fundraising – Longest Night Midwinter Masque

Purchase a Customized Poem for your Beloved!

writing quill

Longing to declare your love from the rooftops of the night’s doorstep, but not gifted with a silver tongue?

For a few gold coins, an Eglantine adept will pen and perform an ode to your beloved.

Click Here to purchase this unique gift for your special person. After purchasing, you will receive an email within one week (seven calendar days) from poet@thelongestnightmasque.com to inquire about your beloved for inspiration.

Proceeds from the Masque go to benefit the Human Rights Campaign.

This year’s charity: Human Rights Campaign

We are proud to announce that the 2021 Masque will be raising funds to support the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

A national organization fighting for the civil rights of the LGBTQ community, HRC works tirelessly to bring about change that will ensure than lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people are recognized as equals in all aspects of their lives.

hrc logo The Mission Statement of the organization, from its website is as follows:

The Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation together serve as America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality. By inspiring and engaging individuals and communities, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBTQ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

The Human Rights Campaign envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

Proceeds from our event will be donated to HRC, as we strive to contribute to a society where all can love as they wilt.

A poem for your beloved

“O, dear my lord…

Let this breast on which you have lent

As close in love as a foe in battle,”

~Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel’s Dart

These words, written by Anafiel Delaunay to his secret lover Prince Rolande de la Courcel, begin the poem “Antinous’ Ode to His Beloved.” The ode, once proscribed in Terre d’Ange, was later to be lauded and performed by the royal poet Thelesis de Mornay, shouted and whispered by besotted admirers to woo their beloved.

Now, it’s your turn – woo or declare your love with a special gift. Our own Eva nó Gentian will compose a unique poem for your beloved, to be presented to them in written or spoken form at the Longest Night Midwinter Masque*.

Choose from a two (2), four (4), or six (6) line verse, each with the following options:

Recited for your beloved at the Longest Night Midwinter Masque, January 4, 2020 (specific time TBD)
Written on beautiful 11″ x17″ high quality paper, suitable for display, presented to your beloved at the Longest Night Midwinter Masque, January 4, 2020
Both recited and written

Prices are as follows:

Two (2) lines
- Recited – $5
- Written – $10
- Both – $13
Four (4) lines
- Recited – $10
- Written – $15
- Both – $23
Six (6) lines
- Recited – $15
- Written – $20
- Both – $34

To purchase your poem, please email poet@thelongestnightmasque.com and specify your options. You will be provided with a payment link. Once your payment has been processed, the poet will begin composing your verse.

*Note: if you are not attending the Masque, we can arrange for shipping of a written poem to your home.

Book Donations

Phèdre nó Delaunay gathered books, and scrolls from all over the world to research and learn everything she could to succeed in her great adventures and become the hero we all love. Do you, perhaps, hold a book that could help someone become a hero in a great adventure?

We will be collecting new and gently loved books at the Masque to donate to the Fairfax County Public Library. Who knows what benefit your books could bring someone?

Gentian Dowayne’s Personalized Star Charts

As the diviners of the Masque, Gentian House is pleased to announce that it is offering you the opportunity to purchase personal astrology charts. Astrology charts go zodiac drawing well beyond a typical newspaper horoscope (which tend to focus only on sun signs) and delve into elements such as values, potential, and desires, and include the influences of planets and luminaries on your life.

All charts are hand drawn and personally interpreted by the Gentian House Dowayne, based on her years of experience with divination and astrology. These are not computer generated algorithms or website downloads. Star Charts are hand drawn and interpretations hand written.

Choose from one or more of these charts:

Star Charts ($50-75): A hand drawn star chart that calls out the placement of signs, houses, and planets at your time of birth (or other event). The interpretation version comes complete with a discussion of the influences of these different elements on your life.

