Solstice / Yule

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!

I wish everyone happy holidays and a peaceful, prosperous new year.

Remember Your Past

This is the time of year when the boundry between "here" and "there" becomes thin and spirits easily move between worlds. Take time tonight to remember your ancestors. Light a candle, say a prayer, do whatever you like but take just a moment and remember them. If not for them there would be no "us".

Your tombstone stands among the rest;
neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
on polished, marbled stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I’d exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
in flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
and come to visit you.

-author unknown

Happy New Year / Happy Halloween

Enjoy the day!

Pagan Roots of The Bible

As far back as 10 thousand B.C.E., history is abundant with carvings and writings reflecting people's respect for the sun. Ancient cultures understood that the sun brought light and warmth that scared away the night time predators and made the crops grow. People were also very aware of the moon and stars and would note their movements.
The cross of the Zodiac, one of the oldest conceptual images in human history, reflects the sun as it figuratively passes through the 12 major constellations over the course of a year. It also shows the 12 months of the year, the 4 seasons, the solstices and equinoxes. The term Zodiac relates to the fact that constellations were personified as figures and animals.
Early civilizations did not just follow the sun and stars; they personified them with elaborate stories involving their movements and relationships. The sun, with its life-giving qualities was personified as a representative of the creator or god. Likewise, the 12 constellations represented places the sun traveled and were identified by names. The names usually represented elements of nature that happened during that particular time. (i.e.: Aquarius: the water bearer who brings the spring rains)

Horus was the Sun God of Egypt around 3000 BC. He represented the sun and his life story was a series of allegorical myths involving the sun's movement in the sky. From the ancient hieroglyphics in Egypt, we know much about this solar messiah. For instance, Horus, being the sun, or the light, had an enemy known as Set. Set was the personification of the darkness or night. Every morning, Horus would win the battle against Set - while in the evening; Set would conquer Horus and send him into the underworld. Note that "dark vs. light" or "good vs. evil" is one of the most ubiquitous mythological dualities ever known and is still expressed on many levels to this day.

In general, the story of Horus is as follows: Horus was born on December 25th of the virgin Isis-Meri. His birth was accompanied by a star in the east, which in turn, three kings followed to locate and adorn the new-born savior. At the age of 12, he was a child teacher, and at the age of 30 he was baptized by a figure known as Anup and thus began his ministry. Horus had 12 disciples and performed miracles such as healing the sick and walking on water. Horus was known by many names such as The Truth, The Light, God's Anointed Son, The Good Shepherd and The Lamb of God. After being betrayed by Typhon, Horus was crucified, buried for 3 days and then resurrected.
Whether the myth of Horus is original or repeated from an earlier culture is unclear. What is clear is that this general story outline can be found in many cultures around the world.

• Attis, of Phyrigia, born of the virgin Nana on December 25th, crucified, placed in a tomb and after 3 days, was resurrected.
  
• Krishna, of India, born of the virgin Devaki with a star in the east signaling his coming, performed miracles with his disciples, and upon his death was resurrected.

• Dionysus of Greece, born of a virgin on December 25th, was a traveling teacher who performed miracles such as turning water into wine, he was referred to as the "King of Kings," "God's Only Begotten Son," "The Alpha and Omega," and many others, and upon his death, he was resurrected.

• Mithra, of Persia, born of a virgin on December 25th, he had 12 disciples and performed miracles, and upon his death was buried for 3 days and thus resurrected, he was also referred to as "The Truth," "The Light," and many others. Interestingly, the sacred day of worship of Mithra was Sunday.

• Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, his birth was announced by a star in the east, which three kings or magi followed to locate and adorn the new savior. He was a child teacher at 12, at the age of 30 he was baptized by John the Baptist, and thus began his ministry. Jesus had 12 disciples which he traveled about with performing miracles such as healing the sick, walking on water, raising the dead, he was also known as the "King of Kings," the "Son of God," the "Light of the World," the "Alpha and Omega," the "Lamb of God," and many others. After being betrayed by his disciple Judas and sold for 30 pieces of silver, he was crucified, placed in a tomb and after 3 days was resurrected and ascended into Heaven.

