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1 If July the first be rainy weather It will rain for four more weeks together.  Day endangered species became internationally protected (1975); Day to celebrate all the world's creatures. [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora] Felicitas- goddess of good luck and fortune. Athenian New Year- The first day of the new moon in Hecatombion was considered the start of the New Year in Athens and was  dedicated to Athena Polias, Athena as the guardian of the city. Although this seems like an odd time for a new year festival, it's echoed in Egypt where the flooding of the Nile Valley (at the same time as the rising of Sirius--see Jul 2) was considered the start of the new year. Fuji- (Fire Goddess in Japan) Nagas (Snake Gods of Nepal)

2  Visitation (Expectant Mothers)  On this day the pregnant Virgin Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth who recited the words which became part of the Hail Mary: "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." The flowers for the feast day are lilies and red and white roses. A good day to honor any expectant mothers that you know, perhaps  performing a ritual of blessing the mother and the child within.  Feast of the Charites-Day to honor the Old Greek Goddesses of beneficence.

3 Dog Days Begin- The dog days are ruled by Sirius, the dog star, or Loki's brand in Norse tradition. Loki is the Norse god of strife, discord and evil. He also presides over tricks and practical jokes. This is the hottest time of the year.  Festival of Cerridwen-(fertility Goddess of the Celts) Feast of Greek Goddess Aphrodite-Day to honor peace and compassion Witch of Gaeta, Athena, Cherokee Green Corn Dance--in thanksgiving for the maize harvest; honoring maize Goddess Selu.

4 Day of Goddess Pax (Rome) Lady Liberty Independence Day Gahan Ceremonial

5 Sun Dance festival- (Native American),  Maat (Egyptian Goddess of Wisdom and inner truth) Poplifugia-"The Flight of the People." This day either commemorates the flight of the people during the tempest that blew when Romulus ascended into Heaven as Quirinus, or when the Fidenii attacked after the Gauls sacked the city. Much of the details of this festival are lost, but sacrifices to the darker aspects of Jupiter appear to play a role.

6 Fortuna Mylibrus- "Fortune of Women." At her temple just outside Rome, no woman who had twice-married was allowed to touch or garland Her statue, and only newly-married women were to worship the Goddess. St Thomas More- (Patron saint of lawyers). Julian day  remembrance for the Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, 331 - 362, who restored pagan religion to the Roman empire. Isis Horned Goddess Running of the bulls in Spain Lvdi Apollinares were instituted after consulting the Sibylline Books (and a seer named Marcius) during the War Against Hannibal.

7 Consualia, Roman festival sacred to harvests Nones Caprotinae The Nones of Qunctilius are called Caprotinae because on this day women offer sacrifice to Ivno Caprotina (fertile Juno) under wild fig-trees. The milky juice of the fig-tree is offered to the Goddess in place of the customary milk, and branches are cut from the trees, used in the celebration of the Ancillarium Feriae. Ancillarum Feriae The Feast of the Serving Women , handmaids, or the maid’s day out. After the Gauls had captured Rome, the Latins advanced on the city and demanded the Romans hand over their women. A serving girl named Philotis suggested that the Romans send out their servants dressed as free women. This was done, and the serving girls then disarmed the Latins while they slept. Philotis then lit a wild fig-tree on fire as a signal to the Romans, who fell upon the Latins and defeated them. Nones of July, Celtic tree month of Duir ends Tanabata or Chih Nu (stars Aquila and Vega meet)(Japanese and Korean) Write the name of your beloved on paper and tie it to trees and bushes for the stars to see.

8 Sunna feast of Sunna, or Sunniva, the Norse sun goddess, the Celtic tree month of Tinne begins. Nonae Caprotinae in Rome dedicated to Juno. Vitulatio Sacred to Vitula, Goddess of joy and celebration

9 Adonia- Greek 16-day festival honoring Adonis and Aphrodite beginning on the ninth day of Hecatombion in Athens and Alexandria. During the 16 days of the festival, which spanned the full moon, the beautiful young god died and was mourned intensely by women, then revived. Short-lived Adonis gardens, fast-growing seeds planted in shallow silver baskets, were cast into the sea along with images of the two lovers. Votive boxes were fashioned of fragrant myrrh wood, Dionysus, Rhea, Panathenaea in Greece dedicated to Athena.

