Today is Wesak
Buddha’s birthday festival, celebrating also his attainment of enlightenment and his ascension.
Wesak's full moon today coincides with a lunar eclipse (see below). What a great time to be making those necessary decisions and commitments!
"When the full moon is in the constellation of Taurus (usually the full moon in May), a world-wide event takes place that is oftentimes referred to as Wesak. . In the East, this date also marks a celebration of Buddha's birth, attainment of Buddhahood, and his departure from the physical body. The new and full moon periods are always times of increased communication with other dimensions. It is as if the veils become thinner between planes, and is why meditation at these times can be very fruitful. When the moon is in Taurus, a special rending of the veils occurs. As legend has it, Buddha, "The Illumination of Light," and Christ, "The Embodiment of Love," meet at this time for the benefit of humanity and Earth." Source
Djwhal Khul, in the Alice Bailey book, Ponder on This, has suggested about Wesak: "No cost is too great to pay in order to be of use to the Spiritual Hierarchy at the time of the full moon of May (this year in April), the Wesak Festival. No price is too high in order to gain the spiritual illumination which can be possible, particularly at this time."
Feast day of St Brendan the Elder (aka, the Navigator, or Voyager)
This most widely diffused of all legendary saints, St Brendan, is found in manuscripts of all Western European languages, and the travels of St Brendan are the subject of a popular medieval romance, 'The Voyage of Saint Brendan'. Some say that Brendan sailed from Ireland and found America in the cth century. In the 1970s, Tim Severin showed that it was possible to sail a coracle (a small boat made of wood and leather) to America, so it is possible, if unlikely, that Irish monks might have preceded Christopher Columbus by several centuries.
Founder and first abbot of monastery at Clonfert, Galway, Brendan went looking for the island that had once contained Adam and Eve's paradise. He got a ship victualled for seven years, and for 12 monks, but two more wanted to come. “Ye may sail with me”, he said, “but one of you will go to perdition ere you return”.
After 40 days they saw land and sailed around it for three days, when they went ashore. A dog came up and made him welcome "in his manner”. The hound took them to a fine hall with a feast spread out, which they ate. There were beds ready for them, so they slept, and the next day they put to sea again and went a long time without seeing land.
After some time they found a beautiful land with green pasture and a flock of the whitest, fattest sheep they’d ever seen, every one as big as an ox. A kind old man came and said “This is the Island of Sheep, and here is never cold weather, but ever Summer; and that causes the sheep to be so big and white.” He told them to sail east, whence they would come to the Paradise of Birds, where they could keep their Easter-tide celebrations.
As they soon came to land, they made a fire to cook dinner, but their island began to move and Brendan’s intrepid travellers fled to the ship. The sainted leader of this fabulous expedition told his crew that the cause was a great fish called Jascon, “which laboured night and day to put its tail in its mouth, but for greatness it could not”.
They came upon the Paradise of Birds, where one bird said that the birds of this land were formerly angels who had fallen from Paradise with Lucifer. On Easter Day the bird said that it had now been one year since Brendan had left his abbey; when seven years were up he would find what he wanted, and in all these seven years he would keep his Easter-tide with the birds. The birds sang all the Christian hymns of Easter.
On Christmas Day, Brendan’s party found an island with 24 monks. Travelling ever onward, St Brendan and crew had the next Easter on the back of Jascon. Later, they came to an island of frightening fire, and one of the crew jumped overboard in fear, fulfilling the saint’s prophecy.
Brendan died in 578. The others found their island paradise, bringing back food and jewels. The legend influenced the West's search for other lands for centuries, and as late as 1721 the Spanish government sent an expedition in search of Brendan's Paradise.
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While we're on the subject of Ireland, we have a new moderator!
Nóra Uí Dhuibhir from Dublin, who has accents on her spelling as well as her diction, has kindly accepted my invitation to join me as a co-moderator on the Blogmanac.
Members of the Almanac ezine know Nóra from her frequent offerings of humour and info. She has also been doing an excellent column on human rights for the premium Almanac, and has been a supporter of the Almy in many ways. A seasoned activist, Nóra is also a writer, musician, singer and multi-linguist, as well as a great friend of mine, who will bring a great new dimension to this blog.
Welcome, Nóra, and I really look forward to your posts. Beanneacht or whatever it is.
More from Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine
1763 One of Western history’s most celebrated friendships commenced. James Boswell first met Dr Samuel Johnson, whose famous biography he later wrote and published on this day in 1791. They met in the back parlour of Tom Davies' London bookshop.
Aware of Johnson's well-known prejudices, Boswell at this first long-waited meeting admitted: "I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it".
1791 Boswell's Life of Dr Johnson – perhaps the best-known biography in the English language – was published on the 28th anniversary of the meeting of these two remarkable men.
