In spite of my depression yesterday, J came over, gave me love, and we went to ritual. We were there early enough that I could talk to the kids and ask them what they remembered from before. They ALL remembered their directions, the elements, and the colors! Little Eva said she had drawn a superhero in school that she named “Elemental” (who, of course, had the dreaded chemical accident that gave her her powers) who gained the powers of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to fight the bad guys. We haven’t had a rit since November of 2014. How awesome!
So I asked if they felt comfortable actually *calling* the quarters, instead of us calling for them and them doing bird sounds or swimming or what have you. They all wanted to try. Rowan called East, Dylan the South, Eva the West, and Rhiannon the North. (Mimo came later and we had already split the jobs. I have to figure out what to do for him next time. Maybe we’ll add in Earth/Sky, or Ancestors). Anyway, they all wanted me to whisper to them what to say, and they all did the call. We did the working (we had a little fake tiki head with a paper “flame” in its mouth to be a fire, and they wrote what they wanted to let go of on strips of crepe paper and tossed it in. J. took them home for actual burning). When it came time for dismissal, I helped them all except for Eva, who asked to say goodbye to West by herself. She made me SO PROUD. She really is a natural. And honestly, they *all* did an amazing job. They cured me of whatever was wrong with me that day. Earlier that day Dylan had run up to me and hugged me for no reason at all, and that was awesome. He’s so energetic, he was a natural for the south.
OMG, I gotta write this down in my BoS!
Meanwhile, the UU church was hoping we would do more of these. I felt comfortable agreeing to that. We should think about Lammas. I think kids can understand the First Harvest thing, and the Winter is Coming so Start Planning Now thing. J and I will talk further, but the working should probably focus around that.
The kids are fantastic, I love them all so much. There was this moment where we had to discuss ethics with them and I had to break it down very simply for them, but they got it, which was great. It’s exciting to see them embrace it and play with it. I just don’t want to present this as the only option. We need to incorporate more things from other cultures so that they choose their own interests later on. I have to figure out what form that will take…I’m working on it. I love watching them incorporate their learning and figure out how they see the world. Such great kids, for realz.