Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) June/July 2020 Aspire Magazine FULL Issue | Page 42
to the altar before doing the same practice a
third time, working the last bowl and facing
southwest. You will now have three bowls
on your altar dedicated to three different life
areas, each containing at least three strips
of fabric on which separate expressions of
gratitude pertaining to that particular life
area are written.
Before opening the circle, return to the
altar and hold each bowl again, one at
a time, calling up all points of gratitude
and, importantly, feeling the in-the-heart
sensation, that subtle warming that swells
within the ribs when you are fully in that
state of embodied fruition. Try to remain in
that state, if you are able, while you speak
these words:
This is my summer initiation, and I am truly
a most thankful sprite. On my grave will be
written nothing but the poetry of moments,
rhyming and rhythmic thank-yous to no one in
particular, only those holy crossroads of time
and space, those sacred and fleeting points
of becoming when I was nothing but a fleshand-blood
shrine to sheer heart-born grace,
when I wanted for nothing if only for that
small space between the inhale and exhale,
when the world was made of emerald-green
gratitude, tiny sparking building blocks of
thank-yous. My life was built from these
moments, after all, and from the ethers I shall
watch the world go on without me, warmed
by those many ephemeral glimpses of who
I truly was, those embodied reminders that I
was living well. Surely I made the most of my
time housed in this soft, feeling flesh.
Seal this ceremony by chanting “thank you,”
practicing feeling the true, under-the-skin
sensation in response to the words. Open
the circle when ready, and welcome what
comes.
And so it is.
Excerpted from the book Seasons of Moon and
Flame. Copyright ©2020 by Danielle Dulsky. Printed
with permission from New World Library — www.
newworldlibrary.com.
Danielle Dulsky - Danielle is a heathen visionary, pagan poet, and
word-witch. The author of Seasons of Moon and Flame, The Holy Wild,
and Woman Most Wild, she teaches internationally and has facilitated
circles, communal spell-work, and seasonal rituals since 2007. She
is the founder of The Hag School and believes in the emerging
power of wild collectives, cunning witches, and rebellious artists in
healing our ailing world. Find her online at www.DanielleDulsky.com.
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