The Calliache.

The Calliache takes Her place amongst contemporary Druids, as part of Samhain. Entering from the North West aspect of the circle, she walks Widdershins in silence, gathering the sorrows, or old and worn out hopes and fears, or whatever people wish to let go of...to take to the flames in the center of the circle.

It is my honor to take this role on Sunday. I will be veiled, and wear black. I've been struggling just a little with the concept of the triple Goddess. And certainly, this really is personal! I am struggling with how old women are de-sexed. I'm wondering how I refuse this in my everyday life, and how I refuse it as I portray the Calliache on Sunday.

The triple Goddess is generally the 'White' pure virgin young woman. The 'red' woman in her prime. And the 'black' Calliache, dressed in widow's weeds, slow and silent. She is the archetypal witch, the essence of winter. 'Cold as a witches tit' is a saying. 

And so I have a problem with this. I have a problem with cold, switched off, unkindness. I wonder why it is a thing? I assume cold-cruelty is a side effect of the industrial revolution - Emile Zola explains it very well. Poverty, exhaustion and brutal working and living conditions drain love and joy from a person's soul. And the concept of cool, means what? My internal compass points to the land between two rivers, and the gods there were rarely chilled out and reasonable.

So, the Calliache is a strange role for me, for 'as She cannot go up, you must come down' to paraphrase the problem the gods were about to have with the Calliache mother, Ereshkigal. The Queen of The Great Below, does not walk ypon the surface of the earth - her visor, on the on the other hand - Namtar (fate) can indeed walk the stairway to Heaven, passing us by as he goes. 

I was 'called by Ereshkigal' many years ago, I was blessed and consecrated to Her service, also a long time ago. So I jumped at the chance to 'be' the Calliache, and so now I'm in the cross-fire between cultures. For in Druidry, the Calliache is the Crone (and yet in Greek calli means beautiful?) and the Chrone in Western tradition, isn't beautiful. When I was a child, women past 50 abandoned make-up for fear of being accused of being 'mutton dressed as lamb' and indeed, I have felt something of that recently when I started to dye my hair fox-red.

No one would dare remark upon Ereshkigal as beautiful or otherwise, a part of me is wondering how my grandmothers managed to lose their power, and how it is that the Calliache doesn't have the same erotic power of Ereshkigal.

Anyway, returning to Druidry, the Calliache drains life back to the earth, she strips the leaves from the trees, she is the essence of fermentation and decay. The rite involves people offering Her aspects of themselves that they wish to return to the earth - whilst Ereshkigal is the force under the earth constantly giving birth!

Anyway, I don't know who wrote these words - but they are my prayer, evocation of Ereshkigal.

Hear me child, and know Me for who I am. 

I have been with you since you were born, and I will stay with you until you return to Me at the final dusk.  ‎

I am the passionate and seductive lover who inspires the poet to dream.

I am the One who calls to you at the end of your journey.  

 After the day is done, My children find their blessed rest in my embrace. 

I am the womb from which all things are born. 

I am the shadowy, still tomb; 

all things must come to Me to die and be reborn to the Whole. 

I am the Sorceress that will not be ruled, the Weaver of Time, the Teacher of Mysteries. 

I snip the threads that bring my children home to me. 

I slit the throats of the cruel and drink the blood of the heartless.    

Swallow your fear and come to me, and you will discover true beauty, strength, and courage. 

I am the fury which rips the flesh from injustice. 

I am the glowing forge that transforms your demons into tools of power.  

Open yourself to my embrace and overcome.

I am the glinting sword that protects you from harm. 

I am the crucible in which all the aspects of yourself merge together in a rainbow of union.

I am the velvet depths of the night sky, the swirling mists of midnight, shrouded in mystery. 

I am the chrysalis in which you will face that which terrifies you and from which you will blossom forth, vibrant and renewed. 

Seek me at the crossroads, and you shall be transformed, for once you look upon my face, there is no return.  ‎

I am the fire that kisses the shackles away. 

I am the cauldron in which all opposites grow to know each other in Truth. 

I am the web which connects all things. 

I am the Healer of all wounds, the Warrior who rights all wrongs in their Time.

I make the weak strong.  

I make the arrogant humble.   

I am Justice tempered with Mercy. 

Most importantly, child, I am you. 

I am part of you, and I am within you. 

Seek me within and without, and you will be strong.  

Know me.  

Venture into the dark so that you may awaken to Balance, Illumination, and Wholeness. 

Take my Love with you everywhere and find the Power within.