I've gotten into the bad habit of not updating immediately after my lesson with Savanah, so this is my attempt to remedy that and do better in the future.
Our last lesson with Savanah before today's was almost two weeks ago, on Monday, December 20, during the week we had the kids for the winter solstice. This lesson involved a lot of review of her previous work, including finally getting to see the pictures she'd drawn for the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) and three Druidic aspects (calas, gwyar and nwyfre) and discussing with her the thought she put into what she decided to draw.
Then, we moved on to introduce the next "month" of lessons (although these are taking longer than a month because of scheduling, I hope to get back on track soon now that we're through the holidays — not every month, for instance, will have a "review" week). This month we're working with Gwyar of Earth: still exploring the basics of Druidic belief and practice (needed for a solid foundation and grounding, represented by the element of earth), but moving on to discussions about connection, relationship, communication, exchange, change and flow (as represented by gwyar). During the first week's lesson of the new month, we explored the idea of the altar (and to a lesser extent, the shrine) as a place of connection and communication with Spirit and the gods and beings we have relationships with, as well as a place where we might get a clearer connection to our own deeper, truer selves. We talked with her about the difference between a shrine (as a kind of three dimensional work of art that is dedicated in honor of a person, being, spirit or deity) and an altar (as a "working space" where we can engage with sacred objects and perform ritual actions that help us to communicate with others or ourselves, or bring about a change in our relationships).
A great deal of the Week 1 lesson was devoted to a show-and-tell session, with Jeff and I showing her different sacred objects and ritual tools that can be kept on and used at the altar. The week before, we'd shown her Jeff's travel altar as part of our step-by-step work with the tarot cards; this week, I unpacked my own travel altar to show her the various tools and symbolic objects and how they could be combined or used in different ways. We showed her several tools, including both my wand and athame. We talked about the use of burning candles or incense and the pouring of libations as ways of making offerings, sending prayers or expressing our gratitude for the gods (reminding her of the offerings we make during the Fire Festival rites in the backyard, when we scatter bird seed as an offering to the land, and toss silver coins into a small blue bowl as an offering to the water or sea, while burning incense and flicking blessed water into the flame of a candle as an offering to the sky and the heavens with their gods). We showed her some of the several idols and images of deities that we have about the house, including a plaque dedicated to Odin, the statues to the mother goddess (including the one we placed in the kids' room), and the "symbolic" star-fire bowl and candle that I use as my representation of Brigid. All in all, she seemed very engaged with the show-and-tell, with lots of questions about the different objects and their uses and meanings. I think Jeff and I were both pleased with how things went.
We also changed our approach to the weekly assignments we're giving to her. I'm attempting to make the questions more directed, and connected to the conversations we have during the lesson itself. This way, it involves more of her listening and remembering than having to come up with answers and ideas on the spot — hopefully, that'll give her more confidence in writing her answers and also more incentive to listen carefully and think about our conversations during the lessons themselves, knowing she'll have to write about them later. We're also trying to incorporate more "activities" and hands-on stuff, since that seems to be her strong suit and something that really engages her interest (more so than the writing, at least). So for Week 1 of Gwyar of Earth, we gave her the assignment of finding a space where she can set up a small altar and spend some time there on a regular basis. We also asked her to find four objects, one for each of the four elements, to place on her altar; or to brainstorm ideas for what kinds of objects she might want to have if she couldn't find any.
This assignment went really well, I think, although both Jeff and I were worried that in a household of so many siblings (and so much junk and mess) she might not be able to find a space to be "just hers" that would be undisturbed by others. Happily, she was able to clear a space on the bookcase that sits right by her bed, so that she can keep her altar items there. Unprompted, she brought with her this week the four objects she chose to be on her altar: for fire, a small glass candle holder in the shape of a six-pointed star; for earth, a shiny black rock she found (that she thinks may be a volcanic rock); for water, an oyster shell that can hold water like a cup; and for air (one she had the most difficulty with), an acorn cap, because, as she explained, acorns grow high up in oak trees and you can use acorn caps to whistle by blowing through them. I was just so thrilled and impressed by this kind of creative thinking, especially for the acorn cap for air. The fact that she was able to find her own associations for the elements is really great, and means (I hope, anyway) that she is getting something out of these lessons even if she's not a huge fan of the journaling. I found a purple miniature candle to fit in her holder and we lit it during this week's lesson. She also took a few pictures of the items (and later, I took a few more, since some of hers came out blurry because of camera settings being off).
