Raven's Gate Cosmology

Raven’s gate Tradition Cosmology

When I am not busy being a wife, customer service goddess in a healthcare setting, or a savage geek I think about how our universe is formed and how we are a part of that design. Cosmology and how it informs my world.

Raven’s Hearth Coven, as previously stated, is an eclectic tradition based off of the Celtic myth cycle. As such, we (like most wiccan covens) are an earth based expression of spirituality. In the simplest of words, we see the divine through the world around us and because or our Celtic/Germanic ancestry see it through the agricultural cycle beginning with winter and ending with fall or the death, birth, life, death and rebirth. It is also, once you contemplate it, the ebb and flow and the human life cycle, the lunar cycle, and the cycle of a basic day.

So we start, as most covens do, with Samhain or Halloween (October 31) Samhain is the culmination of fall and the start of winter. Traditional/historically that last sheaf is bound, the harvest is gathered. There is time to honor the spirits of the dead and the life of the previous cycle. What worked well and what didn’t work well.  It is the time we have to clear out the old and get ready for the new cycle ahead of us.

At Yule (December 21) we celebrate the height of winter with the celebration of the birth of the divine child. While traditionally the child has been focused on the Goddess giving birth to the God, I believe that the divine child can be both male and female essentially while traditional European models focus on a single male child being birthed, I believe that it is either twins or an hermaphrodite that is born.

The beginning of spring is celebrated at Imbolc or February 2. Imbolc represents the maturing of the divine child into a youth traditionally the time of the maiden.  In Celtic agricultural society the remaining candles were blessed as well as the fields and grain that would be planted once the weather was warm enough and the ground thawed.

The height of spring is then represented with Ostara or the Spring Solstice around March 21.  This is also the reflected in the maturity of the maiden and male youth.  The fields are usually able be plowed and planted. (Hey, I live in Minnesota so the chances of the ground being thawed are slim to none but I do understand you warmer climate people get to be outside in March without your parka.) This is also the time of year that if you have been able to plant, you are usually at a waiting time for the plants to be big enough to tell if it is what you want or if it is a week that will need pulling.  Daily life is like that too but that’s a different article.

The next season that is celebrated is the beginning of summer at Beltane or May 1^st. Beltane celebrates the sacred marriage of the Goddess and the God. Lots of sex happens at this time for humans and animals as well. Even in the land of the north, it is usually warm enough to be outside without several layers of clothes. The crops are planted unless it’s a really cold or wet year.

Litha is celebrated on June 21 and is the height of summer. By this point the Goddess is pregnant with the divine child/ren from all the sex at Beltane.

Lammas/Lughnasadh is the beginning of fall and is celebrated on August 2. It is the first of the harvest season. In traditional Irish culture this was also the time of the fairs that the grains and animals would be brought to. Contests of strength and skill would be had. It is not a whole lot different from modern times and the county and state fairs that happen locally. There is a lot of work preparing for the winter ahead and celebrating the good that has been manifesting.

Mabon is the autumnal equinox celebrated on September 21. The Mother starts going into her time of confinement while the Crone starts to become more active. The God starts to die at this time with his full decent being at Samhain.

Samhain again being a time of resting after the harvest and honoring what has passed on the last year.

So my observations from this is that our cycles are based off of this main one from the lunar cycle to the human to our daily cycle. The next few blog posts, as I get them written will be dissecting these cycles individually.

I am off to enjoy a cuppa and chill out with the family. I always welcome critiques of my writing and our thought process. I hope it blessed you in the process to read it as it has for me to get it written.

May the love of the goddess dwell in your heart and enlighten you!