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The month of
October was named after the goddess Astraea, the daughter of
Zeus and Themis and lived among humans during the Golden Age. As
the autumn leaves turn to gold and fall during this month,
Astraea departs for the underworld. In the American backwoods
the full moon of October is the Hunters Moon or Blue Moon. In
Ireland it is the month of Deireadh Fomhair. In Sweden it is
called St. Bridget’s Summer, while in Germany and Switzerland it
is referred to the summer of St. Gall.
Pele
(Hawaiian) the Goddess of Fire and the Kilauea Volcano. She is
said to appear as a wise crone or a
beautiful young woman
with a fiery temperament. As a young woman, Pele met Lohiau;
they
fell in love and were
wed. After awhile she longed to return to her volcano and so
left him.
Pining away for her,
Lohiau nearly died but Pele sent her sister Hiiaka to retrieve
him. Hiiaka and Lohiau
fell in love during
their journey and Pele, after an initial outburst, in an act of
generosity,
allowed them to leave
and be married. She found a new lover, Kamapua'a, whose
temperament matched
her own and even now
their fiery courtship continues. Lava Goddess symbol from
Honolulu
PTESAN-WI (WHITE BUFFALO WOMAN)
At a
time when the Lakota people were in great need,
two Lakota men saw a "wakan" (holy) woman floating
toward them. When they met and saw how beautiful
she was, one of the men thought of her only in a
physical way and acted disrespectfully. He was
struck by lightning and became a pile of ashes.
The other behaved properly and she instructed him
to tell his people to prepare a medicine lodge for
her arrival. She taught the Lakota people many
skills, giving them the sacred medicine pipe and
showing them how to pray. She told them that the
pipe binds together the sky, the earth and all
life on it. She also said that the buffalo is a
sacred being, representing the universe and
standing in the west to hold back the waters. When
all the buffalo are gone and the waters cover the
earth, the sacred hoop will end.
Artemis
is the Moon Goddess to both the Greeks and the
legendary Amazons, She was associated with the
waxing moon. She is said to be the same Goddess as
the Huntress Diana of the Romans.She was the
Goddess of wild places and all things wild and was
also referred to as the Bear Goddess, Hunter of
Souls and was said to be a shapeshifter. She was
portrayed as tall, slim, lovely and dressed in a
short tunic by the Greeks. Her chariot was pulled
by silver stags and she roamed the forest,
mountains with her nymphs and hunting dogs.The
amazons (also referred to by some as Moon Women)
worshiped her on the sixth day of the New Moon.
She was defender of women who were threatened by
men and acted swiftly when her help was needed.
She is associated with young girls, magick,
sorcery, enchantment, psychic development,
purification, woodlands and healing.
The Celtic tree of October of Gort and will
continue to the 27th when the
commencement of Celtic tree of Ngetal will begin.
The Reed is a giant grass that reaches up to 12
feet in length.
The reed represents the mysteries of death or the
hidden roots to all life. We also become focus
unifying our energies towards family, fidelity,
and trust. The reed had the duality of
symbolizing, Royalty or the Tree of Doom. Reeds
are also burned to honor household spirits and a
family’s patron deity; and in ancient Scotland, a
broken reed was an omen of familial betrayal. The
Egyptian canna-reed which grows from thick roots
like a tree was an ancient symbol for royalty in
the eastern Mediterranean and was used to make
scepters and arrows hence the Pharaohs of Egypt
would should arrows in every direction to
symbolism the Sun-god and their own sovernty. If
the scepter broke the kind was believed to have
lost his virility and vitality. The Irish used the
reeds for thatching of roofs. A house was not
completed or established until the roof was
thatched. The dead stems rattle in the wind and
are commonly referred to commonly as broom. The
broom is a wide, bushy shrub that grows in
abundance in the British Isles, and blooms in
yellow pod-shaped. Its branches are often dried
and used as brooms (as the name suggests,) and a
decoction of young branches and seeds can be used
to treat malaria, gout and painful joints. It is
also a good diuretic. Oil drawn from the stems (by
heating them over and open fire,) can be used to
treat toothaches, and for the removal parasites
such as lice.
  
In the beginning when the First Woman, the Goddess
was created, she became fully-grown in four days.
It seemed that every Dine (Navajo) Indian
tribesman wanted her for his wife. She did not
love any of them, but she did like the handsome
ones. Of all the men, however, she thought the
most attractive was the Sun-God. Of course, she
thought he could never be her husband. To her
surprise, one day Sun-God came up behind her and
gently tickled her neck with a feathery plume. She
was engulfed with warm sunshine, and in a magical
way the Goddess became the wife of Sun-God. He
fathered her firstborn, a son. Not long
thereafter, the Goddess was resting beneath an
overhanging cliff when some drops of water fell
upon her. Soon the Goddess gave birth to a second
son, fathered by Water-God. Because the two boys
were so close in age, they became known as the
Twins of the Goddess. They lived in a beautiful
canyon that later became a part of Dine (Navajo)
landAbout that time, a Great Giant roamed over the
country and ate every human he could catch. He
discovered the Goddess but did not want to kill
her, because at first sight he fell in love with
her beauty. The Goddess knew of the Great Giant's
evil ways and would have nothing to do with him.
He became very jealous of her when he saw
footprints of the Twins outside her Hogan. She saw
the Great Giant approaching, so she quickly dug a
hole in the centre of her floor and there hid her
two children, whom she dearly loved. She covered
the opening with a flat sandstone rock, spreading
dirt over it to prevent the Great Giant from
finding her Twins. Another day, the Great Giant
saw the children's tracks. "Where did these
children come from?" he asked the Goddess. "I have
no children." she replied, because she knew that
he would try to kill them if he found the Twins.
