Aurora Borealis
Ancestor voices, Philip Pullman, and the Wheel of the Year.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to write today. It’s Thursday, May 1st as I’m writing this, and my work week has not gone according to plan whatsoever for a variety of reasons! Usually I am on-top of my Substack post for the week, having it ready well in advance of the Friday morning release. Not this week! And not only that, but I was feeling rather uninspired to write. I’ve had a lot happen to me this week (this month, this year), and a lot is swirling around in my brain, but the connections have not yet fully formed. The all-important integration has not happened. I have notes and scraps of ideas floating around on my desktop, but none of them were inspiring me when I opened up my laptop this morning.
Then I remembered a piece I wrote last fall, titled Aurora Borealis, which I actually thought would be my first post on Substack. However, I did not end up starting my Substack until a couple of months ago, and by then I’d completely forgotten about what was supposed to be post number one. Today, I remembered it, re-read it, and decided that it is the perfect thing to share with you today for a couple of reasons:
Reason #1: I wrote about feeling the presence of my ancestors in this post, and I feel that the wisdom of our ancestors is bursting to be known, now more than ever. It feels fitting to be writing this today, on May 1st, which is one of the eight days that make up the Celtic wheel of the year. Being mindful of these days of the wheel connects me back to the nature-based wisdom of my Celtic ancestors, and the sacred traditions they once upheld in an Ireland free of the influence of Christianity. I am actually born on one of those celebrated days, February 1st (known as “Imbloc”), which makes the wheel feel extra meaningful to me personally. Today, May 1st, is known as “Beltane.” It is the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. May 1st signals the beginning of the brightest time of the year. Everything in nature is waking up and proclaiming “Here I am!” with much enthusiasm! People and animals are feeling it too. We have awoken from our long winter slumber. The ice has melted. The sun is high in the sky. Flowers are blooming, and we are, too. According to ancient Celtic wisdom, Beltane is also a fire festival. Literal and proverbial fires are set to burn away anything that no longer serves us. I’ve been feeling that so strongly in this Beltane portal: My inner fire cleansing away thoughts, feelings, patterns, contracts, and karma that are old, outdated, and no longer serving me. It’s been an intense week, full of powerful healing moments.
Reason #2: In this post I’m sharing with you today, I wrote about the connection between the aurora borealis and Philipp Pullman’s acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy. In the post, I stated that I’d re-read these books (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), which had been childhood favourites, and that they’d had a major impact on me once again as an adult. Well, in the last couple of weeks I felt called to re-read them yet again, and all I can say is “wow.” I’ve been blown away once again. These books are a prophecy for our current times. This feels even more true now than it did when I last read them, I think in 2021 or 2022. They are hitting me even deeper now, their resonance ringing even more true. I’m just a little ways into the final book of the trilogy (The Amber Spyglass) right now, so there are likely even more connections to be drawn between what is happening in the world/in the evolution of consciousness and what Pullman wrote about in his stories. If you feel drawn in any way to these books and have never read them before, or you loved them as a child or read them years ago and sort of forget them, I highly recommend reading or re-visiting the trilogy. Similar to the Harry Potter series, this trilogy is not merely a children’s story: It a modern myth packed with ancient wisdom that rings more true now than it ever has before. I believe that these books planted seeds in the consciousness of our generations for the times we are currently facing. It’s hard to find someone on earth who has not read Harry Potter, and for that I’m glad because I believe it is preparing us, in a way, for what is here and what is to come. And the His Dark Materials trilogy even more so. The His Dark Materials trilogy is far more explicit than Harry Potter in terms of truth-telling. Harry Potter is more of an allegory, whereas Pullman’s writing tells it exactly how it is (with fantastical/fictional elaboration, of course). The fact that The Golden Compass was turned into a movie, but The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass were forbidden from being turned into movies by Church and also likely State tells you all you need to know about the level of truth and wisdom contained in those stories. Go read them, if you haven’t already! They are amazing.
“There are two great powers […], and they’ve been fighting since time began. […] Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and submit.
And now those two powers are lining up for battle.”
- Philip Pullman in The Subtle Knife
Without further delay, here is the piece I wrote last fall about the first time I laid eyes on the Northern Lights. Enjoy 😊