Natalia - December 21st
This is the arojhahn of the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. At this time, the dehar Elisin emerges from the pearl that nurtured him. The pearl was dropped two weeks previously, and now the deharling comes forth from it. He represents the reawakening of nature and the return of the sun. This is the new year of Dehara.
Solarisel, the deharling’s hostling, is a benevolent dehar of great beauty, dressed in gold and white, with a mane of golden hair. He grants the gift of a light heart, of fortune, promise and opportunity. He is the dehar of abundance, whose cauldron of creation offers up the ultimate potential. His is the arojhahn of the new sun. His plants are the holly, the ivy and the pine. He is accompanied by sleek white hounds, who at the moment of the deharling’s emergence, fly through the sky yelping out the news. To hear the hounds of Solarisel on the solstice night is a fortuitous omen for the coming year.
The deharling is named Elisin, the child of light. He retains this name until the moment of his hostling/lover’s death at Cuttingtide.
Rosatide - February 1st
This arojhahn is named for the fact that the trees become rosy with new growth at this time. The last grey white days of winter are marked by the colour of blood as life begins to rise and surge from the earth.
Elisin is now beginning to grow and his hostling has transformed from his soume or female aspect into Eburniel, the white dehar of the snow-covered earth. All early spring flowers, especially those with white petals, are sacred to him. He has nurtured Elisin, borne him from his body and now devotes himself to teaching the deharling the lessons necessary to maturity and eventual solitude. Eburniel teaches Elisin how to imbue the earth with his life-giving energy to encourage new growth.
Traditionally, this is the Arojhahn of Torches, when hara seek to bring the growing light of the sun into their life. Eburniel is also the light of the candle flame. On Rosatide eve, candles and lamps are lit in every window. The shadowy figure of Eburniel, dressed in a cloak of snow white fur, walks across the fields. His animal is the white wolf, whose breath is freezing mist.
The wistfulness sometimes associated with this arojhahn derives from the fact that, in assuming a more masculine aspect, Eburniel faces the prospect of his own death at Cuttingtide. If the early spring flowers are found sprouting from snow, they are Eburniel’s tears. Despite this aspect, Rosatide is a time of hope and promise. As light fills hara’s homes, so they banish the bleakness of the short days and cold weather.
Bloomtide - March 21st
This arojhahn marks the Spring Equinox. The ascetic Eburniel transforms into the dashing Florinel, who begins to woo the maturing Elisin. Elisin’s hostling has now transformed into his potential lover and is no longer regarded as a blood relative, but rather a separate dehar that has grown from the substance of Solarisel. Eburniel is seen as a lissom young dehar, dressed in green with nut-brown hair. Florinel conjures flowers to open with the sound of his voice, which is the music heard in the wind, in spring rains and in the surge of swollen streams as the snow melts. His animal is the white hare. Florinel is a trickster who can sometimes deceive. He leads the unwary into dangerous territory, but can also bestow a change of luck for the better.
Florinel is far too full of life to contemplate such dreary concepts as his own demise. He presides over planting and the reproduction of animals. Elisin is coy and rejects his advances. The only contact Florinel can have with Elisin at this time is to cover his sleeping body with white blossom.
While Florinel’s thoughts begin to turn to aruna, Elisin is entranced by the wonder of being alive. His is the unbounded joy of youth, as yet untarnished by adult cares. Bloomtide is the celebration of life for its own sake. On the arojhahn night, hara put aside fears and uncertainties and focus on hopes for the future. The light hangs in equal balance, but only for a short time. From this night on, the days lengthen and the air becomes warmer.
Feybraihatide - April 30th/May 1st
This arojhahn is named for the rite of passage harlings undergo as they enter maturity. It is the feast of aruna, of first love and the deep, spiritual passion that enables harlings to be conceived.
