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!

February 14th, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day, all. Sorry I haven't posted yet this month - I've been so busy with school that I haven't been able to think straight in what little free time I've had.

In spite of all that, I have managed to keep my head mostly above water, and even went hiking last weekend. Here's some pictures of the lake and trail.

My Building Tech: Woods class will be working out here, creating a learning station for participants to dip for macro-invertebrates and learn about aquatic ecosystems. It'll be really nice to go out regularly to such a lovely natural spot.

Ferns and moss growing, even in February.

A fossil of some sort of tree, just lying in the creek bed.

We sat out on this point and just meditated in the sun for a bit. It was so quiet, with only the water lapping against the rocks.

Our tour guide also demonstrated how to make red ochre paint out of local rocks containing iron ore. The thick paste has been used for thousands of years and around the world in cave paintings, dyes, and body paint. In particular, it was used by local indigenous peoples, who also used local deposits of chert for tools. The picture is me, with red ochre smeared on my cheeks.