As true with my previous post about Ankow, this contains a lot of UPG from my own personal workings and worship of the Bucca. For some interesting reading, Gemma Gary has the most easily accessible books on Them (though I personally disagree with the assigning of masculine titles & traits exclusively). I'll also note my other issue with a title assigned to Them by Gary - "Bucca Gam". I don't know the origin of 'Gam' as a title (but I'm certainly trying to find out), but it translates in kernewek to hunted game. Which doesn't seem fitting in my opinion, but as the post is going to be specifically about Dhu and Their aspects, it shouldn't come up!
As storms come rolling in across the land, it is said that Bucca Dhu is riding. On the dark and cold nights of winter, Bucca Dhu is also described as riding a great black horse with blazing red eyes and smoky breath. Such lore surrounding Bucca Dhu is cognate with the widespread folk traditions of the Devil and Odin/Woden, as leaders of the wild hunt, which in British tradition runs along the Abbot's Way towards Cornwall; the last stop en route to the Otherworld. (Page 79)
Bucca Dhu is the storm god associated with the winter months, the inner words, introspection, dark and defensive magic and the new moon. Bucca Dhu is seen to rule from Allantide to May's eve. Both Bucca Gwidder and Bucca Dhu however are associated traditionally with mischief and unpredictability (reminiscent rather of Cornwall's remarkable and famously changeable weather. This may be seen as something of a paradox hen considering Bucca Dhu's introspective association, however introspection can take us to the deeper animalistic parts of our being. (Page 83)
While personally I do not use Christianity or Christian parts of Cornish folk magic within my craft, and do not equate the Bucca Dhu to literally be the devil/masculine evil/witchfather (in part because I still hold spite over Methodism and Victorian sensibilities trying to 'domesticate' the Cornish - note I do celebrate some holidays that are Traditional to Cornwall that have been Christianised), there are certainly wider folkloric links between the two!
Bucca Dhu, within my practice, holds the role and titles of Androgyne Destroyer, Master of the Wintertide, Mother of Storms and Chief of Beasts (in contrast, Bucca Gwidder is the Fair Creatrix, Mistress of Summertide, Father of the Calm seas and King of the Land). I invoke Them specifically during the Wintertide to give Gwidder Their respite, and outside of that I invoke for matters of undoing, binding, emotional wellbeing and blasting (baneful magic). They are also my guide for shadow work as a matter of introspection and hold power over the solemnity of ancestor worship (Gwidder, meanwhile, is full of the joys of Spring in ancestral worship, festivals, outward workings, etc).
To list their domains outside of their weather and animal responsibilities, I also include transformation and ritual purification in the terms of inward rites, periods of liminality, home and hearth, communication, visual arts (as opposed to Gwidder, who holds more power over written arts). They also bless the Apple Trees during Wassail and guide any rites or workings preformed over the festival period comprising of Nadelik, Candlemas, Nickanan Night up to Shrovetide. They also, in my experience, are wonderful to invoke for rights that involve Annown (though Gwidder is also wonderful for this - I'd separate them by Dhu is wonderful for Annown workings that involve introspection/answer seeking and Gwidder is perfect for Annown workings that are more about reaching out and communing).
A more general writing about Bucca - in my own views and customs They are such uniquely Cornish deity. Unlike the Hellenic/Theoi Pantheon (which I also venerate) they are so much more local and concentrated down to just the county, it's an intense feeling to work with them...especially on ancestral burial lands. I've noted that They still hold some power in Devonshire lands, mostly the moors, but during a cross-country trip their absence was sorely felt all the way through until Scotland. I am going with the theory that the Bucca simply refuses to inhabit lands held by the English - Scotland is a fellow celtic nation with wild lands and old gods, so perhaps They felt more keen to be felt where Their nature is already understood. I can't speak to Their influence outside of Cornwall in the overseas sense - I don't tend to travel much in these covid times.
I do feel a great deal of affection for the Bucca, both combined and separated into Dhu and Gwidder. They are intimately involved with my life and it's a special gift to be given. I hold a physical piece imbued with Their energies, a hagstone on green thread (green, of course, for the powers of the land and physicality. It's also imbued with sprowl from multiple long walks across the sacred landscape.)
No comments:
Post a Comment