May 10th, 2016

I have my last final exam today, and then I can go home for the summer! I can't wait to be back in my own room (and I'm very excited about our vacation in June - more on that as events progress). I felt it was appropriate to wear what I think of as my Athena socks to class; they have owls on the tops, and say "WISE" on the bottoms.

Bonus Beltane Pictures

These ended up on Facebook today, and I figured I'd share a few more pictures from SIPA's Beltane ritual, seeing as I was dancing around the maypole and couldn't simultaneously get pictures of people dancing.

May 7th, 2016

I had a lovely day today! There was a free community event at Touch of Nature, and I got to go kayaking for about an hour. There were a bunch of turtles on logs, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I'm a little red on my forearms, but hopefully they're not too badly burned.

After kayaking, I hiked up the trail where we built our Woods project.

At the end of the trail, I sat for a bit and stuck my feet in the lake.

I also spotted this little blue feather.

And then a snake!

And lots of lizards! This one was sitting on the step up to the deck I worked on.

SIPA Beltane 2016

SIPA hosted their Beltane ritual this afternoon, which I was fortunately able to attend! I missed it last year because of a build day for an architecture group I'm in, and this year I was concerned it would overlap with set strike, but fortunately the times worked out. It was also supposed to storm today, but the weather turned out to be beautiful! All in all, we couldn't have had a nicer set-up for a ritual.

Today's ritual was at a shelter in Giant City, which has a lovely creek running past it. The shelter was smaller than the ones we've been at before, but since it was so nice out, it didn't matter.

Me before ritual, all dressed up with robes, a cape, Quartz necklace, and the flower crown I bought at Fairy Fest last summer.

The maypole; SIPA uses theirs three years consecutively and then burns it at Samhain. This is this maypole's second year.

Elemental banners around the Circle.

There were several dogs at today's ritual, including this little lady, Serenity.

Blowing bubbles and grilling bratwurst.

Dogs!

West side of the creek

East side of the creek, with Zeppelin the dog.

One of many red ochre rocks in the stream bed. I looked for fossils, but didn't spot any.

Waterfall into the creek.

SIPA's banner, which was incredibly difficult to hang. The gentleman on the left had to give me a leg up to tie the grommet to a nail in the wood, and then he climbed on the other guy's back to staple up the other corner.

Tying this year's ribbons to the maypole.

Our drummer getting in a good stretch so he's ready to go.

So many ribbons! Mine was a dark blue, to match my outfit.

Erecting the maypole (not my photo, I didn't have my phone during ritual).

Everyone getting ready to dance (also not my photo; that's me in the foreground). We wove in thoughts and intentions of things we wanted to grow this year. It was super fast-paced and a little chaotic, but...

...it turned out great! Our maypole, all braided up!

We had a potluck afterwards with a ton of food, and I was completely stuffed. I got back to campus around 4:00, which left me plenty of time to get ready for set strike at 4:30. I am very tired now, but it was a good day!

May 1st, 2016

A very happy Beltane to everyone! I have a lot going on today, including practicing some presentations and set strike for the last performance of the season, but I'm also going to spend part of my afternoon at a Beltane ritual! It takes me back to the first public ritual I ever attended, which must have been Beltane of 2011. I went with Hazelnut and Raincloud, and we didn't quite know what to expect, but we had a blast. Today I'll be out with SIPA, and might even get to dance my first maypole.

I hope all your festivities go wonderfully!