From the Ashes, Into the Unknown

Given the instructions for Octavian’s ritual, Rowena gathered the items needed and prepared for the annual winter solstice. 

This time of year, the coven often practiced releasing unwanted energies and while Octavian’s ritual seemed to be a stronger type of cleansing spell where it did not only purge the thoughts, but the very grove of their sanctuary, there was always one item that knitted each ritual together. A list of feelings, thoughts and habits that you wished to cleanse. It was personal to each harvest-witch, so one never looked at another’s list. One had to open up the gate to the other realm, the inbetween, only letting the good and healthy energies remain while you rid of the bad. One had to be careful when putting down wards, or else you might let evil entities into the physical world.  

On the night of the Solstice, Rowena had done exactly as instructed. She had, together with a few older wixen from the coven, cleansed the grounds to prepare it for the ritual. In the middle they had created the symbol of water, an upside down triangle, of branches. Each corner of the symbol had a candle placed down. White, black and green. A bowl protected with a fire charm was placed inside the triangle. 

It did resemble the annual ritual her mother always led, but no ritual was akin to the other, something which her mother had noticed as she joined the rest. 

Niamh pulled her daughter aside. 

‘’Rowena, what are you doing?’’ She asked lowly. ‘’I gave you clear instructions as to-’’

‘’I know.’’ Rowena interrupted. Her inner being sobbed in fear, but her eyes settled upon her mother’s face with determination. ‘’.. But it’s my ritual. You told me you trusted me to lead us into the new year, and that is exactly what I intend to do. I know what I am doing - why can you not trust that?’’ 

As the coven gathered around, she pulled away from her mother’s side to take up her spot in the middle. Octavian was last to join the grove. 

As they all placed their bit of parchments into the bowl, he moved to the end of the circle opposite her mother, at the other end of the small clearing of trees. The ground was covered in a blanket of snow, the air was cold, and there seemed to be unease within the group, as though all of their possessive and dark energies had manifested in one place. Rowena, a little unnerved, looked to her mother for guidance. Each fiber of her being trembled in the need for her to endorse her decision. She wanted to prove her worth. 

Niamh inclined her head for her daughter to begin. 

Rowena sighed in a frosty breath of relief, picked up her smudge stick, and held it out in front of her. 

‘’Fire, I summon you to this circle!’’ She called, and as the rest of the coven echoed her words, the end of her smudge stick lit into flame. Rowena moved to the first candle.

‘’Colour of purity, in fire’s name I summon you to this circle!’’ She lit the white candle, her voice echoing into the cold night, strengthened by the chorus of her coven.

‘’Colour of protection, in fire’s name I summon you to this circle!’’ She lit the black candle and, as she approached the green candle, her fingers had stopped trembling. 

‘’Colour of healing, in fire’s name I summon you to this circle!’’

A blanket of calm laid over the grove. The whole Coven held their breath. The night was quiet, and filled with brim of magic. 

Rowena turned around and approached her mother. She was smiling, her emotions clear in her eyes and, as Rowena moved the smudge stick over her form, she’d never forget the words whispered to her. ‘’I am proud of you.’’ 

Careful not to choke up, Rowena began the chant. 

Mind and Body

Heart and Soul

They are not all worth it

Let it go! 

Rowena did this to each person, following their ranks in order. As she made it to Octavian, he did not look at her. His eyes were closed, his breathing concentrated, and his hand closed into a gloved fist. She did not think much of it then, but there was a scent of blood in the air. She finished the incantation to each person, and then drew herself back to the middle of the circle. 

I am not what hurt me

I am not the anger that surrounds me

I choose peace in all situations

Elements surround me

Protect my mind

Help me choose peace every time!

There, facing the large bowl of parchments, Rowena lowered her smudge stick and lit them up in flame. 

Silence lingered for a moment, and all the heavy energies that had influenced the circle faded with the burning paper. Then the air burst up with power and illuminated the grove in blinding light. Rowena turned away from the bowl with her arm covering her face. 

She could hear the sounds of the magic before she saw it, as though someone had bottled up years of wind within the bowl and now, it was all released at once. It screamed at her, shrieked as a banshee, or perhaps that was her mother calling out into the night. 

‘’GET AWAY FROM THE CIRCLE!’’ 

Involuntarily, simply pushed by the force of energy bursting out from the bowl, Rowena stumbled back from the triangle and shot open her eyes. The screaming was not only the howling of wind, but the fear of her family as they, running away from the circle, were pierced with the sharp tendrils which shot up from the bowl. Or was it an entity trying to break free, she wondered - though she could not tell. 

She was pushed to the ground and stared in horror as the silhouette of Niamh, calling upon the powers of all the elements combined, confronted the gate that had been opened. She equalled the light of the entity, her voice booming out with authority in words that, whether unwilling or unable, Rowena could not comprehend. 

She was not sure when the light faded and the grove had become so dreadfully quiet. She was staring at the limb body splayed out in crimson snow and, as the ringing in her ears stopped, all she heard was sobbing. 

‘’Rowena!’’ Someone called. ‘’Rowena! Come on, we need to go!’’ Octavian grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the blood, and the crying, and her mother laying still in the snow. It was only when the closing of a car door shook her back to life, that she noticed the way her fingers trembled. Blood-covered fingers. 

‘’I need to go back.’’ Rowena turned to open the door. She was not quick enough. Octavian leant over and locked it. 

‘’No, we need to go.’’ 

The machine sputtered into life, causing her sobs to catch in her throat and the bouncing of tires running across a dirt-road. 

‘’Let me out, Tavian!’’ She turned to try and grab his wheel. ‘’Let me.. I need to.. I need to go back! I need-’’ 

‘’Fucking hell Rowena, what you need is to listen to me! You can’t go back!’’ Octavian snapped his eyes over to her sinking form. ‘’They’ll kill you, do you hear me? You broke the most sacred rule, and nearly the other too - you can’t go back!’’

Rowena stared at him. Then, she burst into a fit of tears. It was the first emotion to overcome her.  

‘’I didn’t mean to!’’ She cried back. ‘’I didn’t- I did everything-’’

‘’Clearly not everything. You must have done something wrong, or else why wouldn’t the wards have worked? Fuck!’’ He slammed his hands across the wheel. The tires jerked. 

‘’I didn’t.. I didn’t mean to.. ’’ She turned to the safety of the window and, as she felt the last bit of herself drift from her senses, she recalled one thing. Her mother. Her limp body in the snow. Her being proud.