Letters From the Devil's Forest Part One - On the Blackchair with Robin Artisson

FAUN - Walpurgisnacht

All Hallow's Eve Greetings

Season's Greetings

Here's to the bright New Year

 And a fond farewell to the old;

 Here's to the things that are yet to come

 And to the memories that we hold.

image by Jane Brighton

Samhain Approaches

From ghoulies and ghosties

 And long-leggedy beasties

 And things that go bump in the night,

 Good Lord, deliver us!

Traditional Scottish Prayer

Corn Mother

James George Frazer discusses the Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden in Northern Europe, and the harvest rituals that were being practiced at the beginning of the 20th century:

"In the neighborhood of Danzig the person who cuts the last ears of corn makes them into a doll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman and is brought home on the last wagon. In some parts of Holstein the last sheaf is dressed in women's clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is carried home on the last wagon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. The drenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm. In the district of Bruck in Styria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, is made up into the shape of a woman by the oldest married woman in the village, of an age from 50 to 55 years. The finest ears are plucked out of it and made into a wreath, which, twined with flowers, is carried on her head by the prettiest girl of the village to the farmer or squire, while the Corn-mother is laid down in the barn to keep off the mice. In other villages of the same district the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is carried by two lads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who wears the wreath to the squire's house, and while he receives the wreath and hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is placed on the top of a pile of wood, where she is the centre of the harvest supper and dance."

—The Golden Bough, chapter 45

Rewilding Witchcraft

Peter Grey, author of Apocalyptic Witchcraft, has written an article for Scarlet Imprint that impacted me, changed my breathing while reading it, and made me understand even more deeply what I knew to be true about the environment and my practice of witchcraft.  Understand that the picture that he paints so vividly and the words that he creatively scatters across the page go well beyond thought provoking.  There is nowhere to hide; no poetic covers, we, as human beings, and witches and pagans in particular, can pull over our bowed heads. 

What Peter presents is not a mere bad dream to wake ourselves from in a cold sweat washing it off with a shower and 'get on with your day' attitude; no amount of caffeine, alcohol or denial will clear the residue from our collective soul.  Once his article is read and even re-read, once the flickering light from the computer or iPhone has penetrated our corneas blinking the image away will not change our reality.  These are not mere words or thoughts of a possible event somewhere in a very distant future, it is already here and struggling outside the closed doors of our very homes. 

My suggestion? do what Peter suggests, 'live your life beautifully', embrace the wildwood, and witness to your core what wonders remain.  Be moved, live with a new clarity of awareness, see the road in front of you and walk it mindfully, purposely, eyes wide open with personal and collective action but without paranoia.  There is no other way forward than this.

Click to Read Article:  Rewilding Witchcraft

Beltane Fire Festival 2014

Here is an excerpt from the Beltane Fires site explaining, as they only can, just what it is like to attend this unbelievable annual event in Edinburgh Scotland.  A favorite haunt of mine.

It's a must see...........

Beltane Fire Festival is presented as ‘investigative theatre’; set outdoors and with no physical curtains or barriers. We advertise a ‘doors open’ time along with an approximation of when the performance will begin (around 9.30pm, also known as ‘common twilight’) and of course a set time for the public to leave Calton Hill too, but that is as much of a nod to traditional theatre as you’ll find.

There are few barriers between the audience and performers which offers up opportunity for an immersive experience. It is one where you are likely to come face-to-face with one of our colourful characters, or can step back and marvel at the scale of a production wrought in only two months by around three hundred volunteers. The presentation may leave you figuratively in the dark regarding what is being portrayed, but there is also a chance you may find yourself literally there too. One suggestion is to ‘head to the high ground and then follow the sound of drumming’. 

If you haven't experienced the festival, there is no central point where everything is performed, rather there are multiple points of focus that are spread around the marvellous public parkland on Calton Hill. A large part of the story follows the Procession of the May Queen around the Hill, but there are also counter-performances which have evolved to bring balance to the darker parts of the park. (Again: follow the sound of the drums.) The Procession’s presence awakens one group after another, each then continuing to play a part throughout the evening; the Hill comes alive, mirroring the earth’s awakening through Spring.

In general we shy away from the use of actual staging as that presents an instant barrier between performance and witness. That’s not an exclusive rule however, as both of the major ‘set piece’ performances utilise staging to help balance their sheer scale. The first is during the spectacular opening sequence at the National Monument (known lovingly as The Acropolis) and the second during the penultimate event of the evening: The Death and Rebirth of the Green Man. In other words we attempt to match the tool to the job.

Finally, Beltane Fire Festival is a continuous performance lasting over three hours. Attendees have the opportunity to create their own breaks in which to step back and raise a toast to the onset of Summer.

Beltane Fire Festival

Golowan

The Golowan festival is one of the many old traditions in the UK.  A fantastic and highly energetic celebration in honor of the longest day of the year known as Midsummer. "Golowan" means "Feast of John" in the Cornish dialect and is celebrated on June 24th the Eve of St.John's day.  The best place to join in on this celebration is in Penzance Cornwall.

The  'Obby 'Oss  (Cornish for Hobby Horse) is the center figure of these festivals seen here with a horse-skull head, wearing a cloak.  The 'Teazer', also known locally as The Bucca - a Cornish Pagan deity with aspects of light and dark, helps preside over Golowan with her.  Together they dance and twirl creating quite the giddy and scary atmosphere as they travel the streets after dark.  The Obby 'Oss bows, rocks and snaps her jaws and stamps her feet at the festival's attendants. She represents the seasonal energies of death & rebirth and is a beautiful sight bouncing along with flowers adoring her mane.  

