I wished the check out clerk in a local grocery “Happy Beltane” and that got us talking. She gave me instructions to put out water in the moon tonight and then wash my front door with it and add cinnamon. I told her about it being Chandika Jayanti and the Festival of the Roman Goddess of Mercy, Maia.
Let’s start with who is Chandika. She is an avatar of Mata Pavarti. One of the forms of Durga.
Vignaharta Ganesha depicts the story arc of Chandika slaying the bull demon (probably not related to the bull demon in Journey to the West). With luck, if you click on the image, it will take you to YouTube’s Set India’s Episode 106. The tv series used great CGI but this scene with all the iconography only had a tiny insert so it’s a bit pixelated.
The bull demon, in this scene where he’s in has fallen and only half of his form is that of a bull and the other is a human with horns. He’s an asura. The word translates as demon but don’t get them confused with the “demons” in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. These beings were never angels who sided with a leader to rebel. They live in their own realm and are usually evil, although now and then one does become a devotee of one of deities and becomes righteous.
Mahishasura was the king of the demons – there have been several kings. This one is particularly famous. Despite being done as a weekly soap opera, Vignaharta Ganesh has a lot of teachings embedded and is worth watching. When asked by Ganesha why his mother was allowing this “demon” to kill monks, and gurus, and villagers, she replied that she is the Mother of the Universe and must be merciful to all beings.
And May 1st is the Roman Festival of Maia, the Goddess of Mercy!
It’s also Lord Vishnu’s Avatar Kurma’s birthday!
AND today is 2588th birth anniversary of Siddhartha Gautama who most of you recognize as THE BUDDHA!
Today also coincides with the Chinese calendar and Baosheng Dadi’s (保生大帝) birthday. The GOD OF MEDICINE in the Chinese pantheon. 保生大帝) is also known as Poh Seng Tai Ta in Taiwan.
Meanwhile on the mainland they are celebrating Zhao Gongming!
I have a red scroll with Caishen smiling out at me hanging on my wall. With the lawsuit filed by Armstrong Steel against me, I tend to forget to make offerings. Considering how the energy hit me today, I need to get back into practice.
The energy of this day can be over powering. It’s bad enough that it’s a full moon which is always powerful but it’s also Beltane so the veil is so thin, you can FEEL it. I figured the best way to honor all of it was blogging because that way, I force myself to remember all the rituals I’ve been taught and to stop dulling the anxiety by escaping into June’s Journey or a movie.
FURTHER READING:
..https://storymins.com/mahishasura-mardini/
https://nationaltoday.com/god-of-medicines-birthday/
Side note: When I was a docent at Miller Cory House in Westfield, New Jersey in the late 1970s and early 1980s the museum held a May Day Festival with a Maypole Dance and I was in charge of the dancers. If you’ve never seen a Maypole on a warm sunny day with only a feint breeze and children all dressed up in costumes from the 1700s, well you simply haven’t lived! It was GLORIOUS and a custom that back then and even further back, no one associated with Wiccans. It was a folk memory long lost but the drums and flutes continued to play on each year!
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