I promised to write this article a year ago (comment # 12.3), but got sidetracked by the train wreck that was the Republican primary and the general election that saw President Obama re-elected for a second term. Sometimes, the “real world” gets in the way of writing the stuff you enjoy writing.

We are now in the time of the Maiden. She has as many names as Her other counterparts, and we call Her Eostare, Persephone, Eos, and Repent among others. We see Her in the miracle of the dawn. It is now that we see Her peeking out through the thawing of the snows, like a mischievous little girl, giving us the promise of the Spring That Is To Come, for Spring is Her season.

She is soft and gentle, like Her symbols, those beautiful first flowers, new lambs, rabbits and chicks. Her Sabbats include Imbolc (Feb 3), Ostara (Spring Equinox) and Beltane (May 1) when she take onto Herself, Her next stage in Her life. That, of the Mother.

The Goddess as a mother, like all mothers, feeds Her children. Her time of years is about the harvest. The Maiden’s job was to make the world ready for planting, and the Mother makes sure that you are fertile and ripe for the… er… plucking. Planting and harvesting are the reason for the season. The Goddess is ripe. She is green and gold, filled with life, pregnant with possibility and raring to go.

Beltane’s rites while a tribute to the Maiden’s innocence is known to be a fertility rite. You didn’t think that Maypole was just something to dance around did you? How much more phallic can you get? Large phallic pole driven into the ground (Mother Earth)… get it?? FERTILITY! Maiden Magick, turned into Mother Magick!

The Mother’s Sabbats include Beltane (May 1, overlap), Litha (Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year), Lughnassadha (Aug 1), Mabon (Autumn Equinox) and Samhain (Oct 31).

The time of the Crone come with the winter. Her time is the time when the world sleeps. Like a grandmother She snuggles us up and tries to keep us warm and keep the nightmares at bay. If we were smart, we listened to Her warnings and put aside food and supplies for the winter to come and are ready for the long sleep.

Her Sabbats are Samhain (Oct 31, overlap), Yule (Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year) and Imbolc (Feb 3, overlap).

One Goddess, many names, three faces, one year. And it follows us into our lives too. When we are young, we are the Maiden. We have children and become Mothers. Our children grow and become parents, and we become the Crone. ‘Round and ‘round it goes.

Oh my!