Buddha’s birthday festival, celebrating also his attainment of enlightenment and his ascension.
Wesak's full moon today coincides with a lunar eclipse (see below). What a great time to be making those necessary decisions and commitments!
"When the full moon is in the constellation of Taurus (usually the full moon in May), a world-wide event takes place that is oftentimes referred to as Wesak. . In the East, this date also marks a celebration of Buddha's birth, attainment of Buddhahood, and his departure from the physical body. The new and full moon periods are always times of increased communication with other dimensions. It is as if the veils become thinner between planes, and is why meditation at these times can be very fruitful. When the moon is in Taurus, a special rending of the veils occurs. As legend has it, Buddha, "The Illumination of Light," and Christ, "The Embodiment of Love," meet at this time for the benefit of humanity and Earth." Source
Djwhal Khul, in the Alice Bailey book, Ponder on This, has suggested about Wesak: "No cost is too great to pay in order to be of use to the Spiritual Hierarchy at the time of the full moon of May (this year in April), the Wesak Festival. No price is too high in order to gain the spiritual illumination which can be possible, particularly at this time."
Feast day of St Brendan the Elder (aka, the Navigator, or Voyager)
This most widely diffused of all legendary saints, St Brendan, is found in manuscripts of all Western European languages, and the travels of St Brendan are the subject of a popular medieval romance, 'The Voyage of Saint Brendan'. Some say that Brendan sailed from Ireland and found America in the cth century. In the 1970s, Tim Severin showed that it was possible to sail a coracle (a small boat made of wood and leather) to America, so it is possible, if unlikely, that Irish monks might have preceded Christopher Columbus by several centuries.
Founder and first abbot of monastery at Clonfert, Galway, Brendan went looking for the island that had once contained Adam and Eve's paradise. He got a ship victualled for seven years, and for 12 monks, but two more wanted to come. “Ye may sail with me”, he said, “but one of you will go to perdition ere you return”.
After 40 days they saw land and sailed around it for three days, when they went ashore. A dog came up and made him welcome "in his manner”. The hound took them to a fine hall with a feast spread out, which they ate. There were beds ready for them, so they slept, and the next day they put to sea again and went a long time without seeing land.
After some time they found a beautiful land with green pasture and a flock of the whitest, fattest sheep they’d ever seen, every one as big as an ox. A kind old man came and said “This is the Island of Sheep, and here is never cold weather, but ever Summer; and that causes the sheep to be so big and white.” He told them to sail east, whence they would come to the Paradise of Birds, where they could keep their Easter-tide celebrations.
As they soon came to land, they made a fire to cook dinner, but their island began to move and Brendan’s intrepid travellers fled to the ship. The sainted leader of this fabulous expedition told his crew that the cause was a great fish called Jascon, “which laboured night and day to put its tail in its mouth, but for greatness it could not”.
They came upon the Paradise of Birds, where one bird said that the birds of this land were formerly angels who had fallen from Paradise with Lucifer. On Easter Day the bird said that it had now been one year since Brendan had left his abbey; when seven years were up he would find what he wanted, and in all these seven years he would keep his Easter-tide with the birds. The birds sang all the Christian hymns of Easter.
On Christmas Day, Brendan’s party found an island with 24 monks. Travelling ever onward, St Brendan and crew had the next Easter on the back of Jascon. Later, they came to an island of frightening fire, and one of the crew jumped overboard in fear, fulfilling the saint’s prophecy.
Brendan died in 578. The others found their island paradise, bringing back food and jewels. The legend influenced the West's search for other lands for centuries, and as late as 1721 the Spanish government sent an expedition in search of Brendan's Paradise.
More
And more
While we're on the subject of Ireland, we have a new moderator!
Nóra Uí Dhuibhir from Dublin, who has accents on her spelling as well as her diction, has kindly accepted my invitation to join me as a co-moderator on the Blogmanac.
Members of the Almanac ezine know Nóra from her frequent offerings of humour and info. She has also been doing an excellent column on human rights for the premium Almanac, and has been a supporter of the Almy in many ways. A seasoned activist, Nóra is also a writer, musician, singer and multi-linguist, as well as a great friend of mine, who will bring a great new dimension to this blog.
Welcome, Nóra, and I really look forward to your posts. Beanneacht or whatever it is.
More from Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine
1763 One of Western history’s most celebrated friendships commenced. James Boswell first met Dr Samuel Johnson, whose famous biography he later wrote and published on this day in 1791. They met in the back parlour of Tom Davies' London bookshop.
Aware of Johnson's well-known prejudices, Boswell at this first long-waited meeting admitted: "I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it".
1791 Boswell's Life of Dr Johnson – perhaps the best-known biography in the English language – was published on the 28th anniversary of the meeting of these two remarkable men.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 1:07 PM | Permalink
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