2024 SPRING
MAR 19 - JUN 20
The astronomical SPRING season in the Northern Hemisphere is initiated by the Spring (Vernal) Equinox on Tuesday, March 19th, when the sun’s center crosses the celestial equator South to North, resulting in an almost equal duration of day and night.
6x9in Double-Sided
32pt Uncoated and naturally textured Extra-Thick
Mohawk Superfine paper, with Tiger Orange seam
Notes on Winter Illustration by Ventral is Golden
An embrace of light and space.
The vernal (spring) equinox happens when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length. The equinoxes represent a time of the year when the veil between material and nonmaterial is at its thinnest and the two worlds can mingle their light. This is symbolised in ancient Egypt by the beetle deity, Kheper (meaning The One Who Creates Himself).
The outstretched arms of the Egyptian word ‘Ka’ has multiple meanings relating to this duality. Often it is an aspect of the soul that survives the death of the physical body, a non-material, etheric imprint that a person leaves upon reality, their vital essence, sustained through the sharing of food and drink. Even after death, through offerings via an earthen ‘Soul-House’, this vital essence moves through the physical world as Heka (magic). Ka can also mean ‘double’, the shadow, the dual nature of all things or the divine intervention of a force from which the origin is unknown.
The double arm hieroglyph is also contained in the Egyptian word for 'sleep' and is enshrined in the pillars of ‘the world’s first temple’, Gobekli Tepe. The archaic Egyptian name assigned to this structure is 'Getpetkai', a word that can be a credible rendering of modern Gobekli. A modern pronunciation of this glyph can be sounded as 'Het Pet Ka Yah', meaning 'temple of space embracing light’. Likewise, we know in the book of Genesis, the first documented act of the Hebrew god Yah, while hovering over the face of the waters, is to turn night into day, comparable to what a person (or the earth) experiences as he or she wakes up. (Scranton 2016)
“From the moment you came into this manifest world,
a ladder was offered for your escape.
From mineral substance you became a living plant,
and later a roving animal. Is this a secret?
Afterwards, as a human being,
you developed reason, consciousness, faith.
See how this body has risen from the dust like a rose?
When you have surpassed the human state,
your angelic nature will unfold
in a world beyond this world.
Surpass the angels then and enter the sea.”
2024 SUMMER
JUN 20 - SEP 22
The astronomical SUMMER season in the Northern Hemisphere is initiated by the Summer Solstice on Thursday, June 20, when the sun travels its longest path through the sky, reaching its highest point, and creating the longest day and shortest night of the year.
6x9in Double-Sided
32pt Uncoated and naturally textured Extra-Thick
Mohawk Superfine paper, with Tiger Orange seam
Notes on Summer Illustration by Ventral is Golden
Sun spirit and Intelligence draw power and protection. Surya Mudra activates fire within the body.
The Tree of Life is revealed as a source of light and sustenance which emanates from the infinite. A fire is the release of trapped sunlight from within. As the crown is on the head, the sun also represents that which is above the mind’s comprehension, but also the first movement of thought from the infinite. It emanates a desire to move the ‘hidden light’ into the air. It contains no content and so relates only through compassion.
The sun bestows radiant minerals upon all planets and meteors, it is of the principle of Fire. In this world, it is the source of the phosphorescence of the sea, and even of the scintillation in the eyes of a lover. The sun awakens dormant energies in all things. It sweetens fruits and renews temples and talismans.
The Bird’s eye view of Stonehenge narrates a living record of the solar and lunar orbits in relation to the earth. On Summer Solstice the sun rises behind the heel stone and illuminates the centre of the monument.
The Central pyramid is the Meso-American Pyramid of Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl - the feathered serpent). At solstice, the sun descends the staircase of the Feathered Serpent in a process that connects the spiritual plane of light to the earthly plane of matter.
The Arc behind the pyramid represents the Sevenfold process of cell division, analogous to the musical octave and the
spectrum of light.
