© Rev. Susan Karlson
December 11, 2011
In Celtic lore, there is a proverbial war between the Oak King and the Holly King. Battling all year long, these two vie more fiercely as the Winter and Summer Solstices approach.
The Holly King often appears like Santa Claus, dressed in red from head to toe but with a bit of holly adorning his locks of hair with a familiar team of eight “stags” instead of reindeer. He is the lord of the dark.
His nemesis, the Oak King, the monarch of the forest and the bearer of the Light, adorned in Green, bests the Holly King during the Winter turning of the wheel and reigns until the Summer Solstice when the Holly King regains the upper hand. Their constant friction simulates the waxing and waning of winter and summer, the battle between the elements of light and darkness. http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/yulethelongestnight/ss/Yule_Log.htm
Light and Dark: The perpetual struggle between the Oak and Holly kings reflects strife between those parts of ourselves that we honor and the shadow side that we prefer to keep hidden from view. These two dimensions are part of our unconscious that feud and fester as we strive to discount the Shadow and embrace the Light.
Conflict ensues when we resist owning the Dark and the Light sides of ourselves. We fight against nature’s instinct to hunker down and be quieter during the winter season. We may even snicker at our mammalian cousins and the fish that sink to the bottom of the pond to avoid freezing at the surface of the water. We feel a little superior since we can use our big brains to adapt to most weather conditions. We are resourceful beings indeed.
Some folks come alive in the winter—the brisk cold wakens them as if they have been somnolent during the summer and fall. Others, I would be one of them, just want to stay under the covers, keeping warm by the fire, eating nourishing soups and stews, and sipping hot tea.
Those like me have a most uncanny desire to best winter like the Oak King, to be done with it (other than perhaps pretty sprinklings of snow at this season). How does the Oak King within embrace the darkness, warm up to our Holly King side?
In Star Trek episodes, a certain group of people called the Borgs lived in colonies very similar to bees. Others outside the collective were assimilated. They were told, “resistance is futile”. I know resisting winter is futile. Winter’s chill will win out for a while—the Holly King will have his six-month reign from summer to the beginning of winter as the daylight dwindles. So how can the Oak King part of us embrace the Dark, learn from it, “not wish it away”?
The Rev. Meg Riley refers to finding hope amidst the “dark energy” in her most recent column for the Church of the Larger Fellowship. She writes, “In the darkness we sense there is something new we need to see, and we fumble for the match to light the candle. In that impulse—the desire to see and the fumbling for light—is the birth of hope. Finding hope takes place in darkness, and the hope we find becomes light when we are moved to share it with each other” (Quest, p. 6, December 2011 issue)
There is another aspect to claiming both the Dark and the Light—it has to do with the ways we use language to depict all things “dark” as sinister or evil while the “light” is associated with the good, heavenly, and positive. I first really thought about this when I read Jacqui James’ Dark and Light, Light and Dark.
James writes, “Welcome darkness. Don't be afraid of it or deny it. Darkness brings relief from the blinding sun, from scorching heat, from exhausting labor. Night signals permission to rest, to be with our loved ones, to conceive new life, to search our hearts, to remember our dreams. The dark of winter is a time of hibernation. Seeds grow in the dark, fertile earth.
The words black and dark don't need to be destroyed or ignored, only balanced and reclaimed in their wholeness. The words white and light don't need to be destroyed or ignored, only balanced and reclaimed in their wholeness. Imagine a world that had only light -- or dark. We need both. Dark and light. Light and dark.”
The legends of old encourage us to look at the Dark and the Light in our world. The creative impulses, the gifts of the unconscious that Carl Jung touted, also foster looking at the Shadow, the Dark side which is the repository of inspiration, invention, and intuition. Our language, left brain in nature, indicates that we should choose the Light over Dark. Our language patterns emphasize an institutional racist bifurcation as well. There is no wholeness when we fail to embrace the Dark, the Shadow side, the Holly king of winter.
The festivals of light prevalent across the religious spectrum, whatever their intentions and deepest aspirations, are ways that humans observe the natural passages from season to season. We borrow from our ancient ancestors, the Celts, the Romans, Greeks and the Egyptians with Yule logs, tree decorations, festivities, dances, gift-giving and general merrymaking though we seldom feel the connection to these ancient roots.
These celebrations prepare us for the drop in temperatures, the period where we are more prone to reflection and incubating the creative forces that will be born later during the springtime of the year. These passages also bring us closer together through time-honored celebrations and messages about the light even as darkness gathers around us.
Yule Log celebrations can include a time for contemplating the year almost over. In the dark with only the Yule Log blazing, family members can consider the challenges of the past year as well as its blessings. Here during our celebration, take some time to reflect on the bitter winter challenges and the sweet tasting blessings of your year and consider if you want to share them out loud in a few moments.
Time for reflection
I invite you now to call out in a word or phrase the Holly or Oak king blessings, life changing adventures or challenges that have shaped your life this year as I add a sprig of evergreen to our Yule Log for each element called out.
Sharing and Sprigs of evergreen
In ten days, the wheel will turn; the sun will be returning to offer more light and more warmth to our earth; the Oak King will be ascendant. Though the cold and the dark remains for many months, enveloping us in quietude and bringing us a sense of peace and serenity, the hopes, aspirations, visions, and the light we possess inside is ever green, ever warm, ever promising.
May the dark within bring you rest, contemplation, peace and a place to “search your heart” and follow your truest vision. May the light within grow in strength and beauty as the sun warms and nurtures the earth and all its inhabitants. May you find balance in your life this Winter Solstice and carry it out to the world in all you do.
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