March 1, 2009

• March

  Tattoo
  the webnovel so far…

  Chapter 1: Blood is Thicker
  

  Chapter 1.1 in which Glory is not mindful of the store
  Chapter 1.2 in which Glory is made to do something she would really rather not
  Chapter 1.3 in which Glory thinks she might be sick
  Chapter 1.4 in which Aaron makes a mistake
  Chapter 1.5 in which Glory is made to see the error of her ways
  Chapter 1.6 in which the circle remains unbroken

  Chapter 2: A Farewell to Arms
  

  Chapter 2.1 in which Aaron makes another mistake
  Chapter 2.2 in which Glory reflects on her path
  Chapter 2.3 in which we learn Aaron is not really a nice boy
  Chapter 2.4 in which Glory speculates on the holiness of salt
  Chapter 2.5 in which Glory learns of the necessity for upper body strength, but makes do with  what she has
  Chapter 2.6 in which Aaron tries to make amends, but is still pretty much an ass

  Chapter 3: Small Sacrifices
  

  Chapter 3.1 in which Glory is spat on, twice
  Chapter 3.2 in which a cop is threatened
  Chapter 3.3 in which someone is crying
  Chapter 3.4  in which there’s more to the moon than meets the eye
  Chapter 3.5  in which Glory comes face to face with an loony environmentalist
  Chapter 3.6 in which Glory gets turned around
  Chapter 3.7 in which Glory is threatened
  
  

  Chapter 4: The Shape of Things to Come
  

  Chapter 4.1 in which a doctor makes his rounds
  Chapter 4.2 in which Glory is asked some awkward questions
  Chapter 4.3 in which Glory adopts a pet
  Chapter 4.4 in which Glory gets a surprise, but decides she should not have been surprised at all
  Chapter 4.5 in which Glory explains why there are no debts where duty is concerned
  Chapter 4.6 in which a shapeshifter is an enemy to no man
  Chapter 4.7 in which Glory defends Toby’s right to make a phone call
  Chapter 4.8 in which the nose knows
  Chapter 4.9 in which good pizza is wasted on a possum
  Chapter 4.10 in which the ruse is discovered and much blood is shed
  Chapter 4.11 in which names are dropped and there is much frustration

  Chapter 5: Of Mice and Men and Other Things
  

  Chapter 5.1 in which money can’t buy happiness
  Chapter 5.2 in which Glory makes herself at home
  Chapter 5.3 in which Glory indulges her passion
  Chapter 5.4 in which Gozala speaks of things stolen
  Chapter 5.5 in which there is a fungus among us
  Chapter 5.6 in which an artifact is examined
  Chapter 5.7 in which the good professor is knocked off his high horse
  Chapter 5.8 in which Glory resolves to guard her property more carefully
  

  
  

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  March winds and April showers
  bring forth May flowers.
  
  

  March, named for Mars, was the first month of the Greek and Roman calendar. Mars is god of war but also of fertile soil, equivalent to the Greek Ares and Tiu or Tiwazn an old sky god of Europe. He is also equated with the Celtic Teutates and the Norse Tyr. Mars’ original name was Mavors. After Jupiter, he is the chief Roman god, often called Marspater, “Father Mars.” He has three aspects, the martial god Gradivus, the rustic god Silvanus, and the patron of the Roman state Quirinus. The wolf and the woodpecker are his sacred animals.
  
  March was called Mi an Mharta or am Mart in Ireland, the seed time, or mi na riaibhche, “the month of the brindled cow, and Hrethmonath, “Hertha’s month,” by the Anglo-Saxons, honoring the earth mother Hertha or Nerthus. The Frankish name for March was Lentzinmanoth, “renewal month.” The Asatru call it Lenting. An old English name for the month, Hlyda, means “loud” and probably refers to the windy beginning of March. This name survived as Lide among the rustic country dwellers for many years.
  

  
  

  Eat Leeks in Lide, and Ramsins (wild garlic) in May,
  And all the year after Physicians may play (be idle).
  

  
  The first Full Moon of this month is called the Worm or Sap Moon. More northerly tribes referred to this as the Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night.  It shares the names Storm Moon with February and Moon of Winds with April. It may also be referred to as the Moon of the Snowbird or Lenting Moon.
  
  Pisces and Aries hold power over March, the Zodiac turning to Aries around March 21st. The flower for those born in March is the daffodil and smaller jonquil. Bloodstone or jasper, or sometimes aquamarine, are the jewels for the month of March. Pisces birthstone is the amethyst, while diamond is the stone for Aries. Albite, amethyst, chrysoprase, fluorite, green tourmaline, labradorite, moonstone, and opal are other stones for Pisces, and Aries also lays claim to amethyst, carnelian, garnet, fire agate, pink tourmaline, and topaz.
  

  
  
  

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  March 1st
  

  
  

  This is the first day of the Roman festival of Matronalia, sacred to Juno Lucina. It is the anniversary of the foundation of the temple of Juno Lucina on the Esquiline. In homes throughout the empire, prayers are offered to Juno for a prosperous wedlock and women receive presents from men. Traditional gifts consist of fruit or honey. In the temple of the goddess, flower crowned women and girls pray and bring her pious offerings of flowers. The goddess is represented veiled with a flower in her right hand and an infant in swaddling clothes in her left. Female slaves were free on this day while their mistresses waited on them.
  
  During the Strenia, the old laurel branches of the old New Year’s Day kept before the doors of the rex sacrorum, the great flamines, the curiae, and the temple of Vesta are replaced by new branches. A new fire is lit in Vesta’s secret shrine, to mark the rekindled flame of the New Year. This fire can only be rekindled by a burning glass or by the friction of boring a piece of wood from a fruit tree.
  
  The Salii or Leaping Priests performed a procession in honor of Mars and chanted hymns so archaic that the people of Rome could no longer understand them. They carried shields called ancilia decorated with a figure eight.
  
  In Greece, a “march thread” was left over night on the rosebush. It was then worn on the wrist or big toe until Easter day at which time it was returned to the rosebush. This red thread was supposed to protect the wearer. This custom may date back the initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries at Athens who wore woollen threads to ward off evil.
  
  

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  In Bulgaria, this is Granny March’s Day. Women are forbidden to work today or incur the wrath of Granny March who will call upon the weather to demolish the new crops. Tomorrow is Mother’s March.
  
  

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  Gwyl o Merriddyn is the Feast of Merlin celebrated beginning at sundown. As Dydd Dewi, this day is holy to St. Davis, the patron saint of Wales. The leek and daffodil, representing the vigorous growth of spring, are his emblematic plants.
  

  Upon Saint David’s Day
  put oats and barley in the clay.
  

  
  
  

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  In Scotland, March first thru the third is known as Whuppity Scoorie. Designed to wake Mother Earth from her long wintry nap, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic customs held that people must go out and ritually tap the earth three times with a staff or wand, calling Mother Earth by name and telling her it is time to wake. This is a very rowdy and noisy holiday. Mother is a deep sleeper sometimes. Pennies are thrown out for the children who scramble to pick them up, and participants strike each other with balls of paper tied with string (or bonnets).
  
  

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  Iduna, Norse goddess of Spring, is honored today.
  
  

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  The Golden Dawn was founded on this day in 1888.
  
  

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  The Covenant of the Goddess (COG) was formed in 1975.
  

  
  
  

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