Beltane 2011 - a reading (on YouTube)
The White Witch has been deposed. The Green Witch has been resurrected.
At Samhain, the Frost Queen passed annual judgment against her twin and rival after usurping power at the autumnal court. The Green Witch was garroted and minced, her body cast like feed-corn across the dry and dusty fields. In the overwatching wood, oaks and maples bled in mourning. Beneath the oppressive blanket of her icy enemy, her seeds lay fallow all winter. Like a mother spider to her emerging brood, she prepares herself for the ultimate maternal sacrifice come spring, when in revenge of Medea's children, her hatchlings will devour her alive.
Each crystalline defection from the Ice Queen's occupation waters the seeds of the Green Lady's discontent, first by drips and drops then in a steady stream. The Snow Queen's alpine army melts away before the steadily advancing wall of green. At Imbolc, there was an uprising. At the equinox, a revolution. By Beltane, the ritual plunder of the White Witch's final strongholds had begun. As the last green jacked messenger arrives, the Sun Queen's court erupts into an orgy of colorful celebration.
Reborn in coldspring snowmelt, emerging from her donjon tower, the verdant maiden blushes pink and rose before the encircling soldiers of spring. Bees and wasps in black and yellow tabards, their lances sharp and shining, stand watch while common workers deflower her in turns. By Lughnasa, she will once again be heavy with child. In the wickerman at Samhain, she will be sentenced to her fate. Her ash and sackcloth remnants will be sown throughout the land. To once again lay dormant, awaiting Imbolc and the Equinox.
When the White Witch will be deposed, and the Green Witch resurrected.
At Samhain, the Frost Queen passed annual judgment against her twin and rival after usurping power at the autumnal court. The Green Witch was garroted and minced, her body cast like feed-corn across the dry and dusty fields. In the overwatching wood, oaks and maples bled in mourning. Beneath the oppressive blanket of her icy enemy, her seeds lay fallow all winter. Like a mother spider to her emerging brood, she prepares herself for the ultimate maternal sacrifice come spring, when in revenge of Medea's children, her hatchlings will devour her alive.
Each crystalline defection from the Ice Queen's occupation waters the seeds of the Green Lady's discontent, first by drips and drops then in a steady stream. The Snow Queen's alpine army melts away before the steadily advancing wall of green. At Imbolc, there was an uprising. At the equinox, a revolution. By Beltane, the ritual plunder of the White Witch's final strongholds had begun. As the last green jacked messenger arrives, the Sun Queen's court erupts into an orgy of colorful celebration.
Reborn in coldspring snowmelt, emerging from her donjon tower, the verdant maiden blushes pink and rose before the encircling soldiers of spring. Bees and wasps in black and yellow tabards, their lances sharp and shining, stand watch while common workers deflower her in turns. By Lughnasa, she will once again be heavy with child. In the wickerman at Samhain, she will be sentenced to her fate. Her ash and sackcloth remnants will be sown throughout the land. To once again lay dormant, awaiting Imbolc and the Equinox.
When the White Witch will be deposed, and the Green Witch resurrected.
© 2011 Edward P. Morgan III
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ReplyDeleteNotes and asides:
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A short message this time, though to me it feels complete. Sometimes I just don't have as much to say. Another week of distractions hasn't really helped.
In Greek mythology, Medea killed her children as revenge against her husband, Jason of the Argonauts. In nature, some spider mothers provide themselves willingly as their children's initial meal. Makes you wonder how that behavior evolved.
For some reason this year, I've seen a contest between summer and winter, one where neither side is good nor bad. Each seems to brand the other as a witch and usurper. And left in power too long, each becomes a tyrant. Both are known by many names, White Witch, Frost Queen, Snow Queen, Green Witch, Green Lady, Sun Queen. A fairytale more Grimm than Hans Christian Andersen.
It's with the maples that I see the balance best. Without the full green leaves of summer, would the fall colors capture our imagination? Without the bare, snow-laden branches in winter, would the supple shoots of spring be so striking?
Picture notes:
ReplyDeleteThis is a bee Karen captured out in the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo when her parents were visiting in April. There were dozens of honeybees plus a few wasps and bumblebees swarming over the lavender that day. You have to love the macro setting on the Canon PowerShot.
Thanks. Just what came to mind.
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