A Dark Moon Encounter at the Crossroads

A Dark Moon Encounter at the Crossroads

During the recent Dark Moon phase me and Cerri sat down for a Journey with the Dark Moon. It’s part of the work we are doing with our Druid Grove at the moment. We opened our inner Journey in our usual way and then went out, individually travelling through our inner landscape.

Sometimes it can seem as if the Moon gets left behind in the modern Druid tradition. So much emphasis is placed on the Sun, of rituals ‘in the eye of the Sun’, of the Solstices, that people could be forgiven for thinking we don’t really work with our closest celestial neighbour, but that isn’t entirely true. Within the Druid Order I am a part of the realm of the Moon is associated with those mysterious beings, the Ovates. Ask anyone what a Bard is and most will have some idea. Ask them what a Druid is and again most would have an answer. Ask those same people what an Ovate is and the response is usually a blank expression. Tumbleweed. Even after all these years the work of the Ovate is Druidry’s little secret, but it is there, within the darkened Grove of Yews, that our eyes turn to the Mysteries of the Night and of the Moon.

As people work through the three ‘schools’ of Druidry, Bard, Ovate and Druid, it is not a progression like that of, say, Wicca, where people travel through three ‘degrees’ of learning, leaving each one behind as they move on. An Ovate is still a Bard. The work of the Ovate builds upon the Journey of the Bard. A Druid is still a Bard and an Ovate, and encompasses all three in one. So when I work with the night and the Mysteries of the Moon it is the energy of the Ovate that provides the bridge of moonlight upon which to walk.

So I walked.

Out into that inner landscape that has been explored countless time over the years. A landscape I know very well, but there are often some unexpected surprises, and tonight held one of those. I found myself approaching a dark Sacred Grove. No Moon lit this place. I stepped within, and two torches came to life before me, one in each hand of a figure shrouded in black, the face veiled, hidden. I then noticed two lines of people, all robed, standing either side of the figure, and they all began to chant.

“Hekate, Hekate, Hekate, Hekate.”

I confess my academic knowledge of Hekate is minimal. Crossroads, magic, necromancy, all the dark Witchy stuff, but other than that, her story, her roots, I just hadn’t explored. I have plenty of relationships with Spirits, Heros and Deities from Britain to keep me very much occupied. Over the years only one other Goddess from a far-off land has ever communicated with me. That was back in 2006, Isis opened her wings and embraced me, and the song Isis Unveiled was the outward expression of that encounter. But here, within my Inner World, was another. I felt both awe and fear. She turned and led me along this corridor of chanting robed figures, lit only by her two torches.

We did indeed stop upon a crossroads.

It was about then that Oscar, who is often with us when we work magic, jumped down from the sofa, and literally tried to get on Cerri’s lap. I heard her tell him to get down, but other than that the Journey for me at least wasn’t disturbed. But Oscar simply doesn’t do that. Something must have disturbed him.

“See my face veiled, as the Moon is veiled on this night. Renewal is yours, should you wish to take it,” she whispered.

“My Lady, when can I see your face?” I asked.

It was then as if two more shapes moved out from where her head was. Two more heads, three in all. The faces were all blurred, as if they had been filmed using a camera with a very slow shutter speed.

“You will see my true face only once,” was the reply. But I knew that these other faces, blurred as they were, were also the phases and faces of the Moon. Tonight I spoke with the dark face, the shrouded face.

I think I will keep the rest of our conversation private.

It feels right to do so.

Eventually it became time to return, so I stretched my fingers and toes, and opened my eyes, and Cerri did also.

We spoke about what we had experienced. I told her of my visit from Hekate. Cerri had been communicating with a dog in her Journey when Oscar jumped down and tried to climb on her lap.

It seems that Cerri may well have also been visited by Hekate, and it seems that Oscar may well have seen that dog, and decided to intervene.

The dog is a sacred animal to Hekate.

So I have since taken the opportunity to read up on her story, and she is so much more than I ever realised. Before we met her name brought images of those Darker Mysteries, but that is just one aspect of her, and I’m beginning to realise that it is our unnatural and rather distant relationship to death that gives this rather distorted image of her.

So the Journey and relationship continues.

6 responses to “A Dark Moon Encounter at the Crossroads”

  1. Did you have a conversation before your journey? did you both have the same intention? I wonder because when my Partner and I do Meditations together we usually discuss our goals/motives/hopes beforehand.

    • Other than to commune with the Dark Moon, no we didn’t. Always interesting to keep any details to ourselves and then see what happens.

  2. Yes, all that dark witchy stuff…Meeting a new Goddess/God is always exciting especially when they take it upon themselves to approach you unbidden. Hecate and Morrigan took me into their realms this same way for a time some years back and taught me more about life and death than any deity had to that point. They were hard lessons but I am so grateful to them both for showing me that death is not to be feared but embraced as simply another step in our progression toward wholeness. What I found most interesting was how the two of them worked together. I still entertain the idea that they may actually be the same entity appearing in different forms to culturally different people. They have much in common.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Thank you for sharing your journey.

  3. Reading this was for me truly wonderful. I have been a devotee of Hekate for quite a few years now. In fact it was Hekate who was responsible for putting me on the Druidic Path. I belong to the Covenant of Hekate founded by Sorita D’Este who lives in Glastonbury. If you wanted to learn a bit more about her and The Covenant (not a Coven) of Hekate there is wealth of information on the internet. I am thrilled you both had this experience.

  4. Beautiful..

    From the lump in my throat to the silver tears that danced down my cheeks.

    It is always a wondrous thing when we share the same experiences with our consorts/counterparts/twin flames/soul mates.

    (I’m listening to Green and Grey as I write this. My skin is tingling. As it always does when I listen.)

    All that aside:

    The Triple Moon Goddess has many faces. Past. Present. Future. Maiden. Mother. Crone. She has many aspects and appears in many forms. Always in the form needed the most at that particular time.

    It’s a true blessing to be visited by her. You and Cerri are truly loved that she felt it needed at that point in time to visit you both at the same time!

    Again, beautiful and thank you so much for sharing!

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