Hail, Aphrodite Aprilis!

On the second Sunday of each month, I attend the Temple of Aphrodite service at The Sacred Well.

We come together to honour the many aspects of Aphrodite, thank her for the gifts she has brought into our lives, and ask for her help in bringing more love into our lives. We also sometimes take our show on the road, bringing the adoration of Aphrodite to other venues, such as PantheaCon.  

Each month in 2013, members of Temple of Aphrodite are taking turns sharing presentations on various aspects of Aphrodite.  Since I am dedicated to Aphrodite Aprilis, this was my month!

I also wanted to share the information I had gathered and the meditation I created here:

The Romans called this month Aprilis, and considered this month sacred to Venus.  There are two common theories about the origin of the name Aprilis.  One is that it was named for Aphrodite, the other is that it comes from the Latin word aperire, to open, and refers to the opening of flowers in the Spring.  I choose to recognize both of these aspects of Aprilis.  I am dedicated to Aphrodite Aprilis.  I think of her as the one who teaches the flowers to bloom, and who teaches us to blossom in beauty and open ourselves to love.

This is the perfect month to allow ourselves to open like flowers, to burst forth into beautiful bloom, sharing our beauty with the world and also opening our Hearts to receive Love.  In our openness, we are vulnerable and risk feeling foolish, but this, too is perfectly appropriate - Venus’ sacred day in the Roman calendar was the first of April, then called Veneralia, now called April Fool’s Day.  The form of Venus celebrated at Veneralia was Venus Verticordia, the Turner of Hearts.  In the spirit of opening, I think of her as inviting us to turn our hearts inside out, allowing our truest and deepest desires to be our guides in shaping the world we want to create for ourselves.

Later in the month, April 23 was the feast of Vinalia, the wine harvest, also sacred to Venus, and at the end of April, the five day festival of Floralia, also celebrating the blooming of the flowers.  April showers bring May flowers, and the end of April leads us right to the beginning of May, Beltane, when Maidens go a-Maying, gathering the irrepressibly bursting blossoms of the Hawthorn tree, weaving flower crowns for the May Queen, and also celebrating beauty, joy, love and sex right along with the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees.

Meditation:

Now that we have feasted our eyes on images of blossoming beauty, let’s close our eyes and look within ourselves to find the even greater beauty there.  Breathe deeply, feeling grateful for the oxygen which is a gift to us from the plants, and realize that the plants are just as grateful to receive the carbon dioxide which we breathe out.  Picture the green of new leaves and buds, tender and also strong, so alive!  Feel yourself fill with this growing greenness, this irrepressible vitality.  Feel yourself strongly rooted in the Earth, deeply supported and nourished.  Feel your roots drinking in moisture, feeding you freshness and fulfillment.  Feel the air all around cooling and caressing you.  You are a healthy and happy plant, ready to be radiant!

Picture your Heart as a bud, closed tightly, but full of Life, Love, and Beauty, growing and getting ready to open.  With each breath, feel your Heart fill with more and more Love, Beauty, and Joy!  Feel your Heart swell, sweetly aching, full to overflowing, ready to share all this Love with the World!  You can feel Aprilis approaching, whispering to you from within your own heart, Get ready!  Get ready!  Your moment is arriving!  Get ready!  Get ready!  Now - breathe deeply and... Burst into Bloom!  You are Open!  You are Radiant!  The Sun basks in your Beauty!  The fields are lit with your Laughter!  The Wind sighs with the rapture of your sweet scent!  All the World is in Love with you!  Breathe in the infinite Love which is being offered to you from all sides!  Breathe out your Love into the World, fulfilling the World’s Wildest Dreams!  Your Life is a Gift which you give by Living!  Know yourself to be the Flower of Love, Adored by All!  

Hail Aphrodite Aprilis!