[A Yew-Night
Imagining on the Night of Visitations][1]
I
once saw the aura of GOD going
Will‑o’‑the‑Wisping
through the forest,
all wintered down.
Sleek
with sleet She was flowing freely,
Electricity
sparking embers beneath Her feet_
Saint Elmo firing!
Past
frosted Sentinels of Oak and Pine_
It
was a scripture’s Earthen tine! 1
White
wizened Sunlight streaming down,
visiting
hillsides; sled‑ridden, gleaming,
Footprints
in the snow there gave way
to teetering glints of a Newer Day!
Soft
fantastic faces there met me
where She was Playing_
I
photographed them between tall drifts;
they
were Her Elves, cantoring in shifts! 2
Soft,
crystal-pure Her skirts went gliding,
snowflakes
skittering & colliding –
_I
fell down frozen at Her snowy visage!
But
She caught me up in a Gemmed Embrace_
torches
firing near; Her piercing eyes
Shining
upon a Nativity’s verdant Heath!
Past
Midnight’s Watch I there remained;
of Vigiling Prayer was I
sustained! 3
As
Night into somber mystic Darkness fled,
I
was alighted from my frozen bed_
She,
cusping me by my Heart’s own nape_
drew
me up to the Mount of Joy_
Grace all-undoing my velvety
drape.
And
then_
Invisible, He Roared!
Traversing
Paths Owled and Willowed ‘round,
Stomping_ Hoofing_
Hollowing_ Freeing
Christ
the Stag came_
Glistened with Her Snow’s Mystic
Fire
in
Clearings of True Yuletide Loving—
melting_ singeing_
swooning_ raging!
He
was a vision of Pagan Earth-Power! 4
She
drew me up at His Immanent Call,
catching
up snow in laced silk fringes
of Winter’s Faery Gown!
I
remained on ice; Faith’s Ballerina ‑‑
Our
souls Carroling Spiral‑Chapel tunes;
anticipating His Advent!
I
felt Divine Light from Her smile escape_
Sequining
across a Moonlit Nightscape;
_It
was a Dream in a Winter’s Canticle! 5
We
danced a jig upon translucent snow,
with the Wisdom-Spirit in the
know;
three-becoming-One
in Faith’s after-glow.
Across
the hills and under solemn dales,
‘round the Faery ráths the Spirit sailed_
as
into the Cairn of Love’s own trials
Hope delved_
transforming
hopelostness and denials!
Solstice
Night came and went, and I_
kept
vigiling in prayer ‘til dawn’s new light
consummated all that came to
pass! 6
_It
was thus I saw the aura of God sailing;
Adventing pure as the Virgin’s snow_
Her
Eyes fired of Love’s enrapturing glow!
Heathen
rhymes stormed us a Trinity
out of Friendship’s Beauteous Infinity!
WISDOM
SOPHIA, drumming in harmony
with
the Yuletide Spirit’s
syncopated
strumming,
Opened
our Hearths;
the Stag
Christ Comes!!! 7
Far
and away in the luminous dark,
_in
a cave near a hostel of renewal,
the
Stag our Wisener comes to birth_
once again and ever more
at Winter Solstice-tide!
at Winter Solstice-tide!
Imbiber
of the Spirit’s Love in the Earth;
Unshackling
the wasted and the lost
from their bonds_
Here
comes the Light of a New Dawn—
surrendering
us in our vigiling prayers
to
the Illumination of the Divine Child! 8
T’was
a Night of Moonlit Faring_
when
GOD was expanding horizons of caring
that
– a Mother’s own Winter Brilliance
made
All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. 9
Amen.
- Montage Whitsel
[1]
Yew Night – in the Whittier calendar
of the Thirteen Nights and Dayes of Yule, this is the night for imaginative
visitation from mythic beings. In these
mystic imaginings we cull together any inspiring symbols, archetypes and tales
from the vast lore of renewal, transformation and re-birth in the mythos of the
Yule—Winter Solstice—Christmas Season.
This was an imaginative vision I had back in the mid-1990’s, and which I
present here in an updated version.
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