalends of January 1, the Roman New Year when houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and presents were given to children and the poor.

Saturn’s metal is lead and its color is black. Black is the absence of light. The rays emitted by Saturn are of a violet color. Black is a calming color for agitated persons and is also known for its protective properties.

Saturn represents the forces of limitations and restrictions both in time and space providing the structure without which existence would dissolve into chaos. Saturn rules the bones and especially the knees- to which Capricorn’s are prone to have trouble with.

Saturn/Satan became equated with the Devil in latter Christian mythology. Two of the most foul-smelling herbs, asafoetida and valerian, have been used for millennia in rites of banishment and exorcism and are powerful antispasmodics, acting to limit and sedate potentially damaging overflows of energy in medicines. Other Saturnine herbs are patchouli, cypress, and the yew tree.

Other herbs of Saturn: rosemary, dill and St. John’s wort are also antispasmodics, working principally on the nervous and digestive systems. 

Solomon’s Seal and Hyssop bear fruit of an indigo color of Saturn and the flowers of garlic are sterile. Garlic is a great limiter in terms of internal infection as well as eliminating worms.  garlic is widely credited as a preventative against a variety of diseases including Bubonic Plague. It regularizes the liver and gall bladder while Rosemary stimulates bile production and has a limiting effect on the circulatory system, lowering blood pressure and combating arteriosclerosis. It seems obvious that the Saturnian medical principles of essential healing agents are at times difficult to swallow.

Saturn is called SATI in Sanskrit the root word of our English.

Remember how ancient Christmas celebrations are always based on the SUN and the SOLSTICE primarily. The Christians had to overlay the new Kid on the block Jesus’ story on the ancient celebration or it wouldn’t fly.

Please share widely all writing is copyright of Tara Greene unless otherwise indicated.

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Fairies, Midsummer Night dreams 2021

Midsummer Night Fairy Magick Sun Celebration

June 20 is the Peak of the SUN’s LIGHT, the MASCULINE FIRE in the Northern Hemisphere. The longest night of the year in the North, its a time of celebration. As the sun peaks everything shifts gradually into the DARK FEMININE ENERGY begins to grow stronger until December 21st when it peaks then the powers are switched again. This is the balance of everything that exists in the Universe. We need these complimentary opposites.

The SUN is sitting on the TROPIC OF CANCER and in Tropical astrology we say the Sun has entered the sign of Cancer.

This is the PAGAN Cardinal Cross Quarter day of LITHA. 

As Summer begins in the North here in 2021 we are not quite getting out of months of lockdown due to Covid-19. Time to celebrate, Life is green, the living colours of flowers are everywhere and abundant. The air smells sweet, bees are buzzing. We are growing our own food in our gardens or containers. We are soaking up the rays.  The Goddess is symbolically Pregnant with the child she conceived at Spring equinox.

The Summer Solstice or LITHA begins 8:32 pm PDT/11:32 pm EDT/ JUNE 21 At 3:32 am GMT  as the SUN enters CANCER the 0-degree “world point.” It is the beginning of Winter Down Under.

Shakespeare Immortalized Midsummer in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

Sir Joseph Noel Paton- The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania_

Traditional symbols for Midsummer

Weave flower wreaths to wear on the summer solstice,

Speaking of Midsummer nights dreams

JUPITER the planet of expansion is in its home rulership in PISCES the Sign of dreams, visions, the last sign, the house of magic and imagination as Jupiter turns RETROGRADE at 8:06 am PDT/ 11:06 am EDT/3:06 pm GMT.

We have been floating in a DREAMLAND of Pisces fairyland waters since May 13/14. This is very significant for this SOLSTICE season.

Jupiter turns Retrograde June 20 on Solstice at 2 Pisces and turns direct October 17/18 at 22 Aquarius. Jupiter was there before March 26/27. We will have to resift through all the new Aquarian ideas until then and relaunch when Jupiter hits 2 Pisces on January 8, 2022

The Bonfire

Bonfires are lit on hilltops, by holy wells, and at a sacred place, to honour the fullness of the Sun. People danced around and leap through the flames. Traditionally people stayed up all night on Midsummer’s Eve to welcome the sunrise. Coals from the Midsummer fire were scattered on fields to ensure a good harvest, you can scatter them in your garden

Midsummer is one of the most powerful nights for MAGICK,

Especially healing prayers, love magick, energy, protection and purification. It’s a time of gratitude for family and friends. Reflect on the progress of the seeds that you planted in the earth. A great time to get rid of patterns and objects that no longer serve your Higher Self. 

