The Magick of April

According to the English poet T.S. Eliot, April is a turning point, at which the past and the future are seen as one; when, in northern climes at least, Lilac bushes burst into bloom on dusty waste ground or beside railway tracks as the rain brings to life new growth.

• Theme: Beginnings
• Plant Energy: Daisy – for a fresh start and new projects.
• Crystal Power: Diamond – for clarity and empowering goals.

The month was named Aprilis by the Romans, but the origins of the name are still obscure. The traditional belief of its origin stems from the Latin verb aperire, “to open,” an allusion to trees and flowers beginning to open or to flower from buds.

Since some of the Roman months were named in honor of divinities, and as April was sacred to the goddess Venus, it has also been suggested that Aprilis was originally Venus’s mouth, from an ancient combination of her Greek goddess name, Aphrodite, to arrive at her springtime aspect as Aphrilis.

As the sun continues to make its way through the zodiac, it stays in Aries until about the 20th. The first part of the month is still about a feisty, “let’s get things done” energy. This period is about action and is filled with self-motivated people who are as self-centered and conceited as the fiery influence of Mars.

But as the sun moves across the cusp of Taurus, the energy changes to that of Venus. Venus rules Taurus, complementing this earth sign’s symbols of beauty, vanity, good looks, attraction, seduction, feminine wiles, and the concerns of the body and sexuality.

In the late Middle Ages throughout the fashionable European courts, favored sorcerers and witches concocted aphrodisiacs, potions, poisons, particularly in Aprils as it was thought to be a month auspicious for providing male heirs.

The tradition of celebrating virility, along with the magickal generation of sexual stamina and subsequent fertility, were themes based on the ancient fertility festivities of pagan Europe as the first of May approached.

The first few weeks of April were ruled by the virile Ram God, followed by the fertile Cow Goddess, both symbols of various pagan cultures and still invoked by modern day witches. This is why April is a month when desires quicken, the heat rises, and the tonic is needed to leave memories behind and start afresh.

Spells and rituals for April, therefore, tend to be all about moving on and beginning a new way of living, loving, or just being.

From: Spells For A Magical Year