Old English - April(is)
Latin - Aprilis
Etruscan - Apru
Greek - Aphro, a short for Aphrodite
I was born on Monday, which is the day dedicated to the Moon.
Middle English - Monen or mone(n)day
Old English - mon(an)dæg "day of the moon"
Latin - dies lunae "day of the moon"
Ancient Greek - hemera selenes "day of the moon"
Moreover, I was born at the Paschal Full Moon, which that year fell in April, that is to say, it was the April Pink Moon, or the very one to work with Aphrodite's magic. The energies around this moon are ones of blooming, fertility, growth and inner wisdom. The earth is coming alive again from the dormant winter.
Ostara is a lunar festival, and the full moon brings forth powers of intuition, creativity and protection. It is traditional to plant your seeds at this time of the year.
Symbols
Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology. She is represented in myth and art by various symbols.
April’s birth flowers are the daisy, the rose and sweet pea.
The birthstones for April are the diamond which symbolizes innocence and the sea-born pearl. They are regarded as the stones of love.
There is much symbolism in eggs themselves. The egg is considered the symbol and home of soul and life. The golden orb of the yolk represents the Sun God enfolded by the white shell seen as the White Goddess, and the whole is a symbol of equilibrium and rebirth.
The animals sacred to her, which are often mentioned as drawing her chariot or serving as her messengers, are the sparrow, the dove (today, when we think of doves, peace often comes to mind; for the ancient Greeks, however, doves evoked love, since they were one of the symbols of Aphrodite), the myrtle (innocence, purity), the swan, the swallow, a bird called iynx, the bees, the goats, the dolphin (the dolphin is said to be the messenger of love, and Aphrodite metamorphosed herself into a dolphin and was also known as the Woman of the Sea. The Syrian Aphrodite Astarte was said to have been hatched from an egg nursed by doves, fallen from the heavens and carried to the banks of the river Euphrates by fish, which was said to be a sacred animal to Aphrodite), the sea turtle (Aphrodite was first found on the floating island of Cyprus after emerging from the foam of the sea, and this could be related to her particular animal, the turtle. And the tiny island of Aegina, located about 30 miles off the coast of Athens and between the mainland and the Peloponnesus, is reported to have had the first universally accepted, standarized currency, for it was an important maritime trading center as late as the 6th century B.C. The seafaring Aegina chose the turtle as its coinage symbol, very likely because it was the symbol of Aphrodite, whose temple stood on the island. The turtles on the earliest coins are undoubtedly the sea turtle, with a pattern of dots clearly marked on its back. The earliest coins were lumps of mixed gold and silver, called electrum, but Aengina improved upon the idea by using almost pure silver, and standardizing the weight and shape of each lump of metal. Aeginite turtles were released not intended strictly for local use; it's been estimated that Aegina minted over 10,000 turtles per year for over 70 years. The sheer number of coins minted has permitted many of those coins to survive to the present day. There are many fine examples of Aegina turtles available on the market, all of them of intrinsic value both beautiful and historical) and of course the hare (the hare was a sacred animal to Aphrodite and Eros; hares were often presented as a gift of love).
Moonlight and Hares. Hare is a sacred animal to Goddess Aphrodite. Goddesses and witches are said to shape-shift into hares
Never Alone, Luna Moon Hare (Luna on Swan). Swan is Goddess Aphodite's familiar, and she's often depited as serenely flying on her Swan through the sky or riding a swan-drawn chariot
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