How can a journey up a stream turn into a mystical experience? My visit to the Aegean island of Samos showed me how I could connect with archetypal figures from Greek mythology through the beauty of nature.
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Folks, we have a problem.
It's the Eve of Beltane. The time has come to go up to the top of the Holy Mountain and enact the ancestral rites that bring Winter to an end and assure a fruitful Summer to come.
Well, but: the king has turned to the new god, and forbidden—on pain of death—the Old Gods and the Old Worship. He has sent soldiers to ring the Brocken, our Holy Mountain, and ordered them to kill anyone who attempts to ascend.
But the ancient rites must be enacted, lest the Wheel should cease to turn.
So what do we do?
This is the story that the poet laureate of German Romanticism, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), tells in his poem Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, “the First Walpurgisnacht.” Goethe's poem was later set to music by composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) in a pagan cantata of the same name (Op. 60), which premiered in 1843.
In Germany, Walpurgisnacht looks a lot like Halloween does here in the States: it's a haunted time, a night when the ghosts and monsters come out. How did it change from Holy to Haunted? That's the tale that Goethe and Mendelssohn tell in Die Erste Walpurgisnacht.
OK, so here's what we're going to do.
Maienzug (Aarau, Switzerland) takes place every year on the first Friday in July. It's an example of a moveable feast, that is, a holiday that is not on the same date every year. The following is a list of holidays with fixed dates which are celebrated by heathens or heathen-derived cultures.
June
8
Lindisfarne Day (American Asatru, American Odinist)
9
Day of Sigurd (American Asatru, American Odinist)
21
Midsummer (Urglaawe, England),
Hleifblot (American Asatru),
Líða (Theod),
Mittesommer (Germany),
Sommersonnewende (Germany),
Hochsommer Fest (Switzerland),
Midsommar (Norway),
Midsommardagen (Sweden)
July
7
Lindenfest begins (Geisenheim, Germany)
9
Day of Unn the Deep-Minded (American Asatru), Lindenfest ends (Geisenheim, Germany)
15 Month of possible date of Hoietfescht begins (Urglaawe)
29 Stikkelstad Day (American Asatru)
31 Month of possible date of Honoring of the Weisskeppichi Fraa ends (Urglaawe)
Some moveable feasts require knowing the date of other feasts to derive their dates. Pinkster is on the fiftieth day after Easter, aka Whitsunday (in Deventer, province of Overijssel, Netherlands)
Pinkster Bruid or Pinksterbloem on Whit Tuesday (in Volte, Ootmarsum, Markelo, Rijssen, Hellendoorn, Hengelo, and other communities, province of Overijssel, Netherlands.)
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Right ... thanks for the explanation. Have a beautiful weekend! -
It's on the official calendar of some groups. I'd guess it was probably intended as "fight the Christian oppressor." That was a po -
Hmmm ... Is "Lindisfarne Day" an actual thing? Seems a bit of an odd and disturbing event to celebrate ... I wonder what others i
Of all the Indo-European-speaking peoples, only one has practiced their traditional religion continuously since antiquity.
The Kalasha, some 4000-strong, live in three remote valleys in what is now northwestern Pakistan. There they worship their ancient gods with wine, animal sacrifice, and sacred dances.
To honor these courageous people, I want to teach you a word in their language, Kalashamon: pooch, “penis.”
Some years back, it so happened that an English tourist came to visit the Kalasha valleys. (When you're the last surviving pagans of the Hindu Kush, the tourists will certainly come.) Being English, she naturally brought her dog with her. (“A priest in Ireland, a dog in England,” goes the saying, answering the question “What's the best thing to be?”) Of course, the dog's name was Pooch.
One day Pooch ran away. To the great amusement of the Kalasha, the distraught woman wandered through the village calling “Pooch! Pooch!” and explaining to anyone who would listen that she had lost her Pooch and just had to find him.
The story may or may not be apocryphal. Likelihood aside, it very much has the feel of something that an amused Kalashamon-speaker learning English might make up.
But if by any chance you should happen to find yourself in the secret mountain valleys of the Lost Pagans of the Hindu Kush, you'll know at least one useful word in the local language.
You will have remembered it, you will find, because I've taught it to you in the traditional way, which—in the days before literacy took all human knowledge hostage—the ancestors utilized in every aspect of life.
See that grayware jar there on the sideboard? The tall one, with the swirling black spirals?
That's for my ashes.
Bring it to the first Grand Sabbat after I die. (You might want to seal the lid with beeswax first.) On the first night, set it at the foot of the altar. Let it stand there throughout the gathering.
On the night of the Sabbat, when you remember the dead, call my name. When you pour for the dead, pour for me.
(Pinot noir by preference, but you know me: anything but mead.)
And then the Old Buck's last Grand Sabbat.
(Be careful not to kick the jar over during the Grand Sacrifice. You know how frenzied those can get.)
On the last morning of that first gathering of the tribe of Witches after I die, when the Horned comes for the last time to lead the people up out of the forest and into the sunlight, bring the jar.
When, at the foot of the hill, he turns in final farewell, set it in the crook of his arm.
He'll take it with him up the hill then, as he sinks (in a pillar of white flame) into the Earth, as he walks into the Sky.
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This blog post is a response I gave to a Crystal Friend who wanted to know about her cat and its reaction to some of her crystals.
If you are curious about crystals and pets, this is a followup to that original blog post (here is a link) on the topic of crystals and pets. Read on for the question and response.
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