I'm a bit late to tell you all about this, but I went to my first Wiccan ceremony on Saturday for the summer solstice. I haven't talked about it too much, but for those that don't know: I am a Wiccan. Here is a like to an overview of what that is for those of you that do not know.
There are also many books that you can find on the subject if you wish to delve in further. Here are the two books that I use:
I think I'll make a post later about my spiritual and religious journey, and how I finally decided to become Wiccan. I don't want to do it today for a couple reasons: first, I have wasted enough time today as it is, and secondly, I'd like to focus this post on the celebration.
As I have said, this was my very first celebration and I was not very knowledgeable about the process, and I would still say that I'm not that knowledgeable, but it's a learning process. I have only been practicing on and off by myself for a little bit. But the setting up process took awhile since the main witches involved were all bringing different parts of the alter. While we were setting everything up, I saw that they had two hula hoops that were going to be involved in the ceremony which they allowed me to play with for a little bit because they saw my excitement. As I was dancing, they asked me if I would like to perform a dance to the sun god during the celebration. Of course I said yes! I was not going to pass up an opportunity to be a part of the celebration.
One of the hoops was actually used as the pentagram in the ceremony, so that was the job of Maria and I. She was the one that actually made the pentagram as I just held the hoop, but I still helped! And after that was all done, we still had a lot of time until the ceremony was actually able to begin so we asked one of the members what everything was, why it was on the alter, and what was going to happen. He explained everything to us and I told him about how I had always been interested in Wicca but didn't actually start learning about it and practicing it until a little bit ago. I also told him that because I'm here, I haven't really been able to do all that much with it since I'm a solitary witch (at least at the moment). He was very helpful in answering all of my questions which I really enjoyed. I loved the feeling of unity and acceptance that I felt with everyone.
Now onto the ceremony. I don't know if I will remember everything that happened, and in what order, but I will try my best. And keep in mind that all of this was in Spanish so there were probably some things that I missed. But the first thing that happened was that they called upon the circle and the God and Goddess. They then went around the circle cleansing everyone. It was a pretty big group of people so this took awhile. When they got to me, it seemed to take a pretty long time in comparison to most of the others. Afterwards, the high priestess even came over to tell me a couple things. She told me that my protector is mermaid. Of course. It's not like I've been obsessed with mermaids for my whole life or anything. But I guess that means that I'm pretty good at reading myself. She also told me that I need to forgive someone in order to heal my heart. I've been working on doing that for awhile now but I guess I'm still not there yet.
Now this is where things start to get kind of fuzzy on what happened when but I will try my best! So if I can remember correctly, the main witches in the coven started dancing and then eventually had us all dance. I think that was when they then called the different elements. One of the witches then sang and after that was when I did my dance for the sun god. It was kind of difficult because it was one of the cheap hoops from Walmart, and it was also extremely windy. But I managed to pull it off without anything too big happening. I loved it because I finally got to feel flow again! Then there was more calling of the elements and the directions with dancing in between. We then did individual apologies for all of the bad things that are happening to the Mother Earth and then made a promise as to what we were going to do to help her. We all had 3 shells that we then put into a bigger shell that the high priestess was going to return to the ocean with our promises. Next were affirmations of the good things that are in this world as we tied a long piece of ribbon to the pentagram which we then used to dance with. The last thing that happened before we ate the food that was in front of the alter was a pink summer bath. I don't know what was in it, but I think it was to bath us in the love and protection of the Goddess. The high priestess and a couple of the other witches danced around it with flowers while putting the petals of the flowers in the bath. The high priestess was then the first one to bath in it before we all took turns doing it. And finally, we all ate the fruit from the alter before closing the circle.
It was such an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I was able to experience it! It has given me the chance to see what a real celebration looks like, and a look into what it's like in a coven. They told me that I always have a Wiccan family here, which is so sweet! I know I'll be asking them a ton of questions in the future. But another important detail that is probably what made the happiest by far, was that after the ceremony Maria was talking to her friend that had set up our link to the coven. She had ended up telling her that when they were cleansing me, that they saw the witch inside of me. I am a naturally born witch. And I didn't need anyone to validate it to me because I have always felt this draw to it, but now I really know that it is what I was meant to do. And that makes me incredibly happy. Puerto Rico has given me so many amazing experiences, but I never would have expected that it would also help me further my religion and my spirituality.
