Back to Nature Awareness..

An account of the Dedicant's efforts to work with nature, honor the Earth, and understand the impacts and effects of the Dedicant's lifestyle choices on the environment and/or the local ecosystem and how she or he could make a difference to the environment on a local level. (500 words min.)

This requirement is a lot more difficult...how do you separate out what you do with Nature everyday from this requirement?

I work with Nature each and every day, from documenting biodiversity in my area for projects like Noah and the NWF. I honor the Earth by participating in renewal events like Arbor Day, Earth Day, the 350.org project to lower climate impact/change, and Earth Hour (where countries all across the planet turn off electricity for one hour to show solidarity for positive change.) I am incredibly conscious about my personal impact on my environment locally and on a larger scale. 

In the past, I have taken effort to research how big my carbon footprint is and to come up with/implement ideas on how to lessen it. When I was living in my apartment alone, I got my electricity bill from $20 at the start down to under $2 a month just by switching off electronics when they weren't being used and by going to CFL bulbs in 90% of my fixtures. I recycled at home and at work, and re-used and re-purposed items at home and at work. 

When I was younger, my Urban Ecology class teamed up with the Rhode Island DEM and demolished an old drive-in movie theater, turning it into a restored natural wetlands. I spent a year and then some helping divert a portion of the Blackstone River through the wetlands (creating a man-made estuary) and then monitored soil and water sample levels after that.

Additionally, I spent a summer teaching water conservation education to a group of underprivileged adolescents as part of an extended-education program called SPIRIT as well as having the opportunity to take part in research during that summer on the Aletta Morris, a vessel designed for shallow and deep-water research owned by the Rhode Island chapter of Save the Bay.

For making a difference on a local level, I plan to maintain working with local foundations for Earth and Arbor Days as well as community clean-up projects when they pick up in the Spring. My partner and I remain conscious about our energy consumption at home and may consider options to lessen our carbon footprint in the future.

Samhain 2013 - Charter Oak Grove, ADF

Short essays on each of the eight ADF High Days including a discussion of the meaning of each feast. (125 words min. each)

Samhain is one of the celtic fire festivals - quite often seen as the most important - and marks the end of summer/harvest time and the beginning of a new year. Agriculturally, it was a time when the flock was culled to prepare for the  long winter ahead. Physically, the festival marks the change in the balance of the sun and darkness, and spiritually marks the shift in power of the Kindred of light and the Kindred of darkness - it is seen as a time where the 'barriers' between both this mortal plane and the plane to the Kindreds is the thinnest. This festival is traditionally celebrated on October 31, and is celebrated oftentimes at twilight or in darkness.

My rite with my Grove this year included a journey through a candlelight labyrinth into the Nemeton. Our Grove called out to Cernunnos, the horned God, to guide us and help us open and close the Gates to the Otherworld. The patron of the rite was Cathubodua, and we had workings to open the Ancestors Box and to install our new Grove Officers. 

   

   

[Liturgy] Ancestor Part - Ancestors of Culture

I had/have to take a break for a moment to write some liturgy. For our Samhain rite, we're doing a sort of five-fold Ancestor part, and I am going to take on calling to the Ancestors of culture.

I'm not sure I'm 100% done, but I am pretty happy with what I have right now to tinker with.

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I call out to the Ancestors of culture -

You who shaped the societal flow across the decades;
you who sacrificed - in many ways - so our society would flourish.

I call out to the:

Ancestors of innovation - for the knowledge and experiments which have improved our lives.

Ancestors of war and sacrifice -  all those who gave in ways uncountable so that we might have what we do today.

Ancestors who transcended the boundaries imposed on them in their time.

Ancestors of Wealth and of Poverty, whose triumph and adversity shaped a Nation...

and to the Ancestors of the Faithful - whose committal to their paths gave us the freedom to follow ours.

(Ancestors of culture, accept our sacrifice (or offering.)
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I might book-end it but I'm not sure yet.

An account of the Dedicant's efforts to work with nature, honor the Earth, and understand the impacts and effects of the Dedicant's lifestyle choices on the environment and/or the local ecosystem and how she or he could make a difference to the environment on a local level. (500 words min.)

Altar Requirement

A brief description, with photos if possible, of the Dedicant's home shrine and plans for future improvements. (150 words min.)

- I have a couple home shrines but I'm focusing on my "main" home shrine.

My home shrine is an antique washstand with three shelves inside of it. I'm not entirely sure if it is civil-war era, but it is antique and was handed down to me by a member of my Grove from his mother's possessions when she passed away. It's one of my favorite pieces of furniture, and it has been with me through three moves, three cities and two states.

The lowest level of the unit is for storing all of my ritual/altar components. The middle shelf holds my Ancestor box as well as things that represent the underworld and/or are effects that represent them in ritual space. The top shelf holds items that are of magical significance to me on this plane; statuary and memories (in a small tin) that connect my mundane life to my spiritual flow. The top of the altar represents the gateway between the cosmos and the heavens above. It holds my representation of the Fire, Well and Tree and also holds my symbolism of the Kindred. The heavens is then the open air above. 

On the left is my statuary of Brighid - atop it sits a crystal skull, to mark my Ancestors. in the upper center, a copper plate holds a crystal glass and silver, a red glass cup, my Brighid's Hearth token, and the Kildare flame. To its right is my representation of the World Tree, which is a hammered piece of pewter with a tree design etched in it. Below that is a wooden symbol representing the three Kindred, and below that is a small metal cup holding a blown-glass piece that looks like roiling water - my Well. In the foreground, a piece of selenite is cleansing a small wand and my Warrior torc. 