The Fairy Queen and the fairies are said to be out riding on MidSummer Night 

This is the time to strengthen your connection with the Fae or Fairie and otherworldly beings,

Honour the Fairies 

Create a fairie house in your yard or even in your window. Remember that fairies are very mischievous so be careful. Place spirit boundaries around your house, and protect yourself from their pranks while outside. Wear garlands of marigolds, ivy and or St. John’s Wort. White lily petals, rue and oatmeal in your pockets or in baskets help in protection. Bury a Witch Bottle, a glass container filled with sharp objects such as pins, nails and needles, ashes and salt before entrances to your home for protection.

Leave treats for the Fairies. They love sweets of all kinds. Leave offerings outside in the woods a park or your yard or windowsill.  Leave herbs, ribbons, seashells and bowls of milk outside to gift the Faeries.

Bless the animals.

Ancient herders brought a token animal to be blessed to protect their herds. Ask for protection and blessings for pets, livestock and wildlife.Have a Feast 

Some great summer dishes include seafood, watermelon, berries, lemonade, summer squash, and baked potatoes. 

Renew and clean Your Altar

Litha is a great time to clean, cleanse and re-decorate your altar for the Summer season. Take everything off of your altar, clean it, then cleanse it with dried Cedar, Sage, honeysuckle or other sweet incense or sweetgrass smoke. Add summer yellows to and golds to your altar.

Honour Sun Gods & Goddesses

Honor any solar deities with offerings and prayers Some of the sun gods and goddesses are Ra, Horus, Huitzilopochtli Aztec Sun and War God, Irish Goddess Aine, Celtic Sun God Belenos, Greek Sun God Helios, Roman Apollo, Etain Irish Sun Goddess, Yuyi, Taoist God of the Sun, Macha, Irish Goddess of women, Sunna, Norse Goddess of the Sun and many more. 

Flowers, honey honouring nature and growth

The Midsummer Moon is also known as the HONEYMOON, where this term originated. Mead is made, handfasting ceremonies are performed. Mead is considered to be a magical life-enhancing drink, You can make an altar to honour the Oak tree, with their leaves. Sunflowers are also a great example.  Magical baking and charms are created on this special day. Traditionally this festival spans three days. This year it is June 20-23rd.

Buttermilk Bread 

To bring abundance to your kitchen. Sunflower seeds represent the light half of the year and the poppy seeds represent the dark half of the year.

You will need:

3 cups of white flour, preferably bread flout type.

500 ml of Buttermilk 

I tsp.of bicarbonate of soda

Sunflower and poppy seeds for sprinking

Red ribbon and a sprig of rosemary

Place the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Sieve in the blended salt and soda and pour in the buttermilk. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough feels springy. If it feels too sloppy just add a little more flour. Turn it onto a board and cover with a fine dusting of flour. Pat it with your hands until you have a round shape. Take a sharp knife and score lightly into eight sections, one for each festival. Sprinkle half of the loaf with poppy seeds and the other half with sunflower seeds.

Place onto a greased baking tray and pop your buttermilk bread into a moderate oven for about 20-25 minutes. Keep and eye on it. When the bread is ready it will change colour and it will sound hollow when you tap the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack. When it is cool, place your sprig of rosemary on top and tie the red ribbon across the middle.

Consecrate the bread by turning the loaf three times saying “From the fields and through the stones, into fire, Midsummer Bread, as the Wheel turns may all be fed. Goddess Bless.”

Take your bread and share it with your family, friends or whoever you would like to bless. Eat it fresh, as soon as it is made if you can. 

Elderflower Champagne

Elderflowers peak at Midsummer. Pick them in the fullness of a sunny day, ideally on Midsummer’s Day. The Elder is sacred to the Mother Goddess and is often called the Witch’s Tree, the Elder Mother, or Queen of the Trees. It is protective, with wonderful healing properties. It aids transformation, change and renewal, this drink will aid in transforming your life. Or drink Elderberry Liqueur.

In Canada, Strongbow makes an elderflower cider. 

