Ritual

Farewell to 2022

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 6 Comments
Rosemary Sprigs – Photo: L. Weikel

Farewell to 2022

My intention as I write this post is that it will be read, or at least received, in the early morning hours of December 31, 2022. I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog lately and, more specifically, the relationship I feel with you, my (very cherished) readers. Some of you I know personally, but most I may never meet – face-to-face, at least. Yet in spite of that fact, I do in fact feel a bond with you. I miss the connection we cultivated over the years of writing (and you reading) my 1111 Devotion. Suddenly I felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and bid farewell to 2022 – and share it with you.

I was walking in the golden slant of late afternoon sunshine, drinking in the balmy temperatures, weirdly unsettling after last week’s hellacious deep-freeze, when a fox raced across a field right in front of me. A Great Horned Owl hooted twice in the forest to my right, just as the sun dipped below the horizon. A lone Screech Owl whimpered its forlorn call from its perch close to the cliffs, long after the light of dusk had darkened to midnight blue.

Each of these encounters felt intimate and sacred. I know, on the mundane level, that these creatures could not care less about me. Indeed, if they were even aware of me, they undoubtedly wanted to escape my gaze as quickly as possible. (At the very least, I know the Fox started hauling ass across that field as soon as it made eye contact with me – an electric moment that I must admit was palpable.) But living in the mundane world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Beyond the Mundane

And I guess that’s what made me think about this blog in that moment. In each of those moments of connection with the wild, to be honest. Sure, there’s the mundane way of approaching our lives. It’s rote and mechanistic and borders on tragic. When I contemplate how most people live lives utterly devoid of magic (and often deliberately so), I want to cry.

If you’ve read my posts for any length of time, you know I’m not referring to the hocus-pocus brand of magic, although there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, in my opinion. Rather, I’m referring to the ‘magic’ of imagining a deeper relationship with the Beings with whom we share this planet. Yes, I feel creatures might show up in my world to urge me to pay attention to something in my life. And yes, I like to think there are invisible threads of connection between all of us – and we all ‘show up’ for each other, one way or another, when we need each other the most.

Time to Show Up

So I decided it was time for me to show up in your in-box (or Facebook feed or whatever) again. It’s time for us all to prepare for another set of seasons, another round of planting intentions, nurturing them as they take root, cultivating their growth, and watching them flourish.

But before we can expect those intentions to thrive, we need to clear away the hucha (heavy, unrefined energy) we accumulated from last year. Even if we had a banner year of mostly wonderful experiences, there’s no escaping the energetic dross that’s circulating in our collective environment. From images (and personal experiences) of war and the atrocities being perpetrated in the Ukraine and elsewhere, to the everyday revulsion our souls feel when realizing how much hate, fear, misogyny, racism, and just plain awfulness is in plain view, right before our eyes, being inflicted on each other, every day. Sometimes it’s almost too much to bear.

A Sweet Ritual to Let Go

Here is something I’ve done with family and friends, and which I feel honored to share with you. If you’re so inclined, pick up some fresh rosemary at the grocery store today. A sprig for each person in your household is perfect. Tie a ribbon or piece of colorful yarn around each one if you seek a festive look.

Pair up (but you can always do this to yourself if you’re welcoming the new year in in solitude) and take turns gently caressing the rosemary from the top of your partner’s head to the tips of their toes. Your intention, which you set at the beginning of this exercise, is to ‘sweep’ all the hucha from their energetic field surrounding their body.

Once you’ve done this for each other, if you have the ability to do so, burn the rosemary and watch your hucha go up in smoke. You are now cleansed of the energetic detritus of the past year, ready to embrace 2023 clean, fresh, and eager for new beginnings.

If you can’t safely burn your rosemary, I suggest either burying it or, as a last resort, simply throwing it away or composting it.

What’s most important is your intention to lovingly sweep clean your partner – and equally important – for you to willingly release your hucha.

I bid you a fond farewell to 2022.

Sunset 30 Dec 2022 – Photo: L. Weikel

Halloween – Day 1084

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Spooky House! – Photo: L. Weikel

Halloween

My family was in a pumpkin carving mood this year and I’m the richer for it! I adore the look these translucent gourds bring to our old house. We look the part of the spooky haunted house for Halloween. Bwahahahah!

I’m simply going to offer the bounty of carvings that were created this year to entertain you in your morning perusal of my post.

