MagickWolf's Wicca: Verhalen

" Night has fallen... "

Night has fallen, deep and dark in the midwinter slumber of the earth. Smoke spirals in moonlit whispers up to the sky, dancing the season with the floating ash and brilliant red sparks, as the remnants of the bonfire shift and crackle to the pulsing of the earth's veins. Passing by, in a hurry to return to a warmther hearth, your attention is caught and held by an old woman seated near the dying embers, her wrinkled face illuminated gently in the flicker of the flames. You pause�she looks you in the eye and smiles, inviting you to sit with a nod of her head. Feeling timid, like a child, you kneel at her feet. She places an ancient hand, worn but strong, upon your head and smiles down at you.
"My child," she whispers. "Let me tell you a story�"
Letting a wave of innocent wonder wash over your senses and fill you with the childlike joy you used to know, you smile back and answer, "Please tell me, I want to know more�"
Lifting her head to the sky, her eyes sparkle with delight. She opens her mouth to speak and the voice of ages issues forth from her throat, the sound like nothing you've ever heard before, more comforting than you ever could have hoped for.

She begins her Story�
You have felt the days growing colder, growing shorter. As Winter falls upon the Earth, so The Great Night is with us deeper and longer.
Thought it feels like the darkness may never leave us, we are closest now to the dawn. The darkness must be consummate and full, overwhelming us, before the light can begin to break through.
     For now is the longest night the year shall see, the Sun stayed with us for but a few short hours, retreating from the glow of the fading Oak Moon, that the Night may bring with it the greatest darkness and also the greatest light. The Lord of the Sun is born this night, to the Divine Mother Earth, our Goddess fair, who sleeps and sleeps in her exhaustion and pain, and cannot be awakened.
     We welcome his coming with Light! Bright are the candles that shine from our homes; warm are the fires in our hearths. The Yule log burns a sacred flame, to welcome in the Sun and to save the remnants for our protection all the year long. We pray for the winter to leave us soon, for the Goddess to awaken from her slumber that the Earth may again be fertile and green.
     As the Year Wheel turns, the Wolf Moon passes and still our Lady sleeps. Yet behold, her son grows stronger with each day, and he shines his golden rays upon his mother with all the love a child can give. With the dawning of the Storm Moon, her eyes awaken to the condition of the earth, still lying cold and dormant, reflective of her slumber. As she is yet weak, she calls upon her son for aid, and as the light begins to shine brighter in him, she teaches him the ways of Nature.
     We shine as well, lighting our candles as beacons in the waning darkness, symbols of the rising power of the divine child of the Goddess.
As she teaches her son, so she will teach us if we turn our thoughts within, listening to the voices in the wind and the and rumblings of the stirring earth, seeking to know what the coming year shall bring. We celebrate the awakening of the Lady, and the purification and healing of the barren earth with the light of her son.
     As the Chaste Moon shines down from the sky, a wondrous transformation occurs. Now fully awakened from her slumber, her healing cycle completed, the Goddess has become the Maiden, perfecting the transition of the Earth into Spring. As the Lady reawakens into life, so does the Earth, bursting forth with the energy and joy of creation. The divine child matures into manhood, and as the days and nights reach perfect balance, so do our Lady and Lord, walking the woods and fields, spreading light and life to the world.
     At this moment, day and night walk hand and hand in balance. We celebrate beginnings with vibrant dance and song, as Spring blooms into beauty and grace around us. Light overtakes the darkness as winter's sleep is forgotten.
     With the coming of the Seed Moon, the God realizes his love for The Goddess, his constant companion. She is no longer his mother but his youthful lover as the stirring energies of the Earth ignite their passion. Their union blesses the Earth with fertility as the Goddess conceives a child.
     We rejoice at their happiness, as all around us, Nature joins us in singing. The trees shower the ground with flowers as the seeds of fruit develop, the fields beginning to show their promise. The creatures of the wood raise their young in the light of the Lady and Lord's love for each other and for all of their children, all who dwell upon the Earth. We set wreaths upon our table and hang the greening Rowan branch above the door, we dance with ribbons bright around the May Pole, we fill the cauldrons deep and sing to the return of passion, the return of hope's promise to the world.
     The Hare Moon blends into the Dyad as we light the balefires high atop the hills. The Solstice brings the brightest of the light into the world, the fullness of the God shines down upon the Earth and blesses all creation. We dance the fire, around and around and leaping through to ensure the blessings of the Lady and Lord. The fire purifies us, cleanses us for hope and light to live always within our hearts. Now is the time for magick as we bring our dreams out of the night and into the brightness of day. We look to the love of the Lord and Lady for each other as the child within her grows.
     The Mead Moon passes in its course above us, and as the Wyrt Moon grows brighter the Lady begins to feel the coming of the Harvest.
The trees drop their fruit, and what does not nourish becomes the seeds for the coming spring. She watches with sorrow as the sun rises farther in the south each morning, and the nights grow longer and deeper. She senses the cold winter to come in the crisp breath of the first hint of Autumn.
     We celebrate the first harvest, and remember the summer in its bounty and warmth. We relish each meal, as it becomes and act of attunement with Nature. The days begin to wane as we are reminded of the ever changing cycles of the universe.
     The Barley Moon gleams full overhead as the Harvest is complete. On the day when night and day are once again equal, we celebrate the balance of the Earth and the bounty of the Harvest. The Earth stands in readiness for his great transition, as Nature declines from the peak of summer and readies for a time of rest. The summer has gone, taking with it more and more of the Lord's power with the passing of each day.
The Lady feels him weakening with sorrow, and yet she knows that his spirit and power will live on through the child growing within her. The God feels his declining strength, but rejoices, knowing that rest and renewal await him in the great unknown, in the future when he shall be reborn from the Goddess.
     When the Blood Moon rises, and the air turns cold, the time has come for the God to pass through the Veil into the Underworld. In times long past, the children of the Earth made sacrifices, ensuring food to last through the depths of winter's chill. As the animals fell for the good of the people, so did their God fall into the darkness of the Otherworld, journeying beyond to ensure the safety and welfare of his people.
Though his people no longer sacrifice his creatures, still the Lord falls, knowing that he must in order to be reborn, and let the circle of life continue.
     On this most sacred of nights, as the Lord takes leave of the Earth, he thins the Veil between the worlds. Life and death flow into each other, becoming each other, and as the people of the Old Gods we remember all those who have come before, those who have passed beyond the Veil before us, whose memories linger with us always. We light the sacred flame, first a tiny spark, it glows from the candles we keep in our homes in honor of the fallen Lord and all those we love who have gone before. As this fire grows, the balefires are lit atop the hills and we signal to the world that we are of the Ancient Ways and the power of the God is with us still.
     In the months to come, the Snow Moon hangs heavy in the sky as the Goddess bears the weight of the divine child in her womb. These are months of darkness lit by the hope of the surviving spirit of the God, the promise of the newborn child to come.
     As the Oak Moon rises in the sky, the Lady feels the power of the God stirring within her as the pains of labor begin and light reenters the world�

The old woman smiles down at you at the close of her tale. You feel refreshed somehow on this Winter's Eve, more alive than you have felt in years. A deep resonant pulse of truth springs to life within you as you return the woman's smile, and realize that you have finally come home.

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Laatst bijgewerkt op:
9 april 2003