21st September
At six in the evening of the, people began to gather at Rhos Hill
They came from the east, the west, the south and the north (even as far as Aberystwyth). Evening was falling on a special day; autumn equinox, which Druids call the Light of Autumn; Alban Hefen, in Welsh. This is the moment of seasonal balance which to many ancient people was the most important time in the year; final harvests and a general flurry of farm and homestead activity. Winter is now not far away.
There were twelve of us at this evening’s celebration and an eclectic and talented mix they were; a shaman, some Druids, Ovates, Hedge Witches and Wiccans.
We began the evening gently, as some people had met for the first time. After sorting out drinks for everyone and chatting for a while we held a ‘talking stick’, as usual. This enables everyone to say something and introduce themselves without interruption. At that point, Jim and I described how the ritual would unfold, and we asked everyone to chose a harvest gift from our table of gifts.
I’d scoured the hedgerows and garden earlier, and gathered a great bounty, which Jim arranged on a golden cloth; a branch of hazel with cobnuts, a branch of oak with their acorns, and even a branch of sweet chestnuts with the spiky cases that contain the delicious winter treat. We created a spray of autumn coloured leaves, and added apples, pine cones, a jewel of a Mandarin, a spray of blackberries, elderberries, hawthorn, sweetcorn cobs, and much more.
We processed into our little stone circle, with the fire in the pit lit and sparking and the lanterns in the four quarters of East South West and North glowing. After setting up our circle in the usual way, each person placed their chosen autumn gift into a basket, using one word or phrase to describe their feelings about this time of year. The basket of goodies was dedicated to the goddess.  |
All photos by Carni |
After beautiful poems and readingS by several members of the circle, we moved on to the middle, magical centre of the ritual where we investigated the balance of this moment in the year by actively working with it.
Each person planted a 'tete a tete' bulb in a pot, with an intent that used this planting to symbolise our own lives. Like the bulbs, we all had our own process of moving from the scurry of getting ready for winter, down into gentle hibernation until the warming of spring. To exentuate the magic of the action, our of our number, representing the elements, blessed the pots of bulbs. Air, representing the oxygen of life, blew over the pots. Fire, representing the sun, warmed the pots with a candle’s glow, Water sprinkled spring water over them. Finally a little more Earth was then scattered onto the bulbs with a blessing.
The final part of the ritual was highlighted with a wonderful visualization created by a member of the circle, in which we celebrated the Blackberry moon with a lovely Journey to choose moon or sun fruits from an Avalon apple tree.
The apple branch talking stick went round again, and the tempo slowed as we sat on cushioned logs around the fire and shared our experiences of the journey and the ritual. It was so warming to see the glow of the fire on the circle of faces and hear them speak.
Before we closed the circle down, we drummed a chant of Balance in our lives.
Then, as always, we went into the house and tucked into the table of goodies...and the heather mead that a guest had generously provided!
Thank you all so much for making the autumn equinox rite a success and a delight, and I wish everyone a very happy autumn.
No comments:
Post a Comment