We'd
expected about 25 people. Well, all 25 showed up-- and then some. We
had 34. Ritual planners Hillary and Monika had a great banter going
during the pre-rit. Monika was Druid-in-Charge, taking us on a calm
trance journey across the sea to the Isle of Apples. Click
here for the script. Norma invoked Earth Mother, and
then Monika took over, taking us through the horizontal directions,
well, fire, and tree as part of the trance meditation. Hillary opened
the gates as Manannan, in rhyming couplets. Alex made our offering to
the outsiders, breaking Prospero's staff from last year's Tempest ritual,
echoing the end of Shakespeare's Tempest. Jenniforensic invoked Manannan
as our muse, singing a beautiful song. Sue invoked Ancestors, Josh our
Nature Spirits, and Cicely our Goddesses and Gods (quoting Rilke). Monika
did the main invocation, drawing Manannan down, and then there was a
goodly amount of praise. We added our local waters to our well (including
some special not-so-local waters), and the waters from Equinox Day,
and blessed our grove well. Then, as we chanted "Walk With Us,
Manannan," we each had a chance to be taken to Manannan to look
inside his well, hear his voice, and take an omen from his crane bag.
With 34 people, this took a while, but the chanting was hypnotic, like
a boat rocking upon the sea. Our grove omen: 3 different spiders. Our
seer, Pat, explained that this year we will encounter spiders, but not
the same spider twice, and each spider will prepare you for the next.
After the ritual we had food, a bonfire, drumming, and some of us stayed
for Portal of the Porcupine's twilight Wiccan ritual.
(5 druids attended the planning meeting, and 5 spent an afternoon cleaning
up the ritual space the week before the ritual.)
(Photos, Marc and Ed.)