*
It is late June, and the evening is hot. We sit outside on the porch watching the sky.
“Where’s the Hen,” asked my father.
“The Hen? If you want to see it, you shall wake up tomorrow, well before the first light. It’ll be there,” said grandmother pointing at the sky.
“The Hen? What hen,” I asked.
“The Pleiades,” answered my father, and seeing my raised eyebrows, added, “the stars. People of the old used stars to track time and seasons. In the countryside many still do so today.”
“Well,” Grandma added, “it won’t be there for long. Probably another couple of days until Midsummer when the Sânziene[2] come out flying by moonlight and starlight going over fields and meadows to bless all herbs for healing and magic. We, medicine women, look for the Hen to know when to go out and gather the herbs that fairies blessed in their passing the night before.”
“How do the fairies decide when is the time to fly over the field and bless the herbs?”
“I’d say they follow the Hen,” grandma answered.
*
I sat with that memory for a while. Over the next few hours I devoured the book. Then I spent some more time with the same memory twisting and turning it on all sides, trying to squeeze out of it as much as possible. And so it began.
So it began my crazy chase across the celestial dome for the Pleiades. I tried and failed countess times at tracking them in order to determine those special fairy times I've been seeking to pinpoint, and which I mentioned about in the previous two posts. I could have simply followed the dates given in “Living Fairy”, the book, right? Yet, I felt strongly – and Daimler themselves said it- it is very important to actually establish a connection with the stars and the energy of the time their presence marks. I thought that such connection can only be established through direct participation, like observing the sky, the stars, noticing the relationships between sunrise, sunset, moon phases, other starts or planets, and how these aggregate around the cycles of the Pleiades. I believed that learning about Pleiades’ lore in different cultures and listening to those who have personal UPGs[3] about connecting stars and fairies would be also important sources to learn from, and so I proceeded to dig up all the info I could.
Astronomical charts gave me headaches, both figuratively and for real. I didn’t have much success with direct observation either. Two years in a row I was only able to actually see the blue celestial fire of the Seven Sisters shining straight above my head at midnight on November 21, respectively November 23. For the rest, it was either overcast, or I was completely inept at locating them during their risings or settings, heliacal and acronychal.
In the end, I overcome the reluctance of relying so much on technology, and I got an app[4] on my phone that does a good job at tracking celestial bodies, stars, and of course the Pleiades. But my random observations were still not getting me anywhere, and I realized that if I am to get any useful information sometime in the near future I needed to organize my work more systematically. The problem was that I had no clue as to where to begin. I though of Archimedes. “Give me a firm spot on which to stand, and I shall move the earth,” said he. All that I asked for was one such firm spot: not to lift the earth, but to track the Pleiades. Or Hen. Whatever.
Then, in June 2022, I went again to Ireland. I can’t believe how much happened within the few days I stayed there. I didn’t manage to complete the whole itinerary I intended for, but the places where I did go presented me with unforgettable experiences. While there, in Dublin and the surroundings, my connections among fairies reached a different level of tangibility. Aside from this but still related, Liminal Powers[5], Fairy Gods, assigned me to the task of opening portals at specific times throughout the year [6] . And the timing for opening those portals is relative to solstices, equinoxes, and (drumroll!) positions of the Pleiades.
A couple of months after returning from Ireland in reexamining my history of trial and error in tracking stars it occurred to me that I could ask for help. And who to ask, if not those whom I was actually trying to define holy days based on stars. It was Their request, right? In a heart to heart conversation I laid out to Them my frustration and concern. I believe I concluded my speech with something like, “If you want me to open portals at specific times, I need help in figuring out when and how.”
Going a little bit on a tangent, I must say that I sleep like a log and don’t dream. I had tried several times to do dreamwork or lucid dreaming, without any success. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m checking out. No dreams, except for rare occasions when there’s either something very intense to process, OR when the dream is not really a dream.
But something shifted rather unexpectedly after, or better said, during, a class that I took with one of my favorite teachers in the whole world, Cat Heath.[7] I remember that I had wished really, really hard for some material covering those specific topics of burning interest for me, when Cat’s newest class popped in my newsfeed. Considering the circumstances, the timing was too perfect to be coincidental. Anyway, deeper avenues for psychic communication opened up following the four hours’ immersion. Then lucid dreaming began to occur spontaneously. In re-listening to the class recording, more details got flashed out so I could stop chasing my tail around what to do, since I finally had clues about how to do it. Concretely and in practical terms, I organized all the information I received while in Ireland and wrote the posts “A Ritual for the Autumn Equinox”[8] and “On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods[9] . Writing these posts helped me process the information and the experiences associated with receiving it. In the aftermath, it felt like I put down some heavy weight I had been carrying around. Next, I was finally able to finish creating Part 3 in “Fairycrafting: The Art of Fairy Magic” that I was stuck with for several months. In no time, I finished writing the class workbook and recorded all the meditations that go with the it[10].
During psychic work, I was told to look up for the first apparition of the Pleiades on the Autumn nightsky, right after sunset. I was to call it the Autumnal Rising, and mark it as a time to open a portal. I meditated on the connection between the Liminal Powers I had just written about in my posts, on their holy days, Pleiades, and cycles of seasons. Unconsciously at first, I began to internalize the connection that I had began exploring only intellectually.
On the night of October 2, precisely at the time when the Pleiades neared the eastern horizon, I was prompted to look up the sky. Since I am surrounded by tall trees, I don’t have a clear horizon line so I must rely on the phone app for tracking. I was elated, to finally had a benchmark form where to begin my nightly (or almost nightly) observations to determine the shortest elapsing time before the sun setting and the Pleiades becoming visible in the night sky.
