Le Chalet Crepuscule ~ Beltaine Full Moon Gathering 2019
Two Days of Magical Workshops & Rituals
incorporating the Munychion Rites of Hekate: Her Sacred Fires
18th & 19th May 2019
After a wondrous Inaugural Gathering for Lammas 2018, the Twilight Temple of The HermAphroditic ChAOrder of the Silver Dusk in the Ardennes forest of southern Belgium opens its gates for the second time for two days of workshops and rituals celebrating the Beltaine full moon.
Also featuring the Unveiling of the second slightly-larger-than-human-size statue on the land (which will eventually become a sculpture park), of Cernunnos the Celtic (its on celtic land) antlered form of the Horned God.
Orryelle's Bronze Cernunnos (edition of 7 only, 3 remaining available) which is also a maquette for the large statue:
The original wax sculpture which this bronze was cast from was crafted on Beltaine (May 1st) 2018 at Le Chalet Crepuscule, so it seems an apt cycle to unveil the larger version there on Beltaine (full moon) 2019...
Orryelle working on the Cernunnos statue, early March 2019
Some images of the first statue at Le Chalet Crepuscule, created in 2018: Hekate Trimorphe Reskichthon:
This is a gathering of the Silver Dusk, but other magicians and witches are also invited to join us.
The Silver Dusk members attending have already performed several of the practices involved (drum-breath, chakra tone chanting etc.) at previous gatherings (Sintra Portugal, Le Chalet Crepuscule last year, etc.) and various group rituals (Egypt, Bulgaria, Glastonbury) giving a strong foundation of group energetics for newcomers to join...
The event is non-profit but to cover costs a donation of 70 euro for the weekend or 40 euro for a single day is asked. This includes 2 vegan (vegetarian options) meals a day and 2 or 3 nights accommodation. The price can be reduced considerably if you wish to help with cooking/cleaning/preparation/organization. Please offer your services in an email if this is the case.
Space is limited to 23 on the land. Attendees can bring their own tents, or there is room for 8 in the chalet itself -this should be arranged with the host as soon as possible if required.
Attendees are welcome to arrive the night before (17th) if pre-arranged -this will mostly be for setting-up/meet and greet but a short informal establishing ritual will also occur.
So far (March 26th) 14 spaces (mostly tents) are already reserved for this Gathering.
If you wish to participate (or make enquiries) please email Orryelle at [email protected] as soon as possible to secure a reservation.
Le Chalet Crepuscule is just 1 hr 40 mins by train from Brussels -then an 8-min bus or cab ride (so about 4 hrs from London via the Eurostar train).
Facilities at the Chalet are rudimentary at this stage -river or rain water (cold only unless you boil it), 1 indoor toilet, and no electricity (gas stove and lanterns, candles and fires!), so be prepared for a real back to nature experience, part of the elemental enchantment of this place which is somehow simultaneously remote and yet in the middle of central Europe bordering 5 different countries by just a few hours.
Accordingly the workshops and rituals will be based around connection with nature and by extension the body, and the Genius Loci or spirits of place, primarily in the context of the rich Indo-European magical traditions, though also incorporating aspects of diverse related pantheons and techniques.
An apparition of local legend 'La Gatte D'Or' (The Golden Goat) in ritual theatre at the Lammas Gathering 2018
APPROXIMATE PROGRAM so far (further workshops by other practitioners will be added as confirmed):
DAY 1 (18th May):
12 Noon: Yoga and warm-ups, Chanting, Introductions etc.
2pm Lunch
3pm Divination & Oracle session - participants share and explore their various practices and techniques with divination, potentially including readings for each other/or selves.
Bring your own tarot deck, runes, bones, stones etc.
4.30pm: SEETHING and BREATHING
-A series of physical and energising practices, from Tantric Bastrika pranayama ('fire-breath'), to Seidr (Norse seething/shaking), and Sufi drum-breath also explaining ways such techniques can be used in ritual contexts (this is also preparation for the ritual to follow that evening)...
