Spring Equinox

Also: Ostara, Eostre, Lady Day, Easter, Alban Eilir, Festival of Trees

The Equinox

The Spring Equinox is one of the four solar Sabbats. Equi + nox derives from a combination of Latin words meaning “equal" + “night." The two Equinoxes are the only days of the year when both day and night are of equal duration. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates Spring Equinox in March.

Modern calendars state that spring begins on the equinox. According to the old folk calendar, spring is at its peak at the this time.  Imbolc, the end of winter, is past, while Beltane, the beginning of summer, awaits in the future.

Themes

The Spring Equinox is a marvelous and muddy time of year.  It is the perfect time to perform the magic of planting.  There are few miracles in the world to rival the bursting forth of fresh green life and beautiful spring flowers from the damp soil that has lied dormant and seemingly dead all winter.  Sap rises in the trees, giving a blood red color to the new growth of saplings, and animals emerge from their winter dens, ready to find mates.  The world seems new and reborn, and indeed, these are the themes of this Sabbat.

The zodiacal calendar year begins anew with this Sabbat, with the sun at zero degrees Aries marking the Equinox itself.  This is also traditionally the time of year when dying-resurrecting vegetation Gods are risen, such as Attis, Osiris, and Jesus.

Ostara is the popular Neo-Pagan name for this Sabbat, and it derives its origin from a Germanic Goddess of Springtime.  She in turn took her name from the root Eostre, which is where we get the words east, estrogen, and Easter.  Her symbols of worship include the rabbits and eggs, which were painted in the colors of the newly blossomed flowers that sprung up in her footsteps.  Ostara/Eostre was literally the “eastern star”, or Venus.  She  ruled the fecundity of life that bursts forth at Spring and is related to Middle Eastern Venusian Goddesses such as Ishtar, Inanna, and Esther.

Traditions

Egg decorating, hunting, gifting, and begging are all traditionally associated with the Spring Equinox.  It was once common in England for young men to blacken their faces and go door to door singing songs about springtime in exchange for a colored egg, a hot crossed bun, or a bit of milk punch.

The hot crossed bun has little to do with the Christian symbolism of the cross, and more to do with the equal-armed cross marking the equinox when days and nights were equal.  Later on the crossed bun took on the same folk magical properties that the Host of the Good Friday Mass would, with the ability to heal the sick and bless anyone who partook of the Paschal treat.  It is also thought that the hot cross bun took on some of the symbolism of the eucharist, itself a wafer marked with a cross.  There are many early modern English folk spells (pre- and post-Reformation) that involve Cunning Folk using the host (presumably sneaked out under the tongue during Mass) to banish sickness and bring healing.

The Spiral Castle Tradition

In our tradition Spring Equinox is one of the time of year when  we pay homage to the Golden Queen.  This is Hulda in her fiery aspect, Brigid as the Lady of fire and Spring, and Aphrodite as the Golden Goddess.  She is the herald of the waxing sunlight.

The Spiral Castle is turned to face the northeast castle, the Castle of Revelry, whose treasure is the golden lantern.  The golden lantern is a beacon to the initiate on the path, the lantern of the Hermit, and it hold the inspirational light of Awen within it. The Castle of Revelry sits on an island in the lake of fire.  It is the hall of Valhalla and is filled with heroes of myth and legend.

The Rambles of Spring

There's a cold and wintry breeze blowing through the buddin' trees
and I've buttoned up my coat to keep me warm
But the days are on the mend and I'm on the road again
With me fiddle snuggled close beneath my arm

I've a fine felt hat and a strong pair of brouges
I have rosin in me pocket for me bow
and my fiddle strings are new and I've learned a tune or two
So I'm well prepared to ramble, I must go

I'm as happy as a king, when I catch a breath of Spring
and the grass is turning green as winter ends
and the Geese are on the wing, as the Thrushes start to sing
and I'm headed down the road to see my friends

~by Tommy Makem

Correspondences

Colors: Pastels such as blue, yellow, and pink, also gold, green, and red
Herbs: Chamomile, Hibiscus, Rosemary, Lavender, Coltsfoot, Patchouli, Daffodil, Grape Vines, Crocus, Strawberry
Foods: Hard-boiled eggs, honey cakes, pancakes, waffles, nuts, milk punch, bean sprouts, hot-cross buns

Autumn Equinox 2012 Photos

Autumn Equinox 2012 altar.  At this Sabbat we celebrate the Grail Queen of the Silver Castle -- Castle Perilous -- as Cerridwen-Babalon. We drink deeply of her bloody cup, and rejoice in the coming of the Season of the Witch.

Altar detail.  The lovely stone sphere is Chimera Stone (tm).  The large gold and scarlet chalice is the Cup of Babalon, used each year during the Feast of the Beast at the Babalon Rising Festival.

At the base of the altar are L-R: coven chalices, the Spiral Castle, Tubal Cain & his anvil, coven member totems, salt water, sterile lancets, and our Grimoire.

The Housle Song
To the tune of Greensleeves

To Housle now we walk the wheel
We kill tonight the blood red meal
A leftward tread of magic's mill
To feed the Gods and work our Will.

Red, red is the wine we drink

Red, red are the cords we wear

Red, red is the Blood of God

And red is the shade of the Housle.

Sabbat Wine, Flying Ointment & Enthogens

Entheogen is a Greek derived word that means "generating the divine within." An entheogen, therefore, is a psychoactive substance that is used in a religious, spiritual or shamanic context. Traditional Witches have used entheogens of several types for centuries, as recorded in the lore of mythology, in the records of the trials and persecutions, and in the regional indigenous shamanic practices  that have been assimilated into the Craft various locales.

Among the most commonly used and widely known entheogens in European and American Witchcraft practice are Sabbat Wine and Flying Ointment. These are the two on which we'll focus our attentions in this exploration. (While there are many and varied regional entheogens that have found their way into Craft practice in some form or another, they are just too numerous for me to mention here. Furthermore, I really don't feel qualified to speak on them since I'm very inexperienced with them.)



