My morning started with a discussion at my campsite of politics and the importance of tone. DJ was attending the festival and she is also running for treasurer on the CAW BoD as well as applying as a clergy postulant. She will have her first questioning at Starwood. It was interesting to hear her take on the politics as she also is living at CAW Central.
Then I went to Jack's workshop on "Freedom in the Age of Aquarius." He spoke of the roots of the word freedom and how it relates to friends and dear ones. We talked about the need for appropriate boundaries and the tolerance of differences. It is important to tolerate individual differences to allow personal freedom but we also spoke of community boundaries that are developed by the customs and behaviors that a group finds acceptable. What do we do then when our personal boundaries are crossed or the group's boundaries are crossed? One thing that was brought up was taking the personal responsibility to let someone know when they are about to or are crossing your boundaries. It isn't really fair to expect someone to know where they are or to blame them for crossing them but at the same time it is important to defend them in an appropriate way. Freedom is a kind of negotiation in some ways. One isn't free if others are always crossing our boundaries and causing us significant discomfort but neither are others free if they must always restrict their behavior in ways that are uncomfortable for them. So having freedom is also about choice - the ability and right to choose for ourselves.
Delta's playshop on prayer flags followed the Freedom workshop and people developed prayer flags of the magick that they wanted to do in the main ritual. Some of them were developed around healing CAW, others around personal symbols but they were all interesting and reflective of their makers. They would be put on the altar and charged up in the main ritual on Sunday. Participants then could either take them home or leave them at SweetWood. I was feeling tired as I had not gotten to sleep until late but had awakened before dawn. So I wandered off midway through the playshop and Tom and I went back to our tent for an afternoon nap.
Later was the renewal of wedding vows for Jack Chocolate and Sherry who have been married 25 years. They officiated at it themselves for the most part with some able help by our Jack as priest. They asked me to call fire and when I asked what they had in mind, Sherry told me they had pretty much asked people whom they saw as in some way embodying or reflecting the elements. I was flattered that they saw me as relating to fire. I tend to see myself far more as air - intellect and reason. However, I am certainly drawn to passion and inspiration.
The circle was drawn by having us unroll a braided cord as we entered the circle area one by one and then drop it behind us creating the boundary. It was a silver and gold and white cord, silver for moon/woman/Sherry, I think, and gold for Sun/man/Jack. The white was for their love. After the elements were called they did their vows. There was a watersharing with Sherry carrying the cup around to each of us, and Jack offering us the bread. It was a very nice community sharing. After that we all took hold of the cord again and charged it up. Sharing the bonding rituals like this in our community is one of the special things about our Branch Festivals, at least for me. We are living far apart from each other and are not really able to participate in each other's lives on an ongoing basis but through these kinds of events we can weave the pattern of our lives to include each other as a community. That's what being a tribe is about in part.
After dinner we got together to go over the main ritual so that everyone would know what was happening, particularly those actually having a role in it. Later a symposium honoring Hermes and the realm of communication got started but never really took off. Jack describes a symposium as drinking together from the old meanings of the word and models it after Greek? Or Roman? I don't remember and getting together to drink watered wine together and discuss weighty topics. He made an invocation to Hermes and the wine was put in ice in a huge cauldron in the center under the central canopy/tent. But somehow the conversation drifted off into little clusters. One small group that I was in was back to politics. Another tried to get some singing going. Another was talking about other things. Finally another group took off to the circle area and got a small bonfire going, played music, and danced. I missed the group activity of other years where the whole group joins in discussion together. I am not sure why it didn't work this year. Perhaps the politics that were rampant, perhaps that it didn't really start out with a group focus. One person was talking about what they wanted to do with their life, perhaps teach and Jack tried to turn that into a discussion of communication in the teaching situation. I think that it might have been better to begin with a round so that each person had the chance to speak to the issue in turn to give a more focused start but I don't really know if that would have changed the energy or not.
Copyright © 2001 Kyril Oakwind