Week 17: 3rd High Holy Day Recap

Related to Requirement: #8 – High Days Attended 

Required Reading: None. 

I obviously need to still do week 16, the essay about the holiday, however, this one is a lot easier to do at work.

• How did the rite go in terms of structure? What things went wrong during the ritual? What things went right? 

While writing the ritual, I kept to the Grove's basic outline of ritual. So everything required for an ADF ritual was present. I am a crappy liturgist. I didn't practice nearly enough, or even read some parts out loud while writing them, so the rhythm was stupid and awful. But for all that, things went ok. It wasn't the most elegant ritual we've done, but we also weren't struck by lightning or set on fire.

• Who were the patrons of the rite, and who was the gatekeeper? 

Earthmother: Jord

Gatekeeper: Heimdall

Patron: Freya

• Did you have problems with saying the words without stumbling, or did everything come out smoothly? Did you forget to bring a sacrifice? 

Most of the speaking problems would have been solved by me reading things aloud and fixing the rhythm before we started ritual. One of the good parts of the Marvel movies being so popular is that folks know how to pronounce most of the major Gods in the Norse pantheon. The only one we had trouble with was Jord and that's just due to Germanic vs Spanish pronunciations. 

I remembered all the sacrifices... but we failed to remember cups or other forms of holder for them. So the liquid offerings were all held in a number of different (inappropriate) containers: a dice set box; a reusable cup from my favorite bar, my faire mug that I only had because it was attached to my belt... There are worse problems to have, but it was pretty embarrassing. The grain just got left in its ziplock bag, the incense and strawberries hung out on the table.

• Were you alone, or with a group? If you were with a group, did you say anything or do anything? 

As woefully under-prepared as I was... I led. So I did most of the speaking. I need to get better at both public speaking (SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!) and blessing things. 

• How did the rite go in terms of function and feeling? 

I think we adequately expressed our excitement that spring is finally here and summer is within sighting distance? I don't feel like we insulted anyone (and I included an extra sacrifice in case we did). It did feel rushed and awkward. I'm not sure if that's because I wrote it (maybe everyone thinks ritual they've written feels awkward?) or if it really was awkward as all get out.

• Did you feel anything during the ritual? Could you feel the presence of any deities, spirits, or powers? Did you experience doubt or confidence? Can you describe what happened? 

Group ritual is about the worst way for me to feel connected to anything. I can get through the Two Powers meditation, feel nice and connected... and then that disappears over the course of the ritual. Part of that is I'm spending as much time anticipating what needs to happen next as I do on the actual ritual. This time, the wind was a serious hindrance, kept blowing the ritual/ script around. I actually felt more connected as I was writing it than while I was performing it.

I try to do a second rite by myself within a couple of days of the holiday in an effort to actually feel connected to something, but there was just no chance of that happening this time. Last week was just too busy.

• If you were with a group, what did the other people say about what happened? 

No one said anything. Which my brain interprets as a sign that I failed miserably. But the folks who were there also don't generally discuss the ritual in specific terms afterwards. The 3 of us who are working on our DP do that... but the other two weren't there.

• What omens were drawn (if any), and what did they tell you?  

Ancestors:  Wunjo. The ancestors bring us joy and love.

Spirits:  Thuraz. The spirits bring us both the thorn in the path and the beauty of the rose. The thorn is both hazard to caution and protection against forces that wish us harm.

Deities:  Othala. The Gods bring us our inheritance and the joy of it. We are linked to our past and our future

• What else about the rite struck you, or do you want to share?

I did a shite job at organizing this. I should have practiced more and let other people know what assistance I needed from them. It wasn't a disaster, but it felt like one.

Week 16: 3rd High Holy Day Essay

Related to Requirement: 

#2 – Meaning and Discussion of High Days 

Required Reading: 

 Our Own Druidry, p. 62 - 74 (Hearth Cultures & High Days) 

 ADF Constitution, Article 4 

 The ADF Core Order of Ritual for High Days

Optional Reading: 

 Our Own Druidry, p. 51 - 75 (The Very Basics of Ritual); 

 A Crane Breviary and Guide Book by Rev. Michael J Dangler: <> 

 Appendix 1: Resources and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year in this book; 

 Step by Step through a Druid Worship Ceremony, <>; 

 The "Liturgy and Rituals" section of the ADF page, <> 

 The Three Cranes Grove, ADF, outline of ritual (with example prayers), <>

The May Cross-quarter is perhaps the closest fit between the popular conception of the holiday and the Norse hearth culture. The sudden resurgence of Walpurgis Night aside, May Day and Beltane celebrations can often be transferred with very little effort to be Norse focused. The Norse Goddess of fertility and beauty, Freyja, is also the goddess of magic and death. It is fitting that Maitag, devoted to the plenty of spring and summer as well as fertility rites of all kind, is preceded by Walpurgis Night, when the ancestors and spirits draw near.

