An “Ill-met” Imbolc

Saturday’s Imbolc was great; seven attended in total, the largest turnout since the official start of the Protogrove. I, however, was a bit miserable. Not because of Imbolc itself, though.

At 4:30am on Friday, I was sick. I found myself so weakened that I took Friday off of work. As I rested, I wondered about the Imbolc rite the next day. I knew, at this stage in the Protogrove’s development, that it could not go on without me. Should I cancel it, even though I knew there was interest? Could I cancel it, given that the notice went out to many people who I had no idea if they planned to attend or not?

I decided that the rite must go on. The illness was the sort likely to largely pass within a day. If I was well and truly unable to go the next day, I would contact those who I knew would attend and encourage an improvised solution. Besides, Brighid is a goddess of healing, and I could certainly use some.

I made two concessions to my illness. The first was to give up looking for the bag of tealights I had intended to have blessed during the Workings section and give out; being very weak on Friday meant that my usual advance preparation time was reduced. The second was to bring along cups for the Waters of Life. In times past we’ve simply passed a horn or cup around, but I wanted to do my best to avoid spreading my germs to anyone else. I’d been meaning to try individual cups, but hadn’t done so before — now it was necessary.

Preparations were definitely a bit rushed by my need for extra rest and inability to prepare the night before; still, I arrived at the UU fellowship second, and let everyone in. (The first person to arrive had done so surprisingly early.) In addition to the two UU regulars, two more occasional attendees and two new people showed up. The newcomers brought along “Persephone’s Milk”, a buttermilk-and-juice-based beverage that we decided to use as the Waters of Life.

We set up in the reserved room, which fit us well after some rearranging of the furniture. The setup seemed to take extra long; I don’t know if it was my own reduced energy or just my perception of time with new attendees present. After an extra long pre-ritual briefing due to discussion and extra time spent practicing the “chants” we would use, we began. Almost everyone chose to take at least one part, so the rite flowed swiftly by while I made certain everyone had any supplies or tools they needed at hand. Persephone’s Milk, though a little a-cultural in name, tasted a lot like Kefir, and with its active cultures was probably an ideal Waters of Life for my digestive system in its state. Only a very small amount wound up consumed by the tapestry I had thrown over the table. Some of those attending had brought offerings for Brighid; in fact, all offerings made during the General Praise Offerings were to Her, which isn’t always the case in this group. (Now there hangs a subject for a long entry.)

The biggest performance hink during the rite was my not properly cueing up a grain offering, which was notable mostly in that I’d been very on top of the requisite offerings. There were a few other, more minor things. I forgot the fire-plate for the fire. Also, I didn’t explicitly go over the idea of “Person 1: X, accept this offering. All: X, accept this offering.” so it wound up slightly off at first as everyone tried to say it simultaneously. Finally, there were the usual issues some have reading off a script.

As for the omen, the first acceptance omen was Nauthiz (Need). I saw this as a no, but did not see it as a personal push to do anything — closer to a more please. Since I had not known exactly what resources people would bring, I had brought with me a surfeit of libations, so I offered Brighid “the closest thing to Guinness I have with me”. Others made additional offerings from supplies they had with them, some surprising given the discussion during the pre-ritual briefing about offerings passing out of human use. I drew another rune and received Algiz (Elk) which I perceived as a yes, given the mentions of the protective aspects of Brighid in the ritual text.

For the blessings from the Ancestors, I drew Othala (Ancestral Lands), Gebo (Gift), and Dagaz (Day); I interpreted this as getting in touch with our ancestral gifts and power, but I wasn’t entirely happy with this interpretation, though nothing further has sprung to mind.

For the Nature Spirits, I drew Fehu (Cattle), Laguz (Lake), and Wunjo (Joy); I saw this as great productivity for the coming year, though flexibility would be required.

Finally, for the Gods and Goddesses I drew Mannaz (Man), Jera (Year), Ansuz (Gods; the God Odin), and Tiewaz (the God Tyr) also came out. I took this as a rebalancing in communication with others in the coming year; an attendee made a comment about “Three Gods of the Year” which I’m not entirely certain I understand, even after later discussion. (It might have been that I wasn’t 100% yet, health-wise.)

Afterward, everyone helped clean up and we all chatted a bit before heading our separate ways. The Persephone’s Milk sat calmly in my belly, and though I was still a little tired and a little out of it, I felt good as I headed home.

Advertising in the right way

Yesterday, there was a definite spike of interest in Hemlock Vales, apparently linked to a number of visits to the Imbolc page. (I wonder what I should do with that page once the rite is done.) Two new people signed up for the local Pagan e-list that is largely occupied by HVP discussion, which isn’t exactly a simple set of jumps from that page, given the need to sign up with a Yahoo and all.

Why was this? We’re having Imbolc at the local Unitarian-Universalist fellowship, and I submitted a note for their email newsletter including a link to that page, which went out at noon yesterday. After noticing the spike, I actually improved that page significantly from what it was to explain Imbolc a little better. I’ll have to remember to do that before the next announcement goes out, since if this works well I’m planning to have the equinox rite there as well.

