Sulum Factum Magus

One of the Deities that I have worked with ever since I became a pagan, is the Lady Epona. I remember the time well when she first spoke to me. It was when I was browsing through the book “Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses”, by R.J. Stewart. There is a beautiful painting of the Goddess Epona, with straight black hair, and carrying a sheave of wheat, surrounded by birds. As soon as I saw that picture, it touched me straight away, and I knew that I would dedicate myself to her service. And so I did. This is how I invoke the Lady Epona in my circle:

“Dear Lady, who rides the white mare,
Who rides in ebullience, joy and focussed abandon,
Dear Lady who brings forth all plenty and abundance,
Dear Lady from whose womb comes all life,
In whom We are brother and sister to all that live”

I make a special point of working with Lady Epona between Beltaine and Midsummer. She is wont to appear in my circle riding her white horse, festooned with jingling bells, as in the old nursery rhyme:

“Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes”

Beltaine is the time of the sacred marriage between the young solar king and the spirit of the Land, which is Celtic legend is often personified by a Lady who takes the shape of a horse. I like to ride behind her, on her white horse, listening to the jingling bells, and feeling the animal strength beneath me.

In other legends, the queen of Fairy is said to ride a white horse. When I was growing up, a game we used to play driving along was that we had to cross our fingers whenever we saw a white horse. We couldn’t uncross them until we saw a dog. Could it have been the vestiges of an old Irish custom – crossing the fingers to avoid the bad luck of being swept off to Fairy Land on the back of the fairy queen’s white horse?

In the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, The Queen of Elfland appears on a milk white stead with “fifty silver bells and nine”. Thomas kisses the queen on her rosy lips, and then must go with her to Fairyland and serve her for seven years, after which she grants him the gift of prophecy. There is much behind this legend, in my view, which serves as a guide to the significance of the sacred marriage and initiation. I am sure that those who wish to work with it in depth will find it very rewarding.

For a version of the ballad of Thomas The Rhymer, see here.

Blessed Be

Robyn

Many people seem to regard the equinoxes as times of balance, where day and night occur in equal proportions. However in my view, this does not describe adequately the energy which comes to a focus at the equinoxes. They symbolize for me a period of rapid change. At the spring equinox the days are getting longer each day, more quickly than at any other time of year. At the autumn equinox, similarly, days are shortening at a greater rate than at any other time. The equinoxes are, above all, times of rapid and dynamic change.

Some people may equate the concept of balance with stillness. Stillness, and stasis, are exactly the opposite of the energies moving at the equinoxes. Stillness and stasis, where change is minimal, are the energies associated with the solstices, winter and summer.

A helpful analogy is the movement of the tides. High tide corresponds to the summer solstice. The current is still, but the water level is high. It’s a nice time to swim in the water. Then, as the tide falls, the current begins to pick up, and the current reaches its peak halfway between high water and low water. This is the autumn equinox, a time of dynamic change and lengthening days. Psychically there is a strong inwardly moving and gathering current, which may be harnessed to inward journeying and introspection. Just as with strong tides in the ocean, it is difficult to swim against this current. One must go with it, or quickly become fatigued.

As the cycle continues, the current slackens until low tide, where the current dies away and the water is still. This corresponds to the winter solstice, where the traditional yule-tide blessing of “Peace on Earth and goodwill towards all” sums up the energy nicely. It is in such stillness that one may nourish the connection with the greater organism that links all on this planet. As the tide turns, the current begins to pick up, and halfway to high tide, the current is at its strongest. This is the spring equinox, with its current of dynamic upward and outward movement, and quickly lengthening days. In the plant world, sprouting and growing are at their peak, in the animal world, mating is going on. Activity is at its height! As the tide continues to come in, the current slows, until again at the summer solstice we have a point of stillness and stasis, a time when many people feel like taking holidays.

Magically speaking, then, I see the equinoxes as times of dynamic change and rapid movement of energy. This energy, outward flowing and disseminating in Spring, and inward gathering in Autumn, may be used and harnessed, but it is unwise, in my opinion, to seek to oppose it. The solstices, I see as times of peace and stillness. While both solstices have this energy of stasis, the winter solstice is a time of stillness at its most contracted, while summer solstice is a time of stillness at its most expanded.

The tides of the ocean are caused by the moon’s gravitational pull attracting the water of the sea. However the tides always lag behind the path of the moon, by different amounts in different places, depending on the local conditions. So high tide is never when the moon is directly overhead, but always some time afterwards.

I believe that the same phenomena may be observed with the solstices and equinoxes, which are determined astrologically by the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The local energies will have their peak, trough, and periods of greatest change after, not exactly at, the solstices and equinoxes.

So next time you celebrate the equinoxes, spare a thought for the dynamic change and movement of energy that underlies the brief equality of day and night, and perhaps consider how you might harness that magical current to assist you and your loved ones to come to a dynamic balance within yourselves, and within the greater organism of which we are all a part.

