Winter Solstice 2016 (Yep, It's Dark.)

Winter Solstice Chant - Poem of the Day: By Annie Finch

Poetry for the Esbat: Darkness Moon, 2016

Almost there, sister.
Waxing Moon, June 2016.

There are no words. No words to explain my delight in this Sky, this sprawling, Dark, Night, Sky...

Tonight I receive many, many messages & images from friends & my beloved. Tonight they are celebrating the Summer Solstice in that typically modern Pagan way -- on the most convenient weekend. They are also celebrating the Solstice Alaska-Style: in the endless daylight. 

Tonight, 

here in the yawning Desert,

under the sable cloak of Night,

I find myself not missing it.

Not at all.

Tonight, in the company of crickets, I photographed the Moon. But first, I sat on the porch of the house (the one that stole my heart so many years ago) & waited. It took awhile. She had been playing coy behind the clouds. It doesn't matter really. I am patient. Besides, the Darkness is enough for me. Had She never left Her coverlets, I still would have left satisfied. 

Yesterday, while washing dishes to avoid the heat, I was reflecting on the raw thrill of the Darkness; the vulnerability & the opening of the imagination which only being doused & disoriented by the Dark can introduce. So I was very pleased to recover this Esbat's poem from my lengthy favorites list on my phone's Poetry Foundation App (yes, I recognize this app thing is cliché) this evening. Things always seem to fall together just as they should, no?

I know there are a variety of rich & thoughtful literary interpretations for the following piece. But, I personally like to take it at face value -- with a very uncomplicated ear & heart. I like to think it's really just about the Darkness & being a goofy human, completely & hopelessly maladapted to nocturnal living & literally smacking your face into a tree. Then, perhaps, with practice, patience & some caution, finding your bat's wings. I find that interpretation most satisfying actually.

We grow accustomed to the Dark - (428) by Emily Dickinson

We grow accustomed to the Dark - 

When light is put away - 

As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp

To witness her Goodbye - 

A Moment - We uncertain step

For newness of the night - 

Then - fit our Vision to the Dark - 

And meet the Road - erect - 

And so of larger - Darknesses - 

Those Evenings of the Brain - 

When not a Moon disclose a sign - 

Or Star - come out - within - 

The Bravest - grope a little - 

And sometimes hit a Tree

Directly in the Forehead - 

But as they learn to see - 

Either the Darkness alters - 

Or something in the sight

Adjusts itself to Midnight - 

And Life steps almost straight. 

Blessings to you this Esbat, my friends. 

For the Files: Summer Solstice 2015 (In poor quality photos, mostly.)

Solstice. 

Right.

There were simple plans which became larger & larger.
And I had my part(s).

Then came the Fire, to simplify everything, I reckon.

And the only thing to do after all the Big Plans were wiped away was to dance.

So dance we did.

And we said to one another, over & over as we built this thing, "We can do this anywhere, anytime we want. This is an Offering, after all."

And that is true, because we danced in a different bioregion, in a different town, with a different set of spectators, at a different time, on a different day, for a different gathering, on a different substrate in a different configuration, 
With a most difficult sound system named Pancho,
And a disappointingly difficult audience,
And without a doubt I was not at my technical best,
And we didn't even remember to get photos,
And some would say that even our thunder was stolen in the end...

But we could do it all again, anywhere, anytime we want.

It is an Offering, after all.

Outhouse. A Pagan one, no less.

This is pretty far outside my normal scope of posting, but the story hit my irony buttons in a variety of ways.

And for those of you who were wondering about the state of affaires out on "The Land" where the fire wiped out our Summer Solstice Festival site, this will paint a pretty clear picture:

To read the full article, visit: KTUU One thing left standing after Willow wildfire: an outhouse

EDIT:  I found an old photo from inside the women's outhouse which unfortunately didn't survive... also ironic. 

Room with a view:
Former Women's Outhouse door from PCC-AK.

Smiteful Elementals. Or, We're On Fire Up Here. No, Really. Or, Magick Sucks Sometimes.

Elementals. Impersonal, unruly.
I have mentioned it before, but obviously, the scale was quite different. 

This place is on fire.

AICC Active fire map, June 17 2015.
Currently there are 52 active wildfires burning in the state of Alaska.

And while I say impersonal, it feels personal in an I-cannot-quite-put-my finger-on-it sort of way. 
And I am sure it feels very personal to all the mushers out there who have lost "everything."

Every. 
Thing. 

