Masonic & Occult Symbols Illustrate

(wiccans) have the custom of wearing crowns of lit candles on February 2nd? Starhawk, a witch, reveals: “Brigid is the Irish Goddess of smithcraft, poetry, and healing—the fire Goddess who is also worshiped at holy wells. Her festival, on the eve of February 2, is a festival of the waxing light, celebrated when the sun begins to grow stronger and the days begin to grow longer. Also called Candlemas, it is a time of purification and strengthening, and seemed an appropriate time for our ritual.”

Candlemas is “[o]ne of the eight religious festivals of Witches.” What is interesting is that this VERY SAME FESTIVAL (including the candles) under the same name, CANDLEMAS, is celebrated in the Catholic Church. Stewart Farrar, a witch, comments about Candlemas: “This is the classical Lupercalia or Feast of Pan. More anciently still, it is the celebration of the Goddess’s recovery from giving birth to the new year’s Sun God, coming as it does six weeks after the winter solstice. The same concept has survived undisguised in the Christian festival of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary....” A Christian author notes: “Another day adopted from paganism, supposedly to honor Mary, is called ‘Candlemas’ or the ‘Purification of the Blessed Virgin’ and is celebrated on February 2....In pagan Rome, this festival was observed by