today is the first sunday after the paschal full moon.
this is the day of mardi gras and easter.
in this thread, i talk about how these celebrations, and others like them, are a kind of cyclical human phenomenon we observe.
the erasure and misrepresentation of pagan traditions have caused us to lose the significance of this day. this thread serves to help heal our collective amnesia.
few know that the dates of mardi gras and easter are calculated the same exact way, and share a common origin.
different traditions have honored different deities and practices to welcome this time—the common theme is that this is a time of rising, rebirth, celebration, and the conquest of light over darkness.
deities not included in the figure below: phoroneus, ishtaar, and more...
the germanic goddess ostara's feast day was held on the first full moon following the vernal equinox, similar to easter. ostara can also be related to the anglo-saxon goddess eostra and the greek eos. during this time, femininity, and the spirituality of cycles are honored.
ostara is usually related to the god pan, the therianthropic deity of the botanical dimension, festivity, feasting, and merriment.
it makes sense for pagan traditions to honor a nature deity since spring is a time when nature is released from the grip of winter and can flourish.
the vernal equinox celebrations of ancient europe evolved into a carnival, a time when common order and social hierarchy are suspended, and obscenity, debauchery, and merry-making prevail. carnival has persisted and taken different shapes.
johannes lingelbach, 1650
indians celebrate holi to bring in the spring. similar to carnival, holi is festive and chromaphilic—it is a celebration of the conquest of good over evil and the love between radha and krishna.
nichal chand, around 1750
our passage through this time centers our collective consciousness on:
—nature
—color
—variety
—feminity
—rebirth
—ecstasy, altered cognition
—pleasure-making capacity of life
—love
—conquest of good
—absurdity of life
—the other
—freedom
the themes of the vernal equinox are strikingly the same themes that we are confronted with on the ps*locybin experience.
in 'the white goddess: a historical grammar of poetic myth', robert graves elaborates on how dionysus' celebrations involved psyc*actiive mushrooms.
the behavioral phenomena of the vernal equinox celebration and the psych*delic experience are two things that have been neglected by our culture. both these phenomena represent our integration with nature, the carnivalesque, and the otherworldly—and they seem to be necessary for us.
the celebration of the vernal equinox is a human phenomenon that transcends religious specificity and unites us all to our common roots.
this human phenomenon has given rise to a series of elaborate images in our collective unconscious that are definitely worth meditating on.
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