Last night's vigil went well. Very simple: candle, incense, glass of water, badger stone and oracle deck. After clearing and blessing the space and inviting in the guardians, I spent time in zazen meditation before lighting the candle with a prayer to Sorta*, then performed some brief divination on the question of what steps do I need to take to prepare myself for a more formal relationship with her (these vigils during the three nights of the dark moon are focused on that question, with hopefully a culminating ritual on the new moon that integrate the previous nights' work). The card I drew was the Shaman of Courage. After this, I did some journeywork, using the 15 minute recording of drumming on my iPod (since Jeff was asleep in the other room, I figured drumming in the middle of the night wouldn't be the best thing to do).
I went to the hollowed Cedar as my entrance to the Otherworlds. Once inside the tree, it seemed to grow much larger, so that I could stand up fully inside it and walk around. On the walls of the inside of the tree off to one side was painted the same figure as depicted on the oracle deck — I reached out to touch it, for it seemed to be shimmering, and it transferred some of its shine to my fingers, feeling slightly wet and sticky, and I smeared this on my body (brow, chest, arms). Then I bent down to mix the shining substance with the earth, which resulted in a gorgeous red mud, and I used this to decorate my body as well. The power was pretty intense at this point, and I spent some time dancing within the tree and just outside nearby where a large fire burned within a circle of stones. I'm out of practice with journeying and was just starting to slip from trance into dream when the callback sounded and I returned to waking consciousness.
I asked Sorta* to help me to integrate the energies of courage and strength as I prepare for a relationship with her, pouring these energies into the glass of clear water, afterwards drinking the water completely. I then closed the ritual space and went to bed. It seemed to me that I had some pretty intense dream, but I woke up feeling deeply rested and refreshed.
All in all a very simple ritual, but powerful, with lingering effects.
I have another vigil tonight, though it will probably be quite late since we're hanging out with Leah and having a Reading Night again (yay, Pratchett!).