So why does this theme echo through so many cultures and proclaimed prophets? What is so special about that date? These stories are based on solar and astrological events. The star in the east is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which, on December 24th, aligns with the 3 brightest stars in Orion's Belt. These 3 bright stars are refered to as The Three Kings. The Three Kings and the brightest star, Sirius, all point to the place of the sunrise on December 25th.This is why the Three Kings follow the star in the east, in order to locate the sunrise or the birth of the sun.

The Virgin Mary equates to the constellation Virgo also known as Virgo the Virgin. Virgo in Latin means virgin. The ancient symbol for Virgo is the altered "m". This is why Mary along with other virgin mothers, such as Adonis's mother Myrrha, or Buddha's mother Maya begin with an M.Virgo is also referred to as the House of Bread and is represented as a virgin holding a sheaf of wheat. The House of Bread and its symbol of wheat represent August and September or the time of harvest. Bethlehem, in fact, literally translates to "house of bread" and is a reference to the constellation Virgo , a place in the sky, not on Earth.

There is another astrological event that occurs around December 25th. From the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the days become shorter and colder. From the perspective of the northern hemisphere, the sun appears to move south and get smaller. The shortening of the days and the expiration of the crops when approaching the winter solstice symbolized the process of death. By December 22nd, the Sun's “death” is fully realized. Having moved south continually for 6 months, the Sun makes it to its lowest point in the sky. It is at this point that the Sun appears to stop moving south for 3 days. During this 3 day pause, the Sun resides in the vicinity of the Southern Cross, or Crux, constellation. After December 25th, the Sun begins to move 1 degree north or ‘rises’. And so it was said: the Sun died on the cross, was dead for 3 days, only to be resurrected or born again. This is why Jesus and numerous other Sun Gods share the crucifixion, 3 day death, and resurrection concept. It is the Sun's transition period before it shifts its direction back into the Northern Hemisphere, bringing spring.

The resurrection of the Sun wasn’t celebrated until the spring equinox, or Easter. This is because at the spring equinox, the Sun officially overpowers the evil darkness, as daytime becomes longer in duration than night.

Halloween / Samhain

The following is a repost from my friend Troy's blog:

1. Where does Halloween come from? Our modern celebration of Halloween is a descendent of the ancient Celtic festival called "Samhain". The word is pronounced "sow-in", with "sow" rhyming
with "cow".
2. What does "Samhain" mean? The Irish-English Dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society defines the word as follows: "Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Druid times, signaling the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops were quartered. Fairies were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it, the half-year is reckoned. Also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess).2 The Scottish Gaelic Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Souls. Sam + Fuin = end of summer."3 Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion states as follows: "The Eve and day of Samhain were characterized as a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken... Not a festival honoring any particular Celtic deity, Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period."4 The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a "lord of death" as such.

3. Why was the end of summer of significance to the Druid's? The Celts were a pastoral people as opposed to an agricultural people. The end of summer was significant to them because it meant the time of year when the structure of their lives changed radically. The cattle were brought down from the summer pastures in the hills and the people were gathered into the houses for the long winter nights of story- telling and handicrafts .

4. What does it have to do with a festival of the dead? The Druid's believed that when people died, they went to a land of eternal youth and happiness called Tir nan Og. (summerland)They did not have the concept of heaven and hell that the Christian church later brought into the land. The dead were sometimes believed to be dwelling with the Fairy Folk, who lived in the numerous mounds, or sidhe, (pronounced "shee" or "sh-thee") that dotted the Irish and Scottish countryside. Samhain was the new year to the Druid's. In the Celtic belief system, turning points, such as the time between one day and the next, the meeting of sea and shore, or the turning of one year into the next were seen as magickal times. The turning of the year was the most potent of these times. This was the time when the "veil between the worlds" was at its thinnest, and the living could communicate with their beloved dead in Tir nan Og. (summerland)

5. What about the aspects of "evil' that we associate with the night today? The Druid's did not have demons and devils in their belief system. The fairies, however, were often considered hostile and dangerous to humans because they were seen as being resentful of man taking over their land. On this night, they would sometimes trick humans into becoming lost in the fairy mounds, where they would be trapped forever. After the coming of the Christians to the Celtic lands, certain of the folk saw the fairies as those angels who had sided neither with God or with Lucifer in their dispute, and thus were condemned to walk the earth until judgment day. In addition to the fairies, many humans were abroad on this night, causing mischief. Since this night belonged neither to one year or the other, Celtic folk believed that chaos reigned, and the people would engage in "horseplay and practical jokes". This also served as a final outlet for high spirits before the gloom of winter set in.

