left biblioblography: THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING…

Saturday, December 30, 2006

THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING…


And they hae ta’en his very heart's blood,

And drank it round and round;

And still the more and more they drank,

Their joy did more abound.

- John Barleycorn Must Die - Traffic

The Winter Solstice hath come and gone, and it marks the end of an old cycle, the beginning of a new.

It is no small wonder, that our ancestors regarded light and darkness in the manner that they did. Nor that they divided the year into quarters (hence, the creation of a cross as a holy icon). It is in the nature of the child to personify, to put a human face to a lack of understanding.

Cycle of life to death, death to life. To grow, and to wither away, back to the womb of the world one sprang from.

An intricate dance of light and darkness, one overcomes the other, new life replaces the old.

The pagans have an interesting tale to tell: “The Holly King and the Oak King are part of Celtic mythology, and they represent two sides to the Greenman, or Horned God.

They battle twice a year, once at Yule and once at Midsummer (Litha) to see who would rule over the next half of the year. At Yule, the Oak King wins and at Litha, the Holly King is victorious. In other words, the Oak King rules over the lighter half of the year, and the Holly King over the darker half. The change from one to the other is a common theme for rituals at Yule, and also at Midsummer. “

It is odd, is it not, that the outcome was always simple to see?

Stranger still:

“Another version of the Holly King and Oak King symbolism is that they do not directly switch places twice a year, but rather both live simultaneously. The Oak King is born at Yule, and his strength grows through the spring, peaks at Beltane and then he weakens and dies at Samhain.”

And the dance goes on.

Happy New Year, to one and all.

Till the next post, then.

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9 comments:

Stardust said...

Happy New Year to you too, KA.

The new blog looks great! I am still paranoid about changing mine over. I hear it's not as easy as clicking the switch button.

Krystalline Apostate said...

Stardust:
HNY to you as well.
The new blog looks great! I am still paranoid about changing mine over. I hear it's not as easy as clicking the switch button.
No, it isn't. Check out my template & converting posts.
If you want to keep your format the way it is, & not change anything, it's easy as pie. But you don't get the advantage of the drag n' drop interface unless you pull a compatible template.
If you'd like, you can do what I did: create a test blog, & experiment w/that. That's what I did. That way, you can set up what you want, & when you have a final draft, you can select the compatible template, & copy 'n paste the HTML from the test to the live blog.

Stardust said...

KA - Thanks for the pointers. That's a good idea about the test blog. I really hate the thought of going through a big ordeal with this stuff.

beepbeepitsme said...

Light and darkness - good and evil - how easily we have morphed the natural world into a supernatural one.

Oh, and Happy New year!

Krystalline Apostate said...

Yappy Hew Near!
Wass that, ossifer? I'm not under the affluence of incohol. I kin walk a straight circle!

Stardust:
lemmee know if you need a little help.

BBIM:
I'm sure our species will eventually get thru these growing pains. It's taking a little too long for my liking.

Mesoforte said...

Happy New Year Two Days Late, KA.

Stardust said...

lemmee know if you need a little help.

thanks KA, I definitely will.

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year two days late from me as well!
May your Oak King grow in strength!

Krystalline Apostate said...

Happy belated New year's to you all.