Along with the hand drawn birth chart, you may also order one of two options for interpretation. While the birth chart will display the positions of constellations, planets, and houses and call out significant placements such as sun sign, moon sign, and rising sign, the interpretations takes this further. The first option (Option 1) focuses on the day of your birth. This option will discuss the relationships between planets, constellations, and luminaries, and give an overview of what they mean for you. The second interpretation (Option 2) is a deeper exploration of the way these energies manifest in your life through their position at the time of your birth. This interpretation is a story of your birth as told by the heavens.

Prices for Star Charts:

- Chart Only: $50
- Chart Option 1 Interpretation: $65
- Chart Option 2 Interpretation: $75

NEW! Lilith Black Moon Chart ($30): Similar to a birth chart, the Lilith Black Moon chart focuses exclusively on the hidden desires the Black Moon Lilith reveals for you. This chart includes the influence of aspects between Black Moon Lilith and the planets, as well as her placement in your house and zodiac. Do you wish to know what the stars have to say about your most secret dreams and desires? This is a unique type of chart, created and interpreted exclusively by the Dowayne of Gentian.

Star charts can show the energies at work at any given moment, and charts can be created for a wedding, graduation, or other landmark event. If you choose to have a chart made for an event that is not a birth, please indicate so on your order.

To order, please email gentian@thelongestnightmasque.com. The Dowayne will provide you information necessary to process payment for your chart(s).

When you order, please include the following information for the person receiving the chart:

- Date of birth
- Time of birth (including time zone)
- Place of birth (city, state, country)

Please feel free to email the Dowayne at the above address with any questions you may have.

Please note: time and place are required for the second interpretation (Option 2), but are recommended for all orders as they allow for calculation of the rising sign and house placements. Leaving out this information will result in a less detailed and thus, less insightful, chart.

Get Your 2020 Masque Shirts!

Do the clothes make the man, or does the man make the clothes?

It’s an age old question, the answer to which may never truly be found – and honestly, do we really care? While the sages ponder, we have something that you will care about: 2020 Longest Night Midwinter Masque t-shirts!

2020 Masque t-shirt front — model photos from CafePress

t-shirt back

Shirts are available in white or grey, sizes S-4XL & XL Tall – 3XL Tall.

So while the sages debate and you work on your fabulous costume, throw on your 2020 Masque t-shirt! You’re sure to be the most fashionable of your friends.

Don’t forget that all proceeds from the Masque go to benefit the Fairfax County Public Libraries.

Calling All Makers!

The Longest Night Midwinter Masque is looking for volunteer crafters to join us in our fundraising efforts for the Fairfax County Public Libraries. D’Angelines have amazing and special talents and we would love to utilize your gifts to create unique items for sale. floral scrollwork

Some of the projects you’ll be hearing about in the coming months include personalized birth charts, handmade Terre d’Ange soaps and essential oil blends, and 2020 Midwinter Masque logo apparel.

Whatever your craft, we want to hear from you! Send a short proposal to fundraising@thelongestnightmasque.com with your ideas. Have a talent you would like to share but don’t have something specific in mind? We are happy to work with you to develop your own unique project!

Love as thou wilt,

Arietta de Millazza nó Bryony

Fundraising Coordinator

Raising Funds for the Libraries

Libraries are valuable resources in our communities and it’s important that we support them. After all, without libraries, how would Phédre ever have solved the mystery of the Master of the Straits and saved her dearest friend? Plus, isn’t this event based on a series of nine books (if you follow Phédre, Imriel, and Moirin – which you should – through all of their adventures)?

So, it is in this spirit that the 2020 Masque will be raising funds for the Fairfax County Public Library system. The FCPL consists of 23 branches – 8 regional branches, 14 community branches, and a branch dedicated to serving customers who have special accessibility requirements – serving the over 1 million residents of Fairfax County “through programming, community spaces, technologies, and collections of educational and recreational resources.”

Proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to the libraries and, in the coming weeks and months, you will be hearing from the Dowayne of Bryony House about some exciting fundraisers.

If you would like to make a personal donation to the libraries, you can do so by clicking the Donate Now button on the Fairfax Library Foundation homepage. You can add “Longest Night Midwinter Masque” in the notes if you wish. Select “FCPL” as your home library.