Elisin now is full grown, a vision of beauty, like a radiant form of his Shadetide hostling, with fiery red hair. His consort is Feyrahni, but this is properly Elisin’s arojhahn, as he is regarded as the presiding dehar. He and Florinel have barely seen one another since Bloomtide, and now – transformed – it is Feyrahni not Florinel who steps from the forest, dark of skin and hair, dressed in clothes made of leather and leaves. His sacred animal is the stag. On Feybraihatide eve, Feyrahni initiates Elisin into the mysteries of aruna and together they create a pearl.
Cuttingtide - 21st June
This is the Summer Solstice, the moment when the sun begins to decline in strength as it moves away from the earth. Feyrahni becomes the lord of the corn, the sacrificed one, Morterrius. He is at the height of his potency, and therefore in surrendering his life force at this time, the strongest energy enters the earth. Elisin, now with pearl, sheds his youthful name and becomes Shadolan, the hunter, the executioner. Gone are the cares of youth. The sacred animal of the dehara is the hawk.
Morterrius appears as the golden dehar of the corn, with yellow hair. He wears a crown of barley and poppies and is dressed in red and yellow, symbolising the crop and his own blood. Shadolan has a darker aspect, dressed as an archetypal hunter. His beauty is fearsome, his gaze compelling.
On the arojhahn eve, Morterrius walks the fields as a willing sacrifice. In sorrow, Shadolan must take his consort’s life. In a grim repetition of Feybraihatide, the lovers meet in a wild place and take aruna together. But its conclusion this time is death. Shadolan’s fingernails have become blades that make a thousand cuts in Morterrius’ flesh. The dehar stumbles from their trysting place and as he staggers through the fields, so his blood flows down to fertilise the earth. He eventually falls to the ground, which swallows him up, dragging the dehar’s body down into itself, so he begins his long journey to the Eternal Plains, the World Beyond, from where he will eventually be reborn as his own son.
Reaptide - August 1st
Like Shadetide, this is a time when unusual events are likely to occur. Apparitions can be seen in the fields at mid-day. The landscape holds its breath and the hills become haunted. Shadolan becomes the Field Walker, Verdiferel, wandering in solitude through the ripening crops. His hair is dark and he wears garments of earthen colours, decorated with leaves, flowers and heads of wheat. His sacred creature is the white owl, which sweeps through the spectral night and even appears during the day at this time.
Verdiferel, like some of the other seasonal dehara, has a trickster aspect.
One story concerns a har who came upon Verdiferel in a cornfield, apparently making a crop circle. As the har concealed himself and observed, he noticed that the dehar appeared strange, and somewhat unhinged. Verdiferel made decorative talismans from the crop, which he hid around the landscape, in trees and beneath rocks. The observing har knew that these talismans were hidden for hara to find, and that an audience with Verdiferel could be sought this way. He considered himself fortunate to have witnessed where Verdiferel had concealed the talismans. He took a talisman to a sacred site, which comprised two upright stones supporting a vast slab. Verdiferel was already present in this place, and said he knew the har had come to enquire about his future. He told the har to lie down on the slab. Verdiferel then produced a sickle blade and sliced the har open. He read the future from the entrails. With somewhat dark humour, he said, ‘I see you’re about to go on a long journey into the otherworld’. He then collected the blood and made a libation in the crop fields. This story suggests that the rehuna should employ caution when asking boons of Verdiferel.
Another story concerning this dehar relates that Verdiferel might appear to a har as emerging from the trunk of a tree. He has very long brown hair that comes out of the bark as peculiar strands, and while not as dangerous as oth
er forms of Verdiferel, is extremely haughty. He carries a green orb of light, which is called ozaril. It is said that if the invocation ‘Astale ozaril’ is chanted, then the light of the dehar goes into a har, enabling him to see the ghosts that walk at noon.
Smoketide - September 21st
This is the autumn equinox and the major harvest arojhahn. The dehar transforms into Prosperiel. He is already a hostling, and in that way fecund. At this time, he appears dressed in garments adorned with autumnal leaves and fruits, and he smells of smoke. He also wears a cloak of fox fur. His sacred animal now is the red fox.
