Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Summer

For those of you who have the misfortune not to be on the Raven Mailing List - and therefore miss out on the wonder that is the Raven Newsletter (sub £5.00 per year UK and NI, £10 Eire and Europe) here is an article which appeared in the last edition and I hope you will enjoy:

     We are now into the Dog Days when Sirius is snapping at the Sun's heels, making the Sun God burn even more brightly, heating the Earth.
     In these days people long to sit in the shade, or relax in the sun, but mainly doing nothing in the heat.
     Roses are in full bloom and the jasmine fills the evenings with sweet, seductive perfumes, for as the temperatures rise, so do the passions.
     Summer is the time when you can fall in love (or in lust) and perhaps do something stupid or out of character, like having a wild affair. Hopefully this will be just a brief aberration and no-one will get hurt, but that is rare and more often other passions will be roused: jealousy, anger and even the desire for revenge. How we humans hurt each other, even the ones we love.
     But how much more destructive and terrible can it be when gods are involved.
     Adonis is a typical story of love and passions, not all of them amorous.
     Let us start with the boast of a proud mother, that her daughter Myrrha was more beautiful than the Goddess of love, Aphrodite. Aphrodite who all men fell in love with as soon as they saw her beautiful face. Aphrodite who was jealous of any rival who might cause heads to turn away from her.
     So Myrrha's mother thought her daughter was beautiful enough to temps any man, Aphrodite mused, and laughed, so shall it be.
     And one night when drink had flowed freely and the inhibitions of the king, her father were lowered, King Cyniras seduced his own daughter and made her pregnant.
    When he found out what had happened, the king was both ashamed and angry and chased after his daughter with a sword to kill both her and her unborn son. Some say that Myrrha changed into a myrtle tree and her son grew safe within her. Others say she was killed by her father, but Aphrodite showed compassion by saving her unborn son, yet others that Myrrha and her son were locked in a box and thrown into the sea, and were rescued on a distant shore.
     But certainly the baby survived and was named Adonis, which means 'Lord' and he was the most beautiful baby, and child and young man that anyone had seen.
     Indeed he was so beautiful that the goddess of love, great Aphrodite fell in love with him and went down to earth to spend time with him. But she was not the only goddess who had seen the lovely young man striding through the forests, his bow taking down whatever game he aimed at.
     The goddess Artemis goddess of hunting and eternal virgin, had had the youth in her sights too - but Aphrodite had swooped down and carried off the prize.
     Artemis was furious, how dare Aphrodite take Adonis from her. Artemis grew more and more angry and in her rage sent a huge boar rampaging over the land, its tusks sharp, its anger as fierce as her own. It trampled and gored every creature it came across, laying a swathe of devastation through the land. And there stood Adonis, the youth, the Lord who would save the land by killing the boar.
     But Artemis was in a killing fury and when the boar passed, its tusks dripped red with the blood of Adonis, sprinkling the earth. Aphrodite found him, his blood sinking into the black earth and wherever the drops fell, wind flowers, anemones, bloomed, their blossoms as beautiful, fragile and short lived as Adonis.
     Aphrodite wept and the spirit of Adonis slipped away, down into the black, endless night of the kingdom of Persephone, queen of the Underworld.
     Aphrodite was inconsolable, she wept in Olympus and begged mighty Zeus to release Adonis from the Underworld. She begged and pleaded, baurtiful even in her grief, so beautiful that seeing her made the world weep with her. And in the end Zeus agreed and sent clever Hermes, the messenger, to the kingdom of Hades to retrieve the soul of Adonis.
     But the beauty of Adonis had survived even into the Underworld, and when Hermes found Adonis he was seated with Persephone. Hermes smiled and pleaded, and threatened and cajoled and Persephone said 'Whoever enters my kingdom will not leave again, that is the law.'
     Hermes returned to Zeus alone, and Zeus's temper grew and mount Olympus was shrouded in dark clouds and the thunder boomed and lightning flashed in sheets and spiky bolts, striking the earth randomly, but never reaching Persephone where she sat upon her throne in the Underworld and gazed upon the beauty of Adonis.
     So Zeus raged and Aphrodite wept, until Hermes suggested that they hold a hearing, where both goddesses could plead their case.
     Zeus appointed the Muse Calliope to hear the testimony of the goddesses and her ruling was that Adonis would spend four months in the Underworld with Persephone, four months with Aphrodite, and would have four months of freedom to roam the world as he wanted.
     So in the Spring Adonis returns from the Underworld and is free to wander the wide world, sprinkling his flowers to welcome the returning life and light. And in the Summer the earth blossoms with the flowers of love because Aphrodite is with her lover once more. And in the cold winter, when the earth lies dead as a corpse, Adonis sits with the cold queen of the Underworld and brings a semblance of roses to her pale cheeks and a hint of cherries to her lips.



