February 18 pagan holy day calendar

fixed holy days (same date every year)
Kemetic calendar
Zoroastrian calendar
Celtic Ogham tree calendar
Roman calendar
numerology
tarot
2010 lunar days
2010 astrological
2009 lunar days
2009 astrological
2008 holy days
2008 lunar days
2008 astrological

fixed holy days

These holy days are on the same day every year on the solar calendar.

Red One Sees Heru:

Red One Sees Heru: Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) holy day. Heru [Horus] is well when the Red One sees His form.

Day of Awen:

Day of Aven: Welsh Celtic holy day. Day of Awen. The three drops of wisdom issue from a cauldron or salmon of knowledge; symbol of reformed Druidry, each drop represents the three druidic functions of bard, ovate and druid. — Celtic information provided by Shelley M. Greer ©1997.

Day of Imbas:

Day of Imbas: Irish Celtic holy day. Day of Imbas. The three drops of wisdom issue from a cauldron or salmon of knowledge; symbol of reformed Druidry, each drop represents the three druidic functions of bard, ovate and druid. — Celtic information provided by Shelley M. Greer ©1997.

Spenta Armaiti:

Spenta Armaiti: Zoarastrian and Persian holy day. Spenta Armaiti, festival of women, dedicated to Spandarmat, Goddess of fertility. Also Name Day of Spandarmad. Each day and month of the Zoroastrian calendar is presided over by a spiritual being. When the spiritual being of the day and the month are the same, such as today (Spandarmad), the day is particularly sacred. In the Fasli (seasonal) calendar, this is the sacred day of Spandarmad. Spandarmad celebrates the Av. Spenta Armaiti, the Holy (or Beneficent) Devotion, who presides over the Earth.

Rites of Tacita:

Rites of Tacita: Roman holy day. Honors Tacita, the Roman Goddess of silence. Hostile speech forbidden on this day.

Festival of Women:

Festival of Women: Persian holy day. Honors women.

Festival of Love:

Festival of Love: Greek holy day. Festival of Love, honoring Aphrodite (Feb. 14-21).

Parentalia:

Parentalia: Roman holy day. Parentalia and Feralia (Feb. 13-21), a purification festival of peace and love devoted to ancestors and to Goddesses Mania and Vesta.

St. Pantaleone:

St. Pantaleone’s Feast Day: Christian saint day based on ancient Italian holy day. St. Pantaleone was invented long after his supposed lifetime and was actually a Christianization of the totemic lion, steed of Venus, that the city of Venice was named for. This divine animal was couble canonized, also appering as the Lion of St. Mark, who replaced the Lion of venus as the patron of Venice. The Shrine of the Lion was converted into St. Mark’s cathedral. Legends long after St. Pantaleone’s supposed lifetime claimed that he was condemned to death by Emperor and miraculously survived attempts at burning alive, cauldron of boiling lead, wild beasts, the wheel, and beheading, but at each attempt Christ appeared and saved him. According to the Chrisian myth, after all in attendance had been converted to Christianity Pantaleone voluntarily submitted to beheading. Pantaleone was supposedly the physician of Emperor Maximinianus and is a patron saint of physicians and midwives. Supposedly a vial of his blood preserved at Constantinople bubbles every year on his feast days. His feast is celebrated on July 27, July 28, andFebruary 18. His head is venerated at Lyons.He was depicted as wearing flowing trousers of the Eastern fashion, and is the source of the word “pantaloons”, which in turn is the source of the word “pants”. He also appeared in Italian commedia as a stock character, an amorous old rake in dancing slippers.

Changing Woman:

Festival in honor of Estsanatlehi: Navajo (Native American) holy day. Estsanatlehi is Changing Woman. Festival lasts for eight days starting February 16.

calendar

This day on different world calendars.

Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) information

Season of Proyet (Sowing)
Month of Parmuti or Pharmuthi (Renenutet or Rennutet)
Day 5

Zoroastrian information
(Fasli calendar)

Month of Spandarmad (twelfth month)
Day of Spandarmad
Day 5

The day of Spandarmad celebrates the Av. Spenta Armaiti, the Holy (or Beneficent) Devotion, who presides over the Earth. Special prayers from the Khorda Avesta are recited in honor of the day’s spiritual being.

Activity for the day from the Counsels of Adhurbadh, Son of Mahraspand: “(123) On the day of Spandarmad till your land.” Adarbad Mahraspandan was a famous saint, high priest, and prime minister of Shapur II (309-379 C.E.).

The first seven days (first week) of each Zoroastrian month celebrate Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas (literally translated Beneficent Immortals). They are the highest spiritual beings created by Ahura Mazda.

The Fasli, or seasonal, calendar is one of three Zoroastrian calendars still in use.

Celtic (ancient Druid) information

Ogham tree calendar

Nion (N)

Ash Moon
Day 1

The Celtic calendar started out as a moon calendar, but was aligned with the solar year during antiquity. Robert Graves proposed the Celtic tree calendar described here. While widely used by Neo-Pagans, many critics dispute the authenticity. The Beth-Luis-Nion calendar (the one used here) starts with New Year on the Winter Solstice. The Beth-Luis-Faern calendar starts with New Year on Samhain.

Each Celtic tree month (or moon) is named for a Celtic Ogham letter (first line above) and a tree (second line above). All of the Celtic months also had additional folk names (folk names for this month listed below). Robert Graves claimed that the Celts used a 13 month tree calendar. Critics dispute this claim. Graves’ claims are based on 19th century work by Edward Davies, who found references to the trees in the 1685 work Ogygia by Ruairi Ó Flaitheartaigh, which was in turn derived from oral history and older works such as Book of Ballymote and Auraicept na n-Éces.

