May Day
The Exaltation of the Queen of Heaven

Her rulership is depicted in the colored ribbons that extend from the (crowned) summit of the World-Axis to the plane of Middle World. The different colors of the ribbons depict the different "qualities" of material existence. These qualities, as they emanate from their Divine Source are perfect Archetypes (pure colors).

As they reach the children of the earth, the "streams" or ribbons are carried in the dance in which they are woven and unwoven in intricate patterns, which represent on one level the Sacred Dance of the Celestial Order, or thamë, reflected on earth; and on another level the entanglements of werde.

In this context it is important to remember that Sai Thamë is said to be the mother of the Werdes and that the month of Maia begins with Maia's Day, the day of the first of the Werdes and in a certain sense, the true May Day.

The name Maia/May comes from a root that gives us words like "majesty", "magic" and "might". It also gives us "maid" – the feminine name for humanity as a whole. This is the month in which Our Lady's sacrifice and triumphant resurrection spread out into the middle world, the world of maid, as She takes Her place at the summit of Her Mother's creation.

The Maypole Dance is a dance in celebration of Her enthronement, and also of its effect on ourselves (maid). Each of us is connected to Her. Each of us is the terminal point of a stream that has its source in Her; a thread that leads back to the absolute Center of all being.

If each individual fulfills her part in the Celestial Dance, never forgetting her essential attachment to the Center, then the Golden Order of Heaven is reflected on the Middle World below.

The title Queen of Heaven is of great antiquity. Not only was it used by the ancient Hebrews who refused to convert to the new masculine cult (Jeremiah 7:18) and of numerous other "goddesses" throughout the world, but we see in iconography from ancient sites that the supreme Deity was a Heavenly Mother.

Only in later patriarchal cults was the Heaven/Sky function usurped by masculine "gods" and the feminine principle relegated to an "earth mother".

In the earliest religion, Our Lady is both Princess of the Earth and Queen of Heaven, but Her highest and definitive title is Queen of Heaven.

The re-adoption of this title by the Catholic Church was simply the acceptance of an Archetypal Reality that was too strong to resist: one that goes into the deepest roots of the human psyche and of cosmic reality itself.

It is no coincidence that having re-acclaimed the Queen of Heaven, the Church should also dedicate May as Mary's month.

Let us rejoice in the words of the Scripture:

Hail Princess of the World;
Hail Queen of Heaven.

Wheel of the Year

In terms of the Wheel of the Year, the Exaltation of the Queen of Heaven represents the final and culminating festival of the quarter-year Eastre Cycle. It is also the final High Feast of the Daughter Half of the year.

However, while the Eastre Cycle ends on this day, the Daughter Half continues for another six weeks until the High Feast of Rosa Mundi, the first festival of the Mother Half.

Like the period leading up to Nativity (the Festival that ends the Mother Half), this final phase of the Daughter Half is seen as a Mother/Daughter period. The Daughter is now reunited with Heaven (and therefore with Her Mother) after Her descent to Earth at Nativity. The parallel early winter festivals that come at the end of the Mother Half, while centering on the Mother, are concerned with the coming of the Daughter.

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