Wicc'ed Ways~Light
at the End of the Tunnel
By Katharine Clark
The river valley is rolled in a blanket of pre-dawn silence. Around you, rising in the darkness, are the sidhes, homes of the gods now living beneath their sacred hills. The days have been growing shorter, the air colder and damp. All the rituals have been done, all the energy that could be raised has been sent to the feeble sun to help it be reborn, to aid it in its struggle to rise...
...but was it enough? As a light wind builds around you and your gathered clan, you turn your face to the East. Slowly, the horizon turns purple, then pink, then blue as the top arch of the morning sun lifts into view. In gratitude, you and the rest gathered in the valley lift your arms in welcome. Yule has come, and the sun has risen to grow in strength and dwindle throughout another year of the wheel.
There had been a time, not so long ago, when experts felt that the spiritual celebration of solstices and equinoxes was a "neopagan reconstruction” (something created based on the past, but not handed down unchanged from the past)--and a false one at that. There was plenty of evidence that the cross points--Beltain/Samhain and Imbolg/Lughnasad--were agricultural AND religious/ceremonial events. The others? Well, definitely agrarian, but that might have been it.
It's true that Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plains in England, has a “heel stone” that marks the rising of the sun on the Summer Solstice, but that only indicates that the site could be an astrological calendar or planetarium. Despite a crowd of latter day Druids, New Agers, tourists and just plain gawkers filling the grasses surrounding the monument on June 21st, there is nothing to prove a spiritual use of this mysterious ring.
Sunrise over the heel stone, Summer Solstice.
However, those views are now changing. Discoveries of burials, village-like encampments, and even experimental drumming on primate instruments within the ring, increases the possibility that religious rites were an intricate part of Stonehenge's purpose.
And then, there is Newgrange. Located in the Boyne River valley, it is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, and the stuff of history and legend.
In Irish myth, Newgrange (or “bru' na boine” pronounced “broo-na-boyne”) was one of the underground dwellings, or sidhes (“shees”) of the Tuatha De Danann--the gods of Ireland. It belonged to the great god Dagda, but he was tricked out of it by his son Angus, the Irish love god. It was named after Angus's mother Boann, who created the valley and the river that ran through it.
An old drawing of the Newgrange mound.
Historically, Newgrange is a passage tomb, one of the three in the area. (The others are Dowth and Knowth). It was built about 3100 BC, and is surrounded by a ring of stones that was erected about 1000 years later.
Over the opening of the tomb is what's known as a “roof box.” On the rising of the sun on Winter Solstice, the sun shines through the roof box and illuminates the heart of the deepest chamber.
It's difficult to deny a spiritual use for this site. From the highly decorative spiral patterns on the entry stone and interior walls...
...to three massive stone basins in the interior...
One of three basins. Some held cremation ash.
...it appears to be a location of burial and cremation, veneration and worship, death and rebirth.
Newgrange was “re-discovered" in the late 1700's by men looking for building stones. Today, the front of Newgrange is a pristine white quartz wall, reinforced by steel. This restoration was done from the 1960's through the 1970's, and is the subject of much debate. Professor Michael O'Kelly, the supervisor of the reconstruction, felt that the white quartz found at the site was the remains of the southeast facade. Others argued that the quartz came from a plaza in front of the tomb entrance. Indeed, when the Knowth mound was restored, the quartz was placed on the ground before the opening, like an apron.
Newgrange then...
...and Newgrange now!
The opening as it appears today. Note the roof box over the door!
People can still visit Newgrange via guided tours. There is a lottery for only 50 people to attend the Winter Solstice, but visitors can get a feel for the wondrous event no matter when they tour the tomb. A modern light show has been installed (without harm to the stones) which can simulate the Yule sun every day and every tour.
So, how can we take the spirit of our ancestors and their practices and make them our own? I have two suggestions:
As a family (weather permitting) greet the rising sun at Winter Solstice with lit candles (or even battery operated ones for small kids). Welcome it with songs of praise (even the Beatles' “Here comes the Sun” will do!) and ask the blessings of Winter's Lord upon the living and the departed.
Prior to Solstice, think of those family members and friends who have passed, but may have been on your mind since Samhain. For each person you think of, find a rock or large stone with a smooth surface (one you can write upon). With a black marker, draw the Newgrange triple spiral design of birth-death-rebirth on each rock. Next take a rock and write one person's name under the spiral. The next name will go on the next rock, and so on.
Take your rocks outside and locate East--that is where the sun will come up Solstice morning. Place your rocks on a table, a stump or even the ground so that they all face East. Place them in a semi-circle. If you can not do this outside, place the rocks in an east-facing window.
When the light dawns on Yule morning, think of the vital, healing rays touching the face of each person represented by your rocks, aiding them in their ongoing journey through the cycles of life, death and rebirth.
Good Yule, everyone!