Ritual for the Heliacal Rising of the Pleiades

Continuing with our series of rituals for the cycle of the Pleiade we have arrived at the next one, the heliacal rising of the Pleiades after their conjunction with the sun. This marks the time when the stars are once again visible in the sky just before dawn and occurs now between June 18th and June 24th. I have roughed out a ritual that people can use if they'd like, in line with the others in the series. You can choose to do it early in the day, close to when when the Pleiades are in the sky now; you may also choose to celebrate the night before, perhaps including some midsummer traditions like a bonfire into your celebration. My own preference is to celebrate on the 23rd into the 24th, the liminal time just on the edge of both the end of the Pleiades rising and also the end of the solstice alignment. 

  As I mentioned in my previous post on 'A New Holy Day Cycle' this holiday acknowledges the return of the Pleiades to the sky after a 6 weeks absence. I have been calling it the The Return of the Queens, or the Returning. My own personal mythology around this event ties it strongly to the previous holiday where the Queens travelled out into our world, symbolized by the loss of the stars from the night sky. Now we see them returning from their travels, leaving our world to return to their own. When the star-fire that is the Pleiades returns to the night sky the Queens have returned to their celestial Courts, figuratively speaking.  This ritual also acknowledges another sacred star, Aldebaran, part of the constellation of Taurus which has been tied to the mythology of the Pleiades in many cultures. Aldebaran appears to follow the Pleiades through the sky - hence the meaning of the name in Arabic - but I call it the Hunter, after one of the liminal Gods in fairy witchcraft. In this case of course he isn't hunting the 7 queens but protecting them as they travel across the sky. 

 I have tried to keep this ritual fairly similar in outline and flow to the other ones, to help with the continuity. I will use a similar format in all of the rituals for this series.   

Ritual
Find a good space open beneath the sky. If this is not possible due to weather concerns try to set up an altar near a window or perhaps arrange some appropriate artwork near your ritual space. However if necessary this entire thing can be done as a visualization exercise. My own outdoor altar for ritual work usually contains space for offerings, water in an appropriate container, candles, and a token representing the Fairy Queen I honour.
Bring some food to offer, perhaps honey cakes, and clean water to pour out.
Create sacred space as you see fit if you wish to. I usually do this now by moving counterclockwise around my space sprinkling water and chanting to open the way between worlds. There is no right or wrong here as long as you aren't warding out the same spirits you are trying to invite in, so go with whatever you feel most connected to as a method.
Invite in any Powers you wish to but remember this is not a ritual for named Gods unless they are explicitly associated with the Good People of one culture or another. This is a time to invite any goodly inclined spirits, allies, Fairy Queens or Kings in. We invite, we don't invoke, evoke, or compel. They either come as we call or they don't.
I might say something like: "I call to all goodly inclined spirits, spirits of the land, spirits of the air, Fair Folk who would be my friends, Friendly ones who aid my liminal path, Fairy Queens and Kings, My wonderous Lady ---, Queen of stone and well, I invite you all to join me here As I honour the journey Of the Queens and the Return of the stars" You can tailor this initiation as suits you and whatever Queen or Spirit you are calling.

After this is done wait a moment and observe. Use all your senses to note if there is any perceptible response to your call. This may be obvious, such as the wind picking up or the temperature changing, or it may be a more subtle feeling of presence.  Don't rush but wait until things feel settled before moving on.
Say: "Today the Seven Queens return to the sky
Moving from daylight to darkness Rejoining the stars, proceeding
The great guarding light of the Hunter*
Their bright blue fire a blazing torch
a beacon in the predawn night sky
a new cycle begins in the growing darkness
As they tread again the celestial path
The gates are open, may
 They be opened wider
The Queens look upon the land
May they bless what they see"

Put out the offerings you have brought and pour out a bit of water.
"I offer sweet honey cakes [or whatever you are offering]
And pure, clean water
To the Queens
To the Good Neighbours
To those beings that
would aid me
to the spirits of air
and of earth"

