As part of planning our March 16
Women's Wisdom; Sacred Agriculture gathering, I "borrowed" Rachel's Nest Group to help me gather the necessary firewood and, of course, use some of it to light a test-fire. If you give a youngster a fire...
He'll ask for a stick and bread-dough... and so they did and so we did!
Here's the first draft of our Hearth Warming Ritual:
Imagine
Sister Pine; roots spreading in the earth, reaching into crevices,
seeking water and nutrients, splitting rocks, yet binding earth
together.
Imagine
Sister Pine; trunk standing straight and tall; reaching up and up
linking heaven and earth– branches reaching out to gather air and
sun.
Breathe
in a deep slow breath of air and as we exhale – LISTEN for the
sound of wind in her branches
Take
another deep breath and hear the air filling the branches and
brachioles and avioli of our lungs as they gather in the oxygen we
need to live.
As
we exhale hear the wind in Sister Pine's branches as she gathers in
the CO2 she needs to live.
Take
a few more deep imaging breaths. We are joined with Sister Pine. Our
waste air is her source of life. Her waste air is ours.
As
she grows, Sister Pine's roots spread further and further in the
earth and her crown, the tip of her trunk plunges deeper and deeper
into heaven. Her branches spread further and further, gathering and
storing the energy of the sun.
As
her upper branches spread and grow, they shade her lower branches.
Deprived of the life-giving sun, the lowest branches die and dry and
wait...
a
gift of sun's energy stored as resin and firewood for us to harvest.
For
countless years, women of this hemisphere have gathered these gifts
from Sister Pine to kindle their hearths.
Hearth;
center of home, center of heat, center of cooking, center of
nourishment; heart of life... Hearth. Heart... Hearth. Heart...
Hearth. Heart.
For
generations, women have placed the tiniest of Sister Pine's twigs
around a glowing ember. We have fanned flames of life into life.
By
adding bigger twigs and small sticks, the flames dance higher.
(Sing:
Rise up oh flame, by thy light glowing. Show to us beauty, vision and
joy.)
For
a lasting fire we call on bigger sticks and logs of oak and maple,
hickory and ash, cherry and birch. What gifts do we bring to this
hearth today? As you receive your name tag, please step forward ,
add a stick to the fire and name a gift that, like Sister Pine, you
offer to this day.
Composing with Noah's home-made turkey quill pen