I am reminded here that while the fires have lain waste to "everything," they have caused few injuries or casualties thus far, at least for humans & their closest companions. But my heart aches for the sled dogs who perished & their people who lost them to the Sockeye fire.

And no, I have not forgotten the wildlife. But that is a hopeless rabbit hole of despair I choose to avoid.

And this fire -- the Sockeye in particular -- it is most ironic. (Iconic too, but the media has that point covered.) And, regrettably personal.

Let us look more closely. The main fire map looks like this:

Detailed Map of Sockeye Fire #282
from Alaska Wildfire Information

But let us examine section A, milepost 77, the starting point for the fire:

Map of Sockeye Fire #282, Section A
from Alaska Wildfire Information.

The fire was named "Sockeye" for the road on which the ignition point is located (see map). But notice that Sockeye Road gives access to a road called Landlocked... This road (ironically) named Landlocked is the address of our community retreat center... The home of the annual Summer Solstice festival.

Entrance sign for the PCC-AK.
Image courtesy PCC-AK website. 

And, ironically or not, our Fire Tribe (a fire magick & safety crew) was making final preparations at the PCC-AK, also called "The Land," when the fire began (likely the result of neighbors with fireworks). Our folks made the second call to report the fire. They were also very fortunate to escape, because as the name of the road implies, they were "Landlocked" behind the ignition point. 

And so, while last Solstice looked like this:

Dancing around the fire, Solstice 2014.
Note the red suspenders, a designation of Fire Tribe,
safety on active duty.

This year, it likely will look more like this:

Sockeye Fire. Image credit: Marc Lester/ADN

And I cannot help but wonder at all the energy behind this. Energy on many, many levels. So many levels -- from global fossil fuel energy, to the relentless heat of this Midsummer Sun, to the fever of recent interpersonal tensions. 

And this leaves me at this text I received after the fire erupted from a shrewd friend of very like mind:

"Magick sucks sometimes."

Indeed, brother.
Ignition was imminent.

For the Files: Beware the Stick Figures

Stick Figures: Ridiculous.
Ridiculously potent.

I have mentioned Stick Figure Manifesting before. This serves as a reminder to myself (& to anyone else who may also experience this phenomenon): Beware the stick figures! Like sigils, they manifest (a little too effectively perhaps). They may not be at all sexy like a full blown ceremonial magick-style sigil meticulously created using an appropriate astronomical kamea & embellished with biblical &/or other obscure & ancient words of wisdom to then be obsessively scribed or etched onto some rare metal, parchment or other critter skin & finally, laboriously consecrated with a gloriously elaborate circle-shaped ceremony... but they work. 
Oh, my, how they work...

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Greet the Sun — Morning Movement & Offering 

Join Resh Keljesh and yoga instructor Kathryn for a collective expression of gratitude to and celebration of the Solar Source. Awaken, energize and connect with your community mates through guided group movement. Share in thankfulness and reverence while the Resh K’eljesh devotional dance troupe makes offerings to the Sun through rhythmic gestures and dance. Feel the light stir within and without as we rise, rejoice and build a conduit to facilitate warmth and harmony together.  — Hosted by Resh K’eljesh

Manifesting with Movement: Whole Body Symbol & Sigil Magick with Moma Fauna 

Both workshops described below are condensed previews of a multi-week, intensive series to be offered at a future time. 

Part 1: This preparatory workshop establishes a general framework for the “movement manifesting” concepts in Part 2 by exploring a variety of magickal principles, attitudes and approaches employed in symbol-focused magick. Among the many concepts covered in Part 1 will be definitions and implementation of amulets, talismans and sigils throughout history and cross culturally, a comparison of theories and strategies for executing sigil/symbols in manifesting operations and practical devices for creation of magickal analogies.  

Part 2: During this second workshop, we will begin to transfer and apply the principles from Part 1 to three dimensional space and somatic movement. We will explore concepts of visualization, geometry, dimensional orientation, personal creativity, style and repertoire, harnessing muscle memory for “organic belief” or a “magickal forgetfulness.” We will also take time to consider and discuss the implications of embodiment as magickal operation for both individuals and groups.

✼ ✼ ✼

And I swore I would keep it simple at this Summer Solstice festival.

Beware the stick figures!

Public Animas Ceremony Part 6: Offerings. (Poetry Appendix)

Continued lessons from the Public Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.


As promised, this entry includes the 'poetry offerings' chosen & presented by the Animas Ceremony Officiants. This last entry should cover the last of the details & subsequent entries will bring the bigger picture into perspective. Finally. 

