Some Spring flowers blooming in Kyoto

I was lucky enough to have some freetime early on Sunday morning, so I took a walk to see some of the early spring flowers starting to bloom. As ever it was spiritually up~lifting and gave me a sense of peace and well-being that lasted the whole day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

春分の日 Shunbun no Hi : The spring equinox

For the Wiccans reading this, have you ever thought that it would be good if the major Wiccan festival days were national holidays?  Well here in Japan both equinoxes and the winter solstice are. The name in Japanese for the spring equinox is 春分の日　Shunbun no Hi . It has been a national holiday since 1948. Not all Japanese people care about the meanings of the national holidays here, but each one does have a meaning and a purpose.  Shunbun no Hi has two meanings: the first is to "...praise nature and appreciate living things" and the second is to "... put in a great effort for the future".  The three days before and after the equinox are called 彼岸のなかば　Higan no nakaba, it is a time to clean the family Buddhist altar and visit and clean family graves. So the vernal equinox is a great day to: remember those who came before you; try to understand your place within nature, and look to the future with strength and hope.

梅： Plum Blossom, a winter flower or a spring flower?





Plum blossom at Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto on March 2nd 2014



In about a months time Kyoto will turn pink as the ubiquitous cherry blossoms bloom. People from all over Japan and the world will come to see them. Of course they are beautiful and I too love them. But now the equally beautiful plum blossom is blooming. There are harder to find, but well worth the effort. There are both dark pink and white varieties., and sometimes if you are lucky you can find red ones.

Plum blossom is the national flower of Taiwan, and has a deep spiritual and symbolic meaning in both Japan and China. Typically, the Japanese symbolism and Chinese symbolism are different. For Japanese people, the plum blossom represents the beginning of spring, the coming warmth and peace. Because they can bloom even with snow on their branches, the Chinese see them as a winter flower, symbolising strength and resilience.  In Mah Jong it  is a guardian representing innocence, inexperience and happiness. In this regard it puts me in mind of The Fool in the Tarot.

For me these little flowers on the cusp of winter and spring, are a celebration of winter and a promise of spring. Searching for, photographing and writing about the plum blossom today has been both a relaxing and energising experience. The plum blossom and new moon weaving a special magick.

Plum blossom at Nanzen temple, Kyoto on March second 2014

清明 Seimei Shrine: An interesting place for Wiccans

There are  more than  a 1000 Buddhist temples in Kyoto and probably an equal number of  Shinto shrines. I have a long connection to Kyoto, but I think I can be forgiven for not knowing them all.  But how this one slipped my net for so many years is surprising. The reason it is so surprising is the symbol for the shrine is a pentacle, very rare in Japan, but as a Wiccan very important for me.



Abe  no Seimei

 

This shrine is named after and built on the site of Abe no Seimei's house.  He was an Onmyoji a natural scientist and occultist. For six generations of emperors he was the court astrologer and exorcist. He accurately predicted the abdication of the emperor Kazan. He studied Feng Shui and became a master in China.  This is where he acquired the pentacle, in this case symbolising the five traditional Chinese elements ( a little different from what the Wiccan pentacle symbolises).

 

 

After Abe"s death in 1005 in his honor the emperor build Seimei Shrine. He became a mythical character with many stories generated after his death. Even in modern times, movies, books and manga have been made or written about him. In comparison to some of the famous shrines in Kyoto, Seimei shrine is relatively small. But many people including many famous people make pilgrimages to the shrine.

 

 

清明井　A  well which is said to have magical water.
 

 

300 year old camphor tree, people hug the tree to feel the ancient powers.

Guardian Spirit

龍　Dragon

 



ウィカは何ですか？

 

 

 

 

 

 

　

 

ウィカは宗教ですが、有名な宗教じゃない。　新しい宗教でも、キリスト教の前からあった宗教。　魔法と魔女の宗教。いろいろなウィカがいるけど、たいていウィカの人（Wiccan)は女神と神を信じている。　ウィカの場合、月と太陽は非常に大切な事です。自然、　神話、タロットとかmagick(ウィカのマジックの書き方）は大切な事です。たいていキリスト人は「ウィカが悪い」と言っている。でも本当の事はウィカの人はいつもいい事をしている。将来、新しい日本語ウィカのブログを作るつもりです。　タロットのブログも作るつもりです。もし興味があったら、連絡をしてください。

イギリスのPagan Federationの説明

What do you see in the Moon?

In the Kyoto sky tonight you can see a big beautiful Moon.  Like all Wiccans the moon is very important to me. But the Moon is important for everyone, most people like to look at the Moon. In every culture there are myths about the moon.  In Europe the myth of the Man in the Moon is a popular thing for mothers to tell their Children.  My Mother told me when I was a child, if I looked carefully I could see the man's face.  I tried, but could only vaguely see it.  In my twenties when I became a Wiccan and learnt about the Moon Goddess I was quickly able to see her face in the Moon. I think the Man in the Moon is just a Patriarchal distortion of the real Goddess story. I can still see her face here in Japan, if I concentrate, but another image naturally pops up.  Japanese people see a rabbit, at first I could not see it, but eventually I could and now it is easy to see. I do not know if there is any meaning to it, but naturally I think of fertility, which is the rabbits western meaning.  I have heard that Chinese people see a dragon, I have never seen it, but I hope to one day. What do you see in the Moon?

Goddess of Mercy

Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy

A kind gentle Japanese girl who lived on the edges of a village one day came across a Buddhist priest. The priest was lying sick on the road. The girl was very poor, but decided to help the priest. She helped the priest into her house and let him sleep on a futon. She had nothing to give him, so she went to her neighbours house and asked for a little rice. The neighbour said "yes, but when the time comes to plant the rice seedlings you must help me". "Of course, I understand" she replied.  She went to the next neighbours house and asked for a little miso soup and at the next house she asked for a little medicine. Both answered "yes, but when the time comes to plant the rice seedlings you must help me". She replied "yes, of course". The same thing happened at seventeen other houses, so she had plenty to nurse the priest back to health.  The priest recovered and when he left he thanked her and gave her a small statue of the Goddess Kannon.

The rice planting season came and on the same evening all twenty neighbours came and said tomorrow is the planting day. The young girl did not know what to do, she could not help everyone on the same day, but she had made a promise. So she prayed to Kannon for help. At the same moment the priest was praying to Kannon on a mountain top. Suddenly the sky went dark and Kannon appeared in the sky. To the priest she said " the young girl who helped you so much is in trouble, in the next village find nineteen girls to help her plant the neighbours seedlings. So he went door to door and all the young women agreed to help.

The next day the young girl decided that all she could do was help the nearest neighbour, so went there and worked all day.  unbeknown to her the priest took the nineteen young women from the other village to all the neighbours rice fields and they worked all day. The young girl went home sadly believing she had let down so many neighbours. But one by one each neighbour came and thanked her. She did not understand what had happened, but she was very happy. Finally the next door neighbour came, not only did he thank her, but he asked her to marry him too. The young girl smiled and the Goddess of Mercy, Kannon smiled too.