Isabelle and I set off for Tenbury Wells from Leicestershire at about 5 in the morning. Hells teeth! I've never seen such torrential rain in all my life, lasting the entire 2hr journey. It was actually quite frightening being reduced to almost zero visibility on the motorway. The thing I've discovered about mistletoe in a mystical sense is that it seems to be closely connected to 'Truth', it draws it out however ugly and takes no prisoners. It had done this in quite unexpected ways on both previous MF rites, first at Ragman's Lane in the Forest of Dean and then again in 2005 at the first mistletoe harvest blessing. With this kind of start to the day, I was beginning to wonder what lay ahead? However by the time we arrived in Tenbury the rain had stopped altogether, isn't that always the way with ritual and the weather? Not that I wanted to tempt fate, I'm touching wood as I write this for luck. That's got to be a Druidic custom if ever there was one?
The jet black of a harsh December night was shifting to the dull grey of morning by the time I pulled into the mistletoe auction car park. To my delight there was already a large group of Druids gathered for the blessing, braving the winter conditions of early December. This year the rite fell on a full moon as opposed to the sixth day of the new moon, but the lunar phase remained extremely important to the rite itself. Although not the horned bull moon of the ancient rite, intrinsic the bull sacrifice of the original ceremony, it was still an auspicious moon and the moment I started talking to my fellow celebrants I could feel an air of excitement and a positive energy sparking between us. It was great to meet new faces from the local Druid scene, some old friends and others I had long known of, but was putting the face to the name for the first time and of course Jonathan Briggs, the mistletoe expert par excellence.
This year it was thankfully not the media feast of last years rite which caused untold and unforseen havoc. But like last year rite was again timed to embrace the fragile December sun as it climbed into the eastern sky, before the auction itself got underway. The blessing, a sacred fertility right before the rebirth of the sun on the Winter Solstice. In a flash of inspiration I thought the fertility of the local river would provide the perfect water source with which to bless the mistletoe, mixed with a bottle from the Fountain of Youth on Dun I which we had brought back from Iona. A potent brew indeed. Jonathan had also obtained a huge bough of mistletoe that had not touched the ground again this year to place on a tri-pod in the center of the circle. It was so important to include the local Druids in planning the rite, in order to speak for the immediate landscape and become its voice. Please forgive my very selective memory, its now May as I write this and remembering peoples names has always been a weakness. But I'd just like to say Hi to everyone who attended, you know who you are? Hawkwind, the pagan blacksmith who made 'Lightning Seed' the sickle that is now part of the Mistletoe Foundations mythology, as Head of the Pen Gash called for peace 3 times, a challenge with his sword half drawn before peace was confirmed within the circle.
Mistletoe is considered to be the divine spark actually manifesting in the physical world, thus a core feature of the blessing rite was to honor the mistletoe gods, Teutates, Esus and Taranis. A father god in triple form, the mistletoe being his sacred seed, especially in the aspect of the virile 'All Competent" Esus. But the bull again is honored in Taranis and Teutates as the god of the people, (or of Druidry itself in the same sense as the Dagda). The rite culminated with the blessing itself, a procession between the lines of holly and mistletoe prepared for auction. It was also important to remember the holly, yet more male symbolism and again sacrifice at this time of year. Metaphor, symbolism and allegory all weave together to make this an extremely powerful experience, the mistletoe in such abundance seemed to make the air around it actually fizz with energy. And so with water from bulls horns the harvest was Druidically blessed before going out the homes and families of Britain. Let there be fertility and health upon this island and may its people find hope and happiness in their lives.
The only dark cloud on the event was the Christian fundamentalist, or should I just say mentalist, who preached that we were all the spawn of Satan. No doubt he will be there again next year. He should have been arrested for inciting religious hatred. Mind you, looking at him, it was his life that seemed like hell on earth, perhaps there is a cruel irony in his desperation to point the finger at others?
The event culminated with my workshop and story-telling gig thing. It was also just great to get indoors out of the cold and enjoy each others company and allow the experience of the blessing to linger on for a while.
All in all a successful day and a very evocative way of performing a rite which also again turned out to be very profound. The numbers who attended this years blessing dramatically increased on the year before, so on that form 2007,s rite (yet to be confirmed) is a date in the diary not to be missed.
In Truth/|\
Stefan Allen, Head of the Albion Conclave of Druids.
