Misthold playlist 🎃

I personally name this time of Samhain as “Misthold”, and I see it as very much a time when the land, waters, and sky, are all held by the Keeper of the Mists

“Keeper of the Mists” is an archetype of goddess very much re-minded, re-defined, and re-claimed for me, by one of my magickal mentors. Her inspiration and words of poetry helped me to recognise this veiling of the land - it’s very easy to see other aspects of the land personified in divinities, but there is something of the identity and anthropomorphisation of the Keeper of Mists, which is much more hidden; but really, only difficult to see, however easy to understand, once you finally see her.

And I have come to see her, in Gwenhwyfar, Queen Guinevere, in the Bean Sí (Banshee), Gwrach-y-Rhibyn and the screeching owl Blouddwedd, in the Mexica earth goddess Tonantzin Coatlaxopueh, and her counterpart among the colonising and colonised catholics of America Latina - Virgen de Guadalupe, as well as Our Lady of the Rosary, and Stella Maris - Our Lady Star of the Sea. And to these I would more recently include Bone Woman and Stone Woman - for reasons which will become obvious, I hope - and also Saint Oda, who is a patron of magpies and geese, and whose feast day is at the opening of Scorpion month. And I would be willing to add to them the spirit of the Goose, who resides at Crossbones Graveyard - which I also link generally to geese and their symbolism.

I have explored so many of these in different ways, over the years, and chanted their many names in sacred outdoor spaces. Now I see them all under the same role, which I call White Majesty - merely “white” in relation to the mists, and the clouds against the moonlight, and one further thing I will go on to explain later. I must stress, I abhor white supremacy, or any ideology which accepts it. So “white” in this case has absolutely nothing to do with race. “White” here merely relates to the colour, in the spiritual and sacred, as well as the wild and profane. The general absence of any colourant in an object, yet resulting in an object that reflects all colours of the light spectrum. Symbolising “purity” in many beliefs, “high vibration” in many New Age doctrines, and tending to be the colour of the Maiden in a lot of goddess-centred beliefs - to be honest, this is where I know my own conception of White Majesty is rather contrary to these typical ideas, of what it represents to clothe such a figure in white.

I don’t personally have anything against what are usually understood as the archetypes of Maiden, Mother and Crone, or the additions and new interpretations that have been brought in amongst them - Lover, as the sensual, erotic, open-hearted figure who stands between Maiden and Mother (in the Wheel of Avalon, the Lover’s time is at Beltane), or indeed a total replacement to the Maiden - which is admittedly based on problematic ideas around physical maturity of girls / anyone Assigned Female at Birth, and linking “purity” so much to virginity and even chastity, which are very archaic and puritanical concepts. Wise, as a more sensitive and linguistically sound replacement for Crone - the latter having historically been a term of abuse aimed at older women, and the archetype itself almost implying that elderly women are mostly devoid of use to their communities, which is obviously very offensive. And a very recent addition is of course the Queen, representing a bearer of wisdom, leadership, and responsibility to weave people together; very much claimed as “the role that a woman takes past the Mother stage, or well into her life experience, but still short of the years and physical ageing to be viewed as a “crone” or “wise”.”

To me, White Majesty falls closest to that Queen archetype. Although also, it’s understood that since all of us can have a Maiden, Mother, Lover or Crone within us, in any circumstance, regardless of our age, correspondingly it’s possible for anyone practicing such a path to invoke or embody the Queen archetype. “White Queen” in a few languages is something I’d be prepared to call to, in a sacred space, but I felt that the word “Queen” itself didn’t do this vision, or an idea of many goddesses and saints holding that same role, enough justice. “Queen” implies challenge to others’ sovereignty, or an idea of separation due to patronage, class, or hierarchy - and indeed, many of these divinities have no attachment of that kind to patronage and hierarchy. White Majesty however, implies sheer awe, in the presence of her greatness and mystery. This is kind-of the naming of a new goddess, in essence, but also very much the appraisal of every goddess I would consider to be under this name.

So, going back to what other White aspect of our lands, or the lore of our ancestors and their crafts, would apply to those who I bring under the name White Majesty:

Bone, stone, cotton, and the very white wools of sheep from the lands of these British Isles, were all critical components of weaving, to the first tribes that settled here. And the mists, are like a woven cloth to cover the lands and waters - in a way, they’re showing to us the sheer awe and beauty of the very atmosphere that we breathe! Without everything that came with weavers and their wares, in the culture of our ancestors, entire populations would likely never have survived. Their techniques have been carried down through generations, to the point of having entire processes automated, in a fashion industry that we entirely take for granted today. It feels important to acknowledge that; to offer gratitude, and space to receive wisdom, from those ancestors who clearly used and passed down what was once considered “divine knowledge” - the means to literally fabricate, from raw materials. Those who don’t know much about my own path, should bare in mind that on this side of the year, from the Summer to Winter solstices, my Magna Dea, my “main goddess”, is a goddess of weaving, said to have been the Weaver of the Cosmos - Net, commonly known by her Hellenised name Neith, is represented often by the symbol of the weaving shuttle. Tribal societies beyond ancient Egypt also made looms, but usually keeping threads pulled downwards with the use of bones and stones. So to me, there is something in journeying with what I’ve come to know as White Majesty, which seems to have a connection back to Net - whether I’m seeing her syncretised as OshuNet, or ThiniThemis (I’ll go into those names another time!), she is still the weaver of the cosmos. Thinking about this has even made me consider - perhaps during Scorpio month, if I even consider buying clothes (I tend to keep clothes as long as I can!), I might only purchase them through charity shops, and help prevent further waste through the environmentally Fast Fashion industry. I feel like that’s a good, simple, conscious way to honour the ancestors - and something to keep an emphasis on, during a month which focuses so much, for me, on the weaving traditions amongst those ancestors. Either way, her wisdom plays out, in the work done across these lands, by Her White Majesty, at her time of Misthold.

I’ve only got to this concluding point of the post, long after the Witching Hour at Samhain has passed 😅 But the veil remains thin. And clearly, the wisdom of the ancestors is passing through it. Nevertheless, I’ve delayed the publishing of this post until the morning. And I hope we all continue to enjoy our celebrations of Samhain, All Saints Day, Dia de Los Muertos, and the time of Misthold.

Please, enjoy this playlist, and let it take you on a journey to allow Her White Majesty to weave you a cloak of transformation; a new soul-skin, with which you might well be changed into a whole new being, and through which you might pass through the veil between the worlds more easily……

COMING UP:

• Poems inspired by Her White Majesty

• Multiple takes on the Bloody Banshee cocktail

• My thoughts on approaching Theurgy and journeying with The New Divinities, in ways which bring them to us, into our world, rather than us striving to reach them. And a “programming” analogy, to explain the way divinities could arguably be said to operate through their realms, and ours.