The Teaser, her companion, travels in the form of Bucca Gwidder (the white god) at Midsummer and Bucca Dhu (the black god) at Midwinter. (More on this deity at another time) keeping the Obby 'Oss's attention by guiding her energies.
 

The festival's roots are most assuredly pagan in origin.  One exhilarating tradition of Golowan is jumping over the fire which, it is said, will protect one from harm the following year.  Here the bonfire is ignited and when it burns to a safe intensity is raked into a shape easily traversed.

Bonfires are lit all over the countryside celebrating the two extremes of the sun.  At Midsummer after warming oneself at the fire you can follow a path leading down to the sea where after 'the jump' one can immerse themselves in the frothy waves.

Happy Solstice!

Lusty May

The Beltane Fire Society in Scotland is a charity run by a Board of Volunteers.  Funded entirely by donations through membership, ticket sales and merchandising.

 Their aim was to create a sense of community, an appreciation of the cyclical nature of the seasons and a human connection to the earth.

 An internationally recognized event since 1988, the festival takes place in Arts Complex in Edinburgh every year.

Membership in the Society is gained through participation in either the Beltane or Samhuinn Fire Festivals.   The volunteers who put this extravaganza on have no professional experience in the areas they volunteer in.  The producers draw on the skills within the community and it is in this way the community evolves.

 Besides the two main festivals the Society puts on every year they also hold workshops to help keep membership involved all year-round.

Edinburgh is a favorite city of mine.  I first visited as a teenager and then returned last year.  Booking for the festival takes a lot of planning ahead but it is worth the effort. 

Along with the yearly Edinburgh Military Tattoo which closes with an outrageous firewood display from Edinburgh Castle (pictured below) I find being there for either event to be a life-changing event in many ways.

Montol Eve

 

The main event of the festival is Montol Eve on the 21st of December every year. During the evening processions of individuals known as Geeze dancers can be seen throughout the town, carrying lanterns, wearing masks and traditional costumes.

The Lord of Misrule is chosen from among the masked revelers.

During this midwinter festival the spirit of the dark half of the year is known as Bucca Dhu the dark spirit who plays with the Mare of winter solstice.

 The Mock is the Cornish Yule Log, a member of the public is chosen to mark the Mock with a stick man. In tradition this represents either the Christ Child or Old Father Time marking the death of the year, or the celebration of the birth of Christ "the light of the world".

To learn more:Living History in Cornwall and Cornish Culture

Photos curtosy of Wikipedia:

Allantide- The Herald

Returning home from the market yesterday, along a road that has now become familiar, I was struck by the change of season .  The sun was setting, angled through a stand of deciduous trees, its rays were scattered through the woods by trunk and branch.  This particular view had been obscured all summer long from the road and it wasn't until yesterday, upon seeing the sun from this vantage point that I really felt the approach of Allantide.

Allantide (in Cornish Calan Gwaf or Nos Calan Gwaf) is a festival celebrated on  October  31st.  Here in the States we refer to it as Samhain or Halloween. The festival itself has pre-Christian origins similar to most celebrations on this date.  In Cornwall England there are references stating that the holiday is linked to St Allen or Arlan who was a Cornish Saint. Not much information can be found on him however.  Still, Allantide is celebrated by many who follow the Old ways as the Celtic New Year.  But yet again there are some who would say that this is a false belief.

The ease with which one can observe one's faith in small hearth circles, or as solitaries, allows individuals the freedom to celebrate the holidays as they see fit.  Given that I am drawn to the Cornish culture within my practice, Allantide is, therefore, the herald of the New Year.  A time when the veil between the worlds grows thin; when reaching into and through the misty membrane of time is an opportunity to communicate with those who have gone before.

The following is a description of the festival as it was celebrated in Penzance at the turn of the 19th century.  However the practice described is very much alive in the modern witch's home  in Cornwall and elsewhere today.

"The shops in Penzance would display Allan apples, which were highly polished large apples. On the day itself, these apples were given as gifts to each member of the family as a token of good luck. Older girls would place these apples under their pillows and hope to dream of the person whom they would one day marry. A local game is also recorded where two pieces of wood were nailed together in the shape of a cross. It was then suspended with 4 candles on each outcrop of the cross shape. Allan apples would then be suspended under the cross. The goal of the game was to catch the apples in your mouth, with hot wax being the penalty for slowness or inaccuracy."

Robert Hunt in his book 'Popular romances of the West of England' describes Allantide in St Ives.

The ancient custom of providing children with a large apple on Allhallows-eve is still observed, to a great extent, at St Ives. "Allan-day," as it is called, is the day of days to hundreds' of children, who would deem it a great misfortune were they to go to bed on "Allan-night" without the time-honoured Allan apple to hide beneath their pillows. A quantity of large apples are thus disposed of the sale of which is dignified by the term Allan Market.

References1.                              * Robert Hunt Popular Romances of the West of England 19022.                              *MA Courtney Folklore and Legends of Cornwall 18903.                              *Simon Reed - The Cornish Traditional Year 20094.                              *AK Hamilton Jenkin - Cornwall and the Cornish 1932