Ante Diem XI Kalendas November

Modern Date : October 22nd

Ante Diem XI Kalendas November
Eleventh Day to the Kalends of November

This is one of the dies comitiales (C), when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

Prudentius writes of this day in regard to Commodus, "He was officially presented by the army and the senate to be maintained in perpetuity in the Palatine mansion, henceforth called Commodiana, on the eleventh day before the kalends of Romanus in the year that Praesens was consul for the second time."

October was the eighth month of the old Roman calendar and was sacred to the goddess Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis. The name October comes from Octo, meaning eight (March used to be the first month).


Sun enters Scorpio
Sun enters Scorpio, symbolized in zodiac maps by the easily recognizable Scorpion, but also symbolized in the hermetic tradition by the Eagle, as in the quartet of Bull, Lion, Eagle and Angel (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) that represent the four beasts of Ezekiel, the Christian evangelists, and many others who represent the fixed and secure orientation of human beings in mythic space. As the Scorpion and its next neighbor on the wheel, the Chiron-like archer Sagittarius, are both designed by nature to deliver their most accurate sting while retreating, the energy of the time favors the protection of the harvest and other efforts that are now nearing completion. The teams normally begin to gather now and bring in the corn, rice and wheat.


Tending the Crossroads
In ancient Greece this day was known as Tending the Crossroads. Hecate is celebrated this day as she was the guardian of crossroads.

Hecate
Hecate was said to be the daughter of Asteria and Perses. She was the mother of Circe, Scylla, Medea, and Apsyrtus by different fathers. She was primarily the goddess of magic, sorcery, the cross-roads. As the goddess of sorcery, she was adopted as Queen of the Witches and became a goddess of the dark hours and necromancy. As a moon goddess, she was often confused with Artemis and Selene and the three goddesses' identities often merged. She was alone the goddess of the waning moon, and she is said to appear when the ebony moon shines. She was also a Goddess of the Underworld, where she resided. She was a companion of Persephone, although she was sometimes confused with the goddess. In the Underworld, she was attended by the Furies and ghost hounds. Hecate was supreme in both Heaven, the Underworld, on Earth, and in the Seas. And for this reason, she took up three identities: Artemis on Earth, Selene in Heaven, and Hecate/Persephone in the Underworld. During war, she grants glory to whomever she pleases. Hecate bestows wealth on those whose prayers she answers favorably. As the crossroads goddess, Hecate is said to haunt a three-way crossroad, each of her heads facing in a certain direction. She was also said to represent the three phases of womanhood with her three heads: maiden, mother, and crone. Or the three heads were said to be of a dog, a snake, and a horse. As a ghost goddess, she haunted the scenes of crimes and murders and was seen lurking in graveyards. Despite all of her negative attributes, she was not an `evil' goddess. She did quite a few good deeds. In fact, she helped save Persephone and bring her back to her mother. And Hecate was a nurse of the Young. She is usually seen with two ghost hounds that were said to serve her. Hecate's cult outlived those of any other god.


Hi Matsuri
Japan's Hi Matsuri, "fire festival," is celebrated at night in the village of Kurama near Kyoto. People carry flaming torches in a procession to purify their homes. The parade ends at a shrine at midnight where the gods are said to descend to earth.


Hermes the Martyr
Hermes was a cleric at Heraclea near Constantinople. Arrested and abused by the authorities with Saint Philip, Saint Severus, and Saint Eusebius; their captors demanded the location of their sacred texts so they could be burned. The group refused to say where they had hidden their copies of the Scriptures, and were martyred. A copy of the court proceedings against them has survived to today. In ancient Greece this day was known as Tending the Crossroads.

Ante Diem XII Kalendas November

Modern Date : October 21st

Ante Diem XII Kalendas November
Twelfth Day to the Kalends of November

This is one of the dies comitiales when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

St. Asterius was martyr on this day in 223 CE. Asterius buried the remains of Pope St. Callistus after the pontiff's execution by the Romans. Asterius was arrested for this pious act and drowned in the Tiber River at Ostia, Italy. His remains are enshrined in the cathedral of that city.

October was the eighth month of the old Roman calendar and was sacred to the goddess Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis. The name October comes from Octo, meaning eight (March used to be the first month).


Ishhara
Today was the Mesopotamian festival of Ishhara, sometimes equated with Ishtar. Ishtar was the goddess of love, sex, fertility, and war. She is armed with a quiver and bow, and went down into the underworld to gain back her lover. Ishtar is often accompanied by a lion, and sometimes rides it. As Ishhara, she has a throne-base at the cedar mountain.


Orionids/St Ursula
The cathedral of Cologne was built during the late 4th or early 5th century on the site of a tomb of a group of virgin martyrs. This story developed into a legend about Ursula, a British princess, who in order to avoid an unwanted marriage to a pagan prince, went on a pilgrimage to Rome with some companions. They were murdered by the Huns on their way home. The number of her companions changes from the early number of ten to eleven thousand. Ursula is the patron of girls' schools.

Helen Farias(The TBP Lunar-Solar Festival Calendar) says Ursula was originally the German bear goddess, Orsel, and wonders if her companions are the stars in the sky surrounding the constellation of the Bear. Ursa Major, the great She-Bear known to us as the Plough or Dipper. The monthly position of the Bear Goddess's tail at nightfall was used to announce the arrival of the seasons. The Great Bear was known to the Greeks as Artemis and in the Far East as Ma Tsu Po, Queen of Heaven.

On Norway, on this day, no work was to be done that involved using the wheel, such as spinning, milling, etc., suggesting a fascinating connection with the goddess of Fate.

The Bear:
The bear is a powerful symbol. Archaeologists have claimed that the bear is the oldest deity, based on the niches found in caves across Europe which hold the bones and skulls of bears, arranged with evident care. The word "bear" in English is related to maternity, as in "to bear" children. Bear mothers are known for their devotion. Buffie Johnson's book contains a reproduction of a bear sculpture from 5th century BCE Yugoslavia showing a bear cradling her cub like a Madonna.

Throughout the northern lands, bears are treated with great reverence. Some Scandinavian families claim bears as ancestors. The word mangi means bear in some Siberian dialects but "spirit of ancestors" in others. Lapp shamans transform themselves into bears when they drum. The word for a Siberian woman-shaman is the same as the word for bear.

In his book, Dawn Behind the Dawn, Geoffrey Ashe explores the association of the Greek Goddess, Artemis, with bears. In one myth, she transforms, Callisto, one of her maidens who has angered her, into a bear and then assigns her to the heavens as the constellation Ursa Major. At the temple of Artemis in Brauronia, during a festival held every five years, two young girls aged five and ten wore yellow bearskin robes and performed the bear dance. Ashe postulates that Indo-European tribes brought from the Northern countries the image of a bear goddess, associated with the Big Dipper, who became Artemis in Greece.