It has been a rather distracting time here in the cold, damp and dreary north of the UK. The Wheel has most certainly spun, and Summer has most assuredly died. It has taken a few days to really compose my thoughts to put something together onto paper; for more qualified voices have put it better than I feel I ever could or should.
Before I launch forth therefore – I hope everyone has had a blessed Samhain period. This time of year always feels very special to me – that the Gods and Spirits are close this year, is certainly in no doubt. At times, I have felt them almost overwhelmingly so. I hope much strength was taken from sabbatic congress, and that much love and joy was had in tandem with those we care about the most.
However, this year in particular feels powerful beyond the pale. The name of this post is rather specific – referring to the Dark Moon Huntress edition of Queen of Hell, which made its way out into the world within the past week or so. This work couldn’t be more aptly timed in its release nor in it’s arrival to my door. It arrived on the day of the partial lunar eclipse, the day of the Esbat just before the Sabbat itself. A sign, of the unification of the Dark and the Full Moon – Hecate in her full complete aspect, at the turning of the wheel from the old to new.
This on its own seemed distinctly magical. Coinciding with wider events in the world, it seemed downright prophetic. What strange times we live in, I find myself often thinking these days. It is no surprise to me that, with Hecate’s timing of the unfolding of this work, that the Magister of our Arte and Temple of Four Pillars of Fire decided to choose this time to make public the information surrounding the ‘Three Countries’ Prophecies. Things, have as they say, progressed.
I won’t dwell on the actual content that came out of those specifically here – as Mark relates in his own public post, there is no desire to be dragged into a political mire. It is not my arena to engage with – at this time, but rather I feel instead it is better to give a personal example of how the energy around this most portentous of Sabbats has affected me and our work at the temple to give additional insight.
I hope that this serves others well, in the want to transmit the love the current brings with it.
Darkness Manifesting by Midjourney
It was about the end of August – September when I began to feel the true tonal shift. Everything seemed heavier, and thick – more than what would normally be ascribed to the coming on of the Autumnal Season.
One particular night, I was feeling a bit disconnected. This was despite it being the full moon – an occurrence that usually has me amped up. In this case, I felt restless, like the powers that be wanted to show me something. But not to be clear, the good restless. Something nagged at me, and I couldn’t put my finger on what.
Out of all the things that I feel helps in these moments, one of the better ones for myself to shake a bit of sense into me has always been a good trip to the sea. The ocean, being the wellspring of ancestral memory, is distinctly liminal, and always connects me strongly back to Hecate. It has never failed me as a powerful crossroads. It has always been there, somewhere I can cast out unwanted mental and spiritual detritus and recharge. This, interestingly, despite me having a somewhat moderate case of thalassophobia – a fear of the sea – something tempered over the last half-decade by working with Belial, in his mask of Neptune / Poseidon, as well as with the Great Sea Dragon Leviathan. A certain dunking, by a certain witch, probably also helped immensely.
So to that end, I got into my car and set off. I have a particular place by the coast, which always helps take my mind off things. It overlooks the water, across to a town in the distance, and often the moon rises in a way to place itself almost directly between them. That night, parked up and stuffing myself with ice-cream, I looked out across the eerily still surface. The glare of the town was reflected off the mirrorlike surface, as were the more powerful pin pricks of light that trailed across the night sky, but they were not the stars of the show. The moon indeed was out to greet me in all her full glory, and the sky was clear. The moonglade cut a perfect path between the heavens, across the water, towards me.
It was a wondrous night. Beautiful beyond words, and my description above can only partially do it justice. Everything was so still – with very little wind. It was quite late, and, as I sat there in my car parked up, the quieter it became. Soon, there were no more fellow travellers passing my way. It was just me, the moon, the glow of the dash, and the quietly humming background noise of BBC Radio 3.
Moonglade, Unknown Photographer
Whilst calm and serene, there was something tinged in the air – a certain melancholy, that I could not place. It was not all internal – although certainly part of me mirrored what I was feeling that night. At that moment, I actually reached out and asked me question.
‘What do you want to show me?’
At first, nothing happened. Then, something magical occurred. A shadow passed over the car, and a dark figure fell from above. It fell down near the long grass, its talons gripping something. Two large, black eyes like pools locked with mine for an instant, glowing strongly with the reflection of both car light and night sky. Then, in a instant, the bird took flight again, a small shadow wrapped in its grasp. I sat there, stunned as I watched the Barn Owl whirl and quickly fly out of sight, back inland.
