The theme was fire, and change.

Paganism doesn’t seem to believe in death and endings the way most people do.  Nothing is ever completely gone or wasted away.   Everything is simply changing, from one thing into another.  When one thing ends, another thing begins, something else is born.  Death isn’t something final, it is just part of the endless cycle.  Like the seasons.  One thing ends so another can begin.

This was a lot of fun.  It wasn’t terribly formal or awkward, it just felt like a few good friends getting together to celebrate the solstice.  I tried to imagine what it would have looked like in a larger setting, a hundred or a thousand years ago.  I wondered what they would have thought, that first person or persons that figured out that one day in particular was longer than all the others.  I wonder what it felt like.

But anyways, the theme was change.  We called on the elements to complete the circle, and were invited through several methods to leave behind what we wished and to step into the future that we wanted.  It was interesting to have to envision the whole process.

Paganism, in many of it’s aspects, seems to understand the power of positive thinking, of focus.  Of what I have read and experienced in rituals, magic making, and divination, the emphasis is frequently put on envisioning what you want and getting you to make the first steps towards attaining it.  I am, for the most part, not so great at being productive, so it will be interesting to see if this ritual has any effect on my life.

My heartfelt thanks to my friends Anthony and Mimi for providing such a ritual for us to partake in.  It was a memorable experience.