Prosperiel, of all the dehara of this half of the year, is the least tricky. Gone are the shadowy aspects of Cuttingtide and Reaptide. He is the expression of fruitfulness, and this is the time of year for hara to make plans for the future, to plant their own seeds of intention that will come to fruit in the New Year.
Shadetide - October 31st
This is the last of the harvest arojhahns, and traditionally a time when the portals between different levels of reality become unstable. It is the time when the veil is thin and discarnate entities can make contact with the living.
At this stage, the dehar transforms into Lachrymide (La-CRIM-ee-day) the Keener. Heavy with pearl and alone, Lachrymide stalks the bare earth. In nature, he can be unpredictable. His tears bring floods and the coldness of his heart brings snow. Only at his arojhahn time does he really show any lighter side, and that is when, compassionate with his own sense of loss, he leads lost souls to the light. It is a night of trickery and feasting, of carnival and costume. Lachrymide is one of the most intimidating and fearsome of the seasonal dehara, but he is appeased by merriment and feasting.
Lachrymide can be petitioned to give glimpses of the future or news of lost loved ones. After being invoked, he appears at the threshold as a tall har dressed in black with long red hair. Often, his face is veiled.
As Lachrymide presides over the dark weeks between Shadetide and the solstice, he is asked to provide warmth, food and shelter, to keep animals healthy through the cold months and to preserve the stored grain. His animal is the black cat, cats being invaluable in guarding grain stores from rats and other vermin. Often, during his reign, tall dark figures are spotted in the fields or at crossroads, or beside lonely tracks. If a har comes across Lachrymide in the dark, they should offer him a gift. If he is pleased with it, he will grant them fortune.
Adkaya - December 7th
This majhahn, (a minor festival), two weeks before Natalia, is not one of the major arojhahns, but still an important part of the seasonal calendar. Adkaya observes the time when the dehar Lachrymide drops the pearl of the deharling and transforms into Solarisel, who will be the presiding dehar of Natalia. The pearl of the deharling takes two weeks to mature before opening, so hara use this time to perform majhahns associated with planning and preparation.
Characters
Hara of Jesith
Jassenah – Ysobi’s chesnari
Ysobi – a hienama of the town, who is sent to Gwyllion to work for Wyva har Wyvachi
Zephyrus – Ysobi and Jassenah’s son
The Wyvachi
Barly – a househar of the Wyvachi
Briar – head stablehar of the Wyvachi family
Cawr – brother to Wyva
Dillory – the Wyvachi family’s cook
Fush – a member of the Wyvachi’s househara staff
Gen – brother to Wyva
Modryn – chesnari of Cawr
Myvyen – son of Wyva and Rinawne
Porter har Goudy – son of Rey, the Wyvachi’s departed hienama
Rey har Goudy – hienama of the Wyvachi who left the community before Ysobi’s arrival
Rinawne – chesnari of Wyva, originally from Erini, father of Myvyen
Wyva – phylarch of the Wyvachi in Gwyllion, hostling of Myvyen, chesnari of Rinawne
Historical Wyvachi
Arynne – hienama of the original Wyvachi family
Kinnard – Wyva’s hostling
Peredur – Hura to Wyva
Yvainte – Wyva’s father
The Wyverns
Beiryan – a cousin of Medoc, who left Meadow Mynd with him
Caerwyn – a cousin of Medoc, who left Meadow Mynd with him
Edryd – a cousin of Medoc, who left Meadow Mynd with him
Medoc – Hura to Wyva, phylarch of the Wyverns
Meilyr – a cousin of Medoc, who left Meadow Mynd with him
Persys – son of Wenyf
Thraine – chesnari of Medoc
Wenyf – son of Medoc and Thraine, hienama of the Wyverns
Ysgaw – son of Medoc and Thraine
The Whitemanes
Mossamber – phylarch, hostling of Nytethorne and Emberflax
Nytethorne – son of Mossamber, hostling of Ember
Emberstrife (or Ember) – son of Nytethorne
Emberflax – son of Mossamber
Hara of Gwyllion
Ludda – a farmer, who keeps the farm below Dŵr Alarch where Mossamber’s hunting hounds are kennelled.
