Autumn and the Goddess

The weather here in South Australia is really doing its own thing.  February is usually our hottest month of the year, heralding in temperatures in the high 30Cs and even 40Cs (that is around 100F for those more familiar with the fahrenheit temperatures), yet so far this month, the average temperature being only in the low to mid 20Cs.  Whilst I am not one who enjoys the heat, I cannot help to be somewhat suspicious as to whether our hot weather is not in fact "lurking" somewhere, ready to appear when we least expect it.

The harvest festival of Lughnasadh (which occurs around 1 February in the Souther Hemisphere) is usually the time when whatever has not already been gathered, is basically annihilated by the hot weather, often leaving little if anything in the garden to offer up as a libation unless it is bought.  This year, with only a handful of extremely hot days, the libation altar was overflowing with various offerings including corn cobs from my own garden.

Imbolc in the Southern Hemisphere

As the first rays of the morning sun creeps through the gap of houses and across my back yard, the ground almost shivers with anticipation of its subtle warmth.  Winter is finally losing its grip upon the land, making way for Imbolc, the season of rebirth.

It is within a collection of Irish medieval myths known as “Tochmarc Emire” that the word “Imbolc” is first mentioned.  Within the story of the wooing of Emer by the Ulster hero Cu Chulainn, Emer sets a series of challenges for the young hero include him going sleepless for a year.  The calendar she refers to is denoted by the “opening of the four seasons”, with one of these seasons being named as Imbolc, marking the beginning of Spring when “the sheep are milked and Spring’s beginning". 

Winter and the Time of the Death Hag

Autumn has now given way to Winter. The hours of daylight are noticeably shorter and temperatures lower. The leaves are falling steadily from the trees, leaving them as bare skeletons. We have entered the time of the Death Hag, She who rules the barren earth.

The following is an excerpt from “The Gaia Tradition: Celebrating the Earth in Her Seasons” by Kisma Stephanich that is most appropriate to share at this time of the year. 

A Day with Dark Goddesses

Dark Goddess altar

Saturday, 28 May 2011, saw this year's Dark Goddess workshop taking place, an almost annual workshop where up to six different Goddesses who fall under the guise of being "dark", have their myths explored and are met through various exercises and meditations.  What, however, makes a Goddess "dark"? 

 In our modern Pagan interpretations there tends to be a general misconception as to who exactly is a "dark" Goddess.  If the Goddess is depicted as a phase of the Moon,, then the Dark Goddess is often associated with the waning phase, that generally relating to the Crone, Hag or Death Bringer.  However such as description does not fit Goddesses such as Lilith, Pele or even Sekhmet ... all of whom are classifed as being "dark".

Autumn and the Goddess

Autumn is the secret time, for it is the twilight of seasons when we are caught between life and death.  The turning of the wheel takes us down into the centre of women power.  If compared to a woman’s moon cycle, Autumn is the Waning Moon, the time of bleeding, of the womb, of the blood mysteries.

It is the time of intense colour, the turning of leaf colours, the shedding and releasing.  All life surrenders, leaving behind the stillness of action, and prepares to enter the silence, the season of death.