St. Catherine’s Hill May Celebration

May 11, 2021May 10, 2021 / Ann Murphy / Leave a comment

We were finally given our instructions to go to St. Catherine’s Hill to conclude the lessons of the Spring rites. I wondered why that day had been chosen, a week into the month of May, especially as the 1st of May has always been the traditional day for celebrating the Spring ritual. Perhaps it was because the sun was shining, or maybe it lay in the influence of the stars, or… who knows? I don’t question the instructions. I am simply the witness, the learner, the student.

On the drive there, having picked up a Freecycled chicken coop, I received messages about Mary Wollstonecraft, and the rise of Feminine power. I could feel this power. It was not the rise of women who used male power models as their own, but a true feminine power. However, I didn’t quite understand what this had to do with the Rites of May. I was still no clearer by the end of the day!

We parked along Five-Bridges Road and walked towards the River Itchen. It was important that we came from this direction, rather than the canal end, which was not only full of parked cars but also because the canal was man-made. But I knew, before we came, that we had to be close to the river. When we got to the bridge over the Itchen, it made sense. I had already been told to bring a bottle of water, for an essence, so when prompted, I opened the bottle.

As I stood watching the river flowing towards me, the clouds and blue skies reflected in the water, the fish symbol flowed into my centre (behind my navel). I saw a hand popping a young fish into the bottle I held in my hands. The fish is the symbol of male fertility as it flows through the water and on a previous earth-working with the river, Chris, Eartha and I had anchored that energy to the river from the Brooks centre in Winchester.

So, with bottle in hand, infused with the male energy of the river, we followed the path to St. Catherine’s Hill. It was a lovely sunny day and as we walked, I could smell nettles, Angelica, and May blossom. My sense of smell seemed more sensitive than usual, making the walk so much more pleasant. We stopped briefly at the canal lock where the water was rushing through it like a waterfall, creating a mist of cool moist air, then we made our way up the steps to St. Catherine’s Hill.

Chris had the remnants of a cold so he stayed beside the river while I headed upward to the summit. It isn’t a mountain, but it felt like one! My thigh muscles burned and my hip complained mightily, but I knew this had to be done if I wanted to understand the significance of the hill to our ancestors. I need to walk up hills more often!

As I reached the innermost bank, I saw the creative energy in the center of the hill, in the form of a dragon. I heard myself call the dragon awake and watched as it emerged from the ground beneath where the remains of St. Catherine’s Church lay. As the dragon pulled itself from the earth, it shook the soil from its great wings, surfacing eventually and taking flight above the hill. Its colour was a combination of gold and red, making it look nearly orange. I haven’t seen one this colour before, two colours combined in this way. It was beautiful. Once again, I heard myself call the dragons to awaken, to take flight, to soar in the air. This felt like a resurrection of sorts.

I walked towards the top of the hill, and into the beech tree copse which now had new Spring leaves open, creating shifting patterns on the floor below. I had an impulse to pour some of the Itchen water in my bottle onto the rise in the centre, bringing the fertile river, energetically, to the hill, connecting them both. I was told to infuse the water in my bottle with the energies of the hill and so I tuned in and watched to see the energies move into the water. Now, along with the fertility of the water, it also contained the heart of St, Catherine’s Hill.

An energy band came from the left of me, then another one came from the east. The western one was masculine and the eastern one, female. They flowed into me and then rose in twin columns high into the air, through my head, where they coiled upwards together like a candy-cane. I waited until that was stable and wandered around the top of the hill, but saw no more. Until, walking out of the clearing, I heard a woman’s voice say: ‘Join with us, sister.’

I turned to look back into the trees, and saw a circle of young women holding hands, and dancing in an anticlockwise direction around the centre of the hill. They were dressed in while linen and all had a circlet of May flowers around their heads.

Inside their circle, dancing in a clockwise direction, were the young men. Circles within circles, sunwise and widdershins. The pair who had been chosen to hold the creative energies for the year, and who represented the male and female energies of creation, appeared in the centre of the dancing circles. They did not participate in the dance but appeared to be ‘holding’ the energies that the dancers were building.

