JANUARY CALENDAR

 

January named after the double-headed Roman God, Janus. The guardian of the gateway between the Otherworld and the Earth. For those of you who practice January in the Gregorian Calendar as their New Year, this is a time to reflect on the past year, drawing lessons from its events, resolving to make positive changes and setting personal (and reasonable) goals for the new year. 

1^st- New Years day dedicated to Strenia, the Roman goddess of the New Year. Kwanzaa ends. San-ga-nichi begins, Japanese. Birthday of Sir James Frazer, author of The Golden Bough, 1854.

2^nd-Birthday of Inanna, the Summerian Sky and Fertility Queen of Heaven and Earth. Advent of the Egyptian Supreme Goddess, Isis.

3^rd-Lenaia Festival, dedicated to Dionysus the Greek God of Wine and Fertility. Death of Edgar Cayce, Psychic 1945. Pueblo Deer Dances, Womans Fertility ceremony. Festival of Pax.

4^th-Egyptian day. Aquarian Tabernacle Church registered in Australia 1994 by Lady Tamara Von Forslun.

5^th-Koreion Festival, dedicated to the Greek maiden Goddess Kore. Jeane Dixon born 1918. Feast of Befana, Italian. Christianity is introduced to England in the year 597.

6^th-Twelth night/Epiphany. Koliada, the Russian Goddess of Time honoured. Patricia Crowthers radio show “A Spell of Witchcraft” airs in Britain 1971. St.Joan of Arc born 1412. Feast of Kore, Greek Goddess of fertility and grains.

7^th-Sacred to Sekhmet, the Egyptian Goddess of War and Healing. Seven herbs festival, Japan.

8^th-Sacred to Freya, the Norse fertility Goddess. Birthday of MacGregor Mathers, one of the Golden Dawn founders 1854. Death of Dion Fortune 1946. Justitia’s day, Roman Goddess of Justice. Druidic New Year.

9^th-Festival of Janus. Day of Antu, Akkadian. Jamie Dodge wins lawsuit against the Salvation Army which fired her based on her Wiccan religion, 1989.

10^th-Islamic New Year. Feast of Dreams celebrated by the Iroquois.

11^th-Festival of Fools, European.

12^th-Dedicated to Lares, the Roman Household goddesses. Nez Perce War Dances, Native American. Mary Smith hanged, she had quarreled with neighbours who had in turn said that the Devil appeared to her as a black man, 1616.

13^th-Final Witchcraft laws repealed in Austria 1787. Druid Feast of Brewing in ancient times. Midvintersblot, Norse Winter Festival.

14^th-Official Confession of Error by jurors of Salem Witch Trials 1696. Trifon Zara Zan, Bulgarian Blessing of the Vines. Makar Sankrati, Hindu.

15^th-Feast of the Ass, Roman.

16^th-Day of the Queen of the Universe, French. Birthday of Dr. Dennis Carpenter, Circle Sanctuary.

17^th-Wassailing the Apple Trees by ancient Celtic Britons. St Anthony’s Day, Mexican. Good Luck day, Festival of Felicitas. Roman Goddess of Good Luck.

18^th-Surya, Hindi Sun Deities Festival. Woman’s festival of Juno.

19^th-Birthday of Dorothy Clutterbuck, born 1880 and who is said to have initiated Gerald Gardner into the New Forest Coven. Thorrablottar “Husbands Day” once sacred to the Norse Sky and Thunder God Thor, celebrated in Iceland. Celtic Tree month of Birch ends. Birthday of Gavin Bone, born 1964, Witch and author.

20^th-San Sebastian’s Day, Mexican. Feast of the Kitchen God, Chinese. Celtic New Year, the first day of Luis (Rowan) in the Celtic Tree Calendar.

21^st- Sacred to Yngona, the Danish Goddess of destruction. Sun into Aquarius. Santa Ines’ Day, Mexican. Celtic tree month of Rowan begins.

22^nd-Dedicated to Concordia, the Roman Goddess of Harmony. Sacred to Hathor, the Egyptian Mother Goddess. New Year of the Trees, Palestinian. Buffalo and Comanche dances, Native American.

24^th-Chinese New Year. Blessing of the Candle of the Happy Women, celebrated in Hungary.

25^th-Burns Night, celebration of Robert Burns, Scots Poet.

26^th-Festival of Ekeko, Bolivian God of Abundance.