My Contribution

My job was roasting the seeds that we extricated from the pumpkins. Yum. It’s a simple task, actually. First, of course, separating the seeds from the stringy orange innards, then rinsing them in cold water. I then line a cookie pan with foil and spray it with olive oil. I spread the seeds out onto the pan and sprinkle either sea salt or Spike on the glistening seeds. I’ve occasionally been known to sprinkle cayenne pepper on them as well. I put them in the oven at 350 degrees and roast them for about 10-15 minutes. I then stir them and flip them and swirl them all around, and then pop them back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so.

While I know they’re absolute calorie bombs, I’ve been sneaking them nonetheless. There’s something inherently powerful in the act of ingesting something that’s filled with the potential for growth and new life. It feels especially powerful to both eat the seeds in a sacred manner (i.e., when not sneaking them), consciously focusing your awareness on the creative energy latent in that tiny package, and engaging in this deliberate ingestion of energy at the time of the new moon.

How powerful (and delicious) it will be to infuse whatever projects, ideas, or intentions you set at this new moon (arriving this Thursday, November 4th) with the power of Mother Earth’s pumpkin seeds.

One Other Thing

Finally, please don’t forget to join me in our one small act to counteract the effects of climate change. Yes, believe it or not, November will be upon us in the blink of an eye. Don’t forget to engage in the Essence of Perelandra (EoP) Biodiversity Process sometime during Monday, November 1st. It’s only five minutes (at the most) out of your life and yet it promotes our unique relationship with and awareness of the forces of Nature and manifests an intention to keep it all together and functioning in balance by counteracting the effects of climate change.

Wishing you all a sacred Samhain.

T’s Cauldron – All photos: L. Weikel

(T-27)

Prickle of Hope – Day 579

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 Wild Raspberry Wineberry Bushes – Photo: L. Weikel

Prickle of Hope

Given my recollection from years past, I’d give them three weeks at the most. Although it’s possible we’ll only have to wait two-ish, if we’re lucky. One thing I know for sure: I felt a prickle of hope this evening when they caught our attention.

All of a sudden, the wild raspberry bushes lining the sides of our country roads are announcing their presence. I could feel them calling to us as we walked – it almost felt like the bushes with their burgeoning berries were like spectators at a parade, calling and waving to us as we walked past them, life energy surging through them and rippling out to us in waves.

Perfect Timing

I think I can speak for Karl when I say that one of our favorite hedonistic indulgences takes place approximately one week after our wedding anniversary every year. (Hence my ability to pinpoint with such self-assured accuracy when they’ll be bursting into perfection.)

There are few things in this life more sensually pleasing in so many ways as taking an early summer walk and coming upon a thicket of ripe wild raspberries so plump they practically jump off their delicate yellow spindles into the cup of your palm, prodded only by a simple brush of your fingertips.

It’s hard not to feel dizzy with gratitude and appreciation for Mother Earth as we pop these sweet juicy treats into our mouths, laughing and savoring their sweet magic. I always try to take just one berry at a time – at least at first – doing my utmost to do justice to this annual ritual. Of course, this doesn’t last long. Within moments, I am thanking the berries over and over as I fill my palms and drop the nuggets into my mouth by twos, threes, fours – or more.

In addition to honoring that first raspberry of the season by noticing its shape with my tongue, from the hollow cave where it was attached to the bush to its tiny plump components, I close my eyes and feel my saliva responding to what I know will be a rush of sweetness. Unless, of course, I happen to have chosen impatiently – taking a berry that didn’t just drop into my hand but might have held on to its home with just the slightest cling. Ah yes – that can make for a little bit of a pucker, when the sugar inside hasn’t quite reached its peak.

But the occasional tart one only makes the sweet ones all the more delectable.

An Entire Experience

While some of the berry bushes flash their wares in the brilliance of direct sunshine, we’re usually able to take shelter from the hot summer sun under the leaves of the many surrounding ashes, oaks, and shagbark hickories that stand watch over these patches. The air is often thick and humid when the berries are at their best. As I write these words right now, I can imagine the aroma of the grasses we sometimes trample to gain access to these prickly patches. There’s usually a backdrop of crickets humming in the heat as well – or the buzz of bees that are also happily sampling the feast.

There’s plenty for all of us, including the deer, who are our usually our greatest competitors for these tasty treats.

