Walking the Hedge

Or what I did for the Second Harvest

I attended a CWA of BC ritual for the Equinox (I went to the Lughnasadh one as well) Link: http://www.cwabc.org/ in Kelowna BC, actually it was held in Oyama at a beautiful park that is basically a small peninsula on Kalamaka Lake. The ritual was lead by Andrea (of the CWA) and Tad (of the Druid’s Hearth, see links), with a number of other people helping. There were about 15 people who attended. I got to help too, which was fun/scary because I haven’t done much group work in the last couple of years.
The sky darkened and started to rain just as the set-up was done and Andrea was rounding everyone up to start. So for a few minutes we toyed with Tad’s awning but, of course, as soon as the guys had it half built, the sky cleared a little and it stopped raining.
It was a lovely non-denominational (hehe Eclectic) Wiccan ritual, with kind of an apple theme, very appropriate for the Okanagan. The Circle lined with apples looked very Harvest-y and pretty. Andrea chose to cast the Circle with Tad’s sickle, which was pretty cool and nicely in theme.
There was a new lady there, Andrea and I ran her through kind of a quick orientation. Which reminded me of some notes I took once years ago on doing just such a thing. I shall have to dig them out
I discovered my Wiccan ritual has gotten a little rusty and my script reading and memorizing even more so. Which is funny, how long does it take to unlearn what you have learned eh?
In true form; I delivered all my lines in dramatic fashion. I can’t help it lol. One of my first teachers (not that I’ve had many or anything) was a HP who was into theatre and had some drama training in college (hi Amber!) Sadly, I had to move out of province before I even finished my Dedicant training (yeah, I ain’t special) with her Coven (which was very Alexandrian). But I could almost hear her voice whip cracking: “Emote! Say it like you mean it” hehe I might have been a little over the top.
There was a great drummer there, which was good. I have no sense of rhythm. There were a lot of chants. I hate chants myself, but they are important for group ritual, especially open Circles because it allows everyone to participate.
The ritual was very pretty, with elements of Reclaiming in it, and therefore very eco-friendly. Which makes the tree-hugger in me happy. Andrea and Tad did a great job. Everyone did a great job.
One lady shared a lovely story about hearing standing stones sing while traveling in Ireland. And another shared her and her husband’s story of how the Okanagan Pagan community came together to help them during a time of tragedy. I think when we look at the Pagan community in a broad general sense, from a distance; we see something fractured and fighting. But at the grass-roots level, it is often a different story. Take that Internet!
Tad found a real cool flannel/cotton fabric that was black on black plaid and wanted to make a robe. So I helped him with the measuring. But I didn’t do any of the cutting or sewing. The robe turned out pretty darn good and he looked quite sharp in it. I always forget how much I enjoy things like sewing or knitting. Now I’m inspired.
We made potato and veggie soup and it got a little over cooked on the camp stove (oops) but it was still good and hot, and since it was lightly raining and a bit chilly, the soup was perfect.
After the ritual, during clean up, a doe, a deer, a female deer, wandered by and everyone was trying to roll apples towards it to feed it lol I walked down and got pretty close to it. There’s a trick to getting close to deer: Act like you’re approaching a King or Queen. Because you are *wink*
A single rainbow and a double rainbow came up over the lake as we were loading the cars and we decided that it was probably a good sign.
All in all, it was a good day.