b2ap3_thumbnail_199px-First_Book_of_Kings_Chapter_8-3_Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media.jpgLike many holidays, Valentine's Day holds a secret.

In earlier times, this day was a celebration of women's pro-creative power — our body-centered power to renew life, and the pleasure of doing so!

This poem, unearthing Celtic, Roman, and heretical Christian strands weaving through Valentine's Day, begins...

This Valentine came in the mail today —
the fe-male, that is:
Greetings from history in women's terms.

Valentine's Day is a fraud, of course, you know that,
Hall-marked and carded as it is for commerce.
But more than that:

The boy himself's a fraud.
St. Valentine's a fiction, the convenient invention
of some grim Christian churchmen.

...and comes to you complete with historical notes, such as

and where the fever starts:
Words such as fever, febrile, and February have their origin in Februata as an epithet of the Great Goddess.

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Another note discusses the Christian heretics who named themselves Valentinians. They took their name from the Latin word meaning strength. 

Why "strength"? Here's one possibility:

Strength — Boaz — names the pillar on the left side of the entrance to King Solomon's Temple. The left side: the realm of the Feminine Divine.

This 3rd-century glass bowl depicts Solomon's Temple. Jachin ("establishes") and Boaz ("strength") are the detached black pillars shown on the right and left sides of the entrance steps. (Click on image for a larger view.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Leading image attribution: "First Book of Kings Chapter 8-3 (Bible Illustrations by Sweet Media)" by Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Book_of_Kings_Chapter_8-3_(Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media).jpg#mediaviewer/File:First_Book_of_Kings_Chapter_8-3_(Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media).jpg