The traditional birthstone amulets of June are alexandrite, moonstone, and pearl; and the rose is the month's traditional flower.
June is shared by the astrological signs of Gemini the Twins and Cancer the Crab, and is sacred to the following Pagan deities: Juno, and all gods and goddesses who preside over love, passion, and beauty.
During the month of June, the Great Solar Wheel of the Year is turned to the Summer Solstice, one of the four Lesser Sabbats celebrated each year by Wiccans and modern Witches throughout the world.
June 1
Festival of the Oak Nymph. This Pagan celebration honors all hamadryads (female nature spirits who are believed to inhabit oak trees). Decorate a Pagan altar with acorns and war some oak leaves in your hair. Kiss an oak tree or place a small offering of some kind before it, and the tree nymphs who dwell within it will surely bestow a blessing upon you.
June 2
Shapatu of Ishtar. A Pagan festival dedicated to the goddess Ishtar is celebrated every year on this date. She is the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian deity who presides over love and fertility as well as war. The birth of the god Apollo is also celebrated on this date.
June 3
The Festival of Cataclysmos is celebrated annually on this date on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The seaside ritual consists of prayers for the souls of the departed, traditional water games, and a sacred dance.
In Japan, a Buddhist ritual for young girls is performed annually on this date, and is dedicated to the goddesses Befana, Bona Dea, Kuan Yin, Rumina, and Surabhi.
June 4
Whitsunday, an annual Christian festival marking the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples, is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter (which normally falls on or near this date). However, like most Christian holidays, Whitsunday was at one time a Pagan fertility festival. It was celebrated in Europe with a "heathen feast" that marked the death of the spirit of Winter and the birth of the spirit of Summer.
According to English folklore, if a baby comes into the world on Whitsunday, he or she is destined to commit an act of murder or to be murdered.
June 5
On this date in the year 8498 B.C., the legendary island-continent of Atlantis sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean in a cataclysm believed to have been brought on by the anger of the great god Zeus.
To ensure an abundant harvest, a sacred Corn Dance is held each year at this time at San Ildefonso pueblo in the southwestern United States. It is dedicated to the Earth Mothers and the nature spirits known
as the Rain People.
June 6
On this date (approximately), an annual festival to honor ancestral spirits begins in Nigeria. The festival, which lasts for one week, consists of street dancing, offerings of food and gifts to the Egungun, and ecstatic trance.
In Thrace, an ancient country in the southeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, a festival called the Bendidia was held each year on this date. It was dedicated to the lunar goddess Bendi.
June 7
The Vestalia, an annual festival in honor of the hearth goddess Vesta, began on this date in ancient Rome. During the eight-day long festival, the shrine of Vesta was opened to married women. After the festival was over, the shrine was once again forbidden to all except the goddess' attendant vestal virgins.
June 8
In many Japanese villages, an ancient rice festival is held annually on this date. Women wearing traditional kimonos recite prayers and light rice-straw fires to honor the god of the rice and to bless the crops.
In China, the Grain in Ear festival is celebrated at this time. The grain gods are honored with old rituals to ensure a harvest of plenty.
June 9
On this date in 1892, Grace Cook (a popular spiritualist medium and founder of the White Eagle Lodge) was born in London, England. Her first psychic vision of Indian Chief White Eagle and other Native American spirits occurred early in her childhood. With the aid of her spirit guide, she authored many books on healing and spiritual growth. She believed that after her death (which occurred on September 3, 1979), her spirit would be reincarnated in Egypt.
June 10
On this date in the year 1692, a woman named Bridget Bishop was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, after being found guilty of the crime of Witchcraft. She was the first person to be publicly executed in the infamous Salem Witch Trials.
June 11
On this date in 1912, spiritualist-medium Ruth Montgomery was born in Princeton, Indiana. Her interest in the world of the occult began in 1956, when she first began attending seances. She has written numerous bestselling occult books and is famous for her gift of communicating with spirit guides
through automatic writing.
June 12
Light gold-colored candles on your altar and wear oak leaves in your hair to honor the Greek god Zeus, who is traditionally honored on this day.
In Korea, rice farmers wash their hair in a stream on this day as part of an annual ritual to dispel bad luck and to ensure an abundant crop. This ritual has taken place since ancient times.
June 13
On this date in the year 1884, Gerald Gardner was born in Lancashire, England. Nicknamed King of the Witches, he went on to become a famous and well-respected Wiccan author and the founder of the Gardnerian tradition of the modern Wicca religion. He died on February 12, 1964.
Irish poet and ceremonial magician William Butler Yeats was also born on this date in the year 1865.
June 14
In ancient Rome, the goddess Minerva (patroness of wisdom and the arts, and a deity of battle) was honored annually on this date at her sacred festival, the Lesser Quinquatrus of Minerva.
In India, this is a day sacred to Jagannath, a benevolent incarnation of the god Vishnu. An annual festival in honor of him is celebrated in the city of Puri on the East Coast of India.
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