6. What about "trick or treat"? During the course of these hijinks, many of the people would imitate the fairies and go from house to house begging for treats. Failure to supply the treats would usually result in practical jokes being visited on the owner of the house. Since the fairies were abroad on this night, an offering of food or milk was frequently left for them on the steps of the house, so the homeowner could gain the blessing of the "good folk" for the coming year. Many of the households would also leave out a "dumb supper" for the spirits of the departed. The folks who were abroad in the night imitating the fairies would sometimes carry turnips carved to represent faces. This is the origin of our modern Jack-o-lantern.

7. Was there any special significance of cats to the Celts? According to Katherine Briggs in Nine Lives: Cats in Folklore,, the Celts associated cats with the Cailleach Bheur, or Blue Hag of Winter. "She was a nature goddess, who herded the deer as her cattle. The touch of her staff drove the leaves off the trees and brought snow and harsh weather." Dr. Anne Ross addresses the use of divine animals in her book Pagan Celtic Britain and has this to day about cats."Cats do not play a large role in Druid mythology ... the evidence for the cat as an important cult animal in Celtic mythology is slight" She cites as supporting evidence, the lack of archaeological artifacts and literary references in surviving works of mythology.

8. Was this also a religious festival? Yes. Druid religion was very closely tied to the Earth. Their great legends are concerned with momentous happenings which took place around the time of Samhain. Many of the great battles and legends of kings and heroes center on this night. Many of the legends concern the promotion of fertility of the earth and the insurance of the continuance of the lives of the people through the dark winter season.

9. How was the religious festival observed? Unfortunately, we know very little about that. W.G. Wood-Martin, in his book, Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, states, "There is comparatively little trace of the religion of the Druids now discoverable, save in the folklore of the peasantry, and the references relative to it that occur in ancient and authentic Irish manuscripts are, as far as present appearances go, meager and insufficient to support anything like a sound theory for full development of the ancient religion." The Druids were the priests of the Celtic peoples. They passed on their teachings by oral tradition instead of committing them to writing, so when they perished, most of their religious teachings were lost. We do know that this festival was characterized as one of the four great "Fire Festivals" of the Celts. Legends tell us that on this night, all the hearth fires in Wales and Scotland were extinguished, and then re-lit from the central fire of the Druids at Tlachtga, miles from the royal hill of Tara. This fire was kindled from "need fire" which had been generated by the friction of rubbing two sticks together, as opposed to more conventional methods (such as the flint-and-steel method) common in those days. The extinguishing of the fires symbolized the "dark half" of the year, and the re-kindling from the Druidic fires was symbolic of the returning life hoped for, and brought about through the ministrations of the priesthood.

10. We do know from Traditional Druid Souces. That have recently been released and admitted to by the Traditional Druid Organisation.
that young boys were seeded by warriors or priests on this night.
The boys of 14 years would be taken by a man they chose who would
support them and guide them until manhood. Of course there is no evidence that this practice still continues today.

Song of Amergin

The Song of Amergin is thought to be the oldest recorded poem in Ireland. Written at the time of the Melisian invasion, Amergin’s words reflect how Druids are one with the world around them.

The Milesians came to Ireland from Spain, about 1530 B.C.E. and displaced the Tuatha de Danaan who had control of the island at that time. Three druids, Uar, Eithear, and Amergin, led the Milesians to Ireland. Amergin was among the most influential of the Druids and is referred to as the first Druid of the Gaels in the Book of Invasions.

The Milesians landed at Kerry and proceeded to Tara where they met the Kings of the Tuatha de Danaan who objected to the arrival of the Milesians. Amergin agreed that he and his companions would leave the island. The De Danaan took advantage of this and had their Druids raise a fierce storm that scattered the Milesian fleet. Amergin used his druidic skills to calm the storm and the Milesians landed again. This time, Amergin's first words upon landing were the poem known today as the Song of Amergin. The Milesians landed in Ireland on Beltaine and defeated the Tuatha de Danaan three days later.

