A MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION

by Mike Nichols (a.k.a. Gwydion)
          
In addition to the four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year, there are four
lesser holidays as well: the two solstices, and the two equinoxes. In folklore,
these are referred to as the four ‘quarter-days’ of the year, and modern Witches
call them the four ‘Lesser Sabbats’, or the four ‘Low Holidays’. The Summer
Solstice is one of them.
          
Technically, a solstice is an astronomical point and, due to the precession to
the equinox, the date may vary by a few days depending on the year. The summer
solstice occurs when the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer, and we experience the
longest day and the shortest night of the year. Astrologers know this as the
date on which the sun enters the sign of Cancer. This year it will occur at
10:57 pm CDT on June 21st.
          
However, since most European peasants were not accomplished at reading an
ephemeris or did not live close enough to Salisbury Plain to trot over to
Stonehenge and sight down it’s main avenue, they celebrated the event on a fixed
calendar date, June 24th. The slight forward displacement of the traditional
date is the result of multitudinous calendrical changes down through the ages.
It is analogous to the winter solstice celebration, which is astronomically on
or about December 21st, but is celebrated on the traditional date of December
25th, Yule, later adopted by the Christians.
          
Again, it must be remembered that the Celts reckoned their days from sundown to
sundown, so the June 24th festivities actually begin on the previous sundown
(our June 23rd). This was Shakespeare’ s Midsummer Night’s Eve. Which brings up
another point:  our modern calendars are quite misguided in suggesting that
’summer begins’ on the solstice. According to the old folk calendar, summer
BEGINS on May Day and ends on Lammas (August 1st), with the summer solstice,
midway between the two, marking MID-summer. 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.
          
Although our Pagan ancestors probably preferred June 24th (and indeed most
European folk festivals today use this date), the sensibility of modern Witches
seems to prefer the actual solstice point, beginning the celebration at sunset. 
Again, it gives modern Pagans a range of dates to choose from with, hopefully, a
weekend embedded in it. (And this year, the moon is waxing throughout.)
          
As the Pagan mid-winter celebration of Yule was adopted by Christians as
Christmas (December 25th), so too the Pagan mid-summer celebration was adopted
by them as the feast of John the Baptist (June 24th). Occurring 180 degrees
apart on the wheel of the year, the mid-winter celebration commemorates the
birth of Jesus, while the mid-summer celebration commemorates the birth of John,
the prophet who was born six months before Jesus in order to announce his
arrival. This last tidbit is extremely conspicuous, in that John is the ONLY
saint in the entire Catholic hagiography whose feast day is a commemoration of
his birth, rather than his death. A generation ago, Catholic nuns were fond of
explaining that a saint is commemorated on the anniversary of his or her death
because it was really a ‘birth’ into the Kingdom of Heaven. But John the
Baptist, the sole exception, is emphatically commemorated on the anniversary of
his birth into THIS world.  Although this makes no sense viewed from a Christian
perspec-tive, it makes perfect poetic sense from the viewpoint of Pagan
symbolism.
          
In most Pagan cultures, the sun god is seen as split between two rival
personalities: the god of light and his twin, his ‘weird’, his ‘other self’, the
god of darkness. They are Gawain and the Green Knight, Gwyn and Gwythyr, Llew
and Goronwy, Lugh and Balor, Balan and Balin, the Holly King and the Oak King,
etc. Often they are depicted as fighting seasonal battles for the favor of their
goddess/lover, such as Creiddylad or Blodeuwedd, who represents Nature.
          
The god of light is always born at the winter solstice, and his strength waxes
with the lengthening days, until the moment of his greatest power, the summer
solstice, the longest day. And, like a look in a mirror, his ’shadow self’, the
lord of darkness, is born at the summer solstice, and his strength waxes with
the lengthening nights until the moment of his greatest power, the winter
solstice, the longest night.
          
Indirect evidence supporting this mirror-birth pattern is strongest in the
Christianized form of the Pagan myth. Many writers, from Robert Graves to
Stewart Farrar, have repeatedly pointed out that Jesus was identified with the
Holly King, while John the Baptist was the Oak King. That is why, ‘of all the
trees that are in the wood, the Holly tree bears the crown.’  If the birth of
Jesus, the ‘light of the world’, is celebrated at mid-winter, Christian folk
tradition insists that John the Oak King was born (rather than died) at mid-
summer.