10  Holda, Hela, Skadi Holda, Hel and Skadi are Norse goddesses of Niflheim, the underworld., Lady Godiva rode naked through the marketplace of Coventry, reputedly to shame her husband Leofric, the earl of Chester, into reducing the taxes, Godiva means Goddess Knut the reaper, the goddess month of Rosea ends

11 Theano, the wife of Pythagoras, and is regarded as the patroness of vegetarians, the goddess month of Kerea begins La fete de la Magdalene in France. Kronia Festival(Father Time) Rhea

12  Kronia or Cronea-  Greeks honored the old agricultural god, Kronus, whose symbol was a reaping hook on the 12th day (full moon) of the lunar month of Hecatombion. This was approximately the end of the farm year and masters and slaves ate together at the harvest dinner. Honoring of Wells  On the 12th day of the 6th lunar month, the Chinese honor wells, an appropriate devotion at the hottest point in  the year.  St Veronica The story is that she wiped the blood from the face of Jesus as he made his way to his Crucifixion and his image stayed on the cloth. However, her name may come from the Latin for veil, vernicula, suggesting that the story came first and her name later. The bright blue flowers of speedwell are supposed to display in their marking a representation of the image of Christ and thus are named after her. Buddhist dance to God of death Yama or Tama in Tibet.

13  Obon Festival begins   Buddhist festival to honor the departed souls who return and share a life with us during these days. It is also called the Festival of the Lanterns, because of the colorful paper lanterns light the way. On the last day, the souls of the dead return and are given food offerings, accompanied by a silent, gliding circle dance, the bon-odori. Spirits with no relatives are honored with little boats bearing paper lanterns which are set afloat on the Tide of Returning Ghosts to drift out to sea. Celebration of Our Lady of Fatima. Festival of Demeter. Osiris Reed dance day in Swaziland tribute of girls to Queen Mother Ndlovukazi the she-elephant.

14  The runic half-month of Ur commences. Ur is primal strength, a time for beginnings. Birthday of Osiris Norwegian Midsummer Day. According to an ancient calendar stick, this was the midpoint of the summer season in Norway.

15  Ides of July, Birthday of Horus. Rowana, the tree goddess, is patroness of the knowledge of runes. The rowan is the tree of protection, and amulets cut from it this day will be particularly effective. ChungYuan, festival of the dead in China. Synoikia-Greek festival celebrating the peaceful cooperation of states. Offerings were made to Aphrodite and Eirene, Goddesses of friendship and peace . St Swithin- an early Saxon Bishop of Winchester. On his death bed, he asked to be buried among the poor in the common churchyard, but later, after many miracles at his gravesite, the monks moved his body inside to a splendid shrine, whereupon the saint wept in protest, causing a continuous downpour for forty days. Thus he  came to be associated with weather charms like this:                St Swithin's Day, if it does rain                Full forty days, it will remain                St Swithin's Day, if it be fair                For forty days, twill rain no more           Rain on St Swithin's Day blesses the apples which should not be picked or eaten before his feast. All apples  growing at this time will ripen. Rowana(Rauni, Goddess of the Sacred Rowan Tree), Ti-Tsang(Chinese God of the Underworld) Gorestnici, Fire Festival  July was called the "hot month" in Bulgaria, partly because the people celebrated a fire festival of three days duration beginning on the 15th.

16  Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Virgin of All Remedies/Ezili Danto  A celebration in honor of Our Lady whose first shrine was built at Mount Carmel. She is also known as the Virgin of All Remedies. People come to her shrine to ask for healing and leave replicas of the parts of their bodies which are afflicted. In other parts of the world, her holiday is celebrated with fireworks, parades and olive branches (see Salacia July 25). Perhaps a good day to visit the sick, pray for healing or dialogue with a part of your body which is afflicted. In the Voudon tradition, the image of Our Lady of Mt Carmel is used to represent Ezili Danto, a single mother who is independent, hard-working and has a fierce temper. "When you see Danto pass by, you say it is a thunderstorm." Erzulie Freda(Voodoo Goddess of Love) Birthday of Set

17  St Alexis   Because this fifth century Roman youth left his aristocratic parents and rich wife and went off to live as a poor hermit, he is the patron of beggars. A good day to make a contribution to charity or give alms to a street person. Festival of Amaterasu-O-Mi-Kami (Japanese) Sun Goddess Birthday of Isis

18  St Camillus of Lellis  A soldier, gambler and eventually a laborer, he was converted while working on a building belonging to the Capuchines. He went to Rome and entered a hospital to cure an ulcer on his leg. Eventually he became an administrator and spent the rest of his life ministering to the sick and dying, thus he is the patron of hospitals. Birthday of Nephthys (Goddess of Death), Lu Pan(Chinese Patron of Carpenters), Arstat, Copper Woman(Native American)

