JUNE 22
On this date, the Sun enters the Sign of Cancer. This date also has many associations with rural love divination traditions. For example, it was once believed that if a rose plucked on this day and gently wrapped in tissue paper still remained fresh come Christmas Eve, then the love that person had for his or her partner would remain as fresh as the rose itself...and would be reciprocated.

JUNE 23
This is the date of MidSummer Eve. There is probably no other time of year which is so pregnant with mystical possibilities. Celebrated since early Christian days on this date, which is the Eve of Saint John's Day, the rituals of MidSummer Eve have changed very little from the Pagan celebrations that once marked the Summer Solstice which occurs a few days before. Chief among these customs is the lighting of bonfires, a practice once found (and, in some cases, still observed) in Britian, Europe, South America and North Africa. Such blazes were, more likely than not, originally kindled to strengthen the spirit of the weakening Sun God and ensure his eventual return to full glory. According to tradition, the flames themselves possessed a number of magical qualities. Dancing around the fire or leaping through the flames was believed to ensure good luck and keep evil spirits at bay. Farmers sometimes drove their cattle around the fire to banish pestilence and disease. In some areas of Wales, revelers would set wheels or barrels ablaze and send them rolling downhill in order to carry away ill fortune. In Eighteenth Century Ireland, townsfolk would light torches from the bonfires and then run with them throughout the village in order to purify the air, which was thought to be infected with malign influences on the night of MidSummer Eve. It was once believed that, on this night, the barrier between the visible realm of the living and the invisible world of ghosts and faeries would stretch so thin such that otherworldly creatures might easily penetrate the veil. Fire was not the only precaution against such visitors. The golden flower known as Saint-John's-wort, for example, was thought to ward off the devil and other evil spirits...and to protect the eyes from the glare of the bonfire. Fern seeds were also considered as guardians against MidSummer Eve witchcraft, as well as providing a source of white magic, enabling a maiden to perceive a MidSummer apparition of her future husband. This was accomplished by the girl scattering the seeds at Midnight and then peeking over her shoulder. There are a plethera of love divinations associated with MidSummer Eve...still considered by modern witches to be the most favorable time of year to gather magic plants.

JUNE 24
On this date, near the time of the Winter Solstice South of the equator, the Incas of Peru once held a Sun-God festival known as the Raymi during which time, priests would foretell the future from the entrails of freshly-slaughtered llamas. Also on this day in 1947, while flying over the Cascade Mountains, a businessman by the name of Kenneth Arnold spotted several airborne objects which he described as "flying saucers."

JUNE 25
On this date in 1876, General George Armstrong Custer and his company of men died in a battle against the Sioux Indians at the Little Bighorn River in Montana. It is said that at least two individuals experienced premonitions of the bloodbath. Three weeks before, Sitting Bull (a Sioux medicine man) had received a vision of many soldiers attacking his camp. In addition, Elizabeth Custer (the General's wife), had a strange experience while watching her husband and his troops ride away. She said she saw them reflected in the sky...a sign that Elizabeth took as meaning they were on their way to heaven.

JUNE 26
On this date in 1284, a real Pied Piper is said to have visited the German town of Hamelin. There, it was reported that he led the resident children to their doom in a sealed cave by playing alluring melodies upon his pipe. The piper had previously rid Hamelin of its rats in a similar fashion, but had never been paid for his services. Thus, he stole away the town's children in retaliation.

JUNE 27
At around this time of year, many Plains Indian tribes perform a Sun Dance in order to honor the burning Summer Sun. Among the magical items associated with these dances is a special Crow Totem which is adorned with bird feathers. If this totem is held during a Sun Dance by the relative of a murder victim, then the totem is believed to reveal the identity of the killer.

JUNE 28
In the early morning of June 28, 1914, the Hungarian bishop, Monsignor De Lanyi, reportedly had a dream which foretold the event that would precipitate World War I...the assassination of his former pupil, Francis Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria. In his dream, De Lanyi saw not only the Archduke being shot to death, but also the Archduke's wife, as they rode in a carriage. Later, the bishop received a cable confirming that the Archduke and Archduchess were indeed dead...apparently murdered under circumstances eerily similar to those in De Lanyi's allged dream.

JUNE 29
In a ceremony held in late June (and one which may have originated from Pagan tree worship rituals), the people of Appleton in England ceremoniously decorate (or "bawm") an enormous Hawthorn which grows in the center of the town. After marching in procession to the tree, villagers deck its branches with flowers, flags and ribbons. When this venerable Hawthorn has been suitably adorned, the children of Appleton dance beneath its ancient boughs.