When they had completed their dance, both groups of dancers moved in a line and took their place behind each of the pair, the girls in one line, the boys in another. Then they moved forwards, following their leader in a procession, separating once they had reached the outer limit of the hilltop. The girls moved east, and the boys west, still in a line, moving to the eastern and western bottom of the hill where they encircled the base of the hill and re-joined, taking the energy down to the flood-plain.

The rites were complete and they would spend the night feasting and celebrating.

Once I had witnessed this, I walked back towards the outer boundary, but glanced back towards the summit and saw a huge flame burning, the same colour as the dragon, red and gold. I heard the words: ‘the flame burns for another year’.

Reaching the inner bank of the hill, the dragon appeared again. It was only visible from the bank, for some reason, as I had not been aware of it while I was inside the trees. But now, it was large and alive, and I was told to open the essence bottle. This large dragon then popped a miniature version of itself into the water and once it was inside, I replaced the cap.

I returned to the river, where Chris was waiting, and we walked back the way we had come. When we were crossing the river again, I was instructed to pour some of this essence back into the water, completing the circle of fertility.

The most important aspect of this entire season’s learning, from February through to May was the marriage of water and earth. The Hill, the pregnant mound of the Mother, marries the water energies of the River to maintain the fertility of the land, so that food was assured for the coming season. In the past, the Itchen overflowed at certain of the years, bringing fertile silt from up-river. This reminds me of the Nile flooding, when rituals like this were also carried out at the Temple below the great pyramid. Many sacred Mother sites, to do with fertility, were connected to a river. Stonehenge, Stanton Drew, and of course, Winchester, etc.

The observance of these rites kept the energy flowing, each element dancing together. There was no sense of male energy, or female energy, being more important than the other, but a recognition of the necessary interplay between the two. To our detriment, we have lost this understanding but perhaps it is time we resurrected it, like the dragon.

Magdalene Down Male Mysteries

April 25, 2021April 24, 2021 / Ann Murphy / 1 Comment

After our first day’s information about the Female Mysteries of Spring, we went back the following week to learn about the Male Mysteries.

This time we stood on the second largest barrow, where we had seen the Elder the previous week. As soon as we tuned in, he appeared and he instructed us to sit.

I felt as though I was in a class, as it would have been held centuries ago, but I was male. There were five or six of us being trained. The elder explained about our role in the Spring festival. We were a new cohort, and this was the start of our training. The Elder would instruct us on how to serve the Mother, both in what we did, as priests in training, and for the rest of our lives. What we were being shown was male priest training, rather than simply something for the festival rituals.

He explained that male fertility was connected to the waterways: the rivers and to the sea. I saw the Itchen river in my mind, running around he base of St. Catherine’s hill. As we were being shown the connection between the river and the hill, an image of Silbury Hill, near Avebury, with the water all around the base, popped into my head. I wondered if, in ancient times, the waters also rose at certain times of the year and flooded around the base of St. Catherine’s; the mound a pregnant belly that emerged from the waters of life.

Water carries fertility, like seminal fluid carries sperm. This is how they understood it. Because many female fertility sites were connected with waterways i.e., Stonehenge, Stanton Drew, etc., it fell to men to hold the energy of water-fertility. They were the active principle and the female was the receptive.

The Elder, having explained about the importance of water to these young men, then went on in a more serious tone. He handed each one a rounded, river pebble. He told them that the water had shaped these stones, tumbled and smoothed them over many years. The water had the power to shape the hardest material, BUT, the stone was of the earth and the river ran THROUGH the earth. The water, on its own, was simply water. The Mother, Earth, was the channel/river-bed through which the water ran, it ran through her body. She was the foundation of all.

This teaching was to curb feelings of power the young men might harbour, believing that because they held the power to fertilise, this meant they were more powerful than the earth itself.