19 Marriage of Adonis and Aphroidite-  Today is the mid point of the half year of Adonis' presence in the world, marked by his wedding to Aphrodite. Lucaria St Wilgefortis or St Uncumber   Like St Distaff, whose feast day follows the Twelve Days of Christmas, she is a fictitious saint. Legend says that Wilgefortis was a daughter of the King of Portugal who did not wish to marry. When her father tried to press marriage upon her she prayed for help and sprouted a copious beard, which drove all prospective suitors away. She is also known as Liberata, Livrade Kummeris and Uncumber (in England) and invoked by women who wish to rid themselves of troublesome husbands or importunate suitors. Rago says you can achieve the same thing by picking parsley at dawn and wishing aloud for release. Her story and feast day may derive from the stories of the Corinthian Aphrodite who grew a beard and impregnated women. Marie au Ble  The Monday after St. Veronica's Day, was celebrated in Valenciennes with a parade of street porters  surrounding the handsomest couple in town. She is called Marie au Ble (of the Wheat). At intervals, the  couple dances and offers grain to the spectators who offer them money, Mut, (rising of the star Sirrius), Festival of  Opet, Venus, Marriage of Isis and Osirus.

20 St. Margaret-  Famous in the medieval ages as a saint for women (she was one of the voices speaking to Joan of Arc), she has faded off the church calendar, probably because of lack of evidence for her existence. She is called Marina in the East. There's also a Saint Pelagia, whose nickname is Maragarito.   Both Marina and Pelagia mean sea. The name Margaret itself derives from the Greek word, maragarites,  meaning pearl. These names link Margaret to the great Sea-Mother known under many names including Mary, Marina and Miriam. Pelagia is one of the names of Aphrodite in her aspect as the goddess of the sea.  Margaret's story is similar to that of many virgin martyrs. She's said to be the daughter of a pagan priest at Antioch who rejected the advances of a prefect who then denounced her as a Christian. She suffered many ordeals, including being swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon, but she caused his belly to burst and stepped forth unharmed.  Margaret is often represented standing over a dragon, like other saints, including Martha (whose feast day falls on the nearby July 28th). The Dragon Project researchers believe the image of slaying the dragon, which is always accomplished with an iron pole, has something to do with earthing energy which is floating about loose and might hurt the crops or the animals. The Chinese say that the dragon is thunder (and this is the time of the Thunder Moon), a creature of the waters who rests in pools in the winter and rises up as  the rain in the spring. The dragon is a symbol of the force operating beneath the surface of the earth which emerges at the proper time. Given the association of Margaret with water and the time of the year at  which she is honored (the height of summer), it is possible that the dragon is really a sea-serpent. Perhaps  when Margaret strikes the ground with her iron staff, she brings forth a life-giving spring or calls forth the flood waters of the Nile. The wheat field poppy supposedly sprang from the blood of the dragon she slew. Long before, it was dedicated to Diana and Demeter as the source of healing sleep and death. St Margaret's flower is the Virginian dragon's head. All Lithuanian Love-Goddesses, Binding of the Wreaths

21  Damo -the remembrance of the seeress, the daughter of Pythagoras. Druid forest spirit festival Mayan New Year

22  Feast of Habondia Concordia St Mary Magdalene  -the fallen woman who washed Christ's feet with her tears and dried them with her hair; thus she is the patron saint of prostitutes. She was also invoked for help with fasting. The red rose is her plant and her emblem is the ointment jar. For a new treatment of her story, see Clytie Kinstler's  The Moon Under Her Feet.  She may have been a devotee of Astarte. There is some connection between the seven demons which afflicted her, and the seven initiations Inanna undergoes in her descent to the Underworld and the seven veils which Salome wears in her famous dance. The village of Migdala (from whence her name) is the Village of Doves, which connects her with Anahit, the Persian goddess honored with a sacrifice of doves and roses at her midsummer festival.  French maidens come to her cave and ask her to find husbands for them.  If it rains today, the English say that Mary Magdalen is washing her handkerchief to go to her cousin St James's Fair in three days time. But heavy rain now can be disastrous for the harvest and the Cumbrians  say:                A Magdalen flood                Never did good.

