For more pictures click here: http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a268/twilightmoon/Lughnasadh%2006
... went beautifully! We were sad because one of our sisters had horrible car issues on the freeway trying to get the circle and was not able to make it. Boo. We missed you, Azure!!
We decorated our EZUP with ribbons, so we'd be easy to find. Saying "we're the blue EZUP at tri-cities park" doesn't aid people in finding us. There are 56874258 blue EZUPS there on the weekend. :) Anne and Frank got their early and staked us out an awesome place.
We had three friends come to our open first harvest ritual, Wiski, Michelle and Dominique, and 2 significant others. This is the fifth open ritual we've done. By 'open', I mean open to friends and family- not open to everyone on the planet. We circled up promptly at 4pm, after playing a little bit of badminton. (which is hilarious- what a game!) We cast circle, called in the quarters and the Lord and Lady. I (Ivy) explained about Lughnasadh, and we talked about making sacrifices to better our lives and make our personal harvests bountiful. We each meditated a moment on that as we passed an ear of corn around, a symbol of the first harvest. After it made its rounds around the circle, it was handed to D, and she sacrificed it into a bowl of silver.
A ritual drama was enacted, where Demeter (Willow) was approached by the Crone (Rayne stepping in for Azure), and was reminded of the upcoming winter. Demeter shared her bounty with us, reminding us that though winter/fall is near, we need to harvest what we can to make our lives bountiful.
Nahimana then read a meditation, and that was followed by a prayer circle and the cakes and ale ceremony. The quarters were dismissed, the God/dess thanked, and the circle opened.
We had a yummy potluck with chicken, 7-layer dip, pasta salad, cream puffs and more! It was really good. Those who weren't there missed out. We had a scavenger hunt to see who won the wheat from the altar. It ended up a tie (we gave 15 minutes instead of the first ones back- Willow and Michelle were first back), and so we picked numbers. We played a little volleyball, fed the ducks with what was left of Demeters bounty and then packed up.
It was an awesome ritual and a great day!
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