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In the time of the ancient Druids time keeping was very different from or conventional methods of today. The Druids kept track of the seasons by the use of the observation of the sun and moon. They observed that the complete cyle of the moon took just over 29 days. They counted the nights from half-moon to half-moon. That was just a little more than 14 nights. So they devised a calendar that had 12 half-months of 15 nights, and 13 half-months of 14 nights. This left them with 3 1/4 nights left over each year. This meant that their year had to be constantly re-adjusted. The inserted nights, that were due to re-adjustment, were considered to be very unlucky or very fortunate. Throughout the year there were other nights that were considered to be unlucky or fortunate, also. Transition points were always thought to be very special. These were the phases of the moon when it was changing from one stage to another, such as: waxing to waning, or waning to waxing of any phase. The solar year was divided into 8 equal parts. Four Great Days marked the solstice and equanox points. Four more Great Days were placed halfway between each of the other Great Days. That meant that approximately every 45 days that one of the Great Days would occur. Again, this meant that there would be extra days left over. So, between the observation of the sun and moon the Druids had a special task of keeping the year adjusted so that all the seasons could be well predicted. Knowing just when Spring really began would be a life and death matter to the people of those ancient times. There was a time for breeding the livestock and a time for proper planting of the various vegetables and cereals. Likewise, there was a time of harvest and for slaughter. It was vital then, to the lives of all, there be no mistakes in the orderly cycles of the seasons' arrivals and departures. How much more easy for us it is to just take down our ephemeris to find the exact hour that any event will fall on, such as: Brigit's Fire..............15 degrees Aquarius Hertha's Day ...........00 degrees Aries Beltane ....................15 degrees Taurus Letha's Day .............00 degrees Cancer Lughnassad .............15 degrees Leo Helith's Day ............00 degrees Libra Samhain ..................15 degrees Scorpio Yule .........................00 degrees Capricorn Now, you too, can calculate the exact hour of each of the Great Days so that you can take advantage of the tides of power when they are at their maximum. |