The Pleiades just below the eastern horizon on Oct0ber 2, 2022 at 9:17pm (left)
The Pleiades just above above eastern horizon on Oct0ber 2, 2022 at 9:35pm (right)
Photo credit Daniela Simina, using SkyView.
I noticed that I had began to look up the sky at just the right time. On early mornings, I would locate the the tiny, blue cluster with naked eyes as it and only rely on the phone app only when overcast.
October 20, 2022, 6:50am, Pleiades visible above the western horizon.
Photo credit: Daniela Simina
Few days ago I stumbled upon an online calculator[11] for positions various celestial bodies, constellations, and star clusters - the Pleiades among them. Upon seeing it, my first reaction was “How I wish I found this tool at least few months ago, or even better, a couple of years ago. WHY didn’t I come across this program earlier??” Then I looked at all the pictures, screen shots, and notes that I took. The sense of familiarity, closeness, and connection with the stars, with the sky and implicitly with the energies of the seasons built through actively engaging with the sky in the act of active observation, in the trial and failure to track the path of the Pleiades and determine those special times I have been tasked to find and mark as holy days for the group of fairies that I am connected with.
Corroborating data from the online calculator and my own observations provided a big surprise. The shortest time between sunset and the rising of the Pleiades in the sky on the eastern horizon at night fall, the Autumnal Rising They asked me to find, occurs this year on October 31, Samhain Eve[12]. WOW. Few months ago, I had almost decided to let Samhain be just Halloween!
But that was not it; in any case, not all of it. Long ago, in Ireland Samhain was observed not as a one-day holiday, but as a longer time of transition between autumn and winter when the dead were given food offerings, animals were slaughtered and meat salted and smoked, herds would return from pasture, and all the preparations for winter concluded.
I once read an account of a holiday when sacrifices were made to the Álfar, Norse fairy beings. Norwegian skald Sigvatr Pórdarson retells this episode in the poem Austrfaravísur. The the story gives a clear idea of the importance of Álfablót. But there’s much debate about the date when it was celebrated, since none is mentioned in Austrfaravísur . While offering to Ælfs were made at any time throughout the year, this Álfablót was the big one, marking a holy day special to the Ælfs. But what date would that be?
Few days ago I just came across someone’s opinion[13] stating that Álfablót would correlate with honoring the ancestors and preparing for winter, taking thus place within the same timeframe as Samhain[14] , in different cultural context of course. While this could be the case or not, this idea makes sense to me. Now please take this in the sense that, “something similar in both meaning and ritual form takes place around the same time in two different cultures,” rather than “both the Irish and Norse celebrate Samhain,” which is completely erroneous
So.
I have a vested interest in the area where Irish and Norse-Germanic fairy matters overlap. For me personally, having found a possible intersection point around Samhain, is hugely significant. For once, it provides at least in part the reason why the particular group of fairy beings that I am connected with tasked me with locating this specific apparition of Pleiades, and (re)claim it as a hallow time of Theirs[15].
The end of October is just days away, and for everyone whose spiritual practice draws on multiple traditions, I hope this post could be of use.
Until next time Oíche Shamhna Shauna daoibh[16], Happy Halloween, Hallow Álphablot, and Happy Autumnal Rising to everyone celebrating.
Bibliography and Resources:
Daimler, Morgan “Living Fairy”, 2020
Heath, Cat, “Elves & Witches: A Survival Guide”, Cat Heath – for class recordings email Cat Heat at seo.helrune@gmail.com
Simina, Daniela “A Ritual for the Autumn Equinox and Acronychal Rising of the Pleiades”, https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/09/
Simina, Daniela “On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods”
https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/10/
Simina, Daniela, “Fairycrafting: Complete 3 Part Course - Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it-pVTDiV4I&t=2s
“Álfablót- the Viking Halloween” https://modernnorseheathen.wordpress.com
[1] Morgan Daimler, “Living Fairy” p.1
[2] Romanian fairies, benevolent toward humans.
[3] Undocumented personal gnosis: personal experience that may align or not with the body of know lore and traditions.
[4] Sky View Lite, the free version.
[5] “A Ritual for the Autumn Equinox and Acronychal Rising of the Pleiades https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/09/
[6] On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/10/
[7] “Elves & Witches: A Survival Guide”, Cat Heath
[8] https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/09/
[9] https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/10/
[10] “Fairycrafting: Complete 3 Part Course - Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it-pVTDiV4I&t=2s and "Fairycrafting: The Art of Fairy Magic. Part 3- Overview" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VzUGsvSKlg&t=17s
[11] https://in-the-sky.org/whatsup_times.php
[12] There are actually few days when the Pleiades are visible in the night sky on the eastern horizon shortly after sunset, October 31-November 4, so any or all of these taken together could be a marker for the liminal timeframe I have been seeking to pinpoint.
[13] https://modernnorseheathen.wordpress.com
[14] Samhain means November in Irish; it is the name of the month and not of one specific day as it is oftentimes misinterpreted outside the culture.
[15] To be clear, this is personal undocumented gnosis, UPG, and applies to my practice and relationship that I have with one specific group of fairy beings. In Ireland, it is known that the Otherworldly activity peaks on Samhain Eve, and offerings are left out for the Good People on this night. I am not pioneering any kind of work here regarding Samhain, just merely connecting few dots between Irish and Norse/Germanic traditions surrounding fairy people.
[16] Happy Halloween, in Irish. See pronunciation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yC3Vaz-Ehw
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