It is at this point that I must diverge from the opinion of Robert Graves and
other writers who have followed him. Graves believes that at midsummer, the Sun
King is slain by his rival, the God of Darkness; just as the God of Darkness is,
in turn, slain by the God of Light at midwinter. And yet, in Christian folk
tradition (derived from the older Pagan strain), it is births, not deaths, that
are associated with the solstices. For the feast of John the Baptist, this is
all the more conspicuous, as it breaks the rules regarding all other saints.
          
So if births are associated with the solstices, when do the symbolic deaths
occur? When does Goronwy slay Llew and when does Llew, in his turn, slay
Goronwy? When does darkness conquer light or light conquer darkness? Obviously
(to me, at least), it must be at the two equinoxes. At the autumnal equinox, the
hours of light in the day are eclipsed by the hours of darkness. At the vernal
equinox, the process is reversed. Also, the autumnal equinox, called ‘Harvest
Home’, is already associated with sacrifice, principally that of the spirit of
grain or vegetation. In this case, the god of light would be identical.
          
In Welsh mythology in particular, there is a startling vindication of the
seasonal placement of the sun god’s death, the significance of which occurred to
me in a recent dream, and which I haven’t seen elsewhere. Llew is the Welsh god
of light, and his name means ‘lion’. (The lion is often the symbol of a sun
god.)  He is betrayed by his ‘virgin’ wife Blodeuwedd, into standing with one
foot on the rim of a cauldron and the other on the back of a goat.  It is only
in this way that Llew can be killed, and Blodeuwedd’s lover, Goronwy, Llew’s
dark self, is hiding nearby with a spear at the ready. But as Llew is struck
with it, he is not killed. He is instead transformed into an eagle.
          
Putting this in the form of a Bardic riddle, it would go something like this: 
Who can tell in what season the Lion (Llew), betrayed by the Virgin
(Blodeuwedd) , poised on the Balance, is transformed into an Eagle? My readers
who are astrologers are probably already gasping in recognition. The sequence is
astrological and in proper order: Leo (lion), Virgo (virgin), Libra (balance),
and Scorpio (for which the eagle is a well-known alternative symbol). Also, the
remaining icons, cauldron and goat, could arguably symbolize Cancer and
Capricorn, representing summer and winter, the signs beginning with the two
solstice points. So Llew is balanced between cauldron and goat, between summer
and winter, on the balance (Libra) point of the autumnal equinox.

This, of course, is the answer to a related Bardic riddle. Repeatedly, the
‘Mabinogion’ tells us that Llew must be standing with one foot on the cauldron
and one foot on the goat’s back in order to be killed. But nowhere does it tell
us why. Why is this particular situation the ONLY one in which Llew can be
overcome? Because it represents the equinox point.  And the equinox is the only
time of the entire year when light (Llew) can be overcome by darkness (Goronwy).
          
It should now come as no surprise that, when it is time for Llew to kill Goronwy
in his turn, Llew insists that Goronwy stands where he once stood while he
(Llew) casts the spear. This is no mere vindictiveness on Llew’s part. For,
although the ‘Mabinogion’ does not say so, it should by now be obvious that this
is the only time when Goronwy can be overcome.  Light can overcome darkness only
at the equinox — this time the vernal equinox.
          
So Midsummer (to me, at least) is a celebration of the sun god at his zenith, a
crowned king on his throne. He is at the height of his strength and still 1/4 of
a year away from his ritual death at the hands of his rival. The spear and the
cauldron have often been used as symbols for this holiday and it should now be
easy to see why. Sun gods are virtually always associated with spears (even
Jesus is pierced by one), and the midsummer cauldron of Cancer is a symbol of
the Goddess in her fullness. It is an especially beautiful time of the year for
an outdoor celebration.  May yours be magical!

 

Seeing out the winter in blaze of pagan glory

From the Scotsman

[snip]

12,000 people expected to gather on Calton Hill for the annual festival, now in its 20th year, which welcomes in the summer, according to ancient pre-Christian traditions. Starting at 9pm, the festival sees semi-clad dancers with burning torches take to the hill and hold an elaborate procession led by the May Queen and the Green Man lasting nearly three hours.

Just a few years ago it looked as though the fire festival would die out – there were complaints from residents about drumming going on late and the event was actually cancelled in 2003 after soaring costs and the council’s insistence it needed a public entertainment licence to go ahead.

Instead, the festival managed to change and adapt, limiting numbers to 12,000, down from a peak of 15,000. Organisers began leasing Calton Hill for the night when the event returned on a formal footing for the first time in 2004 and introduced charging for tickets – now costing £5 or £7 – to cover costs.

It was all a bit of a mainstream move for a festival traditionally seen as spontaneous and free-spirited. But Alana Storey, spokeswoman for the Beltane Fire Society, says the tighter controls haven’t inhibited the atmosphere.