I could go on about the people behind these choices & why I love this poem or that, but I am choosing to let them alone here as I have plans to discuss people in more detail & I find that poetry is,  more often than not, best left to speak for itself...

In order of recitation:

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, (selected verses) read by Kimber

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for 

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool 

for love, 

for your dreams, 

for the adventure of being alive.

I want to know if you can be with joy, 

mine or your own;

if you can dance with wildness 

and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us to be careful, 

to be realistic

remembering the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can live with failure, 

yours and mine, ours

and still stand at the edge of the lake 

and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire 

with me and not shrink back.

I want to know if you can be alone

with yourself 

and if you truly like the company you keep 

in these empty moments.

Untitled 

by E. E. Cummings, read by Nat

sometimes i am alive because with

me her alert treelike body sleeps

which i will feel slowly sharpening

becoming distinct with love slowly,

who in my shoulder sinks sweetly teeth

until we shall attain the Springsmelling

intense large togethercoloured instant

the moment pleasantly frightful

when, her mouth suddenly rising, wholly

begins with mine fiercely to fool

(and from my thighs which shrug and pant

a murdering rain leapingly reaches the 

upward singular deepest flower which she

carries in a gesture of her hips)

Reason and Passion XV

by Khalil Gibran, read by Corwen

      Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and judgment wage war against passion and your appetite. 

      Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody. 

      But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers -- nay, the lovers -- of all your elements? 

      Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. 

      If either your sails or our rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, on the sea.

      Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion; that it may sing!

      And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and, like the Phoenix rise above its own ashes. 

      Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows, then let your heart say in Silence, "The gods rest in reason." 

      And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky, then let heart - say in awe, "The gods move in passion." 

      And since you are a breath in the gods’ sphere, and a leaf in the gods’ forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion! 

The Emerald Tablet

by Hermes Trismegistus

Isaac Newton Trans., adaptation by Xinther, read by Xinther

Of all things said tis' true without lying or falsehood:

That which is below is like that above, 

And that which is above is like that below,

Doing all the miracles of one thing only.

So do all things have their birth from this One by adaptation;

The Sun its Father, the Moon its Mother,

The Wind its breath, and the Earth its Nurse;

for the father of Perfection is here!

If only converted to Earth will the force be entire.

The force to separate the Subtle from the Gross, 

The Power to blend the Superior and Inferior from above as well as below;

By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world

and thereby all obscurity shall fly!

Penetration into all solid matter and overcoming every subtle force;

So the world was created.

And come admirable adaptations and marvelous conjunctions;

For I am Hermes Trismegistus!

Having three parts of  Wisdom and Philosophy of the Whole

and that which I have said is now accomplished.

The Laughing Heart 

by Charles Bukowski, read by Alli

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Public Animas Ceremony Part 6: Offerings. (More? Really?)

Continued lessons from the Public Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.


Back to the business of documenting the Summer Solstice Ceremony -- no doubt with further interruption as life continues & other things also demand a voice...

Once I reach the point when this chronicle is complete, I will set all the pieces in a separate place in this blog where they can be easily accessed. I'm sure that once they are collated, so to speak, they will make more sense to someone wanting to use this as a model.

offering |ˈôf(ə)ri ng; äf-|nouna thing offered, esp. as a gift or contribution : animals as sacrificial offerings.• a thing produced or manufactured for entertainment or sale :Hollywood's latest offerings for the European market.• a contribution, esp. of money, to a church.• a thing offered as a religious sacrifice or token of devotion. -- Apple Dictionary

Animas Ceremony Officiants with
Floral & Fungal Offerings. See also
Art Eggs in background.

Offerings. Just who or what exactly do they serve? How do we classify them? Or, as I like to ask, should we? I believe that the effort of creating & providing ceremony can be an offering in itself. That is, some ceremonies are just fancy packaging for countless smaller offerings. The Invitation to Passion ceremony in its entirety was really one juicy, oversized offering -- the kind you for which get a pilot car and banners -- for our gods, the spirits & for our people. 

A brief aside: Sometimes I get the sense that humans who practice modern forms of animism forget the human-human side of relationship. Folks get wrapped up in summoning spirits, communing with corvids or talking with trees & take their relationships with other humans for granted (perhaps even as obligatory). Being a human animal is being part of the human social system (at least marginally) & being human is necessary to our part in other animistic relationships. In other words, don't deny who you are & don't forget your kin. Tend to your relationships.


