New Moon of the Holly King- The Call of the Wild

A call from the Wild

A new cycle is upon us, and as we wrap up the lovers moon cycle there is a wild man waiting within the trees. He is the Holly King. The Wild One. Untamed and unashamed. Moon 9 of the 13 has us journeying with our Kingship and the wild power of the Holly.

This cycle we will bring awareness to the two kings within us. The Oak king and the Holly King. Traditionally in the Celtic mythology, the Oak King and Holly King battle on the Summer Solstice, the Holly King takes the crown and carries it through the waning months of the year. Father Oak governs the waxing months of the year beginning at Winter Solstice. Then at Summer Solstice the Holly takes his shift for the waning months. At the end of this moon cycle we will see ourselves in the longest day of Summer Solstice. From this point onwards the energy will be waning and the days getting shorter.

The Holly King is also known as the shadow self of the Oak King, or his dark twin. Both aspects are within us, just like Lilith/Eve symbolise our light and dark feminine aspects. This cycle we will be exploring the relationship between the dark and light aspects of the masculine within us. Both Oak and Holly have important roles to play in our lives.

Oak is power embodied, he is home to many creatures, protecting them in his warm fatherly embrace. Holly represents this same power expressed.

The Oak is the All Father.The Holly is the Wild King.

We need both to be in balance, for if the All Father denies the wild self, we loose our passion and wild nature, and the ability to defend and protect on primal impulse. If the wild self is not mentored by the All Father, his power will surely destroy the entire community. Just like a fire, if not tended to it can quickly become an unstoppable force of nature. Too often this is the case, our fiery power judged and banished into the shadowlands in childhood, will poke his way out in fiery eruptions and outbursts. He is like an angry dog locked in a cage, sometimes this wild nature needs space to run free, some off leash time to inhabit the wild essence within.

Reconnecting to the Oak King.

Many castles would build their doors from Oak, Oak being one of the strongest materials to ensure good boundaries. Oak teaches us that it is up to us who we let in and who we keep out. It is his Fatherly voice that says yes or no to things. What is allowed and what is not. This time can bring up boundary issues. This time can bring up authority issues. Father issues. Interestingly we have had challenges recently regarding the boundaries front and back of our home. At the back we are having to co-ordinate with neighbours about boundaries, fences and dead hedges. We are having to be firm in what is okay for us and what is not, as our boundaries are being tested. Up front a large cedar tree is growing up into the electric wires of the telegraph posts, during the storms it blows a gale into the cables, and we have been advised to cut it back, in beginning to do so we found a family of doves nestled within the branches (so of course stopped right away) showing us that the actions we take effect everything. Many will keep pushing our boundaries, taking up space in an already overcrowded tree. There comes a point when we must say enough is enough and honour the need for space. Every Oak has an acorn within, the Oak is Father to All, the Acorn is Father to his self. And every Father needs a sacred self sanctuary where we can just be ourselves. Not the Mother, the Father, the Lover or the worker, but just ourselves.

I have a cabin in the garden which I call my Womb Cave, no one is allowed in without permission, it is guarded and sacred to me. I have strong boundaries on this, because when I go to visit my sanctuary, it is a place just for me. To rest and restore. It looks, feels and smells just like me. And I can wrap myself up in it's embrace when I need to. I am very grateful for this! The Oak has great strength and endurance, tremendous willpower and courage, devotion to duty and high ideals. However they can become rigid in their approach to life, stuck in a need to achieve high things and puts pressure on themselves to support everyone. The Bach flower remedy can be taken to assist in allowing the shackles to come off and our wild natures can play, relax and let go of the pressure.

Every Oak Father is but one side of the coin, on the other side lives his brother Holly, the Wild man here to balance out our responsibilities and let our hair down.

The Wild Man

He is the Horned God. The frisky one. The rude one. The burping, farting, snorting one.