Song of Amergin

I am a wind of the sea,

I am a wave of the sea,

I am a sound of the sea,

I am an ox of seven fights,

I am a stag of seven tines,

I am a wild flood on a plain,

I am a wind on deep waters.

I am a shining tears of the sun,

I am a wonder among flowers,

I am a lure from paradise,

I am a hawk on a cliff,

I am a salmon in a pool,

I am a hill where poets walk,

I am the one who forms smoke from sacred fire,

I am the one who sets a fire in the head.

I am a boar ruthless and red,

I am a spear that roars for blood,

I am a tide that drags to the death,

I am a breaker threatening doom,

I am an ancient rock atop standing stones.

I am a babe birthing through an unhewn arch.

I am the womb of every holt,

I am the blaze on every hill,

I am the queen of every hive,

I am the shield for every head,

I am the tomb of every hope.

Yarrow

I will pluck the yarrow fair
That more brave shall be my hand

That more warm shall be my lips

That more swift shall be my foot

May I an island be at sea

May I a rock be on land

That I can afflict any man

No man can afflict me.


-Yarrow from The Carmina Gadelica

Def: Druid

Druid comes to English from Latin druides (pronounced /dru'i.des/), which is associated in folk etymology with drus meaning “oak tree” and -ides meaning “the son of”.

The word Druid denotes the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies, which existed through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles until they were displaced by the Romans and, later Christianity. Druidic practices were part of the culture of all Celtic and Gaulish tribes. Druids were priest, scholar and magistrate.

The ancient Druids were polytheists, but also revered solar and celestial patterns of the sun, moon, and stars and observed them for signs and cues to the changing of seasons. Streams, lakes hills and plants, especially oak, holly and mistletoe were held in sacred regard. Fire was associated with the sun and several deities and believed to have cleansing properties.

The four main Druid holidays are Imbolc which heralds the first signs of spring, Beltane for the surge of life after spring, Lughnasadh in celebration of the ripening of the first fruits and the deity Lugh, and Samhain to celebrate the end of harvest and the lowering of the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead.The timing for these four festivals was determined by the presence of a full moon roughly between each solstice and equinox.

In modern times, Imbolc has been transformed into Groundhog Day, bits of Beltane have been added into Easter, and Samhain has become Halloween (or All Hallows' Eve and All Saint's Day).

Sympathy For 'The Devil'

When I tell people that I'm a Druid, it's mostly to test the waters and get reactions. Wow, everything from ‘that’s nice’ to ‘Oh my god, you’re a devil worshiper!’ I never thought I’d take such offense to that or that I’d be repulsed more and more by Christian ideology. My oldest has been walking around singing songs she learned at vacation Bible school and going on about God and how the devil can make you do bad things. It’s making me crazy. Not so much what she’s singing or saying but the gross one-sidedness of it. Bible school? Seems more like scare ‘em early and beat it into their head camp. She’s only 4! I don’t recall getting burdened with the ‘be good or burn’ stuff until I was at least 7 or 8.

I know the church is never going to say anything like “some people don’t believe this stuff and you should still be nice to them”. We all know they usually play the “you’re with us or you’re an a**hole” game and it’s sad to see a little kid starting to play it so early. I know I could just say no – she can’t go to church with my parents. I don’t want to do that. It took me all these years to make up my own mind. I don’t want to force anything on the kids. I’d rather let them read and talk and ask questions about whatever they want to without worry they’ll burn just for asking. I leave you with some excerpts from a dissertation I found online.

There is no scriptural source designating Lucifer as Satan, nonetheless the Church taught he was an angel cast out of heaven because he wanted to take over the throne of Jahova. However it would be religious popular fiction which would cement Lucifer as another face of Satan, the 'Divine Comedy' by Alighieri Dante [1265-1321] and 'Paradise Lost' by John Milton [1608-1675]. It was at this period Mephistopheles entered the lexicon of Hell's overlord, the name a play on Lucifer, meaning 'not loving the light'. It has no scriptural basis, it's a medieval literary creation in the Faust novella which became an accepted part of Christian mythology in the same way Dante's view of Hell or Milton's view of Satan came to define the church position

