The long burning fire
Last night dannarra and I got together to hold a summer solstice ritual.
dannarra and I had held vigil together for the winter solstice, so getting together for the summer solstice only seemed fitting. That said, our work for this was much smaller in scope and scale. The intention was to get together for the final light of the longest day, to take it in, to ruminate on what it meant to us, and what was important to us going forward in the year. We did just that.
A few hours before sundown, we set out to the circle we had made in the woods last fall. dannarra had been out there in advance of this day, clearing some growth from our space. I brought some of my unscented candles (Ikea, FTW!) and my singing bowl. We also had a log for the brazier. We walked about the circle a bit, speaking about our thoughts for the evening and other random factors. I set up the candles on the stones outside the circle, but didn’t light them yet. I put marks upon dannarra forehead, shoulders and chest, marks to tune her to the moment. She put marks upon my forehead. Thereafter, we set about gathering the debris from the circle, throwing anything wooden into the brazier for later.
Once the ground was cleared, dannarra lit the candles, addressing them with her own words, each in turn, speaking to the north, west, south, and east. She returned to the circle. I walked the circle with my singing bowl, chiming it one time as I stood on the line between each candle and the brazier. Thereafter, I handed the bowl to dannarra. She drew a long song out of it. As she was doing this, I could see gentle ripples in the energy, flowing out from the center of our site. It settled everything down, clearing the space finally.
I set the bowl aside, and the fire was lit. It was hot, so hot that it was difficult to be within the circle with it, yet we both stayed. In its light, and in the light of the fading day, we spoke about our thoughts on this work, on our hopes for the summer, and year to come, and many other subjects.
dannarra had been feeling particularly in touch with music lately, as part of her spiritual work, and had made up a song recently. She wanted to share it with me. She sung it, with increasing enthusiasm. It felt like a song for children, but it was full life and energy. It was delightful, and felt like a gift.
As the day drew down, my sense of presence rose. There were many eyes upon us, so I felt, and suggestions of motion just at the edges of my vision. dannarra was having similar experiences. One distinct presence was a black woman dressed in white, along with a white head wrapping. This was not the first time that I’d seen this woman at dannarra’s place. Her presence seems to live there. She was standing off at a distance, watching the two of us working; her look was like that of a parent - she had a look of concern, as if she were afraid we might hurt ourselves, yet it was clear from her stance that she had no intention to intervene. Both dannarra and I felt another large presence out there, moving slowly about it. We worked together to get a sense of the direction it was in; it felt earthen, and like a giant. It drifted by, slowly, watching, but it also didn’t move to interfere.
I had several other peculiar visions. At one point, my vision went inverse for a moment, everything looking like a photo-negative, and thereafter all the world seemed flat and close. It was as if I was watching everything on a screen just a few feet away, and that 3D was just an illusion, just like it is in many movies nowadays. This wasn’t bothersome to me; it rather fit with a feeling that I frequently have.
The fire burned on, well after the end of the longest day. We stayed with it until it was done; once it finally settled away completely, dannarra went around, sending her thanks out in each of the four directions, and blowing out the candles. Our eyes quickly adjusted, we gathered our stuff, and headed out of the forest in the starlight.
I was quite glad to had taken this time and done this. I felt very satisfied by the work, and was further encouraged to continue to engage in this sort of ritual.
This entry was originally posted at http://majes.dreamwidth.org/444353.html. Please comment here using OpenID. There are currently
comments
dannarra and I had held vigil together for the winter solstice, so getting together for the summer solstice only seemed fitting. That said, our work for this was much smaller in scope and scale. The intention was to get together for the final light of the longest day, to take it in, to ruminate on what it meant to us, and what was important to us going forward in the year. We did just that.
A few hours before sundown, we set out to the circle we had made in the woods last fall. dannarra had been out there in advance of this day, clearing some growth from our space. I brought some of my unscented candles (Ikea, FTW!) and my singing bowl. We also had a log for the brazier. We walked about the circle a bit, speaking about our thoughts for the evening and other random factors. I set up the candles on the stones outside the circle, but didn’t light them yet. I put marks upon dannarra forehead, shoulders and chest, marks to tune her to the moment. She put marks upon my forehead. Thereafter, we set about gathering the debris from the circle, throwing anything wooden into the brazier for later.
Once the ground was cleared, dannarra lit the candles, addressing them with her own words, each in turn, speaking to the north, west, south, and east. She returned to the circle. I walked the circle with my singing bowl, chiming it one time as I stood on the line between each candle and the brazier. Thereafter, I handed the bowl to dannarra. She drew a long song out of it. As she was doing this, I could see gentle ripples in the energy, flowing out from the center of our site. It settled everything down, clearing the space finally.
I set the bowl aside, and the fire was lit. It was hot, so hot that it was difficult to be within the circle with it, yet we both stayed. In its light, and in the light of the fading day, we spoke about our thoughts on this work, on our hopes for the summer, and year to come, and many other subjects.
dannarra had been feeling particularly in touch with music lately, as part of her spiritual work, and had made up a song recently. She wanted to share it with me. She sung it, with increasing enthusiasm. It felt like a song for children, but it was full life and energy. It was delightful, and felt like a gift.
As the day drew down, my sense of presence rose. There were many eyes upon us, so I felt, and suggestions of motion just at the edges of my vision. dannarra was having similar experiences. One distinct presence was a black woman dressed in white, along with a white head wrapping. This was not the first time that I’d seen this woman at dannarra’s place. Her presence seems to live there. She was standing off at a distance, watching the two of us working; her look was like that of a parent - she had a look of concern, as if she were afraid we might hurt ourselves, yet it was clear from her stance that she had no intention to intervene. Both dannarra and I felt another large presence out there, moving slowly about it. We worked together to get a sense of the direction it was in; it felt earthen, and like a giant. It drifted by, slowly, watching, but it also didn’t move to interfere.
I had several other peculiar visions. At one point, my vision went inverse for a moment, everything looking like a photo-negative, and thereafter all the world seemed flat and close. It was as if I was watching everything on a screen just a few feet away, and that 3D was just an illusion, just like it is in many movies nowadays. This wasn’t bothersome to me; it rather fit with a feeling that I frequently have.
The fire burned on, well after the end of the longest day. We stayed with it until it was done; once it finally settled away completely, dannarra went around, sending her thanks out in each of the four directions, and blowing out the candles. Our eyes quickly adjusted, we gathered our stuff, and headed out of the forest in the starlight.
I was quite glad to had taken this time and done this. I felt very satisfied by the work, and was further encouraged to continue to engage in this sort of ritual.
This entry was originally posted at http://majes.dreamwidth.org/444353.html. Please comment here using OpenID. There are currently
comments