Sabbat Wine

Wine, just as it is, constitutes a powerful entheogen. The Dying and Resurrected God is embodied int he wine in the form of Dionysos -- and in Jesus, for that matter, whose symbolism and mythology associates him with the wine. Dionysos, though, is the "Twice Born" God of the Vine, and his cup is the offering of ecstasy and madness. "I am the vine," he says, and he offers insight into death and rebirth, despair and joy.

Many Witches drink wine -- either a little or a lot -- as a part of their Sabbat rites no matter what. In American Folkloric Witchcraft, we include Sabbat Wine for two separate and distinct purposes -- and the wine is different depending on that purpose.

If we are celebrating the Housle as we usually do within the regular course of ritual, we will sacrifice a cup of red wine. It is the shed blood of the Red Meal that is the Housle.  In this instance, we don't add anything to the wine because we don't need any additional entheogenic effect.

If, however, we are doing trance work, flying out, seiding, or otherwise seeking an altered state of consciousness, we might prepare our special Sabbat Wine (vinum sabbati). We also prepare this Sabbat Wine for initiations. In our case, the vinum sabbati is a local sweet red wine (Oliver Soft Red) in which mugwort and lemongrass have been mulled. After straining the herbs, we add local honey to sweeten the mix and cut the bitterness of the mugwort. Both mugwort and lemongrass have gentle psychoactive properties.

It's interesting to note that the term "vinum sabbati" has actually been associated with flying ointment, or the witches' salve, which is the other major entheogen of witchcraft. In fact, Nigel Jackson said flying ointment was "the black wine of owls."

Flying Ointment

This greasy, trance-inducing substance was traditionally made of hallucinogenic (and often fatal) herbs that had been boiled in pig fat and then strained. It was called "green salve" or "witches' ointment" and it some of the stock ingredients (solinicaeds) caused a "flying" sensation as the hallucination began -- hence the popular image of the flying witch.

Great care had to be taken in preparing this ointment, though. Traditional ingredients included such components as henbane, monkshood, deadly nightshade, belladonna, hemlock, and mandrake -- all lethal in too large a dose. In some cases, that does could be quite small. One witch learned from another how to properly prepare the salve and how to administer it to herself, and I'm sure it was still "At your own risk, sister."

I'm simply not a brave enough woman to fool around with these poisons. So, I looked to some of the other traditional ingredients in the old flying ointments -- the ingredients that wouldn't cause a person to exsanguinate from their skin, for example. (Belladonna does that. It's the key ingredient in rat poison.) Cinquefoil and Balm of Gilead made the cut from the old recipes. Then, I gathered together herbs known for trance and vision work -- many of which I'd already used successfully. Mugwort, Dittany of Crete, lemongrass, clary sage, wormwood, rue.

I use vegetable shortening as the fat, and I add benzoin powder and vitamin E for preservation. None of the last is traditional in any way, but I want it to last and not get funky.

Our coven uses this mix a fair amount. We fly out at just about every Sabbat. Does my blend make you trip? No. Does it help you fly? Oh yeah. Everybody whose used it add reported back has shared positive results. At this point, that's been a fair few people, since we do sell this in our Etsy shop.

Beltane

(Bel-taine)
Also: May Day, Walpurgis, Roodmas

Beltane, celebrated at the peak of spring around early May, is one of the four main fire festivals native to Celtic culture. The other festivals, commonly referred to in Neopaganism as the "Greater Sabbats" are Imbolc, at the peak of winter, Lammas, at the peak of summer, and Samhain at the peak of autumn. Beltane is usually celebrated on May 1st and the night prior to it, although some celebrate the festival on its alternate date, astrologically determined by the sun's reaching 15-degrees Taurus.

Origins of Beltane

In Irish mythology, the beginning of the summer season for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians started at Bealtaine. Great bonfires would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year, and were accompanied with ritual acts to protect the people from any harm by Otherworldly spirits, such as the Aos Sí. Like the festival of Samhain, opposite Beltane on 31 October Beltane was also a time when the Otherworld was seen as particularly close at hand. Excavations at Uisnech in the 20th century provided evidence of large fires taking place.

Etymology

In Irish Gaelic, the month of May is known as Mí Bhealtaine or Bealtaine, and the festival as Lá Bealtaine ('day of Bealtaine' or, 'May Day').

Since the early 20th century it has been commonly accepted that Old Irish Bel(l)taine is derived from a Common Celtic *belo-te(p)niâ, meaning "bright fire" (where the element *belo- might be cognate with the English word bale [as in 'bale-fire'] meaning 'white' or 'shining'; compare Anglo-Saxon bael, and Lithuanian/Latvian baltas/balts, found in the name of the Baltic; in Slavic languages byelo or beloye also means 'white', as in Беларусь (White Russia or Belarus) or Бе́лое мо́ре [White Sea]). A more recent etymology by Xavier Delamarre would derive it from a Common Celtic *Beltinijā, cognate with the name of the Lithuanian goddess of death Giltinė, the root of both being Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- "suffering, death".

In middle Europe, May 1st is celebrated as Walpurgisnacht, named after the English missionary Saint Walburga. As Walburga was canonized on 1st of May, she became associated with May Day, especially in the Finnish and Swedish calendars. The eve of May day, traditionally celebrated with dancing, came to be known as Walpurgisnacht ("Walpurga's night").

Themes

Fertility is the major theme of this festival, as it is a reflection of the fertility of the earth at this time of year.  Maypoles, which are phallic symbols, are wrapped in ribbons through a weaving dance on this day.

Purification is another theme of this festival, and the fires associated with it. Saining, the process of ritually purifing something by exposing it to open flame, was common during this time in the form magnificent bonfires that are lept for luck, prosperity, and fertility.  Saining also takes place with the livestock, which was traditionally driven between two bonfires to bless and protect them.

The bonfires hold the secondary role of "burning away" the last remenants of winter, that summer may come in.  The old English round "Sumer Is Icumen In" is often sung with this in mind as the bonfires blaze high.