Blessed Be

Rob

Today is winter solstice. There are a few people coming over this afternoon to do a winter solstice circle, and have a bit of a get together afterwards. So I have been thinking a little bit about the meaning of winter solstice, and what we will end up doing. I went to a nice Yule circle the other day, and there was a Yule log, carved with intentions for the coming year. People also wrote down intentions on pieces of paper, and poked them into cracks in the log. It was nice.

I have a number of things going through my mind. Among them is the story of Gawain and the Green Knight, a development of the theme of the battle between the summer and winter Lords, in which each chops off the head of the other. In Gawain and the Green knight, this story takes place at Yule, or actually Christmas, since it has been Christianized. Gawain accepts the Green Knight’s dare to lop off his head, and promises to submit himself to a blow from the Green Knight in his turn, at the following Christmas. Doubtless, he was thinking he would have nothing to fear from a thoroughly dead and headless knight. However the headless Green Knight simply picks up his head, and holding it under his arm, walks out. So Gawain is honour bound to keep his bargain, and at the following Samhain, sets out to seek the Green Knight, and his home, the Chapel Perilous, and so fulfil his promise. I can’t help feeling that Gawain is taking the path of the dead from Samhain to Yule, just like the winter sun itself. A rash and impetuous youngster, will have his honour and courage tested. In so doing, he will be born into his adult self, with the help of the Green Knight.

An on-line text for Gawain and the Green Knight is available and the wikipaedia article  is worth a look for the quick run-down. But get hold of the Norton Anthology of English Literature if you can– I think the translation in that august volume is superbly poetical!

The theme of re-birth is, of course, appropriate for winter solstice, which is the re-birth of the sun. It strikes me that there are many re-births throughout life, where we transition into a new phase of existence, with new self awareness, new self understanding, new responsibility, new abilities, new vision and commitment. Sometimes life throws these moments at us which stimulate such a transition. However the magical person cultivates these transitions and growth steps, and develops the awareness to grasp them when they arrive.

It has set me thinking about what we may be able to do with our Yule circle. There are transitions and growth every day, if we choose to recognise it, cultivate it, and allow it. So I think maybe this Yule we can work on recognising transition and growth. Perhaps even more so, on focussing transition and growth, and crystallising transition and growth.

Ritual can and should be a means of transforming the inner landscape of the soul, and connecting and harmonizing it with the realm of the collective consciousness, the greater consciousness, the consciousness of Mother Earth, and with the energies of the spiritual currents that sustain and fertilize her.

Yule to me is about the child of the sacred marriage. On the Lord and Lady’s Beltane romp, a child was conceived, which now is born. The child of the sacred marriage is the child of promise, when magical and spiritual awareness comes into operation, and the potential of knowledge and awareness takes shape and form. The child of promise is the beginning of the journey, once the eyes have been opened. But the journey is still before one. In fact it is the journey of Gawain, setting off at Samhain to face his fears and stand by his honour.

So it is a celebration of the mother, in all her fertility, and the love and pain of childbirth. A celebration of the fruits of the sacred marriage. The joy and love of coupling, is balanced by the pain and exhilaration of childbirth. It is a celebration of potential, as yet unrealized, and so an acknowledgment that all of us have unrealized potential. Often it is fear, and want of courage, that prevents our potential from being realized, or causes us to develop it in a negative way. Like Gawain, we must develop the courage to face death in order to allow our potential to grow.

Facing death can occur in a number of ways. It doesn’t  mean to take gratuitous physical risks and behave in a foolhardy fashion. This serves no great spiritual or developmental purpose. It does mean having the courage to risk loss of some type, in order to gain what is most important – the knowledge of the true self, and its work. What is there to lose? Well, it strikes me that what we have to lose is all the fond ideas and self conceptions we harbour about ourselves, the mental constructions we have of who we are, and what we can and can’t do, both conscious and unconscious.

These constructions are not our true self, but the like the tower of the tarot, imprison us inside a comfortable cell we call ourselves. A bolt of lightning is required to bring that tower crashing down, so that the true self may be re-born from the rubble of the collapsed tower, so that the true self has a chance to manifest its destiny in our lives.

This bolt of lightning is the sword of the Green Knight, and like Gawain, we fear it, and desire it. As death releases us as spirit from the physical body, a spiritual death and re-birth releases the spirit from the bondage of the mental tower.

There is of course much more to the story of Gawain and the Green Knight, and indeed to Yule, but that is enough to work on for this Yule. It might be nice to

enact the story of the Green Knight, so that we acknowledge the different roles we play for each other. Perhaps each person can be challenged by death. This of course opens another Yule resonance, with the Saturnalia of ancient

The bolt of lightning works individually, but also collectively, so part of our circle may be to call in a bolt of lightning for the collective consciousness – all for the highest good of all, of course!