March 2010

Realizing it has been fifteen years, this month, since  I wrote my first column for Vitality.  I looked up the original and thought it would be fun to share it here.

Interestingly, the original vision of the column involved your involvement as well. At the time there was not a culture of blogs, texting, or facebook pages to connect through, all of which would now make the original vision manageable. I still think it is a great idea, but I am getting ahead of myself and should share the column first.

 “One rather grey February morning I came into the office with an arm load of flowers, fruit, and dragon’s blood (a red plant based incense) for a celebration with friends later that evening. 

Julia was intrigued by these items of ritual, and we decided right there on the spot to have a column, every month, where we focus on ways of creating ritual celebrations of the earth, on our own or with others, and share these ideas with Vitality readers.

One of the great signs of civilization to an archaeologist is to find not only the shard of a clay pot but a ‘ritual object’. We have been gathering together to celebrate and commune with the rhythms of nature and wonders of life since before remembering.

A large part of the road to understanding myself  involves discovering my own rhythms. This in turn draws me ever closer to my relationship with  the rhythms of the earth, revealing both my deep connection and my separation.

Over the last few years my best friends and I have increasingly decided not to go out to a club or rent a video, but rather create some sacred space together. A simple gesture like forming a circle when we meet, changes the energy of the group. Rather than talk about things in terms of ‘one day we should’ – suddenly that day is now. We begin to sing or dance, tell stories, perhaps do bodywork – whatever feels right. I suspect many of you get together with friends like this too.

Recently a male friend commented on how the women were always getting together to mark the seasons, and that it was time to have a mixed gathering with that same focus. Absolutely! So we decided to gather for Imboloc.

Imboloc is a Nordic celebration of the goddess Brid or Bridget. This pregnant goddess symbolizes the time when the energy of the earth returns to the sleeping seed of winter. February is a pretty rough month, so the idea of celebrating this movement from the dark part of the year, into the light of new beginnings was quite appealing.

Twelve adults, and as many children all dressed in white, like snowdrops, gathered – two Maidens in white, two Mothers in red (and breastfeeding) and two Crones in black. The Mothers handed out fruit with the seeds, the Crones handed out spirals the children had made of femo, to represent the dream of winter where we create our future selves. The other children, helping the Maidens, handed out white petals saying “Accept my gift. Accept the life of Spring”. The men played the high priestess, opening and closing the circle, before a spiral dance, with much laughter, took the longest possible route to the food table and a wonderful spring feast.

Later we poured milk into the earth at the base of an Oak in thanks for all the nourishment the newborns will receive, be they two-legged or four. We read that Ash branches were traditional for this holiday, but there were none about so we substituted  snow shoes and hockey sticks made of Ash. There was a scene to warm the Canadian winter soul: a dozen people at midnight standing around an Oak tree with their hockey sticks – chanting and giving thanks. We had a lot of fun, and I think the tree did as well.

When each of us ritually interact, with focus and intention, be it planting a tree, taking a serene soak in the tub or chanting into the core of the earth, we open an opportunity for dialogue that can teach us the language of the mystery, our birth-right. This language, and its symbolism, will be quite individual in its expression, but the answers are always there. For me it can be fragments of  conversations, the shape of a cloud, the lyrics of a song, a recurring dream, or a sleeping cat suddenly meowing just as the answer drifts through my mind. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz we discover the answers were there all along, we just need to learn how to listen.”

There we go – a look at 1995. What I like is the yearning I had to share ideas with you right from the beginning. We are aware that right now we are creating a new world, and we know that what we think, with our hearts, is made real. So I would like to suggest we co-create a future world together. By this spring I will set up a blog, a place for us to come together and share inspired visions, and tales of how we are re-connecting to the world and to each other. Start thinking about what you are going to share!