Litha & Drumming
Yesterday the owner of the local Pagan shop invited me to her Litha ritual that was being held at the shop. I was slightly hesitant at first, I have no background in Wicca besides the massive amounts of incense I burned in high school thinking it was magic. Well, that was what I *thought* was Wicca at the time. Oh how I've grown..
Rick gave me a run through on how the ritual was going to go, clearly seeing that I had no idea what to expect. I brought my drum and asked if I could place some songs throughout the ritual. I ended up singing "O Ma Ma Ma" to call the Earth quarter, and a couple of other songs when people were making offerings just to keep the energy up. It was a nice experience, and my drum was very happy to be useful in ritual! In fact I was very happy to be useful in ritual. Don't get me wrong - I've never felt like I wasn't needed in ritual, but this time I had a part. And I had a part no one else could play. And dammit, I played it well!
Brandi (the owner) mentioned that she has trouble getting people to participate. Like I said in my last post, if you have a drum, people will participate. It's like a law of Sociology that only band geeks are privy to. You play a drum in the band room and sooner or later you'll find a straggler skipping class that comes in and either plays or does the band dances. Never fails. Anyway, at first when I was drumming everyone was still standing rigid, but I noticed that as I went on more knees started bouncing. Then hips were rocking and arms were starting to sway. It was magical to watch, really. When people joined into sing though, that was what really brought the group unity together.
Afterwards we did the standard potluck/bullshit feast. The highlight was Rick asking me "So, in ADF do you guys do any work with OBOD at all?"
Haha, I laughed at that one all day.
It was a good day though. Such a shame I had to leave shortly after for work. But alas, me and my drum were invited back so there will be more endeavors in the future.
Happy Monday!
Rick gave me a run through on how the ritual was going to go, clearly seeing that I had no idea what to expect. I brought my drum and asked if I could place some songs throughout the ritual. I ended up singing "O Ma Ma Ma" to call the Earth quarter, and a couple of other songs when people were making offerings just to keep the energy up. It was a nice experience, and my drum was very happy to be useful in ritual! In fact I was very happy to be useful in ritual. Don't get me wrong - I've never felt like I wasn't needed in ritual, but this time I had a part. And I had a part no one else could play. And dammit, I played it well!
Brandi (the owner) mentioned that she has trouble getting people to participate. Like I said in my last post, if you have a drum, people will participate. It's like a law of Sociology that only band geeks are privy to. You play a drum in the band room and sooner or later you'll find a straggler skipping class that comes in and either plays or does the band dances. Never fails. Anyway, at first when I was drumming everyone was still standing rigid, but I noticed that as I went on more knees started bouncing. Then hips were rocking and arms were starting to sway. It was magical to watch, really. When people joined into sing though, that was what really brought the group unity together.
Afterwards we did the standard potluck/bullshit feast. The highlight was Rick asking me "So, in ADF do you guys do any work with OBOD at all?"
Haha, I laughed at that one all day.
It was a good day though. Such a shame I had to leave shortly after for work. But alas, me and my drum were invited back so there will be more endeavors in the future.
Happy Monday!