Selyf – Member of the Gwyllion Assembly and keephar of The Crowned Stag
Tryskyr – a farmer/landowner, member of the Gwyllion Assembly
Yoslyn – keephar of The Rooting Boar
Other Hara Mentioned in the Story
Bronna – phylarch of Rinawne’s phyle when he lived in Erini
Flick har Roselane – a har who first created the harish version of the spiritual Wheel of the Year
Gadda – a friend of Rinawne from his harlinghood in Erini
Gesaril – a former lover of Ysobi, now living in Immanion
Huriel – a friend of Ysobi’s living in Kyme
Malakess – an early commander in Alba Sulh, who became High Codexia of Kyme
Pellaz – Tigron of Immanion
Thiede – the first har
Human Ancestors
The Wyverns
Vivyen or Vivi, matriarch of the family
Arianne, wife of Tobias, born of the Mantel family
Erling – son of Vivi
Gwyven – son of Arianne
Peredur – son of Arianne
Kinnard – son of Arianne
Medoc – son of Arianne
Tobias – son of Vivi, husband of Arianne
Vere - son of Vivi
The Mantels
Thorne – patriarch of the Mantels
Bryce – son of Thorne (who became Mossamber post inception)
Places
Alba Sulh – the country that was formerly England
Almagabra – equating to Greece in the old human world, the country that is home to the Gelaming, most influential of Wraeththu tribes
Deerlip Hall – original name of the Whitemane domain
The Domain – home of the Whitemanes in Gwyllion
Dôl Cartref – the Home Meadow, close to Meadow Mynd
Dŵr Alarch – the Swan Tower, where Ysobi lives while in Gwyllion
Erini – Island to the west of Alba Sulh, formerly Ireland
Gwyllion – a town in what was formerly North Wales, owned by the Wyvachi
Harrow’s End – domain of the Wyverns
Hiyenton – the nearest large market town to Gwyllion
Immanion – capital of Almagabra, principle town of the Gelaming tribe, who are the most influential among Wraeththu. Corresponds to the old country of Greece.
Kyme – a town in northern Alba Sulh, famed seat of learning
Llwybr Llwynog – The Fox Run (or Path), a wooded hill on Wyvachi land
Maes Siôl – the Shawl Field
Meadow Mynd – domain of the Wyvachi in Gwyllion
Afon Siôl Lleuad – The River Moonshawl
Pwll Siôl Lleuad – the Moonshawl Pool
Yorvik – a town in northern Alba Sulh, formerly York
Glossary of Terms
Althaia – the process and period of change from human to har following inception
Aroj
hahn – a season festival, the ritual to celebrate it.
Arotohar – the name give to the Wheel of the Year, the annual cycle of eight seasonal festivals.
Aruna – sexual union between hara that is both spiritual and physical.
Astale – (ass-tar-lay) a ritual word of invitation and welcome, also a term of respect, most often used to greet invoked dehara.
Carehar – a har designated to care for a harling who is not a parent
Chesna – (chez-nah) a close relationship, a chesna-bond can be equated to marriage
Chesnari – a partner in a chesna-bond
Daghda – In Erini, ‘the good god’, he is seen as the father and protector of a tribe in that country.
Dehar – a Wraeththu deity (pl. Dehara)
Devastation, the – one of many terms used to describe the final days of humanity, when the world was in turmoil, and there was catastrophic conflict between hara and humans. The days of change.
Egregore – an occult concept representing a ‘thoughtform’ or ‘collective group mind’, an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of a group of people.
Erinish – a har of Erini, formerly Ireland.
Feybraiha – a period of time equating to puberty in humans when a har matures sexually. The term also refers to a day of celebration for this. At the end of his feybraiha, when he is physically ready, a har will take aruna with another for the first time. This is regarded as an important rite of passage.
First Generation – hara who were became Wraeththu by being incepted as humans
Gelaming – the most influential tribe of Wraeththu, whose tribal home is Almagabra