All Good Things Must Come to an End!

The Road goes ever on and on
   Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
   And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
   Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
   And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road Goes Ever On - J.R.R. Tolkien



I started my advanced novel writing course a few months ago, and on Monday I turned in my final session. I'm now anxiously awaiting my final critique, and I wonder what kind of parting advice I'll be getting. Will this lead me on to some larger way, as the poem says? I cannot say; but I sincerely hope this is not the end!

'Tis the Season

Yule by Kenneth Klein

Amongst the oak and holly leaves
The wren and robin sat between
"Come", the wren croaked, "I shall sing
A song of winter cold.
"My brother is the far-flung crow
The black death-watch upon the snow
The swordless Horned One to him goes
When Autumn sun wanes cold.
"My Sister of Dark Night is queen
The hag that lives the moons between
Her womb is barren now of seed
Her lover grey and old.

"And where have you been, robin brother?
Gone to see your white-breast mother?
The white snow covers up her bowers,
She's taken her home of old."
Amidst the oak and holly leaves
The robin silent sat between
Until with sweet voice, calmly
He began a merry song.

"Long has my White-Crow Mother been
With your brother, Black Winged Bran
Until her belly stirs within
As Yuletide sun grows strong.
"And now at sunrise, silent stark,
Between the days and the Winter dark
Rekindled is The Fire's spark
The Oak King sounds the horn.
"In the forest's icy gleam
There goes a shadow, swiftly seen,
The holly and the oak between
The Green Man is reborn.
"So tell me truly, dark-eyed wren,
Where will you the Summer spend?
Until The Wheel is turned again
And Winter casts its thorn?"

But wren's reply was never got
By a golden arrow he'd been shot
And darkness died upon the spot
The holly and the oak between.
The Oak King is now berry-crowned
The Green Man, born the forest 'round
But the wren lays cold upon the ground
The holly and the oak between
And young lads on the darkest night
Their golden arrows swift in flight
Will sing until the morning bright
The sun to welcome in:

"The wren, the wren, the King of the birds,
On Yuletide Day was caught in the furze.
Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
And give us a penny to bury the wren."



I certainly don't know how others feel this time of year, and it is not something I often discuss. It probably sounds weird and mystical, and likely crazy, to others. 

After Samhain (Halloween to all you 'normal' people ;), there is a change in the, for lack of a better word, energy in the air, and as each day marches toward Yule, or Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate, the feeling grows stronger. 

It is a kind of mixture of the excitement we felt as children waking up to presents, and something inherently darker. Not bad, necessarily, but dark and unfathomable. I feel it strongest at night, and as silly as it may sound there is a sense of magic in the air that has nothing to do with consumerism and presents; but instead of a night repeated over millions of years holding the vast knowledge of the Crone in all her glory, and the hope of the Maiden and the Oak King for the year to come- from the first Longest Night to this one. 

Yule, to me and many others no matter what their religion, is a time of rebirth. Whether it is the rebirth of the Sun God, or the birth of the Son of God, it's when we begin the transition to longer days and shorter nights after the longest night of the year. A renewal. 

Some Celts believed, unsurprisingly, that the God of the Old Year represented by the Holly King would battle the God of the New Year, the Oak King, and the year continues only because the Holly King loses. On the Goddess side of things, we see the transition from Crone to Maiden, who carried the Oak King now born on Yule. 

A lot of Triple Goddess/God transitions, traditions, and lore can be interpreted differently by everyone. It's all interesting and highly individualized. 

The point to all this rambling, is to ask everyone to take the time to enjoy that magic in the air, no matter your beliefs. The Longest Night will continue on into the future, for as long as the Earth spins ever on it's axis, but the number of the Nights we experience are numbered; and we should appreciate them while we can. 

On the writing front, I got my feedback for Session 4, and I am now working on Session 5 due on Dec. 16th - wish me luck!

Also, for your viewing pleasure - Lindsey Stirling's Celtic Carol.