V. The Creation of Times and Seasons

As has been established for years now, the Celtic year turned on an axis of Summer and Winter (Giamon- and Samon-) with the turning points of the two seasons being in May and November, the traditional gathering and celebration times of Beltaine and Samhain. This takes us back to the origins of all things- the powerful root-mysteries of creation, the alternation of darkness and light. It is further known that, at least in Gaelic culture, eves or special times were inserted into the middle of summer and winter (Lughnassadh and Imbolc) to create a further division of the dark-time into “winter and spring” and the bright-time into “summer and autumn.”

The Welsh family had their own sacred seasonal names and festivities (they were not Irish, and thus, did not celebrate "Beltaine" or "Samhain" or the like) and a short search will yield plentiful folklore regarding their ancient calendar. However, the Welsh year was, in common with all Celtic peoples, divided along the axis of dark and light.

The real power of these times, for the ancient cultures that observed them, was in the way the people came together to experience the renewal of all things- both their social and kinship bonds, and the renewal and re-creation of the social order and the cosmos as a whole. This should sound quite familiar to you by now. Summer was “created” with the ritual dramas and recitations of Beltaine; winter- and the cosmos as a whole was literally created and regenerated at Samhain. The dark half of the year- as the dark half of the day- took precedence as "first" in Celtic culture, for all things do begin in darkness.

The Song of Creation can be used (and indeed, historically, songs of this type likely were primarily used) for singing or repeating at occasions of sacred times, to regenerate and recreate the human world and the cosmos. It would only make sense that we would use the sacred song for this purpose today.

To “create a time” or a season, one does not add qualities to the end of the Charm of Naming. The seasonal name and qualities are added after “The Pattern of the Land” portion of the song. By speaking them, it is made so, in the world of your experience, and those of your ritual partners.

An example is given, for Samhain:

“One land and one Sovereign at its center, a hill of kings,
Five divisions fair, fivefold and two, upper and lower,
Lands and women of stories and eloquence,
Lands and women of contentions and strifes,
Lands and women of beehives and hospitality,
Lands and women of music and subtlety.
And the beings of under-stone and under-sea
Darkly holding the life of plenty in yielding soil
Rendered up in due season, from the hill woman's body.

This season named, now as of old,
The season of Summer's End, the warmth of meadows withdrawn,
A black month, a dark month, the gloom settles,
The green world in whiteness of sleep,
Summer sunk to the world beneath,
A season of death-revels, a king with a black face,
The raven darkness in might, people returning to winter-homes,
The mound-people in misrule, danger among trees, danger to men and kine,
A fire kindled in ancient night to make all things new.


Or Beltaine:

This season named, now as of old,
The season of Bright Fires, the warmth of meadows restored,
A white month, a month of hawthorn-blue, the light rises,
The green world ablaze with rushing life,
Winter broken, the women of the cold scattered,
A season of life-revels, a queen with a golden crown,
The fires on every hill blazing, people in summer dwellings,
The mound-people riding, green among trees, life to men and kine,
A fire kindled in the high sun to make all things new.



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All Text, aside from given citations, is Copyright © 2009 by Cuan Maqq Beli
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