kethrai's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of Kitchen Witchery And Grace I am pagan. I was raised Catholic and eventually the politics and the sexism drove me out; I drifted for many years as a happy agnostic and eventually, Someone(s) called my name, and with ill grace over the last few years, I have given in and moved myself squarely to the pagan side of the fence. I'm what polite people call a Solitary Eclectic, but more accurately I'm a borrower--I steal my bits of worship from wherever and whenever they speak to me. Of all the parts and pieces of paths that have spoken to me, the path of Sacred Hospitality speaks to me the most, so I do my best to be a Good Guest and a Good Host, and figure the rest will fall out as it will. Being a practical Yank, as well, I tend to refer to my particular stripe of paganism as Kitchen Witchery--doing what works for me, with common or easily obtained tools. Since a large part of hospitality is food, and the feeding of others, it fits me rather well. Often the fastest route of my own maze of mental yuck was to sit and quietly send out good vibes for others....it's so easy to get caught up in your own crap, that sometimes the simple act of deciding to set your own burdens aside and hoping to lighten that of others means that you can actually put them down for good. Throughout a bad winter and a nasty spring, I would light my candles and sit with them, and find a nicer space to be in than circling the bowl with my own issues. But then the summer hit, and my ren faires kept me busy. I found that on the weekends I was away from home, lacking my tools --my incense, my candles, my oils--that I was missing them desperately and wanted them with me. So I started carrying around what I called a "witch kit"--some incense, oils, and candles, and with the permission of others, lit candles and burned incense and sageblessed various tents and all things taken together, reconnected with my faith in the ways that felt best. I'm sure that some of the folks that permitted me to sage their space were simply being kind "here's my nutty friend Kethrai, she wants to do something for me that she thinks is nice, so I'll let her since it won't do any harm" but some folks, like me, find the saging and the blessings comforting, and I like to think that what I did for the folks I did it for made everyone a little happier. The golden rule of yardsales and witchery--you generally find gifts for yourself if you are searching for gifts for another. I made it through the season much more serene than I had previously ever managed to do. But I had forgotten that the gift of whatever small grace I could muster returns the gift of grace I could not possibly imagine. At the last faire of the season, my girlfriend came screeching across the faireground hauling a hirsute young man and said "Sage this guy, he needs it." The weather had been amazingly wild--windy and chilly--that weekend, so with his permission I saged him, and we chatted for a bit...he had recently set his feet on the path, and was finding out the hard way tht the rule of three included serious smackdown if you ill-wished someone. He asked about my sage and blessing tools, and I handed him a charcoal tablet, a handful of sage, and the admonition that the rule of three does work, so consider carefully before you decided to stir up trouble. He asked me what he owed me, and Hospitality does not allow the charge for a gift....so I sent him on his way with a pat on the back. These encounters become increasingly common as I fight my way out of the broom closet, so while I grinned and hoped I'd helped, I didn't really think about it. And the next day, he turned up, bowed formally to both of us in my ren tent, and handed us each a beautiful Celtic cross pendant, said thank you, and went along. That, in case you were wondering, was the grace. And while I wonder sometimes if what I say or do in my little kitchen-witch ministering way ever makes a difference, or if simply good people start with good foundations...I suppose I don't know. But that young man reminded me why I do this; not because I hope to get gifts myself, but because the act of giving the gift will make a difference in the strangest places and I will never know the actual impact of it, and he badly needed blessing and found a lovely way to say thank you, and I hope Her grace walks with him all his days, because he's off to a good start. 8:46 a.m. - 2006-11-04 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||