Rob:             The Green Man’s face seems wet; his dark evergreen leaves are cold, clammy and misty.

Barry:          It’s night, moonlit, the ground is frosty. The moonlight lights up two masks hanging on the pole.

We pull on the furs which we had on before. I hear the sound of drumming. A torch lit procession comes through the trees. There are seven of them, all dressed in furs. They approach the circle, but don’t enter it. Their faces are scarred, along the nose and by their ears.

Rob:             They are ritualistic markings, marking life’s various stages. We carry scars from life’s passage on our souls.

Barry:          One beckons us to follow them.

Rob:             They wear bows at their back. One carries a skin sack.

Barry:          I reach up and take a mask from the pole.. It is white and expressionless.

The procession leads off through the woods.

Rob:             I take the other mask, which is dark and expressionless, with a slit for the mouth, and ellipses for eyes.

Barry:          It is hard going on the frozen ground. They are used to it, but are wary of the woods. They head towards the moon. We hear the sounds of animals in the woods. I am fearful of the journey. We are following the stream uphill, it is stony and slippery.

Rob:             There is a bonfire on the hilltop, with others watching us from near the fire. Over the fire are four large tree trunks, which make a support for a huge cauldron hanging there. It is at least four or five feet high.

Barry:          The figures are running. They wear necklaces with seven stones, which seem to mark life experiences – like the scars.

Rob:             There is a vapour rising from the cauldron, that has a sickly smell of herbs.

Someone starts to drum, and the people start to circle clockwise around the fire.

Barry:          A woman tells me to put on the mask. The vapour is heavy, I feel it seep into me. It tastes better in the throat. I remember the dance of the kestrel, and ask for it’s guidance.

Rob:             I put on the dark mask.

Barry:          In a mound or a hut, the moon shines through a gap. I am in a pit of freezing water, around me are bones.

Rob:             I stand on a hill alone. It is dark, yet i can see the land around me. I have black wings. To the East there is a faint glow of dawn, the land is touched by dawn. To the West, the darkness intensifies, and I see an iron black gate. Across the land is the passage of life, I can see people walking across. They are blind, though their eyes are open. They say nothing, but talk all the time. Occasionally one looks up as if surprised and looks around and is happy, but soon the mask of the mundane takes them.

One or two are more aware. They look up the hill and seem aware of being observed. I spread the wings and fly Westwards. I am soon there. At the gate the people passing through discard their belongings. As they pass through the gate I can no longer see them. Others go through blindly unaware that they have passed.

I fly back to the hill. I can see some people that appear in the East, treading the same road.

Barry:          Behind me figures have formed around my pit. I can hear the sound of Earth. Before me is the Morrigan, at my right is the pregnant huntress, behind me the kestrel, as a man. I will become as the bones. I will pass into the earth and be reborn anew. The moon is my guide, she calls me from the slumber, to become aware. Help is around me.

I am alone in the pit. My true name is clear, it is ***********.

I do not wish to tread the grinding path. I am back in the circle. There are now arrow marks cut in around the ears of the mask.

I see you, your wings still in place

The men will lead us in the direction of the stone circle, but they will not accompany us the whole way.

The sun is starting to rise and the circle is welcoming and warm.

Rob:             I am aware of this moment. All is now in this place, all is here.

(performs Kabbalistic Cross)

I remove the mask, and put it on the Maypole.

Barry:          I do likewise.

On entering the circle I saw countless visions of ourselves journeying from the circle.

 

 

E23