Walpurgis night is celebrated with bonfires, feasting and dancing. The bonfires are used to keep away any spirits that mean harm or mischief. There is considerable debate regarding the origin of Walpurgis night. The name is known to dervive from St. Walburga of England who worked towards the Christianization of Germany in the Eighth Century. Little textural evidence exists that implies the celebrations pre-date St. Walburga. Simply the date of her canonization was conflated with the existing May Day celebrations and the holiday expanded.

May day is celebrated much the same way throughout the British Isles, Germany, and northern France: joy and dance that the spring has come and summer is coming. It is about this point in the agricultural year that it finally becomes warm enough to start planting the fields. The fruits and berries start to appear and milk and eggs become abundant. More than anything else, that is the message of May Day, that the days of plenty are here.

Week 15: Nine Virtues: Piety

I'm pretty sure writing 125 words on anything isn't supposed to be this hard. But I rather think the ADF definition provided in Our Druidry is bullpucky and my attempts to come up with a logical explanation that doesn't logic me into a corner isn't going well. 

At any rate, this is what I have so far:

“Correct observance of ritual and social traditions; the maintenance of the agreements, (both personal and societal), we humans have with the Gods and Spirits. Keeping the Old Ways, through ceremony and duty.”  ADF Dedicant Manual

• Reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations: a prayer full of piety.
• the quality or state of being pious: saintly piety.
• dutiful respect or regard for parents, homeland, etc.: filial piety.
• a pious act, remark, belief, or the like: the pieties and sacrifices of an austere life.

Dictionary.com

Piety, as an act, requires only actions in service of something greater than oneself. In terms of service and piety, there is no much difference between a soldier serving her country and and priest serving his God(s). It is the act of service that is the pious act. Piety is duty. Duty to the Gods, duty to the local spirits, duty to the surrounding community and family. It is part of the sacrifice made on a daily basis to ensure a functioning society. Piety asks one to serve others who are less fortunate; to take care of the the environment and recover what can be replanted; to trust the Gods’ wisdom and be their hands when they cannot act themselves. Piety is related to integrity/ honor and perseverance. While the easier thing in many cases may be to be selfish, honor and integrity demand service to something greater, Keeping the oaths and commitments made to others and the Gods. However, it is not enough to honor those oaths and commitments once. It is done repeatedly, until it has become embedded. It is the perseverance that takes a mundane task: standing at the altar for 20 minutes a day, meditating and turns it into service of the Gods and piety.

This is crap. I know it's crap. But piety isn't one of those things I have a clear mental definition of, and I have a bye week in a few weeks where I can sit down and revise things.

Week 14: Home Shrine Revisited

Tracking changes to my Altar/ shrine over the past 7 weeks.

Here's what it looked like in March:

February 25, 2014

Doesn't really look like much.  There's no cup for me to drink out of, while it's very uncluttered, it also doesn't really look personal.

After a couple of weeks of use, I added a cup and some other things to make devotionals a bit easier:

March 24, 2014

I switched things around to make it harder for Luna to try to set herself on fire, added candles (I didn't think there was enough light during full rituals), started sticking my incense sticks into the sand that holds my tree/pole. Replaced the citrine with quartz for clarity of thought, straightened out the strand of amethyst. The shallow bowl was originally there to hold any offerings, but it got moved to my travel kit. This is better than the original layout, but I'm still not happy with it.

I snapped this photo this morning:

April 29, 2014

It doesn't matter which side the flame is on, Luna still tries to set herself on fire. I removed the candles again because as much as I like having the extra light during full rituals, most of the time, I also need more space for those (In that case, the things I need get moved to either the coffee table in the living room or outside, depending on what I need). The candle that is currently on there is only there because my lamp ran out of oil over the weekend and I've not had the time to re-fill it. I've added 3 stone and pewter frogs as well, mostly because I like frogs. and they do make the entire thing look more like something I put together. I need to come up with a storage method for my rune staves (the popsicle sticks) rather than just being piled together. The tree/pole hasn't been shortened, I just framed the photo strangely.

I want to add a shelf above this to hold things like a box of keepsakes for the ancestors, maybe a deity image, seasonal flowers, and to hang some chimes from. I also want to re-finish the inside of the bowl. It's just stained, without any sealant, so if I forget to empty it in the morning after my devotional, the stain leeches out of the bowl and into the water. Eventually, there will also be a hook to hold my ritual beads. Once I make them (which needs to be this week). I'm still contemplating a plant for a tree/pole instead of a stripped branch, but at this point, I'm willing to just let things be.

