Maia Day! Maia Day!

I just wanted to share with you an article Anita Ryan-Revel recently wrote for Goddess & Nature Commentaries:

It's so weird yet lovely to think that my Northern Hemisphere goddess sisters are welcoming the approach of summer. While I am snuggling under my blanket and patting my growing spare tire, Northern gals are emerging from their caves, sprightly, sparkly, shiny and new, Amaterasu-style.

I know, I know, this winter and summer thing is part of the Wheel of Life — it's an endless cycle of beginnings, endings and reruns ad nauseam. But why then, as I'm stocking up on cold-and-flu tablets and preparing for hibernation, does my mind turn to May 1 celebrations in England and the United States?

It just doesn't seem fair that millions of spruced-up guys and gals will be swanning around phallic maypoles, electing a queen of the May, creating May Day baskets, rollicking around a bonfire, or washing their face in May dew to restore beauty or, at the very least (as the single gals in the Ozark Mountains believe), help her marry the man of her choice.

But here in the Southern Hemisphere, Aussie goddesses are preparing for Hallowe'en. Also known as Samhain, Hallowe'en is celebrated from April 30 to May 1 and is the most sacred holiday in the Wheel of the Year. This is the time to celebrate the Wise Woman and make contact with those who have passed on.

We're so serious about it, we even have a public holiday to commemorate our dearly departed around this time every year. Although the origin of ANZAC Day isn't rooted in Christianity, paganism or Hallmark (as most significant public holidays seem to be), it is "a day on which the lives of all Australians lost in war time were remembered."

This energy of withdrawal and introspection is probably the reason I have been compelled to do some serious "cave time" since returning from my tour in the USA.

You know how it is. You turn off the phones (and if you're strong, the Internet too), forget the outside world and surround yourself with the comforts of home? Delicious, inspiring and wonderfully necessary ... and absolutely something my Northern sisters wouldn't associate with the onset of summer in May!

History lesson commences: The month of May was named after the Greek goddess of spring, Maia. She was the eldest daughter of Atlas and the most beautiful of her seven sisters, all of whom we can see in the night skies in the Pleiades constellation. Her day of celebration, May 1, is a day of games and feasting celebrating the end of winter, the return of the sun and fertility of the soil (and randy couples). As summer approaches, the earth is juicy, rich, productive and magic — the perfect time to empower summer wishes with some Maia inspiration.

Errrr, back up a second! What are us Southern Hemisphere gals supposed to do with Maia's yummy summertime energy when we are heading into Winter?

To answer this, let's delve deeper into Maia's history to find another aspect (as all goddesses have). It turns out she is sometimes referred to as the grandmother of magic and as the shy and gentle patroness of mothers and nurses. I sense she also enjoyed cross-stitch and bocce, but that's a whole other story.

I reckon this aspect of Maia gives us permission to spend time in May paying special attention to our own mothers, especially on Mother's Day, and every other day in May, for that matter. We can participate in a big-scale event for charity, share a fabulous breakfast, or gift a small token of appreciation — a white carnation should do the trick (as per the example of the founder of Mother's Day).

As for me, during the entire month of May I'll also be spending some time reflecting on the wonders of being a mother. I'll be stepping out of my cave for long enough each evening to star-gaze and give thanks to Maia (sitting pretty in the Pleiades, the constellation located between the hunter Orion and Taurus the Bull) for her gifts of renewal, joy, mother-love and cross stitch.

Anita Ryan-Revel is the author of "The Goddess Guide to Chakra Vitality," aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. She has incorporated her journey into hundreds of articles, countless websites and numerous books, many of which can be found at her website, Goddess.com.au You can read more of her columns here. © copyright 2007 by Anita Ryan-Revel.