6pm: Discussion of evening ritual ideas
7pm: Dinner
Above: Harvest Feast at Lammas Gathering Le Chalet Crepuscule 2018
8.30pm: Beltaine Ritual -with Beltaine bonfire and Unveiling of the larger-than-human-size Cernunnos/Horned God statue.
Aspects of the ritual will be distilled from Kazim's ritual 'The Sabbat of Elphame' from his forthcoming book 'Via Nocturna' (the author will be present): A rite of communion and celebration of the genis locii (spirit of place), that calls on the Horned Master/ Witchfather, in the form of the antlered God, with different European names and forms.
A second call is made to the Queen of the Sabbat, in the form of the owl Goddess, and Her different names, attributes- Habondia, Nicneven, Herodiana...
There’s an emphasis on music, dance, and assumption of bestial forms, and communion, agapae, with bread, wine, honey.
There is also a local link with the legend of St Hubert (the town is only half an hour from Le Chalet Crepuscule) of the stag with the glowing cross betwixt the antlers- as a probable recension of Cernunnos forms and indeed the Witch-Lord with torch between horns...
With live acoustic music by Crysopa Occulta (BE) -didgeridoos, flutes, drums and percussion- and others.
DAY 2 (19th May):
12 Noon: Yoga and warm-ups, Chanting etc.
2pm Lunch
3pm: The Breath of Time and the Web of Wyrd
In this workshop we will explore the ritual creation and use of spiral Web Mandala-Veves to map time onto a a spatial plane in a magic circle and navigate rays of potentiality thereon.
From observation in the present, our future is not a set definitive, but an array of probabilities. A belief in Destiny does not preclude free Will and the ability to consciously Co-create this Fate -so why not consciously craft as well as divine our path?
These ideas and their practice -distilled from Orryelle's Time, Fate & Spider Magic' (Avalonia Books 2014) will be preceded by various forms of pranayama/breathwork to induce conducive trance states, and demonstrate the connectivity between time, fate and breath.
6pm Discussion of evening ritual ideas
7pm Dinner
9pm to late - Ritual: Hekate: Her Sacred Fires
The date of this gathering was based on the Beltaine full moon, then it was realized that the May full moon is also the time of the global Hekate: Her Sacred Fires Rites which have been running in many countries for ten years now!
How apt given the presence of the Hekate Chthonia statue on the land, so we will be holding a linked ritual in Her honour.
There will also be a ritual written especially for this gathering by Idlu Lili Regulus (author of 'Hekate - The Crossroads´ Dark Goddess' published April 2019 by Ixaxaar) celebrating the Munychion (Spring Festival) Rites of Hekate.
Following this will be a shamanic drum journey through the Three Cauldrons, led by YslashY (Netherlands).
At last year's Lammas Gathering, participants were asked to bring threads and fabrics to tie into Hekate Chthonia Coatlicue's serpent skirts. These continue to develop progressively with more layers being woven in as others begin to decompose in the elements, so again participants are asked to bring threads, lace and/or other fabrics to ritually tie into Her skirts...
Your host Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule is an esoteric artist in many media, including painting, writing, sculpture, sound and performance art. His 'Tela Quadrivium' series of hardback alchemical art books are published by Fulgur Limited (the final volume of four 'Distillatio' in 2015); his text-based book 'Time Fate and Spider Magic' by Avalonia Books (UK), and The Book of Kaos Tarot by iNSPIRALink. Multimedia Press
He is the writer-director of Australian-originating Metamorphic Ritual Theatre Company who have presented many major original productions based in (and updating/mutating) various ancient mythos, and often performs and exhibits internationally (US, UK, Europe).
The instigator of The Hermaphroditic ChAOrder of the Silver Dusk, he has also given talks, run workshops and facilitated group rituals around the world, including at many festivals, the Esoteric Book Conference (Seattle USA), OTO and other magical lodges, and at various global sacred sites.