SchizoGymnast
Warlock
- May 28, 2024
- 727
The title basically explains it. It's not explicitly religious, instead focusing on the gifts of the natural world. I woke up early Saturday morning and decided that, hey, today was the day I was going to make use of the pumpkins just chilling in my car. And my cedar wood chips from Salem, MA. There was no specific prayer or plan involved, and I didn't consult a spellbook or rubric. I invented it, and as luck would have it, all the symbols aligned perfectly.
I drove my used and cluttered car down the street to a little park with a woodsy trail, a hidden gem. Saturday was sunny, with cumulus clouds, and cold, and the trees were bare save a few crinkled brown leaves. It even smells like fall, just the perfect day that I never want to end.
Let me set the scene. Once you take the fork in the road, you enter a world where time disappears, where little things are magical, and you occupy a state that is both deeply wise and profoundly innocent at the same time.
This is a beginner's trail that is easily discernible, but if you're adventurous like me, the real treasure are what I call the delta trails. Those spaces on the forest floor that branch off of the main trail, that have no footprints, that no one ever seems to be on, but they're mysteriously free of boulders, of tree roots, just waiting for you to enter. Do you know what I mean? My goal was to find a tree with a fork, and I could only find a forked tree on one of these deltra trails. It took me some time to shut off the digital noise in my brain and slide into this space, but I did it. I found my forked tree. Tall and sturdy. The ritual can begin.
Anything with a fork or an x, like a crossroads or in this case a forked tree, symbolizes transition. Taking a new road, entering a portal, whatever. November is the month of the dead, as nature prepares to hibernate for the winter. We are entering the Sabbath. The moon phase is waning crescent, which is conducive for self reflection. And I have arms full of pumpkin, a big pumpkin and a little pumpkin. Traditionally, pumpkins call to mind two opposing concepts: abundance and survival, something that so many people with suicidal ideation can relate to.
I didn't want the pumpkins to be lonely. I wanted the big pumpkin to protect the little pumpkin. So I put them side by side against the forked tree.
I'm not going to include a picture of myself for obvious reasons, but during this time, I wore a veil. It was silk, with blending blue and purple overtones. Perfect for portraying the veil between the living and the dead.
Then I just...existed. I whispered some wishes but otherwise I was silent, not saying any scripted prayers or petitioning any particular entity. Instead, I decided it was best to just let my thoughts enter the world like doves into the sky. If anyone is on the receiving end, let them decide what becomes of them. I am just going to exist and trust.
The last part is the sprinkling of the cedar wood chips. It represents protection and was used to build the temple in Jerusalem. I sprinkled the chips over and around the pumpkins. I imagine myself and the vulnerable people of the world (and the animals too!) as those pumpkins, seeking shelter as they move through the portal. It's quiet and still. It's safe. I exist for a little while longer, and I walk down the trail some, and with great hesitancy...I rejoined the world of the living. And here I am.
If you want to do something similar, if you want me to remember a specific person, or if you want me to do a ritual for you in general...let me know here or PM me.:)
I drove my used and cluttered car down the street to a little park with a woodsy trail, a hidden gem. Saturday was sunny, with cumulus clouds, and cold, and the trees were bare save a few crinkled brown leaves. It even smells like fall, just the perfect day that I never want to end.
Let me set the scene. Once you take the fork in the road, you enter a world where time disappears, where little things are magical, and you occupy a state that is both deeply wise and profoundly innocent at the same time.
This is a beginner's trail that is easily discernible, but if you're adventurous like me, the real treasure are what I call the delta trails. Those spaces on the forest floor that branch off of the main trail, that have no footprints, that no one ever seems to be on, but they're mysteriously free of boulders, of tree roots, just waiting for you to enter. Do you know what I mean? My goal was to find a tree with a fork, and I could only find a forked tree on one of these deltra trails. It took me some time to shut off the digital noise in my brain and slide into this space, but I did it. I found my forked tree. Tall and sturdy. The ritual can begin.
Anything with a fork or an x, like a crossroads or in this case a forked tree, symbolizes transition. Taking a new road, entering a portal, whatever. November is the month of the dead, as nature prepares to hibernate for the winter. We are entering the Sabbath. The moon phase is waning crescent, which is conducive for self reflection. And I have arms full of pumpkin, a big pumpkin and a little pumpkin. Traditionally, pumpkins call to mind two opposing concepts: abundance and survival, something that so many people with suicidal ideation can relate to.
I didn't want the pumpkins to be lonely. I wanted the big pumpkin to protect the little pumpkin. So I put them side by side against the forked tree.
I'm not going to include a picture of myself for obvious reasons, but during this time, I wore a veil. It was silk, with blending blue and purple overtones. Perfect for portraying the veil between the living and the dead.
Then I just...existed. I whispered some wishes but otherwise I was silent, not saying any scripted prayers or petitioning any particular entity. Instead, I decided it was best to just let my thoughts enter the world like doves into the sky. If anyone is on the receiving end, let them decide what becomes of them. I am just going to exist and trust.
The last part is the sprinkling of the cedar wood chips. It represents protection and was used to build the temple in Jerusalem. I sprinkled the chips over and around the pumpkins. I imagine myself and the vulnerable people of the world (and the animals too!) as those pumpkins, seeking shelter as they move through the portal. It's quiet and still. It's safe. I exist for a little while longer, and I walk down the trail some, and with great hesitancy...I rejoined the world of the living. And here I am.
If you want to do something similar, if you want me to remember a specific person, or if you want me to do a ritual for you in general...let me know here or PM me.:)