Now, I’ve done sign posting on the fellowship’s community bulletin board in the past and the response has been mild. In my mind, the difference is that this made it easy. Instead of a slip of paper they could then lose or not get around to entering, it was a link they could click right at that moment. It’s the same thing as writing down the email address of the person you want to get in touch with instead of giving them a card (though, of course, both is better) — you’re lowering their barrier to taking action.

I look forward to seeing how this rite goes — I’ve already been given the option to use a larger room if needed (and settle the difference after), though their “small” room is larger than I remember from when I helped out with a Neighboring Faiths class.

In the hearth

Imbolc approaches; with just under two weeks to go, it’s time to send out several email notices, drop the check off for space rental, ensure that everything needed to hold the rite is in hand, and perhaps print out some signs to (hopefully) improve turn-out — better advertising and all that.

But the underlying question of “Why Imbolc? Why Brighid?” remains.

There have been a few approaches to the eight-spoked Neopagan ritual year in ADF. One is to find rites from varied hearth cultures to fill out all eight spokes. Another is to find enough nearby holidays in your own preferred hearth culture to fill it out. A third is to adapt a culture to the rite as understood by modern Neopagans.

Let’s start with the third, adapting the culture to the modern-day rite. A good example of this would be a recent Beltane at Sassafras Grove, ADF, where Aphrodite was invoked as the Deity of the Occasion, within a rite framed in the Hellenic hearth culture. In many ways, this is the most approachable route for the modern Neopagan, seeing as how the modern Beltane is more about fertility than purification between two fires. It has the simultaneous benefit and difficulty of focusing very closely on the Deities of the Occasion and their lore, as opposed to seasonal or general culture lore.

The second route, finding nearby holidays, is more easily done in some hearth cultures than others. An example, using the Germanic Hearth cultures: Winter Finding or the Charming of the Plow for Imbolc, Ostara on the vernal equinox, Walpurgisnacht at Beltane, Midsummer on the summer solstice, Freyfaxi on Lughnassadh, Gleichennacht or perhaps Winternights on the autumnal equinox, either Winternights or a festival for the Einjenhar on Samhain, and Yule on the winter solstice. The advantage is being able to stick with a single hearth culture all the time. The disadvantage is some holidays are being shoehorned in rather strongly, and have variable levels of information, let alone attestation and simultaneity in the Lore. I’d expect it would be easier for those record-keeping Romans, Hellenes, or Vedics…but it might be harder.

The first route I mentioned is the one I’ve historically chosen for public rites, in the most common pattern of Germanic solar holidays and Celtic cross-quarters. I’d recently been questioning that — Hemlock Vales’ official hearth culture is declared Norse, Pan Indo-European…but I am on schedule to hold a rite honoring Brighid. Why not just go all Norse ASAP, or starting being very experimental?

The answer is that the Protogrove isn’t just for me. This had been Imbolc in my mind for months now, and while I’m certain I could seek out and update all references, that doesn’t change expectations. As things turn out, I have at least one very Brighid-interested person who can make it to this High Day, and another who contacted me through the website and is interested in the Celts in general. It’s not just what I want to do at any moment — it’s what people expect and want, too. Even though none of the Celtic hearth cultures drew me in personally, I have led very successful rites in those hearth cultures.

Of course, this does mean I want it to be the best Imbolc ever.

The Past Through Yesterday

I suppose I should say where we’ve been.

In February 2005, I and two other ADF-interested individuals in State College gathered to hold an Imbolc rite. I didn’t write it. The interest of the two others waned for various reasons, but I continued to perform personal rites for each holiday.

In August 2005, I held my first semi-open ADF-style rite, mentioned on local email lists. After that, I continued holding locally advertised ADF-style rites for the High Days as possible, though (ironically) it was hardest to get people together for Samhain and Beltane. Attendance varied widely as I progressed; I could never predict how many would turn out. A few definite regulars started attending: a UU-affiliated Discordian and a UU-friend of his, along with a few other semi-regulars. Many others attended one or two rites and went on their own way. I was fine with this, because I was finding a joy in offering an outlet for public honoring of the Ancestors, Nature Spirits, and Godden. As I proceeded, I began to develop my own particular takes on some sections of ritual and my understanding of the ADF Core Order of Ritual improved.

Eventually, I realized I was doing a large chunk of the work of a Protogrove. Or, at least it felt that way. So in March 2007, after a number of pushes by humans and other people, I finally submitted a Grove Organizer’s survey. I hoped that formal recognition and a name would help create an “If you build it, they will come.”

I knew it was a mistake, letting my officemate use that movie as a test disc for months on end.

For you see, there’s interest — a fair bit of it — but turnout hovers at 4 per High Day. Including myself. The two regulars, though very supportive (spiritually and materially), aren’t interested in joining — they are the Pagans public holiday ritual is meant to serve. One of the semi-regulars likes the rites, but lives in Pittsburgh (I have mentioned Sassasfras Grove). Another would like to come more often, but works a fiendishly incompatible schedule.

So now I’m here to look at what I’ve been doing, adjust and adapt. I’m certain I’ll touch on other aspects of the past as I go — but right now, this is the situation.