It’s Monday, and usually on this particular Monday I would be out at the Oregon Country Fair. For over twenty-five years now I’ve gone there each year and made eggrolls at the Roll-On Eggroll booth. I know that at about this moment, the booth is packed up and everyone is about to roll into town, tired, dusty, and enriched by living for several days in the kind of world that many of us want to bring into being. I didn’t go this year, as there was a piece of magic I was asked to priestess, a piece of magic that is also about bringing into being the world of our visions. I was asked by two close friends to officiate at their wedding. This was the second of three weddings in three weekends.
My friends are dedicated activists. The community of family and friends that participated in the wedding teemed with those who work on a variety of fronts for social and environmental justice. Many of us worked closely together in
Like the other weddings I’ve done, this was a long weekend away. Like the fair, these weddings have been a chance to come together and experience the best of human community; people working together, singing together, feasting together, working and playing in peace. At this wedding, two cultures came together as well. The bride is Iranian, so on Friday there was a Persian wedding. At this wedding, the bride and groom sat in front of a blanket covered with delicacies and objects signifying the elements of life. A veil was held over their heads and two cones of sugar were rubbed together, signifying the wish for sweetness to rain down on them. We then all feasted together, and I wondered how important the wedding the next day really was.
On Saturday the next ceremony took place up on a hill overlooking the organic apple farm where so many of us were staying. Their Nigerian friend Folabi was co-officiating it with me. This was his first wedding, and he felt called by his love for the bride and groom to play this part. He welcomed people, and I talked about remembering and recollecting that this was sacred space and sacred time. Then Folobi explained that we would be calling in the elements. The couple had wanted to call the five Chinese elements (metal, water, wood, fire, and earth) and the element of spirit. I had a bit of hard time with letting go of air, and don’t really understand the wood and metal of this system, but this wasn’t my wedding, it was theirs, and the invocations of wood and metal were lovely. Water was especially powerful and sweet, with our friend John, covered with seaweed and kelp, carrying an abalone shell of water. Then came fire.
Han and Kathy walked into the circle. She had a hula hoop with torch like things attached which Han lit with another small torch. She began to hula and then Han turned, and suddenly what I saw was a fireball coming from his mouth and then the wind turned and suddenly Han was on fire. Soon he was on the ground rolling and the grass was burning and the next few moments were mayhem. I found myself lifting the torch from the burning grass and after staring at it briefly, found an area of gravel on which to set it. People were stomping the fire from the grass and others were taking Han down the hill to drive him to the hospital. The bride’s mother and brother clothes were burned substantially on the bottom and they had some minor burns. I looked at Folabi, he looked in shock. Things were coming apart, the center was not holding.
In that moment, I felt the intense power of magic, the power of working between the worlds. Chaos and destruction had entered this circle, people had been burned. In this circle of those who have worked so intently on stopping the forces of destruction, we had to bring the focus back to loving each other, to the power of that kind of commitment, that kind of focus, especially amidst pain and suffering. I started talking. I kept talking until I felt the circle reform, the energy come back together. Fire continued to be a big part of the ceremony. The couple passed out sticks for people to put wishes and dreams in, and those sticks were collected and a fire was made in a contained pot that fueled the fires of the night down the hill at the celebration. Beautiful pledges of love were made, and the couple fed each other and exchanged rings. It was clear to me that we all will be reliving this ritual, this magic in the years ahead. There are mighty fires ahead of us. Many will be burning. We have to hone our skill in coming back into focus and doing the work in front of us that entails loving each other and feeding what we believe in.
It felt clear to me and to others that the fire had not much to do with the suitability/compatibility of this union. These two people are made for each other; their love is deep and steady. One friend said he’d love to gather people who’d been there and give them pen and paper and have us all write out why we thing the fire happened. Making meaning from events like this is part of being human. It’s necessary. If we are going to call in elements, we need to try and figure out what they are saying to us when they make such an entrance. In a community so active that burn-out is common, I think there needs to be an ongoing balancing of the fire with the water. The action with the reflection.
2 comments:
my take away from this was that indeed, power happens, we can either run our power with confidence and intention and varying levels of skill and grace, make it happen or it happens to us, but either way, power happens.... we all must teach ourselves and those we love to work magic with intention....ironically now, as we all begin to itch, we realize the dry hill you speak of was likely covered in poison oak. more firey fire in the mix
Now that's a gripping tale to read from across the Atlantic. We've all experienced flaming passions - well, I suppose not everyone has but I suspect most everyone I've ever chosen to hang around with! - but this? Wow. Double wow. I guess it could have been much worse and, as always, there is much to be grateful for.
And Celia: poison oak? I don't think we have that here in the UK. Don't quote me on that. I've never encountered it, though. We do have stinging nettles, which I suspect are similar although you can make a lovely tea out of nettle leaves which is good for many things. That's if you are wise enough to pick it with strong, thick gloves on of course, and boil it well! x
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