Sweetest In the Moment

Over the years, when we used to come upon the ripening berries, we’d indulge in stuffing a few in our mouths and then vow to bring a container the next day to harvest some for dessert. Most of the time, we’d forget to bring a container. Once or twice, though, we’d remember – and I have to confess: they never tasted as good at home. They’re ok; don’t get me wrong.

But standing in the middle of a thicket, surrounded by prickles as well as gobs and gobs of berry clusters, birds singing in the trees, bees and crickets humming and thrumming, the smell of Mother Earth filling your senses, and then stuffing your mouth with handful upon handful of blood red, juicy berries?

There’s nothing like it.

And it’s our unique ritual to celebrate the beginning of another year of life together. Considering all the peculiar challenges and circumstances all of us are facing this year, perhaps this is why the nascent berries called out to me so distinctly today. They want us to feel the prickle of hope and promise of abundance; they call us to know that Mother Earth is always with us, feeding and nurturing us. They want us to remember the profound joy to be found in the moments of simplest pleasures.

Nascent Wineberries* Wild Raspberries – Photo: L. Weikel

*See next post

(T-532)

Full Flower Moon – Day 540

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Approaching Full Flower Moon – Photo: L. Weikel

Full Flower Moon

Nope; not yet. But when it does arrive – at 6:45 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 7th, 2020 – we will be enjoying what’s known as the Full Flower Moon.

I just thought I’d give everyone a little heads up. After all, who wants to miss a full moon whose name conjures images of abundant bouquets of heady-scented, multi-hued blossoms?

Sometimes I wish I could smell the colors of some of the flowers we encounter on our walks. Take these precious little gems sunning themselves beside the creek that flows parallel to our road:

Wildflowers – Photo: L. Weikel

Moon Shadows – Already

As Karl and I walked early this evening, our eyes kept getting drawn toward the waxing moon above our heads. Of course, as we continued along our trek and the sun disappeared completely behind a bank of dark slate gray clouds on the horizon, she became brighter and more brilliant with each passing minute.

By the time we reached home, our forms – and everything around us, especially the trees – cast sharp, unmistakable shadows. And this with two and a half days left until she reaches her fullest expression!

I don’t know what it is that makes me catch my breath every time I see them, but there’s something magical about moon shadows. When I am lucky enough to be outside when the moon casts her brilliance powerfully enough, joy bubbles up and I feel what I can only describe as childlike delight. Magic.

I took the photo above early in our walk tonight – well before the sun even approached the horizon. Something tells me, if we’re lucky to escape cloud cover over the next few nights, we’re in for some serious urges to howl.

A Little Forethought

Remember, full moons are the perfect time to release those feelings, thoughts, or perspectives on circumstances that have maxed out on their usefulness in our lives. As Grandmother Moon is already beaming her message of reflection to us in these days preceding her technical fullness, perhaps she’s encouraging us to spend a little bit of this Covid-19 isolation reflecting on what might not be working for us anymore.

Is there an attitude, a belief, a perspective on life that we used to hold very dear (and which may have worked well enough), but which might not serve us anymore as we adjust to a vastly different world? Is there a rigidity lurking somewhere within ourselves that we might release, perhaps by symbolically blowing it into a tiny stick and willingly sacrificing to a full moon fire?

Intention is Everything

Remember, a full moon fire can be as simple as a tea candle on a dish. The power of any ritual rests in our intention.

Perhaps we can take advantage of the next day or two to reflect on what we’ve experienced ‘enough’ of and wish to release. This month’s Full Flower Moon is arriving at a time when most of us are realizing that this – all of this, this new reality – is, indeed, real. And perhaps here to stay for a lot longer than any of us would’ve believed a month or two ago.

If we’re going to slow down and revel in the beauty and aroma of the flowers that are only starting to bloom in our lives, perhaps we better first clear out the dead beliefs about how things are.

(T-571)

Responsibility – Day 127

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March Sunset – Photo: L. Weikel

Responsibility         

I have a confession to make. I feel as though I’ve shirked a responsibility that I take quite seriously. And yet, the act itself harkens back to a different time in our my life.

Tonight, Karl and I chose to refrain from watching any news on television.

Perhaps that sounds weird. I suppose it’s possible for people to be living life without paying much attention to what’s happening on the national and international stage. But for me? That feels irresponsible.