Ingredients:

8 litres water

1.25 kg sugar

8 large elderflower heads

4 lemons

4 tablespoons mild white wine vinegar

Do use screw-top bottles. Large plastic bottles are good. This is a fizzy drink, if not bottled tightly it can explode! Keep it somewhere safe. Make sure the elderflowers are clean and pick them when the sun is strongest. 

Boil the water and dissolve the sugar into it, organic sugar is best.

When the water cools, add the elderflowers, the juice of two of the lemons and slices of the other two, plus the vinegar.

Cover with a clean cloth and leave for a day.

Strain through a fine sieve or piece of muslin, carefully squeezing the flowers to extract as much flavour as possible.

Store in clean screw-top bottles.

Leave alone for 10 days or so. Drink within a month. Enjoy and give thanks to the Spirit of the Elder.

Honey Cake

A celebration of a sweet life. 

If you can source locally produced honey its the best. Wherever it comes from always thank the precious Bees. 

Ingredients:

225 gram Butter 1 cup
250 gms Honey or 1 cup 
100 gms Dark Muscovado Sugar, 3.5 ounces by weight 
3 Eggs, beaten
300 gms Self-Raising Flour, 1 1/2 cups 

Cut the butter into pieces and heat slowly, adding the honey and the sugar. When fully melted, turn up the heat and boil the mixture for one minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add the beaten eggs to the cooled honey mixture. Sift the flour into a large bowl and beat the liquid honey mixture into it until you have a smooth batter. Pour the mixture into a round lined sponge tin and bake in a preheated oven at 160 C for about 50 mins – or until the cake is well-risen and springs back to the touch. Cool on a rack and glaze with a few tablespoons of warm honey. A nice sweet treat. 

Please share widely, all writing is copyright of Tara Greene unless otherwise indicated.

HAPPY SUMMER or WINTER down under

I will be celebrating making magic and dancing with the fairies,

JOIN ME JUNE 22 for a CAPRICORN SOLSTICE FULL MOON MAGIC ASTROLOGY WORKSHOP 7:30 pm EDT LIVE ON ZOOM. click here to sign up. https://lu.ma/pucx9lvs

Get a reading with Tara http://www.taratarot.com

Fairies, dicks, horny, May Day Beltane

Beltane is an ancient pagan fertility festival celebrating the phallus, dancing around the MAYPOLE, AKA dicks in 2021. The Lingham in Hindu, the potent thust of the Green Man, or Pan the Horned or Horny God, consort of the Goddess, who impregnates Her in an ancient Hieros-gamos cross-quarter celebration day of Fire, male sexuality, fertility and fairies.

This SACRED PHALLIC FIRE CELEBRATION Lights the bonfires of passion. This is a very ancient night of celebrating the “Hieros Gamos” or SACRED MARRIAGE between the Goddess and the God, meeting strangers in the fields, or woods to honor fertility and new life with an unknown stranger. Young women who were followers of the Goddess who got pregnant May 1st babies were considered sacred born February 1st at Brigid’s fire festival of Imbolc.

Beltane celebration rituals begin the night of April 30, Walpurgis Night before May 1st, Beltane.

Image Jim Champion / The 2007 burning wicker man, Butser Ancient Farm

Setting new intentions on this night is very powerful.

The MAYPOLE is the phallic symbol and the participants weave their ribbons around as they dance the spiral dance of time and our interwoven connectivity with all our relations on MAY day. This is one of the major cross-quarter days in the year. We are half way to summer in the northern hemisphere and the veils between the worlds are thin.

The FAE or fairies come out and dance in magic forest circles and all of our ancestors are close be. Beltane celebrates fertility, and seeding new intentions with magic passion and light. It is a time of joyful invocation, healing, and beginnings. Beltane is the time to plant all your seeds for future endeavors you wish to actualize and harvest at the end of summer.Invoke the spirit of these intentions in the time of TAURUS, an earth sign.Participants light the Beltane fires traditionally on hilltops and jump over it for purification.

The VEIL BETWEEN THE WORLD’S ARE THINNEST just like at Halloween or Samhain, the energy is the same. The Faery Queen goes out riding in the woods tonight.

This is the night when Maidens would go wander in the woods, as FLORA, the flowers, NATURE SPRUNG newly born, maiden has nothing to do with virginity or marriage as they are simply young, and eager to mate, as they are in touch with natural sexuality, Nature’s rhythms, to give themselves to a stranger in the woods, the Green Man, also called PAN to the Greeks,the Horned Stag, called Cernunnos, in Latin, he is raw male phallic, sexual energy, virile and youthful. 

