Originally Posted by boudicca
firstly for you it is litha, the summer solstice, the longest day whilst we celebrate the yule, longest night. (did you watch the vid about christmas?)
the story of The Holly King and Oak King
The Wiccan God is the Lord of the Greenwood, consort to the Lady of the Greenwood. Known also as Cernunnos, the Green Man, Herne the Hunter, and Lord of the Wild Hunt, he is a god of fertility, growth, death, and rebirth.
Two God-themes figure predominantly in Wiccan Sabbats: the Sun-God theme and that of the Holly King and Oak King.
The Sun-God rules the seasons. At Yule, he is the new babe, the emodiment of innocence and joy. He represents the infancy of the returning light. At Imolg, his growth is celebrated, as the days are growing longer and light stronger. At Ostara, he is a green, flourishing youth whose eye is taken by the Maiden Goddess. On Beltane, he is the young man in love who takes the Goddess as his bride. Their consummated marriage is celebrated with maypoles and bonfires. At Midsummer, he comsummates his marriage in a union so complete that it becomes a death. He is mourned at Lammas, and at Mabon, he sleeps in the womb of the Goddess. At Samhain, he waits in the Shining Land to be reborn.
The symbolism of the Horned God is also played out the theme of the Holly King and Oak King. The Horned God is the Holly King and the Oak King, two twin gods seen as one complete entity. Each of the twin gods rule for half of a year, fightsfor the favor of the Goddess, and dies. But the defeated twin is not truly dead, he merely withdraws for six months, some say to Caer Arianrhod, the Castle of the ever-turning Silver Wheel, which is also known as the Wheel of the Stars. This is the enchanted realm of the Goddess Arianrhod where the god must wait and learn before being born again. Arianrhod means "silver wheel" and the castle is the Aurora Borealis. She is the goddess of the astral skies and there she rules as goddess of reincarnation.
The golden Oak King, who is the light twin, rules from midwinter to midsummer. The darksome Holly King rules the dark half of the year from Midsummer to Midwinter.
this story is acted out in the mummerers and morris men in my village on boxing day........
for me a practising pagan yule is the time when we have desended into the dark (into our selves) and start to emerge into the light, yule is seen as the time of the great mother/womb where things finish and things start.......so a good time to tie up loose ends and plant seeds of inspiration for the coming year. the ritual planned with our children will reflect this, we sing and chant as we burn away unwanted things on the yule log (bonfire) then decorating a tree with blessings for all, then we act out the holly/oak king play......and the joyfull aspect by sharing in feasting afterwards. later when the children go to bed lucia and i will do the more serious ritual of entering into very very deep trance and going to spaces between to practice our craft. we will as folk did from long ago go into the dark and bring back the light (son/sun birth?) we might symbolicaly do this by walking the maze or spiral, whilst drumming or chanting (a way of reaching a deep trance).
from my perspective being pagan is about following and tuning in to the cycles of life.......on all levels.....as above so below. by doing ritual we keep ourselves in a continued state of movement a never ending cycle. each one leads to the next and changes outside are reflective of changes inside.
any questions please dont hesitate to ask.
i actually work a sort of european shamanic way.......i am very drawn to paeliolithic times.
bou x
father christmas the shaman? look at fly agaric and shamanism
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