"You are not telling me the truth," he said. "I
see children's footprints in the dirt, right
here." The Goddess laughed heartily and said
"Those are only my hand prints. I am very lonesome
for children, so I only pretend by making tracks
with the heels of my hand and the tips of my
fingers, like this. These are the tracks of my
children." "Now I believe you," he replied. As the
Twins grew larger, their mother could not hide
them any longer. She was alarmed for their safety
because of the Great Giant, who saw them one day
and tried to catch them. But the Twins were too
quick and got away. The Spirit who made the
Goddess appeared with a bow made of cedar wood for
Sun-Child. "It is time for you to learn to hunt,"
she said to him. "We must now make some arrows and
another bow for your brother," said the Goddess to
Sun-Child. "Mostly, we want to hunt for our
father," said Sun-Child. "Mother, who is our
father and where does he live?" "Your father is
the Sun-God, but he lives far away in the East,"
replied the Goddess. Another bow was made for
Water-Child and many arrows for both Twins. They
began their journey to the East and travelled as
far as they could, but without success in finding
Sun-God. When they returned they asked, "Mother,
have you lied to us? In the East, we looked
everywhere and we could not find our father, the
Sun- God."
"He must have gone to the South," she said. Again
the Twins set out on another journey, this time to
the South, returning without success. "Please try
the West and then the North, if at first you do
not find your father in the West," said the
Goddess. She sent the Twins again on their hunting
journey, anxious to keep them away and out of
sight of the Great Giant. Many moons later, the
Twins came back and said, "Mother, have you lied
to us four times? Our father was neither in the
North nor the West."
"Now I will tell you the truth, my sons," said the
Goddess. "Your fathers, the Sun-God and Water-God,
live far away in the middle of the great Western
Water. Between here and there are great canyons
where the walls of the cliffs clap together and
would crush you. "Even if you should succeed in
getting through the canyons, there are the
terrible reeds that you must cross. Their long
knife-like sharp leaves will cut you into pieces.
"If you should escape the reeds, you can never
cross the Grand Canyon, which comes first before
you can reach the Great Water. You can never,
never cross the water where your father's house is
in the middle of the Great Water, the Western
Ocean." "But, Mother, we want to go and try to
find our fathers," said the Twins. The Goddess
taught the Twins a song of protection for their
next journey: "We are traveling in an
Invisible Way
to seek our fathers, the Sun-God and the
Water-God." This song she taught them to sing four
times, the magic number. Day after day as they
traveled along, they sang their song for
protection. One day, as they passed a little
spider hole in the ground, they heard a voice say,
"Ssh!" four times. The Twins looked into the hole
and saw Spider Woman. "Do not be afraid of me, I
am your Grandmother. Come down into my lodge," she
said four times. "We cannot enter your lodge,
because your doorway is too small," said the
Twins. "Please blow toward the Eastwind, Southwind,
Westwind, and Northwind," Spider Woman called out.
The Twins blew in the four directions and the
entrance enlarged enough for them to go through.
Inside and to their amazement, they saw the lodge
walls covered with bundles of bones wrapped in
spider webs, exactly the way spiders wrap flies in
a web. "Do not be afraid, my grandsons," said
Spider Woman. "These are the bones of bad men whom
I killed." Spider Woman talked with the Twins
about encounters they might have on their trip.
She taught them songs for their protection and
explained what they could do to overcome obstacles
they might meet on their way. "I will give each of
you a magic Feather- Plume. Hold it before you as
you travel, straight up or sideways to carry you
safely forward," she said to the Twins. "Be on the
look out for a little man with a red head and a
striped back. He will resemble a sand-scorpion,
only a little larger--about the size of a
Jerusalem
cricket," she explained. "Thank you, Grandmother,
we'll be on our way," said the Twins. Many days
later, the Twins heard a voice from the ground. It
was from the little man with the red head. "Do not
scorn me because I am so small," he said. "I can
and want to help you. Put your hands down on the
ground and spit into them four times. Now close
your fists, saving the spit until you come to the
Big Water. There you can wash off the spit." The
Twins did exactly as they were told, and after
thanking the little man with the red head, they
again began their travel. Soon the canyon walls
that smashed together loomed ahead of them. They
repeated Spider Woman's prayers, holding the
Feather-Plumes sideways. As they moved forward the
clapping walls stopped long enough to allow the
Twins to walk through safely. When they came to
the jungle of sharp reeds, again they sang the
song Spider Woman taught them, touching the tops
of the reeds with their magical Feather-Plumes.
Behold! The reeds turned into cattails, which
pleased the reeds so much that they quickly opened
a wide path for the Twins to pass through. A
puzzling encounter for the Twins was the giant
cliff. They walked around and around its rim,
making a complete circle and finally returning to
their starting place. They were making no forward
progress, so they sang songs taught them by their
mother and Spider Woman. They prayed over and over
again. When they opened their eyes, a beautiful
Rainbow appeared, creating a large bridge for them
to cross over the Grand Canyon of the Colorado
River. After this spectacular adventure, the Twins
continued West for a long time, until they saw the
Great Water before them. The Water spread so far,
they wondered, "How can we ever reach the
Turquoise House of Sun-God, which we know is in
the middle of the Great Water?" The Twins walked
down to the beach to the edge of the water and
washed the spit off their hands, singing and
praying at the same time. Behold! The Rainbow
appeared again! A long Rainbow Bridge stretched
before them from the beach to the Turquoise House.
Onto the Rainbow Bridge the Twins raced happily,
find their two fathers, the Sun-God and the
Water-God, who welcomed them in the Turquoise
House at the end of the Rainbow Bridge.

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