Polarity: Feminine
Planet: Neptune
Archetype: Lir (Celtic God of the Sea)
Symbol: trident
Folk Names:
Moon of Waters

Asatru (ancient Norse) information

Month: Horning

Roman information

a.d. XII Kal. Mart.
12 days before the Kalends of March
Month: Februa or Febrvarivs or Februarius

The a.d. XII Kal. designation means ante diem or twelve “days before” the Kalends (first day or New Moon) of the next month. When counting days, the Romans included both the start and end day (in modern Western culture, we skip the start day). When the Romans switched to a solar calendar, they continued to use the lunar day names.

The Roman month of February is named for a feast of purification. Romans called February the “Month of Purification”. During the festival of Lupercalia, priests would beat barren women with a goatskin thong called a februa (“means of purification”) in the belief it would make them fertile. February was originally given over the the infernal deities, making the purification feast essential as a counterbalance to all the evil that could occur in the world. February had 28 days (an even number) because of a Roman superstitious dread of even numbers. February eventually became sacred to Juno Februra, the Roman Queen Goddess.

    The earliest Roman months were lunar. According to Roman mythology, the ten month solar calendar aligned to the vernal equinox was introduced by Romulus, the founder of Rome, around 753 BCE. In Romulus’ calendar, Ferbuary did not exist.
    Numa Pompilius, the second of the seven traditional kings of Rome, added two more months, for a 12 month year. In Numa’s calendar, February was added to the end of the year (after December) and had 28 days (or 23 days with an extra five intercalary days in some years). The extra five days at the end of February were viewed as unlucky and not considered to be part of the normal year.
    In some years, an intercalary month (Mensis Intercalaris) called Mercedinus or Mercedonius or Intercalaris, was placed into February in order to bring the year into alignment. The intercalary month followed February 23rd and then after the intercalary month, February resumed with February 24th. Plutarch wrote “Numa … added an intercalary month, to follow February, consisting of twentty-two days, and called by the Romans the month Mercedinus. This amendment, however, itself, in course of time, came to need other amendments.” Some scholars claim that Intercalaris was added to the Roman calendar in 452 BCE.
    Gaius Julius Caesar, as Pontifex Maximus (supreme bridge-builder, a religious title), reorganized the calendar on the first day of 45 BCE. In Caesar’s calendar (the Julian Calendar), February was moved to after January and had 28 days, except in leap years, when it had 29 days. The extra leap day was added after February 23, rather than at the end of the month. Caesar’s calendar was calculated by Sosigenes, an Egyptian astrologer/astronomer. In 8 BCE, Augustus Caesar fixed errors by pontiffs after Julius’ death and made other minor modifications, resulting in the modern Western calendar. The modern Gregorian Calendar, named for Roman Catholic Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, was a realignment in 1582.

numerology

Today totals 9 in modern Western numerology. See the article on nine for more information.

tarot

Today’s tarot card is The Moon.

date:	Thursday	February 18, 2010
Moon:	waxing crescent	1st Quarter	in Aries
Mercury:	Direct until April 18
Mars:	Retrograde until March 10
Saturn:	Retrograde until May 30

lunar information 2010

Moon:	waning gibbous	3rd Quarter	in Aries
Next Waxing Quarter February 21	Next Full Moon February 28	Next Waning Quarter March 7	Next New Moon March 15

First Quarter in Aries:

First Quarter: The moon is in the first (1st) quarter (waxing crescent) in Aries.

Void of Course:

Moon Void of Course: The moon is Void of Course (V/C) starting at 10:52 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) or 7:52 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). The Moon is void of course from the last traditional aspect in a sign to the ingress into the next sign. Moon void of course is a time of distractions and miscommunications. Things started during Moon void of course tend to sputter and fail.

Aries Rewarding: This day in 2010 is rewarding for those who are Sun sign Aries because the Moon is in your Sun sign.

Libra Challenging: This day in 2010 is challenging for those who are Sun sign Libra because the Moon is in the sign opposite your Sun sign.

astrological information 2010

Sun enters Pisces:

--> Sun Enters Pisces: Planetary ingress. The Sun enters the sign Pisces at 1:36 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) or 10:36 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). Dreamy and spiritual month.

Moon Sextile Neptune: The Moon is sextile Neptune at 10:52 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) or 7:52 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). Moon Void of Course (V/C). Time for intuition, creativity, and meditation. Meditation magick. Spells for ceativity, music, and art. Intuition activated. Perform all magick before the Moon goes void of course.

Magick Color:

White: The magick color for this day, based on planetary influences and the day of the week, is white. You may want to burn a white candle or wear some white this day.

Magick Incense:

Clover: The magick incense for this day, based on planetary influences and the day of the week, is clover. You may want to burn clover incense this day. You may substitute a similar incense if you don’t have or don’t like clover.

See also the article on incense. An American source for high quality incense is Mountain Rose Herbs. A British source for incense is Pagan Magic.

date:	Wednesday	February 18, 2009
Moon:	waning crescent	4th Quarter	in Sagittarius
Mercury:	Direct until May 7
Saturn:	Retrograde until May 16

lunar information 2009

Moon:	waning crescent	4th Quarter	in Sagittarius
Next New Moon February 24	Next Waxing Quarter March 4	Next Full Moon March 10	Next Waning Quarter March 18