by Emily Cavin written the Tuesday before Twilight Covening 2019 —
It is Autumn It is a chilly, cloudy, day But when the Sun breaks through the Clouds Colors shimmer in the Lake Reflecting the leaves, flying from the Trees Rooted in the Mountain, under the Sky, Lit by the Moon and Stars, And the glow of the Season. I am with myself I am with Spirit And with many other Pilgrims, Sisters and Brothers All Honoring the Sacred Earth. This will be my seventeenth Visioning Ritual. It will be the seventeenth time I have gathered in a Circle As a member of a Clan. I have been held in natural harmony by the Cranes Transformed as a Luna Moth Sailed the Sky with Swifts Traveled far on the Labyrinth Shifted shape as a Salamander Run the river as an Otter I was a weaver among Spiders Called out the cry of the Screech Owl Kept silence with the Swans Knew the forest as a Deer Dreamed the dreams dreamt by Bears And flocked with the very first murder Of cauldron-keeping Crows – After being reborn with wings, from within a Chrysalis.
Sometimes it is a struggle to be here – I have to work hard at it. More often, I am encircled and guided by Beauty and Mystery, And also joy. When all the stars and powers align, I am riding, with ease, An otherworldly wave that seems to know My Spirit’s very heart’s desire. Whatever my journey here, It informs in true and potent ways the journeys I make everywhere else.
I declare! There is only one place In the whole wide web of existence I could be And speak of all of this as Truth. Twilight Covening! All Beings of the Earth Teach me Carry me I am here once more I am opening – My Soul Is on Fire
by Lanna Lee Maheux Quinn
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For those of us who find strength in earth-based spirituality, Twilight Covening is a unique offering, a weekend-long ritual, that allows us to plug in before the winter, learn some skills and connect with the greater community in a meaningful way.
The way it works is that you pick a focus for the weekend. You do this by choosing your clan, and your clan leader or leaders will guide you and your fellow clan members through the weekend. You spend time together with your clan, and then spend time with the larger gathering. You focus in with the smaller group, and focus out with the larger group; Deirdre Arthen likens it to breathing, which is a very apt description.
White Raven clan table (photo by the author)
Choosing a clan is a magical process. You sign up for 4 different clans, in order of preference. You don’t always get your first preference. You might get your second or third or even your fourth choice instead. I firmly believe you will end out in the clan you were meant to be in; I’ve found this to be the case for myself, even if it took me a few months to realize it! So choose wisely, and trust that you will end out where you need to be.
And now it’s time for a shameless plug, because this year, for the third year in a row, I am offering the White Raven Clan with Giariel Foxwood. (I’m one of those clan leaders I mentioned earlier!) We will be building relationships with our ancestors, human or other, by using Faery Seership Practices. Those who take our clan will walk away with a daily practice that will help them build co-creative partnerships with their ancestors.
Whether you decide to sign up for White Raven Clan or one of the other fantastic offerings we have this year, I hope you join us. It’s a restorative and invigorating weekend that gets you set for your contemplations over the long winter.
This entry is by Miriam Klamkin, who is a Glainn Sidhr Witch, professional astrologer, teacher, and spiritual coach. She has been teaching at EarthSpirit events since 1993.
There is an intimate reciprocity to the senses; as we touch the bark of a tree, we feel the tree touching us; as we lend our ears to the local sounds and ally our nose to the seasonal scents, the terrain gradually tunes us in turn. The senses, that is, are the primary way that the earth has of informing our thoughts and of guiding our actions. Huge centralized programs, global initiatives, and other ‘top down” solutions will never suffice to restore and protect the health of the animate earth. For it is only at the scale of our direct, sensorial interactions with the land around us that we can appropriately notice and respond to the immediate needs of the living world. – David Abram, Becoming Animal
After the rattling dies down and all is quiet…I float in a semi-trance state, half awake, half asleep, recalling the sound of the chainsaw earlier in the day, clearing our new sacred grove. The saw takes down a nearby sapling, then comes after one of my limbs… WAIT! THAT’S MY ARM!! Abruptly, I wake to full human-consciousness and the stillness of the circle around me.
Another time, in a different grove at gloaming-time…I watch quietly as misty gray beings detach themselves from the tree trunks and come out to play, walking the land, meeting and separating, dancing with dignified grace.
And yet another time, on a hilltop… I am treated to an indescribably glorious song and dance of the winds and the trees. I feel I am this close to deciphering the meaning of the “words” of this song, but I don’t need a dictionary to interpret its overall intention.
And another, up at the stone circle… a new stone has been placed. Gently, respectfully, I place my hand on this massive, stationary being, and it is shaking internally. I withdraw and check in with myself: am I projecting my own nervous alarm onto the rock? Nope, it’s not me. I’m fine. I use some of the grounding techniques I’ve learned over the years – giving back to stonekind, usually so solidly there for us when we need to ground – and gradually the vibrations abate.
Experiences such as these are not all that hard to achieve; it’s a simple matter of clearing your mind of the expectations of a lifetime and paying attention in a particular way.
Okay, it’s hard. That’s why I developed Deer Clan.
Our culture has trained us to hold ourselves separate from the natural world, ignoring the fact that we are part and parcel of it and participate in “nature” with every breath we take. We inevitably interact with the nonhuman beings who live all around us, but we’ve learned to ignore our intuitive perceptions. Our fellow beings observe us as we observe them, and sometimes they choose to talk to us. It’s just like the fairy tales, only it isn’t all about us: they have their own lives and their own agendas. And they don’t speak to us in plain English: they communicate through sound and movement, through our own senses and emotions, through subtle energetic states for which we have no words. It is only by approaching our fellow beings with respect, sharpening those senses, observing those emotions, and noticing those energetic states that we even begin to understand our true place in the world.
The understanding begins not in an intellectual process of cataloging, comparing, or deciphering, but through using the empathic senses to feel what’s going on. Even if I never learn the words to that windsong, maybe the experience of wonder and connection it evoked is enough.
The word “deer” evolved from Old English “deor”, which referred not only to deer but to any wild animal. According to Ted Andrews, author of Animal-Speak, “There are many stories and myths of deer luring hunters or even kings deep into the woods until they are lost and begin to encounter new adventures.” In Deer Clan, we become “lost” to the civilized selves we know and invoke the wild being within us in order to become one with our world. In that state, we have access to the senses that touch that world and are touched by it. — Twilight Covening is a three-day institute of Earth spirituality held within a continual three-day ritual. It is a time for exploring ways to deepen Earth-centered spiritual practice and a time to develop our collective wisdom in a shared sacred space as we move into the dark time of the year. Get more information or register now.
