Eric Francis - guest on Johnathan Cainer's site

for Beltane - Cinque de Mayo

this is an amazing post and insight taken from this source:

http://www.bubble.com/ericfrancis/eric.html


From Beltane to Solstice
by Eric Francis

Dear Friends Around the World:


If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May Queen

Yes there are two paths you can go by
but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.

-- Jimmy Page & Robert Plant

May 5 is Beltane, the Pagan holiday that celebrates the birth of spring. Of course this applies to the Northern Hemisphere, since autumn is beginning in the southern regions. At the time of Beltane's creation, the southern hemisphere had not quite been 'discovered' by Europeans. Still, wherever one is in the world, and whatever tradition one follows, this is a power point, celebrated many places in the Latin world (for example) as Cinco de Mayo, May Day and other holidays.

Most of us are familiar with the equinoxes and solstices, when the Sun makes a 90-degree angle to either the tropics (Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of Capricorn) or the equator. Those are the changes of the season, called the 'quarter days'. What is less known is that midway between each of the seasons is another holiday or Sabbat dedicated to a special purpose, called the 'cross quarter days'. These eight points make up one version of the cycle of the year, which "is celebrated as the natural cycle of the seasons, commemorated by the eight Sabbats," according to Wikipedia's excellent article on the Wheel of the Year. "In Paganism all of nature is cyclical, the passing of time is a cycle, represented by a circle or wheel. The course of birth, life, decline, and death that we see in our human lives is echoed in the seasons."

There are many, many myths devoted to telling this story. You can probably find several in every culture you look at, from ancient Egypt to Native American. Here is a list of the holidays or Sabbats, with their proper names, using the Northern Hemisphere seasons. See Wiki article above for reasonable discussion of their application in the Southern Hemisphere.


Yule, on the winter solstice (Christmas)
Imbolc, on Feb. 2 (Candlemas or Ground Hog Day)
Ostara, on the spring equinox (Easter)
Beltane/May Day on May 1 or May 5 (The May)
Litha, on the summer solstice
Lughnasadh or Lammas, Aug. 1 and sometimes Aug. 5
Mabon, the autumnal equinox
Samhain, Nov. 1, and Halloween on October 31
Isn't it cool that the equinoxes and solstices have names? You may notice that some of these have Christian names, as Christianity is essentially a repackaging of Paganism, given a local flavor and authority from Rome, with taxes paid to the Holy See. Locations of old worship spots were used to site the newer, bigger ones. Even Notre Dame Cathedral is built on the location of a previous Pagan temple.

This is why so many of the holidays are the same in the old religion and the new one. For example, Yule is also Christmas (celebrated about three days after the exact solstice), which is the birth of the "son" and also the time when the Sun is "reborn" and the days begin to get longer. (This is a very old story and is pilfered from other religious traditions long predating Christianity.) Easter is celebrated near the spring equinox, often in late March (it is held the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after March 20). Candlemas, the early February holiday, is also the Christian renaming of an earlier holiday; Lammas, the early August holiday (though rarely acknowledged), is the same situation.

In today's shortest ever edition of Astrology Secrets Revealed, I'd like to look at the charts for two of these Sabbats, the one where we are today (Beltane), as well as for the Cancer ingress of the Sun or summer solstice (Litha). This covers a span of one-eighth of the year, a little over six weeks or about 46 days. I will do less interpreting and more pointing out salient features. Let's remember that in the background of these charts is the (northern hemisphere) spring equinox chart as well as the 3/29 eclipse, which is still fully in effect (see archive, the 3/29 cluster).

I've calculated the chart for Beltane using the standard astrological formula of the Sun at the midpoint of Taurus. Note that when festivals happen that formula is not always used, but at least from the standpoint of celestial measurement, that is the moment, which this year falls on Friday, May 5.

This is an exceptionally rich chart. Leaving out for a moment the local angles, and looking only at the aspects, we find:
1. A grand water trine. Mars in Cancer, Jupiter in Scorpio and Uranus in Pisces form a tight grand trine. Note how close the degree numbers are between Mars, Jupiter and Uranus and that tells you how exact the trine is. The fastest moving of the three is Mars, which is applying to both Jupiter and Uranus. You can tell it's the fastest moving because of those three planets, it's the closest to the Sun, and it's not anywhere near a retrograde.

2. The Sun makes a 'kite' pattern. Notice that Mars, Jupiter and Uranus form a triangle in the watery signs, and then the Sun in Taurus is close to the midpoint of Mars and Uranus. If you print the chart and draw lines making the connection, you'll see this is in the shape of a kite. Without interrupting the constructive effects of the grand trine, this tends to lessen the more sinister ones (in particular, getting stuck in patterns).

3. There is a grand cross aspect, too. Lo and behold. But these days the sky is a grand cross waiting to happen, and it does keep happening. The reason for this is that two slow movers, Jupiter and Neptune, are in a long square (in mid-Scorpio and Aquarius, respectively), and when you have one slow moving square, you're halfway to a grand cross. In this chart, the Sun shows up in mid-Taurus, you get a T-square and then Beltane happens at the first quarter Moon. Poof, there is your grand square. We saw other expressions of this earlier this year and late last year, which were covered in a few different editions, including the Fixed French Cross. Note, the French did not invent the Fixed Cross, but should have. Here is another article on a similar topic.

4. The Saturn-Chiron opposition is still brewing. This has been existing as Saturn has gone through both Cancer and Leo and we are approaching what I think is part seven of this aspect. In other words, when all is said and done, Saturn and Chiron will have opposed one another seven times, which finally wraps up at the end of this year, spanning a long and sordid phase of history.

5. Mercury is in the first degree of Taurus. Mercury is also applying in a square aspect to Saturn.

6. Venus is on the North Node and is quite close to the Aries Point. As we have discovered somewhat unexpectedly in the course of this column's 92 editions, the Aries Point is a very big factor in current history. Here is more on the Aries Point for those who are curious, or who like reading it over and over again.

7. Pluto is still very close to the Galactic Core. And there are of course dozens of other interesting bits and bobs you can name in this chart -- these are the big ones.