JUNE 30
On the morning of this day in 1908, a massive fiery object from outer space (which still remains unidentified) burst into the sky over the remote Siberian region of Tunguska. As it collided with the Earth's atmosphere, it created a blast which is unrivaled in human history and generated a scorching wind that flattened and burned 1,200 square miles of forest into charred stumps. The cause of the cataclysm remains a mystery. Astronomers are generally of the theory that the Tunguska object could have been a comet or asteroid that exploded as it hit the atmosphere, generating a wave of infernal heat but no crater. UFO researchers, however, speculate that it may have been a massive alien spaceship deliberatly steered to the remote woodlands of Siberia in order to avoid striking any human population. Whatever the object may have been, it was undeniably and impressively large...calculations estimate that whatever struck Tunguska that morning measured 300 feet across and weighed approximately one million tons.

JULY 1
Since ancient times, the Indians and Nepalese have both feared and worshipped snakes, which they consider to be the earthly relatives of Snake Gods known as Nagas. Said to inhabit the world's Nether Regions, Nagas can bring or withhold rain...cure or cause disease...grant good or bad fortune...and prevent or inflict death by snakebite. During the Festival of Naga Panchami, the people of India and Nepal commemorate a promise given by the Nagas on this date many centuries ago. According to legend, the promise was made after a poor farmer accidentally killed three baby snakes while tilling his field. Maddened with grief, the mother serpent entered the farmer's house and killed him, his wife and their two sons with her venomous fangs. When she turned to the remaining child, a daughter, the quick-thinking girl set a bowl of milk before the mother serpent. Pleased with the action, the mother snake not only spared the girl's life but was also willing to granted whatever the girl wished for. The daughter asked simply that her family be restored and that the Nagas refrain from killing anyone else on that day. The mother snake agreed and then slithered away. During Naga Panchami, worshippers mark the anniversary of that agreement by displaying snake images and placing offerings of milk, grain or other food at snake holes. In some Indian villages, live snakes are paraded through town in a procession. In order to avoid a repetition of the original unfortunate accident, plowing and digging are forbidden on this day.

JULY 2
On the night of July 2, 1947, an unidentified flying object crashed in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico. Official investigators stated that it was a weather balloon, but unverified reports later surfaced that four aliens, one of whom was alive and well, were found among the wreckage.

JULY 3
At around this time of year, the Seminole Indians of Florida perform a "green corn dance" in order to honor the new corn crop. The men of the tribe then eat the first corn, thereby marking the beginning of the Seminole New Year.

JULY 4
This day in 1826 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the United States. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third Presidents of the new nation, both died that day. Each had suffered serious illnesses for some time, yet relatives reported they had apparently willed themselves to live in order to see this milestone in the history of the country that they had helped to shape.

JULY 5
On this date in 1906, a sixteen-year-old South African schoolgirl named Clara Germana Celle gave her priest, Father Erasmus Hoerner, a handwritten pact she claimed had been made with the Devil. Over the next two months, the formerly quiet girl exhibited many classic manifestations of demonic possession including barking like an animal, struggling with invisible foes, levitating and speaking in the voice of Satan. It was not until a team of priests and nuns performed the rite of exorcism two months later that the girl was said to be free of her tormentor.

JULY 6
On this day in 1933, two small skeletons which had been unearthed in the Tower of London more than two centuries earlier underwent a modern technical examination. As had long been suspected, the skeletons were identified as almost certainly being the remains of two princes...one the rightful King of England...consigned to the fortress by their uncle, Richard III, in 1483. Rumored to have been murdered upon Richard's order, the boys reportedly haunt the ancient prison's Bloody Tower.

JULY 7
Annually on this date, Japanese families mark the reuinion of two celestial sweethearts by tying personal pleas and children's writing samples to bamboo fronds. Tradition dictates that the prayers will be answered and the writing of the children will be improved. The origin of this custom lies in a legend which states birds took pity upon the Tanabata lovers who had been separated by a raging river, and bridged the intevening torrent with their own feathered bodies.

JULY 8
On this day in the Portuguese town of Tomar, six hundred girls parade the streets balancing upon their heads tall, flower-bedecked pillars made of bread. Carefully preserved, the bread is believed to prevent illness for the remainder of the year.

JULY 9
On this night in 1904, Henry Rider Haggard (English adventure story writer) awoke uttering preternatural moans. He claimed he had been dreaming that his daughter's black retriever, Bob, lay dead near a body of water. The following morning, it was determined that the dog was indeed missing. Bob was found three days later, floating near a small dam. Haggard believed that his uncanny dream had been the result of a psychic cry for help from the unfortunate animal.

JULY 10
Every year at this time, the Ancient Athenians would celebrate Panathenaea, a festival which honored Athena, Patron Goddess of the city. Once every four years on July 10, the sixth day of the celebration, Athena was presented with a brilliant new robe. First, the garment was paraded through the streets and then the procession would mount the Acropolis, where priests would drape the robe over the statue of the Goddess at the Shrine of Athena.

JULY 11
In Douai in France, on the Sunday following July 5, the local Fete de Gayant festival is celebrated, which concludes with a parade of wickerwork giants. The origin and/or purpose of this ceremony still remains a total mystery, even to those who participate.