She says: “People talk about it becoming less wild and maybe it’s more controlled for the crowds. But at heart it’s still the same wild, free event that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Edinburgh.”

And residents don’t appear to object to its continuance. Robin Wight, treasurer of Regent Royal Carlton Terraces Association, says he hasn’t heard any complaints in recent years.

full article here

 

Burning climax to pagan festival

From The Dorset Echo

DOLMEN Grove druids and witches are staging one of the biggest pagan festivals in England this weekend – complete with a giant wicker man made in a Weymouth garden.

The figure plays a leading role in the Beltane Spirit of Rebirth Festival at Burnbake camp site near Corfe Castle when it will be burned as the high point of a fire ritual on Saturday night.

Chris Walsh, arch-druid Melkin of the Dolmen Grove, which is based in the Dorchester area, said: “This is the first time we have organised a Beltane festival though we’ve done others at different times of the year.

“We’ve held rituals at Maumbury Rings but we couldn’t have this one there because of the fire ritual for one thing. The wicker man is an important part of it.

“During the day people write down their thoughts and wishes on paper and pop them into the wicker man. At the end of the evening he will be set alight and all the things that were on people’s minds go with it.

“It will be quite a spectacle.”

full article here

 

BELTANE

Beltane marks the height of the season of Spring. The Goddess’s reign begins,
the rule of the year relinquished by the God. Emphasis is on all the
“unnecessary” , ephemeral things that make human happiness, such as love, beauty,
playfulness, and the arts. These things are the fruits of successful labor in
the fields, which leaves us the leisure to enjoy them. They elevate our
consciousness to a level above mere survival. These energies, projected into the
Beltane fires, make them a potent charm.

THEMES

Flowers opening. Trees and shrubs in bloom and beginning to leaf out. Threat of
snow and ice ended.

Final plowing and planting. Milk flow comes in full.

Baal (fire of the sun), a god of the Sun and of vegetation, has his great feast
at this time; as does Olwen, a Welsh form f Venus; Belili, sister and lover of
Tamuz, Priapus, Pan and Eros; Maia, the mother of Mercury; Terminus, Roman god
of boundaries; Aphrodite and Venus; the Roman Flora.

St. George is the Xian version of the vegetation god. Slain by the Giant
(death), he is revived by the Fool (Sun) and kills the Dragon (Winter), in the
spring mummer’s play.

Appearance of Robin Hood, Maid Marian and the Merry Men, of Merlin and the fairy
Viviane or Nimue, and the legend of Gwain and the Green Knight. Feast of Pluto
or Hades and of Walburga, a Teutonic Earth-Goddess converted into a Xian saint.

PURPOSE OF THE RITES

To ensure growth and health of the crops. Magic for happiness in love. Sexual
union among the people are united with the life-force of all nature. Fire-magic
to strengthen the sun and obtain adequate rainfall.

FOLK CUSTOMS

On the last three days in April, houses are cleaned and fumigated with juniper
berries and rue. Couples go to the woods May Eve, build bowers of green branches
and stay all night. At dawn they return bringing green and flowering branches,
and decorate the homes and door lintels as they go from house to house, singing
May carols. A Maypole, cut from a straight young tree, is brought from the
woods, decorated with ribbons, flowers and green branches – or the flowers
and greenery are brought from the woods to decorate (and symbolically revivify)
a permanent Maypole in the village center.

Milkmaids and sweeps parade. A procession tours the boundary markers and other
important landmarks, beating them with willow wands – no doubt t purification
rite. Wells are decorated with flowers and blessed (originally, no doubt, the
spirit of the well was propitiated with offerings) often in the same procession.

Dew gathered at dawn on May morning has many uses as a charm. A king and queen
are crowned, sometimes by the figures of Merlin and Viviane, sometimes by the
Mayor.

Green George (aka Jack O’ the Green Man) is a man concealed in a framework
covered with green leaves, representing the vegetation spirit. He dances and
whirls in the processions, and people sprinkle him with water – obviously an old
rain charm. Sometimes he throws fodder to the animals. He goes with the May
procession from house to house collecting presents of food for the company –
showing that Spring brings nourishment.

Hobby horses parade in many parts of England and Europe, notably in Cornwall,
the most famous and magically potent being at Padstow. Processions of young
girls dressed in white sing May carols and leading a little May Queen.

SYMBOLIC DECORATIONS

Many small Maypoles – poles decorated with flowers, greenery and ribbons.
Garland – hoops similarly decorated. Birth, Hawthorn Lily-of-the- Valley, Rowan,
Willow. Masses of flowers.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Athletic contests, flower shows, horse races.