 CERNUNNOS the horny man

If a man had been created in the horned God’s image he would be free to be wild, without being cruel, angry without being violent, sexual without being coercive spiritual without being unsexed,and truly able to love.”

– Starhawk, The Spiral Dance

 Children conceived this night are considered to be magical and to belong to the realm of FAIRY as in The MISTS of AVALON. The maidens do not know the man they mate with in the sacred Marriage ritual.

Couples would also take vows to be in relationships for a year and a day, sort of test driving a relationship  to see if they are compatible.

It is considered unlucky to marry in MAY as this month is dedicated to the wedding of the GOD and the GODDESS  alone.

 Another important custom is bathing in dew gathered before dawn on Beltane Morn, your beauty will flourish throughout the year. Sprinkled with the dew insures you of health and happiness. Or drinking from the well before dawn of Beltane is also good luck.

 Leftover Food from May 1st eve should be left out for the fairies.

We will light our fire tonight. Wishing you all a Blessed Beltane. 

I did my live Tarot card reading broadcast for MAY on Monday May 2 on FaceBook on the Cosmic Intelligence Agency Page at 8:00 pm EDT/ 5:00 pm PDT/ 12:00 am GMT. http://www.taratarot.com

get a reading with me http://www.taratarot.com

Groundhog Day, Candlemas 2021

February 2nd in modern secular times we have the mash-up of Candlemas/Imbolc and Groundhog day. I know that the last year feels like the same day on re-re-re-re-peat.

What is Candlemas?  

Originally an ancient pagan holiday.  At the beginning of February, in honoring of the myth of spring, wherein Pluto stole Proserpine/Persephone, and her mother Ceres/ Demeter sought her in the night with lighted candles. The custom was to walk around the city with lighted candles in honor of the Goddess. Because the Christians could not destroy these ancient customs, they called it Candlemas  and made it in honor of the Blessed Virgin.

February also takes its name from Februa meaning “religious purification”, and means “the month of purification”, or “the cleansing month”.

Candlemas is celebrated as the 40th day of Jesus’s birth where he was presented in the Temple in Jerusalem for blessing by the Rabbi.. Mothers stayed in their homes with newborns until  the 20th day. Simeon then prophesied to Mary: “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” it is recorded in the Gospels.

In modern archetypes, Groundhog Day has become an icon for the literal theme of the movie about “seeing your shadow” which the groundhog may or may not do on Feb 2.  The Movie, starring Bill Murray from  1993 directed and written by Harold Ramis. has the protagonist in a karmic time loop. He woke up every day experiencing the same things over and over and he cannot die.

The message is: WHAT KARMIC LESSONS are you still stuck on and repeating over and over, like Phil Connors in the film? 

Think about this during Mercury’s Retrograde in Aquarius,the sign of liberation. 

Make this your Groundhog day mantra.

Where am I stuck in my life?  What am I resisting? 

Why do I keep repeating the same old same old lessons?

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY. Click to view on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZh6r_qTzNQ

all writing is copyright of Tara Greene 

Get a karmic reading with Tara- or past life regression http://www.taratarot.com

all writing is copyright of Tara Greene 

Get a karmic reading with Tara- or past life regression http://www.taratarot.com

Happy Lammas Pagan Harvest Fest

Lammas cross-quarter day Pagan Witch Harvest Festival August 1

August 1 is celebrated as one of the 8 spokes of the Turning of the year in the ancient nature calendar. Lammas is a pagan Harvest festival based on the Sun transiting its annual orbit. It marks halfway to the Autumn Equinox usually on September 21st as the Sun sits on the Equator for the second time in the year. 

George Cole (1810-1883) / Public domain

George Cole (1810-1883) [Public domain] Harvest rest

This is the original Burning Man Festival where John Barleycorn the original wheat/corn man was burned as an effigy. It’s traditionally a time of celebration of the harvest. John Barleycorn or a corn man figure symbolizing the sacred grain and most especially a sacred loaf was baked and offered to the four directions and to the earth Mother Ceres/Virgo in gratitude. 

