In the UK restrictions are beginning to be lifted. Many of us are starting to go back to work and school. There is a mixture of feelings in my groups and circles. Some are keen to embrace a new normal and others are worried about a second spike in Corona.
Kent Goddess Group met on Zoom to celebrate Litha/Summer Solstice. At this time we come together to celebrate the Mothers of Water. While for many the Solstice is all about the sun, seen by many as a masculine force, at the height of his power and we celebrate the longest day. However, a Kent Goddess Group Litha is a time where we focus on our emotional bodies. Kathy Jones describes the celebration of Litha in her book Priestess of Avalon, Preiestess of the Goddess. “Litha is the festival of the Glistening when we celebrate the Mother of Water on the longest day of the year. We honour Nolava of Water and Morgen Gliten who brings rain to Avalon, as well as Domnu, Lady of the Oceans, Queen of the Deep, from whose watery depths all life originally sprang. We celebrate Nolava as Lady of the Springs and Wells, especially in this land of springs and wells…the Mother of Water is Queen of all the Emotions and the great astral sea where most human beings live our lives. She nourishes the needy.” [Kathy Jones. Priestess of Avalon, Priestess of the Goddess: A Renewed Spiritual Path for the 21st Century (Kindle Locations 3897-3902). Ariadne Publications. Kindle Edition.] Honouring our emotional bodies is very resonant at this time of Covid 19. The focus of our ritual was to create and dress our own holy well to the Mothers of Water. Well dressing has ancient Pagan roots, a tradition of people making offerings to sacred wells and springs, often imbuing the waters with healing properties that they believed protected from pestilence. You might enjoy the Water Witch Annwyn Avalon’s Blog on working with Brigid as a water Goddess Water Witch Blog. This is a time of great feeling, great unrest, and emotional turbulence. We felt that we needed a ceremony for remembrance, we co-created a ritual considering all the things that we had “lost” over the past few months, the people who have passed over to illness, the loss of connection and community (often felt most keenly by those living alone and shielding). We remembered the NHS and Key Workers who have passed caring for the sick and vulnerable. We remembered those who are experiencing financial distress, the loss of businesses and jobs. We remembered those facing challenges to mental or physical health and struggling to access support. We remembered those front-line workers who have had to carry on putting themselves at risk providing essential services to the rest of us. We all shared a personal anecdote about what we had loss during this time. We asked the Mothers of Water to witness and to transmute that loss into healing. I would love to share our ritual with you. Litha Ritual 2020 – Remembrance In The Time of Covid 19 At this time of Litha we call to the Mothers of Water. Before we begin, we ask for blessing on ourselves and all the sisters of this circle, both those present and those in our hearts. Before us is a sacred well. In times past the it was believed to be a pagan custom of making a sacrifice to the Goddess for the gifts of fresh water and healing. Many Goddesses are associated with healing wells and springs from Brigid to Sulis to Minerva. Many people would have believed themselves spared from pestilence and plague due to the healing properties of sacred wells and springs. At this time of the Solstice I invite you to find a bowl of water to represent our own holy well and our sacred emotional bodies. If you are outside let the masculine sun energy glisten on your sacred well. If you are indoors feel free to light a candle to the sun and some incense to help create a sacred space for today’s ritual. If it is your practice to create a circle for your ritual, I would invite you to do that now. We will take a few moments to invite in a Mothers of Water… Hail to all the Mothers of Water Healing Mothers We call to you now And invite you to attend our ritual. Allow their presence to awaken within you, connect with them in this sacred time and place. Mighty Mothers, Queens of all sacred bodies of water We stand in your presence to petition you for healing We ask your protection for the vulnerable. We ask shielding for our key workers. We ask for healing for the sick. We ask for safe passage for those who have passed into the realms of the dead. We ask for healing for ourselves for the losses that we have endured, loss of liberty, of careers and business, of experiences and connections. We will pause of a few moments for each of us to comment on something that we have lost at this time to be passed to the Mothers of Water so she might heal or transmute that loss into love and remembrance. As you name a person, event, or situation, allow the Mothers of Water to come through to you to offer emotional healing. When you have named them put a flower, coin, or pebble into your scared well as offering to the Queens of the Deep and allow them to hold and witness our pain and sorrows as we begin our healing journey. PAUSE Mothers of Water we ask that you usher those who have passed into the Summer Lands, meet them and allay their fears. We ask that you ease the pain of those who mourn them. We ask for emotional healing. We remember that our tears are token of our collective grief and the coin for the boatman. Mothers of Water we ask for your continued protection. For those most at risk. Guard them and keep them safe. Bless those who look after the vulnerable in our community. Mothers of Water we ask that you keep safe the healers Send them your comfort and strength in these dark days. We ask protection of all key workers Who have sustained us during Covid 19. Mothers of Water, we ask you to transmute our current sorrows. For the opportunities lost. Businesses that have closed. Financial hardships that have been known. Mental health that has been challenged. For the isolation that has been felt. Pour upon us your compassion, your loving gentleness as we begin our journey to process and heal. Mothers of Water, be with us as we dive into our emotional depths Bless and sanctify the waters in our holy wells For you are the source and return We are refreshed and healed In these times of darkness reveal to us How we can serve and support each other Make us vessels for peace, unity, and solidarity. And So It IS. After the ritual we took the flowers and herbs that we had used for the well blessing to make smudge sticks. You may also harvest the "well water" for use in healing rituals or to take out as an offering to a nearby water source to continue to send out healing to the world. If you would like to find out more about Kent Goddess Group please follow us on Facebook here.
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