I would like to remember everything about last night's Samhain ritual at Curry College so I can relate it, but parts of it are hazy. That tends to happen during a deep ritual, but I will try to relate it as best I can. This was the second time I was asked to come priestess a Samhain/Hallows ritual at the college. Students and some faculty joined in and together we celebrate the harvest and honored our ancestors and those who have passed on.
What
struck me most was how much the students seemed enjoy it. They entered into the spirit of the event and immersed themselves in something new with great courage and commitment. Many came
because they were getting extra credit. However, several of them left
changed and that gladdened my heart.
Also, the fab Brecken had asked four of them to welcome the Elements. I had brought my Element Mandalas (http://folknouveau.com/izolda/art.htm) and
those were what they used to welcome the Elements (which worked just
great because then they didn't have to worry about exactly what to say
and that increased their comfort level). Then, we had gotten an apple
and cut it through crossways and passed it around to show the natural
pentacle in the apple. The students who ended up holding the apple
happened to be sitting next to each other and happened to be one male
and one female. I asked them to welcome the goddess and the god. They
needed a little coaching but they did great!
Also,
we asked the participants to think about their ancestors and those who
had passed on and each one in turn added to a cairn of stones on the
altar as they remembered their dead. Afterward, each participant
received an orange and a black candle where the orange represented what
would come into their lives (or rather what they wanted to come into
their lives) and the black represented what they wanted to say goodbye
to in their lives. They lit their candles off the central altar candles
and held them as we blessed them. They will then burn them up on their
own.
The
magic for me of last night? I'd say it was watching them embrace
something new and different. Some had a bit of fear around the ritual
and we talked about it. One of the young women brought up the point that
her mother had said not to draw a tarot card because it was dangerous
because it would open up a portal to another dimension and that she
didn't know or want that kind of interest from those realms. It was
lovely to have the opportunity to explain how tarot works for me and to
alleviate her fears. Incidentally, she was one of the students who, at
the end, asked to draw more tarot cards to have me interpret them. :)
I also talked about the history of some of our modern day Halloween traditions (like trick-or-treating and bobbing for apples) and that was fun for them.
I
find it almost impossible to priestess without educating. I dearly want
everyone to feel open to asking questions, learning, and soaking up as
much as they want/need so they move forward with a sense of having done
something sacred about which they now know more. That is what I consider
perfection. :)
Nicely done! Wish I was there.
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