The Month of Ma(r)y

Shrines of Blessed Mary in my garden
photograph by Hettienne Grobler

Since the ancient times the month of May always
had a special significance for the divine feminine

and goddess.  
In the North it is spring, so the Romans and Greeks
 dedicated this month to Flora and she had her own

feast called the Floralia.

The month of May was also holy to Artemis 

and in Rome the great Titaness Rhea was venerated as the 

Queen of Heaven and the Spring Goddess.  She later became

known as the goddess Cybele and these ritual spring festivities

celebrated the union of the god Attis and Cybele after the long

winter months.

In the Southern Hemisphere it is Autumn and we
prepare for the transition of the winter months to
deeper travels into the inner worlds so we do not have the 

same fertility rituals and celebrations in the month of May.

Crowning ritual of Blessed Mary at the Temple of Mary shrine
in my garden by Hettienne Grobler

With every season there used to be a transition of goddess.

May Day, or the first day of May was seen as the official day of spring

in the Northern Hemisphere and this spring transition of the reigning

goddess forms the background 

 to the tradition of the May Queen. On May Day the May Queen and the Queen of Winter,  would participate in a ritual contest

 After the May Queen won, she would be crowned.

 In this crowning ritual the May Queen would be married to the May King in a ceremony 

of the annual marriage or union between the God and Goddess.

On Flora's holy day the celebration included the picking of flowers and

making them into garlands and crowns and handing the flowers out throughout

the village.  It also included a special procession with a statue of the spring goddess

covered in flowers.

And so it has become that May is the month of the Madonna

and the crowning of Mary on May Day

Showers of blessings

descend upon

the heart in the lovely month -

blessings that

blossom in Roses,

 the beloved flower of the Madonna

and a reflection

 of the Mystic Rose which

blooms eternally in her heart

In this month I take the time to create

an altar and weave a crown of flowers for my  Mary statues and altars. 

I  place water, oil and food on

your altar to be blessed by her presence.

 

Mary blessings to you

Hettienne