Or, Yule, Christmas, and the middle way...
As you can see from my abundant lack of posting, things have been unbelievably busy but wonderful. I had the great pleasure of attending a Yule ritual put on by the Northern NJ Pagan Fellowship on the 21st. I was a bit tentative about attending my first public ritual, but honestly, it was such a wonderful event. It was so different from working as a solitary - I've been composing tomes in my head about the different feel of the energy we raised.
The friendly open-ness of the group was also amazing. Everyone was so friendly, from the moment I walked in the door. I felt badly for not having brought food (I had been visiting my family in PA and had just driven back to Jersey for the ritual, so had no time to cook anything properly. Honestly, I need to leave enough time to cook things twice any time I arrange to bring things - just in case I ruin it the first time.), so they let me help prepare the food that was there. We had all sorts of wonderful tubers (potatoes, yams, etc), and such to bake up, and a wonderful chicken pasta, as well as this glorious cider. Gwaeron, the group leader, was also kind enough to share his mead stores.
I need to devote an entire paragraph to this mead, actually. I don't like alcohol - I'll have a margarita or a mamosa from time to time, but usually only one (at most two). I don't like the way alcohol tastes, honestly. But I took a sip of this mead, and honestly, it was like drinking sunshine. I will definately be sharing more about it as I find out where it came from - and will be very glad to incorporate it into some of my own personal rituals.
I'm going to be working on something to celebrate the New Moon on Saturday, if I can. While I may not actually be able to perform anything, the gesture of planning for the next go round would be extremely satisfying to me, I believe. I really want to do more work with the moon - I feel as though that's where I draw a lot of my energy from when I am in need, and would like to recognize that wonderful gift.
In any case, now that we've sort of covered Yule...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I celebrate the togetherness of family and the birth of a very important historical figure here - I may not be Christian, but that doesn't mean I can't admire a man who was truly great in spirituality. The presents thing is pretty awesome too, honestly. It is great to be so close to my family around the holidays - I can feel so disconnected out in North Jersey, and being near everyone for these days is amazing. I am so lucky to have such a great family!
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I'm lucky to have a great family too. I always like to read about it when people enjoy their families, because it seems so often it's just the opposite. Around the holidays, I always hear alot about people dreading family get-togethers... whether with in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles or family of origin. I'm glad you enjoyed the festivities. I went to my first "public ritual" of sorts - a Winter Solstice Drumming Circle in Ansonia, CT. I loved it. There were just a handful of people and we chatted for awhile and got to know eachother a bit, and then we just started grooving on our drums. And the we had delicious spiced hot apple cider and homemade cranberry bread. I will definitely go to more rituals when I find them. It's more fun and more energetic to do things in a group sometimes. And even when you're doing solitary practice, you can bring the memory of that group energy into your solitary space.
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