Amaterasu Omi Kami - the Goddess of the Sun

As the Sun moves towards 15 degrees in Scorpio, the sacred Sabbat of Bealtaine is honoured in the Southern Hemisphere.  Within the sacred lore of the Goddess, knowledge of many solar orientated Goddesses seem to have been forgotten, however some still remain .. and in particular Amaterasu Omi Kami, the Shinto Deity who is still honoured today throughout various parts of Japan.

With her name meaning "Great Shining Heaven", the shrines decided to Amaterasu are known for their architectural purity and unpretentiousness, and are centred around her sacred object, that being a mirror.  Considered to be the guardian of Japanese people and even a symbol of Japanese cultural unity, her symbol of rising sun flies on the nation's flag.

Bealtaine - the Fire Festival

Bealtaine marks the start of the Summer quarter of the year and the end of the Spring quarter. This is a time when nature blossoms and felicity and fertility return to the land. In times past, the livestock stockaded at Samhain was returned to summer pastures at Bealtaine.

Bealtaine is a joyful festival of growth and fecundity that heralds the arrival of Summer. It is the festival of the 'Good Fire' or 'Bel-fire', named after the solar deity Bel. Bel was also known as Beli or Bile in Ireland, with Bile meaning 'tree', so Beltane may also mean 'Tree-fire'. Bealtaine is the counterpart of Samhain (and is sometimes referred to as Cetsamhain, the 'first Samhain'), and these two important festivals divide the year into Summer and Winter halves, just as the two equinoctial celebrations, the Spring (also referee to as Ostara) and Autumn (aka Mabon) Equinoxes, divide the year into light and dark halves.

Summer and the Mother Goddess

The Spring (Vernal) Equinox has passed and as the sacred Wheel turns, Summer is around the corner, with it the festival of Bealtaine.  It is time for the young Mother Goddess to step forward and to take the reigns.  The following is an excerpt from “The Gaia Tradition: Celebrating the Earth in Her Seasons” by Kisma Stephanich (Llewellyn Publications, 1991) that is most appropriate to share at this time of the year.

Summer is a combustion of activity.  The warmth of the Sun dances across the deserts, caresses the trees of the forests and sparkles off the movement of the waters in the oceans as it rises and splashes against the shoreline or softly gurgles and rushes on downstream.  All life is in full celebration of active energy.

  

Embracing the Goddess

It is often interesting from what source articles about the Divine Feminine, the Goddess, can come from.  The following article is one from Daily Om




Thousands of years ago, before the dawn of written history, feminine energy was an important part of people’s lives. Clans venerated wise mother Goddesses, dark destroyer Goddesses, and cyclical fertility Goddesses, of which women were the natural embodiment. But as politics evolved, these Goddesses were forgotten or relegated to positions as wives or concubines, and their energy was last to time. But, as some people are discovering, contemporary people need the guidance of the Goddess more than ever. The Goddess movement seeks to recapture that energy and to bring civilisation back into touch with its history of feminine power.

The Divine Feminine

As I write this article for the first edition of “Dejavu” magazine (2003), the military might of the West have announced that it will only be a matter of time before war is waged against Iraq. Without getting into the political debate of this matter, I can still remember the ultimate disbelief and shock (not to mention an inner fear) I felt when the first Gulf war started in 1991. Some twelve years later, I find myself going through the same emotions, with an added sadness, for it does not seem that we, as a race, have not moved very far along our spiritual route at all.

Today, it is a rare occasion when the news reported does not include of act of war, injustice, violence, cruelty or degradation. While some spiritual traditions state that we are in an “enlightened” phase of human existence, I struggle to understand where this enlightenment is being actually being practised, for it does not seem to be influencing those we elect to represent us on a worldly scale.