As I have said, this was my very first celebration and I was not very knowledgeable about the process, and I would still say that I'm not that knowledgeable, but it's a learning process. I have only been practicing on and off by myself for a little bit. But the setting up process took awhile since the main witches involved were all bringing different parts of the alter. While we were setting everything up, I saw that they had two hula hoops that were going to be involved in the ceremony which they allowed me to play with for a little bit because they saw my excitement. As I was dancing, they asked me if I would like to perform a dance to the sun god during the celebration. Of course I said yes! I was not going to pass up an opportunity to be a part of the celebration.
One of the hoops was actually used as the pentagram in the ceremony, so that was the job of Maria and I. She was the one that actually made the pentagram as I just held the hoop, but I still helped! And after that was all done, we still had a lot of time until the ceremony was actually able to begin so we asked one of the members what everything was, why it was on the alter, and what was going to happen. He explained everything to us and I told him about how I had always been interested in Wicca but didn't actually start learning about it and practicing it until a little bit ago. I also told him that because I'm here, I haven't really been able to do all that much with it since I'm a solitary witch (at least at the moment). He was very helpful in answering all of my questions which I really enjoyed. I loved the feeling of unity and acceptance that I felt with everyone.
Now onto the ceremony. I don't know if I will remember everything that happened, and in what order, but I will try my best. And keep in mind that all of this was in Spanish so there were probably some things that I missed. But the first thing that happened was that they called upon the circle and the God and Goddess. They then went around the circle cleansing everyone. It was a pretty big group of people so this took awhile. When they got to me, it seemed to take a pretty long time in comparison to most of the others. Afterwards, the high priestess even came over to tell me a couple things. She told me that my protector is mermaid. Of course. It's not like I've been obsessed with mermaids for my whole life or anything. But I guess that means that I'm pretty good at reading myself. She also told me that I need to forgive someone in order to heal my heart. I've been working on doing that for awhile now but I guess I'm still not there yet.
Now this is where things start to get kind of fuzzy on what happened when but I will try my best! So if I can remember correctly, the main witches in the coven started dancing and then eventually had us all dance. I think that was when they then called the different elements. One of the witches then sang and after that was when I did my dance for the sun god. It was kind of difficult because it was one of the cheap hoops from Walmart, and it was also extremely windy. But I managed to pull it off without anything too big happening. I loved it because I finally got to feel flow again! Then there was more calling of the elements and the directions with dancing in between. We then did individual apologies for all of the bad things that are happening to the Mother Earth and then made a promise as to what we were going to do to help her. We all had 3 shells that we then put into a bigger shell that the high priestess was going to return to the ocean with our promises. Next were affirmations of the good things that are in this world as we tied a long piece of ribbon to the pentagram which we then used to dance with. The last thing that happened before we ate the food that was in front of the alter was a pink summer bath. I don't know what was in it, but I think it was to bath us in the love and protection of the Goddess. The high priestess and a couple of the other witches danced around it with flowers while putting the petals of the flowers in the bath. The high priestess was then the first one to bath in it before we all took turns doing it. And finally, we all ate the fruit from the alter before closing the circle.
It was such an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I was able to experience it! It has given me the chance to see what a real celebration looks like, and a look into what it's like in a coven. They told me that I always have a Wiccan family here, which is so sweet! I know I'll be asking them a ton of questions in the future. But another important detail that is probably what made the happiest by far, was that after the ceremony Maria was talking to her friend that had set up our link to the coven. She had ended up telling her that when they were cleansing me, that they saw the witch inside of me. I am a naturally born witch. And I didn't need anyone to validate it to me because I have always felt this draw to it, but now I really know that it is what I was meant to do. And that makes me incredibly happy. Puerto Rico has given me so many amazing experiences, but I never would have expected that it would also help me further my religion and my spirituality.
Blessed be!
Ericka
Ericka