The hairy one. The grunting one. The bellowing one. Roaring at the moon one. Snarling one. Bare paws on the earth one. Jumping naked into the ocean one. Mischievous one. Ridiculous one. Rebellious one. Seductive one. Cheeky one. The honest one. The angry one. The violent one. The rampant one. The drunk one. The whooping one. The monstrous one. The animal one. The primal one. The raw, organic untamed one.

The hunter. The howler. The Devilish one.

However he is for you will be different depending on who we are as individuals. He is similar to the devil card in the tarot. An aspect of our masculinity. We too are animals. Yes we are spiritual, conscious beings but also we are wild. It is in our birth right to experience this wildness. It is an instinct within our bones. To run, and run and run into the woods, blowing raspberries and climbing trees. It is here in our earthly bodies we can truly experience the ecstasy of feeling. The magnificence of living. The Wild Man has much to teach us, are we allowing space for him to be? To enjoy the gift of being alive? Our senses are a gift for us to explore and embody. The smell just after the rain. The sound of birds singing. The taste of strawberries freshly picked in Summer. The sight of a loved one after a long time apart. The feeling sitting by a warm fire. The wind in our hair, the sand in our toes, the sun on our face. All ours to enjoy, if we allow it. And this is the big point here. If we allow it. The Wild Man is like a dog, it is his nature to be a wolf, but all to often he is tamed and shamed to the point of disconnection from his instincts and wild self. We all know it, the dog free running the fields chasing rabbits and eating grass, waging his tail and sniffing other dogs bottoms, vs the dog on a tight leash, tail down, head down, being a good boy. The wild dog still exists within, if we do not accept him and give him space every once in a while, he will erupt, he will destroy.

Embodied Wildness

During my time in Australia I went to a nudist festival. It was the first time I had ever done anything like this in my life. And I was terrified. The All Father in me whispering, this is a silly idea, all these people are crazy, you cant go in - he declared. But the wild one in me challenged him. And went for it, in all my discomfort I went. It took me some time to unveil and I spent a lot of the festival in clothes. But the option was there to explore nudity and to witness nudity in others. I remember thinking how brave these people were, uncovering themselves in such ways.

It was near the end of the festival that I decided to join a group called the Mud tribe. Completely naked we covered ourselves head to toe in mud and painted each other with tribal patterns. Then we embodied our wild selves. No words were spoken, just grunts and sounds. We crawled. We jumped. We danced. We screamed. Whatever came naturally. I remember this feeling of complete aliveness and freedom that I had not felt since I was a child. I charged up and down through the festival screaming 'yipeeeee!' at the top of my lungs, and gave flowers to strangers, and danced around trees. Once we came to the end of this experience we all run into the lake and washed all the mud off ourselves, when I emerged out of that lake, I was changed indefinitely. Because I had given permission for my wildness, and since that day it has been welcome and loved. I am also now enjoying being with my 10 month old son, he has me wrestling and tumbling around the place. We often grunt and scream at each other and crawl around like monkeys on the floor. He is helping me to remember this vital part of myself.

Boundaries are Beautiful

So the Oak King brings boundaries to this wildness, and this is important too. Boundaries are each individual person's expression of what is okay for us and what is not. For example our son has been pulling our hair a lot recently and it hurts us. We do not wish for him to carry this on, so we are firmly setting a boundary and saying No that is not okay. In doing this he is learning what is okay for us and what is not, and will later be able to assert his own boundaries in a healthy way.I believe this is where the All Fathers role is important, because it is his authority that can prevent the wild one destroying an entire community with his rage. Rage is unexpressed anger. Anger is unexpressed creativity. Creative energy is Fire.