At this point if there is anything else you would like to do in your ritual - sing, dance, chant, divination, meditate, journey - do it. When you feel ready to say goodbye, say:
"The 7 Queens return to the sky
The Queens have travelled our world
And return again to their own
Standing in the space between
Our worlds are intertwined
As they have been and will be
Praise to the Queens,
May they bless us
A good word to the Fair Folk
May they cause us no harm"
Pour out the water that is left. Say
"May my words praise the Queens
May may actions show respect to the Good Folk
May my allies stand with me
May there be peace between me
And the spirits of the air and earth
May there be friendship between me
And all goodly inclined spirits."
Take down your compass/circle or sacred space however you normally would. In my case here I'd walk it clockwise sprinkling a bit of earth or leaves and asking that the space be returned to its former state. Take down your altar. Leave the offerings out. Perhaps take a moment to stop and listen, look, feel the energy around you. See if there is anything worth noting or any sense of presence. 

Ritual Feast
Part of my own celebration will include a feast or ritual meal. This is inline with some older practices that would incorporate ritual feasting into the celebration of holy days. My plan is to have a special meal featuring fresh vegetables and fruits, and ideally anything that could be wild gathered or otherwise harvested this time of year (obviously that would vary greatly by region). A portion of that meal will be set aside and then left out as an additional offering. I will also take omens about 12 hours after the ritual to get a feel for how things went and the wider energy going on.  

If the theories and previous experiences with these rituals hold true then the time of the heliacal rising should be one of intense energy and potential interaction with the Otherworld. Even though we are celebrating it as a time when the Queens are returning to the Courts, symbolized by the return of the Pleiades to the night sky, this isn't an instantaneous switch - just like the summer solstice marks a pivotal point where the daylight starts to wane slowly, the heliacal rising marks the point when the Pleiades begin to shift back into the night from the day but this is a process. They will not be fully in the night, from dusk until dawn, until the culmination in November.  

*Aldebaran 'the follower' also called the eye of the bull for its position in Taurus. Aligned in fairy witchcraft to the Hunter. 

Q & A With My Fiction

I'm still working on the next book in my fiction series, progress being slowed by several other contracted projects that have deadlines. But I thought it would be fun here to do a question and answer on social media for my fiction, to tackle any and all question people might have about my 'Between the Worlds' series.

The following may contain spoilers for those who haven't read the books or have only read the first couple.

Vyviane asks: Who is your favourite non-main character to write about?

My answer: Probably Jason although I must admit that Salarius aka Sal is also one that I enjoy a lot more than I expected to. That's probably why he keeps hanging around.

Mara asks: When will we get more about Allie's mom?

My answer: I'm currently working on book 8 which is an anthology that will include a story about Allie's mother. She is also going to show up in book 9 (which I hope to write this November) where we'll see more of her interacting with Allie and (hopefully) get a better idea of how the two courts interact with each other.

Izzy asks: Where is Ciaran from? How did he end up in Ashwood?

My answer: Ciaran is originally from Scotland but he emigrated in the 17th century after being forced to make a promise to leave his original home. He was in Ashwood before the Sundering and decided to stay even though he doesn't particularly like either the elves or the world of Fairy. He has always been the sort who lived largely in mortal earth and he dislikes the structure and rules of Fairy society. As to why Ashwood - he just liked that particular pond and that area enough to decide to settle there; it suited his needs at the time.

Vyviane asks: What are some things our elves that live in human world now really enjoying and they won't admit it? Like does Bleidd eat Fruit Loops?

My answer: Bleidd really enjoys driving cars and has a bit of an obsession with sports cars, which he won't admit because they are human made. He's actually much better with every aspect of automobiles than other elves and has even adapted some magic to them beyond the basic protection enchantments the Guard uses. Being careful about the iron he can handle most car maintenance himself and even manage some more complex repairs. 

Jessilaen has developed a love of human movies, particularly horror movies which he watches with Jason who is a huge horror movie fan. Otherwise he is still fairly new to human culture, which he finds a bit baffling and often confusing. He does admit to loving the movies but he doesn't realize humans see them, usually, as low budget affairs; he views them as 'art' and is impressed by modern human methods of storytelling which we would call b movies. He also has a significant obsession with christmas trees.

Izzy asks: What were Jess and his brother like as children? Were they children together?

