On December 21 at approximately 10:19 the Winter Solstice will occur again. It is the shortest day of the year with about 6 hours and 32 minutes of ”day” or sunlight. This means roughly 17 hours and 28 minutes of ”night” or darkness.
The question is what to do with the short hours of day that we have, to be able to endure the coming, long and sometimes terrifying darkness? In the past in the Nordic countries it was believed that on this particular longest ”night of nights” there was an unusual amount of activity from beings and dangerous creatures of the more supernatural kind.
In the past in Sweden, around the year 800-1000, the Vikings dedicated themselves to the so-called ’Midvinterblot’, a midwinter feast, where they sacrificed food, grain, animals, people, tools and other things that they believed could ensure the return of the sun and the Light. In modern times, today’s pagans (or people with Old Norse beliefs) celebrate by offering fruit, berries, nuts and other food. Sacrificing animals or people has long since been removed from the celebrations, but with it not the very spirit of the feast. One wants to gain the favor of divine powers by sacrificing something to them.
By looking at the old (and more modern) pagan traditions of the Nordic folks and contrasting them with the Golden Dawn tradition (of which H.O.N.A. is part of) you can examine whether you can find similarities and benefits from these.
The Golden Dawn tradition focuses primarily on purifying and refining the human being, his soul, psyche and body (i.e. microcosm) so that we can come into pure and unsullied contact with our innermost being, our ”God Spark”, or our highest and personal idea of God. We intend to ”become more than human”. In short, this means that you are no longer a slave to urges, desires and matter, but are guided and radiated by something ‘Higher’.
To be able to approach such a great work, one must first examine and get to know every little part of oneself. It is especially our mind (the conscious and unconscious) and our personality that require extra care and study.
This means that we examine what is bright and positive within us, but also what is experienced as dark and negative, because only by daring to meet and get to know your WHOLE ‘self’ does one gain an increased ability to change oneself.
It can of course be an extremely daunting task, especially when you reach and discover the dark sides of yourself, that you would rather forget and push away these deep within yourself. You need a great deal of courage and strength to venture into this meeting and once this happens, you need something to lean on, a support and guidance, so that such a meeting will lead to wisdom and refinement instead of confusion and a escape from oneself. Within our tradition, we call upon the Highest we know, the Divine Light (to name one of many definitions of it), within and without ourselves to allow this Light to guide us in our work with ourselves.
If we return to the Nordic Midwinter Blot and the Old Norse belief, one could compare the invocation of the Divine Light with the Midwinter Blot offerings for the returning Light. We can also compare the fear of facing oneself with the ancient fear of the dark beings and creatures that especially ravaged around during the night of the winter solstice.
What then becomes a possible lesson from this?
Through the midwinter sacrifice, i.e. the invocation of the Divine Light, through the promise of the return of the Sun, we gain strength and courage enough to dare to face and master the monsters (our fears) that ravage during the night of the Winter Solstice so that we will be able to welcome a new dawn, the return of the Sun and a hope for a better future.
With these musings the Hermetic Order of the Nascent Aurora wishes you all a happy Winter Solstice to come!
Hermetiska Orden av Den Gryende Morgonrodnaden 