Winter Solstice Festival Report
Foundation Centre - Ireland
December 21, 2024
By: Noeleen Watson
The first words that come to mind are light and magic and also the feeling of community as I sit here and write my story from today. When I arrived to Huntington Castle for our celebration of the Winter Solstice, the winter sun had broken through the clouds, there was an uncanny warm temperature for this time of year. We had such a crowd gathering in the courtyard and as time ticked by more and more people turned up. It is so good to see new and returning faces all joining together in community and celebrating the return of the light.
Cait gathered all of us together and spoke to the meaning of the Winter Solstice and the Irish word is "An Grianstad" meaning "the sun stops". We started our procession in quietness as we made our way to the Rose Garden, the Rosa Mundi. We were greeted by the resident hens. The trees were all bare and there were no flowers to be seen. Even though there was an emptiness in the garden, the sun shined strongly. There was a gentle rain falling as the wind blew up a gale. A song was sung by one of the Priestess which was very beautiful.
We made our way through the grounds towards the Sacred Grove, The Druid Clan of Dana. The ground beneath our feet was so soft from all the rain, it was more like a velvet carpet under our feet. We had time to feel a connection with the old trees as we stood beside them. The roots surround us underneath the ground.
We followed the path to the abbey, Noble Order of Tara. Eriu was invoked by one of our Priestesses and Cait reminded us that when each of us does something small for our environment whether that be tending to a sacred place or picking up rubbish in our area, and if everyone of the 7 billion plus would also do something small, this would go a long way to helping the planet. Another beautiful song was sung here that was gifted from the earth.
Outside the temple, a priestess invoked the Goddess Persephone, three knocks followed on the temple door to ask for permission to enter. We all made our way around the sacred well, people filled the star chapel, the area around the well and right up to the temple door. Cait read one of Olivia's Oracles, The Goddess Durga of India. When we nurture peace within that is what we bring to the earth, and we reflect from the inside out. "I am Goddess of expanding Powers; I receive harmony of My many aspects as the Cosmic Goddess Devi."
We each received a blessing from the Priestesses. We made our way to the main altar where a priestess readied herself to give an oracle. Today's oracle was from the Cailleach, she spoke of looking into the darkness, how important it is to reach out with love and a hug at this time of the year. While she spoke a line from a song playing in my thoughts, "Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again," from the song 'Sound of Silence'. Tom brought us on a wonderful adventure to meet the Fisher King, the Guardian of the Grail. He spoke in the journey of the Cherokee story of the Two Wolves and whom do we feed. There were so many creative offerings today from songs to poetry readings. We remembered our loved ones that had passed on and to call on them for support and love. We all held hands, closed our eyes, and each person said a blessing for each of us. To hear all the wonderful blessings being spoken would certainly lift anyone's spirit up. Cait mentioned a poem that was written over 5000 years ago about overcoming huge torment and it still rings true today. The earth is very resilient as we are, and our ancestor overcame great adversity, and we are the same. The ceremony ended in peace and love as it began. Cait thanked us for all being there and for the support during the year and wished everyone an abundance of Solstice Blessings.
We all made our way over for much deserved cake and tea. Listening to the conversations about how magical people found today's ceremony was heart-warming. It is hard to portray the magic in words of our Winter Solstice Ceremony. One of the photographs I have included today is of everyone standing beside the trees in the Sacred Grove and you can see the light beaming from the sun around everyone.
The date of our next ceremony: Imbolc 1st February 2025
(Festivals are accessible by invitation only - to request one, please see this page: Events)