Actually, I’m feeling a swing of reactions, from a calm sense of relief that I’m not immersed in the world of politics and upsetting news of violence and hate crimes that seem more apropos of Escape from LA than it should be to live in the world in March 2019, to a foreboding sense of moral responsibility.

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this before. It may have been another evening when I allowed myself to indulge in the sweetness of silence by turning off our television. Yes indeed, I’m pretty sure I even called my post Evening Silence.

Not One Minute Today

Tonight is a little different than that night. In fact, while I haven’t kept meticulous track of my viewing habits, I bet this is the first weeknight I’ve not watched even one minute of news since I began my 1111 Devotion back in November. Wait. That might not be precisely true. The holidays of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and possibly Thanksgiving, I think I may have abstained as well. But holidays are like weekends: major world or life events that demand our attention just aren’t supposed to happen on those days.

Of course, we all know that’s not true; it’s not reality. But we pretend it is.

As a result, as a direct consequence of that pretending, I rarely think twice about what’s going on “out there” on weekends and holidays.

But wow. Today is a regular workday. It is a day that falls on the heels of some wretched events that simply make me want to weep. We are being forced to contemplate the nth degree of cruelty that humans inflict upon each other. And it’s happening over and over again, seemingly day after day. And it hurts.

Have I Hit My Saturation Point?

I’m a bit concerned that I’m reaching my saturation point. That concerns me, because it feels like succumbing to that sense of precipitous overload is playing directly into a nefarious agenda. An agenda being set by those who would have us live lives based in fear rather than on love and compassion.

It will be interesting to see how Karl and I choose to spend our evening tomorrow. Will we make it two weeknights in a row without watching the news? I doubt it.

I guess we’ll see.

In the meantime, I feel my responsibility in this moment is to not watch the news. Rather, it is to do whatever I need to do to keep the faith. To hold the center for anyone or anything I can, in order to help us all survive this onslaught of division, fear, and yes – terror.

Holding Our Center – In Grief – With Ritual and Respect

To that end, in case you haven’t seen this gut-wrenching and culturally unique (but pan-cultural in its impact upon us when we witness it) tribute to the grief being felt in New Zealand, I am offering it here.

I dare you to watch this young man and not be moved. I challenge you to witness these students performing this ancient ritual and not sense our common knowing, deep within our bones, that what is happening to one country or culture is happening to us all.

It is our responsibility to feel the tears of our souls, even if they express themselves as a lump in our throat or a clenching in our stomach. No matter how the tears show up for you, feel them. It is our responsibility – to ourselves and to each other.

(T-984)

I AM Winter Solstice Symposium – Day Thirty Two

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I AM Winter Solstice Symposium

During the Mid Winter Wind, I will be participating in the IAM Winter Solstice Symposium with host, Renee Baribeau, author of the recently published Winds of Spirit. The event will begin on December 20th with an opening Fire Ceremony, followed by interviews with 17 Women Wisdom Keepers – plus yours truly. The theme this year is “Rituals for Navigating Turbulent Winds while Aligning to your Winter Cycle.” Find support and nourishment as we navigate the holiday season and ring in a New Year together.

Call for Fire Tenders

We are looking for Volunteers for this event! Specifically FIRE TENDERS who will keep a flame burning during the I AM Winter Solstice online celebration from December 20th to January 1st.

During the Event: Light a Candle or Fire, Visualize a Purple Flame, or keep a Light Burning for the Event from 12/20 through 1/1. You can say a daily prayer in lieu of a flame on the days you are traveling.  Do what works best for you.

I know that some of you participated as Firekeepers last year, and personally shared how much you enjoyed the sense of community you experienced by maintaining that personal focus and – dare I say it, devotion to the Winter Solstice spirit.

This is your opportunity to embrace and support 18 fellow Wisdom Keepers in your own unique and personal fashion.

Opening Fire Ceremony

THE OPENING FIRE CEREMONY WILL BE ON 12/20  Join us here.See Complete Line-Up Here

Join the Wind Clan on FB

The only other requirement to becoming a FIRE TENDER, other than maintaining the flame of your choosing, is that you join the Wind Clan if you are not already a member and opt-in here to receive all the interview recordings for FREE.

If you have any questions, please reach out to renee@thepracticalshaman.com.

(T-1079)