Fire loves to move and dance, and express itself, failure to do this of course will result in volcanic eruptions when we least expect it. At this time of year the Sun's fire is heating up day by day, and as the heat increases so can the tension from our wildness to create. He's grunting and snarling, in chains out the back, while the All father is busy working, carrying out his responsibilities. All the wildness needs is space to create and balance will come.When the All Father respects the Wild ones need to be Wild, and his need to express his power, and gives him space to do so, and the Wild one in turn respects the All Father's authority and can see the importance to look after the greatest good of all beings. Respect and love for the other creates a powerful masculine force. He is the embodiment and expression of power that is centred around love and protection of community values- the masculine purpose is then to protect this intention and ultimately use the power of destruction when required and dissolve that which is no longer serving the greatest good of all. Old structures being removed, composted and renewed. Interestingly the Bach Holly flower essence can be taken for excess hatred, jealousy, revenge and resentment. The holly tree symbolises the birth of Christ and the love of God, and love is the medicine for the hatred felt by those needing Holly essence. In other legends holly grew in places where Jesus walked when he was alive. Perhaps the Holly is the symbol of Christ Consciousness, and the Oak represents the All Father or God. We also bring Holly into our homes at Christmas, which is the returning of the Sun (Christ) The Holly is evergreen and is a symbol of protection and immortality.

And so just as Lilith the serpent was demonised in the garden of Eden story, so was the Horned God demonised as the Devil. Both the snake and Horned God are aspects of our primal natures. What they represent is our Autumn and Winter aspects, the King and Queen of the shadowlands. Eve and Oak the King and Queen of the Summerlands. In our quest for wholeness we must learn to love all aspects, the good, the bad, the mischievous and the angry, the sunshine and the rain. The peace and the chaos.

Live Time Sky report

The New Moon will be in the sign of Taurus in the true live time sky on Friday 22nd May at 18:38 GMT. This new moon energy will be preparing us for the 5th June Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Ophiuchus, which will be a highly transformative time for many of us. Venus, Vesta, the north node of the moon and Mercury are conjunct also in the constellation of Taurus. Venus retrograding through her own sign now meets with the Goddess of the Sacred fire Vesta and the Messenger Mercury to communicate and burn, to express her inner desires and feelings. This proclamation is going to set the scene for the duration of the North Node's time in Taurus, because Taurus is about values, foundations, desires and sensuality. Venus is in the underworld of her feelings right now, this is a time of great awakening for her. I feel Mercury will enable Venus to communicate her true voice, and Vesta will enable her to burn and transmute all the conditioning and patterns that have preventing her from sharing her precious gifts and talents with the world.

The Sun and the Moon will also be lined up with the Pleiades at the time of the New Moon. This is extremely beautiful as when I look on my Starwalk app it shows the sun shining in the Womb of Taurus, which to me is the Womb of Hathor, the Mother Goddess. The Pleiades also known as the 7 sisters are guardians of the Womb, guides to Her mysteries and our inner wise counsel of truth. To me the Pleiades represent the Grandmother's of Light, the grandmother arch, our inner circle of wisdom keepers that live inside of us, and also in the stars. Every Womb is a Star Gate, an entrance point of life and death. The Pleiades are the midwives that will assist us to anchor and manifest the New Earth we have so been desiring. They will gently encircle this New Moon energy with all their ancient love and wisdom.

A New Moon Womb blessing from the Ancient Ones themselves.

The Grandmother's are asking this new moon,

What do we value most?

What are the gifts we have to share in this life time?

What has been holding us back from fully embodying our gifts?

The Light to the Sun and the New Cycle of the Moon will transform the outdated patterns and rebirth us in alignment with our highest potential. When I read back to what I was saying to begin about the All Father and the Holly King, the Authority and the Wild, now is time to look at the restrictions, structures and authorities we are manifesting for ourselves, unlock the self imposed cage, let the wild one roam. With trust and freedom, let us unleash our true creative potential. Let us see where the wild nature of the soul wishes to flow now. And the gifts that have been hidden, may very well emerge on this new moon!

It is time to become our full potential.

To turn our magic all the way on.

There has never been a more important time to explore who we really are, and why we chose to be here at this pivotal time for humanity.

New Moon Blessings dear friends

In love and gratitude

Rebekah

References- Environmental Arts Therapy and the Tree of Life by Ian Siddons Heginworth

The Complete Floral Healer by Anne McIntyre

Horned God art by Michel Livan

Oak king art by Anne Stokes

Other artists unknown please do share them with me if you know who they are so I can credit them.