When Violets Appear

I spent some time in the garden today, it's been a long while with Winter demanding gardening be retired till Spring and spell casting be moved indoors for the darker months. I was stunned to find violets springing up in the exact spot where the Sibyls and I had sat spell casting over the Summer and Autumn. I swear on the Goddess, they were not there last year so it has inspired me to look at the meaning of violets from a variety of sources.

When violets appear in your dreams then fortune is not far away.

The Violet is ruled by the planet Venus.

The Violet is associated with Taurus. [I love that, now I know why I adore them!]

The Violet appeared in an ancient Near Eastern myth that probably inspired the Greek and Roman myth of Venus and Adonis. According to this story, the great mother goddess Cybele [Earth Goddess and sounds similar to Sibyl, love it, love it!] loved Attis [Earth God], who was killed while hunting a wild boar. Where his blood fell on the ground, violets grew.

Violets are, significantly, the symbol of mourning, I wonder if they have sprung for one of the Sibyls' devastating and heart wrenching loss she recently has had thrust upon her. Perhaps the Earth Goddess is mourning for her and letting us know she is holding the hands and cradles the vunerable ones who have passed over.

The hopes and fears we experienced as humans is eloquently metaphored by the violet, the bud is so vulnerable and yet so beautiful and when it flowers there is nothing more perfectly sweet.

And finally the Goddess of fertility is Aphrodite and her symbol is the Violet, perhaps she is making her intentions known. I did fertility spells last night in the garden for others, it was dark and under a new moon, so didn't see the violets but it now makes me feel a little more magical in the knowledge of their tender presence.

Carl Jung said: "Meaning makes a great many things endurable, perhaps everything."

He is right, searching for the meaning in Violets at the beginning of this post has bought tears to my eyes for the journey it has taken me on. I now know that with heartbreak comes wisdom, an outpouring of love and compassion from those around you and I know that things will be as they are Meant. Trust in that awareness, trust in the Goddess/Universe/God/ Spirit/or whatever takes your fancy and most of all, trust when miracle violets appear.

A final word from my favorite poet, e.e cummings, whose work was read at the wedding of Gandalf and myself.

yes is a pleasant country:
if's wintry
(my lovely)
let's open the year

both is the very weather
(not either)
my treasure,
when violets appear

love is a deeper season
than reason;
my sweet one
(and april's where we're)