The final trailer for Beauty and the Beast is here  On March 17, rediscover a tale as old as time. Get your tickets now at BeOurGuest.com

Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is a live-action re-telling of the studio’s animated classic which refashions the classic characters from the tale as old as time for a contemporary audience, staying true to the original music while updating the score with several new songs. “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within. The film stars: Emma Watson as Belle; Dan Stevens as the Beast; Luke Evans as Gaston, the handsome, but shallow villager who woos Belle; Oscar® winner Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s eccentric, but lovable father; Josh Gad as Lefou, Gaston’s long-suffering aide-de-camp; Golden Globe® nominee Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, the candelabra; Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, the harpsichord; Oscar nominee Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the mantel clock; and two-time Academy Award® winner Emma Thompson as the teapot, Mrs. Potts.

Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, “the Day of the Festival of Patrick“), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick ( c. AD 385–461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

END OF ASH CELTIC TREE MONTH

SUMMARY

End of Ash Celtic tree month

CALENDAR

Celtic

DATE

Mar 17 Every year

DESCRIPTION

N – Nion, the Ash month (February 18th – March 17th)

REFERENCES

http://www.dutchie.org/Tracy/tree.html

AGONALIA

In Ancient Roman religious tradition, Agonalia, or Agonia, was a festival celebrated several times a year, in honor of various divinities, such as Janus and Agonius, whom the Romans used to invoke upon their undertaking any business of importance. The word is derived either from Agonia, ” a victim,” or from Agonium, “a festival.”

Its institution, like that of other religious rites and ceremonies, was attributed to Numa Pompilius. We learn from the ancient calendars that it was celebrated on the three following days: January 9, May 21, and December 11; to which we should probably add March 17, the day on which the Liberalia was celebrated, since this festival is also called Agonia or Agonium Martiale.

LIBERALIA

The Liberalia (17 March) is the festival of Liber Pater and his consort Libera. The Romans celebrated Liberalia with sacrifices, processions, ribald and gauche songs, and masks which were hung on trees.

This feast celebrates the maturation of young boys to manhood. Roman boys, usually at age 14, would remove the bulla praetexta, a hollow charm of gold or leather, which parents placed about the necks of children to ward off evil spirits. At the Liberalia ceremony the young men might place the bulla on an altar (with a lock of hair or the stubble of his first shave placed inside) and dedicate it to the god, Lares. Mothers often retrieved the discarded bulla praetexta and kept it out of superstition. If the son ever achieved a public triumph, the mother could display the bulla to ward off any evil that might be wished upon the son by envious people. The young men discarded the toga praetexta, which was probably derived from Etruscan dress and was decorated with a broad purple border and worn with the bulla, by boys and girls. The boys donned the clothing of adulthood, the pure white toga virilis, or “man’s gown”. The garment identified him as a citizen of Rome, making him an eligible voter.

The celebration on March 17th was meant to honor Liber Pater, an ancient god of fertility and wine (like Bacchus, the Roman version of the Greek god, Dionysius). Liber Pater is also a vegetation god, responsible for protecting seed. Liber, again like Dionysius, had female priests although Liber’s priests were older women. Wearing wreaths of ivy, the priestesses made special cakes, or libia, of oil and honey which passing devotees would have them sacrifice on their behalf. Over time this feast evolved and included the goddess Libera, Liber Pater’s consort, and the feast divided so that Liber governed the male seed and Libera the female. This ancient Italian ceremony was a “country” or rustic ceremony. The processional featured a large phallus which the devotees carried throughout the countryside to bring the blessing of fertility to the land and the people. The procession and the phallus were meant also to protect the crops from evil. At the end of the procession, a virtuous and respected matron placed a wreath upon the phallus.

This ancient feast is also sacred to the Nazorean Essenes. According to the Essenes, the Liberalia is held on March 27 and honors the vegetation god, Liber. Liber watches over the maturation of boys to adulthood, usually at age 17 (according to the Essenes), symbollically at the feast, the boys discard the purple-bordered togas for plain adult togas.

Related to the celebration of the Liberalia is the Procession of the Argei, celebrated on March 16th and 17th. The argei were 27 sacred shrines created by the Numa (very powerful ancient gods who are divine beings without form or face) and found throughout the regions of Rome. However, modern scholars have not discovered their meaning or use. In the argei celebration, 30 argei were fashioned from rushes into shapes resembling men; later in the year they were tossed into the river(s). The origin of this celebration is lost in the mist of time, but many scholars feel that it may have been a ritualistic offering meant to appease and praise the Numa and that the 30 argei probably represented the thirty elder Roman curiae, or possibly represented the 30 Latin townships. Other ancient scholars wrote that the use of the bull-rush icons was meant to deter celebrants from human sacrifice, which was done to honor Saturn. Some historical documents indicate that the argei(the sacred places) took their names from the chieftains who came with Hercules, the Argive, to Rome and then occupied the Capitoline (Saturnian) Hill. There is no way at present to verify this information, but it does coincide with the belief that Rome was founded by the Pelasgians and the name Argos is linked to that group.

ROSA MYSTICA

One of the most beautiful and significant symbols of the Western Mysteries is the Rose.  The Rose and the Grail share many spiritual resonances. The word ‘chalice’ comes from the Latin word, calyx, which means cup, and is the name given to the cup-like sepals of a flower which support the petals. Both these symbols suggest the receptive vessel of the soul, opening to receive the in-pouring of Divine influence. Indeed the symbolism of the Rose is even more complex than the Grail, given the beauty of its form, the number and arrangement of the petals with their velvety texture, the intoxicating perfume and, deep inside, the hidden golden heart enfolded within the petals, concealing the Mystery of the Centre. A 12th century Persian poet wrote, “Mystery glows in the rose bed, the secret is hidden in the rose.” Not surprisingly, the rose has long been recognized as the western equivalent of the eastern lotus as a symbol of the unfolding of higher consciousness

“How did Mary become the Rosa Mystica, the choice, delicate, perfect flower of God’s spiritual creation? It was by being born, nurtured and sheltered in the mystical garden or Paradise of God,” Blessed John Henry Newman once explained.

