Nearly a fortnight has passed since the Summer Solstice on Neudegg Alm, and life has barely calmed since that wondrous night of flame and belonging. With the heat of the moment propelling once-aching feet towards new possibilities, I must take pause to reflect and release before moving on.
It was my tenth year on the mountain, save the isolation of restricted times, and I returned to Abtenau burdened by conflicting thoughts. Prior years compelled questions of place, there and elsewhere, and a search for purpose and presence through all manner of misdeeds. A purpose I now carried within myself. Months of soul-searching through greater challenge had forged foundations once lacking, and I walked with new, noticed, certainty.
Last year’s gathering had not settled well. The elements of the ceremony still very much present, but the atmosphere laden with doubt. The pall of death weighed heavy then, in moments of mourning and the strife of insincerity. Forced expectations and shallow smiles – perhaps a mirror to the mindset I brought with me. I wondered if this would continue into another year and briefly considered forfeiting my invite. Yet, knowing the potential of what could be, I placed my trust in the cycle of things to move forward.
Death must, so life follows, and this year saw the rictus mask lift to joyful rebirth.
A return to what was and what should be.
Ever evolving, House of the Holy held a more relaxed, thoughtful pace this year. Tempering the raw immediacy of recent times with a reflective pause more suited to the surrounds. Additional aspects of the gathering outside the grounds had also been refined, offering a greater sense of holistic awareness.
The first night again took place in Abtenau itself, where locals and passing tourists alike were treated to a performance in front of the town church. Headlined by Dool, this night included the addition of separate beer vendors to ensure the already packed restaurants weren’t as overrun as prior years. The balconies swelled with the curious and entertained as old friends and veterans reunited.
Before entering the site itself on the second day, last year’s experimental art gallery took greater form. A phenomenal installation, curated in collaboration with renowned occult artists and photographers. Captivating and provocative, death itself was brought into beautiful life in the essence of creativity. Enhanced further by crafting sessions so others too may create. A place for cool-minded introspection away from the incessant heat outside.
For the weather itself was possibly the best the gathering had ever experienced. The persistence of Sol unfiltered scorched skin and rendered futile most means of protection. At times many felt it too warm and overwhelming, but conversations soon cropped up under shade and over beer. United by the experience, all eyes soon turned to the stage.
The music this year returned to a more varied mix. With the relentless onslaught of Thursday’s War Metal fury maturing into a more intriguing soundscape as the days progressed. Londoners Cold in Berlin were the stand-out surprise of the weekend. Their post-punk doom revitalised weary legs on Saturday, fixating me in awe as vocalist Maya effortlessly cast her intent through the crowd.
Mention must also be made to Swedes Myling, performing a ritual of their own on Friday to herald the longest day. As they left the stage to burn wreaths on the smaller fire, the atmosphere of the Alm ascended to a higher state. Through such heady performance and more, the aches and inconveniences of being had dispersed. We were ready for Midsummer.
For the final hours, filled once more with visceral music and the vibrant pulse of camaraderie, we prepared for fire. As Absu‘s incendiary set faded I was taken by surprise. There was time again to pause and reflect before the liminal threshold. To breathe. To talk. To share our collective anticipation.
Then the ceremony began. Not in rushed aggression, but in calm determination. Torches lit at the stage were carried once more to the pyre, where each found their own way upwards. Once more I walked widdershins around the flame in my own tradition of bonding. Blood surged through my veins in fierce vitality. Belonging.
At the fire I met a barefoot soul. A precious friend with the sun in her smile, who had shared conversations of ungrounded intensity across the nights. In the spontaneity of smoke and white sage, mere feet from the flame, she cleansed old energies to invite the new – reflecting the rebirth of the rite. The fire roared white in response and we held each other a moment. The intent of wild words once scattered as embers, reforming and rekindling into silent, assured contemplation.
We were meant to meet in Magick. At the animus and anima of primal fire, where individual will integrates with shared wonder to contemplate the spirit of something above all. New bonds form in anticipation, and sear their permanence in memory. A transcendental sense of togetherness and tradition reasserting itself under cloudless skies. Light in Darkness.
Beyond the Alm, the distant flames of other peaks raged clear. For once they could be seen, as sharp as the stars above and as bright as the Milky Way beyond. A connection diminished in prior years, regained and reestablished as it deserves to be.
Yet even in the joy of the moment, of friendships old and new beneath the flame, thoughts reached out to those not present. Those missing who should be there, divided by harsh words, misunderstandings and worse. The ache of their absence stings, sustaining a presence in hearts that long for reconciliation.
Sometimes people grow apart. Sometimes they grow beyond. I myself have grown much this past decade. Perhaps later in life than most, yet perhaps also further than many. I am no longer the Fool that blundered upwards in reckless reverie all those years back. There is purpose to my passion now. Stability and certainty.
For the flame is not just to be absorbed in a single static moment. It is to be carried in reverence along a path of deeper understanding. A steady beacon of conscious learning and shared wisdom, illuminating the way for others to step beyond the shadow.
And the mountain abides.