    Sumer is Icumen in,
    Loudly sing, cuckoo!
    Grows the seed and blows the mead,
    And springs the wood anew;
    Sing, cuckoo!
    Ewe bleats harshly after lamb,
    Cows after calves make moo;
    Bullock stamps and deer champs,
    Now shrilly sing, cuckoo!
    Cuckoo, cuckoo
    Wild bird are you;
    Be never still, cuckoo!

Also on this day are parades with mummers in traditional roles such as the 'obby 'oss, the May Queen, and the Puck.  The May Queen is chosen each year from the Maidens of the area to represent the Goddess in her youthful springtime aspect.

May bushes are decorated with eggs, ribbons, and garlands.  These May bushes were usually the hawthorn, which blooms in May, and which is famously collected when "going a maying".  May bushes gave way to may boughs, which are also of hawthorn.  Usually bringing hawthorn indoors is considered bad luck, but it is worse luck to not "bring in the may" on this day!

Bannocks, which are fire-cooked oat cakes, are made an eaten in celebration of Beltane.  These are known as belcakes.  Morwynn of House Shadow Drake writes of their own family's bannock traditions (and includes a recipe!) here: http://www.shadowdrake.com/bannock.html

In addition to the promise of spring, and prognostication, other neopagan themes common to Beltane include the transformation of the Goddess from Maiden to Lover (this is often celebrated by enactment of the Great Rite in the fields) and the wooing of the sun God. These differ according to various traditions.

The Spiral Castle Tradition

In our tradition Beltane is one of the two times of year when  we pay homage to Tubal Cain.  This is Qayin in his fiery aspect, rising in the east.  He is the Morning Star, the bringer of light and enlightenment to mankind.

The Spiral Castle is turned to face the East Gate, place of Fire, Spring has risen triumphant in our area of the country, and the Lord of the fiery forge of creation holds sway.  The Wheel is turning to the bright promise of summer once again, and there is great rejoicing.

Beltane Chant (by Rudyard Kipling):
O do not tell the priests of our arts,
for they would call it sin!
We will be in the woods all night
A-conjuring conjuring summer in.
And we bring you good news by word of mouth.
For women, cattle, and corn:
The sun is coming up from the south,
By oak and ash, and thorn!
(Continue chanting 'by oak and ash and thorn')

Correspondences

Colors: Deep green, white, red, pink, orange, violet
Herbs: Mandrake, Damania, Basil, Patchouli, Violet, Vanilla, Rose, Frankincense, Lilac
Foods: pork, beef, red fruits, wine, mead, oat and barley pancakes

Imbolc

(im-bulk or em-bowlk)
Also: Candlemas, Oiemalg, Bride's Day, Oimelc, Brigid's Day, Brigantia

Brigid Crosses

Imbolc, celebrated at the peak of winter around early February, is one of the four main fire festivals native to Celtic culture. The other festivals, commonly referred to in Neopaganism as the "Greater Sabbats" are Beltane, at the peak of spring, Lammas, at the peak of summer, and Samhain at the peak of autumn. Imbolc is usually celebrated on February 2nd and the night prior to it, although some celebrate the festival on its alternate date, astrologically determined by the sun's reaching 15-degrees Aquarius.

Origins of Imbolc

The earliest recorded instance of Imbolc comes from the Irish epic poem "Tochmare Emire", a part of the Ulster Cycle, where Cu Chulainn is attempting to woo Emer. Challenging the hound of Chulain to go without sleep for a year, Emer names the major calendar days, including:

    "Imbolc, when the ewes are milked at spring's beginning."

The origins of Imbolc appear to be much older than the Ulster Cycle, however, as ancient inhabitants of Ireland built a number of Megalithic and Neolithic sites aligned with the sun on this day. Loughcrew burial mounds and the Mound of the Hostages in Tara, Ireland are two examples of these monuments. Here, the inner chamber of the passage tombs are perfectly aligned with the rising sun of both Imbolc and Samhain, so that the rising Imbolc sun shines down the long passageway and illuminates the inner chamber of the tomb.

Loughcrew Burial Mound

Etymology

Many neopagan texts state that Imbolc translates to "in the belly" or "in the mother" to signify the stirring and quickening of new life in the Goddess, but this is an incorrect translation. Although its linguistic origins are lost to time, Imbolc is thought to translate more accurately to "sheep's milk", or “in milk”. It is related to the Irish Celtic word folcaim, meaning “to wash”, and it is thought that Imbolc's Indo-European root word was related to both lactation and purification.

Themes

Purification is a reoccuring theme of this festival, and the fires associated with it. Saining, the process of ritually purifing something by exposing it to open flame, was common during this time, but in the form of small interior lighting, rather than the magnificent bonfires that were lept during Beltane.

Prehaps related to these purification aspects of the festival, or even the associations with a seed placed in the earth waiting to sprout soon after this time, Imbolc has become a traditional time for many neopagans to take oaths, or, in some traditions, undergo initiations.

Another aspect of the sacred fire highlighted during Imbolc is light. Imbolc takes place at the peak of winter, midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The days at this point in the year are growing noticably longer, and the return of this light, along with the promise of the spring it brings, is celebrated at Imbolc. This reverance for light was transferred to the lighting of candles when the church transformed Imbolc into Candlemass. Even today it is tradition in some parts of Ireland to light every lamp or candle in the house on the eve of February 2nd.

In addition to Candlemass, the Church called February 2nd the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was believed that women were impure for six weeks after giving birth. Since Mary gave birth at the winter solstice, she wouldn't be purified until February 2nd. Mary was supposed to have gone to the Temple at Jerusalem to make the traditional offering to purify herself. As she entered the temple, an old man named Simeon recognized the baby as the Messiah, and a "light to lighten the Gentiles." Thus the themes of light and purification were kept alive on Imbolc long after its Pagan origins faded.