My answer: Zarethyn was a very focused child who spent a lot of time working on his magical skill. He wanted to join the Elven Guard from a young age and put a lot of energy into working towards that goal. That ambition and drive is why he is now a captain. Jess has always been, well Jess. He is often easy going with things that don't matter to him but has an intensity of emotion that marks him as unusual among his peers. He is passionate in a culture that looks down on excessive emotional expressions. Jess as a child had more difficulty hiding his feelings and was prone to acting on impulse, something that he can still sometimes struggle with. He is fiercely loyal but it is his heart that drives him, whereas his brother is ruled by his head.
Zarethyn is significantly older than Jess and was an adult when Jess was born. This isn't unusual in Elven society but from a human perspective we might say that he was more of a father to Jess than a brother. Jess loves him unquestioningly and Jess is probably the most significant person in Zarethyn's life (because most of his focus is on his job).

Aleja asks: Are there any other half-elven people in town?

My answer: A few, such as the girl named Jenny mentioned in book 2 'Lost in Mist and Shadow'.  It's more common in Allie's world to see people who have one human parent and one non-elven fey parent because the elves are unlikely to spend more than one night with a person while they fey may form longer relationships or even marry humans, but there are cases like Allie's were a human and elf manage to produce a child together. Usually if the mother is human the child is raised in the human world and may not even know who their fey parent is, because of their approach to fatherhood. If the mother is elven however they would be raised in Fairy and, as Allie notes in the story, because the elves don't have any exceptions for these circumstances a half-elven person with an elven mother would be considered fully elven, while one with a human mother falls into a strange greyzone culturally and is often viewed differently.
Because the Sundering took place in 1914 there are also a small number of second generation mixed blooded people, who may have a single human or fey grandparent.

Izzy asks: What do Jess and Bleidd do when they are hanging out together?

My answer: When the two are alone together it varies between things that would be typical in Elven society or human society. Jess's comfort zone is the elven society things, which may include playing chess, reading, talking, or practicing various skills together (in their case mostly martial). Bleidd sometimes pushes him to engage more with human culture, which Bleidd enjoys at least superficially, and so they also watch movies together, walk around Ashwood, and sometimes play video games with or without Jason. Elves are suckers for games of skill of any type by the way.

Vyviane asks: Are you going to branch out from Between The Worlds and write some new fiction? If so, what are your interest?

My answer: I plan to do another book or two in the same world as Between the Worlds but with different characters. I also have some ideas for fantasy storylines. Ultimately I enjoy writing fiction and when this series wraps up, likely with book 9, I'm sure I'll have other things to write about.

Miscellaneous: I had several people ask about the characters musical tastes, i.e. Vyviane wanted to know if anyone listened to pop music, Mara asked if Jess listens to Taylor Swift, and Izzy wanted to know if Jason listened to Hatebreed. So to answer that in one place:

My answer: So, as it happens elves are not big fans of digital music or the radio because the tech in Allie's world is about on par with our world in the 1990's and the sound quality isn't good enough for them - basically their hearing is acute enough that even decent quality human recordings sound flat and false to them. You'll note the antagonist in book 7 complaining about the music in the club he went to. They prefer live music as much as possible. That said Jess likes music that is upbeat and which one can dance to, although he does generally prefer instrumental music. He's the sort that always listens to the lyrics and feels them if you know what I mean. Bleidd does like rock of any sort but prefers it live; he has been to several concerts by alternative and heavy metal bands with Jason and Syndra and he enjoyed the experience.
Jason likes heavy metal so yes we can say he listens to Hatebreed, in canon. But if anyone in these stories had a secret obsession with Taylor Swift it would also be Jason. He's multifaceted. 

Allie won't ever admit it but she feels the same way about recorded music that the elves do, for the same reason. Nonetheless at work she listens to the radio, a general pop station, which is the only station that comes in in Ashwood. Her own preferences are wildly eclectic and she can enjoy everything from classical to neofolk.

When is the next book coming out?

I'm hoping to have it done and released within the next few months. Its been taking a lot longer than I anticipated because of other obligations, and I apologize for that. It is getting done, just slowly.
I plan to write book #9, the next full length novel in the series, in November and have it out early 2020.