February High Day Write-Up

Look, it’s still technically February, I’m not late yet. XD

I did totally mean to post up my things before now, but somehow, life took over and I got busy, and it didn’t happen. I hadn’t even done the High Day essay notes until today, so. I’m going to post that separately, but here’s the ritual write-up, and all that jazz. It was written up a day or two post-ritual, because for some reason, I didn’t get around to it. I think I had work and I couldn’t stay up late, and I was busy, and it got done when it got done. So.

I’ll add in photos later, or put them in a separate post, because I do have work tomorrow, and I mostly just want to get the words up, and write more things about it later, since this was my first DP High Day that wasn’t COoR, and things have changed a bit because of what happened with that, and there’s a whole lot of stuff I know I haven’t included in this write-up because my scatterbrain didn’t remember them and I cbf adding them now. But I will do a proper reflection later on in the week. Promise. (Maybe.)

February High Day Planning

It’s not like this High Day has taken me by surprise. But, well. I am still Kemetic, and Wep Ronpet is coming up on Feb 1, so I’ve sort of been concentrating on that because Wep Ronpet! New year! Wooo! (I still have so much to do for that oh gods)

But I’m nearly halfway through my DP High Days, and I didn’t want to skip this one. So I’ve been pondering what I might do for it in terms of themes or gods I might want to honour. I’m still getting to know the Hellenic festivals, and I find their lack of seasonal significance jarring. It comes from spending far too long working with seasonal calendars, I think, and isn’t necessarily a comment on Hellenic festivals per se. Different priorities, etc.

But since it is going to be the new year, I wondered if I might tap into that energy and have a Hellenic new year as well. So I’m pondering doing a non-COoR rite, designed to be a, well. A bigger noumenia ritual, I think. The High Day actually falls closer to last quarter than new, but the timing won’t work if I hold off until noumenia proper, which I think is 8 or 9 days later. But the energy of Wep Ronpet should be easy to tap into, in that new beginning sort of way.

Summer Solstice Write-Up

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsShrine set up for the Solstice ritual, taken after the end of the rite. Lower shrine is a working space as much as a shrine. New additions to the druidic shrine on the upper level include the (Christmas) trees, and a statue of Gaia that’s hiding behind the bottle on the left.

How did the rite go in terms of structure?
It went pretty well. I had to deal with 40C/104F temperatures during the day (this seemed appropriate for the summer solstice), so I wanted something simple that didn’t involve candles and incense and fire and hot things. And that wasn’t very long. I took inspiration from some of the simpler, short rituals I’ve done in the past, and simplified the liturgy I used for the past two High Days into something short and portable that only really needed four things: water (or some other liquid for libations), a bell, a divination tool, and something to drink from. I designed it so I could perform it outside, and simply pour the water into the earth, but it’s flexible enough I could use it inside at my own shrine and include a libation bowl, and a purification with salt water and frankincense oil, rather than khernips.

My initial plan had been to do a non-COoR rite, but in simplifying my current one, I kept it as COoR as it needed to be to suit my purpose. Some things got ditched, and when you’re designing a rite that doesn’t involve candles or incense, some things just have to go. But I think it worked very well, and apart from a few minor tweaks, it’s good to go.

Summer Solstice High Day Essay

I am way behind on a lot of things this month, my High Day essays and my reading included. But I did manage to bodge up a ritual, even if I did it on the 23rd. Better late than never. Anyway. This is mostly a draft essay at this stage. I’m going away on the 26th, and I want to post these before I go away, or I’ll forget, so. This will be fleshed out later when I’m closer to submitting. Post-ritual write-up to come, then bed. 

October High Day Omen and Notes

Copying this into its own separate post for reference. I’m interested in having them separated out like this so I can look back over them and just focus on them, rather than read through the entire write-ups for it. I’ve also added a bit more as I’ve read through it again. But I’ll revise all these things before I submit my documentation anyway, so that’s not a big problem.

But I’m also finding I’m getting better results with the interpretations if I look at it after the ritual, when I’ve got clear air, so to speak. These omens seem to need reflection to find the right meaning. Maybe that’s just my way of learning this particular deck, but if that’s what they want, that’s what they’ll get. It also means I’ll always have tons of notes to set down, so I might as well put them all here, so I can see what I thought during the ritual, and how well that compared later when I had time to think about it.

October High Day Write-Up

I’ve got a bunch of photos I want to post, but I’ll put them in another post, and just get this write-up posted for now. The ritual was good, though. Music gave it a different feel, but not a bad one. I’m keen to try it again.

