March, and spring mean the return of such beauties as this, a lovely forest nymph.

Now that a most brutal February has finally passed, we can welcome March into the year of 2015. Although March can be cruel–snow and cold are not uncommon in the first two weeks of March–by the end of the month, with the lengthening days and more abundant light, we can begin to enjoy burgeoning spring. Yes, we being to feel light and warmth, the lovely wonders of spring.

March is the month that spring begins, and spring is the time when those lovely and mysterious forest nymphs, sorely absent during the cruelty of winter, return to our world. I can hardly wait. My soul longs for such visions of beauty.

Mars is also named after the Roman god of warfare, Mars. It is named so because March was the month in the calender year that men could, after the cold of winter, once again resume the ancient habit of warfare. One of the great stories in the mythology is the union of Venus and Mars, the goddess of love and the god of warfare, both of whom represent the deeper and often more destructive passions of man. Poets and artists throughout the ages have enjoying depicting the two together, often in the few moments after they have had sex. One of my favorite depictions is that by the great Italian artist Botticelli, a man who knew how to paint beautiful women with a sensuality like few others have.

Venus and Mars, by Botticelli, ca. 1483.

I am sure most women would find the image of the virulent but now sleeping Mars after his sexual liaison with Venus rather amusing. Even gods have their weaknesses.