Yesterday was one of those days when it was just Sam Hill foolish to be out in a car driving around. We got a glaze of freezing rain that just made every surface stone cold perfect for a hockey game.
This can put quite a crimp in a Druid Grove ritual if your members are stretched out over a 70-mile radius.
I suppose it was last Friday that I suggested our Grove meet at my house pending the precipitation. (We usually meet in a gorgeous state park in Pennsylvania.) I live just a few miles east of Philadelphia.
Considering the elements, we had a nice turnout ... six brave gals who live in the general vicinity of Philly, or within the city limits itself.
Everyone was late, of course. This was one of those afternoons when you had to de-glaze the car before you could move it. But eventually we assembled, had lunch, and contemplated doing our ritual in a little swath of county park near my house. (Former home of the dread Tiki, now banished.)
Our group faced two stumbling points. For the first time we had no Male Druid to read the Male Druid lines. And we had no mistletoe. The Druid who planned to bring the mistletoe lives in Allentown, PA, where every kind of frozen thing the sky can dish out was falling in quantity.
Hmmm. Mistletoe is central to the Solstice ritual. What's to be done?
This is what I love about having a religion that has no written record dictating every little picky thing. It happened that I had a swag of silk mistletoe. I said, "Would the ancient Druids object to our using this? I think not." So we used it.
EXHIBIT A: SKIP COULDN'T MAKE IT
Male Druid. On this date we were an all-female company. So I went to Mr. Johnson's home office, where he sat hunched over his email.
"We need a Male Druid," I said.
He said, "I haven't washed."
"Doesn't matter," I said.
He said, "You are kidding, right?"
I said yes, of course, I long ago had enough of trying to push religion on family members who haven't washed. So he begged off.
I did the Male Druid part myself. Again, do I think this offended the bored gods sacred to the Celts? Of course not! They're thrilled that anyone would gather in a woods and pray for peace from the Four Quarters! They even showered our ritual with unexpected sunshine! When I turned to face West, that big old star just beamed right into my eager eyeballs.
If your religion is written in stone so you can't adapt to changing circumstances, perhaps you're in the wrong religion. There are many, many, many bored gods and goddesses out there with the big, broad, flexible outlook. Silk mistletoe? No prob, my dears. Gender imbalance? Who cares? Everyone's equal in the love of the bored gods.
Our operators are standing by to take your call.
12 comments:
The sunshine was magic - not only did it come through at just the right time, it lit up all the ice like crystal and dazzled the grove.
How beautiful to be able to spend the solstice with those of a like mind. Sounds like a true magical moment, out there with the bored gods.
Hell hath no fury in THIS household like a Priestess Scorned.........I would be an outcast in my own Castle if I didn't support THE Wife in her ritual.
Will it be the candlestick? The vase? In the library?
This chsomic comment was brought to you by PENDRAGON HOLD, home of warm, balmy Winter Solstices.
PHOTO = Best Druid Ever!
Sounds like you had an excellent Yule.
My blessings, anyway!
Love,
Terri in Joburg
Nice job!
Skip is a great guy. Too bad he didn't make it.
-Fred.
I loved this write up! (And posted it, as I so often do, to MetaPagan.)
This is the real, glamorous, and exciting world of True Pagan Worship, isn't it? Using what comes to hand (hey, at least the mistletoe wasn't actually plastic!) and rolling with the punches...
Bright Blessings, Anne.
did I ever tell you how much I like you and your lovely mind?
well I do..
I personally think the gods, in their boredom, sometimes throw little things like that our way just to see if and how we will adapt.
I've told my wife I want that outfit. I'm not holding my breath. Rodger Cunningham
congrats on a dazzling frost-rhined Grove ceremony. Glad to hear it was a success!
I also agree with what you said there, that our creativity and Magic gets a nice boost when we rise to the occasion of "we don't have ____". It's the Druid thing to do too, right, making due with the natural (ie: silk) resources available locally?! :)
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