23  Neptunalia and Salacia and Aegir and Ran -the festival of Neptune, god of the deep, and his wife Salacia, goddess of the salt and the ocean. She is also sacred to mineral springs. Neptune and Salacia are Aegir and Ran in Norse mythology Ice Cream Day Sulis(Goddess of Hot Springs), Festival of Sirius Mayan Sun Festival--honoring Sun God Ahau Kin; celebrated with devotional offerings of food, song, prayer, and a ritual procession that symbolically travels to the four quarters of the universe.

24 All Lion-Gods

25  Furrinalia - sacred to the goddess of springs and waters or possibly in honor of the Furies. Salacia- A Roman festival honoring the wife of Neptune. Olive boughs were made into arbors to encourage an  abundance of water during this dry time of the year. Salacia's seashell emblem was later adopted by St James. Santiago or St James This popular saint is always portrayed riding on a white horse. St James was one of the Twelve Apostles. His principal shrine, at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, was a magnet for pilgrims from all over the world, thus he is the patron of pilgrims, who often wore his badge, the Compostela scallop shell. However this symbol may derive from the earlier Roman festival of Salacia. St James' wort (senecio Jacobaea) is named after him, either because it was used to treat diseases of horses or because it blooms for his festival. The same name was also applied to shepherd's purse and ragweed.  St Christopher-This saint, portrayed in the Eastern church as a man with the head of a dog, was supposedly descended from a legendary race of giants with human bodies and canine heads. When he converted to Christianity, he was given the name Christ-bearer to show he carried the divinity within.  This became the source of the story of how he carried the Christ Child  across a raging river in a storm, thus he is the patron of travelers, who  often wear St Christopher medals for protection.

26  Norse festival of Sleipnir- commemorating Odin's eight-legged horse which could travel from Asgard to Midgard to Utgard, that is, from heaven to earth to the underworld. St Anne  The mother of Mary, and thus the matron of housewives. She is one of the oldest saints and her image is probably derived from the great mother  goddesses, like Anu. Her flower is the chamomile. Kachina Ceremony(Native American, Hopi Tribe)

27 (Queen)Hatshepsut’s Day.

28  The Irish god Domhnach Chrom Dubh and John Barleycorn are associated with grain, which dies at this time by being cut. Panathenae    Every five years at the end of the first Greek lunar month, Hecatombion, in the brilliant heat and light of the summer, the Athenians honored Athena as daughter of Wisdom (Goddess Metis) and font of reason by presenting to her a new peplos or veil, white wool woven with gold, which was used as a sail on one of the boats in her procession Pilgramage of Spirit d’Eau (Haiti)

29 the runic half-month of Thorn begins. Thor-the festival of the Anglo-Saxon god Thunor and the Norse god Thor, a time of ascendant power and order. St. Olaf St Martha-  Despite her reputation as a domestic saint, invoked for help cooking, running a household and maintaining the  family peace, she's also a dragon-taming saint (or perhaps those aren't so contradictory). Along with her sister Mary and brother Lazarus, she later went to Marseilles, where she is honored on May 24 as one of the Three Maries. Her body was discovered at Tarascon in France where a magnificent church was erected in her honor. Both Tarascon and the herb tarragon are derived from the word for dragon. I especially like this charm from a novena to St Martha:                  St Martha, I resort to thy aid and protection. As proof of my affection and faith, I offer thee this light, which I shall burn every Tuesday. Comfort me in all my difficulties and through the great favors thou didst enjoy when the Savior was lodged in thy house. Intercede for my family, that we be provided for in our necessities. I ask of thee, St Martha, to overcome all difficulties as thou didst overcome the dragon which thou hadst at thy feet. Iroquois Green Corn Ceremony--in thanksgiving for the maize harvest.

30 St. Abdon-  Patron of hygiene. In the Vosges Mountains of Europe, the ashes of ferns cut and burned on this feast keep away insects and unwanted guests. Metageitnion Noumenia-Greek festival honoring all the Gods and Goddesses. Gloosca(The Father God, Micmac Indian Tribe)

31  Mid-Summer/First Harvest, Lammas Eve. Festival of thanksgiving for the first of the grain harvest; celebrated by offering the first fruits of the grain harvest and prayers for sustenance for all. Lughnasadh--Old Celtic/Irish Feast of Goddess Tailtiu and God Lugh (Deities of Life and Light), celebrating the grain harvest Festival of the Norse god Loki and his consort Sigyn. Loki is the Norse god of strife, discord and evil. He also presides over tricks and practical jokes. St Neot's Fair- St Neot harnessed stags to his plough. He's probably a water-spirit and the descendant of the mythical Irish King, Nuada Silver-Arm.