Used the same format as the equinox one. Might edit it down before submission. Ritual script is going up next, see the pages at the top of the blog. I’ll be posting all my ritual scripts for High Days, just for reference. For this High Day, the music notes, and the songs I used, will be included in the ritual script. Check that if you’re interested.

October High Day Essay [draft]

Is it the October or November High Day? Does it depend on when you celebrate it? IDEK. Anyway. I’m doing mine today, Oct 31st, and it’ll be dedicated to Hermes. It is NaNo eve, of course, so I thought I’d build the ritual around that, particularly since the novel I’ll be working on is one for and about Hermes. I’ll ask Him to bless my ritual tools, and put together a little charm bag. IDK how I have failed to associate this particular High Day with NaNo, which I have been doing since 2006, but there you go. At least it gives me a different thing to do for this particular High Day other than seasonal things, so this might become a tradition.

Also, apparently it is Hermes who’s got me stuck in a Depeche Mode kind of mood all year. This apparently means the entire ritual tonight ought to be soundtracked to their Tour of the Universe concert. Because reasons? IDK. Anyway. I’ve never done rituals to music before, let alone to DM, so we’ll see how well this works out, shall we?

(Also, I have painted my nails black. Because reasons. IDK. *blames Hermes*)

(ALSOALSO He wants me to sing for Him during the ritual. One song in particular. So. D:)

Anyway. Drafted essay notes below, will probably revise closer to submission. Any critiques or errors, lemme know, k?

Druidic shrine update

I’ve been changing up my shrine over the past month or so, and I feel like it’s time to do a proper write-up for it, since that’s part of our DP documentation anyway, and then I don’t need to worry about it. Also, I promised to post photos over at Per Sebek, so I’ll cross-post this back over there in a bit, just for anyone else who wants to see it.

I’ve spent the day setting up my DP documentation file, so I can begin getting everything ready, and adding to it as I progress. It’s not necessarily a way to procrastinate getting ready for the coming High Day, which is my least favourite 5eva, but it is after 4:30pm on a Sunday afternoon, and I am only just getting on to it. So there you go.

(Also, I have an ear infection rn that is making everything sound strange. There are bells everywhere where there should be strings or guitars and it’s weird as fuck. Also, everyone sounds tinny, and/or on helium. I mean, my hearing is clear, it’s not fuzzy or blocked, but man. I am so over this, negl.)

I have no inspiration or care for this High Day. I’ve never liked Beltane. Too heteronormative. Also, spring is the worst. I hate spring. This is my least favourite time of year, and my least favourite High Day. Although. Hmm. I might take the suggestion, from the DP manual, to mark Thargelia, the birthday of Apollon and Artemis, as a way to get away from the traditional symbolism associated with Beltane that I absolutely hate. Ooh. Might also do it on the 31st, on the eve of NaNoWriMo, and get Apollon (and Hermes)(and the Mousai?) to bless my writing efforts over the coming month. Extra special offering of rum to Hermes, I think, since it’s His story I’ll be working on. There. That sounds like a much better idea. K, brb taking out all the Beltane ranting from my drafted High Day essay. (I feel better now.) (I’ll post it here when it’s done and not full of Beltane ranting wooooo.)

(Alsoalso, hmm. If it’s nearly NaNotiem, is it also nearly Pride March tiem? Is it even still running in November? I can’t even remember. Must check that.)

Anyway. Enough of my rambling and parenthetical asides. What I actually wanted to do with this entry was post below what I’ve written up regarding my shrine for my DP file. I may edit it down further when I get closer to submitting, and perhaps revise the whole thing some more, but this is it, for now. /~1000 words later. I tried to be brief? In my defence? XD /writes too much.

Spring Equinox Ritual – Omen Notes and Interpretation

Sticking all my notes on this in one place for easy reference. I think I’ll do this with all of them, and I’ll remember, next time, to take a photo of the cards I drew to add to it so you can see them if you’re not familiar with the deck, but for now, have some wall-o-text.

This isn’t a complete and coherent set of notes; it’s what I took during the ritual, the reflection afterwards, and what I wrote yesterday after thinking on it some more.

Feedback is always welcome, as I am not always good at picking up nuance in the cards.

Spring Equinox Ritual Notes

Going into the actual ritual notes now, copied from the DP WoTY book. I copypaste’d some of my omen notes from my initial write-up, but everything else I’ve written up now.

If anyone has any feedback, or further insights into the omen, I’m all for it. I am a competent reader, but I don’t always grasp all the nuances of the cards.

Again, this will be edited down into something shorter for submission, but for now, these are my answers to the questions in the book, just so I have something to draw on later. Since it’s another 1800 words or so of rambly ritual notes wooooo. /does not know how to be concise. /also 1800 words feels like a proper essay /been at uni too long