The Lady of the Dawn who became the Great Woman of the Light

Hine-titama
by Robyn Kahukiwa

As the Wheel of the Year turns once more, the gateway to the dark months, that of Samhain, opens before us.  As the veil between the realm of the living and that of the dead thins, we are reminded of our own mortality.

 

According to Maori, the Goddess of night and of death was Hine-nui-te-po (meaning "Great Woman of the Night"), who was also the ruler of the Underworld.  Also known by her earlier name, that of Hine-titama ("Lady of the Dawn"), she was said to be the daughter of  Tāne-matua (the God of the forests and birds), and Hine-ahu-one (“woman created of earth”), who was the first woman.

Journey with Persephone

Here in the Southern Hemisphere the time of the Autumn Equinox is fast approaching.  Soon it will be the time when, for a brief moment, there is be a balance in the hours of day and night before the scales are tipped in the dark half of the year's favour with the coming of Winter.

The Goddess at Lughnasadh

Taltiu, slow Magmor’s daughter,
‘Tis she that cut down the forest.
Lugh’s foster-mother, men declare,
The place of this assembly (is) round Tailtiu.

(The Edginburgh Dinnshenchas" by Whitley Stokes, Folklore IV)

Given that Lughnasadh is a time of joyous celebration, it is surprising to learn that Lughnasadh was originally funerary games for Tailtiu, the foster mother of the Irish God Lugh, who died clearing forested land for cultivation. This information is given in a Medieval poetic anthology known as the  Metrical Dindshenchas:

"Long was the sorrow, long the weariness of Tailtiu, in sickness after heavy toil; the men of the island of Erin to whom she was in bondage came to receive her last behest. She told them in her sickness (feeble she was but not speechless) that they should hold funeral games to lament her - zealous the deed."

Contemplating the Divine Union

"Peace by being Peace"
by Willow Arlenea

With the seasonal celebration of Bealtaine just around the corner which marks the gateway to Summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the next service at The Goddess House will be on the divine union between the God (the forces of the divine masculine) and the Goddess (the forces of the divine feminine).  On the 13 November 2012, not only will we be acknowledging this union externally, but also internally as well.



Swiss psycho-analysist Carl Jung was of the opinion that each of us has the ability of perfect balance in that within each man, there resided the anima (unconscious feminine psychological qualities), and similiarly within each woman the animus (unconscious masculine psychological qualities) also resided.

Only a Week to Go

As the Spring Equinox has come and gone, not only does the beat of the earth seem to be steadily speeding up as we approach the warmer months of Summer, but so too does the year.  Next week it will be October ... shortly after that, Bealtaine will be celebrated and then the Wheel will be moving around to Mid Summer.

I am finding myself wonderful just where has the year gone ... am I ready for long hot days of Summer yet, especially with our soaring southern heat?

Spring has arrived at The Goddess House

Growing over the verandah to the The Goddess House is a beautiful old wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) that, with the help of my partner a number of years ago, we restrung the wire in order to "encourage" it to provide shading from the intensive northerly Summer sun we get here in Adelaide.  Alas, like anything we try to tame from nature, it showed that it had its own will and continued to grow according to that ... and not mine.

 

With Spring well and truly upon us, the wisteria is bursting into gorgeous lilac coloured flower, and on the breeze, its delicate scent is found.  Little wonder then that wisteria is associated with the element of Air and attracts to it powers of gentleness, inspiration, as well a sacred knowledge and wisdom.

Mother of All Things

"The Mother of Songs, the Mother of our whole seed

Bore us in the beginning.

She is the Mother of all races

And the Mother of our tribes.

She is the Mother of Thunder, the Mother of Rivers

The Mother of Trees and all kinds of things.

She is the Mother of Songs and Dances

She is the Mother of the Stones

She is the Mother of the dance paraphernalia and of all temples and the only

Mother we have

She is the Mother of the Animals, the only one

She is the Mother of the Milky Way

She is the Mother is the rain, the only one we have

She alone is the Mother of things, she alone."

Arise, Goddess of Spring

Here at The Goddess House it is almost September, yet the long reaching fingers of the Cailleach, the Gaelic Goddess of Winter, can still be felt.  Whilst my Dutch irises have been out for a number of months, very few of the traditional Spring flowers can be seen - one grape hyacinth appeared a few weeks back, as if to test the weather, and only now are the freesias starting to appear.  This time last year the garden was boosting a wonderful display of daffodils and jonquils, especially around the sacred circle.  This year however it is a different story.

