Summer Storms

We held our MidSummer Solstice on Friday June 19th,
our wedding anniversary, rather than on the solstice proper, because we run an art program at the Clearwater Revival on the weekend and we try to always make the timing of our gatherings accessible to most. We probably were breaking sticks at the exact time of solstice.
 
Summer is as always non-stop.
Endless flowers bloom, lots of fruit, rainstorms for days, events ongoing, lists long, daydreaming paramount.
 
Ritual day was nice and simple,
even with overbooked time,
right on schedule,
cooking, cleaning,
setting up & gathering.  

It is a given that folks won’t show up,
and really all we truly care about is that we are present,
that we properly invite and honor and sacrifice.

A perfect balance of 4 adults and one teenager.
The one sunny gentle summer day of the week.
Lots of cherries, lots of flowers, lots of love.

 

the fire artfully crafted as always went up quickly, brilliantly, fully, and with great gusto. Made up of branches from our sacred trees that we have planted, stems and seed heads from last year’s harvest, and a bit of hidden chicken fat.    
                             

beer and flowers and birch branches and fruit.
and also three kinds of sage-ours, hers and white incense
as particular sacrifice and prayers
for healing, renewal and peace.

  
final sacrifice of our wormwood and scraps of science project

 

          

our omens
from our Ancestors: Odul/Othala-sacred enclosure, what we keep & protect. Also referred to as ancestral wealth or immobile property
from the Spirits of Nature & Place: Wunjo -Joy
from the Gods & Goddesses: Ingwaz-an expansive fertility growth, action, the God Ing, doing, thinking, being, the seminal or the catalyst, the seed
for the Season:Fehu-fee, mobile wealth
 

so grateful for all the love, all the goodies, all the flowers,
all the gifts that we get to live each day, friends, family, blessings to all.