At that point, to continue the lesson, the Elder told us all that we would now go to the other side of the hill, but to bring our stone with us. This was a couple of miles across the land for them, but necessitated a car-ride for us. From last week, we knew the men had their training by the river and that by the time of the Spring rites, they would proceed from there to the top of St. Catherine’s.

We drove around to the other side of Winchester, and tried to find a car-parking space close to the river. That proved tricky, as now everyone goes for coffee and a walk beside the canal! Because we could not find a space, we went to the water-meadows at. St Cross Hospital, where we had access to the river. This was better as it was the more natural part of the river; the part currently flowing alongside St. Catherine’s Hill is the navigation canal built in the late 17th Century.

We stood by the river bank and waited for the Elder to tell us what to do. We still held the stone. Because the Elder was not physically real, the stone he gave us wasn’t either. But, I had one in my pocket I had picked up somewhere. I’m always picking up stones! It didn’t have to be physical, of course, but it made it feel more real.

Itchen River, St. Cross Hospital, Winchester.

Standing by the river’s edge, the Elder told us that we had to throw this stone into the water. But, in throwing it in, we were handing over our ego, or sense of power and personal Will to the Mother. We were acknowledging that we, as men, served her. We were not master over her. In order to serve, we had to let go of all our attachments to power over others, over the tribe, over the land. We were making a commitment to serve her as she wished to be served.

It was a very solemn, and thought-provoking exercise. If we, as young priests were unable to let go of our male ego, our need for control, then we would be unable to serve in a fertility capacity and therefore would not be able to officiate at the Sacred Fertility Rituals, such as the Spring rites.

Because I was, effectively, a young man in this experience, I felt the seriousness of what I was doing and when I felt I was ready to give up my need for control and power, I threw my stone into the water, giving it back to the Mother, from whence it came. I accepted that she was more important than me and that I willingly sacrificed my need for power and control.

I was aware of the other young men in my group. Some were reluctant to let go, not fully understanding how it would impact on their lives. They were not ready. Some might never be and would go on to do other work within the tribes. But, for those, who were not quite ready, they would be given the chance to continue their training and repeat the exercise the following year. But that also meant, they could not be chosen to be a candidate in the current year’s Spring Festival. There was no judgement around this from the Elder, as they were only human and he understood the challenge of the sacrifice.

This experience, and the previous week’s one, was an amazing glimpse into how our ancestors worked with the very potent Spring fertility rites. The exercise, by the river and on the barrows, was quite a powerful one for the young men; the fear of letting go of personal power was palpable.

By contrast, the women’s rites felt free and joyful. There was such excitement and light-heartedness as they began the rites. But the men’s seemed quite serious, as if they had more to learn, more to let go of. But all were young. From late teens to early twenties. An appropriate age for Spring.

Next week, we’ll be up on St. Catherine’s Hill. It’s the culmination of the Spring festivities, the joining of the male and female energies, the festival that ensures fertility for the coming year. I am looking forward to seeing what we experience then. All we have to do is avoid the coffee-crowds.

Queen of the May.

April 14, 2021 / Ann Murphy / 1 Comment

It has been an interesting few months. The winter has been long and I really did not feel like going out much. Winter is never my time, energetically anyway, my time begins at Imbolc, the beginning of February. This is the time of female fertility, when plants emerge once more from the womb of winter and begin their growth towards the sun.
This February, we explored a part of Winchester that has always beckoned but never quite seemed to be the right time. Because there are now so many people walking the places we usually frequent, we wanted to explore some place quieter. We found ourselves on Magdalene Hill Down and the five Bronze Age burial mounds there.

It took two days, a week apart, to receive this information, so I will focus for this entry, on the first visit to the burial mounds.

On the slope of the Down, there are five Bronze Age burial mounds. Three are still intact, albeit with dips in the centre. The other two are barely discernible. We stood on the first large one in the row and tuned in as usual. This brought me back to the past in a wonderful way. The story is a female story.