THE RITE

The altar may be placed in the East of Southeast, draped in white as a
background for the decorations of seasonal foliage and flowers. Use white
candles.

Rites take place on the Eve, just after dark. Emphasize incense in the
banishings, as at Ostara. Also strike the altar, the watchtowers and the people
with a willow switch – just a light tap – to drive away evil influences, with no
suggestion of punishment.

Invoke the Goddess as any or all of the Goddesses whose feasts occur at this
time; the God likewise. Charge the fire to bring happiness to lovers. Communion
materials are the usual crescent-shaped Sabbat Cakes and May wine (white wine,
usually a Rhine wine, in which sweet woodruff has been steeped for at least a
few hours). Afterwards, couples may leap the dying fire to benefit form the
charge. Ashes and charred sticks from the fire also carry the charge, and at all
Sabbats these can be taken home by the coveners to sprinkle on their gardens,
plants or domestic animals, or used in other ways as a charm.

Coveners should wear wreaths of flowers and herbs, particularly roses and
vervain, if obtainable, and their clothing should be pretty and spring-like and
decorated with flowers and leaves.

Rites on Beltane Day, beginning as early as people are inclined to get up in the
morning, should include many of the folk customs mentioned here, wit h a May
King and Queen enthrones in their bower representing the maiden love-goddess and
the priapic green god, presiding over the revels, which include a Maypole dance,
sports and games.

source: [WiccaSeekers]

 

THE SABBATS

The Sabbats tell us one of the stories of the Goddess and God, of their
relationship and the effects this has on the fruitfulness of the Earth.  There
are many variations on these myths, but here’s a fairly common one, woven into
the basic descriptions of the Sabbats.

Yule
The Goddess gives birth to a son, the God, at Yule (December 21). This is
in no way an adaptation of Christianity. The Winter Solstice has long been
viewed as a time of divine  births.  Mithras was said to have been born at this
time. The Christians simply adopted it for their use in 273 C.E. (Common Era).

Yule is a time of the greatest darkness and is the shortest day of the year.
Earlier peoples noticed such phenomena and supplicated the forces of nature to
lengthen the days and  shorten the nights.  Witches sometimes celebrate Yule
just before dawn, then watch the Sun rise as a fitting finale to their efforts.

Since the God is also the Sun, this marks the point of the year when the Sun is
reborn as well.  Thus, the Witches light fires or candles to welcome the Sun’s
returning light.  The Goddess, slumbering through the Winter of Her labor, rests
after Her delivery.

Yule is remnant of early rituals celebrated to hurry the end of Winter and the
bounty of Spring, when food was once again readily available. To contemporary
Witches it is a reminder that the ultimate product of death is rebirth, a
comforting thought in these days of unrest.
Imbolc
Imbolc (circa February 2) marks the recovery of the Goddess after giving birth to the
God. The lengthening periods of light awaken Her. The God is a young, lusty boy,
but His power is felt in the longer days. The warmth fertilizes the Earth (the
Goddess), and causes seeds to  germinate and sprout. And so the earliest
beginnings of Spring occur.

This is a Sabbat of purification after the shut-in life of Winter, through the
renewing power  of the Sun.  It is also a festival of light and of fertility,
once marked in Europe with huge  blazes, torches and fire in every form.  Fire
here represents our own illumination and inspiration as much as light and
warmth.
Imbolc is also known as Feast of Torches, Oimelc,  Lupercalia, Feast of Pan,
Snowdrop Festival, Feast of the Waxing Light, Brighid’s Day, and probably by
many other names.  Some female Witches follow the old Scandinavian custom of
wearing crowns of lit candles, but many more carry tapers during their
invocations.

This is one of the traditional times for initiations into covens, and so self-
dedication rituals, such as the one outlined in this Book of Shadows, can be
performed or renewed at this time.

Ostara
Ostara (March 21), the Spring Equinox,  also known as Spring, Rites of
Spring and Eostra’s Day, marks the first day of true Spring.  The energies of
Nature subtly shift from the sluggishness of Winter to the exuberant expansion
of Spring.  The Goddess blankets the Earth with fertility, bursting forth from
Her sleep, as the God stretches and grows to maturity. He walks the greening
fields and delights in the abundance of nature.

On Ostara the hours of day and night are equal. Light is overtaking darkness;
the Goddess and God impel the wild creatures of the Earth to reproduce.