Back to the subject at hand. Offerings, in this particular ceremony provided several important functions:

• The offerings served their most conventional function as gratitude gifts & enticement for the spirits of Passion & their associated entities, in the context of the invocation.
• The offerings served as a mechanism for self-expression & social bonding by providing opportunities to create art-objects together in groups & the company of others.
• The offerings, as aesthetic elements, created atmosphere for the ceremony environment.
• The offerings amplified the ceremonial experience by providing a multi-sensory adventure & reinforcing the symbolism, primary themes & intent of the ceremony.

Our offerings, in addition to the Art Bowls already discussed at length, included (but I am sure I will forget some):

Offerings: Eighty-ish Art Eggs

• Art Eggs: Eighty or so hollow hen's eggs blown over the course of several months & then hand decorated & charged/blessed/imbued during a gathering over dinner, drinks & discussion of Passion (or Star Trek, or whatever other rabbit holes). These eggs were placed in the central Officiant's bowl & poured onto the sand to be trampled into the circle during the dance. These eggs captured the eye & imagination, gave a gentle clacking to the close of the ceremony & gave an irresistible crunch underfoot.

Animas Ceremony Officiants with Floral Offerings
Photo credit HPS CC.

• Florals & Fungals: Boxes & boxes of dried flowers & fungi were collected from family gatherings, public rites of passage ceremonies, household shrines, funerals, florist friends, etc. The flowers were used as offerings in four of the Officiants bowls & also the containers carried by two of the dancers for Fire Offerings. They were also abundantly distributed across the ceremonial area & ecstatic dance circle. The florals added to the visual, aromatic & tactile atmosphere & contributed to at least one improvisational ritual.

Dancer's Floral & Fungal offerings for
Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.
Photo credit HPS CC.

Dancer's Floral & Fungal offerings for
Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.
Photo credit HPS CC.

Additional baskets of Floral offerings used throughout the evening.

• Home Brew & Cakes: A Lychee Cider was brewed specifically for this event. It was used by two dancers as Fire Offerings while the remainder of the cornelius keg was shared with the community as refreshment. We baked several Chocolate Chipotle cakes, some of which (I hope) were offered to the fire, most of which fueled the revelry & fed hungry dancers. In bear country, we must be sensible -- offerings made on the ground must be limited to things which will not serve as an attractant to our Ursidae neighbors. Thusly, the food in this ceremony was restricted to the fire & our bellies. Food & drink, are of course, traditional/old school offerings which please the spirits, our senses & satisfy the human body in numerous ways.

• Music & Dance: The music, which was carefully collected & arranged by our DJ Magus, has already been discussed in detail in Trust Your People: The Magus (DJ, that is). The dance, thoughtfully choreographed by our teacher & the troupe has also already been discussed in Trust Your People: The Choreographer. My point in mentioning them here is to stress the point that these too were offerings, the dance being perhaps the central or key offering for the entire ceremony. Both served to please the spirits, create atmosphere, facilitate a sensory shift & allow for self-expression, among other things.

Resh K'eljesh making a Dance Offering during
Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.
Photo credit PCC AK Facebook Page.

• Poetry: Poetry was recited by the Officiants during the ceremonial Invoc/Evoc/Invit-ation. Each Officiant carefully selected their personal Offering-of-Words. In my opinion, this was very likely the most potent & moving portion of the ceremony (although I am sure some may argue that the dance was a fair contender). The poems spoke volumes about each individual & their relationship to Passion. In this way, they were presenting themselves very personally & with vulnerability, before the spirits & our people. Obviously, like the music & dance, the poetry was presented to please the spirits & allow for self-expression, as well as reinforce the symbolism, primary themes & intent of the ceremony. At the risk of receiving further messages to the complaints department, I will present the sacred poetry in a separate post as an appendix to this Offerings post.

• Incense: Finally, let us not forget the primal olfactory. Among the most ancient & widespread of offerings, incense is a mainstay. Copious copal pleases, transports & transforms. Enough said. 

Public Animas Ceremony Part 5b(8): Art. Let It In. (And Celebrate the Artists: Moma Fauna)

Continued lessons from the Public Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.

Moma Fauna. Mother, Mycophile, Animist, Object Whisperer.

*I must confess, this is a little awkward to include myself in this way for the ceremony documentation, but I am a completionist at heart.*

If The Vision is true, it will find the right people. Celebrate them.

