May Extravaganza

This weekend was super busy. Not only was it the Ren Faire, which was awesome this year, but also a very special service at Church. New members were welcomed all new children were dedicated/blessed, we had a flower communion, and my monthly Pagan Soul group. Also, this Sunday was the astrological Beltaine!

There weren't any new member in our service so it and the communion went rather fast. I absolutely fell in love with the flower communion. Each member brought a flower and it was left on the front altar (beautiful decoration) and when it was time, everyone went up and took a random flower. This really made me feel interconnected with the rest of our community. It was mostly daffodils and tulips, but there were a few iris, lillies and a few I couldn't name. It also made me think of the fires of Beltaine. The tradition was for everyone to extinguish their hearths, and reignite it from the special blessing fires for the coming year. Everyone took the same flame home after the whole community were blessed for the coming year. I felt the same energy with the flowers. And while only a couple of them made it home (one got eaten by Kitty) they still look very beautiful on our kitchen table.

Then it was time for all of the little one's to be blessed. There were only five children up there, including our four. There was also Avi, my friend Marisa's little one. We named each of our little ones (full names) and then they said a small blessing over each child, dipped a rose in water and gently touched it to the brow, or the sixth chakra if you will. Each child then got to keep their rose. We tried to get pics of the ceremony, but it was too dark and the guy taking them wasn't sitting close enough so I need to try and clean them up a bit.

James, Charles, and Meradydd with their roses.

Kitty eating her rose.

Afterward, off to spend the day at the Ren Faire again. I still didn't get to look at many of the booths, although I did find a new wand. It really called to me, and it was still there when I went back the next day, so it was mine. The boys each chose a small candle as well but I never did find anything for Carey or Deedee. :( We had a lot of fun in the children's section. We started it off with an awesome dragon. It parades around every year. The kids liked the Around The World Yurt although there wasn't really anything interesting going on at the time. We missed the different countries that were going to be represented that day. We also stopped at an SCA type booth. They weren't SCA though, some other organization. They had lots of cool stuff that I wanted to look at but I get distracted when the children discovered the armor.

The decorations on the main stage.

The awesome dragon that leads the parade every year.

James trying on armor.

My knight in shining armor.

Fierce Carey wearing chain mail

We also took a look at some beautiful falcons that had come to visit from the University. And then we discovered a booth set up by one of my friends, Janice. She has a farm outside of town with sheep and llama's. So the kids got to meet several llama's and sheep, while Janice and I talked. I was ecstatic when I found out that she could use a drop spindle and she gave me a quick lesson although I warned her that I would probably start bugging her on Saturdays so she could teach me more. I also found out that she's looking into selling her own wool, and hand painting it. I told her I was interested in that as well so lots of new activities are opening up for me. Yay.

The kids meeting the llamas.

Kitty feeding a goat.

Charles feeding one of the lambs.

Pagan Soul was also wonderful. The ceremony was very nice and peaceful. We also had a four legged member join us, Spring. I thought the dogs name very appropriate. Since this ritual was done in doors, of course we couldn't have any bonfires. But that was solved quite handily with candles on two pillars for us to walk through. Also, how to take home our sacred fire? That too was solved with incense sticks. I quickly lit mine in the bonfire, let it burn for a few seconds to infuse it with the energy and then extinguished it. It made it's way home to burn upon the family altar. After the ritual, between us we emptied several wonderful bottles of honey mead, and snacked upon smoked cheese, crackers and oatmeal cookies. I myself drank three glasses of wine, the most I've done in a long time. It was a good thing I fed Kitty before leaving. I found it interesting that no one turned the lights on in the sanctuary, even after the ritual. The light was allowed to fade naturally.