2024 AUTUMN
SEP 22 - DEC 21
The astronomical AUTUMN season in the Northern Hemisphere is initiated by the Autumnal Equinox on Sunday, September 22nd, when the sun’s center crosses the celestial equator North to South, resulting in an almost equal duration of day and night.
6x9in Double-Sided
32pt Uncoated and naturally textured Extra-Thick
Mohawk Superfine paper, with Tiger Orange seam
Notes on Autumn Illustration by Ventral is Golden
Saturn (the god of seeds, crops and harvest) is the most clearly visible of the planets for the longest duration during this season.
Zȃzȇl - the dark spiritual Seal of Saturn, marks the top of the design.
The Sphinx is aligned with the sunset at the Equinox’s as the sun sets over its right shoulder. Planting sunflower seeds at this time will see them bloom during the following Summer Solstice.
Equinox - ‘equal night’.
The Mayan ‘Day of No Shadows’ was portrayed at both Equinoxes by the descent of Quetzalcoatl’s shadow to Earth. This phenomena also aligned with the Pleiades (Tzab or rattle of the snake in Mayan) signifying an important connection with the Kuxan Suum (the roots or etheric fibres from each star that connects with the earth within the galactic cycle of 26,000 years).
The central goddess figure represents the peaceful, egalitarian and matrifocal religions of old Europe and the Equinoctial alignments at the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples of Malta - a place of particular historical significance in the context of goddess worship, astrology and resonance.
“To renew the self in the edges of its shadow” is an invitation to experience the phenomena of equal length of day and night as the dissolution of the self into the other.
In Lak’ech - I am the other you.
2025 WINTER
DEC 21 - MAR 20
The astronomical WINTER season in the Northern Hemisphere is initiated by the Winter Solstice on Saturday, December 21st, On this day, the Earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the Sun, whose path across the sky is at its lowest. This day has the least hours of sunlight, making it the shortest day and longest night of the year. It also marks the return of more sunlight & longer days.
6x9in Double-Sided
32pt Uncoated and naturally textured Extra-Thick
Mohawk Superfine paper, with Tiger Orange seam
Notes on Winter Illustration by Ventral is Golden
“Feed the inner light of the underworld sun.”
Into a blind darkness go, those dedicated to non-knowing, into deeper darkness go, those content with knowing, and seeking the distal cause that pulls at primitive thoughts, humming like the sleep of creatures deep beneath the earth, returning to their source.
For all life’s growing begins in the dark.
Tanit -
Qedesh - Mistress of Animals, Mistress of Stars (Egypt)
She is associated with animals, plants and fruits of the underworld such as the lotus, snakes, scorpions and pomegranates.
She is considered a triple Goddess like the Greek Hekate, symbolising the three phases of the moon.
In the Hebrew Bible her name was changed to Kodesh which means ‘the Holy Spirit’.
Her existence can be traced through the goddesses Tanit, Astoreth, Astarte, and Lilith - the first wife of Adam, Inanna, Ishtar and Ereshkigal. All prominent aspects of the underworld, or the unseen regenerative forces that reside in the earth.
As Ereshkigal she is the connection between the polarities of matter and spirit. In her hands she holds the lapis lazuli Rod and Ring (the Pukku Mikku of Sumer or the Shen ring of Egypt) symbolising the drum and drumstick - the sacred regenerative vibration of the earth and the instruments of measure and illusion.
As a figure who often holds serpents in outstretched arms, she is linked to the unseen, the realms of earth magic. In male form she is Heru-pa-Khered - Horus the Child, who is the deity of subterranean rivers and who’s image and name is often summoned to purify water for ritual.
The Balam (Jaguar) is the underworld animal deity of Mayan mythology who resides in the sacred cave of the Earth Owner (Cauac), the resting place of the underworld sun and point of re-emergence for the tree of life, that holds up the sky and allows for the passing of the season.
2024-25 SET of 4
MAR 19, 2024 - MAR 20, 2025
The Astronomical Seasonal Lunar Calendar & Illustraion Set for 2024-25.
32pt Uncoated and naturally textured Extra-Thick
Mohawk Superfine paper, with Tiger Orange seam