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Lugnasadh ritual.
1 August 2021 17:59 Well, first off... Happy Lugnasadh! :)
My husband and I chose this weekend to visit the Edgefield McMenamins hotel, just the two of us, so I knew that I would have to get the ritual done in our hotel room. Fortunately, the owners and founders of the McMenamins chain are occult practitioners, as are many of the artists they employ, so it is one of those "thin veil" places. (One of these days I will do a post on McMenamins, with pictures... I think they have a good shot at being a major entry in the paltry collection of 'great art' that New Age religions can claim. The art on the walls is stunning, with most pieces' mood being a cheerful and sly wink, but a few being almost unbearably emotionally moving.) My husband wanted to spend time outside sketching, so I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the hotel door and did the ritual solo.
(Here, I will eventually put a picture of the art on the wall of our room, which showed a nature God and Goddess reaching out towards one another with the beautiful Columbia River Valley in the middle. Very apropos! :)
This is the first ritual I have done by myself out of the Druidry Handbook, so to call my performance "DIY-style" is... a compliment really. I did the entire thing with the book in one hand. I more or less managed to get everything needed gathered together - I was especially proud of the made-entirely-on-the-property-with-hops-grown-on-the-property beer which I bought from the pub on the hotel's first floor, lol! - but I left out the incense for the eastern part, as marijuana is not allowed in the hotel and I figure incense would have the same effect cleaning-wise.
I dragged a hotel table into the middle of the room, opened all the windows (to prevent smoke), draped the table with green silk and a single piece of gold origami paper I found. For the east I put nothing (with apologies to the air spirits), to the south I lit a single votive candle - and that did make me nervous, but the smoke alarm never went off, thank the gods - to the west I poured some water from the hotel bathroom sink into a bowl, and to the north I put some salt into another bowl. I poured the beer into a little sake cup, and ripped a piece of farmer's market break (made from local grains) and put both on the table as well. I took the bread knife - the only knife I have with a sheath! - on the chair in the north part, and that completed the tableau.
(Here, when I figure out how pictures work, I will put a pic of the altar I threw together.)
I put on my white Druid robe, which I made over the last month or so in quiet moments from about 3 rectangular yards of white shirtwaist, cutting a hole for the head and then hand-stitching the hems closed on both the "head-hole" and all the sides. Then I wrapped my yellow candidate cord around the waist, which took the Druid robe nicely from "ghost costume" to "sacred wear". Did I say DIY? It's very DIY.
(I also took a picture w/out head of my robe, because I made it myself and I'm kind of proud of that.)
Per the Handbook, the order was: open the Grove, call the goddess Sul, then close the Grove. So this was what I did. Unsheathing the knife in the four directions was very satisfying! :) I found that the readings, when said aloud, resonated very nicely in the room. I am not skilled at color breathing, but I did my best. I did not spend a ton of time meditating, because of an underlying tension that at any moment, the candle in my room might set off the smoke detector. Despite the tension, and despite me literally reading aloud out of the book, I did feel an "aura" developing as I opened the grove.
I had no idea what to expect when calling Sul - I do not specifically call the Druid gods and goddesses in my SOP practice at this time, or any gods or goddesses (I only refer to the elements by their scientific names) but there was too much going on this weekend to try and figure out an alternative, so I summoned her as written. It was an astral plane visit only, but to my surprise, when I summoned her, uh... she showed up.
JMG's description of Sul has her as a middle-aged, golden-haired woman dressed in red and gold, if I remember correctly, but... that was NOT the form she appeared in to me. She stood in the south, as I was standing in the north, and we faced each other directly. She was at least 6 feet tall, a solid block in outline, only human-like by suggestion, made entirely of red flames which were slowly rolling upward. The flames spread out from either side of her "head" and flicked slowly upwards as if she had antlers. Her face was nothing but a black void, slightly pointed downward near her "chin", and the flames she was made of slowly curled into said void and disappeared there.
I continued the ceremony, praising her and asking for her blessing, and then dismissed her by the message written in the Handbook. But... she didn't leave. She seemed to be waiting for something else. I thought for a moment about what might satisfy her, and I made the connection with the fire, the southern direction, and my Will as laid out in the SOP. I have a lot of Will - that came to mind pretty readily. So I said inside my head in her general direction (did not speak aloud): "I promise a portion of my Will to serve you, goddess, in this lifetime." This did satisfy her, and she departed.
The more I think back on this the more wigged out I get about it, as this was VERY outside my usual experiences and perceptions, but at the moment it all felt very normal and reasonable. I don't think I pledged anything that I cannot fulfill. I fully intend to work harder at using less of the bounty of the Earth wastefully, and that's my best guess as to what would best please the Druid gods and goddesses. Also, I remember reading that the Druid pantheon are very easy-going, not jealous like i.e. Yahweh, and despite the somewhat scary appearance, there was nothing frightening in her demeanor towards me. She felt like... an element. Which makes sense.
Anyway, I then performed the Grove closing ceremony, pointing the knife to the sky and invoking Excalibur. (I may change the wording of that part going forward - I think I need to do a little more meditation, at minimum, to feel totally comfortable with the phrase Excalibur, lol!) The energies really did take a moment or two to drain away. Once the ceremony was properly complete, I drank the beer and ate the bread.
