2017
WITCHES RUNE
Photographic series
Analogue, Digital and Polaroid
*Selected images shown
Witches Rune explores the practices of Witchcraft (Wicca).
Powerful and misunderstood, Witchcraft continues to be seen as a defiance of religion. This project demonstrates that Wicca is a religion of its own with its own rituals associated with it.
The following images represent The Wheel of the Year which consists of 8 Sabbaths that mark the changing seasons; each having its own significance.
Yule
It's the longest night and shortest day of the year. Wiccans consider Yule to be either the years beginning or the end. This is the time to celebrate the return of the light. Yule is the solar turning of the tides, and the newborn sun offers a fresh start ... and literally a new day.
Yule
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Brigid
The preparation for spring. Wiccans clean and organise their living environment, as well as their minds and hearts, in preparation for the upcoming season of growth. It's a time to shake off the doldrums of late winter and light the fires of
Eostar
Winter is now over. Light is increasing. Spring has arrived or is coming soon. Eostar is the time of fertility, birth and renewal. The ice is thawing and the growing season for plants and animals begins. Growth is the theme of the day.
Beltane
Is the time of the marriage and the union of the Goddess as Mother Earth and the God of the Greenwood. It is an ancient fertility festival marking the beginning of the planting cycle . To ensure a good growing season and bountiful harvest.
Litha
Light triumphs but will now begin into darkness as autumn approaches. The crops are planted and growing. The woods and forests have reached into peak fullness. This is the time of abundance for wildlife.
Lughnasad
For the ancient pagans it was a time of hope and fear. They held hope for a bountiful harvest and abundant food, but they feared that the harvest wouldn't be large enough and that the cold months would be filled with struggle and deprivation.
Mabon
The day and the night are equal in length, in sublime balance. Mabon also called Harvest home, is the time of thanksgiving. The beauty and bounty of summer gives way to the desolation of winter, and the darkness overtakes the light.
Samhain
For many Wiccans, Samhain marks the new year and is the most important Sabbath. It's the time to remember the ancestors, and the time to celebrate the harvest and all that has been accomplished over the year.