Sunday 21 November 2010

Hecate and the musings of a daytime lunatic




A slate grey sky looms over head as wrapped up warm against the cold I depart my abode, no pattern to be seen, no shadow, no points of light to guide, pure infinitesimal nothing in the realms of expectation, a blank canvas.
The light from my candle splutters in the breeze as aloft my head virtue is poured down into my cup, filled to over flowing I see her, clearer than I ever thought possible, with more clarity than could be seen in her reflection, as she bestows her gifts upon me, her loyal servant.
I lower my cup and the flame dies, yet far above my head the curtains of cloud briefly part, just enough for her smile in actuality to shine upon my soul, lighting the way, the brief walk to the crossroads where an offering is left, a devotion made, then to return home, never once to look back.
No fire or mill this night, I seek only communion, and that is what I find.

Many a time myself and others I have known have shown disappointment when upon the full moon night we have seen no sign of our lunar Majesty, perhaps for many a month we have indeed been distracted by the radiant Celeste in all her beauty, maybe as many believe she is but a reflection of the greater virtue within the universe.
I myself am coming round to this way of thought, the above experience although graced with an actual appearance would have held no less magic had it not been so, to say that to see the moon on such a night would be the goal would be to deny the blind man the pleasure of her knowledge, could it instead be thought that we are in turn some what blinded by this bright light within the night sky, that by being so we could remain ignorant of some thing much deeper and of far greater significance.
I do not seek to put down any of those who seek to revel in this Lunar spectacle, I only offer a slightly different take on the whole affair, it is the face of Cain that we see after all.

The moon as a planetary body effects all water upon this planet, as we ourselves are mostly made of this divine liquid we, like the tides are similarly effected, it is assumed that when the moon is full that this would have the greatest effect, mad people or Lunatics * are said to very much react to this phenomena , this may not be true if we examine the great seas and tidal estuaries that surround our island, perhaps we are chasing the lapwing here, seeing what we are told to see, cyclical lunacy may have little to do with the full moon, menstruation cycles rarely follow either, only to coincide on occasion, more likely to align themselves to other feminine influences than lunar ones.
If indeed we examine the tidal pull we see that although at the times when the moon is at it's fattest we also have high tides, when we look at the phase of the dark/ new moon those tides are always higher, which could illustrate a far greater influence.
Could this be why the Dark moon has greater significance to those within traditional craft, a wary time perhaps but one that is often put to good use, a time of chthonic brilliance, not Cursing necessarily, there are indeed other more appropriate activities at this time.
Are we in fact puppets of she who stands reflected in the moon? reacting to her ways, needs and plans for us.
"In fate and the overcoming of fate, lies the grail." R Cochrane.

So why go out?
What is the point?
Well, if one owns a watch there are occasions when you need to set the time, to make the connections to the divine it is important to reset your own clock to keep in time with it, what better way is there than once a month at least, the full moon is easily discernible the dark moon is less so, we are not stepping out to commune with a planetary divinity but the divine entity or source that is behind it. Regular observance of this calendar strengthens all our connections, so there is every reason to do so.

What we see with our eyes wide open to the material world is not all that is there, some times we need to view this world as a blind man would, to feel and sense our way through it without the distractions of what our eyes tell us is there.
After all Odin himself had to sacrifice one eye to enable him to see into the other realms, this is not a flight of fancy but perhaps I may have at least touched on why.

Just to add A note on my slightly morose piece last week, with regard to people who create a nuisance in our communities read on, you know who you are, we all know your dirty business and are indeed aware of your actions.

"This man is fortunate who, can get for himself praise and goodwill;
very difficult it is when a man lays claim to what is in anothers heart." Ods own words maybe, taken from the poetic edda, so those who claim to be his own men might like to take heed.

FFF. Tony.

*(The word lunatic is borrowed from the Latin "lunacus", in turns stemming from "luna" (moon), which denotes the traditional link made in folklore between madness and the phases of the moon. This probably refers to the symptoms of cyclic mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or cyclothymia, the symptoms of which may also go through phases. As yet there is no evidence whatsoever for any causal link between phases of the moon and the progression of mood disorder symptoms.) .

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