One thing I forgot to mention — another change we made is the way we begin lessons. During the Calas of Earth month, we'd begun lessons by allowing Savanah to light a red candle and then blowing it out at the end. Starting with the first week of Gwyar of Earth, we're adding to this a period of ten minutes at the beginning of the lesson when we sit and listen to a song and then spend the remaining time in silence. The plan is to gradually transition into a full-blown ritual to open and close the lesson — beginning with the candle, then introducing the use of song as a way of setting the mood and quieting the mind, then eventually introducing simple breathing and meditative practice itself (during the Nwyfre of Earth month). During later months, we may incorporate the use of prayer or even build up to some small magical ritual (though Jeff and I still have to talk about whether or not we're going to introduce her to full-blown spellcrafting, or wait until she's older). This technique has worked really well for the past two lessons, and gives us some time to just sit quietly and find our center. The first week we did this, Savanah talked about her experience of watching the candle flame, and how it slowly began to appear as though it were dancing in time with the music. So again, I think that's an encouraging sign that she is connecting to the energies we're dealing with and learning to trust her intuition and imagination when it comes to her relationship with the world around her.
This lesson, Week 2, we began by going over her work from the previous lesson — starting with her altar objects and then going briefly over the review questions about altar and shrines. She didn't journal much in response to the questions, so we had to prompt her again this week and remind her (and Jeff, who doesn't do much ritual work with altars) what their various uses can be. Then Jeff took the lead on this week's lesson (because I was exhausted), and talked about the moon and its cycles. We spent some time talking about the physical attributes of the moon as an astronomical object in space, revolving around the sun. We explained about the different phases of the moon and looked at a video that demonstrated them in diagram form. We also talked about the affect that the moon (and sun) had on the ocean tides. Most of this Savanah already knew, but it was a good refresher. Jeff introduced the idea of the "triple goddess aspects" of maiden, mother and crone that's really common in Wicca, and we spent some time talking about the crone as a symbol of inner wisdom and power and personal freedom, and how the figure of the "old, ugly woman" has changed as our society has moved away from patriarchy and towards equality. We also did a slide show of pictures of the moon and various images associated with it (including the well-known full moon surrounded by two crescents), as well as some pictures of moon goddesses from different cultures.
After this, we spent some more time talking about the moon and its connection to mystery and the unknown, and its relationship with our emotions, feelings and unconscious mind. We talked about the changing faces of the moon as a reflection of our own changing moods, and how we do not always know why we feel the way we do. This connects us to mystery — just like we do not know the deepest secrets of the ocean, even though the sea is the source of all life on this planet, and just as we can never see the "dark side" of the moon because it always faces away from us. We talked with Savanah about her own moods and emotions and how sometimes things her siblings do might bother her even if there's nothing inherently annoying about them. We discussed with her the idea that cultivating a relationship with the moon can help her learn how to respect and honor her own emotions and their sometimes mysterious source, and be able to tell when she needs to listen to them, and when she needs to understand that just because she feels a certain way doesn't mean it's others who are wrong or bad or causing her to feel that way (it could be that her emotions are arising from within herself).
For her assignment for the coming week (or two weeks), we've asked her to journal daily about her moods and emotions, just jotting down a word or two to describe how she feels. We also asked her to make a note of when the new and full moons are for this month, and to brainstorm some names that she might give the moon based on the seasons and changes in the land and her relationship to both the moon and the earth. I also made up a diagram of the moon revolving around the earth, which we've asked her to label with the names of the different phases (and, if she can remember, when the moon rises relative to the sun for each phase). Her task for the week is to find an object (or come up with some ideas for an object) to put on her altar that will represent the moon, and then to spend time at her altar through the week sitting quietly, praying or reading or drawing or engaging with and handling the objects she's chosen, to get used to being in that space and building a relationship with it and her altar. We'll see how she does with that. In the meantime, I'm going to prepare more thoroughly for her next lesson on the cycles of the season and the various holy days and festivals that mark the turning of the year.
