Storm Festival 2012

Hi everyone

Today we had workshop number 2 of the Wheel of the Year workshop. This was based on the wheel of the year that I created from observations of the coastal Sydney area, though through these workshops we are exploring the diferences and similarities of how it works in south western Sydney.

TO summarise for those who couldn't make it: It was a great day. We started with a discussion of what the seasonal changes had been since we met last month to study the fire festival. We found that the storms had indeed been noticably a part of the change, and with it an increase in emotional encounters with others and increased emotions in ourselves. We also noted an increase in insect and bird life as well as small reptiles along with the green grass and sprawling or sodden gardens. The humidity was noted as probably a major contributor to the emotional nature of people bringing short fuses, irrational and unreasonable responses. Technical failures were also noted - possibly the fuses of both our minds and our electrical equipment are affected by the humidity!

We decided that the symbolism of the season suited a ritual for growth and hope for new projects, the rains bringing fertility and the blooming of new life, in contrast with the death and conception time of the fire season. So in our ritual we decided to recgnise this in our own lives by planting seeds into small pots after meditating on them for our own goals and dreams for the year to come. For the opening of the ritual and the calling of land, sea and sky we attributed Australian animals present at this time and their energies: for land the spider, snake and crocodile; for sea the frog, turtle and....? (Lisa do you remember?); and for sky the cockatoo and the kookaburra.

In our eisteddfod we read poetry for the land and for the rains which evoked the beauty of the Australian landscape. If anyone has theirs on hand it would be great to get them recorded here, or a link to a page where we can see them. (I would post the one I brought now... but it's raining so hard I can't get the book out of the car! Yes, we got the storm we were honouring!)

So, to those who came along, how did you feel about today's ritual? Is there anything else you think we should add next time around? Were there any parts you think we could improve upon? Any favourite parts? Or generally any afterthoughts of any kind.

I'd like to say thanks to everyone who did come. I think it was a great ritual and I loved that we created it as a group. I'm not sure what I would change next time. I think it was alright! Though I would love it if we could bring more drums and instruments to the rituals. I think it really added something to have them with us today. I thought the eisteddfod part was lovely.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Julie /|\

Thanks Julie!


I thought having the "autocue" whiteboard worked pretty well. It wasn't obtrusive like a script might have been, but it stopped us getting lost (or being distracted, worrying that we might). 

I liked how people gave thanks for various things as the cup was passed, that was spontaneous and natural. I think it would be nice if we also make a small offering to the spirits and creatures and trees of the place.  I have a lot of birds that frequent the yard, so passing a bowl of bird seed around the circle and each taking a handful and scattering it might be nice. We could even do a similar meditation to the one we did when we planted the calendula seeds before we scatter the seed... How do people feel about that? We wouldn't see the seeds grow that way, but we would gain a connection to the spirits of place via the birds. 

I do always love the symbolism of planting seeds  Random idea - on a bigger scale, and obviously not on my pavers,  imagine if we could bring corn seed or something and plant it in a circle, as part of the ritual,  and then we'd maybe even have a circle of corn to do our ritual in next time! And eventually some corn to pop, lol. Just a thought! 

Or imagine if we could even plant a circle of trees!! Our own grove! Ok, getting a bit too ambitious now  

I agree, more music would be great. I went to a drumming circle with Becki and Uaine once and it was fantastic!  

I liked the part where we washed ourselves with rain water.  That somehow really did feel like a summer downpour. 

I think crocodile was the third sea creature, but also doubles as a land creature. I'm sure they didn't mind! 

I also really liked the smudging with sage, but one thing that might be nice to add at that point to acknowledge the elements (without actually calling quarters etc) is a verse I say when using sage when I'm working alone:  

"From the Element of Fire
Comes this smoke, which is Air.
From the Element of Earth
Grows this plant, which is Water. May the Elements cleanse and protect this place" or similar. 

 I enjoyed the eisteddfod. Lovely poems! Speaking of which, mine was My Country by Dorothea McKellar: 

My Country

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.