JULY 12
According to legend, the Archangel Gabriel revealed this day as being one of the luckiest of the year. On July 12, healing, planting, house-building, travelling and even the waging of war will supposedly proceed without a hitch. Children born on this day are said to be wealthy and students who commence any work on this day will become great scholars. In addition, it is believed that anyone who begins a new job on July 12 will enjoy immense success.

JULY 13
Each Summer, according to Japanese beliefs, the spirits of the dead return to mingle with the living during the three-day Bon Festival. Many people make special trips home for the holiday so that all family members...both ancestors and living descendants...may participate in the happy reunion. In preparation, household shrines and the graves of relatives are cleaned and then filled with offerings of herbs, flowers and food. On the evening of July 13, family members gather at a graveside to greet ancestral spirits and escort them home, illuminating the night with lanterns and torches. That night and for the remainder of the Festival, families feast and celebrate, laying a place at the table during mealtimes for their deceased houseguests and including the departed in all conversations. Most families also spend some time in solemn meditation, acknowledging the debt each owes to the ancestors. Outside, revelers gather at night in parks or squares to join in the traditional Bon Dance...a joyous affair intended to greet and comfort the dead souls. As the Festival draws to a close, the living hosts light farewell fires and set out lanterns for illumination as the spirits find their way home to their graves. In some areas, families also launch miniature boats equipped with tiny lanterns to cheer the spirits and speed their return to the other side.

JULY 14
On this night in 1988, five circular impressions emerged inexplicably in a wheat field near Silbury Hill, a large and mysterious mound of earth created by the Ancient Britons in SouthWestern England. A few days later, five more circles appeared in the same field and within eight weeks, forty-six other crop circles materialized in fields within seven miles of Silbury Hill.

JULY 15
The Feast of Saint Swithin is celebrated on this day. Saint Swithin was a Bishop of Winchester who died in 862 A.D. Legend states that during the Tenth Century, monks attempted to move the body of the Saint to a place of honor but were prevented from doing so by forty days of rain. Since that time, the state of the weather on Saint Swithin's Day has been said to forecast whether the forty days which follow will be fair or rainy.

JULY 16
At around this time of year in Haiti, thousands of the voodoo faithful seek healing or good health through a pilgrimage to the holy waters of Saut d'Eau, a waterfall where Erzulie Freda, voodoo spirit of love, is said to have appeared twice in the 1800s.

JULY 17
According to Japanese legend, in the Summer of 869 A.D., the Emperor Seiwa successfully rid the city of Kyoto of an epidemic by displaying sixty-six spears in front of his imperial shrine. So grateful was Seiwa to the Gods for putting an end to the pestilence, he began parading the spears through the streets every year...a custom which continues to this day during the city's July 17 Gion Festival. The spears now travel through the streets in large sapling-topped shrines while dozens of muscians accompany the grand procession, which is lead by a boy dressed as a Shinto priest.

JULY 18
According to Hong Kong tradition, Lu Pan, Chinese patron saint of carpenters and builders, was born on this day in 606 B.C. Tales of this skilled carpenter's feats are legendary. One account has Lu Pan repairing the very pillars of heaven when they were in danger of collapse. To honor Lu Pan's memory, carpenters and builders of Hong Kong pay a special visit to his temple at noon on his birthday. During the rest of the year, workmen offer feasts to the revered carpenter whenever a new building is completed.

JULY 19
The Goddess Isis, one of the nine major deities worshipped in Egypt, was also the object of a Roman cult which, each year on this date, would hold a festival in her honor. The celebration, observed in the City of Rome well into the Fourth Century A.D., commemorated the annual flooding of the River Nile, which deposited fertile soil along the riverbank, turning what would have otherwise been desert land into a rich planting ground. To the Ancients, this boutiful inundation was nothing short of a miracle...a miracle provided by Isis, the benevolent universal mother.

JULY 20
On this date is celebrated the Christian Feast of Saint Margaret, an Italian virgin who was martyred in 278 A.D. for refusing to marry a wicked Eastern potentate. At one time, her girdle was preserved in a Paris church, where women go on July 20 to pray to the Saint for easy and painless childbirth.

JULY 21
This date marks the Mayan New Year. To the Maya of Central America, each day, year, decade, century and millennium has its own God. In order to determine which deity would be in control at any given time, the Maya maintained a solar calendar of 365 days and a sacred calendar of 260 days. Every fifty-second solar New Year (which might fall in any season), was considered to be a dangerous one since the Gods might then abandon their burdens and bring time to a complete stop.

JULY 22
On this date in 1930, three boys fishing from a boat in Loch Ness reported the first modern sighting of the "monster" which is said to dwell in this Scottish lake. Apparently, the creature which appeared to the boys was more than twenty feet long. It rushed toward their boat and then veered away. Since that time, "Nessie" (as the monster is affectionately called) has been allegedly glimpsed by thousands of people. Also on this date, the Sun begins to take its leave from the Sign of Cancer and continues its journey by entering the Sign of Leo.