Positive feedback is always welcome. As
I develop my notions about modern Pagan spirit arte I am especially thankful to
those of my friends and colleagues who actually do the work and especially who
tell me about it. Today I received a nice note about some results that I fell
like sharing.
This woman is a long-time ADF member
who has done much of my Nine Moons work as well as some of the ADF in-house
training. In this email she refers to a small rite of offering and openness-to-contact
that I worked as the final piece for the Pagan Fires seminar. It was very
simple and general, aimed at calling all those of the Three Kindreds who cared
to answer. We intended to go past simply honoring the spirits to asking them to
show themselves and converse, and we got several good responses. This is the
only written example, so I’ll just print it…
I leave out the name of her
spirit-contact, as that’s not mine to share. Otherwise a few edits for summary.
She says:
…
would just like to update you on some cool things that have happened in my own
spiritual work and then also for the grove, since PF.
So
first thing was the meditation you led that evening to make contact. I had kind
of an intent, as part of the WG (Warriors’ Guild of ADF) StudyProgram to meet
and work with a spirit that reflects that particular interest (could be animal,
ancestor, god, whatever). I went in with that intent ...
The
spirit that appeared was a man wearing mostly plain clothing from whatever
ancient era I don't know, and a cloth cap. I had seen him before at a similar
rite at some other festival or another, and assumed it was Lugh because ....I
can't remember why. Although it never really felt like Lugh (could be from the
court of Lugh though? Hmmm). He said his name was (***)I'm spelling it
phonetically because it's in Gaelic....(***) Anyway, this is also the same
energy I feel with me sometimes when I'm running or working out or whatever, so
with a few questions and some later work...yeah, (mission accomplished). Woot!
We
also (as a grove) do a members-only trance journey once in a while. It's so far
once a quarter. Anyway, we used your 9 'categories' of nature spirits
as a starter, and then went on a journey through each of the elements. Almost
everyone there had VERY powerful experiences, receiving guides and insight from
all 9 areas. I got a whole bunch of goodness, and two specific beings with
names. (My first response post-wake up..."Great...more spirits...."
:) )
Then,
we honored the 9 elements in our Beltane rite. Typically we've honored nature
spirits in general there (as a bookend for Samhain where we honor ancestors)
and it's of course themed toward your general totem animals and such. This year
I invoked and made offering to spirits of all nine elements. I wish I could remember
what I said. There was a last minute kind of switcheroo, and I kind of made it
up on the spot. I might be able to reconstruct it, in case you want to add it
to something in the future.
Anyway,
that's all. See you next weekend, and have a good day!
Very cool to see a duile summoning used in a group rite like
that. Very cool to have these ideas percolating out there. Next step remains
employing this stuff for more real-world outcomes, but there’s still plenty of
development to do as well. May they make
a strong brew!