The Goddess Brigid

Imbolc is also known as Brigid's Day and is associated with the Anglo-Celtic goddess Brigid, who was anciently honored throughout areas that now include Britain, Ireland, and Northern France. She was widespread and known by many name variations including:

Brighid by Hrana Janto

    Brighid (Modern Irish)
    Bríd (Reformed Irish)
    Bridget (Anglicanized)
    Brìghde/Brìde (Scotland)
    Ffraid (Wales)
    Berecyntia (Gaul)
    Brigan
    Brigandu (Gaul)
    Brigantia (Great Britain)
    Brigantis (Great Britain)
    Brigindo (Switzerland)
    Brigida (The Netherlands)

   

The goddess Brigid, presided over the hearth and the forge, over the inspiration and skill of sacred art and craft, and over the world of crops, livestock, and nature. In the Scottish Highlands every morning the fire was kindled with an invocation to Bride:

    "I will build the hearth
    As Mary would build it.
    The encompassment of Bride and of Mary
    Guarding the hearth, guarding the floor,
    Guarding the household all."

The 10th-century Cormac’s Glossary states that Brigid was the daughter of the Dagda, the “Great God” of the Tuatha de Danaan. It states Brigid to be a...

    “woman of wisdom... a goddess whom poets adored, because her protection was very great and very famous."

Since poetry was interwoven with aspects of divination Brigid was also seen as the inspiration behind divination and prophecy, marking Imbolc as a festival associated with prophecy.

Brigid the Bright One is said to have had two sisters: Brigid the Physician and Brigid the Smith, but it is generally thought that all three were aspects of a single triple goddess.

St. Brigit

The early Church could not very easily call the Great Goddess of Ireland a demon, so they opted to canonized her instead. She would become Saint Brigit, patroness of poetry, and healing. The church's explanation to the Irish peasants was that Brigit was actually an early Christian missionary, and that the miracles she performed misled the common people into believing that she was a goddess.

In some of the many legends about St. Brigit, there is a belief that she was the foster-mother of Jesus, Jesus having spent some part of his boyhood in Britain and Ireland, or that she was the mid-wife at his birth.

John Duncan's famous paining of Saint Bride

depicts two angels carrying her across the sea to nurse Jesus.

At her shrine in Kildare, a group of 19 priestesses kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. In the twelfth century, Gerald of Wales wrote that when he visited the convent that there used to be twenty nuns keeping watch over the flame during Brigid's lifetime; but since her death, nineteen took turns, one each night, in guarding the fire. When the twentieth night came, the nineteenth nun put the logs beside the fire and said: “Brigid, guard your fire. This is your night.” In the morning, the wood was found burned and the fire still alight.

Brigid is honored on Imbolc, again by the kindling of sacred fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration.

Welcoming Brigid

On Brigid’s Eve, it was common during the eighteenth century to weave 'bride crosses' from wheat stalks, rushes, or straw, and place the weaving in a windowsill or from the rafters to give welcome to Brigid, who is said to walk the earth on this night. Ribbons were once tied to trees outside on Imbolc Eve so that they might be blessed by her wandering spirit to become powerful healing charms.

Corn Dollies

Welcoming Brigid was a common theme for Imbolc Eve, and even into the ninteenth century women on the Isle of Manx could be found weaving corn dollies into roughly human shapes, and dressing them in white lace and linen. These were then decorated with flowers, shells, ribbons, and crystals, with an especially bright bauble attached to the area over the doll's heart to signify the star over the stable in Bethlehem that led Bride to the Christ child.

These symbolic goddess figures would then be placed in a 'bed', usually a basket or small box, alongside a peeled and beribboned wand of birch or willow. The bed of Bride was then set near the hearth. One of the women would then open the door and call out softly, "Bride's bed is ready.", to which the remaining women inside would answer, "Let Bride come in, Bride is welcome." Together all would then chant "Bride, Bride, come in." The next day, divinations were made in the patterns of the ashes of the hearth. To see a "footprint" of Bride in the ashes was especially fortunate.

Groundhog's Day

Today February 2nd is a time of weather prognostication, and the old Scottish tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to Groundhog Day. Alexander Carmichael's Carmina Gadelica preserves the rhyme:

    Thig an nathair as an toll
    La donn Bride,
    Ged robh tri traighean dh’ an t-sneachd
    Air leachd an lair.


    "The serpent will come from the hole
    On the brown Day of Bride,
    Though there should be three feet of snow
    On the flat surface of the ground."

In addition to the promise of spring, and prognostication, other neopagan themes common to Imbolc include the transformation of the Goddess from Crone to Maiden (the Maiden is usually symbolized by wearing a crown of candles), the nursing of the young sun God, the completion of 12 labors by the sun God, the and the peak of the Holly King's power. These differ according to various traditions.

The Spiral Castle Tradition


In our tradition Imbolc is the time we honor the Black Goddess at her peak.  We see the Black Goddess as the Bean Nighe, the Morrigan, the Cailleach, and the weaver, spinner, and cutter of Fate's thread.

The Spiral Castle is turned to face the North Gate, place of Air, Winter has a strong hold on the earth in our area of the country, and the Lady of Fate, Battle, and Life in Death holds sway.  The Wheel is about to turn to the light half of the year, and there is rejoicing for that hope, along with mourning for the things we have lost in the darkness.

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.

~ Adapted from Ancient Gaelic

Correspondences

Colors: white, red, brown, pink, lavender, silver, and light yellow
Herbs: Gardenia, Rose, Basil, Violets, White flowers, Blackberry, Myrrh, Angelica, Bay, Wisteria, Crocus
Foods: Sunflower seeds, poppy seed cakes, breads, dairy products, peppers, wine, tea
Taboos: Harvesting of any kind, including picking flowers is not allowed on this day

Samhain

Samhain is the point in the Wheel that is directly opposite to Beltane, and the intents behind the holiday and the season are, subsequently, directly opposite to those of the fertility and mirth of Beltane. However, they are connected along the road that leads through the center of the compass, and they are both presided over by Tubal Cain, denoting their inherent connection and potency. In the case of Samhain, Tubal Cain guards the Western Gate of the compass, the gate that leads to the western sea and the immortal lands -- the Lands of the Dead. This is his quench tank, an alchemical mate to the forge fire of Beltane's East Gate.


Samhain is one of the portal times during the year, and it is one that many Pagans credit as the strongest portal time. It is a time when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is the thinnest, and communication and passage between the worlds is easiest. It is a time to commune with deceased ancestors and loved ones. Though we should honor and rever our ancestors throughout the year, this is the perfect time of year to set aside sacred time to honor those who have passed.

