Old Raphael's Day

[Aion]

Today is Old Raphael's Day. The 'Angel of Happy Meetings'.

On this day the healing power of winter's rest is appreciated and nurtured. Everything is slowed down as temperatures drop and activity goes indoors. Looking forward from the passing of the solstice the light begins to rise again and the darkness recedes.

Today is the day to set your mind for the new year, to think on renewal, rejuvenation and reflect on the progress you have made.

Today is the day to set the direction for the future as the past is sealed behind it.

Today is the day to give thanks and offer respect to all that you love.

Amen Adonai ha-Kodesh

[hounsic]

Thanks, what a beautiful time of the year many blessings to you and all beings here there and everywhere!

[Diana]

Thank you Aion. I love this.

From where does this tradition derive? Druidic, Celtic? An old Earth religion?

[Aion]

The oldest fragments of the Book of Tobit which is a story about a man named Tobias who is blind and thus healed by Raphael. Fragments of this story were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls so the story originates at least as far back, although before the discovery of the Qumran materials they were not thought to have roots in Judaism but only came later with Catholicism. The tradition with Feast Days is for the celebration of saints/angels and to call on them as intermediaries with God/Creator.

Interestingly, a big part of many splinter groups from Catholicism, such as Protestantism, do away with such ritualism or intermediaries and instead believe only in going direct to God. In many ways Catholicism holds much more of the pagan cross-seeding and "mystical" innards compared to other more pragmatic branches.

So if I would attempt to pin it down I would say it is likely Hebrew in origin. The "modern" day is on Sept. 29th, when there was a change to the Roman Calender in the 1960s, but I follow the old ways.
I am something of a Hermeticist so my tradition is syncretic.

Oh but the words are all mine, they're just from my own brain.