The Goddess CERES/ Demeter is honoured as the giver of abundant grains. Lughnasad is its trad name. We are halfway to AUTUMN Equinox now. It is an Air element festival traditionally celebrated as the wake of the Sun KING, who is a star,  is dying now in the waning of his own Light. Cookie people figures and star cookies are baked in celebration. It is a time of anxious waiting, we are not yet assured of a harvest which will keep the people alive. It is time to free oneself from FEAR.  A snake dance is created going counter-clockwise, bread figures are thrown into the bonfire to symbolize the burning up of one’s fears. Then one says what one hopes to harvest.

Symbols of STARS are held up. The High Priestess would say,

“MAY THE STAR OF HOPE BE WITHIN US ALWAYS.”

“MAY THE STAR OF HOPE BE WITHIN US ALWAYS.”                         

This is also the symbol of the Tarot Card #17 The Star which is associated with Aquarius. We will have an Aquarius FUll Moon August 3.

NOTE that planets JUPITER and SATURN will conjunct December 21 2020 at 0 Aquarius. These two planets align once every 20 years which is considered a generation. The last time they met was in May of 2000 in Taurus the sign of the Bull Market and the U.S. had its biggest economic run-up during those years plus the historic crash of 2008. Plus 9/11 and Y2K and Donald Trump’s 1st presidency.  Jupiter and Saturn haven’t come together in the element of AIR which Aquarius is, in 800 years. That’s why many astrologer are saying this is the real dawning of the Age of Aquarius. 

The coveners would eat the star cookies and celebrate. see link below for more detailshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/islandblogging/blogs/000081/0000005269.shtml

To learn more about the Star card in the tarot watch my live class on tarot and numerology on my youtube channel Please subscribe to that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1fPCwtibW4&t=33s

Please share widely 

Have a happy Lammas and Holiday weekend in Canada, its a civic holiday.

Listen to Traffic’s famous ancient rendition of John Barleycorn with Stevie Winwood singing the plaintive song. Start baking those star cookies. I will be doing a ceremony for the non-cardinal directions.

Get your reading booked now. http://www.taratarot.com 

Blessings

Tara

Day of the Dead Retrograde Psychopomp

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D

November 1st, All Saint’s Day originated as a very ancient pagan festival which today in Mexico is a two-day Festival to honor and celebrate those ancestors who have passed on from this world. To the Native Indios in Mexico and throughout Central America death was never an end to Life but only a beginning, a transition back to Source and on to another life. Most indigenous people world-wide honor their departed relations, and remember them not only on one or two days in the year but daily, setting plates of food for them at the table after they have  passed into the Spirit world.

November 1st Mercury has just turned Retrograde on Halloween at the 27th degree Scorpio the sign of death, making this Day of the Dead even stronger as the veils between the world’s are thinnest integrating the Scorpio Death and rebirth motif.

MERCURY Hermes or Thoth, the Divine messenger was one of the Few Greek Gods who was also a Psychopomp. This title means that he could travel into the Underworld, the realm of the Dead, Hades, and return to the Upperworld at will.

This is a wonderful day to commune in seances, to do mediumship work, and to dream of your ancestors as the veil between the worlds is thinnest.

In  China, 3 oranges are usually left as an offering to feed the departed spirits, whose help from the other dimensions is of great value. Aborigines, shamans, ordinary people tap into the knowledge of their departed loved one’s spirits regularly who protect, watch over and guide them.

November 1st, Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico is celebrated by the wearing of wooden skull masks called calacas and dances to honour of their deceased relatives are held. Wooden skulls are placed on special family alters. Sugar skulls, marked with the names of the deceased on the forehead are eaten by a relative or friend. It’s a kind of ritual cannibalism, the eating of an effigy of the dead means that a person’s spirit is within you, feeding you.

Ancient Aztec civilizations held the festival on the 9th month of the Aztec solar calendar, approximately at the beginning of August and was celebrated for an entire month, ruled by Goddess Mictecacihuatyl. She is known as the Lady of the Dead and was believed to have died in childbirth. So the festival was traditionally in honor of children who also had died at birth. Rituals were also dedicated to Huitzilopochtli { Sinister Hummingbird} a war deity.

Christianized to coincide with All Saint’s Day or All Hallows Eve, in Spanish: “Día de Todos Santos, Mexicans now celebrate the day of the dead during the first two days of November.

There is also the Saint of Death.

