Chapter 3: Sky - Samhain and the Dark Moon Ceremony

Me and my family were making our way into the village centre to the temple. Dawn wasn’t with us, as she had arrived at the temple in the morning for her studies. We didn’t always attend all the ceremonies, especially not the Esbats, as my mother believed them to be a waste of time. She was very strict about the sabbats, though.

Because of the big celebrations and the fact that we were technically not part of the ceremony, we didn’t need to cleanse ourselves before we went inside. It was a good thing, because the weather had not been the nicest lately, and having to cleanse ourselves in freezing water would not be very enjoyable and there would even be a risk of catching pneumonia. Many people that attended the ceremony, cleaned their hands in the waterfall pool for symbolism.

When we entered the temple, we had to navigate around several groups of people, before finding a place to sit down. There was an upraised area at the end of the room where the main ceremony would take place.

My sister had helped with the planning of this ceremony. She would not shut up about it. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t picked as one of the 13 people that created the circle, nor as the 4 elemental representatives.  

We watched as the High priestess walked out and gestured for the doors to the temple to close. The ceremony was about to begin and no one was allowed to disturb them. It was a major offence and a disrespect to the powers that be. Any person who showed disrespect towards the High priestess or the ceremonies was exiled from the village.

When everyone went quiet, the ceremony started. First, they made the circle, which was symbolised by the 13 ladies in white ropes. When they had walked around and created a circle, the elemental representatives walked inside and took their place at each corner. Last, the High priestess walked inside the circle and rendered it closed.

She called on all the elements, demonstrated by the elemental representative which would all call on their power of that element. After they had asked the 4 elements to join the circle, the High priestess invited the god and the goddess to join. When she finished, she turned to the audience and told us about the spirits and the afterlife, and how we look forward to new beginnings.

She concluded the ceremony and thanked all the elements before closing the circle. Afterwards, she walked up to the front and announced the presence of Hecate. Hecate turned up and walked towards a cauldron that had turned up at the edge of the raised up stage. She looks to me in her mid twenties, with a long black dress that covers her completely but highlighted her curves.

There was a blue flame raging in the cauldron and as Hecate put her hand into the cauldron, I closed my eyes in empathy for the pain it must cause her, but she never seemed bothered by it. She reached inside three times, each time pulling out a small paper.

“It is an honour, and we must all take our responsibility. The people blessed with continuing to protect this village are:

Sky Farrier

Luna woodward

Heath Allaway

I will see you at the next dark moon ceremony.”

When I heard my name, my heart stopped. My gut feeling had been right. I looked around to see if I could figure out who the other ones were, but I was out of luck.

When Hecate disappeared, the High priestess started talking again. I zoned out, too preoccupied with my thoughts of losing my magic. My mother gently pushed me to let me know what it was our time to walk up to the altar and place our blessings for our ancestors that had moved on.

When we walked out of the temple, the High priestess was standing by the door, “Blessed be” in which it was proper manner to answer back “Blessed be”. However, I did not feel very blessed.

Later on at dinner, my family congratulated me on being chosen. I hated it. Why couldn’t anyone see the truth, Had everyone been so brainwashed regarding this protectiveness and isolation that they didn’t understand?

That night after dinner, I walked outside. It was cold, but I needed to do this. I looked up at the sky, only seeing a small shard of the moon, knowing that the dark moon ceremony was happening in a couple of days.

Making my own circle, I called up on the fates, begging them to not take my magic away, offering them my cooperation in whatever they had planned for me. I already felt like an outsider that no one liked. Losing my magic would be the end of me. I would become even more of an outcast than I already was.

After I went to bed, I had a weird dream where I was walking away from the village. Someone was walking next to me, but I didn’t know who, I came to an enormous field and walked past it, as a tree split in two turned up to my left, my feet turned. I got to a broken-down fence, which I walked over before continuing my journey. After a while, I could see a house. I started running towards it, but before I got there, I woke up.

The next day, my family left me alone in my room and I spent most of my time practicing my magic and moving things around with air. I think they understood that my dreams had been crushed. How could I study spellbinding when I won’t have any magic anymore?

That night, I had another dream like the last one. I was running away from the village. This time I was alone, I got to the split tree and turned to the left. As soon as I saw the house, I woke up. I looked at the clock. 5am. I could go back to sleep, but I was restless knowing that this would be my last day of magic.

Making as little noise as possible, I walked outside to the stable. When I reached Lightning, my favorite horse, I stroked her mule. I had been around 7 or 8 years old when she arrived. My father had let me name her. Because it looked like she had a lighting sign on her, I had called her Lighting, I later learned that it was a scar, but no one knew what had happened.

Placing a head collar on her, I took her outside. I didn’t bother with a saddle. I spent the morning with Lightning, hoping that everything was just a bad dream that I would soon wake up from. Unfortunately I never did. When the sun was high in the sky, I reluctantly made my way home, knowing that I could not escape what was to come.

We had been told to get to the temple a few hours before the ceremony so that they could prepare us for what to expect. I stood at the end of the stairs, struggling to push myself up them. I did not want to be here, I did not want to lose my magic, for all I cared the village could be invaded as long as I got to keep my magic.

After a moment, a girl walked up to me.

“You’re Sky right?”

I nodded.

“I’m Luna,” she said before she continued “You don’t seem happy about this.”

“I’m not,” I said quietly, worried that someone would hear me and punish me for it.

“Me either. I know we are keeping the village safe, but it’s far from an honour. I only just got my magic, why would I want to lose it. My sister offered to run away with me, but where would I go? It’s not like we can escape this town.” 

I looked over at her, her appearance a contrast to me. Her skin was almost translucent, She had short ginger hair and freckles everywhere. Her green eyes stood out. I liked her immediately. She gave off a cool vibe, but her appearance screamed rebel. She was very outspoken and continued to talk. I like it, because I didn’t know what to say but hearing her talk about random things calmed me down.

A boy walked up to us. “I’m Heath, can you believe what an honour it is to be chosen.”

Me and Luna looked at each other, rolling our eyes at how brainwash he must have been.

A few hours later, we had cleansed ourselves and were wearing black robes. The ceremony was about to begin. It was a big thing as it only happened once a year. It was also very interesting to watch. Hecate talked about the treaty that we had created with her, about her promise to keep the village safe. She then went on to create a circle of blue flames, the three of us standing inside it.. She spoke in a language that we didn’t understand and suddenly the blue flames raised above us, I thought it was going to hurt as they closed in, but it wasn’t painful. Eventually the fire had swept over us and died out. I felt empty, but I couldn’t pin- point the reason why.

Hecate thanked us for our sacrifice and lets us leave. I looked around, but I couldn’t see my family anywhere. Luna dragged me along to hers.

“This is Sky,” she said to an almost identical version of herself. 

Luna turned to me “This is my twin sister Star.”

We talked a bit more, until I finally spotted my mother. I went to see her, and we went back home.

When i got home, my family acted like nothing had changed, however I felt hollow. I didn’t know what to do.

Later that night, I had the same dream, only this time the journey started by my house.