april

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1April Fool	2 Full Moon Himself's Birthday	3	4	5	6Persephone's return Retrograde	7Eostre The Celtic Bird Festival
8 Day of the Fire Dragon	9Pagan Tree Day	10 Bo Donn	11Start of My Third house	12	13	14 Sun Dance
15 Festival of Bast	16 Celtic Tree month Saille	17 New Moon	18	19 Sun enters Taurus	20 The Wind Ming-hsu	21 Feast of Wadjet
22Lyrid meteor shower	23 Spring Cleaning Day	24	25 Festival of Sommersblat	26	27	28 Floralia
29	30 Walpurgisnach

4/2 Mercury conj. Uranus & North node
4/2 Full Moon 12 Libra (Venus square Saturn, Moon trine Chiron, Merc sq Jup)
4/3 Merc sextile Venus
4/4 Mars sextile Pluto
Merc square Jup
Venus square Neptune
4/5 Jupiter Rx
4/6 Mars enters Pisces
4/9 Sun trine Saturn
4/10 Sun trine Jupiter
Mercury square Pluto
Mercury sextile Venus
4/12 Venus enters Gemini
4/17 New Moon 7:35 am 27 degrees Aries (trine Pluto, Mars sq Venus)
4/19 Saturn direct 18 Leo (Rx since 12/5)
4/20 Sun enters Taurus
4/21 Mercury trine Sat
4/22 Mars square Venus
4/23 Venus opp Jup
4/25 Venus trine Chiron
4/27 Mercury enters Taurus
4/28 Mars conj. Uranus
4/29 Mars quincunx Saturn
4/30 Mars square Jupiter

April Fool's day is derived from the old Teutonic Feast of Fools ruled by Loki, the trickster god. This is a perfect day for working with the trickster God (Loki, coyote, or Murphy (for all modern high tech pagans).

In Scotland, people “hunt the gowk,” that is send someone on a fruitless errand, by asking them to bring back some impossible item like pigeon's milk, striped paint, a copy of “The Life of Eve’s Mother,” elbow grease, hen's teeth, etc. Another ploy is to send a person off with a sealed envelope to deliver to someone else who opens it and reads this message:

Venus Verticordia
This Roman festival was consecrated to Venus Verticordia (the Heart-turner), "Goddess of Beauty, Mother of Love, Queen of Laugher, Mistress of the Grapes." At the temple of Venus, women washed Her statue, replaced her golden necklace and other jewelry, and offered Her roses and other flowers. Women bathed in myrtle and scented water and wore crowns of myrtle. Ovid says Venus requested them to bathe beneath the green myrtle. English folklore says myrtle won't grow unless planted by a woman.

This Full Moon brings us face to face with the issue of self-interest versus co-operation. The Sun in Aries is a signal to create from your own heart, but the Moon in Libra is a message of compromise and consideration of others. This is an opportunity to become more aware of balancing these opposing interests.

With the Full Moon in Libra, our focus is on relationships and harmony between people. There is a striving for balance and a need for beauty as well. Despite the urge for partnership of the Libra Full Moon, the combination of Mercury and Uranus demands space and the ability to hold one's own ideas and this is amplified by a square of Mercury to Jupiter. There is an opportunity here to breathe fresh air (Jupiter) into our relationships (Venus) and marriages and to celebrate our individuality (Uranus). Venus is square Saturn today, indicating a tendency towards isolation as Venus's efforts to connect are rebuffed by cool Saturn. But the Full Moon trines Chiron, showing the opportunity for healing (Chiron) of any difficulties that arise over the next few days, and Mercury is leading into a sextile to Venus which will open doors of understanding between people.

I achieve balance between my own interests and the interests of others.
I can be assertive and direct and still be I am gracious and accommodating.

This Full Moon in Libra Ritual is to help us bring balance back into our relationships by recognizing, honoring, and accepting the differences within our partners and ourselves. It will enable us to get a deeper look at ourselves and discover what we want in our relationships, realize how we wish to be treated by others, and also recognize how we may treat others negatively. The more we understand about our relationships and our role within them, the easier it will be to bring about greater equality and balance.

Thought for this Moon - Sometimes we have a strong sense of what our destiny is calling us to do, but we don't feel quite ready or brave enough to answer the call. We need a push, an intervention, a serendipitous stroke--what I call fate bait. It's a person or event that awakens our dormant willpower and draws us inexorably towards our fate; it's a thunderbolt or siren song or stage whisper that gives us a good excuse to go do what we know we should do. I suspect that you, Capricorn, are about to meet your fate bait. (Rob Bresney)

It's your Birthday and you have been spoiled crazy. Now is the time to take a moment to be thankful for all the good things in your life. Good owners are hard to find just ask the poor dogs at the pound of which, if you remember you were once numbered.