My plans for future improvement(s) are to hopefully put up some wall-mounted shelving that will allow me to bring the items inside of the unit outside of it, such as the Ancestor box. While I definitely see a tie between keeping it in a dark, cool, quiet place, I honestly would like to see how it likes being out and visible - both for its own energy and my own. Many of my altar things were packed up/wrapped up because of the move, so it has absolutely been nice to give it sort of the clean-up that it needs and deserves.

Altar Requirement - Photos

A brief description, with photos if possible, of the Dedicant's home shrine and plans for future improvements. (150 words min.)

Two Powers Meditation - Part 2.

187 words later...

The Two Powers meditation is a form of what we call 'grounding and centering'. It serves a few purposes:

- Its intent is to get the participants in ritual to clear their minds so that they can focus on the work at hand. (ie, "letting go" of the things that distract us from the purpose of being there to perform ritual) - to create some semblance of personal inner order out of chaos.

- Its intent is to attune, or link, the person undergoing it to not just the magical currents around them, but to the living beings around us as well. In the Core Order of Ritual (which I will otherwise know use COoR to describe), this is also known as "Establishing the Group Mind". I see this as two-fold: we prepare the constituents of the ritual mentally and emotionally to then be ready to create the physical sacred space.

I say "its intent is" because I have definitely had moments where absolutely nothing kept me from being distracted enough for the meditation to be effective - I'm guessing that isn't just specific to myself alone.

Impressions and insights

- The Two Powers is one of my personal favorite spots of the COoR because it gives the opportunity to settle into ritual space and to actually take a breath. Until it happens, my mind is usually still in prep-for-ritual mode.

- For me, establishing that group mind is the opportunity to be self-centered (literally) before delving into (what I see to be) the intense, focused sort of maelstrom of the recreated cosmos. For me, having a solid core of contentedness is integral not just to my enjoyment of the ritual, but to my emotional (and likely mental) well being as the ritual progresses. The opening of the Gates and the presence of the Kindred always has a huge impact on me, and if I'm not readily prepared for it, I find myself overcome by the intensity of it - and that's hard to recover in the middle of a time when you would be thinking of giving offering or receiving blessings.

- With that, it's also the opportunity for me to experience the energies and the balance that the Grove has. Many of the Two Powers meditations that I've experienced through multiple Groves use the "reach out those (branches/powers/energies) to the people around you; know you are not alone - that we are not one tree, but a Grove of trees" sort of thing. It's inclusive, rather than exclusive.

Two Powers Meditation - Brainstorm..thing..whatever.

You do know what this is, right? I'm sure.

For me, this photo represents the 7 most powerful words in attuning myself:
Like sunlight, flickering across a rippled lake.

Might sound strange, but that is how I imagine the colliding, neutralizing ability of the Two Powers. I can't remember where the wording came from - maybe a throwback Anthony used to use from Stone Creed - but it has stuck with me since my pre-Ocean's Tide days. Well, after I got over the initial inner-laughter part of being distracted to think this:

Aaaand I'm already off track. Let's try again.

Who: Me, trying to explain to a Reviewer why they should pass this..

What: "an essay focusing on the Dedicants understanding of the meaning of the "Two Powers" meditation or other form of 'grounding and centering' as used in meditation and ritual. This account should include impressions and insights that the Dedicant gained from practical experience." 

When : In General? Now? In 300 words!

Where: Here. See Above

Why: don't...get me started.

How: Brainstorming. Then writing. Then prayer. Lots of prayer.

OKAY!

1. an essay focusing on the Dedicants understanding of the meaning of the "Two Powers" meditation.

Okay, so the Two Powers meditation is a form of what we call 'grounding and centering'. It serves a few purposes:

- Its intent is to get the participants in ritual to clear their minds so that they can focus on the work at hand. (ie, "letting go" of the things that distract us from the purpose of being there to perform ritual) - to create some semblance of personal inner order out of chaos.

- Its intent is to attune, or link, the person undergoing it to not just the magical currents around them, but to the living beings around us as well. In the Core Order of Ritual (which I will otherwise know use COoR to describe), this is also known as "Establishing the Group Mind". I see this as two-fold: we prepare the constituents of the ritual mentally and emotionally to then be ready to create the physical sacred space.

I say "its intent is" because I have definitely had moments where absolutely nothing kept me from being distracted enough for the meditation to be effective - I'm guessing that isn't just specific to myself alone.

More in a few minutes.

Oh Hey...It's only been 7 years...almost

I can't believe the last time I logged in was in 2006.

Who am I kidding. Of course I can.

Okay. Here's a list of what I'm not going to do.

1. I'm not going to be all like "OMG I'M WRITING IN THIS EVERY DAY!"

2. I'm not writing in it every day. 

3. I'm not even going to promise to try and remember to write in it again.

4. I'm not setting deadlines. Because screw deadlines. I'm setting Goals.

But...

5. I'm also not going to just be lazy.

6. I'm not going to let other people's opinions get me down.

7. I'm not going to let anyone (not even myself) be disparaging as much as I can help that.

8. I'm not just going to give up entirely.

9. I'm not going to be 30 by the time I finish this damn program.

I think #9 counts as a deadline...maybe...I like to think of it as a goal instead.

Anyway.