Of course, since the veil is so thin, it is also expected that some rather nasty spirits might enter through the veil at this time, which can cause folks to be wary. Guardians of various types have been placed at doors and windows and hearth (all the entry ways into the home) to keep unwanted and unwelcome spirits out. The custom of dressing in costume comes from the idea of disguising oneself so as not to be recognized by unfriendly spirits.

Furthermore, it has long been a time of remembrance. The ancients had a deep respect for their ancestors, and this was a time to remember the deeds of forefathers and foremothers. They would recall the names of the people in their lineage and honor them with feasts and gifts. The ancestors would have a special place in the home during this time.

Samhain is contemporarily considered to be the last festival of the harvest, and we have encountered two schools of thought as two how this plays out. One says that Samhain is the final grain harvest and that it was imperative that farmers have all of their crops harvested before sundown on Samhain night. If not, tradition held that whatever was left in the fields belonged to the Sidhe. (We've also seen this said about Fall Equinox, but that simply couldn't apply to American crops.) The other indicates that, in Britain, Samhain would have been past the final grain harvest and would have been into a time that we might consider a "blood harvest" -- the time for slaughtering livestock before the winter comes. Technically speaking, we like the mytho-poetry of both schools of thought. However, we are trying to be practical about the Craft that we practice and the area where we live. In Indiana (where we literally live surrounded by fertile farmland), the harvest cycle has looked like this:

* Lammas -- call it "loaf mass" if you like, but it's not grain we're pulling in; it's tomatoes and squash -- the first ... veggies!
* Fall Equinox -- apples, more veggies, early corn, early wheat, early soy -- It'll be another week or two before the grains are really ready.
* Samhain -- the rest of the grains have been or are being harvested now. It's a race. November really is too late. As for the "blood harvest?" Maybe so.




Samhain Traditions

We celebrate Samhain as season, a "month" unto itself --  a two week period extending from October 15th until Octiber 31. This is a time for us to honor our genealogical and spiritual ancestors. We seek guidance from them, insight about the lessons from the pervious year and advice for work to be done in the coming year. We are making provisions within ourselves for the winter months ahead.  This is a time of reflection on death and rebirth -- contemplating beginnings and endings. As such, it is a time of introspection, reflection, communication with the Otherworld and Underworld. It is a time of profound spiritual growth. (It can be quite intense.)


We begin the cycle by Welcoming the Ancestors. In this ritual, we bring our skulls in token of all our ancestors – biological, spiritual, and otherwise. We then empower these skulls to be a vessel in which our ancestors can be manifest during the 13th month. Part of this ritual always includes a “genealogy chant” said by each person in attendance. (Women may name their mothers’ mothers, for instance as far back as they have knowledge of. Men may do likewise with their fathers’ fathers. Or, there could be a blending.) We work with skulls as a means of "tapping the bone" -- tapping into the knowledge, wisdom (hence, the skulls) and power of our Mighty Dead.  (As a note, human skulls, though *somewhat* available as curios, are extraordinarily expensive and are NOT necessary for this work. What you want is something realist -- either in look or material. Go for a realist replica from a science shop, a crafty skull of some sort, a Halloween prop that won't make you laugh, or an animal skull -- real bone, just not human.)

In the same general time-frame as the Welcoming the Ancestors ritual, we also empower our pumpkin guardians. Sometimes this is done as a group, and sometimes we do it individually. Whatever the case, one pumpkin is chosen for each member of the household, carved and empowered to protect that person and the home from harmful spirits during the 13th month. Some of the families choose an extra pumpkin to protect the family as a whole, as well. These are place outside the door and lit each night at dark during the duration of the 13th month.

The Dumb Feast is a ritual feast held to honor the ancestors. The entire ritual (from the point of laying the compass to eating the feast to finishing the ritual) is carried out in silence. A portion of the food from each person’s plate should be reserved for their ancestors. Their skull is placed in honor next to or in front of each person.

Individual dark mirror, cauldron, and skull trances -- We strive to do a great deal of individual meditation and trance-work with our cauldrons, dark mirrors and skulls, since they are among the key symbolic tools we associate with this Sabbat.

Autumn Equinox

The peak of Autumn is celebrated at the Autumnal Equinox, a time when the days and nights are of equal length and nature puts on her most spectacular show. Here in the midwest we are deep within a deciduous forest that erupts with color at this time of year.  In addition to the riot of fall color we are enjoying the second harvest of the year.  Apples and grapes, melons and tubers, and, of course, the harvest of the corn all take place during this time. In Indiana we are surrounded by vast fields of maize that will be harvested for sweet corn, popcorn, animal feed, and even new bio-fuels.  It is truly a time to celebrate.

The Autumnal Equinox is commonly celebrated as the solar Sabbat of Mabon, but we reject this nomenclature as an anachronism.  Aiden Kelly was the first to use the term Mabon for this holiday around 1970.  Other names for the Autumnal Equinox Sabbat are Harvest Home, the Feast of the Ingathering, Second Harvest, the Feast of Avalon, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Winter Finding, and Alban Elfed.

In his book Stations of the Sun the scholar Ronald Hutton makes clear that there was no anciently celebrated festival for the Autumn Equinox in Britain.  Rather, this was a time of hard working to get the corn harvest in before the first frost.  Each community would hold a small celebration after the harvest was completed, though naturally the date for this event would vary.  This time of year is commonly thought of as the Witches Thanksgiving, a fitting tribute to the glorious harvest that this Sabbat represents.

The spirit of the corn harvest is represented by a corn man, or scarecrow.  This figure is constructed of stalks of grain from the local fields and is in the rough shape of a man.  John Barleycorn, as he is often called, is set to watch over the fields during harvest, and may be burned at the celebration of harvest's end.  His ashes are scattered on the fields to spread his powerful fertilizing influence to next year's crop.

Another common feature of these celebrations is the construction of a Kern baby or Carlin.  The Carlin is a bundle of the last sheaf of grain from a communities' fields.  It represents the spirit of the corn, and is given to the last harvester to finish his field as a "wife".  Sometimes the Carlin is dressed and displayed on a phallic wand.  This then is paraded through the community to bestow blessings of abundance and fertility.