Moving into the past is like re-experiencing past events in a physical way. I become part of it. Standing on the barrow, I am in the distant past and I am aware of being a woman, wearing white. There is a huge sense of joy and celebration and I am calling to the clans from the settlements to the east of the barrows. Many women and girls hear the call and they come, joyously, dressed in white, to join me. There is much excitement and I am aware of how important these sites are for the women. They are not merely places to bury their dead, but sites of great significance, of birth, of renewal, of life.

They come from their settlements with a sense of urgency. This is the time they have been waiting for. It has to be now – today! They connect with each other on a telepathic level so they are all working together with one mind. There is no separation here. Together, all holding hands, while I remain on the mound, the women dance around the barrow. Collectively, we call in an energy, which I recognise as dragon-energy, but they identify as something else, a creative-force, a tangible thing, alive. To me, with my modern mind, it is the white-dragon, which is highly creative and inspirational and feminine. To them it is a living energy, the same energy but we each have our own ways, through time, of experiencing it.

When the women call in this beautiful, creative force, it rises from the barrow and travels along an energetic path to St. Catherine’s Hill. They watch it, holding its energy with their Will and hearts until it reaches the summit of the hill, where it then encircles the top.

The process they are initiating will culminate in May. There is a corridor of time and energy between the beginning of Feb and the beginning of May in which to do this work.

On the second barrow, there was a distinctly masculine energy. It comes in the form of an Elder, with grey hair and beard and he is dressed in a grey robe. This energy is about male fertility, symbolised by the fish. It feels hot here, and a spring flame, which I call Brigit’s flame, is burning.

(We didn’t get any more on the male energy rituals until the next time we visited.)

Next, we stand on the third barrow, which after the heat of the previous one, feels really cold. This one is female again. I can see the women who had joined in celebration but now they are creating a tunnel of Blackthorn boughs in blossom, holding them in an arched corridor above their heads. Each girl takes her turn, like a dance, going through the blossom arch and as they travel, the energy of the blossom permeates them so they become the same energy. It is a fertility dance and they are being imparted with the fertile energy of the Spring Blossom which makes them fertile too. It is an energetic process, not a simply ritual one. They absorb the fertile energy of the blossom into their bodies, by osmosis until they and the energy of the Blackthorn are One.

Individually, they dance through, until the ones at the beginning of the archway, are now at the end, until each has had her turn. When Mayday, in their calendar, arrives they will process to St. Catherine’s Hill to complete the ritual. Everything they do is in preparation for that day and it all takes time. They know how to wait for the processes of nature and nothing is rushed.

When May arrives, one woman is chosen to be the representative of the earth’s creative energies and one man is chosen to represent the fertility aspects of water and sun. Together, each holding their respective energy, they reign until the following year, when a new couple is chosen. The couple chosen do not know who they were going to be paired with until the day of choosing, and the two are chosen because they showed the right qualities of dedication and learning over the preceding year.

The newly crowned couple hold the energies for the surrounding areas for a year, enacting rituals that ensure the fertility of the area around the hill. They know their work will ensure the continuance of life for everyone and that the Mother and father will continue to care for them, providing them with food and shelter for another year.

This was a beautiful thing to witness. The Queen and King of the May are such an ancient tradition but it was interesting to see just how far this tradition went back. In modern times, the ritual is a re-enactment, but in times past it played an important role and was very real. The female group in the ritual were young women that appeared to be part of a group of women who trained to play this part. Only they were trained to hold the energy and to work with the necessary energies.

(The same applied to the young men, who had their own training, which we discovered when we returned the following week. But on this visit, we were shown the female aspect).

In May, they joined together, each representing, and holding, the masculine and feminine forces of creation.

This entire experience seemed to be a process through time, where the celebrations and calling happened first, followed by the blossom-archway and then the celebration on St. Catherine’s.

On the fourth barrow, we were given the same information about the Queen’s awakening. Between February and May, she awakened, life returned. This was her time. Perhaps this is also about the Queen’s representative awakening to her role. The fact that this all happened around St. Catherine’s Hill was also magical. Maybe we should reinstate it?