WINTER SOLSTICE FESTIVAL REPORT
FOUNDATION CENTRE - IRELAND
December 18, 2021
By: Tom Joseph Swinburne
On a cloudy day in Ireland at this time of the year, the weather will make it seem like the whole world is standing still. Without the appearence of the Sun at the time of Solstice, you need other senses to feel the shift of energies caused when it reaches its lowest point and holds a fixed position in the heavens for three days. The ancestors understood the mysteries of this transitional moment in the cycle of the Sun and its place in the Wheel of the Year. Each one of us who gathered in the grounds of Huntington Castle stood shoulder to shoulder with the ancestors, as we anticipate with hope, the New Light coming to re-energise our living planet and all life on it.
As is tradition, we set off on procession with the sound of voices singing and to the beating rhythm of a drum, onward towards Magickal Sacred locations in the grounds of Huntington Castle. At our first place of call in the Rose Garden, the presiding Priestess described it as the Heart of the Fellowship of Isis. In a recuring theme throughout the journey through our Solstice celebration, we were asked to feel the silence and stillness in nature at this time. She then invited a Priest to invoke Rosa Mundi, the Mystical Rose of the World by singing an invocation to the Goddess. In the quiet at the songs end, each one present standing in circle were carressed by a gentle breeze which briefly seemed to pass through each soul. We then walked to the Sacred Grove where our presiding Priestess spoke of the The Druid Clan of Dana, established by Lady Olivia and her brother Lawrence. A Priestess invoked the Goddess Danu with a beautiful song. Her voice enchanted all in the Grove. In contemplative silence we merged with the sleeping natural world as our procession next brought us to the Abbey. A Priestess and Knighted Dame of the Noble Order of Tara, a Sister Society of the Foundation Centre, invoked deity and asked that we honour nature by nurturing a piece of earth no matter how small. Before we entered the Foundation Temple which lies under Huntington Castle, the Goddess Persephone was invoked. The guiding Priestess explained to us that this Temple represents the very Womb of the Fellowship. It is a Sacred place and like the Earth just before the Solstice, the Temple is held in Darkness. On our way in we should watch for the candles which represents the New Light. It is the same mystical Light that enters the Newgrange Passage Tomb in the Boyne Valley. It promises us a continuance of life and abundance. With permission granted from the Otherworld to enter, a member of the Fellowship rang a bell to announce our presence.
Standing at the Well deep inside the Temple, we honoured the founding members of the Fellowship. We all listened as the writings from Lady Olivia Robertson were read out followed by the invocation of the Patron Goddesses of the assembled Priesthood. Water was drawn from the Well and all were offered blessings in the name of the Goddess. Gathered again in silence around the High Altar, we watched as a Priestess in trance delivered an Oracle from the Cailleach, our Dark Mother herself. She told us to beware of what we believe is labeled as "Truth". In these present difficult times she warned, Lies will be disguised as Truth. What we then believe to understand as being Truthful is nothing more than a pack of Lies. Following the Oracle a Priest played an Irish tradition air known as both Mise Eire and Roisin Dubh on the Mandola. In the Mystery Play we were entertained by a Priestess and a Priest cast as the Goddess Boann and the Dagda. They both described how the Gods of the ancestors are melting away but that the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine will endure in all genders, no matter how they are manifested. A guided meditation delivered by a Priestess transported us beyond our bodies before we were returned grounded and refreshed.
Our presiding Priestess passed candles to each person around the High Altar. As each candle was lit in turn, song once more filled the Temple as a Creative Offering from a member of the Priesthood. It is hoped that each lit candle would be brought home and re-lit to continue the flame first initiated in the Temple. In opening a Healing Circle, those present were invited to offer up names of loved ones in need of healing. All our voices were raised in chant to everyone and everything that is caught in Darkness, so that Light may enter and alleviate their suffering. This brings to mind the words of Leonard Cohen from his song 1992 Anthem:
There is a crack, a crack in every thing,
That's how the Light gets in.
After notices, reports and messages were announced the assembled Priesthood offered gratitude and blessings while bidding farewell to each Patron Goddess. Our Solstice celebration and ceremony was then closed down until our next celebration at Imbolc.