Final thoughts: The whole thing, though unexpectedly intense (my room key also completely disappeared from the room at some point during the ~45 minutes of the ceremony, despite me using it to enter to room - I had to ask my husband to come back up so I could go to the bathroom!), was also kind of slap-dash. Next time around, at the fall equinox, I will hopefully be a bit more practiced at color breathing, be in a space where I can properly burn incense, and possibly have memorized more of the ceremony, so that there won't be so much reading. Also... apple cider should be the alcohol of choice next time around. The Eight-Fold Wheel turns! :)
My husband and I chose this weekend to visit the Edgefield McMenamins hotel, just the two of us, so I knew that I would have to get the ritual done in our hotel room. Fortunately, the owners and founders of the McMenamins chain are occult practitioners, as are many of the artists they employ, so it is one of those "thin veil" places. (One of these days I will do a post on McMenamins, with pictures... I think they have a good shot at being a major entry in the paltry collection of 'great art' that New Age religions can claim. The art on the walls is stunning, with most pieces' mood being a cheerful and sly wink, but a few being almost unbearably emotionally moving.) My husband wanted to spend time outside sketching, so I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the hotel door and did the ritual solo.
(Here, I will eventually put a picture of the art on the wall of our room, which showed a nature God and Goddess reaching out towards one another with the beautiful Columbia River Valley in the middle. Very apropos! :)
This is the first ritual I have done by myself out of the Druidry Handbook, so to call my performance "DIY-style" is... a compliment really. I did the entire thing with the book in one hand. I more or less managed to get everything needed gathered together - I was especially proud of the made-entirely-on-the-property-with-hops-grown-on-the-property beer which I bought from the pub on the hotel's first floor, lol! - but I left out the incense for the eastern part, as marijuana is not allowed in the hotel and I figure incense would have the same effect cleaning-wise.
I dragged a hotel table into the middle of the room, opened all the windows (to prevent smoke), draped the table with green silk and a single piece of gold origami paper I found. For the east I put nothing (with apologies to the air spirits), to the south I lit a single votive candle - and that did make me nervous, but the smoke alarm never went off, thank the gods - to the west I poured some water from the hotel bathroom sink into a bowl, and to the north I put some salt into another bowl. I poured the beer into a little sake cup, and ripped a piece of farmer's market break (made from local grains) and put both on the table as well. I took the bread knife - the only knife I have with a sheath! - on the chair in the north part, and that completed the tableau.
(Here, when I figure out how pictures work, I will put a pic of the altar I threw together.)
I put on my white Druid robe, which I made over the last month or so in quiet moments from about 3 rectangular yards of white shirtwaist, cutting a hole for the head and then hand-stitching the hems closed on both the "head-hole" and all the sides. Then I wrapped my yellow candidate cord around the waist, which took the Druid robe nicely from "ghost costume" to "sacred wear". Did I say DIY? It's very DIY.
(I also took a picture w/out head of my robe, because I made it myself and I'm kind of proud of that.)
Per the Handbook, the order was: open the Grove, call the goddess Sul, then close the Grove. So this was what I did. Unsheathing the knife in the four directions was very satisfying! :) I found that the readings, when said aloud, resonated very nicely in the room. I am not skilled at color breathing, but I did my best. I did not spend a ton of time meditating, because of an underlying tension that at any moment, the candle in my room might set off the smoke detector. Despite the tension, and despite me literally reading aloud out of the book, I did feel an "aura" developing as I opened the grove.
I had no idea what to expect when calling Sul - I do not specifically call the Druid gods and goddesses in my SOP practice at this time, or any gods or goddesses (I only refer to the elements by their scientific names) but there was too much going on this weekend to try and figure out an alternative, so I summoned her as written. It was an astral plane visit only, but to my surprise, when I summoned her, uh... she showed up.
JMG's description of Sul has her as a middle-aged, golden-haired woman dressed in red and gold, if I remember correctly, but... that was NOT the form she appeared in to me. She stood in the south, as I was standing in the north, and we faced each other directly. She was at least 6 feet tall, a solid block in outline, only human-like by suggestion, made entirely of red flames which were slowly rolling upward. The flames spread out from either side of her "head" and flicked slowly upwards as if she had antlers. Her face was nothing but a black void, slightly pointed downward near her "chin", and the flames she was made of slowly curled into said void and disappeared there.
I continued the ceremony, praising her and asking for her blessing, and then dismissed her by the message written in the Handbook. But... she didn't leave. She seemed to be waiting for something else. I thought for a moment about what might satisfy her, and I made the connection with the fire, the southern direction, and my Will as laid out in the SOP. I have a lot of Will - that came to mind pretty readily. So I said inside my head in her general direction (did not speak aloud): "I promise a portion of my Will to serve you, goddess, in this lifetime." This did satisfy her, and she departed.
The more I think back on this the more wigged out I get about it, as this was VERY outside my usual experiences and perceptions, but at the moment it all felt very normal and reasonable. I don't think I pledged anything that I cannot fulfill. I fully intend to work harder at using less of the bounty of the Earth wastefully, and that's my best guess as to what would best please the Druid gods and goddesses. Also, I remember reading that the Druid pantheon are very easy-going, not jealous like i.e. Yahweh, and despite the somewhat scary appearance, there was nothing frightening in her demeanor towards me. She felt like... an element. Which makes sense.
Anyway, I then performed the Grove closing ceremony, pointing the knife to the sky and invoking Excalibur. (I may change the wording of that part going forward - I think I need to do a little more meditation, at minimum, to feel totally comfortable with the phrase Excalibur, lol!) The energies really did take a moment or two to drain away. Once the ceremony was properly complete, I drank the beer and ate the bread.
Final thoughts: The whole thing, though unexpectedly intense (my room key also completely disappeared from the room at some point during the ~45 minutes of the ceremony, despite me using it to enter to room - I had to ask my husband to come back up so I could go to the bathroom!), was also kind of slap-dash. Next time around, at the fall equinox, I will hopefully be a bit more practiced at color breathing, be in a space where I can properly burn incense, and possibly have memorized more of the ceremony, so that there won't be so much reading. Also... apple cider should be the alcohol of choice next time around. The Eight-Fold Wheel turns! :)