The festival of the missing hour - take something you don't want and schedule it then. The clocks gets set forward an hour on Sunday.

Each year on this day, the Chinese Goddess of healing, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, Kwan Yin, is invoked during the Festival of Kwan Yin for protection, love, mercy, and wisdom. Incense and violet-colored candles are placed as offerings on her alter, along side rolled pieces of rice paper upon which the wishes of worshipers have been written.

The annual return of the Goddess Persephone from the Underworld, allowing the Earth to bloom again was celebrated every year on this date by the ancient Romans.

Spend the day out in the Sun. Leave the House at first light and walk in nature to allow yourself to see the same sights Persephone saw when she returned from the underworld.

Assertive Mars turns tender in this super-sensitive water sign. Moving gently is more natural now, which is helpful for spiritual and artistic activities, but challenging for those who want to drive hard towards a goal. Mars in Pisces takes the long way around rather than pushing straight ahead. A strong aversion to conflict has the appearance of kindness, which it sometimes is, but distaste for confrontation can be a form of denial that masks real feelings.

The Celtic Bird Festival, The seeking of signs in the returning flocks of birds. The Northern Wheatear, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Sandwich Tern, House Martin and Sedge Warbler will be here soon, if they have not already begun arriving, to signify the true coming of Summer.

Eostre is generally said to be an Anglo-Saxon goddess goddess of dawn, also associated with various aspects related to the renewal of life: spring, fertility and the hare (quick and numerous reproduction). Though it has been said that she was sometimes depicted with a hare's head, no authentic animal-headed deities appear in Germanic or Celtic cult objects. According to the old Saxon custom the year was split into two seasons, summer and winter.. Winter started in October and lasted for six months, the first month after the six 'winter months' was April or Eostremonath, which is the start of the coming six summer months.

Pagan Tree day is a movable holiday in the Green Rose tradition - This is a day to honor the trees in your life. For me this year in addition to tending to my offering tree I've decided to explore the lesson of silence that trees can teach (which is especially appropriate since this festival falls in my third house)

The truly silent man holds himself apart.
He is like a tree growing in a garden.
It flourishes, it doubles its fruit; it stands before its Lord.
Its fruit is sweet; its shade is pleasant;
and its end is reached in the garden."
-The Instruction of Amenemope

4:07 pm PDT,

Mental Mercury makes minds move fast in fiery Aries. This is excellent for sparking fresh ideas, although concentration can suffer when brains overheat. Punchy patterns of speech polish words with a confident sparkle that can make old ideas seem new. Impatiently getting to the point, though, might be interpreted as aggression when it is not intended.

Oracle at Praeneste
The biggest shrine in Italy, at Praeneste, belonged to the Roman goddess, Fortuna, whose emblem is a ship's wheel. On this holiday in her honor, people came from all over to have their questions answered by reading the words written on slips of oakwood drawn at random from a jar.

The Third house: The House of Communication . It is the way which we express ourselves (through speech, written etc...) and think on an intellectual level. It also describes siblings, neighbors and our local environment as well as early education, mechanical dexterity, and short trips. It represents the hands, shoulders and lungs

hen Aries in The 3-th House
The native turns the force of his/her personality into some kind of effective writing, communication or descriptive thinking. Drive and ambition is channeled into the area of communication. The native's mind is active, alert and capable of making quick decisions. This person most probably will be mentally restless and constantly moving around the neighborhood. This leads to adventures, fights and exercise of competition against his neighbors, brothers and sisters. As a result, the native may find it necessary to have a physical outlet to avoid mental aggravation, impatience, and verbal outbursts.

From a kitchen witch perspective there are a couple of things to concentrate on here: Spells, familiars, and cleaning up your immediate environment

Festival of the east Star. Held on the first full Moon after the Spring Equinox, this festival is dedicated to Bast.

According to ancient Celtic folklore, the Sun dances each year on this day. In much of Ireland, people still arise at first light to watch the Sun dance on the water.

In ancient Egypt on this date, a huge annual fair called the Festival of Bast was held in honor of the Goddess in Egypt. Thousands of worshippers journeyed up and down the Nile, accompanied by flutes, castanets, and lots of wine. Although Bast was mostly identified with the gentle, creating power of the Sun, she was also identified with cats and the Moon. The cat was Egypt's most sacred animal, and the black cat was especially sacred to Bast.