27^th-Sacred to Ishtar, the Assyro-Babylonian Fertility Goddess. Planting Festival (Rome)

28^th-Upelly-Aa, Scottish Fire Festival.

29^th-Peace Festival, Roman.

30^th- Feriae Sementiva, Roman festival of Spring. Birthday of Zsuzsanna E.Budapest, feminist Witch. Nosso senhor Do Bonfim, Mexican Water Purification Festival.

31^st-Hecates Feast, Greek/Roman. Festival of Kuan-Yin, Goddess of Mercy and Compassion in China. Festival of Sarasvati, Goddess of Knowledge in Nepal. Dr Fian, believed to be head of North Berwick Witches, found guilty and executed for Witchcraft in Scotland 1591. Candlemas Eve.

MOON PHASES 

Monday 3rd - NEW MOON. Start new projects. A time to plan and prepare especially if it is so cold outdoors and one just wants to curl up in front of the fire or heater. Think about what has been and what you would like to change and do in your future. New job, moving house, new relationship or perhaps a new life is coming into the family be it kith, kin, fur or fin. An ideal time to write up notes, fill in your book of shadows, journals and herbal grimoires as we work under the phase of the moon.

Monday 10th - FIRST QUARTER MOON. Rising at Noon and setting at Midnight, the Moon is 90-135 degrees ahead of the Sun. Light and dark are in equal balance. Consolidate and give form to projects. Be creative and deal with any challenges that may arise.

Tuesday 18th - FULL MOON. The Earth is between the Sun and Moon. The Moon, rising at sunset and setting at dawn, is 180-135 degrees behind the Sun. The Full Moon is the time to celebrate the complete.

Wednesday 26th - LAST QUARTER MOON. Time to clear out anything that hasn´t worked or isn´t needed. Rising at midnight and setting at noon, this Moon is 90-45 degrees behind the Sun. Time to clear out anything that hasn’t worked or isn’t needed.

APOGEE AND PERIGEE  From timeanddate.com The Moon's orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle, but elliptical, with one side closer to Earth than the other. As a result, the distance between the Moon and Earth varies throughout the month and the year. On average, the distance is about 382,900 kilometers (238,000 miles). The point on the Moon's orbit closest to Earth is called the Perigee and the point farthest away is the Apogee. 

Apogee (Furthest away from the earth) - Friday 14th.

Perigee (Closest to the earth) - Sunday 2nd and Sunday 30th.

 

THE JANUARY STAR SIGNS

 

CAPRICORN - December 22nd – January 20th
Symbol – The Goat, Element – Earth, Planet – Saturn, Quality – Cardinal, Personal Creed- I use, Negative/Feminine sign.
The Star sign that seems to grow young, rather than old. Always striving for the top.

Some of the Capricorns - Michel de Nostradamus, Dorothy Clutterbuck, Gerina Dunwich, Annie Lennox, Howard Hughes, Elizabeth Arden, Denzel Washington, Mao Tse Tung, Louis Pasteur, Elvis Presley, Marlene Dietrich, Rudyard Kipling, J Edgar Hoover, JRR Tolkien, Mel Gibson, Issac Newton, Jean Dixon, Marilyn Manson, Richard Nixon, Rod Stewart, Joan Baez, Shirley Bassey, Bernadette of Lourdes, Joan of Arc, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, AA Milne, Cary Grant, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles G Leland.

AQUARIUS – January 21st – February 18th
Symbol – Water Bearer, Element – Air, Planet – Uranus, Quality – Fixed, Personal Creed - I know, Positive/Masculine Sign. Individual, independent and inventive. This sign is really "out there."

Some of the famous Aquarians. Bill Bixby, Robert Burns, Zsuzsanna E.Budapest, Lord Byron, Lewis Carroll, James Dean, John Deere, Charles Dickens, Alice Cooper, Christian Dior, Thomas Edison, Pretty Boy Floyd, Clarke Gable, Galileo Galilei, Henry VII, Isla Fisher, Stonewall Jackson, Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Paul Newman, Babe Ruth, Sharon Tate, John Travolta, Lana Turner, Jules Verne and Oprah Winfrey.

 

CELTIC LUNAR TREE

The Celtic Tree calendar is based on thirteen lunar divisions. Each division has a sacred tree assigned to it that were said to have been chosen by ancient Druids. The trees rich in history and folk lore have many magickal energies associated to them. Please note that the Celtic Tree calendar was written from the Northern Hemisphere.