One-Trick-Pony becomes Broken-down Old Mule

Not doing  “the same ol’ thang” AGAIN!!!

Lordy, Lordy  … let us not fall into the trap of “oh that worked once, so let’s just keep doing it” when it comes to ritual presentations, especially public offerings.  As Priestess and Feri, when I see this occur, I wonder what actual thought is going into that sort of choice.

Yes, I DO know that it is a great deal of work to conceive, create and present something new every time, but the intensity and evolution in that work outshines what’s available doing ‘repeat performances’.  There is always the risk that folks may not like what you present, or get your intention, but those risks are worth the rewards, in my experience.  I can back up that opinion with 7+ years of participating, helping to plan, cat-herding, stage managing and (several times) being the concept person for large ritual presentations at Pantheacon and at the Faerie Mid-summer Barter Market.  It really is scads of work, especially if you want to have a substantial group of Priests working together, props and costume pieces … all to support and present that new ritual. 

The juice of current that follows thru both Priest and Participant when something new and unique is shared grows the sweet fruit of magick in every heart it touches. That experience, however ephemeral, leaves an incisive mark of change and growth. This is what doing public (and private) rituals is really about, as far as I am concerned.

Offering the Witch community experiences diluted by watered-down recycled rituals seems to engender the opposite result and we start to look like other, ‘organized’ religions that offer repetitive, hide-bound monophonic experiences.

So, here is my ‘soap box’ slogan this week:

Let us all work toward creating and sharing those experiences that grow us in all our parts.

As a good friend of mine says, “May the winds of change blow up all of our skirts!”

dinner with Alison

On the 31st, at 7 pm I sat down to dinner with my beloved friend,  teacher and mentor, Alison Harlow. As I shopped for this dinner the previous day, picking out the foods she loved the best and finding new things I felt she might enjoy, I realized with a start that I had not eaten a meal with her since May of 2004, a month before she died.
I had spoken with her, called her into circle and asked her questions through a Witch Board ... yes ... but dinner, not until 3 weeks ago. She was quiet at first, with that lovely, slightly wicked glint in her eye as she accepted the plate I offered and I seated myself opposite her in silence. There were two other living friends having supper with one of their beloved dead at the same table, but as we served our friends and sat it seemed that we each went into separate communion with our dinner partner. There were few instructions from Alison, save that I prepare and eat dinner with her at this time of year until I join her on the other side of the Veil. Our communication seemed to come through the food we ate and the deep silence that surrounded us. I still miss her in this world almost daily, but I know that any time I feel drawn to make her a favorite meal I will not eat alone.

Cora's Beltane

To Cora

 

Dearest Grandmother,

May your light and love carry you to the wild dance;

And the swift sparkle of the Fae encompass you

on every journey you take.

 

Now your voice is released

To shower upon all whose ears are wide;

Into the deep, lush silence of Beltane

 

We listen.

Cora Anderson passed thru the veil at 1 am on 1st May, 2008. She had been sung to and surrounded by many of her beloved Feri kyn and was in no pain.  

She is reunited with her beloved Victor.

What is remembered lives.

Great evening with the Feri Folk

What fun on Friday nite! 

A great bunch of Feri Students from all three of my classes and myself met up at Shogun ( my favorite sushi restaurant, on Pacific in Santa Cruz) for a marvelous meal and then we trooped up the street to the Perfumer's Apprentice to make our own magickal scents. Linda, the owner, served us tea and cookies and offered us guidance and instruction in her lovely shoppe, which we had all to ourselves by prior arrangement. 

http://www.perfumersapprentice.com/

Several of the celebrants were surprised at how much fun they had and said so! this may be one of the 'annual' events that happens for FireDrake Feri Folk.

If you find the idea appealing, please perpetrate this idea with your own group. I call it the Feri Sushi and Scent Social, but you can call it whatever it so pleases.