May Day Ritual
Today Silver Falls Grove celebrated out 2010 May Day ritual.
In truth, it was a really odd ritual! Before the ritual began myself and Drake walked in the Akron Area Interfaith Council's "Walk to Stop Hunger" and my sister and her little girls joined us. And Matt stayed behind to watch the ritual space. It was a good walk. We got slowed a might by the girls, which isn't surprising really. I did ok, my left shin hurt pretty badly for about a 1/2 mile there but felt fine after the walk and feels fine now. I used to suffer from shin splints when I was heavily involved in martial arts and while I was in the Army but that is the first time they have bothered me in years. I think it was more mental then actual residual injury. I think I just got tired and that is how my brain was telling me.
It had threatened to rain all day but all we got during the walk was a few sprinkles. We waited until the last minute to set up for an outdoor rite and of course, as soon as we did, it started raining a little harder. I was completely willing to tough it out but a few others were not so keen on the idea. I admit I got a little frustrated at one point. A few people were really adamant about doing our Spring Rite outdoors and I had to basically tell them no (because the weather was so unpredictable and the ritual space was very muddy -- and the church really didn't want us out there yet until it dried out some) and I was committed to doing this rite outdoors unless the weather turned really ugly. I know no one meant it that way but at one point I just felt like "I can't win!"
Anywho ... after a little discussion we realized that some of our members had a EZ-Up Canopy with them. It wasn't huge but, in part due to the weather I think, we didn't have a huge crowd so we put the canopy up and all huddled beneath it. It seemed to work well for keeping the most of the rain off us. It wasn't perfect, of course, but in the end did a great job. The rite itself went well for the most part. One of the issues of everyone huddled so close together is that there was a lot of incidental speaking to each other during the rite but it wasn't a bad thing. In fact it made for a close, family feel that I really enjoyed.
We honored the Kindreds with Freyr and Freyja as our Key Offerings. I called Thor as our champion and is always the case when I call him I just felt power flowing through me. Intense stuff. Everyone did an excellent job and our omens where pretty great. The gentlemen who took the omen works with Anglo-Saxon runes and one of them I am not very familiar with so excuse me if I get it wrong. The Omen was Uruz, the aurochs, power, might, wild possibility, Ior, the world serpent, boundary and regeneration, and Sowillo, the sun, the blessing of the season. I thought it was a pretty awesome sauce omen for the season. We took the blessing and did a few workings like burning away all that we didn't need, including our longing from the long dark. We named our May King (who was Billy this year) and he then blessed us by wishing us all luck and growth in the summer ahead while handing out clooties we then placed our hopes and desires for the summer season into said clooties and tied that to our representation of the world tree (Ubu looks very pretty!). Yeah, I know that is a bit of cultural borrowing between the Germanic and Gaelic cultures but actually ... I thought it worked well.
We then closed the rite and had some food goodies and then hung out under the canopy for a little while just visiting and hanging out together. I got to spend some time just talking with Billy and it was nice. He is a good guy (though a bit intense sometimes) it was nice just visiting with him. I think he is starting to feel close the Grove (even though he isn't an official member) and that makes me happy.
All in all it was a good day. We did our community service and honored the wheel of the year. And as they say ... good omens and no one died! Good ritual.
In truth, it was a really odd ritual! Before the ritual began myself and Drake walked in the Akron Area Interfaith Council's "Walk to Stop Hunger" and my sister and her little girls joined us. And Matt stayed behind to watch the ritual space. It was a good walk. We got slowed a might by the girls, which isn't surprising really. I did ok, my left shin hurt pretty badly for about a 1/2 mile there but felt fine after the walk and feels fine now. I used to suffer from shin splints when I was heavily involved in martial arts and while I was in the Army but that is the first time they have bothered me in years. I think it was more mental then actual residual injury. I think I just got tired and that is how my brain was telling me.
It had threatened to rain all day but all we got during the walk was a few sprinkles. We waited until the last minute to set up for an outdoor rite and of course, as soon as we did, it started raining a little harder. I was completely willing to tough it out but a few others were not so keen on the idea. I admit I got a little frustrated at one point. A few people were really adamant about doing our Spring Rite outdoors and I had to basically tell them no (because the weather was so unpredictable and the ritual space was very muddy -- and the church really didn't want us out there yet until it dried out some) and I was committed to doing this rite outdoors unless the weather turned really ugly. I know no one meant it that way but at one point I just felt like "I can't win!"
Anywho ... after a little discussion we realized that some of our members had a EZ-Up Canopy with them. It wasn't huge but, in part due to the weather I think, we didn't have a huge crowd so we put the canopy up and all huddled beneath it. It seemed to work well for keeping the most of the rain off us. It wasn't perfect, of course, but in the end did a great job. The rite itself went well for the most part. One of the issues of everyone huddled so close together is that there was a lot of incidental speaking to each other during the rite but it wasn't a bad thing. In fact it made for a close, family feel that I really enjoyed.
We honored the Kindreds with Freyr and Freyja as our Key Offerings. I called Thor as our champion and is always the case when I call him I just felt power flowing through me. Intense stuff. Everyone did an excellent job and our omens where pretty great. The gentlemen who took the omen works with Anglo-Saxon runes and one of them I am not very familiar with so excuse me if I get it wrong. The Omen was Uruz, the aurochs, power, might, wild possibility, Ior, the world serpent, boundary and regeneration, and Sowillo, the sun, the blessing of the season. I thought it was a pretty awesome sauce omen for the season. We took the blessing and did a few workings like burning away all that we didn't need, including our longing from the long dark. We named our May King (who was Billy this year) and he then blessed us by wishing us all luck and growth in the summer ahead while handing out clooties we then placed our hopes and desires for the summer season into said clooties and tied that to our representation of the world tree (Ubu looks very pretty!). Yeah, I know that is a bit of cultural borrowing between the Germanic and Gaelic cultures but actually ... I thought it worked well.
We then closed the rite and had some food goodies and then hung out under the canopy for a little while just visiting and hanging out together. I got to spend some time just talking with Billy and it was nice. He is a good guy (though a bit intense sometimes) it was nice just visiting with him. I think he is starting to feel close the Grove (even though he isn't an official member) and that makes me happy.
All in all it was a good day. We did our community service and honored the wheel of the year. And as they say ... good omens and no one died! Good ritual.