“Mary is the most beautiful flower ever seen in the spiritual world. It is by the power of God’s grace that from this barren and desolate earth there ever sprung up at all flowers of holiness and glory; and Mary is the Queen of them. She is the Queen of spiritual flowers; and therefore, is called the Rose, for the rose is called of all flowers the most beautiful. But, moreover, she is the Mystical or Hidden Rose, for mystical means hidden.”

Mary has been compared to the mysterious or mystical rose since the earliest days of the Church when Christians regarded this flower as a metaphor of both martyrdom and paradise.

“Eve was a thorn, wounding, bringing death to all,” writes St. Bernard of Clairvaux. “In Mary we see a rose, soothing everybody’s hurts, giving the destiny of salvation back to all. Mary was a rose, white for maidenhood, red for love; white in body, red in soul; white in her seeking after virtue, red in treading down vice; white in cleansing her affections, red in mortifying her flesh; white in her love of God, red in compassion for her neighbor.

SYMBOLISM OF THE ROSE IN MASONRY

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Would “a rose by any other name smell as sweet”?  Very likely it would.  The connection between the way a word sounds and the qualities of the idea behind the word is tenuous.  But when a noun like “rose” comes to have symbolic resonance, there is, in the beginning of the symbol making process, a close connection between the qualities of the object and the characteristics of the symbol it represents.  Later, as the symbol takes on an intellectual life of its own over time, the connection between the symbolic meanings and the essence of the thing itself may fade from consciousness.  But the most powerful symbols are the ones where that connection is still bright. Roses have been around for a long time.  The oldest fossil record of a plant clearly identifiable as a member of what the botanists call the genus Rosa comes from a Colorado rock formation dated to between 35 and 32 million years ago.  The rose first appeared as an artistic motif in Asian documents around 3000 B.C.  The first record of a European-looking rose is a stylized rendition in a fresco from the 16th century B.C. on the Greek island of Knossos.  Homer pointed out in the “Iliad” (ninth century B.C.) that Achilles’ shield was decorated with roses.  And Confucius claimed that during his lifetime (he died in 479 B.C.), the Emperor of China already had in his library 600 books about the cultivation of roses.

Early roses had only five petals, and legend says the original color was always white.  The ancient Greeks believed that roses turned red when Venus chased after her lover, Adonis, and pricked her finger on a thorny bush in her haste to reach him.  According to Christian documents, the blood of the crucified Christ spilled down onto a white rosebush growing at the foot of the cross and ever afterwards, rose blossoms were red instead of white.

The simple structure of the early roses featured a fairly large golden center with the five petals blown wide open.  The descendants of these roses are still grown today and sold in nurseries as “shrub roses.”  They have lots of short-stemmed flowers and lots of thorns and not much perfume.

OCCULT PARIS: THE LOST MAGIC OF THE BELLE ÉPOQUE

The Enchantress actually saved Beast’s life. “One must wonder why no one from Paris bothered to investigate when all contact from the Beast’s castle ceased due to the Enchantress’ curse.” Since the story takes place during The French Revolution, “the royal government in Paris would have much more to worry about, [and] would likely assume people in the Beast’s castle fell to the Revolutionaries.” This “implies the Enchantress inadvertently saved the Beast’s life, since the Revolutionaries, instead of simply slaughtering everyone therein, avoided further attacks on the cursed Castle itself — even if they had only encountered the Enchanted Furniture, instead of the Beast himself.”

Read more: http://www.teen.com/2015/02/13/movies/beauty-and-the-beast-theories-hidden-messages/#ixzz4XTkdxsd6

Belle, Bell, Beltane, Bella

Origin: French
Quick Meaning: Beautiful
Number of letters: 5, Those 5 letters total to 18
Gender: Girl
Spanish: Female Beautiful. Diminutive of Isabel: Devoted to God. A Spanish variant of Elizabeth.
Latin: Female Beautiful. Diminutive of Amabel, Annabel, Belinda, or Isabel.
Hungarian: Female Intelligent.
German: Female Diminutive of Belinda: From the Old German Betlindis, which is derived from the word for snake.
French: Female Fair. Lovely one. Sometimes used as an independent name associated with the French word belle, meaning beautiful.
English: Female Diminutive of Annabel: Variant of the Latin Amabel. Edgar Allan Poe’s poem ‘Annahel Lee’ made the form Annabel popular throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th century. The form Annabelle became popular in the mid-2Oth century.

BELLS – SUPERNATURAL ENCHANTMENT AND A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

In 2012 and 2013, many giant bells have been cast and honored, with eight featured in a barge leading the massive flotilla for Queen of England’s Diamond Jubilee celebration, the largest ringing bell in Europe for the opening day and ceremony of 2012 London Olympics and nine in celebrating the 850th anniversary of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Why is it that such attention is being given to the bell at this time?

Bells are used in a wide variety of contexts. You probably associate bells with religious activity, and rightly so, because they’re often ordained for some spiritual purpose. While some bells are merely decorative or serve some benign practical function, their appearance and use usually involves idolatry and magickal enchantments. The value in this study is in helping you correctly interpret the influences of the familiar world around you. Ignorance is not bliss. What you don’t know, can hurt you.

BELTANE FIRE SOCIETY

Beltane (/ˈbɛl.teɪn/) is the anglicised name for the Gaelic May Day festival. Most commonly it is held on 1 May, or about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.