With the high energy of the sun upon us, ALG enjoyed ceremony and a cookout on June 21st at Wilderness Nemeton. With an opportunity to appreciate the blessings of the sun and connecting with nature, along with a wonderful evening shower, the ceremony was a wonderful experience for all of us. This is a great time to re-affirm one’s commitments or to use the solar power to make resolutions for the rest of the annual cycle.

The evening was celebrated by a hamburger cookout, conversation and catching up on the last couple of months since we had last met.

Awen’s Light Grove hopes that you took a moment to recognize the season and celebrate in some small way!

Awen’s Light Grove’s Beltane Ritual for 2008 was very memorable this year. Daphne and Daniel joined us in the circle and we said “Good luck and come back soon” to Amanda, who’s off to pursue some excellent acting opportunities.

We began our ritual with a meditation on the historical aspects of how Beltane has been celebrated, what the celebration was about, and other findings, read to us by Wendy, whose voice lent the right air of peace and contemplation.

The aroma of the incense, the purifying waters, the mighty sword – all created a truly strong and magickal area of ritual in the nemeton.

There was a very enjoyable Circle Reading in ritual, in which the first participant read the first line from a poem, the next participant reading the next line, and so on all around the circle – what a sense of interconnectedness and contribution by all!

One of the highlights of the ritual was the giving of a gift by the Green King and the Flower Queen to each of the participants, for us to remember the celebration by. Each of us in turn walked through the sacred purifying fires of Beltane to approach the King and Queen and receive our gifts.

The other highlight was Amanda’s wishing everyone well with much good energy, which was followed by our offering our flowers, received in ritual from Amanda, to the Fire along with good words for her happiness and best fortunes on her chosen path – it was a touching and heart-felt part of a very meaningful ritual.

Once our Beltane ritual was over, we sat down for a delicious feast, prepared by all – fresh salad, succulent pork loin roast, sweet and frothy dessert, washed down with cold beer and delicious wine. Excellent fellowship rounded out the feast nicely.

We then made our way out to the patio where we enjoyed drumming by Amanda, Ken, and Daniel – excellent drummers in their own rights – and some fun discussions on Pan and His energies. The Grove signed a “Good Luck and Come Back Soon” poster of Pan for Amanda to wish her well and give her something to remember us by, and there was much happiness had by all.

As usual, Awen’s Light Grove observed the holiday with fun fellowship and solemn ritual, a combination that continues to make our Grove’s ritual celebrations meaningful and moving.

See you at MidSummer!

I received my copy of ‘Living with Honour, a Pagan Ethics‘ by Emma Restall Orr. She is a 20+ year druid of OBOD and has written an incredible book on the values and ethics of Paganism. As this is a tricky subject, all may not identify with every statement, but she deepens the conversation and draws on enough common ground to really enrich the foundation of Pagan spiritual practice as well as setting down some leadership on what it means to be a Pagan in the 21st century. I really find her way of talking to the philosophical issues while taking moments in her narrative to enlighten the spiritual aspects incredibly novel. It reads like a manifesto at times while contrasting foundations with society and even within Pagan practice itself. All the while connecting the reader to the emotional aspects of spirituality. Of all my reading, this is a unique book that every Pagan should read time and time again.

On Saturday, March 22nd, in the first few minutes of the evening, Awen’s Light Grove celebrated the balance of Light and Dark with a beautiful and meaningful ritual, followed by much feasting and fellowship.

The Alban Eilir ritual was attended by Ken, Wendy, Amanda, and Matt. Our newest member Christine, and her husband Will, greatly honored the Grove by attending as well.

The ritual was celebrated according to the OBOD ceremony. Matt used his two-handed sword to cast the circle and Amanda brought a bouquet of beautiful Spring flowers she had gathered herself that were offered in ritual by the Mabon.

The ceremony culminated in an inspiring invitation to the participants who, after sacred words were spoken to them, were encouraged to “Wake and cross into the light”. This was followed immediately by a moving rite in which terracotta pots that had been filled with soil were seeded and watered, then blessed by the Lady Herself, with the words “May the warmth and light of the growing days bring seed into fruit.” – thanks to Ken and Wendy for donating and preparing the supplies for that.

We then feasted on homemade lasagna, fresh salad, and tasty Italian bread. After the feast, there was delicious chocolate pie that Amanda brought. And who can forget the impromptu drumming from two attendees who seemed to have hidden this spectacular talent for quite some time, while others lingered over (perhaps a second piece of …) the wonderful dessert.

There was lots of good conversation and laughter and fellowship as we contemplated what we each wanted to seed in our own lives for the year.

See you at the next exciting Awen’s Light Grove ritual – Beltaine

20 March 12:49am Northern Hemisphere

Winter sometimes seems so long, that we could be for-given for wondering whether Spring will ever return. But the Goddess of Spring is merely sleeping through the darkness of Winter, and while she stirs at Imbolc, she is truly awake by the time of the Spring Equinox.

The forces of light are equally balanced with the forces of darkness at this time, but light is on the increase – and will reach its apogee at the Summer Solstice three months later.

The four festivals of the two solstices and the two equinoxes are solar – being markings of the times of longest and shortest days with the solstices, and of times of equality between day and night with the equinoxes. The four ‘fire festivals’ that occur between the solar festivals are lunar, and so we see in the Druidic calendar a balanced flow between lunar and solar celebrations.

The symbolic plant of the Equinox in Druidry is the trefoil or shamrock, which is also customarily worn on St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March – almost at the time of the Spring Equinox. The usual explanation for the use of the shamrock is that St Patrick once used its three-leaved shape to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity, but in fact shamrock is probably the national emblem of Ireland because of its earlier Druidic associations, and it is seen by some authorities as a survival of the trignetra, a Christianised wheel or sun symbol.

The three-fold green leaves of Spring in the Druid ceremony and in the Irish buttonhole on St. Patrick’s day bring us back, then, not only to the Sun God and the doctrine of the Trinity (which some say evolved from Druidry), but to the teaching of the Awen, and to the concept of the Triple Goddess – for Artemis, the Triple Moon Goddess of the Greeks, fed her hinds on trefoil.

In Druidry, Spring is considered so important, that three festivals are dedicated to this season: Imbolc, marking the first stirrings of Spring, Alban Eilir marking its more obvious beginning, and Beltane marking the time of its fullness, before it develops into the very different quality of Summer. The following quotation by Nuinn elaborates on this theme:

“Spring with the Druid Movement is at least a triple celebration. One could indeed take it back even to winter solstice, with the rebirth of the light. However beginning with Imbolc or Brighid as the first of a trio, we have the first plough, the washing of the face of the earth and eight lights because it is distinctly a Mother Goddess occasion. So we have the use of earth, water, and light.

“Alban Eilir, at the point of balance between Imbolc and Beltane, is at the point of balance too between day and night, and it is a perfect time to open to the quality of balance in our own lives.”

Copyright OBOD – Edit by sundruid