Passover

The first night of Passover always falls on the 15th day of Nissan “month of redemption” in the Hebrew calendar, which is a full moon in solar Aries, signifying the height of revelations and spiritual awareness. As the eve of the Exodus from Egypt, it is thought in some mystical traditions to portend liberation of the soul.

It is additionally always the first full spring moon, which is associated with the Greek goddess Persephone, consort to Hades, god of the Underworld. Returning to earthly existence every spring and departing every autumn, Persephone spends half of the year aboveground and half of the year in the underworld representing the 6-7 pomegranate seeds she ate her first season there.

Coincidentally, at Passover, so-named for the 10th plague sent by Yahweh that took the lives of the firstborn children if their household threshholds were not painted with lamb’s blood (tying back to the Aries ram) pomegranate is often served as a symbol of fertility and abundance.

The fruit of the underworld is a much overlooked but rich emblem for the Vestal season of rebirth, desire arising from the dark.