15 Feb The Collage Chronicles: Valentine’s Day Origin – Lupercalia

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Guide us as we guide our flock into the warmth of Spring
I cast this circle thrice about to keep unwanted spirits out.
I call to the Energy of the North, the South, the East, and the West. Watch over me as I invite the Archetypes and as I walk on after this night until the next.
Bacchus, Archetype of farm, wine and fertility, waken from your slumber, its almost time to come join us, come to our circle and share our celebration and dance.
Lupa, mother She-wolf, I call to you to nurture and guide us into the Spring.
Lupercus God of shepherds, come join us and watch over us into the Spring.
May we live as the shepherds and follow you into the lush green that is yet to come out of the snow. Guide us as we guide our flock into the warmth of Spring.
Lastly, On this night, dear Faunus, Archetype of forest and fields, and Lover Pan, Archetype of shepherds and hunters, share with us your ecstasy and make our hooves to dance like yours as we circle round the fire of your song.
The ancient festival Lupercalia is observed February 13th-15th to purify the community and send evil spirits packing. This festival is meant to cloak its people in health and fertility in the coming Spring. Lupercalia is also a festival to honor Lupa the she-wolf of mythology that raised the orphan founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.
*Adapted from “Modern Lupercalia Ritual” by Owls & Indigo
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According to History.com Lupercalia was an ancient pagan festival held each year in Rome on February 15. Although Valentine’s Day shares its name with a martyred Christian saint, some historians believe the holiday is actually an offshoot of Lupercalia.

According to Roman legend, the ancient King Amulius ordered Romulus and Remus—his twin nephews and founders of Rome—to be thrown into the Tiber River to drown in retribution for their mother’s broken vow of celibacy.
A servant took pity on them, however, and placed them inside a basket on the river instead. The river-god carried the basket and the brothers downriver to a wild fig tree where it became caught in the branches. The brothers were then rescued and cared for by a she-wolf in a den at the base of Palatine Hill where Rome was founded.
The twins were later adopted by a shepherd and his wife and learned their father’s trade. After killing the uncle who’d ordered their death, they found the cave den of the she-wolf who’d nurtured them and named it Lupercal.
It’s thought Lupercalia took place to honor the she-wolf and please the Roman fertility god Lupercus.

The stottilien.com site has an immensely comprehensive study of the Jungian Archetype of the Wolf:

Jungian Archetype of the wolf – gods and goddesses, warriors and mothers, demons and outlaws…

The wolf reminded men to their domestication and their inner struggle with it. The wolf became also an image of remaining wild and sexuality, in a Jungian sense became men’s Shadow of undesired and unwanted. Those of us with Western background, do often not realize the depths and subtle (subtile) differences and similarity of Pagan German or Norse, Eastern or Native American stories. Especially wolf stories examine reincarnation, spiritual energy, gift exchange, the vitality of the body, and the spirit of the soul. In the old worldview everything is in flux and begins, balances out from, and ends with polarities akin to yin and yang. Even the gods are subject to this, undergo transformation, and often pay for what they gain with a corresponding loss. For indigenous people – including the indigenous Celts and Germanic – religion as such did not exist. Native views of spirituality wed it to time and place, land and sea and sky. Our forebears lived side by side with the wolves in an inspirited world, and that world abides, as do its instinctive, but sacred dimensions…
The basic sub-archetypes of the wolf:

• The nurturing and protective wolf appearing as the great she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus (Anima).
• The male wolf  initiated by society forces the young adult in becoming a mature adult (Anima).
• The guard  conducting souls through the gates, which had to be passed as in Egyptian mythology (Shadow).
• The wolf in sheep’s clothing who attempts to hide its instinctive and wild self by developing a persona of meekness and innocence (Persona).
• The howling wolf who has a voice to communicate with others and is reclaimed inner voice of the soul (Ego)
• The wolf and lamb lying together, which represents inner peace  (Self).
• The wolf who has accepted his (or her) role in life (Ego after individuation).

How Wolves Change Rivers

You can’t “throw me to the wolves” – they come when I call

Affirmation: I never lose, either I win, or LEARN.

Here are a few Free to Use “Wolf” Images for Your SoulCollage® Cards

To save, print and use images in your SoulCollage® Cards – click on the image, right-click on the image when it pops up, and finally click to “save image as”.

Download more Copyright Free “Wolf” Images for SoulCollage® Cards in this Week’s Gallery Now

*Images in this week’s SoulCollage® gallery are copyright-free or public domain images. They may be used freely for any purpose – personal or commercial and in printed format. SoulCollage^® is grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening process possible and in all ways SoulCollage^® seeks to be respectful of their rights. These collaged cards are used only for the cardmaker’s own inner exploration. SoulCollage® cards are not sold, traded, bartered, or copied.