Day of the Fire Dragons. This day always falls on the last Sunday before the sign of Taurus. It's a day to honor the power of the fire by lighting a dragon candle or other such thing.

The Lyrid meteor shower will be appearing through the 25rd Typical Lyrid meteors are nearly as bright as the main stars in the Big Dipper, which makes it a good shower for both beginning and experienced observers.

The start of the Celtic Tree month Saille - In Northern Europe, the word witch and wicked is derived from the name of the Willow. It is considered to be a tree of enchantment. In Celtic mythology it is associated with the creation myth of two scarlet sea serpent eggs which contained the Sun and the Earth. These eggs were hidden in the boughs of the Willow tree until they hatched, thus bringing forth earthly life.

The first day of the four-day Iroquois corn-planting ceremony, honoring Awenhai, the sky goddess who fell into the waters and landed on Turtle, on whose back she fashioned the Earth

New Moon at 27°05 Aries
12:44 pm PDT
Sabian Symbol: A large disappointed audience

Today initiates the time of the New Moon in Aries. This serves as a good time to start anew not only because the Moon has reached the 'new mark' but especially so because the Aries Moon invokes the powers of initiation and newness as an essential part of regenerative force. This is a time to generate and promote inspiration and happiness. Aries is the sign of the warrior and now is an excellent time to actively initiate new projects and endeavors that will help to serve one's sense of well being. Liberation comes from being in the present—the only reality where we have the ability to act with real freedom. What has happened in the past is over; the future never comes. There is only the eternal now in which to explore, discover and create with innovation and innocence.

The New Moon in Aries is a time to think about what we want for ourselves. Aries permits us to be selfish, to consider what we need and ask for it without fear. Aries calls for courage, and this New Moon makes a trine to Pluto where courage is freely given. This is a time of new power, although with a square of Mars to Venus approaching (exact on the 22nd) there could be difficulty in relationships as our newly confident self-promotion makes it difficult to participate in the give and take of relationships.

When the Sun is in Taurus, we are given the strength and tenacity to follow through on all the projects that were initiated only to be deserted during that impetuous Aries Sun. Taurus may not be a time for brilliant ideas or innovation, but remember that saying about reaping and sowing! Someone's got to do the grunt work sometime -- and the Taurus Sun is that time. However, just because the Sign of the Bull is a time of hard work doesn't mean you'll be completely bereft of pleasure! On the contrary, Taurus, as an Earth Sign, is all about tactile sensation -- the enjoyment you can receive from fine foods, the joy of physical contact, the reward of a warm bubble bath. The Bull also motivates us to attain a level of very basic security, the kind of security garnered through routine and through taking things slowly.

For those of us not born in the sign of Taurus we can try accessing our Taurus energy by consciously deciding what things in our lives need a little more nurturing and support to grow and develop. We can also try listening a little bit more to the things that we say and that are said to us. Taurus rules hearing and there's tremendous power is listening if we'd only take the time to do it more often.

The beginning of the season of Ming-hsu: The Wind of the Illumination of All Beings.

Direction: East
Trigram: Chen
Instrument: bamboo flute
Element: Wood
Activity: Appoint boundaries, repair field

Spring Cleaning Day This is a modern floating holiday that always falls on the first Saturday after the sign of Taurus. This is a day for ritually cleaning your home and working good old-fashioned kitchen witch magic.

Spring cleaning in China is generally done by house-wives. They would first wrap their heads with scarves, cover the beds and furniture with sheets of cloth and sweep the walls and ceilings up and down with a broom. After cleaning the house they wash desks and chairs and mop the floor. After spring cleaning every household, every store looks anew Red Spring Festival couples are pasted on the door panels, fresh and bright, symbolizing happiness and prosperity. Animated door gods, scrolls of happiness, beautiful window flowers, colored New Year paintings, flower-decorated red lanterns and plenty of sacrifice gods, all gives a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival.

This is a national day of mourning by Dragons every where. While mistaken humans celebrate the feast of St. George the Dragon Slayer, Dragon's remember this as a day of infamy.

T'ai Shan
On the 17th day of the fourth lunar month, the Chinese honor the goddess of Midwifery, the Daughter of the god of the Sacred Mountain. She is invoked at births along with her four attendants: the Ladies of Posterity, Fecundity, She Who Activates Birth and She Who Brings the Child.