The word Devil is a popular blanket term for the Judeo-Christian Satan, however it has no theological foundation, it's derived from the ancient Greek 'Diabolos' meaning "adversary or prosecutor" with no particular religious connotation, introduced into Christology in the medieval period which was a time of great theological inventiveness. The widely believed home of these pseudo evil entities is Hell, the original concept of an abode of the dammed has Persian origins, but was a place where disobedient wives were dispatched. In the Judeo-Christian context Hell means different things to both groups, the ancient Hebrews adopted the concept from the ancient Greeks 'Hades' which means 'the unseen place' and 'underworld' where the spirits of the dead repose without any moral judgment. The Hebrews translated 'Hades' as 'Sheol', like the Greeks the Hebrews referred to Sheol as simply an abode of the dead, a place of waiting for final judgment. The popular image of Hell as being a place of horrendous eternal torment is a product of Christian mythology, the works of authors such as Dante and Milton whose imagery has no scriptural basis but is widely embraced nonetheless.

Celtic Rebirth

"And you, O Druids, now that the clash of battle is stilled, once more have you returned to your barbarous ceremonies and to the savage usage of your holy rites. To you alone it is given to know the truth about the gods and deities of the sky, or else you alone are ignorant of this truth. The innermost groves of far-off forests are your abodes. And it is you who say that the shades of the dead seek not the silent land of Erebus and the pale halls of Pluto; rather, you tell us that the same spirit has a body again elsewhere, and that death, if what you sing is true, is but the mid-point of a long life." (Lucan Pharsalia I.450-8)

It is known that the wheel was a Celtic symbol of rebirth. The wheel appears on sword-sheaths and countless pieces of art. Celtic men were willing to have their throats cut so they could follow their prince into death, and then into a new life. An explanation for this might be the Celts compared men to sacrificial vessels in which human life was offered up in exchange for another existence. The Celts did not fear death because they were reckless but because of generations of Druid teachings – that the soul lives on and returns.

Many seasonal assemblies were held at burial sites, including the enigmatic passage graves of dolmens and megaliths that stud Ireland. From these assemblies and rituals came the blending of the spiritual and physical worlds until the two were one. It is this blending and balancing of the spiritual / physical that is the foundation of Druidry.

The Druids were said to be the keepers of traditional wisdom that was concerned with moral philosophy, natural phenomena and theology. They were skilled in the reading of omens, the interpretation of dreams, the conducting of sacrifices, the construction of a calendar, herbal medicine, astronomy and the composition of poetry. They also practiced sexual magic as fertility was of high importance be it human, crop or livestock. No greater love existed than between two men and homosexuality was far from forbidden. By ancient Druidic law a man was permitted to have two wives and one male lover.

Druid / Celtic Astrology

Much has been written about Celtic / Druid astrology. Classical writers - including Strabo, Caesar, Diodorus Siculus, Cicero and Pliny - comment on Druidic knowledge of astronomy and astrology. There is also evidence that the Druids understood the tides and that they cut mistletoe and other plants at particular phases of the moon. It is also worth mentioning the survival of astronomical terms such as dubaraith, meaning eclipse, into modern Irish.

The earliest known Celtic calendar is the Coligny calendar, now in the Palais des Arts, Lyon. It is estimated to be from the 1st century BC, and is made up of bronze fragments that were once a single huge plate. The Coligny calendar achieves a complex synchronization of the solar and lunar months. It begins each month with the full moon, and covers a 30-year cycle comprising five cycles of 62 lunar months, and one of 61. It divides each month into fortnights rather than weeks, with days designated as ‘good’ or ‘not good’. Each year is divided into thirteen months.

There are several ways to apply the Druidic sense of cycles in our daily lives. First, we can try to be more aware of the truth of constant change. Nothing stays the same; what goes around comes around. There are ‘good’ days and ‘not good’ days. We shouldn’t cling to good times or dwell on bad times. One way to develop an awareness of this is to keep a small diary and jot down our mood or the general tone for that day. Reading it back later will reveal a pattern and rhythm. Keeping a diary can also be tied in with observing the phases of the moon. Many people who keep a diary find a patterns in their lives, and in their moods, corresponding to the lunar phases. This can help you develop your sense of natural rhythm.

On the larger scale, by observing the festivals we can tune our lives to seasonal changes. Some may find that Samhain is a good time to become more introspective and plan new projects over the winter. Beltain, conversely, is a time to begin those planned projects.