A powerful symbol of this season is the the Cornucopia, or Horn of Plenty.  This is the horn of the goat-mother Amalthea the "Nourishing Goddess" that fed the god Zeus as a fosterling.  From this horn flow all of the riches of the earth: crops, wealth, and livestock.  Pluto, ruler of the wealth of the earth was often depicted bearing the cornucopia. It has a parallel in the cauldron of the Dagda of Celtic myth.  This cauldron was ever-full of nourishment. It could not be emptied.

At the Autumnal Equinox we of the AFW tradition honor the cauldron in its many symbolic forms, including the Holy Grail which heals the wounded king and restores the land.  As the trees turn from verdant green to blood red and shining gold so do we turn inward, and begin the vigil of the ancestors that this time represents.  This is a wonderful time to prepare an ancestral shrine in anticipation of the coming blood harvest of Samhain when the veil is thinnest.

May you have an abundance of blessings as you harvest that which you have sown.

Lammas

Lammas is the first of the three harvest festivals, and is sometimes called "first fruits". It is a symbolic wake for the Sacred King (the Oak King) after his annual sacrifice.  Although it seems here in the Midwest that summer is at its peak, Lammas marks the end of summer and the start of autumn.  It is a time for merry mourning, a recognition that the heady days of summer are limited and that we should rejoice while we can.

Lammas is one of the Greater Sabbats, which occur when the sun is 15 degrees in a fixed sign of the zodiac, in this case, Leo.  This typically happens around August 6th, although tradition places the date at the kalends of the month instead.  Also, since the Celts reckoned their days beginning at sundown, Lammas is properly celebrated beginning on the eve of August first.  Like all of the Sabbats there is a span of roughly twelve days surrounding the holiday that make up a season of celebration.

Lammas takes its name from the Old English "hlaf," meaning "loaf" and "maesse," meaning feast. This was the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings.

In Irish Gaelic, this feast was referred to as Lugnasadh (Loo-nah-sah), a feast to commemorate the funeral games of the Irish sun-god Lugh. However, it is not Lugh's death that is being celebrated, but the funeral games which Lugh hosted to commemorate the death of his foster-mother, Taillte. That is why the Lugnasadh celebrations in Ireland are often called the Tailltean Games. The word element "nasadh" relates to the Gaelic, "to give in marriage," and so Lugnasadh can be interpreted as the "Marriage of Lug."  In relation to this, a common feature of the Tailltean Games were the Tailltean marriages, a rather informal marriage that lasted for only a year and a day or until next Lammas. After the trial year, the couple could decide to continue the arrangement if it pleased them, or to stand back to back and walk away from one another, thus bringing the Tailltean marriage to a formal close.

Lammas was also the traditional time of year for craft festivals. The medieval guilds would create elaborate displays of their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in bright colors and ribbons, marching in parades, and performing strange, ceremonial plays and dances for the entranced onlookers. the modern expression of this is in the many county and state fairs that take place during this time.

The Stag King falls in sacrifice.

There is a strong tradition of sacrifice associated with Lammas.  This is the day the Oak King falls at the hand of the Holly King in order to bless the land. The last recorded sacrifice of a king of England may have occurred at Lammas, in the year 1100. King William II (Rufus the Red, or William Rufus) rejected the relatively new Christian beliefs, and openly declared himself Pagan. His death in a "hunting accident" on August 2, 1100 c.e., is believed by many historians to have been a case of the traditional sacrifice being disguised for the sake of the Christian priests.  The novel "Lammas Night" by Katherine Kurtz (now out of print and hard to find) explores these themes of kingly sacrifice.  It also explores the old witch legend about English covens raising the Cone of Power at Lammas to stop the Nazi invasion during WWII.

Until recent years, in Scotland, the first cut of the Harvest was made on Lammas Day, and was a ritual in itself. The entire family must dress in their finest clothing and go into the fields. The head of the family would lay his hat on the ground and, facing the Sun, cut the first handful of corn with a sickle. He would then put the corn Sun-wise around his head three times while thanking the God of the Harvest for...

"corn and bread,
food and flocks,
wool and clothing,
health and strength,
and peace and plenty."

This custom was called the "Iolach Buana."

In the British Isles, the custom of giving the First Fruits to the Gods evolved into giving them to the landlord. Lammas is now the traditional time for tenant farmers to pay their rent. Thus, Lammas is seen as a day of judgment or reckoning. From this practice comes the phrase "at latter Lammas", meaning "never", or "not until Judgment Day."

A heraldic Catherine Wheel

An old Lammas custom is the construction of the Kern-baby or corn maiden. This figure, originally made from the first sheaf, would be saved until spring, then ploughed into the field to prepare for planting. The Maiden thus returns to the field at Spring.  Another popular Lammas tradition is the rolling of Saint Catherine's Wheels. These are wagon wheels set ablaze and sent rolling down a hill, likely in imitiation of the sun's decline after solstice.

In our own tradition Lammas is the time of year when the White Goddess, who is the Queen of the Fey and Lady of Sovereignty, is at her shining peak.  The Spiral Castle is open to the south gate, and the earth sends forth its bounty in abundance.  It is is a time of celebration, and for "gathering rosebuds while ye may", for it is the last hurrah before the wheel turns to the dark of the year.

There are mysteries here, for just as surely as this is the wedding celebration of the Solar Oak King to the Goddess of the Land, so too is this his death.  Our Lady is La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and to be king you must wed She who is Death in Life.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci on her pale horse.

A Lammas Song
by Robert Burns
traditional to many Book of Shadows

    It was on a Lammas night,
    When corn rigs are bonny,
    Beneath the moon's unclouded light,
    I held away to Annie:
    The time flew by, with tentless heed,
    Till 'tween the late and early;
    With small persuasion she agreed
    To see me through the barley.

CHORUS

    Corn rigs, and barley rigs,
    And corn rigs are bonnie:
    I'll not forget that happy night,
    Among the rigs with Annie.