With great regularity I come across fundraisers, auctions, art shows, etc. featuring varied artworks where there is no mention of the artist contributor as a person. A name, yes. Maybe it is the animist in me, but when I experience art, it usually makes me want to know more about the artist. I think the humans behind the art should be celebrated as much as their work. So, in an effort to do so, we created laminated biographies to accompany each of the bowls that were created for this ceremony. Since the bowls were auctioned off as part of the don't-let-your-ceremony-bankrupt-you strategy, each person who took home a bowl also took home something to help them "know" the artist better. It's all about relationship.

For the next few entries, I will be including the biographies of our artists in an effort to further celebrate them & express our gratitude. Also included are the statements they provided (if provided) about their piece for the Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.

Moma Fauna: Mother, Mycophile, Animist, Object Whisperer
Pray to the Moon & Other Things – Utah, Alaska

Moma Fauna is a Dreamworker, polytheist, magick and magic lover, a votary of the primordial mother Nyx, the Oneiroi and Cheerleader for the Moon. If you happen to be acquainted with her in the fleshworld, you may know her simply as Justine. Migrating seemingly at random between the Last Frontier & the lower 48, she seeks the exaltation of being in relationship with Place and the Spirit Objects which populate this world.

"Feral paparazzi-ethnographer, animist free-agent. I walk among the traditions. I can do this, as long as I have Lady Moon to guide me & mycelia at my feet." 

Moma uses art in in many forms as spiritual practice and tinkers in a variety of artistic mediums, being most fond of working with found objects, natural materials, paper scraps and her camera friend and companion. Photography is Moma’s second language and while she retains fond memories of the darkroom’s smell, she has reluctantly retired her SLR and film strips for a a self-taught dynamic with Adobe Photoshop and her digital camera. Either way, a macro lens is her favourite accessory.

While most of Moma’s muses shed spores, she also has an intense proclivity for rescuing and revitalizing abandoned trinket boxes which, much like Michelangelo’s marble blocks, speak to her of their true selves. In this context, she makes it her task to facilitate the self expression of object beings.

When she isn’t obliging the whispers of things, she makes her life practicing kindness, tending her to family, garden and community, foraging for wild foods and dancing with her pagan sisters in the sacred dance troupe, Resh K’eljesh. She occasionally finds the time to write about these things and more in her blog, Pray to the Moon.

To read more about Moma Fauna’s adventures and reflections, or see more of her photographic works, visit http://moma-fauna.blogspot.com/

Rapture, by Moma Fauna.

Rapture

Multi-Media: Wood, gesso, paper & etc. decoupage, acrylic 

About this piece: 

What is this thing?

A floral orgy? 

The true substance of paperscraps and glue? 

A common bowl making it big? 

Whisperings of the spirits? 

Rapture-in-hand?

What I feel when I think of You? 

Yes.

Public Animas Ceremony Part 5b(7): Art. Let It In. (And Celebrate the Artists: HPS CC)

Continued lessons from the Public Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.

HPS "CC": Healer, Priestess, Activist, Mother Bear

If The Vision is true, it will find the right people. Celebrate them.

With great regularity I come across fundraisers, auctions, art shows, etc. featuring varied artworks where there is no mention of the artist contributor as a person. A name, yes. Maybe it is the animist in me, but when I experience art, it usually makes me want to know more about the artist. I think the humans behind the art should be celebrated as much as their work. So, in an effort to do so, we created laminated biographies to accompany each of the bowls that were created for this ceremony. Since the bowls were auctioned off as part of the don't-let-your-ceremony-bankrupt-you strategy, each person who took home a bowl also took home something to help them "know" the artist better. It's all about relationship.

For the next few entries, I will be including the biographies of our artists in an effort to further celebrate them & express our gratitude. Also included are the statements they provided (if provided) about their piece for the Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.



HPS CC: Healer, Painter, Priestess, Activist
Living a Passionate Life – Anchorage, Alaska

"CC" loves art and life. A practicing Wiccan, Unitarian Universalist she lives in awe of this beautiful planet we are blessed to live on and share with each other. CC put her art on hold while while she focused on her nursing career, raising her twin children and volunteering her talents and ferocious spirit as an activist to advance the profession of nursing in the state of Alaska. She has recently taken up her paint brush again...

"Passion for Life" by HPS CC

Passion for Life

Multi-Media: Wood, gesso, acrylic

About this piece:
I was inspired by a picture and quote that was on a UU program. It has graced the front of my refrigerator, inspiring me daily for some time now..I thought it might be nice to share.....The outside of the bowl..The night sky..The Universe.

If The Vision is true, it will find the right people. Celebrate them.