As you can tell by the lighter and separated stave, I'm definitely using the altar as I have it set up. Most of the changes I want to make are cosmetic. I'll be changing the altar cloth Thursday if I have the energy, this coming weekend if not. I had a plan for a shelf, however, after scratching myself on a (rusty) nail trying to get the reclaimed wood I was going to use, that plan got scrapped in favor of not giving myself tetanus. I might try again on the next rainy day I have free, but not this week. I had to take down an entire fence, so I might as well make use of the wood before taking it to a mulching drop off.

Week 13: Nine Virtues: Wisdom

Ok, essay is finally complete. I'm really out of practice at writing essays on abstract ideas. Probably because I've not had to do it in... uh... well, at least 10 years.

Initial draft is below. This needs a bunch of revision, but I have a bye week coming up the second week of June, so I'm going to sit down and polish up a bunch of essays that week. This was far harder than it should have been to write. Probably because I just kept procrastinating.

“Wisdom: Good judgment, the ability to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the correct response.” ADF Dedicant Manual

“The quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.” Dictionary.com

Wisdom comes from the interplay between good judgement and moral action. Without both parts, wisdom becomes ignorance or rash action.

Good judgement can arise from both experience or lessons learned from others. Many things can be learned through experience (the stove is hot!), however, in some cases, the experience or knowledge sought can be obtained from others, through books or by simply asking (the consequences of war). The ability of humans to learn and apply knowledge not only from their own past but also the past experience of others can be argued to be one of the markers that sets humans apart.

Moral action is also a key component. Having the knowledge to advise on a situation but failing to act in accordance with that knowledge is a profoundly unethical act. There may be times where the ethical course of action is inaction, however, inaction is still an action. Moral action is an action that appropriately responds to a situation while aiming to reduce harm and magnify kindness.

Wisdom is intricately linked to both courage and vision. Vision is needed to foresee the consequences of an action and to take additional steps to lessen harm. It is sometimes impossible to avoid all harm, however, the virtuous harms the least and assists the most. Performing the wise, moral thing sometimes requires courage. What is right and what is easy are rarely the same action.

So yeah, obviously needs work, but once I have a draft, it gets a lot easier to manage.

Weeks 13-16 Gah. I'm so far behind!

Well, somehow, I went from being about half a week behind to being 4 weeks behind. Not sure how that happened, but it means I have a lot of catch up work to do this week.

Week 13: finish wisdom exercises and write essay-- DONE
week 14: altar changes and write up-- DONE
week 15: piety exercises and essay-- DONE
week 16: 3rd high holy day essay

So yeah. Lots of stuff to get to. And it's a busy week on top of all that: in addition to my normal social activities (Tuesday), the Grove is volunteering at the local soup kitchen on Thursday, we have ritual on Friday, and Earth Day and Druid Moon on Sunday. And somewhere in there, I need to watch my shows and a movie I've borrowed from a friend, bake things for ritual and druid moon, and sleep. I love being busy. It's great.

So yeah, expect updates this week. lots and lots of updates.

Week 13: Nine Virtues: Wisdom

Related to Requirement: #1 – Nine Virtues
Required Reading:

• Our Own Druidry, p. 15 (Virtue, Piety and Study); 
• Our Own Druidry, 85-90 (Lore and Essays) 

Suggested Reading:

• A Virtuous Life Nine Virtues study guide

But first, recap of last week since I didn't get anything up.

Some how I got ahead of the group, so I had a bye week last week. I used the time to create a set of rune staves and to spend lots of time outside (to the dismay of my sunburnt ears and nose). I also finally got the Beltane ritual written.

I'm really happy with how the rune staves turned out, even if this is just meant to be a temporary set until I can get better wood working skills. Also, I probably shouldn't have started them just before lunch as I was starving by the end since it took a good 2 hours. I'm not sure how true they read, but since I'm really bad at interpretation anyway, I think it'll probably be ok. I have switched from iPod divination to drawing a rune instead during my devotional. Its practice and that is needed.

Mom requested a new retaining wall and a trip to the zoo for her birthday. So I spent most of Friday and Saturday outside, working and walking. Walnuts hurt to have jammed into your knees and penguins and polar bears are pretty cool (pun not intended). Sunday was spent inside helping Grandma around the house, which was not really how I wanted to spend it... but it needed to be done and I was the one available. And it wasn't too bad this time: just moving heavy stuff she can't manage and some computer stuff.

Writing the ritual was more of a thing than I was expecting it to be. I'm not sure if I was just blocked or if I'm a horrible litergist. Or both. At any rate, after combing through... several... books, every non-shitty website I could find, and a couple shitty websites that at least weren't racist, I finally got enough information to write this. I really need to find reliable sources of information. I have more research and information on exactly how the pleating was done on viking apron dresses than I have on what the appropriate deities are for different holidays. I'm going to publish at least the parts of it that I wrote after Beltane so other folks have a bit of an easier time. At any rate, ritual is written and sent off for editing.