MidSummer Season

There was the heat and then the smoke.
Rest and Ground.
 Then the much needed rain
intense at times as it was
brought back the cloud
of burnt particulate matter
that had been rasping 
our throats or eyes or heads
or spirit
(if we let it in)
after a day of once again remembering 
blue skies
and clear air.

Then tornado warnings,
then flooding,
though the land is still so dry,
and then cold.

So it goes
with weather now-
dangerously hot
or dry
or hazardous air quality
or other imbalance.
Giving thanks for it all,
love our atmosphere,
even compromised 
as we have made it
ever changing
nonetheless. 

 

MidSummertime
as pinnacle
is always pleasantly over the top
and then we start to descend
to the busy times of harvest
and endings
and transformation.

We drift and linger
in this languorous time,
endless dawn and dusk.

There's been a lot of clearing 
this season,
some good some hard
some tragic some liberating
all healing
in it's own way.
These long days
belie the speed of time
but the garden blooms
anyway.

Some random notes and pics from ritual:

solar prominence 

Wild Powerful Big Hot Fire
 not out of control
just huge
and expressive

Orange flower petals
for our beloved dead
flying up endlessly
on the heat thermals
30 feet or more
all around me
but
I was the only 
person not seeing it

focusing

listening

 the Solstices are an extended 
celebration of light
(or dark)
days set aside to the fullness
of cleaning and hosting
and making prep and food
simple summer slowness
and abundance 

setting up the house
the land
for MidSummer
is good for the soul
wildflowers fill the house
mostly white, some yellow
and the purples and oranges

we are going with ease
through the days
as best we can

 

just as I am done 
prepping before ritual
someone pulls into the parking lot,
it is Elizabeth!
Our Whole Grove!
Solstice toast with her mead. 

the full roundness of the airplane
continuing on and resonating
until Bryan was done
chiming the chimes
three times

 

sitting or laying on the Earth or sitting in chairs
or leaning against a tree
we were
11 humans and one very good dog

the fierceness of the flame
directionally displaying
but not dangerous
flow 

good fire/good smoke
consuming all sacrifice
tired but jubilant
peaceful

old citrus for the tree
coins for the well
duck fat paper towel for the fire

let this fire be a good fire

lots of dried flowers from the Beltaine Season 
as sacrifice for MidSummer's

the portal of presence
may we all find
our place
may we balance
night and day
work and play
grief and joy

feel the energy coming up 
from the Earth
and down from the sky
and moving within you

 

It seems appropriate that our MidSummer fire
was huge and bright and strong. 
May this season strengthen
our hearts, spirits, vision
and resolve.

 

Our Omens:

From Our Honored Dead: Raido- Communication, completed circuit, a ride and safe journey
From the Spirits of Nature & Place: Sowelu- the Sun!
From the Gods & Godesses: Hagalaz - Hail, disruption
For the Season:Eihwaz- the Yew, the spindle, the World Tree, connector of opposites and that which we revolve around

Stay safe, shine on, shit always happens, keep going

  

feast!

 

The Greening of The May- Beltanetide

 

 May begins as it always does:
fixing and adding ribbons 
gathering flowers from the trees
and adorning the crown
of the Pole,
uncovering and making offerings 
to the hole
the egg balanced from Equinox
into the Earth Mother.

Bless us with good planting, growth and harvests,
may our creativity thrive,
may beauty and joy surround us
even
or especially
during these times
of great sorrow, grief and chaos and destruction.

Though there has been a bit of intense heat this month,
rapid forcing blooming,
this slow cool and gentle season
has been a great blessing.
Everything is in full green, nonetheless.

There is no stopping
the cycle of seasons
the cycle of life
and death.

Some irises bloom for only a day, 
some for maybe a week
before weighed down with flowers
they fold.

 

May we always be weighed down with flowers.

Hummingbirds arrived right on time,
even though chilly nights
close to frost
hold bees still 
till long after sunrise
now wonderfully early.

Everything is alive now,
right now,
this moment,
the long Winter
of silence and cold
barely a vague remembrance of a dream.

Welcome Summer,
ready or not,
here I come.

some random notes and pictures from our ritual 
-in no real order but memory-
nothing conveys the actual 
but only invokes inspiration

"Cal is in Charge"
letting go of hosting and doing
in order to center and ground

the heavy wait/weight
left in its wake
a timeless blank
empty and open
focusing on the self
without it being all about you

in one door and
out the other

Wondrous permeating quality of Nature
all interconnected
inside of us and outside of our form
just being in our body

the energy of shining forth

lipstick stories
in the kitchen

just being 

using what you have
and going with where you at

 

old citrus for the directions
tossed
without standing up
without hitting people 

after honoring the directions
Bryan read his transcription
of the Druid Peace Prayer

let my light radiate from me

grounded simplicity 
of existence

willow leaf aspersion
from the Well
that which goes down deep
and from which we draw up  

Sacrifice for our Beloved Bridget

 

high winds
fire warnings
being safe

for this moment, this time
we are in sacred space

I want to invoke protection
I want to pray for peace and justice
 yet all I can do 
is say thanks

the drum and the gong
wind chimes and bird song

 

we do have more 
control of our inside weird than we think
and it's good to have 
these outside spirits
to help

comfortable
&
comforting

 chiming of chimes
crackling of fire
and rattling of runes 

 Our Omens

from our Honored Dead: Othala- Sacred Enclosure, a legacy passed down from our Ancestors
from the Nature Spirits: Ansuz/OS (mouth)- the Voice 
on the Wind, Odin's Wisdom communicating ecstasy, 
Odin's Cape flapping in the woods, Peacemaker
from the Gods & Goddesses: Ingwaz- Being and Doing, 
being in the present, becoming in the future,
evolving from the past, active & alive, potential
for the Season: Raido- Communication, the Completed Circuit, radio radio, progression forward
 
OANGR 

 giving the vegetable world
its spiritual due

 last year's mullein and sunflower stalk
burning in the air 

 we have never been in control

thank you Winter
for not killing us
thank you Winter
for passing
thank you Winter for the snow

Welcome Summer
we give thanks for you
for your fruitfulness
for your flowers
for your opportunity 

Guramahagat- singular thanks
Guramahageeve- thanks to the many

open to possibilities
creation of sacred and safe space

trying to rescue the trapped ribbon
with a long forked stick 
we made do with an uneven number of ribbons
but an abundance of silliness and joy

ask for support and folks gratefully provide

 a great and bounteous feast for all

a circle of Cernunnos triangle cookies 

fire safety first

14 humans and a whipped cream loving dog

May ends as it always does
(this year with a full Blue Moon hidden behind clouds but felt)
putting away the Maypole for another year
Gods willing we will dance it again.