    The sky was blue, the wind was still,
    The moon was shining clearly;
    I set her down, with right good will,
    Among the rigs of barley
    I knew her heart was all my own;
    I loved her most sincerely;
    I kissed her over and over again,
    Among the rigs of barley.

    I locked her in my fond embrace;
    Her heart was beating rarely:
    My blessings on that happy place,
    Among the rigs of barley.
    But by the moon and stars so bright,
    That shone that hour so clearly!
    She ay shall bless that happy night,
    Among the rigs of barley.

    I have been blithe with Comrades dear;
    I have been merry drinking;
    I have been joyful gathering gear;
    I have been happy thinking:
    But all the pleasures ever I saw,
    Though three times doubled fairly
    That happy night was worth them all.
    Among the rigs of barley.

You may listen to an interpretation of The Lammas Song from the 1973 version of the film The Wicker Man below.

Treading the Mill

Once you have the compass laid, it is time to begin the magical work. But how does one act when in the circle?  In Wicca movement is always clockwise 'round the circle, but in Traditional Craft movement can be deosil or widdershins, depending on the rite.  Also there is a particular form of movement by which we raise power.  This is known as treading the mill.

Robert Cochrane discusses treading the mill in his typically riddling style in one of his letters to Joe Wilson.  Included below is the text.

This is known as "Approaching or Greeting the Altar". There are many altars, one is raised to every aspect you can think upon, but there is only one way to approach an altar or Godstone. There is a practice in the East known as "Kundeline", or shifting the sexual power from it's basic source to the spine and then to the mind. Cattle use this principle extensively, as you will note if you creep silently up to a deer or cow -- since there is always one beast that will turn its back to you, and then twist it's [sic] neck until it regards you out of it's [sic] left or right eye alone. It is interpreting you by what is laughingly known as "psi" power and that is how an altar is used -- with your back to it, and head turned right or left to regard the cross of the Elements and Tripod that are sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians.

If this business of cattle and kundalini sound confusing, it's only Cochrane's way of veiling the mysteries.  What he is getting at is that you are simply circling the "altar... of the Elements and Tripod" while looking over your shoulder at the altar.  You would look over your right shoulder to the center of the circle if you are moving clockwise, and over your left shoulder if moving widdershins.

So what is this secret "cross of the Elements and Tripod that are sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians"?  Cochrane appends a diagram of the device at the end of his letter to Wilson.  It is shown below.

Looks rather ceremonial and pretentious, doesn't it?  Not at all like shamanic, folkloric, Traditional Craft.  Again, this was Cochrane revealing by concealing.  The item that forms the altar in the center of the circle that is as "sacred to the People as the Crucifix is to the Christians" is the stang.  The cross is the base of the symbol for the stang [ + ] and the tripod is the horns of the stang, the three rays of awen [ \|/ ]. Together they create the glyph that Cochrane signs with his name:

So, treading the mill is simply walking around the perimeter of a circle that has a stang raised at its center, while looking directly and intensely at the stang. It is the "crooked path".  The mill can be tread using the lame step, adding honor to Tubal Cain, and special purpose to the use of the staff.

The mill can be danced, although moving through the mill grounds can feel very much like one is hooked up to an old-fashioned mill stone like some beast of burden.  Treading the mill sometimes feels very much like walking against a swift current.

It can be helpful to sing or chant together in order to keep rhythm.  Collected below are some mill songs, some of which we have written ourselves, others which are traditional.

The Mill of Magic

Fire flame and fire burn, make the Mill of Magic turn.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Earth without and earth within, make the Mill of Magic spin.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Water bubble, water boil, make the Mill of Magic toil.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Air breathe and air blow, make the Mill of Magic go.
Work the Will for which we tread by the Black and White and Red.

Power of the Elements

Power of Sky and power of Wind and power of Air the North doth send,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Breath and by out Will.

Power of Spark and power of Fire, power of all our hearts' desire,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Flame and by out Will.

Power of Ice and Water free and power that hides in depth of Sea,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Wave and by out Will.

Power of Stone and power of Land and power of rich Soil in our hands,
We tread the Mill to work our spell, both by your Earth and by out Will.

Lady Weave

Lady weave the Witches' fire
'Round the ring of Caer Sidhe's spire,
Earth and Air and Fire and Water
Bind us to you.

Basque Akelarre Chant

Har har, hou hou!
Eman hetan!  Eman hetan!
Har har, hou hou!
Janicot! Janicot! Janicot! Janicot!
Har har, hou hou!
Jauna Gorril, Jauna Gorril,
Akhera Goiti, Akhera Beiti.

A very rough translation of which is:

White Worm, White Worm!
Look ancients, look ancients!
White Worm, White Worm!
Black-Goat-God! Black-Goat-God! Black-Goat-God! Black-Goat-God!
Look ancients, look ancients!
Red Lord, Red Lord,
Goat above, goat below.

Apparently it was popular with some older curveens to dance the mill with their back to the stang, as is shown in this woodcut from 1594 of a sabbat at Treves.  You can see the dancers in the red box.

This sabbat's stang is alluded to by the enthroned goat with a flaming torch on his head, reminiscent of the stang, Janicot, and Baphomet.  Indeed, I wonder if this was once the way sabbats were held, with a horned God enthroned overseeing the proceedings in place of the stang?

The Lame Step

The "lame step" is one of the old and identifying markers of Witches and of their God. And their Goddess. Nursery rhymes show us the evidence of the lame step in magic, the Forge God (the first and mightiest God of the CRAFT) is more often lamed than not, and the Witches' Goddess  hobbled on a goose's foot.

Let's look at these examples, and then, let's look at what the lamed step signifies.

Azazel (T'Qayin)

The Forge God and the Lame Step

The lame step could be said to originate, as it relates to magic, with the God of the Forge. As Glaux pointed out in her post regarding Witch Blood and Witch Marks, the first being worshiped as a Forge God has been linked to magic. (In his book Masks of Misrule, Nigel Jackson notes his assertion that T'Qayin and Azazel are the same being.) Nearly all Forge Gods were depicted with a lame step or a misshapen leg in antiquity. The mundane reason for this was very likely due to the residual heavy metal poisoning suffered by actual smiths -- or the fact that otherwise strong men who had suffered some crippling childhood disease or injury could still be trained to blacksmith work. Whatever the case, the image of the smith is intimately linked with that of hobbled or ham-strung, yet powerful, man. A man who understands something (and potentially EVERYTHING) related to the alchemical process, and therefore magic. In the case of T'Qayin and Azazel, this image is that of a goat-footed God.