This is a time of beginnings, of action, of planting spells for future gains,
and of tending the ritual gardens.
Beltane
Beltane (April 30) marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by
the energies at work in Nature, He desires the Goddess.  They fall in love, lie
among the grasses and blossoms, and unite. The Goddess becomes pregnant of the
God.  Witches celebrate the symbol of Her fertility in ritual.

Beltane (sometimes known as May Day) has long been marked with feasts and rituals.
Maypoles, supremely phallic symbols, were the focal point of Old English village
rituals.   Many persons rose at dawn to gather flowers and green branches from
the fields and  gardens, using them to decorate the May pole, their homes and
themselves.

The flowers and greenery symbolize the Goddess; the Maypole the God. Beltane
marks the return of vitality, of passion and hopes consummated.

Maypoles are sometimes used by Witches today during Beltane rituals, but the
cauldron is  a more common focal point of ceremony. It represents, of course,
the Goddess – the essence of womanhood, the end of all desire, the equal but
opposite of the Maypole, symbolic of the God.

Midsummer
Midsummer, the Summer Solstice ( June 21), also known as Litha and Comhain, arrives
when the powers of Nature reach their highest point. The Earth is awash in the
fertility of the Goddess and God.

In the past, bonfires were leapt to encourage fertility, purification, health
and love. The fire once again represents the Sun, feted on this time of the
longest daylight hours.     Midsummer is a classic time for magic of all kinds.

Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh (circa August 1) is the time of the first harvest, when the plants of Spring
wither and drop their fruits or seeds for our use as well as to ensure future
crops. Mystically, so too does the God lose His strength as the Sun rises
farther in the South each day and the nights grow longer.  The Goddess watches
in sorrow and joy as She realizes that the God  is dying, and yet lives on
inside Her as Her child.

Lughnasadh, also known as August Eve, Feast of Bread, Harvest Home and Lammas, 
wasn’t necessarily observed on this day.  It originally coincided with the first
reapings.

As Summer passes, Witches remember its warmth and bounty in the food we eat. 
Every  meal is an act of atunement with Nature, and we are reminded that nothing
in the universe is constant.        
Mabon
Mabon (September 21), the Autumn Equinox, is the completion of the harvest begun
as Lughnasadh.  Also known as Herfest, or the blood harvest, because it is the time
when the cattle or grazing animals are brought down from the fields and corralled for
the winter.  Once again day and night are equal, poised as the God prepares to leave
His physical body and begin the great adventure into the
unseen, toward renewal and rebirth of the Goddess.

Nature declines, draws back its bounty, readying for Winter and its time of
rest. The Goddess nods in the weakening Sun, though fire burns within Her womb. 
She feels the presence of the God even as He wanes.

Samhain
At Samhain (October 31),the Craft say farewell to the God. This is a temporary
farewell.  He isn’t wrapped in eternal darkness, but readies to be reborn of the
Goddess at Yule.

Samhain, also known as November Eve, Feast of the Dead, Feast of Apples,
Hallows, All Hallows and Hallowe’en, once marked the time of sacrifice. In some
places this was the  time when animals were slaughtered to ensure food
throughout the depths of Winter. The God – identified with the animals -  fell
as well to ensure our continuing existence.

Samhain is a time of reflection, of looking back over the last year, of coming
to terms with the one phenomenon of life over which we have no control – death.

The Craft feel that on this night the separation between the physical and
spiritual realities is thin. Witches remember their ancestors and all those who
have gone before.

After Samhain, Witches celebrate Yule, and so the Wheel of the Year is complete.
Surely there are mysteries buried here. Why is the God the son and then the
lover of the Goddess?   This isn’t incest, this is symbolism. In this
agricultural story (one of many Craft myths) the ever changing fertility of the
Earth is represented by the Goddess and God.  This myth speaks of the mysteries
of birth, death and rebirth. It celebrates the wondrous aspects and beautiful
effects of love, and honors women who perpetuate our species. It also points out
the very real dependence  that humans have on  the Earth, the Sun  and the Moon
and of the effects of the seasons on our daily lives.

To agricultural peoples, the major thrust of this myth cycle is the production
of food  through the interplay between the Goddess and God. Food – without which
we would all die – is intimately connected with the deities.  Indeed, Witches
see food as yet another  manifestation of divine energy.

And so, by observing the Sabbats, Witches attune themselves to the Earth and to
the  deities. They reaffirm their Earth roots. Performing rituals on the nights
of the Full Moon also strengthens their connections with the Goddess in
particular.

It is the wise Witch who celebrates on the Sabbats and Esbats, for these are
times of real as well as symbolic power. Honoring them in some fashion is an
integral part of Witchcraft.