Although I had this last week to myself, it was not the restful retreat that such a time usually is. Too much lead is loose and moving about in my head for that in the wake of MayFire. I have to work at finding ways to bring it to the surface and let it go that aren't so bumpy and randomized, sans my usual community ritual methods for the moment. I realize that my gardening is not just enjoying the activity, it's a means of grounding a vast amount of crap that otherwise would just pour out of me and pool up all over the place.
Meditating back on MayFire, I'm really struck by a moment that happened at the Desert Moon Circle Beltane ritual. This is a 30-year-old coven that has not only had continuous leadership that entire time but has trained their next generation of priests and priestesses. I'd known a lot of the group from the Vortex, but it was cool to see people's extended families or folks who weren't going to make it out to the Valley this year. During the part of the ritual where the men invoked and held god-space, and women invoked and held goddess-space, for the first time ever I felt like something was really wrong with me and the energy I was running in that moment. It's like I got pushed too far up the femme scale vibrationally. Something about the wording or postures somehow made it feel like more than I'd agreed to, or my own preferred vibration at that time. I'll have to watch and see what happens with that in the future.
Meditating back on MayFire, I'm really struck by a moment that happened at the Desert Moon Circle Beltane ritual. This is a 30-year-old coven that has not only had continuous leadership that entire time but has trained their next generation of priests and priestesses. I'd known a lot of the group from the Vortex, but it was cool to see people's extended families or folks who weren't going to make it out to the Valley this year. During the part of the ritual where the men invoked and held god-space, and women invoked and held goddess-space, for the first time ever I felt like something was really wrong with me and the energy I was running in that moment. It's like I got pushed too far up the femme scale vibrationally. Something about the wording or postures somehow made it feel like more than I'd agreed to, or my own preferred vibration at that time. I'll have to watch and see what happens with that in the future.
The Lord gave Bazalael wisdom, understanding and knowledge (Exod 31, 34), there are the means, for Gold is dissolved by wisdom in contrition, assation and fire; the end is directed to invent works in Gold, Silver and Brass; which is not to be understood according to the sound of words but according to the intent of all distillation to extract the inward [perfection] and manifest the central virtue, for where the perfection of the matter is glorious, the perfection of the form must be more glorious.
from THE GLORY OF LIGHT, transcribed by Adam McLean from Ms. Ashmole 1415. f61-70.
Next up travel-wise is southern Oregon in early June and an extended weekend in Ashland. We FINALLY are going to stop at the Enchanted Forest on the way down. The gigantic witch's head is reason-enough alone. We get The Tempest and Into The Woods in one long, ass-busting day. I think we're one inside and one outside theater-wise. I'm bringing that amazing purple blanket that I got from Tara at Illumination last year just to be safe.
We've had this threat of rain virtually every day, just like you'd imagine for Seattle, and yet it never quite kicks in. I'm trying to gauge influences and warmer temps to find a good day to get some spagyrics started. I think it might be convenient for me to do them in tiny craft batches as I have plant material and containers available. If I do them in pairs-ish fashion it will work out a lot more easily than if I do seven singly. I also have to decide if I want to get my Mercury for that here in WA or wait until I hit OR in two weekends.