I mentioned a few days ago an idea about a book project where it would be a collection of stories from members of the neopagan community about things that they experienced.  The common theme would be finishing the statement "If I had known...".

The goal of the project is to create something for the newer neopagans to learn from.  Show them that we have made our mistakes, and this is how we recovered from them or learned from them.  I also hope to collect stories of things that worked or empowered us to do more.  So a mic of both positive and cautionary stores.

This week, to continue the theme of explanations of where my various invocations come from, we look at the third Kindred, the Shining Ones, or Deities.

Shining Ones!

You who look over each and every one of us, our matrons and patrons, we offer you welcome.

You who look over this place, the deities of this land, we offer you welcome.

You all who are known or unknown to us, we offer you welcome.

Come, Join us at our fire as we celebrate (ritual purpose) tonight.

Shining Ones, Accept our Sacrifice!

Today we continue talking about invocations by looking at the Land Spirits.  Here is my basic invocation

Land Spirits!

You who live among us.

Those of fur and feather, scale and skin, we offer you welcome.

You of stick and stem, leaf and flower, we offer you welcome.

All those seen and unseen, the fae, all of you spirits of the land, we offer you welcome.

Come, Join us at our fire as we celebrate (ritual purpose) tonight.

Land Spirits, Accept our Sacrifice!

As I started to do last week, this week, we will continue to look at the Core Order of Ritual.  Today, we'll start looking at calling the Kindred with calling on the Ancestors.  My basic call for the ancestors is this

Ancestors!

You who are part of our lineage, oure relatives and blood relations, we offer you welcome.

You whom are friends and allies, oue chosen family, we offer you welcome.

You who walked this very land, those who lived here before us, we offer you welcome.

While I was at Summerland Festival a few weeks ago, myself and a few other priests were talking, and one thing that came up is that for many people, the various parts of the ritual need to be de-mystified.

I was planning to post this earlier in the week, but the things in my last post were honestly of more importance with regards to the violation of personal space.

This past long weekend I attended the Summerland Festival that is put on by Sixth Night Grove, ADF and held in the Dayton OH area.  This year was a year of records attendance with a bit over 100 people attending... The only higher attendance was the year Isaac Bonewits died and his memorial was held.  The camp itself a 4H camp and has very reasonable accommodations, especially when compared camping at places like Brushwood or Wisteria.

This past weekend, I made a trip down to the NYC area.  The main reason for going down was to visit my grandparents, as my grandfather was in ill health a few weeks ago... he's doing better, and isn't really in bad shape for being 96, but it was good to visit them.  I then spent the night with my friend Sharon down in Raritan, NJ.  This gave me the opportunity to meet a few of the Grove of the Other Gods, ADF druids.  Really great people, and great conversations over dinner.

Last week I was able to help out the Saint Paul's Center by doing rune readings during one of their fundraising events.  I did this event last year, and summer period remembered me, and told me I was right on.  As a person who does divination, positive feedback like that is always appreciated.

It has been another horrible week in the news, and it is upsetting to see how many innocent lives have been taken.  This week, we had a truck run into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille day in Nice, France killing 84, and injuring around 100.  There was no reason for this, and from what I have been hearing it was more of a depressed man with nothing to loose than any kind of coordinated terrorist attack.  It is sad that such things could happen.