"A Mantle of Stars" update

Astarte by Sebastian P Haines

Back in December last year there was a proposed devotional anthology that caught my attention.  A Mantle of Stars: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of the Queen of Heaven was putting out a call for poetry, rituals as well as essays and even artwork that would be edited by Jen McConnel.  When I visited the web site recently, I noticed the submission date had been to extended from April until 1 August 2013.  How wonderful, I thought.  Despite having already forwarded an essay on one aspect of the "Queen of Heaven" that had been accepted for submission, I have another piece that I am contemplating sending through - based from a more personal relationship with the "Queen of Heaven". 

The title "Queen of Heaven" is widely used within Christianity to refer to the "Mother of God", Mary herself.  Why, then, is she catching my interest?

Hymn to Isis

I call upon you, Isis, most graceful and high of the High Ones
Hear your lowly servitor and grant your blessings
Most full and gentle
You whose crescent moon and stars
Encompass the world.

Wave your arm, and strew the glittering dust of many worlds
Like seeds to be planted in the vast blackness of space
Step gently across the bridge of many colors
And rest in the mountains of flowers I wish for your offering
That they may shine.

Swell the fruit of the land, make mother with child
Cause flying birds to nest, and bees to swarm
Make the endless procession of life grow full and bountiful
Bring water to the well and rain to the clouds
Cause your veils to fall upon barren earth
And make it holy.

Sopdet, Egyptian Goddess of the New Year

With the new calendar year fast approaching, now is the time that many of us start to contemplate a fresh start and new beginnings.  To the ancient Egyptians, the Goddess who marked the coming of the new year was Sopdet ("skilled woman"), or Sothis, who is more commonly personified as the "dog star" Sirius, a star that held great importance to the ancient Egyptians.

When the heliacal rising occurred (when Sirius became visible above the eastern horizon prior to sunrise), this marked the time when the Nile River, the life blood of the country, started to flood*.  It was the silt that came from this flooding that enabled the farmers to grow their crops, and thus the flooding was associated with bringing fertility to the land.