The goat-foot is one variation of lame step, and it is very intimately linked to the forge. That heavy metal poisoning we discussed bunched the muscles of the leg in a way that it pulled the smith's legs and foot up into a position like he was walking on a stiletto heel. Goat-footed God.

The Goose-Footed Goddess

Goose-Foot

The lame step appears again in the Witches' Goddess in at least one instance. In France, there is a notable story of La Reine Pedauque, the goose-footed queen. Though there is some casual optimism that her story is based a historical queen (named Berthe, who loved spinning fanciful tales for children), the goose-foot is never satisfactorily explained. What is absolutely clear is that La Reine Pedauque becomes (or always was) Mother Goose. Clearer still, with even a little digging and reflecting, is that Mother Goose, is so closely related to the Teutonic Hulda that they are reflections of one another.

Frau Hulda, Mother Hulda, Holda, Holle, Hel. She rides a goose through the night sky and is a spinner. She is the Dark Grandmother and the White Lady. In our Tradition, she sits in the Castle of Revelry at the Spring Equinox, the balance of light and dark and guards the Golden Lantern.

With her goose-foot, she shows us another aspect of the lame step.

The Lame Step in Nursery Rhymes

Cock-a-doodle-do!
Cock-a-doodle-do!
My dame has lost her shoe,
My master's lost his fiddle stick
And knows not what to do.


Cock-a-doodle-do! 
What is my dame to do?
Till master finds his fiddle stick,
she'll dance without her shoe.

Glaux and I love (and I mean LOVE) picking apart nursery rhymes for folkloric Craft clues. We'll have to do some entries dedicated to some of the goodies we've found in them. This one caught our interest on a number of levels. I'll stay away from the bits about how the magister needs his blackthorn staff (the master's fiddle stick) and just point out that the dame is inviting the lame step here. Lots of nursery rhymes feature characters with just one shoe. This forces them to hobble a bit -- like their God, like their Goddess. Here, the dame MUST, but then she goes into it gladly, dancing within the compass.

I can think of three others where characters lose a shoe. In one, the boy goes to bed in his stockings, but missing a shoe. In the second, a girl has lost one of her holiday shoes. In the third, the princess dances out of one of her shoes (and again the fiddler is mentioned). All of these not only point to the lame step, but also to the Witches' Sabbat.

What is the Significance of the Lame Step?

The lame step, we've come to realize, is a marker for those who walk between the worlds. Symbolically, it represents having one foot in consensus reality and one foot in the realms beyond the veil. The lame step is a way of showing that you are between the worlds.

Before we had even made this connection, Glaux and I had decided that the compass would be laid by treading the mill using the lame step.

Papa Ghede

Interestingly, Glaux recently had a discussion with a friend and fellow Witch about the lame step, Ghede's glasses, and bipolar disorder. It turns out that as we look around, a great many of the talented Witches that we know have bipolar, ourselves included. How much is this yet another variant on the lame step? The disorder is a hindrance in Mundania, and it is a trial, but it forces us to see things differently and to live  with a foot in two realms. It is a difficult balance, and our friend pointed out that we always have to be wary of getting too much information from one side or the other. Something to consider.

Summer Solstice

Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky.

As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December.

Modern calendars state that summer begins on the solstice. According to the old folk calendar, summer begins on Beltane (May 1) and ends on Lammas (August 1st), with the summer solstice, midway between the two, marking Midsummer. This makes more logical sense than suggesting that summer begins on the day when the sun's power begins to wane and the days grow shorter. The day is also referred to as St. John's Day, after St. John the Baptist. Other names include Alban Heflin, Alben Heruin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona, Feill-Sheathain, 'Night of the Verbena, Gathering Day, Johannistag, Litha, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, La Festa dell'Estate, Festa delle Erbe, and Vestalia.

In England, it was the ancient custom on St. John's Eve to light large bonfires after sundown, which served the double purpose of providing light to the revelers and warding off evil spirits. This was known as setting the watch. People often jumped through the fires for good luck. In addition to these fires, the streets were lined with lanterns, and people carried cressets (pivoted lanterns atop poles) as they wandered from one bonfire to another. These wandering, garland-bedecked bands were called a marching watch. Often they were attended by morris dancers. Just as May Day was a time to renew the boundary on one's own property, so Midsummer's Eve was a time to ward the boundary of the city.

Customs surrounding St. John's Eve are many and varied. At the very least, most young folk plan to stay up throughout the whole of this shortest night. Certain courageous souls might spend the night keeping watch in the center of a circle of standing stones. To do so would certainly result in either death, madness, or (hopefully) the power of inspiration to become a great poet or bard. This was also the night when the serpents of the island would roll themselves into a hissing, writhing ball in order to engender the glain, also called the serpent's egg, snake stone, or Druid's egg. Anyone in possession of this hard glass bubble would wield incredible magical powers. Even Merlin went in search of it, according to one ancient Welsh story.

Snakes were not the only creatures active on Midsummer's Eve. According to British folklore the fey especially enjoyed a riding on such a fine summer's night. In order to see them, you had to gather fern seed at the stroke of midnight and rub it onto your eyelids. But be sure to carry a little bit of rue in your pocket, or you might well be pixie-led. Or, failing the rue, you might simply turn your jacket inside-out, which should keep you from harm's way. But if even this fails, you must seek out one of the ley lines, the old straight tracks, and stay upon it to your destination. This will keep you safe from any malevolent power, as will crossing a stream of running water.

In our tradition we use this time to fly to the Castle of Stone where we may honor and gain wisdom from the Oak King.  One way to achieve this vision it through a guided meditation, such as is presented here.

You can learn more about our tradition's wheel of the year through this link.