HOUSE OF CHAINS  

                       

                         TURNING OF THE YEAR

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One of the most important ancient traditions our house follows, by attuning to the seasons of the year we work towards attuning to the universe. These festivals and their celebrations are more than simply acknowledging the seasons, they acknowledge the cycles of life.

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Traditional Calendar

We divide our year into two halves the dark and the light acknowledging the cycle of the four seasons the lunar phases and the winter solstice, celebrating our spirituality and the worship of the divine. We follow a belief system that allows us to work with the deities but not be bound by them. Our intentions are of living in harmony and through this achieving balance with all things.

 

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Ancient Fire Festivals

We celebrate four fire festivals in total these mark the changing of the seasons. Two of these are, Samhain which forms the start of our year and Beltane, these were traditionally regarded as male, and Imbolc and Lammas (Lammas being the end of our year) female creating balance within the seasons. Each festival would have been celebrated for three days – A day before the event, a day during the festival and the day after.

 

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Samhain - Feast of The Dying Sun (31st October)

“Samhain" meaning Summer's end marks the first day of winter, a time when nights start becoming longer. A time when the veil between the worlds grow thin and the spirits of the dead, and mortals can move freely between worlds. This is a very magical time when the future is most easily predicted a time of release and letting go of fears. Just as the trees let go of their leaves. So the lives of man parallel the sacred cycles of nature.

 

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Imbolc - The Festival of Lights (1st February)

Derived from the old pagan custom of lighting torches in honour of the winter goddess. Imbolc marks the coming of spring, awakening of the land and the growing power of the Sun. This is a time for driving out the spirit of the old year and banishing any bad luck. Its also a time of fertility, birth, purification, fun and frolics.

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Step forward and take your deserved punishment and cleanse yourself of your sins as we gather in honour of Elan the lady of the wild wood, the grail bearer, who holds within her the secret sexual magic that activates the energies of the land bringing fertility and plenty.

 

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Beltane – Reawakening of The Earth (1st May)

The word "Beltaine" literally means "bright" or "brilliant fire,". A celebration of the return of life and fertility to the world which marks the beginning of summer. Beltane, and its counterpart Samhain, divide the year into its two primary seasons, Winter and Summer. 

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Celebrated as the festival of vitality, sexuality and creativity. People get together to light fires, dance, and share food and drink, enjoying the warmer weather as the earth flowers with new life. This is the time when lovers jump over fires and slip into the woods together.

 

Here our house celebrates the turning of the year with a ceremonial outdoor birching. 
This is a sacred rite, in which man and woman embody the polarised forces of God and Goddess, but it's also the playful union of human partners, exploring their passions in consensual celebration of the gifts of nature.
 

 

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Lammas - Marks The Beginning of Autumn (1st August)

The word 'Lammas' is derived from 'loaf mass' the Feast of Bread and is a time that marks the beginning of the rip harvest season and the decline of Summer into Winter when the fields are full of food and needs harvesting.

 

The Goddess is in her aspect of Grain Mother and represents the ripe corn of this year's harvest, heavily pregnant she carries the seed of the new year's Sun God within her.

 

We give thanks to the earth by symbolically plowing our field this is represented with the priestess being the field and priest being the plough and planting/sowing his seed deep within the earth.

 

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Winter Solstice - Yule (21st December)

This is a time of peace which marks the celebration of both the shortest day, and the longest darkest night of the year. A time of rebirth when the great mother Goddess gives birth to the new sun god.

 

A cycle of life begins once more and the days start to grow longer once again. We honour the re-birth of the Sun child and great mother Goddess by burning the Yule log and raising the Wassail bowl.

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This is the opportunity to explore within, ask yourself what you need to let go of, what patterns of behaviour no longer serve you? Ask yourself what do you want to put your energy into and which direction do you wish to follow?

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