It was at that moment, that a new song started up on the radio. I cannot for the life of me remember the name it, despite searching far and wide. It was called something like the invocation of the old gods, and was ostensibly about the Norse pantheon. Regardless, the obvious symbolism in the timing felt extremely on the nose. The song was a lament, that of a changing world, and of time itself. It was discordant, disjointed thing and not necessarily pleasant to listen to, but had me enrapt throughout its entirity.
I sat there in stunned silence, trying to decipher what was coming through. I laughed nervously because, the more I listened, the more obvious it was in its directness. The answer was simply thus – a feeling to be clear, rather than any spoken word but that can be translated as: ‘You have succeeded in finding that which you already know to be true. Here at the edge of your world, at the turning of the wheel, it is confirmed. You stand at a crossroads of great change. Know that we are close and take heart in that.’
Despite the content, and the feeling of connectedness, there was an eerieness to it that pervaded. Like being near to the scene of an accident, or near a place where lightning has just struck. That almost indescribable liminal feeling that something has physically opened to the other world. Needless to say, once the song was over, the radio went straight off. I drove home content I had received my answer, and spent the rest of the way back in contemplative silence.
Barn Owl, Unknown Photographer
This proved an apt message and feeling, now that I look back at it after Samhain with everything that has gone on. Both as a warning, as well as a blessing, and one that I think everyone who works the Witchcraft can interpret without much difficulty.
That said, just as with the reassurance in the message that was delivered, this season is not all about heaviness! I feel that requires highlighting. Just as Beltane has its darker flipside, so does Samhain have its lighter one, and given the greater backdrop of events it is critically important to bare in mind. It is somewhat ironic that I write the main content of this post on November the 5th. In the UK, this is a day that is celebrated with copious amounts of fireworks. I think it says a lot about our country that the celebration revolves around the execution of Guy Fawkes. Fawkes was a catholic rebel, who was hanged and quartered on 31 January 1606 for attempting to blow up parliament and the King of England. This night strangely given the rather grisly backstory, has a rather jovial atmosphere – and it has always capped the Samhain season for me due to its proximity. This is less strange that it may sound, when we consider that many of the customs of Samhain bled into ‘Bonfire Night’. That there is therefore this felt connection is thus not really all that surprising.
As such, the lighting of the bonfire, the fireworks, the carnival like atmosphere all points to one key element. That of the always present and sacred liminal fire which accompanies the dark. As the wheel turns, both seasonally and on a grander stage, we can take great solace in one surefire thing. That is the fact that Hecate stands tall, torches in hand, guiding the way for her devotees and the world. In this, her presence both balances and rejuvenates us. It orientates us in time, and gives meaning to our lives.
The fires lit at this time of the year, for both the Gods and Dead, were said to have protective and cleansing effects. In many ways, it is the final outpouring of a dying year – the last ecstatic release, as the old dies, and makes way for the new. We must always be mindful that underpinning this symbolism is a very fundamental reality – that of the inevitability of change. This could be seen as a negative, but to the witchcraft soul, this brings with it a powerful promise – that is, the promise of rebirth and renewal.
We must trust that the Gods will see us through the darker times and the setting of the sun, regardless what happens, and will deliver us into the new dawn. It is not a blind faith, but one mirrored in microcosm and macrocosm, following eternal, divine law as lain down by the Goddess of Hell, Heaven and Earth. Just as the bird descends through the western gate to be reborn, so must even the ages of the world.
On that note, I must say I have been very blessed this Samhain. I have had the opportunity to spend it with people important to me, whilst also opening new avenues for exploration. Occult wise, the work begins to coalesce powerfully, and gates open in both the personal, group and at world soul level. I could not ask for better people to have my back. I truly wish that for everyone. Go deep with the work, find your solace and connection there; this is where we find our true freedom.
With that said, I leave the reader with some beautiful imagery. Below are some lovely pictures from the Penrith Winter Droving 2023, an event which happens in the town of Penrith, North West England, every year. Beginning in 2012, it is a beautiful rebirth of old tradition in a new form. I hope it continues for many a year to come.
From the Setting of the Sun,
Comes the Break of the Dawn
Hecate Lucifera
Forever
Will we follow your Torches,
Blazing the Widdershins Way
Dancing the Grand Sabbat
For in Love
And in Devotion
Our Hearts and Souls,
Belong to You
~S~
The Luciferian Revolution 