MidSummer (from the other side)

Just now on this Interdependence Day burning the last of the sage offering unused at ritual and now clearing the whole house, each of the directions, circling each of the rooms, 

the central staircase from attic to basement, each of the doorways, the perimeter of the house, the walkway, the circle, the self and back to the hearth.

MidSummer is this streaming heat

 and sweat and tears and energy and events and schedules and friends and family.

Unlike Equinox, there is little balance, just extended time, dream or a-wakened.

The quiet moments are filled with birdsong. 

The busy moments are filled with everything else.

The garden is now a riot of color. 

Each day new flowers bloom. It is glorious. 

And busy. 

We ran headlong into MidSummer,

from end of school, to our anniversaries, to high season of work.

Even with days off, the catastrophes of computers

delayed or held hostage actual set up,

vacuuming in the heat, racing to the store, giving up with pizza.

It's summer.

Many folks who haven't been here might have shown up,

but just her, our regional Druid, charming and shining like the sun, made it.

And all the long time grove family,

though we did not hear from one, he-who-is-always-here-at-the-solstices and who was missed, though remembered with love.

And just at the start of our procession, they showed up too. 

I knew they would.
Teenager, Bryan, me and 3 other grove women, her and them.

Its always good to go into the woods,

silently over the moss, and past memories grown up.

Lots of flowers, petals, oils, food, beer, sage, garlic,
old magic newspapers, stuff in pockets

Whole prayers out loud, quiet and silent.

Now it a month past MidSummer, 

I can see the imperceptible loss of daylight.
Drought and raging thunderstorms define this high summertime.
There are no pictures of all our sacrifice, nor can I remember much.
Trying to really be here and present, to pray whole and holy grounded on the earth.
Prayers for peace and gentleness always.
Gratitude for love, the simple joys of love.

 

Our Omens:

from our Ancestors: Elhaz or Protection, the Elk Sedge. Drawing on natural powers or allowing previously suppressed powers to surface, luck in the hunt, success through strong and rewarded effort
from the Spirits of Nature and Place: Eihwaz or the Ewe Tree or Death's Hook or also identified with Yggdrasil (the World Tree). The Axis symbol of eternal life, links between the worlds, the space and the force that links opposites and the energy between them
from the Gods & Goddesses: Kenaz or the Torch. The ability to shape and craft and to light the way.
For the Season: Gibor/Gebo or Giving.
Let's shine our light of loving energy as our protective power of giving.

Magic is in the here and now, in each petal, in the bird calls and the clouds, in the shining eyes and kind hearts of each of us, in the faint trickle or loud rush of the stream. How we come together, making meals from nothing or from all the same food, or from what we forgot to get or to offer or to share;
how time passes both quickly and incrementally, kids growing large but just the same in spirit, memories overlapping dreams overlapping the present;
how we live and love each day is all there is.