Astraea (Advent)

By ArchMadria Pamela Lanides - Janite Order

1 Astrea (28 november) is the first day of the Sacred Season of Winter and it is also the Feast of Madria Sophia.

Our five Seasons are considered to be sacred because each of them encapsulates one of our Five Main Mysteries and so, we enter each Season with deep devotion and humble joy.

The Sacred Season of Winter marks the beginning of the Daughter time of year beginning with the Mystery of the Nativity. It is the time when we are guided by the North Star, the Sacred Symbol of Winter. The Holy Daughter, Dea Filia, is both the Star of Hope and the Midnight Star of Wonder.

During Astrea, the Holy Daughter first appears as our Star of Hope, She Who enfolds us within Her Soul and guides us back to Our Celestial Mother. Though we may feel, at times, like we are plunging and flailing beneath the depths of turbulent, inky seas, She uplifts us and shows us the way back to safe shores and the comforting light of home. So united with us is She, that there is nothing we experience that She does not experience with us, nothing within us that She does not understand. She sails those seas with us and is with us every moment of each day.

The darkest nights of Winter are a time of great hope and beauty. When better, can we see that fantastic display of starlight flashing against the velvet backdrop of space?

When other, (depending upon where one lives), are we able to witness the varied-colored display of the Aurora, the northern and southern lights?

Here in the North, we experience a time of stillness, of quietness when the snow-pack covers the ground. In the South, it is a time when the harshness of the summer heat retreats and soft winter breezes stream through the land.

Winter is a time of introspection and relative rest for our souls, if we allow it to be so. We are able to take a step back and relax in the surety of our Faith, knowing that we are accomplishing Dea's Sovereign Will in our daily lives. Let us take time for meditation and contemplation as we sit by our hearths or enjoy the beauty of Nature.

O, Madria Aurelia, Jana of Illumination, Joy and Benevolence, be with us.

May the Pure Stream of Your Virtues flow within me, in this world and in all the worlds to come. Amen.

The myth of Astraea

Astraea or Astrea (Ancient Greek: Ἀστραῖα;[1] "star-maiden"), in ancient Greek religion, was a daughter of Astraeus and Eos. She was the virgin goddess of innocence and purity and is always associated with the Greek goddess of justice, Dike (daughter of Zeus and Themis and the personification of just judgement). She is not to be confused with Asteria, the goddess of the stars and the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe.

Astraea, the celestial virgin, was the last of the immortals to live with humans during the Golden Age, one of the old Greek religion's five deteriorating Ages of Man.[2] According to Ovid, Astraea abandoned the earth during the Iron Age.[3] Fleeing from the new wickedness of humanity, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo. The nearby constellation Libra reflected her symbolic association with Dike, who in Latin culture as Justitia is said to preside over the constellation. In the Tarot, the 8th card, Justice, with a figure of Justitia, can thus be considered related to the figure of Astraea on historical iconographic grounds.

According to legend, Astraea will one day come back to Earth, bringing with her the return of the utopian Golden Age of which she was the ambassador.