Greetings sweet❤︎
Can you feel it? The changing of the leaves, the slight chill in the air, that particular smell of nature slowly withdrawing… its magick! 🍃🍁🍂 The Autumn Equinox has just turned the wheel and before long it will be Samhain, the Witch’s New Year.
But I am here to write about the last festival of Mabon and the Harvest Festival of Goddess Nehalennia.
For a long time Nehalennia has been hidden under the water surface, lost, forgotten, flooded. But now, in the wave of a new era, she gently and gloriously emerges from the surf above the water of the North Sea! Finally she becomes visible again and we can experience her again!
Nehalennia is a goddess of the soil and soul of the area in Zeeland in The Netherlands and this was in a time before the Roman occupation of this country, worshiped by our ancestors. The Romans embraced our native Goddess and so she received a place within the society and religious experience of that time.
Overseas traders who sailed to Britannia and local fishermen asked her for safe crossing when they had to enter the sometimes wild North Sea. If the momentum was maintained, they then set up so-called votive stones in gratitude and to redeem their vows to her. Her temple was at the time in the Roman settlement Ganuenta in the mouth of the Scheldt, at the height of where the village of Colijnsplaat is now located.
Ganuenta and the temple have sunk completely into the water many centuries ago. From the 1970s votive stones have surfaced and slowly Nehalennia is coming to the surface again in our consciousness.
Twenty-eight altar stones were dedicated to the goddess, often by grateful donors thanking or praying to the goddess for a safe sea-passage, good business, the welfare of their families or for success in general. The statues, however, provide us with more information than the inscriptions.
The meaning of the name Nehalennia is subject to different interpretations. It has been suggested it has an affinity with the Old German verb neiban, which means a to offer a gift as a token of friendliness; so the name may mean “Frendliche Geberin”. It has also been suggested that the name has to do with the nouns nekus or nekros, Latin nex and necare, connecting her to death as “necare” means “to kill”. Cannegieter, who lived during the 17th century, suggested that the name was composed of three parts: ne- “New”, hel- “Stream”/”River”, and –ennia, “Goddess”, thus the name “New River Goddess”.
https://www.livius.org/articles/religion/nehalennia/ – for more information on Nehalennia in English. And many more information can be found online, in English as well.
En voor mensen die Nederlands lezen, ik vond dit boek interessant om te lezen: “Nieuw Licht op Nehalennia: door Dr. Annine E.G. van der Meer
In honor of the returning Nehalennia, Priestesses of the Temple organize celebrations and will keep you informed via this page: https://nehalenniaviering.weebly.com/
Harvest Festival at Colijnsplaat
In September we look at our harvest. Have the seeds planted in Spring all come out, which have not and what needs more attention to achieve a good harvest? Hereby issues like gratitude, consideration and insight come to light.
Ever so grateful I could drive with lovely people from Amsterdam to Colijnsplaat as with public transportation it is very hard to reach and also very long. And I love meeting new people, so it was lovely to go to the festival together.
It was a gorgeous day, very warm like Summer, the Sun was very strong, but you can feel the breeze and magick of Fall in the air. There is a certain sensation the Fall winds bring, so even though the temperatures seem like Summertime, I can feel Fall is here.
The day was opened by a ceremony in a group circle on the beach calling on Nehalennia and bringing in all the elements and raising the energy by turning the wheel.
And the opening ceremony was followed by a workshop program:
I attended the lecture by Axnot Wedasunu van Fivelgo on “Water as a boundary between the world of the living and the dead” and he told about stories and legends from all over The Netherlands surrounding this theme, something I am very interested in. I am trying to learn more and more about the soil my feet stand in every day and where my roots are. I want to learn about the beliefs and practices of my ancestors. Also one of the reasons that brought me here on this day.
The second workshop I attended was “Zeehekserij”, Sea witchcraft. Which was very powerful and healing for me. I brought home this anchor (picture below) to remind me of this moment. We made contact with the sea, really tapped into her energy and we discussed ways to use the sea in spell craft.
The sea and I
My family were sea faring folk and strangely enough I have never been much of a sea person. I have been at sea many times, my father was the captain of a ship, so the sea isn’t alien to me. Perhaps because the sea took my father away. Not as in killed him, but her attraction was greater than his family was for him. The same goes for my grandfather (the father of my mother) who was also a captain (that is how my parents met). They spent many months away from home. And even after my father retired, he moved to The Philippines because he wanted to live on an island with a boat. So yes perhaps subconsciously I blame the sea for taking my father. So the sea and I have some amends to make. I never visit the sea unless I have to. I prefer the deep dark woods, hills and mountains.The humor isn’t lost on me that I live under sea level in the (probably) flattest country on this planet. It is not that I fear the sea, it is more reverence, it is such an all encompassing energy that swallows you whole, the magnetic pull is immense and perhaps yes there is some fear of its power and the power it ignites deep in me, the stirring of the tides. And perhaps a subconscious fear of one day being flooded when the dykes can no longer hold the powerful water. All emotions will wash over us. But I do also feel the sea brings solace as well as the sea never ends and is connected to all cycles, all waters, every little drop makes this huge body of water. I am inspired by the sea’s temperament and will. And by her love, because I feel there is deep love in the sea. The sea has always been here, from the beginning. All was born from the sea, she is our mother. A mother that gives and takes life, a mother te be in awe of. So yes the energy of the sea is something I find challenging, where the trees comfort me, the sea energizes me and excites me, in good and bad ways. I feel I need to visit the sea a lot more as she has a lot to teach me about my own deep waters.