Mictecacihuatl pronounced ‘Meek-teka-see-wahdl’  is Queen of Mictlan the Underworld, called Hades in Greek Mythology, ruled by PLUTO/ SCORPIO in modern Astrology, she rules the Afterlife.  Mictecacihuatl was represented as a skeleton with jaw agape to swallow the stars during the day.

Mictecacihuatl Lady/Saint of the Dead

On November 1st and 2nd Mexicans visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones. It is a time of celebration.

The ancient festival is also being honoured by Native and Afro- Americans. Incense is also offered, and the deceased favourite music and foods are cooked for them.

Honouring Your dead Ancestors

It’s many years since Dec 14, 2011, when my Dad passed away and even more years since my mother passed away Sept. 18, 2009. I am an only child and my husband and I were caretaking my mother up until her death and my Dad after he was in a nursing home for the last years of his life.  I have tracked them since their passing. On this night I honour my parents, my aunts and uncles and friends who have passed on. Also, those who inspired me, artists, musicians, poets, inventors.

Take time out to honor your ancestors too or those who have gifted Life and have now departed. On these days Light a candle, meditate on your departed loved ones. Thank them with thanks gratitude and reverence. If you have had a miscarriage or abortion allow tears and the sadness to move through you. This is  a real grief that women are not allowed to honour. These days are specifically for children who died.

When the veil between the worlds is thinnest, the departed will most naturally speak to you in dreams and leave signs. You just have to ask. Nothing to be afraid of. Modern Western civilization fears death, and are cut off from the  wisdom that the spirits of the ancestors bring. Death is merely a transition to another dimension. In fact the dead are always very close at hand. To fear death is to fear life, sexuality, pleasure, embodiment.

In Astrology the realms of death and the dead are traditionally under the Rulership of SATURN who was known as The Grim Reaper. Saturn rules the physical plane, the bones, time, old age.  After the discovery of Pluto’s,he became known in Astrology as the Lord of the Dead as he was in ancient mythology. It will be very interesting when Saturn enters his own sign of Capricorn on December  19, 2017. 
All of us will die and transition into other dimensions and some of us may come back. Most of us do , as we already have.  You know this, you are cosmic star dust from the beginning of the Universe. YOU are all One with ALL THAT IS WAS and ever will be.

If you need help with  Grief assistance:

Need help to grieve and let go of a miscarriage or an abortion?

I assist with psychic mediumship readings and karmic chord cuttings. http://taratarot.com

Ed Sheeran song Small Bump https://youtu.be/A_af256mnTE

Read more about Mexican festival : http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/articles/dead-history.html?nclick_check=1#ixzz2AvLbEzzq

YOU TUBE VIDEO ABOUT SAINT DEATH  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgQftFWM41Q&feature=player_embedded

Fire Trines and inconjuncts

Dec 17 I hope that you haven’t drunk too much or gotten too high under a party heart Leo Moon as it inconjuncts Neptune in PISCES

That could lead to nasty results. Be careful of your ego getting in the way of listening to your intuition. 

Leo Moon opposes Venus in AQUARIUS

This aspect brings out the space sluts, don’t you love them? 

vintage 

I like people with Venus in Aquarius, yes they have strange tastes its true.

LEO MOON inconjuncts Mercury and Pluto in Capricorn

power trips, egos colliding. Don’t try to change a narcissist.Some hearts may open as they see the power grabbing going on everywhere. 

Moon sextiles JUPITER in LIBRA

this is nice for fun get together with friends, a great party energy, good for shopping for women, children and buying dramatically beautiful art and other lovely things. The Mood is show-offy but NICE. 

GRAND FIRE TRINE

We don’t seem to have too many of these GFT’s. 

Leo Moon trines SATURN in SAGITTARIUS and URANUS in ARIES 

This aspect is tickling my Sagittarius love of humor. The laughs can be off beat, and kinda weird but let’s have fun, shall we?

this is excellent upbeat positive prideful energy. A great celebratory time. We are 4 days from YULE December 21 SOLSTICE.  ENJOY the darkest days in the Northern Hemisphere.

and last but not least Moon inconjuncts CHIRON in PISCES

Do be careful of drinking too much and getting too soppy, sappy and crying about some old issues which would be better discussed with your therapist.

Please share widely all writing is copyright of Tara Greene

get a reading with Tara http://www.taratarot.com