Spring has arrived at The Goddess House

I came back from a weekend away to find that amongst an increasing display of purple, one white iris has emerged.  My purple Dutch irises have been delighting me since late June when they started to spike ... but now, with other colours emerging, this is certainly a sign that Persephone is returning from the Underworld and Spring is on its way.

Almost ironically however my other Spring flowers, the jonquils, daffs and freesias have yet to make an appearance. 

As the weather warms, I am reminded of a poem about Demeter's quest penned by the late Shekhinah Mountainwater ...

All golden now

She springs to the earth

And alights to turn the brown grasses green

Her Mother's tears mix with Her own

And fall to make the green more green ...

 

The Season of the Cailleach

Mid Winter may have herald the rebirth of the Sun/Son however it is very much the season of the Cailleach (the "Veiled One"), as the worse of Winter's weather descends upon us. 

The ancient Goddess of the lands we today refer to as Scotland, in particular the islands of its coast, as well turning up in Irish mythology and folklore, the Cailleach is often referred to being the land itself.  According to myth, it is from her apron that the stones fell that created the mountains, and it is from her touch that the bare earth is covered with snow and frost.

For the last few morning it has been extremely chilly in the morning, yet where The Goddess House is located, we have not yet experienced a frost ... yet.  That has not stopped me however contemplating whether there are any Goddesses who are especifically associated with frosts.   Naturally my thoughts turned to Norse mythology where Frost Giants can be found.

Frau Holle - Germanic Goddess of Winter

Long ago, when the Germanic religion still honored Nature's power, both her blessing and devastating aspects, she was the rain-giving clouds, the spouse of the God of Storms.  

Later, she became a Sky Queen who, besides mastery over clouds and winds, she also had the power of granting sunshine and prosperity to the fields, and also, as the motherly protector of women's life, she controlled feminine work, namely favoring spinning, and, as Frau Holda or Holle, she kept the souls of the unborn or dead children.

Winter and the Hag

The sacred Wheel of the Year has turned again and now 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.

In the Winter, all life slows down, breathing is laboured, silence. Everywhere the stark land stretches. All is dormant, awaiting the rebirth of the Sun, awaiting the gentle touching fingertips of the solar rays when they reach down and caress the land, planting their essence of warmth to germinate the seeds burrowed deep in the Mother’s womb.

Ride of the Valkyries

Ride of the Vakyries by Kirsten Preston

The Wheel of the Year is constantly turning and as Summer reluctantly making way for Autumn, a rather poignant day is fast approaching for those of us who reside in Australia and New Zealand - that of ANZAC Day which occurs on 25 April every year.  I wrote about the history surrounding this day last year on my other blog.  Instead, I thought I would write about the Valkyries, the Norse deities who would roam the battle fields deciding which soul will die and which would live.

Goddess and the Garden at Autumn

Lughnasadh has come and gone, and with it being some three weeks out from the Autumn Equinox, the weather seems to be heating up.  On a whole, the Summer has been rather mild, however, as temperatures steadily climb skyward, it is as if we are given a timely reminder that Summer has not finished with us yet.

When it comes to the Wheel of the Year, Mother Earth seems to rebel against being told when her seasonal wheel will turn - it is not a mere six months difference between hemispheres, nor will she produce "appropriate" weather just because we are planning something allegedly in honour of her (with our mined crystals and parafin candles).  One of the best ways I have found in honouring Mother Earth is attempting to return some life to my long neglected garden, and in doing so, ensuring that at least some of the plants I add provide food and shelted to the native species, as well as for myself.

The Eleusinian Mysteries

As the hours of daylight are slowly getting less as the sun pulls itself away from the earth, I am reminded of the Greek myth of the descent of Kore (maiden) into the Underworld and the wandering of Demeter, her mother, which caused the land to go barren.  This myth was enacted in what was referred to as the Eleusinian Mysteries, that took place in a town of a similar name about 24 kms from Athens, in what was believed to be in the heart of the wheat and barley growing region.  It is little wonder therefore that Demeter was the Goddess associated with grain and fertility, as well as her name meaning "spelt mother" (spelt is a hardy variety of wheat).

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.

Early Spring by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Once more the Heavenly Power
Makes all things new,
And domes the red-plowed hills
With loving blue;
The blackbirds have their wills,
The throstles too.

Opens a door in Heaven;

From skies of glass
A Jacob's ladder falls
On greening grass,
And o'er the mountain-walls
Young angels pass.

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.