After the first two workshops, we enjoyed a potluck dinner as everyone brought something to eat or drink. It was good to see my bean and vegetable stew was all eaten, so no scraps to take home!
Herb energy
And for the third workshop I chose “Kruidenworkshop”, the herb workshop. I wanted to undergo the Rite of the Womb, but the person leading this workshop wasn’t present. Now I love working with herbs so this workshop called me because we would be working with feeling the herbs blindly. And it was an eye-opener or more to say -closer! We were given bowls with herbs in them which were sealed on top, so you couldn’t see or smell them. The bowls were numbered and for each number we wrote down are experiences with the herb.
It was really enlightening, to sense the different sensations of each herb. I am a very touchy feely person and always touch everything to feel its energy. I have done this from when I was very small, it drove my mother crazy, me touching everything. So this concept wasn’t completely alien to me. I work with distance healing, readings, crystals, spellwork, all energy and I use all my senses in these practices. But somehow you always wonder how much the mind fills in. Like with crystals, you know what energy goes with what crystal. I always try not to pay too much attention to the official meanings, but subconsciously you do. Sometimes it is better to work with a blank canvas and let your intuition guide you. Anyway back to the herbs.
For instance I wrote down soft, comforting, relaxing, sleepy for lavender.
And expression, openness, creativity for rosemary.
Dandelion I felt in my stomach (it aids liver and kidneys), it felt like the fluttering of butterflies, so I wrote down feeling in love. Perhaps it has something to do with this old practice of blowing away the dandelion seeds to send a loved one a message and visualizing the thoughts traveling on the seeds towards your loved one.
Artemisia Vulgaris/Mugwort (Bijvoet in het Nederlands) I wrote down third eye, clear, inspiration, now Mugwort is generally used for protection, but Mugwort can also be used to clean and charge divination instruments, such as the crystal ball and the black mirror. Those who prefer to evoke a clear dream or vision during sleep can put mugs in their pillow.
These are just a few examples, as we felt and worked with more herbs/plants.
And we were also asked to identify one herb that touched us most, not so much in a positive (can be) sense, but a herb we could feel most strongly.
The herb that contacted me most urgently and I picked to take home with me was Alchemilla (Vrouwenmantel). I wrote down vibrating, belly, heavy, power, earthing, processing, mourning.
So a little more information on this herb: Among the Germans, this herb was dedicated to Freya, the goddess of fertility. After the Christianization of Europe, the plant was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Middle Ages Vrouwenmantel was known as a medicine, but also by the use of the herb by the alchemists. They called the drops on the plant in the morning “heaven water” and strongly associated the herb with the Moon; the dew was also collected at full moon, on a Monday morning, as early as possible so that as little light as possible had fallen on it, it was immediately bottled in dark bottles and collected in a dark place. The plant itself was also harvested and preferably between 12.00 and 01.00 at night, with silver blades (the metal of the Moon). In Iceland the plant was once considered sacred. Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the plant had the reputation of restoring the virgin state of women and breasts slackened by age and children again in full glory to recover. Culpeper prescribed the herb for all kinds of infections and for stopping bleeding and vomiting, and for women with large breasts, so that they would grow a little less quickly. According to Culpeper, the herb also helped with the conception, the woman would then have to sit in a bath tub with this herb. Because of its effect on, in particular, the female sexual organs, the Vrouwenmantel in earlier centuries, especially in England, was called “best friend for women”.
The plant is suitable for the woman of the gentle Venus type, sweet, gentle, accommodating and always friendly, with too little I-power and not always taking good care of herself. Women’s mantle (I don’t know the English name I apologize) helps bring out the true nature and gives more assertiveness and decisiveness. On the other hand, it is also a good herb for the tough ladies, who want too much and give too little room to her emotions. Vrouwenmantel helps alleviate this hardness. Regulating and astringent in the event of heavy menstruation and stimulating in the event of a weak menstrual period. With menstrual pain and PMS. But also with all kinds of nervous disorders of the female sexual organs during the menopause. With infections of the uterus and ovaries, with white flood. So wow! How perfect is this!! I wanted to attend the Rite of the Womb to work on issues to do with the feminine productive system and I end up with a healing herb I can work with all through the dark of Winter. And also I am a Venus type so yes I can use some assertive energy!
The day was closed by a ceremony carrying the offerings of the day to the temple, to Nehalennia. Ready for Winter.
We took stock; what have we collected and what can we take with us as supplies in our inner barns. What can we feed on in the dark time that will now follow.
May your harvest be sweet, rich, full and abundant.