Hymn to Adonis, the Dying God

In Adonis's rosy arms the Lady of Cyprus lies, and he in hers.
A bridegroom of eighteen or nineteen years is he.
His kisses are not rough, the golden down being still upon his lips.
And now goodnight to Cyprus, in the arms of her lover
But in the morning, we will all of us gather with the dew,
And carry him forth among the waves that break upon the beach,
And with hair loosed, bosoms bare, and robes falling to the ankle,
We will begin our sweet, shrill song.
Be gracious to us now, dear Adonis, and in the coming year.
Dear to us has thy coming been, Adonis,
And dear it shall be when you come again.

                                                               Theocritus 3rd century bce

The Cuckoo

For those of you who are not on our Mailing List here is an article from our latest Newsletter, hope you like it:

The cuckoo makes its appearance in April, although it is becoming a truly rare bird, rarely seen, but more often hears with its distinctive call which gives its name.
The cuckoo call is the herald that tells us spring is truly here.
There are many beliefs about what to do when you first hear the cuckoo: turn your money over in your purse or pocket and your money will multiply in the next year. If you have no money to turn over, then you will be poor for the rest of the year.
If you are unmarried, then take your left shoe off when you first hear the cuckoo and you will find inside it a hair the same colour as your spouse will have.
It is lucky to be outside ad walking when you first hear the cuckoo, but immediately stand still and take note of where your right foot is. Gather up the dirt or earth from beneath that foot, dry it carefully and sprinkle it around inside your house for it is said that no fleas will breed wherever this magical earth is scattered.
If the call of the cuckoo appears to be coming from your right side, then you will have a prosperous and lucky year, from the left you will not. However you can negate this if you immediately run as fast as you can in a circle.

The cuckoo is a merry bird, she sings as she flies
She brings us good tidings, she tells us no lies
She dries up the dirt in the Spring of the year
And sucks little birds eggs to keep her voice clear
                                            Trad. rhyme

Gang and hear the gowk yell

Sit and see the swallow flee

'Twill be a happy year with thee

The gowk is another name for the cuckoo, and April the 1st is sometimes known as 'Hunt the Gowk Day' as one of the oldest April Fool's jokes was to send a victim on a fruitless errand, known as hunting the gowk.
The classic method was to send an apprentice with a letter to a workmate, when he opened the letter it would read:
                  Don't you laugh and don't you smile
                  Hunt the gowk another mile.

Meaning, 'don't let on this is a joke, and send this cuckoo on a bit further.' So the poor victim would be given another sealed envelope and sent to another person and so on.

The cuckoo is a symbol for wanton sexuality as it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds and thus does not have to deal with the consequences of its mating.
It is sacred to Zeus, known in many myths as a sexual predator and seducer. He was destined to wed his sister the goddess Hera, but she wanted nothing to do with him and hid from him. Then one day she found a poor, bedraggled cuckoo, wet through and shivering after being caught in a violent storm.
Feeling pity for the poor bird, Hera gathered it up to warm it against her heart, only to have it turn in her arms into the form of Zeus.

Cuckoo is linked to the powers of orange blossom and cherry blossom and women who wished to know how long it would be before their marriage should address a cherry (or orange) tree in flower and say:
                Cuckoo, cuckoo, cherry tree
                How many years before I marry?

The cuckoo is also reputed to be a bird which has come from the land of Fairy, as it appears and vanishes as mysteriously as the Fairy Folk.


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