It was a great weekend. We had our Imbolc ritual. Saturday started out to be one of those days when Ken and Linda called to say they wouldn't be at the Grok Healing group; then Phoenix and Jonathan arrived but couldn't make it up the last hill. He had front wheel drive but with the inch of snow that we got on friday, on top of some ice, it wasn't passable without 4-wheel drive. I emailed everyone to warn them of the drive's condition but he was sure that he would be able to make it. Live and learn:)
Tom spent an hour getting him up the last hill. They shoveled. They dumped ash up and down the hill and finally they made it up to the top. They unloaded 4 bags of food! for the potluck, and then took the car back out the other end so we wouldn't have to pull him out later.
Phoenix commented on our not being upset. I told her it wasn't any problem for me (since Tom did all the work to get them out.) Tom said to me there wasn't any point in getting upset. This wasn't the first time and won't be the last time we have to pull a car out of the drive in the winter.
Kel attended our circle for the first time. It was nice to have her. She volunteered to do a quarter and brought a delicious cherry Kijafa. Yum. Luckily she had 4-wheel drive. Richard, a member of StarDragon Branch of CAW, also came. He had 4-wheel drive too. I suggested that having 4-wheel drive should be a membership requirement for the nest:)
The ritual was the usual mix of nice experience and disorganization; something I am trying to get used to. I prefer a much more focused and traditional style. We invoked Bridget, blessed candles for the coming year with a chant "she shines for all, she burns within us all" that I found on the web. Phoenix came up with a slow melodic tune and we danced around the candles to charge them. Finally we began swinging our arms in and up as we moved into the center and back out again like children at play. It seemed to work amazingly well and produced a kind of blissful and peaceful feeling.
We did a purification of all the rooms in our house with sage and water (that had some water from Bridget's well in it. We purified ourselves. We did a healing for one of our nest members who was experiencing some pain.
The nest members spent the night. In the morning we went into the hot tub together. What a treat! One of our lovely nest members dashed out of the hot tub and rolled in the snow. What a sight to see the snow sticking to her naked steaming body! She hooted and hollered then dashed back to the hot tub. After warming up again she dashed out again for another roll. Inspired by the site another member dashed out into the snow for a roll. Our two lovely nymphs decided to do it three times, a sacred and magickal number. I enjoyed every minute watching them in the snow while I was relaxed in the hot water.
Copyright © 2001 Kyril Oakwind